The Sombra Protocols

Chapters

1. Conglomerate Intern
2. Layers of Deception
3. Clairvoyance
4. The King stands above all others
5. Contributor Access
6. Balloon Flight
7. Losing Ground
8. Hidden Dealings

1. Conglomerate Intern

Of course it would have to be today, Twist sighed. Why am I even surprised anymore?

This was supposed to be her big night. Instead, work had reared its ugly head again, pulling her into the Dream-Web. Ideally, the meeting was supposed to take no more than five minutes. That would have given her plenty of time to perform an analysis, write her report, freshen up, and be on time for her date. That hadn't happened. Forty-seven minutes waiting in a dump in Barterzone, followed by a message that the meeting-place had been changed. The new location had turned out every bit unpleasant as one would imagine, making the first look like a five star hotel by comparison.

Half an hour later and a new message had appeared, this one telling her to go to Rosesand. Of course, it would be Rosesand, she sighed. Every two-bit dream-hacker set a meeting there. Supposedly, it was one of the "freest" sectors of the Web. The Starswirl Conglomerate had abandoned it a while back, leading to wild speculation regarding the reason. Personally, Twist didn't put much faith in most of the rumours. Still, she didn't like the place. So far she had been there twice, though never on her own. This was a big first for her.

I guess this means I'm starting to earn the trust of the important Webbers. Just why did they have to choose tonight? Alas, Twist did not have the luxury of refusing such an invitation. The terms of her contract were very specific — when not at school, she was to be on constant call, and that meant her social life had taken a significant hit.

"Don't move," an altered voice sounded in her ear. "Run a single protocol and the meeting is over."

Seemed quite serious. At least the hacker sounded like he knew what he was doing — no threats, no boasting, straight to the point. Twist remained patiently in place. This time, she didn't have to wait long. A blue connection cone appeared a few steps away, along with the message "Clairvoyance has connected" displayed in bold white letters. It wasn't a name Twist had heard before, but lately more and more dream-hackers had been popping up. Three years ago she knew nearly every Webber by name. Today, with over a quarter million creatures roaming the Web, ranging from griffins to diamond dogs, it was impossible to keep track.

"You are Cane?" the new arrival asked. His voice and avatar were male — a Male Umbra build, to be exact — yet that didn't mean anything. As the popular joke went "there are no stallions in the Web".

"Yes, yes I am," Twist replied. She too had masked her real life identity, behind a high-class Female Crystal Pegasus build avatar, and a clever alias. "Do you have something for me?"

"You Conglomerate types are all alike." Clairvoyance snorted. "Do you have my payment?"

"Have I ever caused anyone to doubt me?" Twist asked. It wasn't like she had much of a Web reputation. The Starswirl logo on her avatar's flanks, however, remedied that. "Half now, half—"

"No need," the hacker interrupted her. "This one’s a freebie."

Free? Twist would blink, if her avatar allowed it. Nothing was free in the Web; both the Conglomerate and the dream-hacker community made certain of that. Whatever didn't cost bits, cost favours — that was the reality the Web had become, despite the pastel-coloured utopia the Conglomerate made it out to be.

"The information I have is bigger than me," Clairvoyance went on. "There's nothing I could do about it, but you might have the resources to pull it off. Besides, if left unchecked, it'll mess up far more things for you guys, than anypony else."

"And you don't even want to be owed a favour?" Twist was skeptical. When something sounded too good to be true, it was either a pony Princess, or a lie... and Twist was definitely not in the presence of the former.

"What do you know about the Sombra virus?" The hacker completely ignored Twist's question.

"That it's potent, destructive, and the only thing capable of affecting core code," Twist replied automatically. "Anti-viruses and even ICE systems have no effect on it, leaving sector collapse to be the only sure-proof method of dealing with it adequately. It is believed that the virus was a result of a failed experiment during the early days of the—"

"It wasn't," Clairvoyance said sharply. "It didn't fail, and it definitely wasn't an experiment. Its very goal was to corrupt source code, although it turned out more than the group bargained for."

"The group?" Twist didn't like where this was going, yet at the same time her thirst for information pressed her to keep asking questions. "Is it one of Starswirl's Divisions?"

"Smart filly." Clairvoyance did a slow stomp on the ground with his hoof. Anywhere else, Twist would consider this highly insulting. In the present circumstances, however, things were slightly different. "The Conglomerate brought it into the Web. It just didn't create the virus."

"Then who did?" This is definitely not going in my report. Such a matter is for a face-to-face.

"The virus is Sombra's essence." The hacker a step forward. "Someone must have gone through a lot of trouble to find it a place in the Web."

"You can't be serious?" Twist felt like laughing. She was aware of the situation, but also could see how absurd it all sounded. "For that to happen, somepony must have gone to the Crystal Empire, located Sombra's dark essence, collected it somehow, then found a way to insert it in the Dream Web. You can't be suggesting that Starswirl has been infiltrated by Cultists?"

"Yes." The answer was calm, collected, unwavering. "I'll do you one better — I'll tell you the name of the division originally responsible. What your bosses do with that info is your business."

You aren't kidding? By Celestia, you aren't! Twist swallowed. She wasn't expecting this.

"Black Bear Division," Clairvoyance said, then, before Twist could voice a question, disconnected before her very eyes. Standard hacker behaviour — the longer one remained connected, the easier it was to tag and track her. Nevertheless, Twist remained, desperately hoping he would log on again. A foolish notion, yet her brain was still functioning on half capacity.

The Sombra virus… the terrifying Web plague was created by one of our own? And I thought I would finally get to go on a date.

Ten minutes later Twist decided there was no point in waiting further. Launching her triple-encryption protocols she sent a message. The face-to-face with her boss was going to take place sooner than she had expected.

Author's Note

Sombra virus - the most dangerous virus in the Web. It is capable of destroying Dream-Web source code and cannot be affected by any anti-virus or ICE. if spotted, Web users are strongly advised to log off immediately and contact the nearest Conglomerate office.

Confidential
The Sombra virus can be purged using Red ICE. All information regarding Red ICE is restricted to level 3 operatives and above.

2. Layers of Deception

School. There was something about it that never changed. Twist had always found it enjoyable, if a little elementary. Even as a filly she had excelled at learning, being five lessons ahead of everypony else. In part that was the reason she had agreed upon taking an intern position in Starswirl — there were only that many books a school could offer.

"Mornin', Twist," Apple Bloom said in the grumpiest fashion possible. "So glad ya made it last night." Disappointment dripped from every word. "It ain't like I had to spend a whole evening comin' up with excuses why Miss Perfect couldn't make it," she snorted loudly.

Typical Apple Bloom. She and Twist had been friends as long as Twist could remember, though with each year it was getting more and more difficult to hang out. What started with Apple Bloom creating the Cutie Mark Crusaders became ten times worse with the appearance of the Dream Web. Now both of them had other priorities, and both couldn't share them in public. Last night was one of their monthly "double blind dates" — a practice which started as a joke and became a tradition. The only sad thing was, with both mares focusing on their careers, the chances of having any fun largely diminished. The irony of it all was that Twist had become the school's "Most Desired Mare," beating out both Sweetie Belle and Diamond Tiara. If only she could have been so fortunate a few years ago.

"Next time, please be a bit more descriptive-like." Apple Bloom took her books out of her saddlebag. "'Urgent work' ain't worth a lick. And change ya PonySeeker profile picture!"

"Oh?" Twist turned around. "I thought it was good."

"Too good," Apple Bloom sighed. "Both of 'em kept asking 'bout ya. One even asked if you modeled for Pony Mare." She rolled her eyes.

"Well, it could be worse." Twist put a hoof on her chin, serious expression on face. "It could have been MareMate." She waited for a few moments. As expected Apple Bloom gaped at her in shock. Twist kept up the act for a while longer, then burst laughing. Oh, Apple. So easy to tease. I'll really miss you once we graduate. I'll miss everypony here.

Class started slightly late. Apparently, there were some issues with somepony again. It wasn't easy being a teacher in the post-Web era in Ponyville, especially with some of the students being Web celebrities.

"Good morning, class." Cheerilee tried to greet them with her usual smile. The bags under her eyes, however betrayed her. "I have just been told that today we will finish class early, since," she took out a small note and stared at it for a fraction of a second, "there will be a Ponyville-Cloudsdale Bolt tournament," she pronounced each word slowly, before putting the note away. "I must confess I know nothing about your new Web games, buuuut..."

Leave it to her to try to see the positive in everything. The announcement over, Cheerilee started taking attendance. Diamond Tiara was absent again, the only reason given being "personal emergency". If it were anypony else, the school would be furious, but since her mother was on the School Board, Diamond got a free pass every time. It also helped that Silver Spoon was school council president.

Biology, History, Trigonometry... all things Twist had finished ages ago. Somehow, it was difficult going back to standard school stuff, when one had been introduced to deep data-mining, Swirlcode algorithms and Web-avatar construction basics. Still, there was something about the naïveté of schoolbooks that made the mare feel warm inside.

"Hey, Apple Bloom, have you given any thought as to what you'll be doing after school?" Twist asked once class was over.

"Well, ah am an Apple." Apple Bloom shrugged, in a manner as if it was self evident. "And there is the Cutie Mark Crusader stuff. What 'bout you, Twist? Fashion model?" Hearing that, Twist chuckled. "Ya know, at times I miss that silly filly with that there lisp and 'em huge glasses."

"Hey now!" Twist said in faux rage. "It's because I stopped bringing candy, isn’t it? And I'll have you know I still have glasses." Although, maybe I should get an eye-spell procedure. It would certainly take care of a few problems.

"Ahem," a sharp cough sounded. "If I'm not interrupting anything, I'd like to have a word."

"What ya want, Silver Spoon?" Apple Bloom frowned. "It ain't against the rules to talk after class. Or did ya change them rules again?"

Ignoring the question, Silver Spoon made a sign for Twist to follow her. To the normal observer the whole scene was nothing more than Silver being the typical stick in the mud. In reality, things were quite different — Silver Spoon was Twist's employer, and the meeting was on Twist's request.

* * *

Twist felt nervous, probably for the first time in her life. It wasn't common for ponies in suits to come to her house and ask that she join them to the local Conglomerate office. Such things were only supposed to happen in books or movies. Her mother had been beyond herself with concern. Being a simple florist, she hadn't understood a word of the legal talk the Conglomerate lawyer had spewed her way. It had taken Twist no small effort to explain things and calm her down, while keep on her own internal terror in check.

"Questions regarding misuse of the Web-gear's user agreement". That was the official reason Twist was asked to go to the Conglomerate Office. Nothing more than a matter of clearing things up. She, however, knew it was related to her net activities. One week after entering the Web, Twist had managed to discover an interesting anomaly in her avatar. Investigating further revealed access to a series of undocumented protocols, along with the coordinates of a hidden Web sector. Naturally, Twist hadn't resisted the urge to go there. In retrospect, it probably was a bad idea.

"Are you thure my mom can't be prethent?" Twist asked nervously, as she was lead down a marble hall. "She ith my parent and legal guardian."

"Ms Shimmy Shake is of no interest at this time," one of the suited ponies said. "And since you have your cutie-Mark we are under no obligation to have her present during any discussions or proceedings that might involve you."

Long, but to the point. Twist wished she had read more on Equestrian Law. Now she had to take them on their word. The ponies proceeded to the third floor, where they stopped in front of a rather large door. "Connection and Communications Division" was written in massive bold letters on a large gold plaque. Only Twist was allowed to enter. The moment she did, the door slammed shut behind her.

So vast! Twist could only think, as she beheld the room. Despite her unease, she had to admire the technology and sophistication all around — crystal dust statues, aether screens, even the desk resembled an amphitheater of solid gold.

"Hello, Twist." A pony emerged from behind the desk. At the sight of it Twist froze. The pony was none other than Silver Spoon. "Welcome to the Conglomerate."

"Thilver Thpoon?" Twists's glasses nearly fell off. "All thith ith yourth?"

"My family's." The other nodded. "Silver ore is an ideal conduit for Dream Web infrastructure something or other," she waved a hoof, utterly uninterested. "My parents were approached with an offer. Needless to say, they accepted." Silver Spoon made her way through the room, her hooves almost echoing as she walked. "The deal ensured, among other things, that my parents get positions on the board of directors. Furthermore, all their children were to be given divisions of their own within the Conglomerate structure."

"Thith ith your offith?" Twist still couldn't believe it.

"No, this is my brother's." Silver pointed to the rather large golden bust looming over the desk. A perfect rendition of an overly fetching stallion's head. A plaque underneath read "Goldenboy". "In his benevolence he allowed me to make use of it, until I set up 'a division of my own'."

The implication was clear. It didn't take a genius to tell that Silver's brother didn't take her seriously. Probably expected her division to be related to catering or something. Or maybe it was? Twist's cutie-mark was a pair of candy canes, Silver's — a teaspoon. Was that the reason Twist was brought here?

"You hacked into your Web avatar, I understand." Silver adjusted her glasses. So much for a career in catering. It was too good a dream to be true. "You meddled with its undocumented functions and went to an unlisted developer sector. Mind telling me what you did there?"

"Thorry, Thilver Thpoon, it was tho interethting." I couldn't stop myself. The code was begging to be analyzed. And those puzzles... They were just so interesting! "I played a few gameth. I thought they were to come out in the next update and—"

"You caused two tech divisions to spend a week shouting at each other whose fault it was that a 'stupid schoolfilly' could complete one of their recruitment tests before it was launched," Silver Spoon interrupted. "Obviously there had to be a glitch somewhere for that to happen."

"No, it wath jutht that I—"

"Obviously it was a glitch," Silver raised her voice slightly. "Thinking otherwise would mean that a schoolfilly was somehow able to outsmart some of the greatest minds the Conglomerate has on payroll, and we all know that can't be possible, can it?"

Silence. I don't understand. You want me to pretend this never happened? But why? And why drag me all the way here with lawyers and ponies in suits? What am I missing? Twist still shook her head. She knew better than to disagree with Silver Spoon on any subject. In school their relations could be described as lukewarm friendly, but that was only because Twist never argued.

"A shame, though." Silver continued towards the door. "Recruitment will have to go on overtime to create a patch, or whatever it's called, to ensure that nopony could stumble upon the exploit you just found. We can only have the best and brightest be able to join, after all."

"Thilver Thpoon, I am confused."

"We both know what it is like to have to listen to idiots." The grey filly turned around and looked her straight in the eye. "Cheerilee, no matter how nice, barely knows more than the books she teaches us by. The Conglomerate is no different — specialists do as they are told, while managers plot unrealistic schemes to climb further up the corporate ladder. But while they do, they leave themselves vulnerable. I want to take advantage of that."

"Okay?" Twist was starting to like this less and less.

"To put it bluntly, I want you to work for me, Twist. Everypony at school has seen how you far ahead you are. I could probably match you if I were to focus really hard, but you are a natural — you do it because you enjoy it."

"I gueth."

"You also like the Dream-Web." Silver Spoon continued. "You've barely had your gear for a week and already you've spent more time than half the Web users. I'm sure you've also found some other 'glitches' as well, haven't you?"

There it was — the first undeniable hint of blackmail. Well, it wasn't blackmail exactly. Even at school, Silver had used the occasional subtle threat to get things her way. Twist's mind was already racing to try to figure out what she could be referring to. Was it developer logs? It's not my fault the Web builders left comments in their code. although maybe I should have reported it, when I first found it. And there is the matter of them discussing hidden protocols...

"I know nothing about the Web, Twist," Silver admitted. "But I know a lot about business and politics. Divisions in the Conglomerate have already started stepping on each other's hooves. Things are about to get way more serious. While they fight for assets and personnel, I want you to help me collect data. Work for me and you can have pretty much anything you wish."

An unexpected offer, but undoubtedly tempting. Twist was smart enough to see what she could achieve if she were to become part of Starswirl. The pay alone was enough to relieve her mother from having to buy more and more expensive books to satisfy her daughter's thirst for knowledge. She could enjoy working in the flower shop, as well as spend more time with her friends. Also, Twist would get access to unimaginable resources... and still there was one big question.

"There'th thith hidden Web forum that thayth the Conglomerate ith thcary," she said.

"Oh, it definitely is." For the first time Silver Spoon allowed herself to smile. "Don't you want to see how scary, though? Join my 'Internal Assistance' division and we both will find out."

* * *

"Was he telling the truth?" Twist gazed outside the window. The younger colts and fillies were enjoying themselves in the school's playground. Apparently there were some things that even the Web couldn't change. "Did the Conglomerate create the Sombra Virus?"

"Wouldn't be surprising," Silver Spoon mused. Parts of Starswirl were capable of many things. "According to my Web contacts there has been an unusual rise in Sombra speculation. Somepony is trying to create a haystack to hide a needle in."

"What do you want me to do?" Twist turned around.

Despite the unexpected development, there were dozens anomalies that merited attention, not to mentioned a huge number of ponies Silver had interest in. And there also was Twist's personal task — one she had devoted years of her life pursuing.

"Luna's Army will have to wait," Silver said firmly. "Look into this thing. If there is even a speck of truth in what this Clairvoyance says, heads will roll."

And you want to do the cutting, Twist added to herself. Typical Silver Spoon — ready to do anything to prove she is not to be underestimated.

"Better yet, stop everything you're doing," the grey pony said. "I need to check a few things, see if this Black Bear division really exists. Take a few days off, do what you want in the Web or out. Just be on call."

"As always, Silver." Twist smiled, then went to the door. Opening it, she paused. "You know, I was thinking of having a party at my place. Been awhile since I've done one of those. Want to come?"

Silver stared at her for several long seconds before turning her attention to the pile of papers on the desk. Student reports, school budgets per class, and many more bureaucratic joys cluttered the entire area. If anypony could see this side of things, they would think twice before running for the position of student council president.

"I'll pass." Silver flipped a sheet of paper over. "Diamond would probably like to go."

Pity, Twist thought. Would have been nice to get the entire class together again. Maybe some other time. Trotting casually, she passed through the school library. Like most her schoolmates, she had long stopped paying attention to the books there. For one thing, she had read them all, for another — there were three Dream-Web terminals installed. These were by no means as advanced as the one Twist had at home, but they allowed rudimentary access to the Web. She could easily send a mass invite to her entire class, as well as check a few forums. Cheerilee had mentioned a Bolt tournament, so having the party after would be perfect. With luck Scoots might bring some of her gamer friends along.

"Twist!" A familiar holler filled the corridor, just as she was about to enter the library. "Twist, are ya alright? What did that snake want with ya?"

"Well," Twist turned around, the most serious expression she could muster. "Silver... was concerned." She paused, making Apple Bloom's ears perk up in alarm.

"Concerned?" she repeated, worried.

"Very concerned." Twist nodded somberly. "It seems that we have been going on blind dates for eight months and still don't have anything to show for it!" A chuckles escaped her, as she tried to remain serious.

"Twist, if ya weren't mah friend, I'd kick ya in the face right now." Apple Bloom was not amused.

"Oh, come on." Twist shoved her, as they entered the library. "What did you expect? It was the usual hinting-slash-accusing me of cheating on tests. Apparently getting a perfect score is considered an impossibility as far as she is concerned. In other news, I'll be having a party at my place. Entire class is invited."

"Hah!" Apple Bloom crossed her forehooves. "If ya're trying to bribe me, I'll have a ya know that... It'll take some mighty fine sweets to do that!"

"Well you'll have to come and see if any show up then, won't—" Twist suddenly froze. She had just reached the terminal, when the news announcement hit her like a brick in the face.

Rosesand, Barterzone and Eggheart sectors are currently down for unscheduled maintenance. The Starswirl Conglomerate apologizes for the inconvenience and would like to assure everyone that the issue will be resolved as quickly as possible. In the unlikely event that access to the sectors is not restored in the next twelve hours, the Conglomerate will compensate any and all legitimate users and business that have assets in those sectors. Thank you for your understanding.

