.hack//EQUESTRIA

by NovaSethyr

Welcome To the World

The World

The single most innovative and immersive game to come out since, well, ever.

Equestria was taken by surprise at the announcement of The World. Nothing like this was even heard of before CyberConnect Corporation was developed and flaunted their beta version, Fragment, and the ALTIMIT Operating System that it ran on worldwide. Through the power of twenty unicorns working together, everypony in Equestria could see and hear CC Corp as they talked about virtual reality and working together with other ponies to beat tough challenges and it was all so exciting and fresh!

CC Corp had chosen around 1,000 ponies to play Fragment to see if there were bugs or anything that could potentially ruin the game before putting out on the market. Before the beta was even finished preorders skyrocketed to the hundreds of thousands, growing every passing day, and CC Corp was hard-pressed to finish the game as soon as possible. The beta went smoothly, and every thing was fine before The World was complete and released nine months later to millions of ponies. The game has been running without a hitch since then and will continue to do so until The World’s servers shut down forever.

That’s the official version, in any case.

Gossip is never kind to the subject of discussion, and The World was no exception. Apparently, word is a few ponies had died while playing the game. Nopony knows for sure, but they were claimed to have all died from heart attacks, and they all died when they were playing. CC Corp quickly stomped down on the rumors, claiming that there were no such deaths during the beta testing. However, one pony was confirmed to have died, though it appeared to be a suicide.

The World was released soon after, selling 4,576,623 copies in the first day worldwide. The first day, the servers were full in the first hour, and they had to be shut down for a few minutes to keep the servers from crashing from the unexpected traffic. Those five minutes were the longest for everypony around the world, where they were staring at their ALTIMIT OS monitors waiting for the servers to start up. Everypony was staring at their black screens, wishing to be part of The World once again.

It’s been a year since then, and I just got my copy.

Every single one of my classmates were saying that it was stunning, amazing, and awesome all at the same time. I normally try not to waste my money, and since The World was pretty hefty on the bill, I hadn’t had a chance to try it at all. But after my small bonus, I thought it was finally time to indulge myself. I had to move a few of the cheap noodle cups on my desk to make room for the OS, and the smell wasn’t going to get better anyways.

The piece of high-tech equipment looked out of place in my shoddy apartment. And it was shoddy; there were even more noodle cups on a table, there were a few clothes here and there, and the place hadn’t been exactly... cleaned, in a while. Possibly never now that I think about it. But then again, what would you expect for a university student? And not any uni student, no, a student of Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns. Another reason my wallet was empty most of the time. I sighed inwardly, thinking of the work I'm going to have to do to keep up with the bills now. Perhaps my roommate could spare a few bits?

But now isn’t the time to wallow in… whatever ponies are supposed to wallow in. I was going on a journey, one of escapism and adventure. And to be prepared, all I have to do is turn on this contraption. The ALTIMIT OS made a loud whirring and it booted up for the very first time. I put on the VR goggles and was greeted with the character creation screen. The first thing I noticed that was odd was the fact that there was virtually no differences between choosing pegasi, unicorns, or Earth ponies besides a few stat increases. A bonus of agility and speed to pegasi, strength and endurance to Earth ponies, and magical attack and defense bonus to unicorns. My guess was so the players could could choose their class without adding complications. It certainly didn't make me think twice about what to choose.

A few tweaks, a few touch-ups, and an hour later, I was ready. My pony had a red robe, with intricate runes etched into the cloth. The vibrant blue mane was long, and could cover his face with just a slight turn of his head. The eyes were a sharp yellow, contrasting nicely with the hair. The coat was a light brown, and the tail was the same vibrant blue. It's pretty cool that CC Corp let you deign your own cutie mark from scratch, it can make for some interesting character backgrounds and skills. My avatar’s cutie mark was one of a spellbook emblazoned with the Eye of Horus, the Neigyptian symbol for protection against evil.

With my pony all dressed-up, I went to choose what class I wanna be. I’ve always wanted to cast awesome spells, which is kind of strange since I’m a student of the Gifted Unicorn school. I can do basic levitation and manipulation, but I’ve never been able to cast more than a few illusions and a few telekinetic spells, and even those was shaky at best. My parents really wanted me in the school, so they paid my way in, and I’ve been a student for the next fifteen years, from the elementary school to the university.

You can see why some ponies hate that place.

Bringing my attention off of depressing situations, I went to the main menu of The World. There were a few options; a board where ponies would gather and discuss events, news, and general talk, The World itself was an icon I could click on to start it up, and an e-mail system that had a unread e-mail in it. I opened it up and it was from CC Corp congratulating me on getting The World and wishing me to enjoy my experience in the game.

I went back to the desktop menu and decided to take them up on their offer, clicking on the icon to start up my hopefully enjoyable experience in The World.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Whoa, that felt weird.

I wanted to look around, and immediately realized that my head was moving around. I thought about looking, and I looked without actually moving my head.

