"Ah thought we were supposed to meet at four?" Applejack asked when Rainbow Dash opened the door to allow her into her home.

"Something came up! Come on in, the girls are inside," Rainbow Dash explained, leading her friend to the living room, where they were all sitting down.

"So now that Applejack is here, can you explain why you wanted to see us so much earlier, dear?" Rarity asked.

Rainbow smirked, turning on the huge flat screen tv that took a good portion of the wall, then flipped open her laptop. "Oh yeah."

The screen changed to an overview of a city, somewhere. It didn't look good, however. Most buildings were completely in ruins and what looked like a bunch of mercenaries with machineguns were huddled together around a fire in a half-destroyed farmhouse.

The slow beat of a techno-music piece was starting to build up.

"Rainbow Dash," Applejack sighed. "Did you bring us over here to watch an action movie?"

"Oh, it's not a movie."

"Then what's with the music?"

"Some dude added it from the Mortal Kombat soundtrack," Rainbow Dash said, rolling her eyes. "I couldn't find a better version of it."

A warning shout jerked the mercenaries up, and drew the attention of the girls back to the tv. Several of the soldiers grabbed their guns and ran out of the camp, to be followed by the sounds of gunshots.

The last one, a massive, muscled man with short hair and a gun that looked out of Terminator, stood up more slowly and started moving before he hesitated. He turned around slowly, taking a look at their camp, then lifted his gun and pointed at a shadow that emerged from behind one of the walls.

Fluttershy meeped when the man started firing his gun, tearing the wall into pieces, but the shadow had jumped and rolled forward, avoiding the bullet barrage and sprinting towards the man.

Whatever they said was drowned by the music as the girls watched the newcomer move faster than the man could, and within a second she was right in front of him, a gun pressed onto his chin, the other to his chest.

The video slowed down and rotated showing all angles, and drawing gasps from the girls when they recognized Desert Mirage, smiling viciously as she pulled both triggers, sending the body flying back and out of camera sight.

Desert Mirage was already sprinting away when the whole thing froze.

A pixelated, and obviously edited-in, "Flawless Victory" appeared on screen, dripping cartoonish blood.

"Well?" Rainbow Dash asked.

"T-that was awful!" Fluttershy cried. "Why would they do something like that?"

"Where did you get that video, Rainbow Dash?" Applejack asked. "You said that wasn't a movie?"

"Such a dreadful thing!" Rarity said, "why to even put music on it as if it was some sort of sport event is—"

"Relax girls," Rainbow Dash interrupted. "No one got hurt, it's a video game."

The silence after the statement could have been cut with a knife.

"What?" Applejack asked.

"It's a video game," Rainbow Dash repeated, clicking a button on her laptop and revealing a whole list of videos.

She clicked on another one.

Desert Mirage stood behind what looked to be a sniper, pointing her gun at his head. A little screen with another person, or rather character, appeared on the upper left corner.

The group watched Surgeon and Mirage discuss a couple of things on the snipers radio with the other guy, then plant a bullet on the sniper.

"This... Desert Mirage," Rarity spoke up. "She's... she's..."

"A total badass," Rainbow Dash gushed. "I mean, look at this! She's on the leading team to go on an international battle with the asian servers!" She brought up several web pages on the TV for all of them to see. "Turns out that she's in a team with the big guy from earlier and that Surgeon dude from the last video."

"Whoa there, nelly. Ah think we're getting sidetracked here."

"Applejack is right," Rarity said. "The important question here is if she's a game character, what is she doing in the real world?"

"Well duh," Rainbow Dash shook her head. "The thing they use to play this game can scan how you look. So it's obvious, Desert Mirage scanned herself into the game and practices in it! No one knows she's really an international monster hunter! Besides," she added. "It's not like there's that many real monsters around, so she has to practice somewhere, right?"

Pinkie raised her hand and opened her mouth.

"Outside of California, Pinkie."

Pinkie put her hand down.

"So..." Applejack leaned back on the couch. "We are back to square one, only we know what she does for a hobby."

"Hey!" Rainbow Dash pouted. "It's a start! Maybe we can find someone that plays this game and get them to contact her!"

"Ah don't know, Rainbow," Applejack said. "Ah mean, she's around here somewhere. Wouldn't looking for gamers be like, barkin' up the wrong tree? Maybe she's got a fan."

"Well, that fan would know more about her than we do, right?" Rainbow Dash pressed. "At least we have something to use?"

"Well, it is something," Rarity acknowledged. "Certainly more than we had before, but shouldn't we wait before running out to confront people about this? Principal Celestia did say these monsters are different from before. Maybe we should concentrate on how to use our powers to better protect our schoolmates?"

