Digitized Jockey

by Fairweather

Rating: teen
Tags: Adventure, Crossover, Dark, Alternate Universe
Length: 9633

You thought the Everfree was dangerous? Wait until you see this place. Wait until you see the Grid.

Within the Grid, a digital battle is taking place, and Vinyl Scratch is caught in the middle of it all. In order to survive, she must pick a side but this battle goes far beyond the Grid, and may involve all of Equestria…

A/N: Picture used with permission from Spittfirart on Deviant art and please, contructive critism is appreciated…

Published 1970-01-01 00:00:00 UTC
Last updated 2012-08-28 22:46:48 UTC

Prologue

A single large, beautifully white shining city stood alone, surrounded by lifeless rock that stretched for hundreds of miles around it. The dark sky was covered in dark grey clouds that crackled with energy.

Two Earth ponies galloped as fast as they could from the shining city behind them. The dark sky crackled in a form similar to lightning but the two ponies weren't startled, they were too afraid of what might be following them. Eventually, one of them collasped, unable to go on...

"I-It's..." The stallion panted. His friend stopped and turned to look him over. Her eyes went wide slightly when she saw the neon blue circuitry that lined his armour fade. "I can't go on..." He managed to say.

"You need energy." She stated.

The stallion shook his head. "There aren't any energy pools nearby. Leave me, maybe I can buy you some more time if they find me."

She stared down at him, looking into his brown eyes. She took a step closer to him.

"You can still make it." She pleaded. "Please listen to me..."

"No, you listen. I don't have enough energy to go on. I need to conserve what I have left. You need to go on and find the User and help defeat..." He paused. "...Her..."

A silent moment passed with nothing moving until the Stallion lost his patience.

"GO!" He yelled.

But the mare held her ground, taking another step towards her fallen companion.

"Do you know why I joined the resistance? It wasn't because of the User..." Another step. And another, the stallion stared, his eyes unblinking.

"Truth be told, it wasn't because of what was happening to the system." She continued, taking another step. She stood in front him now. "It was because somepony else had joined. Somepony who I deeply cared about and I was scared..." She slowly lowered her head, nuzzling it against the stallion's.

"...I was scared that I would lose the pony that I cared about the most... The pony who I trusted the most..."

The stallion's eyes went wide and his mouth opened in shock, a blush growing on his face.

"APP..." He muttered, saying her name.

She pulled back, staring into his eyes, her face inches away from his. "I don't want to lose the stallion I love... So please..."

and before he could respond, APP closed the gap between her face and his, pushing her lips to his. The two ponies closed their eyes, lost in their embrace while APP's blue circuitry dimmed slightly and the stallion's flared brightly for a moment, signifying the exchange of energy between the two. All too soon, it was over and they pulled apart, APP visibly weakened.

"You shouldn't have done that..." The stallion said. "Now you're weaker."

"But you're stronger." APP countered. "You're strong to stand up and keep moving. Maybe we'll get lucky and find an energy pool soon."

The stallion stood, nodding. "Maybe you're right... let's go and-"

He stopped when he heard a sound in the distance behind him. Turning, they saw a dark red blip fast approaching.

"Oh no..." APP muttered. "We have to move... now before-"

Suddenly, the red object's speed increased to a blur and it was suddenly inches away from the two ponies. The object was a pegasus, covered in black armour with dark red circuits lining it. It's wings were covered completely, and it was lined with a red circuit that glowed an even brighter red that hummed slightly.

In a swift motion, before the two ponies could react, the pegasus made a single swift movement with it's wings, slicing right into APP's neck, immediately she fell back, her head falling off and desintegrating into numerous pixels, her body followed, falling apart in moments, right before the stallion's eyes, his lover died just as quickly as she had professed her love to him.

"No! APP!" He cried out, as if that would miraculously stop her derresolution process. His attention immediately turned to the pegasus, who did likewise. Rage overtook him, and he drew a disc that was perched on his back and charged, tears streaming down his face.

He swung his disc, attempting to strike at the neck of the pegasus, but the pegasus flared its wings, striking the disc away with one wing and using the other to impale the stallion. It was over before it began.

