Still Lostby NewToThisLifeChaptersIn the name of God (Redone)RevengeWaterBack at itmovingLeft bloodyDustFinding outIn the name of God (Redone)Author's Note This is my first story and to be honest I've never been a big writer, hope to use this as a learning experience. In the name of God (Redone) Alice stumbled to the floor, trying to stay out of the smoke filling their hideout—at least what was left of it. A group of soldiers unmarked and speaking a tongue he never heard, let alone understood, launched molotovs in every window, door, and blown-out wall they could, yelling in what sounded to be anger, but their emotions were lost on him. His blood ran cold as screams of pain rang. One was close, and with an asphyxiating short and pain-filled breath, he crawled, staying below the smoke the best he could. But this heat, THIS FUCKING HEAT! It was drying his lungs out like dear meet, and he knew he soon would join in the dry screaming as he cooked in this run-down farmhouse. More screams filled his ears, but this time he saw who cried out in pain, even though their face melted. He knew his best friend, Pvt. Matt lay before him, his Kevlar vest melting into his skin, his glasses molding to what once was his face, blue flames covered his body as bits of plastic on him burned, melting into the soon-to-be burned-down house. "I'm sorry, brother; I failed you." Alice whispered, grabbing at his cross necklace, quietly praying that God would lay his friend's pain-filled soul to rest, he needed to get out of this house before he was turned into hot, burning ash himself. Grabbing his service pistol, he turned off the safety and ran out the first window he could gun at the ready. Landing on one knee he quickly went to get up on two feet and run, but his smoke-filled lungs said otherwise, deciding to send him in for a coughing fit. "Fucking great..." Alice mumbled to himself, still out of breath, as one of the unknown soldiers brought their gun up and pulled the trigger. The first two rounds hit his Kevlar. The third shot was on target, hitting his leg. Fighting through the pain, he brought up his pistol and fired, with a snap of the unknown soldier's head he died. Two more soldiers came running around the now-flaming house, he brought his pistol on target, killing both. Their bodies going limp, he then holstered his pistol. Doing what he could to stay quiet Alice Crawled his way to a small crater, around three hundred feet from the now collapsing house, the smell of burning bodies filling his nose, he knew what he smelt was his friends the ones he bled for, cried for and if needed die for. He would get revenge, they took his family shortly after the war started, first, his dad died in battle, and his mom, heartbroken leaned on him. Alice began to cry as the memories flashed in his mind, silent as it may be, it was full of pain. He now lost everything and lost so much at too young an age, the war started when he was fourteen, he wanted to stay with his mom, but in the name of God he would get revenge for his father and after he was drafted, his mom with a loving smile sent him off knowing Alice would accept no less even at his young age of fifteen, she couldn't handle being alone, the letter of her suicide got to him before boot camp was over. He no longer looked forward to going home, to be alone scared him. The now empty house would only bring him pain it would only remind him of what this war had taken from him, if he was honest with himself he looked forward to dying on the field of battle, finally he might see his dad again, and say sorry to his mom. Alice grabbed onto the edge of the pit, and with one last burst of strength rolled himself into it grunting quietly he pulled out his med kit, biting his lip in pain as his wounds made themselves more than noticed. The Kevlar stopped the rounds but the force broke ribs, there was nothing he could do about that. His leg on the other hand was bleeding, but not too bad, it missed any main veins and most importantly his bone. Putting on a tourniquet he stopped the bleeding which made moving his leg hard not that he could do much more than limp with it tourniquet or not. Next, he went to check his ammo and reload what he could before he moved his position pulling his pistol back out of his leg holster he switched the half-empty mag with a full one before he could reload the mostly empty one another round hit his chest. His vision went black from the pain his broken ribs shifting around, the air being forced from his lungs made him quietly choke. The kevlar was overperforming at this point it was not meant to take this many hits. Whoever shot him stopped and in the strange tongue from before yelled in frustration, their gun jammed. Alice not wasting any time shot in the direction of yelling, on the third shot he heard a thud along with the jammed gun sliding down next to him in the pit. -*- Alice awoke covered in sweat, with his eyes closed face covered in dried up tears he swung his still shoe covered feet over his bed. Before he could recover from his nightmare a gust of cold crisp air ran off him His eyes snapped open. He was in the woods, the computer with all his newly started music was no longer there a tree taking its place. "What the fuck... Am I still dreaming?" Alice mumbled to himself, his heart beginning to race. NOTIFICATION QUEST STARTED "SURVIVAL" Take no damage till sunrise. Rewards: Permanent xp boost of 10% and 10 levels. Optional:HIDDIN NOTIFICATION Accept? Failure to accept will result in a penalty. penalty: DEATH A blue slightly see through screen popped up in front of him. "I must still be dreaming." his voice was now normal in tone back to his deep and rough. Standing up he took a deep long breath smelling everything he could, and with a goofy smile, he accepted the quest. *I don't wanna die dream or otherwise.* Walking some more he sniffed at the air."Do I smell a fire?" He walked toward the smell wondering what his mind would think up, maybe his dad would be there. Sure it was a dream but a talk with his dad would be nice. As he walked his senses woke up, the air was clean and outside the faint gust when he awoke it was calm, looking around Alice saw trees unlike any he'd ever seen, they looked dead, with little to no leaves, walking up to one he gave a low hanging branch one good tug just for it to snap back in to place. "What the hell, some strong ass tree." Alice stared at it a minute longer trying to deduce what tree this was only for the smell of fire from before to wash over him, snaping him from his train of thought. *Oo right ya the fire* Quickly turning on his feet he walked, a little more speed in his pace. The trees changed from dead to filled with life with almost no transition, that was not his concern, his attention was on the fire, his dad was not there, instead, there was a pony. It was all yellow a reddish mane and tale. It was shivering, not from being cold, no it was surrounded by what looked to be wolves made of wood. looking up what seemed to be a trail close by, there was a small bridge a slow moving stream underneath then a house unlike any Alice had ever seen its roof was green and looked to be moss but in the dark, he couldn't make it out. "SOMEPONY HELP ME, TIMBER WOLFS!!!" The small yellow pony screamed out, their voice was young and girly. Alice grabbed his head in pain, memories forced their way to the front of his mind, kids yelling in horror rang, images of burning bodies friend and foe alike. Some holding on to one another as they burned. More voices in his head this time the kids yelled for their mom, their dad, for anybody to save them from the horror. Alice snapped open his eyes, a now red-filled glow to them. "Must kill, no more pain." Alice whispered, one hand on his head. NOTIFICATION Ability: Pure rage activated "Pure rage" LEVEL: 1/10 Duration: 2 min. Effects: All stats are multiplied by two. Can't feel pain. Dmg to the player is cut in half. The player will lose control. "NO MORE!" He yelled charging the closest timber wolf. With every step, his shoes left deep prints on the dusty trail. Slamming into the timber wolf, Carrying it with his shoulder he slammed it into a tree, the wolf blew up, pieces of wood going everywhere. Alice turned to the rest of the wolves then with a moment of focus he looked at the stunned pony. "Run little one." The pony ran yelling back to him as he did. "Thank you minotaur, sir!" Alice was still full of anger, taking count he had three more wolves to take care of, and whatever this ability was had 53 seconds left if the timer next to what he just noticed was a map in the left corner of his vision. Running with a speed he'd never had before, he punched the closest one before they got their footing, its head exploding. Turning quickly he kicked one running up, sending it into a tree, it slid down to the ground not moving. "One more." Alice whispered through grinding teeth. Dodging at the last second, the last wolf flew past Alice its jaws open. Turning on his feet he charged The wolf was too slow as Alice slammed into it doing what he did with the first one, he slammed it into the closest tree the wolf exploded this time though the tree was unrooted falling over with a loud crunch. NOTIFICATION Debuff added: Stressed soul LEVEL: 1/10 Duration: 20 min. EFFECTS: Tired/drowsy Healing slowed. Any wounds will be ten times more painful. Out of breath, Alice swayed in place, staring at the notification he read it quickly. And just like the debuff said he got tired, very tired, he began to walk on the trail until the sound of voices was heard, stopping he listened. A southern voice spoke to somebody behind him. "Don't you worry Applebloom I got the guards coming to capture the minotaur" The little pony from before at least what he thought was replied with frustration. "AppleJack I told you he saved me, there's no reason to bring the guards, he's good." "Applebloom there are no good minotaurs." Her voice sounded a bit annoyed. *And with that I'm gone* Alice ran into the woods stumbling as he did. *I am not in the state to fight off guards, and I'm not a minotaur am a fucking human, what the hell would they do to that.* Alice ran, staying off the trail, hoping not to be so easily followed. Alice ran the trees long, transitioning back to the dead-looking ones until he was out of breath. * I need off the ground I don't wanna find out what type of snakes roam around a place with wood wolves!* looking up Alice spotted a thick tree limb and with what little strength he had left started climbing up to it, the tree was thick and unlike most in this strange forest had leaves, hoping it would hide him. He proceeded to take off his button up work long sleeve shirt and tie it around his waist and branch. "I'm starting to think this is no dream." He chuckled leaning into the tree as he did. -*- Alice awoke, almost falling out of the tree. "Awww, shit fucking balls!" His sleepy eyes flew into focus, the adrenalin forcing him awake. "That's the ground." Alice felt the knot come undone, his stomach turning with the sensation. Bouncing off a branch or two as he fell followed by a sudden stop and a small grown. "fuuuuuuuuuck, I don't think this is a dream." Alice with his face still on the grass filled forest floor spitting out a bit of grass as he spoke, was pulled out of his dramatic faceplant, with a notification. QUEST COMPLETE: "SURVIVAL" Rewards: Permanent xp boost of 10% and 10 levels. Optional: Save AppleBloom Rewards: Double the quest rewards. New rewards: A permanent XP boost of 20% and 20 levels. "Cool, what was my level before anyway? " Alice practically yelled, forgetting his embarrassing face plant quickly. Name: Alice Level: 25 Xp: 1365/15000 Points: 36 Strength:30 Perception:30 Endurance:30 Charisma:30 Intelligence:35 Agility:30 Luck:30 Buffs: Happy gods: Permanent Debuffs: None *I must have been level 10 to start with. Why do I have 36 points? Do I get five points for every five levels and one for every level? It also seems I get a level in every stat every time I level up, shit I really have to test out my stats I don't know if they're good or not.* Alice looked at his HP it only dropped down to 87/100. Surprised he realized the twenty more levels in his Endurance probably saved him. He stood up and looked around for his failed safety rope. Finding it quickly he put his shirt back on, the arms stretched from the use. "That could have been worse." Just as he finished speaking, a loud crash followed by a deep scream of pain came from within the forest, Alice ran towards the crash instinct driving him. The crash was a bit away. Guessing there would be a fight, Alice brought up his stats and started to dump points into Strength, Endurance, and Agility, putting ten in each. The last six he put in Perception. He hoped this would give him the edge in whatever fight was to come. Alice jumped through a bush landing on some kind of trail looking around he saw a cloaked bipedal creature holding their side blood pulling around him. Alice, thinking it was another human, ran over, sliding on his knees and stopping just before the unknown person. "Hey, wake up! You still alive?" Alice shook the cloaked figure. He was met with a cough, blood spraying from his mouth. "I'm still alive, haha, at least for the moment." The cloaked figure went into another coughing fit. "How'd this happen? I don't see any wounds on you, but there's so much blood?" Alice frantically looked around his friend's body finding no noticeable injuries he grew scared he would lose his only fellow human in what he thought was a dream just a day ago. "Stupid Manticore whacked me into this tree, and the cloak hides my face and wounds." The cloaked figure fell on his side, coughing up more blood as he did. "I won't make it *cough* but you can have my cloak and sword, but you must avenge me and kill that foul creature that killed my family and my tribe. Please, strange creature *cough* do this for me." As he talked, he undid his cloak and revealed his face to be that of a minotaur. Old and gray his horns long broke his one eye gray a scar going across it. He handed it to Alice then unclipped his sword belt and holster handing it to a dumbstruck Alice. "Please grant this old minotaur's wish!" He fell into another coughing fit, then just laid there, barely breathing, the deep cuts and broken bones clearly about to take his life. Alice brought up his right hand and grabbed the minotaur's hand, his other hand on the minotaur's shoulder. "I know your pain all too well, I will get revenge for you." Alice held back tears, he had done things like this before, telling one of his men one of his friends moments before their death, that he would kill whoever did this and make them pay. "Thank you, young creature." A smile crossed his face, followed by his hand going limp. NEW QUEST "Help your fellow "man"" Goals: Kill the manticore located on the map. Rewards: 10000 XP Difficulty: Hard Time limit: 24h Alice looked at his map, seeing the manticore only 300 feet away. "I'd kill it before it even knew what hit it," Alice spoke to himself opening his inventory as he did. *The black cloak, named Cloaked Pain makes one look like a cloaked minotaur using illusion magic to hide one's face and make one's body look like a minotaur, which is perfect for me even though those ponies think minotaurs are evil. It's better than the alien from another planet. The sword is legendary, named Unrelenting can't be broken without extreme levels of stress, and can repair itself slowly as long as it is not completely broken.* Clipping on his newfound equipment than walking over to the dead minotaur he laid him straight crossed his arms and closed his eyes, Alice then covered his face with his long sleeved button shirt, leaving Alice with no shirt just the blue jeans and boots he was happy he forgot to take off before bed. Alice may have been 6'1 and 200 pounds, the minotaur though was at least 7 feet tall and pushing 400 pounds making the shirt too small to cover any more than his face and upper chest. "I might not be able to bury you, and I am sorry for that but I will avenge you and your family." Grabbing his cross, Alice prayed for his short-term friend to rest in peace. Looking at his map, one hand on his sword, he began his short walk to kill this beast of myth. "After this, I need to get everything in order I still have trouble believing this is real, and if it is how the hell did I get to this place and with my bed." Alices face turned to one of annoyance. "Fuck I just bought that bed." RevengeAlice jumped from tree to tree towards the marker on his map, the monster of myth deserving death time's over. There was only one issue: this monster was infused with something demonic. "This feeling of total despair, I can feel the evil radiating off it!" Alice stood there, scared to move. With a twitch of the monster's ear, it turned to face him and with a yell that sent shivers down Alice's spine, it charged the tree he was in. *Fuck fuck gotta move gotta move!!