"Twi-light."

Twilight groaned under her blankets.

"Twiii-light!"

Another groan.

"Twilight, come on." Spike opened the door. "I know you've been up all night again. Weren't you planning on meeting up with the girls for a day at the pool today?"

Twilight's eyes shot open. How could she forget? She hopped out of bed, rushing past Spike without another word. With how busy everyone had become with life, occasions like this were rarer than some of the books she'd read from Celestia's personal collection!

"Breakfast's on the table!"

"Thanks, Spike!"

Brushing her teeth could probably wait for later, right? After a near-tumble down the stairs, the mare plopped herself down at the table, staring into the bowl of oatmeal in front of her.

She shook the thought from her head. Now wasn't the time to start going into tangents. She picked up the spoon and shoveled oatmeal into her mouth.

"Y'know, as a Princess of Equestria, I think it'd be best if you didn't choke to death today." Spike chuckled as he passed by. "Anyway, I'm gonna be waiting outside for you. What should I say if Luster Dawn's parents stop by?"

"Shoo 'em away and say that their little filly doesn't have class today!"

Twilight looked up from her breakfast, only to be met with Spike's deadpan stare. She rolled her eyes. "Okay, okay, so maybe don't do that. Just tell them that there isn't any class today. That filly needs to spend some time with her playmates before she turns out like I did when I was her age. Better?"

Spike popped a thumbs-up and disappeared behind the door.

"So..." Twilight turned her attention to the day's tasks. "Let's see... after the pool party, I've got a tax code to look over, check in with Starlight on the School of Friendship... reorganize the library again?" She lit her horn, teleporting away for a moment. "Nope. Library's already at peak organization. For now. Spi--"

Right. Spike wasn't always going to be by her side anymore. Not with how independent he'd become lately. She shook her head. How had things changed so quickly? It felt like only yesterday when... when...

Twilight frowned. What was she even trying to remember?

Nevermind. Breakfast first, then the pool party. Even after all this time, it was still hard at times to keep her priorities in line. Breathe in. Breathe out. Pick up the spoon, put food in mouth. Rinse, repeat, and get ready for the day.

Yes.

There really wasn't that much to pack for a pool party, right? They were just there to have fun... right?

Twilight stared at the pile of pool- and party-related items she'd amassed on her bed. There were the usual pool floaties, enough air pumps for everybody if no one brought their own, snorkeling masks, pool toys, towels, a fire extinguisher in case something went wrong and the water from the pool couldn't put out the resulting fi--

The mare narrowed her eyes. Was it just her, or was there something... off about the fire extinguisher? She leaned in closer. It wasn't anything necessarily to do with the canister itself, just...

The fleck of color on the extinguisher's side flickered again, growing a little larger. Twilight frowned. Was it something with the way the sunlight from her window hit it? She lifted the canister and placed it in the shadows of the pile.

Nope. The color splotch was still there. It grew again, this time to a size large enough for her to see a pattern in its colors: a strange checkerboard of black and magenta. She could hear Spike's frantic footsteps approaching. Was it something he did that led to this?

"Twilight!" Spike's distant voice cried. "Twilight! Something's gone wrong!"

Twilight looked up from the fire extinguisher, only to find that her entire room was now plastered in that same checkerboard pattern. Eyes wide, she took a step back. Something definitely went wrong, that's for sure. The room began to dim around her.

"Twilight!" she could hear Spike slam the door open. "Oh no. Oh, this is bad. C'mon! We gotta get you out of this, Twi!"

"Twilight!"

"...Twilight?"

Twilight lit her horn. Whatever was behind this, it was powerful. Not even her magic seemed to penetrate the darkness as Spike's voice grew increasingly faint.

"Twilight..."

The dim light emanating from her horn flickered out on its own, the same way the sunlight did. Twilight gritted her teeth. Nothing was going to separate her from her friends.

Nothing.

"Spike!" Twilight gasped. Her hands shot to her head, grazing over something strapped to her face. "...Spike? Spike, are you still there?"

Wait. Wait, hold on, since when did she have hands again? Last she remembered, she hadn't touched the mirror portal in ages. And on top of that... she followed the curves of the object to a strap around the back of her head. This was a headset of some sort. The kind used for virtual reality. She'd tried it once before while visiting Sunset, but why was there one strapped to her face no--

Her thoughts screeched to a halt as she tore off the headset. This wasn't her room. This wasn't even close to her room, or really anything even remotely recognizable, for that matter. No shelves stuffed with books, no cluttered desk stacked with more reading material... just a plain room with bare walls. Her eyes turned downward. This wasn't her bed, either! She patted the worn surface of the cot. This was some sort of hospital bedding, from the looks of it.

"Spike." Twilight looked up again. "Spike, this isn't funny. I know you've had Rainbow Dash throw my bed out the window a couple of times before, but this is too far!"

"...Spike?"

Nothing. No thinly-veiled snicker, no toes poking from beneath the drapes... not that there were any drapes to begin with.

Twilight rose from the cot, only to be met with a painful yank on her side. Her hands shot toward the pain as she winced. It felt almost as if something was being torn out of her body.

Wait.

She gripped the bundle of tubes emerging from her body. She slowly opened an eye, peeking at the bundle.

Wait, what?

A stray bubble gurgled through one of them. She felt something rise in her throat.

This wasn't real. It couldn't be! After all, if she'd traveled through the mirror portal, she would've remembered, right? And besides, last night didn't exactly have much time set aside for sleeping, anyway. Maybe she'd fallen asleep midway through packing, and this was all some sort of strange dream.

Yes. That seemed a little more logical. This was just a nightmare. Now then, all she had to do was... wake up.

Twilight sucked in a breath and pinched herself. Nothing.

...Maybe she’d become stuck in a lucid dream? She racked her mind. Would Princess Luna even allow such a dream? It wasn't like her to keep a pony trapped in their own dream for any more than a few minutes at most.

She sighed, slumping back onto the cot, scratching at the tubes. They had to lead somewhere, right?

She leaned back, flinching as her head hit something metallic.

Bingo.

Twilight whirled around, one hand still gripping the tubes to avoid further irritation. Sure enough, those same tubes seemed to plug into the... thing behind her. For all intents and purposes, aside from some of the contraptions Flim and Flam had brought by from time to time, it didn't look like anything she'd ever seen. Then again, between the tubes coming from her body and the quietly whirring machine behind her, it wasn't all that hard to put two and two together.

She turned her attention to the plasticky tag strapped around her wrist.

She was on life support.

But... how? Why would she dream of being on life support in the human world? And... in the case of all this not being a dream... what the heck was it that put her on life support in the first place? She brought the tag closer to her face.

"Lisa... Garnet?" Twilight read aloud. That definitely wasn't her name. It hardly sounded like anything native to Equestria, either. Could that mean--

She patted herself down. Scenarios began to swirl in her head. Was it possible that she'd maybe been misidentified? It wasn't unheard of for patients to occasionally get mixed up. But that still led back to an earlier question: what put her here in the first place?

Twilight shook her head. What was she thinking? Dreams hardly tended to be logical, anyway. She looked around again. This room was hardly fitting for a medical facility, either. Really, it seemed to be more along the lines of some sort of cheap apartment. If this really was real, wouldn't she be surrounded by doctors and nurses the moment she woke?

So. That seemed to settle things a bit. By far, it was most plausible that all of this was just some sort of weird fever-dream, impenetrable by Luna. She reached for the headset. Maybe, if she went ahead and put it back on, she'd wake up again, but in her own room. Complete with whatever it was that she may have fallen asleep on from the pile of items on her bed.

Her fingers brushed past something on the device's side. For something that didn't bother to put her in an environment that made sense for someone on life support, this dream really was surprisingly detailed. She traced over the imprint with her fingers. This was some kind of text.

Well, at least there was something to read now. She turned the headset around, squinting at the worn letters.

"HybridEye Technologies. Property of Lisa Garnet."

