Dense Illusion Gaming 1.0: Mega Mare 2

by Voldine

Rating: everyone
Tags: Rainbow Dash, Comedy, Adventure, Crossover, Twilight Sparkle, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic
Length: 2630

Rainbow Dash buys one of the new Dense Illusion Gaming spellbooks and asks Twilight to cast it on her so she can 'properly' experience the adventure contained within.

Dense Illusion Gaming, a new development in entertainment in Equestria where a magician of even mediocre talent can weave intricate illusions to tell an interactive story in a pony's dreams. The spells have been certified as safe to enact by anyone by both Celestia and Luna, and have been designed so that anypony can activate them.

Rainbow Dash wants to go the extra mile and gets Twilight to activate her copy of Mega Mare 2...but what happens when the element of Magic itself activates a spell designed to be activated by even those with only the smallest trace amount of innate pony magic?

Let's find out.

Published 2013-03-04 12:50:02 UTC
Last updated 2013-03-04 12:50:02 UTC

1 The Message from Dr. Light

D.I.G. 1.0 - MegaMare 2: The Message from Dr. Light

"In the year 200X, Dr. Light created a super robot named MegaMare. MegaMare defeated Dr. Wily once. Now, Dr Wily has created eight new robots of her own...Rainbow Dash, are you telling me that you actually think this is going to be enjoyable?" The disbelief in Twilight Sparkle's voice was almost thick enough to taste as the specialized spellbook was held steady in front of her face.

"Come on, Twilight, how bad could it be? You haven't heard what I have about this, and it's from Inafuneigh. What's the worst thing that could happen? You fail to enact the spell properly for me and I end up knocked out for a couple hours? It's almost night already, and I'm all done fixing up the weather for the day anyways."

"Well, Inafuneigh is one of the better spellcrafters making these Dense Illusion Gaming books, but I had heard that he only works in pure theory and doesn't even bother testing them himself to make sure they're safe. Magic can be dangerous, Rainbow, especially a new kind of magic that's only been publicly known for a couple months now."

"And you really think Princess Celestia and Princess Luna would let them be made and distributed if they hadn't tested them to make sure they're safe? I thought you knew them better than that? Sure, they probably haven't tried them out personally, but I bet you ten bits they've at least had everything double-checked by ponies more obsessed with details than Rarity is. If there was anything dangerous, we'd have heard about it by now."

"But, it just makes no sense. I mean, this one specifically makes no sense. Is there a MegaMare 1? The basic framework for the spells needed has only been known for a few months, and that's not enough time to have written two completely different and distinct spells, both of which are good enough to provide a complex illusion and a fulfilling experience. This seems like it's probably just an attempt to part foalish mares like you from their bits, and it won't work right, or I'll have to change something to get it to even cast properly, and what happens if I do have to do that and I change the wrong thing and you end up in a coma because the magic went into the wrong part of your mind? Who'd feed Tank if that happened to you?"

"Fluttershy, duh." The cyan mare rolls her eyes in response to the rather silly question from her lavender friend, just barely stopping herself from facehoofing as well. "And I'm sure there IS a MegaMare 1. Inafuneigh's probably not happy about how it works though, since he was probably working on it long before the structure became public. He's not the only stallion writing these, you know."

Twilight takes a moment to straighten her bangs out after they had begun to curl slightly, followed by taking a deep breath and letting it out in a long sigh. "Fine, but you're staying here where I can watch you at least. There is no way I'm going to wait for you to get home and invoke this over that kind of distance where nobody is going to be able to help you if the muscle restraint portion doesn't work and you end up rolling off of a cloud. You crash often enough when awake and fully aware of what's going on around you."

Rainbow Dash only manages to sigh in exasperation after a few seconds of deep thought on the matter. She glares over at the unicorn before simply nodding. “You do have a point, and I’d rather not be forced to spend more time in the hospital...even if it did get me interested in other kinds of fun than just flying and stunts. Just don’t ask me to treat this like some kind of sleepover, okay? I’m only doing this so that you let me play the game.”

“Well, now that we have that settled, how about something to eat before we get you into the guest bed for the night? I don’t know what’s suggested to eat before venturing into one of these, but it’s probably a good idea to at least eat a normal meal.”

