Ingress Realitiesby Motion RefluxChapters1 - Devolution2 - Aquaintance3 - Devotion0 - Evolution at it's Darkest1 - DevolutionA regular day within the far reaches of Equestria in the small city of Cressform soon became a bit more exciting as a new technology had reached it's inner fold. The technology of virtual reality and brain-computer interfacing... This new technology had been in research since the beginning of the 'Lunar Era' or 'Era of the Moon' as most commonly referred, where Princess Luna rules over all of Equestria. It's not as if she was a horrible iron-hooved leader but it was more like that she distanced herself from her subjects more than anything else. It had probably been because of the incident that had caused the previous monarch, Princess Celestia, to fall terribly ill and lay on the brink of death for many years... No... make that centuries... Two long centuries... It's been eleven years after the introduction of this new interfacing technology that was dubbed 'D-linker' or 'Device linker' in it's full name. A device that reads brainwaves... Back to before, where this new technology... no... this recent technology has reached the inner fold of civilization and had become a necessity to every sentient being. No elements of harmony... for it had run it's course once more... The elements of harmony as it's common name has been put under the care of the element of magic herself, Princess Twilight Sparkle, whom resides as a smart and caring protector of Equestria alongside the other princesses. Her friends, the elements of harmony... ...had died very many years ago from natural causes... ...so as the commonplace balance of forces runs its lap, evil has ceased for those years. But a new culprit is arising along with the revolution of technology in a sphere of which none has born witness to before except for the princesses of the moon and sun. But... that's a story that must walk its path in earnest and not rush through its own steps. For now though, I reveal to you that I bore witness to this land myself and it... changed me...*for better and... for worse...* "GAH!" a light black unicorn with a darker black mane woke up from his sleep in a sudden panic as he frantically looked around for no true reason and at the same time making himself look utterly stupid in the process. Finally his view turns towards his unclipped d-linker on the bedside table, blinking green and visually showing him that some pony was calling. He picked up his d-linker and clipped it back onto his right ear and the large virtual window appeared in front of his face with the words explaining that his friend was calling. With a swift movement of his forehoof he quickly clicked the answer button and the window switched to a live feed of his friend angrily glaring at him. "Uh hey Pinks..." he stuttered to see his friend's piercing glare aimed right him; he slowly continued, "What'sup...?" The pink pony on the other end huffed and crossed her forelegs as she spat, "Don't you 'What'sup' me!... and call me Plethora or my full name of Plethora Pink, Spectre Vitro." He sighed and responded, "I prefer being called Specvitro, Pinks." "Stop calling me Pinks!" she hissed and then turned her head away frustratingly from the call cam as she said, "You're going to be late to school if you wake up -that- late in the morning, Spectre." Both stubborn, yet both very much different... *A bliss friendship...* Plethora looked back towards the call screen and forwarded, "If you're not going to get out of your home this instant... I swear... I will break down your door and pull your hide out myself!" He gulped and said, "Fine, fine... I'll see you at school then." "I'll have Deft Melody walk with you to school so that he can make sure for me that you're actually going to be here." she huffed and ended the call. Specvitro closed the call window and sighed heavily; he wasn't the greatest student at his high school, even with his above excellent marks, but he was also very much a target for criticism from his family lineage. His family of workers of the shadows, spectres, ghosts... *All dead...* Even though he used to be known as incredibly intelligent he nowadays keeps it under reps. He is alone after all and doesn't want the attention from others. Stubbornness hurts... He packed up his things for school into his bag and exited his home that was situated in a large hotel; the government took pity on him losing his family that they gave him his own room there that he doesn't have to pay for until he's much older and has a stable career. That's what really hurt Specvitro's mentality as well as he doesn't like help, he doesn't like being pitied... ...there's nothing you could've done though... Down the elevator and out the main doors of the building he began his walk to his high school. It was his junior year and with such he didn't have much time left at school. He attended the Northern Cressform Highschool that was situated a few city blocks from where his lives and as he entered his connection switched from 'Northern Cress Global' to 'Northern Cress Private Highschool' Time for school, Spectre. Time passed quickly as he attended class after class until lunchtime. Spectre Vitro never really liked going to the lounge for lunch as he'd rather stick by himself. As he was walking along the hallway he ran into a familiar face... "Oof!" he recoiled as he bumped into Plethora Pink accidentally; although she didn't even move an inch when the collided. She looked over at him with her cute yet deadly glare, "Watch where you're going, Spectre." Plethora was incredibly pink as her name states but she really takes it to a whole different level. Her uniform is a brisk pink while her fur color is naturally a bright poppy pink while her mane and tail were a rosey pinkish color. Specvitro bowed down his head immediately and said, "S-Sorry, Pinks!" Hearing him call her that puppy name made her sigh as she motioned with her head to follow, which he did so under duress that he might get punished by the pink punishment herself. She was the right hoof pony of the class president and she was allowed to punish those who had to be punished... *She punished them greatly that she was given the nickname 'Pink Punishment'* She said to him, "Look Spectre, I want to know why your grades are on a exponential low, as a childhood friend and all." He looked at her questionably, "I think you'd know already, Plethora." They both stopped in front of a door at the end of the hall they were walking along and she scowled, "I don't and I don't even want to know why the student prez herself is calling to meet you." Huh...? Plethora Pink opened the door by inputting an access code into a keypad window swiftly and the pseudo metal door opened; she nudged him forward into the room first and she follow behind. What's going on here... The door closed behind them. ...ACCESS ERROR... Plethora stood guard at the door as she said to him, "Go ahead." Specvitro had mixed feelings about this; was he in trouble?; he sat on the seat that stood opposite to the student president's spot on the table. He was looking down the whole time and trying to avoid eye contact. "So... do you know why I called you here?" the student council president said to Specvitro. Her voice was as smooth as it was beautiful... Spectre Vitro slowly looked up to face her and quickly he awkwardly blushed when he saw her face. His muzzle curled up slightly and his ears pointed down not in fear but in infatuation. "U-uhm... I... I don't know why... Miss president..." he stuttered; Specvitro was incredibly stubborn on his own part but this was the first time he began to stutter in obedience towards another pony immediately. She was as beautiful as the starry night sky... Connection Re-established...*Her coat was silver from what he could tell and her mane was a brisk lime and bright yellow combination.* The student president looked over at Plethora and quickly Plethora Pink nodded in understanding and left the room. "My name is Silver Wing, what's yours?" she introduced her name cleanly. Specvitro answered, "Spectre Vitro, b-but I prefer being called Specvitro." "Hm, so you are the Spectre that Plethora described to me; I've been looking into the grades records and I noticed that yours suddenly shifted from straight A's to combinations of B minuses and C's." she stated clearly and continued, "So tell me, why is that?" Deft Melody described her as a pony that can read past another's protective aura and tell what they really meant. Specvitro answered, "...Ponies criticise me by saying that I cheat for my marks because of my family background. So... I let my marks drop because of it." You said it. "I see..." Silver Wing lifted her foreleg and quickly forged a passworded connection between them both. Specvitro had seen this type of protective communications before but never experienced it. Silver Wing began to talk telepathically, "I hope you know how to use your mind to speak through this." "Yeah, I know." he replied telepathically and nodded. "You also do know that this is mostly used by lovers for secret conversation, right?" she smirked. "WHAAT?!" he blurted out loudly with his voice and almost fell back off his chair but regained his composure and in seriousness he replied through the communcations, "Don't joke like that!" Silver Wing gave off a small giggle hidden under her hoof, "Who said I was joking?" Specvitro sighed and asked, "So is my marks all you wanted to call me down here for?" "No." she stated immediately, "I intend to ask for your help." Help? Specvitro tilted his head in confusion, "How can I help...? I'm just a regular unicorn that can't even use magic." "Neither can I fly, Spec." Silver Wing stated that without regret and then said, "But before I can entrust your full help, I need to make sure I can truly trust you so I'm going to send you on a task..." She covered her lips with her forehoof and smiled, "...or a 'quest' if you prefer me to say that...