Ever Free Online is a global MMORPG that has caught the attention of every young pony in Equestia. It goes without saying that Button Mash, the youngest and most enthusiastic gamer in Ponyville, was front in line to purchase the game.
Button Mash seems very interested and absorbed by the game. To the point that he begins spending less and less time with Sweetie Belle. She wants to know what is so special, so entertaining about Ever Free Online and decides to sign up herself. The only problem is, she doesn't want Button to know she's playing.
“Ever Free Online. The latest in virtual reality games will be hitting the shelves in the next few hours, and it seems excitement travels fast. Right behind me, several hundred ponies have already gathered late tonight, all hoping to get a copy.” The reporter stepped to the side, allowing the news camera to catch a full view of the bustling line. She fixed her mane, stepping back in front of the camera. “Created by Alistair Moonshadow, head designer at ‘Alicorn Gaming,’ as a final farewell gift before his passing. Though he passed a few months before the game’s completion, Alistair put his heart and soul into the game. Due to the company’s desire to maintain suspense, not much detail about the game has been released to the public. What we’ve been able to acquire, Ever Free Online is a massive multiplayer online role-playing game based around a fantasy theme. Ponies playing are given the choice of different classes, ranging from warrior to mage. And according to the current head-of-development, the game is said to have a hidden special feature that is meant to separate the game from the rest. It's no wonder these ponies are so excited to stand in line for it.” The reporter started walking down the line of ponies, the camera pony following intently. “Now, let's go talk to some of these ponies to find out their opinions on the game.” She advanced towards a small brown colt, a propeller hat resting on his head. “Young colt. Look into the camera and tell everypony listening in your name and why you've come here today.”
The young colt turned, staring blankly at the camera. The fact he was on TV took a moment to hit him. When it did, his face lit up, and a large smile grew on his face. “Hello, everypony. My name is Button Mash. I’m here for the same reason everypony else is here. I want my own copy of Ever Free Online. I’ve been waiting since... I don't even know how long for it to come out. And I promise on the soul of Alistair Moonshadow, that I will get the most out of this game!” Button raised his hoof to the sky, sparking many others to do the same.
The microphone was brought back to the reporter. “That's quite the determined statement coming from such a young colt. Tell me, son, is there anypony in particular out there that you'd like to say 'hi' to?”
“Well, my mother’s right behind me, so I can't quite think of anypony…” His ears shot up, and he looked into the camera again. “Hello, Sweetie Belle. If you're watching this, I'm sorry I'm not going to be spending as much time as you wanted together, but you know I've been talking about this game for a while. So… Yeah. Sorry again.” Button Mash was many things, even at his young age, an awkward social, a wonderful friend, and, most of all, a one-track gamer, to name a few. It came to no surprise to Sweetie Belle, who was watching the news feed from her home, that Button would be too preoccupied with his new game to hang out with her. That fact didn't, however, help soothe the pain in her chest. He chose to play a game over hanging out with a physical friend. One of the only physical friends he had.
Sweetie shut off the TV, tossing the remote in anger. She huffed, hopping off the couch. “Who needs him, anyway? I've still got my other friends to hang out with.” There was only one problem, one that hit Sweetie as soon as she went for the door. “Oh yeah… Scootaloo is in Cloudsdale with Rainbow Dash for some sort of Wonderbolt Summer Camp, and Applebloom is on her family vacation.” She tried to figure out what to do. Her main friends were out enjoying their summertime. The only reason she didn't go with Applebloom was that Sweetie insisted that she’d be okay. She WAS going to spend summer with Button Mash, but that wasn't going to happen. Not with that game out. “What was so special about some dumb game?! Button couldn't stop talking about it the moment he found out it was coming out. A whole four months of listening to the same colt ramble on about some game is enough to drive anypony crazy. Did I think I was going to spend time with him, despite the game coming out? Yes! But can you blame me for wishful thinking?” Sweetie’s own rambling went on, making her unaware that she had left her house and was trotting aimlessly. Even more, somepony had found her and was nodding in agreement with her rambling.
A voice shook Sweetie from her focus, causing her to almost trip over her forehooves. “Thou seem very adamant with rambling.” A midnight blue silhouette floated down from above Sweetie.
“Princess Luna. I'm sorry if I disturbed you with my…” Her words fell short as Luna softly raised her hoof.
