Fallout Equestria: Blue Destiny

by MagnetBolt

Chapter 51 - Aria di Mezzo Carattere

I stormed out of Cube’s room, about half an atrocity away from exploding and yelling at her, no matter how much I wanted to try and get along with her.

“Hey!” Cube yelled. “Where are you going?!”

“Away from you,” I growled.

“Stupid idiotic-- is this about Wisp?!” Cube demanded. “Come on! I know you’ve killed a bunch of ponies! He was a traitor! What’s the big deal?”

“There’s a big difference between murder and shooting somepony in self-defense!” I snapped.

“I hate family arguments,” Destiny mumbled, the ghost metaphorically burying her face in her hooves.

Cube ran ahead of me, turning around and walking backwards so she could glare at me while we argued. “Really? You’re wearing power armor and you’re basically bulletproof even without it, and you want to complain about fair fights?”

“If you can’t figure out why I don’t like what you did, there’s no point explaining it,” I said. “I’ve had to kill ponies, but I’ve never enjoyed it.”

That wasn’t entirely true, but I had to pretend it was for my own sake.

“You…” Cube puffed up her cheeks, her voice cracking. “I can’t believe I was starting to think you were cool!” She turned to glare down the hallway ahead of us. “And what do you want?!”

A pony was standing there in the deep shadows where one of the overhead lights was out. They were tall and thin, and didn’t answer. I couldn’t make out their features. It was dark enough that I wasn’t even sure they were facing our direction.

“I asked you--!” Cube shouted.

The broken light flickered back to life with the harsh hum of a half-dead halogen bulb. The shadows vanished, and the flat black pony went with them.

I stopped in my tracks. Cube reversed direction until she bumped into me. A chill ran down my spine like somepony had poured ice water into my barding.

“Did you see that too?” Cube whispered.

“Yeah,” I hissed back. “I saw it.”

Cube pulled out a pair of beam pistols. “I’ve got good news, Chamomile. I think you might not be the dumbest pony I have to deal with today.”

“I’m seeing sterile thaum cascades,” Destiny warned. “Now that I know what I’m looking for, the thaumoframe tiles make pretty good detectors.”

“Do you know where they’re coming from?” I asked, looking around. The shadows seemed deeper, more absolute.

“I think it’s roughly… that way.” Destiny popped an arrow up on my heads-up-display. “Don’t ask me to be more exact than a general direction.”

“It’s good enough,” I assured her. I started off, Cube trailing behind me. It took twice as long as it should to find what we were looking for. Destiny’s guess at the direction was perfectly fine, but the college was almost maze-like, and the seemingly open structure belied the number of floors and layout. Just getting to where we needed to go meant going up two floors and down two, just to find the main doorway.

“Oh! There you are!” Ornate Orate said. “We were wondering where you got off to.”

“We had to take care of something,” I said. I looked through the portcullis behind him. “Professor Orate, please tell me you didn’t drag that thing all the way back here.”

Inside, in what had been a gymnasium of some kind, the sporting equipment had been shoved up against the walls and ponies were setting up equipment I couldn’t even begin to identify, all arranged like offerings around the altar of the floating black pyramid that was so out of place here.

“It was quite difficult,” Orate said. “Really fascinating! It was simply impossible to study it in situ, with all the delicate equipment we needed. Much too much trouble. I was taking some initial readings of the anomaly and the idea came to me quite suddenly that it would be easier to do my work in a proper laboratory setting.”

I had to fight back a groan. “And you decided to take it back with you? The giant cursed pyramid?”

The professor scoffed. “Don’t be silly. There’s no such thing as curses. Well, that’s not strictly true, but most so-called curses are just scary stories trying to frighten off vandals. If there is any danger, we are far better equipped to measure it and contain it here. It’s no different from the Sarcophagus of Hoofenkamen or the Trottingham Shales.”

“I really don’t think this is a good idea,” Destiny said. “I’m sure you mean well, but this is a potentially dangerous magical item, not just a historical artifact.”

