Free to Play to Win

by locke_jaw

Rating: everyone
Tags: Princess Luna, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Rainbow Dash, Comedy, Adventure, Pinkie Pie, Twilight Sparkle, Random, Alternate Universe
Length: 6335

"The paying customer is always right."

Twilight and her friends play an MMORPG, venturing through the game's newest dungeon despite their low levels. But with the help of Luna's OP character, they managed to get to the final stage with little effort.

But now that Luna's gone, it's up for them to defeat a boss that can zero out their health in one strike.

Published 2019-05-30 05:30:01 UTC
Last updated 2019-05-30 05:30:01 UTC

We only got one shot at this, so it'd be best if we don't screw this up. And yes, I'm talking to you Rainbow

Twilight trotted out from the tunnel. The iron bars slowly descended behind her as she entered. It made a clanking sound as it hit the ground, sealing the only exit in the zone. There were several burn marks on her runic robes, and ash stains covered up most of the blue fabric. Her nimbus staff had more scratches than before. The small storm cloud hovering inches above its metal tip cracked with even smaller lightning. With her magic, she placed the floating staff beside her.

Standing in front of her were her party members: Rainbow and Pinkie. Rainbow was leaning on her sword, which she stabbed on the ground for support. Her formerly silver armor now looked like it was crafted from obsidian due to the soot it collected from previous battles. How Pinkie and her green cloak remained intact after the Tartarus they went through, Twilight will never know.

They were now at the final part of the dungeon, The Hoard of the Fire Master. It’s a hellish place filled with all kinds of red, just like all the ones they’ve gone through before. Although there’s one thing that made it stand out from the others, the mountains of gold and other jewelry that were piled up on the sides.

Once they’ve defeated the boss in this area, they will be declared as the first players who cleared Ash Island. Twilight didn’t expect this to happen to them since this update was recently released. And several players were already lining up to take the title. But with the help of Princess Luna, they managed to brave through the entire dungeon in two hours, a feat that would be impossible considering that an average run would take three to four times longer than that.

But unlike the others, Twilight’s party has an advantage. The Princess of the Night, who was notoriously known to be a hardcore gamer in certain circles, decided to upgrade her game account to premium status, and once Twilight had known about it during online conversations with her, she made good use of it and invited Luna to go on a dungeon run with her.

One acquisition of a private room and two hours later, here they were.

Rainbow stood straight after seeing Twilight. “Geez Twilight, what took you so long?”

“I had to delete some of my items to make room for the dragon shards,” Twilight replied. “And don’t call me by my real name here!”

“Relax.” Rainbow waved a hoof dismissively. “We’re in a private room, remember? It’s just us here.”

“But still, that doesn’t mean th-” A snowball was hurled directly into Twilight’s face. She looked at Pinkie who was hopping playfully, a bouncing snowball on her hoof. The hood from her cloak covered most of her face save for her mouth and a curly strand of mane swaying above her snout.

“Pinkie! Stop that!” Twilight wiped all the snow from her face in a single swing.

“I can’t help it, Twilight.”Pinkie replied. “These snowballs are crowding up my inventory. I had to empty them somehow!”

Twilight blew a frustrated sigh. This was the fourteenth time she regretted ever telling Pinkie about that winter update that was released during Hearthswarming season. Apparently, the players were now allowed to gather snow from the grounds of Squallsville and craft them into snowballs. The snowballs can then be used by players to engage in a friendly snowball fight with each other. There’s no damage inflicted of course, but it’s just annoying when one was thrown at you in the wrong place at the wrong time.

“Crowding up the inventory?” Twilight asked. “How many did you collect anyway?”

“Four thousand three hundred and twenty-one.” Pinkie said, smiling like it was nothing.

A small grin formed on Rainbow’s face. “You’ve got a lot of balls in you, Pinks.”

“I know right?” Pinkie matched Rainbow’s grin. “I just can’t get enough of them!”

Both mares snickered like teenage fillies while Twilight just rolled her eyes at the brief exchange of innuendos. “I’ll pretend I’ve never heard that.”

