Level 1: Equestria Online
A steady rhythm of clacking filled the room I was currently studying in, originating from a boy bent over his computer table completely engrossed in his work. That boy was my 23 year old brother. He buried his face in the computer screen, brushing aside his long black hair every time it fell over his eyes. I couldn’t really make fun of him, though. I was practically situated the same way, although, I held an item of greater sustenance in my hands. Not to mention, I wasn’t dressed in only a white undershirt and some boxers.
“Sonya, come take a look at what I’ve done so far,” my brother said, swiveling around in his computer chair. I did not turn, but continued to read from the large textbook lodged in my palms. I simply nodded and let out a grunt of affirmation, turning the page and continuing on. I laid on his bed as I read, swinging my legs back and forth in the air. I could hear him get up after I refused to, and take a seat right next to my side. He must have slammed down hard, because I felt my body rise into the air for a second.
“Peter, I don’t like it when you do that,” I said, refusing to take my eyes off of the page I was reading. He reached for my blonde hair and tried to undo my ponytail, but I swatted his hand away, glaring at him.
“Oh man, what happened to my sweet little sister,” he sighed, laying backwards. His body fell on my lower half. “Since you entered college, you’ve done nothing but study and ignore your older brother.”
“That’s because I’m working hard, unlike my older brother,” I groaned, my breathing a little strained. I tried to lift my legs, but his body held me down tight. “Get off, my lower half is falling asleep,” I groaned again.
“Not until you take a look at my progress,” he said. He inhaled and let it out in a massive sigh, snuggling into my backside with his. “On second thought, you’re rather comfy… I think I’ll stay here and take a nap.”
“Not on your life,” I shouted, getting up on my hands and knees suddenly. It was difficult, but I mustered enough strength to roll him off and onto the carpeted floor of his bedroom. He fell with a cry, but refused to get up despite this. I guess he was serious about the nap now.
I closed my textbook and sat criss-crossed on his bed, taking a look at his computer screen. Of course, what I saw was no surprise… It was that damned virtual world of his that he was building for what seemed like an eternity. I stepped off of the bed and walked over to the computer, shaking my head at the title of the file.
“What, you got a problem with it?” he suddenly asked, peeking at me with one eye.
“I’m not the one with the problem,” I began, pointing to the screen, “You’re the weirdo who has this unnatural affinity for horses.” My finger prodded at the screen, slightly covering the file name, Equestria Online.
He got up now, storming over to me faster than I could react. I just managed to slide out of the way before he took his seat and shoved me aside, shooting me a large frown. I didn’t care. I gave him one right back, one-upping him by sticking my tongue out.
“It’s not a fetish or anything like that,” he replied, clicking a few things on the screen.
“Your browser history says otherwise,” I replied, opening my book again. He nearly slipped out of his chair, and knocked my book away.
“What the hell are you doing in my room without my permission?!”
I brought my hand in close to his forehead tucked my index finger behind my bent thumb. I released it, striking him in the temple and causing him to grab his forehead screaming. “Idiot, your room is the only one with a computer, I have to use it for school!”
“Grrr… I still don’t like it,” he moaned, rubbing his head.
I blew off some smoke and sighed, motioning down to pick up my textbook. As I leaned over, I noticed a particular document right under the Equestria Online file. It had my name on it. My eyes widened, and I quickly pushed him away. I ignored the obvious objections and ranting Peter was giving me and opened the file, staring at the screen with my mouth slightly agape.
“Peter… What is this?” My whole body was shaking, and my hands began to form tight fists.
“W-well,” he started, stammering a bit, “I figured that… you know, you might want to… I mean—” His yammering faded out. It wasn’t that I wasn’t hearing him, it was just, I was too focused on the image of the cream-colored creature in front of me. Four hooves, a cute little muzzle, a nice blonde flowing mane, and a picture of an open book with a wavy bookmark situated on its thigh.
“I don’t mind if you indulge in your sick fantasies, but leave me out of them!” I shouted, turning the computer screen towards him. “What the hell is this shit?!”
“It’s your personal avatar! The one you’ll use when you enter Equestria!” he argued back, getting in my face now. I had forgotten how tall he was, as he towered over me when he spoke back. It didn’t matter, though. I wasn’t going to have any of this.
“What makes you think I’ll ever have a part in whatever crack you’re working on?!”
“Geez, all I asked for was a simple opinion, not a whole freakin’ review,” he said. “You weren’t even supposed to see that file!”
“Then hide your stuff better, it’s a wonder how Mom and Dad haven’t found your hoard of porn!”
“Ack! You’ve been looking?!”
“We use the same computer you dumb ass!”
“Keep it down up there! I’ll beat the crap out of both of you!” A loud voice sounded from downstairs. This shout was followed by several deep pounds from the floor below.
“Are you trying to get Dad to ground us again? I need to finish this before the semester is over, it’s my final project,” Peter said, backing off. “See, I’m not just foaling around, I’m working too.”
“What… What did you say?” I asked, lifting an eyebrow.
“What, that I’m working on legitimate schoolwork?” He crossed his arms. “C’mon, you’re not the only college student, freshman.”
“No… That word you used… you said you weren’t… Foaling around?”
He blinked once and gave me an awkward smile. “Oh, that,” he chuckled. “It’s… kind of the way the ponies talk in EqO,” he explained. “They say foal instead of fool, and everypony instead of everybody. There’s a bunch of different other words too, like—”
“I’m done here,” I replied, picking up my book and heading towards his door. “If it weren’t for the fact that your room is completely silent when you’re working, I probably wouldn’t even visit you,” I said, opening the door.
“Geez, Sonya, don’t be so cruel,” he said, scratching his arm.
“Me, be cruel? If I didn’t visit your room, you’d never see me, or Mom or Dad for that matter,” I replied. “By the way, Mom says it’s almost time for your check-up.”
“Yeah, I know what time it is,” Peter said, spinning back around in his chair. I waited a moment, and then stepped out.
“Hold on, Sonya,” he said, before I closed the door. I didn’t feel like waiting anymore, but he turned around again and smiled. I looked back, unsure of what to think.
“What,” I finally asked.
“Thanks… for always visiting me,” he said. “Mom… Dad… No one else really understands me like you do.”
“Of course they do,” I said. “You just feel awkward around them because you can’t call them little or sister,” I replied. He chuckled, and then went back to his work, typing away at a document on the computer. I shut the door and turned my back to his room, heading downstairs now. At least I got a little studying in, before he made things weird. I swear… I probably won’t ever understand that obsession of his with freaking horses. “Freak,” I muttered, walking down the stairs.
“Hold on again,” I heard him say from the top of the stairwell. I looked up, and nearly stumbled as I caught the small pamphlet he had dropped down to me.
“What now?” I studied the colorful booklet, grimacing at the crude crayon that Peter had used for the cover.
“It’s the manual for the game. Give it a read, will ya? You’re smart, and you’ll catch all my errors,” he said, giving me another smile.
“What if I say no?” I replied, sticking it between the pages of my other book.
“Aww, come on! Please, little sister?” he begged, clasping his hands together and bowing his head. “I told you it’s for a final project… You wouldn’t want me to disgrace our family name because you were too selfish to help your elder brother!”
I pursed my bottom lip at him and furrowed my brow, but relented after he refused to. “Fine,” I replied, “just know that I’m not doing this because I’m interested. I’m doing this so you don’t make me look bad at school,” I explained.
“Whatever you say, Sonya,” he yelled back, shutting himself back into his room. I sighed. It couldn’t be helped, and I wouldn’t outright say no; I couldn’t outright say no. I examined the booklet again and flipped through the pages. Nothing really stuck with me, except for one word:
RPG
I pulled out my phone and did a quick search online. “Is this… like, Fallout?”
***
Mom and Dad returned home with Peter later that evening. As usual, as soon as he entered the door, he fled upstairs and shut himself in his room. He would be there for the remainder of the night. My parents aren’t too keen on letting me know the details of Peter’s condition, and it doesn’t help that the fool has no idea himself. It’s a little frustrating, but I can’t let that show. I won’t let that show.
“Still studying, eh, like a good little girl,” my father said, sitting on the couch next to me. “I’m so proud of you, Sonya,” he said, grabbing the remote.
“We’re so proud of you, you mean,” my mother said, closing the refrigerator door. She brought out some sodas and a bowl of chips, taking the seat on my other side. I didn’t really feel like answering them, so I just kept on reading.
“So, how’s college going for ya? Do you even see your brother on campus, or what?” Dad asked, channel surfing. Mom handed him a can, and he took it and set it down, grabbing for the bowl of chips immediately.
“I do,” I replied, turning a page.
“I only wish Peter studied more, instead of playing on that computer all day,” Mom said, leaning back into the couch. “Honestly, between his sessions and your after-school activities, I’m not sure how long we can manage.”
What was that supposed to mean?
“Don’t worry, the boy’s about done with his career, then he’ll be moving on. I’m sure he’ll shape up,” Dad said, opening his drink. He took a big sloppy slurp and dove back into the chips.
“He’s working hard,” I said without looking up.
“On what,” My father asked. “All he does is stay in his room, and when we do go on family outings, he’s so distant!”
“Don’t be too harsh on the boy, Sonya’s right,” mother said. “She’s only looking out for her big brother.”
“Big brother who can’t drive, doesn’t have a job, and is taking classes for a subject that won’t make him too much money,” father replied with a scoff. “He’s troubled.”
