Join Noble and his team as they explore the mysteries of the latest game, Equestrian Earth! There will be troubles ahead as they face monsters, enemy ponies and the trials of thier own friendship. Will they survive or not?
Original story belongs to ChaoticNote! Check him out everypony! Cover Image is by Deltorafann001 give her a look my ponies!
“Dude, it’s worth the hate for the love later on.”
“Why am I friends with a Changeling again?
“Because you don’t have a choice with the royal decree...thingy from Princess Celestia?”
“....nevermind.”
So, here I am. The only possible unicorn to ever befriend a Changeling, and he has to be the most annoying thing in existence. Sometimes I hate him, but I could never stay mad long enough to tell if it was real hate or the brotherly love/hate that should only be between bros. What’s wrong with my life? ...Don’t answer that. I don’t think I want to know.
“So dude,” The Changeling looked up towards me. “I still don’t understand something.”
“What don’t you understand Twitch?” “I continue to stare out the window of my Ponyville house. The crowd that was there a week ago had just left yet again when they ran out of insults to say long ago. I’m thankful that the Mane Six, as some of us ponies from Ponyville have began to call them, had ended any potential fights before they had began. It helps when they have a letter from the Princess stating that the changeling was being studied in a controlled environment and was not to be disturbed. Not that it helped all that much. Whatever happened to ‘love and tolerate’?
“Why do the ponies hate me? I wasn’t even there for the attack on Canterlot. I was with you in Manehatten when that was going on.” He looked back down with his unusual yellow eyes. The funny thing is that they never change color when he changes into a different pony. Helps a lot when trying to find him.
“I honestly don’t know why, Twitch.” I looked at him. “I know one thing though,”
He looked up to see the smirk on my face. “We are going to kick some serious flank when we get that game tonight.”
~~~~~
“How long do I have to keep this disguise up for Noble?”
“Just until we get back to our house at the edge of town with that new game in our hooves.” I told him as something clicked in the back of my head. “...and stop calling me that.”
“It’s your name though, isn’t it?”
“Well yeah, but it doesn’t mean you can call me that right now, bro. I don’t want anypony to recognize me by my name.”
Twitch looked down in thought. “Why not? I thought you would want the ponies to know that you were the Commander of the Secret...uh whatever thingy.”
“It’s Director of the Secret Service Twitch, and I don’t need the publicity of what I do for the Princesses to get out. It’s not like anypony would care that I go and discreetly nab all of Equestria’s most wanted from right under their noses anyway.” I sigh in exasperation.
I had already explained this to him after Princess Luna accidently let it slip during the Royal Decree which Princess Celestia had practically every single Officer of, like, every Branch of The Equestrian Army and Naval Officers attend. She then proceeded to ‘punish’ me for harboring a Changeling by forcing me to take care of him. Of course, I don’t exactly remember what happened after that as I was kinda drunk celebrating the news with Twitch afterwards.
“Well they should care. You do so much for them and they don’t even give you a single speck of respect for it.” Twitch said with a gleam in his eyes. “It’s just wrong.”
“Yeah well, I don’t care,” I said dismissively. “It isn’t like the hierarchy of the Main Branch that Captain Shining Armor commands. We are not meant to catch the eyes of everypony with our heroic duties. It is a ‘Secret Service’ for a reason, end of discussion.”
Twitch looked back at me for a second, probably trying to decide what to say next.
“Okay then, uh...,” The disguised Changeling looked up in thought. “Oh! What do you think the game will be like huh?”
I paused for a second. ‘What did I think the game was going to be like? I knew it would be based on an old version of equestria. It would also be like a role-play type deal or something, as well. Maybe have some bandits and goblins, and you could never go wrong with some treasure hunting now and then.’ “I don’t know what to think, Twitch.” I shrugged. “I guess we’ll just have to wait and see, won’t we?”
“Yeah I guess...we...will?” Twitch’s eyes got bigger as he stared at something in the distance.
“What? Do we need to take a detour?”
He shook his head.
“Do you have to pee?”
Twitch shook his head even harder.
“Is there a beautiful mare that will let us get laid with her there?”
He shook his head again.
“...do you have to pee?”
He looked at me in exasperation. “Dude. Look at that longass line.”
I looked over to where his hoof was pointing...
...and proceeded to drop my jaw.
The line was freaking huge! It looked like every single pony in Ponyville was in that line.
“Yo, Twitch! Hey, Nubs!”
I flinched at the name I was called. I never liked names like that. All the ponies always gave me a hard time over how short my horn was when I was just a colt. Of course, it allowed me to cast faster spells than the average unicorn, albeit they were usually weaker as a result.
Twitch looked over to see who was calling us, although I already knew who it was.
“Hey, Lyres!” He called out to the seafoam coloured pony.
I just sighed. Don’t get me wrong. Lyra was one of the best friends a pony could ask for but she tended to carry a conversation a tad bit longer than was actually necessary. She was however, the one who got us the house we live in so I guess we could go over and say hello.
“Oh, Lyra. How are you doing?” I asked hoping against hope that she wouldn’t hear me.
“I’m doing good Nubs!” She looked like she had previously swallowed half a ton of candy...or at least tried to; It was all over her face. “Are you here to get the new Equestrian Earth game too?” She knew about it?
“Uh, yeah. We were on our way over until we saw how long the line was,” I replied. “But since the line looks like it goes all the way to Neigh Pan, I think we’ll just wait ‘til tomorrow to get it.
“What!? Why would you wait, it’s going to be sold out by then!” She looked like she was about to cry, although I didn’t know why she would do that. Then she perked up as if she had an idea. ...oh, no. “Why don’t you cut in front of me?”
“Uh, I don’t think that’s such a-”
“Sure thing, Lyra! Thanks!” I looked at Twitch with as big a glare as I could give him.
“Thank you for offering Lyra, but I think the other ponies behind you would be upset.” I glanced over to the other ponies behind her who were giving the poor musician the look of death...not that she noticed.
“Oh, they’ll be fine!” She shrugged the comment off. “It’s not the end of the world or anything.”
For her sake, I sure hoped not.
~~~~~~
“Are you guys as excited as I am! I mean this game is, like, thee game. It’s the game to end all games, It’s-”
“Lyra!”
“Yeah, Nubs?”
“Calm down, filly.” She had been going off about this game since we got in line, and every time she stopped, she would start up all over again! “If you keep this up, I will gag you and shove you into a closet in the most boring place you could think of.”
“...sorry.” I turned my head towards her to see her holding back a sniff....and failing. ‘She has got to be the most emotionally weird pony to ever exist.’
“Lyra, I’m sorry,” She didn’t look at me. “It’s just everytime you go off about something, you tend to ramble and I don’t want you to end up saying something you might regret. Now turn that frown upside down and make it big. It’s our turn in line.”
She managed to smile a little bit which was good. I never did like to see her sad; it would break my heart every time I saw tears on her face.
Hey Nubs, Twitch.”
“Yes Lyra?” “Yeah Lyres?” We answered respectively.
“What’re your ingame names going to be, huh? I wanna team up with you two. It would be like the Haylo Tournament all over again!” She beamed at the memory.
Huh. I hadn’t thought about that since the time we almost beat the Mane Six in the Finals. It was close but they had won only due to having one more pony in the team. We did give them a run for their bits. though.
“It would be fun to have all five of us together again,” I replied. “What do you think Twitch?”
I looked over at Twitch. He seemed to be thinking hard about something. “My name is going to be ‘Hive’. He said after about a minute of pondering.
I looked at Lyra as she cleared her throat. “Well mine will be ‘Heartstrings’, oh! I hope the game has a class with potions!” She squealed. “What about you Nubs?”
“Me? Well, since it won’t matter in-game, I guess you can call...me...‘Noble’.” I trailed off as I saw on the shelves the last two Equestrian Earth gamecases. “Well, crap.”
Lyra and Twitch looked at me, then at each other. Lyra was the first to speak up.
“Well since you two were ahead of me I guess you both get dibs on them.”
I turned to face her with a stern look. “I don’t think so, little filly. You were the one that let us in front so you have no choice but to grab one,” I glanced back at my changeling in disguise. “Bug colt and I get to choose the old fashioned way.”
He turned his gaze over to me and grinned. “Does this mean what I think it means?”
I gave a sigh. “Yes, Twitch. We have no choice. It’s time to play the one thing that got us into this whole mess in the first place, and for that we need a certain pony here.”
“Aww, yeah!” He gave a pause. “Let’s get the game first before we do it though. Those other ponies are giving us a really...hungry look.”
I peered over at the line only to notice that he was right. They seemed like they were ready to tear us apart for the chance to get the last game.
“...er yeah, I guess we can wait to get this underway.” I answered hesitantly.
~~~~~
Later, after we were able to get away from the angry and ravenous group of equines, we walked our way over to Sweet Apple Acres to see an old friend of mine. I scanned the massive field until I spotted three fillies playing around a fixed up treehouse.
“I say we should get our cutie marks in boar hunting!”
“An’ Ah say we should try to make potions at Zecora’s!”
…Well, maybe arguing would be a better term to use.
“Hello girls. Have you seen Big Mac ‘round anywhere?” I asked.
They turned towards me in surprise.
Applebloom spoke up first. “Well howdy, Mistah Star. Mah big brother is up at the barn making sum’ of that adult cider that we aren’t allowed near.” She seemed a bit downtrodden when she said that last part.
“Thanks ‘bloom. I turned to go before I added with a smirk, “ Oh, and one more thing. If you see your sister tell her that ‘Team Solar Moon’ will be on their way to the top this time.”
“Sure thing, Mistah Star. Ah’ll make sure she gets it.” She replied in a somewhat chipper response.
“Solar Moon? What’s that?” The orange filly with the unkempt mane said.
Twitch perked up at this. “You mean you never heard of Team Solar Moon!?”
The tiny pegasus shook her head.
“Team Solar Moon is, like the only team to have made it to most all the Haylo tournaments in at least third place! We are a legend in the gaming world!” He practically shouted that last part with his front hooves in the air dramatically...and then proceeded to fall on his face.
“...why did you want Apple Bloom's sister to know then?” The white unicorn squeaked.
