Hey, it's Darkened5ky. Weird, huh? I know you usually only hear from Shadowflame in this, but no one else can tell you this part of the story. So he decided to let me tell you.

I'm sure several of you right now are wondering why I left the team. The answer is plain and simple:

Discord was right.

Short BGM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cmnvDNfL6sY

I came into this game with a choice; unicorn or pegasus (I had already ruled out earth pony). I chose unicorn, thinking I would just log in under someone else's account if I wanted to see Equestria from the air.

We all know how that plan worked out.

So I got trapped in here as a unicorn, which is a choice I don't regret. However, I've still held a secret wish to be able to fly for this entire game. So of course, when Shadow revealed his Alicorn ability to us and why it works, I was more jealous than anyone else there. I can usually hide my emotions very well, however, so I don't think anyone noticed.

But of course, you can never keep up pretense forever. If you always wear a mask, someone will eventually see your true face. I might be the Element of Willpower, but that doesn't mean I can resist every thought in my head, especially one that has been building for this long. When Discord revealed my concealed rage and jealousy to everyone present, I finally snapped. I wanted more than anything to kill Shadowflame and steal his Alicorn ability, but something held me back. Probably the fact that we've been friends for a long time, and I didn't want him to die because of the extreme rage that I've hidden from everyone for so long.

I left so they could all be protected from me.

I normally play RPGs like this as a solo player, but this game was different. As they reminded us at the Canterlot party, It was originally designed to give bronies a place where we could gather and socialize, kill some monsters, and have fun being ponies with your friends. I decided to play this game with Shadow for that very reason.

Since I'm so experienced at being a solo player, I didn't have a problem being alone for the first little while. True, I had to fight weaker monsters than usual for a day or two, but I quickly adjusted. You get much more money and experience as a solo player, so I was able to fight large groups of monsters that were only slightly weaker than those we tackled as a general team of eleven people. I began wondering why I hadn't done this from the beginning, why I had stayed within a group that would steal both my resources and my experience.

It didn't take me too long to remember why.

I began reflecting on all the good times we had as a group. Lexus dropping an apple right onto a unicorn's horn. Watching my little brother jump over that giant armadillo, screaming Leroy Jenkins as he did so. DJ-ing the Canterlot party, where Lexus and Neon had admitted their affection for each other. The date I went on with Siren--

Siren.

I hadn’t sent her any messages since I had left the team. I just couldn’t. I couldn't bear the thought of what she thought of me now. She had witnessed me at my lowest point, and what did I do? I abandoned her. And my family, my younger brother, I abandoned him too.

What does that say about the type of man I am?

It just got worse and worse as I remembered every face from our guild, and wondered what they thought of me now, or if any of them had actually been sad to see me go.

Before long, I was more alone and in more pain than I had ever been before. I wanted more than anything to return to the group, where I was guaranteed backup if my HP dropped into the yellow or red zones, and where there was little to no chance of anyone dying. Where I could see Siren again. Where I could talk and laugh with everyone, actually enjoying myself even though we're trapped in a death game.

To distract myself from my pain, I trained. I killed more monsters in three days than the whole team had killed in all of the previous week, and leveled up several times while doing so. I had to always watch my back, too. Receiving my element had been in the Equestria Daily newsletter, but they hadn't announced my desertion. It was probably so the haters wouldn’t track me down to steal my element (not that I couldn't take them if they did). But they would all recognize me if they saw me, so I avoided other players as a whole, and when I needed to be in town, I wore a black cloak with a hood to hide my identity.

I kept this up for a while, looking for side quests as I did. There wasn't anything that looked worthwhile until about two weeks after I left my team.

I had snuck into Baltimare, and was checking the player request board as usual. This time, though, something immediately caught my eye; a familiar name. I read the request from under my hood.

Cordon, I thought, glaring as my anger with him rose again. What're you up to?

I knew that Cordon would probably do anything to get back at Shadow. I sat for a few moments, wondering what to do. If Cordon came back and beat Shadow, he would be likely to kill him, especially with added power from this “rare item.” I decided to go, just to keep an eye on him.

Following the address on the ad, I entered a tavern on the other side of town. It was rather small, with only a few people having drinks in it. I walked up to the bartender.

"What'll you have?" the NPC stallion asked.

"I'll take a glass of Medovina Mead,” I said. Having just replaced almost all of my gear with much higher quality items in my last shopping excursion, I didn't have the bits to spare for the more expensive meads I usually drink. As I pressed the green button on the sale confirmation box, the mead appeared before me, and I levitated it off the table.

"Has Cordon been in today?" I asked the NPC.

"What's it to you?" he replied, glaring.

I sighed. Tavern NPCs were programmed to act like real bartenders, so I knew what he wanted. I accessed my item storage and physically summoned 20 bits, leaving only 15 bits in my inventory; an all-time low since the beginning of the game. I began placing them on the bar.

"I'm not here to hurt him," I said, although it wasn't entirely true. "I just want to talk. Got some business to discuss with him." I finished setting the bits on the bar, and the stallion swept them beneath it.

"He usually comes in at three," he said, then pointed towards an empty booth. "Sits in that corner."

I moved over and sat in Cordon's booth, then de-equipped my cloak and began sipping my mead. I sat for a while, occasionally glancing at the time. About half an hour after I had sat down, the door opened, and the dark-grey figure of Cordon crossed the threshold. He ordered something from the NPC, then began walking over to his usual booth.