“How was he today?” I asked, finally setting eyes on my father. “Any improvement?”
“We told you, sweetie,” my mother began, “it’s not that kind of illness.”
“Well, you treat it like one,” I said, looking at her now. They both stared at me, and I blinked a few times, reviewing what I had just said myself. I shut my book and rose from the couch. “I’m tired,” I told them, making my way towards the stairs. “Goodnight.”
“Goodnight, sweetie,” Mom said.
“Don’t study too late, or you’ll be too tired to do well tomorrow,” my father called out.
It was more than I could handle at the moment, and to be honest, I was a little tired. As I climbed the staircase, my eyes fell over the door of my brother’s room. I made it to the top of the stairs and turned, standing in front of the door silently. I listened to the keys clacking and mouse clickings on the other side, and knocked. The noise stopped, but resumed after a brief pause.
“Goodnight,” I called out, and made my way to the door adjacent from the top of the stairwell. Before I opened my door, I heard a creak from his side of the house.
“Did you read it?” he asked.
I turned around. “I skimmed through it,” I replied, pulling out the little booklet. “Aside from the mechanical errors in your sentence structuring, it was fine.”
“Is… that all?”
I looked at him, and then back at the booklet. “Yes,” I said, and entered my room.
***
In my opinion, it was too early for this, but then again, if I really minded, I guess I wouldn’t be doing this right now. I examined the dual headset in my hands, thumbing over the crudely soldered trimmings and the rough design. It looked a little painful to put on. Peter just gave me a wide grin, holding another set in his hands.
“This is why I kept waking up to your screams last night,” I moaned, tossing the goggles and headset on his bed. I plopped down on his mattress and shut my eyes. I wasn’t even out of my pajamas, and I guess he had just gotten out of bed as well. It was still warm…
“Hey, don’t go back to sleep,” he said. “I need to show you this! I hit a breakthrough with the graphics interface, and just finalized the docking sequence. The DIVE system is fully functional, and the world is generating as we speak!”
“I don’t give a crap about your otaku weebshit,” I groaned, ducking under his covers. “It’s too early, and this is the only day I have scheduled to not study.”
“You’re so mean, Sonya-chan,” he said in his stupid fake Japanese voice. I suddenly felt a warm presence on my back, and a hand gently cover my shoulder. “Why can’t you be nicer to your Onii-san?”
“If I wasn’t so tired…” I replied, trying to nudge him off of me. Rather than reject his obvious jab at making me feel awkward, I instead welcomed it. I closed my eyes and snuggled against him, feeling his relaxed breath roll down my neck. We laid there for a moment, until it suddenly got weirder than it already was. My eyes glanced down and saw the dual headset again, and I sighed, stirring our bodies from the bed.
“Huh… Why’d you move?” Peter asked, yawning.
“Idiot, you actually fell back asleep?!” I said, shoving him off of the bed. He shouted as he hit the floor, rubbing his side after recovering a little. I groaned, picking up the headset again. “Show me how this works, so I can take a shower.”
Peter smiled, laughing a little as he hopped back into his computer chair. I watched as he typed in a few commands and opened his little program, then he took the wires from the headsets and plugged them into the computer tower.
“Keep in mind, this is only a test, and I plan on making these things wireless,” he explained, handing me back mine. “So, are you ready to dive, Sonya?”
“This better not be Swimsuit Simulator,” I said, placing the goggles over my eyes. I covered my ears with the headphones and sat back down on his bed. He relaxed in his computer chair and grinned again, before hovering his finger over the enter button.
“Ready?”
“Yeah.”
“Dive!” He shouted, pressing the key.
The device over my eyes lit up, painting the room in a yellow tint. A few command prompts showed up on the visor and displayed a random set of numbers and letters before going blank again. Even the tint vanished. I was about to open my mouth, but then the room went black. I don’t remember when, but it felt like I was falling. As I plummeted into nothing, a swirl of color rushed past my body and filled the void with a flurry of rainbows. My body became wrapped in a neon green wire mesh, and I could feel it shift and morph in completely unnatural ways.
The colors sped past me, but soon vanished, and I found myself still, standing awkwardly in a sunny, green pasture. I could hear clearly the sounds of morning birds, and felt the warmth of the sun across my face. I reached up to touch my face, and noticed the goggles were gone, along with my headset. That wasn’t the only thing that I noticed, however. Where the top of the visor would be, I felt a short, protruded extension jutting out of my head.
“Wha…” I gasped, finding it hard to talk. I wobbled some and fell to my knees… All four of them. I gasped, hyperventilating now, and flailing on the floor, I watched in horror as four frantic hooves tore up the grass and dirt right below me. I was finally able to rise to my feet when I bumped into something, grabbing onto it to try and gain my balance.
“It’ll take a while, but you’ll get used to it,” I heard Peter’s voice say. I looked up at my balancing pole and saw that I had slung my… forehooves over his shoulders.
“P-peter!” I shouted, jumping back. “W-w-what is this?!”
“Don’t freak out,” the brown-haired, blue-coated stallion said in front of me. “If it makes you feel any better, you technically don’t even have hooves.”
“You turned me into a horse!” I shouted, stamping my lower limbs. “What the hell?!”
“Sonya, relax,” he said. He walked over to me and came up by my side. “One hoof at a time—”
“Don’t... “ I warned him, giving him a stern glare, “Don’t start with that crock!"
"Okay, one foot at a time, then... Alternate between the adjacent legs, and move them as if you were walking with only two," he said, demonstrating a bit. I observed his light prance and mimicked his movements, catching myself steadily as I came full circle to a stop.
"Like that?"
He nodded. "It's easier to do if you don't even think about it. Technically, those legs aren't even there, so if you wanted, you could make walking as synonymously easy as breathing."
"Seriously, Peter..." I observed my surroundings again. He looked at me and cocked his head to the side. "You designed all of this?"
"Little sister," he started, wrapping his foreleg around me, "welcome to Equestria!"
I took more caution to survey the landscape this time around, seeing past the green expanse and beholding the lush foliage of the dense forest behind us. In front, I could see the jagged ridges of the rolling mountains, their summits laced with snow as their peaks pierced through the cloud line.
The sun shone a powerful beam of light on us, warming our bodies, yet not exceeding a comfortable temperature. Slow drifting clouds painted the blue sky, casting shadows on the ground that danced over the stones and bush of the wild grassland we stood in.
A slight breeze caressed my face, gently weaving it's hand through my mane. I actually closed my eyes in that moment, and smiled. I lifted my nose into the air and inhaled, widening my eyes at the sudden influx of flowery aromas. It was unreal.
"How...?"
"I can't really say," he replied. "At first, as I was designing, I was worried about the textures and the aromas... I didn't think I could emulate the world as I wanted it to be, but...
It was almost like, everything came naturally to me. I was almost as if I had lived here, my entire life," he finished.
I looked over at my brother, and saw a proud stallion, staring off into the expanse of nature as if he were an accomplished individual. His face teemed with confidence and happiness, and for a moment, it looked like he really was at home.
"So, this is the world of horses you've been obsessing over," I said, slipping out of his grasp.
"Yeah," he said, laying down on his knees. I winced at the posture... It seemed uncomfortable.
"Is this it," I asked, "or there some kind of town or castle nearby? This is a RPG."
Peter nodded, jumping to his hooves and trotting happily next to me again. He pointed between two mountains and squinted his eyes. "See that silhouette on the side of the mountain?"
"Yes," I said.
"That's called Canterlot. That's the home of your pony race," Peter explained.
"My race?" I examined my body again and remembered the extension from my head. "Oh... A horse with a horn, I'm a unicorn," I said, poking the thing.
"Yeah, and I have wings, making me a pegasus, see?" Peter said, flaring his appendages from his sides outward. I didn't even notice them before. They spanned a good distance from his body, but realistically that design would fail a horse of his size, even if he was a pony.
“But, Pegasus wasn’t a race… It was the proper name of one winged-horse,” I replied.
“Sonya… Really?”
“You asked me to critique, I’m also guessing that’s why I’m here right now,” I said, turning away from him. I peered closer at the pointed spires on the side of the mountain, and moved my eye downward. Again, not sure how I hadn’t noticed it before, but there seemed to be the tops of a few buildings reaching above the horizon.
“That’s Ponyville,” Peter said. “The first town in our adventure.”
“One, this isn’t our adventure, it’s your weird final project; Second, Ponyville? Really, you might as well call this Horseland instead of Equestria,” I scoffed.
“Don’t judge my lack of creativity, okay!?” He pushed me to the floor. I screamed as I stumbled, unable to regain my balance for a short while. “I put a lot of time into the environment programming that I was almost dead when I came up with the town names!”
“So, it’s your fault that it’s your fault, basically.”
“Don’t mock me!”
I finally regained my footing and sighed. “Fine, let’s go see this Ponyville, then I’m done. I still have to take a shower.” I started walking towards the town, but suddenly bumped into Peter when he flew down right in front of me.
“Don’t move,” he whispered.
“Peter, what the hell?” I shouted, shoving him aside. As I pushed him away, I saw three pairs of glowing red eyes peer from within some thicket. I backed up at the same time that three wooden canines emerged from the forest, their bodies snapping and cracking as if someone was stepping over a road full of twigs. “P-peter… W-what the… Hell?!”
“Timberwolves,” he growled, picking himself up. “I programmed them to be around this area, but three at once? The A.I. is pretty intuitive,” he chuckled.
