Project Anima

Chapter 2: Logging On

He promised himself that he needed to stop sighing, but it was like trying to stop sneezing in the middle of a field filled with daffodils and many poofy cats that began calling it home. Not to mention the fact that you would be severely allergic to both of them. Like every morning, he hesitated on the footsteps of the bleak and small corporate building for which he worked in. Sometimes to ponder about life and its misgivings, and other times to rehearses his course of actions that he would take upon that day.

This time however, he was completely brain dead. He had stayed up very late into the night looking through some pony-related content on the internet. Yawning and sighing at the same time was difficult on its own, but Mark had already mastered the art.

Trying to get his mind straight, he took steps forward and began by opening the door, almost being able to enter the building until he was whisked away from the arm by a very enthusiastic Jarred.

"Whoa, hold on partner. As much as you think that I think I like you, I ain't no broke back cowboy." Mark was finally released at his comment, that always shut Jarred up good. Except not this time.

"If you don't hurry your ass, I might have to slip some heavy sleeping pills into your coffee and find someone who will reenact it with you."

"That sounds scary... what's the rush were the hell are you taking me? I need to get to work." Mark tried squeezing any info on the sudden kidnapping as Jarred began pulling his arm again.

"Don't tell me you don't remember..."

"Alright, I won't tell you that I don't remember. Instead I'll tell you that I forgot whatever I was supposed to remember that you told me."

"Don't be so coy with me right now. You aren't exactly on my good books, but it isn't important that you remember, just get in my car."

"What about work?"

"Already spoke to the boss, got you covered."

"This seems awfully suspicious..."

"Not if you would remember about what I've been telling you about for the past month!"

"I don't know what you're talking ab-" Mark always seemed like he was drunk when he was half asleep, but now that he was regaining consciousness (somewhat), he was beginning to remember that promise... and those godawful times he pleaded. "Ooohhh. Its that thing with the place."

"Yes, and it'll be totally friggin' awesome. Just you wait. Get in the car, it looks like it's starting to rain." And he was right, tiny but cold droplets began to kiss his cheek. Without further questions, he got himself into the passenger seat and they drove off into the heart of Baltimore.

"So, what is it that we are going to do exactly?" Mark's gaze drifted off the outside of the window, distracting him from the question that he had asked.

"Don't tell me you forgot that too? Or... were you even paying attention all those times I told you about it?" Jarred slowed his car down into a red light and looked at him funny.

"Hey, give a man a break... from you. You can't seriously expect me to listen to you all the time. That is like... physically impossible. Seriously, it's like you speak braille half the damn time."

"Ha, good one. Fine fine, I should have seen it coming anyways. Well, if I had to sum up everything I said in a week into a ten minute drive is that we are going to be pioneers my friend!"

"Are we going to discover Atlantis as modern man? Or are we going to dwell deep into some inhospitable and indigenous land that no man has seen before?"

"Your humor is as bland as you sometimes."

"Yeah, sorry."

"When I was a boy, I always interested in science. Anything with science fiction, I was all over. I think I still have mountains at my parent's home of books and movies from the first man on the moon to Doctor Who. Anyways, one day, my dad read to me a newspaper article that a scientist had gone mad and began on working on something from the future. Of course, this was back twenty years ago when I was like 8."

"Get to the point."

"Oh, yeah, okay so I got interested in all this stuff right? I hadn't looked much into it until I got on the internet and tracked down the name of the scientist from all those years ago. Apparently, now people don't think he is that crazy anymore. The government is even funding his project."

"How does all of that factor into me joining you and me being interested? Don't get me wrong, I like science-fiction too, but work is more important."

"Hold your horses there pony lover. I'm getting to it. His project is actually a prototype device that allows you to play games in your mind."

"What? You know how absurd this sounds?"

"Wait, shut your trap for a moment and listen me out. I did some background checks to make sure this wasn't complete ludicrous. I confirmed that the government IS funding his project and they already have a prototype ready. They even had some submissions for people to test it out. They need beta testers apparently. I signed us both up, and we got accepted too! So I thought, why not try it out and see for ourselves if this is complete nonsense or if this is true."

"How does it even work?"

"It is supposed to simulate a person's thoughts or dreams and generate a game and project into your mind. Like for me for example. I might be on the death star fighting Lord Vader with a robocop outfit. Since I like action games and sci-fi, the device is supposed to generate scenarios like that. They said it is even supposed to make you feel what is happening in that game. Like if you touch water, you would feel it without doing it in real life."

"It sounds like you think I'm an idiot and trying to explain it to me in the simplest way possible."

"I know I know, but I don't have many details on the device to say anything smart. I read this all in the homepage they have. Even read some of the forums, couldn't dig up anything. I asked my own questions but they never answered. It is like they want to keep what it does in secrecy, and whatever involves technology and mystery..."

"We're there, I get it. Anyways, if you said that we could feel the stuff that we are playing in our heads, does that mean we feel pain too?"

"I'm guessing so."

