PAO: Pony Art Online

Aria climbed up the back of the fallen boss and ripped the head off the Lord of the Demonkin, tossing it down to one of the players she was assigned to lead. "Alright, that's a wrap," she announced to her party as well as the rest of the raid. "Get the elite minions cleaned up and we can head up to floor fifty-nine before nightfall. Iceblood has a bet to pay up."

The stallion's ears flicked at the mention of his name. "Technically we tied; forty-seven elite monster kills to both of us." He wrenched his sword out from his forty-seventh dead NPC.

Aria wouldn't let him get away with the bet so easily. "Even if I counted that one, which I don't since you killed it after the boss, you said you could beat my score this raid. A tie doesn't count as beating me."

Iceblood groaned, turning to Aria as the elite demon behind him despawned. "Do you just find loopholes no matter what you do?"

"You should've chosen your words better," she replied. "Maybe next time it won't be so easy, but this time, you're paying for my drinks." Aria smacked her lips mockingly. "And I feel extra thirsty after this boss. It was pretty hard."

"Oh come on, it was barely harder than the last one and you know it," Iceblood said, laughing.

Aria wanted to counter that with her own wit, but nothing came to mind. It was just plain true. Ever since the floor fifty-one boss, the Clearing Group rapidly over-prepared for each boss fight. Players expected things to grow unimaginably difficult, but the reality was that the boss difficulty was increasing no where near the rate the "experts" from every guild expected.

At least over preparedness made it easy. "I can't believe we've crammed seven floors into just a month," Iceblood awed, watching happily as the raid paraded the head of the boss back to the central city's portal to open the way to floor fifty-nine.

"I can't believe I was under arrest about a month ago," Aria added to that, leaping down to Iceblood so they could talk and follow the raid back to town.

"And look at you now, leading your own party in a boss raid," Iceblood said as they trailed behind the rear guard of the raid. "How was it?"

"Pretty bad," Aria put bluntly.

Iceblood shrugged, expecting a similar answer. "They were all transfers from the SGK, what else did you expect?"

"I expected them to stay in formation at least," Aria grumbled. "I had a Damage who always tried to rush in and get himself killed before our Tank could pull the monsters."

"They'll learn to pay more attention," Iceblood assured. "You weren't exactly eager to sit and wait for a plan when you started, but now you're as good as the rest of us, if not better."

Aria accepted his counter argument. "I guess. They better learn fast though; I haven't completely lost my impatience."

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The party rallied again, stunning the mini boss long enough for Sunset to strike. It was a tough up hill battle, literally fighting up a mountain path to get a trophy for a convoluted quest, but it was a good place to level up. Pinkie Pie and Sunset had both done the quest before, so they hung back a little bit to let Rainbow Dash pummel ahead through the waves of imps, while Applejack and Roseluck charged ahead behind her, leaving the two of them behind to grind up the remaining demons.

"You sure about it Pinkie Pie?" Sunset asked. She couldn't believe Pinkie Pie of all people, had turned down an invitation to the second anniversary party.

Pinkie Pie flicked between two imps, flinging them off the edge of the mountain pass they were training on. It was the easiest spot, since the monsters just fell and died while still giving experience.

"It's just been a tough month Sunset," Pinkie Pie said, "Besides, the real party's when we get out of here. I'll be going all out then. But now, I just don't feel like it's the right time."

"Weird thing to celebrate, huh?" Sunset swung her pitch-black sword and slashed a row of imps off the mountain. "We've done a lot since the first day though, and that at least counts for something."

"And I bet we'll have a ton more fun adventures and quests." Pinkie Pie added. She ran into a horde of imps, spinning herself through them all and catapulting them into rocks or even off the cliff side.

Sunset somersaulted backwards, letting an enemy charge forward and send itself off the side of the mountain. "Still, don't you want to hang out with everyone else? It's so unlike you to skip out." Another imp, this one an elite soldier, lumbered up to Sunset. It was larger than the rest, but Sunset's dark sword was larger still. She turned her sword and deflected its attack with the flat of the blade before taking her turn to cleave a shadowy chasm through the creature. She sliced twice more before it had time to react, killing it and dodging the next imps.

Pinkie kept spinning herself around, knocking over imps left and right with her mace. "I know it's weird," she finally answered once she stopped turning, "but I've made up my mind.

"I've got a lot of things jumbled up in here," she pointed to her head. "I need to sort it out."

Sunset nodded, understanding how conflicted Pinkie Pie must have felt. Everyone agreed that a party was for the best, but it was hard not to look back on the two years and think of the losses. For Pinkie Pie, tainting such a big event with that kind of memory was taboo.

Sunset sheathed her weapon and equipped a teleport scroll from her inventory."Well, I'm headed back to central to meet up with Fluttershy."

