I found myself standing in the foyer of a gym of some kind, with a blonde maned and pink furred unicorn mare behind the desk. “Welcome to Iron Ring” she said in a pleasant voice. “You may call me Melody, and I will guide you through the tutorial for this game. You may exit the game at any time.

“First, choose your species by going through the Human, Minotaur, or Alicorn doors. Here’s some descriptions of each.” Melody floated a clipboard over to me. “Take your time. If you just want to wander around the game world without playing, you can go through the door behind you.”

I accepted the clipboard and read the descriptions. I also noticed that I had the same athletic outfit on in the game as I did in the waking world.

Minotaurs
-Minotaurs are strong and durable, able to take and deal damage with ease. Speed isn’t easy, but with enough power, why would you need it?

---

Humans
-Humans are quick and flexible, able to move and dodge easily. Power isn’t easily achieved, but with enough agility, you won’t be getting hit often.

---

Alicorns
-Alicorns are strong, durable, quick, and flexible, though not to the extent of minotaurs or humans. With so many options, it won’t be so easy for others to predict you.

“Human.” I didn’t hesitate to go through the ‘human’ door. After going through, I saw a series of bars appear in my field of view. A full health bar and and empty one above it took up the lower left corner. In the lower middle was a grayed out octagon with nothing in it. The lower right had a few empty squares. Under all of that was a thin bar divided into ten segments with the number ‘001’ in it.

Melody was on the other side, and she took the clipboard once I was through. “Excellent. I see that your normal species is human, but would you like to go through the movement tutorial anyways? If so, you can exit it at any time.”

“I’ll pass on the tutorial.” My game body felt fully identical to my real one. “Question: are there customization options for human characters?”

“Very few. There’s only one human for the designers to work with, so their knowledge is limited. Makeup and paint are available for you to work with when you unlock further customizations.” I made a mental note to get back to those two at some point. “What is your name?”

“Does it have to be my real one?”

“It can be, or you can come up with something new. You can also have your real name appear to your friends in-game.”

I thought about it for a bit. “How about Solar Dragon?” It wasn’t too creative, as it was just an interpretation of my own name, but it still sounded good to me. “And my real name is Yang Xiao Long. Can you make it visible to my friends?”

Melody wrote the name down. “Solar Dragon checks out, and your name is set. Follow me.” I followed Melody further and wound up in a gym built around a boxing ring. “Here’s your training area. Everything here can be upgraded and customized. It can also be damaged and broken, but fixes itself after five seconds.

“You can check your stats on the clipboard, which you can bring up with a thought or action. You can find details on each stat there.” She lead me over to a board on the wall. “Over here, you can find coaches and challengers. You can also post your own challenges and that you’re looking for a coach. Once you reach a high enough level and rank as a fighter, you can become a coach, which plays very differently.”

A problem presented itself to me immediately. “How do I find someone that I know?”

“Friends will have a purple star on them. If you don’t want a coach from the board, you can have the game give you one for free.”

I looked over the coaches and found a few with purple stars on them. After sifting through them, I found Aegir and tapped the ‘Notify’ square on it. Moments later, Aegir teleported into the gym and struck a pose while Melody left. “Hey, Yang. Ready for some training with the best minotaur from the Carne Den?”

“You’re not even a real minotaur, you shapeshifter. What’s first?”

Aegir produced a clipboard and looked at it. “Getting you up to level five or so and into a proper match. We can do that with a few rounds on the machines and some sparring.

“I’ve been keeping an eye on the tournaments, and players are going more towards minotaurs as of late just to survive the damage being put out. Are you sure you want to stay human?”

“I’ve already been through one body changing experience. I don’t want another, not even a virtual one. Where do we start, Coach?”

“We’ll start by figuring out how you’re going to prioritize your stats as you level up. There’s health, durability, strength, and agility.”

I sat down on a weight machine and brushed off some old game thought processes. “Everyone’s going minotaur. That’s the, uh, meta. Yeah, metagame. So to counter that, I need to figure out how to survive a minotaur fight as a human. They’re big and tough, but slow. That means the best counter is speed, which humans have. I’ll need speed and survivability. Probably survivability first, which means putting durability and health first, then agility so I can survive a hit that I can’t dodge, which leaves strength last.”

