//------------------------------// // Ch. 6: "Sigma: Tested Morphean Alchemy" // Story: .hack//Secrets of Equestria // by Hallowedsoul //------------------------------// Chapter Six “Sigma: Tested Morphean Alchemy” A man sat in an office with his wife and they held each other’s hand as they both stared at the doctor sitting at the desk, who tapped a pencil rhythmically. Eventually the husband opened his mouth to speak. ”Doctor… will our girl be alright?” The doctor kept tapping his pencil as he responded. ”As I’ve told you both before, being in a coma is significantly different than being brain dead. For starters, coma victims have a chance of recovery and most wake up within a few months or so. Your daughter is going to be just fine.” The mother stood up suddenly, her raised voice panicked as she confronted the doctor. ”But what about all of those people who fell into comas during the network crisis last year?! How many of them were ‘just fine’?!” The doctor stopped tapping his pencil and was silent for a moment as he regarded the woman carefully, then he spoke once more. ”I will admit that while most of the victims admitted were released with a clean bill of health after just a couple of weeks… not all of them survived. However, those particular patients all had critical issues with their health whereas your daughter is perfectly healthy. A successful recovery is an almost complete guarantee.” The mother sat back down and the husband placed a comforting hand on her shoulder before turning back to the doctor. ”But there’s still a chance she won’t wake up… isn’t there?” The doctor regarded the family calmly all the while thinking to himself that it was just like last year, with all of the coma victims and their angry, confused and desperate family members. He honestly felt bad for them and wanted to flat-out tell them their daughter would be absolutely fine, but he couldn’t. Not just because it would bring all kinds of legal liability down upon himself and the hospital, but he could not, in good conscience, tell them something that he wasn’t one hundred percent sure was true. ”I’m not going to lie to you; there is a slight chance your daughter won’t wake up. What I can promise you, though, is that she will be well cared for. We’ll ensure she receives the proper nutrients and is bathed regularly. That’s all I can promise, though. Anything else will be up to her.” The mother and father looked at each other for a moment before standing and thanking the doctor for speaking to them before departing. On the way out, they bumped into a Japanese man who spoke very good English. Both groups apologized swiftly and went their separate ways, with the Japanese man walking up to the counter and speaking to the receptionist. ”Hey there, I was wondering if you could help me out. I’m here about a comatose girl that was admitted into this hospital a couple of days ago and I was hoping to be able to speak to a doctor that’s in charge.” Sarah’s head hurt soooo much. The last time her head hurt this much was after that party her college friend, Jennifer, had invited her to and where she’d gotten into a drinking contest with a bunch of jocks. She’d sworn the next morning that she was never doing it again, but she’d felt tremendous pride when Jenny had told her later that the idiots were out cold an hour before she was. It didn’t help that someone was running their mouth a million miles an hour. ‘Reminds me of Patricia a little.’ Sarah mused, remembering her eternally optimistic and incredibly hyperactive best friend. “Patty, go home, I’m hung-over and I’m tryin’ to sleep…” She mumbled in her pain-and-sleep addled state, turning over in her bed which was amazingly comfortable, especially the blanket that was covering her. It reminded her of her grandmother’s quilts. “I would, I’ve got a lot to take care of, but I haven’t gotten all the details sorted out for your ‘Welcome to Ponyville’ party yet!” A peppy voice replied and Sarah frowned. ‘Welcome to Ponyville party? What does that mean, and where the hell is Ponyville?’ The extra bit of thinking made her head hurt more and she groaned, moving one hand to her head and running it through her strangely silky-smooth hair (this was odd, because her hair was normally a snarling, tangled, demonic mess on the best of days). Her journey through her fantastically smooth hair ended when her hand ran into some large object covered in short fur(?). As she felt it up, it strongly reminded her of a large ear like on a dog or a cat. She was wondering why it was attached to the side of her head and pulled at it, yelping in pain as the agony from pulling her ear was now added to the massive headache she was experiencing and she sat up rubbing the offended extremity. “Ow…” She moaned and blinked her eyes open “Can someone please tell me why that hurt?” “That’s… going to be rather complicated to explain, Sarah.” A familiar voice spoke and she froze. Sarah turned her head very slowly and her heart began to race when she saw that MuSeiryu, Rosemary, a brilliantly pink pony with a huge smile and a pony-sized unicorn with wings all stared at her intently. “Wh-what is this?!” She stammered, glancing frantically between all four of them with wide eyes “Rosie, Mu, why are you here?! Wait, this isn’t my dorm room, where the hell am I?!” “Sarah, calm down. Freaking out about this isn’t going to solve anything.” Mu said softly, walking over and putting a hand on her shoulder which she slapped away quickly. “And why the hell are you using my name?! I told you never to call me that online, Jack!” She yelled fiercely and he held his hands close to her, but not touching. “We’re not online, Sarah, so you need to calm down or we’re not going to get anywhere.” He replied calmly, which caused her to stare at him in disbelief. “So… all that crap that happened – the vortex, the fight with the wolves… that was all for real?” She asked and Mu nodded solemnly. Sarah thought it had been an extremely vivid dream, brought on by too much time spent playing The World. She had assumed she