Sunset went to her party screen and left the group. "Tell the others I had to go. It's pretty important. She said she found an extremely rare animal that she wants to tame before the party tomorrow evening. If I remember anything about it during development, the taming quest is gonna take all day."

"Sounds fun!" Pinkie Pie swiped her hoof and checked her level. "I should probably keep at it until I level up one more time. I'll catch up with the others and be sure to tell them. But be sure to remember everything, because I want to hear all about it if it's as big of a quest as you say it is.

"Will do," Sunset smiled as her avatar flashed up to the sky in dozens of shards of light.

Pinkie Pie watched as she teleported away. "I wish I could go," she told herself. "But now of all days, I have work to do."

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Even after two years, Ponyville was still an active floor. Many of the younger players had quickly grown up in their virtual world, almost growing too comfortable in it. Especially among the young teens, their time in the game had left the greatest impressions of their life.

It was here that Pinkie Pie worked. It was Cookie Cutter's birthday, a child now turning fourteen, and he wanted more than anything that to have a party planned by the famous party planner. Pinkie Pie made them laugh at her stand-up comedy and organized him and his friends into a raid. She took them up to some higher levels, directing them to a dungeon on floor twelve and helping them along some of the harder dungeons.

All the while, she'd drop little hints or messages of the real world. Jokes that poked fun at real things, outside of the game. Even during the raids, she'd tell stories as they traveled about what college was like, twisting the truth more than a little to give the kids something to look forward to when they returned to their normal lives as students.

It might have been more fun to mess around with her friends and try out Roseluck's experimental potions, but Pinkie Pie could see the changes everyday. Slowly, young children forgot their old lives. Over a third of the original one hundred thousand players had grown accustomed to the life of fun and leisure, even at the risk of death by a coded monster or dungeon trap. It was okay to be ensnared for a while, but in the lowest levels, where children grew up in a digital realm, they didn't even feel like leaving.

Kids played with each other, making new friends and enjoying what they could. But a couple months ago, it was one group of friends that really opened Pinkie Pie's eyes.

"We should go play outside of town," a little colt said to his friends. "The field's the perfect place for some capture-the-flag."

"We're some of the lowest leveled players," was the reply of one of his friends. He insisted that they continue with their dungeon quests.

"Any day now, the Clearing Group's gonna kill the hundredth boss. Before I go back and start high school, I want to spend my time having fun, not repeating a chain of missions just to get to the next chain of quests." Pinkie Pie heard this, and wanted to tell the young player everything she saw in the top floors. She wanted to tell him how many parties and friendships were ruined just getting to where they were.

But in that moment, she couldn't. Not out of fear of awkwardness, but out of a moment of realization. Would it matter if they did try harder? They were too far behind to make an significant effect in the next few months anyway, and going through such ordeals would only strengthen their connection to the game.

It wouldn't matter, because if they ever left the game, they'd never be happy with their bland reality. Another thing no one had considered, Pinkie Pie thought. Well, she'd make it her business to consider it, and by the time they left the game, everyone, children and all, would be happy to leave.

So the birthday went well. She baked a cake after the kids had killed floor twelve's mini-boss, and let them celebrate however they wanted. There were some party games and roleplaying, usual entertainment. It was all nice, a quiet break from the Clearing Group, and the perfect way to set some problems strait.

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"Bleh, this punch tastes like a fruit salad committed suicide."

Sunset rolled her eyes. "Thank you, Aria. I'm glad you appreciate my hard work."

"What's supposed to be in it anyways?" Aria asked, pushing her glass away and moving aside as Sunset added more decorations to the room from her house editing menu. She bought the countryside mansion on the riverbanks of floor fifty-nine as soon as the floor was opened. Sunset wanted it to live a bit more spaciously, but it made party preparations a lot more difficult now that Pinkie Pie was gone.

"I had a lot of vegetables collected that I wasn't using, so I thought I'd make some vegetable juice; spinach, kale, lettuce, bell peppers, those kinds of things." Sunset tapped a few buttons on her screen and streamers decorated the walls, spreading a mix of clashing and complementing colors. She moved on to her kitchen.

"Well, if you let me help you out," Aria proposed, "I bet we'd not only get done faster, but have a few improvements to this whole thing. Like better drinks."

Sunset chuckled. "You? A party planner? I don't think so. Pinkie showed me exactly how to make a party look good, so I think I got this."

"Fine," she sighed, expressing her exasperation. Aria opened her own menu screen and checked her messages. There was one from Sonata. "Oh, she say's she just left the auction house with the crystal disco ball. She says the guy who found it was a real snob."

"It's a unique item, pretty much a one-of-a-kind drop," Sunset told her. "Sure, it might not be equipment, but each ball comes with its own randomly generated effects. This one happens to have the perfect colors for tonight's atmosphere." She dimmed the ambient lighting of her kitchen and placed all the dishes on the counters.

