G.I.T.P Ghost in the Pony

by ExMedal

Chapter 2 The Story Begins

Everything was black again. Motoko was starting to get tired of this cycle. Then things started to happen. A small screen came out in the middle of the blackness.

=Begin Cyber-Pony Start Up sequence =

The Screen disappeared and was follower by a number of other messages…

=Life Functions Operational=
=Data Liberty Operational=
=Weapons Systems Operational=
=Communications Systems Operational=
=Defense Systems Operational=
=Energy Output Operational=

=Power at 100%=
=Body Functions at 100%=
=Memory Recall at 86%=
=Personality Functions at 53%=

=Releasing Limb Servos=
=Activating Exterior Senses=
=Finishing Boot Up Sequence=

=Start Up Sequence Finished=

The screen came up again

=Welcome Back Online User Motoko Kusanagi=

Motoko could finally open her eyes. At first everything was white, typical of just wakening up. But then her eyes finally adjusted to the light, and she found herself in a strange forest. Something was off about it thought. She looked around for anything out of the ordinary, the trees looked fine, and so did the bushes, the grass was normal, the clouds above where fine and the sky was so blue that…that was it! Everything was wrong, the clouds, trees and grass where too colorful, too smooth, too coordinated. Everything looked like something from a children’s book. Motoko walked up to the closest tree to take a closer look at it. It was a real tree, organic, wooded, living; she was expecting it to be artificial.

Something else felt wrong, not with the scenery, but her body. She only just noticed wile walking up to the tree but she was on all four’s, and very comfortable with it. Motoko noticed a river nearby; it would do for a way to see just what’s wrong with body. She noted that the water was to pure blue, but she let that slide for the moment so that she could see herself in the reflection, it was easy since the river was so pristine, she wishes she could say the same about accepting what she saw in the water.

It was her, sort of anyway. It had the same hair, the same eyes. But everything else was wrong; her body wasn’t a human, but a small purple horse, at least it faintly resembled a horse. The head was completely wrong, the legs where to thick and smooth with no visible way of tearing apart the leg from the hoof. It was like the kind of thing shown on a little girls show. Motoko recalled the strange loading sequence from earlier, One word in particular. Cyber-Pony, Motoko looked closely at her limbs and sure enough above what she might consider the solder or knee where separation lines, and after feeling the back of her neck, she found her Data Ports. Motoko relaxed a little, it was still a Prosthetic Body. Motoko thought back to the moment before she blacked out, she decided to check if she could contact anyone…

[This is Major Motoko Kusanagi of Public Security Section 9, please responded]

There was nothing, no response. In fact there didn’t seem to be any wireless network anywhere. Could she be in some sort of blind spot in the system, well it narrowed down where in the world she was at least. Motoko tried again, but this time she used the network used only by her and her teammates. She had theory she wanted to test…

[Section 9, this is Motoko Kusanagi reporting, Responded]

At first there was nothing, but then…

[Major! Is that you?]

It was Batou, She was right he was alive. She couldn’t remember the last time she was this happy to here someone else’s voice.

[Batou, you alive!]

There was a brief pause…

[You sound happier then normal]

[…Well when you see someone die on your lap you tend to be a little more cheerful to here from them again]

[nooo you died before me, I felt your hand on my solder]

[No I’m sure you died before me, I felt you slip away]

[I was just resting my eyes, you died the moment you…]

Motoko interrupted him.

[Are we really arguing about who died first?]

Batou was silent for a moment…

[Well it’s not something you get to talk about often]

Motoko decided to try and move the conversation on.

[Where are you now?]

[As much as I hate to say this, I’m stuck in tree, hanging like a freaking marionette]

[I will follow your signal just hang in there]

[ha ha very funny…errr I think there’s something you should know]

Motoko was making her way to Batou when she responded.

[Does it have anything to do with wakening up in a new horse like Prosthetic Body, or a Cyber-Pony body]

[…You too huh]

[Yes! I think I see you]

It was another pony; it was hanging a few feet over the ground tangled on the hanging vines of a rather large tree. Jugging by the larger build of its body Motoko guessed it was male. It was a pale color with white hair tied in a pony tale, the same separation lines as she did, but it also had something on its flank. The mark was all black like a stencil; it was a picture of a fist with a wrench at an angle behind it.

“Batou?”

It felt kind of strange to speak again after so long. The Tangled Stallion turned its head to look at her. It’s eyes where relatively normal, other than the fact that they where completely silver, not just the irises but the whites and pupils as well. It was like someone looked at his old eyes and wanted to make something look more normal but keep there old charm…did she really just use the word charm?

“Major…you look ridiculous”

Motoko looked up and smiled slightly.

“Well I think it’s a good look for you, especially the eyes, much more…expressive than your usual models”

“Speak for yourself, I think my old eyes where very expressive…can you get me down now little miss Pegasus?”

“…Pegasus?”

Motoko turned her head to look back at her self. Sure enough their where wings. She shook herself a little and stretched them out to there full length. That’s when she noticed that she had something on her flank too; it was the Section 9 insignia, a round circle with squared shapes coming from it. She turned back to Batou hanging in the tree, surly these where just for show, there’s no way that wings this small could lift her off the ground. That’s what she thought as she was becoming air born to untangle Batou from the vines resulting in him falling to the ground with a resounding thud.

“Just what is this thing made of?”

Batou was picking himself up when Motoko landed right beside him. He looked at her for a moment before rising up on his hind legs and picking her up, he put her down seconds later and then scratched his chin.

“Well you not light as a feather that’s for sure…where are we anyway?”

Motoko tucked back her new fully functional wings.

“Not sure, but wherever we are there’s no Network connection, were on our own”

“Grate…so now where do we go”

Motoko started to walk past the tree…

“Well this way’s as good as any”

The pair began to go deeper into the forest.

Comments

[Tangent]

"the legs where to thick and smooth" should be "the legs where too thick and smooth." This is a to, too, or two error, as these three words sound exactly alike but have completely different meanings.

Two is the number between one and three.

Too is a variance indicator, such as too much or too little, or too loud or too quiet.

To is a directive indicator, such as heading from here to there, or going to the store.

“Grate…so now where do we go” should be "Great... So now where do we go?"

You grate chease vs. you are great or the situation is either great or terrible. In this case, Batau is using great in the sarcastic sense, so other than using the wrong spelling and lacking a question mark, the sentence is used correctly.

“Well this way’s as good as any” needs a period. “Well this way’s as good as any.”

Also: I don't remember Motoko's body in GitS as having any integrated weapons systems. She used carried guns and rifles for ranged combat, and either knives or martial arts for melee combat.

And I'm pretty sure that she shouldn't be getting any indication as to whether or not her personality is artificial, because (as far as she or anyone else knows) her brain is intact. fully encased with a cyber-shell, but intact.