.hack//EQUESTRIA

by NovaSethyr

Waking Up

There are times when one looks back on their memories, reviews all the actions that they had performed, and think to themselves, 'Just how sane was I back then?'

This was definitely one of those times.

"Crimson. If we ever get out of this alive, I'm going to straight up burn you!" I wasn't sure if she heard me, but the message seemed to get across to the navy-blue Earth pony. She grinned and waved her hoof into a salute before she charged into a group of the little buggers.

The Chim-Chims have been swarming all around us, and since they had no limbs of which they could use to avenge their fallen, they resorted to flailing around in a vague attempt to make us fall down. Since they were also smaller and weight lighter than a pegasus feather while floating on a breeze, the creatures just bounced harmlessly off of the three of us. Crimson, Refinity, and myself only found this to be rather annoying, and we all set about to kick every single one of them. I was more exhausted from kicking than anything, and it was such a tedious job.

After we mopped up the army of Chims, we returned to the Beast Temple. All three of us we tried beyond belief after that ordeal, so we weren't up to fighting a boss enemy of some sort. The Temple was huge, probably about the size of the football stadium in Canterlot Castle. There was Gothic architecture prevalent throughout the place, gargoyles and spires high above our small selves. The entire place was a sort of muddled brown, except for the chest near a statue of a large pony - which managed to be a sitting position and looked fearsome at the same time. Refinity had mentioned it being the statue of a god according to the game's lore, but I was too tired to care.

Fortunately, this Temple didn't have a boss. All three of us sighed our relief at the prospect of rest being closer than we thought. Crimson's antics had started to get to me and I desperately wanted to sleep; it must have been around one in the morning by now. My movements have been getting little more sluggish and I had trouble keeping my eyes open.

I opened the treasure chest - much to the disappointment of a maniacal mare - and earned myself slightly better robe than the one I was currently wearing. As I changed my equipment I noticed it didn't change my avatar. That was a sort of a relief to me, I kinda liked how my avatar looked. We returned to the city - Mac Anu, I learned later- and went to Berry to give our haul in our @Home. When she found out that all three of us had nearly maxed out our capacity for carrying Chim Spheres, she nearly fainted on the spot. She took our weapons and started to work on upgrading them. According to Berry, by the time she was finished our weapons will give an elemental bonus to our attacks; and our avatars will have a small change as well. When I asked what kind of change, she just smiled and said that it'll be a surprise.

After I begrudgingly yielded my staff and choose to have a fire elemental bonus to the weapon, I stepped out into the vast expanse of Mac Anu. I really wanted to take a stroll and see the sights of the city, but I was exhausted. After debating for a while I decided that sleep was more important than walking around in a virtual world that won't disappear when I wake up. I thought about opening the main menu, and saw the option to log out. I did so and my conscious started disappeared from The World.

As I was logging off, I felt the vertigo again. No pain this time, just the sense that I was falling when I wasn't. I think I actually started to fall down, I could see my bed coming up to meet my face.

Wait, my bed?

*WHAM*

I immediately sat up and gasped. I felt like somepony poured a bucket of ice water on me, and then threw me into a frozen laze, and then fished me out and let me stand in the freezing winds. The point is, I was cold. I dimly realized that I was on my bed and I hadn't bothered to put something on to keep me warm, but I was too cold to care. Some cruel part of my brain told me how ironic that was, and that I should be a smart pony and get a blanket and go to sleep. My stomach grumbled at that point, and the smaller, smart part of my brain acknowledged fetching something to eat first before sleeping was the priority.

I got up and searched my apartment for something to eat. It wasn't very big, which probably helped contribute to how quickly everything got lost in a sea of messiness. I'd like to think it's more of an 'organized chaos.' I know where things are, kind of. More like where they generally should be in a relative space. That space being the entire apartment. I moved throughout the small rooms, and went into the kitchen. Well, if normal kitchens only contained a mini-fridge, a stove, a cabinet and a sink.

The mini-fridge had a plentiful supply of energy drinks, there was some old cheesecake in the back, and a single, perfect, freshly made daisy and turnip sandwich in a plastic container. There was a note on it, saying:

'Don't touch my coming-back-lunch. I'll be home around seven in the morning on the 19th. Remember, sandwich = bad touch. ~Grey.'