‘So cute’ I thought as I took over the conversation. “Well she’s part of Team Awesome, the group that has almost always gotten first place in every tournament they ever attended.”
“Team Awesome? My sister is apart of that too!” She said.
“Really?” I asked a little shocked. “What’s her name?”
“Rarity.”
“Oh, her. I still can’t get over the fact that she assassinated me that many times when we played against them that one time.” I replied whilst rubbing my head. “She must be in some Branch of the Royal Guard that I haven’t had the displeasure to meet to be that good.”
“Royal Guard? She makes dresses!”
“...” I just stood there, totally numb to the world. ‘Dresses? She makes dresses!? I got assassinated by a seamstress!?’
“Mistah Star? Are ya’ll okay?” Applebloom asked me.
“Huh? Oh, uh yeah. I’m good. You said your brother was in the barn right? Good, Twitch let’s go get this underway, what do ya say?” I said, probably a little too fast.
“It’s about time! I’m ready to kick your flank from here all the way to Canterlot!” The still disguised changeling quipped as he started to run towards the Apple’s Barn.
“Yeah well, the Big Apple himself will be the judge of that you lil’ bug!” I shot back as I ran after him.
The three crusaders looked at one another.
“What was that all about?” Scootaloo asked.
“Ah don’t know, but Ah say we go an’ find out!” Applebloom returned.
“Yeah!” Sweetie Belle agreed.
Then, they too ran to the red barn.
...only to be stopped by Applejack calling from the house to tell them that it was lunchtime.
~~~~~
“Hey Big Red! You in here?” I shouted out into the echo-enabled barn.
“Eeyup. Over here fellas.” Came the reply from behind a giant cider container. Big Mac walked out from behind the wooden structure and greeted us each with a tall glass of cider. “Ah was wonderin’ when y'all would get here. Had the whole thing ready to go by the tahm you finally got here.”
“You know us too well, don’t ya Big Mac?” Twitch asked as he was finally able to release his disguise.
“Ah reckon so Twitch. How long has it been since I saw you last?”
“Uh...about five months since you visited us in Manehatten during your forced vacation.” Twitch remarked. “Who would have thought that you would have to be blackmailed by your cousin Braeburn to take one, eh?”
“Ah got him back for it, Ah assure you.”
“I’ll bet.” I said as I took a swig of the family brew. “Ahh, damn Big Mac. You sure know your stuff when it comes to making hard cider.”
“Only the best from an Apple, Noble Star.” He acknowledged with a drink from his own mug.
“I hear that.” Came my reply.
Twitch looked back between the two of us. “Okay, now that we have greetings out of the way, what do the lot of you say we get the show on the road eh?”
Big Mac and I looked at each other. “Ah reckon we might as well. Ah got the deck o’ cards right here.”
Twitch gave the biggest grin he could possibly as he sang. “Alright~!”
We each pulled up a seat as we got out our betting chips.
“Alright then, the rules as per norm’,” I began. “No take backs, no peeking and above all...” I paused as I flashed my eyes towards Twitch’s spot. “No more than two doubles on you chip raising.”
“Aww. That’s no fair.” The bug responded dejectedly.
“When you start making some money, then I will lift that rule. I’m still paying for that one game.”
“Hey! Ain’tcha forgetting a couple of players?” A voice called out.
The three of us turned to see who was calling us out. “Well?” Bon Bon asked. “You can’t have a Solar Moon card game without the other two members, can you?”
“Yeah! It’s like, against the rules or something!” Lyra quipped as she poked her head from behind the confectioner.
“Lyres, Bonny! You made it~!” Twitch sang out with hearts in his eyes as he gazed at his favorite chocolate maker.
“Twitchy? Oh I’m so glad you’re here.” Bon Bon kissed out at him. “How have you been? I hope the judgement at the Solar Day Court wasn’t too tough on you.”
“It was fine. They only made Noble here have to take care of me with lots of loves.” He said as he acted out me hugging him.
“Yeah, like I could possibly give you that.” I gagged.
“Oh quiet down Nubs, You know you love him like a brother.” Lyra jumped in. “Now pass the cider and let’s get this underway! I’m ready to win all your bits!”
“Ah think you’re forgettin’ who you never could beat, lil’ harp.” Big Mac retorted as he slid a chilled glass to the mare as she sat down.
“Oh yeah? Those were all just flukes and you know it.”
“Care to back up them words?”
“Hush you two. You’re starting to sound like Applejack and Rainbow Dash with all this bickering.” Bon Bon said as she sat down with her own glass and pulled out some of her own chips from her saddlebags.
“Ah do not sound like mah sister.” The red stallion remarked as he poured himself another cup of cider.
“Of course not dear,” She said with a sly gleam in her eye. “You sound more like Applebloom than anything else.”
We all started to laugh at Big Mac’s expense as he choked down his mug.
~~~~~
“- And I said, ‘Dude, thats my coat bro.’ and he was all like, ‘nuh-uh, I found it by the couch.’ and I was like ‘yeah, thats where I left it.’. Twitch retold the tale of how he nearly lost his favorite jacket as we put in another hoof of chips for the next round.
“Heh, Twitch that is so messed up.” Lyra said as she made a grab for some of the sweets that Bon Bon was nice enough to bring with her. “yo shood to-alley chell ano’er.”
“Lyra! Don’t talk with your mouth full!” Bon Bon replied with a disgusted look on her face. “It’s completely improper for a mare.”
“Heh, sorry Bonny.” She said sheepishly as she gulped down the rest of her sweets. The seafoam blue mare then turned her gaze over at my direction. “So, Nubs. What have you been up to before you moved to Ponyville?”
“Huh? Oh, uh I was tracking down Chrysalis to be brought before the court for her crimes against Equestria and the newly founded Crystal Empire.” I said as I drew another card from the pile in the middle of the table.
“Really? How did that go?” Bon Bon inquired.
“I got my plot singed and was encased in some green goop in some cave halfway under Diamond Dog Territory for about a month.” I chanced a glance at Twitch. “If it wasn’t for this little bug here, I might not have made it out alive, let alone had the pony power to take her down.”
Twitch blushed with a humble grin. “All I did was tell the Princess where you were and she sent some guards. It was no big deal, Dude.”
“On the contrary, my brave little lovebug,” Bon Bon inputted. “You saved a dear friend from a grave fate. That’s nothing to be modest about.” She then gave him a peck on his forehead. “If I was the one rescued, I would have been extremely grateful. I might even have a certain changeling’s favorite candy in my saddlebags for just such an occasion to have arrived.”
He perked up at the candymaker. “You don’t mean...”
“I do. How would you like to have a strawberry cheesecake flavored bonbon?”
“Yesss!” The ecstatic Changeling jumped out of his seat in joy.
“Aww. How come I don’t get one?” Lyra asked with her lip in a pout.
“Did you save a leader of an organization from some love sucking ponies?”
“...Maybe.”
“Lyra?”
“Okay, fine. But you still have to play Equestrian Earth with us so we can get the whole team together again.” The candy loving mare retorted.
“Yes well, I suppose it’s only fair.” The dignified pony said as she picked up a card for herself.
“Yo Big Mac,” I looked over at the red guy. “You’ve been too quiet over there. What are you scheming?”
“Ah ain’t planning nothin’. Ah’m just waiting for Twitch to go so I can make mah move.” He said whilst pointing a hoof over in Twitch’s direction. “If N Ah didn’t know any better, Ah would say that he was having a withdrawal or some’in.”
We all looked towards the bug only to see that Big Mac was right, he looked like a druggy who had gone a little too long without his fix, his hind leg trying to follow it’s owners’ namesake.
“Oh, crap! Twitch!” I cried out to the ill-looking bug. “You haven’t been feeding, have you!?”
“I don’t needs to feed! Yess, Feeds us the love! Gives us the precious! No, I don’t want it! We can’t live withouts it!” The apparently head sick changeling shouted at himself.
“Bon Bon!” I shouted, getting her attention. “I think you should do it. We all know that he’ll only feed off of you.”
She gazed over at the black bug rolling on the floor. “Alright dear, I’ll do it. You don’t need to tell me twice to save a friends’ life.” Bon Bon quickly trotted over to Twitch and I. “Just hold him still for a second so I can help.”
I grabbed Twitch so he wouldn’t move as much as Bon Bon walked over as calmly as she could. Of course the same calm couldn’t be said for me.
“Twitch, hey buddy? Look who it is, it’s Bon Bon. You know Bon Bon, right? Come on buddy, it’s time to eat. You know what that means. You can say that you ate Bon Bon. Heh, dang you and your dirty, infectious mind.” I was starting to ramble, as I often did in dire situations.
“Noble SunStar,” I looked up at Lyra in shock; She had never said my full name before. “You need to calm your fat flank down, right now. It’s not doing anypony any good right now.” She gave me a look of disapproval. “I thought you, the pony who commands the Secret Service in which four of us here are a part of, would be the most calm out of all of us.”
I contemplated what she had said. ‘She’s right!’ I thought to myself. ‘What am I doing!? I have proven that I can handle any situation, I took down Chrysalis. What am I afraid of?’ I looked back to where Lyra was. “...Thanks Lyra, I guess I needed that.”
“Glad to be of service, Nubs!” I just rolled my eyes at her.
I attended my attention back towards where my Changeling friend was. Bon Bon had brought her hoof up to his face in hopes that he would bite down but it was a no go. “Why isn’t he doing anything?” She asked me. “ He should be doing something, right?”
“I don’t know. What was he doing right before this began?” I investigated Twitch for some sort of sign.
“Well I was giving him the bonbon I made for him and he...gasp!” Her eyes lit up in realization. “He ate it, wrapper and all, but... the wrapper isn’t poisonous to Changelings, is it?”
I looked her in the eyes. “Yes it is, and now I have no choice but to do the one thing that I have always wanted to.”
“What would that be Noble?” Big Mac pryed.
I cast my gaze across the group of ponies I have come to know as friends. “I have to smack some sense into his thick fucking skull...again.”
As expected, the expressions from the others were diverse. Big Mac looked at me in anticipation, Lyra had an amused look on her face and Bon Bon face was one of bemusement and confusion.
