PAO: Pony Art Online

Everything was exactly as Sunset remembered. The feel of her tail, the telekinesis of her horn, even the sensation of walking on four legs was amazing. Sunset looked around, instantly picking out all the players who tested the game in its beta phase. Her friends, of course, along with one thousand professional gamers with expert advise on bugs and game design. Everyone else looked lost in controlling their virtual bodies.

The sensory data would help with that problem. It quickly became obvious to Sunset during the game's alpha phase that people didn't move like ponies, and they'd have a hard time learning to fly or use magic if they were pegasi or unicorns. Because of that the Digisphere became equipped with "instinct data," copying Sunset's core brain functions and uploading it to the player.

If they tried to walk, the Digisphere would convert the two-legged motion into four legs. Hands were a thing of the past in the world of Equestrad, but for the sake of convenience Twilight and Sunset agreed to just let items stick to hooves.

"Behind you!" someone, or rather, some pony, shouted from behind. She looked up to see a splash of rainbows hit her from the sky.

Sunset lay groaning on the grass. "So glad we reduced the sensory information for pain. That would've felt horrible."

Rainbow Dash got off her. "You're right. Still, sorry about that. I guess I was a little too excited that I could fly. It's like ponying-up, but at all times."

Sunset nodded, smiling at Rainbow Dash. She looked just like she should in Equestria. Everyone did, in fact. Thanks to the Equestrian magic in the Digisphere's gems, each player's avatar was made to look like their counterpart from the other world.

"The feeling's the same here," Sunset replied, looking around for her other friends. The starting town was still flooded with players logging in, but it was countered by everyone's eagerness to explore Equestrad.

"That's an understatement," Rainbow Dash told Sunset. "I mean, this whole game was made after your home world, I'd say you're much more excited than me."

Rainbow was right, and Sunset appreciated her understanding why this was so important.

Over Rainbow Dash's shoulder, on the top of the hill that overlooked the starting town, Sunset spotted Applejack, Pinkie Pie, and Fluttershy waiting for them. They were scanning the mess of new players, looking for them.

"Lets go meet up with them," she told Rainbow Dash, pointing her hoof toward the hill. For anyone else, they would have felt their arm moving, and the Digisphere would use Sunset's "instinct data" to turn it to pony motion. But for Sunset, it was the real thing, the genuine feeling of using her hooves.

The two raced over to meet their friends. Like Rainbow, they all looked just like their counter parts in Equestria, thanks to the Equestrian magic.

"Hey! Looks like you all got used to your pony selves pretty quickly," Sunset shouted as they reached the top of the hill, waving to her friends.

"Sure helps beta testing with some good friends," Applejack replied, patting Sunset on the back.

"This is really nice Sunset," Fluttershy added, staring at the details of the trees on the hill. "If I didn't know this was a game, I'd think I was dreaming. The trees look so real, and so do the little tiny critters."

Sunset trotted over and touched the tree with her hoof. The texture of the bark was rough and flaky, almost like the real thing. Sunset noted that none of the bark would come off or stick to her fur though.

A little reminder it's fake, I guess. Sunset thought to herself.

She replied to Fluttershy. "We did replicate Princess Luna's dream magic with the Digispheres, so in a way you're right, this is like a dream."

"Really weird hearing Princess Luna instead of Principal Luna," Pinkie said from the top of the tree. Sunset stared up, amazed Pinkie could climb a tree that high without a quest or a climbing region coded in. Sunset had to admit to herself, the scale of PAO's jumping wasn't at all realistic, but nearly all the beta testers felt that the jumping was too small and limiting. She figured they just wanted bigger jumps for stunts and cool tricks, but added it anyways. It actually made some designing easier.

"It was the same feeling when I came over to the human world. I nearly called Luna and Celestia 'Princess' so many times," Sunset replied. She swiped her hoof horizontally across the air in front of her, bringing up the menu screen.

"Well, the launch event should have started," she explained to everyone, "we better equip our starting gear."

"Yes!" Rainbow Dash shouted. "Uncommon starter gear, for the win!"