This wasn't good. Starswirl's PR department was trying to pass it as something routine, but it was anything but that. Twist knew perfectly well what required twelve hours — a complete sector collapse. Stupid Web-challenged bureaucrats! You should have used real time, not just write 'in the next twelve hours'! Everypony and her grandmother will suspect something is up! That was not what worried her most of all. Rather, it was the sectors that had been shut down — Barterzone and Rosesand. One could argue that they were hacker zones, so to speak, yer Twist suspected there might be an entirely different reason. Those were the sectors she had been to last night, just before her meeting with Clairvoyance.

"Ya alright, Twist?" Apple Bloom waved a hoof I front of her.

"Oh, sorry, just remembered something." Act casual, act casual. There's no need to alarm Apple Bloom Twist typed in the username and password to her scrollbox, and started composing a Web message. "What do you think about inviting Pinkie Pie? That would certainly make things interesting."

"Err, no." Apple Bloom's face became pale with fear. "No, nope, nuh-huh! No Pinkie Pie."

"As you wish, Miss Picky." Twist forced a fake laugh. Her mind mind was elsewhere, though. Someone had targeted the sectors she had been to. If it turned out they had been infected with the Sombra virus, then meant there were Cultists within the Conglomerate, and they were extremely up to date.

Author's Note

Silver Core Conduit (SCC) - the primary means by which Web gear and terminals are connected to the Conglomerate Hubs. Silver has the unique properties that allow for minimal lag when linking to the Dream-Web. Experiments with other materials have proven unsuccessful.

The Sterling Corporation holds all rights to SCC manufacturing, along with the corresponding patents. Replication of SCC technology is punishable by 10 years incarceration.

3. Clairvoyance

"Sorry, Cane, can't help you. Never heard of him." Twist sighed, then moved the message to her trash archive. Another dead end, just when she thought she was getting close. Who was this Clairvoyance? It was understandable he would use a temp alias for his meeting with her, but there was more to a pony than the avatar name. Everypony, even the best, left pieces of information behind. With enough knowledge and access privileges, one could gather those pieces, examine them and come to a conclusion.

Twist had spent the best part of an hour going through trash records of the Conglomerate's travel data database. Every avatar that moved from one sector to another had its ID stored there. Usually the data was purged every hour, to keep the system from getting cluttered, yet not before parts of it were copied by third parties for data mining and analytics purposes. What few, even within the Conglomerate, knew was that there were other corporations storing travel data, namely FireStar — the Web-game giant that had created Bolt. As long as one got a precise time-print and location from the Conglomerate database, it was foal's play to find the IDs of all avatars connected there and then. Matching the time and place with those of her own avatar, Twist had managed to track the movements of the elusive hacker... all five hours of his existence.

Who are you, Clairvoyance? Twist walked casually through the Web-streets of Mirror City. Glistening crystal skyscrapers extended up to the magenta sky itself, covering everything below in soft rainbow-coloured light. A beautiful view, if not quite intimidating with its size.

According to Twist's findings, the hacker had spent his time in the Web between four sectors — Eggheart, Barterzone, Rosesands and here. What he had done before or after remained a mystery. What Twist found more alarming was that he had done everything possible not to associate himself with any hacker group. That, and the fact that three of the four sectors he had set hoof in had ended up infected by the Sombra virus.

"Like music? Be sure to to buy the new Green Aether collection, volume 23!" A sound-blip blasted twenty meters above Twist. "Hear songs from artists such as DJ Pon3, Vioflash, Neon, and also, for the very first time, the rising game idol Sweetie B."

Hearing that, Twist couldn't help but look up with a smile. Sure enough, a dancing image of Sweetie Belle was moving on the giant aether screen floating under the blip. Way to go, Sweets.

"So she finally made it to the big time," a voice said nearby — a strange mixture of male and female features combined so that the identity of its owner remained hidden. "Fancy that."

WingClipper! Twist instantly turned around.

Sure enough, there was someone standing a few steps away. Modified Unicorn build avatar, blue and crimson glow effects — no mistake, one of the top ten hackers for hire was there, smiling at her.

"Thought it would take her at least a few more years." WingClipper approached, his attention seemingly focused on the blimp. "Personally, I prefer the classics — Rara, Sapphire, maybe Hoof Movement. Sweetie is just too tacky."

“Why are you here?” Twist asked, instinctively readying both legal and illegal protocols. She knew that the location was considered a high-priority sector, so at the slightest hint of trouble, ICE would fill the streets like a blizzard. That didn't make her feel better one bit.

“Should I need a reason?” the hacker snickered. His front left hoof slid along the pavement, causing a code breach to appear on its surface. Just like scarring living flesh, Twist thought.

“Maybe I just wanted to hang with my favourite glomer?” He tapped his hoof on the ground. The breach instantly disappeared. “You are my favourite glomer, aren't you Cane? Always punctual and precise. So very,” his hoof moved to touch Twist's cheek, only to be stopped by an aether bubble, “predictable.”

“What?” Twist asked firmly.

“Relax.” WingClipper moved beside her. “Never good to make a scene. You never know what the consequences might be. Besides, I'm here to lend a hoof. Arête knows you can use it!”

Rich of you to use Web myths. You believe in Web lore as much as you do in mercy. Rogues like you never offer help for free.

“Really, now, is that the way to treat somepony who's come to help?” He looked at the blimp above. A split second later the advertisement suddenly stopped. The images on the aether screen were replaced by a clip of rather graphic nature. Dozens of ponies stopped, gasping in at the scene they were witnessing. The phrase “Corrupt and Cheating” appeared in large italic letters over the clip, partially covering the content.

Twist could only frown. How easily he had hacked the blip's commands. The new encryption protocols hadn't remotely slowed him down. Sadly, in part she way to blame, along with all the other Conglomerate operatives that had dealings with him.

“Sorry, thought I'd combine work and fun,” he chuckled under his breath. “Meet Business Tact,” he pointed at the aether screen. “Humble bureaucrat who opened his own practice. Not a particularly bad stallion, if you don't count his habit of cheating. Not a problem in itself, if there weren't a few clients who wanted a share of his business. Oh, and he's also married and a father of four. Six, if you count extramarital children.”

“I can tag you, WingClipper,” Twist put a few of her Web-protocols on standby. A single command and they were ready for launch. “All the ICE in the sector will come pouring down on you.”

“Oh, I'm shaking,” he openly mocked her. “Doubt you'd want to do that.” His avatar's eyes glowed cobalt blue. “Anyway, I've been paid, so consider today a freebie of sorts. Stop searching for Clairvoyance.”

“Even you'll have a hard time in a Conglomerate sector.” Twist held her ground. She knew WingClipper's type all too well. Hackers like him reacted to fear like sharks to blood. It was no accident FLT had coined the phrase "they like killing you after you're dead" — it described them perfectly. Twist hadn't spent all this time earning herself a reputation by backing down. “What do you want for your client's name?”

“Way beyond your means, Cane,” he laughed. “And this isn't a threat. I'm just saving you time. The pone is a ghost. Outside the few hours he was stalking you, there is no record of him ever existing.”

“You're losing your touch. I've already tracked his ID, and—"

“Completely missed the obvious,” he interrupted. “The Web-gear linked to the ID was purchased a few days ago by some old geezer in the Crystal Empire. His name is Sunny Ray – a pegasus made deputy weather coordinator of the area, though you might know him better as SmokeScreen.”

The name sounded familiar, but Twist never relied purely on instinct. Immediately she sent a backdoor query to the Conglomerate security database. It didn't take long for a response to come back. WingClipper was right — SmokeScreen was an unaffiliated hacker, who seemed to focus on conspiracies. So far his snooping had caused some minor embarrassment among low level managers, although he had managed get access to classified records on two occasions. Starswirl classified him as a minor nuisance, which was odd in itself. From what Twist had seen, his skills were far superior to those of the average hacker.

"He was pretty good," WingClipper said reluctantly. "Possibly as good as FLT, although our paths never crossed. What should interest you is that the Royal Crystal Guard found him unconscious six hours ago. Some kind of self-induced coma." He paused, turning towards Twist.

Dreamlocked? Twist shuddered. It was supposed to be nothing more than an Web myth — ponies whose minds were locked in the Web, while their bodies were cast out in the real world. So far cases had been few and far-between, a total of five since the creation of the Web, but with ten times more suspected.

“Quite an interesting coincidence, don't you think?” WingClipper scratched his horn. “Less than a day after talking to you he ends up dead and three sectors are collapsed.”

“I strongly doubt that is the reason.” Twist said, despite thinking it. WingClipper didn't know what had been said at the meeting. If he did, he would already be roaming the Web, trying to make use of the info to his advantage.

“Well, at least you aren't a self-centered buck, like the other wannabes.” That's right – call me a wannabee. What would you think when you learn that Conglomerate Cane is nothing but a high-school filly who bakes sweets in her free time? You really are lucky that Silver Spoon isn't a Webber.

“If it was Harpy, she'd be flooding the forums with spam, as if she were MaDster himself!” WingClipper snorted. “Clairvoyance had one more meeting during that time period. He also sent messages to half a dozen other individuals. You, Cane, were at the very end of the list. It's actually a miracle he ever got to you at all.”

“Lucky me,” Twist said bitterly. Any chance of her real life getting even an ounce of attention had been swept away. There was no way she could let this go now, even if she wanted to. “And you are just telling me this like that? No barter, no future favours? That's very unlike you, WingClipper.”

“Maybe I like you?” He shrugged. “Or maybe you should just shut your trap when you get a gift?”

There he was – the WingClipper the Web knew and feared. It wasn't so much that he was the best of the hackers, or the most extreme. The problem with him was that he was most unpredictable. With hackers such as FLT, AeroFlux or even MaDster himself, ponies knew they wouldn't be targeted unless they had serious connections with the Conglomerate. With WingClipper it was a roll of the dice – one day he infiltrated Starswirl clusters, the next — he committed avatar theft of totally random Web-users. Worst of all, he could be hired by absolutely anypony and for any purpose whatsoever.

“Be sure to thank my benefactor then,” Twist said cautiously, protocols still at the ready.

“Yeah, sure, whatever,” he waved a hoof. “Our business is done.”

That was her cue. Not waiting another second, Twist activated her all blocking protocols, then logged out. WingClipper very much loved combining assignments. Who was to say she wasn't his next target?

Upon returning to the real world, Twist felt slightly sick. Ironic, that she would be of the .001% to experience nausea after a Web use. It was slightly better now, thanks to the medicine Silver Spoon had procured for her — at least Twist wasn't throwing up every time.

I really need to stop with those sudden log outs. She took her Web-gear off, breathing heavily. Slow breaths. Slow breaths and everything will be all right. Gradually, the feeling faded away, rendering Twist fully functional again.

"At least that work’s done," she said out loud and put the gear neatly in its place on the shelf. She had a party to look forward to, and that meant preparing the food. Actually, it meant starting to. Upon seeing as there would be complications, she had sent a Web-scroll to everypony inviting them to a 'cooking-party'. If it were anyone else, they would have laughed, but since it was Twist, most had found the idea appealing. It also helped that Apple Bloom had gotten Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo to agree early on — one was a riding pop idol, the other a Bolt champion. Surprisingly, Diamond Tiara had also quickly responded she would be attending, and had done so in relatively calm fashion.

"Mom." Twist put on her glasses and left the room. "Mom, do we have enough flower petals? A lot of the girls love them, so—" She suddenly stopped. Her mother was smiling in the corridor, a pair of saddlebags by her side.

"Mom," Twist sighed. "We've been through this. There's no need for you to leave. Everypony would be perfectly ok with—"

"Twist, dear." Her mother shook her head. "The last thing you need is for me to be here. You are always concentrating on your studies and work so hard that you are letting life pass you by. It has been weeks since you last went out to enjoy yourself, let alone have a party."

"Please not the whole foals talk again." Twist did her best not to groan. She had enough thoughts on the matter, to have her mother remind her.

"Well it's not like you are doing anything about it! Look at you — you are beautiful, smart, healthy, and instead of chasing stallions you waste all that time working something I can't even understand."

"Mom, I have invited my class," Twist sighed. "This is a friendly get together, not some wild party."

"Maybe you need it to be wild! The only time I've seen you with anypony was when you were with Truffle, and that was way back in middle school—"

"I am not having this argument with you." It took an extraordinary amount of effort for Twist to remain calm. If there was one thing they nearly got in fights about, it was her mother's over-eagerness to have grandfoals.

"That is precisely why I'm spending the night at Lily's." Shimmy Shake put on her saddlebags. "I won't be back till tomorrow evening."

"Lily's?" Twist blinked, confused.

"My Lily, not yours," her mother smiled. "And don't worry about a thing." She went to Twist and gave her a parental hug. "It's okay to break a few things. Be a little naughty."

"Mom!" Twist pulled away. I really hate it when you do that! Before she could say anything more in response, her mother had already left, leaving her standing in the corridor. Definitely an awkward way to start the evening. 'Be a little naughty'. Twist so much wished she could, but it was extremely unlikely it would happen. Besides, it wasn't a good time right now. The Sombra virus issue would require her full attention.

Fortunately, Twist didn't have to wait for long. Half an hour after she started transforming her living room into a semi-functional kitchen, and a full hour before the official starting time, Apple Bloom arrived. The way she was breathing, it was obvious she had been galloping at full speed.

"Here." She literally dropped her saddlebag in front of Twist, with a loud clung. "Ah... Ah... Ah need to catch mah breath."

"Hey, now, filly." Twist looked at her alarmed. "What happened?"

"Ya remember how ah said I'd sneak a jar of zap apple jam?" Apple Bloom managed to utter, still breathing heavily. "Well, Granny Smith got me."

"I told you it would happen." Twist moved aside, so her friend could enter. "I bet you grabbed it anyway and ran here."

"No." Apple Bloom did not move from her position. "When ah told her we were to be having ourselves a party, she gave me two more. Then, as I was leaving, quick-like, I bumped into Applejack."

"And she insisted on coming with you to make sure you were safe?"

"No," Apple Bloom whimpered. "She gave me two more, and an apple pie, and two bottles of cider. Then Big Mac came... and did the same! Ah thought I would die carrying this load!"

"Well," Twist was trying her best not to laugh, quite unsuccessfully at that, "at least that takes care of the major part of the cooking."

"Well colour me surprised." Apple Bloom rolled her eyes. "Ah need to take a shower," she went right past Twist. "Please scroll Sweetie Belle. I can't have my mane looking like a deep fried haystack."

Quite the interesting description, Twist thought. She did send a message to Sweetie Belle, of course. For a moment she reminisced about old times, when the Cutie Mark Crusaders were still searching for their marks and would occasionally drag her in all sorts of trouble. The days before the Web. Somehow things seemed so simpler back then.

"Dagnabit!" A shout came from the bathroom. "Twist, are ya using dye shampoo?"

"That would be my mother's," Twist replied innocently. I am so cruel sometimes. A series of screams and curses followed, most of which made Twist chuckle. Cheerilee would probably have a fit hearing them, but compared to the ones in the Web, these seemed like little more than a greeting. "Relax, AB. That's just the mane softener. And even if it were dye, we have the same mane colour."

No response followed. Twist heard the sound of the shower stop shortly after, followed by the opening of a door. An extremely furiously, covered in towels Apple Bloom marched into the living room. She went in front of Twist, glaring at her with level eyes.

"You. Are. Twisted!" she whispered. "Where in tarnation is ya bathrobe?"

"Oh, guess mom must have taken it by accident." Either that, or it’s one of her 'reminders' to start thinking about coltfriends. I am trying to find one, mom! "Go to my room, I should have a spare."

Grumbling and stomping loudly, Apple Bloom did just that. Hardly had she disappeared, then there was a knock at the front door.

"Come in, Sweets," Twist yelled, as she placed the apple pies on the table. Apple Bloom wasn't exaggerating when she said her saddlebags were heavy — two pies, five bottles of cider, four jars of apple zap jam, and about a dozen apples. Pity they wouldn't last ten minutes once the party started. "Door is open," she added loudly.

The creak told Twist somepony had come in. Yet, even she wasn't expecting the crowd that suddenly stormed the living room.

"Hey, Twist, where's the emergency?" Sweetie Belle asked hurriedly. She was, incidentally, wearing her official gamer clan wear — an elegant black vest covered in rainbow flames. Behind her were the rest of the Rainbooms — Button Mash, Archer, Shady Daze, and of course Scootaloo. All of them were wearing identical vests, the only difference being the gamer tags embroider on their backs.

"Err, my room." It took a moment for Twist to react. Then she remembered — they had had a tournament this afternoon.

"Right!" Sweetie Belle quickly trotted forward. "One thing, though," she added as she passed by Twist. Her horn flashed, summoning a pair of stylist combs. Without warning, each shot at Twist's mane. "A loose wave suits you way better," Sweetie said, as she changed Twist's mane style completely. "Just a slight touch. At least you take care of your mane. Unlike some disasters I know! Anyway, I'll be right back, once I deal with the catastrophe that awaits." And she trotted on, combs levitating behind her.

"Sure," Twist blinked. The other ponies in the room looked at her with sympathy. "Let me guess, you've been through the same?"

"Media coverage," Scootaloo grumbled. "Belle insisted we look our best for our victory press conference after the game. Let's just say you got off easy."

The image popped in Twist's mind, making her chuckle and tremble at the same time. The more Belle was growing up, the more she started behaving like her sister — which made it all the more alarming WingClipper had expressed interest in her. Twist's earlier conversation wasn't the first time it had come up. In effect, nearly every time there was business to be done with the hacker, Sweetie Belle's name happened to be mentioned. Normally, that wouldn't be a concern, yet there was one huge difference — Sweetie Belle's virtual and real life persona were linked.

"Make yourselves at home, guys," Twist invited. "Just two things — don't finish the jam and cider before the rest arrive, and no Web! At least tonight I want to have an old fashioned party."

"Old fashioned party." It felt weird using those words. Celestia, I sound like my mother. There were a few snorts, but thankfully her friends understood. Twist also suspected that right now browsing the Web wasn't among their priorities either. Being a professional Bolt player was by far more difficult than ponies made it out to be. Twist herself had participated in a few amateur tournaments, but quickly quit. Time and stamina were key to make it pro, and she didn't have enough of either.

Thirty minutes later and the other guests began to arrive. First was Diamond Tiara, of course, who got into a row with Scootaloo the moment she set hoof in the house. After a few snarky remarks, the two went into the kitchen to shout it out. This had become so common that it barely registered at all. Dinky came next, accompanied by her sister, Amethyst Star. Muttering a quiet hello, she went to an empty corner of the room and sat down, while Amethyst bombarded Twist with enough questions to fill a book. From what Twist could make out, Dinky was suffering from digestion problems again, and as such was on a strict diet. There was to be no cider, no zap apple jam, nothing overly sugary, and absolutely nothing spicy.

Some party it will be for Dinky, Twist thought, as she nodded to each of Amethyst's demands. Apparently, that was enough to calm Dinky's sister, who then left for a party of her own, although not before shouting an embarrassing "Have fun, little sis", making everypony but Dinky snicker.

"Poor Dink," Sweetie Belle sighed beside Twist, as Amethyst was leaving. "At times I wonder what happened to her. She was always bursting with joy as a filly. Remember how envious we were that Derpy was her foalsitter?"

"All too well," Twist chuckled. "And Apple Bloom came up with her ingenious plan. 'If we act irresponsible-like, bet ya horseshoes we'll get her as our foalsitter for sure!'" She did her best to imitate the accent. "I got grounded for a week."

"Oh, stars!" Sweetie Belle started laughing. "Rarity gave me the talk. Followed by an hour of apologies, how her work was important, but she would do the impossible to spend more time with me. She honestly was worried I would replace her with Derpy!"

"And Apple Bloom got AJ and Big Mac so worried, they took turns watching over her... for a month!" Twist joined in. "That was the worst plan ever! How stupid we were to think it might work."

"Everything is possible for a filly. Look at us now, though. In less than an year we might never see each other again. There has been a lot of pressure to have us move to Manehatten to be closer to the gaming scene. Half the class want to go to Canterlot to make something of themselves. And then, there's 'love'," Sweetie Belle sighed.

"Well, you were lucky to find Button," Twist whispered. There was no question — the two had turned out a perfect match, remaining an item despite their schedules. Twist's own school romance hadn't turned out so good. At least she was in speaking terms with her ex again.

