run>DEMON_SUMMONING_PROGRAM.exe

run>DEMON_SUMMONING_PROGRAM.exe

“I’m home,” Blue Ribbon called out as she shut her apartment door.

“Welcome back,” her mother said from farther in. Something smelled really tasty. Her mother must have been cooking something. Something nice.

Blue trotted into the living room to set down her saddlebags, and noticed her mother sitting on the couch with an exasperated look on her face. “Mom? What’s wrong? Where’s Dad?”

Blue’s mother sighed. “He called earlier, said he wouldn’t make it home tonight. Apparently they’ve put him on some very important case. He could have had the decency to call before I started making dinner, though.”

Blue frowned, but bit her tongue. It was true that her father was working a lot more lately, and that he often came home late, if at all, but his work was extremely important. He was hunting down criminals and heretics, dangerous ponies that posed a threat to all of New Equestria.

“I was making his favorites, too: flora stir-fry and apple-cinnamon bread.” She pouted for a moment, but seemed to let it go fairly quickly. “Never mind that, though. Why don’t you tell me about your day?”

“Well, we got a new transfer student in our class today,” Blue said, sitting beside her mother.

“Really? This late in the year?”

“Yeah, I know it’s a little weird. He’s also a bit of an odd duck,” she said. “I mean, he’s not very talkative, until you get him in a one-on-one setting, but once I got him talking, he turned out to be pretty interesting. He said that he’s doing programming for one of the big corporations, and they’re paying him really well.”

“What kind of programming?”

“He wouldn’t really say. He said if he told anypony, it would be a breach of his contract,” Blue said. “Oh, he did offer to show me some of what he’s doing, since he needs a volunteer for the ‘next phase’ of his project. I’ll be meeting him tomorrow night.”

“You’ll be out? What time are you leaving?”

“Around 7:30. He wanted to meet at 8. I should be home before 11, though.”

“Oh, too bad. You’ll be missing your father, then. He said he would be home at 8 tomorrow.”

“Oh.” Blue frowned again. “There’s something I had wanted to ask him about.”

Her mother raised an eyebrow. “What’s that?”

“Well, the transfer student said he knew Dad, that he’d met him somewhere before. I just thought it was weird, and wanted to know what Dad knew about him.”

“Well, I’m sure he’d want to know about this, if he could meet with an acquaintance. I’ll be sure to tell him when he gets back tomorrow. What’s this transfer student’s name, dear?”

“Crimson Core.”

“Hmm… I’m sure I’ve heard your father mention that name someplace, but I can’t remember where, when or why. Oh, well, it’s probably nothing. Anyway, I’m sure you have homework, so I’ll let you get to work on that.”

“Okay, Mom,” Blue said, picking up her saddlebag and going to her room.

Her homework consisted of calculations and memorizations of things she, being the studious and ambitious student she was, had already calculated and memorized. It took her mere minutes to complete the work. Of course, once her homework was out of the way, she was free to indulge in one of her more guilty pleasures.

She booted up the computer on her desk, an aging thing, probably weaker than Crimson’s portable one. Hers, however, would suffice for her task.

run>letschat.exe, she typed into the command prompt. A few lines of messages whizzed past that she’d never cared to look at. All she needed to know was who to connect with. Her eyes skimmed over the list of names that appeared, the ‘names’ of friends she spoke with exclusively online. Oh, he’s on! Ristiriita, probably her best friend on this program, popped onto the end of the list mere moments after the list appeared, as he always did whenever she logged on. It was nice to have a consistent friend who could be there for her whenever she wanted somepony to talk to.

>connectTo:user!Ristiriita

CONNECTION ESTABLISHED. ENJOY YOUR CHAT.

>Hey, Ristiriita.

<And a good evening to you, WinningPony. Have a good day?

>Yeah, we got a transfer student today.

<? Do tell!

>He’s pretty interesting. He does programming.

<Doesn’t sound very fun. Probably just a nerd.

>Well, maybe a little, but I saw where he lives. He’s totally loaded. Must be super-smart if he’s got the corporations paying him that much.

<I dunno. Maybe he’s doing something illegal, and that’s why he’s getting paid so much. I hear drug dealers and magic shops get a ton of cash flow.

>Seriously?

<Yeah, it’s all about supply and demand. The demand exists, but the supply is so heavily policed that those who demand it will pay through the nose. Maybe he’s dealing in illegal hacking programs, if he’s a programmer.

>I was supposed to go meet him tomorrow though. If he’s doing something illegal, maybe I shouldn’t.