* Alice's body refused, and before he knew it, Alice, along with the tree, was sent crashing down. Instinct saving him Alice jumped just before he was crushed between the forest floor and the tree he once used as a lookout. Clamoring to his feet, he pulled out the two-handed sword and spread his feet, assuming a powerful stance as he stared down the beast. "You will pay, just like the rest." Righteous indignation flowed through his veins as he remembered what he was fighting for. The beast roared again, and this time Alice stood his ground. He may not be a professional with a sword, but his strength and dexterity would be all he needed for a fight with a brainless monster. The monster made the first move, no longer willing to play the waiting game, using its small wings to give it a boost as it charged, stinger high and off to the side, ready to strike as soon as it got in range, and doing just that. Alice, reading its moves, shifted to the side, and while its stinger was overextended, he brought his sword down with a yell, cutting its stinger off. It yelled in pain, stepping back as it did. Alice jumped forward, cutting its left arm off, as the monster swiped with its right, but it was too slow. Alice landed with his feet far apart, twisting his hips he cut left to right splitting the monster in half. Alice stood there, breathing heavily, sword still in the air, blood spraying everywhere. NOTIFICATION A beast full of demonic energy has been killed by a "player." NOTIFICATION The "player" will be recognized with a gift. NOTIFICATION Due to a great deed, the "player" has unlocked daily quests. NOTIFICATION Daily quest started. Time Left: 13 hours Complete: 100/0 push-ups 100/0 sit-ups 100/0 pull-ups 100/0 jumping jacks 10/0 mile run Rewards: 1 skill point 3 ability points 1 FULL RECOVERY Fail to complete, and the "player" will receive a penalty! Standing up straight, Alice put his sword away and began to read the daily quest. Before he could read the whole thing, he was flashed with even more notifications overlaid on the quest pop-up. NOTIFICATION Quest completed: "Help your fellow man." Rewards: 10000xp Hidden objectives: kill the monster in under 1 hour. Bonus: 5000xp NOTIFICATION The "player" has leveled up! New Level 26 "Ooo my god, enough with the notifications!" *Let me think for fuck sake, so I avenged my minotaur friend I've unlocked daily quests and I'm level twenty six. Cool cool.* Alice closed his eyes and took a deep breath, after he felt his heart rate drop he brought up his status window and put his one point in too strength. *But what are these ability points given by the daily quest? It must be a different command.* Alice brought his hand to his hidden chin in thought. With hesitation, he spoke. "Abilities?" And like that, a new screen appears before him. Abilities:. ????????????: MAX LEVEL Pure rage: level 1/10 Sword skill: level 1/10 Combat sense: level 1/5 Ability points: 15 Mumbling to himself. "What are all the question marks and what the hell is Combat Sense?" Alice flinched at the next popup. NOTIFICATION Combat sense: lets the user see information about any living creature when used. Every level lets the "player" see more; at the maximum level, the ability becomes passive and will remain on unless turned off. Only shows the information on creatures the "player" can clearly make out with their vision. *Well, that's overpowered; I think I'll max that out first.* With a chuckle, he brought back up the ability screen and put four points in Combat Sense. Still new to his abilities Alice mumbled out. " What is aaaa... Sword skill?" NOTIFICATION Sword skill: With every level the chance to apply effects like stun, bleed, hevey bleed, fear, or whatever effects might be on the sword you wield goes up by 5%. With every level fatigue from using the sword goes down by 10%. Some weapons might require a higher level to use proficiently or use at all. *Well shit... I kinda need to put all my points into that then.* Alice, with one hand on his chin and the other typing on the floating half-transparent screen in front of him. He put nine points in his sword skills, realizing it was his only current weapon. The last two he put into pure rage. "Well, time to knock out this daily quest. I don't want to find out what the penalty is or even means." _---------_ Pov: Twilight sparkle "And that's why I request that you and Princess Luna please assist in finding the source of the sudden uptick in demonic energy coming from the Everfree forest and that strange minotaur Applebloom was saved by." Twilight sat down at her desk with a tired humph, using her magic to sip on some tea her mind raced still, a minotaur strong enough to fight off four timber wolves with no weapon of its own, even slamming one so hard into a tree forcing it to dee root and all of that to save a pony a race they've hatted for as long as the history books go back. "Is that it, Twilight?" Spike asked with a worried expression on his face, looking at the stressed Twilight Sparkle. "Ooo, sorry, Spike. Yes, yes, go ahead and send it." With bags under her eyes, she slumped back down into her chair. "Then I'll send it." And with that, a green puff of smoke left the tree house, flying out the cracked slammed into window rainbow hit the day before. At the same time, frantic knocking came from the door. "Twilight, hunny, the energy from that demon is gone!" The voice yelled from outside. Twilight opened the door with her purple magic. A white unicorn with a purple fizzy mane, her eyes were blood shot a frantic look in them. Carrying in her magic some type of device with Twilight's cutie mark on it ran in, sitting on the ground next to Twilight. "The demon on the senseer just disappeared!" the white mare floated over the device dropping it on Twilight's desk. "Rarity calm down, this just means it was defeated by adventurers." Twilight put a hoof on her designer friend. "But Twilight the gage said it was an S-rank Demon, what adventurers could kill such a beast there are only four rank S adventurers, and they all at Canterlot receiving medals for defeating that monster that tried to destroy Manehatin?" Rarity almost yelled in fear, still not convinced. Twilight stayed calm; if she couldn't, then rash decisions would likely follow. "How about this? We go have a look for ourselves when the princess arrives. I haven't gotten a response from them yet, but I'm sure they're willing to help us. Does that sound good?" Twilight gave a calming smile to Rarity and then brought her in for a hug. The hug ended, and Rarity took a deep breath. "That's fine with me Twilight, but could we bring the elements with us just in case there's a bigger ruffian than we can handle?" "I don't see why not?" Twilight knew why she was so worked up, after Scootaloo went missing a few months back Sweetie Belle and Applebloom did everything they could even waiting at the edge of the everfree hoping their missing friend would appear. Naturally, this bleed into the big sisters doing what they can to help find her. A moment passed followed by a loud burp from Spike. Twilight caught the scroll in her magic levitating it over to her opening it as she did. "What does it say Twilight, will they help us with our demon problem?" Rarity all most in her face at this point, a side of Rarity not shown often, definitely not befitting the calm and majestic mare she tries to portray. Twilight mumbled as she read it, her eyebrows furrowed as she did. "It seems they are busy with the rewards ceremony today and have diplomatic meetings tomorrow but after that their schedule is open." Rarity jumped up a look of determination on her face. "I'll let the others know!" Rarity ran out of the tree house with determination. Twilight and Spike looked at one another, then back at the still open door. "Could have closed my door." Twilight said as she closed her door with her magic. Author's Note My job irl is a deadly one and free time is rare, I hope I can at least put enough time in to the story to make a story you all can enjoy. Thanks for reading WaterAuthor's Note Thank you for all the dislikes, it truly motivates me to try and become a better writer. I see on a lot of stories with straight up hate comments I don't see how that helps anyone lol, so far haven't had any of that on mine. I'm keeping the chapters short in the hopes I see my mistakes and fix them before another chapter. Water Alice stood at the edge of a crumbling bridge, most of the wood boards missing, the few left covered in moss, the rope parts ready to snap at any moment if the amount it was sagging meant anything. But Alice had bigger things to worry about, after he started his daily quest and stupidly started to run randomly through the woods trying to get the ten-mile run done he soon though found himself lost, alone and what seemed to be a huge storm coming from the west. He was hungrier than he's ever been and thirsty to the point of dizziness, on top of that a crazy amount of fog set in keeping him from seeing any more than five feet in front of him. "I think I can see the other side where the bridge meets, or maybe not?" Alice looked down the gorge, the fog not as thick letting him see around two hundred feet, the bottom still not visible. "But I'm not about to cross that bridge, I'm not suicidal just yet." Alice turned around stumbling a little he got ready to head in a different direction, but that would be a problem, a hundred eyes stared back at him, yellow like fire. *Shit I can't fight that many timber wolfs in my state, fuck why didn't the map show me they were so close!* Alice focused on the map, just to see the whole thing gray a small circle around him being the only thing visible. He looked back at the dilapidated bridge not sure if crossing it was as bad an idea. Turning back around stumbling as dehydration through him for a loop. *I don't think the bridge will hold me let alone a bunch of timber wolfs.* One of the timber wolves jumped at him, Alice brought up his arms the timber wolf bit down on his left wrist. With what strength he had left, pain giving him a boost of adrenalin he slammed it down, exploding it into splinters, the rest of the timber wolfs began to move in. "Fuck it I rather hit the ground than be eaten alive!" Alice stumbled to the bridge hands on the ropes, he stood there full of hesitation. The wolves did not though, He stumbled forward as one of the timber wolfs bounced off his back howling as it fell into the fog below. Slapping himself to bring him back into focus, he gave a yell jumping from moss-covered board to moss-covered board, the timber wolves tried to follow. The sound of howling and crashing below only pushed Alice to move faster gambling with each step his vision getting worse. Notification The "Player" is severely dehydrated. Notification Debuff added severe dehydration. *No shit Sherlock !" Alice got to the last bored, it started to crack as he stood there, a ten-foot gap between him and salvation. The bridge began to shake and sway, growling behind him explaining why. He knew the bridge wouldn't hold, crouching down he put all his strength into his legs. A loud snap was heard as his feet left. "HOLY SHIT!" His voice cracked with nothing to lubricate it, his arms waving through the foggy air like some scared kid. Rolling to a stop he lay there sprawled on the ground the wind knocked out of him. Notification 3,369xp earned from combat. *That was too close.* Alice propped himself up on the cobblestone path below him seeing the bridge disappear into the fog along with the timber wolves, looking around in frustration he still couldn't see any further. He suddenly realized the cobblestone's cold touch. Wasting no time he followed it hoping there would be an old well or waterway. If he learned anything from military training people settle near water even if the town or whatever this led to was abandoned, water should be nearby. Alice ran getting dizzier and dizzier, pushing on he came to a stone wall two big wood doors reinforced with iron stood open walking in he came to a large courtyard with a well sitting in the middle of it. Alice ran up to it a bucket sitting next to it an old rope tied to it, dropping the bucket down he heard a splash, and a smile formed across his face as he pulled it up. He brought the bucket up not bothering to see if it was clean or not and gulped down every drop. Notification Severe dehydration was removed. "Holy shit, now to find food and...." Alice looked down covered in blood from the demon Manticore he killed only hours before. "Maybe I get clean first......" Stats Name: Alice Level: 26 Xp: 4734/20000 Points: 0 Strength:42 Perception:37 Endurance:41 Charisma:31 Intelligence:36 Agility:41 Luck:30 Buffs: Happy gods: Permanent Debuffs: Growing hunger: Till food is eaten Time passed: Two days Location: Ponyville Time: 13:15 "Twilight, sugar cube I'm sure they're just running late everything's gonna be all right." A smooth southern voice spoke to Twilight. "Applejack I'm sure your right but I can't stop worrying, Their being late could through the whole schedule off us being in and out of the forest before nightfall is very important. PLUS! THE LONGER WE TAKE THE ONE RESPONSIBLE FOR KILLING THAT DEMON COULD GET AWAY WHO KNOWS THE TWO DAYS WE WAIT...." Twilight's worried rant ended when a large white wing wrapped around her. "Twilight there is no reason to worry me and my sister have arrived." Twilight turned her head towards the voice so familiar, a blush crossed her face as she stared at her loving smile. "Sorry, Princess Celestia." Twilight hung her head, letting her mentor see her act in such a manner was embarrassing beyond belief. The rest of the elements giggled at Twilight being Twilight. Luna stood there just happy to be back with her sister, solving demon problems with their best fighters, though demons have gotten stronger, Celestia has grown weak and Luna herself is in no better position to help, her full power is still in recovery. This weakness only being shown to her after the attack on Manehattan, though she and her sister could have handled that beast back during the great war. Celestia has grown weak during her near thousand years of peace still even then they had a hero of the past one who seemed to risk everything for them and wouldn't even accept their praise let alone live. This strange hero took on the whole demon army killed all their generals and over half there forces but in the end, nobody found his body, sadly was believed to have died. Us princesses would handle a couple or more of those Baron of Hells but to need help from simple adventures seemed laughable even more with their only being one. Rainbow dash flew above everyone taking some kinda victory pose. "ONWARD TO ADVENTURE!" "Rainbow darling, I think reading all those Daring Do books has gotten to you." Rarity said clearly annoyed at the sudden yelling. Stats Name: Celestia Level: 237 Xp: "NOT A "PLAYER"" Points: "NOT A "PLAYER"" Strength:137 Perception:189 Endurance:110 Charisma:204 Intelligence:227 Agility:103 Luck:80 Back at itHe was lost, confused, scared, and worried, but completely dumbfounded he was not, at least not till he started exploring the castle attached to the courtyard. At first, it was all the sun and moons depicted all over the castle that were strange, then the room with a huge pipe organ. The random rooms were full of nothing; whatever was there had long rotted away, but then why were their rooms full of books in perfect condition? Unfortunately, whatever the books were written in, it was not a language he could read, let alone have ever seen before. Then there was the garden in the center of the somewhat square castle. Two very old apple trees and one pear tree stood defiant to the very place they stood healthy and strong as what seemed to be a long-forgotten place lost in time, and if the deep cuts in the floor and walls seemed to be gone blowin' away in some long-forgotten battle if that meant anything, Alice couldn't tell at least with the hunger setting in his vision fading in and out not knowing if the trees were even there. He walked over to the closer apple tree and reached up, his hand wrapping around the apple. He stood there, his brain working in slow motion. "What... why are... whatever?" Alice stammered out, picking the apple as he did. Alice ate that apple, but another and another followed, until, like a switch, his vision came back and he could finally think. *Okay, I've got food and water, but is this place even safe to be in? Or am I risking going out into that forest at night? Sure, the moon is letting me see, but banking on the moon alone is dumb, plus those dam timber wolves or what is left might be waiting for me. The fog might be gone, but could it come back? Bunkering up in this castle might not be a bad idea. All I need to find are the throne room and bed chambers. Maybe what was keeping the books from rotting was used on the king's bedchambers or something.* Alice roamed the halls, slowly learning the layout, room by room. Once he found the huge dining room, only a few chairs were left around a table that could hold fifty. Oddly enough, two doors, one on the back left with a sun on it and one on the right with a moon, stood there, asking to be opened. "I like the moon like any true Frank Sinatra fan!" Alice walked over to the moon door and pushed down on the handle. It didn't budge. Thinking the wooden door was just swollen, he gave it a good kick. The door flew open, the hinges breaking off the wall. Alice chuckled at how much stronger he really was now. "Having forty-two strength makes me feel like a tank; what would one hundred be like?" A small smile crossed Alice's face as he set a new goal. Strength one hundred would be something crazy to see, and at the moment, Alice needed to keep his sense of being alone controlled and pushed to the back of his mind for as long as possible. Going insane would only get him killed. It only helped him. Being alone after so many years and fighting to survive, trying day by day to make it big in the music industry, was almost as hard as clearing a house with no night vision just for some fucker to be hiding behind a turned-over laundry basket. Next thing you know, you've got 5.45x39 in your left thigh. Jokes on him: 7.62x39 to the head, even with some cheap Russian so-called helmet armor, is what we call a kill shot, but that's neither here nor there. The room was dark on account of the shades still being in good condition, walking over the little bit of light coming from the gap between each shade guiding him. Alice spread open the shades, and with a gasp, he saw everything from the carpet to the long empty tea cup sitting on the nightstand next to what looked like a clean bed, the pillows still fluffy, maybe even a little too fluffy, but to Alice, anything beat sleeping on a rock or, god forbid, another tree. Yawning Alice laid down, falling to sleep as soon as his head hit the pillow. Alice woke to birds chirping and, strangely enough, a new quest. NEW QUEST "Demonic castle" Goals: Kill all demons in the castle before guests arrive. Rewards: 10000xp Difficulty: Hard (you are under-leveled; level 60 is recommended for the quest). Time limit: unknown (before "guests" arrive) "What fucking guests and what fucking demons!" Alice shot out of bed, throwing the crazy comfortable blanket off him, and looked around. "There's nothing in my new room trying to eat me, at least." Alice then focused on his map, and, with a look of horror, he saw twelve reddish-purple dots. *I'm only level 26; sure, I got one skill point from yesterday's Daily Quest and put the three ability points into a pure rage, but I'm still not a match for a level 60 quest.