“I think we should prioritize agility and strength so you can hit hard and hit fast” Aegir said. “Being able to end a fight quickly is best, and with higher agility, you should be able to easily evade or block anything thrown your way, though blocking is less desirable.”

“And getting cornered would be a death sentence without any durability” I countered. “I think I should go with durability, health, agility, then strength. What does each stat cover anyways?”

“Health is obvious, and it constantly regenerates at 5% per minute. Strength is for damage and armor. Durabi-”

“Armor? In a boxing game?”

“It’s a very serious game. Durability reduces damage from attacks, and can be enhanced by armor.”

“Why would a sports game have armor though?”

“It’s hardcore. Finally, agility covers speed, dexterity, and stamina, along with giving minor damage buffs.

“The armor comes in five grades: Cloth, leather, chainmail, platemail, and mechmail. Each has its own levels of defense and durability, and comes in light, medium, and heavy variants. Heavier armor provides better defense and durability, but does slow you down.”

“Mechmail is best in both areas?”

“No. Mechmail does have the highest defense rating by far, but cloth actually has the highest durability.”

I decided to start using the weight machine as more than a chair and started using it properly. “How does that work?”

“Imagine a sheet of fabric.”

“Okay.”

“Now imagine a sheet of metal.”

“Okay.”

“Now imagine a huge hammer coming down on both of them.”

I envisioned a sledgehammer coming down on both the fabric and the metal. The fabric rippled under the impact, but was otherwise okay after the hammer was lifted. The metal simply made and stayed in a shallow crater shape. “Oh, I think I get it.”

“If you’re putting strength as a low priority, then you won’t have as many armor options.”

“What happens when armor durability reaches zero?”

“It breaks, falls off, and goes into your inventory for maintenance later.”

“So the cloth armor can defend longer while mechmail defends better?” Even though it was just a game, the exercise felt real. The bar at the bottom filled up a bit with each full repetition on the machine.

“That sums it up pretty well, though the higher grade materials are usually better, especially if you repair and maintain them.

“Something you’ll have to work on is your footwork, which will be important. We’ll also have to go over items as well.”

“Alright.” After a few more repetitions on the machine, I saw a brief swirl of light around my body, along with ‘LEVEL UP’ for a few seconds. “And I just reached level two.”

“It’s easy enough to reach level 5 with training alone. After that, matches are better for levelling. Above level 20, you can even train for specific stats.”

I continued training for another thirty minutes, alternating between a number of different exercises. Weights, resistance, some dance, and jogging were all done. At the end of it, I was at level six, and feeling the effects of the training as if I’d done them for real. “What now? Is it time for a match?”

“Not quite. First, you have some skill points to spend. Pick up your clipboard and spend them.”

I imagined a clipboard in my hand and brought it up. The first page on it showed my stats, along with the points I had available to spend. I put four into durability, three into health, two into agility, and one into strength.

I flipped to the paper over and saw the item page. At the moment, I had nothing except a towel (with the burning heart emblem on it) and a couple energy shots, which would give me a health and stamina recovery boost for a short time. I got one of them out and saw that it was just like an energy shot back on Earth. The page also said I had 1,000 iron rings, the game’s currency.

The third page had an outline of my body on the right side, divided into five sections for armor: Head, body, arms, lower legs, and upper legs (which also covered the hips). Each section had a box for an item, and each box was empty. There was another, smaller box under it, labelled visuals, with three boxes inside it. Next to each box was a list for items, both empty.

The last page had some settings, which I decided to investigate later, if at all.

After getting the gist of the menus I set the clipboard down. “Points are spent, coach. What’s next?”

“To the board!” I followed Aegir over to the board. “Let’s find you a good opponent.”

“How about this one?” I pulled a posted challenge off the board. The challenger was an alicorn known as The Pink Menace. The reward for defeating her was 2500 rings, a good amount of exp, and one item.

