Chapter 2
The room was silent as the party took a moment to comprehend the questions. Kirito looked up at the white creature with an awkward grin as he stuttered out: “Um… well… you see… we are… um… mhm…”
With a huge grin Klein put a hand on Kirito’s chest stopping his panicked stuttering. “I got this.” He said with a grin as he turned to the now smirking white creature on the thrown. “HELLO ALIEN CREATURE.” He said loudly, slowly and with a huge smile. “WE CREATURES,” with a gesture to his friends, “ARE HUMANS… HHHUUUMMMAAANNNSSS. DO YOU UNDERSTAND?”
With a chuckle the white creature got off her throne gesturing to her disgruntled guards with a wing in attempt to calm them. With cultured speech it replied “I do in fact understand what you are saying, though I am slightly curious why you are speaking so loudly and so slowly. Is it a cultural thing to speak to others you are trying to impress? But anyway I would like to request that you take off your swords and weapons, they seem to be disturbing to my guards and I would very much like to calm them. Plus there is no need to worry here. From wherever difficulty you have come from you should now know that you can find safety here in these walls and that there is no need for swords or weapons of any kind.” The white horse focused intently, “Can you understand that?”
“Yes maam,” replied Asuna as the party went into their inventory un-equipping their weapons, “I apologize for my friend here,” gesturing to Klein, “he can be a bit dense sometimes. My name is Asuna, this is my boyfriend Kirito, our daughter Yui, his younger sister Lyfa, Silica, Lizbeth, Recon, and the rude one you already met Klein.” At which they all waved when their name was called, except for Klein who crossed his arms and rolled his eyes. “We are humans, but what you see here are our avatar forms computer generated in a virtual world which we were exploring. This was supposed to be a new world that Recon over there designed…” Asuna took a second to quickly look at her surroundings, “And apparently he accidentally succeeded in creating a gateway to another world. I apologize for any inconvenience.” She finished with a bow, which the rest of the team mirrored.
“Interesting, very interesting indeed. Well I should be the first to welcome you travelers to my world and kingdom. Welcome to the planet Equis, and my kingdom Equestria. You are currently in my thrown room in my palace in the capital city of Canterlot.” She turned back from the group and took several steps towards her throne gesturing to the room with her wings.
When she was a good distance away she turned back to them and stood tall and as regal as a horse possibly could. “My name is Princess Celestia and I rule over Equestria with my younger sister Luna.” She paused, possibly for dramatic effect, “I am also guardian of the day for it is my job to make sure the sun rises and sets every day where. Similarly my sister is guardian of the night making sure the moon rises and sets every night.” She continued when she noticed some curious faces looking around the Throne Room. “She tends to be nocturnal,” she explained, “so she cannot be here with us right now. But I am sure she would love to meet you.” Celestia said with a kind smile.
And with a frown she added, “Now as informative as what you said to me earlier was… I only understood about less than half of it, would you mind clarifying it for an old mare?”
“I can I can I can I can,” said Silica jumping up and down waving her hand in the air excitedly, “Ok, so do you know what a computer is.” To which Celestia shook her head. “Electricity.” Celestia nodded. “Alrighty, how about a television… calculator?”
“We have calculators, but I do not know what a television is.”
Silica groaned sitting down getting ready to explain the mysteries of technology to one so underprivileged. “Alright, calculators have screens right” nod “and they have programming and stuff right?” Another nod, “televisions are big screens that show shows and movies… Kinda like picture books but with motion,” Silicia’s eyes lit up, “oh oh oh, and you can also record people doing stuff and show them on a television.” She took a deep breath, “ Alright, well a computer has a television on it so it can show stuff. And it also has lots of very strong calculator parts so you can tell it stuff and it can figure out other stuff with it. Understand so far?” Chuckling Celestia nodded once again. “Alright, WELL you can play games and do things that are fun on computers, and using the internet… I am NOT gunna explain that…” Everyone chuckled. “You can contact friends and play games with them. And so one type of game is done by putting a helmet on your head that connects your brain with the computer so you can actually BE in the game instead of just looking at it!!” Silica stood beaming like she had just uncovered the mystery of life.
