.hack//Secrets of Equestria

by Hallowedsoul

Ch. 10: "Theta: Lonely Forbidden Paradise"

Author's Note:

Guess who's back... back again... Hallowed's back... bring your friends!

Chapter Ten
“Theta: Lonely Forbidden Paradise”

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The antique clock ticked in the dark and silent house, with Rose staring up at the ceiling in an effort to try and get some sleep. But unfortunately she couldn’t; she was a city girl and therefore unused to the dead silence that befalls farmsteads at night. The silence was periodically broken by two other sounds, one a soft whinny from Applebloom and the other obnoxious snoring from Haruka, which made Rose grimace every time. Sighing inwardly, Rose got up from the cot Applejack had been kind enough to get out for her and walked over to the window.

‘Well… at least the view is nice…’ Rose thought as she looked out across the vast field of apple trees.

The town of Ponyville lay just beyond and there were still a few lights on in the town, with one building in particular lit up like a beacon with any number of lights, signifying some kind of rave or something was going on.

She sighed again. Though she hadn’t said anything to either Haruka or MuSeiryu, she was very deeply worried. She was worried about her family back home, she was worried about how long they were going to be stuck there and she was worried that they may not be able to return home at all. She glanced back at Haruka, who was sprawled out on Applebloom’s bed with the little yellow filly sprawled out on top of her, both completely dead to the world. Rose wondered briefly how the Heavyblade could sleep so soundly, considering her breakdown earlier, but then turned back to looking out the window, her eyes drawn skyward towards the absolutely stunning nightscape above her.

‘It’s so beautiful… like someone had painted on the sky like it was their own canvas…’ She thought, her mind blown by how breathtakingly beautiful it was ‘I’ve never seen so many stars in the sky; too much light in the city…’

After what seemed like forever, she lowered her gaze from the stars, and the incredibly luminous moon, and looked out over the trees again.

Then a glimmer among the trees caught her attention and she stared carefully at where she’d seen it. When it didn’t reappear, she began to turn away with the thought that she was just seeing things when she caught the glimmer again out of the corner of her eyes. She frowned, thinking that maybe the situation was finally getting to her… and then saw the glimmer once more, this time further to the left of where she’d seen it.

Now she knew she wasn’t seeing things; there was something in the field of trees that should not be there. She knew it wasn’t any of the Apples, seeing as they were all in bed by nine sharp, and none of the ponies in town had any business in an apple orchard in the dead of night as far as she was aware.

She turned to wake Haruka, but then thought better of it and instead climbed out the open window, her current body carried her nimbly and gracefully to the ground. She crouched low and hurried into the field of trees, her footsteps falling lightly upon the ground, where she began her search of the glimmer she’d seen. She moved quietly, peeking out from behind trees, but saw no sign of the glimmer.

She searched for upwards of an hour, with no sign of the glimmer, and turned to go back to the house when she saw him, a lone stallion trotting amongst the trees as if he owned them. While this wouldn’t normally be suspicious, Rose remembered this stallion; he’d been following her and her friends for the better part of the day. At first she thought that maybe he’d been curious but now she was beginning to think he was watching them, for whatever reason.

She followed the stallion silently for a moment, then he stopped in the middle of the road. Rose looked at him, then ducked back behind her tree to mentally and psychologically prepare herself to confront him.

‘Okay… just ask him what the heck he’s doing here and then very politely ask him to leave. If he refuses, I’ll just have to ask… less politely.’ She thought to herself and shuddered nervously ‘I hate these kinds of confrontations… I wish Mu were here, he’s really good at talking to people.’

Steeling her resolve, she walked out from behind her tree and opened her mouth to speak… only her words died in her mouth when she saw the stallion was gone. She looked down the road going both ways but there was no sign of the stallion. Then she looked down at the ground to find tracks, as if she’d be able to recognize them, but she quickly dismissed the idea when she saw the road was a well-travelled mess; hoof-prints were everywhere and it would be difficult for an experienced tracker to make out tracks in clutter, let alone a rookie from the city.

“Where did he go? He couldn’t have gotten far in so little time…” She murmured “I should still be able to see him. This is strange…”

Then she felt it; the hairs on the back of her neck were standing on end. It was just like earlier, when they had just regained consciousness and were awoken by those wolves. Something was watching her… and it was very, very close. Instinctively, she spun around and drew her knives but before she could strike, some unseen force grabbed a hold of her body and froze it in place. Her eyes widened as she saw the stallion behind her.

