The video below is the tutorial for the animated series. If you skipped it in the Pilot Episode,
watching before reading is highly suggested.
Floor 1
November 6
Sunset Shimmer stood there in shock as her vision came back to her from the mirror exploding. She immediatly noticed her hands. While they were still in the same red cotton gloves, they were smaller. They were her own hands, down to the the pigment of her skin. She wasn't in her Avatar's body either.
She was back in her body, at least by looks. The NerveGear's calibration sequence when you first started it required touching and some basic movement so it could properly read what your nervous system signals were saying in relation to what you were doing. So it knew her body type and size. It knew how tall she was. And the inside of the helmet could see her face, so it knew what that looked like.
The giant game master in the sky had declared they were trapped inside this game with no way to logout. If he made them look like themselves, then there was no way he was lying, and worse, her friends were trapped in the same way she was. That was all she could think about now; her friends. She could do this a lot easier if it wasn't for the risk on their lives.
Her mind went into overdrive now that Kayaba was gone and she could think without being interrupted. 100 Floors was a lot. They had to get out of the game, but that shouldn’t be too hard, right? They had already taken down magical beasts before. Just a few months prior they had been at Camp Everfree and proven their worth once again. Surely they could overcome this. It might not be their real, physical bodies, but they were Wondercolts in mind and soul. And they were gifted with Equestrian magic.
Sunset Shimmer’s heart stoped. Whatever she had been in real life, she realized that now, she truly was Bladescape. It was a game, coded together with words that boiled down to Binary Code of 0s and 1s. Equestrian magic wasn't made up of 0s and 1s. All they could rely on was their friendship. That wouldn’t crumble. New names or not, that friendship wouldn't crumble.
“Come on!” Bladescape yelled. “Lets get back to the West Gate and plan there!”
They began to make their way through the frightened crowd. Rainbow Dash, no, Thunderborne, was pulling Doombunny along with her. As she ran through the streets, Bladescape almost ran into a player who wore a red bandanna on his head and was trying to look like a samurai. She saw another figure darting the other way down a side street. She shrugged it off and continued to lead them to their rendezvous point.
“Okay,” Bladescape said as they gathered around at the gate. “We need an action plan if we are to survive.”
“I don’t think I can do this,” Doombunny squeaked.
“Come on Fluttershy,” Rainbow Dash said with a slap on her shoulder. “Buck up. In here you are not the same as you are I.R.L.. In here, you get to remake yourself. Even if you are in the same body.”
“Yes, Darling,” Diemond said. “You get to make yourself into Doombunny. The one that is in your heart. And you have the support of your friends to do it!”
Diemond was holding it together well despite knowing that the 16 hours of work she put into making her avatar completely and utterly flawless was ruined.
“Plan?” Bladescape asked. “Knightstar, you have the best information on this game. What do we need to do to survive?”
“Umm,” Knightstar said, trying to nervously fiddle with her nonexistent glasses. “We need to hunt the monsters outside of town. Together, we can take the monsters around here easily. We need to gain experience and Col, the money, quickly if we are ever to get somewhere in this game. Our basic gear will be sufficient for a while so long as we work together. At least that is what the research I have done suggests.”
“And what do you suggest?” Bladescape asked.
“I have a few ways to balance the guild. With the eight of us, we can organize ourselves to be a strong fighting force that can work together. Of course, you don’t have to follow my suggestions.”
“Lay it on us, Sugarcube,” Backbreaker said. “We trust you.”
The others affirmed their support. Even Astro, who was now a girl and who had completely lost her swagger, agreed. Somehow seeing her in a female's body fit better than it did in her avatar, even without the confidence she once held.
“Well,” Knightstar said, now fiddling with her hair. “Bladescape and AFCK, you both want two handed weapons. Focus on strength and your one handed weapon and you should be able to unlock the bigger ones. That means no shields for either of you. Just your sword or axe. You will be our main attackers, called Forwards. A lot of the actual damage dealt will probably come from you two, but in our teams, XP awards will be balanced between all party members.