“There’s no need to apologize, young filly. I simply came along and found you wandering alone at night. Even though I can figure out much from your rambling, I would still like to know why thou is out at such an hour.”
“Oh yeah. I must have wandered out during my rant. Sorry for making you worry.” Sweetie huffed, plopping down on the ground. “It's my one colt friend you see, princess. We normally hang out a lot, but ever since that new game became public knowledge, that's all he could talk about. And now he's in line to get himself a copy to play. And I'm left to find something to do by myself.” She glanced up at Luna, giving a worried smile. “It must be great being you. Your entire day is preset. You don't have time to play stupid video games and ignore your friends.” Her comment sparked the princess to look away and blush.
“Thou must be speaking of Ever Free Online. It was quite the headliner so sometime now. There were a lot of Equestria whose dreams were centered around the game. I can understand your friend's enthusiasm. To a point at least. The game is supposed to reign over the rest.” Luna spoke fairly high of the game. A little too high, and Sweetie Belle picked up on that humble admiration for gaming.
“You happen to know a lot about the game for a princess. You wouldn't happen to have been out at this time because you just got out the line for the game?” Hearing her deduction, Luna’s head snapped back to Sweetie.
“Why I would never. I am a royal alicorn princess. I have duties to uphold. I have no time for such frivolous gaming.” The look on her face gave it away, but she wasn't going to give in like that.
“Then what would that be sticking out of your shoulder bag, dear princess?” Sweetie’s horn glowed as she pulled the game out with her magic. The look of detective victory was outmatched only by the look of absolute embarrassment on Luna’s face. If she didn't already have her cutie mark, detective work would have been a close second guess for Sweetie Belle’s talent.
“Okay. Okay. Thou hast caught me. But thou can't tell my sister. She already thinks I'm skimping on my nightly job.” Luna quickly snatched the game from Sweetie with her magic, placing it in entirely in her bag.
“Fine. Whatever. I’ll keep my lips sealed. Don't see the big deal and all.” A small nagging feeling now nudged at the front of Sweetie’s head. She wouldn't have been able to get the game due to its high price, and she really wanted to hang out with Button Mash. Sweetie gulped, the idea hitting her hard. She looked up at Luna once more. “Umm… Princess… May I ask you something?”
“Yes, dear. Ask away.”
“Is… Is the game as good as everypony says it is?”
“If you listen to all the enthusiasm. It was designed to become the top game in Equestria.” Luna paused, putting the details together and smirking. “Why do you ask?”
“Do you think I could give it a try. I just want to see for myself what's so great about the virtual games my friend plays.” Sweetie’s sophisticated pride melted under her filly curiosity.
“Well, I do happen to have an extra copy. Wanted to come clean with my sister and invite her to play… Wishful thinking.” Luna wore the same frustrated look on her face that Sweetie had earlier. “Anyway. I don't think it'd be much of a problem for thou to use my spare equipment. Thou would have to wait a day for me to fetch it.” She nodded, reluctantly at Luna’s comment. “Sweet dreams to you. See that thou gets home before it gets any later.” With at said, she flapped her wings and took off, leaving Sweetie Belle alone again.
The rest of the night went by swiftly, and just as the sun was rising over the trees, a small package arrived at the foot of Sweetie’s bed. “Did she have to leave it in my room? How did she even get in? Nevermind. I don't want to know.” She scootched to the end of her bed, opening the box. Inside was the game, as well as the same weird headpiece that Button had shown her a while ago. It was supposed to sync a ponies brainwaves so it could be read by the game or something like that. Next to all of that was a note.
“To Sweetie Belle,
Everything you need to play is inside the box. Best of luck on your adventure playing the game. The designers were not kidding with how ‘special’ the new feature is. Enough with my rambling. Have fun. And welcome to the world of Ever Free Online.
Princess Luna
Ps: My username is GameroftheNight. If you want to friend me
“I'm surrounded by nerds. Let that fact be known.” Sweetie laughed, setting everything up, paying careful attention to the manual. Soon she found herself holding the headset in her hooves. She looked over at the vanity mirror in her room. “I'm just taking a look at the game. Nothing more. Nothing less. I’ll be back to reality before dinner time. Yeah. I should be sick of it by then.” After a worried smile in the mirror, she placed the headset on her head and laid down. It started up with a whirl, and as soon as Sweetie closed her eyes and relaxed, she found herself diving in.