“You have got to be kidding me.” She said.
“No Bon Bon, I am not,” I replied. “I wish I could say I was but if I did then I would be lying.”
I walked over to the now hyperventilating Changeling and then proceeded to bitch-slap him in the face...
...to which he then proceeded to start hacking until a wrapper covered in green goop came out of his mouth.
“Oooh, Chrysalis damnit.” He moaned out. “That is the last time I try to inhale my favorite candy,” He looked at the group of disgusted ponies. “...what?”
“Dude,” I began as I facehoofed. “You are, by far, the weirdest Changeling ever.”
“Oh, come on it can’t be that bad.” He tried to dismiss the situation with a wave of his hoof.
I frowned at him. “You were going all ‘Hobbit Pony’ on us.”
“...oh, well did I at least do the voice right?”
The whole room echoes with face hooves to go around.
“No time! Late bad! Very, very BAD!” I was panicking, sure, but this was important. This was the day that we started playing Equestrian Earth as a team, and as team leader I was not allowed to be late. Ever. “If you don’t hurry up I won’t allow any smooches from Bon Bon, even if she was the one who special ordered you a game!”
“You wouldn’t dare!” He shouted at me as he bounded into the living room with a toothbrush in his magical grasp.
I gave him a deadpan look. “Try me, beetle boy.”
He gave me a bemused face for a few seconds before breaking the facade and looked down in defeat. “Fine. No brushy brushy for me then.” He said as he tossed his toothbrush to the side. He looked back at me again. “ So did the others tell you their ingame names so we can find each other?”
“Yeah bro. Bon Bon chose Sweetie Drops, Heartstrings for Lyra, and Big Red for Big Mac.”
“What classes did they choose, then?”
I glanced up from the two computers I had started up with a confused look on my face. “Uh...don’t know. Guess we’ll find out when we get in the game, won’t we?”
“Alright then, let’s get this party started old school!” He shouted as he hyped himself up.
“You are almost as random as that pink pony that threw us the party when we moved here.”
“You know it!” Was his chosen response.
“All right. I got it set up now. Just put on the helmet and the wires in the spots I showed you last night and prepare for role call.”
“Sir, yes sir!” He saluted as he followed instructions for once. ‘First time for everything, I suppose’.
As we hooked up the wires I looked back at the computers to check if the game was loaded on both screens. Satisfied that they were I glanced over at Twitch to see how far he had gotten only to see that he had jumped in ahead of me.
“Hey no fair, Twitch! We were supposed to start it up at the same time!” I hurriedly put on my own helmet and started the game.
The first thing I noticed was the sense of weightlessness. It was like I was submerged in a giant pool of gelatin. The second thing I noticed was that it was pitch black. ‘Must be the game loading up or something.’ I thought. As soon as that past through my mind though, the whole place starting shining in a blinding white light.
“Ahh! My eyes!” I shouted in distress as I tried to save my pupils by covering them with my hooves.
As my eyes adjusted to the evil light, I saw what appeared to be a figure standing, or rather floating, before me. She appeared to be made of pure coding with wings and a horn.
“Welcome, Noble. I am the Central A.I.” The coded Alicorn said, her voice ringing out like a beautiful wind chime. “Most of the ponies, however, call me The Goddess. You are about to enter a world quite unlike any you have ever seen. A world where dangers can be lurking around every corner. It is a place where you may need to rely on your friends more than anything else to help you.
She paused to let the information soak in. “What character would you like to be?”
I looked at the different figures that had appeared before me and noted that there were four that a pony could choose from. There was an Earth Pony, a Pegasus, a Unicorn and a Changeling. ‘Huh. So Twitch will be able to be himself for a change, eh?’
“I choose Unicorn.” I said finally.
The Goddess looked pleased with this response. “Very well. Please customize your character carefully.”
As she said this, three of the figures disappeared leaving only the Unicorn and a whole bunch of settings appeared around it. I chose to make the Unicorn with my looks in mind. I had turned the coat a nice dark cherry red with inverted flames for the mane. I made it of an average build and height and made sure to change the preset gender from mare (that would have been embarrassing) to stallion. I then proceeded to give it my cutie mark; the sun rising over an arrow of pure glass and light.
As I finished the finishing touches on my character the Alicorn watched patiently. When I stopped she spoke up. “An exact likeness of yourself then I see. You must be very honest with yourself to have added all the flaws as well as the perfections to it.” Before I could question her, she continued to talk. “Now please choose your class. Be warned however, once you choose the class you want there is no changing or turning back.”
When she stopped speaking the Unicorn disappeared completely as well as the different settings only for a bunch of classes to appear before me.
‘Hmm, what to choose. Rogue...nah, that’s too noobish. Warrior? No way am I able to do that. Bard? Do I look like a singer? Wait, what’s that? Celestial Archer...This character harnesses the powers of both the moon and the sun into his shots and rains down justice against his foes from the Heavens while using these very same abilities to help their allies, Now that sounds like a Solar Moon character to me.
“I choose the Celestial Archer.” I stated.
The Goddess looked at me as her eyes lit up in what seemed to be amusement. “A wise choice. Very well. May you have fun and be safe, my little pony.”
The Alicorn the lit up her horn in a flash of white and blue swirls and aimed it down towards me. I closed my eyes in an attempt to save my eyesight from the pure light and suddenly felt as if the whole world put it’s weight onto my shoulders.
“There he is. I told you he was perfecting his class, guys.” An annoying voice rang out.
“Yes you did Twitch, and we appreciate that, but for now why don’t we help Noble Star up so we can get started already, hmm?”
“Alright then Bon Bon. Hey Noble, glad you could finally join us.” He said as I looked up at the others.
“I’m pretty sure you already said something like that, Twitch.” I said as I ran a hoof over the back of my head.
“Ya well, it’s true.” He replied defensively as he sat down with his front hooves crossed. He was wearing what appeared to be fancy blade with the hilt showing two snakes surrounding a cross and had on some light ranger-like armor.
“Hey Nubs, ready for some adventuring?” Lyra cheered as she jumped out in front of me unexpectedly. She appeared to be some sort of support class with a bag full of ingredients and the staff she was holding. The staff itself looked to be a dragons’ head at the top as the focal point. She was wearing something akin to a mage.
“Almost, just let me get used to my surroundings for a minute then we can head out, alright?” I answered back at her as I tried to calm myself from having a heart attack before turning to Bon Bon. She seemed to have chosen a Scholar class as she was currently wearing somewhat the same clothes as my old English Teacher from college. “Hey Bon Bon, you’re the gaming wiz of the group. What’s what in this one?”
“Oh? not even a minute into the game and you’re already asking for tips?” She said with a smirk. “You are learning. Well, we are currently located on the spawn town locally known as Aeroslida. It is the place to be if you are still learning the ropes of the game and has a major quest line that should take you to one of three main travel points in Old Equestria. We are in the main spawn point of the city and if you look around you will see that this area connects to most of the city,”
She cleared her throat before continuing. “The city itself has three main areas of interest, the first being the most important to most players is the Skydome. The Skydome is exactly what it sounds like, it is a giant dome where all the players would go for PvP battles and to train their skills in combat with local trainers, although the latter is not known as much as it should be.”
“Why is that?” I asked to her unexpected but pleased surprise.
“Well, most players only care to test themselves against each other there. Others just go off to one of the other cities to start on their adventures without another glance at their surroundings.
Now, the other locations are the Cloud Library, which is where you would go to learn more about the world and it’s inhabitants, and the Market, where you would go to sell and buy weapons and equipment. Any questions?”
I glanced over to the others to find that their jaws had dropped to the ground. Twitch even caught a fly...and started choking on it. I just shook my head in wonder.
“Well before one of us dies from a harmless coded insect, I say we go find the local instructions guide to teach us the basics.” I motioned over to a pony who was obviously trying to urge anypony to come over to him.
~~~~~~
To say that the guy was helpful would be an understatement. Apparently, there was an update while we were all talking and it involved how the NPC conversed with you and how helpful they were at answering questions. It was like talking to an actually pony! Apparently there was a system to grinding or something; Just have a friend get the attention of whatever you mob you wanted to grind on and attack it with a few surprise attacks that they were weak against, though it was better with a group of mobs rather than a single one as the experience would be split up if you were in a group. The instructor then sent us each on an errand, thankfully it was at the same spot for everypony. After we completed that it was onto another place to help out over there. We learned how to use our own attacks respectively, we learned that there was a map that we could use to get around faster, we then learnt about a special attack that each class could use, though there was only one per class. By the time we were done with the long stream of quests, we were exhausted.
“Pant, pant, dude, pant, are we done yet? I”m tired bro.” Twitch complained as he fell to the ground with his tongue hanging from the side of his mouth to prove his point.
“We should be. I mean the last thing we had to do was talk to mayor right?” I said looking towards Big Mac who was the keeper of the quests, or so we liked to call him anyway.
“Eeyup. We can take a break. Ah reckon there can be something else we can do ‘fore we go see the customs NPC for the next area destination.”
I stared at him for a second. “That was the longest string of big words I have ever heard you say at once. Plan on doing it again any time soon for a recording?”
“Eenope.” He said with a quick chuckle.
I gave a thought to what I was going to say before I noticed what Big Mac was wearing. He was in what at first glance seemed to be Old Equestrian Solar Empire Armour, and had two decent sized warhammers strapped to his back. He also had on a crimson red cape that matched his coat color. “Okay that’s it.” I said finally, getting the groups’ attention. “Where the hell did you guys get the weapons and armor, huh? I don’t have any and I’m pretty sure that ...wait. You guys came on last night without me didn’t you?”
The guilty looks on their faces confirmed my suspicions. “So, this is how the team works huh? Get on before the captain does and get some fancy gear, eh?”
“Hold on Nubs, we can explain.” Lyra started.
“Oh ya? Then by all means, explain why you couldn’t wait.” I started to raise my voice. “Explain to me why I wasn’t told! Try to explain why this is-” SMACK! I stood there dumbfounded as I raised a hoof up to my cheek where Bon Bon had smacked me.