Someone knocked at the door.

"Is that Sonata?" Sunset asked.

Aria shook her head as she went to greet the guest. "No, too soon. Probably Grieve Blossom, he said he'd be a little early to help set up the table." The door swung open and Aria was right.

"Oh hey Aria," Grieve Blossom chirped. "Am I the first one here?"

"If by first you mean after me, then yes," Aria said.

"You were here before the party invite was sent," Grieve Blossom countered, "that doesn't count." He walked in and turned down the hall into the dining room.

The wooden table fit nicely with the room's colors. The perfectly square mahogany table blended with the light brown, paisley patterned carpet and the maple floor. The wall was painted a variant of maroon, highlighting the white ceiling and chandelier. To the side, a wooden cabinet displayed plates and ornaments trimmed with gold.

Grieve Blossom quickly examined their detail. The quality of the materials wasn't a hard thing for the game to replicate, but what set these decorations apart as exquisite was the detail of everything displayed. Some plates featured famous portraits in the center, with simple surrounding. Others were decorated by seemingly endless curving lines of gold.

"Fancy stuff," Grieve Blossom said.

Aria nodded, starting to drape the table with silk a table cloth. "Glad you like it. I personally don't care for that sort of thing, but it has its merits."

"Thought this was supposed to be an informal party," Grieve Blossom chuckled, helping arrange the cloth evenly. "But here I am, without a suit."

"It's a nice place, but Sunset still wanted to show off a little bit," Aria explained, tugging the cloth tightly. "I say she's spending too much time with her rainbow friend."

"Too much? What's the matter, feeling jealous over your waifu?" Grieve Blossom teased.

"Ha ha," Aria laughed dryly. "Don't make me kill you."

"Okay, jeez," Grieve Blossom stepped back. "You realize you've actually done it, right? I mean, you sound sarcastic now, but, people were murdered because of you."

"Yeah yeah, sourpuss, now help me get the food onto the table," Aria dismissed him.

Sunset was still finishing up her last few dishes as they entered. "Hey there Grieve Blossom. Glad to have another helping hoof around." She pointed to trays of food on her counter. "Could you set those on the table? You can help yourself, I just finished them."

Grieve Blossom tapped on one of the trays and dragged its icon onto the table, materializing in seconds. Aria helped, shifting all the trays around each time more was added until every centimeter of the table was covered in food.

"How many players are coming?" Grieve Blossom asked when they finished. "Do we really need all this food? I thought it'd just be our group."

"Considering that Applejack eats like the animals she raises on her farms, and Rainbow Dash overworks herself into an appetite, I'd say we need quite a bit," Sunset answered, turning the fire off and completing the last dish. "Besides, you said Iceblood was coming with some guests. From what I've seen of that guy when he's off duty, 'some' probably means almost every Clearing Group member in the Knights of Yore. On top of that, the CMC also brought along their closest advisers and generals."

"Aw no, Twist isn't coming, is she?" Aria asked after the mention of the CMC's friends. "I hear that the girl tries to be sweet, but she's just too awkward."

"I know you don't make friends, but try to be nice Aria," Sunset replied.

Aria insisted on her point. "I'm serious! It's that lisp of hers, I can't hear a damn work she says. Nearly got me killed on floor fifty-six when we fought the boss and I couldn't hear a single warning. The raid's left flank was useless that day."

"Oh no, what would be do without you?" Grieve Blossom mumbled sarcastically. Aria glared at him, which only made him enjoy himself further.

"In any case, Twist's not showing," Sunset finally said. "Don't know why, but Applebloom didn't forward the invite to her. I didn't ask. Now can one of you place this bowl onto the table?" Grieve Blossom and Aria turned from the dining room an looked into the kitchen. The dish was glowing hot, almost like it was molten.

"Why is it doing that?" Grieve Blossom asked nervously.

Sunset explained. "The ingredient I used was supposed to be really spicy, but when it was being put into the game, I didn't really know how to much about spicy food. So, I asked another developer who was a huge chili fan to make it 'as hot as he could imagine.'"

"So why's it glowing?" Aria examined the bowl. Even the space around it was burning.

"I think he took 'hot' to mean its temperature, not its spiciness," Sunset said.

"You want us to take that thing?" Grieve Blossom gaped at the bubbling paneer masala. It smelled delicious, if only he could get past the fact it was in a molten bowl.

Sunset nodded. "Well, since you're offering, thanks!"

Grieve Blossom turned to Aria for salvation, but she had already left the kitchen and waited to hear his screams at the entrance. Sunset stood and watched.

Grieve Blossom reached out gingerly to tap the bowl, drawing closer to the heat. He was sure the pain would be reduced by the Digisphere. However, given that it was literally as hot as lava, there would still be second degree burns at the least.

