Friendship is Optimal: Wraith’s Brand

I take a deep breath into my digital lungs, before pushing open the doors of the castle. I immediately see two ponies there. One, a bright red earth pony, with a golden mane and a cigar in his mouth. His mark is of a periodic table, with Nd, Re, and S circled. The other is a bright blue pegasus, with a blood red mane. His mark is an eagle made out of white thread, with a needle going through the final stitch. The earth pony reaches up, and takes out his cigar, “Ah, Reznov, you made it. Or, Shadow, now.”

I nod, “Good to finally meet you personally, Nikita, even if is as a pony rather than a pony. Or, Nova, now. You never told me you smoke?”

He shrugs, “This thing doesn’t produce any feeling anymore, I just have it for looks.”

Then, Weaver interjects, “Is Mason coming with you?”

I shake my head, “Mason died doing what he loved. He died so my experience would be better in this world. He was willing to give himself up for that.”

Ascension gains a somber look, “Oh. What did he do?”

I think on the question for a bit, “He never specified that. All he said is that I would know what to do when the time comes, to follow the eight steps.”

Nova decides to clear the somber air, “Well, no use standing around. If Mason did that for you, then we should find his gift.”

I nod, “Yeah, but where would it be?”

Ascension offers an answer, “Well, maybe he hid it in a dungeon of sorts? There are dungeons everywhere, and maybe he wanted you to have fun getting to it? I mean, I’ve never been in one of the dungeons anyways. This is the first time we’re all actually meeting, face to face rather than face cam to face cam. Maybe we can clear dungeons as a bonding experience?”

I smile slightly, “Yeah, sure, let’s do that. But what to do with our roles? I mean, I’m going to be the frontline fighter, that’s obvious. You both played video games for a hobby, I did it for a career.”

Ascension smiles, and flexes his wings, “Well, I do good on the archery range. I mean, archery and tailoring are actually pretty similar. You gotta take every other thread into account and make sure to use each one efficiently, just replace the needle with a bow, and the stitches with the enemies. So I could possibly be a ranged support?”

Nova wastes no time speaking his mind, “Assassin, rouge, whatever you wanna call it. I will kill them quickly, silently, and safely. I don’t want to go through the process of respawning again.”

I nod, “Cool. So, where do we get equipment?”

He swipes his hoof through the air, and makes a portal, “My home. It’s back in a place called Vorcroupta. Near the northern border of Equestria, right near some dungeons. Far away, but I made a teleport to it. Step on through.”

Ascension and I walk through, and find ourselves in a place more like an experimental weapons factory than a home. Ascension looks back at Nova as he walks through, “What’s with all this stuff?”

He walks through the room, “I have time to tinker with. And I’ve produced weapons perfect for us.”

He pulls out a strange looking bow, “I took the idea of the old reloading Chinese crossbow, and added it to a regular bow. Never have to reach for arrows with this one, as they will automatically dispense in a perfect way.” He tosses it to Ascension.

Then he takes out a hammer, “I call this one the Siberian Hammer. Infused with all the cold of a Siberian winter, it will explode and freeze all that it explodes on. On impact, so use this as a throwing weapon, not a melee.” He tosses it over to me, and I catch it, “Regenerates in your inventory as well.”

Then he takes out a matter of nasty looking stuff. He lifts one bottle, and takes a sniff, “Yep, that’s going on the knife.” He lifts another, and pours it into a glass ball, “Blind them and hurt them, good thinking me.” He takes another bottle, and drinks right out of it, “Very strong, gonna have to keep this one on me.”

Then, he lifts a gas mask. He hands one to the both of us, “Now, only put these on in emergencies, and shout to the others about it. I don’t want to have any violent coughing, nausea, vomiting, suffocation, bleeding from the eyes, and burning skin because one of you puts this on. This will release something into the air, something I just described the effects of. In fact, it’s my specialty.”

I listen to the effects with some worry, “That sounds a lot like Nova Six.”

He simply looks back, and moves the cigar to the side of his mouth, “Let’s just say Black Ops had some fact in it, and leave it at that. I am still under a non disclosure agreement from Russia.”

I slowly nod, “Alright then. So, where to now?”

He straps the things to his body, “There is a dungeon only five minutes from here, filled with goblins and a low level mage. Don’t worry, none of them are sentient like we are, they are just part of the game.”

I take a sword from a pile, and swing it around, putting on my J.F.K accent, “Do not prey for easy lives, my friends. Pray to be stronger men.”

Ascension looks at me, and cocks and eyebrow, “Is that really the appropriate line?”

I sheathe my sword on a magical sheath that appeared on my back, and shrug, “I felt like quoting something. I don’t know, it just felt right.”

Nova secures a final thing, before shaking his head at me, “Five quotes should come at more epic moments, Shadow. Come on, let’s go. Mason’s gift awaits you.”