“I still do not fully understand, but I think I get it enough. It is like a controlled dream where you can contact others and do whatever you want to?” Celestia inquired.
“That sounds like a pretty good description.” Replied Lyfa after after thinking for a minute.
“Mine was better” huffed Silica receiving a chuckle and a pat on the head from Klein, who then received a bite from Pina.
As Klein grimaced nursing his hand Celestia turned to Kirito and Asuna who were still trying to calm a shaking Yui.
“Is she alright?” Celestia asked with concern, “ And I also have to ask, if it is alright, how old are you that you would have a daughter so old?”
Putting a comforting arm around Yui Kirito replied, “I hope she will be. And it is alright. Yui isn’t actually our physical daughter. We found her lost in the woods in game with no memory of who or where she was and took her in hoping to find her parents. When she finally remembered who she was she told us that she was a program in the game that went rogue.” Celestia looked a bit confused again but Kirito quickly continued, “when she couldn’t do as she was programmed, help others.” He paused to give Yui a quick, reassuring hug, “It’s a long story but in a nutshell, we were stuck in a game where the only way to leave was to win, and if you lost you died in the real world instead of starting the game over.” Celestia gasped placing a hoof over her mouth. “It’s alright, everyone here, except Recon and Lyfa were in that game and we got out. Plus, I met Asuna there, so it wasn’t all bad.”
“That, and you were the one to beat the game.” Commented Klien with a smile.
“Eh, that too. But anyway, Yui decided that we are her parents because we cared about her so much. And we are fine with that. She is probably like this because this is the first time she has ever been out of the virtual world.”
Celestia looked at Yui with compassion, “That must be quite a shock to her. If there is anything I could do, let me know.”
“Thank you.” Replied Yui quietly. “I’ll be alright. I just need to adjust. I feel like my data is falling apart with no regular lines or codes to cling to.” She shivered and closed her eyes. After a few seconds “There is this strange energy flowing around that I might be able to pin myself to.”
“Ah,” Celestia replied with a smile, “those would be the natural magical leylines of this world. There are many different magical creatures in this world, several of which use the leylines already, why don’t you try and pin yourself to that.”
“Thank you, ok, ill try…” Scrunching up her eyes in concentration Yui glowed softly and started to fade away, much to the unhappiness of her parents. But then she became completely visible again, stopped shaking and looked forward confidently. “It worked!” She cheered. “I pinned my avatar to the leylines, and wait, give me a minute.” Concentrating again the others started to disappear, much to their unhappiness. But then, like Yui, they became visible again and felt more whole. “Alright. All of our avatars are now completely tangible in this world.”
“What do you mean by that?” Asked Lyfa.
“Well, near to the doorway there is data leaking out, doing no harm to the surrounding area, but keeping us actually physically here. Now that I have locked our avatars onto the leylines of the world we can move as far away from the doorway and we will still be able to function as we could in game and move around freely in this world.”
This was met by a round of ohs, cools, and wows. “I still feel slightly uncomfortable tho… we aren’t in a computer, and I cannot find out as much about the world as I normally could.” Yui said slipping back into pixy form and flying up to Kirito’s pocket.
Celestia blinked several times trying to understand what just happened. She decided to put that in the to be figured out later section of her mind along with how to solve a rubix cube, why politics are as crazy as they are, whether or not she likes bananas, and most of what Pinkie Pie does.*
“Well, there is always the royal library.” Said Celestia thoughtfully. “I can make arrangements for you to visit it tonight, most likely with my sister as a guide and chaperone.”
“Oh thank you Princess!” Yui cheered.
“Thank you.” Said Asuna with a smile. “Looks like you cheered our little girl right up.”
“Hey princess,” Lizbeth spurted out. As Celestia turned to look at the girl she became sheepish toying the ground with her foot, “um, with all these questions you are asking us, I was wondering if you could answer some of our questions, well… my questions.”
“Of course, what would you like to know?”