The stallion gasped as the wing penetrated into his side. It was fatal blow and he knew it. He looked into his killer and saw something that made his eyes go wide in shock and terror.

"No... no it can't be!" Though her eyes were covered in a helmet, he recognized her mane instantly. "But... why... why are you-"

The pegasus emitted a light growl before she flexed her wing and the stallion derrezzed instantly. She stretched out her wings, briefly revealing her cutie mark of a cloud with a rainbow-coloured lightning bolt shooting out of it. Though the lines of it glowed an evil red. The pegasus turned, and flew off towards the city, where other red dots were flying around, leaving behind the two piles of pixels of the dead programs. For a moment, all was still, before the piles seemed to liquify, turning into two glowing pools before moving together to form one. The pools glowed an even brighter blue and then lifted into the sky, disappearing into the dark, rolling clouds...

Vinyl's Curiosity

Vinyl Scratch tapped her hoof impatiently, she was aggravated. She tapped on the door rapidly again, this time louder.

"Vinyl..." A very familiar voice said next to her. "That's the third time you've knocked. Maybe you should just try again in the morning."

Vinyl sighed, glancing at the gray-maned mare with deep purple eyes, she was briefly entranced by them for the billionth time, before coming to her sense a milisecond later.

"Technically, Octy..." The DJ said. "It's already morning, it's just early morning."

"You call 4:00 AM early morning!?"

Vinyl stared at Octavia, magically levitating her oversized glasses slightly lower so that Octavia could see her 'did you forget who you're talking to?' look.

Octavia rolled her eyes.

"Yes, yes, I know you spend many nights awake what with your profession and all but I know that you know that Miss Sparkle doesn't usually stay up this late. Like many normal ponies she sleeps."

Vinyl snorted in laughter. "Yeah, clearly you don't know her. Do you have any idea how many all nighters she does doing Celestia knows what in that library?"

"Well..." Octavia paused. "Maybe she's catching up on lost sleeping time, perhaps?"

Vinyl shook her head. "No no no no... She's awake, I know..."

She knocked again, banging on the door. The two mares waited a few moments, before Vinyl groaned in frustration.

"That's it! Four knocks is as good a warning as any!" She said before her horn glowed violently with magic. A few seconds later the library door was in numerous pieces scattered throughout the main area of the library. Vinyl walked casually, a light smile on her face, leaving a jaw-dropped Octavia behind, before the mare came to her senses and ran in.

"Vinyl Scratch! What in the name of Celestia are you doing!?"

Vinyl paused, turning with a raised eyebrow to her friend.

"It's called a surprise casual visit."

Octavia stared, momentarily speechless. "Vinyl you... YOU BLEW UP THE FRONT DOOR!"

"Well yeah... hence the 'surprise'."

"You... you're... ugh... Why do I bother?"

The DJ shrugged. "I dun know..." before turning around.

"Hey! Twilight!" She called out. "There's something I want to talk to you about!"

"We're very sorry about this, Miss Sparkle!" Octavia said. "But Vinyl is an idiot, in case you didn't realize!"

The two stood there in the dark library for a moment, waiting for a response.

"Uh... Helllooooo~?"

"M-miss Sparkle?"

Another moment, no answer.

"Huh..." Vinyl said. "You think I accidentally killed her when I blew the door apart?"

Octavia felt the blood drain from her face, and she began quickly looking around for a twisted and mangled body, causing the DJ unicorn to burst in laughter. The Earth pony glared at the laughing unicorn, who quickly calmed down.

"Don't worry... the worst thing that spell could do to a pony is give 'em a few bruises. Nothing major."

"Still... I'm a little worried as to why Miss Sparkle isn't responding to us."

"Maybe she's a heavy sleeper." Vinyl momentarily glanced at some nearby wood shrapnel. "...A really heavy sleeper..."

Before Octavia could respond, the unicorn trotted up the stairs to Twilight's bedroom where she noticed the bed being empty.

"Huh..." The unicorn said. "Well, she's not in bed, so mystery solved why she isn't responding... she ain't here."

Vinyl walked back down the stairs to the nervous Octavia.

"Octy? You okay?"

"No, Vinyl, I'm worried about Miss Sparkle and I'm wondering where, if not here, could she possibly be."