Applejack scoffed back. "I think we all got the special equipment RD, so don't think you'll get to level twenty before me."

"Alright then everyone," Sunset said, rallying her friends around her, "I know the perfect place to start the launch event."

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"No way! I'm the one thousand and first player to log in?" Scootaloo screamed, looking at her menu screen. Applebloom and Sweetie Belle couldn't hear her over the excitement of the other players logging in, but they only had to look at her menu dialogue to know.

Both of them immediately checked their menu screens as well. Applebloom was the nine hundred and eighty-second player to log in, and Sweetie Belle was the lucky one thousandth. They both looked at each other with relief before smiling sympathetically to Scootaloo.

"It's only the starter stuff anyways," Sweetie Belle said, consoling Scootaloo with a pat on the head.

Scootaloo sighed. "I'm just a little bummed out is all." She looked down at her hooves in defeat. It took a moment, but her eyes widened when she realized how her body felt.

"My hands! I knew we'd be ponies but this feels crazy!" she screamed, reaching up to look at her hooves. Applebloom and Sweetie Belle looked at their hooves too, but with greater curiosity than shock.

"Weird, I don't feel like I'm walking on all fours," Sweetie Belle muttered, turning around to catch a glimpse of her tail.

Applebloom spotted something more too. "Woah, our CMC badges are even in the game, and they're like little tattoos on our flanks! Look!" She bumped her flank into Sweetie Belle's view to show her Cutie Mark, a little shield with littler symbols for her personality.

"Thanks, just put your butt mark in my face, much appreciated," Sweetie Belle said, with heavy sarcasm in her voice.

Applebloom withdrew herself from Sweeitie Belle. "So it's a little strangely placed, but isn't it weird the Digisphere knows our badges?"

Sweetie Belle thought for a moment. Character design wasn't something anyone asked about, since Sunset insisted that the gems in the Digisphere would handle it. It wasn't well received at first, but people got used to the idea of being themselves in a virtual reality. Still, Sweetie Belle couldn't figure out how it knew what to make as the Cutie Mark.

"We'll have to ask about it when we run into Sunset," she replied.

Scootaloo finally got a grip on her avatar and grabbed both her friends "Come on, we don't have time to waste. Lets catch up with Rainbow Dash and the others so we get this launch event started!"

The three of them raced out of the starting town, checking their surroundings for Rainbow Dash. There were a lot of players, but the CMC knew that if any player could have full control of her pegasus abilities immediately, it would be Rainbow Dash. They just had to look for the flying rainbow to find everyone else.

They spotted her and the others headed northeast of the town, following a narrow path into the forest. The CMC chased after them, confident that they were headed to the best possible spot to start.

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"This is the place girls, the tunnels leading right under the launch event," Sunset said.

Rainbow Dash rushed in, flying naturally into the dark cave. "Then there's no time to lose!"

The others were about to follow, however, three little voices called out from behind. Applejack turned around to be sure, and smiled when she saw the CMC racing toward them.

"We're so glad we caught up," Scootaloo gasped, exhausted after the chase. Even in the video game, sensory data could be imputed into the player's mind. The Digisphere determined the level of exhaustion to relay based on the players' stamina bar.

"We're just about to head under the launch event, so you're in luck," Rainbow Dash said, patting Scootaloo on the back. "I see you've got a pair of wings too. Don't worry kiddo, I'll show you the trick to flying after this."

Scootaloo looked behind, realizing her avatar was pegasus for the first time. It took all her will power to keep from freaking out again in front of Rainbow Dash. "Thanks Rainbow, it is pretty different, though I bet you're an expert by now."

"You bet," Rainbow replied. "Now lets go, or we'll be late to the event."

Everyone nodded and ran into the tunnel, with Sunset taking the lead. The tunnel system was designed after the stories Princess Twilight would write about to Sunset, using the magic book they kept to communicate between worlds. According to the princess, she and her friends encountered a huge tunnel system near Ponyville one day while seeking out Diamond Dogs.