“You can’t tell me you haven’t noticed the ghosts!” Cube added.

“There you are!” snapped the pony I least wanted to see at that moment. Cypher Decode stormed towards us. He looked like something had broken in him and seeing us was making the sharp edges rub together. “I don’t know what you’re trying to pull--”

Cube and I turned to him, and I saw his expression fall. His pallor turned a few shades more pale. It took me a moment to remember I was wearing a small tank and that I was currently pointing enough firepower in his direction to deal with someone armed with more than just a scowl. Cube’s floating array of guns probably wasn’t helping either, especially with how the shadows were putting her on edge.

“Can I help you?” I asked.

“You did this, didn’t you?” Cube accused, pointing at the floating pyramid. “Do you have any idea how dangerous that thing is? Because I can’t even begin to guess!”

“I didn’t have anything to do with that,” Cypher snorted, breaking eye contact with me to look at the ominous polygon. “It’s a matter for the archeology department.” His voice trailed off as he looked. “It’s so beautiful…”

“If you aren’t here about this mess, why are you here?” I asked. “I hate to sound like my little sis here, but you’re wasting my time and I’m not in the mood!”

Cypher was silent for a long moment, lost and staring into that abyss. He had to force himself to look away. “Some pony showed up out of nowhere with an Admiral’s eagle on his uniform and asking to see you.”

“It must be one of my father’s allies,” Cube sighed. “I’ll go and talk to them, they’re probably acting as a middleman--”

“Not you,” Cypher snorted. “Her. Chamomile.”

“Why?” I asked, confused. The last time I’d met an admiral, he’d ended up dead. I think. He couldn’t have survived being stabbed and falling out of the sky in an exploding cloudship, right?

“How should I know?!” Cypher snapped. “He won’t even talk to me! He just wants you!”

“Ugh,” Cube groaned, scrunching her snout. “Chamomile, go figure out what trouble you got us into. I’m going to do something useful and get these computer parts to the librarians. Maybe I can dig up answers on this… anomaly.”

---

I hesitated outside the Dean’s door.

“What do you think?” I asked Destiny. “Helmet on or off?”

“On,” she said without hesitation. “With the way things are going today, it’s probably going to be ten zebra assassins in a trenchcoat.”

“I’ll watch out for snipers,” I promised, pushing the door open without knocking. Inside, the Dean was the only pony I’d seen today who was actually in a good mood. He laughed pleasantly and sipped from a steaming mug. He waved over to me from where he was sitting at one of the low tables to the side of the room, apparently having a pleasant cup of tea.

“There she is,” the Dean said. “Warrant Officer Chamomile! You’re right on time.”

The other pony levitated his mug up in a pale grey magical grip, not turning yet. He was wearing the clean, pressed uniform of an Enclave Admiral, full of medals and practically glowing with gold thread.

“I was told somepony wanted to see me?” I asked.

“Yes,” the Admiral said gruffly. The unicorn glanced at me and stroked his long beard for a moment. “Dean, is this office secure?”

“Absolutely,” the Dean promised.

“Good. Could I have a few moments alone with the Warrant Officer? I need to discuss a matter of national security.”

“Of course, of course. Anything for someone so highly respected. I’ll be right outside if you need anything!” The Dean got up, bowing slightly and walking out calmly, smiling the whole time. The old unicorn waited for him to leave.

“What are you doing here?” I hissed. “The last time I saw you--”

He held up a hoof, looked around, and cast a quick spell, a wave of magic washing over the room, outlining everything for a moment.

“There. A simple privacy spell,” he said. “As if I didn’t notice the three separate listening devices in here! The arrogance of ponies in this age! The last thing I need is even more contamination of the timeline, you’d think they could do me the simple favor of cooperating.”

“Cool, good, great. I have a few questions.”

“I’m sure you do--”

I grabbed him by the collar. “No. You’re not ducking out of them this time. I’m getting really tired of the mysterious stranger act!”

