"The copies of this game are being given away in contests throughout the country. A lucky five-thousand players will receive the game should they be chosen in a raffle." The news reporter says through the TV. I look down at the disk in my hand, wondering why exactly I agreed to play this. Probably because my little sister begged me to.
Alice is thirteen, and the most amazing person I have ever met, and I am lucky to call her my sister. We both got into virtual reality games about a year ago, and just couldn't put them down. So, when a new game was launched that is based off the show My Little Pony, she just couldn't resist entering some radio contest that promised two copies to the winner. Luck must have been on her side that day, because she was the chosen winner. That was four days ago, and the disks just came in the mail today.
Five-thousand other players will also be receiving their copies of the game as well. The servers will all come on at the same time to ensure everybody can join simultaneously. That should be in about two minutes from now.
My sister is in her room, just dying to finally play the game. While I was never really a fan of that pony show she was addicted to, I'm willing to give this new game a shot if it'll make her happy.
I roll my chair across the room towards me computer where my NerveGear headset is hooked up. I open up the CD tray and insert the game disk, watching it disappear into the computer. I jump out of my chair and land on my bed, rolling over onto my back. I grab my headset and slip it over my face, ready to get into the game. I look over at my clock, seeing that the servers should be online in a matter of seconds.
I look up at the ceiling, smiling as I close my eyes. Just another second or two... Okay! Servers are now online! I get my body into a comfortable position, and close my eyes.
"Link... start!" I say loudly as my vision quickly goes from darkness to a white light. I watch as colors flash by me until a login screen appears. I log into my NerveGear account, and proceed to the next area.
I open my eyes, and see a character creation screen in front of me. I quickly create an avatar that looks just like me, and hit enter. The character opens his eyes, and I feel a quick rush of wind around me before I am literally placed in his body. Another white light overtakes my vision, and I feel like I'm falling.
The wind stops, and I risk opening my eyes. Everything is blurry at first, but once it clears, I look down at my hands. They look slightly less detailed than normal, but that's to be expected from a world based around a cartoon. I look around me and see I am in a small town, probably the tutorial level. I wonder if this world works like other VR games?
I swipe my finger downwards, and an interaction menu pops up. A smile creeps across my face as I start scrolling through all the new options until I find the friends list. Good think this carries over from other games. My sister is still offline, so I guess she hasn't logged in yet. Might as well learn about this game while I wait for her.
I open my inventory, and the only thing there is a book labeled, "Guide to Equestria Online". I equip the item, and it appears in front of me from a flash of light. I catch it in my hands, smiling at the amazingness that is virtual reality. You can do pretty much anything you can dream of in a game like this, including making a booklet appear out of nowhere. I start walking as I begin to read the booklet.
"Welcome to Equestria Online! If you are reading this, then you are probably a new player, so allow us to help you get started! There aren't many rules to this game, so this shouldn't take too long." I lean up against a wall as I continue to read on. The rules are pretty general, so I start to skip over them to get to the part about how to actually play the game. Apparently all ponies are programmed with an advanced AI system that allows them to think just like we do. That part really seemed interesting to me, as it means that I can really interact with the world around me.
Once I finish reading the small booklet, I send it back to my inventory before looking at the next interaction icon in my menu, the map. A large square appears in front of me, and it shows every corner of this new world. In the dead center is some place called Canterlot, but that isn't what catches my eye. South-west of Canterlot is some town named Ponyville, but for some reason it is highlighted in red. Maybe it has to be unlocked or something? This game is an MMORPG which means we can level up and receive quests from different characters in game. That also means there are weapons and enemies in this world, which leads me to my next task of getting myself armed.
I close my interaction menu and begin walking into town. There aren't any ponies here, so this really must be just the starting town for new players. In my vision, in the top left corner is a stat bar showing my name, health, level, and amount of money. Right now, I have a thousand bits, which I guess is this game's currency. Seeing as this is the beginning town, the prices here should be pretty low, so I should be able to equip myself with some pretty decent weapons.
"Hey, where can I buy a weapon?" I ask as I approach a cloaked stranger. The figure turns around an remove's their hood revealing a blonde haired girl. She looks at me with a smile before looking down the street we are currently standing on.
"Weapon? Have you not been exploring dude? The servers have been up for like two hours, what have you been doing all this time?" She says with a curious, yet friendly expression. She looks about my age, maybe a year younger at the most, which makes it easy to talk to her.