Again with the whole 'Lisa Garnet' name. What a weird dream. She remounted the headset over her face. Maybe the way out of this dream was through the headset?

Nothing.

Twilight frowned, lifting the headset again. So much for that idea. She slipped the device off her head, cradling it in her lap.

What if this really was real? What if--she glanced at the wristband again--she'd been this Lisa Garnet girl this entire time? This looked like a virtual reality headset, after all, so...

Her heart dropped. What if Twilight Sparkle never existed in the first place? That would mean--her eyes went wide.

"Spike?" she whispered. "Hello?"

"...Anyone?"

Twilight fidgeted with the wristband. How long had it been since she woke up in here? Two, almost three hours now? It was hard to tell for sure. She glanced back at the headset. If... she really was living in a simulation that entire time, then what would this world be like? Surely, a society advanced enough to simulate an entire second world would be on a level of technology unfathomable to her, right?

She scratched her head. Come to think of it, wasn't it already possible to an extent to do such a thing? Virtual reality already existed on the other side of the mirror portal, after all, but... if Equestria was part of a simulation, did that mean they were simulations inside of a simulation?

Somebody knocked on the door.

"Come in!"

The door opened with a puff of dust. A man poked his head in. "Ah," he exclaimed. "Good, you're awake." He pushed the door open, stepping inside, and set his briefcase beside the machine. He unclasped it, looking over his shoulder. "Excuse me for not introducing myself. The name's Harold. I'm one of those traveling technicians you might've seen going from door to door. We're here to watch over folks like you while we figure out what the heck's gone wrong with the network."

There were more like her? Twilight craned her neck, peering over the short windowsill above the cot. Sure enough, there were more people outside, all with identical briefcases. Some were going door to door like Harold said, while others seemed to be... she furrowed her brows. It looked almost as if they were taking notes on something.

"How many others are there?"

Harold looked up from the clipboard he'd pulled from his briefcase. "Hm?"

"People like me. The ones that were... well..." She gestured vaguely. "Y'know, in the same predicament as me."

"Ah, I'd say that this town's got a population of at most a few hundred residents. Most are like you--being hooked into the network and all--but there's a handful of permanent residents that are paid to stick around and keep the rest of you safe. People like me, I'd assume... though, I'm not from around here myself."

Fair enough. It didn't look like there were all too many places for people to live here, anyway.

"Anyhow--" Harold slid the clipboard onto her lap. "I'd like for you to write your name in the box at the top, please. I've got a long list of people that I still have to visit after you."

"My... name?" Twilight looked at the form, then to her wristband. 'Twilight', for all this paper cared, probably didn't exist outside of the simulation.

"Yes, the one printed on your wristband."

Twilight nodded, taking the pen from Harold's other hand. Stroke-by-stroke, Twilight Sparkle faded away, leaving Lisa Garnet in her place.

Harold smiled, turning the clipboard back around and reading it. "Oh? You're Lisa Garnet?" He looked up, staring for a moment at Lisa's face, then back to the clipboard. "Well, this is a pleasant surprise."

He leaned over, pulling his briefcase closer. "Anyway, the main reason why I'm here is to unhook you from the big hunk of metal behind you. Just about everybody's opted to be discharged from automated care so far, and given how boring these rooms are, I wouldn't blame them. It's going to take a while for things to be brought fully online again, anyway. Just as confirmation, you do want to follow through and be disconnected completely, yes?"

Lisa nodded.

"Alrighty then!" Harold set his clipboard on the floor and began to rummage in his briefcase. "The procedure shouldn't take too long thanks to the modular tubing, so I'll go ahead and administer anesthesia. You'll wake up in a couple hours' time as if nothing ever happened."

Sunlight.

It was still daytime.

Lisa yawned. For someone who apparently hadn't left her cot for who knows how long, that was some of the best sleep she'd had in ages.

Then again, the anesthesia probably had something to do with it as well. Though... it was a pleasant surprise that she wasn't woozy like she'd been that one time when she had to be brought to Canterlot general hospital. She shuddered at the memory. That was the last time she ever worked with enchanted cacti.

She sat up and looked around. Harold was nowhere to be seen, though there was a small bottle sitting beside her on the cot. She picked it up, her brow raised. It didn't look much like anything she'd seen before. At least, not on the pony side of the portal...

Lisa shook her head. Like there were going to be any parallels between Equestria and this world. She'd be better off using the little experience she had of the human world beyond the mirror.

She tore off the foil lid and took a whiff. It was yogurt. Why would he leave behind a bottle of yogurt, of all things? It wasn't like...

Oh yeah. She hadn't actually eaten anything for ages.

Fair enough. She downed the bottle.

Now then, onto the next task--leaving the room. Lisa stood up, swaying precariously on her feet. She kept a hand out, bracing herself on whatever she could as she made her way to the door. This was going to take some getting used to.

Set hand on the doorknob. Turn doorknob. Step outside. Don't fall on your face. Easy enough, right? Lisa slowly took her hand off the facade of the building. She'd done it. She stepped outside!

She kept her hand on the facade of the building. It seemed that for the most part, quite a few others were also having some trouble walking after so long. She squinted. In the distance, some had even doubled-up, supporting each other by the shoulders as they navigated the blocky buildings. A couple of those people subsequently tripped and brought their partners down with them. She chuckled.

Well, this was the outside. The surrounding town seemed pretty quaint in comparison to the sprawling cities back in Equestria. Even Ponyville seemed bigger than this place, and that way saying something. Nearly all of the buildings were the same; single-story slabs of concrete, joined together in long rows of apartments. There were still a few more roaming technicians out and about, though Harold was nowhere to be seen. By now, most folks probably were already unhooked from their machines.

Lisa frowned. This really was happening, wasn't it? All of this was real. Not a dream. Dreams took prior experiences and put a new spin on them, didn't they? This... this was nothing like anything she'd seen in her life.

No matter. All it'd take was a bit of waiting, and then she could reconnect. Rejoin Equestria as Twilight Sparkle and forget that any of this ever happened.

"And here's your rations for the week, sir." Lisa handed a bucket to the man waiting below her. "Don't forget to check for everything on the label. Don't want to have anything missing!"

The man nodded and walked away, bucket in hand. Lisa wiped a bead of sweat from her brow. Even with all the shade she had around her, it was getting pretty hot in the metal box she was standing in. At least she'd found something to do in the meantime. She walked deeper into the trailer. It was a little bit cooler near the back, and, even with the distinctly-autumn breeze that blew past from time to time, it still helped to take some time off from all this physical acti--

"Excuse me!"

Lisa looked over her shoulder.

An old man stood by the ramp. "Young lady, do you happen to know where the restrooms are?"

"Sorry, I don't. Maybe find one of the technicians and ask them?"

He nodded and scurried off. Now that he'd mentioned it... where were the restrooms, anyway? Not only for... well, that, but also for water. There were no streams nearby as far as she could see, and the apartments clearly had no access to running water, either.

She shrugged off the thought, sitting down on one of the buckets. Something as important as water would probably be included in the ration kits anyway. Not that she'd had the time to stop and look at the labels yet outside of passing glances.

Another person approached the ramp. Time to lug another bucket out. Lisa silently chuckled. What would Applejack think of all this physical activity she was doing? Rarity certainly wouldn't've approved, that's for sure.

"Here you go!" She set down the bucket. "The contents should last you about a week. Don't forget to check to see if anything's missing!"

"Yup, I'll make sure to do just that. Thanks for volunteerin'!"

Well, there wasn't anything left to sit on now, save for her own bucket beside the ramp. At least that meant that all the rations she'd been assigned to pass out made it to those who needed them.

