Champions of Mareth

I pull off my helmet, and take a refreshing gasp of cool, fresh-ish air. My body is slick with sweat, but thankfully that seems to be the only fluid that made the transition back with me.

My room is dark, lit only by the small amount of moonlight coming through my window. I reach over to my desk, and grab my alarm clock, lighting up the screen with the press of a button. It's more-or-less midnight by now. I should probably call it a night there.

I yawn, stretching out wide, loosening out my muscles that had stiffened up from not moving for so long. Once my arms and back are feeling more flexible, I swing my legs down off the bed, and hop to my feet.

I then jump straight up in the air, and land back on the bed ass-first.

What was that?! I just stepped on something... soft! And squishy! And... breathing!?

Now that I've noticed it, I can hear the soft sounds of someone, or something, breathing quietly. Someone who isn't me, since that's certainly not how my breathing sounds right now!

Crawling along my bed, I reach the foot of it, and tentatively step down. I'm met with more softness. I flinch, but then remember that the foot of my bed is where I keep half my clothes.

"Sheesh," I sigh, but quickly clap my hand to my mouth! Did it hear me?

I stay motionless, until I'm convinced that its breathing hasn't changed. Sighing another sigh of relief, a quieter one this time, I stealthily hop down from the bed, and walk carefully over to my light switch.

Okay Rainbow, I tell myself, I can do this. Whatever it is, it'll be disorientated from the light. While it's still recovering, I'll strike! Okay, three... two... one... now!

I shield my eyes, and hit the switch. The room is bathed in light, and though I have to squint, I can see the intruder now, laying on the floor.

They don't seem to react to the light at all, so I'm assuming they're asleep. Inching forward, I open my eyes wider, and take a good look at what I'm dealing with.

Well, it's a person at least. Though given it's a guy I don't recognise, sitting in my bedroom while I'm prone, and dressed in a pink tutu, I'm not sure that's all that comforting after all.

Still, it looks like he was content with not trying anything. I can't see his face, it's obstructed by the NeuronGear that he's wearing. I know I don't have a spare, so he must have brought it with him... for some reason. At the very least, I can make out his pale skin, and wispy blonde locks curling out from underneath the helmet.

Right. Okay. Yeah. No. What? Seriously. What the fuck? I- Why? I mean- Okay. Fuck this. Nope. Not dealing with this. Just- Right. Okay. I obviously have to do something about this. What should I... Hmm. Okay, got it!

I leave the room, and head down the stairs to the front door. It's unlocked... damn, that was careless of me. Opening the door, I step outside, and shiver. The night air is much cooler out here, and it now dawns on me that I'm still not wearing a shirt.

Shaking it off, I look to the pillar by my door, and examine the rope tied around it. There's some leftover length to it, enough that I could probably cut it off and use it as a binding on that guy.

As I'm heading back to the kitchen to get a knife, when something else occurs to me. That guy didn't have any wings, that I could see at least. So to get up here, he must have used the rope. The rope hanging by Twilight's balcony. So to get there, he'd have had to go through the library. So either Twilight let him up... or he forced his way past her. Either way, I should probably go and check on her.

I return outside with the knife, slice off a good length of rope, and carry it back upstairs. Peering into my room, I see the guy still lying where I left him, so I tip-toe quickly towards him, crouch down, and bind up his arms and legs. Once I'm comfortable with the security of the knots, I grab a t-shirt from the pile, struggling briefly to get it to fit around my new E-cups, and head back out.

Sliding down the rope, I drop gently down onto the balcony, and rap at the window. It's late, but if I know Twilight, she'll still be up.

Sure enough, I see the light inside flicker, and Twilight walks into view, carrying a dim oil lamp in her hand. She peers out into the darkness at me, gives me a strange frown, and slowly opens the door.

"...Rainbow?" She shines the light over me, looking me up and down. "Celestia, what happened... you went back into the game, didn't you?"

"Eheh, yeah..." I rub the back of my neck awkwardly, looking away from her judgmental gaze.

She sighs. "Rainbow, you know that's got to be dangerous. We don't yet know what that thing is capable of."

"I know I know, but it was so fun, and you can always put me back, right?"

"Yeah, hypothetically, sure," she throws her arms up in exasperation, "but that's not really something you should be relying on!"

"Sure sure, I'll be careful. Anyway," I quickly shift the subject, "did you see anyone climb up to my place earlier? Like a blonde guy maybe?"

She looks confused. "A blonde guy? No... Oh, Pinkie did head up there earlier though. Come to think of it, I haven't seen her come back down at any point, either."

"Pinkie?" I frown. "But she's not..."

Oh crap.

Oh crap oh crap oh crap.

"Gotta go!" I yell, turning away and dashing back to the rope. Climbing frantically, I pull myself up onto the cloud, and sprint to the door.

Bounding up the stairs, I swing into my room, and pause at the doorway. The guy's still in his NGear.

Sliding myself down next to him, I examine his headset more closely. There's a wire plugged into it, leading to, yep, an installation drive.

I hit the eject button, and out slides the disc, for Champions of Mareth.