“Chamomile--” Destiny warned.

The stallion’s horn was glowing. I could feel him on the verge of casting a spell.

“I had to go hoof-to-hoof with a really angry alicorn today,” I said. “If you think you can hit harder than that, go ahead.”

He looked shocked at that.

“They shouldn’t even start being a presence for another decade…” he mumbled. “It can’t be anything I’ve done, could it? Damn.” He slumped. The glow around his horn faded. “Chamomile, I am not here to fight you. I couldn’t even if I wanted.”

“Then give me some answers!” I yelled. “You obviously know what’s going on!”

“I do,” he said. “I know a lot of what has happened, some of what is happening, and a tiny, precious sliver of what will happen.” He looked down. He just seemed so… old. Even older than he appeared.

I let him go. I was starting to feel guilty about marehandling him like that. “Start with your name. I can’t keep calling you Old Man.”

He snorted. “My students regularly called me worse things.”

“You know my name. If you want me to keep trusting you, I want to know yours.”

The stallion hesitated, tapped his hoof against the ground for a moment in deep consideration. “I suppose it won’t change much. Star Swirl. My name is Star Swirl. As you’ve already guessed, this uniform isn’t authentic, but it does help open doors.”

“Star Swirl?” Destiny said, practically squeaking. “But-- that’s impossible! Star Swirl vanished a thousand years ago! Plus a few extra centuries!”

“Somepony famous?” I asked.

“He practically invented every spell that survived the Dark Ages!” Destiny whispered. “All modern magic is built on his principles!”

Star Swirl adjusted his uniform, trying to look humble and just looking like that particular brand of smug that comes from trying too hard. “That is among my many achievements,” he conceded. “I have also, from time to time, been known to save Equestria.”

“You’re a little late for that,” I said. “I know you’ve seen what it’s like down there.”

“Yes,” Star Swirl agreed. “There are limits to what I can do. I can’t go back far enough to change that. All I can do is… try to put things on the right path.” He shrugged. “Guiding the right ponies where they need to go to prevent disasters.”

“Go back?” I frowned.

“I remember reading a few things about time travel spells, but none of them ever worked properly,” Destiny said. “There was a theoretical framework but all you could do were causal loops. If you wanted to change the past, the power requirements grow to an asymptote reaching infinity. It can’t be done.”

“I’ve had time to work on the problem,” Star Swirl said. “The details aren’t important, but it’s been like… being lost in a forest, with every path branching off over and over again. I know there must be a way out, but so far every trail ends in disaster. So I backtrack and try again. And again.”

“What kind of disaster?” I asked. “That pyramid in the gym?”

“They put the damn thing in a gym?” Star Swirl scoffed. “Of course they would. Yes, that’s one disaster I have to deal with. I consider it sort of a, ah, a personal responsibility. There are other, smaller ones. Making sure the right good ponies don’t get killed so they can help others a few years from now. Making sure other ponies don’t get a chance to hurt them. That sort of thing. It makes for a rather packed schedule, even when I try to interfere as little as possible.”

“How do we kill the pyramid?”

“You can’t shoot it to death, if that’s what you’re asking. Miss Sparkle would have done that herself if it was possible.” Star Swirl rubbed his temples. “I can’t stick around to help. Packed schedule. You need to find the Alpha. It’s in the College. It should be able to put you on the right path.”

“Wait, I have so many questions,” Destiny said. “How are you here? Are you immortal? Is it a timey-wimey thing? How does time travel work?”

“I’m not immortal,” Star Swirl scoffed. “If I was immortal I wouldn’t be so damn old! And unlike you, I didn’t go and get myself killed just so I could stick around without a proper body, so don’t accuse me of being undead, either! Kids these days.”

“Find the Alpha,” I said. “Where should I start looking?”

“I can’t hold your hoof through everything,” Star Swirl said. “And more to the point…” He stopped and looked at the door. It burst open, and Cypher Decode stormed in, the Dean following.