"Testing, testing... is this on--great--hello there." A voice abruptly cut through the air from all sides. "This is a test of our settlement-wide announcement system. We will be delivering updates on the status of the network using both these messages as well as optional in-person meetings--the first of which will begin shortly. Please take a moment to thank the following volunteers for helping with the distribution of ration packages on such short notice: Craig Dale, Abigail Fairsong, Lisa Garnet, Samuel Gearings, Andrew Smith--"

Lisa stepped out of the trailer, frowning at the wooden ramp in front of her. Some of the people who'd come and gone were brave enough to step on it with their bare feet, but her? Hooves or no hooves, splinters were annoying. She hopped down beside the ramp onto the asphalt below. At least it wasn't nearly as hot as it was inside the trailer; it was warm, yes, but it wasn't anything uncomfortable.

Now then. What to do with the rest of the day. She lifted the bucket off the trailer's floor. She'd might as well put it away in her apartment in the meantime.

"--again, thank you to our volunteers. Now, regarding basic services." The sound of paper rustling echoed overhead. "As you may know, there are no amenities provided within your individual apartments, save for automatic climate control. Our town hall building will serve as a public commons in the meantime, complete with multiple stations for water and public restrooms and showers. Given how many... uh, years it likely has been for the vast majority of you, I would highly recommend the showers."

That last part made her laugh a little. Well, now she knew where to get water and stuff, hopefully that old man from earlier heard the announcement as well.

She let go of her bucket, rubbing her arm. It probably was a bad idea to be lugging around so much weight so soon after waking up from what was essentially a coma. Nevertheless, this was her bucket. Other folks managed to get their rations back home, and so would she.

...Man, would it be nice to be able to use magic right about now.

Lisa pushed that thought to the back of her mind. Homesickness was the last thing she needed right now. She picked up the bucket again and walked past a small group of people.

"--and from what I heard, because this world is the actual simulation, there is reason to believe that the Equestrian government may be using this so-called 'disconnection' event to construct--"

She cringed. There wasn't any chance that she was going to talk to those people anytime soon.

"--or maybe this place is a ghost town compared to what it once was. Wouldn't it make sense? 'Round-the-clock technicians who double as doctors if need be, multiple empty apartments with no cots inside; we're here to die. The spirits of those who already perished must've been the ones who caused the disconn--"

Great. Now comes the conspiracy theories. Even when she wasn't a Princess of Equestria, they seemed to have a habit of following her around. The rumor that she'd received a leg extension surgery years ago after her ascension was at least funny in concept, but these? Lisa shook her head. These rumors--especially the first one--were best avoided.

Granted, there was the potential to act on the first theory, given how she was Twilight Sparkle and all. Maybe she could consider it for an April Fools' joke. Rainbow Dash would've definitely been onboard with the idea.

She shook her head again. Again, now wasn't the time to reminisce. Hoping for a quick return to Equestria was fine, but... She let out a sigh. Keeping Equestria out of her thoughts wasn't going to be easy, was it?

In the corner of her eye, she caught sight of another motorcade approaching. Though, unlike the earlier set of ration and supply trucks, none of the vehicles seemed to be carrying much, if any cargo.

Lisa watched the vehicles arrive one after another. There weren't all that many, but it was still enough to rival the numbers she'd seen in parking lots while in the human world. The ones around fast-food restaurants, that is.

The final vehicle in the motorcade looked quite a bit different from the rest. A little too compact for a van, but at the same time too big and bulky for the average streetcar.

...It was a minivan, wasn't it? Lisa rolled her eyes at the mental slip. Interestingly, the minivan drove past the other cars as they parked, slipping away between the buildings.

Car doors began to open and shut in front of her. More people. Weren’t there already enough technicians in town? It didn’t really seem like they needed any more help. Lisa shaded her eyes. Most, if not all of them, seemed to be wearing some sort of uniform.

"Excuse me!" She stepped closer to the growing crowd surrounding the motorcade. One of the people who'd left a car walked past. "Wait--please! Could somebody tell me what's going on?"

"Just here to help out. It's not often that something like this happens on such a massive scale."

"Wh--" Lisa looked over her shoulder. “Wait, but why do you need so many more people?”

The man was already out of earshot. Lisa rolled her eyes. Footsteps approached from behind.

"Please," she turned around again, "could you tell me what's happening? Why are so many others arriving out of nowhere?"

The woman shrugged. "I'm just doing this 'cause I get a bonus if I come. There's probably at least a few others that are the same way."

Oh.

"Well, you have a nice day now. I'm going to be on the team surveying the cable damage if you need anything from me for some reason."

So much for asking those two people. Lisa turned her attention back to the rest of the motorcade. Among the people carrying what she presumed were supplies was another woman--and unlike the rest, she wasn't wearing anything that even resembled a uniform.

...Not that Rarity would've necessarily liked it, had she seen it, but still.

Lisa walked up to the woman. "E-excuse me, could you--"

"Hm?" The woman looked up. She was far younger than what Lisa was expecting. "Oh! You-you're Lisa, aren't you? Lisa Garnet?"

"I... yeah, I guess?" Lisa made a face. "How do you know my name? Do I know you from somewhere?"

"Mmm, you'll remember in time, I guess..." The woman pointed another passing volunteer--employee?--to where they apparently were needed. "Name's Grace Daalmans. Man, has it been a while since I've last seen you. It's been what? Twelve? Thirteen years? Time really does seem to fly, doesn't it?"

"I don't understand."

Grace shrugged. "Didn't expect you to. Anyway, you were wondering why there are so many people arriving all of a sudden?"

Lisa nodded.

"My mom's one of the top dogs at the place that runs the central servers for the simulations. She sent me out here with a team of professionals to help out the on-site techs before things go south while she deals with the servers themselves. Though most of the folks arriving here are actually volunteers from surrounding communities. There are a couple more places built for people in the simulations around, but most are civilian towns. You can... uh, kinda tell based on some of their attitudes. I won't be here for too long though, I still gotta stop by some other towns that were also hit by the outage."

"Uh-huh..." Lisa furrowed her brows. "So, did you ever figure out what caused the outage? It'd be nice to get back to my normal life sooner rather than later."

"Cyberattack on the network. We also had reports that some of the buried cables were physically cut not too long after, too. Snowbush is one of the places that had a sliced network cable."

"Sno--"

"The town we're standing in." Grace stepped aside, staring down the street. "So, I... kinda have to get ready for the first meeting now. Don't forget to attend! We've got a couple of special guests that'll be speaking, too!"

She walked past without another word. Lisa sighed. At least she finally had some answers. Though, a--what did Grace call it?--cyberattack didn't exactly sound like a positive thing. Cut cables definitely seemed a little fishy, too.

Not that she really had any idea what all of that meant, anyway. Still, it reeked of sabotage. Hopefully, Grace's mother and whoever else was in charge would keep this from happening again. It'd be more than annoying to have to start dealing with this whole "disconnection" fiasco on a regular basis.

...

...

Lisa turned around and began to follow after Grace. There was a meeting to attend.

So this was the town hall; an unassuming, single-story slab of a building jutting out of the ground like a brick in a mud puddle. A small crowd was already beginning to form around the entrance. She caught sight of a door swinging shut. How Grace was able to squeeze through that jam was beyond her.

Lisa looked to the side. Parked nearby was that minivan from earlier. They were probably the 'special guests' Grace mentioned before.

Now came the question of actually getting inside the building in time.

A quiet creak directed her attention back to her ration bucket. She'd likely lose it if she brought it in with her. It'd be a good idea to--

"...Lisa? Lisa!"

She looked over her shoulder. Who--

"Lisa!" the young man shouted again. "Lis...er, Twilight--" he panted, stopping behind her. "Man, did it take a while to find you out here!"

Lisa raised a brow. "...Spike? Is that you?"

"In the flesh!" he boasted, stepping in front of her. "Good to see you again!"

"Psh. No kidding." Lisa snorted. "So, what's up with you?"

He shrugged. "Not much. Though, I think you should take a look at my wristband."

"O...kay?" She turned her eyes to the plasticky tag around his wrist. It wasn't exactly the easiest to read out in direct sunlight, but...