Dash began to hear music as the magic swirled around her, slowly building up into a rather intense song that she couldn’t find many faults with. Before the song ended; the spell finished wrapping around her and the last thing she saw was a slightly worried expression on Twilight’s face before blacking out as the illusion went to work on fooling her mind with an extensive dreamscape.

Blackness, emptiness, and then a sensation of standing on something without actually being able to feel it. Slowly, the colors and details of the illusionary world began to fill in around her. A room, large, white walls and floor, ceiling lost in unnatural illumination. Cracks and seams began to flow over the walls before all sorts of tools and equipment resolved itself by being filled with colors to make them solid rather than only a vague framework. One wall was dominated by a massive screen covered with images, but no projector in sight. Smaller, less significant items continued to fill in with color and become noticeable as Dash looked around the room, waiting for everything to finish with uncharacteristic patience.

Finally, lines began forming in the shape of a unicorn, the body and mane both white...though the mane did have a few grey streaks running through it. A white lab coat formed over the body before the illusionary figure finally started moving around, completing the look of a mature mare with a scholarly inclination, though the impression was marred slightly by her mane's similarity to Pinkie's.

The image stopped forming, not entirely solid, looking like a live projection of some kind rather than a true living pony. maybe this was what Twilight meant about the spells being imperfect and not working properly?

“Ah, Roll, I see you’ve woken up. Sorry I couldn’t be there with you right now, but I am trying to educate the authorities on the possible strengths and weaknesses of this new set of robots that Wily has produced. There are eight this time, and I’m not sure how easy or hard this will be for you after we trashed the data files for the powers you received from the original six.”

The hologram of Dr. Light paced slowly in front of her, followed by the large screen lighting up with eight individual images of the new creations from the twisted mind of Wily.

AirMare: A mostly-blue pegasus whose legs all turn yellow at the knee. A series of yellow propellers through her torso apparently make her body entirely hollow, and her wings have an odd bulge around the middle that encases a much more compact pair of engines based on forcing air through them fast enough to fly much like the jets of water some invertebrate fish use, mainly to compensate for an entirely metal body being too heavy to fly even with supplemental magic using normal methods. What passes for a mane on this mechanical pegasus is a simple fin that doesn’t even go halfway down her neck before ending sharply. Her cutie mark is that of a miniature blue-grey tornado.

WoodMare: A stocky earth pony with a body made entirely out of wood...or so it seems anyways. The entire exoskeletal structure of this mechanical pony is covered in bark, or metal formed in such a way that it looks exactly like bark. Her mane and tail are apparently made of living wood and leaves, because they shift and flow gently in the slight breeze that was blowing when the image was recorded. Her cutie mark is four leaves arranged in a circle.

BubbleMare: A slender green unicorn wearing goggles similar to the glasses worn by a certain famous DJ. The image of her is shown swimming along effortlessly due to a pair of flippers on her rear legs and the fact that her tail seems to be able to function as an aquatic propeller. Her horn is oddly silver instead of green like the rest of her body, with her mane being a similar color, though slightly more blue. A red gem sits below her neck on the front of her body. A single large bubble is her cutie mark.

MetalMare: Another earth pony, this one bright red...mostly. Her rear legs are yellow from the knees down. a stripe of the same shade covers the knees on her forelegs, but those are left red otherwise. Her ears are also this brilliant yellow in contrast with the deep crimson that covers the rest of her body. Her mane and tail are made up of sawblades, and are basically almost entirely motionless. Her cutie mark is a set of three circular saw blades arranged in a triangle.

QuickMare: Another pegasus in this image, one with an agile build almost to the point where she looks anorexic. Her main color is a shade of pink just a hair darker than Pinkie Pie’s coat, with the upper portions of both pairs of legs being a much darker, nearly purple color. All of the joints in her legs are capped with golden circles. Her mane and tail are the same golden color and formed of crescent shaped metal pieces that twitch in a manner similar to porcupine quills. her wings are also that same golden hue and look as if they are bent at their midpoint at a permanent shallow angle. This gives the flying appendages a bladelike look. Finally, there is a V of the same color that comes down from the sides of her neck. Her cutie mark is a bright yellow boomerang.