Huh, so Grey was going to be back tomorrow. I had hoped he would be gone for the rest of the week, but my hopes have been dashed.

My roommate, Greyhawk, is a friend I made a few years back. We had almost every class together for Year 12. It was hard for us not to become fast friends. We were stuck with each other for a whole Year, might as well get along with each other, even if he was far superior in using magic than me. Since then, we haven't had a class together. But we did start to rent out this apartment together; neither of us liked living in the dorms. Too cramped and noisy. I had hoped I would have gotten much further into playing The World before he came back so I had a head start. I guess he didn't want to spend too much time with his family.

I brought my mind back to reality and closed the fridge before it lowered the temperature even further. Tomorrow was shopping day, so didn't have anything else to eat until then. I went back to my bed with a sigh, a growl of protest emanating from my ignored stomach. I closed my eyes and let my fatigue engulf me into it's sleepy embrace.

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What is reality? Is it a plane of existence where one lives? Or is it just a word ponies used to justify that they themselves are real? How can they tell they are real? What if you are just saying that it's real, but you know that you are lying?

What if the reality you know was crumbing? How would you react? Would you know it's even happening, and drift away into a nonexistence, or would you give your life to protect it? If your reality was somepony's imagination, then why would you fight to protect something that doesn't even exist? To justify yourself as real?

Nihil verum, omnia licita - Nothing is real, everything is permitted.

The idea that while nothing is what it seems, the ability to make things real stands true. If you must fight for your reality, then prove that it exists by making it real.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I awoke to the cheerful shout of a stallion as he flew through the air and landed on top of me. Jeez, he never knew the meaning of subtlety, did he?

"OH JEN JEN JEN! YOU ARE THE BESTEST ROOMMATE EVER!"

There he went, using that silly nickname he always used. Jen, the pet name he gave me because he thought my full name, 'Genesis,' was too much of a mouthful. I always hated it when he used it, I always liked my given name. Sounded really cool. Today, though, it reminded me of...somepony. I can't remember who, though. I looked up to the pony who was grinning unabatedly at me. He had an deep orange coat and short emerald mane, with glasses perched precariously on his snout. The cutie mark of a hawk with a letter in it's talons was obscured from his saddlebags. He was very shaggy, I assumed he left as soon as he can and didn't take a shower. He had a stubble from lack of shaving. I never quite understood how fur can grow into beards and mustaches, but I disregarded that as one of the many mysteries the universe will never let us lesser ponies know. I stuck my head back under the covers. "Ger'off'a me, Grey. I need my beauty sleep."

"Oh, sorry Jen. But you bought 'The World!' How could I NOT be excited?" The stallion got up and started wandering to the ALTIMIT OS, inspecting the device with obvious intent. "So, you put this thing on like a helmet and you'll start playing or something?"

"Yeah, that's the gist of it. Make your own character, by the way. I don't want you to go around and ruin what little progress I've made."

"Yeah, like I'd ever want to play a mage, anyways. It's no fun if you're not in the front lines."

"Says the pony who was all for being a pacifist last month."

"It was the only way I could get some free cake, man."

"And it was delicious. You should be a pacifist more often if we get some more of that."

"I think there's some still in the fridge."

"If you eat that old cake, I will personally make you Commander-in-Chief for Luna's Army of the Brave."

"Celestia forever, you crazy night owl."

"Start playing the game, you dirty sun worshiper."

And with that, the stallion grinned and put on the helmet. Instantly he flopped into his bed, almost like he was going to sleep. I wanted to stay in my own bed for a little while longer, but I soon found that sleep wasn't going to visit me again anytime soon. I stretched and got out from under the sheets.

A yawn racketed my body and made me sit down on the edge of the bed. I smacked my lips and went to see the damage I have to repair in the mirror. When I looked at the reflective glass a crimson mare stared back at me. Her yellow and grey mane was a little more messy, and there were circles under her eyes from lack of sleep. She yawned again and hoped for the evening to come around so she can sleep again.