"I--wait. Wait a sec." Lisa looked between his face and his wristband. "You... we’re related?"

"Name's Timothy Garnet." Timothy grinned. "Knew right from the beginning that we’re siblings, too. Not sure if you remember or not, but I sure do."

She ignored that second part. Today was already filled with enough mystery and surprise as it was. "So... I guess we stick together then, huh?”

Timothy hummed. "No worries, I get it. Anyway, wanna head back to your place and put your bucket away before the meeting?"

Oh yeah.

That.

Okay, so they were a little late to the meeting. No biggie. Experience taught her that things like this were absolutely not grounds for a complete and total mental breakdown.

Still, they were tardy!

Lisa shook the thought from her head. Even though they were indeed late, it didn't look like they missed much, anyway; Grace was already onstage, though she seemed more focused on adjusting the microphone at the moment than actually saying anything.

"Psst," Timothy leaned over, "Lis, so what was getting disconnected like for you? I kinda freaked out a bit myself when it started, since... y'know, I obviously didn't expect it to happen. I'm pretty sure I thought it was an earthquake or something at first, to be honest. Don't really know why, since there wasn't anything to do with shaking, but yeah. Panic thoughts, I guess."

She raised a brow. For her... disconnection was definitely on the scarier side of things. Beyond that...

"I'll stop for now. I know this is probably pretty hard on you anyway. Looks like Grace is about to begin."

"Welcome to our first official meeting!" Grace looked up from the microphone. "I myself won't be saying much, but I'll go ahead and introduce myself while our speakers get ready. My name is Grace Daalmans--some of you might've bumped into me already--and I'm here to make sure that things are fixed and running smoothly again! I'm not anyone all that special, though. That would be my mom, Melina, who's in charge of the network side of things. Now then, let's hear from our speakers for today. Welcome Professor Argall and Chief Technology Officer Samantha Hayes!"

Scattered applause and a few awkward cheers rang through the auditorium. Their reaction made sense; it wasn’t like they really knew that any of this was going to happen, after all. She turned to Timothy. He was one of the few in the room that was giving applause. Seemed about right, knowing how he acted as Spike. Though, he seemed to know a bit more about their situation than she herself did. That part was still weird.

Samantha was the first at the mic.

"Hiya!" She adjusted the stand a little. "First of all, I'd like to thank Gracie for introducing us. Knowing me, I'd probably start blabbering on and on 'til someone stops me!"

Someone in the audience chuckled. A couple of people, actually.

"So, anyway, I'll admit right off the bat that I don't really have anything to actually talk about. I kinda just heard that Argall was coming out of retirement to do some speaking after the whole disconnection event happened, so I decided to tag along. Mainly've been waiting for this last town here, though. Now then--" She turned her attention to someone in the front row. "Professor, wanna step up to the mic now?"

An old man lumbered up onstage beside her. Samantha stepped aside.

"Okay. So--" he pushed his glasses up "--just to begin, I'd like to talk a little on what the purpose of the simulations is. Anybody in the tech room up there?"

Grace gave a thumbs-up, though Professor Argall hardly seemed to notice. A loud thunk echoed overhead, followed by a blank rectangle fading in behind him on the canvas screen.

"Thank you. Now, as I was saying--" the image behind him flickered to the opening slide of his presentation "--the purpose of the simulations, at least in the beginning, was to give people a second chance at life, regardless of reason. Many signed up as part of a recovery and rehabilitation program, while others later on joined to enjoy a cleanly-separated 'second self' of sorts, distinct from their real personas."

The image behind him changed to one of the headsets.

"Now, I know that this separation of selves may have resulted in some confusion. For the sake of privacy, I will refrain from discussing this separation any further unless you ask me individually. Moving onto how and why our network suffered an outage, some of you may have already learned from either Grace or our technicians that our network infrastructure has become the focus of a targeted cyberattack. Neither I nor anyone else, as far as I know, are able to tell where the attack originated from as of yet, but we are confident that we are well on our way to resolving the disconnection issues that have stemmed from it."

He cleared his throat. "Ahem. Continuing on, in regards to additional damage we found while investigating the attack, we also found that multiple buried fiber-optic cables were severed. There is no specific pattern to where the cut cables lay, but we do believe that the sabotage was done in coordination with whoever it was that launched the cyberattack. Our team is currently searching for the damaged sections of cabling. Hopefully, we will be able to find these damaged sections within the week. That is all for now. Timothy Garnet, I see you waving up there. I’d like to speak with you for a moment in private, please."

Lisa sat on her cot. "Spike, why were you waving at the professor?"

"I was trying to get his attention. I knew he was looking for us anyway. I just wanted to let him know where we were. Heck, we even talked after the meeting before I caught up with you! He didn’t say much, but he said he’ll be--"

Someone knocked on the door.

"Come in."

Samantha opened the door. "What's up, Lisa? Oh, hi, Tim! Professor Argall was talking about you!"

Wait, what? How did she know her name? Did they meet at some point in the past?

Professor Argall loomed silently beside her. Surely he'd be at least annoyed by her... brother? Assistant? She frowned. Maybe that was why he called him out at the end of the presentation?

"Okay, can somebody tell me what's going on?" Lisa stood up. "First off, why do so many people recognize me? Grace apparently knows who I am, Timothy figured out that I am his sister from the back of my head, and now you, too? I'm guessing Professor Argall's in on the loop as well?"

Samantha shrugged. "Yeah, pretty much. He's the dude who adopted you two ages ago, after all. I don't think he's letting go of that anytime soon. To be honest, I think he’s actually been hoping for an opportunity to see you again.”

Well then. That at least answered one of her questions. Though... adoption? Why would the professor adopt her and Timothy anyway if he knew that they’d be gone?

"Man, do you look confused!” Samantha laughed. She stopped for a breath, a wide grin still plastered across her face. “Here, I wanna ask you something myself, since you're asking about so many things. Who am I?"

Lisa raised a brow. If Samantha was going to ask something like that, then she was definitely another creature from Equestria. Maybe she's... Starlight? No, Starlight probably would've joined her in scolding Timothy over interrupting. Maybe Sunset? Sunset was pretty good with technology, so... No, her personality didn't quite match up.

Samantha grinned. "Want a hint? Or should I just spill the beans right here, right now?"

Oh, wait. The way she talked. She was probably--

Samantha pulled out a miniature model of a certain mare's party cannon. "Here's your hint! I was thinking this might be useful today!"

Yup.

She's Pinkie.

Of course she is.

"Pinkie Pie."

"Bingo! You really didn't figure it out until now, did you?" Samantha smirked. "Y'know, I think you should add 'can read you like a book' to that list of things you can't explain about me. Or don't. Either way, you're wearing your emotions like a mask there, Lizzy. Anyways, that's pretty much it! I know I'm Pinkie, you know I'm--"

"Prove it."

Samantha cocked her head.

"Prove that you're Pinkie. What were we going to do today had it not been for the disconnection?"

"Pool party. Mainly as a way to drag you out of your fancy-schmancy castle." Samantha stuffed her hands in her pockets. "C'mon, gimme something harder!"

"Okay then... what do you do for a living in Ponyville?"

"Running Sugarcube Corner, party planning, protecting Equestria with you and the rest of our friends, stare back at the people that watch us... wow, Pinkie does a lot more than I remember programming her to do."

...To be honest, she should've expected that part about staring back at people. Though, if Pinkie was... well, programmed, did that mean that… Lisa sighed, closing her eyes for a moment. This was Pinkie she was questioning. Not exactly the best idea. At the very least, though, it confirmed who Samantha was in the simulation. Still, there was one more question to ask.

"So, how come you were one of the guest speakers? Weren't you disconnected just this morning like the rest of us? What about the rest of the girls?"

Okay, make that three more questions.