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"The hell happened to your hoof?" Iceblood asked, sipping a delicious red wine from one of Phoenix's crystal glasses. He was happily relaxing on a reclining chair before cracking up at Grieve Blossom's burn.

Grieve Blossom moaned, applying a burn salve Roseluck made him when she got to the party. "Don't remind me. I'm going to hate masala for the rest of my life."

"Woah there," Iceblood cautioned, "it's not that bad." He ate another spoonful of the vegetables. "Of course, it helps to surrounded in ice enchantments. And not being dumb enough to grab burning objects."

Grieve Blossom pushed the commander back. "Fuck you," he said.

"I wish someone would," Iceblood replied.

"You're gross."

He shrugged. "You said it first."

"Is this off-duty Iceblood?" Grieve Blossom asked, winding back on the sofa across from the commander. "I thought I'd never see the day."

Iceblood raised his cup of wine. "This is happy Iceblood. The last raid was a huge success, and I even got a dragon-tier drop for the assisting kill on the boss."

"Oh yeah, Aria told me she beat you to it," Grieve Blossom remembered.

Iceblood nodded, accepting the sting of the loss. "I'll admit, she's as good as any other Knight, maybe even better. Her teamwork's still a little lacking but I'm hoping she'll bond with her new party."

Grieve Blossom scoffed, getting up to pick out a drink for himself. "I think I'll need a bit more liquor before I believe Aria can be a team leader."

Iceblood shrugged, and got up to tell him more. "I'm telling ya, I think she could be a great player if she works out well with her team."

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Two years. Everyday, Fluttershy thought about how long they'd been in the game, and questioned how much longer it would be before they escaped. She accepted many things since the first boss fight. First, she'd have to keep fighting if she wanted to keep up with her friends. Second, the fate of her pets were long out of her reach.

This time, she was stuck daydreaming on Phoenix's porch, gazing out at the mesmerizing stream of water cutting through the green pasture. She hoped that when emergency responders collected every player and had them hospitalized, someone remembered to look out for the pets. Maybe someone with a healthy vegetable garden for Angel, and public park for all her little birds.

Becoming part of the strongest players in PAO was not part of her plan when she agreed to play. Yet, going back to her pets was as much of a motivator as staying with her friends.

Fluttershy's daydreaming took her attention away, and she jumped a little when a voice beckoned her back to the party.

"You coming back or what?" Roseluck asked. "Everyone loves your pet dragon, you should join the fun!"

It was true, all her pets were fun to play with and easy to handle, but they weren't real. She thought she could bond with them and fill the void of her animals, and for a time it worked, but the effect wore off as she saw the same behavioral patterns reused again and again for different animals.

"It's okay," she told Roseluck. "I spend time with my pets all the time, I should let other players see how they like animals."

"You want to take a walk or something?" Roseluck stepped out onto the porch, standing next to Fluttershy. "Here's one of the things I admire about: you might be shy but you're there for your friends. Right now, something on your mind, and walking around should help clear some of those thoughts."

Fluttershy nodded, quietly following Roseluck. "I guess I can't hide being stressed. I want to celebrate with everyone else, but realizing we've been here for two years really makes me think about how much has passed in the real world."

"I know the feeling," Roseluck replied, skipping on some rocks sticking out of the stream. "I used to imagine I could go back and jump back into my life. But I haven't even finished my major yet, let alone a teaching degree. I'll probably have to revise everything I ever learned if I ever want to have a normal life after this. What do you imagine?"

"I keep thinking about my pets," Fluttershy said as she flapped her way over the stream. "I know it sounds weird, but I love all of them, and I know they need me. Two years without anyone to help them can be hard."

"I'm sure they're in safe hands Fluttershy," Roseluck reassured. "No one would just leave a pet without its owner."

"But there are so many of them!" added Fluttershy. "I mean, my little birdies might be okay, but Angel and the other bunnies have no where to go, Mr.Mouse and his family can't live on their own, and the zoo wouldn't keep Harry the Bear without my support for his enclosure."

"Wait you have a pet bear?" Roseluck paled.

Fluttershy nodded. "I worked at a zoo. They had a bear enclosure that they couldn't afford to keep, but I made the argument to keep him around. I just couldn't stand to see the poor thing leave his home. So every time the mention of the budget came up, I'd be sure to put down Harry the Bear as an essential part of the zoo."

"So, without you..." Roseluck didn't have to imagine hard what a zoo would be like without its bears, or what Fluttershy's life would be like without her own pets.

But Fluttershy looked like she had made an offense. "Oh look at me, I'm ruining tonight for you, aren't I? I didn't mean to dump my problems on you."

"No, no, I'm happy to hear it all," Roseluck said. "It's weird, but you all are my closest friends. I didn't have a lot of friends in the real world, at least not any as nice as you all. So, if there's anything I can do to help, I'm up for it."

