Equestrian Earth: Tumbling Through

Wish fake-pouted at her friend, "Well, Flare! It's about time you got here! What took you so long!" She flipped her friend so she could stand on her own four hooves.

Flare tossed her friend a glare as she stood. "Well, I might've gotten on earlier if you'd told me what you had to do before playing." Wish blinked slowly. "Seriously. I loaded the game, which took forever on it's own, but I had to shut it down to make a character. Then, when I was done with the hour or so that took, I had to re-log and load. Finally I had to pick my class."

Wishery blinked again, "Wow." She paused, "I am the most forgetful pony in Equestria... How could I forget all of that! Rawr! ... Sorry Flare. Um, how about we get you leveled up a bit?"

Flare rolled her eyes, "How you manage to live with a memory like yours always manages to confuse me. Really, Wish! You told me last week that you forgot to go grocery shopping, and had to eat my food!"

Wish stepped back in mock-offence, "Flare! I thought we were friends! If you can't share your cake with me, then what are we!"

Flare stood up taller, ready for the laughs. "The cake was a lie." They both fell over laughing, or, nearly did.

"Okay, okay. But let's level now." Wish walked over to her friend. "Go talk to that guy," She nodded to an NPC. "He'll give you some free XP for talking to him, then we can begin."

"Got it." Flare turned and began to walk to the stallion. "Um, hello?" He turned to Flare, a smile on his face.

"Welcome, Flare Tumbler! Welcome to Equestrian Earth! Do you want an introduction to the game?" His head tilted as Flare decided.

"Sure?"

"Great!" His hoof moved in a circle, pointing at everything around them. "This is Equestrian Earth, it it a virtual reality game connected to your nervous system using a complex combination of magic and mechanics. But more important than how it works, is what you do. So, when you began the game you created a character and chose you class," He glanced up, "You chose Warrior. At a certain level you can begin to choose skills and sub-classes, for more information open the menu by thinking about it and click the "Help" option. To level up you fight the many monsters inhabiting this land, of which there are many. Above them you will see health bars and levels.

"Other levels are for skills, gathering is one. You get those by practicing, or reading in-game books. Those can come in handy when you need a few bits. By gathering you can get items and sell them to players or NPCs, but to do that you need an in-game seller's licence. Those cost many bits. An easier way to get bits is just by fighting monsters, sometimes they drop money, armor, and even weapons to help you on your journey.

"Good luck on your journey! For more information on anything you choose go to the help menu and read!"

Flare blinked, as soon as the NPC had stopped talking about leveling she had zoned out. "Um, okay? Thanks!" She turned around and walked over to her friend, but was called back.

"Oh, yeah! I forgot to say, this place is called Sunshine coast, there are no monsters here."

Flare goggled at the NPC, "Seriously!"

Wish laughed and walked over to Flare, meeting her halfway. "It's alright, Flare, I have a way to get out of here quickly." She looked to the NPC and grinned, "Thanks, I got it from here."

"No problem, ma'am."

Wish looked at her friend, "Alright, before I take us to The Spread Overlands to fight monsters. Do you have anything you want to ask me? I noticed you zoned..."

"Yeah..."

"Well, what is it?"

"Um, how do you fight."

Wish looked at her friend, incredulous, "Really, Flare? You didn't listen to him at all did you?"

"I did!"

"Really? Then what did he say at the beginning?" Flare paused, but just shook her head. "That's what I thought, sometimes you're just as oblivious as I am forgetful!" She sighed before continuing, "You know that the visor you're wearing right now connects to the center of your nervous system, your brain. So, when you try to move normally you move in-game. Do you think you might get it now, at least a little?"

Flare closed her eyes in concentration. "So, you mean I fight just by trying?"

Wishery beamed, "Exactly, that's what makes the game so hard. If you have no skill with something in the real world, you can suck here when you begin. Eventually you'll get better just by playing in the game, but we have an advantage."

Flare's eyes widened, "Really? What!"

