PAO: Pony Art Online

Sunset shone a light down the tunnel from her horn. It was a simple spell, one that seemed nearly useless in most situations, but it was the stablest spell she could create. Even so, analyzing the wave forms of magic, connecting all the parts to track the ripple effects, took time. Time she felt could have been spent finding the spell to break everyone out of the game. Still, the spell was useful in the dark, and anything that helped complete the game was a boon. Her friends thought so more than she did, sometimes even encouraging her to focus on making fire spells, like the ones she used to kill the floor fifty boss.

"I think this is the next spot," Applejack whispered as she lead Rainbow Dash and Sunset deeper into the tunnel.

Rainbow Dash ducked down onto the ground, avoiding the Shadow Swipe ability of a giant vampire bat. "How many more of these things do we have to kill AJ?" she asked, side stepping away from another strike and then stabbing it back. "Beause even I'm starting to get tired of fighting them."

"We're at two hundred and fifty kills RD," Applejack replied, pushing back on two giant bats grappling her shield.

"It's a shame we don't have some magic to clear this whole tunnel, isn't it Sunset?" Rainbow Dash said, twisting her sword as the bat flapped its wings wildly.

Sunset focused her light on the bat, stunning it with blinding brightness. "Back to this? I told you, focusing on fixing the game's a lot better, and a lot safer, than messing with magic." She drew her greatsword, a weapon so immersed in darkness it was clear compared to the dimly lit tunnel. "Besides, now is really not the time."

Sunset plunged into the bat, splattering red pixels across the floor. It shook them around violently, knocking her aside as it crawled from its nook and bit into Rainbow Dash's chest plate. She grunted, bucking the creature into the tunnel's walls and decapitating it before it could react.

"Just sayin', this'd be much easier," Rainbow Dash said before dusting herself off with her wings and rushing next to Applejack. She slashed her sword above the shield and drove off a vampire bat long enough for Applejack to maneuver her lance and push into the larger group.

Sunset prodded from behind, using the length of the Shadow of Discord to stab out the bats' eyes from the rear while distracting them with her light. It was hard work, but not much of a fight with Applejack as the Tank. They made their way down the tunnel, following it until they reached the end of the cavern where the bats were thinner.

"I don't want to have to chase down each bat," Rainbow Dash said, catching her breath.

Applejack raised her brow at Rainbow. "Why are you tired? I'm the one with the shield."

"Oh be quiet AJ," Rainbow waved her away with a wing, "you have too much stamina to feel tired yet."

"Wow, didn't think you could get tired RD," Sunset mused, "or at least admit to getting tired."

"Don't hold your breath," Rainbow Dash retorted, "my stamina recovery's as fast as I am."

Applejack chuckled. She opened her menu screen and checked their progress. "Reckon you can rest just fine tonight Rainbow, we've got two more bats and then we're out of here."

"Great, because as much as I love fighting, I don't like fighting the same thing three hundred times." Rainbow Dash launched off the ground and glided between two giant vampire bats perched on an outcropping of the cavern. They gave chase, but it didn't last long once they were guided strait into Applejack's lance.

"Well played," Sunset said. She opened her menu screen and checked her messages. "I'm heading over to the Knights of Yore to check on Aria, you two wanna come?"

"Oh yeah, what's all that about?" Applejack asked. "Heard she ran into some kind of trouble."

"Fluttershy told me it was about bandits or something," Rainbow Dash added.

"Kind of. I'll explain on the way out." Sunset turned her beam of light back to the tunnel, hopping up a cluster of rocks to get back up to the mouth of the cavern's entrance.

Rainbow Dash glided up behind her. "Alright, but we're buying some cider before we reach central."

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Are you sure you want to purchase this?

Aria tapped the confirmation button on the pop up screen and dissolved the invisible barrier around the plot of land. It was impossible to imagine such a nice place on a floor so wild and random with its theme.

"We get this whole beach to ourselves!" Sonata chimed as she ran into the water. "Isn't it great Aria?"

Aria opened her menu screen and switched to the edit mode for the landscape, planting a set of coconut trees in the sand. She added a row of beach chairs and a cantina next to the trees, and sat down to bask in the sunlight.

"It's not what I imagined, but Iceblood's got good taste in vacation homes," she said, grabbing a drink from a tray as the NPC from the cantina followed its route around the beach.

Sonata waded out of the water and  "We should invite some friends over after they make get to floor sixty. I bet this beach is big enough for a bigger party than Sunset's, don't you think?"

"C'mon Sonata, my deal with them's dissolved," Aria replied. "None of the the Knights have any business with me anymore, and Sunset and her friends don't want to be with us anyways. We can take this time just for ourselves."

Sonata scrunched her face. "I kind of like our new friends, and I don't believe for a moment you don't have some kind of appreciation for Sunset after all she did to get you to where we are now."

"Sunset put up with me because it was what the Clearing Group wanted," Aria explained. "She and her friends wouldn't hang around me longer than they had to."

"Well..." Sonata hesitated to speak, "I'm still going with the Clearing Group to beat the boss dungeon, and after that we'll definitely celebrate. Just think, we're opening the sixtieth floor."