Fluttershy smiled, blushing slightly. "Thanks, but I still feel bad for keeping you away from all the fun."

"Why don't we just relax for a while under the stars, and then head to the party," Roseluck suggested. "We're not missing anything, really. Might as well take some time to relax and think."

Roseluck found a fallen tree with a perfect clearing above it for star gazing, and sat down with her back resting against the cool bark. Fluttershy followed her and did the same, letting herself go a little and slumping her body against the tree.

Roseluck was a different kind of friend to Fluttershy. Pinkie Pie was extremely ecstatic, Rainbow Dash was extremely active, Sunset was extremely driven, and Applejack was extremely headstrong. Even she knew she was extremely shy most of the time. Roseluck wasn't extreme. She was like everyone else, just a moderate person trying to live their life before getting roped into all the chaos her friends happened to stumble into.

At some point, they must have dozed off under the stars, because they never did go back to the party.

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Sonata didn't want to say it, because she knew Aria would deny all of it, but their party was working pretty well together. It was unfortunate the last damage player couldn't handle Aria's ridicule and quit, but at least the rest of the team stayed together and now Sonata  had an excuse to stay close to her fellow siren.

Phoenix's party was a great rave once everyone started crowing in, but the night was too long to just do one thing. The mansion was in a residential zone, but it was still relatively close to a popular questing area. Yet with barely a day after floor fifty-nine was opened, no one had time to see the all dungeons in action.

The dungeons and their quests changed depending on the time, some by the hour and others by the light of day. Aria, feeling adventurous, found one no other player even had time to look at yet. A dungeon that changed with night and day, and grew even more unpredictable as the dawn creeped closer.

"Eyes sharp," she told her party, "we're the first ones to see this dungeon at night."

They entered the deeper hallway after the entrance, and followed the spiral stairs down into some kind of prison hold. Most of the cages were empty, save for the one at the very end, which was marked by their quest objective.

"I'll go talk to the NPC," Aria said, turning to their Tank. "Block that doorway, I'm pretty sure there'll be enemies spawning from the stairs soon."

The Tank hefted his shield and planted it on the ground, covering the staircase with it and the point of his spear. Sonata and the other Damage drew their swords and on wither side of the Tank, slightly behind to stab over his shield when the enemies came.

Aria activated the quest, unlocking the door for the NPC prisoner. She ran over to her party and waited for the flood of enemy guards to rush down the stairs.

"I'm afraid I can't let you leave," a voice growled from behind them. Everyone whirled around to the NPC standing in the middle of the room. "I haven't had adventurers fall into my trap for years."

The NPC glowed his horn and the doorway sealed shut, barred by a magic shield.

"This wasn't in the quest description," Aria said, clutching her greatsword. "Still, he looks like a wizard of some kind. Get into formation B." Everyone nodded, and the Tank lifted his shield and advanced on the NPC while the rest of them formed a triangle around it. Two fireball spells roared by the Tank's shield. The attack did nothing to the player's health, but the fire blocked his vision long enough for the NPC to knock him down with a bolt of energy.

Sonata lashed at the NPC, driving her sword into its back before it could strike the Tank. The attack staggered it, but didn't pull its attention away. However, there was just enough time for the Tank to raise his shield and deflect the next magic blast. He rocketed off the ground, slamming his shield into the NPC.

Sonata twisted to the side as they rammed into the cages on one side of the room. Downed, the NPC could not defend itself for a few crucial seconds, leaving the entire party free to strike while they could.

"Enough!" it cried, sending a shockwave of magic into all of them. "You may have surprised me with your strength, but this is still my domain!" The NPC jumped to his hooves and shot a spell at the ground, filling the room with a thick cloud of smoke.

A screen appeared in front of everyone: Objective Updated: Find Inferno Blitz the Wicked Sorcerer.

"Looks like this isn't your average monster grind," Aria said, swiping away the notice. She expected the dungeon to be a mosh pit of endless enemies, a good place to grind for loot drops and experience. She felt a little disappointed it was turning out to be a simple hunt for a single villain.

Nevertheless, the magic barrier wasn't going to close until they finished the dungeon. "Start checking for a hidden door or something," she told her party, "and take one of the potions Iceblood issued to us, that shockwave was a strong one."

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Phoenix moaned. She made a note to herself to remember to thank Sweetie Belle for inviting masseuses from floor fourteen. Aside from the couple who managed the celebrated spa, there were two apprentices who learned directly from the couple, and with the four of them at the party everyone had a chance to relax like never before.

Phoenix and Rainbow Dash rested across from each other, dozing off slightly as their stress slipped off their bodies.

"I'm not one for spa treatments Phoenix, but this was a great idea."

"You said it," Pheonix replied calmly.