“Oh don’t be such a prude, Twilight.” Rainbow spread her forelegs widely as if she’s presenting the place to tourists. “We’re on the Internet now! I’m pretty sure we can say anything here. Where’s Princess Luna anyway?”

Twilight perked up. “Oh right. She’s clearing the other rooms that deviate from the main route. She doesn’t want us to follow her lest we’ll risk losing more of our health and mana. We’re better off using those in fighting the boss.”

Rainbow pointed a hoof at the boss, a gigantic red dragon whose bottom half was dipped in a steaming pool of lava. Even though only half of its form was shown, the mighty beast towered at the players like a pony looking down on a small bug. Its resting claws were big enough to crush a dozen ponies, or even more.

“He doesn’t look tough.” She boasted. “Heck, I can take him on alone!”

“No, you cannot!” Twilight replied, raising her voice. With a swing of her hoof, she opened her UI and selected the ‘inspect’ window, aiming it at the boss. “Princess Luna said that we must not start any fights until she arrives.” She showed her UI to Rainbow. “And have you checked its HP? It’s freaking thirty thousand!”

“So?” Rainbow scoffed. “We’ve been ganged up by mobs with HPs that can be added to thirty thousand or more. And we totally beat ‘em all up!”

“That’s because Princess Luna was there with us!” Twilight shot back. “We’d all be dead halfway through the dungeon if it wasn’t for her insanely OP premium character!”

“What’s ‘OP’ again? Eh, never mind. Watch me.” Using her teeth, Rainbow pulled her sword from the ground and dragged it towards the boss.

“Oh no, you don’t.” Twilight lowered her staff on the ground and focused her magic on Rainbow, engulfing her with a sparkling pink aura. She hated how the game restricted her from controlling two objects with her magic at once. And what’s worse is that only premium members were only allowed to have an Alicorn form! But nope, she’s not giving in. No sir, she’s not that obsessed like Luna, who was willing to pay good money on a free game.

Her attention was called back to the squirming pegasus.

“The Princess laid clear instructions that we wait for her until she arrives, and that’s what we’re going to do!”

“Dang it Twilight!” Rainbow cried, her hooves flailing in every direction. “Let me go already!”

Twilight lowered Rainbow slowly to the ground. Her magic faded away as Rainbow’s hooves touched the scorched soil. “You do know that this is a single run dungeon, right? When you die you can only respawn at the starting point. And you’ll have to go through the whole dungeon again.”

Rainbow rolled her eyes. “I know that. But having to wait for the Princess is boring stuff. I didn’t play this game just to do boring stuff!”

“To pass the time,” Twilight opened her UI again, selecting the inventory window. “How about we replenish our item slots? That sounds fun right?”

“Yeesh,” Rainbow said, blowing the hair dangling in her face. “Your meaning of ‘fun’ is way too different than mine.” She took a glimpse at what Twilight pulled from her inventory. Her eyebrows raised in surprise. It was an apple made of crystal, and it glowed warmly on Twilight’s hoof. She then placed the fruit on an external slot to be easily accessed.

“Whoa!” Rainbow swiped a fruit from Twilight’s hoof. “You got a fruit of the dark woods? The monster that drops this is like way too tough to beat.”

Twilight grabbed the apple back from Rainbow. “I had help.” She pulled two more items from her inventory and placed them on her slots, but not before showing them to Rainbow. “I also got forge baked buns that increase my defense, featherweight feathers, they increase my speed, and the fruit is for the damage boosts. And add that with my health and mana potions, my item slot is definitely well rounded.”

Another snowball was hurled at Twilight’s face. “Pinkie!” She yelled as she wiped it off again.

“All my item slots are filled with snowballs.” Pinkie said, bouncing in place.

“So uh, Twilight...” Rainbow scratched the back of her head, her eyes looking sideways. “How many health potions do you have again?”

“I currently have forty-fi-” Twilight’s ears perked up. “Wait. Rainbow, don’t tell me you already ran out of health potions?”

