Ruby Palace Teaser Two · 11:03pm Apr 6th, 2021
- There is no release date yet.
- Full announcement.
- Just the Info from the announcement.
- First teaser (was in the announcement).
- This post is a teaser, some bits have been removed to not spoil other things I want to keep hidden from y'all until the full release.
The bell chimed, and Sunset Shimmer found herself once again dumping everything she needed into her backpack to head back to the house and study. She wasn't having a problem with the language, but the curriculum and school structure was different enough that it had her on edge. She felt like she was on ice, without skates, and one wrong step would send her face first into the ice, leaving her with a big headache, or worse. She was basically caught up, but one misstep and she would fall behind again. She didn’t want to fall behind.
Sunset Shimmer adjusted her backpack as she walked through the halls and out of the school. That meant it was just a short ride through the train system to the house. She would receive a warm greeting and a snack to fuel her studies. She enjoyed living with the Nakamura family. Himari was always a joy to talk to. She was using Sunset Shimmer to practice her English on. It was a fun exchange usually done at dinner, with Mr. Nakamura often joining in to stay sharp.
"Sunset! Wait up!" The call wasn't in Japanese and even if it was, the voice was unmistakably Rainbow Dash's.
"What's up?" Sunset asked in Japanese as Rainbow Dash caught up to her. She was in her volleyball outfit.
"Can you cut that out? I hear Japanese all day long! I get sick of it. It gives me a literal headache."
Sunset Shimmer rolled her eyes. Rainbow Dash was not handling things as well as she was. Even Applejack had adjusted better than Rainbow. AJ’s countryisms hadn’t transferred well, but she stubbornly kept using the metaphors even in another language. Dash’s grades were good, and her skills on the volleyball court were spot on, but she was having trouble adjusting to the game plays and calls being in Japanese.
Sunset Shimmer gave her a break. "What's up, Rainbow? Shouldn't you be at practice?"
"It's a game and I have 10 free minutes, 7 now, before we have to be on the bus. Natsuki has invited us over tomorrow to hang out. It would be awesome if you came."
Sunset's mind immediately began to list out all she had to do. The top of the list was the special dinner that was tonight. Mr. Nakamura was bringing home a guest from work. Most likely it was a boss of his. However, that was tonight, Friday, and the invitation was for Saturday. Plus a little away time from the books would be a welcome break and wise idea. Mr. Nakamura would be thrilled for her to do something away from school with the other students. "Sure. Text me the details and I'll be there. But If I am going to-"
"Yeah, yeah," Rainbow Dash interrupted. "I gotta go!."
"See you tomorrow, and good luck," Sunset Shimmer replied with a grin.
"I don't need luck, I make my own." It was cocky and untrue, but it was good to see Rainbow Dash unchanged in that aspect as she rushed off to catch the bus.
Sunset put on something other than her school uniform and got breakfast. Weekend breakfasts were a “make your own” deal. Mrs. Nakamura joyfully cooked them breakfast all week long, but the weekend was her days off for breakfast duty and she slept in if she could.
The invitation was for 9am. Whatever they had planned for them, it was going to be an all day thing. Sunset was gone before Mr. and Mrs. Nakamura were out of their bedroom. Himari was enjoying some cartoon show as Sunset departed.
Sunset walked the several blocks to Ota Natsuki’s house. It was another condominium style home, but nowhere near as nice as the Nakamura’s. Sunset knew Natsuki in passing only, and always in context with Rainbow Dash. The two of them hung out a lot since they both were sports fanatics and athletes for the school. Natsuki was a part of the volleyball team, and also on the soccer team when that was in season.
Sunset Shimmer lived closest to Natsuki and the school. The others were not far, but not everyone was living in Chiyoda Ward. It depended on where their exchange family lived. The program only ensured that the exchange students lived within a certain radius to the school. That was why seven exchange students were allowed for this year. The previous year had ten, but some families couldn’t be exchange families this semester.