"I can't wait to try out a dungeon after this," Rainbow Dash continued, "I feel so loose, like I'm gaining flexibility just lying here."

"Speaking of which, I heard Aria was taking her team to go blow off some steam," Phoenix remembered. It was hard to hear over the music played by the band, but she was sure they were headed to a time-dependent dungeon. "We could join them later."

"I kinda don't want to take away their thunder," Rainbow Dash said, grunting as one of the apprentices loosened up the muscles around her wings. "Besides, her record from the last boss fight is almost as awesome as mine. They'll probably finish before we even get there."

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"Get back!" Aria shouted, pushing Sonata aside and taking a spear of energy strait to her shoulder. She heard her leather armor give a thick ripping noise as the spell knocked her though a crumbling stone pillar.

They were at the end of the dungeon's quest, facing down an NPC sorcerer unlike any mini-boss they had fought before.

The party's Tank slammed his shield against the NPC repeatedly, but nothing seemed to pull its attention. "Guys, why can't I draw its fire?" The Tank panicked, trying to get in the way of the spouts of fire shooting from the mini-boss' horn.

"Must be time of day," offered the other Damage. "It's almost sunrise, so things should be getting more and more random." He ducked under a beam of light that seared though the loose brick walls of the sorcerer's lair. Sonata took her turn to leap over him and lodge her sword into the NPC's chest, knocking him back into their Tank.

Sonata took her sword and flipped back, giving space for the Tank to send the NPC flying across the room to Aria. Up from the collapsed pillar, she spun with her greatsword, catching the sorcerer by the leg before its stun debuff could wear off, and dragging him into another unstable pillar.

The entire section of the lair collapsed, dropping a fifth of the room's ceiling onto the sorcerer, crushing its health down to twenty-percent. The sorcerer glowed with magic, but everyone knew what was coming already. The Tank charged forward while everyone else jumped back and took over behind the shield.

The shockwave rippled through the room, knocking over books and chairs and collapsing a few other pillars. The whole dungeon shook like an earthquake had just hit, but it could still hold itself for the time being.

"Hurry it up," Aria suggested to the Tank. He lunged forward with his spear, striking it in the shoulder and pinning it a wall. Sonata struck first, then the other Damage player and Aria, aiming their strikes at the exact same spot. Crippled and weakened, the combined critical hits finished off the NPC, shattering it into a mist of light before reforming as the dungeon's loot.

Everyone received their share, and everyone's eyes widened at their inventory screens. For the kind of dungeon they had just completed, their rewards were spectacular. Dragon-tier items were given to everyone, save for Aria, who was rewarded for the kill with a Unique-tier hooded cloak.

"Oh dang this thing is heavy," the Tank grunted as he hefted up his new shield. The metal shimmered blue with enchantments, linking to his spear and charging it with a synergy buff.

Sonata whistled her amazement at the colors, gazing at her weapon as well. It wasn't her preferred weapon, but the Kurusara Kama, a sickle attached to a long chain at the handle, was a hypnotic metallic purple. "I love this floor," she said, hugging her weapon. The Damage nodded, testing the weight of his new dagger and sword combined.

"Sun's almost up, but I bet there's still a bit of party left at Phoenix's place," Aria told her team. "I say we head back and make everyone jealous."

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An unsuspecting giant vampire fruit bat shattered into light. Creatures like those, flying high in the night sky, were dubbed "too much effort, too little reward." With her weapon, Sonata could launch her kama into the sky and hook the beasts, dragging them down to the ground and nearly killing them from the fall damage alone.

"I think I'm getting the hang of this thing," she said, spinning it around in the air. Aria ducked at the blade of the kama sliced over her head.

"Just get the hang of it without practicing the killing part," she told Sonata. "I do not want to dislodge your weapon from my eye."

The Tank laughed. "Oh, cheer up boss. You got a magic cloak, you'll be fine."

"The defense of this thing is absolute garbage," Aria scoffed. "It's only good for its invisibility ability and the damage boost."

"If you say so," replied the Tank, shrugging.

They were just a short run away from the residential zone when the first player stumbled out from the trees. The Damage spotted the stallion first, and called out to him while Aria and Sonata argued with the Tank over the best types of food in the game.

"Hey, you alright?" he shouted. "The vampire bat get you? We have health potions if you need it."

The player shook his head and collapsed on the floor. "Bandits just jumped me," he cried out. "Please, you gotta help me, they running me down. I'm too low on stamina to fight!"

"This high up?" He drew his sword and dagger, checking the treetops for anyone trying to sneak past. He made his way over to the player, pulling out a health potion from his inventory.

Aria bit his tail and yanked him back.

"What the hell, he needs help!" shouted the Damage.

