PAO: Pony Art Online

Phoenix checked her menu. Pinkie Pie had just emailed her a detailed essay on the success of the raid on thirty-five. She smiled.

Ever since Rainbow Dash got the Celestial Blade, the weapon they took from the Hearth's Warming Day boss, the Clearing Group had no problem slaying a floor boss every two weeks or so. She felt relieved Rainbow made excellent use of that sword while she searched for what interfered with PAO's logout function so many months ago.

Still, she wished they could work faster. The holidays were over and it was a new year in the real world. It was almost a year since everyone online became locked within PAO. There was no way they could clear it by March. I thought angered Phoenix, and gave her the determination to track the source even quicker.

She closed her menu. She could read the mail later, right now she had to track down a potential source of information. Floor eighteen was designed after a complex network of ice caves north of the Crystal Empire, if she wasn't careful even she could get lost.

"No hoof prints," she muttered to herself, "but whoever came by recently gathered the osmium ore nodes." She made a mental note of their mining level. Clearly a high level blacksmith if he/she could find and mine osmium ore on a floor as low as eighteen.

As Phoenix delved deeper into the caves she found it harder and harder too see. Already straining her perception skill, the darkness was made to be impenetrable by sight alone. However, if she was going in blind, so was her target.

With one hoof on the left wall of the cave, she followed it, turning when it turned. Eventually, she greeted an icy wall with her face. The cold ice stung as much as bumping into it. She recovered quickly, ignoring the dull pain the Digisphere generated, and reached out for the wall. She lost the wall.

"Dammit," Phoenix swore under her breath. She wondered if the other player was having trouble, or if they had that many more points in perception than her. She swiped her hoof and pulled up her menu, going to her inventory for a torch or a scroll of light. But she needed neither in the end. From down the tunnel she heard an echoing shriek, drowning in other roars and growls of aggressive NPC's.

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Roseluck's breath was shaky as she ran. Her level was too low to be traversing floor eighteen the way she was, but there was no where else to get the ingredients she needed. All she had to do was hide out in the dark, collect some Crystal Berries from the inner caves, and use a teleport scroll to go back to the safety of town.

Her thoughts turned back to her party, still shocked by what happened. "Half the time, publics have more ego than skill" her gamer friend told her when she went out looking for a group. She should have listened.

Hot on her hooves were the beasts that killed them: massive, white saber tooth tigers chanced her with a voracious appetite programmed into them. Her coat was an ivory shade, her mane was a lively red, and they both reflected more than enough light for the tigers to follow her, even if she was practically blind. If only she could have one moment to grab her teleport scroll.

The dark of the inner caves was itself a wall, about as solid as the caves themselves. Roseluck could barely make out anything in front of her, though it didn't really matter. She didn't care what could be in front of her when she knew exactly what was behind her. So in her panic, it was too late to react to the stalagmite that tripped her over.

In a flash, everything was clear to her. She flinched, holding up her mace in a weak attempt to ward off the beasts after her. Her eyes saw only red, hungry dots, but her mind filled in the rest. The saber tooth tigers would rip her apart and leave her to bleed out the last remaining drops of her health. Then death would free her from her virtual prison.

She forced her eyes shut and screamed, awaiting death to sweep her away. She waited a little longer, her voice tiring from her shrieks of fear. Her throat quickly grew parched long before her life ended.

"You can stop screaming now," a female voice told her. Roseluck gingerly opened her eyes, barely seeing enough to tell that there was a player in front of her.

"Um, thanks, I guess," she said nervously. This player was strong if she could kill a small pack of beasts so easily. She tightened her grip around her mace, the game holding it close to her hoof. The ice caves was an open PVP area.

"I can see you shaking," the voice continued. "But if you think-" she paused. Roseluck looked around, searching for the player's voice.

"I-If I think what?" she stammered.

The voice went silent for a while. Roseluck squinted to catch a glimpse of the other player's menu screen. There was a strange effect on her display, but she assumed her eyes were playing another trick in the darkness.

"You're not it," the voice finally said. The menu closed, and Roseluck suddenly lost her savoir to the shadows once again.