“This is not the right time,” I gasped, my eyes darting between the three beasts. They snarled at us and hissed a noxious green mist from their mouths. I nearly choked as the fog rolled over our bodies. “It’s not… real, right?” I gagged.
“Not technically,” Peter said, covering his snout with his wings. “But if they hit you, it will still hurt.”
“What kind of virtual reality are you trying to make?! It’s not virtual if it’s so realistic!” I screamed. My voice must’ve set something off, because the three wolves jumped us then, attacking from all sides.
“Sonya, use your magic to fire a beam of energy!” Peter shouted.
“Magic? I don’t have magic, how do I use magic?!” I panicked, barely avoiding one of the snarling beasts.
“Didn’t you read the manual?” Peter jumped into the air to avoid his attacker.
“I skimmed it,” I replied, trying to keep track of two of the wooden wolves now. They circled me, growling with an intense deep gurgle. I didn’t care if it was fake, if this thing took a bite out me, I was going to feel it apparently…
“No helping it, then, I have to be the hero in this situation!” Peter exclaimed, bounding into the air. His takeoff released a gust of wind that blew away the foul gas around us. The Timberwolves turned their attention to him, and I darted out of their line of sight as quickly as I could, taking cover behind a stone quarry.
“Most brothers offer to make you pancakes, or tease you while you’re brushing your teeth, but no… My brother tries to get me killed in virtual reality!” I hissed, watching from afar.
Peter was soaring around in the air, leading the three wolves’ attacks astray and striking at them with his hooves after each of their failed assaults. Bark and twigs flew off of their bodies with each strike, until eventually one was completely dismantled, whimpering as it exploded into sticks and leaves.
I should be impressed, but he designed the game… Of course he’s going to know their weakness, I thought, watching as he dismantled another one.
“Sonya, are you seeing this?! I’m sticking it to them!” He laughed.
“That pun was in terribad tastes, you moron!”
The final wolf took his attention off of Peter now, and focused on me. Its eyes narrowed into gleaming slits, and it howled a cry, something fierce, before bounding in my direction.
“Ah, Ah! AH!” I started backing away, then turned tail and went into a full gallop, trying to keep the damn thing from taking a bite out of me.
“Sonya, use your magic!” I could hear the dodo say from above.
“I told you, I don’t know how!” I shouted back, slipping on the grass suddenly. The Timberwolf seized the moment, lunging at me with full force and bit into my left hind leg. A burning pain erupted in my thighs, and I let out a vicious scream, striking at the creature with my forehooves.
“Sonya!” Peter shouted, rushing in from the sky. “Think about your goal! Focus on what you want your magic to do, and how you want it to get done!”
“I’m being eaten, you bastard!” I shouted, screaming again as the Timberwolf bit down harder, digging its claws into my sides now. My body jolted from the pain, a hot searing sensation burning across my entire body.
Ow! Fuck, Shit! SHIT! It’s not real, it’s not real, it’s not real… But it fucking hurts!
“Sonya, you’re HP is low, if you don’t do something now, you’ll die!” Peter shouted, rushing in again to try to distract the monster. It paid no mind to him, and continued its torment on me.
“Damn you, stupid… AGH!” I couldn’t bear it any longer. I wanted this thing off of me. I needed it off of me. It was going to get off of me. My body started burning hotter, a different sensation trickling around my skin and flooding within my soul. I couldn’t exactly define it, but it felt like power. A lot of power. I wanted to use it against this thing, and I wanted to use it over and over again.
“That’s it, Sonya, like that!” Peter shouted, landing next to me and the wolf. He charged it, and it finally let go, barking at Peter and tackling him now. He could not dodge the attack and was pinned down, the monster’s jaws clamped tight over his neck, and its claws digging into his wings.
His scream echoed throughout the field, and he squirmed under the Timberwolf, but could not break free. Even though the Timberwolf let me go, I could still feel its teeth sinking into my leg. It throbbed so painfully I could feel it all the way through my body. However, the whimsical euphoria that washed over me overpowered that feeling. I rose to my hooves, and directed my attention at the two combating forces in front of me.
I could barely make out anything aside from two misty figures. One was a deep green, completely dominating the light blue creature writhing in the grass. A small bar was present on the side of each of them, though the blue one’s was falling rapidly, changing hues as it slid down the gauge.
“I’ll kill you,” I said, feeling the hot flashes burn up around my body and gather in my brain. My head felt like it was going to explode, but the weird thing was, it didn’t feel unnatural. In fact, it felt completely normal. I could feel the horn on top of my head getting heavier, and the hot feeling in my body rush to that spot with greater intensity,
Suddenly, I felt a release, and aimed my horn at the green creature. Before my very eyes, I saw a wave of colors shoot from my head and consume the yelping beast. Even the branches it broke into were incinerated in the fire. As quickly as it had come, it was gone. I snapped back to reality and I could see again, but my body reminded itself of the damage it received. It convulsed from a different pain, and my limbs pulsated with an excruciating feeling.
Peter was in the grass, breathing heavily, his little bar halfway depleted and changed to yellow. I suddenly noticed one on me when I looked at my hooves. It was way lower than his, and blinking red. I looked back to Peter, who was struggling to make his way towards me. As I saw him limp through the grass, I burst into tears.
He quickened his pace, and bumped into me, covering me in his wings. He wasn’t crying, but I didn’t need to see his tears to feel his guilt. He cradled me as I bawled in his grip, struggling to balance the wet sobs and intense pain I felt all over my body.
“I want to go,” I finally hiccuped. “Take me out, let me leave!”
“Okay, okay,” he said, lifting his hoof into the air. A small floating menu opened up and he scrolled through it until he found a button with an ‘x’ enclosed in a circle. “Do this, and you’ll log out.”
I stifled my cries long enough to mimic his movements and find the button myself. I looked at him, my eyes red and watery, and he looked back, his face completely fallen, and his eyes just as wet. I swallowed some liquid in my throat, and then pushed the button, erasing the world around me, and falling back into darkness.
***
My body sprung up from Peter’s bed, shaky, and sweaty. A frantic scream erupted from my lungs, and I immediately yanked the headset off and chucked it on the floor, wrapping myself in my arms. I was hyperventilating, and shaking like a leaf. Peter woke up with a sharp gasp, and removed his headset too, rushing over to me and grabbing me in his arms.
“I’m sorry,” he said, hugging me tight. I pushed him away and yelled, throwing his pillows at him and storming off of his bed.
“What was all that?!” I shouted, still trying to catch my breath. I couldn’t even stand, resorting to using his nightstand for support. “What the hell are you trying to do, Peter?!”
“That wasn’t supposed to happen,” he said, sitting on his bed. “Those first two Timberwolves were low enough levels to be killed, but that last one was a pack leader… It was supposed to be an enemy that spawned later on in the game!”
I stammered and stuttered, trying to find the right insults to throw at this moron. I finally settled for a simple hand gesture, with one of my beloved fingers. “Never,” I said, regaining my composure a little.
“Never, what?” he asked.
“I don’t ever want to go in there, again, hear me?!” I was breathing real heavy. My hands ached for something to strangle, and my eyes pierced through Peter’s body like knives. “Keep that sick… shit to yourself, you got that?!”
He nodded, unable to even look me in the eye. I calmed down, sliding down against the wall and rubbing my thighs, my human thighs, and flexing all ten of my toes. I felt my side, and half-winced, but relaxed when I failed to notice any pain.
So… It really was all fake, I thought, staring at the headset on the floor in front of me. But… that bite… those claws! I felt my side again, and almost teared up.
I looked at Peter, who was still looking at the floor, his mind wandering, no doubt. As much as I wanted to hate him for this… As much as I wanted to tell him off and smash this stupid device… I couldn’t bring myself to do it. As I sat there, looking at him with my contorted expression, all I could see was sorrow; defeat.
He moved then, rising to his feet slowly and picking up his headsets, setting them on the computer desk. “Go,” he said, turning his back to me.
“What about—”
“I’m okay, I didn’t take as much damage as you did,” he said, not turning around. He sat back in his computer chair and opened a few pages, typing hastily on the the keyboard. He stopped abruptly and held back a retch, swallowing something and shuddering a little before resuming. “It’ll take a little time for your body to adjust to the jump, not to mention register that the damage you sustained in that world was fake.”
I didn’t say anything. I couldn’t think of anything to say. Even if I did, I wasn’t sure if saying it would be right thing to do at this time. I got up and grabbed the doorknob, my hand shaking a bit as I turned it and opened the door.
“It… It was cool,” I said, not knowing why I had just spoken then. “I mean, the magic,” I rephrased my sentence.
He stopped typing for a little bit, but then resumed as if he hadn’t heard me.
I wiped some sweat from my face and left, shutting the door silently and standing awkwardly in the middle of the hall outside of his room. My feet shuffled for the bathroom, but I tripped, landing on my face. All I wanted was a shower… If I could get just that, then I would be fine. I tried to get up, but found it too difficult to even move now. Sleep was setting in around me, and I could feel my body shutting down, drowning out the world around me.
It was cool… I mean, the magic…
The thought swirled around in my head for a second longer. It was cool… But it didn’t change my mind. I was never going to go back to Equestria Online.
Two years later
Just as Dad had predicted, Peter ended up moving out after he graduated college. I was sad, I won’t lie, but at the same time I felt happy. I was happy that Peter could get away from us. He needed it, and I knew it would be the catalyst towards making him a better person.