"Just think," Aria hissed. "For one fucking second just think." She assessed the situation. They were at the edge of the forest, right next to the residential area. Even if the player was attacked, he would have just sprinted back into the safe zone, not deeper into the forest. His health was low and stamina too, but it seemed unlikely anyone his level would leave without enough potions to keep himself healthy.

Aria's sword sparked, ripped out of its sheath as she pushed her party back. "Weapons ready, now!" She twisted back to the player and advanced toward him. "You son-of-a-bitch."

The player's eyes widened with fear. "Wait, no, I don't have any health!" he shouted. "Please, they're going to be here any moment."

Aria thrust her blade directly at the player's head. He swore under his breath as he ducked and rolled out of the way, restoring his health and stamina with a quick dose of a potion. The following attack was automatic, the other bandits ambushing now that their trap had been spotted.

Two attackers descended on Aria, backing up the other player in a tag-team assault. She cut at them, snapping sections of one player's chainmail and scratching the other's plate armor, but she couldn't keep up with all three. While she beat and parried two of the them, the third player bucked her in the face, charging in to pin her against a tree.

Aria yelped as two swords thunked into the tree, penetrating her legs and sticking her to the trunk. Stuck to the tree, she managed to heave her sword and slash the eyes out of one of the bandits. But even as that player fell on the ground blinded, the other two beat her chest and abdomen until she flinched and dropped her weapon.

"Aria!" screamed Sonata from another tree. She was tangled with another player, fighting his rope dart with her chain. There was a marginal difference between their attributes, but it was enough for the bandit to outmaneuver Sonata and hog tie her to a tree branch.

The Tank fared just as bad, bogged down by four attackers. He took no damage from them, but couldn't do anything but block their attacks until he exhausted his stamina and collapsed on the ground.

The attack stifled into a silence as the bandits gathered around Aria. "Get the cloak damn it!" screamed the player on the ground, clutching his eyes. "Just take it and get me out of here!"

"Shut up," grumbled one of the bandits as he walked out from the crowd. He met Aria with a strait glare, giving orders without taking his eye off her for a moment. "One of them escaped. Run him down before he makes it back to the safe zone."

The other players turned and galloped off, some leaping along the trees to gain the high ground. When they had cleared out, the player staring at Aria was left with two guards and the blinded one.

"You just going to stand there all day?" Aria spat, struggling to tear herself free.

He shook his head, with a look that was a blend of disappointment and disgust. "Leader of the biggest Nighthaven cell. Oh, how the mighty have fallen."

Aria squinted hard at the stallion. "Do I know you?"

"Probably not, unless you remember High Raven," he told her. "It was a little town down on floor twenty-two. You had a job there, to assassinate a high profile trader."

"Revenge?" Aria guessed. "What, you're his brother or something?"

"Or something," he replied. "I worked for that trader, in a sense. I'd risk myself in dungeons everyday, and he'd find a way to end up extorting me with some bullshit reason by the end of the week. I nearly died countless times just because he left me with not enough gold to buy potions."

"Weird way to say thank you," Aria grunted. "And you're welcome by the way."

"Don't get me wrong, I thank you for that," said the player. "In fact, I joined floor 22's Nighthaven cell because of you."

Aria raised an eyebrow. "And you're not in jail yet? I find that hard to believe."

Aria's cheek burned as the player hit her across the face. "That's because I wasn't dumb enough to try to stage an assault on a whole floor!" Aria started to reply but he knocked the wind out of her with a hoof to her stomach.

He stepped closer to her, speaking in a softer, lower, tone. "I didn't let the biggest team Nighthaven had turn into sitting ducks in the middle of floor thirty-five." He eyed her up and down. "Now look at you, doing errands for the ones who ruined our organization."

Aria paused to think for a moment before replying. "So, what you're saying is that I was right; this is revenge!"

The stallion stood back, signalling his guards to stab Aria. She flinched, sucking in air through her teeth as the sword blades went though to the tree behind her. At least it doesn't hurt like the real thing, she thought to herself. Her eyes flicked to her health bar, watching it go down to seventy percent. Given the number of weapons stabbed through her body, she estimated they were all eight levels or so below her.

"This is more than revenge, boss," he said, hissing the last word. "This is a new start for what remains of Nighthaven. Not all of us were taken by the Clearing Group, and I'll establish a new organization with a real purpose, one too important for anyone to make fuck-ups like yours."

Aria managed a chuckle from her situation. "You're telling me you've had a revelation, some kind of holy awakening and a sense of duty?"

The player continued, ignoring her comment. "There are some who deserve to die. You who I'm talking about, right? The assholes who plot to make life a living hell, but don't have the decency to just finish it all the way. That's what we'll do: kill not because we were paid to or because they have gold on them, but because they had it coming."

"Like the trader," Aria mused. "So what piece am I in this game of yours?"

"Don't act so aloof," growled the player. "Your 'success' with the Knight haven't gone unnoticed. With you still alive, Lighthaven can never take off. No one would join me in my crusade when they could sit and watch you frolic with the Clearing Group."