* "Shit, I really don't have a choice, do I?" Alice stood up and took a deep breath. *I need to take one on at a time, and the weakest ones first. Maybe I can get a few levels out of that, then go for the strongest one last, like I'm doing some kind of boss battle.* Alice peeked his head out of the bedroom to see a floating eye-like demon but before he could read its name and rank. NOTIFICATION Daily quest has started. Time Left: 19 hours Complete: 100/0 push-ups 100/0 sit-ups 100/0 pull-ups 100/0 jumping jacks 10/0 mile run Rewards: 1 skill point 3 ability points 1 FULL RECOVERY Fail to complete, and the "player" will receive a penalty! "FUCK GET AWAY, I CANNOT SEE!" Alice waved his hand in anger. Alice realized too late what he just did, and the next thing he knew, the level 60 demon was on top of him and ready to kill. movingAuthor's Note I'm back moving Alice rolled under the demon's eye. Bits of saliva fell on him from the monster on to his once-clean cloak. "FUCK FUCK FUCK!" Alice ran, making sure to avoid the other dots on his map. *Think, how do I kill a floating demon eye ball?* Alice kept his eyes on the map, checking the uneven crumbling floor as much as he could, making sure not to trip on the protruding stone floor. Soon, though, his running came to a dead end. Alice was met with a collapsed ceiling. Defeated Alice spoke one word: "Shit!". As soon as he said that, a burning pain hit his leg. "Fucking hell!" Alice looked down to see his Minitour leg flicker, his human leg showing for a second; his pants were burned and his leg was black. Alice's thoughts were cut off as he saw another fireball fly by his head, the heat waking him from his stupor. Turning, he stared at a red imp-like demon with its hands to its side, charging another fireball, he assumed. Pulling his sword from its long sleeve, he ran at the imp, taking long, stomping strides. The imp's eyes widened like he saw Satan, and half assing it, the imp chucked his fireball. It missed by a mile; this gave Alice a boost of confidence. Once in striking distance, he brought up his sword and brought it down with a grunt and a stomp of his foot. Alice smiled, "TOO EAZY!" Again, he was cut off as the demon's eye slammed into him. Alice flew through the pile of stones that once blocked his way, his bones cracking as he did. He coughed up blood, and his eyes closed in pain as he lay there on the cold stone floor. Alice was sure he had broken ribs, only vagally feeling his sword in his right hand still. Quickly, he looked at his HP of 47/100. His heart raced. Was he going to die before he even knew why he was brought here to begin with? Alice's blood ran cold with anger. Goddamn it, he would not die, not until he made it right. He would bring light into this place he couldn't with music from his old world, but this one needed a fighter, and he had all the skills and potential he needed. ADDED BUFF TO PLAYER "Pure rage" LEVEL: 3/10 Duration: 8 min. Effects: All stats are multiplied by two. Can't feel pain. Dmg to the player is cut in half. The player will lose control. Alice shot up just in time to see the eye demon crash through the stone pile, its self-level 60 floating above its head, but Alice didn't care. With a yell, he jumped through the air, his sword up high, and swung his sword down, cutting the fucker in half. "DIE!" Blood covered Alice again, but he did not care; he was pissed. Looking at his map, he ran to the next dot. _________*__________ 5 4 3 2 1 DEBUFF ADDED TO PLAYER "Stressed soul" LEVEL: 3/10 Duration: 60 min. EFFECTS: Tired/drowsy Healing slowed. Any wounds will be ten times more painful. Alice stumbled back, sticking his hand out to catch him on the wall. Breathing heavily, he looked at his map. "One more... then... I can sleep in that bed." He chuckled a little. "I guess I got that new bed." 70,258 XP earned from combat level up! level up! Alice got a bit of energy from leveling up, but not enough to fight this last one. He pulled up his stats, and anger flashed on his face as he read them. Stats Name: Alice Level: 28 Xp: 29,992/30000 Points: 2 Strength:44 Perception:39 Endurance:43 Charisma:33 Intelligence:38 Agility:43 Luck:32 "Eight fucking xp, really." He really needs to get to level 30 for those five stat points, but being that close to 29 seemed to taunt him. He put two more points into his strength, making it 46, then looked at his HP. He was healing faster as his levels went up, but not fast enough. He was lucky and took no more damage, killing the other nine demons, but ten minutes only healed him to 69/100 hp. "Fuck it, who cares?" he mumbled to himself, pushing himself off the wall. As he did, he swayed for a moment until he found his balance. Walking quietly to the purple dot, he peeked around the corner to see some demon, one that sent shivers down his spine. It looked like a minotaur, but it was red and four feet taller. "Level 80, really... how am I?" Alice whispered to himself as a plan formed in his head. *I need to sneak up on it; I don't know if I can kill it with one blow, but if I took one of its legs off, I could out maneuver it and slowly finish it off.* With some new-found confidence, Alice walked slowly. Once in striking range, Alice swung his sword, cutting its leg off, and it fell over. Clearly confused, the demon fell on its hand, and now, on one knee, Alice brought up his sword again, going for the head, but was hit with one of its massive hands. Alice couldn't breathe as he flew through the air for the second time today, fallowing by cracking in his back and ribs, the wall giving nothing to ease his pain. Falling to the ground, Alice saw his HP drop to 22/100. Vision going gray, he stood the pain sending adrenalin through his body, not caring for the ribs poking through his skin, he stomped at the crippled demon. Every step sent blood spraying a trail from the wall to him, which was getting longer with every step he took. The demon swung at him but lost its balance, giving him an opening. With great pain, he jumped up out of the vision of the demon, then brought down his sword, cutting the demons head off. 100,000 xp earned from combat! Level up! Level up! Level up! Alice stood there out of breath, a puddle of blood below him. With what energy left, he walked, or more like stumbled, his way to the bed. It was softer than anything, silently thanking whoever's bed, swearing heed kiss them, and also say sorry for the blood he was sure to track in there. NOTIFICATION "Demonic Castle" quest complete! Goals: Kill all demons in the castle before guests arrive. Hidden objective: kill them all in under 30 minutes! (XP 2X) Rewards: 10000xp NOTIFICATION EXTREAM LEVEL DISBARITY FOR COMPLETED QUSET NOTICED XP 4X!!!!!!!!!! NOTIFICATION XP gained from the quest is now 80,000!!! Alice fell into bed; the room was black and blue all over, making the trail of red blood stand out even more. He quickly fell into a dreamless sleep. Stats Name: Alice Level: 32 Xp: 9,992/55,000 Points: 8 Strength:48 Perception:43 Endurance:47 Charisma:37 Intelligence:42 Agility:47 Luck:36 Left bloodyOp Logan ran into subject Alice's room franticly looking around until his blue eyes fell on the bed-shaped burnt spot. A clean-up crew close behind sweeping room by room. "Where did his bed go?" Logan bent over rubbing the lightly burned carpet below where it once was. One of the soldiers snapped to attention behind him waiting to be recognized by his superior before speaking. With a grown, his hands resting on his hips. "Speak soldier." The soldier brought both arms to his side and stood up straight then spoke in an even tone. "Sir, the camera team says after the subject grabbed his head in pain a blue portal started at the foot of his bed, slowly it went to the head of the bed, and with a loud snap he along with his bed was gone." Logan chuckled to himself in disbelief. " Sure, then what they told you magic is real!" The soldier pulled out a phone from his all-white uniform front breast pocket, touching the screen a couple of times he turned it, his superior leaning in watching the video of his charge get sucked into the blue portal with shock on his face. Logan mumbled. "What the fuck." --------------*---------- Princes Luna looked at the bloody mess on the forest floor, the manticore, what was left of it at least, lay at her feet. She knew something strong, something fast far faster than any current-day fighter did this, she couldn't rule out there being more than one fighter but, from what she could tell the same sword was used for the blows given to its now lifeless body, and in quick strong movements. "Sister, how could one pony do this?" Luna's voice stumbled as she spoke, if she did not have years of war in her past she would still be stunned into silence like the rest of the group. Even her sister was quiet, the years of peace had made her weak and though she knew she was only a bit better it made her mad that both her sister and she had grown so. Celestia was slow to respond, the same pale blank stare on her face. "I don't know, this puts even Icebreaker the head of the four heroes to shame." As she spoke her eyes never left the stinger at her hooves. The elements did not speak, they had never seen true death or true pain. Even the guard Most if not all other than Manehattan, did nothing but settle small disagreements. They were stunned to say no less. Luna frowned looking up through the trees, it was getting late. Her magic told her to raise the moon soon and her sister to lower the sun. Even if she did the look her sister was giving her said it all, this needed settled now, they could not wait. They were already two days behind whatever did this. They had hope though, if the minitour they found dead meant anything they gave peace to the fallen, which showed some good. She hoped. With a shake of her head, Celestia stood straight and cast an energy spell, it would let her feel out powerful magic or ones with it. As the spell reached out she felt her sisters, she pushed it further and further until one no two stood close to one another one was blue the other purple with demon energy. The blue one flickered for a moment followed by the far stronger purple one disappearing. That must be their killer and by sensing their power they were hurt their energy was far below their reserves. Quickly she turned to Luna only to see her casting an energy spell herself, not needing to explain to her sister what she felt she turned to her student. " Twilight you and the rest of the elements must go back to town, get a medical bay ready!" Years of leadership behind every word. Twilight looked confused but the look on Celestia's face told her everything, no questions just do what you're told. Twilight never saw her master her teacher her friend like this and knew not to fight back. She turned and ran the other five close behind, glad to be gone from gore. Celestia and Luna flew up and out of the trees below both turning in the direction of the blue power. "That's are-" Luna was cut off. "Yes sister, That's our castle." --------*--------- They landed next to the old well, both looking at the red stain next to it in confusion. "Luna is that blood." she knew what it was but for some reason, she hoped to be told otherwise, that it wasn't real. Luna gave a short nod and started to trot into the castle. She knew whatever they were gonna find would know. A feeling filled her heart one that was happy this only served to confuse her more, before she could decode her strange emotions she felt something thick on her hoof cursing at the now dark castle she brought her hoof up only to fall back in shock as her now red hoof dripped blood. Casting a light spell from her horn she got a better look at what bled it. And by the gasp behind her, she knew her sister saw as well. Bits of imp and Cacodemon laid there. Celestia cast another energy spell and then bolted, Luna was not far behind as they ran they saw ten more demons mostly imps but the last one, its leg and head lay by its side blood all around it. They took no time to dwell on it, it only served to make them run faster to the blue energy from before, the one responsible for this was powerful and needed to be made friends or killed. With an energy spell or not they could have easily followed the trail of blood left by the unknown. ----------*-------- Alice awoke, his eyes sealed shut from blood and pain. Rubbing at them furiously, he turned his head towards the blown-open door. It was still dark, but the glow emanating from their horns was all he needed to see his guests. Jumping out of the now blood-covered bed he spoke with caution in his voice. "Who are you?" Slowly Grabbing at the hilt of his sword. "Says the one in my room." Luna teased "Don't paint me stupid, this castle is long abandoned, not to mention the battle, it looks like they lost." Alice was on edge, there was no new quest popup when they arrived, and he was lost and growing scared. The white one walked into the room, Alice couldn't make out faces their horns were too bright, and in fear drew his sword, his body did not portray strength, his hp was only 28/100, and with blood loss, he grew cold shaking as he stood. "Stay back, I don't know you friend or foe, and in my injured state I must ask for you to let me be." Alice pled with the unknown ponies hoping with some honesty they would let him be. This time the darker one stepped in, a small smile on her face. "We mean you no harm, if anything we wish to help one as strong as you in their time of need." Before Alice could retort a greenish-blue glow ran over him alongside a new buff of light healing. Putting him at 60/100 hp the blood loss debuff disappearing. And with a bit more energy Alice spoke. "Thank you, I ... can't see your faces and don't know your names, please my name is..." Alice paused he didn't want to share his real name, the princesses looked at him their heads tilted in confusion at his sudden stop. "Young minitour, do not push yourself we can share are names first." Luna stood up straight and with pride. "My name is Princess Luna the ruler of the night." Celestia seeing it was her turn did the same."My name is Princess Celestia the ruler of the day." Alice needed to act quickly, he didn't know why sharing his real name gave him pause but he needed to give a name. " My name.. is .... Logan." His only friend back home and by using that name he had comfort, though he didn't know why. NOTIFICATION Daily quest has failed "player" will receive a penalty! Generating penalty..... NOTIFICATION "The player will be sent to a random location!" Alice's eyes went wide and before he could say anything a blinding flash filled the room. Alice tried to breathe only to choke on water, his eyes shot open spinning around franticly looking for light indicating the surface. With his vision going he swam and just before tunnel vision took him he burst to the surface as soon as his lips broke the water line he choked out the water that made a home in his lungs, taking stock of his sword he proceeded to check his surroundings. It was day and other than a couple of trees on the edge of the water Alice found himself in a desert. The temperature change made itself noticed as soon as he pulled himself to the small beach around a two-hundred or so-foot-wide oasis. NOTIFICATION Quest started. Stay within 200 feet of the water for 24 hours. DustAlice lay there in the hot sand, burning at his once pale skin the sun long cooked him red, even while staying under the small tree it gave little shade and seemed nothing but a reminder of the heat and how unavoidable it was, a sense of worry filled Alice, his hands grabbing at the sand beneath him. What was he to do with twenty hours left? There was no food to gather and no water supplies to fill, his water was endless as long as he stayed at the small pond, but no food just sand, and within days would kill him on his travels, he might last a week at this pond with little physical movement but travel would be out of the question. He felt his worry turn to determination, snaping to his feet Alice clapped his cloaked hands together. "Fuck it." Alice mumbled in anger if he would need food for his travels after the quest, lying in the sand wasting time would do him no good. The first thing that came to mind was fish, the pond was deep and seemed well-established if the trees meant anything, this was shot down quickly, the pond was clear to the bottom, and there was nothing. Next was the trees, he hadn't noticed