“I’m the tank of this party, what am I supposed to do!?” Rainbow raised her voice. “No offense Twilight, but you need to upgrade your Party Heal more, it only restores a fifth of my health!”

“Fine.” Twilight sighed. “Open your inventory, I’ll give you ten of mine and some baked buns. Just promise me that you’ll use them properly okay?”

“If I slay the boss, will that be payment enough?”

Twilight looked at Pinkie who was about to throw another snowball at her but quickly hid it behind her flank once she was caught. This was the fifteenth time she regretted ever telling Pinkie about the winter update. It would have been the sixteenth time if she hadn’t caught her red-hoofed just now. “How about you Pinkie? You want some of mine?”

“No thanks.” Pinkie said, getting another snowball. “I can manage.” Then she shoved the whole thing down her mouth.

“Ooookay then.” Twilight looked back at Rainbow. Her face still cringing after seeing what Pinkie did. “Now that’s done, how about we device a strategy?”

“Oh no! Not again!” Rainbow backed away in fear. “I’d rather get beaten down by that dragon!”

“Pinkie, restrain Rainbow please,” Twilight said in a pleasant tone.

Pinkie complied and swiftly moved towards Rainbow Dash before she can get her sword. Standing on her hind legs, she hugged Rainbow and her forelegs from behind. All she can do now was kick aimlessly at the air while having to listen to another one of Twilight’s briefings.

Not that it’s bad for her or anything. They’re purely informational. Aside from Luna’s character, it’s one of the reasons they got through the dungeon with ease!

“Hey! Let me go!” Rainbow cried, still struggling to get out from Pinkie’s grip.

Twilight narrowed her eyes at Pinkie for a moment. She had to make sure that her hold was strong enough to keep Rainbow in place until their planning was over. Her magic was better at restraining Rainbow but she will have to use it to draw on the ground using her staff. Once more, she hated how the game limits her ability to hold two things at once. Satisfied with what Pinkie was doing, she began to draw her plans on the ground with her nimbus staff.

“So this is us.” Twilight pointed at the small four circles that she drew. “And this is the boss.” She then pointed at an outline of the dragons head (she’ll add some details on it later) that was inches away from the circles. She drew a line between the two opposing figures. “And this here is the boundary of the combat zone. Take note that once we get in, there’s no getting out. We only have one shot here so we better make it count. According to a forum I’ve read prior to our assault, no-”

“Aargh!” Rainbow suddenly cried out, cutting Twilight off. “The words! Make it stop!”

“Rainbow!” Twilight shouted back. “I am discussing crucial stuff here! Anyway, according to the forum, no party has ever cleared this dungeon before. But ours is different.” A small smile formed on her face. “We got the Princess!”

“And let me guess,” Rainbow replied flatly. “That’s where the premium account comes in.”

“Yes.” Twilight copied Rainbow’s tone. “That’s where her premium account comes in. There’s also a link in the forum that directs to a three-minute video clip about a party fighting the Fire Master. Sure, their levels are low but they filled up the maximum player count the dungeon requires, which is about ten players maximum. But even though they have the number advantage, they were still wiped out completely. The reason why I’m telling you this is because I’ve studied the master’s patterns, the one vital thing the party failed to do. So as it turns out, even if all the Master’s attacks are AoE, we can sti-”

“What the heck’s an ‘Eyowie?’” Rainbow asked, tilting her head while doing so.

“It’s A-o-E.” Twilight corrected. “It means ‘Area of Effect,’ the Master’s attacks do not focus on a single target but rather on a large area, affecting everything inside it. You really should read up on your acronyms, Rainbow.”

“How are we supposed to avoid something like that?”

“That’s what I’m getting to before you interrupted me!” Twilight raised her voice again. “Now, the Master has five sets of attacks that go on a continuous loop.”

Twilight added more details to her sketch of the Fire Master, making it more realistic with every stroke of her staff. Pinkie oohed at Twilight’s drawing. She constantly switched her gaze at it and to the Master to see how accurate it was. Twilight added curving lines in front of the dragon head with arrows at their tips while also writing a number on the side of each line. She pointed the line with the number one beside it using the end of her staff.