Darkness. That’s what welcomed her. Oh, good. I broke it. Just as she thought that her vision cleared.
Welcome New Player
The voice echoed around Sweetie, startling her. That was loud. And a bit sudden. You'd think they'd at least warn you there was going to be a loud disembodied voice. Think of the filly gamer ears.
Please Select the Race You Wish To Be
Just then, three icons appeared in front of her; a wing, a horn, and a hoof. Taking her detective skills for a quick run, she figured the first two were for pegasi and unicorns. Which left the last one for earth ponies. Deciding to stick with her birth race, Sweetie chose the horn. Why change what's still good?
Unicorn Selected
Please Select Your Mane and Tail Style and Color Scheme
A list of various manes replaced the icons. Sweetie almost picked her natural hair when she reconsidered. This is a fantasy world. There is no need for my character to be exactly like me. With that mindset, she decided on a shorter mane, and a tail more like Scootaloo’s. Next, that came up was a color wheel and color pallet. Sweetie Belle pondered for a moment. How about red mane? Yeah. That's good.And I guess my tail will match. She took a moment to admire her selection.
Now Please Select Your Class
A new set of options appeared, and for some reason, Sweetie Belle was starting to enjoy designing her character. Let's see here. I can be either a warrior, rogue, mage, cleric, or archer. Hmm. Warriors seem like they'd be more up Button Mash’s alley. Too brawny for me. Don't feel edgy enough for a rogue class. There was an involuntary sneeze from the in-game avatar of Princess Luna. The mage class seems nice. I'm already a unicorn, so why not be the magic class? Sweetie made her selection, and the following prompt made her stop.
Character Name:
|
Her name is something she never thought of until this moment. If she wanted to keep the fact she was playing this game from Button Mash, she couldn't just use her name. But what was she going to name her character? She thought for what felt like hours before she came up with something.
Character Name:
Ruby Aurora
Ruby Aurora? It sounds quite lovely. Yes! From this moment on, I shall be known as Ruby Aurora, the great unicorn mage! Sweetie Belle couldn't help but laugh at her own silly antics. With her name in place, everything went black again.
Welcome To the World ofEver Free Online
Bright light consumed Sweetie Belle’s vision. When she could see again, she found she was standing in what looked like a town square. “Okay. So far, so good. Everything here does look remarkably realistic. It was when she tried to look at herself that things lost its realism. First off, she wasn't on all fours like a normal pony. Instead, she was standing on her ‘back hooves.’ Secondly, her hooves were replaced by hands and feet. “Okay. Scratch that. This world is not very realistic. I am standing in the middle of a fantasy town, in a nonpony form, and I'm trying to compare it to reality. What is wrong with me?” Once again, her rambling caught the attention of somepony else. Sweetie Belle felt something poke her shoulder, causing her to abruptly turn on her heels. In front of her confused, startled, and annoyed her all at once. The ‘pony’ standing there was a fairly muscular figure, with both Button Mash’s mane style and color. A small sword rested on his side. She stared blankly at him, facepalming hard in her head. Please don't recognize me.
“Umm.” Button Mash glanced slightly above Sweetie’s head. “Ruby Aurora? Hmm. Interesting name.” The figure definitely looked like Button, but it did not sound like him. The voice coming from him was deep and almost entrancing. “I take it you're new here?”
Sweetie shook the ‘entrancing’ away, smiling gingerly. “Yes. I just created my character a few moments ago. I’m Ruby Aurora, but I guess you can call me Ruby. And you are?”
Button Mash’s avatar flexed his muscles, definitely happy to know he had strength in this world. “I am Sir Alistair William.” He took a pose, just realizing just how silly he looked at the female in front of him stared back, obviously holding in the laughter boiling up to the surface. Button fixed himself, clearing his throat. “But you can just call me Alistair. Welcome to the starter town.” He held out his hand in greeting.
Sweetie Belle looked down at Button’s hand, letting her eyes slowly fall to her own. She extended her hand, fidgeting with her fingers. She grasped his hand with a firm handshake. “Tell me, Alistair. Just what are we right now? I mean, we definitely aren't ponies. Right?”