"Do you remember when we were foals, I brought you to the Medieval fair, lecturing you about the time period? We bought wooden swords there. Aero's friend taught us how to use them, do you remember any of that?" Flare nodded, realization spreading across her face.

"I get it! So we just focus on that!"

"Nice one, Flare! But now that you have it I daresay it's time to go!" Wish smiled and lit up her horn. She turned to face her back, and a scroll floated out from under her cloak wrapped in magic. "Okay, I need your hoof. Then I'll teleport us." Flare placed her purple hoof on top of her friends blue one. "Okay, here goes." She took off the seal, and the two who whisked away.

Flare and Wishery tumbled out of thin air into a large city. Wish was on her hooves almost immediately, but the forced way she walked confirmed that she was dizzy.

"S-sorry, Flare. That was the first time I've used a teleportation scroll."

Flare jumped to her hooves, but she fell over, her eyes rolling around comically. "Where in the world did you get that!"

"I did a quest, you know that's how I prefer doing games like this. I got it as a reward for taking something to an NPC. But, I know you prefer to Mob Grind. Let's go."

She walked over to her friend and pulled her up. "Follow me." Wish walked away from the square the pair had spawned on, and Flare raced after her.

"Where are we going?"

"You'll see."

"Where are we?"

"Trottingham." Wish made a sharp turn and began running down an alley. "There's a forest over here! It's teeming with low level monsters for us to kill!" She called over her shoulder.

Great! Flare thought as she chased her friend, I'll level quickly so I don't suck!

The pair made turn after turn: Left, right, skip two, right, left. But they had to reach their destination sooner or later. Finally, they reached the forest Wish had talked about, Sharpwood.

"Okay, ready Flare? I've got a spell that'll let me find a few monsters quickly.

"Ready!"

"Then pull out your sword and make sure I'm not attacked." Wish closed her eyes and lit her horn.

I have a sword? Flare turned and looked at herself... and planted a giant facehoof. Wish is right, I must be the most oblivious pony ever to be born if I didn't notice that.

Flare's purple body had been covered in armor. It appeared to be made of faux leather with iron plates on her back and other parts of her body, including her hooves. A simple sword was sheathed on her right side, close enough for her to reach with her mouth.

She grabbed the sword's hilt with her teeth and walked a little closer to her spell-casting friend. Flare heard noise after noise, but nothing ever came to the pair.

After a few minutes Wish stirred, "I got it! There's a group of Blood-Sucking Mice over there!" She pointed forward with her muzzle, "If we go over there we should be able to level you up pretty quickly. But you'll have to do more fighting than me for now, that spell takes quite a bit of magic!"

"Okay, but you lead!" Wish nodded to her friend and began walking towards the monsters. Her horn stayed lit the entire walk, and once they could hear their enemies she cut off the first spell and levitated out her weapon.

"Ready, Flare?"

"Ready."

The moment Flare finished speaking the pair jumped out into the pack of the Blood-Sucking Mice, they were much bigger than Flare had thought. For a few moments Flare stood still, the mice looked so evil. The seconds Flare stood frozen were enough for the mice and, sensing weakness, they began to fight her.

Flare's health drained quickly, every one of the mice bit her and scratched her. She had few health points left before she discovered that they were gone. She uncovered her eyes and gasped.

Wishery stood in the center of the pack. Hundreds of mice tried to close in on her, but they didn't stand a chance. Wish's horn was lit up brightly, and Flare realized it was headed towards her. The magic built up a shield, but while that happened Wish was taking on all the mice solo.

She'd dropped her shield on the ground farther away, but she made no move to retrieve it. The hilt of her sword was gripped strongly and covered in blood, the mice's blood? Tons of them were dead already, but Wish was covered in scratches. She'd said before that her magic reservoirs were drained, so she had to fight them up close, which was not how an elementalist was supposed to fight.

She swung her blade skillfully at any of the mice that dared come near, but they were small enough that they could get past it. She continued to fight fiercely, and, after a while,  she won.

Wish turned to her friend, blood dripping on the ground. "Sorry, Flare! I forgot to tell you how to use potions..."