"You really want a party?" Aria asked. Sonata nodded her head eagerly.

It was a petty matter, Aria supposed. Sonata was a much friendlier person, and between them, had all the charm on the other players. She didn't want to bother with the Knights' agendas anymore, or have to put up with the occasional glance or stare, but she also felt that she couldn't make things hard for Sonata.

Parties were fun, and had a lot more people to talk to. Sonata always enjoyed herself at social events, and when Aria wondered whether Sonata would stay with her over a big celebration, she realized she was afraid to hear the answer.

"Fine," Aria grumbled, "I'll buy the beach house and set everything up before the boss is dead, I promise."

"Really?" Sonata beamed. "Won't you need help? You're not exactly the party planning type."

Aria picked up another drink as the cantina NPC passed by again. "I think I can handle a small-"

Sonata rushed to her message menu and cheered as a thought came to her. "I know! I'll get Pinkie Pie to lend a hoof. She loves parties!"

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The clutter of metal plate armor was ringing in Phoenix's ears. Taking the lead in the boss raid was a role she was more than happy to fill, but with more players in the Clearing Group, that meant walking side by side with the loudest players in the community.

It could have been anyone of her friends, Rainbow Dash was especially eager to take the lead, but the Knights asked that Phoenix be the lead after giving Allegretto and her advisers the impression she had actually scouted the dungeon before. In truth, the things she explained were just her memories of the little contribution she did for this particular floor, and played it off as her own in-game experience to save the trouble of further questions.

On the other side of the Clearing Group, the CMC knew they were not as prepared as they would have liked. But they just followed the Knights, who were sure they could take down the boss before the end of the week, and hoped that Phoenix was involved enough to guide them through.

"How do you do it Sweetie Belle?" she said to her right. "All this clanking is insane!"

Sweetie Belle shrugged. "You get used to it."

The raid created even more noise as they changed the course of their march, winding down a path into a volcano, which also spewed acid along with lava. The volcano's entrance was just north of the central city, and touched every type of environment on the floor. With that, and the floor's theme of absolute randomness, everyone was prepared for the most volatile dungeon environment yet.

"Duck down!" Phoenix called out to the raid. Everyone reacted in an instant, dropping under an arc of lighting bursting from a bubble of lava into a pool of acid. "Stay low, the rest of the entrance isn't going to get any better.

One by one, the players filed into the dungeon itself,  relieved to be out of the hazardous trail. Unfortunately, the dungeon was not any better. The underground cavern was vast to the point that it appeared as its own little world. From the entrance, no one could see the end of it.

What they could see were the floating stone platforms bobbing around the cavern. Every pegasus player took delight in flapping over the wide jumps the rest of the raid had to do to travel across the dungeon. Meanwhile, noxious gases seeped up from the bottomless cavern in some places, poisoning a few unlucky players before they even saw combat.

"Test the air near the edge of each platform," Phoenix reminded the raid once the coughing began. "The air feels warmer when they're full of toxic gas."

Progress through the cavern slowed as players maneuvered carefully through the platforms, and it got even worse as they reached the monster infested areas of the inner cavern. Those who were pegasi did their best to lift up anyone unfortunate enough to slip or get knocked off, while everyone else contended with lava golems dripping from the top of the cavern.

"We're getting close," Phoenix shouted to the group, "just head to the dot of light on the other side." It was hard to see among all the fighting, but as they moved closer everyone saw the exit she was talking about.

Phoenix caught a lava golem in the air as it fell on top of her, using its weight to swing it around into Allegretto's shield. It was impressive, Phoenix noted, that Allegretto could keep up in the dungeon. Even her friends and the CMC were lagging a little bit behind. The Knights, she also noticed, rallied behind their leader and overtook the Crusaders in the rush.

The rest zone at the end of the cavern slowly crowded up as the raid reached their destination. The few who still slipped through the poison gas were treated with antidotes, and bandages patched up the minor scrapes and burns from the lava golems.

"Phoenix, Delta team's good to go," Roseluck said, taking care of the the last injuries in the raid. "We can get moving."

Phoenix nodded. "Do we have enough bandages and antidotes?"

Roseluck quickly checked her inventory, then looked confidently back at Phoenix. "I stocked almost twice as much as the last boss raid, we should be fine." She glanced around and subtly pulled her to the side of the zone. "Unless there's something coming we should know about."

Phoenix glanced at her friend with some worry. "Aside from some poison and stun intensive drakes and basilisks, I've got nothing. When I worked on this floor, the dev team just asked me to help add the poison and revise the overall structure. The next part's a short section, but still, anything can happen in that tunnel."

"Great," Roseluck sighed, looking down the tunnel and imagining all the other monsters that could show up, or the traps that could catch an unsuspecting player.

"It'll be tough, but we'll make it," Phoenix reassured. "How bad can it-?"

"Shhh," Roseluck placed her hoof on Phoenix's face, abruptly interrupting her. "Don't ask that question. Never ask that question."

