It was a busy day in Canterlot City Mall, droves of customers were all lined up outside the game shop for newest VR game release called Adventure Quest released by one of the top ranking game manufacturers in the city; Hive Mind Technologies. None were more excited than Sunset Shimmer and her friends who all paid for reserved copies of the game after spending countless hours at their part time jobs. As they continued to wait, a news report featuring the games creator appeared on the stores big screen and the whole crowd immediately quieted down.
"Good afternoon everyone, it is a beautiful day here in beautiful Canterlot City! I'm here today with the creator and CEO of Hive Mind Tech, Madame Chrysallis herself!" The reporter smiled as the camera focused on a woman with raven black hair that had green highlights, she wore a dark green dress and wore green makeup as well to give her a seductive appearance as she winked to the camera.
"Hello and thank you for having me here today."
"The pleasure is ours ma'am. So word on the street is that your newest game release is a hit, care to tell us more?"
"Of course. Adventure Quest is an open world game that players from all across the globe can enjoy, after countless hours of research and development our staff have created the ultimate full dive VR experience and are proud of their achievement."
"I bet they are. Now can you tell us what types of characters are on this game."
"Gladly. Let us begin with the starting characters shall we?"
A small screen popped up between the two as a line of game characters appeared to the audience and a female voice began to explain each one.
Shield Knight: This class mainly focuses on defense and counterattacks that chip away at the opponents health and are often used as tanks.
Sage: a class that focuses on ranged attacks and enhancing the stats of party members while analyzing the types of enemies they face which can be useful in fighting new foes.
Blade Knight: As the opposite of the shield knight, this class specifies in dealing heavy damage to multiple targets and are capable of using many heavy armor and weapons that would normally slow a player down.
Druid: this class specializes in healing and offers elemental and magical resistance to the group and are capable of taming and speaking wild monsters.
"Wow...just wow! I am loving this already!"
"Thank you."
"Now another question. Is it true that convicted felons are unable to play this game?"
"Yes." Chrysalis said in a more serious tone as she explained.
"Hive Mind Technologies spared no expense in creating the finest security programs for our games and this is no exception. As you know, many predators use online games such as this to stalk and capture children, however thanks to our top notch programmers it is nearly impossible."
"How so?"
"Well. While most games allow you to customize your characters gender, age, hair color and height, Adventure Quest takes your actual appearance and plants it into the game so even if a creeper wants to dress as a girl, he'll either have to get plastic surgery or wear a ton of makeup."
The crowd gave a short laugh as the reporter gave one last question to close the interview.
"Now I understand that players can actually get paid in this game. How does that work?"
"Well like any good game company, we found sponsors to help fund Adventure Quest and found a way to repay those sponsors in game. Now it works like this: If you work in a shop like an inn or an item store in the game that bares one of the sponsors names, your in game currency will convert to actual currency provided you have a savings account or parents permission."
"Fascinating. That means players can work hard and play hard in game and in real life."
"Indeed."
"Well that's all the time we have for today! Thank you Madame Chryalis, we look forward to your games success and good luck to all you new players out there!"
As the news cast ended, many customers were already chatting about which character they would choose while others checked if they worked for any of the sponsors mentioned in the report.
"Sweet! Cloudsdale Sports Shop is one of the sponsors!" Rainbow Dash Squealed after checking her phone.
"So is the smoothie shop!" Applejack said.
"Ooh this is so exciting! Are you excited? Cause I've never been so excited! Except for that one time we saved the school twice, stopped a crazy nature lady-OH! And that incident with is forgetting about Sunset shimmer being our friend." Pinkie Pie chattered as the line moved on.
"Oh! Darlings you can even make clothes in this game and look at the designs they made for some of our outfits!" Rarity beamed as she scrolled through the pictures of the starting characters in different outfits.
"Uhh some of these seem...skimpy." Sunset stated after noticing a female blade night wearing what was practically a bra and a loincloth.
"That's the point darling. Most of the players will be boys who like looking at girls in naughty outfits....that gives me a few ideas~."
As Rarity began to come up with ideas for her next fashion line, the group noticed some of the other customers were moving to a different counter in the store and noticed the sign above that read Pre-Order Pick ups. Naturally, the girls followed the crowd since they had reserved copies until one particular female customer began complaining.
"Hey! No cutting in line!" The woman shouted, earning mixed expressions from the other customers.
"Uh oh, we got a Karen." Rainbow Dash whispered to her friends.
