Sword Art Equestria - Introduction
“Hello and welcome to GamerTV, the number one source for your gaming news, My name is Lisa and today we are covering the lauch of the first ever NerveGear MMO ‘Sword Art Online’” Kirito listened with intent as he was waiting for the game servers to launch so he could play. Kirito was a hardcore gamer, at least by his standards, he was chosen as one of only one thousand people to be able to play the beta version of ‘Sword Art Online’ And as one of those beta testers he was able to pre-purchase the game early and not have to wait around in queue’s to have a slim chance at getting one of the only ten thousand first edition copies. no more were being made until a later date. Kirito found this strange because why would you only produce ten thousand copies of one of the most hyped MMORPG’s to date.
“We’re joined by the creator of ‘Sword Art Online’ Kayaba Akihiko, Welcome to the show”
“Pleasure to be here on this fine day” Kayaba spoke, seeming as excited as everyone else for the release of the game. “I hope the release of SAO today has you all very excited, its a fresh new concept that i hope all ten thousand First Edition players will love. Sorry but i got to dash. i have preparations to take care of.”
Kirito found himself drifting into thought while Kayaba was speaking, just thinking about unrelated things like his family, friends, even his favorite TV shows. he found himself thinking about the “My Little Pony” craze that was alive on the internet a few years back and how he got sucked into it himself. He loved the show and the “Brony” fandom and would love to re-live that time again.
Kirito noticed the time, 12:55 PM, Server’s are scheduled to be opened at 1 PM so Kirito switched off the news feed and prepared to spend a few hours inside the game world as he laid on his bed and put on the NerveGear.
The NerveGear was like a motorcycle crash helmet, it covered your head and strapped on at the bottom, a screen where your eyes are supposed to be. The system worked by connecting directly to your brain to provide the ultimate video game experience. Every game made for the NerveGear could emulate Sight, Sound, Taste, Touch and Smell. It manipulated the senses to provide an ultimate experience. Unfortunately no NG games had even come close to real life senses yet but from Kirito’s beta experience he knew that SAO was able make the NerveGear live up to expectations.
Kirito looked at the clock, 12:59, it was about to turn to 1PM. He checked the NerveGear’s systems. Everything was OK, The clock hit 2 and Kirito issued a voice command “Link Start”
The NerveGear’s systems engaged, launching the game but not before asking if Kirito wanted to use his character data from the beta test. Once he selected yes he was sent in, immersed in the world of SAO, everything in the real world left behind.
Kirito’s character from the SAO beta had been carried over to the full release so he could jump straight in. He had everything he needed equipped although he had been reset to level 1 to make sure he didn’t have an unfair advantage. The town around him, Known as Starting City, was huge, it spanned a large portion of the base of the world of Aincrad. A one hundred floor tower, with a boss and dungeon at each layer. the game was beaten when the boss at floor 100 was beaten, even in the extensive beta testing this hadn’t been accomplished, Kirito was one of the top players in the beta testing and even he couldn’t dream of reaching the top floor, only ever reaching floor 8.
While running around Starting City, Kirito was stopped by a strange man with red hair who had chased him down for some reason
“You move like you’ve been here before, You were in the beta test... right?” The strange man spoke to him.
“Y-Yeah.. I was” Kirito said, surprised that someone could tell he was a beta player just from his movements around the city
“My name is Klein, its my first day here, do you think you could show me the ropes, please?” Klein started to beg
“Ok...” Kirito was shocked someone would ask him for advice.
Kirito travelled with him to an open field just outside Starting City where the lowest level monsters roamed, namely wild boars.
“Alright, show me your fighting style” Kirito asked Klein
Klein geared up to fight the wild boar in front of him, he went in for an attack only to instantly get knocked over onto his back. Klein started to writhe in pain.
