Sword Art Online

"Uh huh..." Gringolet responded in a voice that sounded almost as unimpressed as the stone-licker. "Oi. Boulder. Ya know, you seem like just the sort of pony who'd keep this place interesting for me. So..."
The stallion turned towards the other end of the plaza, then set his eyes on the very strange mare. He had a rather comical smile on his face as he asked her his next question, a bit of mania creeping into his voice, "Wanna go kill things with me?"

“What a coincidence. Rez and I were talking about just that before you uhh… dropped in on us. I totally don’t mind if you tag along.” Unity said, looking to Rez for his opinion on the matter.
Seeing as Arianwyn’s attack had missed the boar, it had elected to continue roaming about the field of boar genocide.


Back at Market District, the NPC Wild Card had approached looked at him with mild amusement. “Ah doesn't haf enny of them fancy instroomnts. Ah sell banjos, son, as enny fool kin plainly see. Banjos an' banjo accesso'ies. Buy one o' git. Ah doesn't haf time t'set aroun' an' chat.”


Rekkkled looked at Mechana like she was some insane madmare as she asked her question. “I dunno, luv, maybe you should go actually talk to an NPC or something. Sweet Celestia, Russians? Really? Damn Human-obsessed weirdo. Bet you believe in Aliens too, don’tcha?” He rolled his eyes. “We’re outa here, boys.” he said, gesturing with his neck at his comrades, leaving Mechana’s presence.  


Midnight’s ‘Beast Taming’ stall was more ‘Hunting’ than ‘taming’. Manning the stand, was a tough looking earth pony mare. Her green eyes stared deep into Midnight as she stood there, blocking the potential customers.


At the palace, Boulder stared at Gringolet for a good five seconds before responding to his question. “Yes. I grow bored of this…replication. Who do you have in mind?” She asked the other pony in her default tone of expression.

Midnight looked over the stall, before seeing the earth pony mare staring at her, backing away slightly from the glare. Perhaps it wasn't for her...No. She had to, otherwise she'd be flaunting around forever. Plus perhaps while doing this hunting-beast stuff, she could pick up the basics of Black-smithing. Sure, it might slow down her overall speed at how high her levelings gets, but being useful in multiply departments would be a valuable skill.

She walked back up to the stall, clearing her breath "H-hi. H-how much would it cost to start becoming like, a hunter...huntress..?" she asks, keeping gaze against the large earth mare.

"Sounds good to me, welcome aboard then," Rez said when the focus had shifted to him as he offered a hoofbump to Arianwyn before beginning to lead the way back to town. "So first things first, we're getting Unity there patched back up, might have to sell a couple of these boar hides, or by chance would either of you know if we started with any coin? Either way, after that we might as well try and find a quest or something to really start racking up some EXP. Who knows, maybe we'll even get some cool equipment out of it," Rez added as he continued to walk. He was still secretly loving the fact that he could talk again, it felt so wonderful to not have to communicate via dry erase board.

Arianwyn nodded with a smile before bumping Rez's hoof. "Well, I was gonna kill that boar for at least a little bit of experience, but I suppose it can wait for now." she said as she observed the boar go back to roaming, as if she never attacked it. "New equipment sounds mighty fine!" she added before starting to follow Rez. "Hey... what do you think bosses will be like? I doubt they'll be easy, but they shouldn't be too hard just yet, huh?"

Mechana mutters a slurry of insults at them under her breath after they'd gone an appropriate distance. She didn't need Test Subject #1 and his band of cheeky nandos. She'd out-PvP them one day. That'd show them. However, Test Subject #1 did raise a valid point. NPCs usually had quests. And with quests, came experience and loot. But therein lied the problem. What was an NPC? What seperated an NPC from a normal player? Would it be a giant exclamation point over their head? No, she decided, that would be too easy. Unless there actually was one, in which case give her that sweet questicles. She'd need something more clever to deduce the presence of NPCs. She'd need something really useful. A minimap. Or perhaps even a fully fledged map. She begins to search through the menus for such a thing. She really should have read the user manual for more than how to start the game, no?

