Prologue: New Worlds
Hmm it’s bright. My eyelids seem to be under assault. I opened them to spot the offender only to discover that it’s the morning light streaming in from the window. My mind was still in its morning fog so I didn’t have the presence of mind to look away from the dazzling light before it stung. Closing my watering eyes, I let out a loud yawn that threatened to pop my jaw and performed a lazy stretch of my limbs.
My ears twitched left as a loud thumping noise sounded from elsewhere in the house and increased in volume. I barely had time register what was happening before my bedroom door flew open and a bright bundle of energy lept into my bed.
“It’s Saturday!” A little filly bounced in my bed like a happy ewe, her light amethyst coat and silver mane shined in the light’s rays in their crystallized form. “It’s Saturday! It’s Saturday! It’s Saturday!” Each exclamation was emphasized by a leap.
I laughed in spite of the fact my sister was ruining my bedsheets and at one point had landed on my legs. Ow! Though it was always a treat to see her act this way it needed to stop. Before she ruined the springs.
“Ok Silverbell, how about we get some breakfast and then we can start?” My peace offering was accepted with large grin and a “squee” before she charged out the room and pounded down the stairs at breakneck speeds. Mom was in the doorway a second later, her jade coat and rose colored mane in a darker sheen, a tired look on her face. I offered her a sympathetic smile and a shrug of my shoulders before she sighed and followed Silverbell downstairs.
Now with a moment to myself I threw the covers off and rolled out of bed. I stretched and with a nice crack of the neck and stretch of my legs, I made my way to the window, unlatched it, and peered outside.
Lights danced off the crystal planes of my neighbors’ homes, reflected into hundreds of rays that set the city aglow in the early morning. It was as if each building had awoken to worship the sun’s radiance with a show of fractured multicolored displays ranging from dark amethyst to pale aquamarine. It was beautiful and those lucky enough to witness the display from the palace balconies could see that it shone like a multicolored web spun of morning dew.
Turning my gaze from the buildings themselves, I could see some early risers making their way around the neighborhood. Fulgurite was locking his door, his orange coat and sandy colored mane was dull in the sunlight. Iron Band was on her way to work, carrying a large grey pack that matched her dark coat and lighter grey mane. I looked the other way and could see Aqua Aura and Opal Aura walking side by side, Aqua’s light blue coat and white mane contrasted Opal’s white coat and blue mane. Opal spotted me at the window and with a nudge to her twin, they both offered a little wave. I indulged them with a wave of my own until they turned out of sight at the crossway. I stood at the window a few moments more, enjoying the cooler weather that announced the approaching end of summer. Back from being displaced for a thousand years and out of Sombra’s rule could let a pony to enjoy mornings like this. I stood at the window a few moments more, having a final cool embrace with the wind before I brought myself back inside.
After a quick freshening up in the hall bathroom, I made my way downstairs and found my family in the kitchen waiting for me. Silverbell was in her seat putting crayon to a leaf of paper. Mom was at the oven working on breakfast, her coat and mane now brighter since she got her morning brew.
“Would you mind berries in the batter, Cluster?” She turned from the stove to look my way, I could see the skillet warmed up and ready to cook. On the counter next to her were some crystal berries waiting in a small bowl, picked up from the market just yesterday and guaranteed fresh. I shifted my attention to my sister whose excited grey-blue eyes and smile were now in my direction, giving me her thoughts to the question.
“Yes please!” The thought of sweet berries in the fluffy discs were just too good to pass up anyway. Mom turned back to the counter, emptying the bowl into the batter.
I made my way to the cabinet and gathered plates, silverware, and glasses for everypony. After distributing the them on the table, I sat next to Silverbell and waited patiently for mom to finish making breakfast. The room was filled with the sounds of scribbling on paper and the sizzle of pancake batter cooking. The aroma of the food filled the small kitchen and made waiting rather difficult. Needing a distraction, I leaned over to see what Silver was working on.
With a green crayon, she was coloring the leaves of a tree that had large red apples hanging off its branches. In the shade of the tree there appeared to be an unusually large yellow bug with several red eyes. It had insectoid wings folded down on its back additional red markings along its carapace. A very familiar little pony was sitting under the tree as well. She had her foreleg extended holding an apple towards the large insect that seemed ready to take it from her hoof.
“So who’s your friend?” I pointed my hoof at the yellow bug.
“She hasn’t told me her name yet,” she continued to color in the leaves, “but I’ll find out soon enough.”
