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

by LoneUnicornWriter

Rating: everyone
Tags: Random, Adventure, Alternate Universe
Length: 6432

A lone unicorn inspired by two of his favorite authors, InkRose and ObabScribbler, tries to become the greatest writer on Fimfiction. But will he succeed or will he just become like all the other 20,000 plus writers on this site?

A lone unicorn named Archsage while lying on his bed was magically teleported into a virtual world from Canterlot. He was eventually inspired by two of his favorite authors, InkRose and ObabScribbler, tries to become the greatest writer on Fimfiction, an alternate world of Equestria. He has longed to be the greatest fanfic writer like so many others and goes day in and day out to discover what are the best ways of becoming a great fanfic writer by meeting awesome readers, editors, and writers all over the world of Fimfiction.
Word Text was done by me :D!

(Every writer in this fic will not be typed by the actual character but will be either an exaggerated expression of the reader/writer. It is not to be taken literal. They will have some realism in their character. The description will be oft times related to their current profile pic.)

But will he succeed, or will he just become like all the other 20,000 plus writers on this site? How determined is the writer? Will he make friends along the way? Will he find a way back to Canterlot where he belongs?Read to find out :ajsmug:

Published 1970-01-01 00:00:00 UTC
Last updated 2013-12-30 15:57:47 UTC

Prologue

              It was a cloudy day in Canterlot, but ponies still moved about their ways in pursuit of keeping their business up and running. Hundreds of pony consumers moved about Canterlot to see what the best and latest products are. But one pony laid on his bed in a small house. His name was Archsage. He was a lone stallion with no will to aspire to anything with his life but lived off of his parents fortune for maybe the rest of his days...

              There he was in his small room of green walls, a small desk with a crystal quill and papers that were scattered about; wooden flooring with a black furry carpet, and normal twin sized bed. He laid with his back on the bed, and looked up at the white ceiling. He then looked over at his shelf from across his bed and sighed. He has read all the books so far from Daring Do and so many other books from different authors. He then looked down at his cutie mark and gave it a perplexed look as to why it was an old tome with a quill in its pages. Afterwards, he rolled off the bed and fell onto the black carpet.

              "Ugh, Why don't I feel like doing anything? I tried my hand at everything, but it's so difficult being great. Isn't their anything that I could do besides reading fantasy books that could make me great?"

               He rose to his hooves and paced about the room. Ideas and thoughts kept popping up in his mind. Ideas on what he could try that wouldn't be so difficult yet he could get lots of fame from. His pacing stopped when he realized that there was no such thing. He sat on his haunches with his head down low. He frowned, stomped his hoof, and looked down at his hooves.

              "Why does life have to be so difficult, can't it just be simpler? Why can't I be like, Daring Do or something?"

              Archsage then got up and made his way over to his desk. He figured that If he could do anything in life it would be to write the best stories he could think of. He organized his papers and placed them as stack in front of him. He grabbed up his crystal quill with his magic and just as his quill touched the paper started giving of light glow.

              "What in the world... Is my paper, glowing?"

               Archsage slowly raised a hoof over the paper. As his touched the light blue glowing paper, his pen arose by itself over the paper and dropped itself in the paper. He put his hoof in the paper and swayed his hoof about. He want to get his pen back but instead something pulled him within the paper. The young stallion starting moving and yelling about wildly as he dropped out from whole down into the darkness below.

               Suddenly, Archsage stopped falling. The purple stallion got up on his hooves, and started looking all about him. The area he was in was pitch black and made looking around for anything futile. Then suddenly two giant floating eyes followed by a giant floating mouth appeared from nothing.

              "Welcome to the virtual world of Equestria called 'Fimfiction', home to writers of all types. You are new user. Please register your name here by typing on this keyboard."

               A keyboard hologram appeared on the floor, and Archsage gave it perplexed look. He thought of it as a threat and wanted to know more of what was presented before him.

              "Umm, excuse me, but what is a keyboard, and what is this rectangle thing in front of me?"

