Reborn in a Dating Sim: Life as a Mob is hard in an Equestria Girl’s Dating Game!

Reborn in a Dating Sim:

Life as a Mob is hard in an Equestria Girl’s Dating Game!

Chapter Forty

One of the perks of being a successful adventurer, finding a pirate’s treasure, and winning pretty well at some well placed bets was having a large observation box reserved. Copper looked at the scrying screen ahead of him and watched the race as it was happening. Posh Proppers was several things, but ultimately he was a very skilled racer. The fact that he was able to weave, to move so fluidlessly through the course spoke of the time he must have dedicated to driving.

The first real leg of the race was going well, and Copper watched as the hover car that Posh Proppers was driving was suddenly the victim of multiple attacks. They ranged from small skirmishes to full out attempts to cause him to crash. The truth of the matter was that this was a sport, and a dangerous one at that. Still, it was obvious that those attacking Posh Proppers were doing so for some other reason than to just win.

“He is not popular,” Artemis pointed out as she watched, “From what I can see there’s little doubt that he’s going to end up crashing hard. I expect within the next turn there will be something done to damage him or the vehicle itself. I would wager it will be him. The attacks are mostly directed toward the driver, and while the harness itself seems well designed, it does not prevent full attacks. I have a feeling that he will likely break something soon.”

No sooner had the words left her mouth than they watched as one of the cars near Posh Propper’s car slammed hard into its side. When it did the car swarved, nearly flipped, but did slam hard against one the railings. In a few moments it was going again, and he watched as it crossed the finish line. He looked at it, and shook his head, “Damn, that had to suck.”

The door opened and he saw Diamond Tiara step inside. Applebloom was beside her, “Did you see it?” Diamond asked as she stepped in, “Did you see what happened? It was obvious that they’re targeting Posh’s car!”

He nodded, “I did notice it, but honestly I don’t think that there’s much to be done, right?” he asked as he looked at her, “I mean from what we figured he likely has pissed someone off, right?”

Diamond Tiara nodded, “Yes, he upset someone. Posh Proppers was engaged to a young heiress named Fleur De Lis,” she said as she looked at the screen, “The cars that have been ramming into him are followers of hers. I doubt that she would attempt to distance herself from it though. When he broke off their engagement he broke her heart. She loved him, absolutely loved him, and he practically ripped her heart out. From what I understand he didn’t even have the decency to do it in person. Instead he left her a letter.”

Copper let out a small whistle, “Yeah, that’s a pretty rotten way of ending things. I can see why she would be upset. And again, it really seems that he is the one that put his foot in it,” he replied as he looked at the scrying screen, “That said, what is this going to do for the race? Don’t get me wrong, I don’t mind regardless, but I’ve got to imagine that there’s a good deal of the students that want to see this happen.”

Diamond Tiara nodded, “Actually, would you mind to accompany me?” she asked as she looked at him and Artemis, “I’m going to go and check on Posh Proppers and see how he’s doing. I need to see if he is able to compete still, or if we are going to need to look for a replacement. If it’s the second then I’m not sure what we’re going to do.”

He nodded, stood, and followed her as she began leading the way toward the medical area. To his surprise several rooms in the lower dorm had been converted into makeshift medical rooms. In one of them was Posh Proppers who was having his leg examined, “What do you mean you can’t heal his leg?!” Satin practically screamed, “How can he compete on a broken leg?! You have magic spells, do something!”

The doctor standing there shook his head, “I’m afraid that we cannot. Once we were informed that he had taken some enhancement potions it meant that we couldn’t heal him. Doing so would ensure that his muscles, and bone in that leg, would always be weaker. We have to wait for the potion to run its course before we cast any healing magic,” the doctor replied, “Unfortunately the enhancement potion he has can last up to seven days in a body, so we will have to treat his leg as best we can in the meantime.”

Copper looked at him, and then he looked at Satin who looked like someone had just stolen her lunch and was eating it in front of her. She looked like she was starting to cry, right up until the door opened. A girl stepped in. Her hair was cut in a way that reminded Copper of his former life. Specifically of a movement known as the punk movement. The cut had left a section of her hair shorter, while the other side was long enough to go to her shoulder. She looked appraising at Posh Proppers before she stepped in further.

Her pink hair had obviously been well cared for and maintained before hand, but now it looked almost a mess. Her white skin had small marks that could only be called love bites, and behind her were no less than six demi-humans. All of them were smiling like they had won the jackpot. Of course in a way he was certain that they had. After all, they were bedding a noble woman, and they had been bought to do it.

