Last extra one for a while. Aincrad Aside 2 · 11:00pm Apr 8th, 2020
This marks the second Aside. What is Aside? Well, EQG:SAO-Aincrad focuses only on the girls inside SAO. It is their tale. But some of my readers understandably want to know what is happening in the outside world. I decided to not do formal chapters, choosing to write them as Blogs. These are not mandatory and stand independently of the story. If you don't want to read, ignore it. If you missed the first one, click here.
A few things to note about the Asides. 1: There is no scheduled releases for them. They will come as blog posts at different times, and I have no idea when. 2: They will be edited by me only, and not even my beta readers will see them. So they most likely will contain errors. This is informal compared to an actual episode.
Real world — March 4 - 119 days trapped inside SAO
Kikuoka sat in the visitor chair in Sunset Shimmer's room. For whatever reason, he was drawn to Sunset Shimmer the most. It was late, well outside visiting hours. He left to go back to Japan in the morning, but he couldn't tear himself away after his final check in earlier in the day. He just took up residence in the chair.
The footsteps coming down the hall were not a nurse's. They walked differently, more rushed. The footsteps came into the dark room. Kikuoka watched as the girl, Starlight Glimmer, walked in. She didn't see him sitting there. He almost said something, but then curiosity got the better of him.
She had the same book with her, but she also had an interesting contraption with her. She pulled a plug out and moved to attach it to either Sunset Shimmer or the NerveGear.
Kikuoka coughed and she jumped with a yelp. He didn't get up or even move. She had to settle down before she approached the end of the bed and stopped there.
"I can't let you do anything with them," Kikuoka stated. "As much as you might be helping them, we can't risk it. Trying to run diagnostics on them while diving isn't safe. We barely understand the science of virtual reality."
"Of course," she replied. "I understand. I just want to understand more of what they actually are. I don't even have a NerveGear rig to work on. They were recalled for destruction before I could get my, er, hands on one."
"And why should you have one?" Kikuoka asked. "You are a teenage girl, in school. You have no special skills or discernible reason to be given that authority."
He knew the statement hit a nerve. He had meant it to. She was back, and he wanted to know who she was. He was going to be leaving, and then she could do anything, so he wanted to make sure he could leave them here in relative safety.
"I," she stuttered.
"Let's start with your name," Kikuoka stated.
She blushed. Despite the dark room, it was clear that she was blushing and that she knew she was caught. It was up to her to make the next move.
"You wouldn't understand," she said. "It's not something I am sure you have the understanding or authority to know. Or that I can trust you."
It was a good retort. She threw his own accusation back in his face. She was smarter than most.
Kikuoka was certain they were not clones, although that was the most logical answer. Cloning wasn't that far yet. And that was ignoring the ethics of cloning. To be a clone of her age, it would be a feat that would not have happened silently.
"Miss, my name is Kikuoka Seijirou. I work for Japan's Ministry of Internal Affair, in their Telecommunications Bureau, Advanced Network Division, Second Office, which is otherwise known as the Virtual Division. In terms of authority, when it comes to the victims of SAO, I am almost at the top. I answer to a few direct people. My classification level is always 'need to know.' If I need to know, I get to know. And I don't spill secrets. That is, at this time, all I can state."
She moved over to stand beside him and then lean against the wall. Her voice was low to keep them from being overhead.
"How much do you know about quantum theory? The physics or mechanics of it."
"That is not a specialty of mine," Kikuoka replied. "I understand a good deal though. The bureau is working on quantum computing. I understand what is being done, but not necessarily how. I understand the outcome."
"Well," she said, stalling out. "Well, my name is Twilight Sparkle. But, unlike you, I am not from here. The world I come from, we don't have this science and technology." She paused, taking in a deep breath. "We have magic. And I was hoping to bring something back to try and understand how it all works, and then circumvent the system."
