Chapter 17: Breath of the Wild

                                    

                                          
"So what's this game called?" Rainbow Dash asked, her excitement beginning to grow as they all took their seats. Alex handed the girls some popcorn to share.

                          
"It's called Breath of the Wild, it won Game of the Year last year." Alex answered.
                          
"Game of the Year? Sounds awesome." Rainbow Dash said.
                          
"Heheh, oh yeah. There's a reason I made popcorn before starting this session. We're gonna start from the beginning of the game." Alex said, beginning to set the game on. The three of them got comfortable on the couch.
                          
"This is exciting. It's almost like we're watching a movie." Fluttershy commented.
                          
"It's even better than that, because you get to make suggestions on where to go and what to do first." Alex said.
                          
"We have that option?" Rarity asked.
                          
"Once I get through the tutorial, it's completely open-world." Alex said.
                          
"So you can go anywhere and do whatever you want?" Rainbow Dash asked.
                          
"In a fictional world full of dangerous monsters and epic missions." Alex replied.
                          
"Ohh this is gonna be great!"
                          
***
                          
"I'm really sorry to be the one to have to tell you all of this. Finding Rainbow Dash has been my top priority these past two weeks, and I've been so focused on it, I haven't really filled anypony else in." Twilight apologized.
                          
"Hey, that's alright. We just hope you find Rainbow Crash soon. She's not easy to replace." Spitfire replied, pushing her flight goggles up to her forehead.
                          
"No she isn't. We'll get her back soon, I hope."
                          
"Any idea where she might be?" Spitfire asked curiously. Twilight shook her head.
                          
"We're still working on that, but nothing yet." She answered. Spitfire cringed a bit.
                          
"Yeesh. That's not good. Best of luck to ya, princess. You just tell her that she'll have plenty to catch up on when she gets back." Spitfire said.
                          
"I will. Thank you." Twilight said as Spitfire took off. She sighed, and began to fly back towards Ponyville.
                          
On her way towards and past Ponyville, she had plenty of time to recollect the events from two weeks ago, what had happened, what went wrong, and the chances they had of replicating their mistake perfectly. Even if they could, the chances of their friends being safe were smaller still.
                          
And their chances grew smaller with each passing day.
                          
Finally, Twilight swooped down to Fluttershy's cottage, and briefly knocked on the door before entering. She came in to a rowdy mess of Applejack and Pinkie Pie and Discord all trying to manage the anxious creatures.
                          
"Doggonit, would ya quit runnin' around breakin' everything?" Applejack shouted to the bear. It growled in a distressed way and waved its paws in the air.
                          
"Will you eat the carrot? No? How about the cupcake? No?! The carrot cupcake?!" Pinkie desperately tried to negotiate with Angel Bunny, but he was refusing to eat.
                          
"Oh, this is just wonderful. Cause some more damage, why don't you? Just steal all my thunder!" Discord groaned.
                          
"Looks like things aren't going so well here either." Twilight said with a sigh.
                          
"We're tryin' our best, sugarcube, but can't nopony do this like Fluttershy can." Applejack said apologetically, wiping her brow tiredly.
                          
"Yeah, this is just ridiculous! How does she handle all of this?!" Pinkie Pie groaned. Twilight sighed.