I inspected the rest of my body, from the mane, to the horn protruding from my forehead, to the cutie mark of a small circle, within a square, within a larger triangle, and another circle surrounding the triangle. The symbol for alchemy, the study of magic and science. It was thanks to alchemy that the ALTIMIT OS ever existed. Without magic, the whole system would just be a mesh of wires, cables, and plastic. None of it would do anything. And without the system, the magic would just dissipate into thin air. The spell was too complicated to be cast on it's own, and the system was too fragile to use without magic. The two properties of magic and science flowed together into one amazing creation as seamlessly as bread and butter. The idea of using technology and magic is a fairly new aspect of thought to many ponies, but the results of such a combination has revolutionized the entire entertainment industry singlehandedly. There had even been products of alchemy already existing and nopony even gave it a second thought, sewing machines were abundant only a couple of years ago and everypony just took them for granted.

Alchemy is a new frontier, and I aim to learn everything I can from it.

I went and took a shower, and then put on my travelling vest and set out to do a little shopping. I told Grey and he just responded by waving a hoof at me and returned to immersing himself into the game. I levitated a basket from some unknown depths of the apartment and walked outside to the morning sunshine. I took a deep breath of fresh morning air, filled with the scent of morning dew. To my left the doors of the apartment complex extended, and went around the corner to continue its journey.

The door to the apartment was next to a set of stairs, and from there it wasn't far to the Market Square of Canterlot. The apartment building was just a few blocks away from the Market, where hundreds of vendors shouted over one another to sell their wares. Everything from trinkets from outside of Equestria to fruits and vegetables were available at the Market

The Market was rather large - the sheer amount of vendors and their stalls and wares had demanded it. It was also very colorful, from the various stalls and their multicolored wares, to the sea of ponies that come here to buy said wares. The Market was in front of a big clock tower, so no matter where anypony went in the market, it wasn't hard to get lost, either the track of time or lost in the ocean of shoppers and sellers.

I pulled out my pouch of bits and inspected how much money I have left. After I spent the earnings I made doing part-time odd jobs around the city for the ALTIMIT OS and The World, I have a little leftover. I was rather lucky I have some, otherwise we'd both go hungry for the rest of the day - unless Grey had some cash on him. The only way we can pay our rent and our food is through part-time jobs or our family. Neither of us wanted to grovel at our parents feet for money, so we stuck to part-time jobs.

I purchased a few carrots, a couple of apples, and a large loaf of bread. This should last us until payday. I hope Grey has money to spare for food, though. Payday isn't for a couple of days, and I would hate it if we had to go a single day being hungry. I started walking back towards the apartment, when I heard a couple of mares enter the Market, arguing very loudly.

"Hold up, so you think we should actually talk to the Elements of Harmony? Why?! That guild doesn't do anything with anypony else but it's own members! Of which there are only seven!"

"Calm down, Vinyl. Berry was only suggesting that we should talk about starting to trade with other guilds, not to adventure with them! The Elements only have seven members, which can mean we mutually benefit if we start trading with them. Especially after that haul you brought in last night. Oooh, I really hope those weapons are finished soon!"

I froze in my tracks. Those voices. No. Not here. Anywhere but here. It's fine if it was online, but not here. Not my home. Out of everywhere in the entire country of Equestria, they just had to be here?!

I stood very still before realizing I didn't need to do anything. Those two don't know what I look like, I could just walk right past them, not say a thing, and go on home. Yeah, no need for awkward encounters or embarrassing revelations! I got the courage to keep moving forward, and walked in a beeline towards safety. Luckily, I made it. I didn't run into those two mares. Not like that would have made any difference, they would never be able to recognize me unless I spoke.

Me and my stupid brain jinxes.

I was just passing the last stall when I bumped my hoof against a barrel. I jerked the hoof back in surprise, as I hoped that I didn't stub it. The barrel, on the other hand, fell over and spilled it's contents all over the ground. This elected a cry of mourning from the vendor.

"MY CABBAGES~!" she screamed at the top of his lungs. She whirled on me with fury in her eyes. "YOU, YOU RUINED MY LAST BARREL OF FRESH CABBAGES! I'LL MAKE YOU PAY, OH YES. THE TOTAL IN BITS COMES TO 240! FIVE BITS PER CABBAGE HEAD!"

It took all of my dignity not to cower in fear at this mare. She was an elder, and shorter than me by half a head.That didn't stop her from giving me the verbal lashing of a lifetime. She even started poking me in the chest to emphasize her already made point.

