• Published 22nd Jan 2013
  • 11,106 Views, 854 Comments

Equestria Legends Online - Shadowflame



A New virtual reality MMO goes screwy with the arrival of discord. Now over a thousand bronies are trapped in a virtual reality, and the only way out is to play Discord's game. Will they collect the Elements of Harmony in time, or die trying?

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June 30th (The Change In Rules)

Life in Equestria, well, the virtual Equestria rather, starts almost the same everyday. The sun rises, though no one really knows if Celestia raises it or not, seeing as she hasn't been found in the game, and the day begins for every player in the country. Everyone gets up from their beds, joins up with their teams for breakfast, or if they're solo players, they go find something to eat. Though some players do have different agendas, like taking care of their weapons, heading out of town to do training on monsters, and sometimes, just goofing off with their friends.

After more than 5 months of living like this, almost every player considered it to be their regular life style. Even though they were all humans before, they were becoming more comfortable living as ponies. Heck some of them felt they might as well have been born as ponies, but the reality of the situation kept them from dwelling on the fact for very long. But either way, life in Equestria was starting to become.... in a word, normal.

That is, until today.

Today started out like any day. Players all over Equestria, whether it be Trottingham, Canterlot, Ponyville, Manehatten, anywhere, were all getting ready for the start of the new day. But then, a certain draconequus appeared... everywhere.

All at once, at exactly 10:37 AM, Discord went viral.

Any players eating breakfast this morning stopped in shock as their player menus opened by themselves. In the dungeons, players were confused as the monsters they were currently fighting instantly froze. And everywhere else a player was, the same sort of thing happened, before a small digital window opened up within sight of everyone. Inside this little window, Discord's face popped into view, like a character inside a TV.

Discord's voice echoed across Equestria, "Hello, my little ponies. Good morning to you all. Just so you know, this is a nationwide broadcast, which means that every single player who is still alive can hear me. I have some very... er, 'breaking' news.

"You see, out of the ten elements I've hidden, it seems that seven of them have been found. Now that we're entering the final three, I think some rule changes need to be taken into account.

"Firstly, from this point forward in the game, only a certain group of players may enter the boss rooms and fight the boss. And by this 'certain group', I mean any team that already has at least one of the Elements of Harmony as a team member. Everyone else, the boss rooms are off limits, and the Elements of Harmony cannot add any more players into their own team, save for party members they once had in the past.

"Secondly, ever since our game started, we all know that two areas of Equestria had been closed off from any players: The Badlands and the Crystal Empire. Well, that is no longer relevant. These areas are now open to all players... Though travelling through them will be even more dangerous than you think. I doubt that half of you who are still alive at this point could even set hoof towards either place without dying.

Discord chuckled darkly, "Now, you might think that this all unfair, that I am purposefully changing the rules for my own personal gain. But I'm going to give you all a little something to help you with these new rules. I will show you my three, final champions to defend the elements."

Suddenly, the screen flickered and three silhouettes of ponies appeared in Discord's place.

The first of the silhouettes soon filled in with color, revealing who it was.

Her coat was a black carapace, hard like a bug's. Her legs were filled with holes, like Swiss cheese, and the same could be said about her drooping, dark green mane. A pair of hole filled, bug wings buzzed on her back, and a long, crooked horn on top of her head. And everyone in Equestria knew who she was...

Discord's voice floated through the projection, "As you all know, this here is Queen Chrysalis of the changelings. She is the first of my champions. The element she's guarding will be hidden with her in the changeling hive, in the wilderness of the badlands. But getting there will only be half of the battle, and then, the Elements of Harmony will have to defeat her. After she is defeated and her Element is recovered, then my next champion will be waiting for you."

The next figure beside Chrysalis then revealed itself. It was a black and gray, unicorn stallion. His horn, a deep shade of crimson, curved upwards like a knife, and his black mane and tail floated behind him like wisps of smoke. Fangs replaced some of his teeth, which was surprising since unicorns are supposed to be herbivores. He wore metal hoof guards and a red and white, 'king's' cloak on his back. And his eyes, the biggest giveaway to his identity, glowed red, with streams of green aura waving out of the corner of them.