anything before and still didn't see anything. During his young days at war, he had heard of people eating bark from trees to fight off hunger but fighting it off was not his goal he needed something with meat, dense in caloric energy and he knew there was nothing around like that, so he gave up on food. He had spent weeks on less than enough he could last a week on nothing but no more, he was strong and well-fed outside of war, but traveling the desert was something different that he did very little of. Next would be transporting water, He could make some container out of the trees around him, sadly he was no craftsman, and anything he made would be crude at best, it probably wouldn't hold water anyway. Before he could do that a deep Southern voice spoke to him. "Now, whats a minotaur like you doing in the badlands?" Alice spun around as his hand snapped to the sword on his back, his guest jumped back a little at his actions but with a small smile and a hoof up gesturing peace Alice put his hands down at his sides. "Who are you pony and what are you doing here?" His tone was sharp as the adrenalin still flowed threw his body. "I'm Dusttraveler, my friends used to call me Dusty tho and I could ask what you're doing out here alone, with no equipment but that sword on your back." As he spoke he looked Alice up and down his face one of worry. Alice did the same of his all-white pony friend from his wings to his blond hair. "I don't see anything on you as well?" Alice locked eyes with the pony, his lips were chapped eyes red and dry his hair was unkempt and by the looks of him, he was tired, his eyes though told Alice a story, one of pain. This pony didn't want to wake up after he fell asleep. "What's your name minotaur?" Sticking with his name change from before. "Logan." "Strange name for a minotaur, now ain't that?" "Strange to question one's lack of equipment when you lack it as well?" "Logan, I asked because I wanted to know if you were one of them?" "One of what?" Alice Snapped back quickly with anger. "All kinds pass through the town" Pointing with his wing north"About two days by hoof that away." he lowered his wing and gave Alice a look of pain. "They take nothing with em, their eyes dead their soul long lost to their pain their bodies just walk following the faint trail through town no matter how hungry or thirsty." Dusttraveler stopped his head now down. "they keep going and this pond is often the last time any pony sees them." Alice stared blankly into Dusttravelers blue eyes, his voice monotone. "Then I say again, why are you, alone with nothing not even a hat, no water no food? Odd?" This seemed to break something in Dusttraveler, anger flooded his face his muscles tense his voice full of anger."WHAT DO YOU KNOW!" Dusttraveler shoved his hoof into Alice's stomach, tears running down his face. "I did everything I could." His hoof went limp anger no longer in his voice." What do you know about loss, about pain I watched those thugs rape and murder the ones in my town the one I was meant to protect, but I'm only one pony against many. I'm not even a unicorn." Alice's eyes lay on a scar, one he couldn't see before. On his flank a long and deep still fresh wound, thankfully not infected. "Did they do that?" Alices pointed to the scar on his flank. "Yes" He paused working back his tears. "and after they did that they told me to walk into the desert like the failure I am and never come back, if I listened they'd not kill me" Dusttravler paused again looking at the clear water just a few feet away from them. "And most importantly not go after the ones that ran." Alice saw the pain in this pony's very soul, it filled him with anger so much anger, just like walking through a freshly bombed town, your mind can pick two paths and cry at the horrors of the dead red stains, kids book bags blown apart school busses on fire. Or get angry, seek revenge for the lost, YOU will kill the ones responsible with your vary hands even if it killed you even if it costs you everything, evil, true evil is hard to come by and all good men wish for the day they get to smite it down. With clenched fists, Alice spoke. "How far of a walk was it back to town?" "Two days walking, the sand is hard to travel, constantly shifting under your very hoofs." "What about by air?" "A day or so, If ya left at night then sure but during the day the heat would kill ya." "What if one ran?" Alice looked at his stats as spoke. Stats Name: Alice Level: 32 Xp: 9,992/55,000 Points: 8 Strength:48 Perception:43 Endurance:47 Charisma:37 Intelligence:42 Agility:47 Luck:36 *My agility is 47, this gives me hope. If I put the rest of my points into Agility I should be fast enough to run there in half a day, but.... I'd be out of it I'd need to rest before I killed the scum in town.* Alice stood lost in thought, almost not catching the dumbfounded look his new friend gave him. "What.... you.. want... too.. run?!" Dusttravelers bloodshot eyes got wider with every word, and were wide open by the end. "No." Alice answered quickly Dusttraveler breathed a sigh of relief. "Thank Celestia, minotaurs aren't known for speed anyway they're more like their ancestors. Strong like a bull and long-distance runners." Dusttraveler chuckled a little. "But I'm sure you know that, the proud creatures you are." Flinching at the use of Celestia's name, the memory of her and her sister helping him in that blown out castle. He looked at Dusttraveler with a hidden smile, his cloak still hiding his features. Then looked at the counting-down timer. "I plan on running in.... sixteen hours and it should take me about half a day at full tilt, so probably more like" Alice wiggled a little in thought, his minotaur illusion hands on his hips as he did." two-thirds a day or so, I hope to get there at or before nightfall make a plan of attack and kill every last one." Alice couldn't help but smile, sure after the war he was useful to his country. Rebuilding after an eight-year-long, total war was nothing but complicated, and using his music-making skills from before the war he hoped to bring light to the people of his country, the horrors they went through needed peace. But in the end, he was a man of war now battle-hardened at too young an age, sixteen, and just turned it the day before his first battle. His nation wasn't poor, far from it, they had better tec, better guns, faster planes, and bigger bombs, they were a smaller country compared to their enemy, and as the war machine revved up so did the bodies and the need to replace them first they took older men, they stopped at fifty-five and started down, seventeen-year-olds were being sent out then sixteen, then there so-called "to be a man" program they took you at fifteen and trained you for a year and sent you out the day after you turned sixteen. And over the years of war, he grew to love it. Dusttraveler fell to his haunches, then looked at Alice in disbelief." There over thirty of em' You can't kill them all your just one minotaur with a big sword." Dusttravelers tone grew worried, not wanting to see any more die because of his failers."They have magic Logan Hell they can fly you could never get high enough they'd rain arrows on you." Alice chuckled, this made Dusttraveler uneasy but before he began to back up Alice spoke. "You know I never checked to see how far or how high I could jump." Alice slapped his legs. "You see I've been training these babies a little, I want you to fly up to around where they'd be when raining arrows down on me, like you said let's see if I can make it." Dusttraveler deadpaned at Alice in disbelief. "Even a trained minotaur can't jump more than a couple of feet." "Just do this for me, hell what do you lose." Alice pleaded "If I'm wrong I'll brainstorm another way to bring them down if I'm right then we can focus on dealing with the magic." "Fine Logan but this is a waste of time." Dusttraveler stretched his wings. Dusttraveler wings seemed stiff maybe injured but Alice thought nothing of it as he watched Dusttraveler get higher, and higher soon he was nothing but a blond floating blur in the cloudless sky his white fur blending into the bright blue. As he flew Alice put four points into strength and agility making strength fifty-two and agility fifty-one. Alice crouched down and with all the strength he had launched himself into the sky, like a bullet he flew up at the peek of his jump he pulled his sword out and taped Dusttraveler with the flat side of it then with a salute he began to fall, the ground met Alice quickly his legs bending doing what they could to lessen the force, and with an explosion of sand around him he came to a stop. Alice heard coughing behind him, the cloud of sand irritating Dusttraveler sure to be dry throat. " Well I'll be a monkey's uncle, I've never seen anything jump that high in my life, damn I think you jumped up to me faster than most could have flown to me." Dusttraveler shook his head in disbelief. "You sure you're not some type of God?" "No Dusttraveler, I'm not some type of God" "Then how are you so strong?" Dusttraveler tilted his head in annoyance not believing a word Alice told him. "If not a God, then your like the princess a descendent of a God." "Like I said Dusttraveler, I just trained them a little. Now Let's see what we can do to counter their magic." Author's Note Getting better at this writing stuff, I think. Still shit at it but a 2/10 is better than a 1/10. Finding outAuthor's Note I know it is a short chapter, but I put a lot of my free time going back through old chapters and trying to make them less shit. But felt a little chapter would help move my process along. Stay safe Finding out Alice flew through gears, keeping his r.p.ms just out of redline. With one headlight out he speeded down the road, only down-shifting before a sharp corner using the transmission to help slow the car, then quickly up-shifting after coming out. Alice was no race car driver but at twelve his dad showed him how to drive their old five-speed Mustang and with a little bit of gear grinding he quickly picked it back up. "Alice, come in can you hear me? ALICE?" A commanding male voice yelled in his headset. Taking his hand off the shifter he quickly turned his mic back on then quickly downshifted just in time. "You're coming in clear, sir." "Good, now how's the rest of the team there not responding on our end." "I don't know sir, we got split up after eliminating are targets" There was a pause, the only sound coming from the big v8 in whatever supercar Alice hot-wired. "Did you get all three? Or just the two primary?" The voice was calm now no longer yelling. "Yes sir, after that we got sp-" "I don't care about the rest of the team Alice, they can be replaced YOU can't, 'll be sending over-extraction cords. Get there." "But sir we can't ju-" Alice was cut off again. "We already got confirmation on their K.I.A, Alice stop wasting time on them, they knew the risk now shut up and go to extraction." Alice went to speak again, only for gunfire to ring out, every window blew up, broken safety glass bounced off his flash bang-resistant glasses. Gritting his teeth he ducked down and put his foot too the floor, hoping and praying he'd survive. Alice shot up looking around frantically only for the night sky to look back, running his right hand through his long hair he unknowingly knocked his hood down showing his human head to all who could see. "FUCKING CALM DOWN!" Alice yelled forgetting about Dusttravler. A small groan on the other side of the fire made Alice pause, his hand interlaced with his hair, still not realizing his hood was down. "Sorry Dusttravler, I just had a bad dream nothing to worry about." Alice took his hand out of his hair looking at it in some strange attempt to ground himself back in his new reality. "Its fine Alice I get the-" Dusttravler paused looking at the clearly human face across the fire. Dusttravlers sudden pause made Alice look over at him in confusion. "What up, somethin wrong?" Tilting his still uncloaked head. Dusttravler while on his haunches began backing up, doing little but pushing sand into the fire. "Hu- hu- hum... HUMAN stay away I don't know what you did to Logan but I beg of you please have mercy on me." Puer terror-filled Dusttraveler and what looked to be tears filled his eyes. Alice slowly brought his hand up to his head, the lack of a hood making itself vary aware, and with a long sigh Alice spoke. "Dusttravler please listen to me, I'm Logan I me-" Alice was cut off by Dusttravler. "No Logan was a minotaur, NOT a Human he was not a fallen angel in service to the fucking devil himself." His voice cracked with the volume. "And what makes you think I serve the devil?" Alice spoke with a bit of anger in his voice. "Don't play dumb demon all ponys know fallen angels or humans who follow the devel get turned half-minotaur." "And what if a human was not half minotaur, who would they serve then." "They'd serve God, what we think is the creator of our world and is holy in nature they'd be one of the ten angels left still defending the heavens from the enemies of God." Alice grabbed at his cloak and with a quick pull it came off showing the rest of his pale and now very lean muscular body. "Would they look like this?" Alice gestured to his shirtless body. Dusttravler just stopped, he stopped blinking, stopped breathing and for a moment Alice thought he was gonna pass out, but with a sharp restart to his breathing, Dusttravler spoke. "Why?" "Why.. what?" Alice stood up and grabbed his sword putting it back on his back. "Why fake being a demon?" "Dusttravler I had no clue of what you just told me." "How does a Human not know, gosh darn Logan, I knew your name was strange for a minotaur, and thinking a minotaur had a name meaning devoted to God was strange but since you are an angel I guess it makes sense. But then why hide it, and why act like you don't know nothin." Dusttravler was calm now and as he spoke a small smile filled his pony face. "Explains how you can run and jump so fast." Dusttravler chuckled. Alice then and there decided something, he would keep his name change. He was a whole new person and to think the name of an old friend would mean so much in this strange place like this, this only gave him twofold the reason, he would not let his past failures define him and a name change seemed to help. "Dusttravler, if I walked into that town of yours like this what would they do?" "Well, I'd reckon they right on shit them self, hell they might go on begin for mercy then and there." "You don't say." Alice looked up at the beautiful night sky above, deep in thought. *I planned to keep myself hidden till I gained enough good favor with the ponys, but being seen as an angel gives me endless amounts on that.* Logan, still in thought looked at the time left till his punishment quest was over 9:43.56. *I still have just under ten hours to wait.* "Logan you never answered my question, why did you fake being a demon?" "Im no angel Dusttravler." "Logan, how could you not be?" "I'm pretty sure I'm not even of this world." "Well obviously, angels are from heaven." "NO DUSTTRAVLER." Logan yelled in frustration. "Sorry I mean, I'm just trying to say I woke up in this strange place no more than a week ago I turn twenty-two soon I'm no angel from creation itself, Dusttravler I know only war and pain, and just as soon as the war is over just when things started to get better I wake up in some fucking forest with power I never had before. I am no angel." "Well, angle or not the ponys and well pretty much any living thing will see you that way." Logan fell down on his knees and then hunched over using his hands to prop himself up. "I wonder if God sent me here for that reason." Logan almost whispered. "What reason?" Not realizing he spoke out loud he stuttered out a reply. "Well, I mean, I look like an angel in the eyes of this place, and was brought from mine just after I fraught and killed in a war of good vs evil, I mean I got a... what you could say direct message saying God was happy after my deeds the first night I arrived." It was not a complete lie, he did get a perk called Happy Gods after not taking any damage and saving that little pony. "See Logan, you might not know it now but you might be like an angel in training or something." "Ya Mabey." "I don't know about you Logan but I'm gonna get some more sleep before the big fight tomorrow, and knowing I got an angel on my side I might not have any nightmares. I hope." "Sounds good Dusttraveler, I'm gonna go pace around nervously, maybe think about dealing with their magic some more." "Logan I told you yesterday your speed is far to fast for any spell to hit you." "I get that, but I can't be moving at top speed the whole time, fuck if only I could practice against someone with magic as I did with your flying." "Logan, the little I know about how magic works I told you already, I can't help you any more than I already have." Dusttravlers voice grew a bit annoyed, but he understood why one would worry about any fight in the bag or not. "I know, I know what you told me. Spells get cast in three steps while a few have four but most are three, the first being gathering energy and putting it into a spell then directing the spell or aiming it then letting the magic in their horn go, some can build up energy faster and aim faster but the letting magic go part can only go as fast as magic can travel." "Yes Logan and you run so fast just the magic letting go part takes too long for them to hit you, they'd have to blindly guess where you're gonna be and then hope you don't see it." "Okay I get it, I'm gonna go float in the water a bit and try and calm my self down. Good night." "Good night Logan."