Only Sunset and Applejack were in Chiyoda. Fluttershy lived with a family just on the other side of the ward’s boundary. Pinkie Pie’s and Rarity’s exchange families were siblings who lived in apartments in the same complex. They were only two blocks from the train station and two stops from the school. Twilight Sparkle was the furthest from a train station, and she had to change trains. She lived in a popular residential area, but it wasn’t the most convenient. Rainbow Dash lived with a family right across the street from the train station, but eight stops away from the school. She often had Pinkie Pie and Rarity joining her for the last two stops.
Sunset got to the door and found a note written in English. It said “come on in” and listed their names. It was signed “Natsuki.” Sunset shrugged and opened the door. She saw Rainbow’s shoes off to the side and six pairs of slippers were already prepared. Sunset transferred her feet to the slippers and announced her arrival.
“Back here!” Natsuki called out, also in English, from down the hall.
It wasn’t hard to find them from the noise being made. Sunset found her and Rainbow Dash in a bedroom, playing a video game. They were leaning up against the footboard of the bed, with some pillows to cushion their backs.
Sunset was used to the more neat and tidy Nakamura house, but while it wasn't messy, the room was definitely personalized. Multiple tiger posters and pictures were hung on the wall, the pillows were tiger stripes, as well as the bed linens and window treatments. The TV stand was painted in orange and black tiger stripes as well. Even the game controllers were striped like a tiger.
“Yo,” Rainbow said, in English, focused on the game.
“Uh, hey.” Sunset replied in English.
“My parents are out of town for the weekend,” Natsuki added, also in English, as she focused on the game. “You have permission to be here, so don’t worry about that. Rainbow is spending the weekend here.” Rainbow Dash groaned as she lost and Natsuki looked at Sunset for the first time. “And trust me, we could not get rowdier this weekend than the twins make it on any given day.” Natsuki snapped as she remembered something “Right! You don’t know my parents or family. Both of my parents teach English in schools, so this house’s native tongue is English. In here, English, out in the real world, Japanese."
“Now I get why Rainbow Dash clicked so well with you right away,” Sunset chuckled. Natsuki laughed as the next round of the game started. It was obviously a true statement.
“Also, before you drive me nuts, in this house, my name is Nats. I go by my full name at school and out of the house, but in here, well usually the breath needed to say the rest of my name has to be put to better use dealing with the twins. Also, if you ‘Miss Natsuki,' me, I will punch you in the face, and heavens help me if you even dare to start calling me ‘Miss Ota.’ Formality has its place, but not here, and not among friends.”
“It’s two sets of twins,” Rainbow added. “Things get very rowdy. It’s never a dull moment. I do homework here a lot of the time, since it's English here and they can help explain some things in ways I get."
“My parents don’t make me care for the twins,” Natsuki clarified. “When they go out of town to conferences and such, like this weekend, they get shipped up to the grandparents. One set of twins goes to one set of grandparents, the other set to the others. They flip back and forth so both sides get to see the grandkids and I get a free weekend. Usually I don’t have anyone over, but I have been waiting for this weekend to get you guys together and have some fun."
“You have had this well planned out,” Sunset said, sitting down beside them.
“Oh yeah,” Natsuki chuckled. She lost and looked at Sunset while Rainbow celebrated to an imaginary crowd. “This weekend is an annual conference, so I usually know when I will get my alone time months in advance and can plan accordingly. My parents would love to play host to an exchange student, but the twins make that dream impossible. At least for another decade or so.”
“How old are they?” Sunset asked, not wanting to get stuck on them for Natsuki’s sake. Still, she wanted to know since it had been brought up enough times."
“Second Grade and Sixth Grade. One boy and one girl each, so the boys share a room and the girls share another. The age differences, yet room sharing, creates an interesting dynamic between the four of them. They are respectful kids when they need to be, but they easily get rowdy. I guarantee they are the perfect image of children this weekend for our grandparents. I would love to say they are that way in school, but they are a bit too loud for that to be true. Good enough grades, but I don’t think they have ever not gotten a school report that didn’t state they were too loud or a bit disruptive. Not that my record with that is clean. Last report I got ‘distracted,’ ‘a distraction,’ and ‘an instigator’ on my report card. The instigator was one time, right as the teacher walked in."