"That sounds awfully unnerving."

"Come to think about it, yeah that does sound strange. How about we ask them, we're here anyways."

And no better timing as they drove into the small parking lot of a large laboratory-looking building. The rain outside was already pouring hard and there were very few cars outside.

"Where is everyone? How many people do you think signed up?"

"Lots, the forums were filled with people who wanted to join. Strange. Well, no point in staying here." Jarred took out his umbrella and quickly got out and closed his car door, rushing his way through the rain and into the automatic doors.

Mark took his time as he took out the umbrella he had brought in his suitcase. He got out of the car and let the leather seats get wet just to troll on Jarred. He'd done it many times before and it was always superbly funny. He closed the door when he thought it was wet enough and began walking to the building. The sky was filled with light grey clouds. It seemed so familiar... The rain... It was as if... Almost identical to the rain from that day. Strange... how fate worked...

Without noticing, he had actually let himself get wet from the left side as he stared off into the sky, his umbrella drifting off to his right. He quickly pulled it over himself and rushed towards the doors. Thankfully, the doors had a roof over them, so he was able to dry his umbrella before heading inside. Still outside, he began to ring out his hair from water and began shaking it like a wet dog. He began to tumble it to his sides with his hand like he did every morning. That was his way of brushing his hair. Going in as he did, his eyes began to adjust to the whiteness of the inside.

Still combing his hair, he looked straight forward at his friend Jarred by the counter talking to the receptionist lady, showing her his identification and registration for the beta thingy.

"I'm sorry sir, doesn't seem like you are on the list."

"What do you mean. We got accepted, I got the email a week ago. Must be some mistake."

"I don't see both of your names here. I can't really do much about the situation, I'm sorry."

"Aww. Seriously? How anticlimactic. What a bummer. It's okay then." Jarred turned to him. "First time I convince you to go anywhere and we get stuck going down the drain."

"It wasn't to be." Mark stretched his arms into the air and yawned. "Hey, at least say you got me to stop working for a while. Not even your persistence could pull that off or your intensive nagging." Just as he said that, he heard multiple bouts of laughter, some giggles, some straight forward laughter, and one amused grunt. He looked around finally to realize that they were in a waiting area. Five other people were sitting very separably from each other on comfortable looking couches.

On the left side of things, a boy with a strange sigil on his shirt with cargo pants and short black hair that looked no older or younger than him sat with an amused smile on his face. He looked very similar to Jarred in stature and build, their hair were in a similar style, except the boy's was black and Jarred's hair was blond while the boy's eyes were brown and Jarred's were blue.

Against the other wall still on the left side sat a cross-legged very tomboyish looking girl with black hair and brown eyes. He expected that the amused grunt came from her, and he didn't doubt his instincts.

He looked to the right again and saw two girls sitting closely together and laughing. They were twins, both with the same style of hair, both with blond hair and blue eyes. It was scary to try and tell them apart. The only thing different were the clothes.

Lastly, by the other end of these two girls sat a very fragile looking girl and the only dressed in a dress. Strange how anyone ever used dresses anymore. Her hair was a very deep, dark brown and her eyes were just as florescent as they were green. Strangely... something was odd about her. Mostly because he caught himself thinking of how pretty she was after he had taken his sights off her.

"Well, at least now you don't have to put me to sleep because I didn't agree to do whatever you wanted me to do. I was starting to get rather afraid at your strange sense of humor. And since you took me off work for today, I might as well get some shuteye when you take me to my house... and I lock my doors and windows..." Again, more joyful laughter, the kind that said they were laughing at his jokes and not at him. He could almost feel as if they were nice people. Shame he couldn't stay a while longer.

"Or go back to watching that cartoon of yours."

Mark would have flipped his stuff if it wasn't because he didn't say the name of the show. "Ah, well, its quality tv unlike what you like to watch at twelve in the morning. *cough cough*." To be honest with himself, Jarred was his best friend because of this. No matter the situation or frustrations, he could always laugh whole-heartily with him. It truly a nice thing to have him around.

"Alrighty kiddies, I hope you all are ready. We are going to begin testing now. FOR SCIENCE!" A short man wearing a lavender lab coat appeared as he nearly ran out of the door that lead to into a corridor next to the receptionist booth.

"Whoa! It's really you! I'm like... your biggest fan sir. I've studied everything there was about your project when I first read it several years ago. Wow. You are my inspiration." Jarred literally threw himself to his knees praising them man before him.

"Thank you, thank you. But please, call me Joseph. You make me feel old with the sir thing."

"Yes sir, I mean Joseph sir."

"Ha, good lad. Will you be joining us today and your partner too?" Joseph only turned his face away in a disappointed sigh.

"You see, Jarred wanted to be part of the testing but it happens that we got an accidental invite, so we came here thinking that we would be a part of this. We were actually leaving now. Thank you though, for seeing to put up with my friend's fan boy side." He heard more snickering, but this time he was being sincere. Not a joke, srs.