Before he finally said goodbye to me, I remember how excited he was when told me that his project was a success, and that he pitched the idea to a small company on the other side of town. It was stupid, I thought, but it made me feel better to see that he had regained that spark of motivation that pushed him through school.
The surprise that covered my face when newscasters and internet bloggers began revealing my brother’s work was entirely genuine. I couldn’t imagine the amount of support, financially and otherwise that Peter was getting for his work. Well, it sure turned Mom and Dad’s opinion of him around. They were gleefully ignorant of the fact that they had inadvertently put him down all these years, and I suppose that’s what irked me the most.
From what I understand, as soon as Peter started working on Equestria Online, his medical visits ceased, and he was able to get a license and even support himself in a small apartment just across town. We visited a few times since then, but he was busy with his work, and we were just in the way it seemed. That night, Peter handed me another booklet, a smile on his face as well as an expression that reeked of confidence.
Equestria Online. It was professionally crafted, bound in neat staples and printed on laminated paper.
“The launch date is two weeks from now. Promise me you’ll come?” His request tugged at my soul, but I pushed the pamphlet away and shook my head. He didn’t relinquish his smile, but lowered his hand and set the booklet down on a table.
“I’m happy for you,” I said, eyeing it with contempt, “but I won’t participate.”
“You don’t have to,” he replied, grabbing my hands with his. “Just be there for me, as I do it, as well as the other beta testers. It would mean the world to me if you showed up.”
I looked away from him and removed my hands from his. “I’ll think about it,” I finally said. “Finals are that week, and I don’t want to sabotage my classes.”
“Heh, studying hard, like always,” he said, patting my head. I chuckled, letting him at least ruffle my hair a bit.
“I hope everything turns out alright,” I said.
“It will,” he replied.
I’m not sure if it did, though. The date of the launch came and went, and I was more concerned with my studies than with anything else. I had heard the launch of the beta was a success, and cheered silently for Peter, a little guilty that I couldn’t be there in person. A few months later, and the game was released to public users worldwide.
In all that time, I didn’t see Peter once. Calls stopped, and visits were a thing of the past, but what really bothered me was that these thoughts came into my head after-the-fact. I gave them little-to-no follow up, and concentrated on the things most important to me in my life. Needless to say, I was quite surprised when that man knocked on our door that afternoon.
“Hello, little girl, are your parents home?”
“Yes,” I replied, studying this man’s strange attire. He was dressed in a brown amari suit, and held a wooden cane in one of his hands. The gentleman was an older fellow, but he didn’t appear too aged. The only thing that seemed to be ancient was the beard over his chin. Snow white, and a bit scraggly.
“Excuse me,” he said, increasing the volume of his voice. I suppose he had been speaking to me already. “May I speak with them?”
“Mom, Dad,” I shouted into the atrium. I opened the door wider so that he could enter, closing it behind him slowly as I made note of the peculiar cane he held in his hand. It was jagged, at the end, and the hilt was adorned with a crest of a winged serpent.
“Sonya, who is this man?” I heard my father say.
“I am Mr. Bolin of Accordion Incorporated, sir. I was a very close colleague with your son, Peter,” Mr. Bolin explained. “Please, may I sit?”
“Of course,” my mother said, rushing to the kitchen and getting a few beverages from the fridge. “Thank you for stopping by, Mr. Bolin… It’s a pleasure to meet one of Peter’s associates, especially with the success of his new computer game!”
“I always knew that boy would do something with computers one day,” my father bragged. “Now look, he’s partners with a big hot-shot like yourself in some major downtown company!”
I took a seat across from Mr. Bolin on the other couch, my mother and father naturally seating themselves closer to the man.
“So, what brings you down here, Mr. Bolin?” my father asked.
“Is it about Peter? How’s he doing?” my mother wondered.
“It is about Peter, however, it pains me to say that the news isn’t as welcoming as you may expect it to be,” he said, taking a glass of water from the tray my mom had brought. My body straightened now. I think I was leaning on the seat.
“Well, what’s happened? Why do you look so upset?” My mother asked.
“It’s complicated,” Mr. Bolin said. He was obviously trying to collect his thoughts. I could see that he was a little hesitant to tell Mom and Dad anything. “Peter has overridden the Equestria Online system, taking control of its servers and locking down the program from the inside,” he finally said.
“What?” Both of my parents looked at him and twisted their faces.
“What do you mean, he took control of the system, what is that supposed to mean?” My father asked, crossing his arms.
Mr. Bolin cleared his throat. “Peter had been acting strange, as of late. When Equestria Online launched, we were all naturally excited; even more so when the game finally became public and was released to the world. Our goal was to create a unique experience inside of a world that would sweep anyone off of their feet once they stepped in.”
That was true… I thought.
“However, Peter wasn’t as ecstatic as the rest of us during this time,” Mr. Bolin continued. “He managed the servers and the system for a while, playing in the world as his own character, but one day, he didn’t log out.”
He finished the water in the next few gulps and grabbed the glass that was meant for my father. “We tried contacting him, but he blocked our requests in and out of the game. We wanted to see if maybe there was a bug with the system, but before we could investigate, Peter activated some sort of program to lock me and my moderators out of Equestria Online’s servers.
He was able to lock every terminal, and restrict access to all ports from within the game, including the emergency shutdown override.”
“Why would you need one of those?” My mom asked, covering her mouth.
“In case there needed to be a mass evacuation of the game, or if there were a maintenance issue that required all users to be logged out for a specific point in time,” he answered. “We can’t understand it, but Peter has locked us out of the game, and has prevented us from doing anything, even logging other players out.”
I gripped the arms of the chair I sat in. This couldn’t be my fault, could it? Would Peter do something that ridiculous because I didn’t show up to his stupid game launch?
“Well, what happens if someone removes the headsets, or if they die in the game?” I asked.
“We don’t know,” Mr. Bolin replied. “We’ve been getting reports that parents and loved ones who try to remove the helmets off of the trapped players receive a warning from the system. It threatens to kill the player if the device is removed, in real life.”
I swallowed a lump in my throat. My parents stared at Mr. Bolin, their mouths stuck agape. My father grabbed him by the collar then, and lifted him up. My mother tried to stop him, but he shoved her aside.
“What do you mean my son is killing innocent people!” he shouted, shaking Mr. Bolin.
“W-we don’t know if he’s actually killed anyone yet,” Mr. Bolin said, raising his hands up. “No one’s tried to remove the helmets yet, a-and we’re not sure what happens to those players who die in the game!”
“How are you not sure?!”
“Please, sir, let me go,” Mr. Bolin asked. My father let him down, and walked away, storming off into the other room.
“What happens to them?” I asked, getting a shaken look from the man.
“We’re not sure,” he said again, “according to the complaints and our own studies, their vital signs remain intact, but the system refuses to release them back into the real world. It’s as if, they’re stuck in some digital limbo.”
“And you say, Peter, my Peter, is doing this?” My mother asked, tears coming down her face.
“Yes, ma’am,” he said, nodding.
“Why did you come here, then?” I asked. He looked at me quickly, as if he were surprised at my question. “You need something from us, don’t you?”
“How perceptive,” he uttered, turning his full attention to me. “Peter has locked us out of the system, preventing anyone from logging out, but not from logging in, it seems.”
“How do you know about this?” My dad asked from the other room, standing in the archway.
“We’ve noticed that the DIVE system is still within our control, however, the application is rather limited. It seems as if he left it that way,” Mr. Bolin explained. “When we try logging in a user, it declines the diver and gives us an error message, claiming that the biological signature is invalid.”
“So, he’s trapped all the users currently in the game, and he’s preventing anyone else from logging in,” I repeated, my heart beating a little too quickly for comfort. “That’s why you came here, because of the error message,” I said.
“We think, that, if we try a dive with a family member, the system will allow the user to log in, and they could speak with Peter, considering it would be more advantageous for him to listen to one of you, and not me, or anyone else in the company.”
“That’s ridiculous, “ I said, leaning back in my chair. My parents and Mr. Bolin looked at me. “Peter isn’t that vindictive,” I explained. “It sounds to me like maybe you have a hacker in your system, or one of your associates is trying to sabotage your game.”
“We considered that, Sonya,” Mr. Bolin said, causing me to flinch. “Yes, I know you… Peter often spoke about you, nothing but good, I tell the truth.” He sighed. “Like I said, we considered the possibility of a foreign entity or sabotage, but our diagnosis of the system read loud and clear that Peter was the one calling the shots. It’s all his doing.”
It was a lot to take in. We all sat there, quiet now, mulling over this new revelation with certain trepidation. I didn’t want to admit that my brother was doing something so… devious. It just didn’t fit. He wasn’t spiteful, nor did he hold a grudge. Even so, he wouldn’t take his frustrations out on innocent people. It just wasn’t right.
“I came here to see which one of you I would be taking back with me to our headquarters,” Mr. Bolin said. “The development team is already standing by with a device that will read your DNA and determine if its compatible with the DIVE system. From there, we’ll develop a plan of action.”
“What do we have to do?” My mother asked.
“All you three have to do is stay still, as I scan your biological makeup, and send my results to my team back home,” he explained. “So, you know know the situation, and you know our motives. We have no intention of hiding anything from you, as Peter is our family as much as yours. We only ask that whoever be selected join me in trying to bring him to his senses.”
We all nodded. Mr. Bolin did so as well, taking a deep breath before pulling out a small silver device with a green tip. He pushed a button that released a laser light, and pointed it in Mom’s eye, then her chest. He did the same with my dad, and finally with me.