"It would seem like the nicest thing to do," Fluttershy offered meekly. "This monster-hunter lady seems to have everything under control... maybe we can help more if we figure out the best way we can create the magic shield we were practicing?" She cringed under Rainbow Dash's look. "I mean, only if you want to."

Rainbow Dash turned to Applejack.

"Ah don't know, Dashie, Ah reckon we should follow Principal Celestia's lead on this one. Sure, she knows more than she's tellin', but she's really tryin' to keep all of us safe."

Rainbow Dash grunted and glanced at the last member of the group. "Pinkie?"

"Well..." Pinkie took a deep breath and, to the surprise of the others, let it out slowly. "I think we can keep an eye out, but maybe this is like what happened with Sunset and we just need to keep some distance like Vice Principal Luna said?"

Rainbow Dash snorted. "Sunset would've been with me on this one."

"Well, Sunset's not around anymore," Rarity sighed. "I say we keep an eye and an ear out, but focus on doing what we can to help the others."

When the rest of the girls nodded, Rainbow Dash bit her lip. "Fine."

"And you're sure they were from GGO?" Twilight asked, putting down her cup of tea.

"Positive," Mirage said. "I don't know how, but when I shot them, they pixelated and faded away, just like regular game monsters." She tapped her finger on the table. "I wonder if that's what would happen to me if I died here?"

"Well, regardless, we should talk about what we can do now." Twilight shifted uncomfortably. "I'm not entirely sure how this whole thing happened," she confessed. "After going over the data twice, I can't find a reason behind the sudden buildup of energy. None of our installed failsafes failed initially."

She passed her tablet to Mirage, who started studying the report.

"As far as I can tell, someone or something broke past our safeguards and triggered the whole thing on purpose."

Desert Mirage shook her head, frowning. "But why? And who, for that matter? It's not like we're making enemies here with these studies."

"A game administrator, maybe?" Twilight shrugged. "Whoever it was, was able to access both our computers and the server and that goes beyond your regular IT-savvy user."

"I guess it's possible?" Mirage said after a moment. "Very unlikely, though. This is very annoying."

"It is, but at least we know we were targeted," Twilight sighed. "I can't be sure they were aware of what was going to happen. I mean, not only were we using the book to channel magic, but it was also tied to my own portal-generating magic, which I've basically kept a secret from everyone but you and Lemon."

Mirage slumped into her sofa, noticing absently that she could reach both ends of the sofa now with the tips of her fingers. It was weird being taller.

"So, where do we go from here?"

Twilight bit her lip and sighed. "I'm not sure. For now, I have most of the things we need to try and send you back to GGO. We'll focus on getting you into your body first. If that works, we might even get some insight into how the monsters got out."

"Hmm." Mirage nodded, looking thoughtful. "Maybe. But I don't know if I'll be able to ignore monsters sprouting out around Canterlot High. Why there? Why is the statue there in the first place?"

Her eyes widened. "Wait. That can't be a coincidence."

"You mean the statue?" Twilight asked.

"No, both things happening in the same place," Mirage replied, getting up and pacing. "Everything that happens, happens in or around Canterlot High. It has very fluid and strong magic around."

"So you're saying that it wasn't as much targeted as just being in the wrong place?" Twilight asked.

Mirage nodded. "We need to get a few maps, and I need to do some research," she said. "Maybe Canterlot High is sitting in a crossing point of leylines or something."

"Laylines." Twilight shook her head. "I think you might be pushing it."

Mirage grimaced. "Maybe, but I can't just pretend nothing happened. And there has to be an explanation."

"One step at a time, Mirage," Twilight reminded her, standing up. "I'll go meet with Lemon Zest to make sure we get the right equipment. We'll need to upgrade your PC a little to handle the additional stress we'll put on it."

Mirage nodded. "Will the money I gave you be enough?"

"I'm sure it's more than enough, but if it's needed I'll pitch in, no worries," Twilight replied, looking over her shoulder. "You try to get in contact with Equestria to see if they can help."

"Sure," Mirage sighed. "I just hope things work out." She smirked. "I don't want to miss out on the last round of the tournament!"

"Priorities!" Twilight called back before closing the door.

"Yeah..." Mirage sighed. "Priorities."

She walked over to sit by her resting body and rested her head on the bed. "I'm terrified." She chuckled weakly and looked at her own, sleeping face. "When did I become such a wimp?"

Author's Notes:

Shorter chapter than anticipated, and way, waaaay later than intended. My apologies, readers. However, things should move faster now.