“Oh well, first, what are you? Second, why are your guards not like you? Third, why was that other pony also not like you? Fourth, what is this world like? And um, fifth, is there something for us to do here?”
Celestia chuckled at the tirade of questions. “Well, I am what is called an Alicorn. One of the four types of ponies here in Equestria.” She gestured a hoof towards one of the stained glass windows depicting three different types of ponies dancing around one larger pony. “Earth ponies,” gesturing towards the bottom plain pony in the window, “like the representative of the Appolusan Farmers Union. Unicorns,” gesturing first to the depiction of a unicorn in the window and then to her gaurds, “like my personal guard. And Pegusi” Gesturing to the pegusi in the window, “of which you have yet to see.”
She turned back to the group. “This world is a fairly peaceful world, although there are exceptions. We have forests with dangerous beasts, safe forests, fields mountain ranges, deserts, several large cities, but mostly small villages. And for something to do, well,” one of the corulers of the land put a hoof up to her chin to think, “what do you want to do?”
“Oh um, I don’t know…” Lizbeth replied quietly, “Thanks for answering my questions though.”
“Of course. Any other questions?”
“Where exactly are we? Like is there a regular looking-out-and-seeing-things window around here?” Asked Silica with wide eyes.
“Of course, come follow me. Post It,” she said loudly with authority. After a second a large door the party had not noticed behind them opened and a female unicorn wearing small square glasses and a serious expression came in, “would you please announce that open court has ended for the day and please file the citizens requests and concerns for me to look at later tonight?”
“Yes mam.” She replied not even flinching at the new addition of a huge door in the middle of the usually empty hall
and the eight strange beings standing there. “Shall I tell them that a very important matter to the state has come up.” A half nod and a look. “Kindly,” a smile and a nod, “and shall I have my assistances and I record their petitions?” Another nod, at which a bow was given in response. “My princess.”
“Good luck Mrs. It, you are going to need it.”
With a roll of her eyes Post It turned to the door, “It is my job. Good luck with this… whatever this is.”
“I hope this does go well.” The princess replied as the door closed. “Ok my little adventurers, shall I show you the city?” Nods in response the party followed her out of the Hall, down a long hallway to a round balcony displaying a beautiful panorama of a medieval styled city. In the distance forests and plains could be seen dotted with small towns. Railroads stretching between towns originating from Canterlot spanned the countryside. In the distance and here and there were mountains.
“Welcome to Equestria.” Celestia said, pride very apparent in her voice. “My little ponies have come very far in the last two thousand years I have been on the thrown.”
“Wait, two thousand years?!” Exclaimed Recon.
“Yes, immortality does that…” She said with a sigh, “So many friends come and gone, so many heart breaks… But it is the unexpected that really give life to it all.” Another sigh. “Oh well, you don’t want to be listening to the rantings of an old mare do you? I think not. Let us go in, I believe it is nearing dinner time, which means Luna is probably up for her breakfast. I know she will be excited to meet you.”
The group turned back inside the building continuing along the long corridor. As they walked they marveled at the tapestries, statues, and beautiful stained glass windows littering the palace. Celestia pointed out many of them telling stories sometimes months and sometimes years past. The amount of information and the thoughts and experiences that the Princess had experienced kept the group captivated.
“Hey Princess, I have a question.” Said Yui.
“Yes my child?”
“Where are your parents? I mean, if you are a princess, aren’t your parents the king and queen?”
Celestia smile slowly faded away with that question and she became silent. Yui saw a single tear trace down her neck and immediately flew up to her neck giving the mare a huge hug. “I’m sorry, forget I asked.”
“No child. It is alright, but I am afraid that is a story for another day, another time.” Said Celestia wistfully and with a small smile she followed with, “Ah, it looks like we are here, the royal dining hall. I do not know what you eat, but we have had many different dignitaries from many different species over the years so I am sure that our cooks can make something that will please you all. I will request that the special menus are brought out for you all, and if there is nothing on the menus that you would like, please be sure to request and my cooks will do the best they can.”