Phoenix paused and looked at Roseluck, who shot a warning look at her. She turned back to the raid and guided them to the next section, assuring them that it'd be a short way to the next rest zone. The CMC picked up the pace, bringing their Crusaders into the leading group. Allegretto hung back warily, even as some of the Knights kept their pace up with their Crusader rivals.

It wasn't long before the march across the tunnel became a sort of race. Monsters were few, limited to only Dire Golems and Acid Fiends, and died quickly with the combined efforts of the raid. The two guilds raced to reach the end first, along with more kills for more bragging rights.

Phoenix kept up with the few players rushing through the tunnel, only to make sure nothing unexpected caught them off-guard. She thought it was foolhardy to be having an impromptu competition in the midst of a boss dungeon, but in all the excitement, she didn't feel like stopping them.

The first to burn was Applebloom, whose armor and and shield were the only things keeping her alive after the sudden wall of lava. Two Knights were crushed under the collapsing tunnel as the lava trap sprung. The heavy stones crushed their legs, applying a serious cripple debuff. However, they were still thankful for their position after a couple moments, as they saw that the rocks pinning them down were the same things blocking them from the lava flowing from the ceiling.

"Applebloom!" Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo shouted. In an instant they were moving, slipping through the edges of the tunnel where the lava wall had not spread. Sweetie Belle dragged Applebloom farther ahead into the tunnel, pulling her away from the slow approaching lava, while Scootaloo healed her with the potions they had left.

Fortunately for the other players rushing ahead, Phoenix reacted just as quick, leaping in their way and stopping them from crashing into the molten stone. She gestured them back with the rest of the raid as the lava crawled along the tunnel floor, covering the cool stone and turning it red hot.

Applejack ran up to Phoenix. "I heard someone shout for my sister," she huffed, "please tell me she's alright."

Phoenix nodded and pointed to the wall of lava. "Her friends got to her on the other side. She's safe and healed up, but they'll have to go deeper into the dungeon to get away from this trap.

"How far will it reach?" Applejack asked, stepping back as the lava began to get closer again.

"Hell if I know, this trap's completely new." Phoenix looked around the huddled crowd of players and spotted Allegretto next to some of her generals.

Phoenix squeezed through a few nervous Tanks and fidgeting Damages and tapped Allegretto on the shoulder. "We need to call off the raid and teleport back to central," she told her. "I don't think we have enough lava resistance potions to get across, if we even have any at all."

"My members are telling me the Applebloom and her friends are on the other side," Allegretto replied. "They made it."

"There aren't any gaps left to jump through," Phoenix said firmly. "They'll have to fight their way to the end and teleport from the safe zone, but we killed all the monsters here; we can all just teleport."

Allegretto refused. "The Clearing Group suffers from ups and downs of morale, and we're at the peak of our morale right now Phoenix. As an unaffiliated player, you might not have noticed this, but for us guilds it's impossible to make progress when players don't have the will to push on. I won't let this be the loss that takes away our morale."

Phoenix gritted her teeth, ready to lash out at the Knights for their recent boldness in rushing up the floors, but the moving lava took too much of her attention as the raid backed further and further away. Instead of turning to their leaders, everyone put their eyes on Phoenix, waiting for her to show them how to overcome the obstacle.

Allegretto gave her a knowing grin. "This is what being a leader is like."

Phoenix looked around the tunnel, scanning the tunnel walls for a loose piece of rock. "I stumbled into a second passageway when I scouted this place," she began to tell her lie, pointing to a small circular stone jutting from the wall. "It might lead to the next section of the dungeon, but from the first few monsters I saw, it's not going to be easy."

Everyone nodded as she went over to the stone button and opened the secret passage. It was an alternate level, for players who wanted to rerun the dungeon with more difficulty once they got stronger. It was part of some story line a developer really liked, though Phoenix had not paid attention to what he wanted to put in exactly. All she knew was that it linked to the final room of the dungeon, and that it was meant for players from floor sixty-two. While it wouldn't be impossible for them to pass through, everyone would have to work in a formation to have a chance of surviving.

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With four shield walls, two in the front of the raid and two in the back, the players moved in relative safety through the passageway. They all knew fighting each monster would not be effective, and most likely be lethal too, so the raid ran through as quick as they could, passing most of the monsters they encountered.

The front shield wall was packed with Damages between the Tanks, catching a few Earthen Monstrosities between shields so multiple swords and maces could kill it before anyone took too much damage. At the back, Tanks and players who could stun monsters the most slowed down the creatures that followed them. They couldn't hold everything off, but whatever wasn't left was eventually killed.

Phoenix was up in the front line with Allegretto, using the flat side of her massive greatsword to deflect the monsters into the shields of the Tanks. There, the Earthen Monstrosities were pinned down by shields and heavy armor, allowing Phoenix and the other Damage players to finish them off.

In the center of the raid, Fluttershy and couple other beast tamers kept up as Supports, and among all the healing dragons and enchanted birds, Fluttershy's own Vampiric Sabertooth Tiger was the savior of dozens of lives, draining health from the monsters and returning it to the players as they needed it. Roseluck helped too, dousing players with armor enhancing oils and regenerative potions, supporting the players as much as she was killing the monsters.