“Nice tavern you’ve found here,” I said.

He jumped as he noticed me sitting there, then took a step back, readying himself for a fight. When it became apparent that I wasn’t immediately attacking him, he sat down across from me.

“The mead’s good,” Cordon replied gruffly. “You don’t get drunk, and there’s no hangover.”

“I wouldn’t know the difference,” I said. “I didn’t drink in the real world.”

We sat in silence for a few moments.

“Are you here to kill me?”

I looked up from my mead to see him with one hoof on his battle axe, ready to use it if necessary.

“It's crossed my mind,” I said, coldly. “Not only are you the biggest jerk I've ever met, you tried to kill one of my best friends! If
you had won that duel, I would’ve torn you to shreds.”

“Yeah, sure,” Cordon said, skeptically.

I clenched my hooves in anger. I had seen his stats, and I knew he was no match for me anymore.

“That’s not why I’m here,” I said, pushing my anger down beneath the surface again. “I saw your ad.”

“If you saw the ad, where’s the rest of the team?” Cordon asked, looking around.

“I’m not... with them at the moment,” I said, looking down at my mug. After a few moments of silence, I looked up to see Cordon grinning evilly.

“Finally get sick of putting up with Shadowflame’s crap?” he asked, raising his eyebrows. "Tired of being the second man in line?"

I snapped.

I whipped around the table in a flash, pinning him against the back of the booth, raising Oblivion to his throat. I glared right into his face, which had rapidly switched from an expression of smugness to an expression of terror.

“Shut. The hell. Up,” I snarled at him, pressing Oblivion deeper into his neck, threatening to puncture his throat. “One more word about anyone on my team, and I won’t stop short next time.”

The now-crowded bar had fallen dead silent. After pressing my sword slightly further into his throat, I stepped back, and a look of relief crossed Cordon’s face. I sat back down across from him, and once it was evident that we weren't going to fight, the rest of the bar gradually returned to its previous volume level.

"So," I began, as if nothing had happened since he sat down, "this rare item you're looking for. What is it?"

"An amulet," Cordon said, looking relieved that I had dropped the previous subject. "It's supposed to increase your STR by a lot."

"And where is it?" I asked.

"I can't tell you that," Cordon said, "or you'll just go without me and get it yourself."

"How high of a level is this dungeon?" I asked.

"It says the recommended level is 67," Cordon replied. "I'm not there yet."

I glanced at my own stats. I was now level 73, and I hadn't met anyone else who was higher than that, excluding Jupiter.

"How long are we talking?" I asked.

"It shouldn't be too long," Cordon said, now ready with a question of his own. "What level are you?"

"I don't share that," I said evasively. I didn't want people I didn't trust to know how strong I was. "But trust me, it's high enough."

We sat in silence for a while, each drinking our own mead. Eventually, Cordon spoke again.

"Why'd you leave the team?"

I looked up at him. He wasn't taunting me anymore. All I could see on his face was genuine curiosity at my actions.

"I have my reasons," I said, glaring. "I might not be with them now, but that doesn't mean I hate them."

He didn't press the subject further. I sat in silence, waiting for him to break it.

"So, are you in, or not?" he asked. Bringing up his player menu, he tapped a few buttons, and a dialogue box appeared in front of me.

I thought about it. I would be able to keep an eye on him, and possibly gain a lot of experience in the process, which would more than make up for my lost leveling time.

"I'm in," I replied after a few moments, tapping the yes option on the window. "When do you want to leave?"

"Tomorrow morning," Cordon said, getting up. "I'd find an inn or something for tonight. Meet me back here at 9:30."

He left his mug on the booth counter, and trotted back towards the front entrance. I looked back at my tiny amount of 15 bits, and sighed. I would have to fight some more mobs if I wanted a decent place to sleep. Leaving my mug on the table as well, I stood up and exited after Cordon.

I panted as I levitated my swords into a defensive position, facing the five minotaurs ten yards away. I had gone a ways out of the town to hunt mobs, knowing where the strongest mobs in the area usually spawned. I drank a minor health potion as the minotaurs drew slightly nearer, snorting menacingly. I galloped back towards one of the side ones, slashing at it with my swords as I slid under it. It let out a roar of frustration, and turned to barrel straight at me.

Minotaurs aren’t the brightest creatures on the planet, and are more fueled by rage than anything else. This can be used to your advantage, as sometimes, in their anger, they fail to notice just what they’re hitting. Rather than fighting them all directly, you can oftentimes get them to beat each other up. Hence, before the minotaur noticed what I was doing, I slid under it towards the next one. I did a quick jab to anger it, and then dove to the side as both minotaurs simultaneously swung at my previous position.

It did exactly what I was hoping for. Both fists collided with the opposite minotaur, decreasing their health substantially. Both let out roars of anger as they turned to find me again. I continued fighting in this manner for a while, letting them bring each other's health down. Eventually, all five were low on health and entering their critical modes, which would make any hit they dealt to me deadly..

