Equis Art Online

As the flash faded, the group saw they were in some sort of ancient ruin, bordered by a large forest. Moss covered the walls. The remains of tapestries hung listlessly in the wind. As the group recovered their senses, Kirito turned to Yui, who smiled back.

"Yui, are we?"

"We are in an area know as the Everfree forest. The main questline starts when we reach the hub area, which is due south of here. We reach there, we start the questline, which will eventually send us home, Papa." Yui said, landing on his head from a flying position.

"Well, that solves that problem! Let's get moving!" Lisbeth said, but Asuna held her back.

"I'm not sure we should just head out blind, Liz. I mean, who know what could be out there?"

"You're right. Besides, it's almost nighttime, so we should probably get some rest. Somehow, I'm feeling rather tired." Silica said, noticing the sun setting, and Pina crowed sleepily. As the group settled down, Aries pulled the hood of his cloak and a cowl over his face.

"Where you going?" Klein said, stifling a yawn.

"Off to do some scouting. I'll make sure the area's safe." Aries said, pulling away.

"Fine. Just be back soon." Klein said, before walking over and sitting down next to Kirito and Asuna. Aries smiled, and as he pulled his cowl over his mouth, he turned invisible.

"Sure thing, Klein." he whispered to himself. Then he received a notification that popped up in front of his face. Aries read it, then he smiled and closed it.

"So I can fly here. That saves me a lot of time." he said, and as he leaped into the air, he activated his wings. As he spiraled into the sky, he smiled. He then stopped and looked around. The forest seemed to border several large mountains, and in the distance, he could see what looked like a city built a mountainside. He looked further, and he saw a small town on the edge of the forest, with a golden, four pointed arrow marking it as the hub area.

"So that's the hub space. I'd better double-time it." he said to himself. As he soared towards it, he failed to notice  a faint glimmer of light in the city on the mountainside...

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As Princess Celestia scanned the night sky with her sister, all was at peace. Luna had talked her into stargazing with her sister, and she had accepted. Quality time was rare now, ever since Tirek was reacaptured. She sighed at the being that had sent her, her sister, and Cadance to Tartarus. Just as she was about to curse him, Luna walked up.

"Luna, what is it?" Celestia asked, noticing the worried expression on her face.

"I have felt something...odd." she said.

"Odd how?"

"Eight strange pulses of magic have appeared in the Everfree. I do not know what it means, nor do I know what caused them."

"Eight? Seems like a bit much." Celestia mused. "Is it possible we have...visitors?"

"I do not know. We should investigate...what was that?"

"What?"

Luna suddenly grabbed the Telescope and pointed it towards the direction of Ponyville. She frowned as she looked through.

"I saw a mirage or something of the like heading towards Twilight's castle. I think it was one of the pulses I felt."

"Maybe it wasn't a mirage. Maybe one of our...visitors...can turn invisible?"

"Possibly. We should get moving. We do know exactly know if our visitors are friendly."

"I agree. We do not have much time." Celestia said as she summoned a pen and paper...

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As Aries landed in the hub area, he could see that most lights were off, but the crystalline tree structure in the middle of town, near the remains of what looked like a tree was still vibrantly lit. As he flew up towards the top, he saw an open window. Stepping in silently, he looked around.

"So I'm in someone's bedroom." he thought to himself. "I should probably go." As he slipped back out the window, he heard the door open and close. Thinking quickly, he dived to a prone position, obscuring him from view. He heard light footsteps, and he heard the window close above him. As he looked back in, he could see a small, purple, lizard-like creature had closed the window, and was now reading...wait...was that a comic book?

Aries swore, and then he saw a second light further up the tree. He looked in and swore again.

"What the hell is that?" He mouthed. Turning to fly away, he sped off with a small whoosh, and a small flash of light illuminated the air.

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Twilight looked up from her book in shock to see a small flash of light from the window. As she walked over and opened the window, she looked around. Nothing. As she turned and closed the window, she sighed.

