.buck//Moment

Applejack just stood there, stunned. The light had faded and she was completely in awe of the sight before her. Stretching out was a port town, with charming, rustic buildings. Even though it was night, the streets were illuminated by frequent flickering lamps, like those in Canterlot. Beyond the buildings was ocean as far as the eye could see. The sky above was almost terrifying in its infinite blackness, like an abyss waiting to suck her up. Strangely, there were no stars, only the moon, far bigger than that in Equestria, rising over the water, bathing it in a cool, pale glow. It was so utterly real, even though she knew in the back of her mind it wasn't.

Snapping herself out of her reverie, she turned her attention to her immediate surroundings. She was standing on cobbles, before her a wide stone staircase leading to the town below, but she spun around to get a better feel. Behind her was a large, imposing, stone building, with no apparent entrance. In front of the structure was an odd machine, a glowing blue orb surrounded by three rotating golden circles, floating above a small plate embedded in the ground. Each was covered in strange runes and glyphs. Slowly, it bobbed up and down. After staring at it warily for a few minutes, it did nothing, and she turned away from it, trotting down the stairs into the town proper.

It was eerily quiet, although that gave the place a serene beauty. There were a few ponies spread out, their appearances jarring and widely different. Some wore ornate, flowing robes while others were adorned in full battle armour. None of them she recognized, but it didn't matter to her. She just wanted a feel for it, after all. As she hit the bottom of the stairs, she spotted a small stall to her left with a very plainly dressed stallion manning it. Above him was a small speech bubble and, curiously, she headed over.

“What's that above yer head?” she asked plainly. The pony stared straight ahead, beginning to speak, voice remarkably similar to the Canterlot Elite in its diction and lack of tone.

“This is the information stall. If you would like information, please choose one of the following options.”

A box appeared next to the stallion, filled with numerous entries. Blinking at it in surprise, Applejack shook her head. Too much to handle right now.

“Thanks, but Ah think Ah can manage it.” Slowly, she backed away, slightly creeped out. The pony didn't move at all, unnerving her. Was that normal etiquette for online? Was it too strange to have a normal conversation in this world?

Sighing quietly, she continued down the road. Twilight had said she'd meet her on the bridge, but refused to elaborate. Now, as Applejack headed off, she saw the meeting point clearly, right in front of her and laughed inwardly for thinking she might miss it. It was right in the centre of town, spanning a canal that as of now looked silent and lifeless, but had a kind of otherworldly beauty to it. The bridge itself was barren, aside from small lamps that cast a warm orange glow at either end, but left the centre in shadow. There was one figure there, their face obscured by darkness, but the faint ambient light revealed the rest. The pony was a dark blue pegasus mare, but far larger than any Applejack had previously seen, standing at least half a head taller than her. She was adorned in heavy, steel armour, like those worn by noble knights in fairy tales. As Applejack approached, the mare's ears twitched slightly, then she turned to look at her, calm, wise silver eyes glimmering in the dark. She took a step forwards, entering the light, revealing herself.

Now, Applejack could make out details in the other's appearance. Her face was warm and friendly, a patient, welcoming smile present, but her eyes looked like they were scrutinizing her, secretly debating whether she was worth her time. Her head was adorned with a flowing silver mane that reached down to her shoulders and across her neck, a platinum circlet keeping it away from her eyes. A brilliant topaz embedded into the front glistened like there was a life to it. Gaze drifting down to the rest of the pony, Applejack noticed that her armour wasn't plain as she originally thought, but instead glyphs and markings she could only guess the meanings of were engraved on every conceivable surface. Not that it didn't look pretty. What did put her on edge was the huge sword strapped to her side. It was at least the size of Applejack, smooth and straight, but scarily wide. A large symmetrical hole was cut near the blade end, electric blue lines dancing up to the handle, which was a shimmering gold. Gulping, she looked back up at the mare's face, who now had a mixed expression of intrigue and amusement. Was this Twilight? It didn't look like her. In fact, it didn't look like anypony she knew.

Then the mare groaned, and put a hoof to her face. Before Applejack could react, she spoke, a calm but brash voice with a hint of authority and wisdom behind it.

“Applejack, you aren't supposed to use your real name.”

Blinking, Applejack tilted her head in confusion.

“Beg yer pardon?”

Removing the hoof from her face and rolling her eyes, the pegasus repeated herself.

“You aren't supposed to use your real name. We're online with people you've never met.”

Applejack glared back. “Well then how'm Ah s'pposed t'know who mah friends are?”