“The first two ones are diagonal. The claw on the left strikes first and then followed by the right. The third attack lands on the center ground. And the last two ones are horizontal. The left also swings first and it hits closer to the Master’s body. The right one follows next and it’s aimed closer to the boundary. Now our standard battle strategy is useless in this situation as we all should be mobile when attacking. Each of the Master’s attack has a good possibility to kill you in one hit so I strongly suggest that you avoid those in every chance you get. I think I’ve fairly memorized the attack patterns now so I recommend that you follow my lead. But don’t forget to cast War Cry and Smoke Screen before we start fighting. Those party skills are essential in having the odds to our favor. And since the Princess isn’t here yet, we should at least optimize our equipm-”

While Twilight was still going on with her yammering, Rainbow noticed that Pinkie’s grip has started to loosen up. She looked at the mare to see what could be the reason behind it. Pinkie’s eyes were switching from the Master’s face and back to Twilight’s sketch. So it appeared that she was amazed at how on point Twilight’s drawing was to the real deal that she can’t help but compare the two. Rainbow thought that this was the best time to break herself off of Pinkie’s hold.

Rainbow spread her wings wide to break herself off, surprising Pinkie and Twilight. Using this short time window, she picked her sword up with her teeth and rushed straight to the boundary. She can only grin at Twilight’s screams of panic.

“Rainbow no!” Twilight cried out. “What about our plan of attack!?”

Once Rainbow entered the boundary, she stabbed her sword to the ground and looked at Twilight. “I have a plan. Attack.”

Twilight closed her eyes while slamming a hoof on her face. She can’t bear to watch the dumpster fire burning in her front right now. But when she heard loud springing noises heading towards Rainbow’s direction, she just had to. She opened her eyes to see what she had expected...and feared.

“Pinkie, not you too!?” The sound of Twilight’s voice was akin to that of somepony who had to watch their favorite restaurant burn down.

“Sorry Twilight,” Pinkie’s replied cheerfully. “But keeping still and waiting is too boring.”

Twilight slammed another hoof to her face. “We are so repeating this dungeon.”

As Twilight (regrettably) entered the boundary, she was just in time to get affected by Rainbow’s War Cry skill, adding twenty points to her overall damage. Unfortunately, she was not in time to stop the stubborn pegasus from flying straight to the Master’s head. Once she was face to face with the Master, Rainbow raised her sword upwards and activated her first skill.

A giant arm suddenly grabbed Rainbow from behind, canceling her casting. She yelped in pain and surprise, forcing her to let go of her sword. The Master threw her down the ground like a used rag, a loud thump echoed throughout the area from the strong impact. Blue glowing cubes came out from Rainbow’s body. She lost half her health from that move alone.

Rainbow tried getting up back, but the pain from being tossed so hard like that made it a bit of a struggle. She’ll have to wait a couple of seconds for the pain to go away, and a couple more before her character can move properly again.

Her eyes opened wide when the Master began his first attack, and she’s in range for it. The Master’s arm was large, so large that it cast a large shadow on her. And it started moving down. She can feel how heavy it weighed just by looking at it. The speed of the arm increased with every descent. Despite this doing nothing, Rainbow still crossed her forelegs in front of her face to block the attack.

A red light clouded her vision. And a tingling sensation covered her whole body. The next thing Rainbow knew, she was quickly dragged away from the Master’s claws.

The attack landed just several inches away from her hind legs. A loud thundering sound accompanied the debris that crumbled off the ground from the strong blow. Shockwaves from the impact sent her flying regardless of being held by Twilight’s magic. After the dust cloud settled, she found herself leaning on the boundary. And standing beside her was Twilight and Pinkie, who had a worried expression on their faces.

“You’re lucky it only took half of your health,” Twilight said, pouring a health potion on Rainbow. It restored three hundred hit points. She’s back to full health again.

“What was that attack all about?” Rainbow asked as she got up. “I thought you said there’re only five attacks?”