"Sorry it didn't work out between you and Truffle." Sweetie gave her a brief comforting hug. "I really thought you had something going on there. That's why I'm all the more happy you found somepony new!"

Yes, Sweets, I thought it would work out with Truffs as well. I guess I believed that... What?!

"Sweets, what do you mean?" Twist arched a brow.

"Oh dear." Sweetie Belle covered her mouth with a hoof. "Me and my big mouth. I spoiled it for you, didn't I?" The look on Twist's face urged "just tell me". "I got a special request to perform during the party. Usually I ignore those, but the stallion was very insistent. Also I found it too cute to turn down. He asked me to sing We Are One In The Web, and dedicate it to you. An apology, for not being able to come, he said."

"Oh." Twist tried to present her fear as disappointment. "Such is life in the real world, I guess."

"Sounds like a keeper to me," the unicorn smiled. "Most would just send a quick message and be done with it. Also, there's always something about the mysterious types that always gets me. Haven't seen him in real life, that Web name, though."

"Web name?" Twist felt a cold chill pierce her.

"Clairvoyance," Sweetie Belle replied. She went on to say more, but Twist was no longer listening. One single thought occupied her mind right now — how in Tartarus had her real life identity been uncovered by a dead pony?

Author's Note

WingClipper - unaffiliated black-hoof hacker, responsible for multiple accounts of avatar theft. If spotted, Web-users are suggested to immediately log off and report to the nearest Conglomerate Office.

Confidential
Is to be given free reign, by authority of the Board of Directors and the Star Chamber.

4. The King stands above all others

When I look into your eyes

There are no more boundaries.

Should we be surprised

That we are one in this reality?

Even without background music Sweetie Belle's song managed to bring silence to the room. Clearly the lyrics had brought very specific thought to everypony's mind. Twist, however, could think of only one thing — Clairvoyance. The mysterious entity had appeared, disappeared, turned up dead, then asked Sweetie Belle to sing a dedication at Twist's party.

Our avatars combine,

We're crossing all the lines.

Does it matter, though?

For we are one in this reality.

"Soul resonance," a quiet voice beside Twist said. It was Dinky. The little unicorn had been miserable for the most part of the evening. "Memories of the past or dreams destined never to happen."

"Sorry?" Twist smiled. I better get a grip on myself. If Dinks can read me, that means everypony can.

"Nothing, no matter," Dinky singled, taking another sip of her drink. Technically, she wasn't supposed to drink cider, but Twist secretly saved a bottle just for her. As her mother would say: "it's hardly a party if even one's unhappy". That was before she had learned of the song, though. Now Twist wished that she had saved a bottle for herself as well. "I just thought..." the unicorn paused. "Forget it, I don't want to depress your evening."

"Hey now, Dinks, you aren't—"

"Can I go to your room for a bit?" Dinky didn't let her finish. "Can I go to your room for a bit? I... want to be alone for a while."

"Sure." What happened to you, Dinky? You used to be so much happier. And now because of the Web stuff I can't even have a proper conversation with you. "Is there anything I can help? You don't look like you're having too much fun."

"I'm just not good with real life," Dinky mumbled back. She didn't even try to look Twist in the eyes, instead aimlessly staring at the floor, head hung low. "Can I use your Web-gear?"

"Dinks, this is supposed to be a Web free occasion," Twist sighed. "Though, looking at you..." She nodded her head in the direction of the staircase. "Go on. Just don't do anything crazy."

For a split second a spark of joy appeared in Dinky's eyes. Without a thanks or a nod she trotted out of the room, bringing a smile to Twist's face. At least you are easy to cheer up, she thought. Sadly, in Twist's situation it would take a lot more. The party was supposed to act as a picker-upper for her, yet from what it seemed it was going to have the exact opposite effect. That is unless Twist decided to ignore the problem. After all, she could always worry about it in the morning. A few hours would hardly make any difference.

"So, this is what you do in your free time?" Snips said, trying his best not to look impressed. That didn't keep him from having a cup of cider, a zap apple sandwich and three candy canes, all levitating nearby. Apparently some things never changed. "Sweetie is good, I guess." He took a gulp of cider. "Nowhere near as good as my act, of course!"

"Few things match your act, Snips," Twist laughed. Despite everything, she liked him. Snips and Snails remained the odd pair even in their senior year. Only difference was that while Snails had grown to be quite the catch, although intellectually a bit dim, Snips had pretty much remained as he was in middle school. "Where is Snails, by the way?"

"Trying to convince his 'marefriend' to show up," the small, plump unicorn grumbled before gulping down the rest of his cider. "As if she would. I've been telling that idiot she's just using him, but does he listen? Nooooo way! It's like he's on the moon or something."

Tell me about it. Twist smiled sympathetically. This reminded her too much of her failed romance with Truffle. It had started wonderfully, when they were younger, but gradually, Twist had started to ask herself questions. Both their cutie-marks were food related, so that was a plus... unfortunately, as they grew older their common interests became less and less. Truffle wanted to become a famous chef, Twist had started exploring the Web. He loved hiking, she preferred indoor sports. She loved music, he preferred radio shows. At one point Twist had gathered the courage to tell him things weren't working between them and that she was willing to make some changes in her life, so that their relationship went back to what it was before. Much to her shock, Truffle had beat her to it, only to announce they were breaking up. As far as the world was concerned, Twist had taken it quite well. Deep inside, though, she had hurt for months, crying when no pony was watching.

"So, I take it he won't show?" Twist offered Snips to refill his cup with juice.

"Hay if I know," he shrugged, levitating his cup away. "I've known him my entire life, and still, the moment he gets a letter from her he ignores me completely. Thank Celestia she's one of those who refuse to use the Web."

"Right."Definitely sounds like a real piece of work. I really feel for you, Snips. When Apple Bloom started spending more time with the CMC than with me, I felt quite rotten. "If you ever want to talk to anypony about it, I'm always here."

"Thanks, Twist, but no thanks." Snips bit into his zap apple sandwich. "I'll just make fun of that knucklehead when he arrives alone." With that, he moved away.

Another complicated situation. Twist sighed. Somehow she remembered parties being much more fun. True, there were far less tears than years ago, but a lot less genuine joy also. At least Apple Bloom seemed to be hitting it off. Thanks to Sweetie Belle, who had done wonders to her mane, and Scootaloo who had been persuaded to send a Web-scroll to her Bolt rivals to join the party, Apple Bloom was now happily flirting away with quite the catch.

Sweetie Belle's song ended with a round of stomping, along with a rather intense kiss from Button Mash. She did manage to pull away, though, to mention that the song was dedicated to Twist from her special somepony. As fun as it was to have a wave of "woooo"s come from all her guests, it was a bit too much. Finding a suitable excuse, Twist sneaked out of the house for some fresh air.

"So much for school parties," she said out loud. Maybe this wasn't the best idea? Or maybe she really did need to get drunk and go wild?

"Tough day at school?" a voice asked. Turning around, Twist saw a slender unicorn she didn't know. Judging by his vest, he had to be a Bolt player. Probably one of Scootaloo's friends.

"Something like that," Twist smiled. "I take it you had a rough day as well?" The unicorn looked at her puzzled. "The tournament. The Boomdrops won, and since you are not a Boomdrop..." The sentence remained unfinished.

"Ouch," the stallion laughed. "And I was hoping you would be impressed by my gamer credentials."

Not a bad opener, although he wasn't exactly Twist's type. To be honest she wasn't sure what her type was. Nevertheless, it did feel nice to be noticed... especially out of the Web.

"Incandescence," the stallion introduced himself. "Nearly pro-Bolt champion."

"Twist." she waved her mane. "Quite the flashy name you have there. Or is it your Bolt nick?"

"Sadly, no," Incandescence sighed. "I blame my mother. Always had a too high opinion of me. Leave it to her to convince you I'm the creator of the game and am only playing to inspire others. Or something like that, at least. I bet you are a straight A student, am I right?"

"Something along those lines," Twist answered vaguely. Get yourself together, filly! I am single, alone, at a party, and standing in front of a dazzling unicorn. There's only one way things should continue from here on. For once, I should forget the Web, my job, and the ghost stalking me and take advantage of the situation! "Sorry. I'm usually not this boring. Final year of school has me thinking more than I should."

"Can't blame you for that." The unicorn moved closer to her, to the extent their shoulders touched. Twist was conscious of his advances, yet chose not to resist. "Earning silver in a tournament of two is no fun either."

The joke was stupid, but made Twist laugh.

"Well, Sweets is a merciless captain," Twist added and instantly felt like biting her lip. I'm an idiot! How could I mix up Scoots and Sweets at a time like this? Now he probably thinks I'm some stupid redmane whose job it is to smile and look sexy!

"Our captain isn't exactly a Princess either," Incandescence jested. It was an innocent phrase, something anypony would have ignored, yet to Twist it didn't sound right.

He didn't correct me, she thought. I said the wrong name and he didn't correct me. Even if he was looking for a good time he should have. Pro-gamers, even stallions, would never let that slide.

"Well, you can always pray to Arête." Twist suggested, deliberately brushing against him.

"The Mother of Hackers?" Incandescence laughed. "Somepony knows quite a lot about Web lore. Been to many Bolt tournaments?"

"A few." Twist made a step to the side. "Enough to know that Bolters never mistake the names of their captains. Who are you, really?"

Twist was expecting some sort of explanation — an elaborate lie that would attempt to brush away his mistake to something trivial. She didn't get anything of the sort. Instead a magic force-bubble formed around her restricting her movements.

"Shame," the unicorn said. A flash of his horn and Twist fell the bubble start to shrink, choking her. "I kinda liked you," his accent changed, acquiring the specific Crystal Empire intonation. "Sadly, the King stands above all others. I'll miss you, redmane."

Twist tried to shout, but force bubble had already wrapped itself tightly around her body like a daily membrane. The only thing she could do was watch helplessly, as it crushed her. The unicorn, whoever he was, just stood there, looking back. No pity could be seen in his eyes. No hatred either, just as if her death was a trivial necessity.

I can't die yet! Panic overwhelmed her. There are so many things I haven't done. I haven't even managed to find a coltfriend, for Celestia's sake! Please don't let me die crushed at my own party!

"Don't struggle," the stallion sighed. "It only makes it more painful. Just close your eyes and—"

A loud thud followed. Within instants Twist felt she could breathe again. Regaining control of her body, she did her best to remain on her hooves, while hungrily gasping for air.

"Close call there." A pink earth mare with ponytails approached, lifting the unconscious unicorn with one hoof and placing him on her back. "Are you okay, Twist?"

"Lily!" Twist managed to say, still trembling from the experience.

"Come on." Lily put a hoof around her shoulder. "Let's get you somewhere to calm down."

* * *

Winter wrap up was underway with full force. The majority of the adult population was out doing their part to ensure the changing of the seasons. Usually Twist would join them. Her mother never allowed her to take part, mostly out of fear Twist might hurt herself, but that never stopped the filly from joining in the fun and songs. Today she was going to have her first official meeting with Silver Spoon instead.

It had been a while since Twist had accepted to work form the Starswirl Conglomerate. The time had been spent in her learning everything she possibly could about the Web. Silver Spoon had provided every book imaginable on the subject, including several marked confidential. The books were simply amazing! They contained more than code, more than history; if the Web ever wrote a diary, they would be it. Everything from Princess Twilight's code principles to advanced Starswirl sector creation was there.

A lone grey pegasus split the sky above Twist, hurrying north. The filly smiled.

"Hello, Mith Ditthy!" She waved cheerfully. Much to her joy, the pegasus waved back.

Maybe this was a good omen? Twist considered. She knew, of course, that omens didn't exist, but needed a boost in courage. Although she wasn't in bad relations with Silver Spoon, the grey filly made her feel uneasy. The huge imposing mansion Silver lived in didn't help either.

A servant greeted Twist at the door. A quick "You are expected, Miss" before she could even say hello, and he took her along a long corridor to Silver's room. There he excused himself and abruptly left.

This is even scarier than the Conglomerate office. Silver swallowed, then gently knocked on the door.

"Come in, Twist." Silver Spoon's voice sounded from within.

Taking a deep breath, Twist obeyed. She didn't know what to expect of her classmate's room. What she saw, however, definitely surprised her. The room was... cheerful? Shelves of neatly arranged toys, large colourful paintings of fairytale scenes, placed upon pink walls with dancing princesses motifs... even the huge bed was more akin to a giant macaroon than a bed.

"I'm so glad you managed to make it," Silver Spoon said from her desk. "I would have chosen a better time, but—" she stopped, seeing how Twist was gawking about. "What are you staring at?"

"Your room." Twist smiled widely. "Itth beautiful!"

"Well." Silver Spoon blushed. This was the first time Twist had seen her do so. "I have taste too, you know," she said defensively, clearly uncomfortable. "I'm a filly too, you know. And would very much appreciate your discretion on the matter."

"Thorry." Twist looked at the floor.

"No, it's okay. Just... not many ponies know about this, and I would like to keep it that way."

"Doeth that mean we are friendth?" Twist beamed.

"Err no, just co-workers." Silver adjusted her glasses. "I don't have friends, Twist," she added. "I cannot afford to."

"Diamond Tiara ith your friend," Twist countered.

"Diamond is a special case. Besides she is a friend. I said I didn't have friends, plural." The grey filly frowned. "Anyway, how goes your exploration of the Web? Enjoying it so far?"

"Very!" Twist started hopping in place. "There are theethe hidden partth, where you need to use thpethial protocolth to enter. At firtht I thought it wath a bug, but then I checked the travel logth and thaw—"

"I haven't given you access to the travel logs yet," Silver said surprised.

"Thorry?" Twist smiled sheepishly.

"Twist!" Silver Spoon sighed. "Please stop doing that. Just because you are a Starswirl intern doesn't mean you could go poking around everywhere. There are rules to be followed. My idiot brother is already breathing down my neck for having a division of my own. Others find it amusing, but if you continue showing what you are capable of, they might start taking notice as well!"

"I know. It jutht wath so interethting!" Twist tried her best to look innocent. It was unlikely the act would work in front of Silver Spoon, but there was nothing lost in trying.

"It always is," Silver rolled her eyes. "So, what did you find?"

"There'th thith hacker group called Luna'th army," Twist started enthusiastically. "They are really good. No one knowth who they are exactly, but they attack Thtarthwirl cluthterth and—"

"I am familiar with Luna's Army," Silver Spoon interrupted. "I doubt there is a soul in the Conglomerate that isn't."

"Well, their attackth are not random." This caused the grey filly to pause. Leaning forward her intense glance unmistakably said Go on. "They are interethted in the Intrusion Countermeaureth Division. FLT even wrote in a log that... Thilver Thpoon?"

For some reason Silver's expression had frozen. Without a word she closed the book in front of her, then without a word stepped from behind her desk, so as to be a step away from Twist.

"Are you sure?" she whispered.

"Yeth?" Twist replied hesitantly. Did I do something wrong, Silver? I didn't mean to. I just tracked some deleted logs in some forums. I'm sure I didn't get anypony in trouble...

"I think we should pause for a bit," Silver said. "ICE Division isn't something I'm comfortable poking. They have support of the Star Chamber. Not even the board of directors can hold them accountable. If there is a war between them and Luna's army..." She waved a hoof in the air. "For now let's start with smaller fish."

"The thon of media relationth is having partith in hith mother'th offith," Twist offered tentatively. The change of topic brought a smile to Silver's face. Surprisingly it even caused her to laugh.

"There you go!" She shoved Twist. For a moment she was almost behaving like a normal filly her age. "That's something we could use to ridicule him, if nothing else. Just keep it small, for now. I don't want you to get hurt plunging in the depths."

"Aww," Twist smiled widely causing Silver to feel uncomfortable again. You really don't have many friends, do you, Silver? Your behaviour at school, the way you talk, that's not an act. You really are this way.

"Stop that!" Silver snapped, but part of her good humour was still visible. "Anyway, since it's obvious you can't stay out of trouble, I've decided to invite somepony else to join our team."

"Rumble?" Twist quickly asked.

"No, it is not Rumble." Silver Spoon gave Twist a deathly glare. "It is somepony you know, though."

Going to her bed, Silver Spoon pulled on the servants rope. Moments later there was a discrete knock on the door, followed by a maid entering along with another filly. A nod from Silver Spoon and the maid was gone. The filly, however, remained.

"Twist, you remember Lily Longsocks from class," Silver said casually. "She's agreed to help keep you safe in the real world."

* * *

"Number two spot, ten months running. Think you could do any better, jelly hooves?" Scootaloo shouted, her forelegs crossed. With Sweetie's song over, her shouting match with Diamond Tiara had resumed, shooing every other pony out of the kitchen.

"Who's number one? A one-legged mule?" Diamond yelled back. The amount of stamina the two invested in their interaction was astonishing. "If I decided I bet I could sweep the floor with you, micro-wings!"

Usually, Twist would find their "talks" amusing. At present they were giving her a headache. Her legs were still shaking, despite Lily being right next to her. Kill me. Somepony tried to kill me! she couldn't stop thinking. No demands, no negotiations, just a quick spell. If it hadn't been for Lily, he would have succeeded.

Doing her best to maintain a somewhat happy smiling appearance, Twist sat in one end of the kitchen. The table, chairs and most utensils had been moved to the living-room, making the area seem somewhat deserted. Maybe it was for the best. This way nopony could see her in such a pitiful state.

"Where do you keep your tea?" Lily asked, placing a hoof on Twist's shoulder.

"Top shelf," Twist replied. Calm breaths. Calm breaths. It is over. I'll push through this.

"Gotcha." Lily nodded, then casually trotted there, passing between Scootaloo and Dioamond. "Hey, girls. Who's losing?"

"She is!" both shouted simultaneously, only leading to a more furious argument. Despite everything, for a split second, Twist felt a smile. You did that on purpose, didn't you? Just like your father — clumsy, crude and stupid on the outside, but in effect you know exactly what you are doing all along.

That was Lily — tough as nails and strong as an ox. She definitely had it hard growing up; that's probably why she was probably better equipped to deal with life than anypony else in class. When first she came to class she kept to herself. She never talked about her family, or what her parents did, or even anything remotely related to her. The reason — she was an unplanned child, born when her parents were in their late teens. Naturally, it was Diamond Tiara who first discovered Lily's secret, and naturally shared it with Silver Spoon. It was years later that Twist learned about it, approximately six months before Lily herself came clean in front of the entire class — she was the love-child of Cherry Berry and Bulk Biceps.

"Want some tea before round two?" Lily asked taking a pot of tea leaves from the shelf.

"No!" Both Scootaloo and Diamond shouted.

"Great!" Lily ignored them. "I'll just go to the living-room to get—"

"Stop!" Scootaloo screamed in terror. Everypony in the kitchen, Twist included, stared at her. "Sweetie is there... and she has combs and brushes."

Silence followed. For several seconds nopony budged a muscle. It took a while to understand what Scootaloo meant. Just as much, to register it as a threat. Thanks, girls. Just by hanging with me you make me feel better, Twist thought.

"Oh, for goodness sake!" Diamond Tiara stomped towards the living-room door. "Give me this!" She snatched the pot from Lily's hooves. "I'll go make your stupid tea! Some mares you are! Can't stand up to one stupid unicorn!" Raging, she left the room.

"Well..." Scootaloo said after a few moments. Even she could see Twist wanted some privacy. "I'll go make sure she doesn't mess it up too much. Cool seeing you, Lily."

"Thanks, Scoots." Twist kept her smile a few seconds longer, then, when the pegasus left, exhaled deeply. This definitely wasn't how she imagined her party.

"I sent a scroll to Silver." Lily started going through the cupboard. "She should be here soon. Who was that guy?"

"No idea." Twist started trembling again. "A cultist, I think." He said as much. "The King stands above all others" is quite difficult to mistake for anything else. How did they find out about me so fast? I was careful! I was so very careful and still—

"Drink this." Lily gave Twist a small flask, stopping her train of thought. "You'll feel better."

Without hesitation, Twist obeyed. The taste was nastily sweetish. The liquid was warm, warming Twist's throat and stomach as it passed down. Definitely not alcohol. Probably something medicinal, or a herbal tonic of some sort?

