.hack//EQUESTRIA

by NovaSethyr

Ponies Will Be Ponies

I think I get the gist, that this one can assist?

Yes, Njeri. If she's determined to save her friend, they'll find her. Nopony can escape his notice, and if she's willing to help our cause that's all the more reason for us to make contact. She's a good pony, and I don't think she can resist helping a pony in need.

Helping a pony in need. If we can help her, however, she must take heed.

You're right, my friend. We need to confront her, explain ourselves to her and tell her of the wary path she treads. We can prepare for the oncoming storm, instead of letting them run around when the lightning strikes. But we cannot be the only two to tell them, we have to find Alpha.

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Well, my day is getting weirder and weirder. I tried not to think about how weirder it could get as I explained my situation to the gang. I had asked Berry to see if Refinity and Crimson Axe could meet me in the @Home. Not long afterwards I found myself, the navy blue nightmare, the delicately white beauty, and the crimson salemare were surrounding a small table with Mini-Berry (thankfully) sleeping peacefully on top.

"So what you're saying is, ponies are in a coma because of a simple game." Berry rubbed her chin with a hoof in thought. I nodded.

Refinity coughed softly, "And that somehow, one of the players is still in the game while being unconscious at the same time?" I nodded once again, feeling the bottom of my stomach start to slowly fill with ice.

Crimson Axe made no attempt to hide her skepticism, "And you're saying that this imaginary figure tried to attack you? Likely story, but I think if you were attacked, you'd be able to fend for yourself."

I felt my brows furrow. "Alright, yeah, I can fend for myself, right? It's not like I'm a low level and would get completely demolished if any other player would decided to pick a fight with me. After all I've only been playing for two days! I'm perfectly fine!" Crimson raised a hoof and opened her mouth, but apparently forgot what she was going to say because she closed it and lowered her hoof.

Berry rolled her eyes. "That still doesn't explain why players would be able to enter locked dungeons, nor how a player is in a coma and still playing! It sounds like a horror movie, if you ask me." There was a visible shudder that ran through Berry as those words were spoken.

Crimson perked her ears up as an idea struck her and she leaned in close to Berry, getting closer with every whisper of a word. "I bet the killer is going to hunt down... one... by... one... until eventually... you're the only one left." Berry started shaking a bit as her imagination took her away on wild horror scenarios, not paying attention as Crimson leaned right nest to her ear, "... and then... he'll come up behind you... and he'll GET YA!" As soon as she shouted, Berry jumped up and hid under the chair quivering in fright.

Refinity glared at the prankster, "You know how scared Berry can get, Crimson. She was even scared of the silly costume you wore for Nightmare Night! She wouldn't come out of her house for hours!" Crimson grinned sheepishly at the memory.

The conversation had drifted off from the important fact of me being attacked and we should probably do something, but it was blatantly clear that they were going to be of no help. I decided to put a pin on the topic in my mind. I looked at the bashful barbarian, then thought about what Refinity had just said. "So, wait, you three know each other outside the game?"

Crimson was about to speak, but was interrupted by Refinity. "Yes, we know each other. Me and Crimson visit Berry in her bar sometimes, as me and Crimson have known each other since we were fillies. We share a room together, in fact. We decided to play The World together one day, and got ourselves two ALTIMIT OS's." Crimson grinned and nodded her head vigorously in agreement. How rich do you have to be to get TWO of these damned things? I nearly had to cut off my own HOOF for one of these!

I looked between the blue and white mares and nearly facehoofed. I had totally forgotten about seeing those two in the Market the day Grey went comatose. Then again, anything that I deemed important was shoved out of my head when you were attacked by a player who wasn't a player and your only friends online don't even believe you! Isn't there some friendship law or something that says believe your friends until proven guilty? Wait, that doesn't sound right...

As I thought about the phrasing of friendship morals, I caught a snippet of the conversation Berry started. "... so we have to met them in their @Home to discuss how we can improve trade relations between our guilds."

Refinity frowned, "It was today? Unfortunately I have a recital to perform tonight, so I'm unable to join you on your visit. But I thought our intentions were clear? We combine our two Guild Shops so we share our inventories and share the profits, correct?"

Crimson was busy entertaining herself by playing with a strand of hair while Berry and Refinity went into some sort of business lingo that I couldn't understand. Something about improshare and supply that one has while the other doesn't and vise-versa and yadda yadda yadda. I never was interested in the business field, I found it a little too stifling. Especially having to wear those formal clothes! I shivered from the memory.