Yeah, definitely weird.

Getting used to this ‘you think it, it happens’ mechanic is going to take a bit of practice, so I decided to test myself by doing one of the most basic functions a pony could do: walking. I thought about lifting my foreleg and placing it in front of me. It was a resounding success, and I celebrated by thinking to move all my other limbs forward in a trot. The thought was met with the marble floor coming up to greet my face. After picking myself up rather awkwardly, I took in my surroundings for the first time.

I was standing just outside a building, and down a flight of steps was a cobblestone plaza with a fountain. All around me, players were talking and just hanging out in general. There were all kinds of avatars, there were wolf-like ponies, ponies with hardly any clothing, ponies with too much clothing, ponies with giant swords that I doubted they would be able to carry in real life, ponies that had two blades at their flank, and ponies with axes across their backs. There were so many choices when making a character, most had opted to make something completely different from what others made. I guess the sheer amount of variety helped the unique characters come to life.

I sat there on my rump, reeling at the player characters, and I didn’t notice when my shoulder was pushed gently at first. The second push was only slightly harder, but it was enough to bring me out of my stupor. I turned at look to who would disturb somepony who was clearly new and just stared.

She was cute, to be sure, but I wouldn’t say she was beautiful. The pony had a bright red mane, which was shorn short. Her navy coat was covered in what I guessed were scars from battle. I didn’t know if you could put scars on from the character creation, but somehow I thought those were all genuine. The dark grey armor she wore was brutal looking the shoulderpads were curved, and the only bit of coat I could see was from her face. There was no horn nor were there wings at her side, so she an Earth pony. Considering her giant axe strapped to her back, I suspected as much. She wore a cocky grin, and the heat of battle was in her dark eyes. While I could see she was acting tough, I noticed that there was a slick coat of sweat on her fur and she was panting rather heavily. I assumed she just recently came back from battling something fierce.

“Playin' with a newbie?”

The voice threw me off, as it didn’t come from the pony in front of me. I leaned to my left and discovered a second pony, a pegasus, trotting up from behind the blue mare. This mare was a little more docile looking, with a soft expression on her face, which was half covered by a golden mane. Her white coat was also covered in sweat, so I could safely assume that this was a friend of the rough pony just to her side. She had on some light armor that hung down her sides, and had a wicked looking curved sword on her back. Her less than threatening demeanor assured me that she wasn’t out to chop my up into itty-bity-teeny-tiny pieces and hide me around the town… I really hated my imagination sometimes.

“Yeah, I’m new. Just started play about a minute ago, in fact.”

The scarred pony look so excited at the prospect of a newbie that her brown eyes lit up in sheer joy. She jumped up in small hops and said, “Oh yeah! We found a newbie who wasn't killed instantly! Can we take him under our wing and train him to be the best there ever was, pleasepleasepleasepleeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeease?”

The white mare sighed and trotted closer to me. “Alright, we’ll take him the next time we go exploring.” She raised a hoof to help me up, and I realized I had my mouth agape and looked like an idiot. I took her hoof and got up as I felt my face redden from embarrassment.

Once I was back on my hooves, the white mare gave an elegant bow. “My name is Refinity, and this is Crimson Axe. A simple name for a simple pony.”

The navy pony gave a small sound similar to a pig with the hiccups. “Simple and to the point, unlike Refinity. Seriously, the whole reason she choose it was because she couldn’t think of anything else.”

“I’ll have you know that I wanted something that would help define who I am, and I am ‘eternity refined.’”

“The eternity part is just a load of hooey. Anyways, we’re getting off track here again. What’s your name squirt?”

As she said the word ‘squirt,’ I felt a little irk that came from an old nickname haunting those who thought they outgrew it. But as I looked up to sum up my thoughts in an appropriate response, I noticed that she could call anypony ‘squirt’ and it would be justified. She was huge, and I only came up to her chin. The huge axe that could slice through a pony as easy as apple pie on her back didn’t help me compose my thoughts, either. I looked up into those fiery eyes and my summed up thoughts escaped my lips all at once. To the standard onlooker it would have sounded a lot like ‘meep,’ but I assure you, it was a well-thought out response. Really.

“Crimson, you’re scaring the poor pony. Let me handle this, go meet up with Berrylicious, will you?”

Crimson gave a huff before bowing her head in defeat and walking off to meet with… Berrylicious? That’s a bit odd for a name. I told Refinity as such, and she responded with a slight giggle. “Oh yes, Berry isn’t exactly the type to care for names, so she choose the first thing that popped in her head. But without her, we wouldn’t have any good items or weapons.”

At my confused tilt of head, Refinity explained that Berry was a Trader; a player whom buys and sells items to other players. A player can run a shop if they wish to, and by taking advantage of the gap between sellback and buy prices at NPC-run shops, player run shops can be a benefit to both the buyer and the seller. Berry really enjoys acting as a traveling merchant in the game, so she runs her own shop. While I didn’t understand most of that, I do understand that Berry likes acting as a merchant and enjoys doing something like that in a game.