"There you go." Lily took the flask back. "So you think it's connected?"

"I don't know what to think anymore. Three infected sectors, a hacker that ends up Dreamlocked, a ghost that dedicates a love song to me, and now this... I really think we are in the hay now."

"Which you wouldn't be, if you weren't so reckless all the time!" Silver Spoon said from the back door. "How many times have we been through this? Play it safe! Safe doesn't mean roaming the Web like a madmare searching for a ghost!"

"Hey, Silver," Lily greeted. "The stallion is in the basement if you need to pick him up."

"I'll have somepony deal with it." Silver Spoon said icily, entering the kitchen. For several seconds she looked around, as if searching for a suitable place to sit. I the end she remained standing in the middle of the room. "How bad is it?"

"I'm just a bit shaken," Twist lied. "He used magic, so no permanent damage. I'll be fine in a few—"

"You'll spend the rest of the night with Lily," Silver ordered firmly. "I don't care how well you think you know the ponies at your party. If it happened once, it could happen again. At some point you'll find a likely excuse then go to your room with Lily. You'll get a good night's sleep. Tomorrow both of you will skip school. I'll think of some official excuse. Once I finish school, we'll discuss this. Understood?"

Both other mares nodded.

"Good." Silver adjusted her glasses. "I'll probably have to talk to mother regarding the bundle of fun you captured," she sighed. "Which means we're unlikely to learn anything that comes from his interrogation. I find that annoying, but—"

Without warning Diamond Tiara burst in from the living room.

"Here is your stupid tea!" She growled and was about to toss the thermos she was holding at Twist, when she noticed Silver Spoon. In less than a second, her expression changed, transforming from the epitome of crankiness to one of utter joy. "Silver! You made it!"

"I certainly did, DT," Silver smiled back. "Couldn't leave you alone in a place like this, even if it is Twist's party."

"I'd certainly hope so!" Diamond tossed the tea thermos to Lily. "You have no idea what I've been through! The wingless freak brought all her Bolt friends! She's absolutely insufferable! And don't get me started on—"

"I'll join you shortly, DT." The smile never left Silver's face, but the message was clear. "It's business."

"Fiiine!" Diamond rolled her eyes. "Just don't take forever!" She trotted out.

"Seems like I'll spend some time here, after all," Silver said displeased. "Lily, if you need anything, just send a Web-scroll. And please try to keep Twist out of trouble."

"Sure thing." The pink mare nodded. Apparently that was enough for Silver, who probably left for the living room.

Twist remained in her place for another ten minutes, until the tea and whatever Lily had given her managed to calm her enough to walk without trembling. Equipped with enough courage, and Lily by her side, she returned to the heat of the party. Things had definitely gone wild in her absence. The ponies had definitely loosened up, including, to Sweetie's great embarrassment, Button Mash. It was no secret he could hardly keep his liquor, and while the cider Apple Bloom had brought wasn't strong enough to get him drunk, it had definitely made him more than a bit tipsy. A few other couples had formed, discretely and not so discretely kissing in various parts of the room. If only it hadn't been for the Incandescence incident, this would have ended up being quite the party. Of course, life would never let me have things my way, Twist thought bitterly.

Around one o'clock, Twist excused herself and quietly made her way to her room. Dinky had left a hoof written note thanking her for the party and apologizing that she had to leave early. Quite nice of her, considering she didn't have one ounce of fun.

"I'll just check my scrollbox and a few forum boards," Twist said, putting on her Web-gear. "Shouldn't take long." Lily just shrugged.

You're a good friend, Lily. Silver might have my best interests in heart in the long run, but I really need this. Right now I need to feel somewhat powerful.

The Web seemed as vibrant as ever. Avatars roamed about, going in and out of neon blue glistening buildings. Statistically, four dozen of them would get hacked before the night was over. Twist's scroll box had eight new messages, all inconsequential. No new hints about Clairvoyance's identity, no messages from the ghost itself. The forums were of little more use. Someone was clearly flooding them with speculation about the Sombra virus. Mostly the posts were wild baseless speculations written by absolute idiots. The Everfree forum was a bit better, although not by much. All in all there was nothing that would merit Twist skipping sleep.

Might be just as well, she thought. Tomorrow was another day, after all. Who knows, maybe Silver would manage to get some info on the matter. She had her ways, after all.

Suddenly several of Twist's automated alarms went off. Three aether windows popped up in front of her — one of her data wells was being hacked.

Author's Note

Intrusion Countermeasures Division - (a.k.a. ICE Division) one of the major Starswirld Conglomerate Divisions, responsible for Web security. All ICE development, production and deployment is handled exclusively by members of ICE Division.

Confidential
No investigation into ICE Division operations are to performed unless by express order of the Star Chamber. Any information regarding their activities is on a need to know basis.

5. Contributor Access

Clever, aren't you? Twist checked the state of her firewalls. Whoever was hacking her data-well was doing it hardcore. They had located the well, avoided the honeypot, and apparently messed with the communication protocols so that all warning messages were diverted elsewhere. If Twist hadn't been in the Web, she wouldn't have even known.

Oh, did you pick the wrong day to target me! She frowned and then set her avatar to stealth mode and input the travel coordinates. In the blink of the eye, the landscape changed. She was now in Crystal Valley sector. Miles and miles of breathtaking crystals extended to the horizon, occasionally spoiled by building clusters. During the early days of the Web, the sector was just as any other — a field of crystals to let Web-users experience the wonder of a second, more beautiful, Crystal Empire. It didn't take long for Starswirl VIPs to ruin that. Officially, anypony was allowed to have a temporary virtual building in the structure as long as they could pay the monthly maintenance rate. In practice, the rate was set so high that only the extremely rich could afford building protocols. As for the Starswirl employees, they received a substantial discount should they choose to maintain property there. Needless to say that a large part of the upper Conglomerate echelon did just that. Twist had personally identified over two hundred and twelve ponies who had benefited. Silver Spoon's brother was among them.

"You've moved," Lily's voice came through chat. "Anything up?"

"Hackers," Twist replied. "Nothing serious. I shouldn't be long."

"Yeah. Call if you need me"

Beneath her avatar, Twist smiled. Lily's presence reassured her. However, she would never call her friend in the Web. Sorry, Lily. The redmane launched four tag-drones. You're a great help in the real world, but in here I have this. Besides, there were a number of prototype protocols Twist wanted to test out. In theory, she could do that any time in one of Starswirl's test zones. It was safer, more practical, and utterly useless. One of the things that the majority of Conglomerate techs couldn't get was that the only way to properly test something was in the field. Hackers and Conglomerate agents were different — like arrows and silk: one pierced its way through everything, while the other entangled its target, rendering it defenseless.

Let’s see how you like some Spider Webs. Twist launched half a dozen. She then surrounded herself with an aether bubble. The yellow glow caused her to flinch for a moment. The memories of the near death experience were still fresh.

"This is the Web," Twist whispered firmly. "Here, I am in control."

A new set of aether windows popped up around her. The hacker had passed through all the firewalls and now was deciphering the data. She had managed to bypass Twist's security surprisingly well. No way this was a one-off job; it had been planned well in advance. The first thing Twist was going to do once this was over was to check the data-well's internal logs.

Setting her avatar's sensors to record, Twist flew straight towards the Crystal waterfall. Strictly speaking, she wasn't allowed to own a vault, let alone a data-well in this sector, yet if Silver Spoon had taught her anything, it was that only the weak followed the rules. That, and also Twist had done a pretty good job keeping the fact hidden. All the more concerning that a hacker found it.

"Time to play, Webber." Twist took a deep breath as she dived through. The water passed over her aether bubble, as did the crystal wall, revealing a perfectly circular cave. Hidden functions. The mare smiled. Got to love them.

There was no sign of anypony else, but Twist launched two more webs just in case. A split second later, three earth pony avatars charged her, each launching a cloud of viruses. Two of her attackers were entangled with ease, while the third, seeing she was outmatched, retreated back down the cave.

"Bubble piercing viruses?" Twist asked impressed. The pesky little things had passed through the aether bubble as if it were air and lodged onto her avatar. The auto-antivirus system neutralized them, but that was quite the wake up call. Twist had become dangerously reliant on Starswirl gear.

"Just for that, I'll bring in the ICE," she hissed, firing two tags at the webbed hackers. The moment they touched the avatars, the captives disappeared in a cloud of particles. Decoys. The hacker was good. "Good trick with the decoys, hacker," Twist shouted. "Still won't help, though."

"Buck you, glomer!" a loud yell answered.

Got you! Twist smiled. Breaking down the voice she sent initiated a comparison search in the Starswirl Audio bank. A match was found in less than two seconds — Harpy, small time hacker, part of the Harpy and DD duo. Wow, I got me a celebrity. In the large scheme of things Harpy wasn't in the big leagues, but her explosive nature definitely made her famous. Both she and DD were every scriptpony's dream.

"Give it up, Harpy," Twist shouted. "If you leave or disco you'll be tagged. Besides, I already know your avatar and gear ID." Both were lies, but good enough to cause doubt. Hackers had no idea what went on in the Conglomerate. The amount of conspiracy theories on their forums was staggering. That was precisely what Twist had used to bluff her way onto the their radar. If it worked for the big fish, it would work on Harpy as well.

"Oh yea?" The hacker didn't sound impressed. "Why don't you pin your tail on a wall and—"

"Language!" Twist interrupted. Oh dear... I've turned into my mother. At least nopony is likely to believe it's me.

"Really?" Unadulterated surprise was heard in the hacker's voice. "Cheerilee is that you out there?"

Crap! How did you find out? There's no way this could be a coincidence. Without hesitation, she readied her destruction protocols. Silver Spoon had warned her only to use them when things got extremely serious. It was difficult to explain how a simple intern had access to some of the more dangerous cutting edge features. The risk of having her identity exposed the same night she was nearly killed, however, more than fit the bill.

"What do you want, Harpy?" The Red ICE protocol was at the ready. "You have five seconds to come out and make a deal. If not, this place will be filled with so much ICE that your backups would get frozen."

"Who the buck do you think you are?" The voice sounded closer. "You glomers are all the same! Just because you have the tech, you think you are so good! The hay with you! Call your bucking ICE! Think that'll matter?"

"Listen, filly, I've done deals with bigger shots that you, so don't you hold that tone with me!" Slowly, Twist moved forward. "Somepony tried to kill a friend I hold dear in the real world, and a few hours later you hack my data-well. See any connections?"

No answer.

"I've read your file. The kids love you." That wasn't entirely true. Harpy had her following, but it was DD who was the center of attention. Even Twist herself had a signed Web-grab from the latter with To Cane, with love written in large pink letters. "Either you picked the worst time, or you are being used. Which one is it?"

The sound of approaching hooves came from the distance. An old Earth Pony build avatar emerged from the darkness. This is Harpy? Twist couldn't help but wonder. Now it was clear why DD got all the attention. The hacker's avatar was an eyesore. No doubt it was optimized to near perfection, but still, a bit of eye candy could have gone a long way.

"No one uses me," Harpy said, defiant. "You weren't bucking about the real world attack?"

"Nope." Twist shook her head.

"Buck it!" Harpy kicked a nearby wall with her hind legs. An earth pony habit. Most likely she was one in real life as well. "I didn't know this was your well. Buck it, I didn't even know it was Conglomerate when I first found it. Thought it was some rich scriptpony's play vault. Only did it for the practice!"

Not many things were capable of making Twist blush, but play vaults were among them. According to the Web user agreement, they were discouraged. However, anypony with a little common sense could see there was no real penalty for creating or using one. As a result the Web was filled. Some "free" sectors didn't even bother hiding the fact, advertising their pleasure vaults as the best in the Web. The Conglomerate referred to them as "Entertainment Spots", though in reality they were nothing less than Dream-Web brothels. Some even provided special avatars, virtual toys, or artificial pony constructs to the pleasure of their clients.

"I'm not into that!" Twist quickly said, pleased the avatar hid her blush.

"I bet, grandma," Harpy snickered.

"Do you have any idea who I am?" Why, you little pest! I swear if things weren't so complicated I'd send a log of this to your parents! What are you? Fifteen?

"What the buck do I care?" Even among hackers, Harpy brought charming to a whole new level.

"Cane." Twist said coldly.

"Never heard of you!"

"Well, I've heard of you." Time to start negotiations. "Did you manage to get any data?"

"Buck you!" Harpy shouted. She seriously was a loudmouth. Her vocabulary, though, was lacking.

"Not with that attitude." Twist frowned. Stars, I hate your type. Loud, rude, and violent. I bet five seconds with Lily in real life and you'll be crying like the baby you are. "Whatever you have, you can keep. But I want a favour."

"Yea, right." Harpy scoffed. "Probably worthless trash. If you want my help, give me something real!"

"What would you consider real?" Was this a good time to offer a pact? It was always useful to have a hacker or two in one's service. This one, however, didn't fill Twist with any amount of confidence. "I want contributor access on the Everfree Forum."

"You serious?" Twist gritted her teeth at Harpy's laughter. "Took me years to get there! What's your level there? Bunny? Kitten? Hay, are you even a user?"

"And I let you go untagged." Twist added. "You don't say anything about this place, I don't say I caught you. Seems a fair trade."

"The buck it does!" Harpy glared at her in anger. It was obvious, though, she was considering it. "Give me a moment to think!"

Got you! Twist smiled.

* * *

"Stop playing around! This isn't a game!"

The same old story. Everypony in the Web thought they knew what was going in. That was a lie. There were probably a few dozen entities that did, and all could feel the chains around their necks.

"If you don't stop at once ... ... ... ..."

Message corruption? Unlikely. Someone had probably found the way to block the communication. Impressive, considering who was sending it.

"Hello, kiddo," a female voice said. "I see your shit, and I'll help. You'll owe me, though."

Arête?!

* * *

"Twist, Twist!" The words felt like a hammer smashing through her skull. "Wakey, wakey."

Twist's first reaction was to try and cover her head with a pillow. When that failed, she begrudgingly cracked an eye open to see who was bothering her at this time of night. As she managed to focus, two things became clear: Lily was standing next to her bed, and it wasn't as early in the morning as Twist imagined it to be.

"How long was I asleep?" she yawned.

"Oh, fifteen hours," Lily said as casually as she were commenting on the weather. "Had a few screams, a bit of crying, fell twice on the floor... Nothing much. Here, take this." She offered Twist a small flask.

Health tonic in the morning? Why not? It tasted bitter, enough to make her to spit it out. That was one of the shortcomings of having a candy cutie-mark — Twist could always tell if something tasted bad, even when others didn't.

"Cleaned for you." Lily took the flask back. "Button broke a few things. Nothing major. Well, other than a chair. Sweetie Belle promised she'd buy replacements. Snips got drunk and started dancing on the table. It held him, though."

Slowly, Twist got out of bed. The room didn't feel her own. Her entire surroundings seemed as one huge dream, a part of the Web that didn't belong in reality. The logical part of her brain shouted that this was a post traumatic experience, but the emotional part didn't give a damn.

"Your mother's here," Lily went on. "Not sure if she was happy or shocked to find me in your room."

"Dear Celestia," Twist groaned. She could see it now — another mother-daughter conversation, just when she least needed.

"AB asked about you a few times after you fell asleep. She was a bit worried. The stallion she was with managed to distract her enough not to insist too much."

"What did you tell her?" At least somepony got something nice from the party.

"That you were sick and I was keeping an eye." Lily opened the window. A pleasant breeze entered, chasing away the stuffy air. "Oh, and Silver said she'd pass by later. What happened in the Web?"

"Standard rubbish," Twist lied, suppressing a yawn. "I met Harpy, gave her some stuff, she upped my user level on the Everfree Forum. No big deal."

In truth Harpy had tricked her big time. Stupid of me to think that cheap pest could be reasoned with! The pesky hacker had gone away with nearly a third of Twist's data archives. The stalling, which the redmane believed to be her doing, had actually worked in Harpy's favour, providing her with the time necessary to decrypt all the data she needed. As a result, Twist had gotten a contact link and an empty promise, while the hacker — everything she had come for.

"Please don't mention this to Silver." Twist scratched her left ear. "You know how she gets when I go behind her back."

"I do." Lily nodded. "You should work out more, by the way."

"You told her, didn't you." Typical of you. And I do work out enough, thank you very much!

Lunch passed relatively well. Twist's mom kept on asking about the party, the ponies, and Lily. It took quite some convincing that Twist wasn't into mares, and even then her mother assured her that "it is okay to be special." Lily wasn't much help either, practically agreeing with everything the older mare had to say. After an hour if that, Twist was overjoyed to see Silver Spoon arrive. The distraction was short lived, with her mother openly asking "is it Silver, dear?" before "making herself scarce."

"What was that about?" Silver arched a brow confused, while Twist sighed, hoof on face.

"Mom seems to have the impression that... You know what? Never mind." The redmane finished her orange juice. At least that was something she could rely on not betraying her. "Did you manage to find out anything?"

"Twist." Silver adjusted her glasses. "I'm sorry. I told you, once he goes we are unlikely to hear anything. I'll try talking to Mother, but don't hold your... don't keep your hopes up."

To be expected. Twist had no illusions, although it was a lie to say she didn't wish to know on the matter. For the moment that would have to be enough. Everyone had their own secrets, after all.

"One other thing." There was a pause, the uncomfortable pause that meant something unpleasant was to follow. "My brother had a talk with me. Apparently some of his friends do not appreciate us... me meddling in real Conglomerate affairs. It wasn't the best experience, but at least we can assume that the idiot doesn't know anything."

"Are you a target?" Lily asked. The manner in which she did that made Twist shuffle uneasily.

"For the moment, no," Silver said, then cleared her throat. She was nervous. "I wouldn't be too concerned. My parents provide me a certain level of protection. Even if there are cultists in the Conglomerate they will not risk harming me. In the meantime..." She gave Twist an annoyed look. "What did I say about going into the Web yesterday? One simple request and what do you do? Pick fights with hackers?"

"Silver, I..." It wasn't a fight. And I didn't pick it, Harpy hacked me!

"I don't want to hear it!" Silver Spoon lifted a hoof in the air. "I have arranged for you and Lily to take a small vacation from school. To be precise, you'll be going to the Crystal Empire. From what you've told me, all the clues lead there. I'll take of things here."

"What?" Twist jumped to her hooves. "Silver, you can't just..." She started paving around. "There will be questions! And what if somepony tries to harm us?"

"You'll only make it easier for them if you stay." Silver wouldn't back down. "As far as we know your attacker might have just wanted to blend in. Personally, I think the cult is after Clairvoyance, not you."

"Clairvoyance is Dreamlocked!" Twist found that she was shouting.

"Then who asked Sweetie Belle to sing for you?" There was a moment's silence. "Even if I'm wrong, it's a speed game now — the faster you find enough for me to get things in the Conglomerate moving, the faster you'll become safe. Besides, you'll be well protected. In addition to from Lily, you'll have the Royal Crystal Guards keep an eye."

Royal Guards? If anypony else had said that, Twist would have thought they were joking. Knowing Silver, however, she suspected it could be true. The grey pony didn't have an ounce of humour in her entire body. Meanwhile, Lily whistled, obviously impressed.

"You'll spend your stay in the crystal palace as guests of Princess Flurry Heart," Silver said calmly as before. "I trust you to keep anything relating to me discreet. Nopony must suspect what your real intentions are."

"Silver, I don't know Flurry Heart." What are you thinking? You can't just send me like that? Sure, I've met Princess Cadence and her husband a few times when they came to visit, but that hardly makes me a close friend.

"You don't have to." Silver Spoon took two posters from her backpack and unrolled them on the table. One was a signed print of Sweetie Belle, the other a dedication from the Boomdrops. "You're friends with them, aren't you? From what I understand, the young Princess is quite the fan."

Just great! A princess fanfilly... Well, at least Lily will be with me.

* * *

"Lily, have you always been tho thtrong?" Twist asked.

The pink filly only shrugged. She was definitely on the shy side — quiet in class, alone at the playground, alone during lunch. Twist had tried to get close to her on several occasions, but had stopped after a dozen unsuccessful attempts. Now that they would be "working" together, she clearly was going to have to try again.

