Chapter 22 The Moth's Proposal

Dante was a bit shocked, but he didn't let his guard down. Eyeing the moth with a mixture of curiosity and suspicion, The moth might pull some tricks. Who knows, maybe it has already finished its plan.

I inquired, suspicious of her intentions. "Why?" my wings kept flapping, ready to fly away or strike at any moment, depending on what the situation asked for.

Anticipating my skepticism, the moth began explaining her plan, "We need you to increase the snow levels and make it as cold as possible. If you can't increase it anymore we are fine with just a constant stream of snow."

Still beware of the moth, I asked, "Why should I?"

Dante doesn't have any reason to work with this moth. In fact, it might actually backfire on him in the worst case.

"We will sign a non-aggression pact. We also will be giving you a percentage of the money we get from killing players," A contract manifested out of thin air. The contract wasn't small. It consisted of at least ten pages of terms and conditions.

With furrowed brows, the pegasus read the contract for a few seconds, realizing it was longer and more complex than it initially appeared to be. "Give me a second. I need to discuss it with my partner."

With a calm voice, the moth responded, "There is no problem. We aren't in a hurry."

I rushed up to Daniel, calling out his name loudly. "DANIEL!" Dante's call echoed through the cloudy expanse.

Daniel, unruffled, retorted, "You don't need to scream. I'm not going anywhere."

I explained to Daniel what happened and asked for his input. In a few seconds, he read through the contract astonishingly fast.

His friend compared the pros and cons and gave his verdict.

"Techically, they get more things but is almost free for us. You should accept."

I responded, "Okey."

Daniel inquired about me accepting really fast. "Aren't you gonna ask about what it is?"

"I trust you." Without hesitation, I signed the contract by placing my hoof on it. Daniel followed. When both our signatures were on the contract. It faded into a fiery yellow flame, dissipating into the air.

The mysterious moth, seemingly satisfied with the agreement, bid farewell with a tiny bow. "I hope we can cooperate for the duration of the entire event."

After saying goodbye, the moth stood there doing nothing. Somehow, you could sense it turned off.

"Then, to build a winter world," Dante refocused on the task at hand: make clouds as cold as possible to create the wintry weather.

My curiosity got me, and I started experimenting with clouds, trying to see what's the limit of my ability and I found one. Out of kicking certain clouds many times, they exploded in electric bursts.

I chuckled at my appearance, "I'm a total mess..." My coat and mane sponged up, giving them an afro-like appearance. I had to take a quick bath in a rain cloud to clean the mess.

As Dante took a super quick shower, he discovered something "Wait... why didn't I think about this before."

A scream filled the place "INCOMING!"

Daniel turned his head just to meet an oversized snowball approaching to him. Without much importance, Daniel dodged the snowball.

As I flew away to get more clouds, I exclaimed from afar, "You're no fun!"

...

While working in the sunshine, I received an unexpected but very welcomed message.

+750 gold (Minor assistance)

a few seconds later, the same message popped

+750 gold (Minor assistance)

Is the contract already making money? That was fast.

I continued constructing the house. In a moment of inspiration, I came up with the idea of compressing the clouds into blocks and using them to build the structure.

After pouring a lot of my time and energy, I managed to make a decent house. It was cube-shaped, giving a Minecraft remembrance to it.

A sense of pride invaded me whenever I glimpsed it.

Daniel, curious about my fashion sense, asked, "Why is it cube shapped?"

Not so sure, I responded, "For easier manipulation? Dunno It just happened naturally... Anyways, you will have the complete tour, so" With a gentle nudge, I guided Daniel along the path leading to our new temporary house.

"Here is the pathway. There isn't much except for these fake plants." we followed the path made of ice shards and blue clouds until we got close enough.

I proudly presented the house with my forearms, "Ta-dah," the place had this Minecraft style; the interior mirrored a typical house, filled with crafting tables, furniture etc.

I said to Daniel, "This is your bedroom." Daniel's bedroom was strategically positioned close to the door, so if something happened, I could grab him and run away

I kept showing him the house with recreations of everyday objects you'll find in any modern home; it even had a working cooler. Thanks to the pegasi magic, I could make ice cubes or clean water without the need to use our inventory.

After inspecting the house, Daniel recognized that something was missing. "Where is your room?"

I dismiss him, "I'll make myself one later or just sleep on the roof. I have to keep giving the final touches to the house."

Dante didn't want to sleep in the house. If something came here, it might give him trouble after all that the moth managed to get here. There should be more players with the ability to find him.

I continued building more stuff until I told Daniel, "This is boring." I'm starting to get bored of just building."