I decided to talk to Crimson while the smart ponies did their talking. "Hey, Crimson. What's up?"

Crimson batted the strand away before giving me a blank stare. "Hey, Fay. Nothing much... I'm just trying to get this strand of hair to perfectly center in between my eyes."

"Huh, cool..." I noticed that neither of us were good at small talk.

"So... what do you do for a living?" I hoped I didn't seem like intruding on somepony's personal life.

Crimson raised an eyebrow, and for a split-second it certainly seemed like I was asking the wrong sort of questions. Then she broke into a grin and started a conversation. I had to resist sighing in relief, "Yeah, I'm a DJ in real life. I work late hours in a club called The Raving Raids. Sometimes I end my shift around three in the morning so I can get back home and sleep, you know? I mean, I love staying up late to drop some heavy bass, but a girl's gotta get her beauty sleep."

I knew what she meant, I used to stay up extremely late reading a good book, exploring the city at night, or looking over some class notes. In fact, I used to have a late night job like Crimson did as a janitor. It was hell to clean up some of the messes, but eventually I found a better job to replace that one.

Huh, something about what Vinyl said stood out to me. The club she worked at, didn't I see it not too long ago? Interesting, she really must have lived close by if she visits the Market and works at a nearby club. And that means Refinity lives around here as well.

"How about yourself? You haven't talked about what you do, have you?"

I blinked at the question. "Me? Well, not much to talk about me - I'm a university student at Celestia's School for Gifted Unicorns, but not particularly proficient at spell casting; except alchemy, which happens to be my special talent. I have a couple of jobs to keep up my rent, but I have to double it now that my roommate is out of the equation, and I enjoy the peace and quiet while reading some fiction books, or exploring the city for something to do."

"Alchemy? I would never have guessed that you have a rare talent such at that field, Faylin." I turned to find that both Refinity and Berry had finished talking and were now listening to our conversation. Refinity raised a hoof and continued speaking, "Isn't that the mixture of science and magic? I heard that alchemy was only recently accepted as a field of magic, as it mostly only researched on inventions that made life simpler."

I waved a hoof and tsked at Refinity. "It's true that alchemy was mostly used to garner simple machines, but what nopony realized was that infused with every single alchemic design was a spell matrix; allowing the machine to perform a task based on what the spell was designed for. This is actually more complicated than ponies realized, but they hardly noticed it at all until recently." I got nothing but only a glimmer of understanding from Refinity and Berry, but Crimson looked like a lost puppy. I sighed and decided to explain alchemy in it's fullest. Lecture mode, activated!

"The easiest example is the sewing machine. Without a sewing machine, a pegasus or Earth pony would normally have to take a thread and needle and use your hooves or mouth to do the job. This task can be virtually impossible even with years of practice, which is why the majority of the fashion industry was unicorns.

"So let's say you're a unicorn designer, you make dresses easily because you use magic to thread the needle through the fabric and you come out with cleaner stitches and a better looking outfit. You look at the clothes you have made and compare them to the Earth and pegasus made clothes, which are dirty and torn because they can't properly stitch, much less hold the fabric gently enough without it getting dirty. This is why Earth ponies and pegasi had rough and simple clothing while unicorns had clean and fancy clothes in the history books.

"Now, you feel like you're cheating, because 2/3rds of the entire population of the world can't even make a simple gown without ruining it in some way. So, you start to make a spell. First, you make the spell hold the needle and thread, then make it go through the fabric and make stitches. You try to make the spell function on it's own, but you quickly realize that without a conduit to hold the spell together, everything just falls apart and the spell fails. So you think to yourself, 'what can hold a spell together and can allow everypony else to use it at will?'

"After many months of testing, you find that when objects combine into a single tool that is specifically designed to perform exactly what the spell is intended for, then the spell is held easily and can be used as many times as you like as long as every piece of the machine does it's job. And thus, the sewing machine - and alchemy- were discovered." I took a deep breath and examined the damage my lecture has done.

To my surprise, everypony including Crimson seemed to get the idea. I didn't expect my long-winded explanation to keep their attention, much less Crimson's, but apparently they found my example and explanation sufficient enough to understand the basics of alchemy. I nodded, satisfied with myself. It was the first time anyone has actually listened to my rants about alchemy and how it's actually been in used years before it was a field of magic. It was actually that line of thinking that got me my cutie mark, the symbol of alchemy.