              "Type in your name by placing your hoof on the letters presented before you."

              "Alright then..."

              Archsage placed his hoof on the 'a' key, and the letter appeared above the hologram presented before him. His ears went straight up and continued typing.

              "Wow, this should be easier that I thought. r, c, h, s, a, g, e, period."

              "Archsage, now that you've typed in your name, you may enter the 'Fimfiction universe'."

              The mouth opened up and hovered towards Archsage with the intent of gobbling him up. He tried escaping, but he wasn't fast enough to outrun the giant floating mouth. The mouth swallowed him up, and he fell into the dark abyss below. It only got darker and darker until a bright light shined from below him. As he fell through the hole, he yelled and twirled about wildly. He watched down at the ground, and his eye began to grow three times their size.

              "I'M GONNA DIIIIIIIIIIIIIIEEEEEEEEE!"

              Archsage crashed head first into the ground. When the smoke cleared, he slowly got up on his hooves and started coughing. A orange coat pegasus mare with draconic eyes; carrying a pony backpack flew down in front of him. He tried climbing out of the deep crater he created. She lend out of hoof, and he grabbed her hoof firm in fear of dropping down into yet another abyss. She helped him onto to his hooves, and looked down at the crater behind him.

             "So uh, where did you come from?"

             "I was in my house in Canterlot living a normal life I guess until my crystal pen fell through my papers. I tried getting my pen, but the papers sucked me right in, and then I started walking and a floating mouth with two floating eyes appeared out of nowhere and said, "Register your name here and stuff, and then when I finished typing my name it swallowed me up and then..."

             "Ok, ok, I see. Looks like you had a rough day."

             "You could say that again," Archsage said frowning up at the skies.

             "Where am I... what is this place?"

             "Well, this is Fimfiction, home to all writers who love writing about My little Pony."

             "Wait, you said writing about My Little Pony? What is that?" Archsage said giving her a perplexed look.

             "Well that's the name of the show silly, see?" The orange mare pulls out a laptop from her backpack and dropped it on the floor. She placed her hoof on top the laptop and opened it up. Archsage was more confused than ever. When the orange mare got what she wanted to show him, she gestured for him to come over.

             "Here, look at this. This is Canterlot, and this is..."

             "I know that, I lived there."

             "Well how come you asked what is My Little Pony?"

             "Well didn't know in other worlds you name where I come from 'My Little Pony'."

             "Well, I don't know what to say other than get used to it, because everyone says it."

             Archsage frowned and said, "How do I get back to my home world?"

            "Well it's simple really, just log out. It's weird in your case because I've never seen a user without a computer or laptop."

            "Ok, well how do I get one? Also, what's your name by the way?"

            The orange mare slid her hoof multiple times across the laptop screen and said, "My name is Flame Bolt, and the only way I know to get you a laptop is by going to 'The Shameless Self-Promotion Bureau'." Her screen lit up, and she turned the laptop towards Archsage. "Are you ready?"

            "Uh, I guess so," he said scratching his mane.

            "Then put your hoof on the screen?"

            Archsage cringed his face as he placed his hoof on the screen and was sucked right in with Flame Bolt following behind...

Chapter 1

                 A white portal opens up from the skies, and Archsage falls out from it and crashes to the ground. Flame Bolt flies down to his side. He frowns at her, and she gives him a perplexed look.

                 "What's up?"

                 "I don't know, just wish I could fly instead of crashing like this all the time."

                 "Don't sweat it, when you get your laptop it should be easier to travel about this world. Now let's go to 'The Shameless Self-Proclamation Bureau'"

                Archsage rose to his hooves and follower Flame Bolt to the front gates of the entire Bureau. It was a giant and beautiful white castle from the outside. The area was a vast field with grass and colorful flowers. They had to travel along a path to get to the massive city.

               When they got to the gate, Flame Bolt put her hoof up against the mighty solid gates of platinum. Archsage eye's widened, and he started shivering about.