Pushing the doors open with a touch of magic the party was greeted by a long dining hall. The opposing end of the dining hall had three sets of doors smaller than the one they had just come through. The side walls were tall cut two thirds of the way up by a trim from which hung many different objects. The lower two thirds of the walls had more tall and thin stained glass windows showing depictions of different creatures performing magic, feats of strength, or with some sort of book and writing utensil. The top third was made of a long narrow window from which outside light shined in. In the middle of the room sat a large mahogany table with seven chairs around the middle. At the closest end there sat a plush golden pillow. At the farther end sat what must have been the other princess, obviously in the middle of breakfast. A piece of half eaten toast, a pile of cut and partially eaten pancakes with syrup, eggs, a mostly empty glass of what appeared to be orange juice, and a cup of what appeared to be coffee or tea sat in front of the princess who was currently hidden from view behind a newspaper. It took some of the group a moment to notice the magical energies holding the paper up.
“So sister,”commented Celestia wryly, “Have you gotten to the comics yet? The escapades of Maremaduke were quite humorous today.”
“Nay sister.” Huffed a female voice from behind the newspaper. It shifted slightly as a page turned, “We art currently reading a disturbing piece of news about some sort of strange traveling fat that can be gained by eating too much grains, trans fat I believe they called it...” She said pulling the newspaper down to give her sister a half lidded glare.
The mare at the other end of the tale was very similar, yet almost a polar opposite of her sister. She had a dark blue coat with a wispy wavy purple mane; in said main were what seemed to be hundreds of tiny stars. She had a long horn sprouting from her forehead, leading Kirito to think that she was a unicorn, until she stood up and he could see her large wings. She was thin and larger than the other ponies that they had seen, but not as large as Celestia. Kirito noticed that she was not wearing a tiara or a regalia or horseshoes like Celestia was.
“Tia,” she called walking over to the group, “Why did you not warn me that we would be having visitors, We… I would have gotten dressed…” She said with a blush as she joined the group.
“Sorry sister, I did not know we would be having guests until just a few hours ago.” Reaching out her neck she nuzzled her sister. “Are you done breakfast? I was hoping to introduce you to everyone.”
“Nay sister, I would love to meet these strange creatures. Who and what art thou?”
“Well,” said Klein taking a step forward in an attempt to redeem himself from earlier, “I am Klein, these two love birds are Kirito and Asuna, those two kids are Recon and Lyfa, and these lovely ladies are Silica and Lizbeth, oh and that is Yui, and the dragon is Pina.” He said gesturing to each in turn at which each bowed to their name. “We are humans from the planet Earth. But what you see here are our avatars.”
“It is very nice to meet you, I am Princess Luna… And I am sorry, but I have never heard of Earth, Humans, or Avatars.” She replied shooting her older sister a confused look.
“They are creatures from a different world in another universe.” Recognition and amazement dawned on Luna’s face. “And avatars are similar to shadow projections, only they are much fuller conversions where their actual bodies are lying asleep in their own world. And no, before you ask they are only adolescents and children, teenagers who got here by accident. They do know how to get back, but I thought I would show them around a bit since they seem friendly and can leave their avatars here when they need to go back to their home world.”
“Facinating,” Luna breathed a gleam in her eye, “I cannot wait to get to know you all!”
A yellow earth pony with a chef’s chief’s hat mark on his hindquarters walked into the room holding seven menus in his mouth. Placing them on the table he gave them an appraising look towards the new creatures and princesses before requesting that they all take their seats so that he could take their orders.
And so they sat. Luna on her end and Celestia on her end. On one side of the table sat Lyfa, Kirito, and Asuna and on the opposite side sat Recon, Klein, Lisbeth, and Silica. Pina sat on Silica’s head and Yui sat on the table in between Asuna and Kirito. As the party requested simple garden salads from the chief (an unspoken message sent around that it would be impolite to eat meat in from of the herbivore Goddesses) conversation started in relation to their current predicament. With the gang’s help Celestia filled in Luna with all that had been happening that morning. When the salads arrived the topic of conversation moved onto more pressing topics.
Looking up from her salad the so far quiet Lizbeth asked: “Um I need to get going soon, it is getting late and I still have some chores around the house.”