"Memo to self-Write Celestia about seeing weird flash in middle of the night." she said as she tore off the piece of paper and stuck a thumbtack into it, she placed in on her bulletin board. As she walked downstairs, she noticed a light was still on in Spike's new room. As she peeked her head in, she saw Spike reading a comic book, as usual. She rolled her eyes and turned to leave. Then, she heard a knock on the door. As she answered it, she was shocked. Celestia, Luna, Cadance, and Armor were standing there, along with a few Solar and Lunar guards. As Twilight and Cadance greeted each other, Celestia and Luna, followed by Shining and the guards, walked in.

"So what's going on?" Twilight asked Cadance.

"I dunno. We just got teleported out of bed straight to Canterlot by Aunt Celestia, told about eight strange magical pulses over the everfree, and then we get teleported here, so I pretty much know as much as you do." Cadance replied.

"Yeah, I second that." Armor said, stifling a huge yawn.

"Sorry about that. Twilight, have you detected any strange occurrences tonight or at all?" Celestia said, sitting down at the table.

"Two things. One, I found a strange book called "Legends of ALfheim", and I don't know where it came from, classified under the other worlds category. Still don't know. where it came from, and neither does Spike. Two, I was re-re-re-rereading it to see if I missed anything, and I see a small white flash out of the corner of my eye. I look for whatever caused it, and whatever it is, it was gone." Twilight replied.

"Interesting. Can we see this book?"

Twilight nodded, and she set it down on the table. Celestia picked the book up with her magic, and as she flipped through the pages, her brow became more furrowed with each passing page. Finally, she set it down and sighed.

Twilight, I do not know where this book came from. It is a complete mystery to me. I did receive a guest the other day, a stallion who called himself "Heathcliff." He said he was from a world called "Aincrad," but I have heard of no world like that. he is extremely intelligent, and he brought with him two swords. I do not know how he came here, but I do wish to find out."

"This Heathcliff, what does he look like?"

"He has a pale coat, with black hair. He never goes anywhere without a lab coat, similar to what out scientists wear."

"Okay, because in the book, it says that he also goes by Akihiko Kayaba, and he's apparently supposed to be dead."

Celestia gasped, then she frowned down at the ground.

"What's wrong?" Cadance asked.

"It's nothing. But this "Kayaba", are you sure it is Heathcliff?"

"Yes. Apparently Heathcliff is a pseudonym of some sort. It's referred to as his "Admin ID." In the book, Kirito uses something called "The System", a "Pain Absorber," and a "System Login" to defeat the being known as "The Fairy King, Oberon", who had kidnapped 300 people, including Asuna, all the while her friend Kirito was searching for her, with the help of a fairy named Yui, and another named Leafa. Thing is, I have no idea what this all means, and it references something called "The Seed" that Kayaba gave Kirito, calling it "The beginnings of a new world." Apparently, Kayaba's body is dead, but his mind is still alive."

"How...how is that possible?" Luna said, shocked.

"I don't know. They must have powerful technology if they are able to preserve the mind, even after death. But, we haven't a spell to do that!" Shining said.

"Yeah, but I have a feeling that Kayaba knows how to. He's got secrets. I just know." Cadance said.

At that moment, Aries was watching from the window. While he watched the ponies talk, he grew more and more confused.

"So Asuna was a victim of the SAO incident, and so was Kirito. I know Leafa and Yui, but how do they all play into this? And how did Kayaba succeed in copying his consciousness to the net? It's a one-in-a-thousand shot!" he said to himself, but then he noticed the sun rising in to the sky. He swore promptly, remembering he promised to be back by dawn. He took off, leaving a large puff of smoke and a small poof, the ponies inside took no notice. As they continued to talk, no pony or fairy noticed the large, red dragon coming over the mountaintop with the sunrise.  As Aries flew past it back to their camp, he noticed smoke rising from the camp. As he landed, he could see the group warming themselves by a fire they had made. Aries walked up and sat down. Immediately, Klein started to chew Aries out about getting too close and potentially ruining their cover, but after Aries explained himself (With a little help from Asuna and Kirito) he calmed down.

"So, watcha find out?" Silica said eagerly.

"A lot of things." Aries said, and turning to Kirito and Asuna, he frowned.

