//------------------------------// // Ch. 4: "Theta: Dog Dancing Passionate Tri Pansy" // Story: .hack//Secrets of Equestria // by Hallowedsoul //------------------------------// Chapter Four “Theta: Dog Dancing Passionate Tri Pansy” Twilight Sparkle could hardly believe it. Humans, in Equestria! It was all she could do not to freak out from this fact, though she was curious as to why they looked the way they did and not the like how she’d seen them when she’d gone through the strange mirror to Canterlot High School. Applejack couldn’t stay, however, since she still had to clean up the farm after the wind storm. The strange cat-eared human (Incorrect noun usage, readjusting to proper term; humanoid) wore this odd bright pink armor that weighed quite a lot. It didn’t cover her completely, just the upper torso, shoulders, forearms and hands, lower legs and her feet. Underneath the armor she wore a vest and leggings made of a strange, smooth material that felt tough, yet very flexible and underneath that was a sleeveless shirt and the undergarment often worn by humans that she had been told were called “panties”, with the shirt a dull green color and the panties pure white. The humanoid’s tail was coming out of a hole cut into the back, which Twilight thought was odd. It and her ears were covered in fur the same color as the largely unkempt hair on her head “Well, my magic cleared the status effect from her character but as for the rest of her symptoms, I have no idea what to do about them.” The male human known as MuSeiryu said (Correct noun usage; no physical alterations to his appearance noticed though must inquire as to his name). The male human was tall and wore this long and flowing dress-like thing he called a robe. It was royal blue color with golden-yellow trim on the edges and odd symbols embroidered in silver all across it. He wore a pair of royal blue pants underneath the robe and on his feet were a pair of black shoes. Hanging across his shoulders was a bag that looked not unlike one of her saddlebags although this one had several more pockets and buckles on it than hers. Finally, his mane (Correction: on humans, it is always referred to as hair) was a deep red color that was cut short and hung flat around his head. He pushed his spectacles, which were round and had a thin golden frame, back up his nose in front of his vivid green eyes (Note: he seems to do this quite a lot, even though I never once see the glasses move from their spot. Must discuss with him at some point). “Is she going to be okay?” The other female human, who called herself Rosemary, asked curiously and MuSeiryu shrugged. Rosemary, who was a smaller female than the humanoid laying on a quilt on top of a pile of hay and covered in a different quilt, had less extravagant clothing than her companions, though she revealed more of her skin than the other two. Namely, she wore a vest made of that same sturdy material as the humanoid did underneath her armor that seemed to cling her chest almost like a second skin along with a pair of pants that only went down to just above her knees (someone in Canterlot High referred to such pants as “shorts”). On her feet were a pair of sandals that had a long lace that snaked up and around her lower leg, tied off below the knee, and on her hands was a pair of gloves that left half of each finger exposed. Also, at certain parts on her body were tattoos that resembled the symbols embroidered on MuSeiryu’s robe. Her eyes were a lovely red color and hair was raven black and styled to where it’s mostly pulled into a tall tail in the back save for the two long bangs in front that framed her soft face. “I don’t know.” Mu said, taking a seat on the floor next to the long stick he carried with him “I’m not a doctor and even if I was, I don’t see how it would be relevant in a virtual reality world. That reminds me, Rose, have you tried logging out yet?” “I’ve been trying, but all it ever does is give me an error message.” Rosemary replied, shaking her head and the other human puts a hand to his chin in thought. “Hang on a minute.” Twilight spoke up, deciding she needed some answers to make sense of what these two have been saying “Virtual world? Logging out? What are you two talking about?” The two humans glanced at each other briefly before the male coughed and pushed his glasses back up his nose (again). “Before I go into details, I have to ask a few things.” He said and Twilight nodded “First; can you tell me where the nearest Chaos Gate is?” “I’m… not sure I understand what you’re asking me.” She replied, a hesitant expression on her face. “Okay. Can you tell me where I can find Grunty food suitable to raise an Iron Grunty?” He asked and Twilight stared at him in utter confusion. “Is this a test? Because I have no idea what you’re trying to ask me.” The two humans glanced at one another again, both looking slightly pale, before the male turned his attention back to Twilight with a look of deadly seriousness on his face. “Alright. Here’s the last question.” He said and got closer to Twilight so that their faces were merely a few inches apart “What server are we on?” “I don’t know what a ‘server’ is, but you’re in Equestria on the planet Equis.” She replied carefully and she saw the male’s face pale to an almost white color and his green eyes widen in dawning horror. “Oh no…” He murmured quietly as he backed away from her “This can’t be possible, it just can’t be…” “Mu?” Rosemary said, her voice filling with fear “What did she mean when she said she didn’t know what a server was? Is she saying… that we’re not…?” MuSeiryu glanced from Twilight to Rosemary and back again before standing suddenly and grabbing his stick. “I-I’m sorry, I… I need some air.” He said and hurried out of