• POV: Parzival.

I felt all kinds of awkward as we walked down one particular road. There were about a dozen manors here, each made of a different material... and looking like it was straight out of an old Flash Animation.

Aech and I looked so obvious with our more computer generated art style. We looked like we were out of a 21st century videogame... walking around in a 2.D. child's cartoon.

This city of "Ponyville" wasn't really my cup of tea. As I specialized in fandoms from the 80s and 90s. Back when I was a real kid, There was a massive revival of such classic media, due to their copyrights falling.

The Brony fandom wasn't really a thing until the 2010s, so the Copyright of Friendship is magic remained firmly in Hasbros hands. As Hasbro was a sub department of Disney, at the time, that company did all in it's power to keep hold of it's copyrights. They lost enough when that law was passed, and weren't willing to lose any more.

As a result, Disney was vastly overshadowed by all the remakes of 80s and 90s classics. But all companies have their ups and downs, and it hardly destroyed the Disney Empire (which now had it's own planet in the Oasis. Where it still pumped out new content too this day).

My mind wandered as Aech directed me to the rich side of town. There were a handful of large manors, going down this road... looking straight out of a Barbie magazine.

Although none was a generic manor. They each appeared to be custom built... with lots of rainbows. Some were even made of freaking clouds.

Regardless, these were clearly luxury manors, designed for billionaires. So this meant my new brother was very rich, and possibly even influential... At least, with the bronies.

I didn't recognize any of the names on the mail boxes. Not this "Foal Star", or "SuperPinkBrony12". Though given how nice their manors were, they were probably important to the Padded Foal community, but I didn't have a clue who any of them were... so I kinda just assumed I wouldn't recognize my new brother's name, either, and stopped paying attention.

Aech hadn't told me anything about this kid... other then he was an introvert, with a very active social life, that sometimes overwhelmed him... and that he was a lot more sheltered when it came to things like media and technology... really after hearing THAT, I couldn't figure why Aech would be interested in this kid. They would have nothing in common!!!

Aech was one of the leading programmers, long before people emigrated to the Oasis Matrix. Before the High Five inherited the original Oasis game, he was one of the top players on the Modders board. Why would he want a kid that didn't know a thing about technology...

And what could I possibly talk about with a "sheltered" hermit? I was a scholar of pop-culture. I literally talked about nothing but my favorite movies and games. My favorite pass time was spotting Easter Eggs... How could I possibly relate to a "Casual". I don't have anything against such players... but I also had nothing in common with them.

I sighed, as Aech guided us to one mansion... looking like a small castle, floating on a cloud. A staircase leading up to the floating island... well... it certainly looked grand... definitely more then I could afford.

I briefly wondered, as we began walking up the steps... well if he wasn't much of a gamer, how did he earn enough money for this? Maybe he wrote pony fan fiction? Or just like playing domestic jobs around the map. Those were an easy, and quick, way to earn coin... but they were basically just mindless grinding games.

Honestly, based on what Aech told me, I was preparing myself for disappointment. I could just imagine a dorky kid. That does nothing but play diner dash, and tend his Hub Village.

Regardless, I'd do my best to be polite. After all Aech was trying to merge tribes with his wife. I'd met the Asari lots of times, and liked her. So I didn't plan to make waves with her son. But I can't imagine I'd enjoy any of this.

Aech was now knocking on the door. It took a few minutes for it to open. Due to the yelling.

"Open the door," I recognized Metagamer's voice.

Followed by, "But they'll see me!!!" from a shrill, kinda nasally kid voice.

Aech smiled at the horrified whine.

Meta retorted with, "They're gonna see you anyway."

"Just let me change,"

"S'mouth. Open. The. Door."

There was a groan of acceptance. The kind I definitely don't have when I'm about to do something embarrassing. But when the door opened, I could see why... and might confess to making such a sound if Aech had forced me to dress like that.

In front of us was an Animalistic Avatar. Which meant he was humanoid, but with a few animal features. Like hooved legs, a fluffy fox tail, giant foxy ears (that were too big for his head), sharp teeth, and small leathery wings.

That might have looked scary, if he didn't also have an adorable pretty boy face, and stood at an impressive 3 foot five.

He had a strange pale tan. As his skin was a Hispanic brown, but was so light, as if he didn't see the sun often. A little more odd was his features were more caucasian. Especially his button nose.