"Well, that was actually quite helpful. Who knew you were so knowledgeable, Fay?" said Berry. I grinned with pride and thanked her. We started chatting about alchemy, but soon we had to cut the conversation short in order to met with the guild Berry mentioned before. What was it, the Elements of Harmony, right? Are they basing their guild on the recent escapades of the Elements of Harmony, thought to have not only defeated Nightmare Moon but the legendary spirit of chaos and disharmony, Discord? Or are they the actual bearers of the Elements? I hope it's the latter, I've always wondered what it was like to be trapped in Discord's world.

We left just as Mini-Berry woke up, and she was screaming obscenities at us when we teleported out. Refinity said her farewells and left to perform her gig. Berry turned right around and used the @Home portal again, but this time instead of teleporting to our guild hall, we ended up on a large platform, surrounded by a lake. There was a small pathway leading towards the largest castle I've ever seen, including the Canterlot Castle.This place had it all, swirling spires, arching arches, the whole nine yards. The pathway ended in a red staircase that led up to the obscenely huge door.

The small pathway reached the castle, and that's when I noticed the the seven characters standing side-by-side. One of the mares spoke up and introduced themselves. From the left there was: a yellow pastel pegasus with a Wavemaster staff - Fluttershy, a fluffy looking pink Axemare Earth pony - Pinkie, a white and clean-looking unicorn with Twin Blades - Rarity, a dark brown Beast character with spiked gauntlets on his hands - Tiamut, a very bright orange Earth pony with a long and heavy sword on her back - Applejack, a blue as the sky pegasus and a Pole Arm on her back - Dash, and finally there was a purple unicorn Wavemaster - Twilight.

Berry introduced me and Crimson, and Pinkie started hopping up and down, "OH BOY BERRY BROUGHT NEW PONIES! WE SHOULD HAVE A PARTY! Too bad I don't have my Party Cannon in this game, we'd be able to have cake and cupcakes and pie and cupcakes and muffins! OH! AND CUPCAKES!" A hyperactive pony? For a trade relationship meeting? This was going go swimmingly.

After the calming Pinkie down, Berry groaned very loudly. "Guuuuuys! You're supposed to create names other than your real ones! And make yourselves look differently than your normal selves! It just isn't in the spirit of the game!" Wait, she knows them? Interesting, I wonder how many ponies everypony knows outside the game.

Twilight inclined her head to one side. "But if we changed our appearance and names, we'd get confused as to who we are."

Tiamut gave a huff and said in a gravelly voice, "I told you guys to make up new pony identities for yourselves."

Dash gave a snort and stomped her hooves. "I don't need to look or be anypony other than the awesome Dash!" I imagine that she couldn't think of any other pony name or avatar whatsoever.

Rarity drew out a long sigh. "All avatars aside, shall we get down to business?"

Applejack nodded, "Ah agree. The sooner we git this done, the sooner we can expan' our inventory." That's odd, I haven't heard a southern accent like that from anypony I've met in-game. I wonder if that was how the player talked in reality or if that was an addition you could make in-game. I wasn't even aware you could do that in-game! I haven't even scratched the surface of this game, apparently.

We were led into the gigantically huge castle, down an extravagant hallway filled with portraits and art and fancy looking carpet. Berry gasped, and I thought I saw Rarity gave a satisfactory smile. We ended up in a room that was off to one side of the Hall of Wonders, and the decor was just as amazing. Everything was just perfect - the red felt carpet, the way the sunlight made everything seem calm and soothing, and the furniture felt just as comfortable as it looked. It took everything I could not to lay down on the couch as we all found a suitable place to relax in the guest room.

Rarity and Applejack left with Berry, leaving me and Crimson with the other five members of the Elements of Harmony. Crimson and Dash soon hit it off, trying to out do each other in exaggerating stories. Dash was trying to talk about how she once took on a full grown dragon by herself while Crimson told the story of single-handedly defeating the dreaded Chim Army. I had hoped never to bring that that long and grueling moment up ever again.

I wandered around the room for something to do - The other ponies started to talk with each other, and I overheard Tiamut starting to discuss with Twilight about what they were doing tomorrow... cleaning the library? They must either live close or together like Crimson and Refinity or... or me and Grey. Great, thanks brain for making me remember stuff I didn't want to. Figuring what to do next could help pass the time, despite the subject matter.

Alright, well, let's review. I need to figure out what exactly is what caused Greyhawk to fall into a coma. Other ponies have fallen in comas. They were all playing The World when they were discovered, so theoretically it was something that happened whilst they were playing the game. From investigating a little more, I went to where one of the comatose patients was last seen, only to have his avatar appear out of nowhere and attack me. Well, I assume he was trying to attack me, what with his unsheathing of the weapon and striding towards me with a vengeful air about him.