"Want to go to my plathe?" The filly asked cheerfully. "I can make candy caneth. They are really thweet and nithe. Everypony in clath thayth so."

"Okay," Lily replied, more acceptant than eager. Still, that was good enough for Twist, who happily trotted along.

"Tho what do you think of the Web? Isn't it thpethial?"

"It's fine." Another shrug. "I use it to work out. At least then nopony can see..."

"Thatth tho cool!" Twist smiled widely. "How?"

"Err?" Lily blinked, confused. This wasn't a reaction she was expecting. "I set the avatar gravity settings to max. Then I increase the weight value of my saddlebags and bracelets."

"Woooow! You can hack too?" Twist's eyes sparkled, impressed. Finally she had found somepony else interested in exploring the Web.

"No," Lily said, slightly uncomfortable. "Mom is a pilot. I picked up enough math and physics from her to fly the balloon."

"You can fly a balloon?!" Why didn't I know that? Why didn't anypony in class know about that!? If they did, Lily would become the most famous filly in class! More famous than Silver Spoon or Diamond Tiara even!

"Not alone." The pink filly was quick to add. "My mom is Cherry Berry."

That explained a lot, and also made it that much more impressive. Lily has her own balloon! That's so great!

"Can we go for a ride?" Twist asked eagerly. "The weather ith theduled to be thunny today."

"Not sure about that, Twist. Mom is usually busy and—"

"But it will be a perfect thientific exthperiment!" Twist insisted. "I'll take thome candy caneth from home and we can eat them in the balloon!"

"That's no scientific experiment!" Lily frowned.

"Throwing paper planes to explore their aerodynamic propertieth in the real world and compare them to the oneth in the Web ith a perfect experiment!" Twist said in one breath pretty much as she did in class.

"Wow, you really are smart." Lily laughed. "I'll talk to Mom."

* * *

Nighttime. Twist never thought the sun would set. The last few days still felt like thousands of events merged together in one single moment. Staring at the moon from her window, the pony could only sigh at the view. As a filly she would talk to the moon, wishing for friends, a cutie-mark, somepony to love. Now, she looked at it wondering what she could expect from the future. Literally a day ago, she was worrying about not seeing her friends after graduation, her lack of social life, and finding a coltfriend. That was before the unicorn she flirted with had tried to kill her.

Maybe a change is what I need? I can barely stand it here at the moment. And Silver Spoon is probably right — the faster I locate the threat, the faster all this will stop haunting me. Literally and figuratively.

"Go to sleep, Twist." An annoyed voice said from below. Apart from being a good friend, Lily took her job extremely seriously. No doubt she'd spend a second night awake making sure Twist was safe. That gave the redmane a sense of relief. Because of that she could at least attempt to sleep.

"In a moment." She glanced at the moon again. "Please send me calm dreams, Triumvir Luna," she whispered.

Sadly, her wish proved too difficult to achieve. Lying in bed didn't do much, and neither did counting bunnies. Damn it! The mare got up. A bowl of petals was resting on the floor. Twist grabbed some, and then began circling the room. She still didn't feel tired. Rather, she feared going to sleep. Maybe a bit of Web roaming? she thought. A horrible idea, but beggars aren't choosers — if it could distract her enough to get tired, why not give it a try?

Putting her head-gear on, Twist took a deep breath and dived in. The environment around her changed, placing her in the middle of an endless meadow. Instantly giant aether windows appeared in the sky — Warning! Sector 79 will be collapsed in 12:45:02!. Web Tourism Division had received the go-ahead to create another castle sector, increasing the total number to seven. Twist abhorred the idea. There were enough castles as it were, and most of them seemed lacking compared to the real thing. Only New Canterlot had a relative large traction, but even its appeal was limited to first time Web users. Once the numbers plateaued, interest was certain to dwindle. Personally, Twist didn't see it lasting more than a few years, after which the sectors would be collapsed again. Silver Spoon had shared her view, adding that by then there might no longer be a Web Tourism Division.

Black Bear. The thought came to mind. According to Clairvoyance, that was the division that started it all. So far Silver Spoon hadn't managed to find anything relating to it, and Twist was smart enough not to try to search for information on her own. Such things were way beyond her clearance. It was entirely possible for the division to have been reformed or shut down, but in that case what had happened to its employees? Twist had hoped to glean some information from the Everfree forum, but thanks to Harpy's tricks, that option had gone for the time being.

"Hello, Cane, a voice said in chat, startling her. It was a male voice, soft, calm and melodic. All good and well, except Twist had set her chat to "do not disturb."

With a touch of panic, the pony checked her connections status. Everything was as it was supposed to be — her defenses were up and unbreached, there was no indication of her avatar being hacked, and yet someone had opened a direct channel to her.

"Communications block protocol Phoenix Lite," she said, launching several tracers as she did.

"Please, don't be like that." The mysterious voice didn't seem bothered in the least. "I just want to—"

"Emergency override p—" Twist began. If she couldn't block, the solution was to log off.

"Please stay!" The desperation in the voice made Twist pause. "I want to talk to you."

Should she? If what WingClipper had told her about SmokeScreen was true, there was a real danger of her getting Dreamlocked. Staying was pointless and dangerous. And yet why did she feel such a strong urge to do so?

"Clairvoyance?" she asked, her voice trembling with anticipation.

"Yes." The answer made Twist's heart skip a beat. "I heard what happened yesterday. Sorry I got you mixed up in this. I—" Was this hesitation? "You didn't deserve any of it."

"You're supposed to be dead!" No time for mincing words. "Or in a coma. There's no way you should be here. So tell me, who exactly are you?”

"It's not as simple as it seems..."

Stallion. You're definitely a stallion! Only they would explain things away with that horrible phrase.

"For the moment try to stay safe." The voice didn't seem artificial, but with the amount of dream-spells lately, one could never be sure. For all Twist knew, she might as well be talking to a changeling. "They aren't looking for you, but if you continue poking around they will. Stay low for a few months. Party a bit. Forget about the virus."

"Nice try." A rebellious streak made its presence known. "I don't know what you want, but it isn't keeping me safe! You could have warned me about the danger, but you didn't."

"I didn't know about it." Reluctance. Disappointment. Fear? "There are things I can't do. It's hard enough talking to you unnoticed. The more you pursue this, the further down the rabbit hole you'll go. Are you sure you want to?"

Rabbit hole? Curious that Clairvoyance would use that phrase. The very same Silver Spoon tended to use. If she were honest with herself, Twist had doubts about going on — lots of them. So far her curiosity had always proved stronger. Today was no exception.

"I'm sure," she said out of defiance.

"Okay. You'll need this then." A new message appeared in Twist's scrollbox. There was no subject, or sender address. "A gift."

"What is it?" Twist didn't dare open it. "Another song?" There was no answer. "Clairvoyance? Are you there still?" Nothing. Apparently, he had said what he had come to say and left just as unexpectedly as he had arrived.

Cautious, Twist rechecked her avatar's defenses, then disconnected from the Web. Several minutes passed in hesitation. Should she see what the "gift" was, or should she purge het scrollbox externally? Damn you, Clairvoyance! She logged back on and opened the message. It only had two lines. The first was a long string of symbols, twenty-eight to be exact. The second held four words that made her pulse quicken.

Everfree Contributor Access Key

Author's Note

Everfree Forum - a collection of linked Web boards, used by Dream-hackers and other Webbers to exchange exploits, unlisted protocols and information (including conspiracy theories). Browsing the forums is strongly discouraged by the Starswirl Conglomerate.

Confidential
Any attempts to disrupt the Everyfree Forum are strictly forbidden. Queries on the matter are to be sent directly to the Star Chamber.

6. Balloon Flight

The view from the balloon was breathtaking. The only thing that matched it was Twist's motion sickness. Despite the double dose of meds she had taken before departure, her stomach still actively rebelled against her. Even music didn't seem to have any effect. And I bought the most expensive headset too, she sighed.

A vacation in the Crystal Empire. A month ago, Twist would have jumped at the opportunity. It was one of the places she had always wanted to go, but circumstances never allowed. Eight times before her plans had been ruined by sickness, unexpected work, and, on one occasion, having to console Apple Bloom after a particularly nasty breakup. Now, however, this was the last place she wanted to be. Everything that threatened her, both physically and in-Web, was in the Empire, and despite Silver Spoon's assurances, Twist felt like an apple rolling towards the cider press.

"Holding up?" Lily asked. Twist just waved a hoof, staring at the horizon. According to the books, this was supposed to help with motion sickness. "Good. We should be there in half an hour."

"Lily." Twist took a deep breath. "I can still see Ponyville." She turned around. Big mistake. Instantly her breakfast cried out for freedom. Bad idea! bad idea! She closed her eyes. This was getting out of control. Once this was over she was so taking up Silver's offer for a full medical check up.

"I know." Twist felt a hoof on her shoulder. "Dad promised to lend a hoof. You sure you don't want something to eat?"

You did that deliberately. It was obvious what Lily was doing: trying to get Twist's mind off the mission. A good, yet misguided notion. As if feeling sick could achieve that. Currently the red mane felt frightened and nauseous. The only saving grace of the whole endeavor was that it was safer that taking the train. At least here it was only the two of them — unless there were pegasi among the cultists.

"You'll like it there," Lily continued. "Everything's sparkly, even the ponies. Mom took me there a few times. Just stay away from the food." Twist felt sick again. Please, stop it... "Will be my first time to the palace, though. Silver said she took care of everything."

Of course she did. Leave it to her to get things moving. One had to admire the ease with which she managed to achieve that. Even when they were fillies, Silver had been surprisingly good at politics. The only thing stopping her in school, ironically, was her closeness to Diamond Tiara. In private, however, she handled more responsibilities a pony could imagine. If Twist were in her shoes, she would never had bothered creating a division in such a hostile environment. Instead, she would have spent her family's money and connections on books, tech, and a life of endless Webbing.

Twist's bracelet began to vibrate, indicating she had received a message. That was another perk of having Silver for a boss — the grey filly always managed to provide Twist with the best prototypes.

"Lil, I'll hop into the Web for a bit." She shuffled to find her saddlebags among the luggage. "Shouldn't take long."

"Okay." The hesitation in Lily's voice was obvious.

"Don't worry." Twist took out her Web gear and started strapping it to her head. "I just need to read a scroll. Probably Silver giving instructions."

Logging in took a bit longer than usual. Not that it mattered. Twist had chosen to connect in a closed sector. Those had the benefit of being sealed off from the general public, while remaining ignored by Starswirl. Definitely a huge advantage, especially since currently there was no telling who she could trust.

Let's see what we have. The mare opened her scrollbox. Over a dozen unread messages stood waiting, most redirects from message boards and observation probes Twist had placed throughout the Web. It wasn't any of those that had set off her bracelet, however. The culprit was a message directed to her personal address, her personal Twist address. It appeared innocent enough, so she opened it.

You are the one who swept me off of my hooves.

I thought I stood a chance, but that never was the case.

Each time you laugh and each time you move,

Melts my heart, then puts it back in place!

I want you! Yes I want you!

The only colt that has set my heart on fire.

I want you! By Celestia, I want you!

Your love, that is what I desire.

You are the one who says we’ll always be together.

As you’ve said to everypony else.

Why don't you see that I want to be your mare?

I don't want to be just another friend.

Wow, that's cheesy! I bet even Sweetie Belle will gag at this. Twist’s first reaction was to think of it as spam. There had been a lot of that in the Web, lately. One thing changed her mind: the message had no sender, neither in the subject nor in the scroll-source logs.

"Is that you, Clairvoyance?" Twist said out loud. Did you seriously hack my avatar to send me love trash? "This is getting boring, you know."

No answer. Either he had logged off or didn't have anything to say. The former probably. He had made it abundantly clear he didn't want her to get involved. Of course he had done so after telling her about the Sombra virus. Typical for stallions — make a mess and then worry how to clean it up.

"Will you quit it?" Twist was starting to get annoyed. "Nopony else knows who I am, so stop stalking me!" Nothing still. Maybe I've become paranoid? In any event there was no use in remaining here. Although, it wouldn't hurt if she took a peek at a few forums. Just a few entries.

Opening an aether window, the mare input her code and waited. Now to see if this works. At first nothing happened. The forum looked exactly the same as before; there were no new sections, no special status indications, just a standard set of entries. When Twist tapped on one of the entries, however, everything changed.

"Wow," she managed to day as the Everfree forum reconstructed itself in front of her very eyes.

Having Everfree Contributor access certainly offered a new view of things. Reading the entry titles was enough for Twist to feel her mane tingle with excitement. ICE information, ways to bypass the latest Conglomerate defenses, internal Starswirl memos... The place was a treasure trove of information! She could spend weeks analyzing everything written here. Be calm, Twist. Just a glance, remember? Or maybe... Not feeling the least bit guilty, she executed a search for Clairvoyance in the forum. Three results popped up.

Would you look at that? Finally, some good luck. All posts were old, well over six months before all this started. One mentioned something vague about inoperable message protocols, the other two alarmed of the increasing spread of the Sombra virus.

Got you! She opened the top post. Before she had a chance to read it, a warning message popped up in her avatar's HUD.

Manual disconnect initiated!

Logging off in 5 seconds...

"What?!" Twist shouted. Lily, you idiot! Why did you have to disco me now? pressed for time, Twist copied all messages to her scrollbox. There was no way she was losing those. She'd get a chance to read them later. Right now she had to prepare for the log out.

The return to reality hit her like a freight train. Worse than dizziness, worse than nausea, Twist felt as if something her squeezed her stomach. It was a miracle she didn't vomit there and then. Breathing heavily, she reached for her headgear, only to have somepony else remove it.

"Steady, Twist." Lily stood over her. Oh, Lil. If only you knew what you almost did. "You were taking too long. Not good to Web on something moving."

Typical you. "I'll be fine." Twist didn't even bother to stand up. Dealing with two kinds of sickness was the limit of what she could take. "I still don't see why—"

"Heya, Twist," a voice came from outside the balloon basket. "Always the same I see."

No. It can't be! The young mare tried to force herself up. Her legs were wobbly, but with some help she managed to turn around. A wingspan away, shaking her head in disapproval, was a Wonderbolt. The blue and yellow uniform almost glowed in the sunlight. Way better than in the Web, Twist thought. Even in this day and age some things couldn't be replicated.

"Cloudchaser?" she asked in disbelief. "Why are you here?"

* * *

A whole afternoon in a hot air balloon? Twist didn't know what to think. This seemed like a dream come true. She had seen the balloon, of course, everypony at school had, but it was always from afar. Today she would have the chance to try it out. Lily had invited Silver Spoon as well, but the grey filly had refused, preferring to spend the rest of her day with Diamond Tiara.

"Thith ith going to be thuper!" Twist hopped in place. "We thee Ponyville from above. And the Everfree Foretht! And fly to Canterlot!"

"Mom won't let us fly that far," Lily said quietly. She seemed extremely uncomfortable with the whole idea.

"Why?" Twist tilted her head. Is she worried about Timberwolves? They won't attack us if we are fifty paces above ground.

"Because," the other replied.

"But I can explain that there'th no danger." Twist stated. In her mind she she was going through all sorts of arguments and counter arguments. Just like the Web, she thought. As long as my reasoning is sound Lily's mom will—

"Hello, Lilly." A pink blond-maned mare trotted up to them. "Sorry I'm late." Whatever thought went through Twist's mind had totally vanished at the sight of the mare's pilot cap. I want one of those! "Hello, Twist."

"Hello, Mitheth Berry!" The red mane filly beamed. "Can we fly over the Everfree Foretht? I've read it'th a thpesical view!"

"Err, actually, there won't be any balloon riding this afternoon," Cherry Berry said. Twist felt all her happiness and enthusiasm evaporate. Both ears flopped down, as she looked at the mare. This must be a mistake. The filly's eyes filled with sadness, hoping she had heard wrong. "I spoke to your mother, Twist. She told me you have severe motion sickness."

"Motion sickness?" Lily turned to Twist, surprised.

"Yeth." Twist sniffled. she had never though that could be a problem. She had only gotten slightly sick during the school trip to the lake. It wasn't even so bad. After a few minutes rest she was all right. Surely this couldn't steal her chance to travel on a hot air balloon?

"You shouldn't keep such things secret, Twist," Cherry Berry patted her on the head in an attempt to make the filly better. "If you'd gone on a ride bad things could've happened."

"Mom," Lily sighed. Her expression was a mix of disappointment and embarrassment. "Can't we go up for a little while?"

"Don't make things worse, Lily." Her mother stopped the conversation in its tracks. "What have I told you about responsibility?"

"I've got to know all the facts before I undertake anything," the filly recited.

"And you didn't." An obvious example of tough love. As miserable as Twist felt, she could sense Lily had it far worse. Who knew Cherry Berry was so strict? "If you had checked, you'd have known not to promise anything. You didn't, and look at the result! Your friend's disappointment is entirely your fault!"

"I am not dithapointed, Mitheth Berry." It took Twist all her effort to put a smile on her face. "There are lotth of thingth we could do." The skeptical look she got from Cherry Berry was a clear indication her acting skills needed improvement. "It wath great I got to meet Lily'th cool pilot mother!" To an extent, this was true.

"Good to see you have such nice friends, Lily." Cherry Berry patted Twist on the head again. "In future, though, don't hide things, Twist."

"I won't, Mitheth Berry," the filly said looking at the ground again.

"Glad to hear it." The mare nodded. "I must get back to work. Nice meeting you, Twist. Coming, Lily?"

"No," Lily replied firmly, causing her mother to pull back in surprise. "I'll spend some more time with Twist."

The reaction was unexpected. Both Twist and Lily's mother looked at her in dismay. What just happened? Twist wondered. She had never seen Lily get upset, not even when Diamond Tiara was bullying her. This was an entirely new side of the earth pony. Cherry Berry seemed to be of the same opinion, for she didn't ask any follow up questions. Instead, she simply told her daughter to be home by sunset, kissed her on the cheek, and trotted off with a quick goodbye.

"Let's go." Lily literally dragged Twist along, not even waiting for her mother to disappear from view.

"Where are we going, Lily?" The red mane did her best to keep the pace.

"I promised you'd fly." Simple and clear. It was enough to to make anypony feel warm inside. Unfortunately, for Twist it only brought more questions, and questions lead to other questions.

Maybe I should take her somewhere in the Web? We can get a hot air balloon ride there and it'll be just as much fun! There was merit to that. There was no sickness or disease in the Web, other than viruses. Twist didn't have to worry about motion sickness or anything. She could even go as far as borrow a Starwswirl Pegasus build avatar and fly herself. Yes, I'll talk to her tomorrow after school, right after I finish reading about the new Web protocol updates.

Their trip was short, ending at the Spa. Initially, Twist thought that they had stopped to take a break. When Lily entered, though, new questions emerged.

"Are we going to get hoofacureth?" Twist asked. She had never been to the Spa before. In fact, she had never considered it. "Or our maneth done? Or—"

"No," Lily grumbled. "We're going to see somepony."

See somepony? What would they be doing here? The inside of the Spa was large, spacious and alarmingly empty, quite different from what Twist imagined it would be. From what she'd heard it was supposed to be packed. Not a week would go by without her mother complaining she failed to book a spot.

As they walked further in, Twist noticed a small "Web section" sign hanging on one of the walls. Webbing in a Spa? I got to try that one day!

"Lily?" A blue spa pony appeared. Her accent was particularly strange. "What you be doing here? Finally decided to come for some beautifying?"

"Hello, Miss Blossom," Lily sighed with the stubbornness of one having gone through this conversation a hundred times.

"Ah." Lotus Blossom stroke the filly's mane. "You be wasting such fine mane on braids. Take note from mother — beautiful mane, beautiful style."

"I like my mane like this." The filly looked away.

"Nu ladna." The spa pony patted her on the head, much the the filly's obvious annoyance. "You came to see father? Bulk is with client. Maybe thirty minutes. You know how he doesn't want disturbances during work. Why not wait and I could fix mane? Or friend's?" This was the first time she had directed her attention to Twist. "Red mane very nice, very attractive."