“So what is your name?” Refinity asked.

“The name’s Faylin. Nice to meet ya, Refinity.” I raised my hoof.

“The pleasure’s all mine Faylin. Welcome to the ragtag group that just barely struggles to get by. We didn‘t even have enough for a third adventurer.” She took the offered hoof and shook it gently before letting go.

“Huh, but I thought there were already three members? You already have a full party then, don’t you?”

“Well like I said, Berry is our Trader. She much rather stay in her makeshift shop rather than explore with us. And besides, we needed a Wavemaster anyways, heals and ranged support are a must.”

“I’m happy to be a part of the team, then! So, where are your friends? Crimson and Berry, right?”

Refinity pointed down the steps, “There they are now, actually. Come on, let’s get you initiated.”

“I-initiated?” But before Refinity could answer, Crimson thought it would be funny to squish the tiny, weak pony underneath her heavy armor by jumping on him from behind. And she was heavy! Who would have ever thought that a pony that was taller than a cart could be heavier than one? (Hint: I did)

*Gasp* “Can’t… breathe.”

“Hehe, sorry, squirt. Gotta keep you here until Berry can get a good look at ya.”

As if on cue, a mare leaned down and grab my head between her hooves. She moved me from the left to the right, then squeezed me between her hooves as if she was examining a melon to see if it’s ripe. Then she made me face her and stared really hard into my eyes. I just had enough time to admire her robin egg blue eyes before she said “All right, she’s good. Let her up, Crimson.”

Crimson got up and I unsteadily got back to my hooves, and then decided that standing was for chumps and landed back down on the ground unceremoniously. I was helped up by the blue-eyed pegasus - Berry, I remembered. She had a blade on either side of her flank - so she must be a Twin Blade, I think. She had a grey mane, and it wasn’t too long or too short either. She had a cherry red coat, and she was covered in tattoos of some kind. They ran past her eyes, down her back, under her belly, and even went down to her forehooves. The whole thing was a little intimidating, but one look at those gentle blue eyes told me that she wasn’t trying to be scary. Well, I didn’t doubt she could be scary if she wished to be, but I like keeping my head where it is, so I calmed down and raised my hoof to her. “Hi! I’m Faylin, and you must be Berry, right?”

Berry broke out into a grin that nearly ripped her head off. “Yea, that’s me! Ain’t gonna find anypony better at bartering than yours truly! Welcome to the team! And now that you’re here, we can make this an official guild, and my shop will gain more reputation and more players will come by and spend aaaaall of their gold!” Her eyes took on a dangerous twinkle at the mention of making a profit. I had a strange feeling that it wouldn’t be safe to carry any money around when Berry is nearby. My mind agreed with my gut on this one as Berry charged off to make our ‘ragtag’ group into a full-fledged guild…wait… what’s a guild?

Refinity gave me a look that made me feel sorry even though I’m not sure what I did wrong when I voiced my thoughts.

“You didn’t read the instruction book, did you?”

I felt a little relief at that, I had thought I did something much worse, for some reason. “No, I didn’t read it. I set up the game and started to play. I didn’t even know there was a booklet.”

Crimson overheard and trotted into the conversation, “Dude, if you don't read that booklet you won't be able to join our guild! Now you're going to have to spend all of your days alone and without a party because you couldn't take time to read the instructions!”

My look of disbelief made Crimson burst out laughing, apparently. Because she did. And she started rolling on the ground laughing her flank off. I’m not sure if I should be embarrassed that I believed her or that I should be laughing along with her. In the end, Refinity saved me the trouble of having to decide. “Oh, stop teasing the newbie, Crimson! We haven’t even finished a single dungeon with him yet and you already have your way with him!”

“Oh, I can have my way with him? I would have thought you wanted to have him all to yourself!” Refinity's white fur turned into a shade of red darker than Crimson's own mane, giving the Earth pony much to laugh about.

"Oh man, I can already tell that this team is gonna be awesome!" gasped Crimson in between fits of giggles.

I have a feeling her definition of the world ‘awesome’ consists of something along the lines of ‘tease the newbie until he dies of embarrassment’ Yeah, this is going to be fun fun fun for everypony.

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AN: Hmm, never done one of these things before. Ah, hello reader. I hope you've enjoyed my first fanfiction. This idea has been bobbing around my head for some time, and it has gone through many changes before now. If you've enjoyed it, then please say so! Leave a comment, give a rating, give me a high-five, whatever you find suitable! If I made any mistakes, please point them out as well.

Comments

[Taliesinful]

This story is excellent. Also, ever since I came across the .hack series I've been trying to figure out how the game would work in real life. NEVER did it occur to me that you could control it with your mind. Bravo, good sir