Before they could unleash their terrible critical mode fury on me, I activated my sub-ability; Iron Gale. Both of my swords glowed with black aura as the light in the area decreased. In a split second, the system did a series of target locks, pinpointing the weakest spots on each minotaur as I levitated an inch off of the ground. Fast as wind, I flew forward and unleashed a terrible barrage of sword strikes on each minotaur. One by one, they began bursting into code as their HP reached zero. My combo finished, leaving just one of the minotaurs. I ducked to avoid his hastily-thrown punch and stabbed him through the chest with my left sword. He too burst into code.

Immensely satisfied with the fight, I sheathed my swords as a dialogue box appeared in front of me.

After checking the rest of my inventory, I decided that a level and 1686 bits were enough for a short hunting session. However, as I was turning away to head back into town, a gleam of sunlight from the ground distracted me. I looked to see what could be causing the reflection, and noticed something white lying in the grass. I rushed over to it as quickly as I could, and another dialogue box popped up in front of me as I drew near.

"No info?" I said, puzzled. I de-equipped my left sword as I picked up the new one with magic. It was just as long as Oblivion, if not a bit longer, and had three green gems in the hoof-guard. I have to admit, side-by-side with Oblivion, they both looked pretty sweet.

I'll have to get it appraised, I thought, as I stored it in my inventory and re-equipped my other sword. As it was most likely a sword affiliated with light, I didn't really plan on using it. I was planning to see how much it was worth and sell it off, as my current swords were already fairly powerful and both stacked with my player ability. Re-equipping my cloak, I put the hood up to hide my face and began the walk back to Baltimare.

I trotted through the doors of the weapon shop, after checking to see if there were any players there. Lowering my hood, I moved straight past all the weapons on display to the NPC behind the desk.

"What are you looking for?" The crimson stallion asked.

"I need a sword appraised," I said, summoning it out of my inventory to show to him. He took it in his hoof, and set it on a black object that I didn't recognize, which began to hum slightly. After a couple of moments, it stopped, and a dialogue box appeared above it.

"It's name is Corrupted Light," he began, as he was programmed to read everything on the list. "A one-handed weapon, Corrupted Light is a sword of terrible destruction. It has a long reach and extraordinary strength. Stacking with the player ability Demon's Curse, it boosts the amount that the Demonic Bar increases with each hit."

"How much do you think it's worth?" I cut across him. He looked up at me.

"It's an player-specific weapon," he informed me. "It can only be used by the player it dropped itself for. It's not worth anything to anyone else."

I stared at him, eyes wide.

That can't be right, I thought. My player ability is Darkness, not "Demon's Curse."

"Are you sure?" I asked him.

He nodded. "Assuming you're the player it appeared to, you're the only one who can use it. Now, that'll be 100 bits."

I pressed OK on the confirmation box, still confused as I stored my new sword, put my hood up and exited the shop. I began wandering through town, looking for a decent inn where I could stay the night. The whole time, though, I was preoccupied as I wondered why a player-specific sword had chosen me, but hadn’t bothered to attribute itself with my player ability, as well as what the heck an ability called "Demon's Curse" does to you.

Before I knew it, I was standing in front of the desk at the inn. The NPC mare looked up at me.

“Do you have any short-term rooms left?” I asked from under my hood.

“We do,” the mare replied. “It’s 150 bits a night. Pay in advance.”

“One night,” I said, and a dialogue box appeared in front of me. I confirmed the sale, and she told me my room number. I climbed several flights of stairs, and moved down a couple of hallways until I saw the room that was mine, and I opened the door.

It was no larger than a college dorm room. The bed was in the northwest corner, set sideways along the north wall. The north wall sloped down, and I was sure the roof was there. It straightened out, becoming the vertical wall about a foot above where the bed frame was. There was a small window on the west wall, providing a view of a little bit of Baltimare. The only other object in the room was a small desk in the southwest corner. The whole thing seemed eerily familiar, and it took me a few moments to remember why. It reminded me strongly of my temporary bedroom back home. Could it be possible that the game accessed my memories to create this room? Did the system even have the power to do that?

I lay on the small bed, and I thought back to the day this game started. How I had laid down on this very bed, my NerveGear hooked up to my desktop computer on my desk as I entered this game, and met up with Shadowflame--

I stopped. Thinking about anyone from my old team was painful.

But I couldn’t help it. No matter how hard I tried to shut them out, Siren and Dylan's faces seemed permanently imprinted on my retinas. They were the two who I thought about most. Sure, Shadow had been the one I had been looking to kill, but his thoughts didn’t seem to bother me as much as the aforementioned two.

In order to have something else to distract myself with, I decided to do some reading.

...Cheerilee brought her face close to the cage to stare at Scootaloo, relishing in the terror she was inflicting upon one of the little monsters that had tormented her for so long. “I thought you wanted to get out of the cage? This’ll get you out, you little weed. Just watch..."

But even Cheerilee's Garden couldn't hold my interest for very long. Closing the fanfic library, I slipped back into bed, physically exhausted as I rolled over and closed my eyes, waiting for sleep to come...

...It didn’t. I sighed deeply as I changed positions, trying to get comfortable, but there was no doubt about it. I was not going to be sleeping tonight.

Eventually, I ended up sideways in the bed, with my back hooves up against the sloping ceiling, my front legs wrapped around them, my head resting on the mattress, my eyes staring unseeingly at the ceiling. I thought back to my bedroom in Canterlot, in the complex where my team had undoubtedly returned after leaving Hollow Shades. I silently wondered if they expected me to come back, or if any of them had yet claimed my vacated space or possessions. Maybe they left it alone in the hopes that I would return someday? There was no way to know.

