A Sorcerer's Tale: A Virtual World of MLP Fanfic Writers

Archsage continued trotting about the city really adoring the beauty of all the buildings made out of Amethyst. He became confused as he trotted past all the different sculptures of “humans” on either side of the road he was on.

“Man… this art sure is weird. I wonder if I’ll meet another pony around this awkward place. I wish Flora hadn’t left. Maybe I coulda had some better insight on this place,” Archsage said as stopped and pulled out his laptop from his saddle bag. He started swiping through the options his laptop had to offer.

“If only I could find… let me see… Aha!”

Archsage pressed on the groups button with his hoof, which then came up with an option to type the name of the group.

“So much help that was,” he said with a sigh. “I mean how would I be able to on this thing if the buttons are this small? Ugh, why did she have to leave now.”

Archsage slammed his laptop shut in frustration and placed it back in his saddle bag. He continued trotting forward till he reached a center with a decorative sign. The words embroided “HIE Forum Rules”.

“H. I. E. Forum Rules… What could that possibly mean?” Archsage said holding a hoof to his chin.

“Those are the rules you must follow while here, of course!” a voice came from behind Archsage, startling him.

“Wooh, Sweet Celestia!” Archsage leaped forward and crashed into the door. He slowly got up and turned around feeling dizzy.

What he saw was possibly the strangest pony he had ever seen… If he could even call it that. A white, slender figure stood in front him. The thing wore golden plates, like armor, dotted with round, blue crystals. The pony’s head was even more bizarre. The most prominent observation was that it had no mouth, only a round chin, devoid of any features. Where a forehead should have been, two crests of what seemed to be white bone stretched upwards, framed in even more gold. The only thing Archsage could recognize about the pony was that it had a horn. Albeit, it was made of blue crystal, as well as what seemed to be a mane of long cords of black hair.

“Wooh… Umm, hello good…” Archsage was quite confused as to how to address the pony standing in front him.

“My name is Archsage. Nice to me- meet you?”

“Nice to meet you too! I always enjoy meeting new people!” Though it didn’t look like any pony Archsage had ever seen, it sure sounded like one. “My name’s Rotorix, what’s yours?”

“I umm. Ahem. My name is Archsage. Pleased to meet you Ro-torix. Aheh. So I heard you say people, would that be referring to the humans?”

Rotorix raised an eye... ridge, seeming confused at his question. “Well, of course! This is the human group, after all.”

“Alright… right. Aheh silly me,” Archsage responded as he gave a sheepish look. “So uh you been inside one of these places before?” Archsage said turning back at the center.

“Well, yes. They’re kind of hard to avoid; they’re everywhere!” he said, raising a hoof and gesturing around himself. “You just have to make sure you pick topics that you can contribute to, otherwise, it can get a bit… awkward.”

Archsage looked back at Rotorix still confused.

“So only in this place do they have forums? If not how big is ‘everywhere’, the entire world?”

Rotorix paused for a few moments, considering his question. “No, there is a major forum in every group, only one per each group. Each forum contains tens, maybe hundreds of topics for people to discuss, depending on the group. As for the size of it all… Well, there are many groups created daily, and forums created with each new group… Yes, it’s so big, I guess you could say ‘the entire world’. And it’s always expanding… So many possibilities.”

Archsage dropped to the ground and held his head in despair.

“Goodness, this world sounds so big that I’ll never find my way back, that’s for sure.”

“Find your way back to… where? A different group? You can always just search up the name, and get back that way!” Rotorix said, seeming happy that he could help.

“No… I mean back to Canterlot, back to my homeworld. I know nothing of this world. Even though there are ponies, sometimes I run into oddities like you… no offense.”

“None taken,” Rotorix replied, waving a hoof in dismissal. “But to get back to... Canterlot… You mean like the city, from the show?”

“Wait… I know some pony showed me the show before. It’s looks exactly like my homeworld. It looks exactly show, how do I get back?” Archsage asked as he grabbed Rotorix’s shoulders. “How?”

Rotorix stared blankly back at him. “‘Homeworld’? What are you, from the show itself? You… came here from ‘My Little Pony’?!” If he just had a mouth, Archsage would have been wide open.

“Well, if that’s what you ponies… or whatever you guys are call it, then yes. Do you know a way for me to get back?”

Rotorix closed his eyes for a moment, thinking. After a few seconds had gone by, he opened his eyes and spoke. “Archsage, I have no idea whatsoever how you got here, and I know just as much about getting you back to Equestria. I am sorry.” He looked, if anything, sad that he could not offer any help to the pony.