"No, please don't leave me!" she shouted. She felt an abrupt tug on her foreleg as the other player yanked her, dragging her along toward the exit of the ice caves.

She could still barely make out the player's character, but the annoyance was crisp and clear in her voice. "If your perception's so low that you can't see a thing when you're this close to the exit, you don't belong on this level. Go back to floor ten and level up."

Roseluck's eyes widened. She glanced at her level next to her health bar. I'm really in over my head, aren't I? she thought to herself. Roseluck cleared the awe from her throat. "I'm sorry I caused trouble, I just needed Crystal Berries for an alchemy recipe, and I heard they first appeared on this level."

The player stopped her pace. "You're alchemy level's that high?" She sounded incredulous. It was, after all, at least twice as high as it should be for a level twenty player.

Roseluck nodded. "My friend's at a higher level than me, so he did some collecting and buying, but now even he can't get what I need."

The other player thought for a moment, grunting at a tough decision. "What's your name?"

"Roseluck," she supplied.

"Come with me Roseluck," her voice said. As if Roseluck had any other choice.  She held onto the other player's tail and followed her. It was hard to keep up pace, but when the light began to return sight to her eyes, she grew increasingly excited to leave the dark caves behind.

Below the cave exit, in the frozen valley under the mountains, lay a small town players used for provisions and trading, before and after exploring the caves. Yet, even with so many players willing to search for new treasures in the caves, the tunnel system took up nearly all of floor eighteen, and there were a lot of unexplored areas.

Roseluck took in the scenery for the first time. She didn't appreciate the climb up to the tunnels, and was too eager to rush in and find her ingredients. But now she had time to savor the sight. She turned next to her and took a good at her savior. She was a strong player, her weapon and armor far superior to anything Roseluck had ever seen before.

Even the character details told a little more about her. Each muscle of her body, though lean, was a well defined bundle of strength and agility. Even the way she moved somehow seemed more natural than others. Roseluck was in awe of it all.

"Take this teleport scroll," she said to Roseluck. "I don't want to have to make the climb down, so we'll head strait to the town with our scrolls."

Roseluck nodded and took the scroll. To Frostshire it read as she opened it. Immediately the scroll glowed, wrapping around Roseluck, showering her pixels and shards of light. It was so bright she had to close her eyes, but when she could open them again the caves were gone and the mountains loomed in the distance.

"Come on," her savior said, yanking her by the tail this time, "we should have chat." They headed to the one place any player would frequent after a trip in the caves: the pub.

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"Did you see anyone else in those caves?" Phoenix asked. She doubted that Roseluck could've seen anything, but Phoenix had hope that she could help.

Roseluck shook her head. "No one but you," she answered. Phoenix hung her head down. She suspected as much.

"Well, I'm headed back in there as soon as I can, so if you'd like me to get those ingredients for you, I could keep an eye out," Phoenix said, finishing her cider. "Wouldn't want you diving in again like that."

Roseluck looked shamefully into her glass. "I know it's stupid, but I needed that ingredient. I can't ask you to do that for me."

She looked at Phoenix, hoping she'd understand, but Phoenix was stern and resolute. "Then do yourself a favor, and get stronger. That ingredient won't help you if you're dead."

Roseluck opened her mouth to speak, a defense dancing on her tongue's tip, but she silenced herself. Phoenix was right.

Phoenix paid for another drink and pushed it over to Roseluck. "For the road. It'll buff your stamina long enough to get you to the central city in under an hour." She took the drink, tapping open its item description.

Iceblood Runner: +40% stamina for 20 minutes.

"Thanks." Roseluck lifted the heavy mug and drank meekly. She wasn't much for alcohol in real life, and that still held true in a world where she couldn't get drunk. Yet the strong flavor still made her cough.

Phoenix grinned. "Yeah, first time's like that. Digisphere's might not convey much pain, but that harsh burn in your throat's an entirely different beast. Flavor's a huge part of the Digisphere's magic, so everything pretty much tastes as real as it gets, even compared to the real world."

Roseluck raised a brow to her statement. The real world, it felt so far away to her, as if that world was the dream, and she woke up in PAO. "You still think about it. Real life, I mean."

