.hack// Pony Protocol

by Shaq-of-All-Trades

Prologue

Twilight was silently enjoying her copy of "The Unabridged History of Star Swirl the Bearded", when a knocking came to her door. She looked up from the book to the clock on the wall, and saw it was well past noon. It seemed that once again she had become enthralled in the alluring pull of the written word. She calmly made a dog-ear on the page, and walked down the stairs to the entrance of the library. "Who is it?" she asked politely before being bowled over by Pinkie Pie.

"Twilight, Twilight, Twilight!" Pinkie seemed to be very excited. She was literally bouncing off the walls screaming Twilight's name. The pink pony was like a bundle of energy that was going to explode at any moment. Twilight sighed, then used her magic to bring the hyper-active pony to a stop. "Twilight, Twilight, Twilight! What's your game address?" The pink pony looked at Twilight with bright eyes.

"Umm, what?" Twilight asked confused. She had no idea what Pinkie was talking about in the slightest. Game address? She didn't have any games of her own, and she was sure none of them had homes. Games couldn't have homes, seeing as they were inanimate objects. "Pinkie, what are you talking about? What's a 'game address', and why do you want mine?" Twilight leaped back as Pinkie somehow managed to break from her magic and give a loud gasp. It still confounded her how she was able to do stuff like that.

"YOU DON'T KNOW WHAT A GAME ADDRESS IS?" asked Pinkie raising her hoof to her mouth. "How could you not know? I mean, how do you invite friends to your party? Or do you invite friends to your party? Do you not like having a party? I mean, I know they're not like my parties, but they're still fun! And they're so helpful when you're low in level or are taking on bosses or wanna go to strong areas or-" Twilight cut off the pony before she could spout out more nonsense. Parties? Levels? Bosses? What in the world could she possibly mean by all this?

"I'm sorry Pinkie, but I have no idea what you're talking about. I've been in the library studying up for my yearly magic exam, and Celestia gave me leave on writing her letters. I don't even remember the last time I talked with Spike." Twilight dropped her head a little at the thought of neglecting her #1 assistant. Pinkie stared silently at Twilight, then walked out. Twilight simply stared, confounded at the whole ordeal. "What in the hay was that about?" Twilight shook her head, then put away her book so that she could find Spike.

It took Twilight a moment before she found the little purple dragon. He was sitting beside a bookshelf with a strange device on his head, and a different device in his hand. It all connected to a mysterious little box on the ground that was making a soft humming noise. When Twilight put her hoof against it, she could feel a whirring within, and heat coming from it. Spike was vigorously moving and pressing the device in his hands, and the device on his head kept him from noticing Twilight. Carefully tapping his shoulder, Twilight tried to get her young assistant's attention. Spike jumped, and shifted up the device on his head. "Twilight! Oh Twi, I'm so sorry! Did you need anything? I got so distracted with 'The World' that I forgot to help you study!" the dragon put the device back down on his head, and moved the one in his hands a bit more. After a few moments, he put it all down on the box and looked up at Twilight expectantly.

"Spike, what are these items? I've never seen anything like them before... And what is 'The World?'" Spike stared at Twilight with a mixture of shock and confusion. He motioned with his hand to the box and strange devices. Twilight looked at them once more, trying to determine how they functioned. Spike let out a small gasp and put his hands to his face.

"Of course! I forgot you haven't been around Ponyville lately! You don't know about the new game that's come out." Spike patted the box. "This is called a 'P-Box.' It's a new device that runs on electricity and lets you play the game, 'The World.'" Spike then motioned to the strange helmet-like device and the other thing. 'This is a 'Virtual Reality Helmet' and a 'Controller.' They let you see and play 'The World.' It's like you're actually there!"

Twilight took in the information with a slightly confused expression. The terms Spike was using were completely new to her, but they sounded interesting enough. "Well Spike, I'd love to give this game a try. It seems Pinkie already has, and really wants me to join her for a party." Spike's expression shifted to one of somepony who was trying hard not to laugh. "What? What's so funny?"

"Well Twi, I don't think Pinkie was inviting you to a party," Spike began to explain, "I think she wanted you to join her party, or her group on the game. Usually, players form groups so it's easier to play. Especially newer players. I've played with Pinkie. She's crazy good at it. Her character is one of the strongest there are!"

Twilight shook her head smiling. She really had missed quite a bit. She let out a smile sigh. "Ok, Spike, I think I'll give it a try after my exam. Maybe you could help me get started." Spike put his hand to his head in a salute showing he accepted. "That's my #1 assistant!"

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Twilight looked around slowly. She could hardly believe the world she was looking at wasn't real. The details were so intricate, she could see the different nicks in the stone flooring where different players had trotted through. She was currently standing in what looked like a pavilion, with a town down a long climb of stairs. A few players were around, and things Spike had called "NPCs." It was strange though, because she thought Spike had said he'd meet her in this area to better acquaint her with this game's mechanics. As she tried to find him, two players walked over to her. They were both ponies, one a stallion with a silver mane that covered his eyes and a thin sword, the other a mare with a purple mane and large hat that made her look a little silly. They smiled at her kindly. "New to 'The World?'" asked the stallion. Twilight found it quite interesting to hear the voice as if it was all around her. The Virtual Reality Helmet was quite an interesting invention indeed.