“--Can’t be having secret meetings in my college!” Decode shrieked.

“I’m so sorry, Admiral,” the Dean said. “I tried to stop him.”

“Yes, I’m sure you did,” Star Swirl said. “What’s your name, boy?”

Cypher narrowed his eyes. “I don’t answer to some Admiral who shows up unannounced with suspect paperwork!”

“His name is Cypher Decode,” I supplied.

“Thank you, Warrant Officer,” Star Swirl said. His horn lit up and he tugged on the pink sash. “And a political officer, I see. I’ll have to put this on my report. I’m sure your superiors will be very interested in what I have to say.”

Cypher’s eyes widened.

Star Swirl looked back at me. “Thank you for your time, Warrant Officer. Dean Snowfall, thank you for the tea and the use of your office. Miss Chamomile, would you see me out?”

I nodded and walked out after him. Star Swirl slammed the door closed just as the Dean and Decode started arguing.

“What a bunch of annoying mules,” Star Swirl muttered. He stomped off. “You get going and see to your task.”

“The exit is the other way,” I said. “You’re going towards the guest rooms.”

“I know,” Star Swirl said. “Your evil little sister very kindly set up a back door. How did you think I got in?” He smirked and vanished in a flash of teleportation.

I shook my head. “Wild.”

“We’d better do what he said,” Destiny said, sounding almost giddy. “I can’t believe we’re on a mission from Star Swirl the Bearded!”

---

“Well, I’m familiar with the word, certainly,” Ornate Orate said. “Alpha is the first letter of the Minotauran alphabet. As that tends to be the language of mathematics and formal logic, it’s a popular choice to use it as a placeholder for just about anything. Angular acceleration, the coefficient of thermal expansion, azimuth, aerodynamic angle-of-attack…” He shook his head. “I doubt any of that is what you’re looking for.”

“He made it sound more like a specific thing,” I said.

Ornate Orate nodded. “This reminds me of something. One of the real differences between your father and mother. It’s also about the difference between archaeology and grave robbing. They were students at the time, and they were assisting with the excavation of a delicate site used as a dumping ground during construction of one of our mountaintop Stables.”

I sat down. I could tell this story was going to take a little while.

“The site was very important, not just because it was relatively undisturbed after over a century and a half, but because it might contain useful artifacts as well as contextual information. Each student in the glass was given a square in a grid, about two meters to a side. Your father and mother had very different approaches to how they attacked their tasks. Your mother focused on identifying valuable artifacts and retrieving them, and exhausted her grid in only a few hours. Your father, on the other hoof, removed layer by careful layer, noting the depth each item was found at, how it was found, and so on. When they were finished, he had only managed to get a few hoof-widths down, and most of what he’d found was still in the dirt because he hadn’t yet removed all the soil.

“Naturally, they both failed the course. Your mother had a few trinkets, but no data. Your father had plenty of information, but no results. The journey is more important than the destination, but you still have to arrive somewhere.”

“So…” I motioned for him to tell me how this was relevant.

“So whoever told you to find this ‘Alpha’ probably wants you to go on a journey of discovery!” Ornate Orate chuckled. “If doing the work to find it wasn’t important, they would just tell you what you needed to know.”

“I guess that’s possible,” Destiny said. “He was known for his hooves-off teaching methods.”

“His smug aura mocks me,” I mumbled.

“Don’t worry,” Ornate Orate said. “I’m sure the quest will be rewarding and enlightening! You might have to search every corner of this college, perhaps even solving some wartime mysteries and conspiracies to find this ‘Alpha’--”

“Are you guys talking about the game?” A passing student asked.

I blinked slowly. “Game?”

The student nodded. “Sure! Alpha! It’s a game on the school maneframe! I heard it’s finally gonna be up and running again!”

“I think I’m gonna start there,” I said. I patted Ornate Orate on the shoulder. “Thanks for the help.”

---

“Explain it to me again, but slower and with words that have like, two syllables max,” I said.