To my immense surprise, about an hour after I had laid down, the dead silence of my room was broken by a loud *ping*. My player menu lit up, half-blinding me as it’s light cut through the darkness. A banner flashed across the screen reading: New Message From Shadowflame.

I stared at it, not believing my eyes. It was the first contact I had had with anyone from the Knights of Harmony or my team since I had deserted them. After a few more moments of shock, I tapped on the banner, and began to read the message.

Sky,

I figure you'll get this without any problems. That is, unless you've gotten over insomnia and actually fell asleep. Either way, you can sleep later.

Anyway, you're probably wondering why I'm messaging you right now…

Well.... I'm just gonna say it.

Please come back, Sky.

The team… heck, the entire guild hasn't been the same since you've left. You were one of the strongest members we had, and everyone has been kind of depressed, even when I tell them that you chose to leave. I tell them this was a journey you had to take.
It's only been a week since you left, but the hole that you left here is only getting bigger and more miserable. And Dylan....

Where do I even start with Dylan?

He's become more closed off. He's missing you even more now than he was before. I can only imagine what he's going through. He was separated from his whole family, including you, when this whole death game began. But we both know how happy he was to have a brother in this game to look up to. But now that you're gone... Well, he's feeling lonesome and homesick. Whenever we train, he's only fighting half-heartedly. He's almost gotten himself killed because his mind isn't in the right place. It's almost like he's given up, like he's lost all passion for what he's fighting for.

Please, I'm down on my hooves and knees; Come back to us. Dylan needs his older brother. The team needs their Element of Willpower. I need my best friend. I don't care if you were going to kill me or not. I can forgive you for that, because I know that you didn't go through and kill me. You're better than that, and because I'm still alive now, I know that you can still safely come back and join us again.

Come back as soon as you can. I can understand if you still need to complete this solo journey of yours, but please, don't forget about us.

-Shadowflame

I reread the message several times, before closing both it and my player menu. I resumed the same position I had assumed before the message arrived, but this time, my mind was racing.

Why am I still out here? I wondered. I could go back and be with them right now, and this would be over.

You can’t go back, said another part of my brain, the pessimistic side. Not after what Discord told them about you.

They would’ve figured it out eventually, I continued to argue with myself. I would’ve finally snapped some time.

And what would you have done then? How would they have reacted?

I don’t know.

Exactly. What makes you think all of them want you back? They all know now. Your anger and jealousy runs deep, but you hide it. Then it finds a fissure and explodes out of you, so strongly that it almost drove you to murder. Do you really think they want someone like that on their team? Do you think Siren wants you back now?

...No.

Then why are you even considering going back?

Shadow seems to think we can work through this, and he’s more affected by this than any of them, except Dylan.

Yeah, but would it be safe for you to go back? How do you know you’ll be able to control your anger? What’s to stop you from trying to kill Shadowflame?

He doesn’t deserve this. It’s not his fault that he can fly. He didn’t know it would happen, and I shouldn’t be blowing up like this. He’s better than me. I can deal.

But even as I thought this, I knew it wasn’t true. I’ve played games with Shadow for most of both of our lives, and I always feel resentful when he beats me. If I can’t do something he can, it hurts. It’s pathetic, but true. I knew I wouldn’t be able to go back, unless…

Maybe there are other apotheosis abilities out there, I thought. Maybe he’s not the only Alicorn who stayed in hiding for a while. Maybe I can find one of them.

But how will you do that?

That was the real question. I laid there thinking for a long time. as I continued to stare straight through the darkness at that same patch of ceiling.

You can’t even be around Shadowflame unless you’re just as strong as he is...

Some element of Willpower you are, I thought to myself before I laid back in my bed properly, noting as I looked at my player menu that it was already 5 A.M.

“You’re late,” Cordon said, annoyed as I approached the Flaming Sword.

“Couldn’t sleep,” I said, groggily. I had managed to finally fall asleep at about 7:00, which meant I only got two and a half hours of decent sleep, which, in my opinion, is much worse than no sleep at all. I had slept through my alarm of 9:00, and woke up at about 9:35, which meant that I had been late by about fifteen minutes.

“Well, let’s get moving,” Cordon said, beginning to head south down the main road.

“Where’re we going?” I asked, galloping a bit to catch up with him.

“The Hayseed Swamp,” he informed me. “The dungeon entrance is there.”

As we left town, a few trash mobs spawned. However, they were weak enough that Cordon killed three of them with one swing from his axe, and he didn’t even get EXP for it. We entered the forest, the tall trees so thick that they somewhat hid the light of day, which I was fine with. Cordon led the way down the path, and I followed behind.

“So,” I said after a few minutes of silence, “what do you do these days? I mean, you're not trying to look for any more elements, as far as I know.”

Cordon remained silent for a few moments, obviously debating whether or not to answer me. But eventually, he did.

"Honestly, nothing," he said, staring at the path ahead. "I'm not normally a solo player, so I can't really fight mobs. I'm just trying to survive."

"Well, I'm sorry you had to be such a jerk," I said, scathingly. Luckily, Cordon's prior ego seemed to have shattered. I don't know if it was the combined sorrows of what had happened to him, or if it was how easily I could've ended him in the bar the previous day. Either way, he didn't retaliate.