"Sleepover with one of her friends, maybe." Vinyl suggested casually.

Octavia blinked, then realized that that was a reasonable and realistic suggestion.

"Oh... Perhaps you're right..."

"This actually works out very well." The unicorn stated, a mischevious grin slowly appearing on her face.

This made Octavia more nervous.

"Vinyl... you've got that look on your face, you know I don't like that look..."

"Oh don't worry Octy, it's nothing major, I'm just gonna do a little exploring, maybe find out what this unicorn has been up to these last few days..."

"Huh? What do you mean?"

Vinyl made her way to another door, a door that led to the basement of the library.

"Let me tell you..." She began to her friend who caustiously followed her...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Vinyl stepped down from her setup, grinning wide to the content patrons of the bar. She made her way over to the bar, eager to have a few drinks during her break. As she waited for her order to arrive, she glanced at the two mares sitting next to her and recognized them immediately, even though they weren't regular customers.

The rainbow-maned pegasus covered her ears, her wings flexing uncomfortably.

"Ugh... why here, Twilight?" She asked the lavender unicorn that sat next to her. "Why did it have to be a crowded, noisy, indoor rave party? Couldn't it be in some mysterious dark back alleyway or something?"

The unicorn shook her head, she looked slightly nervous.

"My contact specifically requested that this be the meeting point for the transaction."

Rainbow Dash groaned.

"Ugh, why am I here? Shouldn't it be AJ being down here instead of at the door?"

"I don't exactly trust these guys, Dash." Twilight answered. "They make me nervous, I'd like somepony around that I know I can trust just in case... something doesn't go according to plan. Plus, you know AppleJack hates these raves as much as you do and you lost the rock, paper, scissors match. And I need the extra hooves to help me carry the equipment."

"Hmph... fine." Rainbow Dash crossed her forehooves in frustration. "But why here are we doing this all secret like? Is there something you're not telling us, Twilight?"

Twilight didn't answer for a moment. "Yes... these ponies aren't exactly... respectful of the law, but I need the their equipment to complete my project."

"Project? What in Celestia's name are you taking about?"

"I can't tell you here, Dash. But... to make up for the help you're giving me, I can show you later tonight."

"Show me? Why not just tell me?"

Twilight didn't answer at first.

"I'll just say that this project could change the face of Equestria as we know it now please, I'll answer all your questions later just not... not now..."

"Alright, but I expect you keep your promise."

"You know I will Dash."

By this point, Vinyl had finished her drink and her interest was piqued greatly. She wanted to listen in more, but her break was over. When she was finished her next set of music, Rainbow and Twilight were gone.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"That was four days ago and, ever since then, I've been trying to find out what the hay Twilight is working on." Vinyl finished.

Octavia stared while Vinyl idly looked as several pieces of scientific equipment which hadn't been used in weeks.

"Is that it?" She asked.

"Well, I ran into Twilight yesterday and peppered her with questions about what it was she was doing at the rave party and what she's working. She was very reluctant to talk about it, but I eventually persuaded here to show me and she said she'd show later that day. Well, I've waited long enough so I'm gonna find out what it is myself."

Octavia blinked.

"I don't believe this... this has nothing to do with you, yet you're breaking and entering, rummaging through somepony else's things and trying to find out something that is obviously private to another pony just because you're curious!?"

"Well... yeah? I honestly don't see what the big deal is, Octy, sheesh."

The cellist sighed.

"You are unbelievable, what on earth is driving you to do this?"

"Well, think about it, Octy... Twilight Sparkle is the personal student of Princess Celestia herself and she is making some sort of deal with ponies who have been known to break the law, which suggests that she is doing something not 100% legal and she mentions a special project that she is very protective of and could change the face of Equestria as we know it. Doesn't that just beg the question; what the buck is she working on!?"

"Well... when you put it like that... it does sound suspicious, and Twilight is a very respectable pony from what I hear. But that still doesn't"

"Shh!" Vinyl raised a forehoof, causing Octavia to shut up. "You feel that?"

Octavia glanced left and right.

"Feel what?" She asked, her voice a whisper.