I put a hoof to my chin in thought. Why would he want to attack me? Was I intruding somewhere? The guy is comatose, how is he still playing? Is his mind still playing the game, regardless of the fact that his body isn't wearing the VR visor anymore? It seems like when I try to find answers, only more questions pop up. And why is it that CC Corp doesn't want to bring the comatose patients into discussion? It's almost like they're trying to cover themselves up. Maybe this is some sort of conspiracy made by CC Corp. But if it was what are they trying to cover up? Could they have planned for this to happen? Wait... was I seriously considering a conspiracy theory? This isn't good, I should probably get some sleep soon.

As soon as I brought the idea of sleep up, my body felt week and my eyelids started to drop. How long have I been awake? Let's see, the time is... nearly eleven at night!? I've been playing for hours! I haven't gone to sleep last night, so it's a wonder I haven't collapsed flat on my face yet. I haven't even ate dinner. Again, at the perfect moment I heard my stomach give the longest yowl of misery I've ever heard. I guess my avatar gave the same growl, as everypony suddenly turned and stared at me. I gave a shy smile and returned to my thinking, feeling my face heat up.

I heard one of the ponies trot towards me, so I looked up into the eyes of the Axemare, Pinkie. "HI! Remember me? I was the one that was gonna throw you a party but then Twilight told me to be quiet because this wasn't the time to have a party but it's always time for a party! Oh Twilight, if it isn't party time, why does my watch say it's PARTY TIME?!" She shoved her hoof in my face to reveal a watch that had a pink pony in the middle pointing at where numbers should be on a watch, instead every number was replaced by the words "Party Time."

"Uh, it says it's always party time, though." I knew this was the wrong thing to say the moment I said it. Pinkie giggled in glee, "You silly-filly! It IS always party time!" She pulled out a cupcake and held it towards me even before she finished saying 'party time.' Wow, I never expected to have ever said the words 'party time' so much in such a short amount time. Even the word time is starting to feel overused to me.

I didn't want to seem rude, so I took the cupcake and ate it. It was a cupcake that I wouldn't soon forget about eating, but that isn't hard to do considering I've not had one in a long time. It was moist and chewy while neither qualities deluding the delicious flavor. This got me thinking about how I can taste something in a game. Perhaps it's the same way I can send signals from my mind to control my movements, the spell matrix can sends signals to my brain to fool the senses, and make the game seem even more real. But then that begs the question, is the game real or fake if it can be felt by all the senses?

I started to go off on another tangent from my wandering mind, but Pinkie found that to be rude and started to once again talk. Extremely wildly, too. She went off on so many different trains of thought, her mind is nothing but unfinished train tracks. She was talking about how cupcake-making can take up a lot of time, wait, no, she's talking about an adventure she had about having a party with a dragon? Now she's talking about how she got her cutie mark? I couldn't keep up with this pink nightmare, so I slowly backed away until I was sufficiently far enough so I can start a conversation with somepony else.

The closest pony was the yellow Wavemaster, Fluttershy. I don't recall her saying anything since we arrived here, so it should be courteous to start a conversation with her, right? She was in the corner of the room, staring at her hooves awkwardly. She didn't notice me trot up to her, and when I said hello to her she meeped slightly and hid behind her purple mane and hooves.

It was perhaps the cutest thing I have ever seen ever. It took all of my willpower not to hug her and tell her everything's okay. Anyways, I instead smiled at how adorable she was and started over again. This time I wanted her to warm up to me, so I choose to let her talk about things she might like.

"Hey there, don't be afraid. I was just trying to talk to you. You're Fluttershy, right? What do you do for a living?"

At the question, Fluttershy started mumbling something and I couldn't hear her. She didn't show any signs of stopping, and if it got her talking then that's a step forward in the universe of progress. Eventually taking about whatever she was saying gave her a little boost of confidence. Not much, but enough to raise her voice juuuust enough for me to hear. "...but I really like the small animals, they're just so cute and adorable. I always get new friends to take care of, and when they're all healed or get adopted by other ponies that want pets I always feel sad. I know it's a bit selfish of me, the animals have to leave sooner or later, but I always find myself checking up on everypony to see how they're pet is doing. Oh, but uh, I hope I'm not boring you. I mean, I'm not very experienced talking with...uh, boys, all that well."