“So you were indeed listening, huh?” Twilight levitated Rainbow’s sword back to her. “I didn’t see that one in the clip. But it’s probably to keep pegasi from exploiting their flight advantage too much.”

“That sucks.” Rainbow slouched slightly. “And here I taught I won’t get hit by his attacks if I’d just double down on his head. Luna’s still not here, so what now?”

“What now?” Twilight stood straight. She looked at Rainbow, giving her a smirk. “We follow my plan.”

Rainbow cringed at Twilight’s response. “Geez Twilight, don’t ever do that again. You acting cool just makes you look twenty percent uncoo-”

“Guys! Heads up!” Pinkie popped between the two mares, raising both their heads up literally.

The Master has raised a claw, opting for another attack. It was similar to the first one. But it’s done with the other arm. The whole party was within its range, casting a wide shadow on them. The claw went down in great speed.

Twilight knew what to do in this situation. While her friends were panicking to find for a place where they won’t get hit by the dragon’s claw, she already selected one before the attack’s initiation. The attack was a large diagonal strike that damages anything it touches. But according to the video clip, there’s a small space on the left corner from the area that can be considered as a safe zone. She did this with Pinkie earlier. And she’ll do it again, but now in the opposite direction.

“Quick! In here!” Twilight grabbed the closest hoof to her without looking and rushed to the safe zone.

The Master struck just seconds before they got out from its range. It sent them tumbling down to the ground from the strong impact of the blow. Fortunately, there’s no damage to be had.

As another dust cloud settled, the first thing Twilight saw was Rainbow Dash. She was kneeling on the ground, coughing from the dust. Her foreleg still clung to Twilight’s.

“Wait, where’s Pinkie?” She said, releasing Rainbow’s hoof.

A snowball was blasted on her face. “Health’s still full!”

Twilight’s reaction to Pinkie surviving the second attack was a mixture of relief and annoyance. She helped Rainbow up and dusted the dirt off her robes afterward. Even though this was a game and her body was neither hurt nor sullied, she still has the urge to take a long nice bath after logging out.

“Where is he gonna hit next?” Rainbow asked.

“Let’s just stay here,” Twilight replied. “The next one will land at the center.” She pointed to the Master, who was now raising both arms. Both claws met each other, forming a gigantic balled-up fist. Once the Master can’t raise his arms any further, he came swinging down at immense speed. The mares stood idly while watching the spectacle unfold in front of them.

Both limbs came down in a red blur. It’s much faster than the first two ones. The ground that was struck had chunks of dirt flying out of it. Twilight didn’t expect this but the shockwave from the attack was strong enough to even blow them away from where they’re standing. Once again, they tumbled on the ground, now taking fifty damage each.

“I thought you said we won’t get hit here!” Rainbow yelled directly to Twilight’s ear.

“That’s what I thought!” Twilight shouted back. She immediately cast Party Heal on them, restoring the health points lost. “I didn’t expect that the shockwave would be strong enough to send us flying!”

“Quick, get up!” With both her hooves, she dragged Rainbow and Pinkie up the ground. “The next one will move horizontally and we’re in range! Get to the boundary and unload all your last skills on the boss!”

As the party rushed to the magical barrier at the combat zone’s entrance, the Fire Master rested its left arm on the ground. Its claw stood sideways. They were now at the boundary when the Master started moving its arm in a sweeping motion. The dirt it came across was scraped off the ground like a titanic shovel. It wasn’t long before the collected soil was big enough to be called a land-based tsunami. Or can it be just called a plain landslide? Twilight pondered.

However, the Master’s attack wasn’t the main focus of the trio. They were too busy casting their skills individually.

Rainbow went in first with her Thousand Blades skill. She tossed her sword upwards as it glowed green. The blade duplicated itself several times while on air. It didn’t stop multiplying until its numbers reached hundreds, or a thousand. With a swipe of a hoof, Rainbow aimed all those sharp ends at the boss, sending them flying towards it.