Verde eyes Star. "What are you doing? We haven't been logged in all that long, Star. Although I take it you must be a pegasus in the real world and are getting used to the lack of wings." She pauses thoughtfully. "I wonder why the game creator didn't include more than one race. I don't mind being a zebra at all, but the omission seems... I don't know, a bit strange." She swipes to open her own menu and looks it over. "I wonder if there's a general area map or if it's one of those deals where the map is only revealed as you travel to the area."

Star shrugged a little at Verde. "Thestral actually." He said with a smile. He then went back to looking for the log out button. "Maybe they didn't want people flying away from battle or using magic to make it easy. I donno." He gave a shrug again and then paused, his face showing a look of confusion. He'd went to the most logical place a log out button would have been and there was none there...just an empty box. "Uhh...Hey, do you know where the log out button is...?" He said to the mare next to as she opens up her menu too. "Because I can't seem to find it."

Wild Card was genuinely confused by the reaction he had received, and it took a few seconds to process what the vendor had just said to him. After deciphering the verbal puzzle, he nodded in response. "Hm, fair enough. Thank you for your time." The stallion said politely, turning and walking away from the stall. 'Well, I suppose it is the starting area. Can't have the fanciest of things here.' 'Low level ponies, apple-family instruments. Amusing, really.' It was at this moment he realised that Midnight was no longer with him, and he sighed to himself. "Darn. She's gone." "Well it's not like we could force another player to stand by us while we're browsing for instruments. I'm sure she's doing the same for something else." He said to himself.

So Wild took it upon himself to seek out the other player. It didn't take too long, as he found the mare by the Hunting stall, and then trotted over to her. "Hey, no luck on the violin thing, but I'll be headed to that lake you could see from the starting area if you want to find me." The stallion said happily, quickly turning and trotting away to his pre-described location, remembering the route he took to get to the market and following it backwards to get to the large circular starting area before walking down the South path towards the lake, all while constantly looking around and taking in every detail and if certain buildings had any use or meaning to them.

"Oh, nothing so specific. I say we should simply let opportunity call out to us. How does that sound to you? Unless you already have someone or something in mind." Gringolet replied, turning to look over the plaza as a whole. Today was already looking to be a good day. "We should get moving then, if we wish to find such opportunity."
Heh. No responsibility here, right? Nobody can stop my little fun now. So might as well enjoy my little time here.

“Often I am asked… what does a hunter truly need.” She mused, laughing lightly to herself with a gruff grunt becoming of her appearance. Strong. Wild. Fierce. “Would you be swift? Then for you I have speed beyond measure.” the huntress claimed, gesturing towards a set of beautifully crafted leather boots that were resting atop her stall’s counter. “Or, perhaps you would be strong, yes? Then I can grant you the might to overpower ANY foe!” she asserted with dominance, gesturing confidently towards the gigantic warhammer that somehow hung behind her on a stall wall, as if defying gravity itself. “What of your wisdom, hmmm? Does that strike your fancy?” She asked, urging the mare in front of her closer. The huntress reached down underneath her stall, and with a movement so fast even the most skilled of ponies would have trouble following, she slammed a gigantic tome onto the countertop, sending the ornate leather boots bouncing into the air. “THEN COME CLOSER AND I WILL UNLOCK YOUR INNER CUNNING!” She yelled, a gigantic grin spreading across her scarred face. “What does a hunter truly need?” she chuckled, “That… is for you to decide.”

  Wild, having essentially been waved off by the local country instrument salespony, would have been able to catch the final bits of the huntress’ exchange with Midnight, specifically the bits involving granting and unlocking. The narrow streets of the market district were slowly becoming more and more crowded as new players found their way towards its shops and stalls.