"What about you?" he asked.

I hadn't been prepared for it. "Me?"

"Well, yeah. You're not helping your team, and if you were looking for sidequests, you're obviously not searching for elements either. Although, why bother to keep looking if you already have one? But seriously, what do you do?"

I thought about it. What did I do?

"I'm training. I'm focusing on leveling up right now. Unlike you, I actually do better on my own than when I have to deal with a team."

Without warning, Cordon had drawn his axe, and jumped straight at me. Luckily, I already had my swords drawn, and I raised them into a defensive position. But I noticed that Cordon's gaze wasn't fixed on me. Both of his eyes were focused on a point slightly behind my head. I turned just in time to see an enormous minotaur, bigger than any I’d seen, about to take a swing at me. I ducked just in time to avoid the punch, as Cordon's axe swung through the minotaur. He was lucky enough to land a critical hit, dealing four times the amount of regular damage. I watched as the minotaur's health bear decreased to 1/3 full, already in the yellow zone. I rushed back and took two swings at it, each slicing easily through the minotaur's tough exterior. He couldn't do anything now; he was stuck in a combo lock between my consistent two swings and Cordon's powerful one swing. When it's health was about to reach zero, I jumped back, allowing Cordon to deliver the final blow. The minotaur exploded into bits of code, as a dialogue box popped up in front of Cordon. I couldn't read it, but I figured it must've told him he had leveled up. He looked up at me.

"What was that about doing better without a team?" he asked, raising an eyebrow.

"That was a once-in-a-lifetime thing," I said, sheathing my swords. "If I hadn't been talking, I would've sensed it sneaking up on me."

"Uh-huh," Cordon said, putting his axe back onto his back.

We continued through the forest, still talking. I soon realized that without his ego, Cordon was actually a half-decent guy. I had guessed it was a possibility, given what Siren had told us about what he had been like before he became an Alicorn.

Dang, thought about her again. I've got to stop doing that.

Anyway, me and Cordon actually managed to get along for a while, killing a couple of more trash mobs along the way. Nothing powerful spawned again, until we reached the Hayseed Swamp.

The closest thing I can relate the Hayseed Swamp is Froggy Bottom Bog, except the swamp was much, much bigger than the bog had been. There were bogs within the swamp.

“Where is this dungeon?” I asked, looking around.

“Underwater, of course,” Cordon replied, before beginning to swiftly walk around the swamp. “I’m not exactly sure how I found it, but it’s hidden at the bottom of one of the bogs.”

We continued moving around the edges of the swamp, until Cordon dove straight into one of the bogs. It didn’t look any different from the others, but I assumed he knew where he was going. I jumped in after him. I had been swimming once or twice as a pony, but nothing could compare to the murky water of this bog. The water felt much thicker than it should’ve, and I suspected that it was more mud than water.

“You ready?” Cordon asked. I nodded.

“Then let’s go. Follow right behind me.”

Cordon took a deep breath, and sank right down into the bog. I exhaled, before taking as large of a breath as I could and sinking down after him.

It was so muddy that I couldn’t see anything at first. I tried lighting my horn, but that didn’t help either. I was stuck, entirely blind, under the water. I re-emerged, breathing again. I knew I had to think fast, or I would lose Cordon, and this would take all day.

Maybe this water counts as darkness, I thought suddenly. The program probably just wrote it as a visual obstacle, and I might be able to count that as a dark area, and if it was a dark area, then I could see through it without any light. I took yet another deep breath, and dove down under the surface. This time, instead of trying to light the area, I tried letting my eyes do the work for me. I had never really figured out how it was done, but if I wasn't thinking about it, then I could just see through darkness. And, sure enough, my eyes automatically adjusted to penetrate the murkiness. I could suddenly see Cordon about thirty feet below me, and I dove after him.

Shadow would hate this, I thought to myself with a small smile as I swam. Water, mud, and Cordon.

Hey, Shadowflame here, and just like every portion of this story, I read this as I was editing. And I would like to beg to differ, Sky.

Oh, whatever. Even back in the real world, you didn't like muddy water. And we all know you don't like Cordon either.

Mud and water, I don't mind the two separate. But muddy water is something I really don't like.

Like there's any difference. Now get out of here. This is my chapter.

Alright, alright. Carry on.

As I was catching up to Cordon, he reached the bottom of the bog...

...and disappeared into the ground.

I almost let all of my air escape as I gasped in surprise. There was no indication that there was anything different about the muddy bottom of the bog, but as I drew nearer and reached my hoof out, it didn't make contact with the ground. I sank right through the illusion of earth, and suddenly I breathed in air again. It was pitch-black, but I could still see with my ability.

I watched as I fell about thirty feet to the ground. The impact knocked the wind out of me, and my health bar decreased by about 1/4. I sat up roughly, muddy bog water dripping from me as I got to my hooves. Cordon had already stood up, and was drying himself off with a towel.

"I always make sure to have a towel in my inventory now,” Cordon said, holding it out to me. I took it, and tried to dry my long hair as best as I could.

"So you were taking a swim in a freaking bog one day, and just happened to find this place??" I asked in disbelief, as I handed the towel back to him.

