Game

Is that all?

Yea, pretty much.

With Phoenix, her new roommate, asleep on her bed, Vivian was forced to sleep on her couch until that morning. With nothing better to do, she decided to chat with Roland, since he was the only one online at the time. Apparently, he had a tough time sleeping and got up extra early. As for herself, Vivian had a hard time because these fucking birds didn't know how to shut the fuck up at night.

As a result, Roland told her almost everything. The only part he left out was about his new partner: Ash.

I told you not to bother with him.

So you did, but I got the info I wanted. We now know three things:

Everyone's alive and kicking,

we know everyone had at least one ally,

and we know where everyone is.

We do?

Yea, we do. I'm in the Iron Mountains,

you're in the Gryphon kingdom,

Don is in Equestria, the pony kingdom,

And I would assume Mitsuru is near Don, since she told me she was meeting with the princess, and her guard was a unicorn.

And for allies, I have Phoenix,

you have Ash,

Mitsuru has the princess she's meeting,

And Don has...?

The Game Master.

Sorry to be a downer, but that hardly seems like an ally to me.

Actually, Don's the safest right now because he has the GM watching over him.

The GM seems to enjoy this "game", so I doubt he'd want Don to die right off the bat.

I'd also bet dollars to doughnuts that the GM likes Don,

since it was him the GM approached and not us.

Implying Don isn't the easiest out of the four of us to manipulate.

That may be the case, but my point still stands.

Vivian slightly jumped when a pair of bird arms wrapped themselves suddenly around her neck and a floof of feathers pressed up against the back of her head. "Thanks again for saving my stupid ass last night," her roomie said tiredly.

"Yea, yea," she waved him off. "Now get back in the kitchen and make me some fucking bacon! I'm fucking starving, and we're going on a road trip, remember?! Bad idea to do that on an empty stomach!" Her new friend chuckled and wandered off into the kitchen as Vivian resumed her conversation.

"Wait, you remember how use the convection oven, right?!" she called out towards the kitchen.

"Yes, M'lady!" he joked back.

Looks like bird-brain finally woke up.

He said it was a five day travel to get here, right?

Yea, we were going to leave now.

Don't.

Ask him if Equestia is closer than here.

Yea, gotcha.

"Hey! My bro Roland wants to know if Equestia's closer!"

"Not necessarily!" Phoenix replied. Vivian soon heard the convection oven door close. "But it's faster to get their! Two days faster by train!"

It is. By a whole 2 days.

"Wait, you guys have fucking trains?!" Vivian exclaimed, confused as all hell.

"Yea! A few towns over, there's a train that can take us straight into the equestrian line!"

Now he's saying that a town near here has a train station that connects to the Equestian line.

Okay then. I'm going to come to you then.

Uh, why?

I thought you said that Ash was against leaving the mountains?

I did and she is, but we need to get to Equestria as fast as humanly possible.

Because of Don and Mitsuru?

Exactly.

I don't like saying this, but they're not equipped to fight right now.

And you are?

I have a fire-breathing dragon.

Fair enough.

I hope those two are okay.

Almost as if someone had planned it, as she hit the send button, Vivian's phone buzzed. Going back to the contacts screen, she saw that Mitsuru was not only online, but had sent her a message!

Are you and sweet roll dating yet? ;)

Vivian quickly switched chats.

Oh shit! Mitsuru's online and messaging me!

Alright, say hi for me. I'm going to prepare to leave.

Hey, cutie-pie! Na, he ain't my type of dude, even though he's cool.

How did the princess treat you?

Well! =) I guess Roland told you, huh?

She was super nice! We were both really scared of each other, but then she tripped and we both had a good laugh about it!

Good to hear!

If she were rude... I'd have to show her my 12-gauge.

No no! Don't be mean! She was nice, and even answered sweet roll's questions!

?

Oh, yea... I forgot to message him while he was still online...

I think I'm going to be busy soon, so could you message me for him when he isn't busy?

I always got my girl's back. You can count on me!

Okay! =)

I'm in a place called the Crystal Empire! It's really cool: everything's made of crystal! And the main population is made out of "crystal ponies"!

Like, horses made out of rock?

I think it's just a name.

Oh, I need to go now. Cadence wants me to talk to some ponies about going to a place called Canterlot. I'll be meeting the other princesses as well!

The other princesses? Like pony princesses?

Yea...?

Okay, Mitsuru. Two things:

1. Be safe please? Roland told me about some wicked-nasty monsters that the princesses you're going to meet had trouble fighting, and with all of them in the same place, it might attract them.

2. Don might be there. I think Canterlot is in a place called Equestria.

Really?! I'll be sure to look for him!

Be CAREFUL around Don, Okay? Sweet roll told me that the GM is lurking around him.

Oh no! =(

It's fine as long as you don't go looking for him. Be safe, huh?

I will! ;)

Thanks, Vi.

And with that, Mitsuru went offline just in time for Phoenix to place two plates on the dinning room table. "You hungry or what?" he called. Locking her phone, Vivian stretched her arms in the air before getting up and walking over to the table, sitting down in front of one of the plates. "You ready to go after this?" her partner asked as he sat down on the opposite side of Vivian with his own plate of bacon.