“You’re overreacting, you shouldn’t be able to feel any pain at all” Kirito watched, a little bored
“Oh... right. it’s just a habit i guess”
“It’s the inital motion input that's important here, see, if i get the motion right and activate a sword skill at the same time, the game will make sure your technique hits”
“Alright I think i get it”
Klein readied another assault at the boar, he activated the skill technique and sliced at the boar as it was running towards him, taking it’s hit points down to 0 and winning the battle.
“YES!, I killed it... this combat is addictive. I heard there’s an infinite amount of skills in the game, is that right?” Kelin was overjoyed and started practicing his sword moves
“I think so, and yes, moving in combat is much more fun. There is no magic in this game though” Kirito pointed out
“An RPG without magic?” Klein looked puzzled. “Brave move, so shall we continue?”
Klien and Kirito started training together until the sun started to set in the world.
“I can't believe this is a game, this is my first NerveGear experience. i rushed out and bought it just to play SAO today, i was really lucky to get a copy of the game, seeing as only ten thousand were sold” Klein was fascinated with this world.
“During the beta test, this game was all I could think about, day and night, i feel more alive here than I do in the real world” Kirito confessed “Anyway. want to hunt some more?”
“I’d love to but I’m starving... I have hot food being delivered soon but i’ll log back in as soon as I'm finished eating, maybe when I come back you can meet some friends that I brought from another game”
“Uh...” Kirito looked nervous
“Oh, it’s okay you don't have to, maybe some other time...I’m really thankful for what you’ve done to help me today, i’ll be sure to repay you sometime. Goodbye”
Klein brought up the game menu as Kirito started walking away
“Huh?” Klein sounded surprised.
Kirito turned around. “What’s up”
“There’s no logout button”
Kirito brought up the menu to see for himself, as expected there was also no logout button
“Well, its the first day out of beta. the server people are probably freaking out fixing it right now” Klein tried to reassure himself. “Is there any other way to log out?”
Kirito tried to think but to no avail “No, the only way out is through the menu
“Well... I’ll just rip the NerveGear off my head”
“You can't, the NerveGear intercepts all signals from the brain, and sends them here into the game”
“They could shut down the server and log everyone out in situations like this but there’s been no announcement at all”
the Starting City bell began to chime, and Kirito and Klein were surrounded in a blue light.
Suddenly, Klein and Kirito were teleported into the main plaza of Starting City, along with the 9,998 other SAO players currently online, a dome formed around them, leaving them all to wonder what was happening. Whispers turned into worried cries as nothing was happening and everyone was finding they couldn't take off the NerveGear or logout. The dome was made of blue hexagonal cells. One started blinking red with the word “Urgent” on it. The whole dome quickly turned from blue to red and a figure started to appear where the flashing word was, after the figure had everyone’s attention it began to speak.
“Hello, Players of Sword Art Online. My name is Kayaba, Welcome to my world”
Kayaba Akihiko, the creator of the NerveGear and the game.
“I am sure you are all aware of the problem of not being able to lag out out of the game. I am here to tell you that this infact is not a glitch, This is an inbuilt feature of SAO.”
Gasps echoed across the plaza, everyone wondering what was going on. Kirito stood and listened calmly.
“You will not be able to log out of SAO on your own, nobody on the outside can remove your NerveGear. if this is attempted, the transmitter inside the NerveGear will send out a burst of microwave radiation, destroying your brain and ending your life.” Kayaba went silent
“This guy is nuts” Klein said, trying to reassure himself again.
“No, he’s right” Kirito spoke “The transmitter is just like one inside a microwave oven, if the limiter is turned off it could fry our brains.”
Kayaba began to speak again
“And due to the inbuilt battery, the power also cannot be cut. Sadly a few friends and family of other players have tried removing the NerveGear already and they have been killed. 213 players exactly” Kayaba silenced himself to let the panic spread across the crowd.
Everyone was silent, staring at Kayaba’s avatar
“News organisations across the world have started to report on the deaths. You also can no longer respawn, when your HP reaches 0, your avatar is permanantly deleted, and so is your life”
Everyone had lost all motivation, standing there and staring at the game master avatar towering above them, nobody knowing what to do. Kirito clenched his fists
“Now to log out there is only one requirement, clear the game. You are currently on floor 1. the lowest level of Aincrad, defeat the dungeon and floor boss on each level to progress to the next and defeat the final boss on floor 100 to clear the game.