“Backbreaker, you want to be the strongest out of us. We need you to focus on your shield, defense, and strength. You're naturally strong minded and have plenty of willpower. You will make you the perfect Tank. You can soak up all the damage on your shield, allowing the Forwards and Damage Dealers to avoid attacks and then switch in for the kill. Same with you, Diemond. You already know how to make shields I.R.L., so focus on that whenever you have to block. You can look good as you also function as a Tank. Both of you want blunt weapons with your shield, which means strength for attacking, but that will be easy for you to get since you will be building it with your shield as well. War Hammer for Backbreaker and Mace for Diemond. That gives us one tank per party, a good number considering our position.
“Thunderborne, you said you wanted to be the fastest out of every player. Agility and speed with that single blade is what you need until you can unlock something like a rapier. No shield for you because you need to focus on speed. That is the perfect for the role of Damage Dealer. You can switch in for a strong strike and knocking off a lot of an enemy’s HP. Doombunny, you want to focus on a knife. You can avoid the attacks as we take them on our shields and weapons and then you can go in with that dagger, as another damage dealer for us. Knife attacks can be super fast and deadly. Both of you will need to switch out with our Tanks to avoid taking too much damage. Doombunny, just stay close with either Backbreaker or Diemond and let them protect you. Strike and jump back to safety behind them. That is their job. Thunderborne, until you build up defense and skill level, you should do the same as well and not take any risks.
“As for myself, I will focus on sword and shield, and play as duel role of either Forward or Damage Dealer. I can switch in and strike right after the monster attacks. And I can take a blow on my shield if I need to. It will depend on the situation. I will run all the stats so that we stay as safe as possible.
“Now you, Astro. What is your choice weapon?”
Astro smiled and pulled up her menu. A short spear materialized and she grabbed it with great reflexes for barely being in the game. “You have good instinct. I heard you were doing a lot of research. I’ll get a longer spear, or maybe a lance, later. I’ll be your fourth Damage Dealer, working closely with one of your Tanks to pop out and stab at every opportunity I can. Maybe at some point I’ll try adding a shield.
“If we follow your suggestions, that gives us two Forwards, two Tanks, and four Damage Dealers. That is a good mix for a guild of eight. We can split our four man teams into a Forward, Tank, and two Damage Dealers, and we can switch up parties pretty well. Our Slash, Pierce, Hack, and Crush factors are on a good spread. And to top it off, our weapon reach is really well balanced. Plenty of close up weapons and longer striking ranges.
“Right now, we can’t create a guild. We will need to figure out how, but we can still party up and play informally. They only question is, what is the name for our guild?”
“Wondercolts,” Diemond declared. “We will be the Wondercolts.”
“I like it,” Astro grinned. “School name, right?”
“Yeah,” Thunderborne chuckled. “We are the Canterlot Wondercolts I.R.L.. To us, it holds a whole lot more than just a school mascot though. So, now what? I am a bit confused from all the technical talk.”
“To start, we get two skills each,” Knightstar continued. “All of you need to equip your weapon skills as your first, except our Tanks. Our Tanks need to put their Shield Skill first, and their weapon second. The rest of us can set something we think will be useful. At Level 6, we will unlock a third skill slot. But we have to be careful, only skills in our slots can be trained, and removing them resets them. They max out at 1000. A very long way to go.
“The more we use the skills, the more experience we gain. The higher the XP, the more things we can do with that skill. The more things we unlock, the stronger we will become. The stronger we are, the safer we are. We need to be as efficient as possible to stay as safe as possible. We don't have any room for error.”
“We need to figure out good second skills for our forwards and damage dealers,” Astro said. “Everything will be happening quickly. We can’t afford to change up skills later on. We need every ounce of experience we can get to survive here. I’ll choose Purchase Negotiation as my second skill to give us an edge while buying supplies and such.”
“I call sprint!” Thunderborne declared.
“Speed will help your single handed sword,” Knightstar added.
“Ohh,” AFCK exclaimed. “I like this one parry. It reminds me of Pear. I like pears. Pears are Nature’s candy!”
“Focus AFCK,” Bladescape chuckled. “Parry means block, like block with your weapon. Its a good choice. As for me, I think Search is a good idea. I’ll be able to see monsters further out, an advantage to all of us.”