~" "Eh..." he grumbled, "Fine, I'll help, but what is this so-called task that I need to complete first?" She got off her chair, her forehooves planted on the table as she moved her face closer to his, causing him to stiffen in surprise. "Let me ask you this first, Spec." her head was past his on his right as she whispered, "Would you be willing to shatter reality for me?" "H-Huh...?" he questioned. She teasingly nudged his cheek with hers and repeated, "Would you be willing to shatter reality for me?" Reality... Shatter Reality...? "...I would..." he said. She sat back on her chair and smirked, "Well boy, the one task that you need to complete first is to download this program I am going to send you." *A program that shatters reality...* With the quick flick of her foreleg she transferred to him a incognito message containing a large file though the private communications connection. Specvitro opened the file hesitantly and a window replaced it which read in sky blue and cyan outlined letters... **...Ingress Realities...** "Ingress...Realities...?" he asked in confusion. She looked over at him and pat his head, "Go ahead and download the <> program, I need to watch over just in case it fails." *How can it fail...?* He accepted the terms and conditions and the download quickly sped through it's process, as it finished a large window popped up and he read... **"Welcome to the Aura Sphere...?"** "Hah, so my gut feeling was right." she flapped her wings in enjoyment, "Welcome to a new reality, one that could overtake your view of this one." She winked, "I'll cover for your absence today, pretend you're sick and go home." "Oh... and I'm going to pretend that I was utterly frustrated with you if Plethora asks why you're going home." she smiled and waved him goodbye. 2 - AquaintanceYou know that Aquaintances are people that you barely know? Well in truth they could actually be people you know... ...but ignorance is an unavoidable fog. Specvitro was fast asleep on his bed in the afternoon; afterall, Silver promised to cover for him today but there was something that was on his mind from it... Why did she offer to cover the absence...? His dream was dreary and dark with nothing but a voided nature. There was nothing around him until he focussed on a small light. He tried to speak but his vocal cords ceased to work. Specvitro made his move by walking closer to the small light but was halted by an invisible wall. He looked down to see hands coming from the shadows holding his hooves down. Spectre Vitro struggled to move but he was held tightly back; he looked forward to notice his two childhood friends, Plethora Pink and Deft Melody, staring at him with blank eyes. He tried to speak once more but he couldn't make a noise. They turned and walked away without speaking a word, disappearing into the void and such caused his to break one foreleg away from the grip of the shadowy grasp and reach out, tears flying from his eyes and his mouth open like he was shouting... No!... Abandonment is a fickle tune that during the course of one's life will always happen. It's sour notes will always hang around you forever until you reconcile with yourself... The shadowy grasp let go of him but he couldn't fester any movement. Tears flowing down his cheeks like waterworks as he stood there, motionless and depressed. "Come on Spectre-kun~" a female voice came from the shadows, "Continue forward Spectre-kun~" The tears from his eyes were wiped away mysteriously and he felt the touch of an invisible figure. It was cold, yet it was warming... He made his move forward and managed to move a few more meters closer to the dim source of light but was stopped once more by an invisible wall. There he saw Silver Wing who angrily looked at him, her eyes were as blank as the last apparitions but he could tell that it looked angry. It then spoke in her voice... "I was wrong about you, Spectre... Forget everything about me, I don't want to see your face again..." She walked right through him like he was nothing... Rejection is as worse as Abandonment... a scar that would hurt you so harsh that you would want to die... Then... his view was engulfed by a bright light and... He woke up from his sleep in anguish and from the looks of it he had been crying in his sleep. Just like the dream. "Morning, Oniichan!~" an incredibly feminine voice came from outside his room and then the door swung open to reveal a fiery red alicorn, her blazing wings and flaming mane and tail emitting a radiation of intense heat. "Eh... w-what...?" Specvitro rubbed his eyes and took a second look to see that what he was looking at wasn't an illusion, "A-An alicorn?!" "Hehe, I guess I overdid my opening a bit." the fiery alicorn sneered and walked into the room. Spectre Vitro looked at her and shouted, "W-Who're you?!" "Now, Now... hush now, quiet now. My name is Philomena." the alicorn spouted half sarcastically and half seriously. He got up off his bed and stood in front of her, "Philomena? Like the royal pet of Princess Celestia all the way in Canterlot?" She shrugged, smirked, and pushed him to sit down back on his bed. She was wearing two d-linkers... one on each ear... "Don't take it any other direction but instead think of me as a very distant relative of yours." she stated without hesitation. A shattered reality...? *...or a true vision...* Philomena's unicorn horn vanished; she turned around about to exit and said, "I'll be taking residence up in the extra room you have here. Don't worry about me because I'll also try my best to take care of you~" Why was this incredibly cute pony inside my home... a distant relative? I don't think I know of any distant relatives so I can't really question it... It was morning so he quickly put on the regulation uniform of his school, his d-linker, and packed up his small bag to then make his way down the hall of the home. "See you later, Spectre~" Philomena smirked as she sat on the couch in the living room and waved a happy goodbye. Mental scars are strength as well as a curse, but to be fine with one's scars is a sin and healing them is a godsend. "See ya." Spectre replied unwittingly as he exited his home and waited at the elevator doors for the elevator to arrive. He looked around as he waited and a question popped in his head... Was it a dream or was it real...? The elevator doors flew open to reveal Deft Melody behind them whom was making his way to school as well. Deft Melody smiled, "Hey Specvitro!" "Oh hey again, Deft." Spectre Vitro replied to him and walked into the elevator which then proceeded to go down to the main floor and they exited the building together. As they walked Deft Melody ambushed Specvitro by saying, "Plethora was worrying about you yesterday there, suddenly getting sick after talking to the student council president." She said that she would cover it though... She did and didn't at the same time... "Plethora told me that prez didn't really explain anything and that all she said was that she asked you out and you denied her." Deft Melody raised a brow while he spoke. "Wha-What?!" shouted Specvitro in surprise. Deft Melody made a motion with a foreleg as he walked, "So then Plethora expected that our student council prez did something to you which is the cause of your becoming suddenly sick because of that." Specvitro quickly recoiled, "N-None of the sort happened! Don't believe all that!" Deft Melody had a quick thought as he hummed for a second and then nodded just as they both arrived at school. Deft looked over at his friend and smiled, "I think someone's waiting for you, so I'll leave you to it." Deft Melody departed into the building quickly and left Specvitro to stare right at the pony who was waiting outside the doors for him. It was none other than Silver Wing. Her long mane was flowing with the breeze of the wind as she walked towards Spectre Vitro. Her form as she made her way towards him was beautiful from his view. He felt like he could fall over at any second. Silver Wing stood in front of him and quickly ordered, "Follow me." "Okay." Specvitro nodded and followed obidiently behind her automatically. A puppy following a lion... wired connection established... They sat at a two person table in the lounge and she said, "Don't worry about your classes, Spec, I've already talked with your teachers that I have some business with you." Advantages of being the student council president "How was your dream last night?" she tilted her head and smiled, her sitting position was in all terms... perfect. Specvitro store into space for a moment but then snapped back to life and replied, "Oh, uh, It was..." She interrupted him, "Horrible, right?" He nodded in response; She closed her eyes in thought and said, "Alright... how far did you get in your dream?" Huh...? He looked at her with and questionably responded, "Not too far... I guess?" Her forehooves were in contact with each other and her mouth was covered behind them as she said under her breath, "So it's that bad..." "Hm...?" Spectre Vitro thought he heard her and she opened her eyes and smiled, "Oh nothing~" "Do you know why I chose this location for us to talk in, Spec-kun?" she asked him with a sarcastic look. What's the suffix for? He answered the question with another question, "Why are we located here, Silver?" She coughed gently and hid her lips behind one of her