"I reckon that's the exit, isn't it Phoenix?" Applejack shouted over the roars of dying monstrosities. She stuck her lance through the head of a monstrosity and pointed to the dim green light at the end of the tunnel.

Phoenix rammed the Shadow of Discord through two monsters and threw them over to the rear shield wall. She stepped up next to Applejack and followed her gaze. "Yep, that has to be the exit. No other source of light."

"You heard her Knights!" Allegretto shouted, suddenly fighting next to Phoenix and Applejack. "Give it everything you have, we're almost through!"

The raid rallied from the glimmer of hope, charging forward and skipping a lot more monsters. The Supports shifted their attention from the front to the back, reinforcing the shield wall so they could keep back the tide of enemies chasing them down. Phoenix's sword hummed with magic as its enchantment flared with power, instantly evaporating two monstrosities into a fine mist of bloody pixels.

The raid collapsed as soon as they reached the mouth of the passageway. Dozens of players tumbled on and off each other, all rolling into the safety of a scripted campfire, waiting for adventurers to rest in its zone. The subterranean floor was warm from the fire, and calmed everyone down as the flow of enemies turned back toward the passage, forbidden to go any further by the command of the campfire.

Phoenix sat herself on top of one of the flat stones and unequipped her greatsword to let her stamina regenerate a little faster. Others did the same, letting go of the extra weight to recover faster, while a few players paced nervously around the campfire, clutching their weapons.

They were members of the Cutie Mark Crusaders, Phoenix noted by the insignia on their armor, and were probably worried about their leaders. Applejack and Rainbow Dash were with them as well, keeping a vigilant eye on the other entrance that linked the cavern to the first tunnel.

"How long could it take them?" Phoenix heard Applejack worry, who was rapping the side of her shield against the stone floor.

Rainbow Dash got to the edge of the safe zone and peered into the foggy tunnel. "I can't see anything in that tunnel. It looks like a cloud of ash and smoke in there. They might be stuck, we have to help them."

She stuck out her sword as if too charge and began flying toward the main tunnel, but Applejack bit her tail before she could get anywhere. Rainbow Dash turned around to get the raid on board, but Applejack simple pointed to the exhausted players. Even though the potions had done their work, many players were still low on stamina. They wouldn't last long in the tunnel before the monsters started playing with them like rag dolls.

Phoenix tried to remember what was put into the tunnel. The lava wall was a surprise, even to her, so she assumed there were a lot more things she couldn't predict. But from what she assumed her developers put in there, she knew fighting through the tunnel, despite its short length, wouldn't be easy for the CMC. If they wanted to get by safely, they'd have to take the tunnel section by section, healing up in between waves of monsters.

She got off the stone and walked up next to Applejack. "I'm sure they'll make it. They didn't become leaders for nothing."

"You're right," Applejack sighed, "but I can't be sure until they get here."

"I hate waiting around like this," Raindow Dash added. "There has to be something we can do. Even if no one else is ready to go, we could go in and-"

She paused as a couple voices echoed from the cave. The Crusaders heard it too and moved toward the edge of the safe zone. The CMC hobbled out of the smoke, Sweetie Belle leaning on Scootaloo and Applebloom as they were chased by a few acid spewing insects. The Crusaders were quick to act, launching themselves at the chasing monsters, cutting off the entrance from the massaive insects and then escorting the CMC in the safe zone.

"Is Sweetie Belle alright?" Phoenix asked once they crumbled to the floor.

Applebloom gasped a heavy breath before giving a quick explanation. "Couldn't block them all. Mini-boss hit her hard with acid."

"Don't forget the fire bats," Scootaloo added, trying to pick herself off the ground. "Pretty bad burns."

"Roseluck! Got any potions left?" Phoenix called out. It wasn't necessary, as Roseluck had made her way through the crowd the moment the CMC had gotten to safety.

"Antidotes are all gone," she began, "but I have some spare ingredients. Chew on them." She stuffed a bundle of leaves into Sweetie Belle's mouth and began looking at the burn debuffs she had.

"Strong burns, but I should have potent enough potions for it," she said, scrolling through her inventory. She tapped on two icons and trickled their contents into Sweetie Belle's mouth. First burn's severity dropped two tiers, down to a lesser tier-2 effect. Following that, the second potion reduced the duration rapidly until it ran out on its own.

"It tastes bitter," Sweetie replied, struggling to get up, "but at least the pain's gone."

"Don't get up yet, you have a pretty strong crippling debuff too," Roseluck told her, quickly crafting a splint with the materials from her inventory. "I don't have anything to fix it completely, but this splint should reduce it to just a tier-1 crippling." Sweetie Belle nodded and rested her head back on the floor, sprawling out her body to bask in the calm glow of the campfire.

Roseluck handed her a couple regeneration potions, and turned to inspect Scootaloo and Applebloom's debuffs. The supports were healing the three as they could, but the debuffs wouldn't go away that easily.

"I'm fine," Scootaloo said, waving Roseluck away. "The poison effect's about to run out soon. Applebloom has it worse though."