---

  By this point, the majority of the field Rez, Unity and Arianwyn rested on had been cleared of the low-level roaming boars, with only two or three stragglers obliviously munching on grass at what one would assume to have been the edges of the poor creature’s preset roaming area. The players responsible for the eradication of this particular field had already begun to leave for greener pastures, leaving the trio to talk in relative peace. Without the sounds of battle, the virtual world these three ponies found themselves in was really quite beautiful. Between the heavily forested area that led to the city and the wide, rolling plains beyond it… it was hard to believe none of this was ‘real’.

  “Solid. We’ve got a nice little party going. Patching me up should be as simple as walking into the city’s center.” Unity mused. She made a swiping gesture with a hoof, opening her in-game menu and hoofing over to the inventory tab. “Looks like we don’t start with much more than the clothes on our back.” She continued, shrugging. “Well, as far as quests go… I remember passing this important looking building on a lake near the town center. Might be worth looking inside.” she added, finishing.  When the topic of bosses was brought up, it was hard to not notice the grin on the light pink mare’s face. “Dude, they’re bucking intense. Don’t suppose you followed SAO’s official forum, yeah? Well, apparently they’re like… in these deep dungeons, which we have to clear first as we search for the boss’s room, and when we do finally find it… shit hits the fan. The doors lock behind us and it’s a fight to the death. Pretty damn intense.” She finished.

---

  Fortunately for Mechana, Rekkkled and his band of cheeky nandos were too far gone to hear her muttered insults. Her luck ended there, however, as SAO’s developers seemed to have favored a minimalistic approach as far as menu-features were concerned. Simply put, the in-game menu lacked a minimap. Perhaps she could buy a map from an NPC somewhere within the city? Perhaps the nearby merchant district she overheard several ponies speak of on her quest for quests. Indeed, maybe she should have read the instruction guide.

---

  The small argument near Star and Verde between a mare, a stallion, and the stallion’s friends seemed to have died down, with both parties taking their leave in separate directions. Like Mechana, Verde would fail to find a map within SAO’S in-game menu system.

---

  Boulder once again stared emotionlessly at Gringolet, the mare didn’t even bother to blink as she gazed into his eyes. “Alright. Lead the way.” she replied in the stereotypical Boulder fashion. Boulder would prove true to her word, following the stallion wherever he lead her. She’d say very little, preferring to stare off at the various feats of architecture the city sported.

Rez shook his head back and forth to silently say no. "I just jumped right in. My agent worked out some lucrative deal with the developers to where if I sponsored the game and put some of the background music into one of my songs, I got a free copy and could join the launch," Rez replied while beginning to walk back to the town with them. "It sounds rough though, like it'll probably take a lot of us to actually manage it. Do you think more can join the fight once it starts?" Rez asked then since he obviously hadn't read the manual or the online info.

Arianwyn shrugged. "If that's the case, it'd be best to get a lot better gear first. I would assume the first boss will be at least hundred times harder than a boar." she said as she looked at the boar that she attempted attacking. "Who knows, maybe we even get accepted into a guild or something." she said and giggled as they continued walking. She then looked at Rez. "Free copy, huh... Wish I was that lucky. And I'm not sure, seeing as the 'doors' close after us. I suppose everyone has to enter at the same time..."

Verde smirks. "Excellent! Now, let's see what there is to do around here, or where there is to go." She scrolls around the menu, sighs, and then looks at Star. "Blasted beta version crapola. So what do you think... hang around by the lakeside or go out into the wild to do some hunting? I've always wanted to try meat and I guess a place of imagination and simulation would be the best place to do it. I mean, this place can't possibly be perfectly simulating a pony, could it? I'd think it'd be a ways outside the capacity of a computer program to simulate enzymes, digestive system, and all the other details of histology and physiology neccessary to represent actual dietary restrictions." She shrugs as she turns the menu off. "Or maybe we shouldn't take the chance. What do you think?"