"Magic?" Kikuoka said with a slow nod. "Interesting. Oddly it is comforting to know that you don't have the technology we do. I hate to admit it, but I can't help but believe your world is a threat to ours."
"We can't march an army through the portal," Twilight Sparkle clarified. "I can't even get a cell phone through the portal. It turns into a book! Or a notepad! And when I bring it back it turns into the phone again. No data lost.
"I can't get a WiFi signal through the portal either, but our magic has leaked over here in a few ways. It is difficult to explain and all incidents have been isolated to around the area here. The girl's are connected, minus Poly Stitch, to it."
"Their necklaces," Kikuoka said.
"Yes. But we don't know much about how it functions in this world. Although, it doesn't seem to be helping them at all. I'm not even sure how cognitive it is."
"You are a magician then?" Kikuoka asked.
"Yes," she said with a nod. "And a princess. I'm...well there are social and hierarchical structural differences between worlds that don't matter. What matters is that I am an important magician. And them being my friends doesn't help any either. It only makes me feel helpless."
"That is because you are," Kikuoka bluntly said. "Unless your magic can do something for all the players, you are. Let me reciprocate and explain what we know."
"Location and time stamp data we can access from the game tells us that they are all together, including Poly Stitch. Sunset Shimmer goes by the name of Bladescape. Applejack by the name of Backbreaker, Pinkie Pie by the name of AFCK, Fluttershy by the name of Doombunny, Rainbow Dash by the name of Thunderborne, Poly Stitch by the name of Astro, and Twilight Sparkle by the name of Knightstar. That is knight as in the warrior, not the sky."
She giggled. "That sounds like something I would name myself."
Kikuoka smiled a bit. Her attitude was brightening his day. "We also know that about a month after, they picked up three other players: Kiefer, Lessa, and Joltron. The 11 of them have been given a tag of WCS. They are in a guild together. They also are working adamantly to clear the game.
"My point for telling you this is simple. If you free the 8 of them, they will leave 3 of their close comrades behind, stuck in the game. Any magic that may be here, unless it frees everyone, it will only make things worse. How do you explain to a world watching that 8 miraculously awoke, while over two thousand have died? How do you justify saving them, and leaving their friends stuck there? Will they be okay with that? I doubt it knowing how hard they seem to be working to clear the game. It also is unsafe to eject players one by one, unless we know they are out of danger. If a party of 6 is fighting monsters, and suddenly one is ejected, that leaves 5 to fight. That may result in a death, or multiple deaths, because they lost the support of their battle buddy."
"I see," Twilight Sparkle replied solemnly. "I never thought about it that way."
"It is not your fault. You don't know how this stuff works, just like how I don't know how magic works. Unfortunately, that still leaves us in the position of being stuck, unable to do anything. And even if we could, your friends are a low priority. They are strong and although they face challenges and the reality of death everyday, we have younger kids of ages down to 11 stuck in there. They had parental permission to play that young. There are others who are too afraid to leave the starting city, and some to even leave their room. They would be our priority."
"I understand. If there is a way with magic, there are others in worse condition and I would have to use it to free them first. That is the clear morality of the situation, something both our worlds share."
"We also don't know the mental state of these players," Kikuoka continued. "Pulling them out suddenly could cause mental health issues, even deteriorating their brain because we would be ripping it out of one reality and into this one, with a different body. We don't know if that will cause a problem or not.
"I don't want to discourage you, but I can't let you act without understanding what you are working with."
"I appreciate that," she replied, a slight smile on her lips. "It is good to know where they are and how they seem to be doing well. I will keep that in mind, and not speak of it. That secret is safe with me."
Kikuoka smiled back. "I will get you a NerveGear. I just need to know where to send it."
"Send it to principle Celestia at Canterlot Highschool. I can pick it up there. I must admit, I am curious how it will transfer over as. The shock of being ejected was not something I had calculated for. Running them all through the portal isn't a guarantee. It could put them in a coma and worse off from it. At least now, they have a fighting chance to escape."