"There's a heavily enchanted object nearby..." Vinyl took a few steps forward, glancing at a loose stone on the floor, before levitating it slightly with her magic. Suddenly a door next to her that wasn't their previously opened up, leading to a mysterious room. A huge smile appeared on the DJ's face.

"Okay... a secret door... a bucking secret door. Now there is no going back." She said before striding inside.

"Vinyl wait... I don't think we should go in... oh, I'm doing it again... I'm bothering trying to stop her when it's absolutely pointless..." Octavia said before following her friend in.

The two mares glanced at a strange light that glowed from a nearby table. Walking up to it, Vinyl's went wide at what she saw.

"Oh my bucking Celestia... It's one of those futuristic computer consoles... I didn't think these were real!"

"A what?"

"You remember that computer I tried setting on at our house a few days ago?"

"The one that nearly fried you to a crisp and almost destroyed out house?"

"Yeah that... well, this one is 1000 times better and safer. This must be what Twilight was given that day at the rave party."

Octavia looked at the side of the machine, where she saw a word inscribed efficiently on the side.

"EquisCOM... You think those are the ponies who gave Twilight the machine."

Vinyl shrugged, her full attention on the computer. She tapped a forehoof on the keyboard, where a word popped up.

"Password? Aw crud..."

"What are you doing? This is obviously an expensive piece of equipment that Twilight likely risked a lot on getting."

"I'm not gonna wreck it." Vinyl said. "But I'm willing to bet that whatever project Twilight is working on this computer so..."

The DJ flexed her hooves, ready to use the keyboard.

"Let's crack this obstacle."

"Vinyl, how are you going to get past it?"

"Start with the basics..." The unicorn tapped a word and a positive sounding ding was heard as the two mares stared at the screen, mouths dropped, in shock.

"No way..." Vinyl said.

"I don't believe it..."

"No, she isn't that foalish, is she?"

"How can somepony as intelligent as her make such a ridiculous mistake?"

"I... wow..." Vinyl shook her head. "Her password is... password."

The two mares stared in shock for a moment before Vinyl started cracking up.

"Vinyl!" Octavia hissed.

"What? You have to admit, this is hilarious!"

The cellist shook her head, unable to admit that Vinyl was right.

"Just hurry up and start seeing if that project is in their."

"Alright, alright..." Vinyl said impatiently, flexing her hooves before tapping on the keyboard. "Now let's see... secret project... nothing.... oh I know... history... here we are..."

Octavia looked at the list of words on the screen.

"Huh..." The DJ said. "Any idea what 'laser control' is?"

"No, do you?"

"Not a clue... but it's been accessed multiple times over the last few days. In fact that's the only thing that's been used with this computer. What a waste of good tech."

Vinyl sat in the chair for a moment, before she began typing again.

"Vinyl, what are you doing?"

"Activating the laser."

"What? Why are you doing that?"

Unknown to the two mares, a turret, previously hidden, began to make a faint humming noise as power began to reactivate it.

"Because I want to see what it does, this might be the project Twilight has been working on."

At the tip of the turret, a small dot of light began to glow and the computer inside began to make small adjustments, aiming directly at the unicorn sitting in front of the computer.

"But you don't know what it'll do. We might need protection or something."

"And?" The unicorn leaned back when she saw the words; powering up, please wait...

The light began glowing brighter and brighter.

"Vinyl, there is something many ponies and living things in general are born with... it's called common sense!"

"Octy, you've known me for how long now? Besides, in my experience, common sense just holds us back."

"Vinyl, one of these days your reckless actions-

"Already bit me in the flank several times in the past." The DJ said. "But that's what makes things exciting, I like when unexpected things happen to me, especially if their caused by my past act-"

Vinyl was cut short when a laser beam struct her in the back of her head. Octavia shielded her eyes as a bright flash enveloped the room. When Octiavia opened her eyes, Vinyl Scratch was gone and all that remained were her glasses...

Another World...

Vinyl blinked. The library was gone and so was Octavia. The computer screen she was looking at before was replaced with a dark grey wall and a gentle breeze drifted through the air around her, suggesting she was outside.

"Uh... Octy?" Vinyl turned and saw herself facing another wall, this time with words in bright neon white lights built into it. It seemed to be in another language that Vinyl didn't recognize.