Phoenix paused. She expected her to. Most players didn't even like to mention it, let alone talk about it, and it was just common manner not to pry into real world topics. Many players were traumatized after separating from their lives, their friends, and worst of all, their family. Some even went mad, committing suicide, or just disappearing entirely.

But Phoenix didn't seem upset to Roseluck, she seemed thoughtful, as if the idea intrigued her. "I always wondered what I'd be doing now if all this hadn't happened. Maybe visit my hometown, spend more time away from work."

Roseluck stared at her, astounded. It made her think about her own life, and her own "what-ifs?"

"I would've gotten my English major by now," she said, telling herself as much as she was telling Phoenix. "I always wanted to make a difference, but I wasn't the most focused in high school or college. So I settled on becoming an English teacher."

"Be one hell of a story to tell your students one day," Phoenix replied.

"You really think we'll get out?" She didn't mean to sound so doubtful, but the 100th floor seemed so far away.

Phoenix shot back a look of surprise. "Of course we are! The Clearing Group's the best players in PAO, and they're always working to clear the next floor."

Roseluck blinked. The Clearing Group was the official team of the highest level players. Low levels like Roseluck merely looked to them as celebrities, using their victories as an excuse to get drunk. In truth, you were either a Clearing Group member, or you were part of everyone else.

Then it dawned on her. "You're one of them, aren't you?" she asked Phoenix meekly. Though she was thankful for Phoenix before, she was only that, and saw her as a peer. Now, that thankfulness became admiration in an instant, and explained how easily Phoenix had saved her.

But Phoenix just scowled. "Haven't been up there in a while. Can't return until I'm done down here."

"Why the hell not?" Roseluck replied. "There's nothing down here. You gotta hurry back and fight the good fight, for all of us."

"Not yet," she answered as she rose from her seat, "but I suppose you're right. I need to finish up quickly. I need to go back to the caves." Phoenix headed out the door swiftly, not noticing Roseluck as she trailed behind. Having a chat with a new face was refreshing for Phoenix, but she was close to cornering a key piece in fixing the game, and freeing everyone before more had to die.

"Wait!" Roseluck shouted, yanking back Phoenix for a moment. "It's not safe to go right now, they're probably lurking around the caves."

"Monsters down on this floor don't both me," Phoenix said, tugging free her hoof from Roseluck's grip.

"Not the monsters, but the raiders!" she called out to Phoenix as she picked up her pace. "They're players who'll kill for even a single piece of your gear!"

Phoenix froze. Players. Who else would be up in the caves at the exact same time? She stood in the middle of the street, running through what she knew about her target. Roseluck caught up behind her, waiting for some kind of response.

"A pegasus. Golden coat, amber eyes, grey-white mane color, dressed in light armor dyed maroon, wears a blue bow on her tail. Does that ring a bell?"

Roseluck stepped back. The description was spot on, but how could she walk so confidently if she knew who it was? She stared at Phoenix's gear. Medium armor and a long, heavy sword. A Landsknecht Zweihander, one hundred and eighty centimeters long, player made, by a master blacksmith no less. Maybe she had a reason to be overconfident after all.

If Phoenix noticed Roseluck's stares, she didn't show it. "How'd you come by them?" she asked.

Distracted by her sword, Roseluck answered instinctively. "I partied with a group of four mercenaries for protection in the caves, but they were killed as we entered the caves by an ambush. I knew from their uniforms that they were Coruby's raiders, so I ran when there was no on left to hide behind."

Phoenix took a deep breath to calm herself, but her muscles tightened up as she heard the fates of four innocent people. They did their job and died for it. If Coruby was her target, was the link to the game's malfunction, she wasn't surprised by her depravity. She was just mad.

"That won't stop me," Phoenix said, hurriedly galloping toward the cave entrances. Roseluck stood in a daze, unable to understand how anyone could walk into the caves knowing murderers lurked in its shadows.

But, despite her fear and low level, she couldn't leave Phoenix to face them alone.

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Roseluck kept her distance, not wanting to draw any attention if Phoenix encountered any trouble. She was also sure Phoenix would just tell her to run back to where it was safe. So she kept to the shadows the mountain rocks cast as the sun dipped below the horizon. With darkness there would be more threats, but Roseluck felt relieved she was well hidden.