forehooves and said aloud, "Wired Connection Aura Break." Accessing Aurasphere... The area around them began to stretch and pixelate and then the world around them changed slowly into sky and then the ground beneath them began forming along with the walls, foliage, and other specifics. Specvitro looked across the table to see a solid silver metal armored pony sitting across from him and he raised his hoof to see it covered in a solid black armor. "Wha...what's going on...?" Specvitro asked. Silver Wing looked over and inspected him, "My... what a handsome avatar you are... that black color is an incredibly rare sight to come by as well as it showing that you are a deadly adversary." She giggled, "Although you also look rather cute with those ears of yours~" "Eh..." he sat there with no real response, his ears flapping once on their own. He looked along his body to see it covered in the same black armor plating, his tail from what he could see covered over so he assumed the same with his mane. Specvitro looked over at Silver Wing and inspected her form; he noticed her flowing fire-like mane and tail along with her lightweight look from her silver plating. He saw her wings that were also covered in the same silver color or armoring. "Oh these?" she pointed at her wings and smiled, "I can't fly with them still but I can hover and do all sorts of neat tricks." There's never been many that could truly hurdle past their scars in this reality. "So it seems that you've been created an earth-pony avatar, Spec-kun." she said to him in an easy tone, "What kind of skills and or abilities do you have?" Specvitro opened a window by clicking his name on his head's up display, which then he pressed the tab for skills and abilities. "There's the regular punch and kick skills and my special ability is... 'Electric Piercing Charge'...?" he questioned the naming of the ability. She pointed towards an approaching enemy, "It seems you're a type of character who refills his special gauge automatically and starts with it full, go try it out on that small fry slime there." He nodded and stood up and then she relayed another message, "Oh, when you focus your special ability you need to put your emotions into play for it to have strength. Anger and strife or happiness and joy, they all work if you focus them into it." Alright... Bowing his upper body downward in a pouncing form he took in all his emotions into one large burst as he shouted, "Electric Piercing Chaaarge!" With one fluent movement his ears changed position to form sharp horns that aimed towards the weak mob, they then emitted electrical pulses between each other and after he disappeared in a white flash. One-hundred percent health depleted to enemy. He appeared right behind the gooey slime as it twiched with electrical impulses, disappearing into code that drove itself down the ground a full second afterwards. That second gave him enough time to turn his head around enough to see his foe burst into code and at the same time it made him look imposingly cool to Silver Wing. His two ears repositioned back to normal along with their electric discharges halting. His special gauge was only fifty-percent depleted as well as recharging itself rather quickly. Specvitro heard clapping originating from Silver Wing and heard her feint voice as she said, "Although a rather easily dodgeable special, it seems rather incredibly strong for it's gauge usage and the fact that you're an earth pony avatar." "Huh?" he replied in response. Different Sub-Species reveals different attributes along with their color...? Silver Wing flapped her moderate-sized wings once and then laid back on her chair, "To put it simply, Spec-kun; pegasi are quick, unicorns are more experienced at indirect combat, and earth ponies are more experienced at close combat." "The colors you can study up on your own as they usually correspond to the user's mental and emotional scars." she said in a joyful tone which quickly switched into a more serious one, "Although... you being a unicorn in reality but your avatar being an earth pony is mysterious; but hey, there could be some hidden meaning behind the existence of your avatar then." A sense of another presence approaching. "Is someone the-" Specvitro's question was quickly interrupted by the flying of missiles from a distance towards them, barely missing as they flew past and destroyed the ground past him and Silver Wing. Silver Wing shouted at Spectre, "Spec-kun! Quickly get through here!" She was standing near a beacon that was labelled in clear letters, 'NCRESSFORMHSCHOOL EXIT' He quickly jumped towards the exit beacon and she followed behind, their assailant however obviously didn't. Bright light covered his vision and then slowly disappeared as he noticed himself located right outside the lounge standing by the door, he looked to his right to see Silver Wing standing. "Now you know of the problem that I'm facing here." she calmly said, her eyes closed in a thinking manner. They both entered the lounge with Spectre Vitro following behind Silver Wing back to their seats at the two-person table. After they sat down once more Specvitro popped the question, "Why'd we suddenly appear outside the lounge?" A quick answer followed. "That's the exit point located in this school, when we access the <> by breaking through it with our d-linkers, we essentially leave this reality as well as pseudo-suspending it with our mind accelerating one-thousand time's faster while we are in the other reality..." One second in the Aurasphere is one thousandth of a second in the real world, so calculating it could make one day in the Aurasphere equal to only one-forty fourth of a second in the real world... 3 - DevotionTravelling distances over short amounts of time in the real world... A technology that can help good and evil become mobile but at what cost...? Silver Wing fixed her skirt as she sat and said, "...although the cost is quite heavy..." A heavy cost...? She took in a deep breath and then store into Spectre Vitro's eyes deeply, a shallow tone exited her mouth as she said, "If you die in the <>, you disappear in real life as well." "Eh..." Specvitro retorted in response. She reached over and patted his head with her forehoof, "In a sense you disappear... but in actuality your soul is just left within the depths of the aurasphere within the Canterlot Castle Dungeon~" Canterlot...? "The place where the princesses reside to this very age?" Specvitro questioned dumbfounded-like. Silver Wing nodded, "If your soul is lost in there long enough, it disappears completely. What's left in reality is a husk of the real pony with no memories of anything." "Think of it as a large-scale extremely difficult dungeon in an <>, it's a suicidal task to even try to save somepony who is lost" she continued and sat back in her chair, "We can travel large distances in short amounts of time with the <> but at the risk of death to the enemies that scatter the pseudo-universe." Shallow forms of themselves, dead on the inside but not outside. Just the thought of ponies without souls caused him to tilt his head in confusion but the question he was about to ask was answered with a quick... "There aren't that many ponies who access the aurasphere and those who own a copy of <> can infinitely disperse them to others at their own risk." Silver Wing nodded and leaned back, "Now to the problem at hoof." She swirved her hair around her head and then looked at Spectre Vitro seriously, "That pony that had attacked us... we need to eliminate her... or him..." Eliminate...? Kill...? "One thing with the aurasphere is that within every city or town there is one leader and as you can see there aren't many other ponies in this city that do ingress into the aurasphere." she smirked and whispered, "I am the leader of Cressform within the aurasphere, but that pony continually attacks... and from what I can piece together... is trying to userp my throne." Specvitro looked at her and straightened his seating position to ask, "So why haven't you dealt with them?" "...because they're backed by an army..." she sighed and looked down at the table, "Recently there have been increasing numbers of ponies appearing and disappearing within the Cressform aurasphere area and with such I figured that the opposing high school in the south is the aggressor." You don't need a connection to the network to connect to the aurasphere. "An army in the south?" Specvitro stood up, "What about here in the north of Cressform? Where is everyone else?" Silver Wing stayed silent for a second or so and visibly Spectre Vitro could see tears falling onto the table. After a minute of silence Silver Wing managed to speak out, "I killed them all..." Killed them all...She killed them all... She gave off a disappointed sigh and looked towards Specvitro, "I was... tricked into doing so..." "Tricked? By who?" Spectre Vitro questioned immediately in response. The only reply that came after was. "By the one who attacked us" After the whole meeting between the two, they said a short farewell before going back to attend their classes that they were missing. Silver Wing did put in a good word for him from what he heard before in their talk. As he was in class, sitting down and listening to the teacher he was able to pick up some whispers from a nearby group of students. He figured that they might be talking about him and how every one in the school thinks he cheats because of his almost perfect scores within the first year. Yet, from what he could pick up he heard the name... <> Did they know? If they did then what -did- they know?! Are they thinking the wrong things about them? Thoughts