"For the second question, yes, but actually no. See, while I am Pinkie in Equestria, that doesn't mean I'm always Pinkie. Unlike you and Tim with your fully-connectedness and stuff, I chose to instead stick with the more standard option of logging in and logging out whenever I want. Lets me have a life of my own out here in the real world, y'know?"

"But what about Pinkie, then? What happens to her when you 'log out'? Don't you still have to... you know, be there to control her as yourself?"

Samantha shook her head. "No, not really. I leave her on autopilot most of the time. I pop in at least once every day just to check in, though. I usually talk a bit when I can before I leave, but I usually end up talking only to Timmy before logging off for the day." She looked at him. "You know what I'm talking about."

"Yup. A little weird at first, but it was pretty easy to get used to, since I was living full-time in Equestria and all. Stick to the script, talk in my downtime with Sam. It's a heckuva lot better than the idea I had for communication, that's for sure."

Him, too? Lisa huffed. Maybe at the very least, Pinkie's sudden swings between Pinkie and Pinkamena could be better explained by Samantha logging in on a bad day or something.

"Okay, okay, so apparently you two are closer friends than I thought both inside and outside of Equestria. The fact that that place is part of a simulation is already weird enough as it is anyway." She turned to Professor Argall. "So… uh, hi, I guess? You haven’t really said much since the meeting. Do you have something on your mind?"

The professor sighed. "You don't remember me at all, do you?"

"No, not really. Sorry."

He hung his head.

"O-oh, I... I really didn't mean to, Professor! It's just that it's probably been so long since then, and--"

"No, no, it's alright. I'd been expecting that the entire drive up here. I'm not surprised." He held out a hand. "Guess we should start from the beginning, then. Let's just be friends again. Like old times."

Lisa shifted her eyes between Samantha and Argall. Timothy, too. All three of them seemed to know something she didn't. She set her attention back on the professor's outstretched hand.

"Okay."

Professor Argall let out another sigh, though it was far less forced than the first time. "Thank you."

"Well, anyway, it's getting kinda dark out now." Samantha craned her neck, looking out the window. "Lis, Tim, don't forget to eat your dinners. Me and Argall are heading back to the town hall for the night." She walked to the door, with the professor following close behind. "Talk some more tomorrow?"

Lisa nodded. The door creaked open.

"Okie-dokey. See ya then!"

It clicked shut.

"I should probably go as well." Timothy knocked on the wall behind him. "I think you'll know where to find me if you need anything."

He left without another word. She could hear the muffled sound of another door opening and closing behind the wall.

Of course they were roomed right next to each other.

"Mm... Spike?" Twilight pulled her blanket over her eyes. "Spike, pull the drapes for me, would you?"

"On it."

"Thanks."

She opened an eye. "Wait, Spike?"

"Yeah?" The dragon turned around.

"You... I... we're back in Equestria again?"

Spike raised a brow.

"Spike, who do you talk to every night?"

"My Rarity plushie. I thought you knew that."

"What."

"What?"

"So, you aren't Timothy."

Spike made a face. "Who's Timothy? Is that someone we've met?"

"N-nevermind. It's just--"

"Twilight." Spike stepped up to the side of her bed, pulling her blankets back a little. "Don't stress yourself over stuff like that. You only woke a few days ago."

"Again, what?" Twilight propped herself up on a foreleg. "Spike, please tell me what's going on. I don't want to have to go through this all over again..."

"Again? What do you mean?"

"Simulations. Virtual reality. Stuff like that. You know?"

He shook his head. "No, I don't. Twilight, you've been in a coma. We had an earthquake a while back, and you were buried in your sleep. The rest of us have been taking turns watching over you while you recovered."

Twilight narrowed her eyes. "Define 'a while back'."

"Mm, I'd say about four years, give or take a few months."

"Four yea--" Twilight's eyes widened. "N-no--I... Spike, what is this that I'm remembering? It feels like it was a dream, but..."

"You think it was real? Yeah, I figured, with how long you've been out. You got conked on the head pretty hard back there. You had to be put on life support twice. First time was obviously when you were dug out, but the second time was when you got sick with something a few months back. See for yourself if you'd like. The stitches might even be there still."

Twilight's other hoof shot to her side. Sure enough, right where the tubes would've been had she been Lisa... were stitches. They seemed to be mostly healed by now, but they were there.

"It was far worse the second time, to be honest," he continued. "We almost lost you to septic shock. The doctors still have no idea where the pathogen came from, but a lot of your insides started to shut down and die. There isn't much left of your digestive system, for one. It took a lot of surgery to piece together what was left before we could remove the tubes."

"Is... is that why I lived almost the exact same dream twice over, then?"

Spike cocked his head. "What dream?"

"I'm not even sure if I could call it a dream, to be honest. To me, it was like I was living a whole different life. The first time, I woke up just fine. We were going to do some book reorganizing, but then the world started to fall apart, and... and it turned out that we were both human, and you were my younger brother, and--"

"Alright, alright, slow down, Twi." Spike placed a claw over Twilight's hoof. "Was the second dream the same as the first one?"

The mare gave a half-nod. "Kind of. It was definitely very similar, but at the same time, different. There were some little changes here and there, but I don't really remember what, specifically. I didn't even realize that the first dream had finished when the second one started."

Spike could only shrug in response. "Well, you're finally out of the daze you've been in since you first woke. That's what matters most. I'm sure Celestia would love to see you now that you aren't... well... y'know, nearly dead. Or dumb as a rock, for that matter."

Twilight stuck her tongue out at the dragon.

"Anyway, do you want me to tell your friends that you're awake? I'm sure you miss them."

"Yeah."

"...Twi? You're awake?"

Twilight watched one of her friends peek out from behind the door. She smiled, waving a hoof.

"She's awake, y'all!" her friend's voice ballooned with excitement. "Come on in!"

One-by-one, her closest friends began to flood into the room. The first friend --Apple... jack? It was a somewhat easier name to remember-- came first, obviously, followed by... she furrowed her brows. Was she forgetting their names? This one had the rainbow mane and tail. Rainbow... stripe?

No matter. The yellow one came in next. She was hiding behind her mane again.

Pinkie Pie bounced in after. Thanks to Samantha, Pinkie was still fresh on her mind. She'd have to talk with that mare in private a little later.

And then there was Generosity. That was her name, right? It was some sort of descriptive word. That's all she could remember.

Spike followed behind Generosity, gently closing the door behind himself.

"Been a long four years now, ain't it?"

Twilight looked up. Applejack was staring at her.

"I... yeah," Twilight sighed. "It's been a while. Spike told me."

"How are you feeling, darling?" Generosity was the next to speak. "Do you remember who we are?"

Twilight cringed. "I think so? Your name is Generosity, right?"

The mare shook her head. "Rarity. My name is Rarity. You were speaking to Applejack before me. Are you... are you okay, Twilight?"

"I don't know."

"What about me, Twi? You remember me, right?" Rainbow Stripe hovered just above the bedsheets. "I helped teach you how to fly when you got your wings, remember?"

"Yeah, I think so." Twilight nodded. "You're Rainbow Stripe, right? I remember the rainbow part well."

"You're half-right! The second part is Dash. Try and guess my middle name!"

"Now now, Rainbow," Applejack pulled Rainbow back by the tail. "Don't go botherin' Twi like that when she's still tryin' to remember everypony. None of us know what your real middle name is."

Rainbow rolled her eyes, touching down on the floor in front of the bed. "Aw, fine."

The yellow one stepped up beside Twilight, placing a hoof over her forehead. Twilight eyed the three butterflies on her flank.

"Butterfly, I--"

"Fluttershy." Fluttershy corrected Twilight without skipping a beat. She took her hoof off of Twilight's forehead. "Oh... uh, sorry for interrupting like that. I was just worried that you might still have a fever. You had a terrible illness not too long ago. Your fever is gone now, so that's good at least..."

Twilight blinked, giving a single nod. "Thanks for checking, Fluttershy. I'm guessing you were the one watching over me when Spike wasn't around, then?"