The tunnels twisted multiple times, splitting apart into countless other paths. While Sunset could remember which way was the best way to go, she also kept a look out for randomly spawning Diamond Dogs. With heavy armor and enormous weapons, they were one of the tougher enemies on the first floor of Equestrad, added to make the tunnel shortcuts a challenge to use.

Only after a minute the first Diamond Dogs spawned in, looking as if they grew from the tunnel walls.

"Um, Sunset," Fluttershy whispered, freezing in her tracks, "this might be a bad thing to mention, but the beta test had combat commands. So, um, how do we fight in this version?"

They all paused for a moment, looking at Sunset. Everyone realized that in their hastiness, the didn't stop to look at the new controls or even ask Sunset herself about the gameplay mechanics.

But Rainbow Dash ignored her inexperience and flew forward anyways, tackling into the Diamond Dogs directly. Her hooves smacked into the heavy iron armor on the dogs, and she ricocheted back into her friends.

"Just reach for your weapons," Sunset answered in panic, "and let the Digisphere translate your actions to your avatar. Try not to think about being in a different body."

Everyone reacted immediately, drawing their starting swords. For earth ponies, like Applejack and Applebloom, they wielded their swords in one hoof, walking with their other three. Fluttershy, Rainbow, and Scootaloo had more mobility, as their characters held weapons with thir wings, like hands would.

Sweetie Belle looked around but couldn't find her weapon. It wasn't in her hoof, and she certainly had no wings. Sunset noticed her confusion, and lifted her own sword to show Sweetie Belle. It hovered in the air, its handle grasped by the magic from her horn. Sweetie Belle's eyes widened, awed by the power of levitation, and looked around for her sword. Finally, she noticed her magic's green aura above her head, commanding her weapon to stand firmly in the air.

"This is the most amazing thing ever," she whispered to herself, swinging her sword around. For a moment, she was lost in her own thought, imagining the possibilities in the game. But virtual reality sprung back at her as the fighting began.

Naturally, Rainbow Dash charged at the front, followed by Sunset and Applejack. They dodged to the side of the tunnel, evading the Diamond Dogs' heavy mace strikes. They swung their blades as the first Diamond Dog was recovering from its attack, cutting its health points down to zero. Two remained.

With the first enemy gone, Pinkie Pie bounced into the fray with the CMC behind her. As she drew the two Diamond Dogs to her, the CMC slashed at the legs of the Diamond Dogs. They flashed red, falling onto the ground. Above their health bars a bright red icon appeared, obviously made to resemble a broken bone.

"That's the "crippled" debuff," Sunset said, decapitating one of the Diamond Dogs with a clean overhead cut.

Fluttershy hung back, clutching her sword firmly with her wing. Everyone looked at her, leaving the Diamond struggling to stand up.

"This is your chance Fluttershy!" Pinkie Pie cheered.

Rainbow Dash followed suit. "You got this Fluttershy!"

Fluttershy stared at the grovelling Diamond Dog. It wasn't aware of the ponies while it was debuffed, but the animation of pain on its face broke Fluttershy's kind heart. But, she swallowed her anxiety, accepting that it was just a game, and gingerly walked over to the Diamond Dog, looking away as she stuck her sword into the enemy's face.

After a moment, Fluttershy regained the courage to look back at the Diamond Dog. She aimed for the center of its head, but missed when she looked away. Instead, she impaled her sword clean through its eye.

"I think I'm going to be sick," she muttered.

But there was no gore, not a single drop of blood from any of the Diamond Dogs. Slowly, each of them burst into shards of light, their bodies expiring from defeat.

"Nice work everyone," Sunset said, checking her experience bar. "These Diamond Dogs are pretty tough, but they give a ton of XP from killing them. We might even level up before we get under the launch event."

Everyone checked to see what she meant. They were in a party, but even the distributed XP covered a fifth of their experience bar.

"Alright, I can't wait to what else is in this dark, smelly cave!" Pinkie Pie cheered, covering her nose. They were deeper into the ground, and the scent of dirt and mold, however mild, was still rendered in by the game and put into their minds by the Digisphere.