The mare looked blankly at her. “There's a friends list. You tell your friends who your character is in real life and they add you online.”

Stammering slightly, her cheeks flushing a little bit, she continued, refusing to concede this easily. “Well, that jus' seems mighty backward. Why can't Ah just see somepony Ah know and go talk to 'em?”

The pegasus paused for a moment, then leaned in closer, putting Applejack on edge slightly. “Who am I?”

“Huh? Ah have no idea, ah've never met ya.” The question threw her off.

“Mmhmm.” The mare leaned closer, as Applejack felt a bead of sweat roll down her forehead. “And if my name were, oh I don't know, Fluttershy, would you know who I was?”

“W-well yeah, y'all would be Fluttershy.” She had no idea where this was going, or what it had to do with her friend.

“Really?” The pegasus grinned widely, coming almost nose to nose with her. She was a lot scarier up close. “How would you know?”

Now Applejack was completely confused. “A-Ah don't understand...”

Raising her head away from her, the mare shook her head, smiling gently and chuckling as Applejack let out a nervous breath. “What if I'm somepony else, just pretending to be Fluttershy? I have her name, I might have her appearance, but I'm most definitely not her. And what if I were Fluttershy, and somepony decided to stalk me? They could use things I did online as blackmail material.” Those brilliant eyes fell upon Applejack again, and she couldn't help but gulp anxiously. “Understand now?”

Gears began to turn in her head as it finally clicked. “Oh.” She looked away from those keen eyes. “Ah feel a bit silly now.”

“A bit?”

Applejack rolled her eyes. “Alright, a might silly. Can't Ah go change mah name somewhere?”

The pegasus looked at her sadly, then shook her head. “'Fraid not, Applejack. Once your character is made, it's made for good. Unless you buy another copy of the game.”

Scowling, Applejack stomped at the ground. “Darn it.” Then she paused, her brow furrowing. Glaring, she turned back to the other pony, now watching her with a wide grin plastered across her muzzle. “Wait a minute... How'd ya know it was me?”

“Well, your appearance is absolutely identical, you have her accent and...”, the figure raised a hoof to her mouth and let out a muted laugh “Nopony would be as clueless as you, Applejack.” she reached down and ruffled her mane, much to her annoyance. Barely, she could hear the mare mutter “...always wanted to do that.”

Applejack growled quietly, knocking the mare's hoof away. “That's no way ta' treat yer friends, Twilight.”

The figure stopped laughing and looked confused for a brief moment. “Huh? Twilight?”

“Wait, Ah thought y'all were Twilight.”

Shaking her head, the armoured mare grinned. “Nope. Could you imagine an egghead like her playing a Berserker?” She caught Applejack's unsure expression, then sighed. “You don't know what a Berserker is, do you?”

Coughing lightly, she shook her head. The pegasus sighed again. “You didn't read the manual, did you?”

“Manual?”

The figure face-hoofed again, before wrapping her other forehoof around Applejack's shoulders. “Come on, lets teach you how to play.”

It took a few steps before she suddenly tore herself from the (remarkably strong) grip, and stomped the ground defiantly. “Hey! Ah don't know who y'all are! Ah can't just be wanderin' off wi' somepony Ah don't even know!”

The mare turned and grinned. “Oh, you know me Applejack.” she gestured, flaring her wings out and settling into a dramatic pose. “Blue pegasus?” Applejack looked blankly for a moment, so she continued. “Rainbow mane?”

“R-Rainbow Dash?!” She yelled, before remembering what had been said about names. A gentle armoured hoof softly tapped her on the forehead, reinforcing that thought.

“Yes, it's me you dolt. But you can't call me that. You have to call us by our character names here. So...” the mare turned fully towards her, and bowed her head. “I am Ardent Sunrise. It is a pleasure to meet you, Miss... Applejack.” The extra emphasis on her name made her wince, visibly cringing. Grinning maliciously, Ardent turned away from her.

“So, shall we teach you how to play?”

Applejack sighed and shook her head before chasing after Ardent, who in the mean time had begun walking, leaving her behind.

“So who're the rest o' tha girls?” she asked, partly curious, but mostly wanting to avoid the previous situation.

“Well, you've met me. We also have Violet Blaze, a Mage.” At Applejack's dumbfounded look, she sighed again. “Uses magic to kill things.”

“Kill things?” Even with her best try, a little of her horror crept through. Rain... Ardent laughed.