“And finally. I have provided you all 2 gifts in your inventory, please take a look”
Kirito opened his inventory and there were 2 items. An item called “Magic Mirror” and an item called “Dream Catcher”
Kayaba started to speak again
“The first item, The Magic Mirror, equip it in your hands now”
Everyone equipped it and started to look into it. One by one everybodies appearance started to change, Kirito looked into his and it showed his game alter ego, he started glowing blue and popped into a new physical form. He looked into the mirror again to see his real life face in the game. Before Kirito had a chance to be surprised, Kayaba started to talk again
“You may now notice your avatars have changed into your real life physical form, you may be wondering how I did this miraculous programming? When you were calibrating the NerveGear for the first time it made you touch yourself in different positions such as your arms and legs, and then it scanned your face. This is where I got the data from... Now your second item counts as a lottery ticket. I will spin the wheel and whichever player is picked gets to bring one dream into this world and make it a reality. I shall start the wheel spinning”
A wheel appeared next to Kayaba’s projection, it had names on it. Names of every logged on player at the time, all 10,000 of them.
“Beta players names are included twice, so you have an extra chance”
Kirito’s hopes went up. He had realised earlier on that there will be no way out of this game unless it is beaten. And considering that 1000 players only got to the 8th floor in a few months, he was going to be here a while, years maybe. So he wanted to bring some peace into this world. He wanted to bring back the pony craze into SAO. He wanted to bring Equestria.
The wheel spun and the names became one huge blur of dark yellow as ten thousand names were flung around the wheel.
It started to slow down, slow enough so that Kirito could read some of the names that were flying past.
It slowed even more, almost coming to a halt, going at around 1 name per second now. As it slowed even further, Kirito saw his own character name and miraculously, the wheel stopped on him. (What did you think would happen, seriously?)
A white aura shone around Kirito as he was raised in the air and entered into a private conversation with Kayaba.
“Kirito. It seems you are the chosen one. A beta player and winner of my little lottery, please explain the dream you want bringing to reality in this world” Kayaba spoke with a softer tone than before
“The television show from years ago called My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic. I want the world inside that show, Equestria, bringing to life inside SAO. Because as you have drained all the happiness out of this world and made it into a fight for survival. I want to bring some of that happiness back.” Kirito said with passion behind every word
“So be it, The server shall be restarted after the event at hand to put your dream into Aincrad.”
Kirito was lowered back into place and Kayaba began to speak again
“The chosen one has explained to me his dream and the SAO server shall be restarted to place the required effects into the world. Closing the server transfers you to a waiting lobby where you will also not be able to log out, do not try an escape attempt. When service resumes after approximately 5 minutes you will be able to rejoin. Good luck to you all.”
With that Kayaba disappeared and so did Aincrad. Equestria and all its inhabitants being transferred into it, ready to bring happiness into what is now a fight to survive.
Chapter 1 - New Beginnings
Chapter 1 - New Beginnings
A flash, and Kirito was back in the game world, Aincrad. A floating castle above the clouds, taller than the tallest skyscraper in New York and he was on the bottom floor. The castle didn’t really stick to normal world rules. Each floor of the castle was floating around 100 foot above the last floor, the only way to the next floor was through a dungeon with a boss at the end. Killing the boss unlocks the next floor. If you were to be living in a town inside Aincrad, you'd think it was just a normal city in a normal world. because everything looks normal. You look up and see blue skies and clouds, and below your feet is soft green grass, everything just felt right.