The DJ turned and saw a way out of the alleyway she was in, and walked caustiously over. When she stepped out, she blinked in surprise at the sudden brightness. But when her eyes adjusted, they widened in surprise and awe. She was in the middle of a huge city, each towering skyscraper covered in neon white lights that shone the area all around it.

"Holy Luna..." She definitely wasn't in Ponyville anymore. She wouldn't be surprised if she wasn't in Equestria, Vinyl had travelled across most of Equestria and had never even heard of a city like this.

She looked ahead and saw two ponies leaning against a wall chattting about something. Realizing she needed to get her bearings, she trotted over to the two, who didn't seem to take notice of her. The was when Vinyl noticed the neon circuitry lights dotting the black suits they wore, one of the pony's lights was a bright orange, the other's white. At first impressed with their clothing, she realized they weren't paying attention to her. This wouldn't do. Vinyl took a few steps closer and cleared her throat.

"Fellas!" She called out. The two stallions stopped their conversation and turned to face her.

"Yeah, what do you..." The orange one's voice trailed off when he saw Vinyl.

"Hey," the DJ greeted. "Name's Vinyl Scratch, maybe you've heard of me..."

The stallions shook their heads slowly, not blinking or taking their eyes off of her, Vinyl pretended not to notice and put on a disappointed look.

"Darn, guess I've still got a ways to go..." Before being interdimensionally famous, she added silently.

"Sorry but..." The stallion with the white circuits spoke up, his voice sounded like it was coming through a metal tube. "What is your function, program?"

Vinyl glanced at the stallion with a raised eyebrow.

"You might wanna do something about your voice pal, maybe see a doctor." The white stallion stared, showing utter confusion, Vinyl continued.

"And that's a weird way of asking what my job is, but I'm a DJ, the very best in all of Equestria. By the way, am I still in Equestria, you will not believe the day I've been having..."

The ponies glanced at each other and back at Vinyl, then the orange took a step toward her.

"Program, I think you should come with me."

Vinyl noticed the orange one's attitude and demeaner changed from confusion to... authoritive?

"Why should I? Where would we go?" She asked warily, then added. "And don't call me program."

The orange stallion lifted his left forehoof behind his neck and pulled out a circular object, black save for the bright orange circuit running around the inner circle. The white stallion backed away.

"Because I'm a security program and you will follow my instructions." He twitched his hoof and a second orange circuit appeared on the outside of the ring he carried, glowing brighter and humming dangerously. The white stallion flinched at its activation.

Vinyl didn't need to be an expert to know that was a weapon of some kind and she didn't like being threatened.

"Is the tough guy attitude really neccessary?" She asked, taking a defiant step toward the orange stallion and staring him down. He didn't look intimidated. Suddenly, a pitch black helmet formed around his head, covering his face completely.

"Don't challenge me!" He snarled.

"Don't threaten me!" Vinyl retorted, her horn glowing brightly. The DJ quickly glanced at the white stallion, who seemed to be staring in fear at something past Vinyl. Her ears flicked behind, and caught a sound of something fast approaching her, Vinyl reflexively rolled to the side, barely avoiding an orange object zooming by. The object bounced off a wall next to the unflinching orange stallion, and Vinyl saw it fly back into the hooves of another black suited and helmeted pony with orange circuitry across its suit.

"Give it up, program!" The orange stallion said calmly, "you can't fight us. Just surrender and-"

"Buck you!" Vinyl wasn't one to be bullied. She had gone through too much threatening and bullying as a filly to back down from anypony as an adult. She fired a sonic blast from her horn that knocked the stallion hard into the wall, then turned to see the other orange pony throw the ring at her again.

The DJ was prepared, and magically caught the ring mid-air and swung it back to the pony who simply caught it while walking towards her.

"Oh buck... Well, it was worth a try." Her horn began to glow again as she prepared her shockwave spell again, when something tackled her from behind. She was caught off guard and brought to the ground hard, her spell discharging in an empty direction. Vinyl glanced up and saw the white stallion pull out a ring of his own and bring it to her neck. His white circuit flickered, died, then lighted back up as a bright orange colour, he stared down angrily at her.

The orange stallion behind him got up and walked towards the downed unicorn.