Oh-ho-ho? Not experienced with talking to boys? I'm not technically a boy, but I am using a male avatar. Perhaps this would be a good time to use that to my advantage? Now, I live with a guy, so I have a pretty good idea on how a guy should act. Well, a crazy one, but still a male... Actually, now that I think about it, trying to act like Greyhawk would be a VERY VERY bad idea. I might make her run out the door screaming for the Royal Guards. I know ponies that have done that to Grey already.

"Oh, don't mind me. Now, you take care of animals, do you? I used to have a pet bunny as a kid and we always had fun. What kind of animal is your favorite?"

Now that she was comfortable, the question seemed perfectly normal to ask. I expected her to slowly talk about why she likes this kind of animal. Instead, she raised her eyes excitedly, started to bounce slightly on her hooves, and started to talk just as fast as Pinkie. Okay, maybe not that fast, but it was a little faster than a normal talking pace. Unfortunately, this didn't raise her voice and I still had to strain to hear her.

She started talking about how she had a pet bunny named Angel who is the most cute thing I will have ever seen, the misadventures her various animal friends have caused. I didn't want her to run out of breath so quickly, so I took her word on the cuteness factor of every animal in existence, and I promised her that if I ever get a chance to visit Ponyville I had to come visit her cottage so she can see them all and judge for myself how adorable they are.

I sighed in relief, not really noticing that the other ponies have stopped talking and had watched as Fluttershy nearly gave me the life story of every animal she ever met. Even Dash and Crimson had stopped in the middle of a hoof wrestling competition in order to watch the miracle in progress. Fluttershy noticed them as well and walked out of the room in a hurry, her face redder than a cherry. Twilight approached me with wonder in her eyes. "I've never see anypony get Fluttershy to open up like that so quickly. What did you do?"

I thought to what I said that could have gotten her to speak so quickly. Then I recalled that I said I used to have a bunny. "I said that I had a bunny as a kid, and I guess she really likes rabbits?" I honestly had no idea why she did that, but at least now she isn't afraid of me.

Before Twilight could say anything; Berry, Applejack, and Rarity entered the room. "Dear me, I just saw Fluttershy run from here in such a fuss! She seemed quite embarrassed when we passed her, what did we miss?"

After telling the story that occurred between me and Fluttershy, all three ponies eyes widened. "Yew got FLUTTERSHY, the quietest - an' the most awkward - pony outta alla us, ta tell yew about Angel an' her animal friends? AN' yew got invited to her cottage if'n yew ever come ta Ponyville?" Applejack seemed to only want some confirmation of some sort, so I nodded after she fell silent.

"Well, that's quite the accomplishment! I daresay, she never really talked to anypony of the... male persuasion before, so she must have been absolutely scared out of her wits!" Rarity put a hoof to her forehead rather melodramatically at Fluttershy's dilemma at having to talk to boys. It wasn't even a problem, all you have to do is realize that the other gender has different parts than you and that's about it. I always wondered why most females don't understand just how normal most males are. That's what you get for being in a female dominated society, I guess.

Everypony thought I was brilliant at making somepony talk, and apparently that helped the Elements of Harmony make their decision. I didn't quite understand all this business lingo, so they explained it to me as simply as possible. Each guild went about their business, collecting items and weapons and other useful things from The World and put them in their respective Guild Shops. The guilds have a shared inventory, so whatever was put into one Guild Shop is available in the other. If one person bought something from one Guild Shop, both of the guilds split the profit. Also, one guild has the ability to buy something from the other's Guild Shop, and the profits from such a purchase would all go to the Shop where the item was originally stored.

Rarity had thought it was a good idea to make this partnership, while Applejack didn't want any part of it, afraid that we would take their inventory and profits, and the Elements of Harmony's Guild Shop would go under. I called paranoid. My encounter with Fluttershy eased her fears though, as long as I was going to be the representative between the two guilds. My job was simple, I made sure that neither side was going to take more of the shared profits, inventory, or other resources.

Honestly, I don't think either side would be willing to break the deal. We, Epitaph, have a small amount of members, but we go exploring a lot, so out Guild Shop is over abundant with stuff we don't really want or need. The Elements of Harmony have the opposite, they have slightly more members, but the items and weapons they get are squandered for money or otherwise not put into the Guild Shop - and thus have very little to sell. In fact, out of the seven of them, only Dash, Tiamut, and Twilight are the most avid of players, and thus they get most of the inventory. Pinkie, Applejack, Fluttershy, and Rarity all have jobs and chores to do, so they don't play as much.