He finished scanning us and pulled out another device, this one much larger, resembling an Iphone. It beeped three times, and he hastily tapped on the screen, scrolling through the contents of his message with his finger. His face fell further and further as he stood there, silently reading to himself. His thumb moved up one last time, before his expression exploded in the other direction.
“That’s it… We’ve found it,” he said, sitting down. “We can end this nightmare!” He looked at the three of us and laughed, peering back at his device’s screen. “How unfortunate, however…”
“Unfortunate? I thought you said we solved the problem?” My dad was about ready to punch this guy.
“Not for us, for her,” he said, pointing at me. My stomach lurched. My whole body shook and I started to feel sick inside. My parents stared at me, and then back at Mr. Bolin. His smile had faded, and he too was examining me with increased fervor.
“Me…?” I gasped in a barely audible whisper.
“Sonya,” Mr. Bolin said, his voice deepening in severity, “I need you to get your brother, and bring him back to reality. I need you to go to Equestria Online.”
I watched the fleeting scenery from the back of Mr. Bolin’s car, leaning my head against the corner of the headrest as we drove downtown. The sky had been growing dark for a while now, so the rain against the glass window didn’t affect my mood. In fact, I had been feeling this way since this man stepped through my front door.
“Thank you, Sonya, for agreeing again,” Mr. Bolin said, looking at me through the rear-view mirror. I continued to stare out of the window instead of looking back at him. He returned his eyes to the road.
“You make it seem like I had a choice,” I said, clutching onto the seat belt sashed around my body. I heard him chuckle, so I finally decided to look at him. He looked back, and shook his head.
“My apologies, I suppose you didn’t,” he said. “Still, I believe you made the right call. You’ve no idea the importance of getting Peter out of Equestria Online. Not only does it make Accordion look bad, but we have the lives of innocent people at stake here.”
“This all seems rather cliché,” I said. “I hate to admit it, but I think Peter did plan this, from the start.”
“What do you mean, from the start?” Mr. Bolin asked.
“Where exactly is his body?” I changed the subject. “If he’s running around in a virtual world, then his real body has to be somewhere.”
“We can’t locate it,” he replied, gripping the steering wheel tighter. “If it were inside the building, we’d be able to find it, but we think he’s found a way to link up to the system from a remote area. We checked his apartment, but he wasn’t there either. We have no clue where he is, in or out of the game.”
“Damn it,” I sighed, leaning my head back. I didn’t have time for this… It was nearly the end of the semester for me. I entered this vehicle in a reactionary state it seemed, because now I was regretting my decision to come in the first place.
“Where do you think he would be?” I heard Mr. Bolin ask.
“How should I know?”
I turned my face away again and watched as the rain pounded against the city streets. As we passed the buildings and offices of the crowded city, I studied the faces of each passersby, wondering which one of them had a loved one trapped inside my brother’s virtual world. As far as a plan of action, Mr. Bolin had already run it through me as we were first getting into his car.
Mother and Father didn’t like it, of course, but who were they to object? Their son was committing a crime, and the only one who could stop him was their daughter. I guess in this scenario, I was caught being the adult once more. It felt like it wasn’t my call to go or not, however. No, like Mr. Bolin said, Peter was the one with all the cards. He was moving the pieces in their places, including mine.
“We’re here,” Mr. Bolin said, drawing me from my thoughts.
I peered out the front windshield, and noticed we had just passed under a large canopy, heading deep into a large parking garage. I only faintly caught a glimpse of the building next to it, but from what I could make out, it was a rather incredible structure.
“Twenty floors,” Mr. Bolin said, pulling into an empty space. “Constructed years ago by a contractor who worked with my father. It used to be a building for an independent game company and an advertising firm.” He shut off the ignition and unlatched his seat belt. “The server room is in the basement, and most of the game moderators work on the first ten floors. The rest is just corporate offices and marketing, save for the development committee who is just one floor below me.”
“Are we done with the tour?” I asked, unlatching my own seat belt and exiting the vehicle.
“Right,” he muttered, leaving his car as well. He led me to an elevator in the garage and pushed the basement floor button, straightening his suit a little as we descended below ground. He peered over to me, though I didn’t notice until he cleared his throat. “You’re rather calm, despite the situation at hand,” he said.
“I don’t mean to be,” I replied. “I’m worried about my brother, if that’s what is bothering you.”
“Not particularly,” he answered. “I’m worried about why you seem so distant.”
“Mr. Bolin,” I began, “Don’t pretend that you know me, or my situation. I’m helping you because I love my brother, and I want him to snap out of whatever ridiculous notion he’s driven himself into believing. If I don’t appear upset, it’s probably because the dumb ass decided to do something stupid and dangerous instead of talking to me or my parents about it!
He knows he can’t just get what he wants, and that this act was selfish and childish of him! He knew what he was doing and he knew how I would react! It’s not fair—it’s not fair that I have to clean up his mess because he’s upset over some stupid reason that a quick phone call would have fixed overnight!”
I slammed my hand against the wall of the elevator. I was breathing heavily now, watching the digits on the floor counter drop to the basement levels. I took a quick glance at Mr. Bolin, who was twiddling his cane in his hands. He didn’t look at me, but that was okay. I didn’t really want to look at him right now either.
The elevator stopped, giving off a small ding before opening its sliding door. I stepped out, followed by Mr. Bolin, and nearly tripped on some wires on the floor.
“Mind your step,” he said, catching me falling forward with his cane. I grunted as it collided with my chest.
“Thanks,” I replied, steadying myself.
The room was brightly lit, and full of misconstrued wires and humming towers. Despite the fact that we were underground, the ceiling rose high up, dotted with several industrial-grade fans that swirled slowly up above. The clamor of moving bodies and light conversation died out as me and Mr. Bolin entered the room. I followed him to a large terminal in the center of the space where four workers were typing away at a black screen.
“They’ve been doing their best to break through Peter’s code, but it’s proved impossible,” Mr. Bolin explained.
“All of this… is to run a game?” I didn’t get an answer.
“Impossible is an understatement,” one of the employees said. He stopped working and turned around, looking at me with an unimpressed scowl. “Is this the compatible one?”
“Yes, it is,” Mr. Bolin replied. “Is Fenrir ready for us?”
“She’s been ready for a while,” the man said, returning to his screen. Mr. Bolin nodded and motioned for me to follow him around the large terminal.
“Who’s Fenrir?” I asked.
“She’s in charge of the DIVE mechanic, and our expert technician,” he said. “It’s not her real name, so I’m led to believe, but that’s what she was called when we found her.”
“She sounds insecure,” I mumbled, almost missing what Mr. Bolin had to say next.
“We set up a DIVE portal in this room, thinking that the direct link-up with the servers would provide a better connection and allow us to access the game, but at that point, we got the error message.”
We made it around the beast of a machine and I saw a pretty woman, dressed in a neatly pressed business suit. Her orange hair was tied in a bun, and she wore big thick glasses that professors in porn movies always strutted. I wouldn’t put it past her that she got around often, seeing as her bust was as big as the computer monitor she was looking at.
“Fenrir,” Mr. Bolin said, prompting a smile from the woman.
“Charles, you’re back. Finally, we can begin,” she said. She looked at me and puckered her lips, letting out a little, “Aww” before coming up behind me and pushing me forward. “Look at you, you must be Sonya,” she said, positioning me in front of whirring glass and metal capsule.
“I am,” I said, blinking uncomfortably as she began taking my measurements and feeling me up and down. Mr. Bolin raised his hand and tried to say something, but decided against it as Fenrir finished groping me and began writing on a clipboard.
“Well, the good news is, I don’t have to construct an entirely new machine as I thought,” she said, biting the end of her pen. “I’d like to conduct a pre-DIVE analysis, however, to see if she can mentally handle connecting directly into the server.”
“Well then, hurry, every bit of time matters,” Mr. Bolin said.
“We’re just going to jump in, that quick?” I asked, stepping away from the machine. “I-I don’t know,” I said, eyeing the cold metal in front of me. It was a hell of a lot bigger than a headset. Fenrir and Mr. Bolin both came to my side.
“We already discussed the plan, Sonya,” Mr. Bolin said. “You jump in, find your brother, convince him to stop, and then we pull everyone out.”
“This massive machine in front of you isn’t the gear you’ll use to jump,” Fenrir explained, pointing at the headset inside of the tube. “This is to keep aware of your vitals, and to make sure you don’t experience any lasting mental or physical trauma that the in-game dangers would present to you.”
I shuddered. Two years, and they still didn't prevent pain from being a feature of a virtual world.
“You mentioned you would give me a manual, and update me on the progress of the actual game,” I said, still looking at the device. “I’m sure Peter has come a long way from a simple helmet in his bedroom.”
Mr. Bolin nodded, pulling out the small manual that my brother had given to me a few weeks before the game launched. I chuckled a little inside. I guess I would have to do more than just skim it this time.
“There’s a virtual one available to all players in their menu,” Mr. Bolin said. “I’m not sure how much of the game you actually know or are comfortable with, but it is relatively safe, and is far from buggy, unlike your first experience.”
“So safe that you supply a life-support device for all of your players around the world?” I asked, examining the machine more closely. Fenrir scoffed and crossed her arms.
“This is for your protection, because of what happened the last time you performed a DIVE. Peter said you almost went under shock, and we can’t risk you going into a coma because we weren’t careful enough,” she explained. “Besides, assuming for some reason you aren’t compatible, or something were to go wrong, this is our sure-fire way of making sure you stay conscious if we need to do another DIVE sequence.”