"Mm-hmm."

"Thanks." Twilight turned her attention to the final mare, who stood a little further behind the rest. "Pinkie?"

"...Yeah?"

"Pinkie Pie. That's your name, right?"

"Yeah."

"Pinkie, was there anything... wierd happening?"

"What do you mean?"

Twilight shrugged. So much for talking in private. "I don't really know for sure, actually. Does the name 'Samantha' ring a bell for you?"

Pinkie seemed to freeze at the mention of that name. "N-no, it doesn't."

"You're sure?"

"Yeah."

"Thanks for visiting me! I'll see you tomorrow!" Twilight waved at Rainbow Dash. That left only Pinkie and herself in the room. Spike had long-since left around the same time as Rarity.

"Pinkie."

"Hm?"

"I know that you're hiding something."

Pinkie lowered her head.

"You remember too, don't you?" Twilight leaned closer to her friend. "The time you spent as Samantha, I mean."

The mare nodded slowly.

"So it did happen, then."

"Yeah."

Twilight turned her gaze to a wrinkle in her sheets. She gave it a flick. "Do... you think this is also a simulation, then? Or is this the outside world?"

"I don't know."

Twilight hummed idly as she pulled another book off the shelf. Days like today--when she had seemingly all the time in the world to herself--were becoming increasingly rare with how busy she'd become. It was nice to wind down every now and then to just... reshelve books.

In a way, it almost felt like she was decluttering her thoughts whenever she did this.

A smile formed at the edges of the mare's lips as she set the tome aside, though it didn't last long. "...Huh?" She raised a brow at the next book she'd been reaching for. The title on its spine flickered back to what it was before. Twilight shook her head. Just a figment of her imagination.

She pulled that book out, setting it atop the previous one on the table beside her. Her eyes lingered on its title for a few more seconds before she turned away. Just my imagination.

Twilight sucked in a breath. Maybe she was a little more tired than she thought she was. Still, leaving her books only partway reshelved was something she didn't exactly like doing. She scanned the remaining books on the shelf, reading over each title one by one. So far, so good. No weird flickering to be--

--seen. She cocked her head. This one was still flickering, even as she was looking at it. It was a little hard to tell what its title was through the mashed-together text on its spine.

"Spike?" she called. "Spike, you there? I... I think I might be feeling a little sick."

She peered at the books on the table, immediately raising a brow. The titles were different from what they were when she'd last looked at them. She picked up the most recent tome. Since when did she have a book titled 'Lisa'? Come to think of it, had she ever even seen a book with that title?

The next book underneath was the same, only its title read 'Timothy' instead.

She breathed a sigh of relief when she heard her assistant's footsteps approaching. He opened the door.

"Hey, Twi. You need something?" The dragon poked his head in. "I heard you say something about feeling sick. You feeling alright?"

"Kinda, I guess. Could you bring me something to drink, please? I'm beginning to feel that the hot temperatures we've been getting these past few days might be getting to my head."

Spike nodded and retreated from the doorway. He reappeared mere moments later with a small bottle in hand. "Found some yogurt in the kitchen. Will that do?"

Twilight ignored the logistics of how Spike could've traveled downstairs to the kitchen and back in only a matter of seconds. "Thanks, Spike." She lit her horn, taking the bottle. She gave it a good shake in case of anything settled.

And then she stopped. Something about the bottle. It seemed... familiar, somehow. She pushed the thought aside. Again, it must've been the heat getting to her. Of course it'd be familiar! It came from her own refrigerator!

She tore the foil lid off the top of the bottle and raised it to her lips, only to once again be stopped. This time, by a painful yank on her side. She yelped, dropping the bottle as her hoof instinctively flew to her side. Her eyes followed close behind, landing on a cluster of tubing running out of her body.

"Spike?" Twilight slowly turned her head. Spike was gone.

Lisa shot up in bed, panting. Were there any--she ran her hands over her body, breathing a sigh of relief. No tubes. She could still feel her heart pounding in her chest after that nightmare. She closed her eyes, thinking back to that breathing exercise that Cadance... or at least, whoever might've been playing as Cadance--had taught her.

In, out. In, out. In... out.

The room was quiet now, at least. No humming from the hulking machine in the room, no footsteps outside... though, she could hear some faint conversation from next door.

...Wait, wasn't that Timothy's apartment?

She hopped out of bed, making a beeline for the door. The fact that she could feel every little imperfection in the floorboards served as a reminder that her bare feet were far softer than the hooves she had as a pony.

Though, now that she was outside, maybe it wouldn't hurt to get a bit of fresh air before heading to her brother's place.

...The fact that her assistant and sort-of adopted brother was actually her biological brother all along still felt more than a little weird.

Anyway.

Timothy's apartment was the one right behind her own, if one were to count the sides with the doors as the fronts. She could see light pouring out into the night as she walked past the small side window. She stopped in front of the door, bringing a hand up to knock.

"Come in, Lis. We heard you outside already."

Oh.

Lisa opened the door. Her eyes immediately shot to Samantha, who was currently sitting on Timothy's cot.

"Hey," Samantha waved, "you're up pretty late tonight. Something on your mind?"

Lisa shook her head. "No, not really. What were you two talking about?"

"Th--" Timothy began to speak, but was quickly cut off by Samantha.

"Someone's been trying to hack into the servers. I have no idea what they're after right now, but from what I've read in the report I got, there's reason to believe that they've already succeeded."

"Rosanne."

No response, save for the clicking of buttons on the young woman's gamepad.

"Rosanne, what are you doing? Why aren't you working?"

Rosanne's headset was lifted from her face. She scowled at the intrusion into her nature exploration game. "Hey, gimme some slack already, Selene. I did what you asked, and now I'm taking a break. What else am I supposed to be doing, Moonbutt?"

It was Selene's turn to frown now. She placed down the headset on Rosanne's desk. "First of all, don't call me Moonbutt. You were able to get in using your old company credentials, yes?"

Rosanne nodded.

"And you took advantage of the disconnection event as a distraction? Snagged yourself the files that we're after?"

Another nod.

"Then why are you slacking off?" Selene tightened her grip on the headset. "You have the perfect opportunity to strike them again right now. With their external network still down for the count, they've been acting like a bunch of chickens with their heads cut off. Tell me what's stopping you? Money?" She slipped her other hand into a pocket. "You want more money for the job, I can pay you that money. It's a whole lot cheaper than buying one of their private sims as it is anyway."

"No, no, it's not the money." Rosanne shook her head. "It's just... don'tcha think we're going a little overboard with this? That whole talk you had with me about bringing them to their knees made you sound like you were a bit in over your head. Wouldn't it make sense to step back now that we have what we wanted? Just kinda lay low for a while?"

"No, and you don't work for them anymore, anyway. You don't have to act nice to make your old boss happy anymore." Selene tossed the headset back into Rosanne's lap. "And, again, don't forget that you're being paid to do what I say. You made the choice to join me when you quit, and I expect for you to stand by that choice. What's the progress on the ransomware?"

Rosanne nearly choked. "Wh-what?" she sputtered. "I don't remember you ever asking about that! All you said was to nab some files off the company servers to build a private sim for yourself! You know how seriously they take stuff like this as it is--you used to work there yourself!"

"I know." Selene turned away. "I know. Hey, before I go, I've got something I'd like to know. Why did you quit? You had a well-paying position, basically all the freedom you wanted, so long as you did what you had to do... heck, with how much you make for your age, it'd only be a few years tops before you had enough to buy yourself a decent little house with a car to match. What gives? Why did you decide that I was a better choice than the job you left behind?"

Rosanne shrugged. "Just thought it'd be a little more interesting, I guess. I don't really worry much about money, since I don't need to make very much anyway, so I just go with what seems more exciting." She fidgeted with the strap on her headset. "And you? You're interesting. You and your hacker-for-hire position that you were looking to fill. My brother used to have the same boredom problem as me, but he chose to splurge some of our parents' money on a private sim for himself, but me?" She placed the headset back over her face with a grin. "I like my excitement real."