Phoenix knew exactly where Roseluck was. Even as she trotted deeper into the caves, she could detect the earth pony skittering around behind her, trying not to be seen. She shook her head, almost embarrassed for Roseluck; the newbies never knew just how low their skills really were.

She wanted to tell her to go back, but as long as she stayed away from the fighting, Phoenix let her follow. She didn't have the time to babysit, Coruby and her raiders could be on the move, headed for another location, or even another floor. Phoenix picked up her pace.

The caves began to get dark, but if she was tracking a group of player killers, they'd stick to the outskirts of the tunnels, near to the entrances. Easier to see, easier to attack. Aside from that, the entrances were the only place raiders could be certain there were players. So Phoenix circled around the edges of the inner tunnel system, sticking to where she expect to be ambushed.

It didn't take long for the first signs to show. Footsteps and soft breaths were the first to come, followed by heartbeats as more and more raiders began to stalk her. Phoenix kept her pace, hiding the fact that her perception skill was far beyond their sneaking. Roseluck was still hanging far behind her, so she didn't need to be worried about.

After a few more turns, Phoenix led herself to a dead end. By that point, the muscle of the murderers approached, barely even trying to mask their clunky armor with sneaking.

"Well, well, another lost adventurer," a stallion walked up behind Phoenix, turning her around to take a good look. "And a damn pretty one too." The other raiders laughed, but Phoenix quickly stepped back. How could he have said that? He was just a player like any other, a human walking in a pony's body.

"Don't worry lady," a lackey spoke behind the stallion. "We'll only have our way after the boss sees ya."

Phoenix swallowed her disgust. "And who would your boss be?"

The stallion sneered and grabbed her roughly by the mane. "Easier to show ya," he whispered in her ear before shoving her into the group of raiders.

Phoenix pushed herself off the floor, turning to face the bastard. "Don't touch me again," she growled.

The stallion barked a harsh laugh. "Oh ho, we've got a feisty catch today lads," he announced, presenting her before the crowd. The players all cheered and laughed, some even whistling their approval. Phoenix noticed the rude stallion enjoyed the attention, coveting the moment as if he had very few.

"Bet she's easier than our bitch Coruby too!" he shouted, raising a hoof as his followers cheered on his audacity. He stepped forward, eyeing Phoenix's gear hungrily, especially her amour. But before he could place his next step down, the crowd died down. The stallion's legs buckled, and he looked down to find a katana pierced through his chest.

"You just couldn't keep your gob shut, could you Daniel?" Coruby muttered into his ear as he collapsed onto the ground.

Phoenix squinted at his flashing health bar. The blade landed a critical blow, especially deadly coming from behind, but Daniel clearly still had a high enough armor rating to keep his health in the green zone. Beside his health bar, an icon appeared, resembling a cartoon lighting bolt.

"Impressive paralysis poison," Phoenix mused, approaching the mare until they could strike each other without taking a step. She fit the description perfectly, down to the blue bow on the tail.

Coruby nodded. "Aye, keeps me a thief, not a killer. Can't say the same for these other sods though." She pointed her katana at her raiders. "But they do get the job done very well."

Phoenix looked around, expecting nothing less from a guild of criminals. They were all marked with a red border around their health bar, signalling that they had killed, or assisted in a kill.

"But you seem like the sensible sort, so I'll offer you a fair deal, mare to mare." She traced the tip of her katana along leather straps of Phoenix's armor. "All your gold and items. You can keep your weapon and armor."

All the other stallions raised their voice in protest, but a single glare and flick of her katana was all Coruby needed to silence them. "You idiots, none of us even use medium armor."

Phoenix noted that. They were a good mix of lightly and heavily armored players, but none of them took the middle path. Coruby herself was a light player, but Phoenix quickly saw that her black and red combat dress was of a far higher grade than what here thugs were wearing.

"Where'd you come by that piece of armor?" she asked, pointing at her dress. "Doesn't seem like a band of criminals could afford that. It has to be legendary at least, if not a mastercrafted or a relic item."