I dropped the booklet. My hands held their position in front of my face, but I saw nothing but red.
“So, that’s how it is, Peter…?” I mumbled to myself.
“I-is something the matter?” Mr. Bolin asked, putting his hand on my shoulder. I shrugged it off, and picked up the small manual, then shook my head.
“There’s not much I can tell you that you won’t either discover, or read about in the manual. All I can really do is pray that you don’t have to actually play the game, and that you can locate Peter before someone gets hurt,” he told me. Fenrir chimed in now.
“Since you’ve never performed a dive before… Well, a real dive, now’s our chance to measure your mental capability and your physical parameters, just to be sure that you won’t vomit in your comatose state, or have a seizure when the world initializes,” she explained, opening the large mechanical tube.
“It’s like something off of a sci-fi movie,” I said as it hissed open.
“Yeah, but no smoke rolling from it, what a rip-off,” she replied, punching in some commands on the terminal in front of her. “Step inside of the device and lay still. Don’t put the headset on just yet,” she said, waiting for me to comply.
I stepped inside and laid down, straightening my body out and waiting for the inevitable lights and sounds to run all over. Fenrir closed the lid on the jar and the machine hissed shut. Almost immediately, several laser lights struck my body, and began moving up and down. A scanner right above my head came to life and fired the same beams into my eyes. I remained still, but peeked at the two bodies standing over the monitor on the outside. I was almost certain they were looking at my naked form.
I couldn’t quite hear what they were saying through the glass, but Mr. Bolin gave a shout, and clapped his hands. Fenrir gave him a smile and then looked at me, moving her arms up and over her head, and then bringing them down. I did the same, reaching for the helmet above me and fastening it over my skull.
Some sort of connection was made, because I could hear Fenrir’s voice in my head. “It’s a bit snug, huh?”
“Just a little,” I said, trying to adjust the straps.
“This is the licensed version of the CAP that your brother invented in his room all those years ago. No shoddy soldering or loose wires here, your brain won’t get fried by accident either,” Fenrir explained. The line clicked open again, though this time, Mr. Bolin’s voice came through.
“Okay, Sonya, we’re about ready for the dive,” he said.
“Is there anything else you guys want to tell me before I jump?” I was getting a little queasy now. My heart started to thump a beat faster than before.
“Peter’s avatar was last seen in Canterlot,” he said, pulling up a picture in my visor. That kind of amazed me. I studied the photo, and nodded. It was exactly the same as before. “It was a white pegasus stallion with long black hair,” he continued.
“Shouldn’t be too hard then,” I said.
“One more thing,” Fenrir popped on the line again, “We’re spawning you in the field just outside of Canterlot, so don’t attract any attention to yourself. Keep it to yourself why you’re there, and try not to get too hurt.”
“I told you, I don’t plan on playing this game,” I replied. “Once I find Peter, I’ll convince him to log out, and undo what he’s done.”
“So level-headed… I wonder if sometimes you do this as a ruse to hide your true feelings,” I heard her say back to me. “It’s okay to be a little nervous, I don’t blame you for not wanting to go back.”
I swallowed and closed my eyes. “I’m ready,” I told them.
“Activating DIVE sequence,” Fenrir announced, cutting off her line after that.
“Good luck,” Mr. Bolin said, cutting out as well.
I waited, listening to the hum of the machine attached to my head, and the whirs of the machine surrounding my body. The visor over my eyes sprung to life, painting the room in a tinted yellow. My heart started thumping faster again. Several commands flashed to life in front of me, contained in neat little pop-up boxes. The numerals and codes finished running, and the entire visor went blank.
I inhaled, and let out a deep breath. The room vanished instantly, and I was falling, falling into the clingy void that almost consumed me the last time I was here. A swirl of colors rushed past my body as I became tangled in a web of green wiring. bits of code adhered to my body surface, pushing and squeezing my figure in awkward ways.
My body continued its descent, until it landed gracely, feet-first on a floating platform in a hollow room. A floating panel appeared before me, and asked for my hand print. I lifted my arm, and noticed I was covered in a black veil, stripped of my clothes, but still conveniently covered. As I placed my hand on the panel, a screen opened up, flashing a bright blue, “WELCOME” across the top.
“Choose a race,” I repeated the prompt as it flashed across the screen. It gave me three choices. There was a regular pony, there was the unicorn, and then there was the pegasus. I lifted my hand and reached for the unblemished horse, but stopped midway as I caught a glimpse of the horn poking out of the unicorn.
It was cool… I mean, the magic.
I blinked a few times, and hovered my hand over the unicorn. The game cycled through different palettes for my character until it decided upon an orange-yellow mango coat, and a bright red mane. It mimicked my current hairstyle, giving me bangs just above my eyes and allowing the rest of my hair to fix itself behind my head in a bun. It fastened it with a stupid flower, finishing off the profile by giving me a long sleek tail and green eyes.
The room became blistering white, forcing me to shut my eyes as a powerful wind blew through the chasm. I could hear a loud howl come from the bottom of the room, and then, it vanished… replaced by the melodious chirping of some distant summer birds.
I found myself steadily opening my eyes against the sunlight that pushed on my face. As they adjusted to the lighting, I could feel a familiar breeze whip across my body, and a varying aroma of flowers invade my nostrils.
“I’m back,” I whispered to myself.
Interestingly enough, it didn’t take as long for me to get used to the four legs as before. I wasn’t sure whether to credit this to the developing, or because of my past experience. Whatever the case, it was one less thing I had to worry about. As I surveyed my surroundings, I could make out that I wasn’t exactly at sea level. The wind was blowing calmly, though it was constant, and the jutting peaks from neighboring mountains rose higher than any tree line I could see. The clouds rolled past amazingly low, and only just now did I notice the the oxygen level wasn’t like back in Accordian.
I stood still for a moment, almost forgetting my reason for coming here again until a small blip notified me on my heads-up display. I looked at the icon, a scroll of parchment, and it suddenly burst open in a small plume of flame.
“Get moving,” I read aloud. It was signed by Fenrir. “Does this mean you can hear me?” I asked. Another blip appeared where the first had vanished.
“Yes,” it read after it had opened.
I watched as the message disintegrated into dust, blown away by the wind shortly after. As I followed its trail, my eyes landed upon Canterlot. Bright, vibrant flags flowed in the wind on top of marvelous pristine towers. The brickwork and masonry of the surrounding wall left nothing to be desired, encompassing an area large enough to rival a mountain itself. Its gates shone a distinct gold, reflecting the beauty of the sun’s rays onto those that entered through them. From what I could see, the walls within were bustling with bodies, many of them with tags above their head followed by colored gauges below. I assumed those to be the other players.
I made my way closer to the hold, only to find myself dwarfed by its sheer size up close. I couldn’t take my eyes away from the majesty that presented itself before me. The tapestry of the city hung boldly in front of the entrance, adorned with what appeared to be raw jewels of every kind. Ponies in shining armor stood at the entrance, vigilant and stout, watching as each player and NPC made their way in and out of the city.
“What’s wrong with these people,” I asked myself. “Don’t they know they’re being held hostage?”
“I don’t think many of them care,” another voice said, causing me to jump. I let out a snort involuntarily, and seemed to be rearing up for something in defense. The offender held a smile over his face and raised a single hoof up, telling me, “Sorry, didn’t mean to scare you.”
“Who are you?” I asked, still trying to catch my breath. “Are you a player?”
“Well, obviously,” he said, pointing above his head. I noticed the tag and the health bar underneath. He had chosen an earth pony, I could tell. It was slightly different from the build I was presented, though that could have simply been attributed to gender differences. He had on a brown satchel and was wearing a white scarf, but beyond that he didn’t seem any more experienced than me.
“Gambino?”
“You say that with a a lot of contempt,” he replied. He looked at his username floating above his head and shrugged. “I thought it was cool.”
“Sorry,” I said, “It’s just, I assumed you would be a bad guy, or something.” I wasn’t going to let him know I was scared for no reason.
“Haha, I understand,” he said. “Auburn coat, brown hair, short tail and mane—I must look terrifying.”
“Well, if you’re going to be a jerk about it,” I said, trotting away.
“Oh, hey, wait!” He called out to me, stopping me just short of entering Canterlot. “Let’s start over, okay? I’m Gambino, the earth pony,” he said, extending a hoof.
“I’m not entirely certain those are supposed to work like that,” I started, lifting mine and kind of just tapping his, “and I really have to go, it’s important so…”
“Ah, I guess it’s proper manners to not introduce yourself where you’re from then,” he said now.
I inhaled sharply, and turned around, wanting to do something to that smug grin he had on.
“Sonya,” I said.
"Yeah, I know... I just figured it would be more polite to ask first," he replied, his eyes pointed directly above my head. He looked backed down and gave me the stupidest grin I had ever seen. I turned around and started to move on.
“Whoa, hey, hey, where’s the fire, Sonya? you said so yourself, we’re stuck here indefinitely,” Gambino started, following me as I tried to lose him in the sea of bodies. “If I didn’t know any better, I’d say you were trying to avoid me.”
“What tipped you off?” I growled, taking a turn down an alley.
“Maybe the fact that you’d risk getting lost if it meant you would ditch me,” he replied, not even skipping a beat. I finally turned around and pointed my horn at him, trying to muster up some sort of attack to scare him off. He just stood there, however, and chuckled, shaking his head and rolling his eyes.