Eventually I just gave up, lowered my head in defeat and said, "I'm really sorry about your cabbages, ma'am, but I spent all my money on the food I have here." I indicated to the basket still held in my telekinesis. "I'll pay you back when I get paid, but not now. I promise." I looked up to see her reaction, and she had a nasty scowl. It took her a few deep breaths before relaxing as she nodded in agreement.

"Don't you worry none, missy. I didn't mean to snap at ya, I have a bit of a temper issue. If you can pay me back for the lost produce when you can, I'll be grateful." With that, she nodded and walked behind the stand to start packing up. I looked around and noticed that the little outburst had attracted everypony's attention from whatever they were doing. Two in particular caught my eye, a white coated and blue maned pony wearing... sunglasses? Goggles? I couldn't tell which. The other pony, grey coated and black maned with a bowtie around her neck, held herself with more stature. The very essence of refined grace.

I immediately had an educated guess about their identities; actually, I was fairly sure that I didn't need a guess. It wasn't rocket science. They both looked impressed at me, thought the white one was hard to read because her goggle-glasses were over her eyes. I nodded to them and quickly trotted out of there. Since the scene was over ponies began to filter back into their tasks. The two ponies from earlier started talking again, and paid no more interest in me. I sighed, I guess they didn't hear me. Or maybe my voice was too feminine compared to my character's voice.

Other than that, there was no more incidents regarding the two mares. I climbed back up the stairs to my apartment and fished out the key to unlock the door. I picked it up with telekinesis, and then I felt it again.

The vertigo returned with a vengeance. I stumbled and fell against the door, trying to support myself. My magic let go of the basket, dropping the bread and apples bouncing down the staircase. I hope they wouldn't be too bruised. The vertigo increased, and I found myself on the floor, unable to move my legs correctly to get up. Then came pain.

The pain was sharp, and intense. It shot through my head and settled in the very back. It felt like somepony took a drill and started to drill through my skull into my brain from behind. I screamed, screamed until my throat was hoarse. Then I kept screaming, the pain, it was unbearable. Why was I hurting so much? Was this the same feeling that I felt while I was in game? Why is it so much more intense now?

As suddenly as it came, it disappeared. The pain and the vertigo left me empty for a moment. I just lay there, unable to think or do anything. My screaming attracted people out of neighboring apartments to take a look at the pony who was apparently in pain and see if they could help. Seeing I was fine, they went back into their homes murmuring about crazy ponies. I eventually regained my balance, and my hooves were firmly planted on the ground. I went and collected the dropped food and placed them back in the basket.

A few apples got bruised, and I lost two carrots, but it's better than nothing. I opened the door to Grey's room to find that he was still in The World. I debated sending him to get some more food for the week, before deciding to let him play a little longer. His sandwich was still in the fridge, and since we have more food I took the delicious lunch and started eating it. I had to hand it to Grey, he can make some really good food. I wonder if he should've been a cook instead of a student. I grabbed a couple of book and started to read, having nothing else to do today. I finally had time to catch up on a few series I've fallen behind on.

A half-hour passed and still Grey was in the game. I decided to get him out so I could have another go. "Alright, Grey, you've had long enough. Time for you go get us some more food, I'm broke." I shook him to try and get him to come back to reality, and that didn't work very well. He is a notorious deep sleeper, after all. I shook him some more but he didn't respond. It was then that I noticed that the visor wasn't showing the normal display when playing the game. Instead, it was full of static, as if somepony unplugged the game and hadn't bothered to turn off the display.

I gently tried to remove the helmet from his head, and to my surprise it came off easily. I wonder if he fell asleep while playing. I turned the display off and left Grey to his slumber as I put away the visor. I turned back to the sleeping pony. "Alright, sleepy head, time to wake up." I muttered under my breath.

More shaking, a slap to the face, nor did shouting in his ear wake him up. I started to get worried about him, how deep of a sleep was he in? How can I wake him up like this? I'm no medical pony, but he should have woken by now. To make matters worse, his tongue lolled out of his mouth, and his eyes were rolled into the back of his head. I was started to panic a little at the point.