In the name of God (Redone)Author's Note This is my first story and to be honest I've never been a big writer, hope to use this as a learning experience. In the name of God (Redone) Alice stumbled to the floor, trying to stay out of the smoke filling their hideout—at least what was left of it. A group of soldiers unmarked and speaking a tongue he never heard, let alone understood, launched molotovs in every window, door, and blown-out wall they could, yelling in what sounded to be anger, but their emotions were lost on him. His blood ran cold as screams of pain rang. One was close, and with an asphyxiating short and pain-filled breath, he crawled, staying below the smoke the best he could. But this heat, THIS FUCKING HEAT! It was drying his lungs out like dear meet, and he knew he soon would join in the dry screaming as he cooked in this run-down farmhouse. More screams filled his ears, but this time he saw who cried out in pain, even though their face melted. He knew his best friend, Pvt. Matt lay before him, his Kevlar vest melting into his skin, his glasses molding to what once was his face, blue flames covered his body as bits of plastic on him burned, melting into the soon-to-be burned-down house. "I'm sorry, brother; I failed you." Alice whispered, grabbing at his cross necklace, quietly praying that God would lay his friend's pain-filled soul to rest, he needed to get out of this house before he was turned into hot, burning ash himself. Grabbing his service pistol, he turned off the safety and ran out the first window he could gun at the ready. Landing on one knee he quickly went to get up on two feet and run, but his smoke-filled lungs said otherwise, deciding to send him in for a coughing fit. "Fucking great..." Alice mumbled to himself, still out of breath, as one of the unknown soldiers brought their gun up and pulled the trigger. The first two rounds hit his Kevlar. The third shot was on target, hitting his leg. Fighting through the pain, he brought up his pistol and fired, with a snap of the unknown soldier's head he died. Two more soldiers came running around the now-flaming house, he brought his pistol on target, killing both. Their bodies going limp, he then holstered his pistol. Doing what he could to stay quiet Alice Crawled his way to a small crater, around three hundred feet from the now collapsing house, the smell of burning bodies filling his nose, he knew what he smelt was his friends the ones he bled for, cried for and if needed die for. He would get revenge, they took his family shortly after the war started, first, his dad died in battle, and his mom, heartbroken leaned on him. Alice began to cry as the memories flashed in his mind, silent as it may be, it was full of pain. He now lost everything and lost so much at too young an age, the war started when he was fourteen, he wanted to stay with his mom, but in the name of God he would get revenge for his father and after he was drafted, his mom with a loving smile sent him off knowing Alice would accept no less even at his young age of fifteen, she couldn't handle being alone, the letter of her suicide got to him before boot camp was over. He no longer looked forward to going home, to be alone scared him. The now empty house would only bring him pain it would only remind him of what this war had taken from him, if he was honest with himself he looked forward to dying on the field of battle, finally he might see his dad again, and say sorry to his mom. Alice grabbed onto the edge of the pit, and with one last burst of strength rolled himself into it grunting quietly he pulled out his med kit, biting his lip in pain as his wounds made themselves more than noticed. The Kevlar stopped the rounds but the force broke ribs, there was nothing he could do about that. His leg on the other hand was bleeding, but not too bad, it missed any main veins and most importantly his bone. Putting on a tourniquet he stopped the bleeding which made moving his leg hard not that he could do much more than limp with it tourniquet or not. Next, he went to check his ammo and reload what he could before he moved his position pulling his pistol back out of his leg holster he switched the half-empty mag with a full one before he could reload the mostly empty one another round hit his chest. His vision went black from the pain his broken ribs shifting around, the air being forced from his lungs made him quietly choke. The kevlar was overperforming at this point it was not meant to take this many hits. Whoever shot him stopped and in the strange tongue from before yelled in frustration, their gun jammed. Alice not wasting any time shot in the direction of yelling, on the third shot he heard a thud along with the jammed gun sliding down next to him in the pit. -*- Alice awoke covered in sweat, with his eyes closed face covered in dried up tears he swung his still shoe covered feet over his bed. Before he could recover from his nightmare a gust of cold crisp air ran off him His eyes snapped open. He was in the woods, the computer with all his newly started music was no longer there a tree taking its place. "What the fuck... Am I still dreaming?" Alice mumbled to himself, his heart beginning to race. NOTIFICATION QUEST STARTED "SURVIVAL" Take no damage till sunrise. Rewards: Permanent xp boost of 10% and 10 levels. Optional:HIDDIN NOTIFICATION Accept? Failure to accept will result in a penalty. penalty: DEATH A blue slightly see through screen popped up in front of him. "I must still be dreaming." his voice was now normal in tone back to his deep and rough. Standing up he took a deep long breath smelling everything he could, and with a goofy smile, he accepted the quest. *I don't wanna die dream or otherwise.* Walking some more he sniffed at the air."Do I smell a fire?" He walked toward the smell wondering what his mind would think up, maybe his dad would be there. Sure it was a dream but a talk with his dad would be nice. As he walked his senses woke up, the air was clean and outside the faint gust when he awoke it was calm, looking around Alice saw trees unlike any he'd ever seen, they looked dead, with little to no leaves, walking up to one he gave a low hanging branch one good tug just for it to snap back in to place. "What the hell, some strong ass tree." Alice stared at it a minute longer trying to deduce what tree this was only for the smell of fire from before to wash over him, snaping him from his train of thought. *Oo right ya the fire* Quickly turning on his feet he walked, a little more speed in his pace. The trees changed from dead to filled with life with almost no transition, that was not his concern, his attention was on the fire, his dad was not there, instead, there was a pony. It was all yellow a reddish mane and tale. It was shivering, not from being cold, no it was surrounded by what looked to be wolves made of wood. looking up what seemed to be a trail close by, there was a small bridge a slow moving stream underneath then a house unlike any Alice had ever seen its roof was green and looked to be moss but in the dark, he couldn't make it out. "SOMEPONY HELP ME, TIMBER WOLFS!!!" The small yellow pony screamed out, their voice was young and girly. Alice grabbed his head in pain, memories forced their way to the front of his mind, kids yelling in horror rang, images of burning bodies friend and foe alike. Some holding on to one another as they burned. More voices in his head this time the kids yelled for their mom, their dad, for anybody to save them from the horror. Alice snapped open his eyes, a now red-filled glow to them. "Must kill, no more pain." Alice whispered, one hand on his head. NOTIFICATION Ability: Pure rage activated "Pure rage" LEVEL: 1/10 Duration: 2 min. Effects: All stats are multiplied by two. Can't feel pain. Dmg to the player is cut in half. The player will lose control. "NO MORE!" He yelled charging the closest timber wolf. With every step, his shoes left deep prints on the dusty trail. Slamming into the timber wolf, Carrying it with his shoulder he slammed it into a tree, the wolf blew up, pieces of wood going everywhere. Alice turned to the rest of the wolves then with a moment of focus he looked at the stunned pony. "Run little one." The pony ran yelling back to him as he did. "Thank you minotaur, sir!" Alice was still full of anger, taking count he had three more wolves to take care of, and whatever this ability was had 53 seconds left if the timer next to what he just noticed was a map in the left corner of his vision. Running with a speed he'd never had before, he punched the closest one before they got their footing, its head exploding. Turning quickly he kicked one running up, sending it into a tree, it slid down to the ground not moving. "One more." Alice whispered through grinding teeth. Dodging at the last second, the last wolf flew past Alice its jaws open. Turning on his feet he charged The wolf was too slow as Alice slammed into it doing what he did with the first one, he slammed it into the closest tree the wolf exploded this time though the tree was unrooted falling over with a loud crunch. NOTIFICATION Debuff added: Stressed soul LEVEL: 1/10 Duration: 20 min. EFFECTS: Tired/drowsy Healing slowed. Any wounds will be ten times more painful. Out of breath, Alice swayed in place, staring at the notification he read it quickly. And just like the debuff said he got tired, very tired, he began to walk on the trail until the sound of voices was heard, stopping he listened. A southern voice spoke to somebody behind him. "Don't you worry Applebloom I got the guards coming to capture the minotaur" The little pony from before at least what he thought was replied with frustration. "AppleJack I told you he saved me, there's no reason to bring the guards, he's good." "Applebloom there are no good minotaurs." Her voice sounded a bit annoyed. *And with that I'm gone* Alice ran into the woods stumbling as he did. *I am not in the state to fight off guards, and I'm not a minotaur am a fucking human, what the hell would they do to that.* Alice ran, staying off the trail, hoping not to be so easily followed. Alice ran the trees long, transitioning back to the dead-looking ones until he was out of breath. * I need off the ground I don't wanna find out what type of snakes roam around a place with wood wolves!* looking up Alice spotted a thick tree limb and with what little strength he had left started climbing up to it, the tree was thick and unlike most in this strange forest had leaves, hoping it would hide him. He proceeded to take off his button up work long sleeve shirt and tie it around his waist and branch. "I'm starting to think this is no dream." He chuckled leaning into the tree as he did. -*- Alice awoke, almost falling out of the tree. "Awww, shit fucking balls!" His sleepy eyes flew into focus, the adrenalin forcing him awake. "That's the ground." Alice felt the knot come undone, his stomach turning with the sensation. Bouncing off a branch or two as he fell followed by a sudden stop and a small grown. "fuuuuuuuuuck, I don't think this is a dream." Alice with his face still on the grass filled forest floor spitting out a bit of grass as he spoke, was pulled out of his dramatic faceplant, with a notification. QUEST COMPLETE: "SURVIVAL" Rewards: Permanent xp boost of 10% and 10 levels. Optional: Save AppleBloom Rewards: Double the quest rewards. New rewards: A permanent XP boost of 20% and 20 levels. "Cool, what was my level before anyway? " Alice practically yelled, forgetting his embarrassing face plant quickly. Name: Alice Level: 25 Xp: 1365/15000 Points: 36 Strength:30 Perception:30 Endurance:30 Charisma:30 Intelligence:35 Agility:30 Luck:30 Buffs: Happy gods: Permanent Debuffs: None *I must have been level 10 to start with. Why do I have 36 points? Do I get five points for every five levels and one for every level? It also seems I get a level in every stat every time I level up, shit I really have to test out my stats I don't know if they're good or not.* Alice looked at his HP it only dropped down to 87/100. Surprised he realized the twenty more levels in his Endurance probably saved him. He stood up and looked around for his failed safety rope. Finding it quickly he put his shirt back on, the arms stretched from the use. "That could have been worse." Just as he finished speaking, a loud crash followed by a deep scream of pain came from within the forest, Alice ran towards the crash instinct driving him. The crash was a bit away. Guessing there would be a fight, Alice brought up his stats and started to dump points into Strength, Endurance, and Agility, putting ten in each. The last six he put in Perception. He hoped this would give him the edge in whatever fight was to come. Alice jumped through a bush landing on some kind of trail looking around he saw a cloaked bipedal creature holding their side blood pulling around him. Alice, thinking it was another human, ran over, sliding on his knees and stopping just before the unknown person. "Hey, wake up! You still alive?" Alice shook the cloaked figure. He was met with a cough, blood spraying from his mouth. "I'm still alive, haha, at least for the moment." The cloaked figure went into another coughing fit. "How'd this happen? I don't see any wounds on you, but there's so much blood?" Alice frantically looked around his friend's body finding no noticeable injuries he grew scared he would lose his only fellow human in what he thought was a dream just a day ago. "Stupid Manticore whacked me into this tree, and the cloak hides my face and wounds." The cloaked figure fell on his side, coughing up more blood as he did. "I won't make it *cough* but you can have my cloak and sword, but you must avenge me and kill that foul creature that killed my family and my tribe. Please, strange creature *cough* do this for me." As he talked, he undid his cloak and revealed his face to be that of a minotaur. Old and gray his horns long broke his one eye gray a scar going across it. He handed it to Alice then unclipped his sword belt and holster handing it to a dumbstruck Alice. "Please grant this old minotaur's wish!" He fell into another coughing fit, then just laid there, barely breathing, the deep cuts and broken bones clearly about to take his life. Alice brought up his right hand and grabbed the minotaur's hand, his other hand on the minotaur's shoulder. "I know your pain all too well, I will get revenge for you." Alice held back tears, he had done things like this before, telling one of his men one of his friends moments before their death, that he would kill whoever did this and make them pay. "Thank you, young creature." A smile crossed his face, followed by his hand going limp. NEW QUEST "Help your fellow "man"" Goals: Kill the manticore located on the map. Rewards: 10000 XP Difficulty: Hard Time limit: 24h Alice looked at his map, seeing the manticore only 300 feet away. "I'd kill it before it even knew what hit it," Alice spoke to himself opening his inventory as he did. *The black cloak, named Cloaked Pain makes one look like a cloaked minotaur using illusion magic to hide one's face and make one's body look like a minotaur, which is perfect for me even though those ponies think minotaurs are evil. It's better than the alien from another planet. The sword is legendary, named Unrelenting can't be broken without extreme levels of stress, and can repair itself slowly as long as it is not completely broken.* Clipping on his newfound equipment than walking over to the dead minotaur he laid him straight crossed his arms and closed his eyes, Alice then covered his face with his long sleeved button shirt, leaving Alice with no shirt just the blue jeans and boots he was happy he forgot to take off before bed. Alice may have been 6'1 and 200 pounds, the minotaur though was at least 7 feet tall and pushing 400 pounds making the shirt too small to cover any more than his face and upper chest. "I might not be able to bury you, and I am sorry for that but I will avenge you and your family." Grabbing his cross, Alice prayed for his short-term friend to rest in peace. Looking at his map, one hand on his sword, he began his short walk to kill this beast of myth. "After this, I need to get everything in order I still have trouble believing this is real, and if it is how the hell did I get to this place and with my bed." Alices face turned to one of annoyance. "Fuck I just bought that bed."