"We're not cutting, this line is for those who pre-ordered the game." One customer said while pointing up to the sign.
"Oh that's a fine excuse-LINE CUTTER!!" The woman shot back as she placed her hands on her hips when another female customer walked up to her with arms crossed.
"It seems you left your brain somewhere else so I'll explain this to you." The woman said calmly.
"This line is for the customers who saved up their money and bought the game before its release date and so to help move things along, the store has generously opened up a second counter to help those customers pick up their purchase and leave but because of your idiotic rambling, I had to step over here and tell you how this works instead of picking up a copy for my son!" She glared angrily as the other customer shrunk back in shame while the crowd gave a round of applause.
The customer who diffused the incident wore jeans, a sweater shirt and carried a small purse. As she rejoined the others in the prepaid line. Rarity instantly recognized the woman as one of her best customers and decided to say hello while waiting for the line to move on.
"Miss Cream Heart!"
"Rarity?" Cream Heart said in surprise when as she turned to see Rarity flagging her down.
"Oh my goodness, what're you doing here?"
"Just picking a game up for my son, he saved up his own money for this, I'm so proud. And you?"
"Me and the girls thought this would be a great way for us to get together outside of school. Plus you know how my sister is now that she and little Button are dating~."
"Button...as in Button Mash? The worlds top gaming prodigy?" Sunset asked, looking a bit shocked as they both nodded.
"Oh you didn't know? She and button were good friends in kindergarten but then Cream Heart had to move away for a new job and they didn't see each other for a while. Poor Sweetie Belle was devastated but then one day, the ran into each other cafe and were reunited."
"Awww!" The girls cooed in unison at the little love story they just heard before finally obtaining their copies of the game and headed for home, eager to get started.
Sunset Shimmer was the first to arrive at her home and was preparing to start the game after grabbing a quick snack and feeding her pet gecko; Ray who was always happy to see her.
"Hey Ray, you miss me?" She asked as the little gecko nuzzled her cheek before being put back in his pen.
"I'll put up the screen for you so you can watch."
Sunset turned on her flatscreen television before activating her game system and inserting the disc into the console, as she placed the game visor over her head and laid in her bed. Her body began to feel drowsy as the VR system activated and a series of flashing lights appeared before Sunset awoke to find herself on top of a hill in a grassy field.
"Wow. The graphics are incredible!" She said to herself as she knelt down to feel the grass and breathed in the fresh air as a breeze flowed in.
"It feels so real. If this were an anime I probably would've gotten hit by a truck before waking up here." Sunset joked when a small fairy creature appeared before her and gave her a good startle.
"Hi there! Welcome to Adventure Quest! I'm Flip your fairy guide to through this amazing journey!" The fairy said as he fluttered around sunset with a cute and somewhat annoying voice. Like any fairy, this character was designed with sparkling wings, curly-toed shoes and clothes made from leaves.
"Welcome to The Empire, Adventurer!" He said cheerfully before snapping his fingers making a small screen appear in front of sunset with the title reading Input User Name.
"Okay. Now to think of a name." Sunset thought for a moment and remembered the nickname Pinkie gave her that time at the mall and quickly typed it in.
"Nice to meet you SunShim!" Flip said as a circle of weapons appeared around her.
"Now choose what class you'll be."
Among the assortment of weapons, she saw a sword and spellbook that immediately caught her attention as she checked the stats.
"Hmm Shield Knight. A class that specifies in defense and counterattacks, used mainly as the tank for raid parties. Sounds right up my alley!"
Once her choice was maid, the weapon dematerialized into pixels and reformed in Sunsets hands before she was transported into a bustling town square filled with numerous players both new and experienced.
"Alright adventurer, let's head to the quest board in the center of town to start your journey!" Flip said as he led the way through the bustling crowd with Sunset following closely.
"This is the Imperial City. One of the major cities you'll find throughout the game, here you can find shops, inns and other players to help you level up." Flip said just as they arrived at the quest board where Sunset saw the rest of her friends.
"Well look who joined the party!" Rainbow Dash grinned, appearing in a standard rogue outfit equipped with boots, a scarf snd a hood.
"So you went with the rogue class huh Dash?"
"That's Dashinator to you!" Rainbow frowned as she pointed up to her username.
Sunset quickly apologized before noticing the other colorful names her friends had chosen for themselves. Among the names were Zap Apple, Flutter Butter, Flawless Diamond and Pinkalicious but the name that surprised Sunset the most was the one Twilight had chosen for her character.