“What, you don’t think I’ll blast you?” I asked, taking a step forward.
“I know you won’t, not here anyway,” he replied. “We’re in a no-combat zone, so all attacks including skills and feats are disabled until we leave the city.” He gave me that smug little grin again. “It’s cool, babe, I can tell a greenhorn when I see one, and you need me.”
I brought my left hoof out and whipped it across his face.
“I’m not your babe, and I just attacked you,” I said, letting out another snort. That was becoming eerily natural.
“Well, that was technically an Emotisplay, so I didn’t lose any health, but it did hurt,” he said, rubbing his face. “I am right about you being new though, you can’t deny that.”
“Listen, Gambino, I’m just trying to… find somebody and I kind of want to do it alone, so… No offense to you, but just let me be,” I explained. That should be more than enough of a tip.
“Oh, you’ve got your eyes set on a player already? Heh, all of you chicks are the same,” he scoffed. “You see the roster of the best players and you all try to get into their party, leaving guys like me, who actually play the game and don’t bother with in-game purchases, in the dust!”
“Why are you getting offended? You’ve been stalking me and wasting my time!” I was shouting back at him now. “If you really want to be any help, then you’ll stop pestering me and hitting on me, and help me find my stupid brother!”
We both glared at each other for a minute, but Gambino stepped down after I refused to let up. He opened his mouth to speak, but closed it, I assume to think for a bit. He couldn’t have, however, because the next thing he said was, “You thought I was hitting on you?”
“Oh my God, you’re still going,” I said, rushing past him and back into the city proper.
“Hold on, back on up… forget I said that,” he called out to me. There was no point in dodging by this time, so I tried my best to just ignore him. “So your brother is trapped in the game then? You must have gotten separated when the glitch occurred.”
“Yeah, you could say that,” I replied. We had passed by several ponies who were discussing in low breaths, and even more who were weeping or expressing their distress to other players. I turned around to the stallion following me and frowned. “You seem rather calm despite what’s going on,” I said. Great, now I was making conversation…
“Oh, well… I tend to tread on the brighter side of things,” he said. “On the one hand, I’m forever stuck in a videogame and will most likely never see my family or friends again,” he started, lifting a hoof. He dropped it and raised the other, “On this one, I’m forever stuck in a videogame and kind of like the idea that I’ll live out the rest of my life in a virtual bliss, provided I play it safe, of course.”
“I see,” I said, more so to quit the current conversation now.
We had made it into the center of the town now. A large ivory fountain sat in the middle of the paved stone road, pouring glistening water into the air and back into its reserves. The ground was painted in a mosaic, depicting two ponies on either side of each other, one a pristine white, shining with a rainbow mane, and the other, an impressive blue, her mane radiating the night stars like a blanket of space.
I suppose the advantage of making everything so grandiose in a virtual world was the fact that it required no upkeep of any kind. The trees and shrubbery were placed in perfect harmony around the square, no one bigger or smaller than its neighbor. The houses and buildings exuded a likeness to the noticeably cultured NPCs of the area. Ahead of the courtyard, adorned with bannered posts was the road that led to the large castle I had seen from outside the gates.
“I thought the same thing when I saw it,” Gambino interrupted. “Sure, I doubted its credibility when I saw it was a MMO about horses, but when I loaded into the game, I was knocked off of my… hooves, so to speak.”
“I won’t fight you on that one,” I said. I returned my gaze to the floor and noticed the two ponies painted onto the stone again. “Who are they,” I asked.
“The princesses of the land we dwell in,” Gambino said. “The white one is called Celestia, and the other one is Luna.” He went over to the one named Celestia and pointed at the sky. “You see the sun?”
“Yeah,” I replied, shielding my eyes from it as I looked up.
“Celestia controls that,” he explained. “As in, she literally flies into the sky every morning to raise the sun, and every evening to lower it!” He then galloped over to Luna and pointed at a depiction of the moon behind her image.
“Let me guess, the other one controls the moon?” I asked.
“Yeah, that’s right!” He was way too excited for me right now. “These sisters cycle night and day, as well as run the government of this land. They are the ultimate rulers in this game, or at least, they have been programmed to be.”
“That’s interesting that he didn’t make himself king or something,” I mumbled to myself then.
“What?” Gambino asked.
“Nothing,” I replied, jumping again as the scroll notification manifested over my HUD.
Enough gawking. Lose the stallion and get back on task.
“Whoa, what’s that? You got someone else in your party already?” Gambino peered over my shoulder, but I closed the scroll and watched it vanish. Taking a step to the side, I cleared my throat and gave him a polite bow.
“Well, Gambino, it’s been ah… alright meeting you, and I thank you for leading me to the courtyard before the castle, but I need to do this on my own, sorry. I just don’t think you could understand how important it is that I find my brother,” I explained.
“Alright, I can take a hint,” he said giving me a long sigh. “At least you humored me for a bit, which is more than what I needed right now.” He smiled at me again and chuckled. “Maybe I’ll see you again sometime?”
“Doubtful,” I replied. “Although, you weren’t kidding when you said you tend to look at the silver lining, and I guess that’s admirable to some extent.”
“Woo Hoo! I got a girl I just met to say I was admirable!” He hopped into the air and threw his hoof high up, landing back onto them rather smoothly. “Emotisplay, that’s why I could do that so smoothly,” he said. “I mean, you are a girl in real life, right?”
“Goodbye, Gambino,” I said, turning around and meeting another obstacle in my path. I smashed face-first into another body, though it didn’t seem to suffer from the impact as much as me. “Oh, S-sorry,” I said, backing up from the character in front of me.”
“That’s quite all right,” the stallion in front of me said. I nearly keeled over when he flapped his wings and docked them back into place. He gave me a charming smile, and just stood there as I stared dumbfounded. “I was just looking for you anyway.”
“Oh, no way… Sonya, is this real?” I suddenly heard Gambino say from behind me. “Do you know who this is?!”
“Everyone knows who I am,” the other stallion said, showing a mark on his upper thigh. It displayed an ornate sword being drawn from its scabbard with a waving flag in the background. The flag held on it the insignia of a pair of wings.
“P—”
“Percidal Wingover, Pegasus Extraordinaire!” The white pegasus interrupted me.
“Oh, I know who you are,” Gambino said, walking up to him. “You’re legendary in this game, and it’s only been out for a couple of months!” He gave a hearty laugh and slapped Gambino on the back, causing him to flinch. He turned his attention to me now, and grinned.
“Your friend here is an interesting one,” Percidal said, looking at me straight in the eyes. “She’s all the way out here in Canterlot and hasn’t even gotten her Cutie Mark yet.”
“Huh? Oh, yeah… I guess I didn’t really notice,” Gambino replied, looking at my thigh.
“Y-you!” I finally was able to say, rising up from my stupor. I marched over to the stallion, shoving Gambino aside and slapped him right across the face.
“Geez, that really is how you greet people,” Gambino remarked.
“Shut up!” I shouted, not taking my eyes off of the pony in front of me. He grinned, not even bothering to rub where I hit him.
“That’s quite the slap,” he commented. “It was powerful enough to almost be considered an attack I think.”
“D-do you think this is—?”
“A game, young Sonya? Why yes, it is,” he said, his voice suddenly dropping an octave. He narrowed his eyes and his grin was replaced with a small smirk. “However, given the circumstances, I can understand why you would be a little concerned.”
“Umm, I’m missing a little bit of something here,” Gambino entered. “Sonya, how do you know Percidal? I mean, obviously everyone knows him, but you seem to know him outside of his glorious fame.”
“We used to be in the same party,” Percidal replied, before I could say anything. “Way back when I was still a noob. She helped me out, but aside from that, there really wasn’t anything special we shared. She didn’t contribute much to the team either.”
“That’s a damn lie!” I said, moving in for another slap, but he rose into the air and swiftly landed behind me.
“She’s a bit sore because we parted ways, and I ended up becoming better than her.”
I turned around and growled at him. That idiot, that jerk! What was he doing, spreading lies like this? I wanted to contest it, but I couldn’t risk accusing him of anything with Gambino standing there. I think Peter knew that as well.
The notification icon on my HUD was going nuts, but I couldn’t be bothered to check it out right now. I was concentrating on the apparent expression of glee that my brother had plastered over his face.
“Dude, that’s kind of harsh,” Gambino said to him. “Then again, I know the feeling of traveling with dead weight…”
I glared at Gambino, who immediately closed his mouth.
“Pe-Percidal,” I said, fighting the urge to call him a string of many other names, “We have things we need to talk about.”
“All in due time, Sonya,” he replied.
“Wait, I thought you were looking for your—Oh no way!” Gambino shouted, prancing around like a stupid little kid in a candy store. I needed him to go away. “Percidal, is your brother? Like, IRL and stuff?!”
“Was,” I was able to say to somewhat express my grief.
“You know, Sonya, I didn’t come here to stir up old wounds,” Percidal said, trotting over to me. “I came here to make you offer. Well, both of you then, since you seem to be in the same party.”
“Wait, what?!” I cried.
“Huh, you’re not? But then why does it say so on my screen?” he asked.
“Hey, Sonya, it’s true… We must have somehow formed a party between now and when we first met,” Gambino said, another smile creeping across his face. “Awesome what the power of friendship can do!”
“I’m thinking there might have been a different reason,” I said, glaring at Peter again. He moved away from me as he spoke.