quickly raced through his head but he was able to suppress them as his last class went on. The school bell rang signalling the end of the school day so he quickly packed his things and made his way out the door. Who he saw waiting for him outside the school gates was a bit of a surprise to him. "Hey Spectre!" the plush pink pony waved with a concerned yet joyful smile. Plethora Pink hardly ever to never walked home with him and as she approached him he returned the gesture and smiled, "Hey, Pinks." She gave a huff and spoke, "I was told by Silver that she wants to meet up with you over by the local park down the street." she pointed down the path in a distant direction and continued, "She's already there I presume, Spectre; Also don't call me Pinks!" He gave off a faint chuckle at her uncomfortable retort and then nodded, "Alright." Spectre Vitro wasn't going to be able to refuse any kind of order in the situation that he's in so he said his goodbyes to Plethora Pink and made his way towards the park. It's open, it's free, and more importantly it's full of ponies most of the day. <> "These enemies, from what I know, are created from the negative emotions of ponies. The stronger such emotions are the greater the strength of the enemy... although when you defeat the enemy it is said that the pony that had unknowingly created it will suddenly lose that negative feeling." <> He saw Silver Wing sitting alone on a bench and this time without her school uniform on. Spectre Vitro forgot that he could just take his uniform off when not on school grounds but it would be awkward to do so now so he trotted up to her and put on a smile. She looked at him and returned the smile. To his surprise he got to see her cutie mark and ironically he saw a angelic wing. What it meant to him was a complete mystery as it could mean flight but he knew that she couldn't fly like most other ponies in this era. He almost let out a laugh but held it back politely. Then he felt a cold sting as his d-linker flashed red. Thoughts Accessed... Danger Code Red... Recovering lost files... Huh...? "So you thought it would be funny to laugh at my cutie mark, hm? Thought it was ironic in this day of age?" Silver Wing had a serious face put on while glaring at him with her paralyzing stare but after a second she sighed and released her death-stare on Specvitro. An expert hacker? "Eh..." he retorted in response, "I didn't mean to, really... uh..." His words trailed off slowly as he stuttered, "S-so-sor-sorry..." "Come... sit." she interrupted his apology and patted the empty spot beside her on the bench that was small for a park bench. She gave off a small smirk and popped the question, "Do you want to know what my cutie mark signifies?" Specvitro nodded silently in response. Silver Wing looked at him with a stare that melt the burning sun itself as she said, "It signifies my ability to utilize my speed to glide. It's not truly flying as I need to use acceleration to even start." She looked away, "I wish I could fly like my hero, Rainbow Dash." "Rainbow Dash..." Specvitro thought aloud to himself and responded, "...the fastest flyer in Equestria is -your- hero?" Silver Wing blushed with wide eyes as she used her wing to cause Specvitro to fall off the bench. Striving to be what you're not creates feelings of inferiority within themselves... "Now... let's access the aurasphere." Silver Wing winked, quickly reactivating the private connections between them both. <> Then the world froze and broke away as the aurasphere world assembled into existence right in front of their eyes and after the assembly was completed, their bodies transformed into their avatar forms. Specvitro looked around to see tens of hundreds of enemies that were ranging from flying hawks to fiery goat demons. But a sight to behold caused all the enemies to scatter away from the area. "<>" The sound of a skill command was heard, then a second afterwards dark blue rockets were seen flying upward into the sky. Specvitro looked up dumbfounded, "What the..." "Spectre!" Silver Wing shouted out in horror as she dashed in front of him and leapt into the air, the rockets arcing one-hundred and eighty degrees in a semi-circle and homing in on her. "Silver Wing!" he shouted much too late as the rockets made contact with the spread wings and front body of his friend. All he could do was watch as she fell from the sky with her burnt, broken armor plating and smoke trailing behind. He ran towards where she was going to land, his speed output at maximum as he caught her on his back, acting like a cushion. "This land belonds to me, your fake leader is as she is... a fake!" the voice came from where the rockets originated. Spectre Vitro saw a form walk across the nearby hill to see the same pony that they encountered before. He stuttered, "Y-you..." "You shall address me as Cinder Javelin." the unknown pony said. "Kh... Cinder... 'must be pretty weak... h-heh..." Silver Wing weakly taunted. Cinder Javelin's wings covered themselves in blue code and transformed into rocket cannons, each pointed at the direction of Specvitro and Silver Wing as he spoke, "Now then... any last words before I send you both to the depths of the unknown abyss?" Specvitro looked at his foe and cringed underneath his mask in hate, his mask slowly began to shimmer red. "Just one word~" an unknown voice spoke from a distance with a whimsical and fiery-esque tone. Huh...? "Huh?!" Cinder shouted towards the sky, unable to see where this new voice originated from, "Show yourself!" Then in the blink of an eye a form crashed into the ground, leaving a large smoking crater. The figure stood up, it's flaming metallic form sporting wings and a horn. "An alicorn avatar? Impossible!" Cinder shouted, pointing his weapons at the unknown assailant. "Possible, yes. Impossible, to you it is so." It spoke in a regal yet mischievous tone. Who... Silver Wing's mask disintegrated and her real face was seen... Tears... True tears of pain were flowing out of her eyes but even then she had never screamed nor wailed from such pain. Her armor must've absorbed enough of the damage but the shock from the explosions must've hit her hard internally thought Spectre Vitro. "D-don't look at m-me..." Silver Wing spat out in a gentle tone, turning her face away. Spectre Vitro laid her on the ground and smiled, "Don't worry, Silv." The battle between Cinder and the Fire Alicorn had continued on as Cinder fired his massive arsenal of rockets and machine guns but the Alicorn burned every single bullet and rocket, turning every projectile into ash. Specvitro removed his own mask and visibly his eyes began to glow purple. "I'll save and protect you." His armor began to shift and morph, his form obscure to the point of no visibility until he re-emerged in a demonic-esque covering of charcoal black armor. Accessing drives, re-accessing transformation. 'Ultimate Skill: Saving Protection' ready for deployment, master. Spectre Vitro looked around his surrounding area and imaged the landscape covered underneath a shell of impenetrable armor. His mask formed over his head and began to glow a solid blue as the perimeter of his image was covered underneath a sphere of black rock and surrounded the fiery alicorn, Silver Wing, and himself. He began to glow once more and quickly his form transformed back into his original state. He passed out quickly afterwards, his helmet disintegrating away in code as he head gently landed on top of Silver Wing. Shh... it'll be alright... Alright...? Let us return back to the past, and seek through your memories. My... memories...? Your name is not Spectre Vitro, it was just a fabrication of your nightmarish memories. Your true name is... 0 - Evolution at it's DarkestA fiery red alicorn sat perfectly on the floor, if there was a floor. All that was felt was darkness, void, nothing except for that mare that stood within the darkness and lit her small area up with her aura. She turned to look behind her and to see past the darkness that stood between the anonymous and herself. "Well hello there, you must be a newcomer." she gave off a small smile and stood up, "I guess I have to explain where this is." She took in a deep breath and sighed, her fiery wings with their emitting energy seemingly weakening with every second. "This... is what's left of the true aurasphere in this world." she looked down, her hair covering the upper part of her face, "You don't know what the aurasphere is?" "Well... let me explain it to you then." "The aurasphere is the mystic energy that resides behind the scenes in our little world that we call Equestria. An energy that for centuries had dictated magic and flight for the regular unicorns and pegasi of this land. I feel as though you've already figured out that the precious aurasphere is being slowly depleted. You're right to think so. I'm the guardian of the final spark of flame within this aurasphere. A tiny ember. The new advances of evolution has changed the way things are sought. They can alter the field. An aurasphere is birthed by the creation of a nation. Every nation to their own. There is an innocent lie to those who live here. A lie to protect them from reality..." She lifted her head, her bright and beautiful eyes in a focused, serious stare as she says, "A book that can be read over and over but could never be deciphered, that is what the aurasphere is. A land of balanced, unattainable power that could destroy and create, that is what the aurasphere is. Destiny, Fate... that is the true meaning of what the aurasphere is." The alicorn gave off a winded sigh and turned away, "Now then... wake up, for your destiny is about to awaken within the realm of the aurasphere, young unicorn."