              "What's wrong?" Flame Bolt asked raising an eyebrow.

              "I don't know, wouldn't they all want to know who I am? I don't really like talking to crowds of people. I'm really shy when it comes to meeting lots of people at once."

              She put her hoof on the gates and pushed it open. The gates slowly opened up half way and both ponies trotted inside. When they got passed the giant gates, it immediately closed up tight. Archsage came straight up and he started jumping up and down as he watched at the creepy eyes of the long hallway staring at him. He then curled up tight and started and started shivering.

             "Oh my Celestia, oh my Celestia, we're gonna die. Have mercy on my..."

             Flame Bolt frowned and pounced his head with a hoof.

             "Relax, this is how this city was made, and the founder of this entire city is a 'Vengeful Spirit' if you know what I mean.

             "I don't anything of what you mean, but I'll take your word for it."

             Both ponies started trotting down the dark tunnel of eyes that watched at them.

             "So you say you came from Canterlot eh? Were you joking about that or we you..."

             "Serious, yes. Yes I was."

             Flame Bolt studied Archsage's look. She then looked onward to light of the entrance. They both walked out of the entrance into the site of a massive city. Archsage ear's shot up and his eye's widened. He has never seen such style from where was in Canterlot.

             "Amazing..."

             Flame Bolt frowned at put her hoof on his muzzle.

             "No time for site seeing, I gotta log off soon. Let's go."

             "Fine," Archsage said with a slight frown on his face.

             The both ponies trotted about the huge city. Archsage mouth was hanging and his eye were widened the whole time, just watching at all the beautiful buildings.

             "Man, this place is pretty awesome."

             "Yup, good coding could get you alot of things."

             "Umm, what's coding?" Archsage asked scratching his head.

             "Well, it's something or some process used to make sites which are like virtual worlds or more part of it."

             "Umm...."

             "I'm actually surprised you don't know what this place is. I've never met a newcomer who had not even the slightest idea of where they were."

             Archsage kept looking at her until his face bumped against a wall making him fall to the floor. Flame Bolt looked from him and at the door.

             "Alright! We're here."

             "Where?" Archsage said rubbing his face.

             "We're at the 'The Shameless Square'," Flame Bolt said as she pointed hoof over his head. He turned his head and started looking at all the ponies, but it grew kind of strange, for he wasn't familiar with a few of the others.

             "Umm, why aren't they all ponies, like... like us?"

             "I'm not a pony this is just my persona in this virtual world. I'm actually a woman that actually needs to get going to class right now."

             Flame Bolt turns on her laptop. Archsage scratches his head with a hoof.

             "Umm, I don't think I'm follow, what's a wo..."

             "Just talk to that guy over there."

            She points gestures over at a brown stallion with glasses, green pupils, and white, silky mane and tail.

             "He'll give you everything you need to get started. I have to go now, goodbye."

             "Wait. I need to know..." Before he could complete his sentence, Flame Bolt had disappeared into thin air. "How to get back to my world..." He sighed for a bit and then looked over at the stallion Flame Bolt told him to go to.

             He then made his way over to the stallion, raised his hoof and put it down on the ground.

             "Ah, why hello there good friend. Where are you from?"

             "Umm... uh... I came looking... for uh..."

             "For a way to be famous in this world fast?"

             "No, not really I uh..."

             The brown stallion wrapped his hoof around Archsage's shoulders and began chattering away.

             "Well my name is CartsBeforeHorses pleasure to meet ya. First off you need a laptop before you begin to start anything in this world although it is kind of odd you don't have a laptop with you already."

             "Well yeah, that's what I was saying befo..."

             CartsBeforeHorses pulled a spare laptop and manual book from nowhere and dropped it right in front of him.

             "Welp there you have it. The book there will show you how to make your profile home look amazing and give you tips, approved by me" He grins with a twinkling light that shines at the end of his teeth. "That will make you become a top fimfic writer! Alright now to go, and I'll see you tomorrow."