Kirito looked around him. surrounding him were 9999 other players. Everyone had been dumped back into the plaza, where they were when Kayaba showed himself and revealed his true intentions for this game. Remembering his personal wish to Kayaba he opened his map from his menu. There he found a new city, situated a few miles away from his current location; The Town of Beginnings. Ponyville, It was here. Cities, towns and villages from all over Equestria had been scattered around Aincrad’s many floors. Kirito took off instantly. Not even bothering to wait for his friend, he'd be fine on his own, besides, his friend had people who were coming to game with him anyway. Kirito found the exit to the town of beginnings and set off running down the new path to Ponyville.
Around halfway down the path, Kirito caught a glimpse of something in the corner of his eye, it was flying, and looked sort of like a large bird. Bigger than he’d ever seen. He slowed to a stop and looked around to see what it was. He looked around for a while longer before seeing a rainbow streak fly up from a tree in the distance. With a smile he started waving at the thing causing the streak of rainbow colours, calling it down to talk to him.
The flying animal seemed to have seen him as it stopped in mid air and then started to slowly head towards him. As it got closer he saw the creature had 4 hooves, a rainbow coloured tail and mane, a blue coat and more importantly it had wings, it was a horse with wings, It was a pegasus.
Kirito suddenly remembered where he was running to, and made mental note to get someone to slap him later.
The rainbow haired pegasus steadily approached the now facepalming human.
“Hello?” She called out apprehensively. “Do you speak my language?”
Kirito looked up at the floating pony.
“Hi. I’m Kirito. And you?”
"Rainbow Dash, and that wasn't a direct answer to my question. I'll take it anyway. Do you know where I am? I was just resting on a cloud over Ponyville when all of a sudden there was a flash of light and it seems to have moved to somewhere completely different."
‘Is it possible that Kayaba gave them complete memories?’
“Um well you see, I’m not actually real… Well I am, in a sense but this body of me isn’t real. Well actually it is now.”
“Get on with it” Rainbow Dash was getting impaitent.
“Well i could tell you the short version which explains nothing or i can give you the long version which will take around 10 minutes.”
“Well… Ponyville is a 10 minute walk from here, I think. I can’t tell with these new surroundings, but you can tell me as we’re walking if you want. If that’s where you were headed in the first place?”
“That sounds like a plan. And yes I was heading there actually.”
Rainbow Dash landed and began to walk towards the town of Ponyville.
“You comin or are you just gonna stand there staring at my flank?” Rainbow smiled back at him
“Coming…”
They both started to walk the path as Kirito started to explain everything. From the virtual world they were in to the NerveGear device every player was plugged into. He left out the details of what happens when the virtual bodies die, or what will happen when the game is either completed or all 10000 players die and the world is deleted and the game shut down as he didn’t want to think about that right at that moment, as he was with Rainbow Dash and it was a happy time for him.
More or less 10 minutes later, Rainbow Dash and Kirito arrived in Ponyville. As they entered a few ponies stared at Kirito as if he was some strange animal.
“Um, Rainbow Dash… Just a question that’s been on my mind. Why is it that everybody else around here is looking at me like i’m a wild animal but you had no problems approaching me earlier?”
“Well, to tell you the truth, I'm still a little wary of you, as you stand on 2 legs and you're carrying a sword.” Rainbow admitted. "But you seem nice, and you haven't shown any signs of hostility towards me or anypony else, so I'm willing to give you a shot." She said. Truthfully she added, "It also helps that we seem to use the same language." She looked around the town "Some of the other ponies might take some convincing, though. Do you want me to give you a tour while we're here? It might help get you acquainted"
“Why not…”
Rainbow walked Kirito around Ponyville, showing him all the landmarks such as Sugarcube Corner, the edge of the Everfree Forest, the Library, the Farm and the Boutique. Kirito was amazed at everything in this seemingly small town. As they walked back to the Library. Rainbow asked kirito if he enjoyed the tour. Kirito responded with a small nod as he was still looking around, amazed that he was actually here, inside Ponyville.
Suddenly a door slam broke him out of his amazement as a purple mare ran out towards Kirito and Rainbow Dash
“Rainbow! Something has moved Ponyville from Equestria! And most likely every other town, city and village too!”
“And this, Kirito… is Twilight Sparkle.”
