I nearly fall on my butt when a short Viking man comes running at me. With no notice, I blast off into space. My body tenses up like it’s actually happening. This is wild.
A prompt flashes PONYBOY HAS ENTERED THE GAME. We are now traveling in space together. “Hi, Ponyboy,” I say.
“Come here often?”
I look over (in VR world) and see Pony’s avatar standing beside me. He’s got the same hair and general look but way, way more muscles.
“How much cyber currency did those muscles cost?”
He flexes his fake muscles and smiles big.
“Pony, I can’t see myself. What do I look like?”
“You’re not going to love this. New players always get the default avatar.” A mirror appears in Pony’s hand. He holds it up to my face.
“I’m Ralph,” I say.
“Aren’t we all Ralph, really? Can I give you a tour?”
“Do I have a choice?”
“No,” he says, then grabs my virtual hand. We blast off back down to earth and straight into the ocean, landing on the ocean floor within seconds. Hundreds of brightly colored fish swim by as a dopey turtle crawls across my feet.
“Should we find the Little Mermaid?” I ask.
“Look behind you,” Pony says. I turn around, and I’m face-to-face with a huge manatee. I scream, but just a cute amount. I pet the sea cow, and she smiles back at me, blowing colorful bubbles.
Pony calls over two dolphins. We hop on—never say no to a dolphin ride—and take off through the fake sea, cruising past football field–size whales and squid that light up the water.
The screens all go black, and then we are in a war zone with a gun in each hand.
“Ew, no thanks,” I say. Killing isn’t my thing. The screen flashes again and I’m standing over a huge kitchen stove. I look up, and we’re in a busy CGI restaurant. Who the hell wants a virtual job?
Pony walks over and cracks a couple eggs in a skillet. I grab a handful of bacon and set it on the pan. I feel silly cooking fake food, but it’s cool to hear sizzling bacon and chatter from the customers. Only thing missing is the smell.
Virtual Ponyboy is cooking right beside me. I toss some pancake batter on him. He laughs and picks up and throws a CGI egg that hits me in the CGI face. “Oh, we’ve got beef now,” I say, then throw some virtual hamburger meat at him. “Get it?” I shout between laughing.
We’re having a food fight that I won’t have to shower after—this is genius. Eggs are flying, and so are avocados, carrots, bread, and anything we can get our fake hands on. Pony flips a bowl over, and flour goes everywhere. I am about to break a rib from laughing so hard.
When the flour fog finally clears, Virtual Pony is standing right in front of me. He puts his arms on my shoulders and pulls me in. No words, just a busy restaurant not getting their fake food. I run my hand down his chest. I put my arms around him. We are embraced without touching. Right now, we are just two bodies uncomplicated by our limitations.
A prompt flashes SESSION ENDS IN 10 SECONDS.
We take off our headsets, back to reality. My eyes adjust to the real world. It feels like I’ve been crossing my eyes for thirty minutes. Pony is standing just out of my reach, staring at me.
“Georgia, will you ever be able to trust me?”
“I don’t know,” I say.
He drops his headset. “Did I tell you about my grandma?”
“You did. She passed when you were a freshman?”
“That’s her. Growing up, my parents would ship me and my sister off to Nana’s house in Montana for two weeks every summer. Cheaper than sleepaway camp, they said. She lived by a ranch with horses. I would spend hours watching the horses running, fast and free. So strong and confident.”
Pony is standing about three feet away. I can see his hand shaking.
“For me, choosing my new name was one of the hardest parts of transitioning. One late night of googling names, I wrote down the characteristics that I wanted most: strength, confidence, freedom.”
“Like a pony,” I say.
“Like a pony,” he confirms.
He takes a step closer. I still feel off-balance from the headset.
He continues, “I won’t keep secrets, Georgia. You can know everything.”
He takes a step closer. Our faces close. “My birth name, my dead name, the thing you want to know so bad, I’ll tell you. it’s Sa—”
I lean forward and