FLOOR 8, Spectral Forest
January 25, 2023
The moon softly shown upon the treetops, barely stretching its luminous fingers acoss the pine needle carpet below. The forest allowed only the bravest of light to enter, as the branches knitted a tight canopy over the floor. The sounds of the forest echoed against the trees, each one prevalent to the discerning ear. All of the squirrels and sparrows that dwelt there knew to be silent, as any sound louder than a whisper would awaken a nearby monster.
"I really don't like it here."
The voice echoed out like an explosion of sound, and suddenly all the of the forest became aware of the six mares' presence.
"Fluttershy!" A tomboyish voice hissed. "We don't want to wake up another monster." The new voice belonged to none other than Rainbow Dash, the most awesome pegasus in Equestria, and by her own claim, Aincrad.
The purple mare at the head of the group pointed a hoof at a rock spire ahead of them. "Let's stop over there," she advised. "We need to check which way we need to go." She disapprovingly observed the environment. "You can't see a thing in this darn forest."
The group trotted over to the shadow of the rocks, and panted heavily as they sat down, exhausted from their long trek. Twilight, however, began organizing her items.
"Okay, girls, we collected a lot of items for those last monsters. The spectrals here drop a lot in this forest, don't they." Twilight looked up at the rest of the former-Element Bearers, noting that they all shared a depressed countenance.
Twilight sighed and closed her item window. "Listen, girls, I know it's hard, but we have to pull through. We either have to beat the game ourselves, or wait for somepony more capable to. I hear that Kirito pony is–"
Applejack cut her off. "Ah' miss Applebloom."
Silence descended upon the group as they remembered the friends they had left behind. Quiet sobs became audible, and Rarity wrapped her foreleg around the farm pony's shaking shoulders. "I know," she whispered.
Dash had a particularly hard time keeping back tears, remembering the energetic young filly she had logged on with. "Scootaloo…," she whispered, too softly for the rest to hear. Scootaloo had been so excited when Rainbow had brought back the two Nerve-Gear sets. She had only been online for a couple hours before someone in the Real World had tried to remove the Gear. She had been writhing on the ground, screaming, and Rainbow had to watch as her little sister's life slip away.
Pinkie looked around the group, unusually calm, before standing up, saying, "I know we all left someone we love behind in the Real World, but we can't just sit here crying about it like a bunch of frowny-wownies! We need to win this game, girls, and get back what Akihiko Kayaba stole." Seeing the group begin to regain hope, she continued. "And who are we?"
"The Living Friendship Guild," came the quiet reply.
"I can't hear you!" Pinkie prompted, long since discarding the rule of whispering.
"The Living Friendship Guild!" the group chorused with new vigor.
Twilight cleared her throat. "Thank you, Pinkie. Okay, so I was thinking that if we could get to the town on the other side of this forest, we could sleep there and come back here to fight monsters every night." Before she could continue with her plan, she was interrupted by a sudden burst of laughter.
"Fluttershy's making funny faces! Hahaha!" cried Pinkie.
The group turned towards the yellow pegasus, whose face was contorted in silent agony. Before her friends could raise a hoof, she shattered into tiny bits of light, and a throwing knife, dislodged from its victim, fell to the ground. Just as Pinkie began to understand what had just enfolded, an arrow flew through the air and drained the last of her health. She died with a smile on her face.
Ten shadowy forms emerged from the surrounding undergrowth, all wearing the insignia of the Laughing Coffin Guild, two black hexagons with a smirking white face overtop. Five of them drew their bows for another round and let the arrows fly. The air flashed as four more columns of light scattered into the air.
"I think that was all of them," said a low, gravely voice from underneath one of the tattered cloaks.
"They didn't have any rare items," commented the hooded figure to the right of the first.
"That doesn't matter," responded the original voice. "They weilded the Elements of harmony in the Real World. They needed to be eliminated." The second simply nodded its head in reply.
The murderers went about the clearing, searching for any survivors. Finding none, they disappeared into the night.
Almost an hour past before the creatures of the forest continued with their lives. Several monsters could be heard moving through the undergrowth, their growls breathing pervading the silence that the multiple homicides had left. Several hours passed until a solitary shadow detached itself from a bush and trotted into the clearing. The mare-shaped shadow examined the clearing for any trace of her friends, though she knew her attempt was all in vain. Twilight looked down at her teleport crystal and wished she'd told the others to have them ready. She sat down on her rump on the edge of the bushes and cried softly.
She cried for her friends, whom she had lost not so long ago. She cried for her family, whom she had left behind. And she cried for the lost ones, the ponies who couldn't bare to keep pushing forward. She cried until she had no more tears to shed. The, lifting her head and standing up, she made a promise. She made a promise that she would never forget, and never leave unfulfilled. Her eyes burned with white-hot anger as she made her vow.
If I ever find the ponies who killed my friends, I will make them pay. I'll give them what they gave Pinkie, Fluttershy, Rarity, and Applejack: a merciless death.
She trotted out of the forest, completely blind to the undergrowth impeding her progress. She trotted until she came to the main road that led to the town ahead. The she took one last look at the forest as she exited, scanning all that she could. The luminous spectrals stared back, watching as the last Element of Harmony took in the sight for what she vowed was the last time.
She finally turned her head back to the road, intent on her new mission. As the sun began to rise, Twilight picked up her pace, easily transitioning into a steady gallop, then a speedy canter, and finally, a full sprint. Rage burned in her eyes as she forgot her plans, neglected her better instincts, and realized that now, as the sole survivor of an attack that stole her friends, she would have to be the one to give judgement.
She would make the Laughing Coffin Guild pay for what they had done.