Aegir looked at it. “Not a bad choice. And they’re playing now, so let’s go.” I followed him over to a door at the side of the door, he stuck the challenge on the door, and opened it, revealing another gym just like mine, though with subtle differences to the equipment. “Pink Menace?”

“One moment!” The high pitched female voice sounded familiar. One moment later, a pink maned and pink furred head with blue eyes and a horn popped up on the opposite side of the ring. “Are you here to challenge me?”

“Yeah, I guess I am here to challenge you” I said. I walked over to and tried to jump into the ring, but my usual jump height didn’t apply, so I climbed through the ropes to get in. “Aegir, what are the rules?”

“No kicking, no hits below the waist, three minutes to the first four rounds, round five goes until someone is down for ten seconds. Since this isn’t a tournament match, the rules can be changed as the combatants see fit.”

“How does one round with no time limit sound?” Pink Menace asked from her spot tangled in the ropes. Somehow. “Oh, uh, little help please?” I went over to The Pink Menace (who was not living up to her name) and helped her out of the ropes and onto the ring proper. “Thanks, Solar Dragon.”

“That sounds good to me. And you’re welcome.” I went over to the corner I started from and waited.

An alicorn that looked like an evil version of Luna, likely The Pink Menace’s coach, came into the ring. “One round, no time limit. Defeat comes at ten seconds knocked down. Pink Menace, are you ready?”

“Let’s get this party started!” she answered.

“Solar Dragon, are you ready?”

“I suppose so” I said.

“Fight!” The coach slid off the ring with a slick slide under the ropes and stood next to Aegir. As soon as she was out, I saw a series of bars over The Pink Menace, matching the one showing my health and the empty one above it.

I met The Pink Menace in the middle of the ring and decided to take the initiative, throwing the first punch, which she blocked with a hoof punch of her own. Her punch had a bit more power behind it and sent me back a step. She followed it up with another punch, which I found easy to sidestep. With the easy sidestep, I was able to turn and punch the side of her jaw.

“Whoo, that stings” she said. “But at least it’s just a game!” She started attacking again, and I went on the defensive, dodging easily and blocking occasionally. After a minute of this, The Pink Menace started slowing down, making dodging easier.

Once she stopped, I threw an uppercut which connected easily with her head and followed it up with a series of punches to her body. The last hit to her body sent her to the floor, and her coach came in. “1! 2! 3! 4! 5!”

Halfway through the countdown, The Pink Menace got back to her hooves. “Oh, it is on!” She ran straight at me, aiming to throw a hook at my face. At the last moment, I ducked down, made a fist, and a fraction of a second later, delivered a jump boosted uppercut to her gut, giving her a good five seconds of air before she landed face down on the floor.

Her coach came back to do the countdown. “1! 2! 3! 4! 5! 6!” The Pink Menace got her arms on the floor. “7! 8!” She tried to get back up, but her body was shaking badly. “9! 10! Pink Menace loses the match, Solar Dragon wins!” Six sections of the exp bar filled up, though I didn’t gain a level.

I walked over to the downed Pink Menace and lent her a hand up, which she accepted. “Good match” I said.

“You too” she said as she got up. “You had some good moves there. What’s your agility at?”

I picked up my clipboard from somewhere and checked my stats. “52. You?”

“45. The rest of my stats are 35 each.”

I looked back at my stats. “So you edge me out in those by a few points each, but I have way more agility.”

“For now. Maybe we can fight again later when I’m even more agile?” She had a confident smirk as she asked the question before holding out a hoof and asking “Rival?”

“Sounds good.” I returned the gesture with a fist bump. “Now then, I’ve got items to sort out. Seeya.” After giving her a pat on the shoulder, I walked over to the edge of the ring and slid out to meet Aegir. “How’d I do?”

“You played your agility advantage quite well” Aegir said as we went back to my gym. “At lower levels, it’s best to play to your species’ stat advantages. If she was a minotaur, it would have taken a lot more to knock her out, and if she hit you, it would have hurt. But at the same time, you would have had a far greater movement advantage. Ah, here we go.” Aegir grabbed a slightly beat up box under the board and gave it to me.