"Kayaba's here."

As expected, there was a reaction. Kirito recoiled in shock, and Asuna put her hand to her mouth in surprise. After explaining what he overheard, everyone had the same reaction.

"So, they know everything that happened when I was searching for Asuna in old ALO?" Kirito said, pulling Asuna close.

"Yeah, They don't know anything about the SAO incident, or how Kayaba played into that, but I have a feeling they'll learn soon. I think it's better that they learn about it from us, rather than him." Aries said, and Asuna nodded.

"How do you know about Heathcliff?" Kirito asked.

"I know someone who died in SAO." Aries said simply. "Moving on. We shouldn't stay here long."

"I agree. If they know about how I helped Kirito find Asuna, there could be trouble in store for us." Leafa said, staring at the ground. "How'd they find out?"

"Some book one of them found called "Legends of ALfheim." Dunno how they got it, but I'm not a fan of letting them find out any more about us. We should head over, and explain." Aries said. "Maybe, they have some explanations for our questions...At that moment, there was a load roar, and the group turned to see a large dragon assaulting the hub area. Aries then turned to Kirito.

"What should we do?"

"Once everyone's recovered their HP and MP, we move in." Kirito said. "Whether or not its a boss, we're still going to defeat it. Who's ready?"

There was a resounding "Yeah!" from the group members, and after Aries told them how to fly in this world, the group took off at high speed. After five minutes of flying, they settled themselves on a rooftop to check things out. Suffice to say, things were going badly. A pony with a white coat was shielding a pink pony and a purple pony, who was not moving. Two other ponies, one white, the other dark blue, were holding up some sort of shield to protect them. Kirito noticed a few dozen ponies in armor with spears were trying to fend off the dragon, only to be roasted or slashed by the dragon. Kirito smiled, then he began to yell.

'Hey! Idiot Dragon! Think you could leave us out?"

The dragon turned, and smiled.

"So, little fairies from ALfheim think they can defeat me." It said in a deep, hoarse voice. "I shall enjoy feasting upon your bones!"

"We'll see about that!" Kirito yelled, jumping off the roof and simultaneously drawing his swords, readying them for battle.

SEVEN MINUTES EARLIER

Twilight and the princesses sighed.

"We've gotten nowhere." an exhausted Cadance said.

"Ditto." Armor said, yawning.

"Why are the books shaking?" Luna said, and indeed they were. Suddenly, screams of sheer terror could be heard form outside, and as Twilight ran to the door and opened it, she screamed, causing the Solar and Lunar guards to ready their spears.

"What's wrong?!" Armor said, running towards his sister.

"D...D...DRAGON!" She screamed, and indeed, there was a huge red dragon with black scales assaulting the town. Ponies were screaming, running, or screaming and running at the same time. Twilight and the other princesses ran outside, and the dragon turned to face them.

"I AM FAFNIR!" It roared, before landing on all fours and glaring down at the ponies. "I AM THE RED DEATH!"

"LEAVE NOW, FAFNIR!" Celestia roared in the Royal Voice, and the dragon simply laughed.

"You do not scare me, little alicorn. Only one has been able to defeat me, and he is long dead. Now, I shall enjoy roasting your flesh!" It cackled, before readying a stream of flame. Twilight threw up a shield, and the impact of the flame upon it knocked her unconscious. Armor shielded her and Cadance before ordering the guards to subdue the dragon. As they tried, thrusting spears at Fafnir, he simply cackled and slashed with his tail, sending the guards flying. Suddenly, something began to yell.

"Hey! Idiot Dragon! Think you could just leave us out?"

Everypony present, including the dragon, turned to the voice, and saw eight winged and bipedal beings standing on a rooftop, looking down at the dragon. What seemed to be a small dragon was circling around them like a close friend. Most carried swords, but a few carried either a bow, mace, or a dagger. The strange thing about them was that they all seemed to be of different kinds or races, judging by their varying clothing and hair colors. Two of them had ears like a cat, and they even had tails to match. They were all in battle stances, with weapons drawn. Nopony spoke or did anything due to shock, but then the dragon spoke, as if he had seen them or their kind before.