"Yup," he said, stowing the now-filthy towel in his inventory again. "When you suddenly lose your wings, you've gotta find some way to be weightless again, right? Swimming is the best substitute I've found, and these bogs are the only places you can swim around here. I've been hiding here ever since I fled Canterlot."

"Impressive," I muttered, looking around. We had fallen into a large cave, the ceiling thirty feet above us. I turned to the right, and saw a pair of heavy iron doors set into the stone in the nearest wall.

“That’s the dungeon,” Cordon said, “but I can’t read the name.”

I began to walk towards it, as a dialogue box appeared right in front of me.

Interesting name for a dungeon… I thought.

“It’s called Kurai Kagami, which essentially means 'Dark Mirror',” I said over my shoulder.

“Dark Mirror?” Cordon asked, raising an eyebrow. “That’s a weird name for a dungeon. What language is that?”

“Japanese,” I said, resuming the walk to the building.

“You speak Japanese?” Cordon asked, galloping slightly to catch up.

“Yeah,” I said. “I haven’t really spoken it since the game started, but it doesn’t matter now. Let's get this done."

I pushed open the already unlocked doors, immediately creating a new map file as I did. We began making our way down a slightly-curved dark stone-brick passageway, the only light coming from the eerie blue-fire torches on the walls. We encountered a few mobs wandering alone, which we finished off fairly easily. We didn't hit our first real obstacle for about ten minutes.

My dark vision was allowing me to see just fine, so I didn't really think twice when I entered an enormous room that was pitch-black, but Cordon had no means of light other than the torches. I looked around when he disappeared from my side.

"Cordon? Why aren't you coming in?"

"Uh, because I can't see," Cordon said, slightly annoyed. "I don't know how you ca--"

But he was cut off, as the door into the large room suddenly slammed shut.

"Cordon??" I exclaimed, running back to the door and pounding on it. "Cordon!!"

But no answer came, and I was distracted when I heard something slither along the ground behind me. I whipped back around, swords out, as an enormous, jet-black viper crossed my field of vision. It bared its fangs at me as it hissed loudly, red eyes gleaming, even though there was no light for the eyeballs to reflect.

The snake reared, and I knew I wouldn’t be able to dodge quickly enough. I raised my swords, hoping that I could at least stop the fangs from piercing me. Not only did they block the snake’s attack, but they both stabbed through the snake’s face. It hissed loudly from the pain.

I did an internal facehoof, as I remembered this was only a level 67 dungeon. My swords had the viper stuck where he was, and in an attempt to free itself, it sent its tongue sailing between the swords at my face. I ducked just fast enough to avoid it, and as I turned, I ripped one of my swords from its mouth, bringing it straight through the tongue.

It cut cleanly in two. The snake whipped its head away, hissing and spitting furiously. Faster than I could counteract it, it flung its tail around and smashed into me, sending me and my swords sailing through the empty darkness. I managed to flip backwards and land on my hooves, but it was already slithering back towards me. It reared and struck at me again, aiming low this time.

I jumped into the air, leaving only stone for the snake to hit. Time seemed to slow down, as I turned 180°, and flipped my right sword around so it was facing the floor. I fell back towards the earth, landing right on the viper’s back. I used the momentum from the fall to force my right sword into the snake’s back as deeply as I could. The snake jerked, and I ripped my sword back out before doing a backflip off of it. It turned and saw me standing there, but it was now in a lot of pain. It’s lunge was much slower, and I was able to dive sideways to avoid it. As it turned to face me, I stood my ground, all focus on a single point of the snake’s body. As it did another slow lunge, I sidestepped to avoid it, still looking at the one spot. As the spot moved to be right beside me, I swung both of my swords with all the power I could.

The snake’s body was cleaved in half, and the two halves fell on either side of me. It was finished.

“Any other takers?!” I yelled, looking around the now-empty room. There was nothing else there. But as I turned to walk back through the door I had come in through, I paused. The snake’s body, though definitely dead, hadn’t dissipated into code like it normally did. Curious, I walked back over to it.

As I approached it, it started to vibrate slightly. Instead of dissipating into the code, it dissolved into what I can only describe as black smoke. The cloud hung there for a few seconds. It felt somehow… familiar. I tried to think of where I had felt this before. Then I remembered; The demon in Hollow Shades. When it wasn’t in it’s physical form, it looked just like this. I was the only one who could sense it following us home, the only one who saw it in Lexus before he tried to kill Shadowflame. I opened my mouth to speak, but the dark cloud moved faster than lightning as it flew out of the room. I raised an eyebrow.

What was that about? I wondered silently. And, the more I thought about it, the weirder the whole thing seemed. Why didn't the snake burst into code like everything else I've ever killed?? Why did it seem like a demon?

I came to slightly, before moving back towards the door I had come through. It opened automatically, revealing Cordon still standing there.

“What happened?” he asked.

“Fought a giant snake," I shrugged. "It barely even touched me. Let’s move on.”

Offering no further explanation, I again crossed the dark room towards a door on the other side.
“Uhh, I still can’t see in there,” Cordon said, still standing at the doorway.

“Then grab a torch off the wall,” I said, indifferently. Cordon came in the room thirty seconds later holding a blue torch, but he was apparently still unable to see me. I sighed, before moving back into his line of sight.