However, none of that was what he should be embarrassed over. As I said, he was really cute. No, his issue was he was wearing a blue SAILOR SUIT!!! Complete with white trim, oversized white collar, and red neckerchief. His hair was even styled in the dorkiest way possible.

Poor kid. His face was really flushed with embarrassment.

"Hi-hi Aech," The boy greeted the adult first, as was proper.

"Good to see you again, kid." Aech ruffled the boy's mane. unfortunately it all fell perfectly back in place. "This is my Ward, Parzival." Aech introduced me.

"Hi." I blushed, still not feeling comfortable to be seen, by strangers, in this form. Even when they were fellow kids. "I'm Parzival," I held out my hand.

The boy hesitated, then extended his own. "S'mouth," he named himself

Two screens popped up in front of me. Or rather, one in front of me, and the other in front of S'mouth. It was our Hub Computers, sharing info between each other, while showing us both the other's profile.

My eyes buggered out of my head at that, as I saw just who this was. I might never have watched the My Little Galaxy cartoons, but I didn't know a kid at school who didn't watch at least one of the cartoons leading up to it. I watched most of them. Though I tended to prefer his self contained stories on his "ColtKit Productions" Channel. Which were more self contained.

I spent the first couple of years, with this kid as the only creator of new content. He was one of the few fan fic writers, that was installed as a Beta tester of the Oasis Matrix.

I looked to Aech, gaping. He just smiled at me. I hadn't realized he had such connections... though I guess it should have been rather obvious... he was Aech, after all. He was always more social, then myself.

This was Smart Mouth, commonly dubbed "The Prince of cartoons" by the media.

This kid had started the very trend of working with AIs, as the producer instead of the active writer. The very first to unlock the skill perks, to allow that. The boy just took his organic imagination, and had his AI build the cartoon for him, as it would build a VGP (Virtual Gaming Program).

... but it was more then that... his cartoons were just sooooo GOOD!!! His cartoons were even watched by people that had no interest in age play, or spanking stories, simply because he put a lot of effort into the actual plot and world. That's why he stayed popular, even after more producers started popping up.

Don't get me wrong, he had some weird-ass ideas, but they were nearly always interesting.

Although, he did seem to overly obsessed about that "My Little Galaxy", let's play he made... too the point he was neglecting his other creations, but his Hub Computer recently put him back on track. Time management was part of their purpose, after all.

His biggest stuff was crossovers. As he had a way of blending universes, that had no logical connection, into compelling and believable worlds.

In one interview he stated he spent so much time on the world, back when he wrote Fanfiction, that he sometimes got distracted explaining it, instead of focusing on anything else. He believed he was a hack writer, but that "Oasis Matrix" let him express himself more then he ever could before, as a producer and editor.

He was always quick to insist, the cartoons wouldn't be half as good, without his Hub Computer.

"Errrrrr... You okay?" The boy blinked at me, as apparently I had been staring. Then blushed, "Is it the outfit?" he looked down at himself.

The boy then glared up at an approaching Asari. She, as Metagamer liked to be called "She" when in her Asari form, ignored the glare... and looked far too smug. In what was obviously her choice of outfit.

"It's a pleasure to see you again." Meta said to us. That is Aech and I. Getting my brain back on track.

"You as well." Aech smiled dreamily.

"Please, follow me to the main sitting room?" Meta spoke strangely proper. She wasn't usually so formal. It made me tense up a bit. However, her wink, in my direction, caused me to relax. She was just being silly. "Is nearly time for morning tea. The boys can retire to S'mouth's playroom."

I looked at Smart Mouth, while the boy looked back at me. Obviously he hadn't expected we would just be left to our own devices...

"Come on," He led me up the stairs, as the adults went on their own...

Things developed into an awkward silence. As I watched S'mouth scowl.

"You okay?" I asked.

The boy blinked, looking over at me, as if just now remembering I was following him.

"Sorry," S'mouth blushed. "Meta just turned off her corner of our hive mind. Whatever's going on, with her Husband, she wants privacy."

That's right, Smart Mouth had an early model implant. I just hadn't realized Metagamer was a part of that. Though I will admit, I didn't have much experience with her. Outside occasionally hanging out with her, but that usually involved Aech too.

I gave a slight smile, realizing we at least had one thing in common, a perspective most players could never experience. We both had a Hive Mind.