I opened the box and saw a note, informing me that I’d gained 2500 iron rings. There was also a roll of white fabric in there. “What’s this for?”

“Crafting. You can use it to make armor, bandages, or decorations for your gym.”

“There’s crafting? In a boxing game?” The roll of fabric went into the inventory.

“There wouldn’t be much to the game otherwise.”

“Yeah, I guess can see that. What about the money I’ve got?”

“This way.” Aegir lead me through another door, leading to a plaza. “Over here is the shopping area. New types of shops will become available as you level up.”

Almost all of the storefronts were closed. The one that was open had a cloth armor shop in it. Out in the middle of the plaza was a kiosk run by a lone minotaur. “Hey there” he greeted. “Why don’t you come check out the deal of the day?”

I shrugged and walked over to him. “Whatcha got?”

“Today’s offer is one dozen energy shots, in your choice of flavor. Each shot normally runs for 100 iron rings, but you can get these for only 1000 iron rings instead.”

I turned to Aegir. “Is it a good deal?”

“Considering how one well timed boost during a break can turn a match around, I say yes” Aegir said. “That, and consumables like that are rarely offered in there.”

I turned back to the sales minotaur. “I’ll take it.”

“Which flavor would you like?” he handed me a clipboard with a list of flavors on it.

“Hmm. . . I think I’ll go with the berry mix.”

“Here you go.” He handed me the dozen pack of energy shots, his clipboard disappeared, and I brought mine up. On the item page, I saw that my money, instead of being at 3500, was at 2500, meaning payment was automatic.

After putting the dozen energy shots away, I decided to check out the cloth armor shop. It was almost like a normal clothing store with the clothes on racks and shelves. Everything was individually priced, though most of what was available was beyond my now 2500 iron rings. “Hey, Aegir, do these level up with me?”

“Yes, as does the price on them. Some things have a minimum level requirement though. Right now, you can only equip cloth. Levels 10, 15, 20, and 30 are when you can start equipping higher materials. You can also create your own armor here of you want.”

“Sounds good, but I’ll wait on that until I get more materials.”

“Fair enough. Want to call it a day here?”

“Sure. I think I’ll play a bit more later on.” I closed the Gamer Driver and woke up in my bed. It was still raining really hard outside. I also smelled warm cookies. The scent came from a small paper bag on my nightstand.

I opened the bag and saw snickerdoodle cookies and a note inside. The note came out first. “Dear Yang: I know I said it in the game, but that was a good fight we had. Since it was your first fight in the game and you won (and also just because), I figured you could use a little treat, so enjoy. Sincerely, The Pink Menace/Pinkie Pie (If you couldn’t figure it out for some reason).

“P.S. My coach’s name is Black Snootie.”

“Well, that’s nice.” I grabbed the bag of cookies and went out to the hallway, where Aegir was coming down with his own small paper bag of cookies. “What flavor did she give you?”

“Red velvet with love infused icing” Aegir said. “How did she do it?”

Memories on the pink one briefly went through my mind. “I don’t know.”

“No, how did she get them here? They’re warm and fresh, the paper is dry, she’s an earth pony, and it’s raining.”

“I don’t know, I don’t want to know, and I don’t think I should know. Pinkie just is.”

“Oh. Well, it would also be nice to know where she got the love from.”

“That sounds like a big no know. I’ve already told you why. Anyways, enjoy the cookies and all that. I feel like exercising. Alone, if you don’t mind.”

“Of course. I’ll see you when it’s dryer.” As Aegir went downstairs, I went back into my room and started doing push ups. After all, I couldn’t just spend all day playing games.

Author's Notes:

Here we see the beginning of Yang on her journey to git gud at Iron Ring.

And now, loyal readers, I will open the gates to character submissions. Just make a game character for Iron Ring. Minotaur and Alicorn have the most customization options, due to minotaurs having a proper nation of their own and alicorns being related to ponies. As far as Human goes, the devs only have one human for reference, so there's no body customization for her beyond eye color.

As far as armor goes, get creative.

Only one character will be fought by Yang, but that does not mean others won't be shown. Maximum of two submissions per person.