"So, little fairies from ALfheim think they can defeat me." it cackled. "I will enjoy feasting upon your bones!"

One of them, clad in a black coat, smiled and laughed a little.

"We'll see about that!" it yelled as it ran and jumped into the air, with weapons drawn. As the other 'Fairies" jumped down as well, they grouped up into a formation,. Then, two green bars materialized near the head of the dragon, and a strange red object floated above the bars for all to see. Then, writing came up above the bars.

FAFNIR-THE RED DEATH

Fafnir roared and sent a massive gout of fire towards the beings. The beings jumped out of harms way, and then they began to charge, with two staying back in support positions. One of the two in the back began to chant in a strange language, and odd particles appeared around the other beings. Twilight immediately recognized what she was doing. She was using magic, or a form of it. As the other beings kept charging at Fafnir, it tore up pieces of earth and threw them at the beings. They easily dodged, but one, the black-haired one, sliced through the earth with his swords as if they were pieces of butter. It smiled, and its swords began to glow a vibrant orange and a bright blue. As it got closer, it jumped, and with the orange sword, now cloaked in fire, it sliced a deep gash where the right front leg met Fafnir's body. Then, spinning like a top, it thrust the blue sword, now cloaked in ice, into the dragon's neck. It then pulled it out upwards, leaving a huge cut. Fafnir roared in agony, and as it tried to fend off the black one, it failed to notice the yellow one charging closer. As it leaped into the air, its sword became covered in a gale of wind, and it sliced down the length of Fafnir's left front leg. The dragon screeched and let loose another blast of flame, but when it connected, some sort of red shield covered the yellow being and protected it. Then, the first cat-eared one came ever closer, and it leaped up and cut across the body of the dragon, leaving a huge gash down Fafnir's side, which was quickly covered in Ice. The ice then exploded, causing the bars to drop from green to yellow, then to red. Then, another being, wearing a green, black, and grey coat, along with the red one, rushed the dragon, launching itself into the air. It then drew a longsword and swung it behind its back, then it launched a heavy slice that went all the way down the dragon's body. Then, a massive cyclone appeared around the dragon, causing it to roar in pain. The red one then covered its sword in fire, then it slashed in a similar manner, engulfing the cyclone in fire. The first bat went from red to nothing, and the dragon screeched and dispelled the cyclone, causing the beings to flinch.

"YOU WILL NOT DEFEAT ME!" it roared, then it charged the beings, ready to kill. Then, the second cat-like being jumped and slammed its legs into the dragon's face. Using the blow as propulsion, it flipped and fired an arrow cloaked in ice straight into the dragon's face with expert accuracy. Then, the final being, the blue one, summoned a sword, seemingly out of nowhere, and it rushed Fafnir. It jumped into the air, and with the black one, crossed their swords into an X pattern, then slicing up and down the dragon's body, the second bar went from green to red, then to nothing. The dragon roared like never before, and it began to dissolve into blue and green particles. As the beings regrouped, the dragon exploded into nothingness. Then, as if out of nowhere, a large message displayed itself for all to see.

CONGRATULATIONS!

The beings cheered, and what looked like transparent tablets appeared in front of each member, and they were inscribed with a strange language. The ponies watched all this in sheer silence. They were scared of the dragon about to destroy their town, and they were grateful to the beings for destroying it, but who were they? Do they eat ponies? Where are they from? They contemplated all this in silence. Until one of them, wearing a black, gray, and green coat, spoke up, somehow in fluent Equestrian.

"You know, all this silence is really creeping my out. We save your town from a killer dragon, risking our lives in the process, and we get silence as a reward? I mean, the loot and XP was good, but the silence is really starting to scare me. I know your kind can speak, so, anyone talking?" apparently HE said in a kind tone. Murmurs erupted through the crowd of ponies, and the guards started to relax, but they kept their spears up. Twilight, getting up and brushing off her brother and sister-in-law, walked over to the beings. She was immediately noticed by the blue being, who tapped the black being on the shoulder. Twilight started to speak, stopped, then she mustered the courage required.