“Noble SunStar! How dare you act like this. I thought you would be better than to accuse those around you without any evidence as to why. Was I wrong to assume so? Why would you act like this?” She had the voice of a mother scolding her child, and with the way I had just acted I wasn’t surprised.
“I...” I paused. I didn’t deserve to be the team leader if I was getting this upset over something so stupid as equipment in a game. So I did the only logical thing I could think of at the time. I looked over at the party options of the group. More specifically, I looked at the leader options. I then looked at each of the others. Bon Bon still wore the look of an angry mother, Lyra looked like she was about to breakdown from the guilt, Twitch looked down in sorrow while Big Mac looked as if he caught sight of something interesting in my direction. I switched leadership to somepony in the group without looking and then left it.
The change in expressions from the group was instantaneous. Bon Bon and Twitch looked at me in shock, Lyra looked up at me as if I was insane and Big Mac looked...disappointed? I didn’t care. “Sorry for the way I acted. I hereby resign from the team. Take care everypony.” I then used one of my abilities from my Character class called ‘Quick ‘Port’ and teleported before anypony could say anything.
~~~~
Bon Bon’s POV
“That stupid idiot!” I screamed out as I stomped my hooves on the stone bricks of the road. The suddenness of my actions caused everypony else to finally act.
“Why bro?” Twitch asked the winds that had carried away our stupid and careless leader.
Lyra just looked as if she had been told that her favorite candy had been discontinued, not that I would do something so harsh to her. I personally thought that she had a crush on Noble, but I would never had said anything like that out loud since it would be extremely unprofessional of me.
“We going to follow him or are we just going to let him get away with that?” Big Mac asked looking at me.
“Why are you asking me?” I shot back at him, perhaps a little too venomously though Big MAc didn’t look phased by my tone of voice.
“Considerin’ he made you leader ‘fore he left, twould make some lick of sense to ask you.” He replied calmly.
“He did what?” I looked at the party details to see if he was bluffing. He wasn’t, why would that poor excuse of a-. No, I mustn't think that way. It is improper to think such things. Especially for one with leadership of a group as important as this one. “I...see. Well then, first thing we need to do is find out where he went. Good thing my class comes with a scrying ability for players we met and friended. Just give me a second.” I said as I began to concentrate. I understood why spells were so difficult for Unicorns.
Although I may have chosen a Scholar class, it didn’t make this any less difficult; It takes awhile for the proper spell to be found in such a short amount of time and so many different spells would try to pop up to be used instead of the one you needed. At least, that was the way it was for me anyway.As I was finally able to find the spell I pointed my right hoof at the ground like it was called for from a non-Unicorn caster. My hoof then began to glow a simple eggshell color, whereas Lyra’s would have been a yellow if she was casting a spell. I let the light hit the ground where I was pointing so that it would start to glow with the same color as my hoof.
I noticed that as I did all of this the others seemed to have taken to watching me with a disturbing amount of focus. Why they couldn’t focus this much during our card games is still a wonder to me. I, of course didn’t let that bother me as I continued to pour mana into the spell. Just when I thought I had miscast the spell the light on the ground changed shape and pointed into a seemingly random location. I then brought up my map to see where it was there and noticed something odd.
What’s wrong Bonny?” Lyra asked with a sniff. Poor dear, I would fix this even if I had to rip that stallion a new plot hole.
“Nothing dear, it just looks like we’ll be going to the customs NPC sooner than we thought. It seems that our stubborn mule of a friend has wound up in an area called ‘Bandits Cove’. Hopefully he’s not having much issues considering what we’re going to do with him when we get there.”
~~~~~
Noble’s POV
“Shitshitshittyshitshit!” I yelled as I ran from the giant hulking beast of an Earth Pony with the word ‘Bandit Boss’ above his head.
“Get back here so I can rip the horn off of that head of yours and shove it up your plot!” He shouted, obviously angry that I fell on him from a twenty foot drop.
“No thanks, I prefer that my horn stay right where it’s at please!” I yelled back...aww who am I kidding. I screamed like a freaking filly on Nightmare Night. Needless to say, all my screaming did was infuriate the hulk behind me even more. ‘What kind of range does this mob have!?’ I thought furiously. I had been running from him for a good ten minutes. I even passed a few other players who looked at me and the level three above my head incredulously as they saw the monster of a level thirty one tailing me like a trainwreck. I shouted at them to help me but...they were laughing too hard to do anything, the worthless plot kissers.
Honestly, if I had thought about it I would have logged out but my panic at a monster of a pony chasing had overridden any logical thought that I may have had. It was only when I saw something glinting on a nearby hill did I do anything logical. “Look over there!” I shouted. “It’s a hoard of gold!”
As I had hoped the stupid mob turned as he was running and tripped over his own gigantic hooves.. and then proceeded to start rolling at me instead of just running. “son of a whorse!” I cursed as I ran from the pancake maker behind me.
I then passed yet another group of players and by the looks of it they seemed to have lost control of their jaws as they dropped at the apparently ridiculousness of a new player being chased by a rolling boss mob a little more than triple their level. I however, was still screaming like a foal who lost their mommy. “How can this possibly get any worse!” I yelled out loud.
I soon regretted that question as I saw a bucking huge hole in front of me. It looked like a canyon, it was so big. Unfortunately, it was coming closer as I ran towards it. I looked around me in a panic only to notice that there was nowhere else for me to go. ‘Whelp, looks like it’s down the pit of death for me.’ I thought with little remorse. I jumped into the hole with the Bandit rolling right in with me.
What happened next was that I screamed in terror as I held my hooves in front of my eyes awaiting the obvious death that was to happen with a splat. Of course, instead of a splat and the feeling of pain I expected, I heard a splat and felt my level skyrocket up to thirteen. I cautioned a look to my death only to see a yellow glow surrounding me.
“W-what!? I’m okay?” I shouted incredulously.
“Well, okay is such a loose term, Nubs. I would say that you instead have simply delayed the severe beating that the bandit should have given you.” A familiar voice rang out.
I looked at my former team in anticipation of the scolding that I would get for this, so imagine my surprise when instead I get hugged by a certain seafoam colored, emotionally unstable, crying Unicorn. “I d-don’t w-want to lose you” She sobbed out in between gasps for air. Instead of talking, I resolved to just hug her until she calmed down. It was...comforting if I do say so myself. It also showed me that I had been an idiot, yet again. “I am....sorry that I made you go through that. I...shouldn’t have done it in the first place. I am truly sorry.” As I said this I felt tears running down my face.
~~~~~
Lyra had calmed down enough to pull away from me and said that she needed to get ready for her concert in Ponyville Centre later in the evening. We all said that we would be there before it starts to wish her luck. I made sure to give her another hug just so I could whisper another apology.
After she had left Bon Bon trotted up to where I was and then smacked me across the face all in one swift motion. It was loud enough that even Big Mac winced. I just took it along with the verbal abuse. “You are by far the most stupid stallion I have ever met. If you had given Lyra a chance to explain to you why we did what we did then you would know that we just wanted to surprise you with some custom made armor. While we were getting the bits for it, we came across a hacker trying to scam other ponies. We reported him to some GMs in the area and it turns out everytime they tried to zone in on him personally he always got away. We allowed them to zone in on us instead so they could catch him and as a reward got this equipment. Are you satisfied now, you stubborn moron?”
“...No.” I simply said. “No I am not satisfied. I just made one of my foalhood friends cry for no good reason. I left the team that I had personally created because I got jealous of my friends, and then I made them all worry about me. They came after me just so they could make me see what I had done wrong. So to answer your question I am not satisfied. I would still be in the wrong no matter what I did.” I looked Bon Bon in the eyes. “I am sorry for my behavior and actions today. They were unjust and completely inappropriate,” I looked down at the ground. “I beg for the forgiveness of my friends and ask that you make sure the team runs smoothly. Now please excuse me. I wish to see one of my best friends off as she performs her first major concert ever.” And with that, I logged off.
~~~~~
“Welcome everypony, to the annual Ponyville Centre Fair!” Announced Mayor Mare, a huge almost foal-like smile plastered on her face. “I would like to inform you all that the refreshments this year are being hosted by the Apples and the Cakes! Restrooms in the City Hall are open to the public for the duration of the day through the night. Please drink responsibly and be safe everypony!”
It was only three pm, and the Ponyville Centre was already fill with seemingly every pony in town. There were ponies playing Spider Tossing, Apple Bobbing, Dunk and Toss and pretty much any other game you could think of. There were even some ponies who had brought a few tables with them so they could play a Dungeons and Dragons Tournament. To say that this year's fair was a success would have been an understatement.
I was on my way to the area where the stage was being set up for the musicians when I heard somepony calling for me. “Director Star, Sir!” I turned towards the voice only to notice a hulking white pegasus with tiny wings.
“Private Snowflake? What brings you here?” I didn’t even know he was stationed here. “Last I heard you were out taking care of three juvenile dragons near Appleloosa.”
“I did take care of them. Took a lot of gems, though.” He replied rubbing his head sheepishly. “I was so worn out from the haul I decided to ask for a week to recuperate, sir.”
I shook my head. “No need for the sir, Private. I am currently off duty on permanent leave until further notice on the Princesses orders.”
He looked at me with a confused look. “Is this about that uh, Changeling thing I heard about sir?” The look in my eyes confirmed his question without words. “So, what were you planning on doing before I, uh... called you out.”
“Wha-huh? Oh, right. Well I was just going to see a friend before...uh,” I glanced up in thought before looking back down at the private. “You know, that’s none of your business Private Snowflake. Now I suggest you go and relax and we’ll catch up later.”
“Yes sir!” He saluted me before turning around to where I believe the cider was.
“Ugh. I don’t need this.” I muttered.
“Don’t need what, Nubs?”
“Ahh!” I could have swore I jumped about ten feet in the air just then. I spun around to see Lyra standing by the stage with her harp or whatever it was called in her magic. “Dang it, Lyra! What did I tell you about doing that?”
“To at least wait until you’re on the toilet so you can crap and have a legit reason for doing so.” She said without missing a beat.
I gave her a bemused look. “No, I didn’t say that. I told you to never do that again.”
