"Hey Kathy, check out this sweet weapon I picked up," Joey said, just as Kathy emerged from the bathroom and giving her little time to relax, "A 'Champion's Sword of Intelligence', carrying twice as much magical power as the weapon I was previously using."

"Really dude? That's sick," Jared staring at the screen, "well, as the main tank I am now the proud owner of a 'Gladiator's Reaver', capable of dealing triple the amount of damage. And, as a added bonus, I've got a fire enchantment that could deal up to 50 points of damage per hit. Talk about a weapon that fits in well with the tank."

"Oh quiet you two," Alice told them, casting a quick glance at her screen before closing it, "I've got a 'Predator's Longbow of Prowess', capable of penetrating light armor and dealing nearly five times as much damage from afar. Plus a nice shock enchantment to cast whoever I put an arrow into. And, as a secondary weapon, I've got a special "Hunter's Blade', useful for taking anything down that gets too close. We even have a nice sickle waiting for Kathy when she gets a few levels higher."

That was when Kathy remembered how pitiful her own character, whose armor and weapons were falling way behind the other's characters, was. It was mainly because she was so inexperienced at playing games, so she made many of the novice mistakes while learning the basics, like walking through fire. Still, she was annoyed with her inability to aid her friends, though she really hesitated to think that they were at that level of friendship.

"Oh don't look so grumpy," Joey commented, taking a sip out of his drink before picking up the controller again, "We'll get you on par with the rest of us and then we'll really kick flank."

Kathy glanced at her character and realized that, by dying so often, she was lacking in armor and weapons. It made her irritated, but she knew that if she kept getting mad at a simple video game then she'd never learn how to make it through the later levels of the game. She also knew that if she continued to get mad at something she would eventually begin to sweat and she'd see something that wasn't there, just like the bathroom mirror. She picked up her controller and sighed, preparing herself for the fights that she was sure were coming their way and, she was certain of this, the death of her character.

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Three hours. That's how long they played the game before they finally took a break. In that amount of time they had somehow managed to clear through the first act of the game and partway through the second act, though they wouldn't say how many acts the game actually had. Kathy managed to somehow make her way to being a single level behind her friends and her character was now decked out in armor that made her last longer in a fight. Her friends got excited whenever they managed to take down one of the bosses, which was to be expected with as hard as the bosses were getting.

While the others moved to get some replacement refreshments Kathy switched the television to the news network and caught a comment about a 'chocolate milk rain' somewhere in the world. Seeing how it was impossible for the clouds to rain chocolate milk Kathy assumed that someone, somewhere in the world, was playing a prank on the people of the world. Her friends appeared to be thinking the same thing that she was thinking, that it was just some harmless prank that some moron was playing. They all knew that Discord, the Spirit of Chaos, wasn't real and that there was no way that something like this would have happened on its own.

When they finally set down their controllers Alice went into the kitchen and the others followed her, where each of them made something for lunch. Instead of going out of the way to make something large for lunch, like spaghetti, each of them simply made a sandwich and grabbed another soda from the fridge. While they ate their lunch Alice and Joey discussed what they were going to do in the second act of the game, as they had reached a part where they had to choose which path to travel down. Jared spoke up after a minute, choosing to listen to them talk before adding his opinion, but it seemed that either choice was fine to each of them.

"What do you think Kathy?" Jared asked, noticing that she had chosen to remain silent, "Which path do you think we should take? Should we hit the Elemental Planes now, or should we wait until the third act and hunt down the Holy Artifacts until we're ready?"

Kathy had been thinking about that ever since she had seen a mention to the choice when they had started the second act, but she had to wonder which would be tougher on them. In her mind she knew that finding the Holy Artifacts would eventually aid them in attacking the Elemental Planes, though she knew that, with some effort, they could deal with the Planes in time.

"I think we should take on the quest to find the Holy Artifacts," she said after a few seconds, "apparently their buffs will give us the edge against the enemies of the Elemental Planes, so it wouldn't hurt to make sure we have them with us."

After some more discussion they decided to go ahead with Kathy's idea, which meant that they had to begin a long quest line to find each and every one of the Holy Artifacts, of which there were seven. Once they finished their brief lunch they returned to the den, took their seats, picked up their controllers, and took the game off pause, the music filling the room once more. With their decision in mind they took of in search of the first Holy Artifact, though Kathy made sure to keep an eye out for anything dangerous that the others didn't notice.

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Four more hours passed before Kathy finally set down her controller and called it quits, pulling back from the game while she watched the others continue the fight with the end boss of the second act. She had gotten better the longer she played the game, but in a moment of overconfidence, where she took on the role of the main tank by accident, the boss had killed her in a single instant. Her friends had mentioned before hand that she stand back before fighting, but she had ignored them on accident and had paid the price. Still, they were able to beat the boss and end the second act, where all they had to do was fight a little bit more and they'd reach the save area.

Once there they distributed the armor and weapons they had recovered from the boss amongst their characters, before they finally saved the game for the last time and powered the machine off.

"I cannot believe how much of the game we completed in one day," Jared commented, taking a sip of the fourth soda he had grabbed since they had started playing, "two whole acts in a single day. I must say, I am impressed with how much we got done."

"We really should have stopped after the first act and switched to something else," Alice replied, casting a look over at Kathy, "We should have showed Kathy how to play all sorts of video games, instead of sticking to the fantasy world we chose to open up."

"Oh, its fine," Kathy said, actually enjoying the story the game had told them way more than the actual game play, "well, I had better get back home and get a start on my homework, otherwise I'm afraid that I might be available to something tomorrow. It was...a pleasure to play some games with you guys..."