After we got everything settled, me, Berry, and Crimson left the Elements of Harmony's castle and began to return to Mac Anu and go adventuring again. Crimson and Dash were shouting at each other about who won the hoof-wrestling contest, and Berry was shaking her head at the inevitable migraine that came with being with Crimson. I wanted to go back to Delta Chasing Cupid's Belladonna so I could face that guy again, and maybe this time I'd have backup to help me not run away like last time. I was about to suggest that, but I was interrupted before I could even get a word out by the galloping of hooves behind us. I turned and found that Fluttershy had returned and wanted to say something apparently.

Once she reached us, she lowered her head and stared at her hooves for a moment. Then she lifted her head and said something softly to the wind. I leaned forward and tilted my head to indicate that I didn't hear. "Uhm, thanks for listening to me. I hope that maybe we could perhaps... oh, how did Rarity put it? I hope we can work together some more in the future, I mean, if you want to that is... I hope you could visit Ponyville in the near future..." She started to blush and fluster a bit before turning and running back to the other Elements of Harmony.

Beery started to snicker, and it wasn't long before Crimson started chuckling as well. I felt my face get a bit hot as I realized that Fluttershy had taken a liking to me. Sorry, I don't swing that way! I like stallions like any normal pony! True... I haven't had a coltfriend before and the only pony that I would consider dating...

I shook my head to clear my thoughts and ignored as the others continued their laughing. After we exited their @Home and were once again roaming the streets of the city Mac Anu in the night. Despite the late hour, many players were still up and about, lingering around the fountain or otherwise doing things other ponies would do during the day. I would find out later in the instruction manual (See, I DID read it!) that the time of day appears differently for every user. For example, somepony on the other side of the world would have the time of day at around noon, while I'm at around midnight.

I asked my two companions if they were willing to come with me to Delta Chasing Cupid's Belladonna to find the comatose patient again. Crimson declined saying that she has to make Refinity dinner for her return. Berry flat out said she didn't want to waste anymore of her weekend time searching for make believe ponies and left. I understood her argument, though. She already ran through the dungeon with me so it would be rather tedious going through it again so soon. I had to do it, but I'd rather do this with more than one or two ponies. I could either stop playing and eat and sleep or find players who would want to join. Actually, sleep and food sounded really good to me. After making a drop off at the empty Guild Shop, I logged out of The World and entered reality again.

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I found myself back on my bed again. I wanted to immediately go to sleep, but I wanted to eat something first, so I went to the kitchen to find something of substance. To my misfortune, I had already eaten the rest of the food earlier today and last night. I had just gotten the groceries a couple of days ago but I'm already out? I knew I should have gotten some food from the book shop.

So I left my apartment to scour the city for a place that is open after midnight. It wasn't really hard to find, this is one of the biggest cities in Equestria, so there's bound to be a couple of places open this late. One such place is a little donut shop everypony calls Pony Joe's. It's run by the lone stallion Pony Joe, and is one of the most beloved places of Canterlot. Nearly everypony has gone there before to get a donut and coffee fix.

Once again, unfortunate for me because it's nearly a half-hour walk to and from the restaurant. I didn't mind the walk, but I was worried about passing out from exhaustion in the middle of the street at this hour. Winter is going to be setting in about a week, so I'd likely freeze to death in these temperatures. I only had brought a coat and some warm fuzzy boots, so my head was entirely exposed.

I contemplated getting come coffee and not going to sleep again, but thought that my lack of sleep would become a problem if I didn't get some shut-eye soon. After a few minutes of walking I found my mind wandering back to the Elements of Harmony, and Fluttershy in particular. I wasn't exactly one to date, but Fluttershy seemed to be hinting at the idea. Or maybe it was just me in my sleep deprived state, which seemed all the more likely. I barely knew the girl, the way she acted towards me could be with anyone, right?

I let my imagination run wild after that, trying to clear my mind with thoughts about what I'm going to do when confronted with the comatose patient. Am I going to fight him? It seems like that's the only way to solve this. I'll definitely find out the cause and cure Greyhawk! No matter what it takes! Well, maybe I can put my own well-being in front of Grey's, I can't really save him if I get myself caught in the same trap he was, can I?

After toying around with ideas about what's causing ponies to fall comatose and letting my mind wander for the next twenty minutes, I reached Pony Joe's. The neon lights were flickering slightly, and the lights inside illuminated the diner. There were only two ponies there, Pony Joe and some stallion in the corner eating donuts and drinking coffee.