"Oh, uh..." I say, somewhat embarrassed that I had wasted so much time reading the guide booklet. "I was just reading the guide and checking out the inventory system. It's pretty different from the last game I played, so I figured I would get accustomed to it." I say with a nervous laugh as I rub the back of my head.
"Here, let me show you." She says with a chuckle. We start walking down the street, and I notice just how many players are here. Damn, that's a lot of dedicated fans. I'm probably the only one here who doesn't know shit about the show or the world around me that is apparently called Equestria. "So, what's your name?" She asks me as I snap back to my senses.
"Oh, I'm Hunter, sixteen years old as of last week." I say as I hold out a hand to her.
"I'm Penny, nice to meet you Hunter! I'm fourteen, and I'll turn fifteen in about five months." She says as she shakes my hand. I smile and look at her a little closer. She reminds me a lot of my sister, which makes me that much more friendlier towards her. I'm normally a pretty friendly guy to people I like, but I can be a real asshole if I feel like it. Better not show that side of me around here I suppose.
"You should probably buy some new clothes too, those beginner clothes are just so... bleh." She says as she points to my body. I look down for the first time to see ragged brown clothes that looked like they were made out of potato sacks. I laugh at myself for not noticing that earlier, and look back up at Penny. She has a red cloak on, and white pants that really seem to suit her well. She also has a small dagger on her belt, which means my assumptions of weapons and enemies were correct.
"Yeah, I should. The rags are ugly as crap!" We both start laughing as we approach what looks like the weapons shop. On the front is a sign with a sword and a shield on it, so I guess this is it. I open the door, and lay my eyes on the first pony I've ever seen. It makes sense that a pony would be running the store since no players were even near being skilled enough to open their own shops. There's also the fact that the only humans in the game are players, so there couldn't be an NPC human running a shop.
The pony is black with hair that ranges from dark grey to a light silver in different streaks across his head. He smiles at us from behind a counter as we enter, and Penny waves to him.
"Hey Smith! Me again!" She says with a smile. I guess she has already been in here. She leans over to whisper something to me. "Never tell a pony that we are in a game, they'll just freak out and deny it. The AI system here is extremely well coded, and they actually believe that they are real." She says into my ear. Good thing she told me that before I went around telling every pony I see that they aren't real.
"Ah, Penny! Good to see you again dear." The pony says with a rough voice. He sounds pretty old and experienced, which makes me feel more comfortable buying weapons from him. I only want the best money can buy, and he sounds like he'd know what he's doing. "Who is this fine lad?" Do they all talk like they just came from old timey England?
"This is Hunter, and he needs a weapon. Got anything for him?"
"That depends, what kind of weapon do you prefer boy?" The pony asks me from across the room. I start walking around the room, looking at all the weapons on display. The only other game that I've played with weapons like these didn't last that long. I ended up quitting because I got bored pretty fast. I was more into shooter games, so I was more used to guns than swords and knives. I spot something that catches my eye, and run over to a glass case. Inside are few pistols, each ranging in price ranges. I had no idea a world like this would have guns! My spirits drop however when I see the prices. The cheapest one is a whopping hundred thousand bits, a little too expensive for my taste.
I sigh as I back away from the case, deciding to settle with a melee weapon. The best deal I find is a one-handed sword for eight hundred bits. If a sword is that cheap, and a gun is so expensive, they must be rare items which means not many people will have them. I make a mental note to come back and get one as soon as I have the money to do so.
Penny and I walk out of the store, new sword on my back in it's sheath. The next thing I need to do is find a clothing shop, so Penny starts leading me farther down the shopping district.
"Here, this will help you keep track of me better in case we get separated." She says as she opens her interaction menu. She uses her finger to scroll through the projection in front of her until she finds the screen she was looking for. Suddenly, an alert pops up in front of me asking if I'd like the accept a friend request from Penny. I smile and press the check-mark icon, and the alert vanishes as quickly as it came. "There, now you can just use your map to find me if you get lost." I open my map to make sure, and sure enough, her name appears on the town where we are currently located. Just south of where we are is Alice's name, indicating that she must have logged in. I should probably go find her soon, but for now, I really need those clothes.
"Okay, here we are." Penny says as we approach a small building. It looks a lot smaller than the weapons shop, but it feels more homey inside with a fireplace in the corner warming up the room. A pink pony with a blonde mane walks out from the back to greet us, and shows us the different outfits available in the male section. I have two-hundred bits left, so I hope that will buy me something nice.