I checked his pulse and was relieved when I felt the blood rushing through his body, albeit rather weakly. He was definitely out of it, but this still didn't bode well. I had no need to break into hysterics, but I did need to get him to a hospital to see what's wrong. I can't carry the poor guy with telekinesis, the nearest hospital was more than a few blocks away, I would quickly tire out after one block. If I contact the authorities they should be here in a few minutes, or an hour depending on how busy they are.

My eye caught the spellbooks on Grey's desk, and a stroke of inspiration came to me.Every student of Celestia's School is taught a basic spell of scroll-sending in their first Year. In case of an emergency, a student can use the spell to send a letter to Princess Celestia herself. She then sends her Royal Guard to help and protect the student from whatever trouble they may be in.

So I did just that. I explained the situation in the scroll and sent it away the scroll disappeared within a red-green flame and whisked itself away towards Canterlot Castle; I had included a request that a medical pony come along to inspect him. I started to pace, the situation finally starting to set in. I always thought I worked well under pressure, but this is my friend. In fact, he was my only friend whom I've known for more than a year. I wasn't going to let him get hurt or sick. It seemed like he just passed out, but he should have come to by now. If worse comes to worse, he could die without treatment.

I wasn't a medical pony by any means, I couldn't tell if he was going to die or just lie there for the next week or so. I had to have a professional opinion before taking any serious action. Too often I read about people acting before they thought things through only to end up in a worse situation than when they started out. An agonizing twenty minutes later, the Royal Guard had arrived.

I looked out the window and saw it, a chariot that normally beheld the Princess was occupied by a unicorn and an Earth pony, both wearing doctor's outfits and stethoscopes. The two Pegasi pulling it were Royal Guards, and they landed the chariot with the skill and grace born from years of practice. The unicorn and Earth pony stepped out of the chariot, nodded their thanks to the Royal Guard, and examined the building.

I opened the door and waved for them to come upstairs. They noticed me and trotted up the steps. It didn't look like anypony here was in a hurry, anyways. From the description I gave, there wasn't a sense that speed was necessary. The only reason they got here so quickly it because of the Pegasi, I guess. The unicorn had a yellow coat, and curly brown hair. The Earth pony had a sky-blue coat and long pink hair. The unicorn had a business feeling about her while the Earth pony looked a bit nervous. I think I could tell which was the professional and which was the apprentice.

The two doctors walked in and inspected my friend. The unicorn moved Grey's limbs around, checked his pulse, looked under his eyelids, looked in his mouth, and even inspected his unconscious reflexes by tapping his knees.

The short amount of tests seemed finished, and the unicorn turned to the Earth pony. "Well, Doctor Bandage; what do you think happened to him?"

The Earth pony jumped a bit in surprise, and she carefully gave Greyhawk another look over before responding. "I think he was... uh... knocked unconscious, and hasn't come out... of it... yet?"

The unicorn gave a small smile before shaking his head. "No, if he was knocked unconscious there would be a bruise or a wound on his head to indicate the force needed to knock him out. He didn't faint either, otherwise he would have woken up by now. It's my belief that he's currently in a coma-like state. We need to take him back to do a few more tests before making any diagnosis."

They were gonna take my friend to test him? I know it's so they can help him get better, but that didn't stop me from worrying. What kind of tests? Would he be in the hospital for very long? When I expressed these concerns to the unicorn, he just said they'll be quick tests to scan for brain activity and hopefully they'll be able to detect and fix the problem using that. This didn't really relieve my worries, but I nodded and let him take my only true friend away. His tongue was still hanging out of his mouth. I smiled and closed his mouth for him, so he wouldn't swallow any bugs on the trip to the hospital.

I watched as my friend was put into the chariot, the Guards waited patiently as the doctors boarded. They took off into the air and flew back towards the Castle, where they would hopefully help my best friend get better.

I grimly thought about how I won't be able to buy any more food until payday rolls around, but I now have enough food to sustain myself now that Greyhawk is gone.

And that realization I finally started to break down and weep. I just sat there outside my apartment crying my eyes out, worried sick for that hardheaded stallion.

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AN: Remember, a comment and a rating saves a poor soul from pony d'aaw underdose!

Comments

[Festus]

I never watched the ,hack:// series, but I'm pretty sure Grey's dillema has something to do with The Game... Sweet Celestia, I'm scared shitless

[DiscordDraconequus]

And it begins. The first coma.