The nerd sighed and adjusted his glasses. I hadn’t asked his name but I was absolutely sure learning it would make me want to stuff him into a locker. He had that smug, smart look that had taunted me from other ponies for most of my life.

We’d been pointed to a small room with a few well-padded chairs and a whole bank of computers. Nopony else was using them for the moment, which saved me the trouble of having to use my very real and not fake authority to commandeer it for myself.

“The game isn’t really called Alpha,” he said. “It’s just what the file is named. It’s what’s called an alpha version. That means something that isn’t finished yet, and major features are still being added.”

“And you didn’t invent it?”

“No. It’s a very old game. Pre-war. It probably wasn’t ever finished anywhere. It’s a virtual reality massively multiplayer game that--”

“Smaller words,” I begged.

“If you put this on your head--” he held up a metal halo attached by wires to a maneframe terminal. “--it makes it seem like you’re inside the game. The game is designed to have lots of players all playing it at once, in a big shared world.”

Destiny floated closer to the metal ring. It glowed faintly from within. “This isn’t Equestrian technology. I mean, not exactly.”

“It’s very advanced,” the student said. “We can’t replace it and even repairs are really, really difficult. Please be careful.”

“Don’t worry, I recognize some of the basic manufacturing processes,” Destiny said dismissively. “Chamomile, this is BrayTech.”

I frowned. That was one heck of a coincidence. “Are you sure?”

“Absolutely. There’s no way this was made with any Stable-Tec junk. These transistors use the high-detail photolithography we were working on. It even uses some of the same thaumatic resonance circuits as the Exodus armor.”
The armor in question was sitting back in my room, because I’d been asked politely not to bring heavy weapons into the library.

“Does that make it more safe or less safe?”

“In this case, more safe,” Destiny assured me. “I don’t know exactly how this works, but we can trust the hardware not to randomly try and murder us.”

“Us is a pretty big assumption.”

“If this works the way I think it does, it might work for me!” Destiny said, sounding almost giddy. “I mean, it can’t hurt to try, right?”

I looked at the nerd. He tilted his chin up, thinking.

“It might work,” he admitted. “It would certainly be interesting to try…”

“I wouldn’t mind having some backup in there,” I said. “I don’t know much about games.”

“I wasn’t exactly a gamer myself, but I know the basics,” Destiny said. She settled down on one of the padded chairs.

The nerd tapped a few keys on one of the keyboards. “Everything seems to be working. It doesn’t seem like the maneframe going down damaged any of the files, so we’re ready whenever you are.”

I took a deep breath and got comfortable in a seat, letting the nerd put the crown over my head.

“Is there anything I should know before we start this thing?” I asked. “Like, if we die in the game, do we die for real?

“What? No! That would be a terrible design.” The young pony looked appalled. “The game should explain everything when you get in. It sort of… customizes the experience to each user.”

“That’s strange,” Destiny said. “I never heard of a game doing something like that.”

“Like I said, it never got out of testing,” the student reminded her. “Maybe if the bombs never fell we’d all be playing it, but for now, this is the only copy in the world! As far as I know.”

“Let’s try this thing,” I said. “And if it kills me, I’m going to come back as a ghost haunting the computer.”

“Eh, it’s not a great experience,” Destiny said.

“Maybe I’ll haunt the locker room instead.”

“Gross, but definitely more you.”

“Here we go!” The student said, hoof hovering over a big red button. “Diving in!”

He slammed his hoof down, and everything went black.

---

I’d been in enough memory orbs to recognize the feeling at this point. There was a kind of slightly detached sensation, as if you were one wrong step from seeing your body from the outside. Unlike every memory orb I’d ever seen, when I tried raising my hoof to look at it, my body responded.

“Woah,” I said. “Okay. I guess something worked.”

I blinked slowly and looked around. I’d appeared on a stone platform, like a circular stage. A road stretched out in front of it, and everything around was so… so… green! It was even more lush than the valley where I’d met the zebra tribe, warm and bright and sunny and beautiful. I could feel the wind in my face, the stone under my hooves.