1 - DevolutionA regular day within the far reaches of Equestria in the small city of Cressform soon became a bit more exciting as a new technology had reached it's inner fold. The technology of virtual reality and brain-computer interfacing... This new technology had been in research since the beginning of the 'Lunar Era' or 'Era of the Moon' as most commonly referred, where Princess Luna rules over all of Equestria. It's not as if she was a horrible iron-hooved leader but it was more like that she distanced herself from her subjects more than anything else. It had probably been because of the incident that had caused the previous monarch, Princess Celestia, to fall terribly ill and lay on the brink of death for many years... No... make that centuries... Two long centuries... It's been eleven years after the introduction of this new interfacing technology that was dubbed 'D-linker' or 'Device linker' in it's full name. A device that reads brainwaves... Back to before, where this new technology... no... this recent technology has reached the inner fold of civilization and had become a necessity to every sentient being. No elements of harmony... for it had run it's course once more... The elements of harmony as it's common name has been put under the care of the element of magic herself, Princess Twilight Sparkle, whom resides as a smart and caring protector of Equestria alongside the other princesses. Her friends, the elements of harmony... ...had died very many years ago from natural causes... ...so as the commonplace balance of forces runs its lap, evil has ceased for those years. But a new culprit is arising along with the revolution of technology in a sphere of which none has born witness to before except for the princesses of the moon and sun. But... that's a story that must walk its path in earnest and not rush through its own steps. For now though, I reveal to you that I bore witness to this land myself and it... changed me...*for better and... for worse...* "GAH!" a light black unicorn with a darker black mane woke up from his sleep in a sudden panic as he frantically looked around for no true reason and at the same time making himself look utterly stupid in the process. Finally his view turns towards his unclipped d-linker on the bedside table, blinking green and visually showing him that some pony was calling. He picked up his d-linker and clipped it back onto his right ear and the large virtual window appeared in front of his face with the words explaining that his friend was calling. With a swift movement of his forehoof he quickly clicked the answer button and the window switched to a live feed of his friend angrily glaring at him. "Uh hey Pinks..." he stuttered to see his friend's piercing glare aimed right him; he slowly continued, "What'sup...?" The pink pony on the other end huffed and crossed her forelegs as she spat, "Don't you 'What'sup' me!... and call me Plethora or my full name of Plethora Pink, Spectre Vitro." He sighed and responded, "I prefer being called Specvitro, Pinks." "Stop calling me Pinks!" she hissed and then turned her head away frustratingly from the call cam as she said, "You're going to be late to school if you wake up -that- late in the morning, Spectre." Both stubborn, yet both very much different... *A bliss friendship...* Plethora looked back towards the call screen and forwarded, "If you're not going to get out of your home this instant... I swear... I will break down your door and pull your hide out myself!" He gulped and said, "Fine, fine... I'll see you at school then." "I'll have Deft Melody walk with you to school so that he can make sure for me that you're actually going to be here." she huffed and ended the call. Specvitro closed the call window and sighed heavily; he wasn't the greatest student at his high school, even with his above excellent marks, but he was also very much a target for criticism from his family lineage. His family of workers of the shadows, spectres, ghosts... *All dead...* Even though he used to be known as incredibly intelligent he nowadays keeps it under reps. He is alone after all and doesn't want the attention from others. Stubbornness hurts... He packed up his things for school into his bag and exited his home that was situated in a large hotel; the government took pity on him losing his family that they gave him his own room there that he doesn't have to pay for until he's much older and has a stable career. That's what really hurt Specvitro's mentality as well as he doesn't like help, he doesn't like being pitied... ...there's nothing you could've done though... Down the elevator and out the main doors of the building he began his walk to his high school. It was his junior year and with such he didn't have much time left at school. He attended the Northern Cressform Highschool that was situated a few city blocks from where his lives and as he entered his connection switched from 'Northern Cress Global' to 'Northern Cress Private Highschool' Time for school, Spectre. Time passed quickly as he attended class after class until lunchtime. Spectre Vitro never really liked going to the lounge for lunch as he'd rather stick by himself. As he was walking along the hallway he ran into a familiar face... "Oof!" he recoiled as he bumped into Plethora Pink accidentally; although she didn't even move an inch when the collided. She looked over at him with her cute yet deadly glare, "Watch where you're going, Spectre." Plethora was incredibly pink as her name states but she really takes it to a whole different level. Her uniform is a brisk pink while her fur color is naturally a bright poppy pink while her mane and tail were a rosey pinkish color. Specvitro bowed down his head immediately and said, "S-Sorry, Pinks!" Hearing him call her that puppy name made her sigh as she motioned with her head to follow, which he did so under duress that he might get punished by the pink punishment herself. She was the right hoof pony of the class president and she was allowed to punish those who had to be punished... *She punished them greatly that she was given the nickname 'Pink Punishment'* She said to him, "Look Spectre, I want to know why your grades are on a exponential low, as a childhood friend and all." He looked at her questionably, "I think you'd know already, Plethora." They both stopped in front of a door at the end of the hall they were walking along and she scowled, "I don't and I don't even want to know why the student prez herself is calling to meet you." Huh...? Plethora Pink opened the door by inputting an access code into a keypad window swiftly and the pseudo metal door opened; she nudged him forward into the room first and she follow behind. What's going on here... The door closed behind them. ...ACCESS ERROR... Plethora stood guard at the door as she said to him, "Go ahead." Specvitro had mixed feelings about this; was he in trouble?; he sat on the seat that stood opposite to the student president's spot on the table. He was looking down the whole time and trying to avoid eye contact. "So... do you know why I called you here?" the student council president said to Specvitro. Her voice was as smooth as it was beautiful... Spectre Vitro slowly looked up to face her and quickly he awkwardly blushed when he saw her face. His muzzle curled up slightly and his ears pointed down not in fear but in infatuation. "U-uhm... I... I don't know why... Miss president..." he stuttered; Specvitro was incredibly stubborn on his own part but this was the first time he began to stutter in obedience towards another pony immediately. She was as beautiful as the starry night sky... Connection Re-established...*Her coat was silver from what he could tell and her mane was a brisk lime and bright yellow combination.* The student president looked over at Plethora and quickly Plethora Pink nodded in understanding and left the room. "My name is Silver Wing, what's yours?" she introduced her name cleanly. Specvitro answered, "Spectre Vitro, b-but I prefer being called Specvitro." "Hm, so you are the Spectre that Plethora described to me; I've been looking into the grades records and I noticed that yours suddenly shifted from straight A's to combinations of B minuses and C's." she stated clearly and continued, "So tell me, why is that?" Deft Melody described her as a pony that can read past another's protective aura and tell what they really meant. Specvitro answered, "...Ponies criticise me by saying that I cheat for my marks because of my family background. So... I let my marks drop because of it." You said it. "I see..." Silver Wing lifted her foreleg and quickly forged a passworded connection between them both. Specvitro had seen this type of protective communications before but never experienced it. Silver Wing began to talk telepathically, "I hope you know how to use your mind to speak through this." "Yeah, I know." he replied telepathically and nodded. "You also do know that this is mostly used by lovers for secret conversation, right?" she smirked. "WHAAT?!" he blurted out loudly with his voice and almost fell back off his chair but regained his composure and in seriousness he replied through the communcations, "Don't joke like that!" Silver Wing gave off a small giggle hidden under her hoof, "Who said I was joking?" Specvitro sighed and asked, "So is my marks all you wanted to call me down here for?" "No." she stated immediately, "I intend to ask for your help." Help? Specvitro tilted his head in confusion, "How can I help...? I'm just a regular unicorn that can't even use magic." "Neither can I fly, Spec." Silver Wing stated that without regret and then said, "But before I can entrust your full help, I need to make sure I can truly trust you so I'm going to send you on a task..." She covered her lips with her forehoof and smiled, "...or a 'quest' if you prefer me to say that...