             "But-"

             "Sorry, tomorrow." With that the brown stallion sped off into the city.

            Archsage was very confused and angry. He looked up at the sky. It was evening, and gave the city a glowing color of orange. It was site that you couldn't help but to watch at its beauty. He then looked down at the laptop that was given to him.

             "I have to get out here somehow, but first I need a place to sleep for nightfall is near."

            Archsage trots about looking for a hotel to book in for the night. He comes up to building called the 'Hotel Thredado'. He raises an eyebrow at the sign of the building.

             "Hotel Thredado... Weird name in my opinion but whatever. I need a place to sleep."

           He walks inside the building, and there was no one there, not a pony in site.

           "Heello... Hmph guess no pony is here then."

           Archsage makes across the first floor of the hotel and takes the stairs up to the next floor. It was what wanted right now, a bed. A nice cozy bed for him to relax on. The young stallion walked into an empty room and dropped the book and laptop he was holding with magic onto the floor. He looked up at the moon and then quickly jumped onto the bed.

          "Aaaaah, I don't know how I'm gonna get back to Canterlot, but I must find way. Ugh, I'm so tired right..."

          Before he could complete his sentence, his eyes closed, and he fell sound asleep....

Chapter 2

Archsage awakes from an odd but good night sleep.

“Man… Wait is it morning already?”

He looked around and sighed, remembering that he was no longer in Canterlot.

“Welp, that sleep at least was better than most nights back at my apartment,” Archsage said stretching his limbs. He hopped off the bed onto his hooves and walked out of the room, heading down to the first floor of the hotel.

He walked out of the empty hotel still confused as to why nopony was around at all. He looked all about his surroundings only to find no movement of anything at all but a useless piece of crumpled paper bouncing about in the small wind that swooped by.

“Goodness, where is everypony? This place is like a ghost town or somethin’ If only there was some map I could use… Wait a sec, maybe I could use this device here to map out this area.”

Archsage pulled out the laptop from his saddle bag when he heard the sound of hooves clopping from a distance. He was quite curious as to where the sound was coming from, so he put his laptop back into his saddlebag and walked down to where the source of the sound may have came from.

“I don’t really like following creepy sounds, especially watching “Pony Peepers”. In fact, that would kinda suck if I’m in a case like this. I don’t want my eyes to be taken out,” Archsage said shivering at the thought.

As he reached the end of the block, he peeped his head around the corner. He saw a white unicorn mare sitting alone on table near what appeared to be a restaurant. She looked as though she was typing on her laptop. Archsage turned the corner and slowly made his way towards her. Her red mane hung in spikes and curls, her eyes azure blue.. A ball of crimson fire with three gray z’s, one of which is large, is her cutie mark.

“Umm, Miss?”

The mare turned around. “Yes?” She asked, ears perked.

“Hi, umm… I’m Archsage. And I kinda wanted to know how to get back home to uh… Canterlot.”

“Well, I’ll be. You are from the town of rich unicorn ponies?!” She asks, shocked. She stands on her hooves.

“Well yeah… I’m not used to being here, and it’s creeping me out a bit. I just don’t want something terrible to happen to me before I could return. Oh wait a sec,” Archsage said as he pulled out his laptop. He opened it and turned it on to his user page.

“Umm, how do you watch some pony?” He said sliding through the options the laptop gave.

“Simple,” Replied the mare, pulling out her own laptop. She then scrolled to Arch’s page and clicked the little follow button. “That’s how.”

“Oh, so I just got to press this little eye button here huh. I see.” Archsage was struggling to scroll up on his user page.

“Umm, how do you do that so easily with your hooves? I mean is there some type of magic involved in it?”

“Yes.” Answers the mare with a smile.

“Really? Hmm… Say could I go into your user page?”