HeatMare: A bulky unicorn mare who almost looks like her design was intended to be a stallion before Wily made all four of her legs neon pink in contrast to the brass covering her boxy body and head. Her eyes are shielded in such a way that they appear to be recessed in her head, and they give off a red glow that is almost lost in the illumination provided by her fiery mane. Her mane and tail are actually flames expressed from small outlets on her head, neck, and rear. Her cutie mark is hard to see on her brass flank, but it is a pillar of fire.

FlashMare: Another unicorn, and one that is completely blue except for the mane and tail. the lower sections of her four limbs are slightly thicker than the upper section, but other than that her design is remarkable in it simplicity. There are two or three shades of blue that cover her body, almost as if she’d been repaired and hadn’t gotten the colors to match just right afterwards. Her horn has an odd bulb at the tip, and her mane and tail are both a slightly greenish yellow, as if the lighting around her were more blue than white...which could also explain why her coloration is so bland compared to her sisters. Her cutie mark is a pocket stopwatch surrounded by small sparkles.

CrashMare: An orange earth pony with yellow highlights on the upper section of her limbs. She has no visible eyes or mouth on her face, instead there is a blank blast shield covering an array of sensors with a bare speaker under that for a mouth. Her forelimbs end in conical screws tipped with a drill bit encrusted with diamonds, allowing them to penetrate any surface. Her mane and tail are simple pink wires tipped in solar panels to collect energy, and her cutie mark shows one of those screw-drill things with a glowing bulge on top.

Dr. Light spoke up once it was clear that Rainbow Dash had stopped looking at the images of her opponents, and the images vanished from the screen as quickly as they had appeared. Almost immediately, replacements showed up with a quick blurb about the capabilities of each of the mares she was going to fight. Some of these were more worrisome than others, but she was beginning to notice a pattern of sorts. Quick and Flash would obviously clash in some way, if only she could figure out which one she should take down first.

“As you know, you’ll only have limited use of the power you copy from one of the robot masters. The easier the ability is to replicate, the more uses you’ll get from the energy reserves it it attached to. Throwing sharpened metal blades is going to be easier than stopping time or creating miniature tornadoes that contain enough force to cause structural damage, for example. Use the powers you gain wisely, Roll, you’ll never know if there will be an opportunity to recharge when you’re deep in enemy territory.”

Along one wall a row of eight platforms began to slide out, followed by holograms of each major enemy forming on them. “Choose your first opponent, and choose carefully. Salvage as much of their bodies as you possibly can once they are defeated; you never know when I’ll be able to create something useful from a unique component they have. By the time you defeat the first one, I will have arrived back home and will be able to work on any upgrades to your systems that may be needed, as well as repairs. Good luck.”

With that, the hologram winked out, leaving Dash alone in the lab and finally able to see what she looked like as she walked up to one of the more reflective surfaces. She was, more or less, herself in a robot body. Lithe, athletic, two different shades of blue on the panels that replace her coat, but with nothing looking overtly grotesque. Joints move properly and react as expected to her mental commands. The main differences were in her mane, cutie mark, and the fact that she’d traded in her wings for a horn for this experience. Her mane and tail were both a vibrant yellow, like solidified sunshine, and the mark on her flank is a simple white ball of energy.

“Huh...I guess I have my work cut out for me trying to figure out how to get around without wings once I get into enemy territory. Just one more challenge for the awesomeness that is Rainbow Dash! Now...which one of you do I take out first?” She began pacing in front of the row of platforms, looking over each of them and recalling what their primary abilities are.

“Time stopping, boomerangs, bubbles made of lead, pillars of fire, tornadoes, flying saw blades, leaves solid enough to form a shield, and bombs that embed themselves in any surface. Well, I already know how to control the weather in my own body, so taking down the one that controls the wind shouldn’t be too hard.” With that said, Rainbow hops onto the platform with AirMare’s image on top of it and everything begins to fade to white as the energies of the teleporter surround her and begin to transmit her physical form to the outskirts of the behemoth flying fortress currently approaching Monsteropolis.

Next chapter: The Annihilation of Monsteropolis!

Author's Note

Dipping my toes into the fanfiction pond here with a story that's been working it's way out of my mind since Read it and Weep aired.

Nothing is perfect, but hopefully this will be an enjoyable experience for everyone. Updates will be sporadic as I do have a full-time job, but hopefully they will be of a decent enough quality that what are seen as delays will be forgiven.