<No, no, that’s why you have to go!

>Huh?

<If he is doing something wrong, you’re the only one who can find out! Besides, you told me you wanted to join The King’s Guard, right? What could be better for your chances of getting in than rooting out a criminal?

>That seems way too dangerous. Besides, I talked to him for a while today. He doesn’t seem the type to be involved in anything like that.

Ristiriita’s response didn’t come for a few moments.

<If you’re sure he’s okay, then there’s nothing to worry about. Just keep your guard up. Ooh, I’ve got to go, my favorite show is coming on. Don’t wanna miss the action! Arrivederci!

CONNECTION TERMINATED. HAVE A NICE DAY.

Well, that was abrupt, not to mention completely unhelpful. And here Blue was hoping to get some actual advice. Oh well. There would be no use worrying about this today. She flipped on the television, which flared to life. “--other news, this is the final week of the planetary alignment This is the first time in the reign of The King for every single planet in the solar system to be perfectly aligned, including our own moon. Very exciting for astronom--” The announcer was cut off as Blue changed the channel. News was boring. What else is on? News. News. Kiddie crap. News. Disgusting over-the-top soap opera. Blegh. News. Nature program, detailing the excavation of a discovered hydra skeleton to be placed in one of the inner district’s museums. She watched that just long enough to see that it too would be incredibly boring. What else? News. Oh, the 24-hour weather channel. Lovely, she thought spitefully. And back to the news piece on the planetary alignment. “Stupid outer districts with only ten channels,” she grumbled. She suddenly found herself incredibly envious of Ristiriita. Wherever he was, he had access to much better entertainment than Blue did. She flicked of the TV, since all it was doing was aggravating her. Might as well do some studying.

run>NEW_SCENE.exe

This is incredibly boring, Crimson Core found himself thinking. I can hardly believe how utterly boring other ponies could be. He’d opened up a bit, just as Blue Ribbon had asked him to, dodging questions he was obligated to dodge, telling the others what he could, lying when he had to. It wasn’t nearly as much fun as it used to be.

When he was first starting out, he’d thought it was just a blast to give just enough away to make him seem like some kind of underground hero, but even that had lost its charm. He’d now lost count of how many schools he’d transferred to, how many lies he’d told, and how many times he’d thought of just unleashing hell itself, just to make things interesting. Unfortunately, that wasn’t an option, and now that he was so close, he only had to hold out a little longer.

“So, do you have a filly-friend?” one of the fillies asked.

Crimson frowned. That wasn’t a question he’d entirely prepared for, and her inflection made the statement’s intentions fairly clear. Oh, well. Time to come up with something that would get him out of any potential engagements. “I’m in a… long-distance relationship.”

“Ooh, I’m sorry,” she said, her insincerity practically palpable. “How far away is she?”

“Well, closer than she used to be,” he said. He saw Blue Ribbon approaching from the front of the classroom, and Crimson decided he might as well screw with everypony, just for some giggles. I’m definitely going to regret this later… “And the distance closes even more,” he said, putting on a grin filled equally with false happiness and genuine sadism. The filly frowned in disbelief.

“Well, I see you’re at least trying to get along with the others,” Blue Ribbon said.

“Yeah, believe me, it’s not easy,” he said, giving the filly a fairly obvious glance. “Anyway, I have some business to take care of before class, but we’re still on for tonight, right?”

“Of course. Your place at 8.”

“Great. I made all the preparations last night. I’m looking forward to it,” Crimson said as he trotted away.

“You sure work fast, class rep,” the filly said with contempt masked with surprise.

“I did have to push a little, but I certainly didn’t think it would be this easy,” Blue said. “I mean, I at least expected him to play hard-to-get. But I’m not going to complain.”

The filly rolled her eyes, snorted, and walked away, presumably to gossip with her friends.

Blue Ribbon watched, confused. “Did I miss something important?” she asked herself.

Crimson Core laughed silently to himself just outside the door.

run>SCENE_CHANGE.exe

Blue Ribbon stood once again outside Crimson’s apartment building, simply taking in the sight. It was already nearing 8; the sun had already lowered itself below the horizon, though light still shone, receding into the distance at a deceptively quick pace. The streetlights had long since switched on, and in the light, Blue could see her reflection in the polished-steel sliding door. Strange, she thought, my face looks worried. That’s just got to be a distortion of the reflection, right?