Natsuki snatched the controller out of Rainbow’s hand. “Care to see if you can beat me?”
“Sure,” Sunset grinned. “I’ve been known to play video games. I’m no Dash or AJ, but I can play a solid game.”
It was an old school fighting game. Sunset got a run down on the controls and the match started. She adapted well, giving Natsuki a good challenge, but she ultimately lost. They played four more rounds, Sunset won once and then Sunset and Rainbow Dash faced off. Dash won three of the five games.
Sometime during the last round, Natsuki got up to greet the others as they arrived. She could greet them since she wasn’t playing a match. Sunset barely beat Rainbow in a very heated contest of wills that had each character’s health down in the single digit. Their friends arrived to find a griping Rainbow Dash and grinning Sunset Shimmer.
“No need to worry about food,” Natsuki said. “My parents left me with plenty of cash for us to get stuff and we are well stocked on snacks and drinks. My dad teaches at UTokyo, which is who sent him to the TSLC, Teaching Secondary Language Conference. They are happy to have you guys over and they wanted to cover this fun weekend."
“Uh, not to pry,” AJ started before hesitating. “Well, your room isn’t cluttered so I can see everything. What is this helmet on your desk by your computer?"
Natsuki’s face lit up. “That is something I was planning on addressing after lunch, but since you brought it up.” She paused for dramatic effect. “That is the coolest piece of tech this entire world will ever see! Even though it will get improved upon. That is a NerveGear rig. It is newly released, and has a few games and programs, but the real one is just about to come out.
“Basically, you wear it on your head, and ‘dive.’ You go into a purely virtual world, where you move your body in that game, not your body in this world. It is the best thing ever! ..."
To be continued.
My body is ready.
I am unbelievably hyped for this. I have not looked forward to a new story since the sequel to Sunset Reset!!
5491776
I am very happy to hear that!
https://media.tenor.com/images/2c4fa6f34db89f71358b74dfb4295a97/tenor.png
Behold, the Murder Helmet! Space-age VR technology with the minor design flaw of possibly melting your brain!
Looking forward to the release! It will be cool to see where you take the story without strictly following canon.
5491969
I ditched at least 8 written or mostly written chapters. I had a ton of bits and pieces sketched out. It will be fun being able to use them all. And this time, I would be trying to catch up to my rapid expansion. lol. That was a giant pain and mess. It really created a huge problem. I felt like Frodo when he got stuck in Shelob's webs.
I'm guessing it's supposed to still be Sunset in this context, unless the group already uses their gamer tags somewhere else.
I'm looking forward to this one. I fell off partway through EQG:SAO, and meant to get caught up. Now the gap is pretty intimidating.
The Japanese setting adds an interesting twist, and so far it feels more organic than 7 western girls all signing up for a Japanese game at launch. The specific details about station and area names are also a nice touch. Some writers would just settle for Tokyo, but you seem to know more about the setting, and it shows.
5492053
Crap! Yes. lol. Fixed.
And yes, it is a whole lot more organic and natural. There are 7 pilot episodes. lol.
Aincrad isn't too hard to slowly catch up on. At least you know it is done, complete, and its not growing.
And here we are, being hyped for the ultimate release.
I'm waiting Mind, I always am.
I’m liking the rewrite already. I can’t wait to read the whole thing.
Is Natsuki one of the main characters? I'm awful with Japanese names, so I don't recognize it.
5497508
Yes. She is the "replacement" for Astro. Depending on the Kanji used, it means stuff like Summer rare/life/chronical/wood/princess/hope/moon/queen/seasons or rich/beautiful moon. Kanji gets complex. But yes, she is the eighth main character. A fellow student and athlete with RBD on the volleyball court. Soccer too, but that isn't in season in the fall for Japanese schools. This is her introduction.