"Say 'Hello' to King Sombra, my second champion, and in my opinion, the most underrated of this game's villans. Sure, he's not quite as good as me, but he can still be particularly nasty. His likes are stairs, crystals, and taking strolls in his dungeon. This tyrannical king will be waiting for you in the Crystal Empire, and it will be equally dangerous to reach it like the badlands. And after him..."

And then, the final figure illuminated into color. The final silhouette form was that of a giant, black alicorn. With blue armor covering her body, a starry-sky mane and tail drifted from their respective places. Her flank was adorned with a purple crescent moon, as well as the chest piece of her armor.

"We have the one, the only, Nightmare Moon. Princess of the Night, being of darkness, and my third champion. Though she is the final boss for you to defeat, she'd rather keep her current location a secret. Which means you'll have to find her on your own when the time comes."

Discord laughed in the background as the three villains on the screen disappeared, having been replaced by the draconequus, "Well, there you have it. Everything from here on out is free game. And whether you choose to obey the rules or not, that's up to you. Just know your lives are on the line, and mine isn't. Now, a quick word to the Elements of Harmony."

He smirked at the screen, "You better hurry up now. Little Queen Chrysy is waiting, and so is every other player in this game. The sooner you get to the badlands, the better for you. That is all, Arrivederci!"

And with that, the Draconequus disappeared and the rest of the game proceeded like the announcement hadn't happened... Of course, that's not including the reactions of hundreds of players across Equestria that followed after.

_______________________________________________________________________________________________

Soul banged his hooves against the wood table, clearly agitated, "Argh! What is that damned draconequus up to now?"

Cloud was as equally grumpy, slouching in his chair with his arms folded in a humph, "You and me both, dude. I swear, that oversized snake is just waiting to spring a trap on us, and we won't have anybody around to help us out when he does."

Cross, trying to keep a more optimistic view, wrapped an arm around his dragon pal, "Hey, don't worry about that. So far, we've had to fight every single boss with our team alone, and we're still going strong. We can take whatever he throws our way."

As for me, I sat in my seat, leaning my head against a hoof with my arm propped up on the table. Right now, our whole group was sitting in the castle's conference room, waiting for Jupiter to arrive.

After Discord's nationwide appearance, Jupiter had called an emergency meeting with us, the Elements of Harmony. Apparently, we needed to sort out what we were going to do next, but the one who called the meeting had yet to show.

I sighed as I watched everyone else and their own reactions to Discord's sudden announcement. Out of the twelve of us present, seven of us were griping on about our rule change. The others weren't quite so.

Of course, there was me, and I will admit that I myself was annoyed by this sudden rule change. But with my group ranting on about it, I was starting to find *them* more annoying. Well, not all of them, though.

Cross was being his usual optimistic self, smiling and all. He was busy trying to get the others in a lighter mood.

Comet was busy idly twirling a knife in her hoof, a challenging grin plastered on her face. She was the only one present who was rearing to head off after the next boss, Queen Chrysalis. In truth, from her expression, I was beginning to think she was wondering how cutting open a changeling feels like.... Sometimes, I think she scares me more than Sky did.

Eclipse just sat along the sidelines with a scowl on his face. He wasn't quite happy about the rule change either, but at least he kept from griping with the others. He wasn't really outspoken to begin with, so he just listened while everyone else ranted on.

And Dylan... He acted the same way had been for the past few weeks. He just stared down at the conference table glumly, too depressed to care about what anyone else was saying.

I let out another sigh. He'd been like this ever since Sky left the team. After we returned from Hollow Shades, I would always find Dylan walking around the castle aimlessly. And whenever we were training, his mind would constantly drift to another place. In fact, he's already almost been killed by this.

But that only happened for the first few weeks. A few days after my message to Sky, I began noticing that Dylan was starting to act more and more like himself again, almost as if he were finally getting over Sky's disappearance. I thought that he was going to be alright from then on. It's like that old phrase: Time heals all wounds...