She gave me a small giggle for all the trouble she caused. “Ah come on, Nubs. It’s not like I killed you or anything.” Her look took on a more somber change. “Sorry for getting...you know, getting like that. I don’t know why I di-”
“Lyra stop.” She turned her focus back to me. “It’s not your fault, ok? It is not your fault. It’s mine. I freaked out, okay? Don’t blame yourself over this. If anything you should blame me.”
“I could never blame you Nubs.” Lyra turned her head to the setting sun. “It...it would hurt me too much. I couldn’t do that even if I wanted to.”
I don’t know why but I pulled her in for an embrace. “It’s okay Lyra. I think I understand.” I gave her a light squeeze. “I just don’t want you to say it was your fault. Because it isn’t.”
I broke the grasp I had on her and lifted her head so I could see her eyes. “Lyra, you mean more to me than I care to admit. More than I ever thought possible, you know? I never thought it would be like that.” I leaned in to whisper in her ear. “I... I think I love you.”
The seafoam mare looked up at me in amazement and admiration. “R-really?” She looked...hopeful?
I gazed down at her with a small smile. “Really.” I didn’t expect her to jump at me, nor did I expect her to kiss my cheek and then nuzzle my chest.
She sighed out a response. “I was hoping you would say that ever since we first met. I never thought it would happen though.”
“Way to go, bro! I knew you could do it.” Lyra and I looked up in shock only to see Twitch, Big Mac and Bon Bon looking at us.
We all looked awkwardly at each other until I spoke up. “How long were you three there?”
“Long enough, lovebirds.” Bon Bon chirped.
“Ugh, don’t start this.” I groaned as I mentally face hoofed myself.
The rest of the evening went by without much incident, although our group kept getting some stares because of Twitch. Lyra had apparently had a crush on me since we had first met. I was also the reason Lyra joined the Secret Service. She had said that if she had never of met me all those years ago then she would have most likely been on some crazy fetish or obsession. That would have been interesting to say the least.
Big Mac offered to get us some drinks but I wasn’t feeling very thirsty, nor did I want to be drunk this night. The others, however did want a cider or two so he went off for theirs. I opted to just sit back and relax to the sweet refreshing breeze and listen to the soft music they had playing on the stage a few feet to the left of me.
“So Nubs.”
...well so much for that thought. “Yes, Lyra?” I asked with lidded eyes.
“What does this make us? Are we a couple now or are we...” She trailed off from finishing the sentence.
“I don’t know. Do you want us to be a couple or something else instead?” I tried to sit up but she was on my belly and was looking too comfortable to disturb so I adjusted myself so I could rest a hoof on her back instead.
“It’s not like I haven’t thought about it, because I have. I just...I don’t know how this kind of thing works. I don’t want to mess this up.”
“Hey now. What did we talk about, huh? Just let it be what it is, okay? If it becomes something...more, it was meant to be.” I gave myself a smile. “Besides, it’s nice to just relax for once and not have to worry about anything, you know?”
“Yeah, Nubs. Thanks.” She closed her eyes and I think she fell asleep because her breathing became more even and relaxed than it was earlier.
All in all, it was a good night. I just wish it didn’t have to end.
~~~~~
“Are we there yet?"
“I swear if you start this again you will be a very unhappy Changeling, Twitch.” I slowly said as my eye began to twitch from the expected barrage of headaches to come.
“...party pooper.”He finally said after about half a minute.
It had been about two weeks since my little outburst. We made up after the fair but I still wasn’t comfortable taking back the title of team leader. I feel as if I had failed my friends in some way and I can’t be a leader knowing I had done so.
“Are we there yet?”
“Oh Mother of Celestia! Yes, we are here! Wanna know where here is? It’s your new grave if you keep saying that!” I shouted at the worlds’ most annoying bug pony.
“Wow, Nubs. That was harsh.” I heard somepony say from somewhere over to my left.
I looked over to see Lyra trotting over to us with Bon Bon and Big Mac right behind her.
“You know you would do the same if you were me.” I simply stated.
“Maybe I would and maybe I wouldn’t but I know one thing for certain.”
“What’s that?” I cautioned a question towards her.
She got on a pouty look. “The game doesn’t allow signs of affection.”
I just rolled my eyes and looked at Bon Bon. “So, where are we going now fearless leader?”
“Well we were going to Ghastly Gorge but somepony decided it would be cool to piss off the locals and get us banned from Trottingham for a few ingame days.” She glared at Lyra.
“What, I didn’t know they liked the sign that much.” She tried to say in defence. Bon Bon just continued her soul-piercing glare.
“Really, what’s the big deal over some sign?” Twitch asked.
Bon Bon looked at Twitch with a slightly less angry glare and took on one with more annoyance instead. “She somehow burnt the ‘Welcome to’ sign with nothing except a stick and candy. The sign had been there for a very long time and was worth a lot of bits.” The cream-colored mare sighed. “And here, I thought we would be able to do a nice mini-quest or something.”
“Aw, come on Bonny. I said I was sorry okay?” Lyra gave her candy making friend a look that screamed forgive me, not that it did much as her facade came crashing down when she smirked. “That fire was pretty big though.”
“Aww, my little pyromaniac likes fire huh?” I jumped in on the conversation. “Well Pyra, maybe instead of being an alchemist you should have been a fire mage.”
“Oh har har, Nubs. You are such a comedian.” She deadpanned.
“I try.” I quipped back as I then saw her roll her eyes. “Anyway, where are we going now?”
“Well, I figured that we could go see what the big deal was over at the weapons shop on the edge of the Everfree Forest.”
“The Everfree, they have that in here?” Twitch asked as he buzzed around my head.
“Of course they do, bug colt,” I swatted at him to get away from me. “What kind of equestria doesn’t have an Everfree Forest?”
“The best kind!” He exclaimed. “No scary monsters would be able to survive without it right?”
“Wrong again Twitch,” I lowered my head in disappointment. “They would just exist someplace else instead. The monsters only need a place to live and a food source, and we all know what they eat.”
The whole group shuddered at that. Big Mac was the next one to speak. “Ah reckon we should be on our way if N we expect to reach it before nightfall.”
With that we began the long trek over to the worlds’ most dangerous place. Of course, since I hate silence I had to do something to pass the time and seeing as I still didn’t know...
“Twitch, what the hell is your class?” The black carapace covered pony looked away from his favorite cream-colored pony at me.
“Well I thought it was obvious seeing as my class is a specific to changeling players. I am what you would call a Praetorian,” He raised his head in pride. “This class specializes in covert operations and when things go sour... brute force in the ability to change into a dragon. Only Queen Chrysalis’ Elites are ever Praetorians. It takes years to perfect the abilities and sometimes you have to live with dragons to figure out how to use the abilities properly.
“Of course, Noling can use the dragons’ innate ability to survive lava, but our heat resistance is even higher than it normally is as a backup. We are even able to breathe a specific element like fire or ice depending on the type of dragon we become. My version is the latter seeing as I can only turn into a Snow Dragon, or Wyvern, as most ponies call them.” He glanced up at us to see dumbfounded looks. “What? I used to be Chrysalis’ personal expert on the subject before I was banished from the hive.”
“Whoa, Twitch,” Lyra started. “That is so cool, can you turn into one now!? Please?”
He rubbed his head as he somehow blushed through his natural armor. “Well, not yet. I get that ability when I reach level twelve. I’m still only level ten. My abilities aren't that good yet in real life anyway.”
“Okay, beyond the bugs’ new found intellect,” I said startling Bon Bon with how close I wound up near her. “We need to assess what we can do. We’ll start with Lyra.” I gave her the go ahead.
“Oh, well I’m an alchemist. I specialize in sideline tactics with potions and some basic enchantments. I am able to poison unaware opponents as long as they are distracted by a teammate. I can also heal us up to a certain point with the party healing spell.” She threw her head back, clearly proud of what her class was.
“Okay then. Bon Bon, what about you?”
“I happen to be a scholar. I specialize in conjuration and earth spells. That doesn’t mean I can’t use other types of spells like fire or water. It just means that I am better at them than the others. I can not however, use healing spells. So if Lyra goes down nopony here is able to heal us.”
“Interesting,” I began to rub my chin in thought. “We will have to make sure she isn’t targeted by anypony then. Alright, Big Mac. You’re up.”
“Ah reckon Ahm the heavy hitter class, Noble. Ahm able to take a lot of hits before going down and Ah send ‘em packin’ with Mah two warhammers. Ah would probably need somepony to watch Mah flank while Ahm knockin’ heads together, or something. Ah guess that just leaves you, Noble.”
...No matter how many times he talks to me I will never stop being surprised how much he’s willing to say to a good friend. “Well, I’m a Celestial Archer. I harness the powers of the sun and moon into my shots. Mainly means fire and ice attacks, though I can use the other elements as well. Some of my shots have the ability to heal an ally while exploding on impact with an enemy. I can also teleport if my position has been compromised. I can’t use the ability for a few minutes after that though, due to the cool down time on it.
“So altogether, we have stealth, ranged, melee, magic and potion classes. Seems like a nice rounded group to me. Good thing too, I wanna have all our bases covered,” I turned to my friends. “So now all we have to do is come up with a good battle strategy. That would fall to you, Bon Bon.”
“Well only because you refuse to be the leader like the stubborn mule you are,” She gave me an exasperated glance. “I swear this group would be better if only you would pull your head out of your own rump every now and then.”
As we got closer to our destination I noticed how little mobs were around. I mean, sure there was the occasional boar trying to ram at us, but that was it. It was only when I saw the Everfree shop that I realized why. Every single player there was on top of the roof of the place, surrounded by a whole bunch of wild mobs and bandits! I took a glance at the player levels and noticed that they were all around level four or five. A quick look at the enemy showed that they were at levels nine and twelve all around.
Twitch took this silent opportunity as he always did. “Well at least it’s not us.”
All I had time for was to facehoof at his stupidity as every single mob looked at us. “Twitch, you are the worst pony alive at stealth.”
Why did he have to open his big mouth? Did I piss off the Princesses in some way? ...Maybe it was because of that time I woke up on Princess Celestia’s balcony. Or the time I ate a slice of her cake! Oh, I remember that time too well. The pain from that spell she did still hurts if I sit down too hard... Okay, time to focus.