"Exactly how we are forced to see it as," Kikuoka replied. "And your secret is safe with me. I do trust that you will contact me if there is a solution."
"Of course. Just leave your contact information with us and I will."
Kikuoka pulled out a business card. "Here is all you need to contact me. Leave a message and I will get back to you as soon as possible. However, I am not always directly available. I have various jobs I do.
"Now, what can you tell me about this portal?"
She rolled her eyes, remembering what he had said earlier. "It is only open at certain times, with years in between openings. I have a way to artificially open it, but I can shut it down at a moment's notice. Plus, it is only big enough to send one individual through at a time. You can't invade us and we can't invade you."
"Are you certain it is another reality, and not another planet?" Kikuoka asked.
"I," she started, but then stopped and thought. "I don't know. But the fundamentals of both worlds seem too different to be as simple as different locations in a galaxy. We raise and lower our sun and moon on a daily schedule."
"That severely reduces that theory's likelihood," Kikuoka admitted. "I leave in 8 hours for my flight home. I believe that you are not a threat to them and their safety, or the safety of the other eight thousand players. None of what we spoke about will be reported to my superiors. I don't know when I will be back either. I am going to wait that time out here, watching."
"I am going to go home," Twilight Sparkle said. "All the way. I look forward to getting the NerveGear. But for now, I will rest and think on what you have said."
“One final question,” Kikuoka asked. “Your fingerprints. Are they the same as Twilight Sparkles?”
“No,” She replied with a grin. “The implications of that are fascinating. But the short answer is that our fingerprints are quite different. I also don’t know a formula to convert ages. It appears that while the portal is in sync between worlds, the structures used to measure time are not. But all timing devices I have taken between worlds change to match the location. I haven’t had time to sort that out yet. I only just started that project the other day, when you arrived and I discovered the potential age discrepancy of Sunset Shimmer.”
“Thank you,” Kikuoka replied. “I would like to say I want to visit your world, but I am extremely busy taking care of this one. There just wouldn’t be the time with all I have going on. I do more than the task force. That is a, side job of sorts. Official side job.”
“I have responsibilities I have to do back home as well. Quite a lot. My trips here are disruptive, but I can’t avoid the responsibility I have to here and to my friends.”
She left and Kikuoka kept a quiet eye on Sunset Shimmer until he had to leave for the airport. They were in capable and loving hands, and it was comforting to know that.
Kikuoka had to leave, but Twilight Sparkle would be keeping an eye on things. She had already given out several notebooks so that other students could notify her of any magical activity. At this point, their world was defenseless and with Equestrian Magic on the loose, there was no telling what would happen.
I thought it was interesting that Twilight could have potentially freed her friends with magic but didn’t since that would leave their free new friends without their help.
I thought her name was astroturf not poly stitch?
loving this. also, i noticed something
last one said feb. 28
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She hadn't worked out a way yet, but if she could, she just found out the moral implications of what that would mean, beyond just her seven friends.
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She hates AstroTruf, but her name is Poly Stitch. After the way to make an official, FIFA approved, soccer ball. They use a polymer thread to stitch the outside together.
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Fixed. The date is March 4. I didn't change the month and I changed the 8 to a 4, without removing the 2. lol
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ah ok.
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I am glad you enjoyed it though! It's been fun to write.
Well that nice though I think you should add a link to this asides or mention them in the formal chapters, new readers might completely miss them.
If I have to guess, the Nervegear could turn into some kind of astral projection device. Like a way to consciously move through the dream realm, or somewhere similar. The collective unconscious is kinda like an MMO in the sense that everyone is connected to a single place. That's assuming the mirror recognizes the tech at all, and doesn't just turn into a pile of scrap metal as soon as it hits Equestria.
So, with Sunset, was that all true about having a foster family, or was it just a cover story Celestia came up with?