However, judging by the way Dylan was acting now, I think Discord's announcement opened up that wound again. But, I'm not quite sure how it did.

I mentally noted that I'd have to ask him about that later, because at that moment, the doors to the conference room burst open. All 12 of us were immediately silenced by the sound of the slamming door, and through the threshold, a rather pissed looking Jupiter walked into the room.

Grinding his teeth silently, Jupiter took his place at the head of the conference table, giving us a serious look that said he meant business.

"Well, we all know what just barely happened, so let me get right to the point. Discord has banned everyone except you twelve, and possibly Sky, from entering the remaining boss rooms. This means that for the next three boss battles, you'll be on your own during then.

"However, I guess we can thank Discord for revealing the areas where Chrysalis and Sombra are hiding, but you will still need to explore a bit to find where their rooms are. So I've called you all together to debrief you on the journey ahead of you.

"Now, the first boss out of the remaining three is Queen Chrysalis, who is located in the badlands. The badlands are about three days travel from here on hoof, but it should only take you a day to reach the border by airship. But after that, who knows how long it'll take to find the changeling hive."

Soul frowned, "Wait, are you saying that you don't know where the changeling hive is?"

"That's correct, Soul. Since Discord sealed off both the badlands and the Crystal Empire from players, it's very likely that he has changed the locations of everything there. The boss room that had been previously programmed there will most likely been moved to a different place inside the badlands."

"But what if it hasn't?" Violet Runner inquired.

Jupiter held up a hoof, "Hold on, I'm getting to that. I will provide the coordinates and directions to where the boss room was programmed to be before. If it's not there, then you will have to search for it across all of the badlands.

"In other words, you may be out in the badlands searching for the boss longer than you think. So, before you all depart for the badlands, I need all of you to move your things out of your team bases and then store them on the airship, Westfalia."

"Why?" Eclipse asked.

"Because, we are going to sell your homes for extra bits."

Dylan was the first to react, "Wait, what?!"

Before everyone else could join the uproar, Jupiter cut them off sharply, "I'm sorry, but your team bases won't be of use anymore to you. The three next bosses have been revealed, and in order to beat them as soon as possible, you'll all need to keep traveling. So, from this point on, your airship will be your new home."

Swift shrugged from hearing that, "Oh, well. No complaining there."

"I don't know." Violet added, "I will do it, sure, but it's going to stink to sell off my forge."

"Don't worry," Jupiter spoke again, "I wouldn't ask you to do this unless it was necessary. Since only you twelve can fight Queen Chrysalis and the other bosses, the best chance of survival would be to upgrade your gear.

"So, after I disband this meeting, I want you all to return to your bases and start moving your possessions onto the airship. After that, sell the buildings, and then return here to armor up."

"And then we set off for the badlands?" Lexus asked.

Jupiter nodded, "Yes, that's right."

"Hold on," Comet interjected, "I know Discord said that only we could fight the boss, but that didn't mean only we can search for the boss room, right? Why don't we get some other players to help us search?"

Jupiter shook his head, "Sorry, Comet, but I don't think anybody can help you here. The closest town to the badlands is Appleousa, but as of a few weeks ago, the town has almost become completely deserted. I probably couldn't get a hold of any players there if I wanted to. And you would most likely reach the badlands before any players could walk there from a different town."

"Then why don't we bring some of our guild members along with us on the ship?" Siren asked.

"We can't send them with you, because they are either out at other cities on side quests, or I need them later for a scouting mission up to the north."

"A scouting mission up north?" I asked. Just from hearing it, I was a bit confused. Why would we need to scout the area up north in a time like this?

"You see, Shadow, while your group searches for the changeling hive, the rest of the guild will be searching the northern wastelands; It's a barren piece of land that is constantly being pestered by snow storms. It's the only thing that separates Equestria from the Crystal Empire. While you're gone, I hope to find a safe route through it to the empire... However, there is another matter up north I want investigated."

"What is it?" I asked.