There wasn’t much to be seen of the giant dragon when it was bombarded by a countless barrage of Rainbow’s swords. Every time a blade stabbed the Master thundering sounds can be heard. And considering the number of swords thrown at it, it’s like it’s raining literal thunder.

But their onslaught didn’t stop there.

Pinkie followed with her Last Breath skill. Using the daggers firmly tied to each of her forelegs, she launched herself to the Master’s direction in blinding speed. The ground that she was running on burned with her every step. Her two allies can’t even follow her movements, all they see was a green beam going through the Master’s torso.

The next thing they saw was Pinkie standing behind the boss. Her two daggers dug deep through the dragon’s thick scales. A geyser of blood burst out from the punctured area. And it lasted for several moments before it slowly fizzled out into a small fountain. Pinkie exploded into a puff of smoke and suddenly appeared next to Twilight.

It was her turn now.

Twilight raised her staff above her with her magic. As she cast her Pillars of Tartarus skill, the small storm cloud hovering on top of her staff crackled with thunder and shot harmless bolts of lightning everywhere. She narrowed her eyes on the pool of lava that the Master was standing on, envisioning the location on where her spell would be activated.

A large magic circle appeared on the base of the Master’s visible body. The white light it gave off quickly engulfed all the runes drawn inside. Now, it looked like the Master was placed in a giant saucer, a giant, bright, white saucer.

The loud humming came from the now fully white circle. And every time the sound fades, a large towering beam of light would make it way up to the sky, damaging the Master in the process. Dozens of these pillars would ascend upwards that only a silhouette of the Master’s body can be seen from the blinding flashes.

The Master roared in pain as clusters of glowing cubes came out from its body, then evaporating a few seconds after in midair. While Twilight’s final skill was still going on, the party took this as an opportunity to drink some mana potions to replenish the mana they’ve lost in casting such draining skills.

As soon as Twilight emptied the glass bottle, it broke off into tiny glowing cubes and disappeared into the air as well. She gained two hundred and fifty mana points from drinking that bottle alone. And since she lost five hundred mana from casting her final skill and some party heals, she decided to drink one more.

“What the buck!” Rainbow’s cursing halted Twilight from getting a second helping. “Only twenty-one hundred? All those skills we threw at the guy and we only managed to give him a small bruise?”

Twilight inspected the Master’s health bar again. Rainbow was right. Only a small portion of the red bar has turned black. But this was perfectly reasonable since the Master’s health was thirty thousand strong. And their levels were inappropriate for this place. They only managed to get this far because of Princess Luna after all.

“Thirty thousand, remember?” She reminded Rainbow. “Let’s just keep the onslaught going. The numbers will add up eventually. I want you to cast War Cry again. We shouldn’t lose hope yet. Our health and mana are still full, and we got a lot of potions to spare. We can still do this.”

“Yeah Rainbow!” Pinkie added. “This’ll be over in a couple of moments!”

==A COUPLE OF EXCRUCIATING MOMENTS (and a few hurled snowballs) LATER==

“Three hundred forty-eight!” Rainbow shouted her mana count to notify Twilight. She was making every bit of it count to cast another final skill at the boss. She can’t believe it either, but they actually managed to drag down the Fire Master’s health on his last hundreds. It’s thanks to Twilight’s clever maneuvers that they stayed alive this long. With her potions and constant casting of party heals, they might finally take down this giant redhead.

“Three hundred forty-nine!” Rainbow called again all the while dodging the Master’s attack. After several minutes of doing the same thing over and over again, she believed she got the entire pattern drilled into her brain now. Which attack will come next, how wide was its range, where the safest spot to go to when it landed, it’s now burned down to her mind. There are still some slip-ups here and there though. But they’re just minor mistakes that can easily be fixed with a quick heal. As long as none of them got hit directly by the Master’s attacks, they should be just fine.

They’ve managed to memorize this pattern and thought of some ways against it. The best one was to cast a skill after standing on a safe spot. That is if it doesn’t go critical and blow you away with the shockwave. But other than that, it’s a simple but pretty reliable tactic. She and Pinkie were alternating their finals at the boss while Twilight concentrated on every mana she has in healing the team.