“Um, I guess, um,” Fluttershy stuttered. “I should choose, um, what should I choose?”
“Agility?” Astro suggested.
“Hey,” Diemond said as she scrolled through the list of skills. “What about First Aid. You could support us by healing any of us in battle.”
“That’s a perfect one,” Knightstar said. “When we get our third skill slot, we should look at supportive skills like weapons making, cooking, and such to keep our gear and guild working better.”
“Lets hunt!” Bladescape declared. “There are 10,000 players here who are going to be hitting these fields soon. Let’s go!”
“Teams!” Knightstar yelled. “Bladescape, take Diemond, Doombunny, and AFCK. And with me will be Backbreaker, Thunderborne, and Astro.”
Bladescape set up the party, and then they were on the run again. Outside the city was ample fields, populated with frenzied boars and wolves. Both were low level monsters. But both held their own dangers.
With four attacking a single creature, they safely learned how to activate the assisted attacks known as Sword Skills. Knightstar had done plenty of research, but explaining how to and doing it were two different things. After a skill was finished, there was a slight delay period where they couldn’t move, so timing was everything. The higher the sword skill, the more delay. Not long after, they split so that it was two against a boar.
“Deeper into the fields!” Astro soon yelled. “We need to separate ourselves from the others. Its gotten crowded. We are waiting for respawns too much now.”
“Lets move out towards the next town,” Knightstar suggested. “It’s going to be a long night and day, but we can push and win this.”
They fought hard to get to the next town. There was no rest since they were exposed in the field and anything could attack them. The only safe places were in towns. The closer they got, the more they had to work in their parties of four.
“AARGGGH!” Bladescape yelled as she activated the sword skill, Horizontal.
It sliced through the stalk of the monster she was fighting, causing it to pop in a burst of polygons. It was called a Little Nepenthes, but it was a large walking plant thing. They were Level 3, one level above all of them. But the XP yield was greater and they were relatively safe in their parties.
“There are six coming at us,” Bladescape yelled. “We need to move! Back to the road.”
They got back to the road and Thunderborne sprinted ahead of them to scout. It boosted her Skill XP, just like Bladescape’s Search was being bolstered slowly since it was more of a passive skill.
Thunderborne was soon back. “It’s just ahead. We can get there in ten minutes if we can avoid a fight!”
“Let’s go!” Astro ordered, leading the charge. “We need sleep and food!”
They followed after Astro and ran to safety. The town was barely a town. Only a few thatch roofed houses scattered about.
“My gear is still good,” Astro said as she checked her menu. “We need to secure a bed, but we also need to get food. Our equipment can last us for a bit. Repairs are smarter than buying new equipment right now. Plus, those things are corrosive. We should stick to our gear right now unless we know its going to better protect us. Our money is better spent on health potions and things that directly save our lives, like food.”
“I agree,” Knightstar yawned. “Astro is probably correct. And she has the most experience out of all of us when it comes to MMORPGs.”
They bought two inn rooms that they could cram themselves into. Then they ate plain bread from the general store, bought as many potions as they could afford, and went to slept.
Bladescape (SS): Lvl 2 – One-Handed Sword - Search
Knightstar (TS): Lvl 2 – One-Handed Sword - Shield
Thunderborne (RBD): Lvl 2 – One-Handed Sword - Sprint
Backbreaker (AJ): Lvl 2 – Shield – One-Handed War Hammer
AFCK (PP): Lvl 2 – One-Handed Axe - Parry
Diemond (R): Lvl 2 – Shield - Mace
Doombunny (FS): Lvl 2 – Knife – First Aid
Astro (PS): Lvl 2 – Short Spear - Purchase Negotiation
Doesn’t seem like much changed here, except for maybe the beginning. Good job anyway.
Hmmm. I was interested in this, but it doesn't seem like this is something I can get behind. The constant use of their "gamer" names makes them feel like OCs wearing the Main 7's skins instead of the actual characters. I really don't like OCs, especially ones that are the "experienced, cool, calm, collected, knows better type". Astro already gives off strong vibes of that to me by "Episode 1".