“Follow me,” I said. Cordon jumped about a mile into the air, and he drew his axe.

“Dude, relax,” I said. “It’s just me.”

“Don’t. Do that!” Cordon said, putting his axe back on his back. “You scared the crap out of me!”

“You’re welcome,” I replied, before moving back towards the door.

Looking at the map file I was still creating, we got a general idea of the dungeon layout. It too felt slightly familiar. I looked down at the map file every so often, and slowly, the shape of the dungeon started coming together.

“No way,” I eventually said aloud, staring at the map with wide eyes. “No freaking way.”

“What??” Cordon asked, turning to face me again.

“You move slower than a paralyzed sloth, that’s what,” I replied, glaring at him. “Move faster.”

Grumbling, Cordon resumed walking, but I kept staring at the map in disbelief. The way that the dungeon hallways and rooms were made, it was slowly forming the shape of a pentagram. An inverted Pentagram. The exact inverted pentagram that I had designed at the beginning of the game almost five months previous.

What does this mean? I asked myself as we kept walking. Was this dungeon built for me?

I kept my thoughts to myself as we continued walking. We cleared out a few more rooms, but none were nearly as frightening as the dark snake had been. Soon, we had been in every room except the middle of the pentagram, which is where I was sure the amulet was. As soon as we re-entered the hallway from the final room, there was a deep rumbling, as the wall to our right started sliding. A set of stone doors rose up slowly from the floor, finally granting us access to the final room.

“You ready?” I asked. “There could be anything in there.”

“Yup,” Cordon said, raising his axe slightly higher. “Let’s go.”

The doors slid apart, and we stepped inside. The room was made of pure, dark stone of some kind. It was also packed to the brim with mobs from all areas, including those furthest from here. They all turned to look at us.

“Stay close to me!” I said, before we simultaneously ran forward towards the large group of mobs.

It was a bloodbath. Cordon swung his axe as hard as he could, hitting four or five enemies at a time due to the sheer number of them. I swung at anything that came near me. Luckily, due to the sheer amount of space they were taking up, none of them could really attack us properly. It got slightly harder as time wore on. We had killed a fair amount of mobs, but that meant they had more room to maneuver, and they were starting to attack properly. I actually had to drink a couple of health potions, and I was constantly checking on Cordon to make sure he wasn't near death. He seemed to be surviving. He probably had a higher defense than me, after all, even though I was more than a dozen levels above him.

Soon, there were only about six mobs left in the room. We split up at this point, each moving in opposite directions. Four of them followed me, while the other two followed Cordon. Since all of their HP gauges were low, I finished them off fairly quickly. A dialogue box flashed in front of me as the final mob burst into code.

Level up!
Lv. 74 -> Lv. 75

“Damn it, not now,” I muttered under my breath, turning to see if Cordon had noticed. He, thankfully, was busy finishing off the final mob in the room, and hadn’t seen. As I was preparing to gallop over to help him finish the mob, it too burst into lines of code and disappeared. The room suddenly shook as, with a deep rumble, something began to rise up from the middle of the floor. I barely managed to keep my hooves under me as the room shook even harder. A stone platform was emerging from the stone floor, with something dark floating just above it. As the platform clicked into place, the room became quite still again. A dialogue box appeared above the item, and even from so far away, I could still make it out.

[null]

“What the hell?” I whispered. I had never heard of the game failing to display the item name before, and as far as I knew, neither had anyone else. I began trotting towards the stone pedestal for a closer look.

At least, until I couldn’t move.

My legs quit responding, and I fell to the ground on my side with a clatter. As I tried to get up again, I realized I couldn’t move anything. A small yellow symbol next to my health bar then caught my attention.

Paralysis? I thought. How did that--

“You know,” a voice said to my left, “you really are a moron. No wonder I was able to trip you so easily that one time.”

It was Cordon. Unable to speak due to my mouth being frozen, I was forced to lay there in silence as his figure loomed over me.

Where’s Cross Heart when I need him? I wondered silently.

“I didn’t think you would be the one to take my sidequest,” he said, his voice almost shaking with suppressed triumph. “I was just going to wait to kill you until I already had this amulet, but you made things nice and simple for me. I’ll just kill you now, while you have no method of resistance.”

He grabbed me by a hoof-full of hair, and dragged me painfully across the rough stone floor to the platform. He turned me sideways as to better observe him before letting my head fall back to the stone floor.

“Here ends the famous Darkened5ky,” Cordon sneered at me. “One of the most powerful players in the game, completely defenseless. You once saved Shadowflame from the Haters’ Guild, but no one will come to save you, and who would want to?”

I put as much hate as possible into my eyes, which were the only things I could still move, as he stared down at me.

“I talked to some others last night,” Cordon said as he turned towards the platform again. “Rumor has it you almost killed Shadowflame last week.”

The hate in my eyes was replaced by absolute shock. As far as I knew, nobody outside of the Knights of Harmony knew about that. Cordon chuckled darkly.

“That must be one huge anger problem you have,” he said, gloatingly. “I’m surprised, honestly. You never really seemed like the angry type to me. I never saw you lose your temper.”

Oh I wanted to, believe me, I thought to myself, wishing I had use of my mouth.