The first hours were entertaining, but I quickly lost interest when the initial waves of excitement faded away.

Daniel replied to me, "It's better than being fighting for our lives."

"I don't know I just feel like doing something." Rainbow Dash's personality affects his perception of the world, making him become more imperative each day, and this will continue until all fragments of rarity have been devoured.

Sensing Dante's need for activity, Daniel proposed, "Then why don't you play something with me?"

His answer piqued my interest to what we could possibly play? There isn't much in the sky. "Play what?"

"It's a pretty old game, probably you'll know it if we come from a similar timeline, It's name is chess,"

"Yeah I know it but, I'm not the best at it, and how are we gonna even play it?"

Daniel reminded me, "Isn't one of your abilities, mold clouds into anything?"

"OH, I forgot that It could be used like that." I quickly got to work, making a chessboard, the white pieces with white clouds and the black pieces with dark blue clouds.

...

Fuck...

...

After playing the game for a few hours, I got bored because... I lost 25 times. Daniel is really good at chess, and I have never taken it seriously before. As a result, the outcome was predictable.

Tired of always losing, I proposed a change, "Why don't we play something more active and entertaining?"

Their gaze intertwined. Dante's eyes had a glint of malice as for Daniel. He had a bad omen of what was about to happen.

Sensing impending shenanigans, Daniel hurriedly covered his body in aura just in time to deflect a punch from the fast pegasus, avoiding taking any damage.

Unfazed by the unsuccessful attack, I excitedly smirked, "SPAR TIME!"

Daniel tensed his body, ready to fight, but I calmed him down with a playful tone, "I just wanted to punch you for winning. I don't want to make a mess, so let's spar in the garden."

Outside, both of us stood across from each other in a wide-open cloud field, with our eyes locked.

I spread my wings, ready to take flight at any moment, while Daniel drew his sword, focusing his aura on his eyes.

We circled each other, waiting for the other to make the first move. Teasingly, I said, "Then I'll do the first move." I darted forward with my wings slicing through the air, sending a sharp blast of air.

Daniel swung his sword in a wide arc, parrying the attack and going all in. but I was too quick. I nimbly dodged the attack and landed behind him, kicking his back.

The swordsman quickly recovered from the hit, retaliating with a powerful strike that almost cut the agile pegasus. 

Dante circled around Daniel, darting in and out of range with lightning-fast strikes. The strategy might look cowardly, but it is the best course of action.

Despite the intensity of the battle, neither of us seems to have the upper hand. My speed keeps me a step ahead of his attacks, but still, one well-placed hit could be dangerous.

As Dante flew in for another attack, Daniel saw an opening and struck with all his might. His sword connected with Dante's body, slashing his right wing and sending him spiraling to the cloud-ground.

The sword couldn't cut my right wing, but still. My face hit the ground made of clouds. "WAIT!" I yelled. "It's just a spar. My wings are fine, but let's pretend they're out of the game. I don't want them to get damaged. What do you think?"

Smiling, he responded, "Sure." Daniel didn't want to damage his companion's wings because it might bite them later on.

The spar continued until Daniel couldn't continue anymore, in contrast to Dante, who could keep going the whole night. Once Daniel's aura ran out, he was out of the game. During the first half of the spar, Daniel kept dictating the pace until he had to calm down his expenditure of aura. After that, Dante easily crushed him.

I remarked on an Insight I learned in this fight: "The key to defeat you is just... a prolonged fight."

Daniel, catching his breath, proposed, "Let's repeat tomorrow... I want to take a break."

Just as they stopped, Dante's imaginative bulb turned on, "Hey, do you know UNO?"

With a hint of suspicion, Daniel replied, "No... But I don't like that evil smirk."

With a mischievous and devilish expression, I told him, "I know what we are going to play tomorrow."

The night-time arrived, so they decided to sleep. Daniel slept comfortably inside the house while Dante was outside on the roof, watching the beautiful blue-hue sky filled with serene stars that shone in the dark.

---

Authors note:

Note 1 DAMN, It took me a lot this chapter. Hope it's good enough. I'm still learning a lot. I'm trying to add even more details and descriptions, but It's hard.

I took a whole 7 hours for this chapter (3 hours of those 7, I procrastinated because I was talking with a friend and even played with him a game.)

NOTE 2

This chapter has almost 2k words to compensate for not updating this Friday.

NOTE 3

Are y'all ok with me being too detailed, or y'all prefer the more simple one? cuz I like saying the details so you can imagine it like I do but at the same time I think I'm killing how y'all imagine everything.