"He..hello?" she said timidly, not sure of the reaction.

"Hey. You know, for an NPC in a VRMMO, you're not acting like one I've seen before." the black being replied, with nods from the group.

"NPC? VRMMMO? What's that supposed to mean?" Twilight said, curious. "I've never heard of those terms being used anywhere."

"Well, NPC is Non-playable character, meaning any in-game entity that functions by the computer. You're on, for example." the yellow-haired one said.

"I'm not functioning by a computer, or whatever that is. I'm a living, breathing pony." she said.

"That's kinda hard to believe." the black-haired one said. "We're playing a game right now, so finding an NPC that claims not to be an NPC is like I said, hard to believe."

'Wait, game? Like a board game?" she said, confused.

"No, a video game. A VRMMO." the brown cat-like one said. "These are just our in-game avatars."

"Video game? Avatars?" Twilight said, even more shocked.

"Okay, I think we're not getting anywhere, so I think we should go somewhere private. Maybe we can get some answers if we start from the beginning." the black-haired one said, extending his left arm. "I'm Kirito."

"Kirito?" Twilight said, shocked. Pulling out the Legends of ALfheim book, she handed it to him. "As in the Kirito in this book?"

Kirito looked through it, surprised, and when he closed it, he sighed.

"Yeah, that's me. The blue one here is Asuna." he said, shrugging.

"That's Asuna? She looks a lot different then what she looked like in the book." Twilight said.

"The reason I look different was because that was a converted account from Sword Art Online. I got rid of that Avatar as soon as I could."

"Converted account? Sword Art Online? and Why'd you get rid of it?"

"You read chapter 24?" Kirito said, looking through the book quickly.

"No, I feel asleep halfway. Why?"

"If you had finished reading it, you would have found out." Kirito said with a sigh, and Twilight thought she saw an expression of "I would rather not be reminded of that." but she dismissed it. Then, Kirito sighed again.

"Look, can we go somewhere private? All of these ponies watching is creeping me out."

"Sure." Twilight said, and as she escorted the group inside the castle, with the other Alicorns following, they sat down.  Kirito handed Twilight the book, and by the time she was finished, she was close to tears.

"This Sugou...or Oberon...he really did that to you?" Twilight said, shocked to her core. Asuna nodded sadly and she put her head on Kirito's shoulder and cried a little. Kirito hugged her close, and Twilight gasped. "That's...just horrible!"

''I know. He used to be my fiance', according to my father." Asuna said, still crying.

"He was your fiance'?" Twilight gasped.

"Yeah. It was all decided while my consciousness was trapped in ALO. Sugou's branch of RCT hosted the servers that held my consciousness. He blackmailed my dad using that as leverage. He's in prison now. WHERE HE BLEONGS!" Asuna nearly screamed, ponies flinched.

"Prison? On what charges?" Cadance asked.

"Kidnapping, sexual assault, attempted murder, and more." Kirito said, looking at Cadance, who gasped.

"But, Asuna, what did Sugou exactly do to you?" Armor asked. "I'm confused."

"When he stole my consciousness, he found out I was one of the ones he kidnapped to perform experiments. He kept me in a cage like a pet bird, like I was his trophy or something. After Kirito made his way to me, he teleported us to his realm. After pinning Kirito to the ground with Gravity magic, he played with his sword and the pain absorber, before impaling him so it would be hard for him to get up. Then, well, he abused me. Kirito eventually got up and suffice to say, made him pay." Asuna said, her old sense of pride, thought extinguished by Sugou Noboyuki, was burning bright.

"Please not the kind I imagine it was." Luna said, and when Asuna nodded gravely, Luna looked to the floor.

"How horrible."

"Thing is, I wasn't directly affected, since it was my avatar. But it felt like it was real. When my father found out what he did, after resigning as head of the company that supervised Sugou, he went to the police. Suffice to say, he was indicted on around ten different charges, I believe. around three of them were based on what he did to me, and the other seven were based on the testimony of 300 SAO players he performed experiments on."

"What...kinds of experiments?" Celestia asked.