“Well duh. What else are you going to do? Sleep? Talk with random ponies? You could do that in real life. No need to do that here. Besides,” she tapped the blade strapped to her side, “this thing ain't for show.”

Suddenly she stopped, causing Applejack to bump into her, but Ardent barely noticed. “Anyway we'll get onto everypony else later. First, lets get you your first taste of combat.” She gestured at the weird glowing orb thing.

“Ah don't get it.”

Ardent resisted face-hoofing for a third time and put on a patient smile. “It's called a Chaos Gate. We use it to go to new areas where we can fight monsters, partake in events, that kind of thing.” She looked thoughtful for a moment, then clicked her tongue. “But first.” Ardent froze for a few moments. Applejack waved a hoof in her face.

“Da... Ardent? Y'all okay?”

A massive yellow box suddenly filled Applejack's view, causing her to jump backwards, straight into a wall. As she slid down it, dazed, she could see her companion laughing, falling over herself in classic Rainbow Dash fashion. Turning her attention to the box, she read it.

Player  Ardent Sunrise  wishes to exchange Member Addresses!

Shrugging, she accepted, and activity suddenly exploded over her screen, but this time Applejack managed to restrain herself enough to not attack the wall again. She was pretty sure she heard her companion voicing her displeasure at her restraint, but chose to ignore it. Instead, she focused on what just happened. In the bottom left of her view a tiny box with her friend's face on it appeared next to text reading “Now Online!”. In the top right was some kind of glowing bronze trophy reading “Achievement Earned” on it.

A second box appeared afterwards, with the same picture of Ardent in the corner.

Player  Ardent Sunrise  has invited you to join her party!

Casting a glance at her armoured companion, who seemed far more composed now, she hit accept again and watched as a tiny menu appeared on the left edge of her view. On it, she could see her face, and the face of Ardent, with two bars adjacent to them. One green, labelled 'HP', and one blue, labelled 'SP' just underneath. She looked confused to Ardent, who had approached her.

“Now Applejack, you need to go touch the Chaos Gate.” Gently she nudged her towards the hovering orb. Gingerly, she pressed a hoof to it, and blinked as a menu appeared in her view, but other than that, didn't react. Now she definitely heard a groan of disappointment from her ally, but again chose to ignore it. She could get Rainbow back tomorrow, on her own terms.

Chaos Gate: Choose First Area Word

A long list of words came up underneath it, which she stared blankly at. A voice in her ear explained.

“This is how we choose what area we want to go to. Each area has three keyphrases that decide the area's statistics. We want an easy zone so...” a pause of deep thought. “Okay, first word 'Bursting'.”

Scrolling through the list, Applejack found the word in question and pressed a hoof to it. The menu shimmered and the word appeared at the top.

Chaos Gate: Choose Second Area Word

“Passed Over”

Blinking a couple of times, she shot a quick glance at Ardent. "That's an interestin' word." Her friend rolled her eyes.

"Just go with it."

Turning back, she scrolled through the list, this one further down than the last. She pressed it, and it was added to the area name.

Chaos Gate: Choose Final Area Word

“Aqua Field.”

The menu flashed as she pressed the last one, and a picture of a calm green field came up. Beside it were lights and numbers beyond her understanding, but one she did understand was 'Level: 1'. Twilight had at least had the foresight to explain levels to her.

“Alright, lets go.”

Then the world fell out from under her again.

This time, however, it rushed back just as quickly as it had faded, and she found herself standing in a plain field, stretching as far as the eye could see. The sky was a brilliant blue, clouds lazily drifting across a noon-time sun. Around her, ugly, pony-sized creatures wandered aimlessly. They were bipedal, wielding rudimentary clubs, looking an awful lot like goblins.

“Those are goblins.” Well that was convenient. Applejack turned to her companion, who grinned knowingly. “Anyway, let's teach you how to play.” Ardent took a few steps away and turned to face Applejack.

“Basically, you need to kill creatures and complete quests to level up. Quests happen during events, so most of your levelling comes from killing things. Each zone has a field” she gestured around her, and Applejack's eyes followed. “But also has a dungeon. Dungeons are where the real action is. And if I remember correctly the dungeon for this one is...” she looked around thoughtfully, before nodding and pointing behind Applejack. “There!”

Applejack turned around and, sure enough, behind her was a large castle jutting out of the otherwise flat plain. It looked out of place, and remarkably menacing, even though it was just lifeless grey stone. Windows were barred with cold steel, looking more like a prison than a place somepony would call home. She shuddered, then nearly flinched when Ardent placed a hoof on her shoulder.