“It’s no doubt that you’ve both discovered the bug within the game’s menu, the one that erased the logout function. I’ve been investigating this sudden glitch in the game, my little ponies, and I’ve come up with a conclusion,” he said, trotting towards the large fountain.
“Am I about to embark on a quest with the Great Percidal?!” Gambino was geeking out harder than ever. I wanted to hit him, I wanted to hit them both, but most of all I wanted to beat the smug little smirk off of that damned pegasus.
“Sort of,” Percidal replied to Gambino. “You see, I think the developers are trying to get us to play the game in such a way that will force us into different factions, and each faction would then war against the other until the strongest one is left in the game.”
“Is that so?” I said.
“This is what I believe, yes,” he replied.
“Sounds arbitrary, why would they want to do something like that?” I asked.
“That part escapes me, but word through the grapevine is that a few of the beta testers for the game overheard this from a conversation with some developers before the glitch occurred,” he said. “Right before they went public with the information, the logout button vanished.”
“Dude, this is nuts,” Gambino said, letting out a breath. “This is like some deep conspiracy stuff right here.”
“My theory is that Accordian, the company in charge of the game, was using players as a pool of test subjects for a government project in the real world, perhaps with military applications,” Percidal revealed. “All of this is speculation based on the unconfirmed reports of some whispers, but it’s my best lead into this whole situation.”
“Well, what’s the plan? How are we going to escape from Equestria Online?” Gambino asked, almost leaning entirely on his forehooves in anticipation. Percidal closed his eyes and lifted his wings. He beat them down and rose into the air, using his hooves to point to the ground below.
“Take caution, my friends, for what I am about to tell you may come as a shock, but I guarantee that our success will ensure the freedom we desire,” he said. I finally understood it. The whole reason he did this… The fool was trying to get me to play his stupid game. The entire time, I knew it was a trap, and I fell for it anyway.
“What is your amazing plan then, oh Pegasus Extraordinaire?” I asked, almost spitting at him. He smiled, and while I had no idea of the severity of his next statement, Gambino had nearly turned as white as him after he announced his big plan.
“My friends, we are going to assassinate the royal sisters, Princess Celestia and Princess Luna.”
“Th-that is… What? Is that even possible?” Gambino asked, his mouth agape. “Percidal, what are you saying?”
My idiot brother descended and pointed to the fountain again, his sudden outburst turning more and more heads.
“I’m saying, those two are more than just NPCs,” he explained. “I believe they’re moderators; players within the game keeping an eye over all of us. I know this because I’ve seen them in action, and their combat skills as well as their diction would lead me to believe someone is controlling their strings outside of Equestria Online.”
My heart was pounding, and my body was shaking. If I had fingers, they would more than likely be curling into a fist. I began to rub my teeth together and furrowed my brow, lifting my head to glare at the pegasus stallion before me.
“That… Is ridiculous!” I shouted, letting out a loud snort. “What on earth is this bull you’re giving me about government conspiracies and evil organizations?! This isn’t some stupid anime or a movie, Peter, this is a fucked up reality that you’re trying too hard to play off as a damn malfunction!”
Gambino had taken several steps back and Peter just stood there in front of me, though I had knocked the smirk off of his face with my little outburst. He sighed, and placed a wing on my shoulder, then looked at me with the softest eyes I’ve ever seen anybody have.
“If you won’t help me, then stop trying to interfere in my life!”
He pushed me back, forcing me off of my hooves as I flew through the air and skid across the ground. My eyes widened as I looked up from my position, the scowl of a crazed maniac painted across the visage of that white pegasus looming over me. I was too stunned to notice Gambino until I felt myself being lifted from off of the floor.
“Hey, what the hell,” he said, stepping in front of me. “That wasn’t really cool, man!”
“Oh, shut up! If you’re going to defend her, then you’re no use to me either!” He rose into the sky again and lifted high above us. Our spat had attracted the whole square by this time. “Listen to me well, Sonya,” he began, “Accordian misled you into coming here, and I’m sorry about that, but I can’t have you interrupting me while I reveal their intentions to the gaming community, and the world.”
“Peter! You son of a bitch! Stop this and quit the game! Let everyone go, you bastard!” My shouts only made him smile, and he laughed at me.
“God, you don’t get it at all! I’m not Peter! I’m Percidal! Percidal Wingover, Pegasus Extraordinaire and I promise you, Equestrians, I will usurp the corrupted power of the alicorn sisters, and free you all from this hellish nightmare!” His cries garnered a few cheers from the crowds of ponies watching us now.
“Some hero you tuned out to be, you jerk!” Gambino shouted. “Even if it means I stay low-leveled forever, I wouldn't ever stoop to your kind of low!”
I couldn’t properly thank or even acknowledge Gambino for his assault, as I was all hot inside from the anguish and hate that was boiling around me. Tears streamed down my face as I watched the pony in the sky take off across the expanse, vanishing in a sea of clouds. The crowds of ponies around us dispersed, and I was left there, alone and cold, sitting in a puddle of my own sorrow. I felt the touch of someone on my shoulder and I flinched, galloping away at full speed in any direction I could.
The notification icon on my HUD was blaring, full of unread messages from my contacts on the outside. I erased them all, somehow, wiping it from my HUD as I sped down some alley on some road in the middle of some part of town. I eventually stopped, blocked off by a cobbled wall and surrounded by garbage and debris. My head hurt, and my throat felt as if I had swallowed a stone.
I threw my head against the wall and began to sob, slamming my hooves against the stone and trading cries for short bursts of breath occasionally. I slumped to the floor and wept, replaying the same image in my head over and over again. The image of that crazed stallion, glaring down at me with unparalleled animosity. I looked into the eyes of a dead man, given up on life and devoid of any sense of reason.
“Sonya,” I heard a voice call out in the middle of my cries. I looked up and saw the earth pony with the scarf and satchel. He trotted over to me and held out a hoof, waiting for a response.
“It’s my fault,” I said, taking his hoof and slowly standing up on my own.
“What? What’s your fault?”
“Me, I did this… I trapped you all here,” I croaked.
“Don’t be crazy… There’s a logical explanation, and we’ll find it, I’m sure!” Gambino said. I looked at him and shook my head, putting it down and weeping some more.
“Peter, I’m sorry,” I whispered to myself. “Gambino… I’m sorry.”
“Hey, quit it, I’m not blaming you for anything!” he told me, grabbing me by the face and pulling it towards his. “Look, I don’t know what’s going on, or what the hell happened back there, but don’t worry, it’s all going to be okay. It’ll all be okay, okay?”
I shook myself from his grasp and began to leave the alleyway. He followed, and I stopped, turning around suddenly to embrace him. I half expected a quip, or a little phrase, but instead, I received a hug back.
“It’s not going to be okay,” I said, letting out the last of my grief. “Not until I knock some sense into him.”
“You called him Peter,” Gambino said, “and he called you Sonya. I guess those are your real names?”
“Yeah,” I replied softly.
“Cool,” he said shortly after. “My name’s Simon, in case you were wondering.”
I let go of him, after realizing we had been interlocked for quite some time, and looked away, avoiding the stupid grin he now had on his face.
“I prefer Simon over Gambino,” I admitted, making him laugh.
“It seems your little scene in the courtyard started something, Sonya,” he said then, making me look up. Blocking the exit of the alleyway stood two bulky unicorns, adorned in golden armor and wielding spears on their sides. One of them stepped forward and cleared his throat, looking at me with a powerful set of eyes.
“You two are requested at the Royal Castle at once,” he said, letting out a snort afterwards. I looked above his head and saw a username followed by a life gauge. Instead of the common white text that floated above my and Simon's head, his was golden and adorned with a crest at the end. This wasn’t an NPC, that was for sure. “I didn’t stutter, did I? Move it, or we’ll take you by force,” he stated, stamping a hoof.
“What do you want with us?” Simon asked.
“You made a scene in the center of town, with everybody in Canterlot as witness, to the public announcement of conspiring to assassinate the Royal Pony Sisters,” he explained. “This matter must not be taken lightly.”
“They’re NPCs, what do you care? They’ll just respawn if they’re killed,” Simon replied. "If they can even be killed."
“They’re not just NPCs, you idiot,” he replied more plainly now. “They’re part of the central code to this game. They make it function as a self-sustaining world in the event of emergencies like the Logout Crisis.”
“Artificial intelligence?” I asked, finding my voice again.
“Advanced artificial intelligence, missy,” the stallion said. “I’ve already revealed too much in too open an environment, come with me peacefully or I will have to activate my admin abilities.”
I looked at the unicorn and then back at Simon, then nodded, stepping forward as the guard allowed us to exit the alley and enter a golden chariot. He and the other pony stepped behind the reins and flapped their wings, lifting the whole carriage off of the ground and into the sky. We took off, flying swiftly towards the large castle at the edge of town. I watched as it came into view, and saw perched on one of the spires the one called Celestia. Waiting on an adjacent spire was her sister, Luna.
“I shouldn’t be afraid because they’re not real, but I have this feeling that we shouldn’t take them lightly either,” Simon said, chuckling nervously.
“Smart,” the guard from before said. “Now, mind your manners, and for their sake as well as mine, tell the truth. It’ll make interrogations easier.”
“Interrogations?” Simon asked.
“Yes,” the stallion replied, landing in the castle courtyard. He turned around and placed an aura ring around our hooves and necks. “I forgot to mention, you’re under arrest.”