I end up with a black t-shirt and blue jeans, which seems really simple and out of place here, but I like it, and Penny seems to feel the same way. Now I look like a normal citizen, in the real world anyway, with a sword on his back. Other players around us are dressed in what looks like medieval clothing, but I just don't see the appeal in it. Even Penny has that whole cloak thing going on.
"You finally look like a real player now." Penny says with a smile.
"Thanks for showing me around Penny, it was fun! We should definitely do some leveling or exploring later." I say as I return the smile. "I probably should have gone to see my sister a while ago... Ah well, we can always play later, but right now I have a butt load of homework." I say as I sigh and look up at the realistic looking sky.
"Oh, alright, I'll see you later then Hunter!" She says as she starts to walk away with a wave. I wave back before opening up my interaction menu to log out. My expression quickly goes from happiness to confusion.
"Huh, that can't be right..." I mumble rather loudly. Penny must have heard me because she stops walking and turns back towards me.
"What do you mean? Need some help with something?" She asks as she approaches me again.
"No, I can't find the logout button. It isn't under the player menu..." I say as I begin to panic. "Alright, shouldn't freak out, probably just a bug right? I mean the servers only went up like three hours ago right?" Penny opens her own menu, looking for the logout button. She tries and tries, but has no luck on finding the button either.
"This is weird... It can't just be some bug, people would have reported it already and it would have been fixed... What's going on?" She says as she closes her menu.
I cover my ears as an alarm blares through the city. Suddenly, Penny vanishes in a flash of light, and a couple of seconds later I feel the sensation of being teleported. I open my eyes to see we are back in the big open area where we first spawned in. There are thousands of people here, and it seems to be every player online was brought here through a force teleportation.
"What the hell?" I mumble as I look around us. Another alarm goes off, and my eyes shoot towards the sky. The entire sky starts to turn a blood red, and everyone in the square starts to panic. Some people try to run away, but fail once they run into an invisible barrier surrounding us. I look down at Penny who looks as equally confused as I am.
"Silence!" A voice that sounds like it was blasted over loud speakers yells out. Every player goes dead silent, and our attention turns towards a large figure floating above us.
"Now, first of all, I must say welcome to Equestria Online! Players, you may haven noticed by now, that the logout button is not present in the interaction menu. This is not a bug, as it was intentional for the game. It is impossible to logout. If somebody in the real world tries to remove your NerveGear helmets, your brain will be destroyed by microwaves transmitted from the helmet." The figure says from above us. Everyone starts to freak out, and even Penny looks like she's about to lose it.
"We're... stuck here?" She whispers to nobody in particular. What the hell is happening?
"Now, this game is different from other MMORPGs, as the same rules do not apply here. Normally, if a player were to die in game, they would respawn at the nearest town. However, that rule does not apply to Equestria Online. If a player dies here, the NerveGear will kill them in the real world as well." Everyone around us gasps and starts screaming at the cloaked figure.
"Now, allow me to tell you how you might leave this game. There is only one way to do so, and that is to simply find the exit. Of course, this won't be easy as this world is essentially the size of Australia, but I believe that it is possible. After all, you are all gamers, this is what you're good at! Before I go, there is one more thing I'd like to give you. If everyone could check they're inventories, they will find a gift from me."
I swipe my finger down and the inventory menu appears in front of me. The only three things there are the guide booklet, my sword, and a... mirror? I equip the mirror, and it appears in front of me. I catch it before it can fall, and look at my reflection. Suddenly, my entire body starts to glow, and I have to close my eyes to protect them from the light. When I open them, I look back at the mirror and gasp. I don't see my avatar looking back at me, I see myself, the REAL me. Not much changed due to the fact that I made my character to look just like me, but I can definitely see some differences. My brown hair is shorter now, and my facial hair is now gone, having shaved earlier today. My body still feels the same, toned and somewhat athletic. I played basketball back in real life, so I was pretty fit.
"Hunter?" I hear a voice behind me. I turn to see a girl with light brown hair, and she looks a little taller than... Penny?
"Penny is that you?" I say as I walk towards her. I place a hand on her shoulder, and she starts to cry. Not from sadness, but fear.
"Y-Yeah, the real me. Hunter, I don't know what's happening, why are we trapped here!?" I go to answer, but the figure above us speaks up again.