"Normally, I'd derezz you for what you did." He said. "But I think that, in this case, the commander should decide your fate..."

His helmet disappeared back into his suit and he leaned in close to her ear. "...User..."

He stood up, turning away from the perplexed but angry DJ, and glanced toward the previously white stallion.

"Nice to see a new convert... I knew you were on the right track."

He turned to the other orange guard.

"Call in a transport and extra guards, I want us to get to Command without any problems."

What happened next was a blur for Vinyl, a large ship with two leg-like structures protruding down it with orange circuitry running all across it hovered over her. Then the DJ soon found herself aboard the ship, flying high above the city towards one of the tall skyscrapers. She then found herself being shoved about in an unfamiliar but impressively large room, a hangar of sorts. She also heard the stallion's voice as she was pushed away.

"Send her into one of the cells, I need to talk to the Commander..."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The stallion watched Vinyl be escorted away briefly before turning away. After passing a few halls, he found himself in a room overlooking the entire city, where another program was looking out admiring the view. The stallion cleared his throat and the unicorn before him moved her long white from her face, but did not turn aorund to face him.

"Crom..." She said. "The Great and Powerful Trixie did not summon you."

"I-I know Commander Trixie." Crom said. "But we found a rather... strange rogue program..."

"The Great and Powerful Trixie should care about this because...?"

"Well, she spoke very strangely and had even told me not to call her a program and there's... something about her that I can't really explain. I think she might be a user."

Trixie turned and faced Crom.

"There are no such thing as users, Crom, you must be glitching."

"I am not, Commander, but whether this... pony is a user or not, there is still something odd about her. I had her brought here so you could examine her yourself."

Trixie turned around and stared down at the city she was tasked to protect.

"Very well, have the program placed in the Initiation phase, we'll train her for the games and see where things go from there."

"Yes, Commander." Crom nodded, then hesitated. "Do you think we should inform the... Interface of this?"

Trixie spun around, a raging fire in her eyes as well as, Crom horrifyingly realized, terrible fear.

"The Great and..." She hesitated. "...and Powerful Trixie decides what news is worthy of the Interface and what news isn't. Is that clear?"

"Yes, of course, Commander, forgive me."

Trixie relaxed and turned. "You have work to do, Commander. Trixie suggests you get to it."

Crom bowed and left without a moment's hesitation. Leaving Trixie the private opportunity to shudder in fear. How could she let things come to this? Ever since she was humiliated by... her, her whole life spiralled further and further down. Until she was forced to take this job, and be sent to this Celestia-forsaken place with her breathing down her neck. She shook her head, driving away her nightmares. It was useless to dwell on them.

Heart of a DJ...

Vinyl's time in her cell gave her the breather she needed for her mind to calm down and start thinking rationally (by her standards). She realized she may have acted a little rash and decided to apologize and explain everything to whomever came to interrogate her. In the meantime, she thought about the fight she had earliar and the rings the ponies used as weapons. They looked badass while using them too...

A smile slowly spread across her face. I gotta get me one of those... Her train of thought was cut short when the door opened and two orange ponies wielding long staffs that glowed with the same orange colour stepped in, their faces obscured by black helmets.

"Program." One of them said. "You will come with us."

Vinyl nodded. "Is it alright if I ask where we're going?"

The guards didn't respond as she was led through the halls, Vinyl decided not to push her luck, those staff's look like they would hurt and she felt she was in enough trouble already. Eventually, Vinyl found herself in a semi-circular room. It was distinctly different then the rest of the building she had been in thusfar. Where the hangar and the halls and her cell were covered in orange neon lights, this one was of a pleasent white. Ahead of Vinyl were three ponies in white suits, their heads obscured in shadow. The DJ soon found herself stuck to the floor, no, bolted by strange energy chains. The guards turned and left, leaving Vinyl to the three mysterious ponies standing completely still in front of her. Then, all three took a step, then another, in complete synch with each other. Then the ponies heads came into view and Vinyl's eyes widened in complete shock.

"R-rarity!?"

There was no mistaking it, her long purple mane kept in perfect neatness and made to have a certain allure to it. The unicorn was flanked by two other mares that Vinyl recognized as Aloe and Lotus, the Spa Ponies. The three mares marched toward Vinyl unblinking and seemingly uncaring.