"Just a couple bleeding strikes, and a tier-3 poison effect," Applebloom remarked. "Nothing a Tank can't handle. Still, I'll take a potion or bandage if you have 'em."

Roseluck let Applebloom tend to her wounds and talk to her sister for a while. With the CMC taken care of, there was the matter of the raid. Phoenix knew the questions were already boiling in Roseluck's head, and was already sat on a rock at the corner of the safe zone, waiting.

She walked over. "We can't go on, can we?" she asked Phoenix.

"Probably not," Phoenix replied, shaking her head sadly. "I was hopeful that Allegretto could get the morale boost she needed, but it's just too risky. I'm not going to risk anyone's life just to kill a floor boss today instead of tomorrow."

"Alright, see how Allegretto feels about this," Roseluck replied. "You might want to get her to agree before we teleport out, or we'll never hear the end of it."

"True. I'll go do that once everyone's back to full condition." Phoenix looked around the raid. Many players looked like they got the majority of their stamina back, though most still happily rested on the floor to recover. In the crowd where the Knights were talking, Pheonix spotted Grieve Blossom going over some plans with Iceblood a Knight general.

"He's really moving up the chain of command, isn't he?" Phoenix pointed to Grieve Blossom. "Bet a lot of ladies would jump for a guy with that kind of power in his hooves."

"Yeah, then they'll see how average he is and find someone better," Roseluck snorted.

Phoenix just smirked. "Leaving him for you?"

"Ha!" Roseluck laughed, "I'd sooner take RD out to dinner. He's alright, but we work together too much, and he can be a bit boring sometimes."

"Well, don't set your sights on Rainbow anytime soon," Phoenix replied. "Sophisicata's tough competition."

Roseluck turned to Phoenix, then glanced back Rainbow Dash. "Wait, are those two actually..." her voice trailed off, unsure of how not to seem to invasive.

"I have absolutely no idea," answered Phoenix. "They go to parties and hang out a lot, but I stumbled into them one time at central and they looked like they were just friends."

"With benefits?"

Phoenix leered at Roseluck. "I wouldn't know that much. I don't think I want to know that much."

Roseluck chuckled. "Alright, I'll leave it at that. I think everyone should be about ready to head back now."

Phoenix hopped off her seat on the rock and approached Allegretto. She was surrounded by her advisors, clearly in a heated debate, but waved them away immediately she noticed Phoenix. None of the players liked being waved off like that, but for Phoenix, they grudgingly stepped aside and let the two talk in private.

Allegretto greeted Phoenix, prepared to move the raid. "Ready to rally the raid? Just a short march to the boss room from here, right?"

Phoenix dropped her jaw. "Continue? We have no where near enough supplies to finish the boss. Roseluck's pretty much the only player with potions left, and even she can't provide for everyone in the raid."

"Then we call for a supply run," Allegretto proposed, as if she had the plan ready from the start. "There's a few Knights, probably some Crusaders as well, who couldn't join the raid in time. They'll take as many potions as they can and bring anyone else from the Clearing Group to help, and deliver the supplies to us."

"Except they're likely to use a bunch of it just trying to get here," Phoenix countered. "As long as we stay, the lava wall in that tunnel won't reset, and that means they'll have to take the long way around."

Allegretto chuckled for a moment. "You're talking like a solo player, Phoenix. I lead the largest guild PAO has, with the largest well of resources at the tip of my hooves. Lava resistance potions might be expensive, even for guilds, but for the sake of this dungeon, the Knights of Yore can afford to equip a supply run with everything it needs, no matter how many Blazed Drake Scales are needed."

"Even with instructions on how to get to us, there's no guarantee they'll get here safely," said Pheonix. "A smaller supply run would most likely end up in our situation as well before they got here."

Allegretto shrugged. "Simple enough to fix. The CMC are good leaders, and they could use some extra rest. They'll teleport back and guide the supplies through the tunnels. If they made it through on their own, a party or two backing them up shouldn't be too bad."

Phoenix looked over to the CMC, who were still recovering from their trials through the tunnel. No one could doubt that they could lead even a small raid through a dungeon, but she still doubted the chances of success. Unfortunately, Phoenix realized she didn't have much of a choice. She may have been asked to lead the raid, but half of the players were Knights, and they answered to Allegretto only.

"I suppose this is what your advisers were talking about?" she prodded, flicking her eyes over to the Knight generals who conversed among themselves while they waited.

"We did, a day before the raid started though," Allegretto said. "You stepped in as we were going over a 'shopping list,' if you will, for what we wanted to be brought."

"You planned it out this much?" Phoenix asked, disturbed by what was either preparation or premonition.

"Of course," nodded Allegretto, "those who do the most for the guild should be rewarded, and they all insisted on having a personal carrier for the supply run. For instance, Major General Red Rising likes to only drink potions with assigned flavors, like cinnamon in his health potions and lemon for antidotes."

"Did you expect this to happen or something?" Phoenix snapped back. "Did you rush the majority of the Clearing Group into this raid knowing we wouldn't be ready?"

"It wasn't my intention," Allegretto explained, "but I suspected we'd overextend ourselves at some point. However, it was your scouting report that made confident we could succeed."