"I think your real appearances really define who you are. Why would you want to cover up your true identity? It isn't like you have anything to hide right? Now then, if you all don't mind, I have some business to attend to. Goodbye for now, and good luck players!" He cloaked figure laughs his evil laugh before vanishing into nothing. The sky becomes it's natural blue again, and everyone starts to run out of the square now that the barriers are gone.
I have to get out of here, I need to find my sister!
Getting Started ( Part 1/14 )
Why must some things happen in life? Maybe because something good will come from it. Or maybe it is because somebody had evil intentions that just so happened to get in the way of innocent people's lives.
It has been two days since Equestia Online launched, and already eighty-seven people have died. Most of the fatalities were from parents or friends removing the NerveGear by force, but others were killed just outside the walls of the starting town. This town became know as SafeHaven, and pretty much everyone is afraid to venture farther than the walls.
Then there's me. I had been a skilled gunman both in real life and in other virtual reality games. I had stamina and strength on my side, but what I lacked was experience with a melee weapon. Another thing I had going for me was bravery. Now, don't get me wrong, I'm just as terrified by all of this as every other player. However, I know when, and when not to show my fear, and now is definitely not a time to be panicking.
That is why I am one of the few people who dares leave the safety of the starting town. I need to find answers, not only for me, but for my sister, Penny, and every other player in here.
I forced my sister to stay in town with Penny, as I refuse to let anything happen to her. I can take care of myself, but I don't really think she'd make it out there, even with me by her side.
Today is the day that I finally set out to begin my journey to find the exit to this game. I'd heard some rumors about that Ponyville town, and why it was highlighted in red. Apparently, you need to be a certain level to enter the town, which doesn't make sense to me. My sister said something about elements of harmony or some shit like that living there, but all I really got out of it was the fact that apparently there are some really powerful NPCs in the village.
I take a deep breath as I take a look at the open field in front of the giant arch that leads to the outside world. Anybody that is nearby seems to be staring and whispering about me, probably calling me insane. Doesn't really matter to me, I already know this is practically suicide going out alone, but I need answers, and I'm not going to sit around waiting for somebody else to find them for me.
I unsheathe my sword, holding it out in front of me. I watch my reflection in blade return my cocky smile as I slowly take my first steps into the outside world. Here goes nothing.
All there is so far is a forest to my left, open field to my right, and a stone path directly in front of me. It only makes sense that I should follow the path. Most of the people that have ventured out here haven't returned. I'd say a good hundred have traveled out here, which is more than the amount confirmed dead. That means there are some other players out here, and if they're still alive, it means they are strong.
I swing my sword around in a circle by the handle, making sure not to accidentally hit myself with it. Like most of the players, I'm still level one because I have yet to kill an enemy. It doesn't really help me feel any better knowing that every enemy in the game is unknown to me at the moment. I have no idea what kind of forces I'm up against, so I really need to stay on edge.
As I continue down the path, the city of SafeHaven disappears in the distance behind me. Ponyville is a good fifty miles east of where I am now, so I'm going to be out here for quite some time. Hopefully I'll be able to enter the village once I reach it.
"Ah, oh crap." I mumble to myself as I come to a stop, almost stumbling backwards. In front of me is a wolf with gleaming red eyes. I ready my sword in front of me, glancing at my HP bar in the top left corner of my vision. Only a hundred health points, I can't afford to take many hits.
The wolf growls at me before getting into a pouncing stance. I level my sword in front of my face, ready to attack at a moments notice. Dodging bullets wasn't too difficult in those military games I played, how hard could this be?
The wolf lunges at me at a shockingly fast speed, and it feels like time slows down around me. I roll to my left, just barely dodging the creature. I come to a stop on one knee, using my hand on the ground to balance myself. I look up at the wolf, sword pointing behind me in one hand. I break into a full sprint towards it, letting out a yell probably caused by adrenaline. Is there adrenaline in video games?
I flash forward, the world around me becoming a blur. That was way too fast for me to have moved on my own, what just happened? I turn around and see the wolf lying on the ground, a large gash on it's side. Holy shit, this game is so realistic. In most games, damage is indicated with a glowing red line or bullet hole, depending on the game. For example, in my favorite gun game, if you get shot, the bullet won't cause your avatar to bleed, but instead will leaving a glowing red hole where you got shot. However, this game seems to be much different. Realistic looking blood oozes out from the gash, causing me to almost gag. I'm not really scared of blood, but seeing this much is a enough to make anybody gag.