I was thinking about how the Canterlot families were coping. Specifically Sweetie Belle. I could imagine her going through a similar arc as Suguha in canon. Maybe at some point she'll try a VRMMO and convince the other Crusaders to join her. They could already be an established guild in ALO by the time SAO ends. That's just a loose thought though. I don't really have much else beyond that.
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Sunset was my concoction, because we have no idea how she went from mirror to ruling the highschool. Those 30 moons are unrecorded.
As to families, I need to work on some of their viewpoints.
Kikuoka took the whole magic thing well. Too well. He must know something about it already, or has seen some really "need to know" stuff.
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He has seen some really "need to know" stuff.
i have not read the main story yet, but i did just read these "Real world" chapters. I have to say they are fascinating. I will read more of them as they come out, and will soon have to begin reading the main story!
Also would I be right to assume WCS stands for Wonder Colts? lol
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Yes, WCS stands for Wondercolts. All guilds have a 3-4 english character tag, along with their own symbol and their full name. I'm glad you enjoyed them. If you liked these, you will love the series.
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*giggles* I hope so, I really love SAO fics, and I have read some pretty good ones in the past hehe, heck in one a drunk Klien, Kirito and Harry Potter, crashed a Dragon into Heathcliffs tower XD
Anyways silly though, can you imagine Kikuoka's expression if he got to see Equestria? Wonder what kinda pony he'd be, I am tempted to think Unicorn
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Unicorn. He would be a Unicorn. If you read into, or watch now, Alicization Arc, you will understand why he is a Unicorn.
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i eventually intend to watch it (subbed of course) I just have not gotten around to it lol
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I wish I could watch them subbed. I can't process the language difference with the subtitles well. It takes a lot for me, so I keep I save it for special occasions, like watching Red Cliff. Over 4 hours, on two disks. lol.
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My issues with dubs is the censorship pisses me off to no end. A good example of this is Sailor Moon's Neptune and Uranus being turned into Cousins, or Zoycite being turned female. Another example of why i dislike dubs is a lot of times the voices used just dont quite fit well with a character. Now on the other
handhoof, there are SOME dubs done RIGHT, a good example is The Slayers. In regard to SAO though Since i first watched it in Japanese, I am so used to their shall we say REAL voices, that a dubbed voice just sounds wrong to me lol.5298925
I totally understand those issues with the dubs. However, it is amazing the differences between books published in different regions in the same language. The Harry Potter series published in England has significant changes to some of the things like the philosopher's stone being called the sorcerer's stone, and well, here is a list. Some of it doesn't transfer over because of regional dialect, but others its like, "why?" It is always nice to see a dub hit that middle ground between intent and spoken word.
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*giggles* you have to admit though some dubs are just so horrid it makes you wanna rip off your ears. Figuratively speaking XD
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Some that I have heard, yes. But anime isn't a big genre I watched. I did bleach, all of it, and SAO, but nothing else has held my interest. The genre employs too many Deus Ex Machinas to me.
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if you liked SAO, I know of two animes you may also enjoy. One being "Log Horizon" the other is "BOFURI"
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I'll have to check those out! I hope they are on Netflix/Hulu/AmazonPrime!
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Bofuri is on crunchyroll, as is Log Horizon
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I have heard good things about Crunchyroll, but not used it. Thanks!
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no prob, and its free to use too!
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I made the Asides it into a story instead of Blog Posts. Link to the Asides.
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woohoo!! i didn't mind the blog version, but this DOES help everyone else that had issues keeping up. thanks!
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Bofuri isn't on Crunchyroll. At least, not in North America. It's on Funimation and Hulu though. You can purchase it on Amazon and Google Play as well.
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Log Horizon is pretty good. It focuses more on the worldbuilding and the larger cast, rather than a single person. What also makes it interesting is that the Adventurers use the game mechanics less, and rely on their own abilities. The first arc is kind of meh, but it's necessary for establishing the setting and characters. The second arc, starting with episode 5, is one of my favorites in Anime overall.