~" "Eh..." he grumbled, "Fine, I'll help, but what is this so-called task that I need to complete first?" She got off her chair, her forehooves planted on the table as she moved her face closer to his, causing him to stiffen in surprise. "Let me ask you this first, Spec." her head was past his on his right as she whispered, "Would you be willing to shatter reality for me?" "H-Huh...?" he questioned. She teasingly nudged his cheek with hers and repeated, "Would you be willing to shatter reality for me?" Reality... Shatter Reality...? "...I would..." he said. She sat back on her chair and smirked, "Well boy, the one task that you need to complete first is to download this program I am going to send you." *A program that shatters reality...* With the quick flick of her foreleg she transferred to him a incognito message containing a large file though the private communications connection. Specvitro opened the file hesitantly and a window replaced it which read in sky blue and cyan outlined letters... **...Ingress Realities...** "Ingress...Realities...?" he asked in confusion. She looked over at him and pat his head, "Go ahead and download the <> program, I need to watch over just in case it fails." *How can it fail...?* He accepted the terms and conditions and the download quickly sped through it's process, as it finished a large window popped up and he read... **"Welcome to the Aura Sphere...?"** "Hah, so my gut feeling was right." she flapped her wings in enjoyment, "Welcome to a new reality, one that could overtake your view of this one." She winked, "I'll cover for your absence today, pretend you're sick and go home." "Oh... and I'm going to pretend that I was utterly frustrated with you if Plethora asks why you're going home." she smiled and waved him goodbye.
2 - AquaintanceYou know that Aquaintances are people that you barely know? Well in truth they could actually be people you know... ...but ignorance is an unavoidable fog. Specvitro was fast asleep on his bed in the afternoon; afterall, Silver promised to cover for him today but there was something that was on his mind from it... Why did she offer to cover the absence...? His dream was dreary and dark with nothing but a voided nature. There was nothing around him until he focussed on a small light. He tried to speak but his vocal cords ceased to work. Specvitro made his move by walking closer to the small light but was halted by an invisible wall. He looked down to see hands coming from the shadows holding his hooves down. Spectre Vitro struggled to move but he was held tightly back; he looked forward to notice his two childhood friends, Plethora Pink and Deft Melody, staring at him with blank eyes. He tried to speak once more but he couldn't make a noise. They turned and walked away without speaking a word, disappearing into the void and such caused his to break one foreleg away from the grip of the shadowy grasp and reach out, tears flying from his eyes and his mouth open like he was shouting... No!... Abandonment is a fickle tune that during the course of one's life will always happen. It's sour notes will always hang around you forever until you reconcile with yourself... The shadowy grasp let go of him but he couldn't fester any movement. Tears flowing down his cheeks like waterworks as he stood there, motionless and depressed. "Come on Spectre-kun~" a female voice came from the shadows, "Continue forward Spectre-kun~" The tears from his eyes were wiped away mysteriously and he felt the touch of an invisible figure. It was cold, yet it was warming... He made his move forward and managed to move a few more meters closer to the dim source of light but was stopped once more by an invisible wall. There he saw Silver Wing who angrily looked at him, her eyes were as blank as the last apparitions but he could tell that it looked angry. It then spoke in her voice... "I was wrong about you, Spectre... Forget everything about me, I don't want to see your face again..." She walked right through him like he was nothing... Rejection is as worse as Abandonment... a scar that would hurt you so harsh that you would want to die... Then... his view was engulfed by a bright light and... He woke up from his sleep in anguish and from the looks of it he had been crying in his sleep. Just like the dream. "Morning, Oniichan!~" an incredibly feminine voice came from outside his room and then the door swung open to reveal a fiery red alicorn, her blazing wings and flaming mane and tail emitting a radiation of intense heat. "Eh... w-what...?" Specvitro rubbed his eyes and took a second look to see that what he was looking at wasn't an illusion, "A-An alicorn?!" "Hehe, I guess I overdid my opening a bit." the fiery alicorn sneered and walked into the room. Spectre Vitro looked at her and shouted, "W-Who're you?!" "Now, Now... hush now, quiet now. My name is Philomena." the alicorn spouted half sarcastically and half seriously. He got up off his bed and stood in front of her, "Philomena? Like the royal pet of Princess Celestia all the way in Canterlot?" She shrugged, smirked, and pushed him to sit down back on his bed. She was wearing two d-linkers... one on each ear... "Don't take it any other direction but instead think of me as a very distant relative of yours." she stated without hesitation. A shattered reality...? *...or a true vision...* Philomena's unicorn horn vanished; she turned around about to exit and said, "I'll be taking residence up in the extra room you have here. Don't worry about me because I'll also try my best to take care of you~" Why was this incredibly cute pony inside my home... a distant relative? I don't think I know of any distant relatives so I can't really question it... It was morning so he quickly put on the regulation uniform of his school, his d-linker, and packed up his small bag to then make his way down the hall of the home. "See you later, Spectre~" Philomena smirked as she sat on the couch in the living room and waved a happy goodbye. Mental scars are strength as well as a curse, but to be fine with one's scars is a sin and healing them is a godsend. "See ya." Spectre replied unwittingly as he exited his home and waited at the elevator doors for the elevator to arrive. He looked around as he waited and a question popped in his head... Was it a dream or was it real...? The elevator doors flew open to reveal Deft Melody behind them whom was making his way to school as well. Deft Melody smiled, "Hey Specvitro!" "Oh hey again, Deft." Spectre Vitro replied to him and walked into the elevator which then proceeded to go down to the main floor and they exited the building together. As they walked Deft Melody ambushed Specvitro by saying, "Plethora was worrying about you yesterday there, suddenly getting sick after talking to the student council president." She said that she would cover it though... She did and didn't at the same time... "Plethora told me that prez didn't really explain anything and that all she said was that she asked you out and you denied her." Deft Melody raised a brow while he spoke. "Wha-What?!" shouted Specvitro in surprise. Deft Melody made a motion with a foreleg as he walked, "So then Plethora expected that our student council prez did something to you which is the cause of your becoming suddenly sick because of that." Specvitro quickly recoiled, "N-None of the sort happened! Don't believe all that!" Deft Melody had a quick thought as he hummed for a second and then nodded just as they both arrived at school. Deft looked over at his friend and smiled, "I think someone's waiting for you, so I'll leave you to it." Deft Melody departed into the building quickly and left Specvitro to stare right at the pony who was waiting outside the doors for him. It was none other than Silver Wing. Her long mane was flowing with the breeze of the wind as she walked towards Spectre Vitro. Her form as she made her way towards him was beautiful from his view. He felt like he could fall over at any second. Silver Wing stood in front of him and quickly ordered, "Follow me." "Okay." Specvitro nodded and followed obidiently behind her automatically. A puppy following a lion... wired connection established... They sat at a two person table in the lounge and she said, "Don't worry about your classes, Spec, I've already talked with your teachers that I have some business with you." Advantages of being the student council president "How was your dream last night?" she tilted her head and smiled, her sitting position was in all terms... perfect. Specvitro store into space for a moment but then snapped back to life and replied, "Oh, uh, It was..." She interrupted him, "Horrible, right?" He nodded in response; She closed her eyes in thought and said, "Alright... how far did you get in your dream?" Huh...? He looked at her with and questionably responded, "Not too far... I guess?" Her forehooves were in contact with each other and her mouth was covered behind them as she said under her breath, "So it's that bad..." "Hm...?" Spectre Vitro thought he heard her and she opened her eyes and smiled, "Oh nothing~" "Do you know why I chose this location for us to talk in, Spec-kun?" she asked him with a sarcastic look. What's the suffix for? He answered the question with another question, "Why are we located here, Silver?" She coughed gently and hid her lips behind one of her forehooves and said aloud, "Wired Connection Aura