The wolf's HP reaches zero, and I watch it vanish in a flash of light. A small projection appears in front of me, telling me how much EXP I've earned, along with some money and items. What catches my eye however, is a few words at the top of the menu. It says I improved my Sword Dash skill. That must have been what I used when I moved that fast. The kill was enough to bring me up to level two, and I got fifteen bits. Nice, I see EXP isn't too hard to get, though that is probably because going from level one to two probably takes little to no work to accomplish.
"Fuckin' A." I say with a cocky smirk as I close the rewards menu and sheathe my sword. I look up at the sky, glad to see that I just might stand a chance out here after all.
After about another hour or so of walking, the sun begins to set over the horizon. With the sun dropping, the temperature begins to do the same thing. I equip a black coat that I had bought, and continue walking. The scenery has hardly changed at all with the field still to my right, and the forest to my left.
I'm about to sit down on a stone to rest when I hear a scream coming from the forest. It didn't sound like a cry for help, but more of a scream of surprise. I break into a full sprint into the forest, quickly becoming lost in the giant grove of trees.
I slide to a stop as I see another player with three wolves around them. These wolves are a bit bigger than the one I face earlier, but I think I can handle them. I hold my sword out towards the wolves, and it begins to glow with a bluish aura. I wonder what that mea-
My thoughts are quickly cut off as my body flies forward at an incredible speed. I slash the sword at one of the wolves, purely from reaction, and cut the thing cleanly in half. The body vanishes into a flash of light, and another wolf turns to face me. The other one faces the other player, who is wearing a white hood over their head. They pull out a dagger and get into a fighting stance, ready to attack.
We both lunge forward at the same time, slicing large gashes down the sides of the two wolves. We both finish on one knee, supporting our bodies with a hand on the ground, sword and dagger in the other hand behind us. I smirk and stand up as I check the reward menu. Already close to level three. Nice.
"I didn't need your help you know." The player behind me says with an obviously female voice. She flips her hood off, revealing long blonde hair, and a serious face.
"I heard the screaming, and I thought to myself, why not help the little girl out?" I say as I cross my arms.
"I am NOT a little girl!" She says with an annoyed tone. "I'm sixteen, thank you very much."
"Ah, what a coincidence. I'm Hunter." I hold out my hand to her as I stand a foot or two in front of her. She hesitates at first, probably still not too fond of me. I'm used to people usually thinking I'm a sarcastic asshole, so I'm used to it.
"Kimberly, but call me Kim, I hate that full name." She says as she shakes my hand. She seems rather strong actually for her build. I remember now that in-game strength has nothing to do with strength in the real world. Let me explain. In the game, you start out at level one, and you have the same physical abilities of an average human. As you level up, those abilities increase slightly with each level. So, lets say a level one player can run about five miles an hour, maybe ten if he sprints. A level fifty player would be able to run at least forty miles an hour, maybe even faster at a full sprint. Thank you guide book for teaching me that.
"So, what brings you to the middle of this forest?" I ask as I stick my sword in the ground and lean on the top of the handle. She sighs and rubs her face, probably wanting to get back to whatever it was she was doing.
"I'm trying to get to Ponyville, y'know, where the mane six live?" She says as she looks up at the sky through the trees.
"Main six? What are those?" I ask curiously.
"W-What!? What kind of fan are you if you don't know who the mane six are!? Are you crazy?" She says as she gets right into my face. Gees, girl got attitude, am I right?
"That's the thing, I never really watched the show that this game is based off of." I say as I hold up my hands in defense.
"Then why the hell would you even be here? A guy like you outta be at home jerki-"
"Hey! Stop that. I'm here because my sister wanted me to play this damned game with her. I didn't know I'd be fighting for my life in here!" I explain as I pull my sword back out of the ground.
"Oh... Where is she?" She asks as she spins around slowly, looking around the forest."
"Back in SafeHaven..." I say as I sigh and look up at the sky. It is getting pretty dark, I should probably start a camp soon.
"SafeHaven? What's that?" She asks as she looks back at me.
"Um, the starting town? Gees how long have you been out here?"
"Since that announcement was made that we were stuck here. I left immediately after that. I guess they decided to call the town SafeHaven, huh?"
"Yeah, that started yesterday, so its no wonder you hadn't heard about it... Hey, you said you were going to Ponyville right?"
"Yeah? Why?"
"I'm heading there too. I heard there was something called the elements of harmony, or something like that, and that they were really strong. Maybe we should start a party."