Archsage took his hooves of Rotorox’s shoulders and sat on his haunches. He looked down at the ground

“Oh… alright then… I’ll just keep looking then.”

“So, what’s next for you, Archsage? Maybe I can help you get closer to your goal?”

Archsage looked up, his eyes wide open. He quickly took out his laptop and placed it on the floor.

“Yes, in fact you can! But first let me-” Archsage’s jaw dropped when he opened up the device. “My laptop!”

“Hm? What happened?” Rotorix asked, and looked over at Archsage.

“It’s… broken.” Archsage frowned and stretched his mouth. “I hate when my anger gets the better of me sometimes… Could I go inside your user page through your laptop?”

“Certainly.” Rotorix’s horn glowed blue, and he pulled a laptop from a saddle bag. He passed the laptop to Archsage.

“Oh, uh could I umm go into your user page?” Archsage said as he opened up the device.

“You sure can! Not much to see, though.”

“Uh, is it an empty world of white just like mine?” Archsage asked as he pressed the screen.

A light shined out of the laptop and sucked both ponies inside.

Archsage opened his eyes to reveal Rotorix’s page. “I told you there wasn’t much,” he heard Rotorix comment from his side. They both stood in a large square room. Floorboards of wood were beneath their hooves, the walls made of glass, and the roof opened up to a sunny sky. The view was different on each wall. A mountain, a beach, cliffs, the views seemed to change whenever Archsage took his eyes away from them. Four panels of something transparent floated around Rotorix, each one displaying different things. “Watchers”, “Stories”, “Comments”, and one that Archsage couldn’t make out.

Archsage looked around was impressed at what he saw.

“Yeah, you may not have a lot of, but one wouldn’t mind staying here either.”

“Hah, my problem is that I stay here, a bit too much… But that’s besides the point. So any idea of where you want your laptop fixed?”

“Yeah, I was thinking maybe to a place that fixes things. Got any ideas? Oh wait! Maybe I could check the groups you’re in if you don’t mind.”

Rotorix’s eyes opened wide. “I suppose, but I’m not entirely sure the groups I’ve joined may help you… I’ve joined a lot… But feel free to look!” His horn glowed, and the undefinable panel Archsage had seen floated over to him. The screen began to glow. When the glow went away, the screen now read “groups”. Rotorix began to scroll through the other panels while Archasage looked at his.

After scrolling for quite some time and examined over fifty group names, he found one to intrigue him very much.

“‘Overly Extensive Editors’.... Say, I would like to go to this one. This seems like it would do what I need,” Archsage said as he showed Rotorix the name.

He looked surprised. “That group? I guess you could try that, maybe it’ll work.”

“If we could just get to the entrance I could maybe find someone there who could help me.”

“Well, then. Off we go!” Rotorix closed his eyes, and his horn glowed. For a few seconds nothing happened. Then, suddenly, there was a bright flash. When Archsage opened his eyes, he saw that he was standing in front of yet another city, however, this one was different than the last.

The doors were of iron, and the walls where of cement. Behind them was a huge forest. It was lush with green plants and trees. Both trotted closer to the gate of iron. Archsage examined the gates for any sign of entrance. He noticed the prints of two hooves.

He sunk both his hooves into the prints and pulled them out and magically the mighty doors of iron opened all the way and massive wind came rushing from the entrance. Before Archsage thought of trotting in, he looked back at Rotorix.

“Say Rotorix, are you gonna come?”

“Why, yes, I’d like to come with you! Come on, new friend!” Rotorix began to walk forward into the gates, but there was a small flash that stopped him. One of the glowing panels from his user page floated in front of him. “Hmm… A comment on one of my stories? I can’t keep this one ignored…” He turned to Archsage. “Actually, something just came up… As if that wasn’t obvious… I think I’m going to have to leave you here.”

“Alright Rotorix, So I guess this is goodbye for now… isn’t it?”

“For now… But hey, we might see each other again, right? This place may be huge, but… Well, it’s also infinite… Umm… You know, see you around, Archsage! It’s been fun! Hope you get your laptop fixed!” And with that, his horn glowed, and he disappeared in a bright flash of light.

Archsage turned and looked back at the entrance.

“I just hope I could find a way home here… I could just only hope.”

He hung his head low as he started trotting into the dark entrance of the mighty doors of iron…