"Wait. you--your family can..." Selene balled her fists. "Your family can afford private sims? Why didn't you tell me? What’s the point of taking pay if you don’t need it?

"I--"

Selene whirled around to face her employee. "Why even bother with the crap I put you and myself through? Don't you have some kind of reputation to protect or something, Miss 'My Family Has Money to Splurge'?"

Rosanne lifted her headset, staring into Selene's eyes. Save for the latter’s seething breaths, the room was silent. She placed the device back on her desk, turning away from her boss.

"I... don't know."

"Well, I’d like for you to take some time to think about it."

Selene left the room without another word.

"Rise and shine!" Timothy knocked on the door. "Wake up, sleepyhead!"

Lisa groaned, turning over. She brushed the tangled mess of her hair away from her eyes. "Five more minutes," she yelled back.

"C'mon." He opened the door and peeked inside. "Samantha wants us to look at something with her."

Fine.

"Li--"

"'Kay, hold on," Lisa yawned as she opened her eyes. "But seriously, give me a couple of minutes. I don't feel like getting up right now. Is this what it's like to be lazy?"

Timothy chuckled. "Alrighty then, princess." She could see him shrug in the corner of her eye. "I'll just wait outside while you learn about power napping."

The door clicked shut. She closed her eyes again. What was it that Samantha wanted them to look at? There was hardly anything interesting in Snowbush, considering its middle-of-nowhere-ness.

She yawned again, scratching her head. No sense in keeping her brother waiting for too long. She sat up, frowning at the stray hairs that'd drifted into view as she did so... Actually, now that she'd thought of it, preparing herself for the day wasn't a bad idea. The sour taste in her mouth certainly called for some attention, at the very least.

Lisa stood up and let out a heavy sigh. Today was a new day, and that meant there were new things to do. She walked to the door and opened it.

"Took you long enough." Timothy snickered. "Any longer and I'd be barging in on you again." He paused, looking her over. "You wanna clean up a bit first, though? Grab breakfast and stuff? You look like crap."

Way to keep it subtle, Spike.

Lisa rolled her eyes. "Yeah, sure, I guess... y'know, you look pretty awful yourself, too."

"Yup, I know. Basically everyone in this place looks terrible."

"So--"

"So we're heading to town hall then." He grabbed her by the hand. "We both know we have garbage-breath."

Lisa stared at the swaths of people mingling up ahead.

She felt her brother yank her to the side. "Over here. Man, do I have to drag you everywhere out here? Bathrooms are this way. Samantha was able to get some catering happening, so everyone's getting access to the breakfast buffet that you saw back there."

"So, we're brushing our teeth?"

"Yup. Snowbush also got a bunch of toiletries and stuff to go with the catering. Just... uh, make sure that nobody takes your toothbrush after you use it. Samantha's got yoinked when she wasn't looking, from what I've heard."

Lisa raised a brow.

"Ahem. Toothbrushes are over here." Timothy began walking again, dragging her along. "Pretty sure that this place has public showers too, if you wanna wash off."

They stopped in front of a stand piled high with dental care packages. Lisa picked one up. It didn't look much different from the ones she'd seen in the travel aisles of grocery and convenience stores back at home.

"Orange, huh?" Timothy took a blue set for himself, pointing it at a set of doors little further down the hall. "Those are the restrooms over there."

"Mm-hm, know that already."

He slipped his toothbrush set into a pocket. "Alrighty, just making sure. Don't take too long!"

He wandered off to the aforementioned restrooms after that.

...Wait a minute, when did he get a new set of clothes with pockets?

Hair.

Lots of hair.

Lisa stared at her reflection. Was her hair always this... messy? She held a hand to her long bangs. Come to think of it, the crazy hairdo was to be expected, anyway. There were plenty of folks she'd seen with equally-messy hair, Timothy included. She just hadn't really put any thought into those observations.

One thing she was putting thought into, however, was her height. It was a bit hard to find really any sort of reference point, given the whole situation regarding not being a pony anymore. Things back in Equestria were probably scaled-down, too.

It was still interesting how Timothy managed to get his hands on a change of clothes, though. It'd be nice to wear something that wasn't a hospital gown all the time.

She looked down at her now-used toothbrush. It was probably best to put it back in its wrapper alongside the toothpaste, since she didn't exactly have anywhere else to put it.

As for her hair, any and all attempts to comb it with her fingers had fallen flat. Like her hair. Seemed like she'd have to rock the eternal bed-hair style for just a little longer.

Lisa pushed the door open and exited the restroom. Timothy was nowhere to be found, though it didn't take long for him to catch up once he was out.

"Y'know,” he hummed, “Sometimes, I think about my life choices."

"Wh--" She glanced at him. "Huh?"

Timothy shrugged. "Just thinking out loud. Like, y'know how I'm Spike back in Equestria, right?"

"Yes?"

"When the heck did I decide that being a tiny dragon would be cool? It's annoying not being able to reach the top shelves of things without a ladder or stool."

"O...kay. Well, maybe you can ask Samantha to make you taller or something. She can do that, can't she?"

"Maybe." Timothy paused. "Hey, actually, I've got a question for you. See how much you know about us."

"Shoot away."

He grinned. "Guess how old I am?"

Lisa cocked her head. "Teens?"

"Nope! Higher."

"Wait, but wouldn't that--"

"Mean that I'm older than Spike out here in real-life? Yup. Don't forget, I play him as a character. I don't necessarily have to live through every part of his life. Kinda like you and Twilight, though you've obviously grown into her over time."

"Wh--" Lisa stopped walking. "What?"

"I'm saying that those memories you have of Twilight as a filly aren't your own."

...Well, that's going to weigh on her for the rest of her life. Fun.

"So, you wanna try again at guessing my age? If you're wondering, I'm still younger than you are, so the whole sibling-assistant dynamic we have in Equestria's more or less the same. Also, catch up already. Why'd you stop?"

"It's... it's just..." She began walking again, though she didn't make any attempt to actually keep pace. "All that time, I thought I genuinely was Twilight Sparkle. Hearing that she's nothing more than a character that I play as... I--"

"Anyway, we're here! Lookit all that food!" Timothy cut her off, gesturing at the buffet carts before them. "You want eggs? Cereal? There's oatmeal too if you want any of that. I'ma grab some bacon and waffles for myself, so you go ahead and find something to eat without me!"

Wow. That was... Lisa shook her head. There wasn't any way to get that out of her head anytime soon, was there?

"You gonna keep standing there, or are you going to get some food?" Timothy walked past with a plate. "I know we took a detour to the restrooms first, but we're still in a rush, y'know."

Right. Existential crisis aside, a bowl of hot oatmeal sounded nice right now.

Maybe she should've considered adding a little less water to the oatmeal.

"Can you pass me the syrup?"

She passed Timothy the syrup.

"Thanks. You want any bacon?"

Lisa shook her head. "No, thanks. It smells great, though."

"Okay then. More for me."

"Oh, hi there, Tim!" Grace paused behind the two. "Didn't realize you were here as well! Same goes for you, Lisa. Tim, do you know anything on the status of what Samantha's been monitoring? I've kinda been left in the dark on the topic since I'm just here to help keep the peace."

Timothy swallowed his mouthful of waffles. "Nope, I haven't taken a look since I went to get my sister."

"Actually, speaking of Samantha--" Lisa turned to her brother. "The conversation you were having with her last night. What were you talking about? I don't think I caught much of what was going on."

Timothy shrugged. "Well, there's that whole deal about cut cables and hacking and stuff, though I'm pretty sure you've heard of both already. Pretty sure Sam's got a lead on the folks responsible as well, last I checked." His eyes turned to her bangs. "You... uh, have a bit of oatmeal in your--"

Lisa looked down at her oatmeal-soaked hair. Probably shouldn't have leaned so far over the bowl.