"Yeth, please!" Twist felt excited by the prospect. "Can I Web while—" The look on Lily's face was more than clear. We are not here to get our manes done, her eyes said silently. "Maybe thome other time?" Twist asked, hopeful.

"Please, anytime as long as there is space," the spa pony laughed. "Must go welcome customers. You can wait here, just don't disturb. And if you change minds, tell Aloe." With that she left them, humming happily.

Twist struggled to cope with the influx of new information. Lily's mother was a pilot and her father was working at the Spa? Who would have guessed. Maybe it was better Lily kept the second part a secret. Her classmates had been cruel enough regarding her unusual strength and her being born out of wedlock. Learning that her father worked at a Spa, even if it was Bulk Biceps, would end up being just as bad.

"We came to thee your dad?" Twist wondered.

"No," Lily mumbled. There was a long while of hesitation, as she was wondering if it was worth it. You don't have to say it unless you want to, Twist thought. That didn't change the fact that she was curious.

Lily's internal battle continued for several seconds more. Her ears moved up and down one could think she was chasing flies. Finally, her forehoof moved up, as she pointed to somepony relaxing on a chaise-long.

"That," she started with determination, "is Cloudchaser, a Wonderbolt in training... and my father's marefriend."

* * *

"So what crazy scheme are you up to now?" Cloudchaser asked, too amused for Twist's taste. if they were on the ground the young mare would have thought of an appropriate way to respond, but up here she had the constant struggle with her stomach to worry about. "And how upset will it get Cherry?"

"Mom's fine," Lily rolled her eyes. To this day her relationship with the Wonderbolt remained complicated. As Twist had learned, things weren't as simple as Bulk and Lily's mom doing the deed in their final year of school. Cherry and Cloudchaser had known each other and, according to a certain point of view, the pegasus had stolen Bulk from her.

"A vacation in the Crystal Empire?" Cloudchaser took the flight harness Lily gave her, and put it on without missing a flap. "Wild stuff. Was there last month. Place has really changed since the Web came about."

"I didn't know you were into Web stuff," Twist said surprised.

"She isn't." Lily secured both ends of the harness to the basket. "Her sis is."

"Be sure to check out Crystal Valley." The Wonderbolt tugged the balloon gently.

Are you even leading the same conversation? Twist felt a headache coming on. There was no telling whether Lily and Cloudchaser hated each other or not. The way they talked could only be described as a pair of sinusoids of opposite polarity — the common points were few and far between. Watching them, the red mane could only be thankful how fortunate she had been. Not counting the events of last night.

"Ready girls?" Cloudchaser asked loudly. Twist knew the question was mostly rhetorical, but even she didn't expect the pegasus to go full speed the very next second. The moment she opened her mouth to answer, her body was lunged back against the basket.

Celestia, Cloudchaser! You're supposed to be the adult here! Twist felt her stomach moved to her throat. One hoof on her stomach the other covering her mouth, she looked at Lily. The pink mare was standing calmly, looking forward with an almost bored expression. Clearly super strength wasn't the only gift she had.

"It's a bit scary the first time." Lily turned towards Twist. You don't say. "After a few times it's fun, though." Fun was a strong word. Twist had no idea what it felt like to experience a sonic rainboom, but from her perspective it was just as insane. Lines blurred, ringing filled her ears, only sheer luck kept her from passing out. With every second things for worse and worse, until suddenly everything was gone. No more nausea, anxiety, or discomfort — it was as if the bubble of pain that had been growing for a while now had finally popped.

"What do you think?" Cloudchaser's voice sounded through the ringing. "Is it something or what?"

"I feel alright?" Twist cautiously stood up. Her balance was a bit off, but nothing she couldn't handle. Does speed do that? I've read theories on the matter, but never expected them to actually be true.

"I asked Dad to call Cloudchaser," Lily explained, moving beside her. "He's nice and all, but he's not this fast," she sighed as she said that. "Will give you a bit of calm before we arrive." A bit of calm, Twist thought. At this point that was all she could ask for.

The journey to the Crystal Empire took half an hour. Twist knew because she kept constant track of the time. In truth, it felt far shorter. She hardly had time to start enjoying the wind in her mane when the crystal spires emerged on the horizon. Even at this distance, light bounced off the smooth surfaces, changing colour like rainbow sparks. There was no way in Tartarus that the Web could recreate such beauty. Nevertheless, Starswirl was going to try.

The closer they got, the more apparent it became how the Web had affected the Crystal Empire. Cloudchaser wasn't exaggerated one bit. Aether banners were everywhere — on walls of buildings, between crystal pylons, hanging from miniature blimps, even circling the palace itself! Twist started in amazement at the enormous aether loop projected from the top of the hugest tower. I never thought the Empire would be so technologically advanced.

"Get ready for deceleration," Lily warned. "Might be a bit unpleasant."

'A bit' was an understatement. All the pain, nausea and discomfort Twist had lost at the start of the trip came back with a vengeance. Aching stomach, shaking legs, and extreme dizziness brought her to the floor of the basket. Celestia almighty! The mare didn't even have the strength to scream. Her hooves felt like ice, as her body struggled to return to a state of normality. I can't get through this! Twist wanted to yell, to shout in pain, but her muzzle refused her commands.

"I'm here," a voice said, as Twist felt a pair of warm hooves on her shoulders. It wasn't much, but it managed to calm her down and serve as an anchor. Several long seconds later the freezing sensations started to fade away. Shortly later, so was most of the pain.

Next time, I'm definitely taking more sickness pills. Twist struggled back up to her hoofs. This had been one of the worst experiences ever! Everything considered the thirty minutes joy at super speed wasn't worth it. Not by a long shot.

"You fillies okay?" Cloudchaser approached the basket. "What the hay?!" Her eyes widened in horror at the sight of the still shivering Twist.

"She's fine, Cloudchaser!" Lily tapped Twist on the shoulder. "Don't freak out like Mom."

"One thing we agree with Cherry on is that the sky's no place for surprises!" The pegasus gave her a stern look. "You didn't tell your mother Twist was going, did you?"

"It's none of your business!" Lily snapped. "And I did!"

"Look, kid, you told me Twist was fine nowadays, which she isn't! So don't give me that crap! If something—"

"I'll be all right," Twist interrupted. She was still feeling a bit woozy, but not more than after disconnecting from the Web. "Honest. There's no need to—"

"You're a good filly, Twist, but this won't pass!" Cloudchaser cut her off. "What done is done, but this is the last time I go on a limb for you two. I'm a Wonderbolt, and you aren't fillies anymore. This isn't about vomiting on my wings or in Cherry's balloon! Push this too far and you might never be able to keep your balance. Is that what you want?" Nopony dared give an answer. "Good. I'll cover for you this time, because of Bulk. Never again, got it?"

"Got it, Cloudchaser." Lily looked to the side.

"Good!" The pegasus put a wing on Twist's forehead, then satisfied pulled it back again. "I'll land this thing, then take it back to Cherry Berry. Hopefully, she won't ask too many questions."

"Thanks," Lily mumbled. That marked the end of the conversation. It was clear who had won and who had lost. Of course, Cloudchaser didn't know anything about the present circumstances.

She doesn't need to know, Twist thought. For one thing, it wasn't something she wanted to discuss. For another, it was only going to make matters worse. If cultists had managed to worm their way into Starswirl, they could have eyes in other places as well. The Wonderbolts were probably an exception, but ponies liked to talk, and there were always those who listened.

"Your father wants to know if you'll be coming to visit once you get back," Cloudchaser said after a while. "Star Strong has been asking as well. You know how much he likes having you around."

Little Starry, Twist hid a giggle. The foal was quite a hoofful. He had inherited the strength of his father and the wild nature of his mother. Five years old and already he was causing as much trouble as the CMC in their early years. Still, he was cute when he wanted to be. Will I ever have a foal of my own? the inevitable question crossed her mind.

"I'll see," Lily evaded the question. "Say hi to Dad. And to Star." She paused for a few moments. "Thanks, Cloudchaser. Won't happen again."

Landing was an experience on its own. The moment Twist felt firm ground under her hooves, she took a deep breath of air. Life suddenly felt so much better. She still felt a bit fuzzy, but nowhere near as before. As far as anypony else was concerned she was completely fine. Now to go to the palace.

"Did Silver arrange for somepony to meet us here?" Twist asked. Behind her, Lily had put all the luggage on her back and was effortlessly carrying it, as it were a sack of feathers.

"She told me she took care of everything." Lily shrugged. "Want to wait for a bit?"

"Hold on." Twist took off her saddlebags. "I'll check if she sent any messa—"

"Starful!" A high pitched scream pierced Twist's ears. "You're Twist, right? Right?"

Ten paces away, next to a massive crystal pegasus, was a pony Twist never expected to see. White-magenta coat, cerise-purple mane, horn, wings... Princess Flurry Heart herself was standing across her, visibly nervous at that. Twist had gone through the file Silver Spoon had prepared, but seeing the Princess in person was an entirely different experience. She had grown into quite the cute filly, very different from the "juvenile pest with an attitude" the file described her to be.

"I am, Your Highness." Twist instantly bent down in a bow.

"Oh, please don't do that cra—" The alicorn began. A loud cough from the crystal pegasus quickly made her stop. "I mean that's not necessary," she grumbled, her anger directed towards the guard. "We aren't big on ceremony here."

"Of course, Your Highness." Twist smiled, rising back up. Rebel streak, definitely.

"Do you really know Sweetie Belle?" The princess rushed to her, all starry eyed. "Aunt Twi said you were in the same class, but..." She stopped gasping for breath. Wow! You really are a big deal in the Empire, Sweetie.

"Actually," Twist carefully took out a cylindrical container from her saddlebag, "I've brought you somethi—"

The roll vanished in a flash of brillian yellow light. By the time Twist's vision had cleared Flurry Heart had whipped out the contents: a poster of the Rainbooms, personally signed to the Princess by all five members. If there ever was a moment Twist thought she could see an alicorn faint, this was it. "There's more, but it's in the luggage," the red mane added.

"So cooooool!" Flurry Heart managed to say, eyes glued on the poster. "Wait till my friends see this! They'll be so jelly!"

"Well, now," Twist chucked. I felt exactly the same way the first time Rara came to visit. "As soon as we get to the palace and unpack, I'll—" Everything around her flashed. Streets and buildings were replaced by crystal walls and fine furniture. Blinking, Twist took a step back.

No mistake, she was currently in a large room, along with Lily and the Princess. Did you teleport us here? Just like that? Without asking?

"What else you got?" Flurry Heart fluttered around eagerly.

Well, Silver, maybe this is a complication you overlooked.

Author's Note

Ghost messages - Web-messages that contain no sender or source information. The term was invented by Fancy Pants upon receiving an anonymous Web-message. An investigation quickly found the mail to be a prank sent by Prince Blueblood. The phrase has been in use ever since. All reports of "true ghost messages" have been disproved by Conglomerate specialists as elaborate hoaxes.

Confidential
Triumvirs and Star Chamber executives have the capabilities to send true ghost messages. Any employee which receives such is requested to send a copy of that message to ICE division for analyses.

7. Losing Ground

Black Bear Division. Silver Spoon looked at the stack of papers next to her on the bed. She had spent the greater part of the night going through every document she could get her hooves on and was still no closer to finding a single clue of their existence. Nothing in the official Conglomerate chart. Nothing in the archives. Nothing in the expense reports. By every account the division never existed. And yet, everything that had happened pointed to the contrary. The recent Web activity and the sudden increase of Sombra Virus infections, not to mention the attempt on Twist's life indicated of a fully active and well organized structure.

Silver skimmed through the sheet of paper she was holding, then placed it neatly beside her. Going through Supply Division hadn't revealed anything either. She could probably look at Catering's records. With luck there'd be a "food trail" she could follow.

"Ten minutes until breakfast, Miss Spoon," a maid said outside the room. Silver had instructed to be reminded. That way she could take a quick shower and have her mane done on time. "Master Goldenboy will also be present."

Well, there goes any chance of a relaxing morning. Silver Spoon took her glasses off. Spending any amount of time with her brother was a vexing experience. The two never got along particularly well, but in the past things had always remained cold and civil. After the formation of the Conglomerate, he had bared his fangs.

"Those who don't seek power loose it," Silver Spoon said clearly, then slipped out of bed.

She would not allow anything to interfere with her schedule. Three minutes on the trotting machine were enough to exercise her muscles for half a day. She would have another, much longer session in the afternoon. A series of basic stretches followed.

Mens sana in corpore sano, Silver thought. Her workout had managed to ease her mind a bit, covering her with a healthy sweat. Now all she needed was a quick shower. Taking a piece of mint chewing gum, Silver left her room. Her personal maid was waiting outside the door, holding a bathrobe. The young mare grabbed it, thanked the maid, then spent three minutes washing. Today was an odd calendar day, so she only used basic soap. The entire time, though, her mind was occupied with her upcoming tasks. Twist and Lily's vacation had already been arranged, largely thanks to Diamond Tiara. All school related planning had been done, although there was the matter of Silver choosing a protégé to succeed her as school council president. So far none had caught her attention, but with less than half an year remaining until graduation she couldn't afford to be picky. Finally, she had to put her division affairs in order, send her reports, do some more digging on the Black Bear issue and check on Twist's progress.

"Another fun day to look forward to," Silver sighed.

After precisely three minutes, she emerged from the bathroom, wrapped in her robe. The maid offered to call the household's manestyler, but Silver flatly refused. An independent businessmare had to be able to do things on her own. That was what her mother had taught her, a rule that Silver had taken to heart and strictly followed.

One minute to get my mane done. Silver stacked the papers neatly on her desk, then went to make her bed. She knew that the servants would change the sheets in her absence, but it didn't matter. It was the principle she stood by. Glasses, necklace, she grabbed them as she moved about the room, manepins. The exact same routine she had gone through every day.

"Your mother is requesting your presence, Miss," a male voice sounded outside the room. Mother asked the butler to call me? This was new. Silver didn't like "new." New always came with a vast number of unknowns, although in this particular case, she had a pretty good idea what the reason might be.

"I'll be there shortly," she said, forming her braid. Next, she took her saddlebags, glanced one final time in the mirror, and left her room. How will you try to embarrass me today, Goldy? Silver's steps echoed through the corridor. You wouldn't be you to have come all this way to miss the opportunity.

Her fears were well founded. Upon reaching the dining room, Silver Spoon instantly noticed another change. Normally, the vast and suspiciously room would be filled by host of servants, ready to assist at the slightest indication. Today there were none. The only ponies present were her mother and brother.

"Good morning, Mother." Silver Spoon went to take her seat. Immediately her brother smirk-snorted. Not that she was expecting anything less. "And to you too, Goldenboy." Serving my food next to him, I see. And on the far side of mother, too. Just when I was thinking that breakfast couldn't get more intolerable.

"Late again," Goldenboy yawned casually, and to further the insult looked at his watch. Fools gold, I bet, Silver didn't dare say out loud. So similar to you — golden, shiny, expensive and fake. “Since you decided to keep us waiting, you could have at least bothered to dry your mane and not be dripping in your food like a common peasant."

"Canterlot seems to have rubbed on you, Brother." Silver focused on her strawberry crepes. Pity the occasion bittered their taste. "Not all of us choose to waste money on useless luxuries such as unicorn maids. Or are those your marefriends?"

"Your sarcasm is weak, sister." Goldenboy didn't bat an eye. "Better quit while I'm ahead."

"Do you have to go through this every time?" Silver Standard said quietly. Instantly the conversation stopped. "Silver, your brother, although guided by his own reasons, expressed valid concern regarding the mess you've gotten yourself in." Silver Spoon glared at Goldenboy, who only shrugged in response. "I am inclined to agree. Obviously, someone tried to target you to get to us. As such, steps have to be taken."

"It was one of my division that was targeted, Mother." Silver Spoon could see where this was going. "If anything else came out during his interrogation, I'd appreciate it if—"

"The Star Chamber performed the interrogation." The older mare cut her off. "Someone has targeted a member of your team, and through them you, and through you me."

Silver Spoon's eyes widened. Beside her, Goldenboy wasn't even trying to hide his glee, yet, as usual, was missing the point. As much skill and intelligence as he claimed he had, he hadn't inherited the family's silver coat or quick wit. In a single sentence, their mother had given more information than Silver Spoon could hope for. I am in your debt, Mother. She nodded ever so slightly. For the Star Chamber to take interest, the danger had to be real. The Sombra protocols, Black Bear Division, even the cultist infiltration, all were facts beyond a glimmer of a doubt.

"I'd like to hear Father's opinion on the matter!" Silver Spoon went on with the act. "Will he be joining us for breakfast anytime this week?"

"Your father has business to attend to in Cloudsdale." Silver Standard sipped some tea. "It's doubtful he'll return before the end of the month."

Ten days, Mother? Hardly enough time, considering everything going on. I expect I'll have to find a way to convince you to change your mind before then.

"In the meantime, I've decided to follow your brother's advice." Something in her mother's voice made Silver Spoon feel a chill down her spine. "It's our decision that you become more active in the social aspect of the Conglomerate."

What did you do, Goldy? Silver Spoon took a bite from her crepe. She didn't dare look at her brother out of fear she would try to strangle him.

"Political dating," Goldenboy clarified with the smile of a manticore. "Mother and I have already gone through a few potential candidates. All with parents leading real Starswirl divisions."

The only reason Silver didn't slap him across the muzzle was because her mother didn't approve of such behaviour. Just who do you think you are, Goldy? Go mingle with your Canterlot friends and let me do my work in peace! You might have been born first, but you're as capable as a one legged mule in a pegasus race!

"What your brother is trying to say, is that it's expected of you to start going to more Conglomerate soirées." Silver Standard delicately brushed the edge of her muzzle with a napkin. "Both public and private ones. I'll leave it to you to find potential suitors. I do insist, however, that you take this seriously. You understand, I hope?"

"Of course, Mother." The age old political game. You want me to use my flank to fish for information. And I was so hoping it wouldn't come to this.

"Wonderful." Silver Standard placed the napkin on the table. "Goldy sweetie, could you give me a few moments?"

"Sure thing, Mom." The yellow stallion stood up. A sense of triumph oozed from his every pore as he made his way to Silver Standard. "Always a pleasure seeing you. You simply must visit me in Canterlot sometime."

"Your Canterlot speech is showing, dear." The mare smiled. Of course, you'll only get a slap on the hoof. If I'm this casual to mother, I'd be chased out of the house. "I intend to do so this year. Don't forget that I'm expecting foals from you as well, eventually."

The comment seemed to ruin his disposition somewhat. Not so much fun now is it, Brother? Silver Spoon adjusted her glasses hiding a frown.

"Have a great day, Mom," Goldenboy said, deliberately casual, then left the dining room. Silent, Silver Spoon continued eating. Unlike her brother, she preferred not to talk unless addressed.

"Never forget that your brother is my son, Silver Spoon," her mother broke the silence after a while. "As such, he's not an idiot. The games that you two are playing are starting to get on my nerves. Is that clear?"

"Yes, Mother," Silver Spoon said quietly.

"If you cannot handle things properly now, how do you expect to survive real power?" Silver Standard pushed her teacup aside. "Goldenboy is my favourite child, and far more capable than you give him credit for. That said, it is you who will take my place as well as your father's. There is no question about that. And Goldy knows it, despite all his posturing. Currently, the only thing you need to worry about is to be fit enough of mind and body when the time comes. Is that understood?"

"Yes, Mother." Silver Spoon hesitated. Maybe she should leave it at that? There was no need to give any assurances, especially if there was a chance that those backfired. "I'm taking care of the situation, Mother." She was unable to keep herself from saying.

"I hope so, because If I have to step in, it would be to close that division of yours and take you under my wing for the rest of my time in Starswirl." The mare's sharp gaze made Silver Spoon want to avert her eyes. "Am I making myself clear?"

"Absolutely, Mother."

"Good. In that case, I wish you a pleasant day at school." Silver Standard rang the servant's bell. "And don't worry about your brother. He might be loud, but he won't dare try anything."

My apologies, Mother, but this is something you are wrong about. He most definitely will.