5497553
Okay, that's kind of what I thought, but I wasn't sure if they were one of the canon characters and I just didn't recognize the name.
5497554
No, it isn't a canon character.
I am excited for this to come out.
Are we still unclear on when the story will be ready? I am sorry if you have already got commitments like this but i am really excited.
I have some points:
Making Rainbow go from football to volley in Japan is very weird.
Interesting taking them all to Japan, access to Equestria and any possible magical help gets WAY restricted, almost impossible really. Sneaky, but fair.
I'm at episode 70 and I've got to say that if you make DoomBlade/DoomScape/BladeBunny (choose your version, first is my favorite) happen there'll be riots. RIOTS I SAY!!!
I find it somewhat lame that Bladescape chose to keep the filter on, sounds weird for someone at 18/19 to ignore that rather humongous part of their life, but not a deal breaker. Not saying there should be described in anyway, that wouldn't fit at all, but recognition in world by the characters would be interesting. Well, I think I exposed my point of view on this enough on the previous story in the comments, but still. If this did change/you have different plans for Ruby Palace disregard this note.
If you do want to discuss once again the merits and demerits of such thing in a perpetual warfront for young adults I'm game too.
Please say you intend for Ruby Palace to go all the way to, well, the Ruby Palace
The ending for SAO when it happens feels so out of place and tacked on. Let them conquer the world!
Now I go to finish it, finally!
5564855
Dash is listed as the captain of all of CHS' sports teams. Also, soccer/football is out of season in Japan when they go. Volleyball is in season in the fall trimester which they are attending. I had no choice but to go for volleyball.
Them going to Japan makes way more sense when it comes to them having access to SAO in the first place. That is why I chose to do that, but it has some nice after effects. It removes any issues with language barriers and likewise it assists in making "rescue by magic" impossible.
That setting is more than just being able to do adult things, it also removes other safety features. If removed, she could be snatched and grabbed, dragged away by anyone for any reason and the game wouldn't see it as breaking the harassment code. Removing it has other consequences which can be a big deal and why she doesn't remove it. As to how it will be dealt with in Ruby Palace, I don't know yet. I haven't sorted out if I will even need to discuss it. It will still be T, so no details for any escapades if it happens.
You really love bladebunny. The dynamic may not be the same in Ruby Palace.
And finally, yes, they are going to the top of the Ruby Palace. None of the Infinity Moment glitch crap. I've logiced my way through keeping Kirito Kirito, Asuna Asuna, and going past the 75th floor. The canon cast will stay the same and all of them will have more "screen time," so they need to stay the same. I've worked out how to do that and keep the girls also as major players. Hehehehe.
5566354
Oh, didn't know removing it changed that many things. It's a permanent removal? As in, can't players just re-enable it after doing whatever they want with it? That's very badly thought out.
Then again that's cannon Aincrad. Maybe the Ruby Palace has saner/more grounded developers that know how that part of life is kinda extremely important too when you want to imprison someone for years in a virtual world.
I fully agree with you that no details are needed or should be provided. One doesn't need to give details in order to be grilled by their friends about their dates, after all Rarity Intensifies
I do like the way they got closer and got so much closer during the necromancer arc, indeed. I thought it'd end with them having a romantic escapade in the hut (cuddles count!), but you frustrated that hope. Boo!
Awesome! I bet Merlin's won't be the only multi-floor spanning epic storyline either. Very curious to see what you'll come up with
5566373
It is a permanent removal. Kayaba did a lot that his staff didn't know about. I am certain that is one of those things because it makes living in Aincrad a lot more real, beyond a game. If it was publicly known, it would have forced the game to be 18+. If anyone does do dating, grilling is mandatory.
The hut sort of never went anywhere... lol. I didn't have a thought out plan and never came up with one.
Canon, there is another known quest arc with 10 chapters over multiple floors. I had Merlin's tale mostly worked out, but things ended. Of course, I couldn't write the story like they knew it would end on 75. That quest will have a lot more entries and go into the 90s.
Dun Dun DUN!!