"Lighthaven," Aria said, testing the word in her mouth. "How original."

"You'll be eating your words soon enough," he said back, pulling the weapons out of her one by one. Aria fell to the floor, taking on a crippled debuff from her injuries. "Because before I kill you, I'm going to make you submit to me. Then, everyone will see who's the better player, and who should be the one to follow."

"Things don't seem so bad, with your little bandit crew," Aria said, grunting with effort as she tried to fight the debuff. The stallion spun around and bucked her back into the tree, her body flopping onto the ground.

"Mercenaries will do anything for the gold I've saved up since I joined Nighthaven, but they're not one us." The stallion walked up to Aria and looked strait down her pupils as he raised his sword.

Sonata shouted at him. She screamed, taunting him to take his attention of off Aria. The Tank started yelling too, attempting to charge at the Lighthaven founder, though with his low stamina the guards easily outmaneuvered him and beat him back to the ground.

"This is the company you keep now," the player laughed at them, "fitting you should die with trash like them." He turned back to Aria and raised his sword above his head, and brought it down to strike.

Aria reached below herself, ready for the debuff to wear out the next moment. She had hit the tree she was pinned to and landed on the ground by it. She had landed on the ground where she had dropped her sword.

The instant his sword came down, Aria had the chance to react. The player's eyes peeled wide open as his arms, or rather his forelegs, throbbed with pain. His hoof flew up into the trees, scattering into particles of light, dropping his sword on the ground.

The Tank jumped onto one of the guards, dragging them both down with his body weight. The other guard pulled his client aside and swung his sword for Aria's head. She spun on the ground, kicking the guard's legs out from under him and stabbing his chest with her greatsword.

"Thank goodness, you did it!" Sonata cheered. "Could you cut me down now?"

Aria turned back to the player responsible for it all. She grabbed him by the shoulder pads of his armor and lifted him up. "Who else is part of your Lighthaven scheme?"

"Just me," he laughed, "the king, queen, and pawn of this little game we play."

Aria slammed him back into the dirt and plunged her blade though his abdomen, snapping the links in his chainmail armor. "You said there were others, who?"

"Ha! You don't even know my name," coughed the player, "what makes you think you're getting the others?"

Aria grabbed his hoof and forced open his menu screen. At the top read his name: Glass Desert.

"I'll take every piece of information I can to my grave," Glass Desert spat. Aria twisted her sword, pulling it up to his chest. The slow attack delivered a powerful critical hit, hauling his health bar down to ten percent.

"Do it," he coughed. Glass Desert gripped Aria's hooves, pulling her closer. "I wanna look up from hell and see how your new friends react to more blood on your hands."

Sonata struggled with the rope dart tied around her. "Whatever you're thinking of going Aria, don't listen to him!"

"You happy letting me live? So what if I get jailed by the town guards?" He gave Aria a wolfish grin. "You'll be the one setting me free."

"Do what's right boss!" shouted the Tank, still wrestling with the other guard.

Aria shook her head, listening to her own thoughts for a moment. She promised not to kill anymore, even if only so she could be with Sonata, but Glass Desert claimed he had contacted the last of Nighthaven. Capturing the remaining members wasn't high on her to-do list, but it did give her a shot at turning them into a fighting force for the dungeons.

On top of that, there was an even smaller shot at finding anything about Adagio. Nighthaven was spread out now, hidden in the deepest cracks of society. They had to have met Adagio among the seediest parts of the community.

It was too good to pass up. "You're a worthless piece of garbage," she told him, "but you'd be even less if you were dead. You're going to tell me what I want, one way or another."

Aria slid her greatsword out of Glass Desert slowly, careful not to deal addition damage. Sonata let go of a breath she didn't know she was holding. That ten seconds of silence nearly made her think Aria was actually going to kill the stallion.

On his last gasp of health, Glass Desert launched a kick to Aria's ribcage, connecting his chainmail to a soft spot in her armor. Aria flinched and shifted away, twisting her blade in the process. Glass grabbed her with his able hoof and pulled her to his chest, sending her greatsword completely though him.

At their angle, with Aria's back to her party, it was impossible to say what happened. Both the Tank and guard froze with their jaw wide open. The guard couldn't believe his employer had died, and the Tank couldn't believe Aria had killed him. Sonata wore the same look, hoping the stallion was tougher than he looked.

Aria gripped Glass Desert's body like a steel clamp. She had never killed someone she didn't want dead before. The feeling shook her, and though it didn't have any emotional pain, her whole body still tensed up from the suddenness of the kill. The player whispered into her ears, reveling in her shock.

"You murdering bitch," he said, forcing a laugh even as his body broke down into shards of light. "Have fun explaining this to everyone."