They ran out of potions a while ago so they had to rely on their natural regeneration of mana to cast another skill. But they must only use it on finals so it’d pack quite a punch on the target. Pinkie just emptied her mana bar after casting her final skill. And while waiting for her to be able to go again, it’s Rainbow’s turn to cast.

“Three hundred and fifty!”

“Cast it now!” Twilight cried, shooting a magic bolt to the Master’s chest.

“On it!”

Rainbow tossed her sword up again. It glowed green and multiplied into a thousandfold. As always, she had their sharp ends aimed towards the boss, unleashing another rain of blades to the Fire Master.

The Master roared in pain, but it’s not the same as before. This one sounds different. It’s like a final howl, or him drawing his last breath. The rain of swords still kept on falling. And a cloud of dust covered most of the dragon’s body. The roar the Master made was accompanied by a breath of fire that was aimed upwards.

That was a first, Twilight thought. Throughout them attacking the Master, not once did it ever breathe fire upon them. Not that she’d complain about it. She just thought of it as weird...only using its breath of fire as a sign of the end. It just felt wrong to her. She must keep her guard up, just in case.

Most of the flames blown above disappeared as it came, while others slowly fell to the ground like water from a fountain. And yes, it looked like a fiery fountain from where they were standing. It wasn’t long before the fire had gone out. And the smoke faded away as well. They can fully see the Master now.

The Fire Master was still. If other ponies would suddenly arrive now, they’d mistake the boss as some sort of statue. The glow in its eyes was gone, or maybe the lids were just closed. They had the same effect, either way, making the boss look lifeless. Twilight cautiously approached the unmoving dragon and poked its claw with her staff.

She backed away in surprise when the Master suddenly lost its grip on the land and slowly sunk itself to the pool of lava. Small bubbles gurgled from the pool as the sinking continued. It’s like watching a titanic ship sink. Twilight trotted closer towards the boiling hot pool, staring down at it. Rainbow and Pinkie followed suit. A brief moment of silence surrounded them. All three of their heads were quietly staring on the molten liquid, looking at the deformed reflections of their selves.

“So.” Rainbow said, breaking the silence. “Did we just win?” Her gaze remained downwards.

“I uh...think so?” There was uncertainty in Twilight’s voice. There’s something wrong in here.

“We won!” Pinkie jumped at the middle of Twilight and Rainbow. She hugged the two mares tightly. Their cheeks were now pressing against each other. With a slight swipe of her hoof, she opened her UI, selected the settings and pressed the screenshot button. A sound of a clicking camera can be heard. She then let go of her friends.

“We beat the big boss!” Pinkie cheered. She grabbed Rainbow and made her partner in a two-legged dance. “We beat him! We won!”

“Yeah!” Rainbow replied. Her manner got cheery, now catching Pinkie’s infectious optimism.

“But don’t you think it’s strange?” Twilight asked, scratching her chin in thought.

Rainbow stopped dancing. “What’s strange?”

Twilight looked away from the pool and into Rainbow. “We should’ve gotten exp now.”

“Oh!” Rainbow’s ears perked up. “I know that one. It’s Experience Points, right?”

“We should’ve gotten them by now. But for some strange reason, we didn’t.” Twilight’s eyes went wide as a sudden realization struck her. “Unless of course, it has...”

Large amounts of lava gushed out from the boiling pool. The burning liquid spewed out several meters up the ground. It looked like a volcano has erupted in front of them. A gigantic red blur flew upwards alongside the burning lava. The mares were forced to frantically avoid the sizzling hot liquid that splashed several spots on the ground.

A loud flapping of wings urged them to raise their heads. Their eyes popped out when they saw Fire Master flying above them. He has shown his full form now. His size was already titanic before. But with the reveal of his full form, he’s about the size of a castle now. Each flap of his wings created strong gusts of air that blew the heat from the area. He looked down at the trio like they’re just a bunch of ants that were about to be crushed by a big draconic boot.

Twilight gulped before continuing what she said. “...second form.”