Coruby just shrugged. "Paid with a donation from an anonymous friend. But that's my concern, innit? You've got your own problems. So I'll say it again, hand over everything." She pointed her katana at Phoenix's throat. There was little pain, but she could feel the sharp point nonetheless. It was a good blade.

Phoenix looked at it, and let out a confident smirk. "How about this: you tell me everything about your gear, and I'll pay for your cooperation."

Coruby raised her eyebrows. No one in the lower floors had ever put up resistance before. "Ha! Why would I, when my boys can just take it all." A glance was all that was needed to signal the raiders to draw their weapons.

Phoenix assessed them all in her head. Four earth ponies, two with greatswords and two with warhammers. Another six pegasi and three unicorns drew their swords as well, stepping in, closing the circle around her. All of the sword users, save one of the pegasi, wore light armor. Phoenix guessed that they were probably the stalkers of the group, responsible for tracking players rather than fighting.

Despite their numbers, Phoenix was unconcerned. Coruby smiled at her overconfidence and retracted her katana, leaving her raiders to surround Phoenix. She felt it was a shame to kill off such a bold player, but her stuff was just too good to pass up.

Coruby watched as three pegasi rushed in for the first strike, expecting to hear her shout for mercy when they connected their strikes. But their swords never hit. Phoenix swiftly sidestepped, sending the three pegasi tripping into the walls of the caves. The same when for the next two who attacked, and the ones after.

The sight was unbelievable. She moved like a whirlwind, weaving through the blades like they were in slow motion, never drawing her sword once to defend. One after another, the raiders fell to their knees, exhausted. Idiots, the lot of them. They didn't even save enough stamina to stand up.

"Fuckin'ell, can't believe I've got to do this myself too," Coruby muttered.

Her attack was swift, but it met only air. She had no idea where Phoenix went, she didn't even see her move, but her body reacted instinctively out of fear. She spun around and raised her blade to fight. Some of her stallions rose to attack Phoenix, but they were knocked back down by a single kick.

Coruby glared at Phoenix, as if her eyes could tell a thing about the mare. "What the hell are you?" she asked, preparing herself to defend.

"I would like to ask you the same." Phoenix responded, casually opening her menu screen. "I've been tracking you, picking up every lead I could find. Surprised me with your numbers, but that hardly mattered in the end."

Slowly, Coruby circled Phoenix, trying to get a better angle to attack, but Phoenix didn't seem to care.

Phoenix continued, her menu screen turning to a dark red. "This is what I want from you, the source of your interference with the game." She expanded her menu and pointed to a point on the screen. "Your items are messing with the magic, keeping us from logging out of PAO."

Coruby's wings tightened around her sword. "You're taking a piss! I've got nought to do with that shit, you crazy wench," she spat, pointing her katana at Phoenix.

Nodding, Phoenix closed her menu and faced Coruby strait on. "I suspected as much, but you yourself said that gear was a gift, from an anonymous friend. I aim to find out who." Phoenix drew her sword, holding it in one hoof.

In that instant Coruby froze. Phoenix was a unicorn, and all unicorns had their hand commands translated into telekinesis by the Digisphere. It was unlikely, no, impossible, for the game to register a unicorn as "in combat" if she used her hooves. Moreover, it was nearly impossible for anyone not an earth pony to even figure out how to hold a weapon without fingers.

"That's... not possible. Unicorns have to fight with telekinesis!" Coruby said, her voice shaking.

Phoenix looked at her sword, acknowledging the anomaly. "I see, you're scared. It's how the game's combat stays balanced after all. Pegasi like you can't fly while you hold weapons with your wings, and as a unicorn I wouldn't be able to cast other spells if I was using telekinesis." She flicked her eyes to Coruby and grinned.

The first hit was barely reflected by Coruby's katana. But she didn't have a moment to react to the second attack, and she screamed as Phoenix cleaved through Coruby's armor. However strong it was for light armor, it was still weak when tested against her Landsknecht Zweihander.

Coruby went limp. Already her health was in the red zone, bordering on twenty percent, and to make matters worse, Phoenix had crippled her. As much as she wanted to, she couldn't overcome it. Her legs felt like they weren't part of her body anymore, like she had no control over them.