The CMC all complained at once. "Oh man, that smell's worse than the locker rooms! Lets get out of here as soon as possible!"

No one complained, and rushed forward with Sunset in the lead again, searching for a way out of the suffocating tunnel.

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To call the launch event a mess would be like calling the sun a light. Both aren't lies, but they don't convey the whole truth either. The event took place in a fortress at the top of a forested hill. As the center of the forest, the tunnels Sunset and her friends took run right under it. However, by the time they found their way to the ladder into the fortress, the event had already begun.

It was a classic defense quest, only scaled to immense proportions. Tens of thousands of players stood ready to defend the fortress from unending waves of skeletons and demons rising from the forest. With fifty waves, each player had at least a hundred kills to call their own, and plenty more experience and gold to loot.

Already players were upgrading and unlocking new weapon skills as they reached level five or six from the sheer amount of enemy monsters, and the lucky ones equipped items form the advanced, or even rare, equipment tiers.

Exhausted like everyone else, Sunset collapsed onto a bench in the fort. The entire event took an hour, but there was still much more she needed to test for herself. Around her, piles of skeletons clipping into each other slowly vanished into shards of light as they despawned.

"I need to put points in endurance, feeling tired in-game sucks," Sunset said, wiping the sweat from her brow. She was proud that the little details like sweat had its uses, but nevertheless it was just as annoying as real life.

"I feel ya," Pinkie Pie chimed, sitting herself next to Sunset. "Cake? The item descriptions says it give you stamina."

"Oh yes Pinkie, you're the best." Sunset opened her trade menu and accepted the cake. It materialized in her hoof, with a plate and even a single lit candle in the center. Without hesitation, she took a bite of the cake, savoring its taste. More importantly, she gained a recovery buff, restoring her stamina at twice the normal rate.

Sunset swiped her hoof and checked the floor map. On the south west side of the map, two blue dot flickered in the middle of the starting town. Fluttershy and Sweetie Belle were using their gold to buy new gear to play different roles. At the center of the map, Applejack and Rainbow Dash were scouting out the first floor's boss dungeon with Scootaloo and Applebloom.

Pinkie looked up from her plate of cake and glanced at Sunset's map. "What're RD and AJ doing over there?" She pointed to the massive structure in the center of the map.

"That's where the final boss on this floor is located," Sunset answered. "Above the dungeon there's the central town, where the teleporter is located. It takes you to the next floor of Equestrad."

Pinkie got up and stretched her legs out, moving them around with as much familiarity as her own body. "Then I bet you have to beat the boss to use it, don't ya?"

"That's pretty much it," Sunset replied, getting up as well. "A player still has to put the head of the boss at the teleporter to work, but by then, the hard part's done."

Pinkie nodded. She drew her sword, a bright silver blade dropped by a skeleton from the event, inspecting it. The weapon's damage and skill enhancements were displayed above the sword, and its tier could be determined from the blue glow during inspection. For a low level weapon, it was impressive, effectively making Pinkie a level seven or eight while her experience level remained at five.

As Sunset watched, her menu popped up, displaying a health reminder. She had been logged in for almost two hours. It was a safety precaution for players that Twilight insisted on putting in the game, to make sure no one got to carried away. But deep down, Sunset felt as if the warning was made just for her.

"I should probably get back to Twilight and tell her how good the game's going," Sunset said, swiping the menu to the logout screen."We need to get all this data sorted out and see what needs to be fixed. I'm sure a lot of bugs have been flooding the admins' message box."

"You mean like how your menu doesn't have a logout button?" Pinkie asked, gesturing to Sunset's screen.

In an instant, Sunset's eyes focused on her menu. It looked almost exactly as it should, except for the missing icon at the bottom of the options list, the logout icon.

"That's a pretty bad glitch," Sunset said, switching her menu into administration mode. Her whole display switched from a white panel to green, presenting additional options for an admin. A mailbox, console commands, and an emergency disconnect option. Luckily, that hadn't changed.