“Oh my gosh,” a pony gasped. “Chamomile, it worked!”

I looked to the side expecting to see a floating helmet. That was the only way I’d really seen Destiny. Looking through her eyes in one of her memories didn’t count.

She stood next to me, marveling at herself, looking back at her own flank like she’d never seen it before. Destiny was a slightly chubby mare, not fat but just a little out of shape. Her coat was like ice, white with a blue underlayer that showed mostly in the shadows. Destiny’s mane hung in stripes of purple, orange, and red, sparkling just slightly in the bright sunlight. Freckles dotted her cheeks and ears in every color of the rainbow.

“I can’t believe it!” she gasped. “This is amazing!”

She stopped looking at herself to look up at me.

“Huh, you aren’t as tall as I remember,” she noted.

“That’s because you’re not a disembodied helmet,” I reminded her.

She teared up and for a second I was afraid I’d really upset her. Instead, Destiny pulled me into a hug, and I could feel the warmth against my chest.

“I’m so sorry. Everything that happened is because I made SIVA! I never wanted to hurt anypony, and I’ve been dragging you into everything and… I just get so scared sometimes and I can never say anything and I’m feeling really overwhelmed right now and--”

“Hey, it’s okay,” I said softly. I reached up to pat her head, and found my right forehoof was just flesh and bone. That was fine. I gave her a soft pat. “A lot of bad stuff has happened, but not because of you. We’re trying to fix it, because we’re the good guys. Fixing it just means we have to get our hooves dirty, right?”

She sniffled and nodded, pulling away and wiping her eyes. “You’re right. I just… I haven’t felt this alive in a long, long time. It’s easy to start… I don’t know. Sometimes I’m worried I’ll end up like one of those feral ghouls.”

“You won’t,” I promised, putting a hoof on her shoulder. “You’ve got me to keep you grounded.”

She nodded, smiling through the tears in her eyes. I decided it was a good time to try and distract her with something else.

“So what is this place?” I asked, looking around. “Any idea?”

“It sort of looks like Equestria,” Destiny said. “I mean, before the war and all. Back when things were still green. I don’t know where in Equestria, though. I can’t see Canterlot and… that’s about the only landmark I really knew. I didn’t travel much.”

I nodded. “Okay. The nerd said the game would explain itself, but so far I don’t have a single clue what we’re doing.”

“There’s a road,” Destiny pointed out. “We’re probably supposed to follow it.”

“Fair enough.” I bowed slightly. “Lead the way. You’re in charge.”

Destiny nodded. “I’m not sure exactly what to expect, but this place looks safe enough. Let me know if you see anything--” she stepped off the stone platform, and the moment her hoof touched the cobblestone road, something moved so fast it was just a shadowy blur and ran out into the road in front of us.

Destiny squeaked in surprise.

“Random encounter!” she yelled. “Kill it!”

“Wait!” the random encounter yelled. “I’m here to help!”

I stopped mid charge, and looked at Destiny. She shrugged. I looked back at what had suddenly shown up in front of us. It was a pony-shaped thing with a pony-like voice and moving in a way similar to ponies. It might have been a pony.

I wasn’t entirely sure because it was wearing a soft cloth suit and cloak that covered its whole body except for the hooves, with a bright red bandanna around the muzzle concealing everything the shadows of its hood didn’t. Aside from a few bright puffs of pink mane, anyway.

“Welcome, Heroes of Light!” the (probably) pony said. “I’m sorry if I scared you. I saw you appear and I hid because I wanted to give you a little sqinchy pinchy bit to look around and get comfortable, and then you were leaving and I was still hiding and I wanted to make a dramatic entrance!”

“Uh…” I hesitated.

“Heroes of Light?” Destiny asked, sounding extremely amused.

The cloaked pony nodded. “Yeperooni! You two are clearly the destined Heroes of Light. Which, let me tell you, is a real good thing because we could use some heroes and I think you two could use some hero-ing!”