"Tell me. Who gave you your gear?" Phoenix bluntly asked. She was done messing with her.

"I-I-I don't know, they never showed their face!" Coruby stammered, struggling to distance herself from Phoenix. It wasn't working. "One morning a player was left paralyzed outside the caves, with a note stuck to his back by a dagger. It said if we kept the items he had on him safe, we'd keep getting paid with more loot bodies."

"That's not enough." Phoenix raised a hoof and slammed it down on Coruby's head. "What were you supposed to protect?"

Coruby grunted. The pain was beginning to build up, turning the mild illusions of the game into senses that bordered on reality. But the disorienting effects were frighting enough on their own.

Not wanting to suffer any longer, Coruby gave her information away liberally. "I'm not sure what to call them. Some were trinkets, other were strange ingredients. We though it was just a game some sick fuck made out of us being criminals. We didn't care, a lot of gold came with those paralyzed bodies, even bought this pretty little dress with some of it. But one day, a body arrived only with instructions to use the materials to craft a set of armor and a weapon." Her eyes darted over to her sword.

Phoenix reached down and picked up the katana lying on the ground. "This the weapon you made?"

Coruby nodded nervously. "Armor's not here though, I sent that to my brother weeks ago."

Phoenix opened her menu to view the magic again, and tested out the katana. She swung it around, striking the walls and the ground, and watching its effects on the magic and data. Not to her surprise, the effects showed clearly on the screen. The katana was another set of data stored as an item.

Like Rainbow Dash's sword. Phoenix thought to herself.

"I need the other piece," she growled at Coruby. "Where's your brother?"

The glare she got back was fierce, and Phoenix immediately regretted her direct approach. Of course she wouldn't give away that kind of information. Killer or no, family was still family.

"I won't send you on my brother," she said grimly, "even if I have to die before those words leave my mouth."

Phoenix closed her eyes and let out a sigh. She was so close, she had thought it would be over so quickly, Of course not, she should have known it wouldn't work out that way. Nothing seemed to anymore.

"Fine. I got what I came here for. Or at least part of it." Phoenix whirled her sword around and sheathed it on her back. Forcefully, she grabbed Coruby's hoof and forced open her trade menu.

"What are you doing?" Coruby struggled as she attempted to break free from Phoenix's invisible hoof-grip. Though it was a grip entirely fabricated by the game, it was still as tight a vice, and she might as well had tried to open a boulder with her bare hooves.

Phoenix looked at Coruby with a sly smile. "A trick you won't ever get to use. If you paralyze or stun a player, you can force them to trade, so you won't be flagged for robbery. I would be worried about being flagged as an orange player for assault, but I do believe you and your boy toys over there gave the first strike. So I'm good. Self defense and all that."

Coruby watched as Phoenix grabbed her hoof and dragged it across the trade menu screen, trading the katana for nothing in return. Her gaze shifted to Phoenix's health bar. Sure enough, it stayed completely green, with no criminal or murderer border around it. She wanted to ask more, find out what other exploits she could use, but before her sentence even came out, specks of light began to form around her.

She looked at the scroll Phoenix unrolled on her body. Teleport: Floor 18, Central. The NPC guards in the floor's central city would haul her off to a prison cell for sure, confiscating everything else she had as well. She looked up to Phoenix, begging her not to do it.

"The prisons are so cold-" her voice cut off once she dematerialized. She was in the hooves of the guards now.

With their leader off to face justice, Phoenix turned back to the other raiders in the tunnel. Rather, she turned back to their hoof prints. She scoffed. They were smart to run away. She could have given chase, but after what she did to them, she doubted they'd try to start something anytime soon.

Then came the marching. "I heard the fighting from here!" Roseluck's voice called out. She must have gone for help when the fighting broke out, maybe a little earlier. Phoenix chuckled at the mare's determination, glad she didn't plan to step in alone, even if the help wasn't needed. Though she really wish she didn't have to explain everything to a crowd.

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"Sunset, what the heck are you doing down here?" Of all the ponies it could have been, it was her. Small world.

"Hey, Sweetie Belle, how's it going?" Sunset moved to embrace Sweetie Belle, but the young mare kept her back with a hoof.

