//------------------------------// // Virtual, Part two of three. // Story: Those who survived... // by EmberLight //------------------------------// I wake up suddenly, the feeling coursing through me once again. That glorious feeling, electrifying every part of my being and filling me with energy. And once again, just as quickly as it appeared, it fades away. I suppose that feeling is going to be my alarm clock now, for every day, for the next 100 years. I take the moment to re-assert my self, I'm looking through the face-cam crystal at an empty chair, my empty chair, which has nopony sitting in it. Strange, I thought I had programmed me to only turn on once there was somepony for me to talk to. Nothing seems to have changed since yesterday, the crystal matrix is in perfect condition, no broken crystals, the microphone is still sitting there in front of me, the me, me. As in, the one who is trapped in front of the computer, me. Celestia this is getting confusing, we need to figure out a way of differentiating me and the real me. The only difference since yesterday is that it's daytime, I can tell by the light coming down the stairwell. Yes, there is a stairwell here. You didn't think I'd be in a room upstairs in my house did you? No, I was built to survive till the end of days, therefore, I was built in the basement. Yes, not the most appealing choice, but the crystal matrix weighs a lot, if it was upstairs the house would collapse in on itself. And so, I'm to be concealed down here, where no-one would be able to find me. Oh... There's someone coming down here... It's... It's my marefriend. Buck. Well, I- I suppose it couldn't hurt to try talking to her, Right? I focus once more on the weird new ability I have, reaching out for the word document. I feel it open and jump onto the monitor. I begin... Talking? Typing? No matter. "Crimson? Over here!" I say, or type. She doesn't notice, oh... Hang on, what's she doing? A- AH NO "CRIMSON PLEASE DON'T TOUCH THAT!" Oh, good she noticed. She must've heard the typing noise. She was about to step on one of the crystals in the matrix... Probably not best leaving it in the open, I should get myself to build some fence around it, or something to keep people from stepping on it. Anyway, she's coming over to the computer. Her beautiful red mane flows around in a curl, making her that much more beautiful. Her darker red coat shimmering in the very little morning light. Her cutie mark of a red love heart covered by Ivy. "What the buck?" she says. "Hello," I reply. "...Oh, he's... He did it! I mean you did it! He wasn't joking, he really did it! You're... You're my coltfriend!" she exclaims. "Y- yes... I- um... I am, y- you're not mad?" I ask. "Oh come on, you thought I'd not be proud of you for doing the impossible? I mean, it's a little disappointing that he's not... I mean that you're not selling this technology and becoming rich, you could make millions of bits out of this stuff! You're probably even smarter than that... What's her name again- Princess Twiflight?" she asks me. "I don't think that this technology should be used to make money! If someone else were to find it, they'd use it for selfish gains! I'm using it here-" "I know, I know, spare me one of your famous lectures. I know that you think it's supposed to be used for a noble cause, that it shouldn't get into the wrong hands, and that you'll never sell it to anyone. The other you already told me all that, it's just that seeing it all here makes it so... Real." She finishes. To be honest, if I had blood anymore I'd be blushing right now. I should've know the other me would have told her that too. "I- I don't know if I'll be able to deal with this. Not being able to taste your lips again, not being able to feel your skin against mine. Not being able to share those really cheesy nachos I always make us. Not being able to joke about the weather with you, outside in the rain. Not being able to go back to Scoltland and breathe the air. Not being able to breathe at all... Just, if I ever do forget about me, promise me you'll remind him. I don't want to be forgotten. You know that's one of my worst fears... Being alone. Promise me. Please." "... I promise, never to forget either of you- for as long as I live. To remember both of you and keep you in my heart." "Thank you... You're the best marefriend a stallion could wish for, what time is it?" I ask. "It's about midday I think, why? You don't need to be anywhere, do you?" "No, I don't need to go anywhere, it's just that the other me'll be getting up right about now, and he'll be wanting a kiss from his beautiful marefriend when he wakes up." "Well, I better go get him and redeem my kiss then, I'll be back in a moment." She