Break." Accessing Aurasphere... The area around them began to stretch and pixelate and then the world around them changed slowly into sky and then the ground beneath them began forming along with the walls, foliage, and other specifics. Specvitro looked across the table to see a solid silver metal armored pony sitting across from him and he raised his hoof to see it covered in a solid black armor. "Wha...what's going on...?" Specvitro asked. Silver Wing looked over and inspected him, "My... what a handsome avatar you are... that black color is an incredibly rare sight to come by as well as it showing that you are a deadly adversary." She giggled, "Although you also look rather cute with those ears of yours~" "Eh..." he sat there with no real response, his ears flapping once on their own. He looked along his body to see it covered in the same black armor plating, his tail from what he could see covered over so he assumed the same with his mane. Specvitro looked over at Silver Wing and inspected her form; he noticed her flowing fire-like mane and tail along with her lightweight look from her silver plating. He saw her wings that were also covered in the same silver color or armoring. "Oh these?" she pointed at her wings and smiled, "I can't fly with them still but I can hover and do all sorts of neat tricks." There's never been many that could truly hurdle past their scars in this reality. "So it seems that you've been created an earth-pony avatar, Spec-kun." she said to him in an easy tone, "What kind of skills and or abilities do you have?" Specvitro opened a window by clicking his name on his head's up display, which then he pressed the tab for skills and abilities. "There's the regular punch and kick skills and my special ability is... 'Electric Piercing Charge'...?" he questioned the naming of the ability. She pointed towards an approaching enemy, "It seems you're a type of character who refills his special gauge automatically and starts with it full, go try it out on that small fry slime there." He nodded and stood up and then she relayed another message, "Oh, when you focus your special ability you need to put your emotions into play for it to have strength. Anger and strife or happiness and joy, they all work if you focus them into it." Alright... Bowing his upper body downward in a pouncing form he took in all his emotions into one large burst as he shouted, "Electric Piercing Chaaarge!" With one fluent movement his ears changed position to form sharp horns that aimed towards the weak mob, they then emitted electrical pulses between each other and after he disappeared in a white flash. One-hundred percent health depleted to enemy. He appeared right behind the gooey slime as it twiched with electrical impulses, disappearing into code that drove itself down the ground a full second afterwards. That second gave him enough time to turn his head around enough to see his foe burst into code and at the same time it made him look imposingly cool to Silver Wing. His two ears repositioned back to normal along with their electric discharges halting. His special gauge was only fifty-percent depleted as well as recharging itself rather quickly. Specvitro heard clapping originating from Silver Wing and heard her feint voice as she said, "Although a rather easily dodgeable special, it seems rather incredibly strong for it's gauge usage and the fact that you're an earth pony avatar." "Huh?" he replied in response. Different Sub-Species reveals different attributes along with their color...? Silver Wing flapped her moderate-sized wings once and then laid back on her chair, "To put it simply, Spec-kun; pegasi are quick, unicorns are more experienced at indirect combat, and earth ponies are more experienced at close combat." "The colors you can study up on your own as they usually correspond to the user's mental and emotional scars." she said in a joyful tone which quickly switched into a more serious one, "Although... you being a unicorn in reality but your avatar being an earth pony is mysterious; but hey, there could be some hidden meaning behind the existence of your avatar then." A sense of another presence approaching. "Is someone the-" Specvitro's question was quickly interrupted by the flying of missiles from a distance towards them, barely missing as they flew past and destroyed the ground past him and Silver Wing. Silver Wing shouted at Spectre, "Spec-kun! Quickly get through here!" She was standing near a beacon that was labelled in clear letters, 'NCRESSFORMHSCHOOL EXIT' He quickly jumped towards the exit beacon and she followed behind, their assailant however obviously didn't. Bright light covered his vision and then slowly disappeared as he noticed himself located right outside the lounge standing by the door, he looked to his right to see Silver Wing standing. "Now you know of the problem that I'm facing here." she calmly said, her eyes closed in a thinking manner. They both entered the lounge with Spectre Vitro following behind Silver Wing back to their seats at the two-person table. After they sat down once more Specvitro popped the question, "Why'd we suddenly appear outside the lounge?" A quick answer followed. "That's the exit point located in this school, when we access the <> by breaking through it with our d-linkers, we essentially leave this reality as well as pseudo-suspending it with our mind accelerating one-thousand time's faster while we are in the other reality..." One second in the Aurasphere is one thousandth of a second in the real world, so calculating it could make one day in the Aurasphere equal to only one-forty fourth of a second in the real world...
3 - DevotionTravelling distances over short amounts of time in the real world... A technology that can help good and evil become mobile but at what cost...? Silver Wing fixed her skirt as she sat and said, "...although the cost is quite heavy..." A heavy cost...? She took in a deep breath and then store into Spectre Vitro's eyes deeply, a shallow tone exited her mouth as she said, "If you die in the <>, you disappear in real life as well." "Eh..." Specvitro retorted in response. She reached over and patted his head with her forehoof, "In a sense you disappear... but in actuality your soul is just left within the depths of the aurasphere within the Canterlot Castle Dungeon~" Canterlot...? "The place where the princesses reside to this very age?" Specvitro questioned dumbfounded-like. Silver Wing nodded, "If your soul is lost in there long enough, it disappears completely. What's left in reality is a husk of the real pony with no memories of anything." "Think of it as a large-scale extremely difficult dungeon in an <>, it's a suicidal task to even try to save somepony who is lost" she continued and sat back in her chair, "We can travel large distances in short amounts of time with the <> but at the risk of death to the enemies that scatter the pseudo-universe." Shallow forms of themselves, dead on the inside but not outside. Just the thought of ponies without souls caused him to tilt his head in confusion but the question he was about to ask was answered with a quick... "There aren't that many ponies who access the aurasphere and those who own a copy of <> can infinitely disperse them to others at their own risk." Silver Wing nodded and leaned back, "Now to the problem at hoof." She swirved her hair around her head and then looked at Spectre Vitro seriously, "That pony that had attacked us... we need to eliminate her... or him..." Eliminate...? Kill...? "One thing with the aurasphere is that within every city or town there is one leader and as you can see there aren't many other ponies in this city that do ingress into the aurasphere." she smirked and whispered, "I am the leader of Cressform within the aurasphere, but that pony continually attacks... and from what I can piece together... is trying to userp my throne." Specvitro looked at her and straightened his seating position to ask, "So why haven't you dealt with them?" "...because they're backed by an army..." she sighed and looked down at the table, "Recently there have been increasing numbers of ponies appearing and disappearing within the Cressform aurasphere area and with such I figured that the opposing high school in the south is the aggressor." You don't need a connection to the network to connect to the aurasphere. "An army in the south?" Specvitro stood up, "What about here in the north of Cressform? Where is everyone else?" Silver Wing stayed silent for a second or so and visibly Spectre Vitro could see tears falling onto the table. After a minute of silence Silver Wing managed to speak out, "I killed them all..." Killed them all...She killed them all... She gave off a disappointed sigh and looked towards Specvitro, "I was... tricked into doing so..." "Tricked? By who?" Spectre Vitro questioned immediately in response. The only reply that came after was. "By the one who attacked us" After the whole meeting between the two, they said a short farewell before going back to attend their classes that they were missing. Silver Wing did put in a good word for him from what he heard before in their talk. As he was in class, sitting down and listening to the teacher he was able to pick up some whispers from a nearby group of students. He figured that they might be talking about him and how every one in the school thinks he cheats because of his almost perfect scores within the first year. Yet, from what he could pick up he heard the name... <> Did they know? If they did then what -did- they know?! Are they thinking the wrong things about them? Thoughts quickly raced through his head but he was able to suppress