Allegretto paused for a moment, realizing something Phoenix really wish hadn't be realized. "Your report to the Clearing Group said you scouted the dungeon's structure up to the boss room. How come we weren't informed about the lava trap?"

Phoenix clenched her jaw, her thoughts racing to find a suitable lie. She even considered just admitting to being the creator of the game, and accept whatever opinions the players still had about her, but she shoved those aside quickly before she began spouting words she'd regret. Instead, her mind turned to the quest to kill the boss.

"It might be a quest related trap," she finally answered. "Or a scripted event, like on floor forty-eight when the manticore boss teleported the battle up to the central city. The damage still remained in the city, even after we killed the beast. This might be another scripted thing added to keep players on their toes."

Phoenix felt like a worse liar than Applejack. She didn't know anything about the nature of the lava trap, which meant there was a chance she could be right, though it looked like it was just a generic trap laid out by a developer without her knowing. Regardless, Allegretto accepted her story and refocused on the matter at hand.

"Anyways, you should focus on preparing the raid for the boss fight," she told Phoenix. "Break down the current structure and set up a better formation for the next part of the dungeon."

"I haven't agreed to your plans," Phoenix said, challenging Allegretto's command.

She raised her brows from surprise. "Is there something wrong with it?"

"There's definitely something wrong with pushing a raid beyond its limit," Phoenix answered. "And more players means more risks and coordination, and a higher chance that someone takes a bad hit, or interrupts the formation and gets the in the way of everything. We can't just sit around waiting for supplies like we're laying siege to the dungeon."

Allegretto scoffed at Pheonix, and proceeded to her message menu anyways. "This is exactly what we're doing, Phoenix. This is a war. We might be in a game, but I haven't forgotten that lives are on the line. I take these risks because we're at war, and it's not one we can afford to lose."

Phoenix stepped back for a moment and stood in awe. "These are just regular people, some of them kids who haven't even gone to college yet. You can't treat them like soldiers."

"Too late," said Allegretto, "we've been in this world for over two years now. They've become the soldiers of this world, whether they like it or not." She turned, ending the conversation and walking back to her generals and advisers.

Phoenix huffed and tried to stop Allegretto, but it was evident she would not be heard even if she tried. Anyways, the message, she assumed, was sent for the supply run. As she wondered how the CMC would react, Iceblood made his way over to the three girls and gave them the run down of the plan.

She didn't mean to eavesdrop, but she heard enough to know the CMC were willing to go with the plan, even if they thought it was extreme for a single raid.

Behind her, Fluttershy walked up and looked around at the guild leaders. "Are we going back to central now or what?" she asked. "Mr. Tooth got his fair share of hits back in that tunnel, and I don't think I have enough food to keep him healthy for the boss fight."

"We're going to camp here until a smaller raid comes with extra supplies," Phoenix explained. "The CMC are headed back to central to lead the group to us, so you better talk to them about getting your Sabertooth Tiger some food.

"Oh, okay," Fluttershy replied, disappointed but willing to tough it out in the dungeon if it was what the CMC agreed with. "I better go tell them then." She flapped her wings and glided over to Sweetie Belle, who were just about to use their teleportation scrolls.

As they prepared to leave, more and more players started looking at the conversation, some preparing their own scrolls to get out of the dungeon, and the Crusaders especially turned to Phoenix as their leaders vanished from the dungeon in bursts of light. Phoenix looked back at them, and figured if they were going to keep pushing into the dungeon, then she couldn't focus on what Allegretto wanted to do. She needed to act as the raid leader and do what she needed to do.

She beckoned the rest of the raid around her, explaining the situation. While the supplies were being brought to their location, she'd go over the details of the final section of the dungeon, the maze of tunnels that lead to the boss room. Monster types, the randomized maze structure, and the most efficient formation were reviewed. Though much of the information was still vague at best, Phoenix considered that whatever she could remember about the creation of the dungeon was another advantage the raid had for the final push.

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"Hurry it up AJ, even Fluttershy's party got the boss's lair," Rainbow Dash hissed as their four player party squeezed single file through the maze. With the randomized aspect of the maze, the raid was split into small parties of four and covered nearly every tunnel until the right path was found.

Applejack grunted as she forced her shield through the passageway. "It's not my fault, I'm not the one who splattered cave troll bones all over the tiny tunnel."

"They'll despawn in a few seconds, just keep going or we'll be the last party to reach the boss," Rainbow Dash said, trying to push Applejack further down the tunnel.

Behind them, Grieve Blossom squirmed as Rainbow Dash's efforts squished him into an uncomfortable position with JumboJump, who guarded the party's rear with his shield. "Not that we don't like behind shoved around back here, but it'd be nice if we stopped the comments and got back into a more comfortable formation."

JumboJump simply grunted an umph in agreement as he stumbled on Grieve Blossom's hoof and collided his head to the rough stone walls.

The entrance to the boss room ahead of them was made of two massive stone arches that connected at a gemstone, forming an elongated semi-circle as the portal. Visual effects rippled from the gemstone as the portal glowed, activated by the presence of players successfully coming out of the maze.