The tan unicorn owner turned to the bell as it rang the entrance of a new customer. The grey stallion in the corner did nothing and stared in his mug. "Ah, Genesis! Good to see you as always. I'm sorry to hear about Greyhawk, the story is going to be in the newspaper tomorrow." I nodded solemnly. Pony Joe knew everypony, and he also knew everything that happened through word of mouth. It wasn't surprising he heard about Grey.

"S'aight, Joe. Can I get a couple of maple and sprinkled donuts? Two of each, please. Some coffee as well, the usual kind." He nodded and said nothing while he went to fetch the order. I sat at on the stool and leaned forward, feeling the weight of the world pushing me down towards the counter.

Joe returned with the order not too long after I put my head on the table and nearly fell asleep. "You don't look so good, Jen. You should get some sleep tonight, not coffee. You won't help Greyhawk get any better by being sleep deprived." Huh, did he know about my attempt to find out what's causing the comas?

"How'dya know about that?" I asked, hoping that maybe he knew something I didn't.

"Well, Grey is your best friend in the world, you two are nearly inseparable, and neither of you can stand it when the other isn't having fun. I know, I've seen you two in here before." He nodded sagely and started cleaning the counter for closing - it was nearly one in the morning, after all. I finished my donuts and drank my coffee, the sweet maple taste washed down with the hot caffeinated beverage. After I finished drinking the sweet nectar of life, I slammed the mug on the counter and pulled out my bit wallet to pay the stallion.

Much to my and Joe's dismay, I was flat broke. I had forgotten that my payday isn't until a couple of days from now and now I was stuck here with a bill I can't pay. I told Joe my situation and he seemed understanding. He put in on a tab that he would bill me later, after the fiasco with Grey and I get paid.

A walk home, much thought given to wild imagination roaming, and a full belly later, I was back home. I wasn't all that tired anymore thanks to the coffee and the exercise. I knew I wasn't going to be able to get any sleep like this, so I did the only thing I could do. I went to play some more of The World.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I logged back on to Mac Anu, and I wandered around the town wondering how I should go about exploring Delta Chasing Cupid's Belladonna again. I pulled up the main menu and checked all of the contacts that I had added. Contacts are apparently added automatically, and I never even noticed that the entire guild of Epitaph had given me their member addresses so I can invite them to parties or see if they are online. As expected, Refinity, Berry, and Crimson were offline.

What wasn't expected was the new addition to my contacts. Fluttershy had given me her member address, probably when she ran up towards us before we left. But the she wasn't the only one who had given me their address, every member of the Elements of Harmony had given me their addresses. I was astounded, I didn't expect the to give their addresses after one meeting. I guess Fluttershy really did make an impact on their trusting a stranger.

I wonder why Fluttershy vouched for me like that? Before I went off on another tangent, I saw out of the corner of my eye that Dash and Tiamut were the only two that are online. I wasn't too surprised at that, they don't have anything to do tomorrow besides play some more - being the beginning of the work week for normal ponies and all. Dash only had one job and her hours are flexible while Tiamut was an assistant to somepony who stayed up late habitually.

I invited them to the party, and soon they appear together next to the Chaos Gate. Dash was already pumped up, standing on her hind legs and punching the air. "Alright, guys, what're we gonna do for Fay's first party with us? Fight a dragon? Rescue a princess? Save the world?"

Tiamut rolled his beastly eyes. "Those aren't even in the game, Dash. I think we should let the new guy pick, considering he doesn't know our style," he rumbled.

A style? I was curious as to how these two who are about the same level as me developed a style that quickly. "Alright, well I was to investigate something strange in Delta Chasing Cupid's Belladonna. You think you can handle this?"

They looked over what the area is comprised of. "Oh yeah, this'll be a piece of cake!" Dash exclaimed and she ran around the Chaos Gate. She looked back at her wings and seemed sad, perhaps she wanted to fly?

Tiamut seemed a little more skeptical than Dash. "This seems a little low-level for us. Don't you think we can choose somewhere we can get more experience or better items?"

I shook my head. "I need to investigate this place again, I was attacked here by a player who was supposed to be in the hospital, in a coma." Both of them widened their eyes and shot their brows up. I got them interested, at least. Maybe they'll be a little more trustworthy than MY friends...

They wholeheartedly agreed, and we left toward where I would hopefully find the reason why everypony is falling into comas.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

One thing is right, they said it would be a piece of cake and it was. I stayed at the back while I let the other two take care of most of the enemies. There was always going to be an extra enemy for me to pelt with rocks and fire. We cleared the first floor easily, and we got the where we fought the lizard things again.