Astonishment filled his eyes as he chuckled. “From what I've been able to get from other players, we are what the developers called anthros. A sort of bipedal version of ponies. It's cool, right?”
“Cool wouldn't be the word I'd use. More like weird. How did they even program these things?” Sweetie was starting to get too interested in how this world worked, quickly remembering that she thought all of this pointless. “Not that I'm all that interested in finding out or anything.”
“Indecisive, I see. Anyway. Seeing as you’re new and all, and it's not just because you're a girl or anything.” The last part was spoken under his breath. “Would you like to team up? I’m a level or two ahead of you, and I wouldn't mind helping you level up.”
The offer was too tempting. Sweetie went into this stupid game so she could hang out with Button Mash. And seeing as he doesn't know it's her, it wouldn't hurt to tag along. “Sure. I guess it wouldn't hurt.” Her desire to keep herself hidden from him puzzled herself. There was a small part of her that wanted to know a truth. The truth. About what ‘he’ thought of her.
“Right-o. Follow me then, Ruby. There’s a lot of adventuring to be done.”
The tavern sat lit by tableside candles, and small torches hung upon the wall. Several players sat about, conversing with each other over potential farming areas. Two players, in particular, sat secluded in a far corner. Since Ruby Aurora was a new player, the noble knight Alistair William promised he'd assist her in leveling up. If he knew just how much of a scrub she was, he might have reconsidered.
“So, I can use what's known as Elemental Magic right now?” Ruby said, scanning through her character menu for the tenth time. Alistair nodded, seeing that she was finally understanding her class.
“Yes. At your current level, the most you can expect to do is fire off a few blasts of like fire or ice or what-not.” The idea of what-not being fired at monsters brought various ideas to Ruby’s head, sparking a slightly concerning smile on her face. “Okay. Now that we’ve got that out of the way, anything else you'd like to know?” Ruby pondered the thought for a moment, glancing back to Alistair.
“As a matter of fact, just how do I even cast this magic?” Ruby’s question completely blindsided him, causing him to almost drop his mug of cinder and choke on what he had tried to drink. It wasn't quite the question itself that caught him off guard since Ruby had no idea how to play until a bit ago. It was the way she just spoke. There was a hint of childish frustration in her voice, making him question just how young this new player was.
“Actually, the spells you can cast should be directly linked to your thoughts.” The dumbfounded look on Ruby’s face told him he needed to explain things a little better. Alistair cleared his throat, taking a quick sip of his cider. “That means all you really have to do is think about the spell you want to cast, and the game’s system should take care of the rest. There is a short casting time for most spells. It's always a good idea to keep that in mind, so you don't get caught off guard while casting.”
“Oh. Okay. That doesn't sound too difficult.” Alistair nodded, unaware that Ruby was quietly muttering to herself.
“That being said, I think it's about time you see for yourself how your magic work…” Alistair’s sentence, along with the table and his cider, was abruptly torched. While he was talking, Ruby had been whispering the incantation to the first spell on her list, aptly named Blaze. Between the scorched look of Alistair’s face, and the dumbfounded look of concern on Ruby’s, it was hard to tell who was caught off guard more. To their surprise, nopony else at the tavern seemed to care about the small embers burning off in the corner. “Okay… Note to self. Explain to new player not to cast spells indoors, at least not near allies.”
Ruby hung her head in shame, holding her staff in her lap. “Sorry, Alistair. I didn't think I could cast in town. At... At least I didn't cause any damage.” He brushed the soot and ash off his face and armor, trying so hard not to break into laughter. A small piece of his hair still burned, though. “Umm, Alistair... Your hair is burning.” Before Alistair could register what Ruby had said, she leaned in, licking the tips of her fingers, and extinguished the small flame. She pulled away, locking her gaze mere inches from Alistair's face. His vermilion eyes looked fantastic close-up. Had his eyes always looked this way?
“Umm, Ruby. Ruuuuby? Ruby!” Alistair raised his voice sharply, whipping Ruby back to reality. “You okay there?”
“Y-yeah. I'm good.” Ruby pulled away, resting fully in her chair again. “Sorry. Don't know what came over me.”
Alistair chuckled, thinking he knew what happened. “That, my dear friend, is what's called Player Lag. It happens from time to time when playing online games, especially if your network connection bugs out.” An awkward stretch of silence consumed the two of them.