“Sure.” Says the mare with the glow of her horn. A bright flash occurs, and now she’s on her user page which consists of stuffed toys, game consoles and cartridges, and lots of drawings. There are also books which are the stories she has worked on, and they are categorized in a neat shelf. She lifts a book and opens it. The title inscribed on the front cover is Arcane Shadow.

Archsage slowly got up and stood agaped watching all the features her user page had to offer. He walked over to her status and tried pronouncing her name.

“Flor- Florar- ena? Umm is this your name miss?”

The mare looks away from her book, a quill levitating next to her. “Yes, that’s my name. I have a penchant for often unpronounceable words.” She answers.

“Umm… ok?” Archsage trotted over to her shelf and took out a book. On its cover was inscribed Foxfire’s Tail.

“So I take it these are all the stories you have written?”

“Yes. I am writing in this book right now.” Florarena answers.

“Wooh, you have some amazing writings here. Say, how long have you been around for. I mean, this world must be bigger that I thought,” Archsage said still looking through her writings.

“It is bigger than you thought. I’ve been around here since New Year’s Eve.” Flora sighs with a smile, continuing to write in Arcane Shadow.

Archsage looked up at her confused. He has never heard of such an event.

“It is simply the day the year ends. For some reason, everyone tends to get drunk. Don’t look at me--I didn’t invent it.” Flora sighs. She’s still writing in Arcane Shadow, the quill moving as though it were a big project.

“Well, where I am from it’s called Hearth’s Warming Eve?”

“That’s funny, because I read that Hearth’s Warming and Christmas are practically the same holiday.” Flora replies, amazed. “There’s tons of fanfictions about the stuff.” She points a hoof to a gargantuan and seemingly infinite bookshelf. A sign is next to it and it says ‘favorites.’

“Oh really… Christmas, the same holiday as Hearth’s Warming?” Archsage responded as he raised an eyebrow.

“Don’t look at me; I swear to GodCat that I didn’t do it.” Flora quickly retorts. She has stopped writing and placed Arcane Shadow back on its shelf alongside her other stories. The quill has been placed in a drawer with lots of other quills and the drawer is closed.

Archsage walks over to her Drawing Status and started to study them.

“I see you have a taste for drawing.”

“I’ve been drawing since kindergarten. I do both digital and hoof-drawn drawings.” Flora says with a smile.

“How come I don’t hear of these things back in Canterlot?” Archsage said scratching his head.

“I dunno. I’m gonna blame Yukari Yakumo.” Flora says, pulling out a picture of a woman with long blond hair and purple eyes. She is wearing a white dress and bonnet cap with red bow. The front of her dress details purple and orange flames and a yin-yang orb of the same colors. The woman is holding an umbrella.

Archsage cocks his head back.

“Wait, isn’t that a human?”

“No. She sure looks like one though. She’s actually a youkai--Japanese demon, basically. She controls any and all dimensions; time, space, life and death included.” Flora replies, wide-eyed. She puts the picture away.

“Welp, haven’t seen it from the lore books I’ve read.”

“There are so many lore books nopony knows who’s right nowadays.” Flora points out. “It also explains the fanfiction to an extent, depending on what you write and the material you use.” She adds, her ears twitching.

Archsage’s ears dropped.

“Umm… fanfiction?”

“Yes. You looked at my stories for about two seconds? Those are fanfictions. Heck, all my favorites are fanfictions. We writers write these things for many reasons. Me, I enjoy writing, and I have to purge my mind on a daily basis.” Flora answers with a big smile.

“Right, I glanced through your work. Ok, so… you’re a fan writer but of what?”

“Well, Fimfiction wants pony-related stories only. Other than that, we more or less have free say on what happens in the stories, provided we follow certain guidelines. Me, I like alternate universes and crossovers. Alternate universe is pretty self-explanatory, but a crossover is where you take ponies and your favorite cartoon show, for instance, and write a story where those elements of both come together and….do….whatever you will it to do.” Flora answers again with a nod.

Archsage looked at her quite confused and then shook his head and held up a hoof to it.