"They said you were hunting for more fragments of PAO's magic, not hunting player killers," Sweetie Belle said. There was no need to clarify who they were, they both knew it was Sunset's friends.

Sunset shrugged. "One and the same, this time. Glad you're here now though, I didn't have time to track down the others."

"Who'd you get?" Sweetie Belle asked.

"Coruby, their leader," Sunset answered. "I teleported her over to the central city on this level."

"Good," Sweetie Belle said, looking around the caves. "What about the others? Who are we looking for?"

"Four heavy earth ponies, all two handed burst Damage players, along with six light Damage pegasi and three light Damage unicorns," Sunset answered.

Sweetie Belle noted their numbers and whispered something to one of her lieutenants. He saluted and marched off to another group of Crusaders. Sunset looked around, but Roseluck wasn't among them.

Sweetie Belle didn't need to ask, she knew her friend well enough to read her thoughts. "Roseluck was ordered back to floor sixteen after she led us to you. She might be a Crusader, but it's still not safe up here for her."

She was right to do so. Sunset tried to send her off too, but she had hoped to at least thank Roseluck before they parted. It was nice to get to know someone new, especially after week of endlessly tracking a magical anomaly. That reminded her.

Sunset opened her inventory. "Sweetie Belle, what's your sword skill right now?" she asked.

Sweetie raised a brow, answering curiously. "A little higher than Pinkie Pie's, but I'm still fifty points or so below Rainbow Dash." She looked at Sunset's screen, trying to read what she was doing.

"Perfect." Sunset opened a trade window with Sweetie Belle from her menu and placed the katana on the list. Soul Rend was its item name. "I'm not a fan of these kinds of swords, but I think it suits you better than that boss drop you're using."

Sweetie Belle accepted the trade without hesitation. "Am I right in guessing that this was the mystery interference?"

"One hundred percent," Sunset answered gravely. "Whatever, or whoever, is screwing with the game is crazy good with magic. Better than even Twilight."

Sweetie Belle worked out the next part. "Not a rouge admin, like we thought then. Another beast hell-bent on destruction from Equestria?" She paused. "No offense," she added.

Sunset ignored the last part, agreeing wholly with Sweetie Belle. "Wouldn't surprise me in the least. PAO doesn't exactly hide that it's Equestria in game form. Any one else exiled through the portal would definitely be drawn in. And if they were exiled.... I don't want to know their ultimatum."

Sweetie Belle shared Sunset's worries. Magic from Equestria had proven itself to be a force to be reckoned with, time and time again.

But so have the Crusaders. As Sunset looked around, dozens of players darted around the caves, setting up campfires and barricades, or clearing out the monsters that were spawning in the deeper areas. The little guild the CMC started had grown into the greatest entity in the game. They set the standard for law, they led every dungeon raid and killed almost every boss. Even without powers from Equestria, they've proven the worth of friendship. PAO's warden had better beware.

Sunset turned to Sweetie Belle, and the pride and admiration in her eyes were unmistakable. Not only did her friends pull through with her, but they spread their influence to anyone willing to fight.

"Looks like you don't need my help here," Sunset said, heading toward the cave's exit.

"Going back to the front lines?" Sweetie Belle asked, following her out. "The others miss you. They want you to be there the next time we clear a floor."

Sunset smiled. "Oh I'll be there alright, but not before I take a day or two off. The stress has gotten to me, I feel like my body aching even without debuffs."

Sweetie Belle opened her map of floor fourteen. "Place on this floor that you could check out. Really good masseuse who could fix your aches."

"Maybe I'll swing by, along with a few sights I never got to appreciate in the lower floors." Sunset unrolled a teleport scroll from her inventory. "See you soon Sweetie."

Sweetie Belle looked at her pointedly. "Don't lie, you hardly show your face in the Clearing Group."

Sunset shrugged and put up a hoof in defense before the scroll turned her to light, whisking her away.

Sweetie smiled to herself as she walked back to the caves. At least she got the last word before Sunset rocketed to another adventure. She always seemed to get the fun. Sweetie Belle swiped open her menu and checked her mailbox. Reports from officers, as always. She always seemed to get all the paperwork.