"We'll cure you of your shyness yet," Joey chuckled, following her to the front door, "If there's anything planned for tomorrow I'll be sure to contact you so you can plan ahead of time. Have 'fun' working on your homework."

Kathy bid Joey farewell, which was something she almost ever did, and made her way back down her street, heading towards her house as she wondered what happened to her. She was a shy girl, yet she had gone with Joey, played a game she had never played before, and had actually opened up to the others for a few moments. They had broken through her defenses for a moment, as if she was actually getting used to the idea of having friends, before she had slammed that door on them once more. Though her mind kept returning to the forgotten castle that they had visited in the game, one that had been suspended in the air by magic, and could suddenly envision Pandora taking a liking to the ancient location.

As she got closer to her house she spotted a familiar women walking her way, though as she focused on her Kathy realized that it was none other than her first hour teacher, Ms. Rocksworth.

"Good evening Ms. Rocksworth," Kathy said, shoved her hands into her pockets as her first hour teacher brushed her off and continued passed her, as if she didn't exist.

She had no idea why one of her teachers would ignore her, but she figured that it must have been because she didn't want to be bothered while she was out of the school.

Once she was back inside her house she locked the front door, hurried to where she kept her art supplies, pulled out a sheet of paper, and began to draw the image that had taken hold in her mind. She could see Pandora, floating in the middle of the empty throne room, but the longer she dwelled on it she began to restore the place to better suit her oc. She added a throne to the back of the room, a long table for when Pandora's guests arrived, a few torches to lighten the area up, and a couple of stone statues, with the one closest to the throne being one that looked like Discord. She went a step further, adding small paintings to the edges of the hall, each one of them belonging to one of the villains that existed in Equestria so far.

As she stared at her work she couldn't help but notice that there were still some empty spots lingering in some places, so instead of leaving them she decided to add a little more to the room. She threw in a few magical items, two of which were mere copies of the Crystal Heart and the Elements of Harmony, but she did add one item from the game she played with her friends; the All-Seeing Eye. It was a special orb that allowed its owner to see everything inside the land that they controlled, which is why in the video game the main villain they had been fighting to defeat had it. She thought of it as a gift to her oc, as an apology for not giving her anything until she had been invited over to hang with Joey, where she also gave Pandora her first friend.

An hour or two passed before she was completely done with the picture, though when she set the pencil down and stared at her work she knew one thing, she had spent too long on it. Kathy sighed and got up, before making her way to the couch and laying down on it, trying to relax her hands before she considered working on her homework. That was when she noticed how late in the afternoon it was and decided that she would have to work on all of her homework tomorrow, which she wasn't looking forward to. She yawned before closing her eyes, drifting off to sleep after the long and tiring day she had been through.

A few minutes passed before she started coughing and her hands flew up to her head, as if a headache had hit her and was inducing some pain, before it suddenly died down. When she opened her eyes they weren't the same blue color that Kathy had, but the red tinted eyes that she had given Pandora so many times. Pandora smiled as she pulled herself up, stretching her body as she checked to see how dark it was outside, finding that it was at a decent level for her plan. She walked into the kitchen and pulled out the largest kitchen knife that she could find, grinning as she lightly ran her pointer finger over the edge.

She had the perfect person in mind to use as her first victim.

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Ms. Rocksworth sighed as she finished putting her dinner dishes in the dish washer and picked up the wine glass that she had been drinking from, staring at the last of the wine she had poured for that evening. After a moment she downed the rest of it and placed the glass inside the dish washer with the rest of the dishes, closing it before returning to her dining room table. She had been grading papers before making her dinner, but now that she had finished she knew that she would need to continue grading so she could give her students their papers back on Monday.

Just as she picked up her red pen to continue grading the dining room lights went out, though after a second or two more the rest of the lights in the house went out. A moment later the rest of the house went quiet, almost as if someone had purposely cut the power to her house and was coming to do harm to her. It was moments like this that made her wish that she had bought a gun, any gun, and kept it somewhere safe, so it could be used in case someone wanted to hurt her.

That was before she heard a crash behind her and turned around to see that one of her glass stands had fallen over, shattering the glass and scattering the books she had kept on them. She thought that was all she had to worry about, so when she turned around to get up and fix the power she came face to face with the person responsible for everything. The person, who she was sure was a young girl and was likely in high school, stood near the archway that she had passed to get to the dining room table, though she was shocked to see who it was standing before her.

"Kathy?" she asked, glancing down at her hands and finding a kitchen knife in her hand, "What...what are you doing with that?"

"I am doing what Kathy could not," Pandora laughed, her entire body shuddering before she regained control of herself, "It is time to say goodbye, Ms. Rocksworth."

Before Ms. Rocksworth could even defend herself she found the knife sticking out of her chest and blood was beginning to come out of the would she had been given. The knife came again, though this time it reached for her neck and cut deep, the impact knocking her backwards onto the ground and her blood began to pool around her. She stared up at Kathy in fear and in terror as she pressed her hand against the wound, trying in vain to close the gushing wound and save her life. She made one more attempt to reach for the nearby phone that she kept in case the lines had been severed, but before she could reach it the knife went right into her heart and her life, as she knew it, was over.

Pandora began to chuckle before laughter escaped her, the thrill of the kill and the madness that she had released into the world giving her a joy she had never known until that moment. Despite her hold on her body weakening she knew that she could have some fun with the world she had experienced, though it was all up to Kathy and her will. Either way, Pandora knew that she'd be back to have some fun another day. Next Chapter: Chapter Four Estimated time remaining: 14 Minutes