“One hundred thousand!?” Rainbow cried helplessly. She regretted inspecting the Master’s second health bar now. “We barely managed to empty out thirty! How can we even defeat this boss now that its health was three times higher than before!?”

“We’re in too deep to give up now.” Twilight patted Rainbow’s withers, giving her a soft smile. Despite the dire situation they were in, her tone still kept its cool. It even sounded reassuring to Rainbow...in a sense. “We’re going to end up repeating the dungeon anyway, so why not make one heroic last stand on this one? That way, our first time here will be fun and memorable. It is, after all, the reason we’re playing this game. So no boring stuff, right?”

“You egghead.” Rainbow snorted. Listening to Twilight acting cool again made her fears go away. “Alright, I’ll give this one a pass. Enjoy your moment while it lasts.”

Rainbow grabbed her sword and stood next to Twilight. Pinkie, whose morale was surprisingly unaffected by the Master’s second form bounced towards Twilight’s other side. The three of them stared back at the Master, who was giving them an underwhelmed look. Miniature lightning sparked from Twilight’s staff as she cast another Party Heal on her and her friends.

“You guys ready?” Twilight asked.

“Always,” Rainbow replied, her teeth gripping tightly at the sword’s handle.

Pinkie hummed in reply. Her cheeks stuffed with the rapidly melting snowballs.

All three mares went on guard when the Master leaned its long neck back. It opened its huge mouth as gusts of air were sucked down in its abyss like maw. A small orange glow slowly lit up in the throat’s innermost cavern. It’s just moments away from breathing fire at them. The head was now moving forward. Roaring flames raged through its fangs.

This was it.

A spinning sound suddenly filled Twilight’s ears. It came from above and was heading in the Master’s direction. She looked around to see what it was. But her attention was drawn back to the Master when it roared violently after it was struck in the chest by something.

It was a battle-ax. Its blade found its way deep into the Master’s flesh, bypassing the thick protection its scales were supposed to provide. A couple of glowing cubes flew out from the bleeding wound. As Twilight inspected the Master’s health, it has already lost two hundred hit points.

The ax was suddenly wrapped in sparkling blue magic. It pulled itself out from the dragon’s body without care, causing the Master to roar more. The three mares followed the battle-ax as it hovered back to its owner.

“Princess Luna!” The trio screamed in unison.

“I uh, I mean, Moonbeam1079!” Twilight corrected herself.

Standing at the zone’s entrance was the Princess of the Night. If Twilight hasn’t seen her before, she could’ve been mistaken as somepony else. Her Grand Guardian helmet concealed her facial features, leaving nothing but deep darkness on the helmet’s front. The metal it was crafted with consisted of platinum and gold, the item’s in-game description said so. The platinum acted as a base while the gold was designed to be ornamental, golden wings were placed at the helmet’s side and were also used to outline the darkness that was the wearer’s face.

The armor matched the helmet’s design, shining platinum bases outlined by streaks of gold. The thick chest plate and bulky pauldrons glimmered majestically when hit by the game world’s virtual sun. The long flowing cape covered most of Luna’s back and rump. Even though no wind can be felt, it still waved smoothly, as if it had taken a life of its own. With the battle-ax floating beside her, Princess Luna looked like a hero from classic literature. She slowly trotted; a purifying clink in every step, confident that she can save her allies from imminent danger.

“I’m amazed that you made it this far without my assistance, Twilight Sparkle,” Luna said, her tone a sweet cocktail of pride and reassurance. Twilight squealed in the most fanatic way imaginable. “But now that I’m here, we’ll go further!” She slightly raised her voice to make her speech sound more inspirational. “So keep your heads high, hold your weapons tight, for today we shall make history! Yes. We will leave this place with our mark deeply carved in it, as we will be the first ones to ever conquer thi-”

The Fire Master landed on the ground, exactly where Luna was standing, instantly killing her character.

Twilight’s head was hit with the remains of Luna’s crushed helmet.

A snowball followed after.

Author's Note

Just had the sudden urge to write an RPG themed story. Thanks for reading!