“I have no idea what that means,” I said.

“Is it part of a prophecy?” Destiny guessed.

“How did you know?” the cloaked pony gasped. “Wow! I didn’t know Heroes knew about the prophecy!”

“No, I just… had a pretty good guess,” Destiny sighed. She looked at me. “Prophecies and ancient legends always come up in games, and all of them are real, and all of them come true. It’s just how things work.”

“Well since you’re so wise, you probably want to know the details, huh?” The masked pony leaned in and elbowed Destiny lightly. “I know you can’t see it, but I’m wiggling my eyebrows all conspiratorially!”

“Go ahead,” Destiny said. “We’re supposed to do something in this game, we might as well start by playing along.”

I nodded. It was smart, and she was the leader anyway.

The cloaked pony cleared her throat. “Long ago, the pony nations lived in harmony. Magic ran freely through the world, as much a part of it as the other elements of Water, Fire, Earth, and Air. But a terrible being known as Chaos appeared, and plunged the world into turmoil! He broke the natural order, and nearly ended the world! Princess Celestia and Princess Luna managed to banish him, and restored order to the land. They used their magic to create four great crystals, one for each of the common elements, and hid them deep in temples where they keep the cycles of the world in check. The pure Magic of the world is locked away, used up to prevent the earth from crumbling, the seas from drying up, fire from growing cold, and wind from going still. But now the forces of Chaos seek to free him again, and only Heroes from outside our world, carrying new Magic from another realm, have the power to stop him!”

“Yeah, this is a pretty standard setup,” Destiny whispered. “Crystals, elements, some big bad evil guy.”

“So all we have to do is thump this Chaos dude?” I asked. “Doesn’t sound that hard.”

“Well the first thing we should do is check on the crystals,” the pony said. “Wait, no! Actually, the first thing we should do is introduce ourselves! I can tell you’re a Wizard, and I bet you’re a Fighter!” She pointed to Destiny, then me.

“I guess that’s more or less right,” Destiny said. “I’d like to think of myself more as an engineer than a spellcaster.”

“I happen to have, by total coincidence, some very useful supplies!” the masked pony produced a blue robe, wide-brimmed hat, and staff, and offered them to Destiny. She took them, amused, and put them on.

“What do you think?” she asked. “Do I look like a wizard?”

“Definitely,” I said.

“And a fighter needs some armor,” the pony continued. “Hmmm…” She rubbed her chin. “How do you feel about swords?”

I shrugged. “I like swords.”

“Great!” She produced a set of light metal armor and a broad sword. Destiny helped me get it on, her magic making the straps a lot easier to manage. When we were finished, the masked pony nodded in approval. “Perfect. We’re a balanced party! Fighter, mage, and rouge!”

“You mean rogue,” Destiny corrected. “A rogue is a thief. Rouge is a kind of blush.”

“I’m pretty sure I know what I mean,” the Rouge said. “Are you two ready for a grand and amazing adventure with a few fetch quests, a tiny bit of backtracking, and one or more scenes of fantasy violence, rated T for Teen?”

Destiny and I looked at each other.

“Yes?” Destiny guessed.

“Great! Let’s go to the Earth Shrine! It’s conveniently close and appropriate for your first dungeon!”

Comments

[star1wars3]

one or more scenes of fantasy violence, rated T for Teen

Oh my, I hope it's not too much for Chamomile.

[Reese]

"Each student in the glass was given a square"
"Each student in the class was given a square"?

Thanks for writing!

[Thought Prism]

And suddenly some sort of Memory Pinkie is leading them around in a VR game. I bet there's some important lore in the game relevant to the current IRL issues they're facing, otherwise Star Swirl would have pointed them elsewhere.

[Ahsoka Tano]

Cham literally shoots a collaborator in cold blood too get in cozy with the dashites yet gets upset about shooting a deserter.

Sword art online meets avatar :P