“Oh, I see that you’re still alive,” the girl said, her eyes narrowed as she looked at him, “How very unfortunate. I had hoped that you would do the more honorable thing and simply perish out there. It’s no less than what you deserve,” she stated, her voice icy as she talked, “I mean how could you…”

Copper watched as Satin swallowed, and walked toward her, “Hi, look there’s no reason we can’t be friends, right?” she asked as she neared her, “I mean it’s obvious that there’s some tension, but I mean it doesn’t mean that we can’t act friendly and be supportive of one another.”

“Shut up you little twerp,” Fleur hissed, “I mean it, shut your mouth right now. You’re the reason for all of this. If you were out there racing I’d had them do worse to you. Instead I have to settle for that pathetic excuse that’s laid up on the bed over there.”

“Fleur,” Posh said from his bed, “I must ask that you please stop the hostilities toward Satin. She has done nothing to deserve your animosity. Your anger is directed at me, and rightly so. I will accept it, if it will make things even between us, then I accept what has happened as just.”

There was a moment of quiet, “Are you kidding?” she asked, her voice tight with anger, “You seriously think that everything is going to be fixed with a broken leg? Ha!” she laughed, her voice loud, near shouting, “You broke my heart! You hurt me! Forget this! You’re going to pay even more! I don’t care what it takes, I’m going to make sure that you pay for what you’ve done!”

With that she and her reverse harem of demi-humans left. Copper watched the entire ordeal and shook his head. There was no real way around it. Posh Proppers had truly fucked himself over. His actions had proven that he had thought with his dick, and as in most cases that had ended up biting him hard. Copper glanced at Artemis and considered his own situation. He hadn’t fully thought with his own, but he had certainly allowed himself to be led by it. Still, it worked out better than he had hoped.

At least in his case he hadn’t been engaged to anyone. He hadn’t broken anyone’s heart, and he had instead found a wonderful companion that wanted to help him and wanted to be with him. He wasn’t sure what Fleur was like before the breakup, but he wondered if Posh had something similar with her. Was it possible that she had been a doting and wonderful person that just wanted to support him, and he ruined it because of wanting to get into Satin’s panties? Somehow he felt that it likely was the case.

“Hey you!” Satin shouted, as she marched toward him, “You’re going to have to take his place!” she exclaimed as she poked his chest, “I mean it! You’re the only one that is capable of it, and honestly it should fall to you anyway!”

“Why should my captain have to do anything for you, or him?” Artemis asked, her voice cold, “From where I am standing you both have made your bed. It seems only right that you have to lay in it.”

“Maybe,” Satin replied, “But if he doesn’t then your friend suffers,” she stated as she pointed toward Diamond Tiara, “She’s helped with the committee for the festival, and the race falls to her planning. If it has to cancel it will reflect poorly on her. It’s likely that it will cause her to fall even further than she already has.”

“Is that true Dia?” Artemis asked as she looked at her, “Will it harm your standing?”

Diamond Tiara nodded, “She’s not wrong,” she admitted, “The truth is that it likely would cause a pretty major backlash. It could even affect my father. I don’t want to cause problems for him, but I can’t ask Copper to take Posh’s place. Not now.”

“Well, you don’t have to ask,” he replied, “I’ll do it. I don’t mind and I’m sure that I can complete the race. That’s all we’re asking here, right?”

Diamond Tiara nodded, “That is,” she replied, “I won’t ask for more than that, and honestly it would allow me to keep my standing. If you really are okay with it then I will go let them know the change in racers.”

He nodded “Go let them know and I’ll go check the car. After that we’ll get everything ready,” he said as he walked toward the door. Both he and Artemis began to leave and he breathed out, “Okay, so this is going to be interesting. I mean I’m not exactly sure of how well I’ll be able to drive this thing.”

There was a small laugh, “Captain, do you really think that I would allow you to do this on your own?” Artemis asked as she neared the car, “The moment it appeared that you were going to agree to take his place I had one of my avatars come down here. The car has been repaired, and the controls have been modified. You will be able to control it, but the controls have been designed in such a way that it should feel familiar.”

He looked at the car itself, and like the other ones it appeared that what could be seen was from about the chest up on the driver. The doors did a great job of hiding everything else. He opened the door stepped in, and felt something odd. It was the way the seat seemed to mold to him, pushed him forward, and something soft pressed against his groin. He felt it slightly shift, and he noticed that the controls were similar to that of Avarice. Then again with what was happening that seemed to make sense. Artemis had designed Avarice to work around one of her avatars as a processing unit. It was obvious that she had done the same to the hover car.