"Midnight? That's a surprise."
"I chose an enchantress so it seemed to fit." Twilight admitted while they got a look at their party.
"Okay let's see. Applejack's a Barbarian, Fluttershy's a Druid, Rarity is a...um?"
"A Blademancer darling. I can cast spells as well as sword fight." Rarity explained before enchanting her weapon with ice magic."
"Ooh pretty!" Pinkie said before sunset noticed the large cannon strapped to her back.
"You chose a Cannoneer, Pinkie?"
"Uh, yeah! BECAUSE I GET THIS COOL CANNON!!" Pinkie shrieked in excitement as she showed her friends her large cannon.
The girls shared a quick laugh before turning to the quest board to receive their first mission.
"Okay so, looks like we're heading to a Kobold nest in the forest."
"What are Kobolds?" Rarity asked sunset.
"They're basically these little rat men who like to dig tunnels and they REALLY hate it when you take their candles."
"RATS?!? EEWWW!!" Rarity shouted in disgust while the girls laughed again as they partied with Sunset and set out for their first quest.
"Alright girls, Let's do it!!"
"YEAH!!"
End.
Author's Note
The ratings for this story may change depending on future chapters, I look forward to your support.
After forming their party and adding each other to their friends list, the girls set off to an area known as The Dark Forest for their first quest. Along the way, they slayed a fair amount of low ranked monsters save for Fluttershy who used her druid skills to tame the ones she found too cute to slay.
“Ohh who’s my widdle cutsey wutsey horned wabbit?” She cood to her digital pet as it squirmed from her tickling.
Field Note: Horned Rabbit
A monster commonly found in grasslands or forests
They are shy and docile creatures who will only attack when threatened
By leaping at their attacker and impaling them on their horns.
"Hey, what was that?" Rainbow Dash asked her friends.
"That was a field note. The manual says that they show up when you encounter something new." Twilight pointed out for her friends.
"Comes in real handy when encountering new creatures or finding new items." Said Sunset as they entered the forest.
True to its name, The Dark Forest had an eerie atmosphere to it and like any spooky area in a video game, it came with ominous background music.
"Spoooky~!" Pinkie said in a ghostly voice that made Fluttershy quiver.
"S-s-s-Sunset? How much further?" Fluttershy stuttered while clinging to her pet.
"The cave should be just ahead."
The group soon found themselves at the entrance of a tight-fitting cave surrounded by abandoned mining equipment.
"This is it?" Rainbow asked as the caves name appeared.
Field Note: Fools Gold Cavern
Once a prosperous gold mine for the Imperial city, now abandoned.
The Empire once used this mine as their source of gold but were forced to evacuate after a colony of Kobolds took over, leaving many mining carts filled with gold behind.
"Isn't game lore great?" Twilight asked as Rainbow rolled her eyes.
"Okay SunShim, you lead."
"Okay, here we go." Sunset led her friends into the cave where magic braziers lit the way through the entrance. As they moved further in, they would come across vases that held a small amount of treasure.
"Smash, smash, smashing the vase! Smash, smash, smashing the vase!" Pinkie chanted as she broke one after the other to get one or two gold pieces on occasion.
"Euugh! This cave is so cramped and full of spiderwebs!" Rarity complained as they trudged through the cavern.
"Heads up sugars." Applejack warned after spotting three kobolds.
Twilight used her magic to scan the enemy and each was at least a level three or five. Perfect start for a dungeon fight.
"Alright girls, let's do this!" Sunset smirked with confidence as she activated her first skill.
"Challengers Call!!"
A bright light surrounded Sunset for a brief moment as the Kobolds turned around and charged at her, waving their pickaxes and screeching like mad.
"Pinkie, you're up!"
"Yes ma'am!" Pinkie saluted as she took aim with her canon.
"Impact Shot!!"
KABLAM!!
Pinkie's attack took a huge chunk out of the kobolds health bars while Sunset kept her shield up as she took on each attack.
"C'mon you little rat-faced jerks!"
The kobolds lashed out while Sunset kept up her defense as the rest of her party attacked the creatures from all sides.
"Now let's try this move." Rainbow grinned as she slipped behind them with her daggers drawn.
"*Assassinate!!*"
The kobolds sreeched in pain as huge portion of their health bar was brought down, giving Sunset the opportunity she needed.