them as his last class went on. The school bell rang signalling the end of the school day so he quickly packed his things and made his way out the door. Who he saw waiting for him outside the school gates was a bit of a surprise to him. "Hey Spectre!" the plush pink pony waved with a concerned yet joyful smile. Plethora Pink hardly ever to never walked home with him and as she approached him he returned the gesture and smiled, "Hey, Pinks." She gave a huff and spoke, "I was told by Silver that she wants to meet up with you over by the local park down the street." she pointed down the path in a distant direction and continued, "She's already there I presume, Spectre; Also don't call me Pinks!" He gave off a faint chuckle at her uncomfortable retort and then nodded, "Alright." Spectre Vitro wasn't going to be able to refuse any kind of order in the situation that he's in so he said his goodbyes to Plethora Pink and made his way towards the park. It's open, it's free, and more importantly it's full of ponies most of the day. <> "These enemies, from what I know, are created from the negative emotions of ponies. The stronger such emotions are the greater the strength of the enemy... although when you defeat the enemy it is said that the pony that had unknowingly created it will suddenly lose that negative feeling." <> He saw Silver Wing sitting alone on a bench and this time without her school uniform on. Spectre Vitro forgot that he could just take his uniform off when not on school grounds but it would be awkward to do so now so he trotted up to her and put on a smile. She looked at him and returned the smile. To his surprise he got to see her cutie mark and ironically he saw a angelic wing. What it meant to him was a complete mystery as it could mean flight but he knew that she couldn't fly like most other ponies in this era. He almost let out a laugh but held it back politely. Then he felt a cold sting as his d-linker flashed red. Thoughts Accessed... Danger Code Red... Recovering lost files... Huh...? "So you thought it would be funny to laugh at my cutie mark, hm? Thought it was ironic in this day of age?" Silver Wing had a serious face put on while glaring at him with her paralyzing stare but after a second she sighed and released her death-stare on Specvitro. An expert hacker? "Eh..." he retorted in response, "I didn't mean to, really... uh..." His words trailed off slowly as he stuttered, "S-so-sor-sorry..." "Come... sit." she interrupted his apology and patted the empty spot beside her on the bench that was small for a park bench. She gave off a small smirk and popped the question, "Do you want to know what my cutie mark signifies?" Specvitro nodded silently in response. Silver Wing looked at him with a stare that melt the burning sun itself as she said, "It signifies my ability to utilize my speed to glide. It's not truly flying as I need to use acceleration to even start." She looked away, "I wish I could fly like my hero, Rainbow Dash." "Rainbow Dash..." Specvitro thought aloud to himself and responded, "...the fastest flyer in Equestria is -your- hero?" Silver Wing blushed with wide eyes as she used her wing to cause Specvitro to fall off the bench. Striving to be what you're not creates feelings of inferiority within themselves... "Now... let's access the aurasphere." Silver Wing winked, quickly reactivating the private connections between them both. <> Then the world froze and broke away as the aurasphere world assembled into existence right in front of their eyes and after the assembly was completed, their bodies transformed into their avatar forms. Specvitro looked around to see tens of hundreds of enemies that were ranging from flying hawks to fiery goat demons. But a sight to behold caused all the enemies to scatter away from the area. "<>" The sound of a skill command was heard, then a second afterwards dark blue rockets were seen flying upward into the sky. Specvitro looked up dumbfounded, "What the..." "Spectre!" Silver Wing shouted out in horror as she dashed in front of him and leapt into the air, the rockets arcing one-hundred and eighty degrees in a semi-circle and homing in on her. "Silver Wing!" he shouted much too late as the rockets made contact with the spread wings and front body of his friend. All he could do was watch as she fell from the sky with her burnt, broken armor plating and smoke trailing behind. He ran towards where she was going to land, his speed output at maximum as he caught her on his back, acting like a cushion. "This land belonds to me, your fake leader is as she is... a fake!" the voice came from where the rockets originated. Spectre Vitro saw a form walk across the nearby hill to see the same pony that they encountered before. He stuttered, "Y-you..." "You shall address me as Cinder Javelin." the unknown pony said. "Kh... Cinder... 'must be pretty weak... h-heh..." Silver Wing weakly taunted. Cinder Javelin's wings covered themselves in blue code and transformed into rocket cannons, each pointed at the direction of Specvitro and Silver Wing as he spoke, "Now then... any last words before I send you both to the depths of the unknown abyss?" Specvitro looked at his foe and cringed underneath his mask in hate, his mask slowly began to shimmer red. "Just one word~" an unknown voice spoke from a distance with a whimsical and fiery-esque tone. Huh...? "Huh?!" Cinder shouted towards the sky, unable to see where this new voice originated from, "Show yourself!" Then in the blink of an eye a form crashed into the ground, leaving a large smoking crater. The figure stood up, it's flaming metallic form sporting wings and a horn. "An alicorn avatar? Impossible!" Cinder shouted, pointing his weapons at the unknown assailant. "Possible, yes. Impossible, to you it is so." It spoke in a regal yet mischievous tone. Who... Silver Wing's mask disintegrated and her real face was seen... Tears... True tears of pain were flowing out of her eyes but even then she had never screamed nor wailed from such pain. Her armor must've absorbed enough of the damage but the shock from the explosions must've hit her hard internally thought Spectre Vitro. "D-don't look at m-me..." Silver Wing spat out in a gentle tone, turning her face away. Spectre Vitro laid her on the ground and smiled, "Don't worry, Silv." The battle between Cinder and the Fire Alicorn had continued on as Cinder fired his massive arsenal of rockets and machine guns but the Alicorn burned every single bullet and rocket, turning every projectile into ash. Specvitro removed his own mask and visibly his eyes began to glow purple. "I'll save and protect you." His armor began to shift and morph, his form obscure to the point of no visibility until he re-emerged in a demonic-esque covering of charcoal black armor. Accessing drives, re-accessing transformation. 'Ultimate Skill: Saving Protection' ready for deployment, master. Spectre Vitro looked around his surrounding area and imaged the landscape covered underneath a shell of impenetrable armor. His mask formed over his head and began to glow a solid blue as the perimeter of his image was covered underneath a sphere of black rock and surrounded the fiery alicorn, Silver Wing, and himself. He began to glow once more and quickly his form transformed back into his original state. He passed out quickly afterwards, his helmet disintegrating away in code as he head gently landed on top of Silver Wing. Shh... it'll be alright... Alright...? Let us return back to the past, and seek through your memories. My... memories...? Your name is not Spectre Vitro, it was just a fabrication of your nightmarish memories. Your true name is...
0 - Evolution at it's DarkestA fiery red alicorn sat perfectly on the floor, if there was a floor. All that was felt was darkness, void, nothing except for that mare that stood within the darkness and lit her small area up with her aura. She turned to look behind her and to see past the darkness that stood between the anonymous and herself. "Well hello there, you must be a newcomer." she gave off a small smile and stood up, "I guess I have to explain where this is." She took in a deep breath and sighed, her fiery wings with their emitting energy seemingly weakening with every second. "This... is what's left of the true aurasphere in this world." she looked down, her hair covering the upper part of her face, "You don't know what the aurasphere is?" "Well... let me explain it to you then." "The aurasphere is the mystic energy that resides behind the scenes in our little world that we call Equestria. An energy that for centuries had dictated magic and flight for the regular unicorns and pegasi of this land. I feel as though you've already figured out that the precious aurasphere is being slowly depleted. You're right to think so. I'm the guardian of the final spark of flame within this aurasphere. A tiny ember. The new advances of evolution has changed the way things are sought. They can alter the field. An aurasphere is birthed by the creation of a nation. Every nation to their own. There is an innocent lie to those who live here. A lie to protect them from reality..." She lifted her head, her bright and beautiful eyes in a focused, serious stare as she says, "A book that can be read over and over but could never be deciphered, that is what the aurasphere is. A land of balanced, unattainable power that could destroy and create, that is what the aurasphere is. Destiny, Fate... that is the true meaning of what the aurasphere is." The alicorn gave off a winded sigh and turned away, "Now then... wake up, for your destiny is about to awaken within the realm of the aurasphere, young unicorn."