Trying to bring the conversation back on track, Ruby spoke up, “So… Where are we going to ‘train’?” She hoped 'train' was the right word.
“Yeah. Sorry about that.” Alistair stood up from his chair, prompting Ruby to do the same. “Follow me. I know where you can get some field training.” Alistair made for the tavern door, leading Ruby behind him. Either of them noticed the four sets of eyes following them as they left.
Within minutes, the two of them stood at the main gate of the town. “Before we leave, we might want to party up.” Alistair quickly explained himself before Ruby could look confused. He swiped his hand down, opening the Player Menu. After pushing a few options, a text box appeared in front of Ruby.
The Player Named Alistair Williamhas invited you to a party.
AcceptDencline
“Use your finger to accept the invite.” Ruby obliged and the text box vanished. A new display appeared at the top left of her vision under her character name.
“See? Now we can keep an eye on each other.” The puzzled look of amazement on Ruby’s face prompted for Alistair to explain. “Whenever you and any other players are in a party, all of you can see where the other members are. Also, as you can see, we can both see each other’s health and magic. Now, if you are ever low on health, I can see and come help you.”
“This game just keeps getting more and more complex… I like it, and the party find is confusing. Anyway, lead the way party leader.” That title, especially coming from Ruby, did nothing to lessen Alistair’s swelling ego as he gave a childish grin, unsheathed his sword, and pointed it towards the open fields around the town.
“Onward party! There are monsters to slay and loot to gather!” He started marching out of town, his sword arm still extended to the sky.
The fields surrounding the town were massive, to Ruby at least. Various creatures seemed to pop into existence as she walked around. “Ruby.” Her attention fell on Alistair. “This is Trotona Range. It surrounds the starting town and goes on for some time. There are more challenging monsters the farther out you go. For now, we will be sticking close to town. Come now. There’s a good-sized spawn for some leveled mobs.” Marching onward, Ruby couldn't help but keep gazing at how realistic and vast the field was. She could even feel the wind and grass beneath her. She had read over the information about how the headset worked. Being able to transfer virtual sensory data to a pony’s brain to allow for near-realistic sensations, but none of that did it justice.
It didn't take long for Alistair to lead Ruby to the small canyon ridge that served as a tremendous low-level hunting ground. Numerous boars roamed the area, minding their own business. “Those boars are the mobs we’re after.” A random thought now crossed Alistair’s mind. Something that should be asked about. “You don't have a problem ‘hurting’ creatures that resemble animals do you?” His attention turned to Ruby, expecting some sort of reasonable answer. What he saw instead was his dear party member pointing her staff outward towards one of the boars and quickly releasing a volley of Firebolts. He just stared at her purely dumbfounded.
“Sorry. Did you say something, Alistair?” Ruby looked at him, wondering if she did something wrong.
“N-no. No. You're good.” The degree of calmness in her actions scared him. That was the calmness of a gamer. Somepony who had played games far more severe. The idea that Ruby might be as serious of a player as he was, and a mare, made him even more interested in learning just who she was IRL. That, however, would need to wait as Ruby’s magic was not enough to kill the boar, who was now charging at her. It was adequately introduced to Alistair’s shield as he slammed it down in front of Ruby and braced for the impact. The boar slammed into the shield, sliding Alistair back and bounding itself backward a bit. The boar’s short time of confusion wasn't wasted as a sword stab brought it down. It fell, fizzled a bit, and faded, awarding both Alistair and Ruby with a little experience. “Not bad... For a beginner. Keep that up, and you’ll get somewhere in this game.”
“Thanks. I just did what felt natural to do.”
Natural. Yeah. There was nothing natural about that three-shot spell burst.
Their focus was brought forward by the loud squeals of the boars as they moved around. They met gazes and smirked. “Come now, Ruby. These boars aren’t going to defeat themselves.” Ruby nodded, raising her staff once more. Firing several more Firebolts at the boars, she drew them in one-by-one towards Alistair ’s sword.
It took a while, but eventually, all of the boars in the area were defeated and granted both of them loads of experience. Ruby slumped against a rock, surprised by how exhausted she felt just playing a video game. “That... Was a lot of them.” Her eyes traced over to Alistair, who, much like the want-to-be cool guy he wanted to be, stood tall and proud in the middle of the boars’ spawn area. He turned on his heels and marched over to Ruby.