"My turn! *Instant Counter!!*"
With one last strike, the kobolds were reduced into pixels as they cried out one last time, leaving behind a few coins and a bag of items.
"Nice work girls." Twilight said with a thumbs up when some of them heard a ping from their usernames.
"Oh cool we leveled up!" Sunset cheered while Rainbow checked the items.
"Looks like they had some iron ore and...oh sweet!" Rainbow shouted in excitement as she held up two new daggers.
"Just what I needed." Rainbow smirked as she equipped her new weapons.
“Let’s move it girls, the boss room is just ahead.”
“B-b-boss room?!?” Fluttershy shrieked as they continued forward.
“You sure we’re ready for this hon?” Applejack asked while mining some ore from the cavern walls.
“The boss is only a level six so we should be okay. We should start setting up our attack formation.” Sunset advised while using the dungeons minimap to set up their formation.
“So me, Applejack, Rainbow and Rarity will be on the front lines. I’ll make sure the boss and whatever minions he summons focus on me so you guys can pick them off.”
“Says here in the field notes that Kobolds are earth based monsters so my fire magic should do the trick.” Twilight added while going over her spells.
“My fire enchantments can also give us a boost.” Rarity smirked as she casted a fire spell on her sword.
“That leaves healing and the bosses defense power. Pinkie, you have any abilities to break through armor?”
“Uh huh! I got a new ability on the way here.” Pinkie smiled while bringing out her canon.”
“But I can only use it three times.”
“Then make it count. Rainbow Dash, use your poison skills to chip away at his health and if I remember, Rogues get a higher chance of critical damage if they attack from behind.”
“He’ll never see me coming!” Rainbow grinned while twirling her daggers to show off.
“Alright, let’s do this!”
The party marched onwards, taking whatever materials they found and taking out any monsters they came across until at last they came upon a massive door with a skull decorating the arch.
“This is it, get ready.”
The doors slowly opened to reveal a lone kobold standing nearly twenty feet tall with a massive gut in the room carrying a large battle axe and shield, it’s only form of clothing was a loincloth and a few pieces of plating on its head, arms and legs.
"Look what stepped into my cavern..." the boss monster growled, licking its lips.
"Fresh meat for my larder!!"
The boss leaped at Sunset, taking a huge chunk out of her health bar as the group scattered and took their battle positions as thrilling fight music began to fill the background while two health bars appeared over the monsters head.
Rainbow Dash, darted behind the boss as Sunset fended off another attack while Applejack and Rarity charged in from the sides leaving Fluttershy, Pinkie and Twilight to attack from a distance.
"Okay ugly, try this on for size!" Rainbow grinned as she attacked from behind to use her first skill.
"Bloodletter!!"
The attack took out a small chunk of the bosses health but Rainbow was still grinning as the icon of a blood drop appeared next to his health bar.
"Yes! Bleeding damage for the next 20 seconds!"
"Piercing Strike!!" Sunset shouted as she swung her sword at the boss and blinked when she saw the numbers of her attack pop up in bold lettering followed by Flips voice calling out of nowhere.
"100! Critical hit!!"
A huge chunk of the bosses health was taken out after that one hit and with the combined efforts of the other team members, the first health bar was completely depleted.
"I'LL STEW YOU ALL FOR THIS!!" The kobold shouted before tossing aside his shield and axe to bring out a giant spiked club.
"Now, Cast shielding light!" Twilight called out as a small shield icon popped up in front of the teams health bars.
"This'll help raise your defense power!"
"Nice work Twilight!" Sunset smiled before blocking another attack from the boss and saw a third of her health bar was depleted.
"Whoa, his attack power doubled and he can do piercing damage!"
"Healing Mist!" Fluttershy said in her usual gentle voice as a breeze enveloped Sunset and began to restore her health.
"My turn darlings. Enchantment, Ice!." Rarity shouted with flare as she enchanted her party's weapons and attacked the boss from the side.
"Rarity be careful! You don't have as much defense power as me!" Sunset cautioned after landing another hit.
"Fear not dear, I am a member of the fencing club for a reason." Rarity said with confidence as she dashed forward and began a series of rapid attacks while evading the boss's weapon.
"She's not doing much damage." Rainbow said from the safety of a tall rock.
"Maybe not but look at the boss's status." Twilight pointed to a snowflake icon next to the bosses health bar and his slowed movements.
"Repeated ice damage slows a target down and reeks havoc on their dexterity!"
