//------------------------------// // Chapter 4 - Visions, Violence, and Sensitivity Filters // Story: The Neverending Climb // by TheDriderPony //------------------------------// Everything was very bouncy and noisy and confusing. I didn’t like any of those things. It was bad enough that I was getting bounced along as Crashie carried me on her back (and it was making my tummy upset), but my head was all twisty and mixed up too. “She’s not my marefriend!” Was this what getting dumped felt like? I didn’t like it. I’d watched a lot of ponies get dumped in my sims, but they usually just got sad or angry and then their faces and words turned into little black boxes and beeps for awhile until they made up and smiled again. None of the sims had had one pony throw the other on their back and then start running. Was it because I left home with permission? Did that make me a bad marefriend? Or was it because I followed the nice ponies who talked about the moon? I liked the moon. It was always so big and beautiful in the sims. Was I being dumped because I liked the moon? Why had I thought going outside was a good idea? Everything outside was... just too much. Too loud. Too busy. Inside the apartment was better. Safer. No crowds. Nothing shocking or unexpected. Just my room and my plushes and my potted mushrooms and my VR rig for my sims. Sims were even better, but the subscriptions cost money so Crashie said I could only stay in them a few hours a day. Being outside was always awful, but the candy from the doctors helped. It made things quieter. Softer. Like a big cozy blanket over everything. Another pretty orange flower bloomed behind us before it faded away with a wash of warm air. That part was nice, even if my ears kept going quiet every time it happened. The flowers were still very pretty. I wished Crashie would slow down so I could see them closer. A few bees zoomed by super fast. They needed to be more careful. They almost hit Crashie’s new friend. I liked her new friend. She had a neat hat. Sometimes bumblebees flew out of it back to where the others were coming from. “Ah thought Midnight said they weren't a front!” Crashie’s friend shouted. The words in front of my eyes said she’d shouted, but it was nice and quiet to me.  “I guess Captain Dust finally got the permission she wanted!” More bees whooshed by along with a few bright blue smiling snakes that turned into black stars when they hit the wall. “We need to get out of here!” “Great idea, Einstallion! Which way?!” “Ask her if she knows! She’s been here longer!” Crashie’s wing cupped my face and gently turned it. She was always so gentle. “Fluttercypher! Please! I need to know—” And then the world disappeared. This happened sometimes when I left my sims, usually not long after Crashie complained about money or autopays. The darkness went away and a new world appeared, even though I could still feel Crashie under me as she ran. She was shaking my shoulder, I think, but all I could see and hear was a candlelit bedroom and soft saxophones. There was a pretty mare there too, half wrapped in silk sheets, staring at me like the characters in romance sims looked at each other. I’d seen her before, many times. She showed up a lot. Any second now she’d say- “Click now! Hot single mares in your area, desperate and waiting for a companion [born in Spring] who loves [watching sims] and [ordering takeout from [[Soup]]. Blink twice to find out more!” I blinked once and held them closed to exit. The words changed sometimes but the sentence was always the same. The one time I did click my Blinders got very naughty and I had to keep my eyes closed until Crashie could take me to a machine doctor to fix them. Now it just made me sad. I knew there was a hot single mare in my area; she just dumped me. I opened my eyes as the music disappeared and Crashie’s hoofbeats and heavy breathing returned. “—she’s back! Of all the times to get an unskippable. Cy, please, do you know where the—ah what the [BEEP!] is this?” Before she could finish her question, a giant... something burst through the wall in the path ahead. After a second the pixelly mess decided it was a giant teddy bear with big spinning fluffy arms and flashing eyes. Crashie beeped again as we skidded to a stop. “They brought out a Chrome Guard!? No way Dust got clearance for that!” “Ah could hack it, but not before it could fill us full of holes!” “Don’t worry, I got this! Here, take her!” Crashie passed me over to her friend. She was even less comfy. There were hard things under her fur. I missed my room and my plush stuffed animals.  Crashie ran at the teddy as it lowered its arms for a hug. She jumped, spun, and flew as she corkscrewed around the bees and rainbow snakes. She landed hard on its shoulder, hooves first. Glittery, sparkling streamers burst from her hooves where she touched it, flying off in zigzags. The teddy fell over with a head leaking steam.  “Quick! Out the hole it made before the remote pilot can reboot it!” We ran again. Crashie’s friend was definitely a lot harder and she didn’t run right so it was extra uncomfortable.  The light changed as we made it to the big open space where the main road was. There were a lot more ponies around than earlier and a lot of flashing lights. Both Crashie and her friend beeped again and then we were running. “This isn’t good, Ah don’t know these streets and they’ll definitely have the Skyway platform locked down.” “Then we’d better hope Midnight wasn’t lying about providing overwatch.” She took a deep breath and shouted at a computer store as we passed. "Hey Mid! I know you're watching this, so if you want your precious you-know-what we could really use an exfil plan!” ”Yeah, or at least directions to the nearest entrance to the Pipes!” We ran more and they yelled their message again. Then something changed. I didn’t notice it at first, but it was like the whole world got a little brighter and a little more clear. Then she entered. She was the most beautiful mare I'd ever seen, with a coat like pure snow and a mane like a purple waterfall. She stood in one place no matter how I moved my head, like she was more real than the rest of the world. When she smiled, even the bruises on my belly from being bumped around didn’t hurt so much. The nice ponies with the pamphlets had talked about a beautiful goddess princess waiting for us at the end of our journey. Was this who they'd meant? “Are you a princess?” I asked her. She giggled. It was lovely. “Oh my, you're quite sweet. Thank you darling, but no. For the moment I'm just your humble guide. Would you mind relaying these instructions to your companions?” A simple map filled the center of my vision, and next to it written instructions on what to say. “Terribly sorry about the intrusion, but we didn’t have a better way to communicate.” I nodded. “That’s okay.” Crashie slowed to match her friend’s speed and leaned in to look at me, concern in her eyes. “Cy? You okay? You’re mumbling.” “I have a message,” I said. The pretty mare nodded. From this angle it looked like she was standing on Crashie’s muzzle. Cute. “You need to take the next left turn, then go for two streets and take a right. Look for a busted public mailbox. It’s out of service, but the chute beneath it connects to the Pipes and is wide enough for a pony.” Her eyes went wide and she slowed to almost a stop, forcing her friend to stop too. “Cy… how do you know that?” “Call it an employment perk, darling,” the pretty mare said. “The pretty lady says to call it an employment perk, darling.” For some reason Crashie looked shocked at that. Then angry. Then like she was forcibly calming herself back down. “Fine. Okay, can she hear me?” The pretty mare nodded. “Yes.” “Good. Then Midnight, thanks for the save but now you get the [BEEP!]ing [BEEP!] out of my [BEEP!]ing marefriend’s head or so help me I will [BEEEEEEEEEEP!]!” She flipped me back onto her own back and started running again. “C’mon Jackie! I know where we’re heading!” The pretty mare tittered again. “Understandable. I won’t overstay my welcome. Although, once you’re safe you should let her know that you need the security on your censorware patched. It’s far too easy to sidestep and control what you see.” I nodded. “In the meantime, I take it this is all overwhelming for you, yes? If you’ll allow me, I can tweak the parameters so the journey will be less arduous.” “Thank you,” I whispered, since I wanted to be polite but Crashie clearly didn’t like me talking to the pretty mare. She faded from sight as the world around me twisted. The hallway turned into a packed dirt path, the buildings and shops melted into meadows and trees, and the ceiling dissolved into an endless expanse of blue filled with fluffy white things. Even the feeling of motion faded away. It was beautiful. Maybe she was a goddess princess after all.