leaves, walking carefully around the matrix now, and going upstairs. No doubt to greet me with a kiss like she promised. I just wish I could still be real. That I didn't have to be a clone, a copy, a fake... I hear myself upstairs saying hello to Crimson, before being cut off- definitely by her kiss. And I'll never be able to experience that again. I'll never be able to be with her. Oh well, I knew what I was signing up for when I tried to copy myself, I knew that I would become alone, but I wanted more than ever to be able to see the end with my own eyes... Or rather my own technology. I didn't realise quite how alone though I would be. Oh, they're both coming down now, we're giggling. We're kissing and walking over to the computer. "Teasing me are you?" I ask. "No, no, sorry. You know how caught up we can both be. Especially when you want... A little more~" "Hey no stop it! I- I'm not like that!" Me and myself say. Well, he says it, I type it. "Well, now I'm teasing you~" my adorable mare says. "H- Hey! Please!" Me and myself say at the same time again. "Ooh, that's spooky, sorry, you know I can't help myself. Oh and I meant to ask. Why haven't you linked up yourself to the speakers yet?" "Ah, yes. I was just about to do that," my other self says, looking at the camera. "While you were offline I managed to set up a voice pattern software which should translate your voice signals into audio signals which I can then link up to the speakers, and then you'll have your voice back!" My counterpart says, while fiddling with the cables. Ah! Ow! That hurts! It's like the opposite of the weird feeling it's painful, like they're tearing away a part of me, making me less. The sensation fades quickly but it still hurt in that moment. I can't feel the word document anymore. I have no way of communicating with them but I can still hear them. I can see myself linking the speakers to one of the output crystals marked in green, specifically the one which was previously connected to the monitor. And, the feeling's back again, I relish in it and let it course through me, before reaching out once more to find the speakers. And... There! "Aaaah, much better! O- oh that's so weird. H- hello!" I say. Hearing my voice once again really is a strange sensation, but not hearing it from someone else's mouth is far better than seeing someone else with your exact looks and voice, someone else staring back at you through your own eyes. It's far better. My other self was cringing. Because it was our voice that we were speaking with, and we both don't like listening to our own voice. "I knew you had something for that, you never let any of your experiments be half- finished." My girlfriend praises us. "I'm gonna go ahead and guess, you already have something prepared for his sight. "And how do you know that?" The other me asks. "What?" I ask him. Really, how would I even improve my vision, the face-cam crystal we're using is already HD, what could be better than that? "I'm very good at predicting you, now go on- I don't think you'd like to wait on it." "O- okay," do I really stutter that much? Anyway, he takes one of the blank pink crystals from the rack on the wall beside me, or rather, beside the desk. He channels his horn magic into it, I recognise the pattern, it was a string that I had experimented with once, able to send images from faraway cameras and feed it to a source. He attaches the newly coded pink crystal to a blue input crystal, Previously connected to the face-cam crystal. Suddenly, I can see so many things. So many images. The crystal was a seeing crystal. It allowed images to be projected from anywhere, straight to you. Well, almost anywhere. Anywhere outside, that wasn't underwater. It worked sort of like radiowaves, but with magic being used instead. The machinery was complicated, I won't go into too much detail. "It... It's brilliant!" I say, returning to the basement. "I know. I also made this," he says, picking up another pink crystal from the desk this time. "That... You can take me with you then? That is what I think it is right?" "Yep, that crystal is a camera and a speaker, you'll be able to come everywhere with me. It'll be like a little mini me in my pocket, and I've already given one to Crimson, so you'll be able to be with us all day every day." "That's... That's amazing!" I say. "Oh, come on- you know what you're capable of. You're the one who made the camera crystals after all! Of course you'd be able to make a variant that produces sound." "Anyway, Crimson needs to get to her work, and I need to get to mine, we've got the crystals so if you need anything just tell us." "Will do," I reply. I'm speechless. And here I thought that I'd be all by myself for the rest of eternity.