“You did great for your first time Ms. Aurora. Your magics helped out a lot in this fight. And with how many boars we both slayed, you should have leveled up.”
“Oh, sweet!” Ruby actually sounded excited by the news. “How would I check?”
“You remember where your Character Stats are?” She nodded, opening her menu. “Character Progression should right next to it.”
“Found it!” Ruby scanned down the various options at her disposal for her level up. “Now let's see... Intelligence would boost my Magical Power and increase my total Magic. That would be best in my mind. Wouldn’t hurt to focus most of my points into that.” It was at that moment her eyes fell on the tag of the following page. “SubClasses?” Ruby scrolled over to it, completely taken back by how numerous the Mage’s SubClasses were.
Spell Sword
Stat Focus: Strength, Intelligence Level Requirement: 15
Elemental Specialist
Stat Focus: IntelligenceLevel Requirement: 15
Summoner
Stat Focus: Intelligence Level Requirement: 35
Must have taken no SubClass to take Summoner
Elemental Master
Stat Focus: Intelligence Level Requirement: 35
Must have taken Elemental Specialist at Lv15
Additional SubClasses Info Locked
Character does not meet Special Requirements
The Elemental Specialist SubClass sounded interesting. To have a vast number of large spells to throw at enemies made the little inner devil inside her excited. At the same time Summoner didn’t sound too bad either. Calling forth massive otherworldly creatures to fight for you. But Summoner would take time to reach, and being unable to pick a SubClass until Level 35 would mean Ruby would be stuck with whatever spells her base class gave her. Granted most of them would scale to her Intelligence, making them stronger, it wasn’t much scaling so she would have to rely on Alistair to defend her. That didn’t sound fair, even though something told her, he would defend her without her even asking him. Anyway, she didn’t need to make her choice now. Ruby swiped back to her Character Progression and finished applying her new level. As soon as she finished, a prompt about the Daily Spin Reward appeared in front of her. “Alistair . What’s this about a Daily Spin?”
“Oh, that? It's an item spinner. Every day you can spin it for free. Whatever the arrow lands on, you get. It's actually an excellent way of getting high-level stuff early on. No matter what it lands on, though, it’ll be beneficial in one way or another.” The Daily Spin was actually where Alistair got his sword and shield, both of which were rather rare drops. He leaned against the rock, watching Ruby spin for her reward. In the back of his head, he didn’t expect her to get anything of significant worth. However, the Princess of Luck blessed Ruby at that moment.
“Umm… Alistair ..? What’s a Master Spell Scroll?” He literally almost choked and fell forward.
“Excuse me as I throw my foot down my throat.”
“What?”
“Nothing... That is beyond rare. I think like only two players ever got one of those, even by normal means. In the hands of a magic caster, it grants them a random spell from their class as a one-time cast. The item is so powerful, it has already been banned from open PvP servers. Just the scroll itself could fetch a heavy amount of gold. There’s a lot of players who would go to any lengths to get one.”
“Which is the sole reason why the pretty lady should just hand it over now.” Both Ruby and Alistair ’s attention jumped to the figures now gathered around the entrance to the rocky canyon. Two, three, four players blocked the only way out of the area. They all approached, making sure not to make any openings in their formation to allow escape. One of the central players spoke, being the one who spoke before. “Let's see what we have here.” He looked over both of their levels. “A Level 4 sword and board Warrior, and a Level 3 Mage. Well, ain’t this our lucky day, boys? Now. Hand over the Master Spell Scroll. Otherwise, you’re going to end up losing more than just that scroll.” Ruby looked confused by his statement. “Oh.. Did you, friend, here not explain how duels work in Everfree? In the normal servers, the player who loses a fight against another player, or in this case a party, loses an item, at the winner's choice. That means, when we beat you two, you both are going to lose four items. And to be honest, that sword and shield also look pretty nice.” Alistair was no longer in the mood to listen. He drew his sword and took a battle stance, to the amusement of the four players.