"Suffice to say, he was delusional. He wanted to basically turn himself into a god or something like that. the "experiments" he performed on the players were simply put, horrifying and completely inhumane."

"That's...insane, to say the least." Celestia said, holding back tears.

"I know. Thing is, he treasured me like some sort of pet. He never performed any of the experiments on me, though. He's now in prison, like I said, serving a couple life sentences."

"That's good to hear. He should have died, in my opinion, for what he did." Armor said.

"Yeah. Thing is, when I was holding a knife, Sugou's knife, to his throat after I slammed his head into a car door, I thought about doing it. What he did to Asuna, right in front of my eyes, was simply unforgivable. But something made me spare him. It's as if he deserved to die, but I shouldn't be the one to do it. I decided to leave him for the police and to head to where Asuna was. Thing is, I heard that at the trial, one of the SAO players he performed experiments on told a couple of reporters that he honestly wanted him dead for what he did. The judge kept him alive, but he'll never in his life be able to do what he did ever again. Thing is, I've learned to move on. I think it's time we get off this subject. I think Asuna's had enough." Kirito said, noticing Asuna shedding tears freely. "Anywhere she can get some rest? She's pretty exhausted from the battle, and this is only making it worse."

"I'll help with that." Twilight said, and as Kirito escorted a crying Asuna upstairs, followed by Twilight, Cadance turned to the remaining players.

"So, uh, care to explain what exactly led to all this happening?"

'May take a while, but I think we should take a break. Probably it'll be easier to explain when Kirito and Asuna are present. Besides, I know my brother, and he really cares about her." Leafa said, and Yui, who was sitting on her shoulder, nodded.

"You're Kirito's sister?" Celestia asked. "You don't...well..."

"It's fine, and yes. My name's Suguha, or Sugu, in real life. Kirito is just my brother Kazuto's avatar name.  Here, or in game in ALO, I go by Leafa, he goes by Kirito. We all go by nicknames when we're in-game. It's pretty much universally accepted digital etiquette. Sinon here (She pointed to the blue cat-like one) is Shino Asada. Lisbeth (She gestured to the pink one) is actually Rika. Silica here (Motioning towards the second cat-like being) is Keiko. Klein here (She motioned to the red one, who smiled.) is Ryotaro. Asuna used her real name for her avatar, so in both worlds, living and digital,  she's Asuna. Yui here (She motioned to the small being, who smiled.) is a program brother and Asuna adopted when they were stuck in SAO. She managed to stay with Brother after he searched for Asuna in the old version of ALO. Now, she's a navigation pixie. She really helps us out, in more ways than one."

"Interesting." Armor said. "You all go by aliases when you are, so you say, "In-game?""

"Yes. Using your real name for your avatar in any game is generally regarded as a bad decision. It could give away info that you'd want to keep private, such as your real name, phone number, home address, anything like that you'd want to keep private. But hey, we're all tired, so, can we get some sleep?" Leafa asked, with nods and yawns coming from the group.

"Sure, I got a spare bedroom up here. Asuna and Kirito are already there, so you can sleep there if you like." Twilight said, as she had just come down from upstairs. As the fairies walked upstairs, Armor motioned to Cadance.

"They are pretty interesting. I think there's a lot we can learn from them."

"I agree. C'mon, let's head home. We can always come back here later."

As the two of them teleported out, Celestia turned to Luna.

"We should go, sister. Like Cadance said, we can always drop by later."

"Agreed."

As they teleported out as well, in the spare bedroom, Twilight was helping Klein with a few sleeping bags. Kirito, meanwhile, was sitting next to Asuna, who was sound asleep. As he got up to sit next to Leafa, he smiled.

"Maybe tomorrow we can learn more." Kirito said, and as he was drawn into the conversation between Klein and Sinon, Twilight walked out, and as he looked back into the room, she smiled.

"That went well..."

"WHAT ARE THOSE THINGS?" said a shocked voice.

All eyes turned to the small dragon in doorway. Twilight facepalmed, and the dragon passed out. Kirito began to laugh, and it spread rapidly. Soon, the dragon woke up.

"Okay, what's so funny?"