To her left, a series of buttons was arrayed, each with a floor and an apartment or office number. Floor 10, the top floor, was the sole loner of the group, a single apartment that was her destination. She reached for the button with a hoof, but hesitated. Why? Why do I feel such foreboding about this? I’m just going to visit a friend and help him with his project, there’s nothing wrong here! Her resolve pushed through her rebelling instincts and propelled the hoof onto the button.

*BEEP* “Hello?” Crimson’s voice called through the intercom.

“Hi,” Blue said, keeping her voice from wavering. “It’s Blue.”

“Oh, of course. I’ll open the door. By the way, the elevator’s broken, so you’ll have to take the stairs. See you in a few,” her classmate’s voice said, and the door slid open, seemingly of its own accord.

She stepped inside, looking spitefully at the glass elevator tube with an “OUT OF ORDER” sign taped haphazardly over the door. Wait, glass? That can’t be right. She looked next to the stairs. A spiral staircase, running around the elevator and stopping at a landing on each floor. This place is way too fancy to have a broken elevator. She stepped up to the elevator tube and looked straight up. The capsule that should have been able to carry her up the ten damned floors was stuck way up, at the very top of the tube. The tenth floor. Damn.

She grumbled and began making her way up the stairs. This wasn’t going to be a fun night. “I guess it does kinda suck for him to be stuck at the top,” she said under her breath.

After climbing what seemed almost like a mountain of steps, Blue finally reached the summit, the tenth floor landing. I must be out of shape, she thought, panting. That tired me out more than it should have. Maybe I’ll start some endurance training later this week. She approached the singular door and knocked.

A sound of unlatching, unlocking, and a second unlatching emanated from the other side of the door before it finally swung open, and Crimson Core appeared in the doorway, a smirk on his face. “Welcome,” he said. “You’re right on time. Come on in.”

“You could’ve mentioned the thing about the stairs at school,” Blue said with a sigh as Crimson stood aside and she entered.

“Sorry,” he said dryly, his level of sincerity impossible to judge. He shut the door, fastened an upper latch, turned closed a lock, and again fastened a second latch. “Now you see why the mover’s bill was so high, though.”

Blue took a moment to take in the sight of the room in front of her. This single room was as big as her entire apartment, and was completely filled with complicated looking electronic equipment. A number of setups had displays streaming numbers and words, flying by faster than Blue could process them, obviously running some very complex program. Likely one of Crimson’s, she mused.

“So, this is the one?” an unfamiliar voice said. Blue wheeled around to see a massive monitor mounted on the wall next to the door, filled with the black-and-white image of the face of a unicorn. The face was scowling. “She doesn’t look like much.”

“Best I could do on such short notice. After what happened in the inner district, we had to relocate, and it’s not like we could ask Echo to come with us,” Crimson said, just a hint of bitterness in his voice.

“Who’s Echo?” Blue asked. She kept her eyes trained on the disapproving gaze of the unicorn on the screen.

“My partner back in the inner district. She was brilliant. Unfortunately, there was an accident, and we couldn’t bring her along when we came here. So, this trial will have to make do with you.”

“Terrific,” she said. A little insulting, too, but I made a deal with this guy. “And who’s this?” she asked, waving a hoof at the face on the screen. “Your employer?”

“My client,” Crimson said quickly, before the face could retort. “She’s the one who will receive the end benefit of the running of this program.” He went to the fridge in the corner of the room and retrieved a water bottle, finally tossing it to Blue. “Drink that. You’ll want to be well-hydrated for this.”

Having just climbed ten flights of stairs, Blue wasn’t about to refuse water. She twisted the cap off and chugged the whole bottle in a matter of seconds. “So,” she said, her throat now well-moistened and refreshed, “what exactly is this program supposed to do, and why am I part of it?”

“Well, I didn’t really want to give a history lesson before we started, but if that’s what you want,” Crimson said, trailing off.

“Then just give me the short version.”

“Fine, fine. Basically, this program will achieve something that hasn’t been seen in over a millennium: Matter Transportation.” Crimson beamed, evidently hoping that would mean something to Blue.

“Laypony’s terms?”

Crimson rolled his eyes. “Teleportation,” he said. “Of course, this will be more along the lines of summoning a specific individual from across a great distance.”

Blue recoiled in surprise. “You mean, like magic? That’s illegal, though!”

“There’s no magic involved in this,” Crimson said with a snort, as if offended. “It’s all programming. Computer code. If it happens to be able to mimic effects of magic from ages long past, does that make programming illegal?”