“Want to try out fighting?”

Applejack looked a little nervous, before smiling slightly and nodding. Even if killing things was against her nature, it was just a game and, who knows, it could be fun. Ardent nodded in response, before stepping back. Reaching down, she pulled her blade out from her side with her teeth, swinging it around like it was nothing. She grinned at Applejack's wide eyed expression.

“Pretty awesome, huh?” Then Applejack's face scrunched up in confusion. “What's up?”

Applejack gestured to her mouth. “How're ya talkin'?”

Ardent looked down at her sword, then laughed. “Applejack, it's a video game. Can you imagine how annoying it would be if you couldn't talk in combat?”

Shrugging, she nodded in acceptance. Just something she'd have to deal with. Not that it was a bad thing, it just seemed odd watching Rainbo... Ardent talk and not have her weapon fall out of her mouth.

“Now, obviously you'll need to have your weapon out to fight. Try drawing yours.” she gestured to Applejack's sword, which she'd actually forgotten existed. Examining it for a few seconds, she reached down and clamped her teeth on the handle, before pulling it out of its sheath. It glimmered in the sun, and she swung her head, getting used to the weight. It was lighter than she expected, all things considered, but that was likely part of the same reason Rainbow could wield a sword as big as she was.

“Good. Now, your class is a Blademaster” at Applejack's continued look of bewilderment, she sighed. “You don't even know what your class is, do you?”

Blushing, Applejack shook her head. Ardent rolled her eyes. “Right, you're currently playing an Earth Pony Blademaster. That means that you're a melee combatant like me, but where my focus is hitting hard, your attacks deal less damage but are faster, although not as fast as a Twin Blade.” Applejack nodded in understanding, a gesture that was returned by her companion. “Good, you learn fast. Now, about combat.”

Ardent turned to a goblin which was approaching her aimlessly. “See, monsters won't attack you until you enter their so-called 'aggro range'. Since I'm high level, these things will ignore me unless I stand on top of them. Or...” as it walked dangerously close, she drew her head back, then lunged. Applejack winced as the giant blade sliced clean through the goblin, but it simply disintegrated into a faint glow. A small number appeared in the corner of her view telling her she'd gained 10 XP and 1 GP. It was... remarkably bloodless and didn't shock her as much as she felt it should've.

Grinning, Ardent turned to Applejack, then gestured behind her. She turned to see another goblin approaching slowly, and heard hoofsteps as the pegasus came up beside her.

“Now, you try.”

Applejack gulped, then charged at the enemy. As she neared it its eyes lit up and it screeched, raising its club to strike. She saw the blow coming and felt herself move sidways, dodging the incoming strike and driving her blade through the creature's arm as she sailed past. Skidding to a stop, she turned and charged at it again. Club raised, this time it managed to get a good strike to Applejack's side, but another sword strike through its shoulder dropped the beast. Again, the text came up, telling her she'd gained 25 XP and 1 GP. Panting, she wiped her brow.

A clapping noise drew her attention, and she looked back to Ardent, who was on her hind legs, applauding. Applejack felt her cheeks burn as she headed back to join her friend, who was grinning widely. As she got close a hoof ruffled her mane, and she scowled up at Ardent, who simply winked.

“Atta girl, I knew you could do it. That wasn't too bad for a newbie.”

The redness on her cheeks intensified “Aw shucks, Ah didn't do that well. Goblin managed t' whack me good.”

Ardent glanced to the side for a second. “Oh it's not that bad, you still have most of your health.”

Applejack looked confused for a moment, then remembered those little images. Looking back at them, she noted that the HP bar next to her face was only about ¾ full now. So that's what that meant.

“Here, let me fix that.”

A warm glow rushed over Applejack momentarily, and she watched the bar refill itself. Her body felt equally rejuvenated, and she stretched.

Turning her attention to Ardent, she suddenly noticed that it was a lot darker than before and looked up. Immediately she regretted it. Behind her was a massive creature, at least 5 times her height, made of stone. Tusks broke out either side of a huge maw as it raised itself up, swinging a gigantic stone fist into the air.

“R-rainbow!”

“What have I told you about using my real name? Call me Ardent, or Sunrise, or something.”

“B-behind ya!”

Ardent glanced over her shoulder, then tackled Applejack backwards, rolling them away as the fist came down on where they last stood, leaving a large crater. Ardent merely 'tsked', smirking down at the mare beneath her.

“Hey Applejack, ready for a real fight?”