Rainbow Dash and her party arrived almost last, followed only by a mixed party of Crusaders and Knights. With the whole raid present, the portal shuddered and crackled with energy, opening the way to the boss. The thundering boom shook the cavern, but everyone stood their ground.

The raid halted outside the entrance, taking inventory and redistributing everyone's potions to the players who'd need it for the fight. Rainbow Dash trotted over to Phoenix with the potions her party had left and added it to the stock. "How's everything?" she asked. "The supply run bring enough?"

"Hard to say," Phoenix replied, busy counting everything the raid had left, "this dungeon's theme is being randomized, so I'm positive the boss fight will be the same."

Rainbow Dash expected the answer, but that didn't make her feel any better. "I don't know if you paid any attention to the story line of the quest, but the boss is apparently some kind of 'god,' whatever that means."

Phoenix nodded. "That's about as much as I gathered from the quest text."

"We've had some pretty close calls, but do you think we'll make it out of this one?" Rainbow Dash asked.

Phoenix raised her head from her menu screen and looked hard at Rainbow Dash. "What's gotten into you? Lost your ego back in that maze?"

"Oh I know I'll make it," Rainbow Dash remarked, picking up her attitude and wearing it like a mask. "I'm just worried for the rest of you guys. It's hard being awesome all by yourself, you know what I mean?"

"Oh I know loneliness," Phoenix replied. "That's why I won't let anyone go. Not on this boss, or any other."

Phoenix's words made Rainbow Dash feel slightly relieved. "Right, I'm probably just worrying about nothing."

From the CMC, Allegretto broke off from their discussion and quickly spoke to Phoenix. "Ready to go?"

"Everything's counted, I'll distribute it to everyone and we'll head in." Phoenix swiped through her menu screen and began opening trade menus with everyone in the raid.

Rainbow Dash left Phoenix to her duty and returned to her party. They were tired, just like she was, but still eager to finish the dungeon. The general feeling of the raid was excitement layered over nerves, as players began imagining how they were going to spend a well earned day of relaxation.

JumboJump looked across the safe zone at Sonata, partied with a group of strangers from the Cutie Mark Crusaders. They would look after her as a teammate, but what he worried about was if the Crusaders had the skill to do it right. No one, not even Phoenix, would want to be the bearer of bad news to Aria if Sonata did not make it.

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You mortals live lives far too short. I have seen this battle every hundred years, and I always reign supreme in the end.

The Tanks all raised their shields as the boss unleashed a shockwave onto the ground. It rose from the center of the island they teleported to, from a portal barely large enough for the torso. From the waist up, it appeared before the raid; the "god" was an elemental giant, but rather than a single aspect it was covered in varying effects. An arm of lava and another of acid, a head charged with lighting and a torso built of frost and stone. From his shoulders, trees grew, forming small forests that spawned hellish, mutilated crows. Waterfalls both clear and brown leaked onto the island.

Thankfully, the terrain of the island softened the power of the shockwave. The small parties of four meant the raid could disperse into small cover and avoid most of the damage, making the job for the Tanks much easier. The Damages took their time, waiting for the boss to lodge its hand into the hard island soil, and then they hacked and slashed it until the arm broke off.

"This one's tougher than the past bosses," Iceblood grunted as he backed behind a row of trees with his party. He was guarding Allegretto, and was joined by two of his former commanders turned coworkers.

"Think this is the game's pattern?" asked Allegretto. "A hard boss every ten floors?"

"It would give us something to look forward to," Iceblood replied grimly, rushing from the trees to strike quickly at the boss again.

Across the other island, with the giant's back facing them, Phoenix fought with her friends against the crows that defended the boss. They came in murders, flocking each player three to one at least, though the game's AI seemed to target the strongest players with the most. Phoenix cut down two crows in front of her to find four more attacking from the rear, and Rainbow Dash's party faced the same.

Even Roseluck and Fluttershy stopped their healing and joined the fight with Phoenix, leaving Applebloom to defend Fluttershy's tiger to drain health for the party.

"We can't scratch it from here," Applejack shouted over the screeching crows. She pummeled one into the ground while taking the head off another with her lance. "We have to get 'round to the rest of the players."

"Or," Rainbow Dash offered, "magic." Phoenix didn't have time to glare at Rainbow Dash as she rolled over to Fluttershy and chopped a crow off her back.

Applejack followed Phoenix's lead and shielded them from more crows. "I know this is a lot to ask, but it's been half an hour and the boss is barely below ninety percent of its health."

They all fled to cover as the giant bellowed, churning the ground with another powerful shockwave. The giant turned slightly as it dragged it arm of lava across a quarter of the island. Most were lucky enough to escape, but one party stuck in the center of the area took the full force of the attack. Their health bars dropped dramatically, passing below the halfway mark.

If she waited, to use it, it would be too late. Phoenix didn't want anyone to die, and would not wait until a disaster happened to take action. With magic, there was a risk of horrible damages to everything around her, but without magic the same was more than just a risk, it was a certainty.

"AJ, Applebloom, keep the crows off me for a while," Phoenix said. The rest of them followed suit, killing the crows before they got too close.