RevengeAlice jumped from tree to tree towards the marker on his map, the monster of myth deserving death time's over. There was only one issue: this monster was infused with something demonic. "This feeling of total despair, I can feel the evil radiating off it!" Alice stood there, scared to move. With a twitch of the monster's ear, it turned to face him and with a yell that sent shivers down Alice's spine, it charged the tree he was in. *Fuck fuck gotta move gotta move!!* Alice's body refused, and before he knew it, Alice, along with the tree, was sent crashing down. Instinct saving him Alice jumped just before he was crushed between the forest floor and the tree he once used as a lookout. Clamoring to his feet, he pulled out the two-handed sword and spread his feet, assuming a powerful stance as he stared down the beast. "You will pay, just like the rest." Righteous indignation flowed through his veins as he remembered what he was fighting for. The beast roared again, and this time Alice stood his ground. He may not be a professional with a sword, but his strength and dexterity would be all he needed for a fight with a brainless monster. The monster made the first move, no longer willing to play the waiting game, using its small wings to give it a boost as it charged, stinger high and off to the side, ready to strike as soon as it got in range, and doing just that. Alice, reading its moves, shifted to the side, and while its stinger was overextended, he brought his sword down with a yell, cutting its stinger off. It yelled in pain, stepping back as it did. Alice jumped forward, cutting its left arm off, as the monster swiped with its right, but it was too slow. Alice landed with his feet far apart, twisting his hips he cut left to right splitting the monster in half. Alice stood there, breathing heavily, sword still in the air, blood spraying everywhere. NOTIFICATION A beast full of demonic energy has been killed by a "player." NOTIFICATION The "player" will be recognized with a gift. NOTIFICATION Due to a great deed, the "player" has unlocked daily quests. NOTIFICATION Daily quest started. Time Left: 13 hours Complete: 100/0 push-ups 100/0 sit-ups 100/0 pull-ups 100/0 jumping jacks 10/0 mile run Rewards: 1 skill point 3 ability points 1 FULL RECOVERY Fail to complete, and the "player" will receive a penalty! Standing up straight, Alice put his sword away and began to read the daily quest. Before he could read the whole thing, he was flashed with even more notifications overlaid on the quest pop-up. NOTIFICATION Quest completed: "Help your fellow man." Rewards: 10000xp Hidden objectives: kill the monster in under 1 hour. Bonus: 5000xp NOTIFICATION The "player" has leveled up! New Level 26 "Ooo my god, enough with the notifications!" *Let me think for fuck sake, so I avenged my minotaur friend I've unlocked daily quests and I'm level twenty six. Cool cool.* Alice closed his eyes and took a deep breath, after he felt his heart rate drop he brought up his status window and put his one point in too strength. *But what are these ability points given by the daily quest? It must be a different command.* Alice brought his hand to his hidden chin in thought. With hesitation, he spoke. "Abilities?" And like that, a new screen appears before him. Abilities:. ????????????: MAX LEVEL Pure rage: level 1/10 Sword skill: level 1/10 Combat sense: level 1/5 Ability points: 15 Mumbling to himself. "What are all the question marks and what the hell is Combat Sense?" Alice flinched at the next popup. NOTIFICATION Combat sense: lets the user see information about any living creature when used. Every level lets the "player" see more; at the maximum level, the ability becomes passive and will remain on unless turned off. Only shows the information on creatures the "player" can clearly make out with their vision. *Well, that's overpowered; I think I'll max that out first.* With a chuckle, he brought back up the ability screen and put four points in Combat Sense. Still new to his abilities Alice mumbled out. " What is aaaa... Sword skill?" NOTIFICATION Sword skill: With every level the chance to apply effects like stun, bleed, hevey bleed, fear, or whatever effects might be on the sword you wield goes up by 5%. With every level fatigue from using the sword goes down by 10%. Some weapons might require a higher level to use proficiently or use at all. *Well shit... I kinda need to put all my points into that then.* Alice, with one hand on his chin and the other typing on the floating half-transparent screen in front of him. He put nine points in his sword skills, realizing it was his only current weapon. The last two he put into pure rage. "Well, time to knock out this daily quest. I don't want to find out what the penalty is or even means." _---------_ Pov: Twilight sparkle "And that's why I request that you and Princess Luna please assist in finding the source of the sudden uptick in demonic energy coming from the Everfree forest and that strange minotaur Applebloom was saved by." Twilight sat down at her desk with a tired humph, using her magic to sip on some tea her mind raced still, a minotaur strong enough to fight off four timber wolves with no weapon of its own, even slamming one so hard into a tree forcing it to dee root and all of that to save a pony a race they've hatted for as long as the history books go back. "Is that it, Twilight?" Spike asked with a worried expression on his face, looking at the stressed Twilight Sparkle. "Ooo, sorry, Spike. Yes, yes, go ahead and send it." With bags under her eyes, she slumped back down into her chair. "Then I'll send it." And with that, a green puff of smoke left the tree house, flying out the cracked slammed into window rainbow hit the day before. At the same time, frantic knocking came from the door. "Twilight, hunny, the energy from that demon is gone!" The voice yelled from outside. Twilight opened the door with her purple magic. A white unicorn with a purple fizzy mane, her eyes were blood shot a frantic look in them. Carrying in her magic some type of device with Twilight's cutie mark on it ran in, sitting on the ground next to Twilight. "The demon on the senseer just disappeared!" the white mare floated over the device dropping it on Twilight's desk. "Rarity calm down, this just means it was defeated by adventurers." Twilight put a hoof on her designer friend. "But Twilight the gage said it was an S-rank Demon, what adventurers could kill such a beast there are only four rank S adventurers, and they all at Canterlot receiving medals for defeating that monster that tried to destroy Manehatin?" Rarity almost yelled in fear, still not convinced. Twilight stayed calm; if she couldn't, then rash decisions would likely follow. "How about this? We go have a look for ourselves when the princess arrives. I haven't gotten a response from them yet, but I'm sure they're willing to help us. Does that sound good?" Twilight gave a calming smile to Rarity and then brought her in for a hug. The hug ended, and Rarity took a deep breath. "That's fine with me Twilight, but could we bring the elements with us just in case there's a bigger ruffian than we can handle?" "I don't see why not?" Twilight knew why she was so worked up, after Scootaloo went missing a few months back Sweetie Belle and Applebloom did everything they could even waiting at the edge of the everfree hoping their missing friend would appear. Naturally, this bleed into the big sisters doing what they can to help find her. A moment passed followed by a loud burp from Spike. Twilight caught the scroll in her magic levitating it over to her opening it as she did. "What does it say Twilight, will they help us with our demon problem?" Rarity all most in her face at this point, a side of Rarity not shown often, definitely not befitting the calm and majestic mare she tries to portray. Twilight mumbled as she read it, her eyebrows furrowed as she did. "It seems they are busy with the rewards ceremony today and have diplomatic meetings tomorrow but after that their schedule is open." Rarity jumped up a look of determination on her face. "I'll let the others know!" Rarity ran out of the tree house with determination. Twilight and Spike looked at one another, then back at the still open door. "Could have closed my door." Twilight said as she closed her door with her magic. Author's Note My job irl is a deadly one and free time is rare, I hope I can at least put enough time in to the story to make a story you all can enjoy. Thanks for reading
WaterAuthor's Note Thank you for all the dislikes, it truly motivates me to try and become a better writer. I see on a lot of stories with straight up hate comments I don't see how that helps anyone lol, so far haven't had any of that on mine. I'm keeping the chapters short in the hopes I see my mistakes and fix them before another chapter. Water Alice stood at the edge of a crumbling bridge, most of the wood boards missing, the few left covered in moss, the rope parts ready to snap at any moment if the amount it was sagging meant anything. But Alice had bigger things to worry about, after he started his daily quest and stupidly started to run randomly through the woods trying to get the ten-mile run done he soon though found himself lost, alone and what seemed to be a huge storm coming from the west. He was hungrier than he's ever been and thirsty to the point of dizziness, on top of that a crazy amount of fog set in keeping him from seeing any more than five feet in front of him. "I think I can see the other side where the bridge meets, or maybe not?" Alice looked down the gorge, the fog not as thick letting him see around two hundred feet, the bottom still not visible. "But I'm not about to cross that bridge, I'm not suicidal just yet." Alice turned around stumbling a little he got ready to head in a different direction, but that would be a problem, a hundred eyes stared back at him, yellow like fire. *Shit I can't fight that many timber wolfs in my state, fuck why didn't the map show me they were so close!* Alice focused on the map, just to see the whole thing gray a small circle around him being the only thing visible. He looked back at the dilapidated bridge not sure if crossing it was as bad an idea. Turning back around stumbling as dehydration through him for a loop. *I don't think the bridge will hold me let alone a bunch of timber wolfs.* One of the timber wolves jumped at him, Alice brought up his arms the timber wolf bit down on his left wrist. With what strength he had left, pain giving him a boost of adrenalin he slammed it down, exploding it into splinters, the rest of the timber wolfs began to move in. "Fuck it I rather hit the ground than be eaten alive!" Alice stumbled to the bridge hands on the ropes, he stood there full of hesitation. The wolves did not though, He stumbled forward as one of the timber wolfs bounced off his back howling as it fell into the fog below. Slapping himself to bring him back into focus, he gave a yell jumping from moss-covered board to moss-covered board, the timber wolves tried to follow. The sound of howling and crashing below only pushed Alice to move faster gambling with each step his vision getting worse. Notification The "Player" is severely dehydrated. Notification Debuff added severe dehydration. *No shit Sherlock !" Alice got to the last bored, it started to crack as he stood there, a ten-foot gap between him and salvation. The bridge began to shake and sway, growling behind him explaining why. He knew the bridge wouldn't hold, crouching down he put all his strength into his legs. A loud snap was heard as his feet left. "HOLY SHIT!" His voice cracked with nothing to lubricate it, his arms waving through the foggy air like some scared kid. Rolling to a stop he lay there sprawled on the ground the wind knocked out of him. Notification 3,369xp earned from combat. *That was too close.* Alice propped himself up on the cobblestone path below him seeing the bridge disappear into the fog along with the timber wolves, looking around in frustration he still couldn't see any further. He suddenly realized the cobblestone's cold touch. Wasting no time he followed it hoping there would be an old well or waterway. If he learned anything from military training people settle near water even if the town or whatever this led to was abandoned, water should be nearby. Alice ran getting dizzier and dizzier, pushing on he came to a stone wall two big wood doors reinforced with iron stood open walking in he came to a large courtyard with a well sitting in the middle of it. Alice ran up to it a bucket sitting next to it an old rope tied to it, dropping the bucket down he heard a splash, and a smile formed across his face as he pulled it up. He brought the bucket up not bothering to see if it was clean or not and gulped down every drop. Notification Severe dehydration was removed. "Holy shit, now to find food and...." Alice looked down covered in blood from the demon Manticore he killed only hours before. "Maybe I get clean first......" Stats Name: Alice Level: 26 Xp: 4734/20000 Points: 0 Strength:42 Perception:37 Endurance:41 Charisma:31 Intelligence:36 Agility:41 Luck:30 Buffs: Happy gods: Permanent Debuffs: Growing hunger: Till food is eaten Time passed: Two days Location: Ponyville Time: 13:15 "Twilight, sugar cube I'm sure they're just running late everything's gonna be all right." A smooth southern voice spoke to Twilight. "Applejack I'm sure your right but I can't stop worrying, Their being late could through the whole schedule off us being in and out of the forest before nightfall is very important. PLUS! THE LONGER WE TAKE THE ONE RESPONSIBLE FOR KILLING THAT DEMON COULD GET AWAY WHO KNOWS THE TWO DAYS WE WAIT...." Twilight's worried rant ended when a large white wing wrapped around her. "Twilight there is no reason to worry me and my sister have arrived." Twilight turned her head towards the voice so familiar, a blush crossed her face as she stared at her loving smile. "Sorry, Princess Celestia." Twilight hung her head, letting her mentor see her act in such a manner was embarrassing beyond belief. The rest of the elements giggled at Twilight being Twilight. Luna stood there just happy to be back with her sister, solving demon problems with their best fighters, though demons have gotten stronger, Celestia has grown weak and Luna herself is in no better position to help, her full power is still in recovery. This weakness only being shown to her after the attack on Manehattan, though she and her sister could have handled that beast back during the great war. Celestia has grown weak during her near thousand years of peace still even then they had a hero of the past one who seemed to risk everything for them and wouldn't even accept their praise let alone live. This strange hero took on the whole demon army killed all their generals and over half there forces but in the end, nobody found his body, sadly was believed to have died. Us princesses would handle a couple or more of those Baron of Hells but to need help from simple adventures seemed laughable even more with their only being one. Rainbow dash flew above everyone taking some kinda victory pose. "ONWARD TO ADVENTURE!" "Rainbow darling, I think reading all those Daring Do books has gotten to you." Rarity said clearly annoyed at the sudden yelling. Stats Name: Celestia Level: 237 Xp: "NOT A "PLAYER"" Points: "NOT A "PLAYER"" Strength:137 Perception:189 Endurance:110 Charisma:204 Intelligence:227 Agility:103 Luck:80
Back at itHe was lost, confused, scared, and worried, but completely dumbfounded he was not, at least not till he started exploring the castle attached to the courtyard. At first, it was all the sun and moons depicted all over the castle that were strange, then the room with a huge pipe organ. The random rooms were full of nothing; whatever was there had long rotted away, but then why were their rooms full of books in perfect condition? Unfortunately, whatever the books were written in, it was not a language he could read, let alone have ever seen before. Then there was the garden in the center of the somewhat square castle. Two very old apple trees and one pear tree stood defiant to the very place they stood healthy and strong as what seemed to be a long-forgotten place lost in time, and if the deep cuts in the floor and walls seemed to be gone blowin' away in some long-forgotten battle if that meant anything, Alice couldn't tell at least with the hunger setting in his vision fading in and out not knowing if the trees were even there. He walked over to the closer apple tree and reached up, his hand wrapping around the apple. He stood there, his brain working in slow motion. "What... why are... whatever?" Alice stammered out, picking the apple as he did. Alice ate that apple, but another and another followed, until, like a switch, his vision came back and he could finally think. *Okay, I've got food and water, but is this place even safe to be in? Or am I risking going out into that forest at night? Sure, the moon is letting me see, but banking on the moon alone is dumb, plus those dam timber wolves or what is left might be waiting for me. The fog might be gone, but could it come back? Bunkering up in this castle might not be a bad idea. All I need to find are the throne room and bed chambers. Maybe what was keeping the books from rotting was used on the king's bedchambers or something.* Alice roamed the halls, slowly learning the layout, room by room. Once he found the huge dining room, only a few chairs were left around a table that could hold fifty. Oddly enough, two doors, one on the back left with a sun on it and one on the right with a moon, stood there, asking to be opened. "I like the moon like any true Frank Sinatra fan!" Alice walked over to the moon door and pushed down on the handle. It didn't budge. Thinking the wooden door was just swollen, he gave it a good kick. The door flew open, the hinges breaking off the wall. Alice chuckled at how much stronger he really was now. "Having forty-two strength makes me feel like a tank; what would one hundred be like?" A small smile crossed Alice's face as he set a new goal. Strength one hundred would be something crazy to see, and at the moment, Alice needed to keep his sense of being alone controlled and pushed to the back of his mind for as long as possible. Going insane would only get him killed. It only helped him. Being alone after so many years and fighting to survive, trying day by day to make it big in the music industry, was almost as hard as clearing a house with no night vision just for some fucker to be hiding behind a turned-over laundry basket. Next thing you know, you've got 5.45x39 in your left thigh. Jokes on him: 7.62x39 to the head, even with some cheap Russian so-called helmet armor, is what we call a kill shot, but that's neither here nor there. The room was dark on account of the shades still being in good condition, walking over the little bit of light coming from the gap between each shade guiding him. Alice spread open the shades, and with a gasp, he saw everything from the carpet to the long empty tea cup sitting on the nightstand next to what looked like a clean bed, the pillows still fluffy, maybe even a little too fluffy, but to Alice, anything beat sleeping on a rock or, god forbid, another tree. Yawning Alice laid down, falling to sleep as soon as his head hit the pillow. Alice woke to birds chirping and, strangely enough, a new quest. NEW QUEST "Demonic castle" Goals: Kill all demons in the castle before guests arrive. Rewards: 10000xp Difficulty: Hard (you are under-leveled; level 60 is recommended for the quest). Time limit: unknown (before "guests" arrive) "What fucking guests and what fucking demons!" Alice shot out of bed, throwing the crazy comfortable blanket off him, and looked around. "There's nothing in my new room trying to eat me, at least." Alice then focused on his map, and, with a look of horror, he saw twelve reddish-purple dots. *I'm only level 26; sure, I got one skill point from yesterday's Daily Quest and put the three ability points into a pure rage, but I'm still not a match for a level 60 quest.* "Shit, I really don't have a choice, do I?" Alice stood up and took a deep breath. *I need to take one on at a time, and the weakest ones first. Maybe I can get a few levels out of that, then go for the strongest one last, like I'm doing some kind of boss battle.* Alice peeked his head out of the bedroom to see a floating eye-like demon but before he could read its name and rank. NOTIFICATION Daily quest has started. Time Left: 19 hours Complete: 100/0 push-ups 100/0 sit-ups 100/0 pull-ups 100/0 jumping jacks 10/0 mile run Rewards: 1 skill point 3 ability points 1 FULL RECOVERY Fail to complete, and the "player" will receive a penalty! "FUCK GET AWAY, I CANNOT SEE!" Alice waved his hand in anger. Alice realized too late what he just did, and the next thing he knew, the level 60 demon was on top of him and ready to kill.