“Oh ya, shoot I was going to meet my boyfriend in half an hour!!” Exclaimed Silica jumping up from the table.
“You have a boyfriend?” Questioned Asuna.
“Well, soon it will be had… He only likes me for my looks, ugh, be happy you haven’t met him he has been such a jerk to all my friends.”
“Then why do you want to meet him tonight?” Inquired Luna.
“Well to dump him of course!” Said Silica, at which many an eye was raised. “What, you think I was going to dump him on the phone? No sir, not me. I am an honorable girl, if you date me; you get dumped to the face.” A round of blank stares was given in reply to that comment.
“Well, don’t log out just yet. We should probably all leave as a group.” Said Lizbeth. “Hey Yui, should there be any sort of problem when we log out being that we are in a physical world instead of the virtual world?”
Yui hovered a bit off the table thinking. “Well, I don’t believe so… Your avatars should just enter a dream-like state until you log back in again. So we should probably find some beds for you guys to sleep in to log out…”
“You can always stay in the guest chambers.” Offered Celestia with a smile. “We have no guests currently and room enough to house fifteen griffons comfortably. If you wish to leave now I shall lead you.”
“I’m coming too!” Exclaimed Luna hopping up from her seat.
“Griffons?” Klein commented with a whistle.
Following Celestia’s lead the group stood and walked out a door opposite of the door they entered on and found themselves in a much more homely hallway. The hallway had red plush carpet with an intricate pattern of lines and squiggles. There were curtains with tassels on the much smaller windows and the lamps were similar to those one would find around a home.
After several minutes of walking Celestia stopped at a door, opening it and gesturing with a wing for the group to enter. The room was similar to a living room with a small fireplace, a table and several couches stationed around it. To the right was a large bay window, and to the left was a small modest kitchen with all the typical kitchen appliances and a table and a small door. On the opposite end of the room were six doors.
“I hope you will find these rooms able to accommodate you. Through those five doors are bedrooms two beds per room, that room,” she said gesturing to the sixth door on the opposite wall, “is the bathroom. Over there is the kitchen, and that is a pantry stocked of course. If you need anything pull this rope,” tugging lightly at a rope near the entrance, “And a servant should be here shortly to assist you. Is there anything else I am forgetting?”
“You are much to kind” Said Asuna with a curtsy, “this is perfect, thank you.”
“Yes, thanks.” Chorused the rest of the party as they made their way to the bedrooms.
Yui quickly flew over to Asuna and Kirito and they talked for several seconds before she flew back to the princesses. After whispering in Kirito’s ear for a second Asuna walked over to Lyfa and offered to share a room with her, at which she accepted and they entered the second room in. Klein put a hand on Recon’s shoulder and led him to the third room. The last two girls and pina entered the last room before the bathroom. Kirito shrugged and went into the first room.
...Several minutes later outside the living room-ish quarter place thingy ya...
“Aren’t you going to leave your avatar too child?” Asked Luna to Yui hovering between her and her sister as the last bedroom door closed.
“No,” replied Yui, “I am an artificial life form remember, this is my ‘real’ body. I was actually wondering though, um, you mentioned that there is a library around here," she blushed and looked down, "and I would very much like to learn as much about the new world as possible before they return tomorrow.”
“Yes there is.” Replied Celestia, “Luna, do you mind taking her there and watching over her, it is late and I need to lower the sun and go to bed.”
“Of course Tia.” Luna said as they left the living room and shut the door.
* Really dowdlekid, really? you are going to make the tipical Pinkie Pie jokes? Sigh, and I thought you were better than that.
PINKIE!! HOW'D YOU GET HERE!! I specifically said I would not do these kind of cheep jokes!
Psh, I'm Pinkie Pie, I do what I want! I'm my own mare! Oh, and your fourth wall is slightly cracked around the cracked place over there, might want to fix it...
Sigh, sure, just leave before this joke gets too long winded...
Okie dokie lokie! See you readers in chapter 6, if this idiot actually writes that far...
Ha ha ha, leave Pinkie...