"You should ask, 'Who is it?' instead." Jupiter replied, "Not too long ago, I received a report from Manehatten, saying that one of their teams spotted a certain individual hanging out alone near the northern wastelands. They didn't quite see his player ID, but they described him as an icy blue, cyan unicorn, without any kind of weapon equipped to himself."

Cloud frowned, "What's so interesting about that?"

"I believe this player might've been Sharky."

Sharky? The supposedly dead admin? I hadn't seen or heard of him ever since the Canterlot party we had months ago. In fact, I remember him more than the others, because... Well, I had been the only one who saw them.

The hallway was left dark, just to give the sign to any wandering party guests that they weren't supposed to be there. But I lit up the dark hallway with my magic, which cast off a bright red glow.

I continued to walk through the restricted castle hallways, focusing on my surroundings. But then, I stopped in the hallway as I noticed a single door that was open, and the light inside it was on. I raised a curious eyebrow as I realized that the room in question was Jupiter's office.

I thought to myself, Hm, that's weird. Why would Jupiter be up here when his own party is downstairs? Being curious as I was, I decided to investigate. Slowly and quietly, I peeked through the door to the office to see who was there.

But my eyes widened as I found that it wasn't Jupiter in the office, but rather somepony else. This stranger was a cerulean blue, thin, unicorn stallion. He had a dark blue mane, streaked with a sky blue color. I also noticed that this guy didn't have any cutie mark on his flank; It was completely blank. I glanced at his player ID, it read: Sharky.

"So, you found a dead admin that had disappeared since the start of ELO?" Cloud asked.

"Maybe." Jupiter replied, "But that's not important right now. Since I don't have much else to tell you, I'll let you leave now to pack up your things for the journey ahead of you. Once you've done that, sell your bases and return here with the money so we can suit you all up with better gear. You are all dismissed."

With that, everyone got up from their seats and started off towards the door. I was about to walk out with my group, but a hoof stopped me from proceeding. I looked to find that it was Jupiter's.

"Hold on a moment, Shadow." He said, "I need to speak with you alone for a moment."

I nodded and, turning back to the rest of my group, gestured for them to leave. The door leading out of the conference room slammed shut once they left, leaving me and Jupiter behind.

As soon as the doors closed, Jupiter's expression changed to a scowl, "As you know, Shadow, I'm still cross with you for letting Sky walk off with the Element of Willpower. I hope this won't be an issue for this boss battle, will it?"

I groaned. For once, this was a topic that I hated discussing with him. Sky leaving, taking the next element with him, Dylan's depression, the extra hoops we had to jump through to keep his disappearance as unnoticeable as possible. Honestly, I had never seen Jupiter so angry before when we had returned from Hollow Shades.

I gave a humph, "Look, Jupiter, I made the decision to let Sky go on his own. As the leader of my team, I have to think of what would be best for them. I already told you that this was a journey that Sky needed to take alone."

Jupiter's scowl deepened, "I know that. I'm asking you if you know whether he'll come back or not. There will come a day when all ten elements need to be together in order to defeat Discord and get out us out of this blasted game. So, how do you know he's not gone for good?"

That sentence stopped me in my tracks. Ever since Sky had gone, everyday just revealed how much we needed him. That's why I had sent him a message that one night, asking him to return. The problem was that I had sent that message a couple of weeks ago. By now, since Sky hadn't returned, I was beginning to doubt he ever would.

But my subconscious wouldn't let me give up on my best friend so easily. I looked Jupiter in the eye and replied, "I don't know. But I do know that he'll keep fighting for us, even if he's not at our side."

Jupiter paused, but then sighed, "You had better be right, Shadow. You're dismissed."

Nodding, I turned back to the door and exited the room, on my way back to Team Equitum's base.

_______________________________________________________________________________________________

About an hour or so later, all three of our teams had packed up our belongings and took them aboard Westfalia, which was parked just outside the castle. After everything was moved out that we could take, the team leaders, Violet, Eclipse, and I, had to sell our old team bases, just like Jupiter instructed. But surprisingly, it was a bit difficult to sell our base. And by that, I don't mean it was hard to just push a few buttons in my player menu to sell the property.