would just wake up at her computer since she was no stranger to playing until she collapsed but no, this felt too real. The ears were physically attached to her and when she felt around underneath the covers she found a tail. It was too much for her and she held her head between her hands, feeling like she just wanted to scream and yell and cry until it all went away. “Hey… you okay, Pretty Pink Cat Lady?” The pink pony asked, genuine concern in her voice, though she retreated at the ferocious glare Sarah turned to her. “All of you…” Sarah snarled in a threatening and terrified voice “Get. Out. Now!” “Hey, we’re only trying to help-” The purple winged unicorn began but Sarah cut her off. “I SAID GET OUT NOW!” She roared furiously and the other four in the room scrambled toward the door. “Twilight, get the sword!” Mu called out and before Sarah knew it, her weapon was flying out the barn doors with the ponies and other players before it slammed shut. Once they were gone, Sarah looked all around her at the simple wooden barn she was laying in with a mixture of curiosity, disdain and sorrow before wrapping the blanket around her shoulders and pulling her legs up to her chest where she buried her head in her knees. And then she wept pitifully. “What was that all about?” Twilight asked the human male with the really wonky name “Why was she angry with us, we didn’t do anything to her.” “I don’t think she was angry, Twilight.” MuSeiryu replied (Bleh, that’s way too many words. I’ll just call him ‘Jack’!) “What’s happened to us, and especially to her since those feline features appear to be very real, is a lot to handle. I think she just needs some time alone to process what’s happened.” “So does that mean we can’t have a party?” Pinkie asked somewhat sadly, her mane and tail deflating a bit, but Jack smiled and put a reassuring hand on her shoulder. “Sure we can.” He tells Pinkie softly “While Sarah’s adjusting, why don’t you go get everything set up and we’ll surprise her with it. She likes parties, so throwing one for her might make her feel better.” “Okie dokie lokie!” Pinkie replied enthusiastically, her mane and tail returning to their natural fluffiness with a pop, and she hurried away. As she got back to Sugarcube Corner, she began to think about what Sarah would like. ‘I wonder what kind of cake she likes? She seems like a red velvet kind of girl so let’s start with that, but what kind of frosting? Oh, maybe she likes a nice vanilla whipped! But how many layers, three, maybe? Better make it five just to be safe. Now for games. Hmm, I think I’ll just go with the standard stuff like Pin the Tail on the Pony and my usual collection of board games. What about drinks? She seems like somepony who enjoys alcoholic drinks, but I can’t serve that at a party with foals, that’d just be irresponsible. Maybe I can get Berry Punch to bring some of her sparkling non-alcoholic juices with her! Yeah, that’s a great idea, Pinkie Pie! And why are you still writing my thoughts, Hallowed, shouldn’t you transition already?’ Sarah didn’t know how long she’d sat on the bale of hay crying and she didn’t particularly feel like leaving anytime soon. That was until a tiny voice called out to her. “Hey, ya feelin’ alright, Miss?” Sarah looked up from her knees and glanced around but didn’t see anybody. Just as she was beginning to think she was hearing things, a small yellow pony with a red mane and tail that had a pink ribbon tied in it jumped up next to her on the bale of hay, looking at her with worried eyes. “No… I’m not.” Sarah murmured and turned away from the little horse “I’d really like to be left alone right now, if you don’t mind.” “Why would ya wanna be alone if ya ain’t feelin’ good?” The little pony asked and Sarah thought it sounded like a child, or foal in the case of horses “Wouldn’t ya want yer family ta take care a’ ya?” “My family’s… not here, so there’s no one here that cares about me.” She replied bitterly. “What about yer friends, ain’t they a part a’ yer family?” The foal asked and Sarah began to get tired of the endless questions. “I can barely call them my friends. I know only one of them personally and I’ve never met either of them in real life.” Sarah replied derisively. “What do ya mean by that? They’re outside waitin’ on ya, ain’t they?” “I… yes, I guess they are, but I don’t know them well enough to actually call them my friends.” Sarah replied and the foal stepped into her field of vision with a smile sweeter than a bag of marshmallows. “But if they weren’t yer friends, wouldn’t they have left already?” The foal asked and Sarah blinked, realizing something important. She may not know them in real life, but online they were as good as friends to her. “What’s your name, kiddo? I assume you have one since you can talk and all.” Sarah asked and the foal practically beamed at her. “Mah name’s Applebloom, Miss! What’s yers?” Sarah considered Applebloom for a moment, wondering if she should tell the foal her online name or her real life name. Then she decided that it didn’t really matter right now and that she may as well be straight with the little one. “Sarah. Sarah Irving, and it’s a pleasure to meet you, Applebloom.” She said and the two of them shook hands – er, hooves… something, and then Sarah had a sudden thought and smiled at the adorable foal “Hey, can you help me with something?” “A’ course Ah can! What do ya need help with?” Applebloom asked her excitedly and Sarah hopped off of the hay and walked over to her armor, which lay in a pile nearby. “I’m gonna need your help putting all of this on.” She said as she picked up the vest and leggings that would go on first and turned to Applebloom “Do you think you can do it?” Applebloom nodded enthusiastically and hopped down as well and Sarah noted that the foal wasn’t very tall, only coming up to her thighs. The foal looked up at her with a huge smile and absolutely adorable orange eyes. “Great. Okay first, I gotta get this stuff on; it’s to prevent the armor from chaffing me and to provide just a bit of extra protection…”