“Twitch, since this is your fault, you get to go for distraction! Lyra, keep us healed up if you can. Big Mac can run at them from the sides and Bon Bon can cast some spells on the ones that try to flank us. I’ll try to keep ‘em corralled towards the middle. Let’s move out, everypony!”
Even though I wasn’t the leader anymore it still felt good knowing what I was able to do in a jam. Maybe that was why I got promoted to Director. Oh well, not like that's important right now.
I spotted Twitch heading straight at them in his newly acquired Griffon form. Twitch was running interference on the front lines with what I believe was a bunch of boars and rabid bunnies... The designers of this game need to get better monsters, or Twitch needs to step it up a bit.
Just as I thought he was going to get mauled Big Mac appeared out of nowhere and slammed his hammer into the biggest of the boars, killing it instantly. He then spun around and smashed it into a group of the foaming rodents sending them flying into different directions. ‘Note to self, Don't piss off Big Mac.’
I took aim at a few bandits trying to flank my favorite hammer bro and fired. The attack I chose sent burning projectiles flying at the ponies scattering them and giving Big Mac time to swing his two hammers down onto a poor level nine bandit. I was so caught up in the moment that I didn’t notice a stray bandit coming from behind me with a dagger until a fireball shot at me from Bon Bon’s position. This caused me to duck and the victim of chance to scream bloody murder at his fate. I turned back to thank her when I saw a couple of boars charging at Lyra.
“Oh no you don’t,” I took aim whilst calling on the moon for my prey’s frozen demise. Right as they got to her I fired and...
Missed. Cursing at my faulty shooting I teleported with Quickport appearing right on top of one of the boars and shoved an arrow up his plot. To say he wasn’t happy about his new tail would be an understatement, although I thought it was a good fit for him. He immediately started trying to buck me off of him and it was all I could do to stay on. The hairy pig then rammed into his partner in his blind fury, and to my amusement said partner went aggro on him.
I jumped off to see Lyra throwing a paralyzing potion at a couple of the rabid bunnies from earlier only for Bon Bon to cast a spell to have the ground eat them. Seriously, the ground grew a mouth and swallowed the rabbits completely whole. I might not want to get on her bad side again anytime soon...
Just as I thought we were finished I saw something in the distance. It looked like a black smudge against the blue sky, and it was getting bigger. As I was about to tell the others about our unwanted guest it let out a terrifying screech. I took a brief glance at the others who all had a surprised demeanor, all except Twitch who was cowering behind a tree muttering something about Rocs.
“Dang it, Twitch,” I mumbled under my breath. “Bug colt! Get your act together and help us take out the big bird!” I ran up to the shop where all the low leveled players were and motioned for them to get inside the building.
Just as the last player got inside I felt a sharp pain around my back and stomach and suddenly felt myself going vertigo. I tried to look around but then way I was positioned prevented all movement. What I could see didn’t really help me since it was only clouds. Wait...clouds? Shit.
“I guess now is a bad time to say that I hate heights?” Then, I dropped. ‘Yep, definitely a bad time.’ “Oh shitshitshitshitshit!” I was probably heard all the way to Aeroslida with how loud I was...yelling. Yeah, yelling. No high pitched screams here. I covered my eyes before I even looked to see the ground rush at me. If I didn’t see it, then it couldn’t hurt me right? Yeah, tell that to the immediate pain I felt. Of course I didn’t expect to see nothing but white when I opened my eyes.
“Wha?” I tried to take note of my surroundings but was unable to see anything except the blinding colorless nothingness around me. It didn’t last long, though. I almost immediately felt a strange pull on my form and then suddenly I was in a bed. “Dafuq?” Would have been anyones first reaction to being one place then instantly in another, right? Not me. Wanna know mine?
“I blame Twitch.”
~~~~~
Twitch’s POV
‘HOly crap! That giant chicken just dropped Noble!’ “...Holy crap! That giant chicken just dropped Noble!” I turned around to the others. Well, I really turned around to see Bon Bon’s ...eh you know what, nevermind. Lyra looked like her coltfriend was taken from ...oh, right. Big Mac just stood there and took it like a boss, and Bonny...oh crap I’m not drooling again, am I? Bonny had her cute thinking look. I mean all her looks are cute but I really like her thinking look. Not as much as that look she gets when she’s wearing her candy apron...crap, I need to stop doing that.
“Big Mac keep watch on where the big pigeon went,” Bon Bon started giving out her usual cute orders with her amazingly sweet voice. “Twitch, you watch my back and Lyra...Try to get it together okay sweetie? Let’s get moving team. Noble didn’t just get dropped from at least a forty foot drop just so we would follow him!” ...Ouch, now I have that image in my head.
“We got company.” Big Mac stated with his awesome drawl. “North of us, and gainin’ speed by the looks of it.”
We all turned in that direction and let me tell you, the second look at the bigass bird was even more intimidating than the first! It’s wingspan alone was twenty feet long from the tip to the base, covered in crimson red feathers with black tips. It had a gold covering over the top of it’s wings, probably to protect them from attacks, that ended in a curve where the wing itself ended. It’s head carried a sunset gold crown which made it’s silver gray stare even more intensive. I looked up at the name of the bird of terror. It said ‘Elite King Roc level thirty-five’
‘No wonder it killed Noble! He was only a level twenty!’ “I think we might have a slight problem with the giant chicken.” I said to the others as my voice started to quiver and my knees locked up.
~~~~~
Noble’s POV
Of all the things I could have died from, it was a fall that killed me! That’s just great. I mean, who wouldn’t want to die from a really high drop! Yes, that was sarcasm. Okay, gotta get back on track... Which way was the bakery?
~~~~~
Big Mac’s POV
I’m a simple pony. Get up, work. Eat, work. Train with team, then sleep. Ah like to keep it simple. Mah class is simple too. Ah hit things. It’s just something that comes natural, Ah guess. Ah ain’t no philosophical stallion. Ah don’t sit and look at the stars wondering what’s out there. I’m just fine here on the ground living mah life. So when Ah have some bird coming at me trying to lift me up off of this here soil, well Ah don’t take kindly to that.
“Big Mac, It’s behind you!” Ah here Twitch callin’ out to me.
“Eeyup!” Ah grunt as mah hammer is swung at the Roc’s beak. Ah hear it screech in pain as Ah continue to turn.
Ah start to charge up another attack. This one was a big one and would take a turn to complete. “Charging!”
“Alright Big Mac, everypony stand back! This one is gonna be big!” Ah hear Lyra shout. She pulls out a large glass vial of some green liquid and tossed it at the red dot in the sky. As it makes contact Ah hear a hissing and poppin’ sound come from the container, along with a terrible noise that the Roc makes. The next thing Ah see is a giant green bubble in the sky.
“Lyra, that was suhweet! What was it, what did it do?” Twitch babbled as he jumped up and down, much as Ah see Pinkie doing it every time Ah see her.
“It gave Big Mac time to make his move. All it does is keep it still for a turn or two.” She turned to me. “You’re up Big Guy!”
Ah nod to her and began to run at the still immobile poultry in the sky. Ah then jump towards the shop and bound off the wall for more air. As mah now glowing warhammer comes down on mah target Ah hear a small pop and see Noble appear on top of it’s back. “Eenope!” Ah shout but it was too late. Mah attack made contact and brought it and Noble down to the ground.
~~~~~
Noble’s POV
You ever have those days? You know, the ones where you just don’t want to get out of bed? Yeah, I shouldn’t have gotten out of that bed at the spawn. Okay so here’s what happened if you weren’t paying attention.
My friends and I go to the Everfree Shop to see what was going on over there. We see some poor new players being ganged up for some reason. We try to help and then I get lifted off the ground and then smashed back into it. With me so far? Good because that’s not the worst of it. I run into somepony that I kinda...owed a cake to for eating hers. I’m forced to get said pony another cake. I get it then I tell her what was going on at the Everfree. She says that she needed to see somepony named Chaotic or something like that. Then the freaking bi- wait...sorry about that. Then the almighty female pony that can get me sent to very bad places teleported me back to where I died at and says to keep the bird that killed me, ‘occupied’. Thats not the end of it though. Apparently Big Mac was using some attack when I was teleported on top of the freaking thing!
...I need a vacation. Or at least an aspirin.
“Noble, are you okay? Do I need to get Lyra to do CPR?” A very annoying bug pony asked whilst peering down the boulder sized hole that the Roc and I had made.
“Oh, can I please!?” She appeared right beside Twitch and looked down at me in anticipation.
Make that the whole bottle of aspirin.
The uncomfortable situation took to a more drastic turn as the ground under me shifted suddenly. “Everypony, move!” I shouted, panic evident in my voice.
The others scrambled out of the way as I clawed the sides of the hole in my own attempt to escape. I was suddenly lifted out with a yellow glow around me. I shot a thanks to Lyra who was noticeably straining under the pressure of holding somepony. “All we need to do is stall it,” I called out. “Somepony is coming to help us as soon as they can!” I saw the others nod their affirmations. ‘Let’s do this.’ I thought as I rushed to the hole.
The Roc shot out of the hole in a blur of golden flames, murder apparent in its eyes. I notched an arrow and took aim as the others took their various fighting stances. “Now!” I shouted as I released the arrow. It flew at the Roc with a cold blue hue and struck one of the wings, instantly freezing a small portion of it. Big Mac charged at the now motionless predator with his warhammer held high and Twitch took on his Griffon form as he flew to the other side.
The apple farmer jumped as high as he could and slammed his weapon down on the bird’s head, a resounding crack being heard for miles. Twitch then flew up at the now falling projectile and razed his currently sharp claws along the front of the Roc, resulting in a loud screech to sound from it’s beak. The Roc twisted in midair and swatted a large wing at his attackers forcing them to the ground in a heep.
I prepared another arrow but before I could fire, it dove at me with malicious intent gleaming from it’s eyes. I tried to dodge but it clipped me with it’s claws and I felt a searing pain in my side. I fired the arrow i had notched in retaliation but it created a gust of wind to blow the projectile away like an annoying fly. Before I was able to reach for another arrow, a glass vial hit my target and forced it down to land. I glanced over to where it had come from.