“Ruby. Get out of here. It's not worth it to take them on. I can buy you time. Just get back to town. There they can’t mess with you.” He had no chance of beating them. They knew that. He knew that. But if it meant keeping them off of Ruby, he was more than willing to lose his rare gear. “Go now!.” He shouted at Ruby, quickly jolting her to retreat. She turned and ran towards where the boars' main spawn was, which happened to be at the base of a sheer rock wall. Putting her staff on her back, she climbed the rocks towards the top. Every moment that past that was filled with the loud clashing of steel against steel and magical explosions. Even Ruby knew Alistair wasn’t going to hold out for long, let alone long enough for her to make a getaway. That fact irritated her. Why was it that in every game the two of them played, he always ended up holding back the enemies while she got away? Why was it that his character always lost it's life defending her? Her irritation with that fact grew. Her anger towards those players grew. Ruby quickly couldn't stand it any longer. If those jerks wanted the scroll so severely, then she was going to give it to them.
She dropped from the wall, suffering mild fall damage. She whipped out her staff and the scroll, holding each in one hand. Ruby opened the item prompt for the Master Spell Scroll, triggering its effect. It glowed the text on it, changing before her eyes. The Master Spell Scroll suddenly changed to a Calamity Flame scroll. She read over the stats on the spell quickly, her focus broke by the sudden shout from Alistair as his shield went flying off, slamming into the nearby rock wall. Letting the moment get to her, Ruby began reciting the spell’s incantation, not caring that she was pretty much shouting it.
The four players toying with Alistair, and even Alistair himself, all looked back to stare at Ruby. “What are you… Oh.” Alistair, realizing before the other players what she was doing, shoved the player attacking him away, grabbing his shield, and retreated back to her.
“Boys! The caster is making a move. Strike before she has time to finish chanting!” They all nodded, charging forward. This time, however, Alistair was ready for them. Each of their strikes were deflected as he kept the fight to a one-on-one. Even with his high defensive stance, the damage was starting to stack up. It wouldn’t be long before they overcame his shielding and struck hard.
“Anytime, Ruby!” His backside was starting to get toasted, a small byproduct of the spell’s chanting. “Okay, then. Guess you can handle yourself…” He kept the players off as long as he could, quickly taking a heavy blow. Seeing their opportunity, the four players pushed past Alistair and going for an attack on Ruby. Her spell went off, literally cutting things close to the chest.
“... I beseech you now. Calamity Flame!” The spell scroll in her hand faded, and harsh flames burst outward from Ruby, engulfing the four players. It spread out, scorching the rocks, as well as the grassland above them. Everything with a health bar, with the thankful exception of Alistair, were quickly reduced to ash.
As the flames subsided, four yellowish orbs floated about where the four players once were. “Ruby. Next time… Try not to cut things so close.” She just grinned at him, offering a hand to help him up. Alistair got up, brushing the dirt, dust, and scorch off his armor. “We should get back to town. Those four are likely to come back with more friends. Also, I think it's getting late IRL. We can get back to town and log out for the night. Sound like a plan, Ruby?” The fact it was getting late now bothered her. She only planned on playing this game for a few hours, not most of the day.
“Yeah. Let's get back to town and log out. I think I’ve had enough excitement for one day, at least.”
“One day? You just wiped four players out with a single Lv 10 spell. I think I’ve had enough excitement for at least a week.” That got a good laugh out of both of them. Their laughter came to a halt when they saw just how far that Lv 10 spell reached. The grassland around the top of the canyon was still on fire, slowly spreading outwards. Alistair just looked at Ruby, placing his hand on her shoulder. “Ruby. You really need to stop starting fires.” And just like that, their laughter returned. They got back to town without any problems, opting to log out at the Tavern where their prior discussion was. “So…” Alistair got Ruby’s attention. “... Today was fun.” Another stretch of silence broke out, only being broken by Ruby herself.
“Same time tomorrow?” The words slipped out before her head could think about it. This was supposed to be a one-time play, and here she was, suggesting that they play together again. Too late to turn back now.
“Sure.” It seemed like Alistair wanted to ask another question, but didn’t. “I’ll see you tomorrow, Ruby Aurora.”
“Same to you, Sir Alistair William.”
The two of them logged out. Sweetie Belle pulled the headgear off her with her hoof. She let out a sigh, her eyes glued to the ceiling. “Sweet Celestia. I’m hooked on this damn game.” Sweetie chuckled. “Well... Tomorrow is another day. And Ruby Aurora wouldn’t dream of missing out.”