She got to work in her menu screen, sifting through the data of magic she had compounded. Just need a stable enough strand of magic to use. Strong enough to hurt, but flexible enough to control and adapt. Not too volatile though. For a moment, she second guessed her decision, but the longer she took the higher the risk became that the boss would kill another player.

It took only a moment to find the most stable set of magic. She bound it to her own magic, and immediately felt the rush of power. It was like being blind before suddenly regaining the sense of sight. The magic flowed through her, connecting her to the system through her Digisphere.

With just a thought, she could reach out and touch the world like the hand of a god. Her horn crackled with energy before ripping fire from the air, churning it into a blazing ball. But for all that power, Phoenix was also scared. She shook instead of moving, and felt displaced, as if she was everywhere and everything at once.

"Hey! I think she's ready," Rainbow Dash shouted. They all jumped back behind her, letting the crows build into a cloud.

The first few crows made it to Phoenix and clawed at her armor, tearing through the leather padding and biting her health. After that, the flow of battle brought Phoenix's full attention to the enemies. By raising her horn she scalded a hole through the crows, and by expanding her attention to the bigger picture she lobbed a fireball that resembled a miniature sun into the cloud of crows.

It would have been impossible for the boss to have missed the surge of power coming from Phoenix. As quickly as her magic flared, it shifted its attention onto her. Its two hands impacted the island harder than ever, striking a shield of magic Phoenix conjured with her magic. Chains of fire licked up from the island's trees, wrapping around the giant's arms like a snake would its prey.

"Everyone kill it while it's down!" Phoenix bellowed, her voice shuddering the island like one of the giant's shockwaves.

The burst of attacks was staggering, even for what the Clearing Group was used to. Before long, all but a few crows were cleared out by stray strikes alone, leaving the fight between the boss and the raid. Unfortunately, burning chains were not ever lasting, and the giant's health had barely changed from the rush of attacks.

Everyone rolled back into cover behind the Tanks and boulders as the giant spewed acid around the island. Most never hit land, bouncing off of Phoenix's magic force fields and into the water, or even back at the boss itself. It staggered from the magic, but recovered seamlessly and aimed its sights on Phoenix.

She felt like a target was painted on her chest, as if she had the only role of Tank in the entire raid. She teleported around the giant, dragging its attention around the island to delay its ham-fisted blows. The first hits missed, though only by a slim margin, and Pheonix didn't have any time to recover before being forced to teleport again.

Yet, as the battle went on, she grew used to the patterns. Together with the raid, they brought it down repeatedly, taking the advantage to strike as hard as they could whenever they could. When the boss was up and fighting, it was on Phoenix to take it down once again.

Slowly, it became a rhythm to Phoenix more than a fight. She didn't have to see the boss, or care where everyone was. She felt the magic run through her and acted on it. More than once she pushed harder and surprised everyone, even the giant, with a new display of power. She teleported into the mouth of the giant, letting loose an explosion that everyone could feel the heat from, even those healing at the edge of the island. Columns of lava followed shortly after, flying from the ground and trapping the arms of the giant.

It felt good to hit something, to truly hit something, for once in her life. The magic was unlike anything she had ever felt. Thousands of players all connected to one system, and she was a part of it. Phoenix drew on the magic harder, until she glowed so bright no one could stand to look at her.

The boss roared, but Phoenix ran along its head, putting a gash in its mouth that wrapped around its head. The giant collapsed again, this time falling deeper and deeper back into its portal, the hole in the center of the island where it came from. Phoenix could sense where it was headed. There was an unmistakable flow of data, both magic and code, that called to her.

The boss wasn't just in the game, it was a part of it. The boss wasn't simply retreating to its digital world, it was following a command; Phoenix commanded it to take her to its realm, where she could touch the system with her own hooves. Forget the voices calling you back to the dull world. The voice was right, her world was a reflection of the true reality.

The boss submerged itself into the portal, and Phoenix could see the magic up close for the first time. It was as bright as a supernova, except completely white and calm. She stood on the giant's head and touched the magic with one hoof, and she could already feel the system's web. She crossed borders and oceans in a fraction of a second, and was there in hospitals around the world, in the Digispheres and the minds of every player left alive. She could almost touch them from the system, unshackle their bonds and remove them from her world.

Her world.

Did they belong in it? All they wanted was to leave, and none of them could ever know the power that came with it. She saw all, she knew all, like being a god in both worlds. She was the system that linked everyone to each other, that formed the one dream each player lived day and night. Even Princess Luna, the greatest dream master could not boast such a feat. Even Princess Celestia could not have such a grip on life and death.

Princess Twilight thought friendship brought harmony, and for it was the strongest magic of all. Phoenix felt true harmony in her Digispheres, and it was far stronger than anything she felt when the Element of Magic purged the demon from her.

Phoenix knew she could do anything with the system, a god from the digital machine. She could make her own Equestria, a true world, not one filled with imperfect characters like humans. Every single NPC, perfect to the last hair, would grow her world. She would be worshiped, she could be loved. Anything was possible.

She could even be knocked out by the Applejack that had climbed onto the giant's head to reach her.