“I… I suppose not,” Blue said, shrinking back.

“Now, if you’re done accusing me of witchcraft,” Crimson said, and Blue could see the screen-pony’s face sharpen at the word, “we can start. Here, put this on your left front leg.” He set a device in front of Blue, something with a small screen and numerous tiny buttons, welded to a group of metal rings about the size of a pony’s leg. She slipped it on over her hoof, and once in place, the rings constricted slightly, holding the device firmly but not uncomfortably on her leg.

“What exactly is it?”

“I call it a COMP. It’ll facilitate the process of integrating you into the program. It has a number of other functions, but they’re only precautionary in case the absolute worst should happen,” Crimson explained. “Obviously, we don’t want that to happen, so I’m going to walk you through a couple of things to keep the risks to a minimum. First off, the program will need to read in your emotional state, during which you need to stay calm. Heightened emotions cause the program to run at an elevated level, but we only need a low level. The process is difficult enough to control as it is, so, like I said, stay calm. Second, you may feel some sudden fatigue. Nausea is rare but it does happen. If you feel any of that, make sure to drink something. I won’t be able to help you, since I’m getting plugged into the program as well.” He went to the fridge and retrieved a small bundle of water bottles.

“Okay… Wait, plugged in?” Blue asked, confused.

“Like I said, it reads in your emotional state, which is done with these diodes,” Crimson said, holding up a series of adhesive pads with long wires hooked into the machines.

“Oh, I didn’t realize… Ah, don’t mind that. I guess that just makes you less suspicious.”

“Less suspicious?” Crimson asked, his eyes narrowing.

“Shall we stop stalling and get this process done?” the entity on the screen asked.

“Sorry, I’ll get it set up,” Crimson said, approaching Blue and sticking the diodes on her temples. “By the way,” he began, sticking a pair of diodes to his own head, “is your friend going to be joining you coming through?”

The entity sighed. “No, he decided to remain. Why in Tartarus he’d want to stay here is beyond me.”

Crimson chuckled briefly. Blue looked at him. “Sorry,” he said. “Her friend’s a bit of an oddball.”

“That’s putting it mildly,” the entity said, rolling her eyes. “Anyway.”

“Right. Computer!”

A screen flared to life, and an electronic, yet very feminine voice emanated from the console. “Command?”

“Run program: SUMMONING.exe.”

Letters, numbers, words and symbols screamed along the myriad screens, and Blue Ribbon suddenly felt incredibly dizzy, as if hit with vertigo. She felt sweat forming along her brow, and made to grab for one of the water bottles, but only succeeding in knocking it over. “Damn,” she said weakly.

“Here,” Crimson said, picking up the water bottle and opening it for her. She took it and took a long drink from it.

“Thanks. That dizzy spell hit me hard.”

“I know, it happened to me the first time I tried running the program as well.”

The program continued unabated, and the entity on the screen grinned widely. “Everything’s running smoothly on this end. Just keep concentrating.”

After a few moments, a staticky image of a lavender-coated pony coalesced in the room, in front of Blue and Crimson. “It’s working!” she said. “I can see your side now! Just another minute!” Slowly but surely, the image gained more and more substance, more and more form, becoming more and more real.

Finally, the entity no longer existed upon the monitor, and now stood with regal presence before the pair, unfurling her wings as she drew in a long breath. “Thank you, both of you. You did it. You got me out.”

Blue barely registered any of what was happening, as it had taken a fair amount of her concentration to stay standing. She was vaguely aware of being addressed by this pegasus. Or was she a unicorn? Not that it really mattered at this point. Whatever they had done had succeeded. Her legs buckled and she fell back, sitting on her haunches. She found herself dripping with sweat. She reached again for one of the water bottles, this time picking it up despite her slightly blurred vision. Again, she took a long drink, emptying the bottle before she’d had her fill. She looked to her left, seeing Crimson in much the same position, though he seemed lightly more coherent than she felt.

“Congratulations,” he said. “We’re the first two ponies to successfully summon another being in one thousand years.” He tore the diodes from his head and struggled to his feet. “And you,” he said, this time addressing the pony from the screen. “Welcome back to the world.”

“So, what exactly just happened?” Blue asked, still trying to rehydrate herself.

“Well,” the lavender pony began, “you just freed a wrongfully interred prisoner from the universe’s most dangerous prison.”

“Not to mention practically performing a resurrection,” Crimson said, draping a hoof on the lavender pony’s back.