Applejack’s barn, his face extremely pale. The female human glanced from where MuSeiryu had gone to Twilight before standing and chasing the male out of the barn, leaving Twilight to wonder what it was she’d said that was causing them both such discomfort. Jack left the barn and headed to a nearby apple tree, leaning against it and running his hands through his hair. He stared at his shaking hands as his mind attempted to fully process the information the winged unicorn had told him. They were no longer in The World or even on Earth; they were here, physically, in their avatars’ bodies! “What the hell is going on here?!” He asked himself, putting his hand to his head because it was hurting him just trying to make sense of it all. “Mu? What… what does all of this mean? Why can’t we log out?” Rosemary asked, walking up next to Jack with a worried expression on her face. “I don’t know…” He replied, shaking his head “I… need some time to think about this. For now, let’s figure out where we are. We’ll need Haruka back on her feet before I can do anything else.” He took a deep breath and pushed his glasses back up his face. There was no point falling apart now; there had to be a reason why this was happening to them. He just wished he could get a message out to his family and let them know he was alright. He and Rosemary walked back into the barn and saw the purple winged unicorn waiting patiently for them, though she also had a look of worry crossing her features. “Are you two okay?” She asked and Jack shrugged. “Not really, but there’s nothing we can do about it right now.” He replied and took a seat across from her “Okay, if we’re going to try and find a way home, we’ll need some information about this world first.” “And I would love to know more about where you come from.” The winged unicorn replied, smiling at him. “Great!” Jack said, a smile of his own spreading across his face “Then how about we conduct an exchange of information; I’ll tell you something about us and then you do the same. To start with, where we come from, a lot of us have two names. You currently know me as MuSeiryu, but that is not my true name. My true name is Jack Harvey.” “Hello, Jack Harvey, my name is Twilight Sparkle. I’m the Princess of Magic and I run the library here in Ponyville.” The winged unicorn replies and extends her hoof, which Jack shakes and he notices that her hoof is somehow able to bend around his hand. “You don’t have to call me ‘Jack Harvey’, just ‘Jack’ is fine.” He says as he releases her hoof and gestures to the Twin Blade sitting once more on a bale of hay “This is Rosemary and the one sleeping off the poison is called Haruka.” “Oh, my name is Rose Levins.” Rosemary interjected, giving Twilight a small wave “Either way, most people call me ‘Rose’ or ‘Rosie’.” This continued for a little while, with one side telling the other something about their world, the other asking a question or two about it and then trading off. Jack learned that the dominant species on the continent were ponies and that they were separated into three categories; there were the unicorns, which were capable of magic and were smarter than the other two, followed by the pegasi which were capable of flight, could walk on clouds and were generally faster and more agile, and ending with the earth ponies, which could neither fly nor use magic, but possessed the greatest strength and endurance out of all three of the different species. There was also a fourth type called alicorns, which possessed traits of the main three but were exceedingly rare, with only four known alicorns in existence which were Twilight Sparkle, Cadence, Celestia and Luna. She also told him about the Elements of Harmony, which were Equestria’s primary form of defense and were wielded by herself and her friends, one of them being the orange earth pony they’d first met named Applejack. Jack, in turn, explained that the bodies he and his companions were inhabiting were not their original bodies, but something they created as part of a video game (which he in turn explained to Twilight, who had produced a quill and a stack of parchment from nowhere and was writing down everything he said, was a specially generated world that could only be accessed by certain kinds of technology). He also explained to Twilight about their “jobs” within the game were; he was a Wavemaster, which was The World’s form of a mage or spellcaster, Rose was a Twin Blade, which was a good all-around type class but were well known for their speed and agility and ending with Haruka who was a Heavy Blade, which was one of the physically strongest classes in the game. It was only after he’d said it did he realize that he, Rose and Haruka were essentially the equivalent of the three main species in Equestria and this was solidified when Twilight asked about a class that could do everything they could, which made him face-palm. However, Jack’s mood soured when the barn doors flew open with a loud bang and next thing he knew it was raining confetti and streamers and he was tackled to the ground by a bubblegum pink pony that had the biggest smile he’d ever seen on anyone. “Hi! I had a feeling there were new ponies in town well you’re humans, not ponies, but I still think you should get a ‘Welcome to Ponyville’ party or would it be a ‘Welcome to Equestria’ party or maybe it could be both, how fun would that be and Sweet Celestia, I had just some serious déjà vu there!” The pink pony said, the words flying from her mouth at a lethal velocity “Anyway, I should probably tell you my name hi, I’m Pinkie Pie, I should introduce all of you to my friends, Lyra will go nuts when she finally gets to meet some humans!” ‘Somehow, I think things have just spiraled out of control.’ Jack thought miserably.