Lyra had a smug grin on her face.”Take that, you oversized chicken!” The Roc turned towards her. “Er, Bon Bon? A little help please.”
Bon Bon grunted her affirmation as she began to work her magic. The ground started to shake and crack around her victim as she struggled in concentration. All of a sudden, the ground opened up and tried to swallow it whole but only succeeded in getting about halfway.The Roc, now trapped in the earth strained to break free from it’s stony prison, but it was all in vain.
I breathed a sigh of relief. “Glad thats over.” Then, I heard a high-pitched female voice echo across in the distance.
“Aww, I missed the fun already!?”
My friends and I turned to where the voice had come from. Only to see nopony was there.
“Up here!” The voice giggled.
I looked up and saw an extremely...wait. I saw a beautiful...no. Cute? Yeah that works. I saw a really cute pegasus up in a tree by the shop that we were protecting. She was a cream colored pony with a crimson red mane and she had gold eyes that were surrounded by a gray haze rather than the normal white that you would normally see. Her cutie mark was that of a sword running through some sort of hex symbol that coiled around itself. The image kinda hurt my head just looking at it.
She was wearing something that would be considered kinky. It hugged at her body mainly around the barrel and stopped just at her cutie mark. If I had to take a guess, I would say she was a class that relied on swift and deadly melee strikes if the way she stood was any indication. She had a relaxed but alert aura about her.
I stepped forward.
“Who are you, and what did you mean you missed the fun? There was no way you could have found out about the Roc being here.”
She changed her goofy carefree expression to a more serious one faster than I could blink.
“Fine. My name is Heks Blad and I am a GM sent here by Chaotic to sort out a glitch in the system.” She bluntly replied, her voice had a Dutch accent to it.
:What kind of glitch?” I had to be careful here. I didn’t want to end up finding this to be a scam.
She gave me a bemused expression. “The kind that would get most players banned if they were ever caught abusing it.” ...Seems legit.
“Alright, then deal with it.”
She sighed. “I would if I was actually told where it was. Chaotic is lazy at the best of times when it comes to this kind of thing. All he said was the Princess wants this taken care of and that I would meet with a top ranked player.” Heks looked around. “And since I don’t see said player I think thats my cue to just go grab a drink and play poker for the rest of the night.”
“Hold up lady!” Twitch jumped out from behind Bon Bon. “There is so a high ranked player here.” He exclaimed proudly.
“Really? Is he behind the weak looking Changeling?” She teased.
“...No!” He puffed up his chest, his pride having taken a hit. “He’s right in front of you. This is Noble Sunstar of the Secret Service.”
I facehoofed. “Damnit, Twitch! What did we discuss? No telling everypony what I do for a living. Nopony cares about my job okay?”
“On the contrary, Sir Noble.” Heks Blad looked back at me. “If it weren’t for the Secret Service, Equestria would have been destroyed long ago. It was only thanks to them that it wasn’t. Sure you may never hear about what happens behind the curtains, but that doesn’t mean your job doesn’t matter.”
...Huh. Somepony feels strongly about this issue.
“And furthermore,” She continued. “You are the pony I was sent to talk to about that glitch. But first I think it’s time to delete it first.” She turned around towards the all but forgotten Roc. “Alright now Terry, you had your fun. Time to go back to the base for decommissioning, okay?” She cooed at the still terrifying bird. The Roc gave her a nod and then glared at Twitch for reasons I don’t know. Heks then proceeded to summon a thin silver blade out of a gauntlet on her right hoof and stabbed it in the chest, sending small flecks of blood out of the wound.
The Roc disintegrated into red and gold dust that then scattered on a non existent wind straight at Twitch...who had started to breathe in at that exact moment and started choking on the ashes. All I could do was facehoof again as everypony else laughed at him.
I looked at Heks Blad as little as I could. Lyra kept giving her a glare here and there when she noticed that I had been ogling at Heks every time she spoke. If I had known this was going to happen I wouldn’t have gotten out of bed this morning. Then again, I would have still been here due to the fact that we played this game while we were sleeping. I talked to Twitch more so I wouldn’t have to look in Heks’ direction. Twitch seemed to have a bit of fear for Heks Blad, as if she was a threat to everything he knew. I thought the notion was ridiculous but kept it to myself so as to avoid any confrontations.
We were welcomed into the shop with open hooves, everypony had saw the whole thing through the windows in the store and believed us to be the most awesome players ever. Twitch seemed the most happy about this whilst Heks was the one who thought it was a pointless gesture. “It makes no difference who killed the Roc, as long as it’s now dead.”
The lower leveled players only grew more attached to her when she said this, apparently earning the eyes of a few stallions and even a mare who seemed a bit shy when trying to approach her. Heks Blad looked more comfortable with the mare rather than the stallions and they must have seen that too as they went towards Bon Bon instead much to the dismay of Twitch, who gazed on at the scene with the eyes of a love-torn puppy.
Big Mac, as usual, just took everything in strides. I don’t think anything bothers him. A few mares came up to him to ask for his autograph much to his surprise. Of course, this got Twitch involved as he shouted that he should be giving autographs too. However, the mares just backed up and hid from the over excentric bug pony. I stifled a small chuckle at his expense and turned away real quick when he swung his head towards me. I don’t think he noticed it was me though.
Bon Bon was busy teaching some of the younger ponies the basics of...something. Honestly, I didn’t have a freaking clue what she was talking about but they seemed to like it. She should have been a teacher with how much she enjoys showing others how to do things.
Lyra was busy...oh no. No no no no no. She was talking to Heks Blad. Oh no, they’re giggling! Giggling is bad when it’s between your new marefriend and a mare you think is cute, right? Yeah, I think it’s bad. It must be. Oh sweet Celestia, they’re looking at me. They’re looking at me while giggling. Oh no. This is bad. What are they talking about? Do I really want to know? I think I do but I’m afraid to find out. I look back towards Bon Bon only to see her walking in Lyra and Heks’ direction. Maybe she can get them to stop? Wait. What is she doing? No. She’s starting to giggle too. Oh crap, this is bad.
...What do I do? I think I should talk to someone about this. No wait. I shouldn’t talk to anypony about this. They would laugh at me. Then they would laugh at the fact that I tried to talk to someone about it. My stallionhood would be at stake! Can’t risk my stallionhood. Okay then, I’ll ignore this and everything will be fine. Wait, why are they walking this way? Oh no. They must want to tell me what they were talking about. I don’t want to talk about it. They had to of been making fun of me, right? Was it my cutie mark? Is it not good? Am I a waste of space?! Okay maybe not that, but why? Oh mane, they’re right in front of me! When did they get here? How did they get here? Oh right. They walked. I saw that.
“Hey, Nubs.” Lyra looked at Heks real quick with a giggle. This is bad.
“...Yes?” I asked with no hesitation in my obviously not shaking voice.
“Who do you think is cuter? Me, Bon Bon, or Heks Blad?” It’s one of those questions?! Oh, bucking, fucking Tartarus. My life is over. I’m about to die by at least two of these mares if I don’t answer right.
“...Uh.” She raises an eyebrow. ‘Oh no, not the raised eyebrow. Oh crap am I screwed!’
I put a hoof up to her. “How about you hold that question until I get back. From the restroom! Yeah, I really need to go, so uh, hold that thought okay?” ‘Smooth. Now I just need to find the...crap. We’re in a video game. We don’t need to use the restroom while in a game. Bon Bon pointed that out earlier when Twitch asked about it. Stupid brain.’
She looked at Heks and then Bon Bon. They all giggled. I think I’m screwed. Yep, I’m totally screwed.
“Well, okay then. When you get back from the restroom, just answer the question.” She practically giggled through the whole sentence. ‘Wait, she bought it? This is good, right? Okay, so now I just log off and go. To the bathroom. I am a stallion of my word after all. Never said what I would do there though...’
~~~~~
Lyra’s POV
“That was so awesome! Did you two see the way Nubs squirmed?” I couldn’t help but feel giddy over our little prank. I always loved the feel of pranking others and seeing their reactions. I’ve always wanted to get in on Rainbow and Pinkie’s prank days but they always seemed to take it as a challenge to a prank war and I kinda don’t like how it usually ends.
“Oh that was good.” Heks giggled. I was kinda jealous of how Nubs seemed to be attracted to her and not to me but then I found out she was only into mares, so I guess I can say that my position in being his marefriend is safe.
Bon Bon just stood there and smirked at us. “You two are such little foals at times,” She glanced back at where Nubs had been moments before. “But in this case I think I can make an exception on whether it was called for or not.”
“I can’t wait to hear what his answer will be.” I giggled again at the situation we put Nubs in.
“It shall be one of the most amusing things I have heard. I just know it.” Heks said, her laughter replaced by a loopy grin. I wonder why she seems to change her moods and expressions so fast. Then again, it may not be a good idea to ask her. Bon Bon would have a fit at me being nosy again.
“Well, well. If it isn’t Heks Blad. Or should I say WitchLeaf?” A somewhat gruff and deep voice sounded out. The three of us turned towards the door to see who it was, although Heks had a look that made me think she already knew. The voice came from a Pegasus that looked a bit like he had a fight with a tanning bed and lost. He was a dark sunburst shade of yellow and his mane was tan orange. I took a quick glance at his cutie mark to see that it showed a raven holding a sword. I want to say it looked like it was getting ready to swoop down but I also looked like it was fleeing.
Heks took on a scowl as the mystery pony made his way over to us. “Go fuck yourself, Raven.” She spat with more venom than I think a cobra has.
“Whoa, Little Leaf. Don’t get nasty when we have guests. Friends of yours, I assume? Do they know of your...dealings?”
“They know what they know now leave or I’ll make you leave.”
“Meh. You’re just mad that your old marefriend found that the straight path is the only way to go. With a good looking stallion no less.” He gave off a smirk at that last line. I didn’t like his attitude or cockiness. It reminded me of my old... Nevermind.
“Why are you even here, Raven?” She replied. “I highly doubt that General Web permitted this.” General Web? What kind of name is that?