"Why yes, yes I am. This is my first time playing, and I was looking for my friend. Have you seen any dragons around here?" The mare tilted her head and put her hoof to her mouth. It really was quite difficult for Twilight to remember the pony wasn't exactly real. At least, this wasn't the actual pony. This game was confusing.

"Yeah, I think there was a dragon here. SpikeKnight, right?" the mare asked her friend. The stallion gave her a nod, "He went through the Chaos Gate with somepony with the screen name 'PinkieCupcakes.' I've heard she's a pro level."

Twilight let out a sigh. It seemed Spike had been dragged out to do something by Pinkie. It wasn't exactly a shock, but she was still disappointed. Now who would she get to show her how this game worked. Suddenly, an idea came to Twilight. "Would you two mind showing me how to play?' she asked the ponies. They gave each other a look, then nodded. "Thank you, thank you, thank you! you two are life savers!" The mare snickered slightly, then recomposed herself.

The stallion stepped forward a bit. "Ok then, here's your first lesson: forming a party. We're going to send you our game addresses; open the menu, go to 'party', and click our names. Then we'll be on the same party and can head to an area." Twilight followed the instructions, and was delighted to see the ponies health and magic points (what a silly concept) at the bottom of her screen. The stallion pointed to the strange portal behind her when she finished. "Second lesson: going to areas. That is a Chaos Gate. It teleports you from place to place. You enter keywords, and you can go to dungeons or fields. We're gonna go to Delta Crying River Dance. It's a pretty low-level place, and you should be able to get the hang of things."

When Twilight spoke the words, she saw a bright light, then she was standing in a field. She spun around quickly, trying to comprehend what was going on. "Wha-? Where are we? Weren't we just in a town?" She saw the two ponies laughing, then remembered that she'd been told they were going to teleport. Still, the warning couldn't prepare her for that massive change in scenery. She pouted, embarrassed she'd looked so silly. "Hmph! Can we get started on the lesson?"

Finally, the laughter stopped. "Sorry, sorry. It's just always funny seeing new players in their first areas. Anyways, this is a field. This field's mission is 'Get the treasure', which means we have to defeat all the monsters to open the door that leads to the treasure. In fact, there's a monster over there now!" The mare pointed to a large cat-like monster. Twilight thought cat-like, because it was red, had glowing eyes, and only barely resembled a cat. "Level 1 monster, nice and easy. Let's go practice combat!' The two ran to the monster, and Twilight followed, though she was less enthusiastic. Once they came into contact with the monster, a bright blue wall surrounded them.

"Ok newbie, here's the deal! That wall prevents outside interference from other monsters. Press the big button to do a normal attack, and hold it to charge a strong attack! Press the button beside it to block! This monster is all yours." Twilight, pressing her hoof to the button she couldn't see repeatedly, noticed her character attacking the monster and taking away chunks of its health. Soon, its health faded, and it disappeared. A victory screen appeared. "Good job! Keep it up, and you'll level up soon." Twilight felt herself blush. This game was a bit strange, and more than a little violent for her tastes, but she had to admit she saw the appeal. It was so different from normal life that it was hard not to be enthralled. Twilight spent the next few minutes (with the help of the two ponies) defeating the rest of the monsters. A sound like stone grinding against stone caught her attention.

"That's the last of them! Time to collect our reward." the mare said with a strange note in her voice. The trio made their way to the large stone building, and down several sets of stairs. They entered into a large chamber. The only noticeable features of the room were the chest, the Chaos Gate, the huge pit behind the chest, and the floating statue of Celestia and Luna above the pit. The ponies motioned for Twilight to take the treasure. She slowly cantered over, and opened it with a flourish. Inside was some new equipment she could use.

"Wow! Thank you two so much! How can I ever repay you-" she said cheerfully before taking a huge amount of damage. She collapsed, her character barely able to stand. She looked up, trying to comprehend what was happening. She thought all the monsters were defeated. What could have hurt her, and so badly in one hit? Then she saw. Her two teammates had their weapons drawn, and pointed towards her. Their expressions had warped from kindness to some kind of sick pleasure.

"Stupid newbie! Did you think we'd really just help a lowly player like you?" said the stallion, his blade gleaming cruelly in the light.

"We just wanted you to be all nice and cozy, so it'd be just that much more fun to PK you..." said the mare, as her large rotating-blade tore at the ground. The pair of them slowly stalked closer to Twilight, who drew her own weapons and tried to hold them up in protection. The mare moved quickly, breaking her block, and allowing the stallion to get a direct hit. Twilight's health was dangerously low. She didn't know what would happen if it completely fell. Her character was on the ground, and it looked to her as if she was barely conscious. The two ponies moved in for the finishing blow...

When somepony blew them both away. Both players disappeared into bursts of data, and Twilight was left alone with the mysterious pony. She could only see the silhouette, but she was sure it was an alicorn. The pony moved closer, and she held her breath. "Princess?!" she exclaimed. Her teacher looked down at her, a strange metal casing on her left leg. She held out her right to her student.

"Hello Twilight, my most faithful student. Welcome, to 'The World!'

Comments

[quill and ink]

As far as I am concerned this might make a decent fic, but it would be a twist if the gaming corp was evil and was tricking the pony's into wasting their lives on video games. I wonder were I got that idea from

Anywho the liker wuz here