“Is she shy?” I scooted my chair closer to Silverbell to get a better angle at the drawing.
“Nope.” She kept her eyes on her paper. “We’re just playing a guessing game. I’m guessing her name and she’s guessing mine.”
“Any luck?”
“I just told you,” She gave me an annoyed look, “I haven’t found out yet.”
“Sorry sorry.” I held my hooves up. “Has she found yours yet?”
“She’s guessed part of my name already” She gave an annoyed huff. “My mane didn’t help me there.” She gave the part of her mane in front of her eyes a flick with her hoof.
“It is a bit...eye catching.” I chuckled. She didn’t look amused. Time to change the subject. “So when did you meet?”
“A couple days ago,” she pulled out more papers from under her current drawing, “when I was playing by the lake with Bauble.” The first drawing had Silver in the lake in shoulder high water, nosing a red ball back to shore. Waiting for her on the edge of the water was a violet ewe with light green horns with blue markings. The next page had Silver and Bauble looking into the cattails by the lake. Halfway out of the grass was the yellow bug, holding out the ball with one of its legs. The last page had the three of them chasing the ball around on a grassy hill a good distance away from the water. Looks like another chapter in the adventures of Silverbell.
“Looks like Bauble likes her a lot.” I pointed at the last page.
“Yeah, Bauble liked her right away.” A dejected sigh at the end caught my attention. She looked up at me with a guilty look on her face. “I was sort of scared of her at first and didn’t.” Her eyes looked away.
“Well she is a really big bug,” I paused, “I think I would have been scared too.” She looked back up to me. I leaned forward a bit and smiled. “You’re not scared of her now, are you?”
“Not uh,” she responded after some thought. She looked back down to the drawing, then back up quickly. “Oh! Could you not tell her I was scared of her?”
“Your secret’s safe with me.” I crossed my hoof over my heart. “So, what are you two doing here?” The next few minutes were filled with our chatter. I asked more questions and she brought me up to date about her adventures with Bauble and her mysterious insect friend and all the names she guessed in the past couple days.
“So that’s when I showed her the apple tree and now we’re waiting for Bauble.” Silver finished just in time for mom to place pancakes in the middle of the table and take a seat of her own.
Silverbell quickly put her drawings into her saddlebag beside the table and pushed her plate forward for mom to give her two pancakes. After her plate settled back in front of her, Silver began to pour a generous amount of syrup on her stack. I got a few pancakes of my own and had spread a healthy amount of butter on each piece by the time she was done, her stack fully saturated with the liquid. Mom gave her a disapproving frown before she cut Silver’s pancakes into precise little squares, Silver responding with a sheepish smile. The berries were delicious.
Breakfast finished up fairly soon, Silverbell and I perhaps eating too much but feeling completely satisfied if our sluggish movements and smiles were anything to go by. We cleared the table and starting on washing the dishes. I stood in front of the sink, scrubbing away with soapy water and rinsing, and Silver stood to the side to dry and put away those that I hoofed to her. Mom left us alone in the kitchen to get ready for work and when Silver put the last dish away, she came back carrying her saddlebags and wearing a vest with a name tag that said: Jade.
“You two have fun and take care of the house when I’m gone.” She gave us both a quick hug and turned towards me. “Make sure you get those forms filled and sent out today.”
“I’ll get them done right away.” I gave her a smile to show my sincerity. She gave us one final goodbye and walked out the kitchen. Seconds later I heard the front door open and close. With mom gone, I turned to Silverbell to see that she was giving me an inquisitive look.
“What forms’s mom talking about?” She voiced, her head tilted to the side.
“Just some more paperwork I need to fill out and send to the college,” I answered. I noticed her lips pulled just slightly down at the edges. Uh oh. “H-hey, we talked about this before,” my voice took a gentler tone, “I won’t be gone all the time and I’ll visit and call you every chance I get. I promise it won’t be bad.” My reassurance seemed to work a little bit as Silver’s frown returned to a neutral edge. “How about we forget about that now and start setting up the game, huh?”
Her lips steadily turned more upwards and she seemed to hold herself straighter. “Yeah. Let’s get started,” she replied with a little enthusiasm. I smiled at the display though I felt a little guilty throwing a distraction in to avoid this topic. I want to keep her happy as long as I can before we get separated.