"Like, you... teaming up with me? Oh please, what level are you Hunter?"
"Um... I'm level two, but I'm about to level up again, and I'm pretty skilled. I've played other VR games before, and I'm pretty athletic already."
"Level two huh... Fine, but only because I feel bad for you, and you would probably end up getting yourself killed out here. Consider me your body guard." She says as she puts her dagger away. She brings up her interaction menu, and invites me to a party. I accept, and her name, level, and HP bar appear in the top left of my vision, right below my stats.
"Whoa, you're level eight!? Kim, its only two days, how did you do this already?"
"I've been out here this whole time, remember? I've just been grinding out XP by killing enemies out here in the forest as I slowly make my way towards Ponyville."
"Well, I still think I'm better than you." I say with a smirk as I close my eyes. Probably shouldn't have done that, because it kept me from seeing her fist coming at me and making contacts with my shoulder. "Hey, not cool." I say as I rub my shoulder.
"You aren't better than me." She says with a cocky smirk. "Now c'mon, we need to get a fire started."
We walk back out onto the pathway, and continue to the right, into the open field area. Kim sits down and starts putting some materials down to make a fire. I stand guard, sword at the ready in case any enemies or hostile players come around. This world isn't as safe as it appears, so we need to be on high alert at all times.
"Alright, I'm done." Kim says with a sigh as I turn around. I see a blazing fire before her, and smile as I sit down on the other side of it.
"Looks great. You really know your survival skills Kim, I'm impressed." I say as I open my inventory menu and put away my sword. It disappears in a flash of light, and gets stored in my avatar's inventory.
"Thanks, my brother taught me..." She says with a sigh as she pokes a stick at the fire. We sit in silence for a moment, the only sound being that of the fire crackling and some crickets chirping in the distance.
"You okay?" I ask after a minute or two goes by without either of us saying anything.
"Yeah, its just... My brother, I'm worried about him. He's still back in... SafeHaven was it? Anyway, hes still there. I forced him to stay because I didn't need him getting killed. He's eighteen, but he is one of the weakest guys I know. He knows survival skills sure, but he wouldn't last ten seconds in a fight."
"I know what you mean. I left me sister behind. She is only thirteen, there is no way I'm letting her go out here when she could potentially die in the real world."
"I know how you feel there... Do you really think we'll make it out of here Hunter?"
"What? Of course. There has to be a way out right? I've noticed a lot of things about this game, and one of them is that it is fair. The entire game is balanced and fair for every player in almost every way. There has to be a way out, that guy said there was."
"Why should we trust that guy? He could be lying for all we know. We don't even know who he is."
"I think he's the creator of this world. And we should trust him, because if we don't, we'll never get anywhere. I'd rather trust him and be wrong, than to not trust him and be wrong. In the end, I guess I'm just looking for something that'll give me hope, y'know? Something to hold onto to keep me from going insane in here."
"I guess that makes sense. Anyway, we should probably get some rest, we have a long journey ahead of us tomorrow." Kim says as she lays down on the grass. "You take first watch Hunter, wake me up in about two hours and I'll take over."
"Alright, well sleep tight I guess." I say as I stand up. I unsheathe my sword and hold it over my shoulder as I walk a couple of feet away from the fire. I stare off into the night sky, watching for any enemies or other players. You can never be too safe while sleeping out in the open like this. PVP is on too, meaning that players could potentially kill other players. If that happens, the indicator above their head will turn orange, marking them as a criminal. My indicator, as well as Kim's, is green, meaning we are normal players who haven't committed any crimes. Good to know she probably won't try to kill me in my sleep. I keep watch as the cool night wind blows gently against me.
"Wake up kid, time to get moving." Kim says as she kicks me in the shoulder. I grunt and lift myself up, stretching as I do so. The sun is up now, but just barely. My HUD lets me know that it is only six in the morning.
"Who are you calling kid? I'm sixteen too y'know." I say as I unsheathe my sword again.
"Whatever, we need to get moving. I already put out the fire. Here eat this while you walk." Kim opens her inventory menu and equips our breakfast. Two bread rolls appear in front of her, and she tosses one to me. I look down at it before taking a bite. It is pretty flavorless, but I don't complain. Never look a gift horse in the mouth. Did I really just say that while in this world? Damn it, six in the morning and my brain is already making up crappy puns.