Raven frowned at the name. “What’s it matter to you why I’m here? And besides, that asshole doesn’t boss me around here. I bet he’s sitting on his ass right now, just drinking his problems away.”
“Don’t talk about him like that! You know that father hasn’t even touched a bottle in years!” Heks shouted gaining the attention of everypony in the room. She tried to fight back some tears only to fail as a couple slipped past her. “What kind of son are you? To outright lie and talk bad about your own flesh and blood, it’s disgraceful. What would Mother sa-”
“Don’t talk about Mother!” Raven snapped making Bon Bo and I back off a step. Heks just stood her ground, waiting for him to finish. “You have no right to speak of her. You may be her little angel but I know what you really are. You are nothing but a teef. A teef and hoer!”
Heks glowered at Raven, I could almost feel her anger radiating off of her. I looked at Twitch and saw him struggling to stand, also looking at Raven in pure hatred I didn’t even know he had. I turned my attention back to Heks and Raven, just as she was about to say something. “Raven aanbidder, jij bent een schande voor Moeders geheugen!”
Raven just stood there, apparently shocked at whatever Heks Blad had said to him. Everypony else had a look of confusion on their face, trying to figure out the meaning of those words. As I was about to trot up to Heks I stopped as she raised a hoof in the air. She had even more tears streaming down her face and torrent of emotions flashed in her eyes as she brought her hoof down onto Raven.
*SMACK!* The sound echoed around the room and all other sounds stopped as it was heard. I looked on in horror as I saw flecks of red hit the floor from Heks Blad’s hoof. On her face was nothing but sheer rage and disgust for the stallion in front of her. “When you have finished up here you are to meet me at home.”
Raven looked at Heks in despair and then hung his head. “Very well, Sister. I shall see you at home.” After he said that, Raven logged off. ...Wait. Sister?
Again, I tried to move towards Heks but was stopped by a voice from the entrance of the building. “That boy gets in more trouble than a mouse goes for cheese.” The voice was owned by a grey stallion looking to be about fifty years old. That’s older than my dad! He had charcoal black mane that was turning into a lighter shade in some places and highlighted his dark blue eyes. His cutie mark was a... Well it kinda looked like some map you would see in a military base and the city on the map looked kinda like a spider web? Well, that’s kinda weird.
“Daddy?!” Heks turned her head in confusion but lit up and squee’d at the sight of the stallion. She ran up to him and tackled him to the ground.
“D’aww,” I heard to my left as Bon Bon trotted up to me. “Isn’t that adorable?”
All I could was smile and nod.
“Heks, my baby. How are you?” He said, a soft sad smile on his face.
“I’m alright. I was just telling Raven off.” She took on a scowl at this.
He gave a sigh, as if he expected something like this. “Of course. Heks don’t worry about him. I’ll take care of it when I get off of work tonight.” Wait...he’s working?
“Alright, daddy.” She started to look back but froze and looked like she was scrolling on something.
“Heks?” I wouldn’t say I was worried but I was a little concerned at the very least.
She gave a sigh and looked back at us. “Sorry, girls. I have to go. Chaotic needs me to scan an area for a hacker’s code. I’ll catch you all later.” She pulled out a weird orb and it began to glow along with her, then in a flash she was gone.
I being the best at saying things said the only thing I could. “Well, that happened.”
~~~~
Noble’s POV
When I logged back on I noticed two things. First, my friends were talking to some random old guy. Second, Heks was gone. I mean, it’s not like it mattered. She probably had things to do, but still.
“Hey, Noble is back! Hey, bro!”
“Ugh, Hi Twitch.” I put my head down in annoyance. Don’t get me wrong, I love the guy to death, but sometimes you just have too much going on in one day, you know? Yeah, anyway... “Who’s this guy?” I nodded my head towards the grey looking stallion with the spider web looking Cutie Mark.
“The name’s General Web, welp. I think I deserve some more respect from the new leader of my organization.” He said with a bit of a gleam in his eye.
“Wait, your organization? You’re The Legendary Strategist?!” To say I was shocked is an insult to the mere word.
“Well, looks like somepony knows me pretty darn well. My rep must have only improved since I retired.” He gave a smug grin. “I honestly thought Princess Celestia would have disbanded my little group after I left. Looks like I owe her a thank you cake.” He chuckled at his own joke.
“Wow,” Twitch looked at me in expectancy. “So can we keep him?”
“What?” Everypony looked at Twitch and his lost mind. He just gave a sheepish grin.
~~~~
So, apparently, General Web was the father of Heks Blad. I mean, who knew? ...Everypony but me, obviously. I think they like me being in shock. It must make their lives so much better. ...Makes mine hell.
“So there I was, surrounded on all sides by these four dragons and they all try to breath their own element right? Well I dodge two of them who were breathing out fire and lightning. Nasty business those two elements, and I get hit with the ice breath and get frozen to the cave floor. Now I’m sitting here thinking ‘wasn’t there a fourth?’ and I see the fourth one hacking up a lung. I point at him saying ‘hey your buddy is choking!’ and they all look, so I take my chance and I try to get loose. Now one of them gets bored seeing the fourth one coughing up a storm and looks over at me. It just so happens that she didn’t even want to be there, and she breaths fire where the ice was and I start to run. Now, the other two dragons notice this and...”
“Wait, You fought four dragons at once?” Twitch asked in bewilderment.
General Web snorted in amusement. “Eeyup. All by my lonesome. “Twas about twenty years ago if I recall. Nasty amount of distrust between dragons and ponies back then. Even more so than ponies and griffons.”
Twitch frowned, deep in thought for once. “Why is everypony racist?” This got the attention of nearly all the players in the room.
General Web rubbed his chin in thought. “Well, I suppose it has something to do with how not everypony can live in harmony. Some prefer to be alone and others tend to stick to the familiar. It’s just how we are. There is no way around it. I hope we can overcome that particular flaw though. I know a few nice Griffons where I’m from. Even met a few Changelings. They were a right lively bunch.” He laughed at that. “They sure know how to make a party last though! I wasn’t sure who was who by the time it ended.”
I looked around the room, noticing that some of the other players had their heads held down in shame. ‘Maybe we can move past this flaw.’ I thought before turning to Web. “Well, have you ever had to deal with the king of dragons?” I asked with a smirk.
“Does dealing with his wife count?” He asked with a chuckle. “She was a real pain. I swear, if it wasn’t for the king she would have had her way ten times over.” He blinked at all the either disgusted or dumbfounded expressions in the room. “Hay, She was a good looking dragon...Just a bit too rough.” He took a bottle out of his inventory and took a swig. “Ahh yeah, that’s the stuff.
“So, what’s the plan for your little group now?” He looked at me.
“Well, we were here to see about some ‘big deal’ here, but then we saw it was being attacked by all sorts of mobs.” I shrugged. “Took them out with a bit of team effort.”
Web nodded. “That’s the way the Director of The Secret Service should act. Never forget that.” I noticed out of the corner of my eye that some of the ponies were shocked to hear about the organization, but I just inwardly shrugged it off. They wouldn’t really care about that kind of stuff.
“And as for the big deal? It’s a sale on enchanted weapons. Half off for the day.” He smirked. “I bet they have some nice axes for sale.”
I looked around and I saw that some of the players did have some amazing weapons.
“Is that what I think it is?!” Twitch rushed over to the counter and started drooling over some red gauntlets.
“What did ya find Twitch?” I called over to him. Hell, if he’s going to get something I might as well learn what he’s getting into... For the team and certainly not because they were cool looking Gauntlets.
...Shut up.
“Changeling Speed Gauntlets!” He yelled back, his enthusiasm completely apparent.
I looked at him in confusion as I trotted over. “Say what, now?”
“Changeling Speed Gauntlets. They make a changeling’s transformation faster, as well as having a slight power boost to their strongest form!” He exclaimed, obviously having done excessive research on it.
“How do you know that?”
“I used to be Queen Chrysalis’ Personal Expert on Praetorians, remember? They used these on their missions. Oh, dude! I would look so cool in full Praetorian Armor!” He squealed in delight. I backed away from him while he did this. Twitch tended to get..huggy when he gets excited.
“Yeah... Okay then, you get that and I’m going to browse the store for...something not here next to you.” I high-tailed it away from him, not caring if I was getting strange looks or not. I was not going to be hugged.
After a small uh... trot away from Twitch, I began to look around at all the different things on display. I saw a Helmet or regeneration, though I could use it due to my class. I saw a Cowl of Conquest... I couldn’t even tell what it did. I then paused as I saw something that immediately caught my eye.
“No way.” I breathed out. Right in front of me was something I never thought I would see. An actual Olde Age Archer’s Bow. The designing was flawless. The way it swirled slightly at the edges to give it a smooth look, the small bit of gloss on the shaft, making it shine in the light.
“You just going to stare and drool or you going to buy the dang thing?” I was broken out of my stupor to see the owner looking at me.
“Uh...how much?” I asked,pointing at the most amazing bow ever.
“Two fifty.” He stated, gaining a smirk on his face.
I looked at how much I had. ‘Let’s see I have... uh oh.’ I looked back at him. “Two thirty for it.”
“Two forty-five.” He raised an eyebrow, while I lowered mine.
“Two thirty-five.” I said giving him a wary glance.
“Two forty-six.” I looked at him with a shocked look.
“What happened to two forty-five?”
“You’re taking up my time.” My eye twitched.
“Two thirty-eight. Final offer.”
“No deal.” He said before walking away.
“Ugh!” I threw a hoof up in anguish before walking away.
I guess it wasn’t a complete loss. I did still have my bow from that one side quest. It was fun too. So many things tried to kill Twitch... Though I would have thought he would have enough sense not to walk straight into that herd of boars. Or the group of bandits....or those exploding mushroom things. Actually, how the hell did he not die yet?
I shook my head as I trotted back to the group. Everypony was there so I assume that they had everything they needed. “Alright, where to next?”
Just as Bon Bon opened her mouth to say something I felt somepony tap on my shoulder, and heard a VERY familiar voice.
“Hello, Director SunStar. I challenge you for your position as leader.”