I ran up to my room to grab the game and came back down to find Silver already by the family computer and the Featherstation 3, both on and ready. I placed the box on the living room coffee-table and set about opening it, Silver watching my movements closely.
Removing some packing, I found the copies of the game we were going to play: Equestrian Earth. I remember my friend from Canterlot raving about this and how it was the next big step in gaming. She was big into this kind of thing and so I thought I should give it a try, though getting all the materials to play the game was a bit difficult since we are still modernizing our tech. Good thing mom works as a technician at the palace grid station and was able to get everything in fairly quick. I hope Backlight isn't too far ahead of us when we get there.
Putting the games on the table, I removed more packaging to reveal the I.P.V.s and the instruction booklets. Finding nothing else in the box, I proceeded to opening the games and handed them off to a smiling Silverbell who bounced over to put them in. We looked at the screens, smiling brightly, and was rewarded with an estimated download time of several hours. Our smiles disappeared and Silver shoulders slumped.
“Well, at least this gives us plenty of time to get our chores done.” I tried to give Silver a hopeful smile to lift her mood. She huffed in disappointment which I couldn’t argue since I felt the same. “Come on,” I put a hoof on her shoulder, “let’s get started.”
*****
The screens showed that the loading was complete and Silver and I found ourselves doing some last minute preparations. I was reading the booklet on the use and care of the I.P.V.s and Silverbell was back to drawing more of her adventures on paper. After finishing the section on troubleshooting, I set the booklet down on the table next to the empty salad bowl that once held our lunch. I looked up to my sister and cleared my throat to gain her attention.
She peered up from her drawing. “Ready?” She inquired, her brows raised. A nod of my head elicited a grin from the filly followed immediately by a “Yay!” and much bouncing.
“Ok, calm down.” I had my hooves up in a calming gesture. After Silver sat back in her spot, her coat and mane seeming to shine even brighter, I sat up from the couch and motioned to it for Silverbell to take my spot. She eventually made her way to it, an inquisitive expression on her face. “We need to make sure we’re in a comfortable position when we put these on,” I explained, “lay down here and I’ll use the recliner.”
“Ok,” Silver voiced in understanding. I hoofed her one of the I.P.V.s and plugged it into the Featherstation 3.
“I’ll meet you in just a bit.” A question suddenly popped up in my mind. “Do you need to use the bathroom before we start?”
“Nope! I’m ok,” she stated, a hint of impatience voiced underneath. I made my way over to the couch and with a wave goodbye, I placed the I.P.V. over her head.
I saw her blink several times behind the visor before it clouded up, hiding her eyes from view. “Cool!” She exclaimed a few seconds later. She tapped my leg with her forehoof. “Hurry up and get on! You gotta see this!”
I chuckled. “I’ll be there in a minute.” I proceeded to hop onto the recliner near the computer and placed my own I.P.V. over my head and switched it on.
I watched as the ceiling of the living room faded away and the fancy script of Equestrain Earth replaced it. “Cool…” I muttered aloud.
“I know, right?” Silver exclaimed from afar. Under the title was the option of new account and I mentally commanded the button to be pressed.
Immediately after I typed my username, the world shifted and I was greeted with the sight of an endless field of grass and a cloudless azure sky above. Looking around, I spotted a white figure standing a few feet away. Above its head were the words: Character Creation. As I approached the mannequin, windows full of options appeared in the air around it to allow me to customize what I will look like during the game. I looked around at all the customization options and delved right into getting this part done.
After what felt like forever, I had a horrible representation of myself in front of me. I was never much of an artist and I never really put too much thought on my appearance before. Now don’t those sound like excuses.
Sighing in frustration, I began to try salvaging the situation when I noticed an import option. Curious, I clicked and a window appeared asking to import a photo. My thoughts immediately took a brighter turn as I scrolled through the photos that were saved into the computer my game was running in. I don’t have to look ugly. After finding a photo of my family that was taken last week, I used the editing tools from the game to effectively cut my likeness out and upload it into the system.
After it finished uploading, the flat cutout floated out the window and enlarged itself in front of me. It twisted and molded into a three dimensional shape and melded on top of the mannequin into a perfect likeness of myself. My sapphire like coat and emerald like mane and tail were the right value and shade and my eyes were the same color as my sister’s. I looked down to my cutie mark and was happy to see what was coincidentally my namesake: a corundum cluster. A mouthful to say at once and adding in the nickname “corun-dumb” it wasn’t the easiest name to keep but it was mine. It was also a great representation as my talent as a shaper.