"So, how much farther do we have?" I ask as we begin walking. I open up my map, but Kim answers before I can really check the distance.
"Well, it is about fifty miles from SafeHaven to Ponyville, and we're about twenty miles out, so I'd say thirty miles, give or take. We should be there by tomorrow around noon if we hurry.
"Hey, look at this. There's like a small town or something about ten miles from here. Its on the same path we're on, and we should probably stock up on more supplies, think we should stop there as we pass by?" I ask as I point to my map in front of me. Kim leans over to look at it, and nods in confirmation once she sees the small town on the map.
"Yeah, I could use some more food, maybe even some potions." She says casually as she spins her dagger around in her hand.
"Potions huh? I didn't know this game had that kind of mechanic."
"Yeah, like healing, speed, or strength potions. There's also magic, but I hear that it is pretty tough to learn, and that using weapons is a hell of a lot easier."
"Magic huh? Maybe if we say abra cadabra, the exit will appear in front of us." I say with a smirk as I hold a hand out and wave my fingers around for effect. Kim, to my surprise, actually giggles a little before recomposing herself.
"I wish it was that easy. I think we're in this for the long haul though. I don't really see us getting out of here anytime soon. This world is the size of Australia, Hunter, and there is only one ocean. Do you know how long it would take to explore all of that, even with five thousand of us?"
"That's why I wanted to get to Ponyville. I thought we could find some answers there. And maybe we will, ya never know." I say as I elbow Kim on the shoulder. She doesn't expect it, and she almost falls over from the sudden impact. She grunts and returns the gesture, causing us to both laugh softly.
"It is kinda nice not having to travel alone." Kim says quietly.
"Ah, the mighty anti-social Kim made a friend huh? I knew you'd come around." I say with a smirk.
"W-What? No way dude! I still don't like you, and I never will." She says as she crosses her arms. "Besides, I'm a solo player, which means I don't team up with other people."
"Then what do you call this little party, huh? I'm a solo player too, but last I checked, being in a party didn't count as going solo."
"I'm only in this party to protect your sorry ass, and to get to Ponyville faster. I hate to admit it, but you can kinda fight. I wouldn't say you're very good, but you could probably hold your own against a small child."
"Oh wow, that one hurt." I say as I laugh lightly. We continue to walk in silence for a good hour or two, just taking in the unchanging scenery around us. It would be really nice if we could travel faster than this, my legs are starting to get sore.
"We're taking a break. Drink up." Kim says as she comes to a stop and tosses me a canteen full of water. Good thing she was well supplied, because I didn't think this far ahead.
"There has to be a faster way to travel around than walking, right?" I ask as I toss the canteen back to her.
"Well, if we had speed potions we could run the seven miles left to that little town you saw on the map. If we sprinted now, we could make it there within the hour, but it would probably drain all of our stamina."
"Can you really sprint for seven miles straight?"
"Well yeah, it may look real, but we're still in a video game dumbass. It'll drain our stamina bar, but I think we'll be able to make it. It'll definitely cut down the time to get there greatly."
"I say we do it then." I say as I stand up. I wipe away the excess water from my lips and walk over to Kim. We stare down the path before looking at each other and nodding. We break into a full sprint, hopes of getting to the next town filling us with adrenaline.
A good hour later, and the town begins to grow closer to us. It is just at the bottom of this hill, and then about five hundred feet past that. Both of our stamina bars are in the red, meaning that we'll have to rest here for quite a while to let them refill. We huff and puff, tired as all hell as we approach the edge of the town.
We come to a stop just on the edge of the village, and I fall to my knees gasping for air as my stamina hits zero. Kim has a tiny bit left, having leveled up more than me. She doesn't collapse like I do, but she is very obviously tired.
"Well... that was... something." She huffs out as she puts her hands above her head.
"Y-Yeah, a real workout. Too bad... that our real bodies... aren't affected by this." I say as I slowly stand up. My legs feel like jello, and my chest burns like a raging fire.
"Alright, lets see just what this village is." Kim says as we slowly walk into the parameters of the small village. Before we can even get very far, we see two other players with their swords out. I'm about to run out to them, maybe get them to join our party, but Kim holds me back as they come into view a little better. They have their swords pointed at two ponies who look terrified. I remember reading that NPCs in this game don't respawn after being killed, and since they believe they are just as real as we are, it would essentially be murder to kill one. Kim mumbles something to me as we hide behind the side of a building.
"Looks like we aren't alone."