“Ready, my Captain,” a voice said from in front of him, “It is practically child’s play to upgrade this vehicle. It will now respond nearly six times faster than the other cars. That means that your skill will translate much faster,” the voice stated, “The one downside is that I would enjoy getting what my more biological avatar has been getting, but doing so would endanger you. So, perhaps we should wait to do that until sometime later.”

He laughed as the car made its way toward the starting point. Looking at the others he realized the differences right away. The hover car he was in seemed to have been altered completely with him in mind. The look was still the same, but the display inside was different from the others. Their displays seemed to be a version of the scrying window, but his was a digital projection. The control they had seemed to be a single joystick, and his was two different handles. It was a complete and total difference that he could see gave him an advantage.

A moment later the blast of a gun erupted, and he pressed the handles forward. The car leaped toward, moving along with the others, and he began to accelerate faster. He found the small opening, and in that moment he took it. The car made its way, and he felt the first real strike from his side. To his surprise it wasn’t one of the cars from earlier. Instead it was some guy he didn’t know. The car rammed him again, “Lady Upper Crust sends her regard, you scumbag!” the boy shouted, “I’m going to ram you so hard off of this fucking track that they’re going be picking up pieces of your car for days!”

He waited for the guy to come at him again and in that moment he upped up on the handles. Doing so made him jump up, and caused the would-be attacker to jump the track and head straight toward the stands. He felt bad, especially for anyone that happened to be there, but he wasn’t going to keep getting hit by this jackass. He then pushed the car forward only to see several other cars gearing toward him.

Those coming at him were some of Fluer’s followers, he was certain of that, but the others looked like nobles from some of the higher houses. He groaned realizing that they likely were taking this chance to deal him a devastating hit. They wanted him out, per good, and now was just as good of a time as any to do it. He began to duck, dodge, and dive out of the way to his best of his abilities. He found that the car was just as responsive as Artemis had promised, and that her current avatar was grinding hard on him.

The pressure was more than enough for him to realize that there was no doubt she was getting excited over this. Still, it felt a little different. She wasn’t doing what she normally did through her avatars. This felt like a slightly more inexperienced movement. As if she wanted to do something, was on the cusp of doing it, but was holding off because she didn’t want to get anyone hurt. It was both like her, and completely foreign at the same time. He wasn’t sure how to express it in the slightest.

Still, he directed the car as best he could, evading those coming at him, or simply speeding ahead as fast as the engine would allow. That was something else he noticed on the display. It was recording the usage of the monster cores, and currently his cores were nearly all out. He had been feeding it so much that the engine was attempting to completely overheat. He could feel it attempting to pull apart, and he knew that there was very little he could really do at this point. His only real hope was to finish the race itself.

He moved the car toward the leader, someone he knew was one of Fleur’s people, and he saw the guy. He wasn’t attempting to ram him or slam into him, but instead he was giving it an honest race. He could respect that. It was skill against skill. Skill that was taking its toll on the car itself. Still, he pulled ahead, and as he did so he noticed that the other guy was matching him. There was the difference. His skill was decent enough, but he wasn’t on the same level as the guy that was competing against him. He was dealing with someone that was on their way to becoming a professional.

He shook his head, there was no turning back, and there was no abandoning this. He pushed the controls as far as they would go, and he heard the sound of the engine as something inside of it broke. Whatever inhibitory that existed to give a slight sense of safety was now gone. The car’s speed shot up to nearly impossible hights. He found the car speeding faster than he believed possible, and he wanted to curse himself for this. He wanted to be upset at himself for what was going on. Still, he felt the car shutter, the floor began to warp as it sped, and he felt the inside trying to get hotter, “Artemis, are you able to withstand this?”

There was no answer for a moment, “Artemis?” he asked again, “Is everything okay?”

There was quiet, and he feared that it had damaged this avatar to the point that she couldn’t function. He worried for her, but then he saw the finish line. He raced toward it, feeling the car’s body shake impossibly hard. When he crossed he didn’t do a victory lap. Instead he moved the car toward the area for repairs. The moment he got there Artemis was waiting for him. She pulled him from it, and the other avatar stepped out after a moment.

He noticed that she’d changed. She still looked like a bunny girl, but her hair was a rich brown, her eyes were almond colored, and her face seemed different from Artemis. There was a sense of confusion as to what was going on. “There is so much to discuss,” the other avatar said, “I believe we should do so in private, later.”

He eyed her, uncertain of what was going on, “Artemis, do you have control of that Avatar?”

There was a moment of quiet, “No, my Captain, I do not. This is vexing because that means another Artificial Intelligent has imprinted themselves on it. I shall question them and figure out what is going on.”

He nodded, “Keep me posted.” he said as he looked around, “And I’m going to go pay Posh Proppers a visit and let him know that he owes me.”