Dale let out a massive yawn as he and Matt walked through the Everfree Forest. Dale didn't get that good of a sleep last night since he was sleeping on a pretty small couch, but it was still better than sleeping in the cold. The forest was a lot colder than it was yesterday, probably because it was really early in the morning. Dale was annoyed that he didn't even get to have any breakfast before Matt shoved him out to help look for Fluttershy's animals. Fluttershy wasn't even awake when the boys left the cottage, in fact, no one seemed to be awake other than the two.

"Keep your eyes peeled, Dale. Harry couldn't have gone that far," Matt said while squinting his eyes, the fog in the Everfree Forest was thick today.

"Yeah yeah..." Dale muttered, he really thought about just ditching in the morning so he wouldn't have to waste his time. Fluttershy did give him a roof over his head for the night, so the guilt might have eaten him up on the inside. Dale didn't even know where he would go if he left town, he had no more leads since Matt didn't know what happened to the Earth either. "What are we looking for anyway?" Dale asked.

"Fluttershy's animal friend," Matt responded while shuffling through a bush, Dale followed suit.

"I get that," Dale rolled his eyes, "But what animal are we looking for?"

"We're looking for a bear, I'm not sure what kind though."

"Wait, what?" Dale stopped walking to talk, "You're fucking with me, right?"

"Don't worry, he's friendly... I think so at least," Matt scratched the back of his head. "Just stick with me and you'll be fine," Matt began to walk deeper into the fog.

"Whatever you say..." Dale thought to himself as he began to follow Matt once more. Dale was beginning to feel really cold, it didn't help that his clothes were still damaged. Dale wanted to see if there was anything he could do to get them patched up as soon as possible, the last thing he wants is to get hypothermia. Dale tapped his arm brace to bring up the holographic menu, he then decided to check his stats for anything new.

Name: Dale Stevens

Level: 5

HP: 55/55

MP: 25/25

Status

Strength: 4

Magic: 3

Vitality: 6

Agility: 3

Luck: 4

EXP: 17/200

App Points: 15

Stat Points (Allocate when ready) 3

Current Alignment: Neutral

Skills

Zio (Light Electric damage to one foe, low chance of shock) -4MP

Dale had forgotten that he levelled up last night, it was probably because he was too tired to care. Now that he has some Stat Points and App Points, Dale decided that it would be for the best to take a look in Alex's Function.

"Hey, Alex," Dale said aloud. Matt stopped walking and looked at Dale.

"How may I help you, Master Dale?" Alex's voice spoke.

"Can you pull up the list of Functions and Skills I can purchase?" Dale asked. The screen that Dale was on morphed into a new shape.

Functions

(More Functions will be available to purchase at a later date)

Advanced Translator (Translate monsters that don't speak your native language making it easier to negotiate with them) -30AP

Glossary (Allows Alex to record whatever you discover about monsters and people alike for you to view whenever you want) -10AP

Skills

(You may also spend App Points on skills that you can learn. You can know a maximum of 8 skills before you have to begin to discard them. You may repurchase a skill if you choose to do so. More skills will be available to purchase at a later date)

Zio (Light Electric damage to one foe, low chance of shock) -5AP (4MP cost) (Currently Installed)

Mazio (Light Electric damage to all foes, low chance of shock) -15AP (8MP cost)

Bufu (Light Ice damage to one foe, low chance of freeze) -5AP (4MP cost)

Dale looked longingly at the Mazio skill, it not only sounded cool but it looked like it could be useful. The drawback would be that all of his App Points would not only be spent, but the MP cost for the skill alone was too high to use multiple times. Dale was too focused on his own thoughts to notice Matt walk over with a slight grin.

"Yo, what are you looking at?" Matt walked around Dale as an attempt to look at his holographic menu. Matt frowned as he realized that he couldn't see what was on Dale's screen, it just showed up blank for Matt. Matt opened up his holographic menu and looked at the stats for Dale; he realized that the only thing he could see about Dale were his basic stats, level, alignment, and class. "Huh, I guess I can only see your stats on my arm brace; just like the ponies in town," Matt began to fiddle with his own status menu.

"Hey, Matt," Dale started, "How much do you know about how this world works?"

"In what regard?" Matt asked without taking his eyes off of his screen.

"I mean, mechanically. How much do you understand the mechanics? I don't know what to build into for the 'class' I was assigned to. I was wondering if you could help me with that?" When Dale asked his question, Matt looked at him with a grin on his face.

"Fuck, how much time do you got?" Matt asked the rhetorical question while chuckling. "Anyways, think of it like this. Your class 'Blank Slate' lets you use any skill of any element, right?"

Dale nodded his head, "Yeah"

"Does that mean Physical skills or Magical skills?"

Dale quickly checked his Skills menu again to see what was available for purchase, "The only ones I can buy right now are Magical Skills," he said while scrolling through the menu.

"Then when you get the chance, I say just dump as many points into your magic stat as you can for now," Matt suggested.

Dale looked at him like he was crazy, "But that would leave me wide open if I fight something that can block magic, right?"

"That's why you should be trying to recruit monsters and other party members, to cover what you can't do. Take this for an example," Matt flipped through his menu and tapped his screen on the 'Summon' option. When Matt thrust his left hand forward a Parasprite appeared from a flash of light, the same one that Matt used the previous night. "You see this little guy? He watches my back by covering what I can't do myself. I can only use fire magic on my own, so I am out of luck when it comes to something that will block fire magic, the only thing I could do at that point is an attack with my fists or a weapon if I get one. But, if the enemy is weak to wind skills, the Parasprite will be able to do serious damage since they can use the skill 'Garu' which does light wind damage to one enemy. You see how I'm suddenly back to having the advantage? Not only do I know the weakness, but I also have a second party member to help me in the fight to make it easier to survive."