* * *

"So this is what they gave you?" Goldenboy snorted.

A few months had passed since Silver Spoon had created her division. All the paperwork had gone through, all the permissions granted, all the important members informed. There was no question about it, from now on she could use the title Division Head anytime she wanted. She seriously believed she had everything figured out — where to start, how to grow, what to exploit in her pursuit of success. The only thing she hadn't calculated was the utter unadulterated hatred that came from her own brother.

"My secretary has a larger room." He glanced at the small couch in the corner with disgust.

What is wrong with the room? Silver Spoon wondered. It provided everything she could ask — the means to stay informed, a connection to the Web, a place to store her files. What else was there? Of course, all the actual work took place elsewhere.

"How much did you beg Mother to give you this?" Goldenboy was relentless. "If you wanted to make a foal of yourself so badly, I would have let you use my office."

"That would hardly be appropriate, Brother." Silver did her utmost to maintain the semblance of calm. "You have your division and I—"

"Oh, I have a division, all right," he cut her off. "You, don't! 'Internal Assistance'? That's the best you could come up with?! Nopony even knows what that's supposed to mean!"

"The goals are clearly stated in the internal—" the filly tried to explain, but was interrupted again by cold laughter.

"Yeah, right!" Her brother approached her desk. "Just because you can use big words doesn't mean a thing. The only reason Mother allowed you to have your little tea club was because she has the stupid notion that one day you'll succeed her." He towered like a monster above her, a monster of gold. "Just look at yourself. You've 'hired' one intern, whom you call assistant, and to do what? Play in the Web all day? Did you think that anypony would let you get anywhere? Divisions of thousands are fighting for control over that, but please, have a go."

Silver remained silent. Of course she knew that. She also saw the serious flaw that, apparently, eluded her brother. The engineers and Webbers working for the Conglomerate were doing it as a job. Even the most enthusiastic among them didn't see it as anything more than a means to earn bits in a cool and amusing way. Twist and her generation were almost born with the Web. For them it was a way of life, a whole new world to explore. Silver Spoon wouldn't be surprised if the majority of dream-hackers were fillies and colts her age or younger.

"I am entitled," she said quietly. Her lower lip trembled for a moment.

"Yes, and that's all you are." A spark of anger flickered in his eyes as he spoke. "You are the heiress. It doesn't matter that you're a spoilt brat, attending a school nopony has heard of, in a backwater village. You didn't even bother to apply to any good schools."

Unlike you, Brother. You ran out of here the first chance you got. Three schools in two years, all to avoid staying in Ponyville.

"And still, you wish to play with the big ponies," Goldenboy snorted again. "So desperate for Mother's attention. You should have kept playing school princess with your filly friends and not stirred things up."

"I've done no such thing!" Silver Spoon could feel sweat covering her face. "I've never pretended to be a princess!" That wasn't entirely true. During elementary school, she and Diamond Tiara had done just that. "And I have definitely not messed—"

"Let me spell it out for you, little sister!" He moved so close, their muzzles were inches apart. "You maybe be heiress, but I will take over Mom and Dad's businesses! So, go ahead, pretend you have a division, act like a VIP. It's only a matter of time before you fail. And when you do, I'll be there to gather the pieces and throw them away!"

* * *

How could class be so boring? Silver Spoon could hardly keep herself from yawning. There were days when Cheerlilee could drain the fun of the most interesting subject in Equestria. Today seemed to be a perfect example. Officially they were studying the symbolism behind romance poetry. In truth, it felt like having one's hoof slowly torn off with a rusty pair of tongs. It didn't help that half the class were behaving like idiots. Especially Snips and Snails. How those two managed to reach the final year remained a mystery.

"Psssst!" Somepony whispered. Left of Silver Spoon, Apple Bloom was holding a note in her mouth. Her expression screamed, "Well, what ya waiting for? Ah don't want ta be caught!"

Are you mocking me? Silver's first reaction was to frown. There was no way Apple Bloom would do her any favours. Seeing Diamond Tiara gesticulate, however, changed the grey mare's mind. Discreetly, Silver grabbed the note and placed it on her desk. Need 2 talk 2U! was written in elegant cursive letters. Diamond, you and your Web-speak, Silver grumbled internally. Still, a request was a request, and Diamond was her closest friend — her only friend! Twist and Lily were just colleagues, employees, subordinates and nothing more.

"Miss." Silver Spoon raised her hoof. "Might I be excused?"

"There are only a few minutes left till recess, Silver Spoon." Cheerilee turned at her surprised. "Is it urgent?"

"No, not urgent." My mind is drifting. I should focus better. Damn you, Goldy! "I just lost track of time. Sorry, Miss."

Everypony in class glanced at Silver Spoon. She could feel their eyes upon her. Any other day she would have glared back. Today, she had too many things to worry about to be concerned with her school reputation.

The final five minutes dragged like hours. All that time, Silver's mind couldn't stop wandering. Maybe I was hasty sending the girls to the Crystal Empire. The real reason for her decision was not at all what she let it out to be. It was a secret she couldn't share with anypony, even her team. Having them enter lion's den seemed like the best solution, but what if she had misjudged the situation?

Class ended with a chorus of laughter and kissy noises. Silver Spoon calmly put her books in her saddlebags, as Snips started dancing on a desk not too far away. His antics were horrible, yet for some reason most of the ponies loved them. A seat behind, Dinky lay on her desk, the embodiment of depression that she was. And then there was Diamond Tiara...

"Ready yet?" she asked in her overconfident voice. Silver, of course, knew this was all an act. For all her posturing, Diamond wouldn't harm anypony unless forced to. Growing up, along with some serious family concerns, had changed her from the bully she once was to something completely different. Her alpha-mare persona was a defense mechanism, one that she used flawlessly.

"Ready." Silver Spoon stood up. "Student council room?"

"No." Diamond Tiara lead the way outside.

More drama... just what I needed. The pair went along the corridor and into the fillies' bathroom. The room was empty, but just to be on the safe side Diamond Tiara carefully examined every possible space, then put a bucket in front of the door. Now they wouldn't be disturbed.

"Well?" Silver Spoon arched a brow.

"Dink hacked some stuff belonging to somepony on your team," Diamond Tiara said apologetically. "Cane's data-well. I helped decipher the data. Nothing too damaging, but I thought..." He voice trailed off.

"It's fine, don't worry about it." Filly, have things become complicated between us. In the real world they were the best of friends — two fillies from exceeding rich families who've known each other since childhood. As far as the Web was concerned, they were on totally opposite sides. Silver Spoon was part of the "evil" Starswirl Conglomerate and her friend was one of the most popular dream-hackers in the Web. Officially, each had a vested interest for the other to fail. In reality, their friendship held strong: they both looked out for one another. Diamond Tiara provided contacts and information, while Silver offered hardware and protection.

"There's something else." Diamond Tiara paused. Biting her lower lip, she looked around nervously. What is it, Diamond? This is unlike you, even in private. "Scoots flirted with me," she finally said, looking away.

"What?!" Silver's eyes widened.

This was a shock. Diamond and Scoots could hardly stand each other. Whenever they met, there was so much shouting that Tirek himself would yell for them to be quiet. Wait a minute... could this mean? suddenly it made so much more sense. Silver Spoon knew her friend was special, a secret Diamond Tiara had been keeping from her family for years. "Fillyfooler", "mare-inclined", "special" — all words used to describe something that was rarely touched upon. Modern times and the freedom of the Web had made the notion slightly more acceptable, yet even now there were many that disapproved. And the higher the social status, the more vocal those voices were.

"When?" Silver didn't know how to react.

"Yesterday in the Web," Diamond sniffled. "She gave me tournament invitations to her matches and—" she took a deep breath, "—and told me I could come see her anytime."

"Di, it's different in the Web." Silver shook her head.

"I know, but she invited me. Me!" Diamond looked like somepony who had her players answered shortly before being thrown in Tartarus. "A mare. She invited a mare. If so, maybe... just maybe..." She wasn't able to finish the sentence. Tears rolled from her eyes, as she silently stood there.

"There, now." Silver moved forward, letting her friend cry over her shoulder. You always were emotional, Diamond. "No need to cry."

"I've been hoping for this for years, Silver," Diamond continued to weep. "Years. When she hated me things were simple. But now... now when I know I have a chance..."

"Just let it all out." As usual, you pick the worst time, Di. "This is just a slight breakdown." What am I saying? Slight breakdown my hoof!

"Sorry, sorry." The pink mare pulled away. "I didn't mean to... It's just..." She wiped off the tears from the eyes. "I should be happy, it's just..." It's just you never thought you'd find anypony. Silver spoon finished the sentence for her. "I just needed to tell somepony. Sorry it could only be you."

"I know. And I hope it works out, but—" Should I tell her? "—you have to be prepared for any outcome."

"I know, and I will. At least that's something you don't have to worry about."

Why do I doubt that? "Anyway, I think we should get back to class." Silver Spoon glanced at the door. "As for Scoots, take her up on her offer and see where it goes. Okay?"

"Sure thing." Diamond smiled. Despite the recent tears she was beaming with joy. "Oh, one last thing. I get a response from WingClipper. He said that at the present time he's no open slots. Earliest would be in a month."

Damn it! And I had just gathered the money to hire him. "Any other good non-affiliated that you know of? Preferably in the same price range."

"Not at the moment. The Sombra Virus thing has everyone spooked. The big names are keeping low, and the wannabes..." She waved a hoof in the air. "Look, you really don't want any of them. Sorry."

"Let me know if anyone suitable shows up. " Silver Spoon adjusted her glasses. She needed hackers on commission, and badly. "Just one last thing. Have you heard of a hacker called Clairvoyance?"

"Funny you should mention it." Diamond Tiara tilted her head slightly. "I was about to ask you the same thing."

* * *

Twist flopped on the giant bed. No amount of softness was enough to erase the experience of the day. Was I such a menace as a filly? she wondered, while hugging one of the pillows with her forelegs. Spending time with a young alicorn fanfilly was undoubtedly the most exhausting thing she'd ever done. Flurry Heart simply did not stop. After she had received all the gifts Twist and Lily had brought, she had proceeded to drag them through "her Empire" and show them some of the "coolest" places there were. It didn't matter that to reach most of these places one had to have wings, teleportation magic or both. Twist remembered all too well suddenly finding herself a hundred paces in the air, staring at an "awesome weather vane." And that was just the first few hours. The Princess had somehow put it in her mind, that she had to impress Twist and Lily as much as they had impressed her. That had led to some awkward situations, namely dragging them to see Princess Cadence during a meeting with foreign dignitaries or bursting into the middle of troop inspection to say "hi" to Shining Armor. Twist still shivered every time she thought about it.

"Luna, please let this night last forever!" She yawned. "Or at least until I wake up."

Good thing Lily could keep up with the Flurry. The two of them were probably still going about the city. The bracelet on Twist's hoof started vibrating. No, not now! She so much wanted to pretend nothing had happened; to just close her eyes and sleep for a few weeks. She knew, however, that there were important matters to discuss. Grabbing her Web gear from the nightstand, she begrudgingly put it on.

"I hope the connection's good this time." Twist prepared for the login sequence.

It was. In less than a second Twist was under the magenta sky of the Web. The same hidden sector as last time. Personally, she would have preferred if the meeting was held there, yet Silver Spoon wasn't comfortable with Webbing. For that reason she had an extremely expensive terminal set up in both her room and in her Starswirl office, for when she needed to have a virtual "face to face" with somepony. The problem with that was that Twist had to be in a Conglomerate cluster for the connection to work.

Let's hope nopony's watching She launched all her stealth protocols and put in the location coordinates. A blue cone surrounded her, transporting the mare to an empty white room. In theory the location was impervious to any form of eavesdropping or data sniffing. As Twist knew, however, in the Web there was no such thing as "impervious."

"I'm here," she said clearly. No sooner had she done so, than one if the walls swirled changing into a giant window. Moments later a huge image of Silver Spoon appeared... in a pink nightgown.

"Aww, how cute." Twist couldn't help herself. She knew how much Silver hated being teased on that topic, and it was precisely why she did it.

"Well, I see you've recovered," Silver said sternly. Unfortunately, she was not able to hide the traitorous blush that appeared on her face. "Where is Lily?"

"Hitting the town with Flurry Heart." Twists was glad her avatar hid her annoyance.

"The Princess is five years old," Silver Spoon managed to say.

"Yep, and with the energy of a herd of Buffalos. How are things on your end?"

"I'll get to that in a minute. Before that, was everything all right? Were you followed? Did—" The question was abruptly cut short. "Did anything suspicious happen?"

You wanted to ask if somepony attacked me, didn't you, Silver? "Everything seems fine." Twist very much hoped that to be the case. "Nopony tried to do anything while we were with the Princess. I've been getting some weird poetry messages to my Twist scrollbox, but that could be anything." Should I tell her about the forum posts? She'll probably freak out if I did. "I also got contributor access to the Everfree forum. Lots of interesting stuff. Everyone's talking about the Sombra Virus.”

"Be careful with that. I don't want you attracting more attention." Silver Spoon lifted up a piece of paper. The words I won't be able to question him were written hastily. Seems Twist was not the only paranoid pony here. "Apparently somepony has been asking about you."

"Oh?" This didn't sound good.

"Your old friend made a post in a Bolt forum about you," Silver went on. "Only lasted a few minutes, but enough to be Web-grabbed. I can send you a copy."

"I'll take your word for it." So that's how it is? The race is on, then. Let's see who finds who first this time!

"You'll be starting work tomorrow, I take it?" The piece of paper was moved away, revealing more of Silver Spoon's girly bedroom. Once things returned to normal, Twist planned to try and take her on a triple blind date. If anypony needed a special somepony, Silver was at the top of the list.

"If the Princess lets me." Twist shrugged.

"Just remember, slow and steady wins the race. Take no risks, trust nopony, and always keep Lily close by."

"Goodnight, Silver Spoon." Twist waved, causing the other to humph. The image flashed out, returning the wall to its previous state.

Well, that happened. The situation had to be pretty serious to get Silver worried, and she definitely was. Twist had spent enough time with her to know. The question was were did Silver's fear lie? Was it Clairvoyance, the cultists, or something completely different? With luck, time would tell.

"So you've been asking about me?" Twist opened an aether window to the Everfree Forums. "Let's see what else you've been waiting about?" She initiated a search on Clairvoyance and waited.

Zero results. Interesting. Using her contributor privileges, Twist opened a log of all deleted files in the last day. Most were old posts that had reached the inactivity limit of three months. A few others — "niceties" between FLT and WingClipper. Those two really hated each other's guts.

"No trace in the delete logs?" Twist said amused. "Oh, you're skilled. Good thing I copied them when I had the chance." She hadn't felt this excited since she had received her cutie-mark. Closing the aether window, the mare opened her scrollbox. What in Tartarus?! She took a step back, as fear swept through her. Of the three messages she had sent herself, two were missing. The third was completely blank with the subject line reading Don't try to find me!

Author's Note

Goldenboy - Head of the Connection and Communications Division, responsible for Web expansion throughout Equestria. One of the public faces of the Starswirl Conglomerate, he holds multiple offices, but can most often be found in Canterlot. According to Business Equestria, if he were born a mare he would at present be one of the greatest movers and shakers of the present generation.

Confidential
Twenty-four hour security is to be provided to him at all times, by order of the Star Chamber.

8. Hidden Dealings

"Aw, come on!" Flurry Heart stomped her hoof on the ground. Like most fillies, she didn't like not getting what she wanted. Unlike most rich fillies, she took it considerably better than some of Lily's classmates. "Just once?"

"I don't want to upset your guards, Flurr," Lily said calmly. In effect, she was lying. She always enjoyed an opportunity to show off her strength. It was the consequences she feared. Silver said to keep a low profile. With Flurr making all that fuss, I might as well get it over with. It'll be quick. She smiled.

"Them? They're guards," Flurry Heart snorted in her childish fashion. "They're used to it. Daddy beats them up every day!"

That's hardly the same, kid. Across the table, the guards smiled politely — the smile one reserved for the boss' child. Lily knew the feeling all too well. Her mother had to deal with rich foals on a weekly basis. Always careful to keep them safe while not offending their parents was a thin line to walk. Luckily, Flurry Heart was a cute filly. Also, judging by her language, Lily suspected she spent a lot of time in the Web. The swear words were unmistakable.

"Maybe just hoof wrestling?" Lily suggested innocently.

"Yes!" Flurry Heart jumped in the air and made a double barrel roll. "Shit just got real!" she screamed, her childish voice very much in contrast to her words. A series of coughs filled the room. "Oops. Please don't tell mom." She flew back down, landing timidly next to Lily.

"Just to warn you guys, I've had training." Lily pretended to ignore the incident. "Be ready." It was obvious they didn't take her seriously. Their loss, ultimately. She was only trying to warn them.

Naturally, it was the rookie who accepted the challenge. Smiling and wide-eyed, he seemed fresh out of the military academy. The air of naïveté surrounding the stallion was so obvious that Lily almost pitied him. Of course the old guards would pressure you to take me on. They're smart enough to wait and watch. I bet they are itching to see you get your hooves chipped.

"Whenever you're ready." Lily placed her foreleg on the table. The guard muttered something about going easy on her, which she completely ignored. As casual as this seemed she was keeping an eye on the really strong guards. Taking on a rookie might be fun, but it also let her gauge the Crystal Ponies' abilities.

Don't break the table, she told herself. She only had to win, not make a spectacle of things.

"Ready?" Flurry chirped, wings twitching with excitement. "Set!" She paused for dramatic effect. Somepony has been to too many Bolt tournaments, Lily thought. "Go!"

The guard wasted no time. Putting in a moderate amount of effort he pushed against Lily's foreleg, aiming to win tactfully. The consideration made Lily feel strange. This was the first time somepony treated her like a mare. For a split second she was tempted to lose on purpose, keep a low profile and let him keep his pride. However, pity wasn't her nature. For several moments her foreleg didn't budge, remaining as stable as the an iron bar. Then she began to increase the pressure. It was easy. With nearly no resistance, Lily pushed against her opponent’s hoof, moving it closer to the table. The guard seemed slightly stronger than the average earth pony, but not enough to present any difficulty. The more he approached defeat, the more his expression changed: confident, concerned, worried, and finally red with tension.

"Crush him, Lily!" Flutter Heart yelled. It was quite obvious who she was rooting for.

The rest of the guards also seemed to have taken interest. Maybe going ahead with this wasn't the best idea. Too late now. Losing on purpose would only attract more attention to her. The best solution was to end it quickly, and that she did with the ease of a fox stealing eggs from a henhouse. The guard's hoof hit the table with a bang.

Sorry. Lily pulled her foreleg back. Beside her, Flurry Heart was shouting like crazy. One would think she was the one who had won. Is that kid really five? Lily wondered.

"So cool!" The tiny princess tugged her foreleg. "Bam! Just like that! Didn't stand a chance! You're really strong!" She said in awe. Meanwhile, across the table, the rookie wished he had never been born, surrounded by the snickering of his fellow guards.

"Dad is a body builder," Lily said casually, hoping that would reduce the sting a bit. "And a Wonderbolt reservist." One of the guards whistled, impressed. The jokes at the rookie's expense, however, intensified.

"Another go! Another go!" Flurry Heart shouted, drumming on the table.

"I've done enough for one night." Lily stood up, to the Princess' disappointment. "It's late and I must get some sleep."

"It's not even ten for h—" A deathly silence filled the room. "—heaven's sake!" Flurry twisted her lips. Nice save, kid. Lily smiled. If there was any doubt it had now vanished. Our little Princess is a Webber. Twist and Silver will be thrilled.

"I skipped sleep last night," the earth pony explained. It was sort of true. She had barely caught a wink the last two days. That wasn't the main reason why she wanted to get out of the barracks, though. "You can show me another cool place as we get back to the palace, if you want. And no teleporting." She added firmly.

"Humph!" Flurry sulked. Clearly she had hoped for a much more interesting evening. Or maybe this was her reaction to not teleporting? Lily had an idea what it was like to have to a skill she had to hide. I bet you wish you could teleport everywhere, don't you, filly? I feel you, but for what I must do we need to walk.