Rather, I mean it was a bit hard to make myself do it. After all, this had been my team's home for months now. This was the only home we had, where we could relax and settle down after a rough day, or simply just hang out. Selling the base felt like I was selling away the memories my team had together in here, though most of those were of us goofing off. I chuckled a bit as I remembered the occasional prank or two that Cross and Cloud would play on the rest of us, like repainting Sky's room pink once. (I like to say the two pranksters just barely got away with their lives that day). Or the few games we played together as a team, or even a few fights as well.

No, I wasn't too fond of the idea of selling the team base, but Jupiter had ordered it and he was the reason why we even got this base in the first place. Although, I was at least content, so long as I received a fairly large amount of bits from selling the property. Of course, not everyone was quite as happy.

After I had sold the base, my team returned to the castle to get some better armor. But when we got there, I was told by Neon how she and Soul had to literally drag Violet out of his forge so they could sell the place. He was whining for most of the time. Poor guy. Talk about getting attached to something you love.

Well, needless to say, tears were shed, but everyone finished selling their old homes and returned to the castle. After that, Jupiter led us down to an armory, one that was run by one of our guild members, and let us buy new equipment for the big journey ahead of us. Thankfully, the player running the shop gave us all a small discount on everything, since we were all in the same guild.

Everyone browsed through every piece of armor, weapons, and other gear imaginable. But, I was the only one who couldn't find anything better than the equipment I already had: My cloak (Sure, I could get something better, but this has been with me since Boss #1), my Knight's Chestplate, my iron kite shield, and Almighty. So, I just waited back at the castle for everyone else to finish shopping.

Soon enough, everyone was back in the lobby of the castle, and I have to say, they all looked pretty awesome in their new gear.

Jupiter gathered us together after we had gotten our new equipment, "Alright, everyone. Line up."

"Why?" I asked.

Jupiter gave a small smirk as he accessed his player menu, tapped a few buttons, and a video camera suddenly appeared on a tripod beside him. Its lens was pointed towards us, ready to film. "Well," Jupiter replied, "If you are the only ones who can fight the final bosses, then I think it'd be a good idea for everyone to see just who they're putting all of their hopes on."

"Wait, we're going to be on video for all of Equestria to see?" Neon asked, suddenly beaming, "We're gonna be famous!"

Comet frowned, glancing at the excited mare, "You know you all were pretty famous already. You had news articles about you in the Equestria Daily every other day."

Lexus chuckled as he wrapped a hoof around his girlfriend to calm her down, "Oh, she knows, Comet. She knows."

"Alright," Jupiter announced, bringing back the focus to him, "Just smile at the camera while I speak first. When I call your names, come up to the camera and let everybody see you."

"So basically strike a pose when it's your turn?" Cross asked.

"Whatever works for you."

Cross grinned, "Awesome."

Jupiter stepped in front of the camera, facing the lens, "We're rolling in 3, 2, 1." He flicked a switch on the side of the camera, turning it on. With the film rolling, he began,

"Hello, players of ELO. As you may know, I am Jupiter, head admin of the game. Now, as you all have seen from Discord's broadcast earlier this morning, there has been a change in the rules: No one except the Elements of Harmony may challenge the final boss.

"Now I know that many of you think that this is unfair for us, that Discord is rigging this game so only he can win." A smirk came to Jupiter's face, "But let me tell you, he made a huge mistake. For the past seven boss battles, it's been the Elements of Harmony that have come out on top. They've faced the bosses with their group alone, and have still come out on top. They will be able to take anything that Discord has in store."

He cleared his throat, "So, the Elements of Harmony have accepted Discord's challenge. They will be setting off for the badlands to finish off Queen Chrysalis and her changelings. But before they depart on their journey, I'd like to show you the players who all of our hopes rest on."

Jupiter stepped out of the screen shot, "First, from Team Equitum, we have Shadowflame: The Element of Courage..."

I nodded and stepped into the camera's view. I gave a small wave and a smile, but then turned around and took my place back in line.