As much as Dale would hate to admit it, Matt is right about this. Dale can't get by on his own no matter how hard he tries because there is always the chance of him running into something he can't take care of with his power. Dale opened his status screen once more so he can begin to figure out what to do. He placed two points into magic and one point into luck on his level screen. He did this so he can have an easier time getting items and recruiting party members, also to increase his maximum MP and magic attack.

Name: Dale Stevens

Level: 5

HP: 55/55

MP: 35/35

Status

Strength: 4

Magic: 5

Vitality: 6

Agility: 3

Luck: 5

Dale thought about what to spend his App Points on for a while. As much as he wanted to get the Mazio skill, it would be the better option to snag the Glossary now so that Alex could track all of the data. It could even help with finding out more about Equestria. Dale purchased the Glossary function as well as the Bufu skill so he could expand his element coverage. Once again he was back to zero App Points but was a little more sure of himself now that he was becoming more prepared for any challenge he may come across.

"Good job, now we just need you to learn how to recruit a monster into your party and you'll be set," Matt scratched his chin getting lost in his own thoughts. Matt began to shiver as the wind began to pick up. "I can show you how to do that another time. Let's just try to find Harry for now." The two boys began their search through the forest, making sure to check every spot they could. Hope began to dwindle more and more as time passed, Dale had no idea how a bear could get this lost especially if it usually lives with Fluttershy. A knot began to form in Dale's stomach as he saw blood stains on the grass.

"Hey! I think I found something!" Dale yelled to Matt who was looking in the distance. Matt jogged over towards Dale, only to slow down as he saw the blood stains on the grass.

"Oh shit," Matt muttered as he began to run in the direction the blood was leading to. Dale followed close behind, making sure not to run into any trees or trip on any branches, the fog was beginning to become thicker. "Get off of him you fuckers!" Matt's voice echoed through the forest, Dale used this as a way to find out where Matt was. Dale saw a bright orange glow slice through the fog, flames began to warm him up as Matt cast his fire magic on the three Timberwolves that he ran into. "Maragi!" Matt yelled out as all the Timberwolves were ignited.

-60HP Weak! Enemies Defeated!

The numbers flashed above the head of the Timberwolves as they collapsed into a burning heap. Matt ran over to what the Timberwolves were focused on, not caring about the Exp he just received. Dale began to cautiously walk over to Matt with a look of concern on his face.

"Hey... What's going on?" Dale asked. Matt only stood in silence as he looked down at the corpse that layed before him. Dale stood beside the shocked boy and looked at the gruesome event that was in front of them. There was a dark brown bear laying on the ground cut open and missing one of its hind legs. Dale couldn't look at the sight for long before retreating to a nearby bush to vomit.

"Goddamnit!" Matt shouted in anger; it all but confirmed that the dead bear was indeed Harry. Matt knew better than Dale would since he watched the show. Matt began to curse in anger, possibly to vent out the frustration of being too late to save Fluttershy's friend. Matt took notice that the bloodstains weren't fresh and that Harry could have been dead for a while before the boys even found him.

It had been a few hours since Dale and Matt found Harry in the Everfree Forest and neither of them was excited to tell Fluttershy the bad news. The boys had been discussing with each other over who should be the one to deliver the message to her ever since they returned to the cottage entrance.

"I'm telling you, Dale. I really think you should be the one to do it," Matt said. He had been trying to convince Dale to be the one to talk to Fluttershy because he believed that it would be a chance to show that he wasn't a bad guy.

"There's no way in hell I'm doing that," Dale responded, "I don't even know her. I don't know how she would react to it. What would you do if a stranger went up to you and said 'your friend is dead' because I would be more angry than sad? You're the one who watched the show, so you know what to say."

"Something like this never happened in the show at all," Matt said glumly, "This is your chance to show her that you're nice and maybe you'll be able to stay here with her and me."

"Matt, I'm not planning on staying here you know that. Once I get my next lead I'll be out of this town for good. It'll just be a waste of time to try to get to know her," Dale sat down on the edge of the bridge that crossed over the pond. He was already set on what he wanted to do next and didn't want to get distracted.

"Where would you even go?" Matt asked with anger in his voice, "This is the only place you have with a roof over your head, the least you can do is be nice."

"Yeah, well I already tried to search for her friend and we saw how that turned out." Dale turned his head and glared at Matt.

"Whatever..." Matt said before walking into Fluttershy's cottage to break the news to her. Dale sat down for a few minutes in silence, he couldn't even tell if the two were talking at all or not. Dale's thoughts were broken by his arm brace beeping.

Quest Log

Quest Completed!

"Equestria 101"

Rewards:

120 EXP

60 Bits

5 App Points.

EXP: 137/200

App Points: 5

Alignment Shift

Current Alignment: Chaos

The Alignment change worried Dale a bit as he wondered what it meant, but he soon ignored it as he began to think of his next course of action. He looked down at his chest and sighed, his shirt was still torn and it needed to be repaired. Dale wondered if the Bits that he has been receiving was a form of accepted currency in Equestria. He hoped it was, it was beginning to get really cold out and Dale didn't plan on freezing to death.