Image done and my user name selected, I scrolled to the continue option and pressed it to move on. My vision went dark suddenly, like somepony pulled wool over my eyes, and with a startled yelp I found that I could blink them open. I took a step back and could hear soft grass being pressed into the ground. I looked down and saw my hooves in the grass and could feel the soft flora underneath. I was just put into my new body. This is amazing. I looked up with my new blue-grey eyes and found a large and ornate mirror in front of me.
I walked up and gave myself a close inspection, moving my body around and checking for abnormalities. Satisfied, I then found a new option at the base of the mirror: Class Selection. I pressed it and letters rippled across the top: Warrior. I looked back at my reflection and saw myself wearing what I assumed was some decent gear of a warrior of a few levels in the game. Words begin to appear, floating from the depths of the mirror to give a description of the class.
A master of arms. His dedication to the fighting arts has given this individual the ability and fortitude to face the strongest opponents. The warrior is one whose strength, determination, and faith in his training will win the day.
Is this the form you wish to take?
...Strength. That word...stayed in my vision. When I noticed that I was staring at the word I gave a look of surprise, reflected back to me in the mirror, but in contrast to the expression I knew why. I lacked strength. If I had it months ago… No, don’t think on that. Move forward.
I didn’t need to look at the other classes. I knew this was what I would play as. I selected yes and the mirror shimmered and collapsed into vapor. My vision went white and I found myself in an empty space with no ground beneath me. My body stiffened and my eyes went wide as I looked down.
...I wasn’t falling? With a sigh of relief I brought my eyes back up locked on a figure appearing some distance away. It was definitely equine and as far as I could tell, feminine but I couldn't see any details due to the bright light shining behind her.
“Welcome, Cluster.” A melodic voice chimed from the figure.
“Uh...,” I began incomprehensibly. In a second I collected my thoughts into something more coherent, “Who are you...uh why are you, we here?”
A gentle laugh radiated from the figure. “Not a who. I am the central A.I. of the game. If you must give me a name, many players have come to call me the Goddess.” She paused. “As to why I am here, I greet all the new players that have come to enter into the world of Equestrian Earth.”
I picked up on that last answer. “Does this mean you’ve met my sister, Silverbell.” I figured she would be ahead of me by this point since I took so long creating my character.
The laugh from before echoed out. “Yes I have.” I had the feeling that she was smiling. “Upon meeting her she bestowed upon me the name of Lady Radiance. Quite the imaginative filly.” A smile spread across my muzzle hearing the Goddess compliment my little sister. “She also told me to leave you a message if I were to meet you.”
“What message?” I tilt my head, a curious expression on my face.
“‘Hurry up, slowpoke.’” She relayed.
“Ha! I guess I shouldn’t keep her waiting then.” I felt a lot more comfortable now.
“Indeed not. You’re about to enter a world of magic and friendship where you’ll meet companions old and new.” Everything seemed to be fading away, I tried to keep the figure in my sights. “Be wary though. The darker side of magic and creatures of old reside here as well and you’ll need to keep your friends and family close. Good luck.” The world faded to dark.
I blinked my eyes open and was assaulted with the sights and sounds of a crowded square. I cringed from the sudden intrusion of my senses but took the time to take in everything.
I was on top of a platform that spawned more players into the game the longer I stood gazing around. Ponies of all kinds, griffons, and the occasional minitaur were running around the area and moving around me. Robes, armor, and weapons of all kinds were in display from these players, some being switched out or traded among them. Buildings of architecture that I recognized and didn’t surrounded the square, doors open to the players to rest or buy supplies before they head out to the world.
I gave this all a passing glance as I was looking for a particular pony from amongst the crowd. I stayed on the platform as I looked around as it gave me the highest vantage point to look for Silverbell.
“Cluster!” A familiar voice called out. “‘Bout time, slowpoke!”
I turned around, a retort at the tip of my tongue but before I could voice it, I saw something unexpected and whatever I was about to say was stifled with a soft croak. Silverbell approached me, but she wasn’t alone. She was riding atop something that I saw from this morning. The yellow beetle with red eyes and markings. It wasn’t quite the size of a full grown pony, but it was close. Its legs were making clicking sounds as it walked its way to me.
“Ah, it’s nice to finally meet you, Cluster,” it’s mandibles clicked out in a surprisingly silky voice.
I could only stare wide eyed and jaw slaked at the creature, “Uh…”