"My turn!" Applejack said as she charged forward to deliver a swing with her hammer.
"100 critical hit!!"
"Nice one AJ!" Rainbow said as she leaped from her position to land two more attacks on the kobold lords back but this time with a surprising effect.
"Get a taste of my poison blades creep!"
""YOU PEST!!" the boss roared before smacking rainbow into the cave wall and summoning more minions.
"Rainbow!"
"I'm okay, watch out!!"
Sunset quickly defended herself as the kobolds attacked her from both sides.
"Oh no you don't! FULL SWING!!"
In one circular motion, the minions were instantly defeated allowing Sunset and her friends to focus on the boss's last remaining health as they all moved in to finish him off.
"Alright girls, Let him have it!!" Rainbow said as she landed the first hit followed by Applejack who landed a crushing blow to the left leg that put a broken bone icon next to the health bar.
"Nice work Applejack! you crippled him!" Sunset cheered after landing another attack followed by Twilight and Pinkie who began to bombard him with ranged attacks and after one agonizing roar, the kobold lord fell on his back and he slowly began to pixelate.
"WOW!! Congrats you guys!" Flip said as he popped out of nowhere to congratulate the team.
"You have just defeated your first boss and on the first try! That means bonus rewards!"
The girls levels instantly went up to five as each of them was presented a chest with a specific reward for each of their chosen classes. Applejack was given a new armor set, Rainbow was given new boots, Fluttershy and Twilight got new staffs while Sunset was given a brand new sword and shield.
"Sweet!! we just beat our first dungeon! this is so cool!" Rainbow squealed when a portal popped up in front of the doorway.
"This portal will lead you back to the Imperial city, good luck out there players!" Flip said before vanishing.
The girls returned to the city and decided to meet up in real life at the local pizza restaurant to celebrate. The evening was followed by much smiles and laughter as they talked about today's adventure.
"Did you see the way we laid waste to those rats? That was so awesome!" Rainbow grinned while sipping her soda.
"And I must say, the materials we gathered will make my tailoring skill go along smoothly." Rarity said while looking over the materials they gathered on her phone.
"Tailoring?" Pinkie asked while taking a bite of her pizza.
"It's a secondary skill darling. Perfect thing to have if you want to make your own gear instead of buying it."
"I know what you mean. I took the alchemy skill." Twilight replied.
"I think i'll take blacksmithing. Be nice to have our gear repaired when on the road." Applejack said while helping herself to another slice.
"So what should we do for our next adventure?" Fluttershy asked.
"Well since we still got school and extracurriculars, I think we should meet up around eight-thirty. That'll give us at least two hours of play time." Sunset suggested with the girls nodding in agreement.
"Then it's settled."
"WAIT!!" Pinkie shrieked, startling some of the group.
"We should form a guild!"
"A guild?" Sunset asked.
"Yeah, a guild! That way when we do stuff on the game, it'll be more fun and when everyone knows who we are, they'll want to join and we'll have more friends to play with!"
"I like the sound of that." Applejack nodded in approvement along with the rest of the group.
"Alright then what should we call ourselves?" Sunset asked while thinking of a name.
"Hmm...I got it! The Canterlot Knights!!" Pinkie shouted as the others looked at her, confused.
"Canterlot Knights?" Twilight asked.
"I did wanna say Mane 7 but that would mean that nobody else would be allowed to join."
"I guess that makes sense. Alright, from this day forward we're known as The Canterlot Knights!" Sunset raised her soda cup in a toast that was joined by the others as they cheered and celebrated the rest of the night before heading home.
Meanwhile, at Madam Chrysalis' Manor
While bathing in her luxurious bathtub, Madam Chrysalis was viewing the marketing results of the game and was more than pleased at how much her sales were skyrocketing.
"It seems our latest game is a success." She said to one of her servants while sipping some wine.
"Indeed madam, congratulations on another triumph."
"Now if only the rest of my family was here to celebrate." Chrysalis sighed while stepping out of the tub to dry off.
"Tell me, when is my husband coming home?"
"Tonight madam, in the next hour."
"Ooh perfect~, I'll wear something special for him. And my son?"
"His flight arrives tomorrow. His studies abroad are finished and he said he can't wait to be home."
"Perfect! Ohh I can't wait to see my baby boy again." Chrysalis smiled as she walked over to a photo of her and her family and smiled.
"It'll be nice to have the family back together again."
End.