"Guess I'm in the same boat as you two, then." Grace sat down beside Timothy. "Sam and Argall are probably the only two I know of in this entire town with access to the confidential stuff. I was thinking I'd be let in on the loop too since my mom's one of the big-shots back in HQ, but I guess not. Just gotta do what I can to help out for now. Keep folks from panicking and stuff."

Lisa gave a nod and wiped the oatmeal from her hair as best as she could. "Yup. By the way, is there anything I could maybe do from the inside of the simulation? I want to help protect my home whatever way possi--"

"Actually," Timothy stood up with his now-empty plate, "Lis, save it for later. We're waaaay late already."

"But my oatmeal--"

"You can finish it later, sis. You wanna come or not?"

Lisa stared at her practically-untouched oatmeal. "Fine." She pushed her bowl away. "Where is she, anyway? I haven't seen Samantha since last night. Did she already eat?"

"Yup."

Timothy held the door open for his sister.

"Where are we even going?" Lisa stepped out of the building. "You didn't answer the first question."

"Minivan. She should be somewhere around here, last I checked."

Oh yeah, that. A honk off to the side caught her attention. Sure enough, Samantha was there in the driver's seat. Professor Argall, too.

"About time you two showed up!" Samantha waved from the window. "What took you so long, Tim? You were just supposed to ask Lisa if she wanted to join us!"

Timothy shrugged, making his way over to the parked vehicle. "She got hungry."

"And I'm still hungry." Lisa rolled her eyes. "Hardly ate a thing before somebody dragged me out here."

"You could've actually eaten then, instead of staring at your oatmeal for, like three minutes."

Samantha glanced between the two as Lisa caught up. "Anyway," she continued, "Tim, Lis, you two wanna take a look at this? Argall and I were discussing what services might've been compromised in the breach."

"Sure." Timothy nodded, craning his neck toward the laptop sitting on the dashboard. "Uh, would you mind--"

"Oh, hold on, I'll just open the door for you."

He stepped away as Samantha swung the door open.

"Better?"

"Mm-hm." Timothy stepped around the door and peeked at the laptop's display. Lisa followed suit.

"So, from the reports that I was sent, the security breach seemed to be targeting our archival servers where we keep our on-site backups. Until recently, employees were allowed to upload to and read from these servers as much as they wanted, though there were restrictions on file types and what could be deleted. Point is, the rogue employee account that we've been tracking seems to be accessing and downloading a massive number of documents from this server." Samantha pointed a finger at the screen. "What's worse is that most of these documents seem to be related to our prototype hardware; photos, models, stuff like that. Given how an employee account was used to carry out the intrusion, I'm pretty sure that they've already got the necessary software that pairs with these prototypes."

Lisa cringed. That certainly wasn't going to be fun to deal with. "At... least they didn't destroy anything?"

Samantha shook her head. "No, I'm not worried about that. We have multiple air-gapped backup servers across the globe for a reason. What I am worried about, though, is that if and when those documents--those trade secrets--land in the wrong hands, then we'll be dealing with something far worse than a simple information leak next time around. Heck, depending on what they're planning on targeting next, if they got hold of the proprietary encryption algorithms, then we're going to be looking at some of the most stressful emergency patches of our lives."

She glanced at Lisa's expressionless face.

"Uh... we, meaning me and Argall."

"Uh-huh?"

"What I'm saying is that it could be possible for whoever broke into the network to almost perfectly impersonate anyone. It's identity theft in the most literal sense. Anyway—” Samantha turned to the professor. “Argall, thoughts on whether or not this specific cluster of servers has stuff on encryption? I don't work much in R&D anymore these days."

Professor Argall gave a single nod. "Yes we do, last I remember. It's certainly been quite some time since I've had a look myself, though, given my retirement."

Samantha groaned.

"So, is there anything that I can maybe help with, then?" Lisa looked away from the screen to her... friend? Samantha was Pinkie, after all... She shook her head. "I... sorry about that. Didn't mean to stare."

"No worries. As far as helping out, I'd say that there would be a lot more you can do if you stick around for a while." Samantha reached for her laptop and took it off the dashboard. "I know you really don't remember much of your past, but on the off-chance that you do start to regain those memories, I want you around for your expertise. You're one of the original developers of the simulations, after all."

"What."

"Yeahhhh..." Timothy snickered. "Remembering that stuff is gonna take a while, y'know."

"Welp." Samantha shut the lid of the laptop. "That's all I'm going to do for now. There really isn't much I can do out here beyond monitoring the network, and even then, updates have only been rolling in every, like, half an hour. Lisa, I'm leaving you with Argall for a bit. See if you've got any questions for him or vice-versa."

"Wait, wha--" Lisa backed away as Samantha stepped out of the minivan, laptop in tow. "I thought you wanted us to take a look at things with you?"

"And you just did." Samantha shrugged. "Unless you wanna keep staring at a screen that changes slower than paint dries." She winked, a grin on her face. "And yes, I remember the cloning incident, Twilight."

"I'm heading off with Samantha as well." Timothy yawned. "Well, you have a nice chat with dad for now. Breakfast buffet's still open for a few more hours if you're planning on getting another bowl of oatmeal."

Lisa gazed at the professor. The fact that Timothy just called him dad absolutely made things more awkward.

"So... uh, hi--"

Professor Argall grunted. "I'll start."

"Huh?"

"I'll start," he repeated. "You don't have to ask me anything if you don't feel like it. Same goes for answering my own questions, given the circumstances. Sit down if you'd like. Samantha won't mind."

"O...kay." Lisa climbed into the driver's seat.

"Do you like it in the simulation?"

She nodded. "I didn't realize it was one until I was disconnected."

"And what about your parents? Night Light and Twilight... Velvet?"

Another nod.

"Twilight Velvet. Alright, I was thinking that was the name. I remember you told me long ago that you planned on bringing your parents back. For a while, their characters were running off of specifications that you wrote yourself. After a certain point, though... well, I never had any children of my own until I adopted you and your brother, so--"

"Wait--this is the second time that I've heard about myself and Timothy being adopted.” She leaned closer to him. “I want to learn more about that. I still have plenty of questions about the simulation itself and my involvement with it, but let's start with adoption."

Argall gave a silent nod.

"Alright. So, adoption. Why did you adopt me and Timothy in the first place? Did something happen to our parents?"

He visibly cringed at that second sentence. "Yes, something happened to them. I wanted to ensure you and your brother still had a chance of staying together after what had happened. I even kept your original last names after the papers were signed; it just didn't feel right to erase the last of what you had from before."

"But what happened? You're avoiding the question!"

He lowered his head. "Just... don't worry about it. I think it's for the better that I don't discuss what led to your adoption. At least, not right now."

"Why, though?" Lisa scratched her head. "Is it bad?"

"Yes. That's all I am going to say for now."

"Oh. So, do you have anything else you'd like to ask?"

Argall nodded, his expression softening. "Yes, actually. I heard from a certain boy-turned-drake that you've taken on quite a high position. I presume you're now a close advisor to Celestial?"

"Celestia, and no. I've actually... well, replaced her, more or less."

"Huh. Well, that certainly wasn't what I'd expected."

"Do you think any of my friends were disconnected? Besides Samantha, I mean. There are four others that I'm hoping I'll be able to meet out here in the real world."

The professor shrugged. "It's possible, I suppose. Though, that in and of itself would depend on them being actual people, rather than non-player characters."

"Oh."

"Something wrong?"

"No, I don't think so... I mean, the idea that my friends might not actually exist is weird for sure, but I've come to expect stuff like that by now. Is... there anything else you want to ask?"

Professor Argall shook his head. "That's it for now. I should catch up with Samantha and your brother. It's been nice talking with you, Lisa."

"You too."

He opened his door and stepped out, leaving the girl alone in the driver's seat.