Beside me, Lexus gave me a snide look, "Come on, you can do better than that. Watch this."

Jupiter called out again, "... Lexus: The Element of Honesty..."

I rolled my eyes. The pose left something to be desired, but I didn't say anything as Lexus hopped back in line and Jupiter continued down the list,

"...Crossheart..."

"... and Cloud Burst."

Jupiter continued, "Now, from Team Calvary, we have Violet Runner: The Element of Spirit..."

"... Soul_Cards: The Element of Loyalty..."

"... Neon Fire..."

I whispered over to Lexus as Neon posed, "Dude, I gotta say, your girlfriend looks like someone you do not want to mess with."

Lexus merely smirked in agreement.

"... And Dyl0nkour."

My muscles tensed up as Dylan took a step in front of the camera. I thought he would have only done something halfhearted, much like his current mood. But surprisingly, he did something else.

I shrugged as I figured he didn't want to look depressed in front of 650+ players all across Equestria. As long as nobody knew about his emotional state, I figured he'd be fine.

As Dylan stepped back in line, Jupiter continued, "And from Team Vortex, Eclipse: The Element of Generosity..."

"... Siren: The Element of Kindness..."

"... Swift Vapor..."

"... And Comet."

As Comet took her place back in line, Jupiter stepped back into the camera's view, "Now, you may have noticed that only six of the Elements of Harmony are present here. You may be wondering where the seventh element is, Darkened5ky: The Element of Willpower.

"Unfortunately, he is not here at the moment. He had pressing matters elsewhere, but he will fight with us to defeat Discord, just like us. And now, I wish the Elements of Harmony good luck, and hope that you will support them in their quest. That is all."

_______________________________________________________________________________________________

Soon, we were boarding Westfalia to depart from Canterlot. With the video having been reeled across the country, it was time to leave.

Of course, someone wanted to say goodbye to me before I left.

"Shadow, wait!"

I turned around on the deck of the ship. The voice was coming from the ground below, and I instantly recognized who it belonged to. I grinned as I flapped my wings and took off to greet her.

Frostlight stood waiting in the castle courtyard below, smiling as I came lighting down in front of her.

"Hey, Frostlight. So, you came to see me off before I go?"

She nodded, "Yep. You ready to go?"

"Yeah, the team's ready, and we're about to set sail in a bit."

"Oh..." She seemed a bit hesitant, "Are you, I dunno, nervous about all this?"

I smiled, "Aw, come on. You know me. I'm not scared. I'm the Element of Courage after all."

Frostlight's eyebrow shot up, "You know, just because you're courageous doesn't mean that you're fearless." I gave her a sheepish grin, which made her sigh nervously, "It's just... Just don't do anything stupid, alright? I still want you to come back in one piece."

I nodded, "Alright."

And then, she did something that I was not expecting. She gave me a small kiss on the cheek. She had never done that before, so I wasn't quite prepared for it. I think I might've been blushing beneath my gray fur. But I don't think she noticed.

Frostlight backed away a bit, blushing a bit herself, "Okay, um, goodbye."

"Wait." I didn't know why I stopped her. After all, she just kissed me on the cheek. Though it might've not seemed like much, it was a lot to me if it was coming from her. I had to do something in return. So, I gave her a kiss on the cheek as well.

I would have laughed at the sight, because Frostlight's face turned even more red. But instead, I said, "I'll come back in one piece. I promise."

With that, I gave her one more hug and then flew back onto the deck of the airship. Once on board, I shouted to Swift at the helm, "Alright, get us out of here!"

Swift proceeded to flip a few switches and turn the helm wheel, ready to take us to the skies.

I turned towards the front of the ship as the familiar feeling of leaving the ground encompassed the whole ship, and we took to the air, "Set our course for the Badlands."

Author's Note:

I bet you all liked those pictures above. Special thanks to Raybony for making them. Again, he's an awesome guy.
Anyways, comment below which picture you think was the best out of all the ones in this chapter.

Thanks for reading!
-Shadowflame

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