"You'll never get strong if you don't walk, kiddo." It was an open provocation. Anypony could see it, even a five year-old. However, Lily had one huge advantage — she was friends with Flurry's idols, and thanks to the recent display of strength, had made herself the target of admiration… at least for a day. The Princess might act disappointed, but Lily suspected that deep inside she was itching to impress.

Less than a minute later, Lily and Flurry Heart walked along one of the Empire's main streets. With the sun gone, the entire place looked like a copy of the Web. Crystal spires, shining rooftops, even some of the street's cobblestones glowed in bright luminescent colours. In comparison other cities in Equestria seemed centuries behind, even Manehatten. Apparently, being gone for a thousand years had made the crystal ponies determined to catch up with the times and then some. Every year the place became more and more out of this world. Unfortunately, its past wasn't as easily forgotten, as Lily had recently come to witness. According to Silver’s information, there was a growing number of Sombra sympathisers. Most of them were just juveniles, trying to make themselves special. Yet, from there it was only a stone’s throw away from becoming a cultist.

"Flurry, can you take me somewhere before we go back?" Lily asked. The princess' ears perked up. Whatever attempts she made to hide her eagerness and curiosity were at best partially successful.

"Sure... I mean, I guess." The filly's wings twitched.

Should I tell her? Lily wondered. Silver Spoon's instructions had been specific: "Do not get the Princess involved." However, this wouldn't be the first time Lily had done something her own way. That was what gave the team its edge. Both she and Twist had mastered the skill of breaking rules ever so gently so as to avoid any serious consequences. Should this be any different?

"Eight-five, Violet Jade." Alicorn or not, you're just a kid. Better keep you out of this. "Will you get in trouble if you take me there?"

"Very," the filly grinned widely. Here it comes. You'll ask me for something in return, aren't you? "Daddy doesn't want me going in that part of town after dark. And Mommy gets upset when I don't listen to Daddy..."

"But?" Lily smiled expectantly.

"But what?" The princess looked away feigning ignorance.

"Kid, you've been swearing so much that you made Twist blush." Not that she hasn't heard it all before. "And now suddenly you're concerned about 'mommy' and 'daddy'."

"You're good." Flurry nodded twice, her eyes sparkling as if she had found a new idol. "You're in the same class as Sweetie Belle, right?" As she mentioned the name, the sparkles grew even brighter. "So you're friends."

"Yep." So this is where it's going? Should've figured. "Twist is tight with her. I bet she could ask Sweetie to dedicate a song to—"

"I want to meet her!" The princess said firmly, her entire body was trembling. Right now it seemed as if she had asked the most important question in her life and was bracing for the answer. Cute. Lily had reacted in similar fashion when Rara had visited Ponyville. A pity she would have to crush the child's dreams.

"That might be tough." Hate to burst your bubble, Flurr. "With Bolt finals and school, Sweetie won't be able to make it anywhere out of Ponyville. Maybe in a few months, I can—"

"In-Web!" Flurry Heart said quickly. "Meet her in-Web! Pfft, clearly Sweetie Belle wouldn't come all the way here to see a jerk like me." She kicked some dirt with her hoof.

"Oh, Web? Sure." That sounded easy enough. All it would take was one message for Sweetie to agree. She loved foals, and one also had to keep in mind that Flurry Heart was an alicorn princess. Sweetie would probably jump at the opportunity.

"What? Really?" The filly's eyes grew as wide as horseshoes."That's fan-bucking-tastic!" she shouted.

"No biggie." Lily patted her on the head. This was one way to get a princess to like you. More important she could now go on with her business — checking out the home of the pony that was Dreamlocked.

* * *

The sound of shouting and smashing dishes made its way to Lily's room. Curled up in her bed, she desperately held the pillow over her head in the hope it would block the noise. It didn't. She could still hear them. She could always heard them. Why don't they just stop? Tears squeezed through her tightly shut eyes. Why do they see each other, if they fight all the time?

"You took him away from me and now you come to say it's a casual thing?" Lily could hear her mother shout from the room below.

Always the same argument. Lily was old enough to know that brawls between parents existed in other families as well. In her case, however, things were a bit different. Her mother had never married her father. Both of them had been too young and irresponsible, Cherry Berry had told her, yet Lily could sense she still loved him. The filly loved her father as well. He was nice, be it clumsy, helpful in his own way, and also incredibly massive. Ever since she could remember he would come every few weeks to see her and her mother. Those were always happy occasions during which Lily could almost feel like they were a true family. Sadly, there were other visits as well — Cloudchaser, her mother's childhood friend. Lily hated her.

"It's not like I planned it!" Cloudchaser screamed from below. "And, in case you've forgotten, Bulk used to be my coltfriend back then!"

"As were a dozen others!" Cherry Berry countered. "You changed them like you changed headscarves! I never should have gone with you to weather school!"

Leave. Just leave! Lily pulled the pillow harder. A tearing sound followed. A second later the pillowcase ripped apart, filling the room with feathers.

"I didn't come here to fight, Cherry!" The shouting was even louder now. "It's going to happen. I just thought it'll be better coming from me than somepony else."

"Lucky me!" Cherry Berry shouted back. "Do you expect me to thank you?!"

"When have you ever been thankful? It's not like I helped you take your weather school exams or anything!"

I need to get out of here, Lily thought. Gritting her teeth, she rushed out off her bed and jumped out of the window. She hardly felt a thing upon hitting the ground, one of the few benefits to having extreme strength was that she was granted extreme endurance as well.

The shouting in the house stopped. Her mother and Cloudchaser had probably noticed. Cherry Berry would be running out any minute to get her, yet Lily didn't wait to find out. Tears in her eyes, she galloped as fast as her legs would carry her. There wasn't any specific destination she had in mind. Anywhere would do, as long as it was away from the shouting. Why can't mom be happy? Why can't we be a normal family? She dashed forward barely looking. Why did Cloudchaser have to exist? If it wasn't for her they—

"Hey!" a pony yelled. Lily ignored it completely. She had no intention of stopping for anything. Suddenly, she was scooped up from the ground. It was a strange experience — somewhat similar to the times she was in the hot air balloon with her mother, yet also different. For one thing, Lily didn't feel any ground under her hooves. "You should be more careful, filly," the pony continued. "A little more and you’d have plopped in the river."

Cautiously, Lily looked down. A river streamed below, just as the pony had said. I didn't notice that, the filly swallowed. Good thing somepony had caught her in time. Despite all her strength, Lily still hadn't learned to swim.

"Thank you," Lily said timidly, looking up at the one that saved her. The pony, a pegasus as expected, was definitely older than Lily, but not as much as her mother. Her coat and mane were the same colour as Cloudchaser’s. Only the mane style was different. That, and the mare looked way nicer than that monster ever could.

"Always a good idea to watch where you're galloping." The mare winked.

"I suppose," Lily sighed. She was still thinking about the problems back home. This far away she could no longer hear the shouting, but knew the quiet wouldn't last for long. This wasn't the first time she had run away. It wasn't the first time she had jumped out of the window, either. Usually, her mother would catch up, smack her once across the muzzle, then hug her tightly. At times she would cry, at times she wouldn't. They would then go to Sugarcube Corner, where Lily would enjoy whatever pastry Cherry would buy her. A week later the shouting would start again.

"You're a bit young to be so blue." The pegasus put Lily safely on the ground. "What's your name? I'm Flitter."

"Lily." The filly avoided her glance. "Lily Longsocks."

"So you're Lily!" The pegasus ruffled Lily's mane with her wing. It felt nice. "I finally get to see you. You really are adorable!"

Before Lily could say a word, Flitter grabbed her again and threw her up in the air. The pegasus then zipped up, letting the filly land on her back. Balloon flying never felt like that! Lily stared in amazement.

"Bulk constantly talks about you," Flitter continued in the most casual fashion. "Two things mostly, that you're strong and cute. In that order."

Yes, that does sound like dad. He's been giving me dumbbells for every birthday so far. "How do you know him?"

"He lives with my sister at our place." You live with dad? Lily wondered. He never had mentioned her during his visits. Actually he didn't talk about anything other than weight lifting, exercises and protein shakes. The few times that he had tried ended up awkward. "I'm Cloudchaser's sister," the pegasus added. Instantly Lily felt a bitter taste in her mouth. The fun she was having melted away, replaced by repulsion.

"I want to get off!" she shouted. I don't want to have anything to do with you! I hate you! She kicked Flitter on the back.

"Hey!" the pegasus shouted. Despite her size, Lily was able to cause a lot of pain, and she knew it. Maybe it wasn't nice to be so mean, but she didn't care! Cloudchaser had stolen her father and made her mother angry! If Flitter was her sister, she was just as nasty! "Calm down, will you?" Flitter swooped down. It took her less than two seconds to reach the ground, time which Lily used to intensify her attacks.

The moment the pegasus touched the ground, the filly jumped off and demonstratively turned her back to mare. Teaches you for stealing dad! You were lucky you landed so fast! The bottled rage inside her exploded. As she stood, a tear rolled down her face, followed by another, and another. Lily was crying... silently, bitterly.

"Lily?" Flitter made an attempt to approach. "What’s—"

The filly pulled briskly away, pranced a few steps, then stopping again. She felt weak. As if every tear had halved her strength, until she could no longer stand.

"Daddy." Her legs gave in, bringing her to the ground. "Mommy..."

"Hey, now." Flitter moved closer, placing a wing on over the filly. This time Lily didn't protest. The wing felt warm, safe, comforting. Lily who it belonged to, she knew she hated her, and yet she still covered herself with it. "What's going on?"

"Cloudchaser," Lily uttered between quiet sobs. "She... she... she took daddy..."

"Yes," Flitter said with understanding. "She does that. I used to get mad at her a lot about it."

Curiosity made its way into Lily’s mind. This wasn't the explanation she expected. Usually older ponies would say that she should be strong, stop wasting time on blame, but find something to give her joy. Lily hated that speech. She could tell that none of them believe in what they were saying. Flitter seemed different. The filly could tell by the pegasus’ reaction that she knew precisely what was going on. She must had felt it too.

"That's why I stopped bringing my coltfriends to the house," Flitter said, then to Lily’s astonishment laughed. "Maybe I'll tell you that when you get older. The point is, I used to think that my sister was stealing them from me. Well, actually she was, but not deliberately. Oh, how crazy I used to get. I'd yell at her, do all sorts of things just to get back at her. Then, one day I realized something important."

"What?" The filly’s ears turned her direction. Could Flitter have the answer that would help her?

"Two things," The pegasus smiled. "No matter what you think or do, ponies will always choose what they think is better."

The words felt like a needle piercing through Lily's heart. That doesn't sound right. Mommy and I might not have wings but we really want daddy to come back and live with us. We want it with all our hearts. Shouldn't that matter? At least a little bit?

"And the second thing?" she asked, shivering with fear.

"The second is that tears don't help." Gently, Flitter brushed the Lily's tears away. "Never cry, Lily. Not unless you're happy."

* * *

Eight-five, Violet Jade — a two story crystal house that had definitely seen better times. Cracks were visible in several places along the walls, hastily repaired with low level binding spells. Quite the rundown place for a deputy weather coordinator to live in. It was located near the edge of town, in an neighbourhood reserved for crystal miners and their families. After the creation of the Web, mining had ceased to become a main source of income, transforming the area into a place for ponies without permanent residency. It was nowhere as bad as the ghettos of Manehatten, but definitely not anywhere a city official, let alone a pegasus, would choose to settle.

What are you hiding, SmokeScreen? Lily approached the door. Behind her, Flurry Heart fluttered about like an overexcited humming bird.

"That's Ray's place," the Princess attempted to shout while whispering. "He got a stroke or something a while ago and was taken to hospital. He's still in a coma or something." She moved closer to Lily, whispering conspiratorially in her ear. "They say that he was in the Sombra infected sectors. Saw it happen."

"Do they?" Lily put her hoof on the door. Solid construction, way too expensive to be part of the house. SmokeScreen must have installed it separately.

"Abso-bucking-lutely," Flurry continued in hushed voice. "A Web friend said he was into some serious shit. Like pro-hacker serious."

"Serious stuff." Sorry, Flurr. Time to get to work. "Listen, Flurr, you better zap home. Your guards probably want to go to bed."

"Hey, what the buck!" the filly shouted. "You can't drop me now! That's Glom crap!"

Glom crap? Guess I'm not the only one keeping secrets. "Do your parents know you're a dream-hacker?" She looked over her shoulder.

"Huh?" The alicorn filly landed on the ground. Her wings and ears were twitching. "I don't know what you mean." She looked to the side. "I just heard stuff..."

"Mmhmm. From a friend," Lily added. Gotcha! "Glom? Not the stuff a lifer would use. So, do your parents know?"

"Maybe?" Flutter heart looked at Lily feigning innocence. "A bit... that I roam the Web. Mom caught me somehow." The filly pouted. I wonder how that happened... Lily resisted the urge to laugh. "From then I'm under super-bucking-vision when I'm in."

"Tough." Lily sighed. "Look, Flurr, it's cool you want to stick around, but give a pony some free space. Plus, think what your friends would be like when you meet Sweetie."

The conflict within the princess was written all over her face. Clearly she wanted to have it both ways. Given enough time she might even figure out how. Her wings shuffled as she scrunched her muzzle.

"I'll get to meet her this week?" she asked.

"I'll talk to Twist tomorrow morning." Lily patted her on the head. You're way too star struck, kid. I'm not even something special. "Just promise, no sneaky stuff."

"Hey! I'm not some twerp!" Flurry stomped her hoof on the ground indignantly.

"That wasn't a yes, kiddo." Lily allowed herself a smile. Being in a class with Diamond Tiara and Snips had given her a life's training in evasiveness. Flurry was going to have to do better than that to trick her.

"Un-bucking-believable!" The Princess pouted.

"I know, I know." Lily shook her head. "Oh, and here's a big tip. When you see Sweetie, tone the swearing down. As long as you act like the sweet little princess, she'll melt. Just don't tell anypony I told you that."

"You're the best!" Any disappointment was quickly forgotten, as the alicorn jumped to give Lily a hug. "Tomorrow, I'll take you to see all my friends!" Of course the earth mare knew that meant Flurry was going to "show her" to all her friends.

"Sure thing." The older pony nodded.

A second later Flurry flashed away, potentially to the crystal palace. Lily waited a while longer. She wanted to be certain that the bundle of chaos wouldn't suddenly reappear. That, and she had caught sight of the guards keeping an eye on the Princess. It would be bad if they were to catch her invading somepony's home. Silver hadn't been exaggerating when she said Twist and Lily would be protected while with the Flurry Heart. So far there had been no less than three constantly keeping an eye on them, discretely hidden a short distance away. These ones seemed more impressive than the guards in the barracks. They also were thestrals.

Time to see what you've got, SmokeScreen. Lily approached the door. Taking a small circular device from her saddlebag, she placed it over the lock and gently tapped it. Eight metal claws shot out with a click attaching it in place. From here on it was a matter of time. Key-spiders, got to love them. According to the pony who sold it to her, the spider was capable of rushing through any basic lock within seconds, a bit longer if top level security was involved. Lily had tested it several times at various locations, and so far hadn't been disappointed. Quite the useful device and, paradoxically, still legal. Since it existed almost exclusively in the Conglomerate, there were no laws in place restricting its use in Equestria. As long as her target didn't belong to any division, which he didn't, local authorities couldn't do a thing until they caught her in the act. That said, Lily had no intention of anypony finding out. She had procured the key-spider on her own, and not even Twist or Silver knew. It was safer this way.

Twenty seconds on and the spider still hadn't broken the lock. Come on, come on! Lily looked around. The neighbourhood seemed deserted, but she didn't want risking being in the open for too long. There was no telling when a guard patrol might pass. As the seconds went on, her inner self became more and more nervous. It shouldn't take the spider that long. Even magic locks had been cracked faster! Ten more seconds, and I resort to brute force. Lily dragged her hoof along the pavement. It had been a while since she pulled a door out. A sudden click made her relax. You sure took your time. She pulled the device off, then casually opened the door and went in.

The house was better furnished than she had expected. Cloud carpet, solid cloud furniture, even a lightning fireplace, adding a touch of coziness to a place of hard crystal. Strangely enough, the were no pictures or family portraits anywhere to be seen.

Now where's your tech? Lily went to the second floor. As was with most pegasi, his bed was there — a princess size cloud monstrosity that took half the bedroom. No Web-gear, though. The guest room turned out also as Webless. The entertainment room had some equipment, but one look was enough for Lily to know it was a mislead. Both gear sets were obviously put on display; both brand new and covered with a fine layer of dust. No Dream-hacker worth his protocols would leave his tech unused for so long.

Where is your other set? Lily wondered. The logical place to look was in the cloud furniture. Everypony would start there; everypony probably had. The Crystal Royal Guard, the cultists, probably even the medical staff had been through the place. If they had found something Twist would have learned about it. Which meant...

If I'm a weatherpony, what can I do that nopony else can? SmokeScreen had to deal with clouds and winds on a regular basis, so he could make requests for lots of those. So could any other pegasus, though. What could possibly be restricted to only—

"Clever stallion," Lily smirked, then rushed back to the living room. Nopony but you would have a permit for handling lightning, and only an idiot wouldn't be scared of getting struck by it. Too bad I'm an idiot. Not giving it any thought, she reached into the fireplace. Instantly, the stored lightning bolts zapped her hoof. There was some pain, but nowhere near the real thing. Decorative bolts. I should have known Lily reached in further, sticking her head in. A miniature zap struck her ear.

“Annoooying!” The pony kept herself from hitting the fireplace. It’s just pain. She grit her teeth and looked about. As expected the gear was there, and not just any gear. For the first time in her life Lily was gazing at a custom built could set. Hackers and glommers alike would chew their hooves off at a chance to get one of these. A headgear made of pure cloud matter, delicately linked to an overclocked Dream-crystal — that was the beauty that hung hooves away from Lily’s muzzle.

Clever. Only a pegasus can use that. If I snatch the crystal I'll break the whole thing. I bet the same will happen if I try to tear off part of the fireplace. Lily felt the sudden temptation to tear the whole section of the wall off. She had the strength to do so. With some luck she could even make it to the palace. No. Too chancy. Twist will be in trouble if I mess this up. Besides, there’s one option you didn't think of, SmokeScreen.

Reaching into her saddlebag, Lily took her Web headset and put it on. Her surroundings instantly changed to the large white gym she used for exercise. Unlike Twist, she didn't particularly enjoy roaming the Web. Fortunately, that was not necessary for what she had in mind.

"I know you can hear me, Clairvoyance," she said loudly. "I want to make a deal."

Silence. Lily expected as much. Time to see if my hunch is right.

"If you don't, I'm dragging Twist here," she went on. "She's good, but sooner or later even she will get noticed. And the more she pokes, the faster the cultists will find out."

No reaction.

"Do you seriously think she'll leave this alone? Or that I will? Or Silver? Somepony tried to kill Twist. That's not something one ignores." She paused. Sorry about this, Twist. It's just words. "Without help she'll get herself killed or Dreamlocked. And when that happens Silver Spoon will break Tartarus open to find who's responsible. After that, friend or not, you won't be able to hide anymore."

Saying her piece, Lily waited. If Clairvoyance was keeping tabs on them, as she suspected, he’d appear soon enough. The sad thing was, that wasn't a bluff, not in the complete sense of the word. The moment the cultists found out about Twist’s existence they’d go for her like a swarm of wasps. Suddenly her entire scrollbox disappeared, replaced by a connection failure message.

"What do you want?” a modified voice asked. Time to get to business.

Author's Note

Cloud gear — Web headgear that has been modified using cloud matter. Explained away as a myth by the Starswirl Conglomerate, the cloud gear is said to have been created by pegasi hackers, and could only be used by a member of their race. Rumours also claim that it has increased efficiency, including zero lag, additional protocol space, and the ability to hold three avatars simultaneously.

Confidential
There are seven known cases of full or partial cloud gear. Analyses have confirmed all were created by the same individual, code named The Sculptor. All attempts to identify and apprehend The Sculptor have failed, leading to believe she has never entered the Web.