As the stallion stalked forward slowly, carefully, Rose wanted to scream out as loud as she could, but her mouth would not work properly. All she could do was hyperventilate and make terrified little squeaks as he approached her, his dead eyes fixed upon her.

Then it happened; the stallion melted away to reveal something monstrous. A high-pitched sound rang in her ears and her heart began to race in terror at the sight of the creature in front of her. It was like some mosaic carving from hell, with a silhouette in one side shaped disturbingly like a person. Tears began to stream from her eyes as she silently begged the creature to let her go.

But instead it “looked” at her a moment before a strange glowing ring appeared in front, aimed at her. There was brief silence as a beam shot and pierced through Rose and she screamed in pure agony.

---

Alarms were going off as doctors scrambled around the room. The family that had been in there when everything had started had been pushed gently and firmly outside to await for word from the doctors. Eventually, a doctor came out to speak to them, his face grim and the mother immediately walked up to him.

"I-is something wrong, doctor? The alarms went off and everybody came rushing in a-a-and we're worried about our daughter... can you tell us what's wrong with her?"

The doctor sighed and rubbed at the back of his head before replying.

"Mrs. Levins... your daughter has gone into cardiac arrest. We're doing everything we can to save her, but... she might not make it."

The father stepped forward angrily, pointing a finger accusingly at the doctor.

"You promised us you'd take care of her! You said you'd do everything in your power to help her! Now our little girl's in there, fighting for her life and that's the best you can give us?! You're a lying piece of garbage; you don't give a damn about our daughter! She's just another god damn number to you, isn't she?!"

The doctor clenched his fist angrily at the false accusations. He cared deeply for every single person under his care; he came in on his time off to make sure his patients were comfortable and getting the treatment they needed, he slept at the hospital when he had patients that needed round-the-clock care and he often volunteered in the pediatrics department to play with the sick children and keep their spirits up. Sure, he knew he couldn't help everyone, but he'll be damned if he doesn't help as many as he possibly can.

He forced himself to calm down before he spoke though.

"Mr. Levins, I promise I've done everything in my power to help your daughter. I must please ask that you go to the waiting room and calm down for a few minutes; we'll come get you when we-"

He was interrupted by the one sound he never, ever wanted to hear yet heard nearly everyday; the sound of the girl's heart monitor flat-lining. He rushed back inside without another word as the other doctors and nurses prepared the defibrillator while he began CPR on the dying girl. After doing CPR on the girl and trying to revive her with the defib unit, a nurse finally managed to pull him away as he stared at his charge with watering eyes; he couldn't believe this was happening to someone so young. She was too damn young to...

Eventually he managed to find his voice.

"Stand down, everyone... I'm calling it... Rose Levins, time of death..."

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BEEP!

Comments

[Hallowedsoul]

5246797 I actually haven't played GU yet. I really want to, though.

[Hallowedsoul]

5249664 Indeed. Aura is present among all of the games. This story takes place between the two game series.

[Orion Light]

5248785

How come I didn't get your replies in the notifications? Weird.

[Orion Light]

Can't wait for the next chapter.

[Hallowedsoul]

5303758 She does. There's an agreement between her and Chrysalis regarding secrecy of changelings until such time as the Queen decides to reveal herself.

[Hallowedsoul]

5303790 I'm actually planning to rewrite the story. It will more-or-less follow the same line but I'm going to change the timing of events and the overall pacing of the story.

[Orion Light]

5303803

Be sure to put the rewrites in new chapters and delete the old ones so I would know what has been rewritten. I hope you know how to do that.

[Hallowedsoul]

5303811 I do, don't worry.

[Lord Shaxx]

A .Hack// crossover that looks good?!
I must be dead. Or dreaming.

[Hallowedsoul]

5398300 Sorry for late reply.

It's a matter of personal pride to ensure my crossovers are as organic to both universes as possible; I want my readers to feel that Rosemary, Haruka, and MuSeiryu could be real players in any MMO and that established canon characters are the established canon characters.

Thank you for the compliment and I'm glad you're enjoying it!