The short man laughed again. "It was my pleasure, say, we were supposed to have seven beta testers and without you two I only see five. What was your names again?" He said looking into the tablet in his hands.

"I'm Mark Dylan and my friend is Jarred Liam."

"Hmm, your names are here." The smile on Jarred's face was huge as the short man walked up to the receptionist and came back telling them that there was a slight misunderstanding. "It seems that you two were the last two chosen by my hard working son and weren't registered in to our accountant's list. You are on my the list though. Congratulations!" The short man cleared his throat and looked at everyone. "You seven are the chosen seven from over two hundred entries. Let's begin testing. FOR SCIENCE!"

A young man wearing a white lab coat appeared behind him. "Meet my son, Larrison. He'll be the one guiding you through the tests. I have to tend towards technicalities. I have to travel for a few days out of town to address some concerns to the government who is funding the project. When I get back I expect great results." Just as he had appeared, he had disappeared into the rain and into a the largest truck in the parking lot. What was it with short people and big cars?

"You guys can call me Larry. My dad's only instructions for you all is to enjoy yourself, have a good time, and get to know everyone else here. We can do that another time, now if you all could please follow me." He waved at them to follow and everyone did. Jarred was so excited he wanted to burst.

His jaw dropped through the floors and into the center of the earth when he saw the large machinery handling in a very large corridor with several pod-looking beds.

"This is amazing."

"No... this is epic... truly... epic." Jarred wanted to cry in joy.

"Alright, my dad goes by a philosophy. Learn from experience and not by the experienced. So instead of giving you a rundown and instructions on what you all need to do, how about we place you in training?"

Everyone but the twins remained silent, and it was obvious everyone was nervous about the sudden procedures. The lab was brimming with lights and machinery, and the average person, this was intimidating. Not for Jarred though, he was having the time of his life. Finally, Larry began to instruct everyone in what they needed to do as they got into the pods one by one. The latches began to close off and you could not see them anymore. Mark got into his pod obediently as Larry got to him and the boy placed a strange contraption on his head made of medal. Thankfully, the metal was room temperature, so it wasn't stinging cold nor did it make his forehead sweat. The pod closed and he could only see a blue light.

Mark had no idea what to expect, but then, a voice started sounding off in his head. Not his ears, strange as that may sound. His ears seemed mute, but his head was talking to him. The voice was like his thoughts, but he could hear them loud and clear like if someone was talking to him directly. In honesty, it was uncomfortable.

Welcome Mark Dylan. You are now logged into the Project Anima network and you will proceed into testing. Please close your eyes and relax. This was the voice of a women. An AI no less.

He did as he was told. Suddenly, he couldn't hold his eyes got heavy and he couldn't hold them open anymore. He drifted off into a deep sleep.

~~~

A fresh breeze washed over him, soothing him in a blanket of soft wind. The grass below was strangely soft. The air smelled like wet dirt. He opened his eyes slowly, regain consciousness again. First thoughts was of what had happened. He wasn't entirely sure. Second thoughts. WHERE WAS HE. Oh gawd. His eyesight took a while to adjust but he could see large moss covered stones with a stream running through the cracks. Trees with lush green leaves towering above him, making the shadow patterns of glinting sunlight through the gaps between the leaves. Everything was so... surreal.

Where was he... how did he get here? Strangely... He couldn't remember anything... All he could remember was his name. Mark... Mark Dylan? The name began to bring realizations. He remembered being in a car with Jarred... looking out into the park...

Jarred! Where was he.... more importantly where was HE?! He began to try to get up on two legs but suddenly, he lost balance and began tumble forward and roll down the small tree covered hill. Thankfully, he didn't hit any trees on his way down and the grass was soft enough to cushion even the hardest tumbles. Finally stable on the ground, he looked at his hands to see if he had gotten hurt, since he had felt a bit of pain as he bumped into small rocks.

It could have been a dream. Maybe it was a dream. Finally, he concluded that it was a dream. What he saw when he looked down where hooves... This was a completely strange dream conjured up by all the times he had spent late into the night looking at ponies.

He was freaking out, don't get him wrong, but he was doing his best to keep it under control as he was trying to convince himself it was a dream. He bit himself on the light brown foreleg of his to cause some pain to try and awake. It hurt. Still, he tried his best convincing himself it was a dream. Finally giving up, he started surveying the details.

His forelegs were light brown, which meant the rest of his body was probably of that shade of color. He didn't have a horn or wings, so that meant he was a regular horse, err pony. And his surroundings were strangely familiar. Everything seemed so lush and colorful... it almost hurt looking at everything.

He dragged himself across a small hill, still not knowing how to walk, to see his surroundings a bit better. If it wasn't for his jaw already touching the ground, it would have broken as it forced itself to the ground when he saw what lay beyond.

Across a small lake with small bridge over it, a very familiar town appeared. Anticlimactic. The word appeared in his head again, almost as if he heard it before. Suffice it to say, it surely fit the situation, for across the small lake lied Ponyville.