“I never would’ve guessed,” Cordon said as he stepped onto the small stone platform beneath the pedestal, failed to notice the missing item name, and turned to face me again. “Maybe I’m doing all of the players a favor by killing you. But don’t worry,” he laughed, turning away again. “I’ll be sure to send Shadowflame your regards when I kill him.”

He extended his hoof, placed it on the floating amulet, and pulled.

It didn’t move.

“What the…” Cordon muttered, as he tugged on it again. He then grabbed it with both front hooves and yanked as hard as he could, his back hooves now on the pedestal.

“Why...won’t...you...MOVE?!” he shouted in frustration, as the amulet still refused to budge.

I looked back at my status window in the top left, and realized with a jolt that the paralysis symbol had disappeared. I sat up, levitating my fallen swords over to me from the other side of the room. When they had reached me, I walked towards Cordon, who was still uselessly attempting to pry the amulet from the air.

“That amulet’s glitched,” I said calmly. Cordon jumped in fright, and whipped around to face me. His mouth fell open in shock as he saw who had snuck up on him.

“It can’t even display its name,” I said, pointing a sword at the dialogue box again. I saw him look at it through the corner of his eye, but he seemed more surprised by me.

“HOW??” he exclaimed, still completely stunned. “My paralysis darts shouldn’t wear off that quickl--”

“Obviously, you’re never going to change,” I cut across him, raising my swords threateningly. “You’ll just keep using the same cheap, cowardly tactics until you have your apotheosis back again, and then some other worthless scumbag will just kill you for it. So we can do this the easy way or the hard way. The easy way: You surrender to me quietly and I lock you up somewhere for a long time. The hard way…”

I raised my right hoof, and mimed slitting my own throat with a knife. Cordon came to slightly, and pulled his battle axe off his back.

“Hard way it is,” I said, with an evil smile. It would be more satisfying to beat the living hell out of him than to just cuff him.
For the second time in two days, I activated one of my two combat skills. Again, the area lost most of the little light it had as the system did a series of target locks. I levitated myself off the ground again and flew forward. Cordon managed to block the first several blows, and almost hit me with one of the backswings. but I moved faster, knocking his axe into the air with my left sword, and slashing through his chest with my right. He couldn’t physically move his axe quickly enough to block me anymore. He cried out as my swords slashed through him with ease, his health bar decreasing drastically with each blow. When my combo finished, Cordon was almost down to the red zone. He retrieved a health potion from his inventory, but I slashed at it as he raised it to his mouth, and it burst apart, taking all of its substance with it into oblivion. In a final, desperate effort to stop me, Cordon took a heavy swing at me with his axe. But my counterattack was so strong that not only did it block his swing, it also sent his axe spinning away into the air.

He took a final, angry look at me.

“I’ll get you one day,” he snarled at me. “Before this game ends, you will die at my hand.”

“Uh-huh,” I replied skeptically.

Cordon glanced at my swords with fearful eyes, before summoning one more item from his inventory. It was rectangular-shaped, glinting in the little remaining light in the room. I had only seen it once or twice before, but I recognized it; an extraordinarily rare Teleportation Crystal.

“Don’t you dare--”

But I was too slow. As I swung my sword to knock the crystal from his hooves, it activated, changing color as it flashed a brilliant shade of teal. Cordon was enveloped in a white circle of light that half-blinded me. When the light subsided a moment later, Cordon was nowhere to be seen.

“Get back here!” I yelled into the air. “Get back, you little coward! Face me like a real man!”

But I knew yelling was pointless; Teleportation Crystals can take you anywhere you’ve already visited, so he could be almost anywhere now. I sheathed my swords, and turned back to the glitched amulet.

“I didn’t think the game allowed stuff like this to exist,” I said to myself as I got closer. “If the code didn’t notice this, maybe we can figure out how to create another fake ite--”

But I stopped mid-sentence as I took a good hard look at the amulet. My eyes widened.

“No way,” I said for the second time that day, all thoughts of a possible game item exploit gone. “No. Freaking. Way.”

The amulet was also shaped like my cutie mark.

Was this dungeon built for me? I wondered. First, there had been the name that Cordon couldn’t read, then the whole dungeon was shaped like my cutie mark, and now the hidden item was as well. When did this dungeon come into the game? Had the admins programmed this, or was it something Discord had set up?? How else could it have been my cutie mark, something that hadn’t even existed when the game initially launched? And if it was the latter option, why hadn’t Discord shown himself?

“I wonder…” I said, thoughtfully. A player-specific item had chosen me not even 24 hours beforehand. Could it be possible that this is a player-specific dungeon? And if that’s the case, then wouldn’t this be…

I stretched out a hoof and touched it, and like Cordon, I couldn’t get it to budge.

“Magic,” I muttered. “Maybe it only responds to my magic aura.”

I lit my horn, and tried to move the amulet.

It didn’t budge.

Instead, it shattered.

The amulet broke into dozens of little stone pieces. The same black smoke that I had sensed earlier began pouring out of the pedestal. I jumped back in alarm, but the cloud of darkness was much faster than I was. It completely surrounded me, then engulfed me. I couldn’t see, I couldn’t move.

“What’s happening?!” I cried out, as the cloud of darkness threatened to suffocate me entirely in it’s depths. As I was about to suffocate, I heard a voice. A slightly-distorted, deep voice that sent chills down my spine.

Indeed… Here ends the famous Darkened5ky…