“Ok, wait… just a moment to process this. It’s kinda new to me here.”

“Trust me, I was a noob once.” Flora sighs, her tone now quite sad. She points a hoof towards a board posted with all sorts of papers. At the top and in gold letters is “comments.” And something about revolving around the cosmic number.

“No, I mean this whole place. Ok, so you said your favorite cartoon, alternative universe, and what crossovers, and that Fimfiction wants you to write about us? Ok… well I kinda get that… but what?”

“There’s so much shipping around here I sadly partake in it. As for what you said….please, be a tad more specific. I hardly understood what you were trying to say. It’s a bad habit of misconstruing people left and right, I’m afraid.”

Archsage is dumbfounded by the sentence and starts to laugh.

“Uh, don’t we all do shipping? I mean we ship every time we have to send a mail like when I have to send an important mail to my boss back in Canterlot every month or so.”

“I do suppose you raise a point. A very valid one too.” Flora agrees, putting a hoof to her chin. “....I get the feeling you want to know more about me….or rather, my other ego beyond the virtual realm.”

Archsage’s eyes averts to all sorts of directions before looking back at Flora.

“Umm… other ego, virtual realm… Is there something I’m not getting?”

“I was invisible to you when you first arrived here. I overheard something you and two other ponies spoke of. One said she was really a woman in college. It’s why I bring this up.” Flora answers, crossing her forelegs. “I hope I didn’t hear wrong then.”

“Oh that… wait, how did you hear about that? And I actually thought she was talking a whole bunch of guacamole there to be honest.”

“We’re from different, alternate universes.” Flora points out. A smile is on her face. A warm, motherly smile. “I simply walked past and overheard everything--hence my usage of the term ‘invisible.’”

“Alright, alternate universes? Explain yourself,” Acrchsage demands putting down his hoof on the ground.

“I kinda just did.” Flora says, her ears dropping. A frown is now on her face, and it’s the pouty kind.

“What do you mean alternate universe? Are you saying that you’re not really a pony and that you come from yet another world that Celestia knows I don’t want to venture through again?”

“Depending on what you choose to look at and how you see it, yes and no. I’m from a world in another galaxy that Equestria doesn’t sit in.” Flora says, a grin on her face again.

Archsage holds up a hoof to his forehead.

“Ok, this is making me go bananas. Let’s switch to another topic.”

“I was thinking the same thing. I want to be a prosecuting attorney after I graduate and get into college.” Flora says, grinning still.

“And I’m not even going to begin processing that sentence, but good luck with that.”

“Thanks.” Flora says, her mouth curled in such a way it looks like it belongs on a cat’s face.

“Ok,” Archsage said walking over to her Groups section. “Are these groups as big and spacious as this place? Because this Bureau is huge, but I would like to see a change of scenery. Could you teleport us to another place?”

“Where do you want to go?” Flora asks.

“Well, anywhere really. Just need to know how to get back, and clearly this place has nothing to offer me right now oddly.”

Flora trots to Archsage and her horn glows. Next thing they know is that they’re standing before grand golden gates with the words “Human in Equestria” on it.

Archsage gazes up at the size of the gates then looks down at her.

“Umm, Flora, are we going to see humans here?”

“Yes. Though only the admin shows his human form. Other than that, human fanfictions galore.” She answers. She trots over to a board labeled ‘forum.’

“Oh my sweet GodCat and in the name of the Valkyrie Tank…..who’d post this? Someone’s in this group insulting all human fanfictions…..and he really likes Knighty a bit too much.” Flora says. Suddenly, a piece of paper is on her horn. “Augh, someone left a messed up comment on Arcane Shadow. Who keeps letting the parasprites in…?” With that, she teleports back to her userpage to straighten the issue out.

Archsage looked all around at the massive city of Amethyst. He then looked back at Flora who teleported leaving him there alone in an unknown once more.

“Drat… well here we go again with the pioneering of yet another place…” he said trotting about the city.

Chapter 3

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…