movingAuthor's Note I'm back moving Alice rolled under the demon's eye. Bits of saliva fell on him from the monster on to his once-clean cloak. "FUCK FUCK FUCK!" Alice ran, making sure to avoid the other dots on his map. *Think, how do I kill a floating demon eye ball?* Alice kept his eyes on the map, checking the uneven crumbling floor as much as he could, making sure not to trip on the protruding stone floor. Soon, though, his running came to a dead end. Alice was met with a collapsed ceiling. Defeated Alice spoke one word: "Shit!". As soon as he said that, a burning pain hit his leg. "Fucking hell!" Alice looked down to see his Minitour leg flicker, his human leg showing for a second; his pants were burned and his leg was black. Alice's thoughts were cut off as he saw another fireball fly by his head, the heat waking him from his stupor. Turning, he stared at a red imp-like demon with its hands to its side, charging another fireball, he assumed. Pulling his sword from its long sleeve, he ran at the imp, taking long, stomping strides. The imp's eyes widened like he saw Satan, and half assing it, the imp chucked his fireball. It missed by a mile; this gave Alice a boost of confidence. Once in striking distance, he brought up his sword and brought it down with a grunt and a stomp of his foot. Alice smiled, "TOO EAZY!" Again, he was cut off as the demon's eye slammed into him. Alice flew through the pile of stones that once blocked his way, his bones cracking as he did. He coughed up blood, and his eyes closed in pain as he lay there on the cold stone floor. Alice was sure he had broken ribs, only vagally feeling his sword in his right hand still. Quickly, he looked at his HP of 47/100. His heart raced. Was he going to die before he even knew why he was brought here to begin with? Alice's blood ran cold with anger. Goddamn it, he would not die, not until he made it right. He would bring light into this place he couldn't with music from his old world, but this one needed a fighter, and he had all the skills and potential he needed. ADDED BUFF TO PLAYER "Pure rage" LEVEL: 3/10 Duration: 8 min. Effects: All stats are multiplied by two. Can't feel pain. Dmg to the player is cut in half. The player will lose control. Alice shot up just in time to see the eye demon crash through the stone pile, its self-level 60 floating above its head, but Alice didn't care. With a yell, he jumped through the air, his sword up high, and swung his sword down, cutting the fucker in half. "DIE!" Blood covered Alice again, but he did not care; he was pissed. Looking at his map, he ran to the next dot. _________*__________ 5 4 3 2 1 DEBUFF ADDED TO PLAYER "Stressed soul" LEVEL: 3/10 Duration: 60 min. EFFECTS: Tired/drowsy Healing slowed. Any wounds will be ten times more painful. Alice stumbled back, sticking his hand out to catch him on the wall. Breathing heavily, he looked at his map. "One more... then... I can sleep in that bed." He chuckled a little. "I guess I got that new bed." 70,258 XP earned from combat level up! level up! Alice got a bit of energy from leveling up, but not enough to fight this last one. He pulled up his stats, and anger flashed on his face as he read them. Stats Name: Alice Level: 28 Xp: 29,992/30000 Points: 2 Strength:44 Perception:39 Endurance:43 Charisma:33 Intelligence:38 Agility:43 Luck:32 "Eight fucking xp, really." He really needs to get to level 30 for those five stat points, but being that close to 29 seemed to taunt him. He put two more points into his strength, making it 46, then looked at his HP. He was healing faster as his levels went up, but not fast enough. He was lucky and took no more damage, killing the other nine demons, but ten minutes only healed him to 69/100 hp. "Fuck it, who cares?" he mumbled to himself, pushing himself off the wall. As he did, he swayed for a moment until he found his balance. Walking quietly to the purple dot, he peeked around the corner to see some demon, one that sent shivers down his spine. It looked like a minotaur, but it was red and four feet taller. "Level 80, really... how am I?" Alice whispered to himself as a plan formed in his head. *I need to sneak up on it; I don't know if I can kill it with one blow, but if I took one of its legs off, I could out maneuver it and slowly finish it off.* With some new-found confidence, Alice walked slowly. Once in striking range, Alice swung his sword, cutting its leg off, and it fell over. Clearly confused, the demon fell on its hand, and now, on one knee, Alice brought up his sword again, going for the head, but was hit with one of its massive hands. Alice couldn't breathe as he flew through the air for the second time today, fallowing by cracking in his back and ribs, the wall giving nothing to ease his pain. Falling to the ground, Alice saw his HP drop to 22/100. Vision going gray, he stood the pain sending adrenalin through his body, not caring for the ribs poking through his skin, he stomped at the crippled demon. Every step sent blood spraying a trail from the wall to him, which was getting longer with every step he took. The demon swung at him but lost its balance, giving him an opening. With great pain, he jumped up out of the vision of the demon, then brought down his sword, cutting the demons head off. 100,000 xp earned from combat! Level up! Level up! Level up! Alice stood there out of breath, a puddle of blood below him. With what energy left, he walked, or more like stumbled, his way to the bed. It was softer than anything, silently thanking whoever's bed, swearing heed kiss them, and also say sorry for the blood he was sure to track in there. NOTIFICATION "Demonic Castle" quest complete! Goals: Kill all demons in the castle before guests arrive. Hidden objective: kill them all in under 30 minutes! (XP 2X) Rewards: 10000xp NOTIFICATION EXTREAM LEVEL DISBARITY FOR COMPLETED QUSET NOTICED XP 4X!!!!!!!!!! NOTIFICATION XP gained from the quest is now 80,000!!! Alice fell into bed; the room was black and blue all over, making the trail of red blood stand out even more. He quickly fell into a dreamless sleep. Stats Name: Alice Level: 32 Xp: 9,992/55,000 Points: 8 Strength:48 Perception:43 Endurance:47 Charisma:37 Intelligence:42 Agility:47 Luck:36
Left bloodyOp Logan ran into subject Alice's room franticly looking around until his blue eyes fell on the bed-shaped burnt spot. A clean-up crew close behind sweeping room by room. "Where did his bed go?" Logan bent over rubbing the lightly burned carpet below where it once was. One of the soldiers snapped to attention behind him waiting to be recognized by his superior before speaking. With a grown, his hands resting on his hips. "Speak soldier." The soldier brought both arms to his side and stood up straight then spoke in an even tone. "Sir, the camera team says after the subject grabbed his head in pain a blue portal started at the foot of his bed, slowly it went to the head of the bed, and with a loud snap he along with his bed was gone." Logan chuckled to himself in disbelief. " Sure, then what they told you magic is real!" The soldier pulled out a phone from his all-white uniform front breast pocket, touching the screen a couple of times he turned it, his superior leaning in watching the video of his charge get sucked into the blue portal with shock on his face. Logan mumbled. "What the fuck." --------------*---------- Princes Luna looked at the bloody mess on the forest floor, the manticore, what was left of it at least, lay at her feet. She knew something strong, something fast far faster than any current-day fighter did this, she couldn't rule out there being more than one fighter but, from what she could tell the same sword was used for the blows given to its now lifeless body, and in quick strong movements. "Sister, how could one pony do this?" Luna's voice stumbled as she spoke, if she did not have years of war in her past she would still be stunned into silence like the rest of the group. Even her sister was quiet, the years of peace had made her weak and though she knew she was only a bit better it made her mad that both her sister and she had grown so. Celestia was slow to respond, the same pale blank stare on her face. "I don't know, this puts even Icebreaker the head of the four heroes to shame." As she spoke her eyes never left the stinger at her hooves. The elements did not speak, they had never seen true death or true pain. Even the guard Most if not all other than Manehattan, did nothing but settle small disagreements. They were stunned to say no less. Luna frowned looking up through the trees, it was getting late. Her magic told her to raise the moon soon and her sister to lower the sun. Even if she did the look her sister was giving her said it all, this needed settled now, they could not wait. They were already two days behind whatever did this. They had hope though, if the minitour they found dead meant anything they gave peace to the fallen, which showed some good. She hoped. With a shake of her head, Celestia stood straight and cast an energy spell, it would let her feel out powerful magic or ones with it. As the spell reached out she felt her sisters, she pushed it further and further until one no two stood close to one another one was blue the other purple with demon energy. The blue one flickered for a moment followed by the far stronger purple one disappearing. That must be their killer and by sensing their power they were hurt their energy was far below their reserves. Quickly she turned to Luna only to see her casting an energy spell herself, not needing to explain to her sister what she felt she turned to her student. " Twilight you and the rest of the elements must go back to town, get a medical bay ready!" Years of leadership behind every word. Twilight looked confused but the look on Celestia's face told her everything, no questions just do what you're told. Twilight never saw her master her teacher her friend like this and knew not to fight back. She turned and ran the other five close behind, glad to be gone from gore. Celestia and Luna flew up and out of the trees below both turning in the direction of the blue power. "That's are-" Luna was cut off. "Yes sister, That's our castle." --------*--------- They landed next to the old well, both looking at the red stain next to it in confusion. "Luna is that blood." she knew what it was but for some reason, she hoped to be told otherwise, that it wasn't real. Luna gave a short nod and started to trot into the castle. She knew whatever they were gonna find would know. A feeling filled her heart one that was happy this only served to confuse her more, before she could decode her strange emotions she felt something thick on her hoof cursing at the now dark castle she brought her hoof up only to fall back in shock as her now red hoof dripped blood. Casting a light spell from her horn she got a better look at what bled it. And by the gasp behind her, she knew her sister saw as well. Bits of imp and Cacodemon laid there. Celestia cast another energy spell and then bolted, Luna was not far behind as they ran they saw ten more demons mostly imps but the last one, its leg and head lay by its side blood all around it. They took no time to dwell on it, it only served to make them run faster to the blue energy from before, the one responsible for this was powerful and needed to be made friends or killed. With an energy spell or not they could have easily followed the trail of blood left by the unknown. ----------*-------- Alice awoke, his eyes sealed shut from blood and pain. Rubbing at them furiously, he turned his head towards the blown-open door. It was still dark, but the glow emanating from their horns was all he needed to see his guests. Jumping out of the now blood-covered bed he spoke with caution in his voice. "Who are you?" Slowly Grabbing at the hilt of his sword. "Says the one in my room." Luna teased "Don't paint me stupid, this castle is long abandoned, not to mention the battle, it looks like they lost." Alice was on edge, there was no new quest popup when they arrived, and he was lost and growing scared. The white one walked into the room, Alice couldn't make out faces their horns were too bright, and in fear drew his sword, his body did not portray strength, his hp was only 28/100, and with blood loss, he grew cold shaking as he stood. "Stay back, I don't know you friend or foe, and in my injured state I must ask for you to let me be." Alice pled with the unknown ponies hoping with some honesty they would let him be. This time the darker one stepped in, a small smile on her face. "We mean you no harm, if anything we wish to help one as strong as you in their time of need." Before Alice could retort a greenish-blue glow ran over him alongside a new buff of light healing. Putting him at 60/100 hp the blood loss debuff disappearing. And with a bit more energy Alice spoke. "Thank you, I ... can't see your faces and don't know your names, please my name is..." Alice paused he didn't want to share his real name, the princesses looked at him their heads tilted in confusion at his sudden stop. "Young minitour, do not push yourself we can share are names first." Luna stood up straight and with pride. "My name is Princess Luna the ruler of the night." Celestia seeing it was her turn did the same."My name is Princess Celestia the ruler of the day." Alice needed to act quickly, he didn't know why sharing his real name gave him pause but he needed to give a name. " My name.. is .... Logan." His only friend back home and by using that name he had comfort, though he didn't know why. NOTIFICATION Daily quest has failed "player" will receive a penalty! Generating penalty..... NOTIFICATION "The player will be sent to a random location!" Alice's eyes went wide and before he could say anything a blinding flash filled the room. Alice tried to breathe only to choke on water, his eyes shot open spinning around franticly looking for light indicating the surface. With his vision going he swam and just before tunnel vision took him he burst to the surface as soon as his lips broke the water line he choked out the water that made a home in his lungs, taking stock of his sword he proceeded to check his surroundings. It was day and other than a couple of trees on the edge of the water Alice found himself in a desert. The temperature change made itself noticed as soon as he pulled himself to the small beach around a two-hundred or so-foot-wide oasis. NOTIFICATION Quest started. Stay within 200 feet of the water for 24 hours.