They indeed have a style, Dash would take her Pole Arm and take on two at once, keeping them distracted so they don't attack me. Tiamut would take care of the other one by pounding it with his fists, smashing the opponent into the ground and not letting them get back up. Dash would do an air juggle, where she launched an enemy to the air and jumped up after it, doing a combo that knocked it back and did quite a lot of damage. The enemy would usually land near Tiamut, so now he can keep two enemies on the ground - although usually the first enemy is dead by this point - without them getting back up. Dash launches the last enemy, and we take care of the stragglers.

It was a rather effective strategy, but it was rather flawed it tougher enemies appeared that can't be knocked down or launched into the air. That's where the third pony, whom was usually Twilight, would come in and use spells to keep it weakened or use it's elemental weakness. This way everypony was involved and had an important role to beat the hordes of enemies.

In no time at all we cleared the level and began trekking back to the room where I found the comatose patient. As we walked, Dash and Tiamut were talking about life in Ponyville. As I had hoped, they really were the bearers of the Elements of Harmony. I can't believe I hadn't asked about that back at their @Home, but midst all the craziness, I had forgotten to ask. They talked about they're exploits with the others, and how they saved the world twice from Nightmare Moon and Discord. I was going to ask about how they defeated the spirit of chaos and disharmony, but we had reached the room before I could ask.

As I remembered, it was an empty room, with nothing but me and the others. The only thing that was missing was the comatose player stalking towards me to attack. I was rather baffled, where did this pony go? I was so sure he would be here again if I came back. Tiamut and Dash said that we should probably head back, it was getting latter and latter and we weren't finding anything.

I couldn't accept it though, I had come all the way back just to find an empty room! There must be something here that made the pony come, like some sort of trigger or something. I searched high and low on this room finding a whole lot of nothing. I had just about given up hope, when I noticed something out of the corner of my eye.

It was part of the wall, it was shaped slightly differently from the others. I couldn't do it justice in mere words, but something felt... off about that section of wall. I trotted closer despite Dash's complaints that there was nothing here. There, on the wall. It was a...shape. It was in the shape of... a triad. A red triad. There was two lines going from the bottom-left part of the section and the lines meet at the upper-right section, with a third vertical line intersecting the two. The whole thing could be described as a diagonal A.

I motioned for the others to come here and examine it. They came forward and slowed down when they witnessed this sign becoming more solid against the wall. "Whoa, what the hell is going on here? This wasn't here when we came by earlier." Dash sounded really scared. Tiamut just stood there examining the sign, his brows furrowed together.

After a moment, a smell came to my attention. Apparently the other two could smell it too, I could hear them sniffing.

They were dead silent with a look of horror on their face. I wasn't looking at them, though. I was looking at the sign, where the smell seemed to be emanating from. Nopony said anything so I decided to ask.

"Does anypony else smell cotton candy?"

Comments

[NovaSethyr]

I was gonna make this a bit longer, but thought that I would leave the rest off for the next chapter. Nice place to end the chapter, I thought.

As usual, rate and comment on what you liked/hated, spot any mistakes point them out so I can fix them. I take all kinds of criticism, so bring it on!

Also, I plan on having all the Elements of Harmony have a part in the story, don't you worry!

[Awe Striker]

Well, at least the EoH don't have their real names accidentally, like a certain Heavy Axe from the games... I actually really liked that.

I think your decision to leave it off where you did was also a good one.

[NovaSethyr]

@Awe Striker I was planning on having the characters have original names and different avatars from their normal looking selves, but then I quickly realized that seven new characters like that suddenly put into the story could be rather confusing. Thanks for the input!

[Festus]

Whoa, the EoH are here! Lemme guess, Tiamut is Spike? Thought so. Urgh, cotton candy. Why does it ALWAYS have to be cotton candy?!

[Streamline]

Good story so far. It is really reminding me off this book I read called Epic.

[Samusbot]

185046 Epic and Saga are best books ever. EVER! Except for maybe Maximum Ride, Elf Quest, and all things by both Scott Westerfeld and Tamora Pierce. And I agree at how similar this feels.

[Streamline]

222676 I love Maximum Ride and stuff by Scott Westerfield, haven`t had the chance to read Elf Quest or anything my Tamora Pierce yet though.

[Samusbot]

224988 DO IT! THEY ARE THE BEST!

[TacoTown]

dude. this is epic. i need more.

[TacoTown]

...i just realized that that "A" design looks almost exactly like a design i have on a charecter of mine.

[Shao]

did pinkie break the world again?