Vivian looked at the gryphon. He was as big as a bicycle, with ruffled, dark grey feathers on the top half of his front, and a chest of white feathers. His lion half was... a lion, with dark yellow fur and a tail with a brown fluff-ball at the end. Two things caught her eye immediately as she looked at him: his bright yellow eyes, and the sullied bandages that wrapped around his midsection and his neck.

"There's been a change in plans," Vivian announced, "we're waiting for him to get his ass over here. Which is good, considering your not leaving this house until your wounds heal." The wolf took a bite out of one of the strips of bacon. It wasn't burnt, but it was overcooked. Better than nothing, she supposed. "By the way, I need to change your bandages."

Phoenix slammed one of his yellow talons on the table, frustration overtaking his expression. "You can't be serious! From what you told me about him—!"

"I don't give a fuck what you think!" Vivian said, slamming her own fist down on the table. "He'll make it! I know he can! He's gotten us out of a lot worse!"

"And if he runs into a dragon?! What then?!" Phoenix countered. "You can't fight a beast with asthma!"

"He doesn't need to fight," the wolf growled, "he's smart enough to deal with it on his own."

"And if he isn't?"

"Then someone else is talking with me over his phone," Vivian smirked. "He's already run into a dragon. A yellow one named Ash."

Phoenix looked away, biting his tongue in defeat. Soon, the two resumed eating the meal that was before them. "Sorry," Phoenix murmured after taking a bite. "I was looking forwards to leaving..."

"Yea," Vivian sympathized, "don't worry about it." She took another bite out of the bacon in her hand. "It's easier for him to find us anyways, with us right next to a town and all. I'm worried that his new gal pal is going to stir up some trouble..."

"It's a female?" Phoenix mused. "That's unusual. They don't like to approach males that often. In fact, I heard it was the other way around for them."

"It's the same in human culture as well, you know. From what broland told me, she was alone when she approached him," Vivian mumbled as she finished one of her final strips. "And she had a good reason, too. He didn't tell me what though."

Phoenix took his plate to his mouth, leant backwards, and ate the rest of the food on his plate in one fell swoop. Vivian applauded the show as the bird swallowed the meat. "So," Phoenix began, getting up off of his seat and moving to a piece of paper on top of a nearby dresser, "what's the new plan?"

Vivian waited for him to spread the map out in front of her before explaining. "Here," she began, pointing towards the Iron Mountains to the east of the village that Phoenix had come from, "is where Roland and Ash are. It's going to take them five, maybe six days to get near here, depending on Roland's asthma." Vivian tapped the village to emphasize her point. Next, the tapped the area north of Equestria. "This is where my friend Mitsuru is: the Crystal Empire. However, — ah fuck it."

Vivian launched out of her chair and into the kitchen, but returned as quickly as she left with four different coloured "Sorry" pieces in her hand. "Okay!" She placed the blue piece on the Iron Mountains, the Red piece where her house was, the green piece on the Crystal Empire, and finally, the yellow piece on the name "Equestria".

"So, like I was saying, Mitsuru said she might be moving to a place called Canterlot, which is here in Equestia." Vivian moved the green piece onto the star labeled Canterlot. She then moved the blue piece across the map to her red piece. "We'll meet with Roland and Ash here in Coopit, then we'll all get on the train in Gryphonstone and meet with Mitsuru." She moved the polar pieces to Canterlot, reuniting them with the green piece.

"What about you're last friend?" Phoenix questioned, pointing to the yellow piece. "The alpha of your group?"

Vivian gave a curt laugh at that. "Don? The alpha? Please," she said, wiping a tear from her eye. "We have no need for a leader. We're all competent. Don's more of... maybe the lighthearted one is the best choice of words."

"Well, that aside my question still stands."

"That it does, my dear Phoenix," Vivian said. "Roland informed me that Don is definitely in Equestria, but where is still a mystery. Now, if I were a princess, I would need to keep a close eye on any aliens in my country. I think Roland probably agrees with me that the most likely city Don is in. is Canterlot. However, I can't hold any faith in that assumption."

"Because...?"

Vivian sighed as she rested her head on her hands, tired from the whole situation. "Rol said that the GM has got Don around his finger, but we can't assume they've met in person. The sole reason for this is because... well, the GM told Roland that he had Don around his finger. What's stopping the GM from contacting Don?"

"I see," Phoenix mused.

"But," Vivian continued, "I haven't seen Don come online yet."

"So you think there actually is a possibility that this "Don" and the "GM" have talked in person?" Phoenix questioned with interest.

Vivian sighed again. "That possibility never left the table..." Vivian closed her eyes and thought about how little they actually knew of Donatello's situation. "We'll just have to assume that he's in Schrodinger's hands now." The wolf giggled a bit when she heard Phoenix's head tilt in confusion. "We can consider him in a state of being both alive and dead, until we finally see him," she explained. "I really hope he's alive, though."

"Is... he your mate?" the gryphon reached.

Vivian broke down in laughter, unable to verbally answer his question, but Phoenix got the point pretty quickly.