DustAlice lay there in the hot sand, burning at his once pale skin the sun long cooked him red, even while staying under the small tree it gave little shade and seemed nothing but a reminder of the heat and how unavoidable it was, a sense of worry filled Alice, his hands grabbing at the sand beneath him. What was he to do with twenty hours left? There was no food to gather and no water supplies to fill, his water was endless as long as he stayed at the small pond, but no food just sand, and within days would kill him on his travels, he might last a week at this pond with little physical movement but travel would be out of the question. He felt his worry turn to determination, snaping to his feet Alice clapped his cloaked hands together. "Fuck it." Alice mumbled in anger if he would need food for his travels after the quest, lying in the sand wasting time would do him no good. The first thing that came to mind was fish, the pond was deep and seemed well-established if the trees meant anything, this was shot down quickly, the pond was clear to the bottom, and there was nothing. Next was the trees, he hadn't noticed anything before and still didn't see anything. During his young days at war, he had heard of people eating bark from trees to fight off hunger but fighting it off was not his goal he needed something with meat, dense in caloric energy and he knew there was nothing around like that, so he gave up on food. He had spent weeks on less than enough he could last a week on nothing but no more, he was strong and well-fed outside of war, but traveling the desert was something different that he did very little of. Next would be transporting water, He could make some container out of the trees around him, sadly he was no craftsman, and anything he made would be crude at best, it probably wouldn't hold water anyway. Before he could do that a deep Southern voice spoke to him. "Now, whats a minotaur like you doing in the badlands?" Alice spun around as his hand snapped to the sword on his back, his guest jumped back a little at his actions but with a small smile and a hoof up gesturing peace Alice put his hands down at his sides. "Who are you pony and what are you doing here?" His tone was sharp as the adrenalin still flowed threw his body. "I'm Dusttraveler, my friends used to call me Dusty tho and I could ask what you're doing out here alone, with no equipment but that sword on your back." As he spoke he looked Alice up and down his face one of worry. Alice did the same of his all-white pony friend from his wings to his blond hair. "I don't see anything on you as well?" Alice locked eyes with the pony, his lips were chapped eyes red and dry his hair was unkempt and by the looks of him, he was tired, his eyes though told Alice a story, one of pain. This pony didn't want to wake up after he fell asleep. "What's your name minotaur?" Sticking with his name change from before. "Logan." "Strange name for a minotaur, now ain't that?" "Strange to question one's lack of equipment when you lack it as well?" "Logan, I asked because I wanted to know if you were one of them?" "One of what?" Alice Snapped back quickly with anger. "All kinds pass through the town" Pointing with his wing north"About two days by hoof that away." he lowered his wing and gave Alice a look of pain. "They take nothing with em, their eyes dead their soul long lost to their pain their bodies just walk following the faint trail through town no matter how hungry or thirsty." Dusttraveler stopped his head now down. "they keep going and this pond is often the last time any pony sees them." Alice stared blankly into Dusttravelers blue eyes, his voice monotone. "Then I say again, why are you, alone with nothing not even a hat, no water no food? Odd?" This seemed to break something in Dusttraveler, anger flooded his face his muscles tense his voice full of anger."WHAT DO YOU KNOW!" Dusttraveler shoved his hoof into Alice's stomach, tears running down his face. "I did everything I could." His hoof went limp anger no longer in his voice." What do you know about loss, about pain I watched those thugs rape and murder the ones in my town the one I was meant to protect, but I'm only one pony against many. I'm not even a unicorn." Alice's eyes lay on a scar, one he couldn't see before. On his flank a long and deep still fresh wound, thankfully not infected. "Did they do that?" Alices pointed to the scar on his flank. "Yes" He paused working back his tears. "and after they did that they told me to walk into the desert like the failure I am and never come back, if I listened they'd not kill me" Dusttravler paused again looking at the clear water just a few feet away from them. "And most importantly not go after the ones that ran." Alice saw the pain in this pony's very soul, it filled him with anger so much anger, just like walking through a freshly bombed town, your mind can pick two paths and cry at the horrors of the dead red stains, kids book bags blown apart school busses on fire. Or get angry, seek revenge for the lost, YOU will kill the ones responsible with your vary hands even if it killed you even if it costs you everything, evil, true evil is hard to come by and all good men wish for the day they get to smite it down. With clenched fists, Alice spoke. "How far of a walk was it back to town?" "Two days walking, the sand is hard to travel, constantly shifting under your very hoofs." "What about by air?" "A day or so, If ya left at night then sure but during the day the heat would kill ya." "What if one ran?" Alice looked at his stats as spoke. Stats Name: Alice Level: 32 Xp: 9,992/55,000 Points: 8 Strength:48 Perception:43 Endurance:47 Charisma:37 Intelligence:42 Agility:47 Luck:36 *My agility is 47, this gives me hope. If I put the rest of my points into Agility I should be fast enough to run there in half a day, but.... I'd be out of it I'd need to rest before I killed the scum in town.* Alice stood lost in thought, almost not catching the dumbfounded look his new friend gave him. "What.... you.. want... too.. run?!" Dusttravelers bloodshot eyes got wider with every word, and were wide open by the end. "No." Alice answered quickly Dusttraveler breathed a sigh of relief. "Thank Celestia, minotaurs aren't known for speed anyway they're more like their ancestors. Strong like a bull and long-distance runners." Dusttraveler chuckled a little. "But I'm sure you know that, the proud creatures you are." Flinching at the use of Celestia's name, the memory of her and her sister helping him in that blown out castle. He looked at Dusttraveler with a hidden smile, his cloak still hiding his features. Then looked at the counting-down timer. "I plan on running in.... sixteen hours and it should take me about half a day at full tilt, so probably more like" Alice wiggled a little in thought, his minotaur illusion hands on his hips as he did." two-thirds a day or so, I hope to get there at or before nightfall make a plan of attack and kill every last one." Alice couldn't help but smile, sure after the war he was useful to his country. Rebuilding after an eight-year-long, total war was nothing but complicated, and using his music-making skills from before the war he hoped to bring light to the people of his country, the horrors they went through needed peace. But in the end, he was a man of war now battle-hardened at too young an age, sixteen, and just turned it the day before his first battle. His nation wasn't poor, far from it, they had better tec, better guns, faster planes, and bigger bombs, they were a smaller country compared to their enemy, and as the war machine revved up so did the bodies and the need to replace them first they took older men, they stopped at fifty-five and started down, seventeen-year-olds were being sent out then sixteen, then there so-called "to be a man" program they took you at fifteen and trained you for a year and sent you out the day after you turned sixteen. And over the years of war, he grew to love it. Dusttraveler fell to his haunches, then looked at Alice in disbelief." There over thirty of em' You can't kill them all your just one minotaur with a big sword." Dusttravelers tone grew worried, not wanting to see any more die because of his failers."They have magic Logan Hell they can fly you could never get high enough they'd rain arrows on you." Alice chuckled, this made Dusttraveler uneasy but before he began to back up Alice spoke. "You know I never checked to see how far or how high I could jump." Alice slapped his legs. "You see I've been training these babies a little, I want you to fly up to around where they'd be when raining arrows down on me, like you said let's see if I can make it." Dusttraveler deadpaned at Alice in disbelief. "Even a trained minotaur can't jump more than a couple of feet." "Just do this for me, hell what do you lose." Alice pleaded "If I'm wrong I'll brainstorm another way to bring them down if I'm right then we can focus on dealing with the magic." "Fine Logan but this is a waste of time." Dusttraveler stretched his wings. Dusttraveler wings seemed stiff maybe injured but Alice thought nothing of it as he watched Dusttraveler get higher, and higher soon he was nothing but a blond floating blur in the cloudless sky his white fur blending into the bright blue. As he flew Alice put four points into strength and agility making strength fifty-two and agility fifty-one. Alice crouched down and with all the strength he had launched himself into the sky, like a bullet he flew up at the peek of his jump he pulled his sword out and taped Dusttraveler with the flat side of it then with a salute he began to fall, the ground met Alice quickly his legs bending doing what they could to lessen the force, and with an explosion of sand around him he came to a stop. Alice heard coughing behind him, the cloud of sand irritating Dusttraveler sure to be dry throat. " Well I'll be a monkey's uncle, I've never seen anything jump that high in my life, damn I think you jumped up to me faster than most could have flown to me." Dusttraveler shook his head in disbelief. "You sure you're not some type of God?" "No Dusttraveler, I'm not some type of God" "Then how are you so strong?" Dusttraveler tilted his head in annoyance not believing a word Alice told him. "If not a God, then your like the princess a descendent of a God." "Like I said Dusttraveler, I just trained them a little. Now Let's see what we can do to counter their magic." Author's Note Getting better at this writing stuff, I think. Still shit at it but a 2/10 is better than a 1/10.
Finding outAuthor's Note I know it is a short chapter, but I put a lot of my free time going back through old chapters and trying to make them less shit. But felt a little chapter would help move my process along. Stay safe Finding out Alice flew through gears, keeping his r.p.ms just out of redline. With one headlight out he speeded down the road, only down-shifting before a sharp corner using the transmission to help slow the car, then quickly up-shifting after coming out. Alice was no race car driver but at twelve his dad showed him how to drive their old five-speed Mustang and with a little bit of gear grinding he quickly picked it back up. "Alice, come in can you hear me? ALICE?" A commanding male voice yelled in his headset. Taking his hand off the shifter he quickly turned his mic back on then quickly downshifted just in time. "You're coming in clear, sir." "Good, now how's the rest of the team there not responding on our end." "I don't know sir, we got split up after eliminating are targets" There was a pause, the only sound coming from the big v8 in whatever supercar Alice hot-wired. "Did you get all three? Or just the two primary?" The voice was calm now no longer yelling. "Yes sir, after that we got sp-" "I don't care about the rest of the team Alice, they can be replaced YOU can't, 'll be sending over-extraction cords. Get there." "But sir we can't ju-" Alice was cut off again. "We already got confirmation on their K.I.A, Alice stop wasting time on them, they knew the risk now shut up and go to extraction." Alice went to speak again, only for gunfire to ring out, every window blew up, broken safety glass bounced off his flash bang-resistant glasses. Gritting his teeth he ducked down and put his foot too the floor, hoping and praying he'd survive. Alice shot up looking around frantically only for the night sky to look back, running his right hand through his long hair he unknowingly knocked his hood down showing his human head to all who could see. "FUCKING CALM DOWN!" Alice yelled forgetting about Dusttravler. A small groan on the other side of the fire made Alice pause, his hand interlaced with his hair, still not realizing his hood was down. "Sorry Dusttravler, I just had a bad dream nothing to worry about." Alice took his hand out of his hair looking at it in some strange attempt to ground himself back in his new reality. "Its fine Alice I get the-" Dusttravler paused looking at the clearly human face across the fire. Dusttravlers sudden pause made Alice look over at him in confusion. "What up, somethin wrong?" Tilting his still uncloaked head. Dusttravler while on his haunches began backing up, doing little but pushing sand into the fire. "Hu- hu- hum... HUMAN stay away I don't know what you did to Logan but I beg of you please have mercy on me." Puer terror-filled Dusttraveler and what looked to be tears filled his eyes. Alice slowly brought his hand up to his head, the lack of a hood making itself vary aware, and with a long sigh Alice spoke. "Dusttravler please listen to me, I'm Logan I me-" Alice was cut off by Dusttravler. "No Logan was a minotaur, NOT a Human he was not a fallen angel in service to the fucking devil himself." His voice cracked with the volume. "And what makes you think I serve the devil?" Alice spoke with a bit of anger in his voice. "Don't play dumb demon all ponys know fallen angels or humans who follow the devel get turned half-minotaur." "And what if a human was not half minotaur, who would they serve then." "They'd serve God, what we think is the creator of our world and is holy in nature they'd be one of the ten angels left still defending the heavens from the enemies of God." Alice grabbed at his cloak and with a quick pull it came off showing the rest of his pale and now very lean muscular body. "Would they look like this?" Alice gestured to his shirtless body. Dusttravler just stopped, he stopped blinking, stopped breathing and for a moment Alice thought he was gonna pass out, but with a sharp restart to his breathing, Dusttravler spoke. "Why?" "Why.. what?" Alice stood up and grabbed his sword putting it back on his back. "Why fake being a demon?" "Dusttravler I had no clue of what you just told me." "How does a Human not know, gosh darn Logan, I knew your name was strange for a minotaur, and thinking a minotaur had a name meaning devoted to God was strange but since you are an angel I guess it makes sense. But then why hide it, and why act like you don't know nothin." Dusttravler was calm now and as he spoke a small smile filled his pony face. "Explains how you can run and jump so fast." Dusttravler chuckled. Alice then and there decided something, he would keep his name change. He was a whole new person and to think the name of an old friend would mean so much in this strange place like this, this only gave him twofold the reason, he would not let his past failures define him and a name change seemed to help. "Dusttravler, if I walked into that town of yours like this what would they do?" "Well, I'd reckon they right on shit them self, hell they might go on begin for mercy then and there." "You don't say." Alice looked up at the beautiful night sky above, deep in thought. *I planned to keep myself hidden till I gained enough good favor with the ponys, but being seen as an angel gives me endless amounts on that.* Logan, still in thought looked at the time left till his punishment quest was over 9:43.56. *I still have just under ten hours to wait.* "Logan you never answered my question, why did you fake being a demon?" "Im no angel Dusttravler." "Logan, how could you not be?" "I'm pretty sure I'm not even of this world." "Well obviously, angels are from heaven." "NO DUSTTRAVLER." Logan yelled in frustration. "Sorry I mean, I'm just trying to say I woke up in this strange place no more than a week ago I turn twenty-two soon I'm no angel from creation itself, Dusttravler I know only war and pain, and just as soon as the war is over just when things started to get better I wake up in some fucking forest with power I never had before. I am no angel." "Well, angle or not the ponys and well pretty much any living thing will see you that way." Logan fell down on his knees and then hunched over using his hands to prop himself up. "I wonder if God sent me here for that reason." Logan almost whispered. "What reason?" Not realizing he spoke out loud he stuttered out a reply. "Well, I mean, I look like an angel in the eyes of this place, and was brought from mine just after I fraught and killed in a war of good vs evil, I mean I got a... what you could say direct message saying God was happy after my deeds the first night I arrived." It was not a complete lie, he did get a perk called Happy Gods after not taking any damage and saving that little pony. "See Logan, you might not know it now but you might be like an angel in training or something." "Ya Mabey." "I don't know about you Logan but I'm gonna get some more sleep before the big fight tomorrow, and knowing I got an angel on my side I might not have any nightmares. I hope." "Sounds good Dusttraveler, I'm gonna go pace around nervously, maybe think about dealing with their magic some more." "Logan I told you yesterday your speed is far to fast for any spell to hit you." "I get that, but I can't be moving at top speed the whole time, fuck if only I could practice against someone with magic as I did with your flying." "Logan, the little I know about how magic works I told you already, I can't help you any more than I already have." Dusttravlers voice grew a bit annoyed, but he understood why one would worry about any fight in the bag or not. "I know, I know what you told me. Spells get cast in three steps while a few have four but most are three, the first being gathering energy and putting it into a spell then directing the spell or aiming it then letting the magic in their horn go, some can build up energy faster and aim faster but the letting magic go part can only go as fast as magic can travel." "Yes Logan and you run so fast just the magic letting go part takes too long for them to hit you, they'd have to blindly guess where you're gonna be and then hope you don't see it." "Okay I get it, I'm gonna go float in the water a bit and try and calm my self down. Good night." "Good night Logan."