Sunset glanced at her mailbox before disconnecting. Over a thousand messages had been sent, each probably about the lack of a logout button. If Sunset didn't check with Twilight to fix it, a lot more players would start noticing once they tried to leave the game.

Pinkie tried to reassure Sunset. "I'm sure Twilight's already working hard on trying to fix it. Every game have its glitches."

"Even so, I should go lend a hoof, or hand rather, to help," Sunset replied. She scrolled down her options, passing the admin commands, and slammed her hoof down on the emergency disconnect. A small hour glass appeared over her menu, verifying her admin controls. Pinkie and Sunset tensed up after thirty seconds, and then a minute.

Finally, a message came through. It wasn't at all what Sunset wanted though. In bright, bold, red text, her admin screen returned the message: ERROR: ADMIN ID NOT FOUND.

"What the hell!" Sunset shouted, ramming her hoof into the menu. The display went fuzzy slightly, but the error message simply slid away. Nothing else changed on her admin screen, but Sunset knew that under its appearance, nothing there was working.

"Why didn't it work?" Pinkie asked worryingly.

Sunset threw herself back onto the bench, hooves to her face. Her voice was muffled but she spoke through them anyway. "We agreed to make admin commands require a verification, based on a person's Digisphere's device number. We didn't want a hacker or a computer virus gain control of the commands and possibly affect everyone's minds. But the server isn't verifying my admin abilities."

Pinkie swiped her hoof and checked her menu screen as well. Under the options, it was exactly like Sunset's; it looked perfectly normal until the logout button, or the lack thereof in this case. Pinkie lowered her head, unsure of what to say. There was nothing good to say about the situation.

After a moment of deep thought, Pinkie's mind bloomed with a thought. "Sunset, Twilight must know something wrong, if not she'll figure it out soon! Worst case scenario, she could just take off the Digisphere and-"

"No!" Sunset screamed, but the look on Pinkie's face told her that Pinkie didn't understand why. "The Digispheres magic puts us in a dream like state while we use it, but removing it still won't shut everything off. While its on, the magic is in us, like it's a part of our minds. I specifically wrote in the safety manual that removing the helmet without the user properly shutting it down could trap the user in their magic dream and leave their brain in a coma-like state. "

"Then just turn it off, or take out the battery," Pinkie offered.

Sunset shook her head again. "The gems uses a tremendous amount of power to connect so many players. If you shut down the Digisphere, its computer parts might shut down, but if the gems and their magic gets low on power while so many players are connected, they could be overexerted and become unstable."

Pinkie paused, hesitant for her next question to be answered. "How "unstable" are we talking about?"

Sunset clasped her front hooves together. "Boom," she said, mimicking an explosion.

Gulping, Pinkie Pie sat down at last, her legs shaky from what she was told. It didn't seem real that she, along with everyone else could be stuck in the game, with no clear way out. Their real bodies were still unconscious, sleeping in their homes, waiting to wake up. Anything could happen.

She shuddered at the thought, then got up and looked at Sunset with a serious glare. "We need to get our friends."

Sunset nodded. "Right, they should know what's going on, they shouldn't have to worry and wait while Twilight and the other admins figure it out." The two swiped open their menus, both nervously glancing at the missing logout button as they opened the floor map.

Sunset pointed at the boss dungeon. "I'll head up and get AJ and RD. Applebloom and Scootaloo are with them too so I'll pick them up as well."

"Then I'll run back to the starting town," Pinkie replied.

They closed their menus and began bolting out the event fortress, but not after a few steps were they frozen in place. Lights flickered in a circle around them, rising from the ground. Sunset and Pinkie looked around at the other players lingering around the fortress. The same effect was circling every other player as well.

Sunset checked her health bar, but no debuffs were marked above it. Instinctively, she checked her menu screen, and as she suspected, a notification appeared telling her what was going on: You may not access the menu while teleporting.

"Pinkie!" Sunset shouted, "I think whatever caused this is sending us somewhere, hold on!"

Sunset barely finished her last words when the light engulfed her and Pinkie, sending them away. No player was left in the event fortress.