It is my personal opinion but having such a character thrown in there and taking up spotlight right off the bat is a bad sign. They give off this feeling they are S.I.'s written by someone in high school upset they aren't in the "cool crowd," and venting by making their OCs the "cool" characters. Or worse than that... an adult who was never in the cool crowd in high school and never got over it. Not saying this is the case here, but that is the vibe such characters give.
Anyways, I do like the concept of an SAO X EQG crossover. You do a good job of using the gaming mechanics of SAO and the planning and stats part of an MMORPG. But this is already giving me OC sickness. I looked ahead just to see, and the use of their gamer names continues well into the story, if not to the end. If it was instead something that changed in the story showing the original use of their gamer names was them trying to cope in a bad way with the situation before they grew into it... That would be a different story and something more interesting character wise.
I know in canon SAO they go by their gamer names the whole time, but that is how we are first introduced to them and how they come to know each other, so it works well. Here you are taking characters we know very well with years of history to them, who know each other very well and forcing different names on them. It does not work very well. I could understand when talking to others outside of their group using their gamer names, but here they are referring to themselves by those names, even in private. That just further reinforces the whole characters wearing the Main 7's skins feel.
I wish you best of luck with your story and hope it never gives you a big snag while writing it.
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Thank you. I value hearing from my readers. I value constructive criticism. Your feedback was taken in and digested. You gave me a lot to consider. I even slept on it before replying. And thank you for the well wishes. I am on the final two Laps. I can see the finish line. Just a bit more to write for the overall story and then onto editing. And I have the rest detailed out.
Very 'mechanic heavy' chapter, which frankly isn't good as even in canon the 'game mechanics' of SAO were never really well thought out or designed IMO. Hopefully you'l focus more on the ACTION going forward and less on the MECHANICS.
Surprised at Rarity using a mace, she always struck me as more of a 'precision' focused character rather then brute force but I suppose the group does need tanks. Don't see why the OC couldn't have slipped into that role. Then again I suppose given the option heavy armor is the most stylistic armor class in SAO, so I suppose we'll get to see Rarity in 'Dame Knight chic' later. Still, why not a spear and shield?
Also curious how long these game tags will stick, they were amusing as a gag but if they linger too much longer they'll get stale. They all seem to be more in the vein of 'dot hack' player IDs then the more casually passable names seen in SAO. As is it makes me question if this is taking place in the 'SAO Abridged'-verse which I do not think is your intention.
I think that should be 'too much now'.
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It moves away from the mechanics into a lot more fun adventure stuff, with slice of life as well. But I have readers who have never seen or heard of SAO, so I needed mechanics to be laid down.
No one has questioned why I gave Rarity a mace. I felt it was more of a tank's weapon. Why a tank? Because she uses diamond shields with her geode magic.
A few people have commented about the names. There are several naming philosophies for MMORPGs. I employed a more representative naming system. At least I am not using numbers. AFCK pushes that, but it flows if you just say the letters instead of a pronunciation. There are several I would change.
And thanks for the catch. My editor comes on board for Episode 26. Things will get better from then on out. We haven't been able to get back at episodes yet.
This is more like it
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I used the actual english text from the published light novels. I was mimicking Reki Kawahara very well. The previous chapter was a lot more of the load on what he was saying, rather than their feeling about it. The mirror made everything real. The writing gets better, especially once my editor joins up, after chapter 20 somewhere.
It's started off well. Looking forward to reading more.
FYI the video tutorial no longer exists.
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Yeah, YouTube cut the link despite all I did for proper citation, etc.
Ngl, even when I watched the anime of sao, I still question why Kayaba did this to them and not let them keep their avatars. Guess something are best left a memory I guess?
Question, so if this takes place a few months after Legend of Everfree, does that mean the events of the later shorts and specials happened or not? Just asking is all.
That's the spirit!
Damn!
Is she an oc of yours?
It'll make you the perfect*
That is perfect for the role of Damage Dealer.*
At least they won't need to worry about the party situation.
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Yes, Astro is an OC. I needed another character to round their teams out. I've got some editing issues in the first 15ish chapters, then I have an editor join me.