Blue cocked her head, trying once more to focus on her surroundings. Finally, things started to lose their blurry quality, and she was able to bring things into focus. The lavender entity before her, which she’d originally thought to have been a unicorn when she’d seen her face on the screen, or perhaps a pegasus, when she spread wings after having finally materialized, turned out to be… both? Wait, that’s not possible! “Who are you, exactly?” she asked, her voice wavering.

“I am one long thought dead by your society. I am Twilight Sparkle, Heretic Princess of Magic and Friendship.” She turned to Crimson. “Wait, that doesn’t sound right. I mean, Heretic Princess of Magic sounds ominous, at least, but that whole thing just sounds silly.”

“Are you… ARE YOU KIDDING ME!?” Blue shouted after finally finding her voice. My instincts were right! Ristiriita was right! This is horrible! I’ve gotten myself involved with criminals-- no, it’s worse than that! They’re heretics!

Crimson shook his head, as if Blue was behaving childishly. “Look, I just needed somepony to act as my second. Perhaps you’re overreacting just a bit.”

“Overreacting!? OVERREACTING!? If anypony finds out about this, I’m going to be branded a heretic! Maybe you should have thought about that before ruining my life!”

“It’s not that bad. The whole problem is that this society doesn’t tell you the whole story. If you’ll just listen… Oh. Oh, shit.”

Twilight looked at Crimson nervously. “What’s wrong?”

“The program’s still running. Blue, you need to calm down, now.”

“Calm down!? How can I calm down!? I just summoned one of the Heretic Princesses, for The King’s sake!”

“Blue! Stop! If your emotions keep going out of control, the program will go berserk!” Crimson tried to push past Blue to get to the set of keyboards, but she shoved him back.

“Shut up! You just completely ended my life! What could be so bad about this program, worse than it being able to CALL A HERETIC PRINCESS INTO OUR WORLD!?”

One of the machines behind behind Blue cracked and shot out a jet of sparks.

“Can’t we just sever the connection?” Twilight asked.

“No, it’s got to go from calm to calm. If anything interrupts those connections--” Crimson started speaking quickly, but was cut off as Blue bucked him in the face. She tore the diodes from her temples and rushed at the door. “NO!” Sparks flew from even more equipment. Crimson pounced on the keyboard, but no commands would go through. It was as if the program had a mind of its own. “No, no, no, no, NO! Dammit! Blue, you have no idea what you’ve just done!”

“I have a pretty damn good idea!” the pegasus shouted back, practically attacking the lock and latches to get the door open and get the hell out.

“Crimson, what’s going on!?” Twilight asked frantically.

“The connection to Tartarus was never severed properly, so it’s technically still open! But it shouldn’t be doing this, it should’ve terminated by now! Damn! The code’s been tampered with!”

“But how?”

“How should I know! You were the one overseeing every… No… What about him?”

“What? No, he was never even here!”

It was too late. Blue Ribbon had practically torn the door off its hinges in her fervor to escape this crime scene, but her path was blocked. It was a creature, and it looked vaguely like a pony, but it was ten feet tall, completely hairless, with deep red skin belying unbelievably large muscles. In its mouth it carried a massive studded iron club. It looked down at Blue and smiled a disgusting, hungry smile. “Well, looks like the Real World’s got some nice little fast food joints,” it said, its voice seeming to echo slightly.

“Blue, get back!” Twilight shouted, her body beginning to arc with electricity. Her instincts again having kicked in, Blue’s body lunged away from the doorway as a blast of lightning shot from the Heretic Princess’ horn. The blast impacted against the creature, seeming to knock the wind out of it. “No way are you getting a meal here, Oni scum! Ziolancer!” She charged the monster in the doorway, her horn covered in a sheet of electrical energy, extending its length by about a foot, and impaled the creature. It spat up some dark, maybe even black ichor and then simply burned away from the point upon which it had been impaled.

“What was that thing!?” Blue cried.

“An Oni, a monster from Tartarus with a taste for pony flesh,” Twilight said, her tone almost bookish despite her recent show of ferocity. “They especially like virgin fillies, a taste many demons seem to share.”

“I mean, what the hell was it doing here!?”

“It’s here because you couldn’t keep your emotions in check, you idiot.” Crimson growled, trying to salvage what he could from the equipment before something else exploded. “Now that the program’s gone haywire, you’ve done something even worse than simply summoning a Heretic Princess.” He paused, putting some device or other into a pack.

Twilight turned to face the terrified pegasus. “You’ve quite literally let all Hell break loose.”