"Guys," She said. "It's me, Vinyl, you know... DJ-P0N3... heh heh..." She began to be increasingly nervous. Not because she was worried they would do anything to her, but because they were undeniably hot. Rarity in particular stole the spotlight but the Spa twins were no dissapointment to look at either. She realized what she was doing and snapped back to reality, they were here in another strange place with her. Vinyl tried to look confident and not flustered despite the blush on her face.

The three mares continued walking toward her, Rarity stopping just in front of the DJ's face, inches away (the distance didn't help her blush), while the twins took a few extra steps and stood facing each side of Vinyl, who glanced at them nervously.

"Guys? What's going on here? What are you all..." She stopped when she felt something on her hooves. Looking down, she saw a black material grow up around her legs, a kind of clothy material forming all around her body, coming all the way to her neck. The twins turned and walked over to the wall, where something popped out. They came back carrying pieces of armour and attached them onto her body. As soon as the pieces came into contact with the suit, they clung to it tightly and the armour pieces expanded, revealing extentions that were previously hidden within them. Rarity levitated another piece of armour and attached it to Vinyl's chest, it extended and connected to the other pieces perfectly. Vinyl looked down, examining her armour when she saw circuits of white light appear start flickering on her legs, then across her body.

"I look like a raver." She said, grinning. "Not bad... oh, okay, the neon white light in a perfect replica of my cutie mark is a nice touch. I approve."

The three mares turned and walked away.

"Wait!" Vinyl called out. "Rarity! You haven't-"

"Was that term directed to me this whole time?" Rarity asked, not looking back. "It's a nice name but it's not my name..."

Vinyl stared, her jaw dropped. "What the buck are you talking about? Hello? Hey!"

"She's different..." Aloe said, her twin nodded.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Vinyl scowled as she followed the guards, she was angry because three ponies she kinda, sort of, not really knew just brushed her off like they didn't know her... Probably because she didn't really know them. Still, Vinyl was insulted and was getting impatient when she was led into a large circular room. Again, the guards turned and left, the doors closing behind them. Only this time, Vinyl realized, she was alone and she wasn't restrained to one spot. She walked toward one of the black walls and thought she saw movement past them.

"Program." A robotic female voice called out, Vinyl spun around in surprise. From the centre of the ceiling a dark ring was slowly brought down before her. Vinyl recognized it as the rings she saw all the other ponies use.

No, not rings, more like...

"This is your Identity Disc." The robotic voice continued. "Everything you do or learn will be encrypted onto your disc. If you lose your disc or fail to obey commands, you will be subject to immediate deresolution."

Vinyl stared at the disc before her. They were giving her one of these? She took a step toward it, and levitated it toward her, looking at it closely.

"Discs..." She muttered, finishing her trail of thought.

"Please synchronize your disc to you by placing it on your back." The voice ordered. The unicorn obeyed and recalled where she saw the discs on all the ponies backs she'd seen since coming here. Grabbing the disc with her hoof and placing it on her back. She heard a click and felt something... become a part of her. She realized her disc was imprinting all of her knowledge and memories into itself. She felt... connected to it.

Let's test this out..

Moving in a flash, she drew the disc and swung it to one of the walls, it bounced off and flew towards another wall. Vinyl blinked, she felt it bounce off the wall, it was so weird! But so much more awesome as well. She didn't even need to look, she could feel it bounce off the other wall and another wall. She could feel it flying toward her at a highly dangerous speed-

"Oh sh-" Vinyl spun around and used her magic to grab the disc out of the air, stopping it just before it sliced her head off. Her eyes widened and an incredibly large smile appeared on her face. She nearly died from her own newly acquired weapon, that was so cool!

A sound was heard and Vinyl turned to see the walls lower, revealing other rooms with several other ponies all looking around.

"Programs." The voice said again. "Prepare for non-lethal Disc Wars training exercise..."

Vinyl blinked, and her smile turned into a sneer. Perfect...

She grabbed her disc with her hoof, twitched it and the outer ring glowed with white humming energy. Vinyl swung her disc towards the nearest pony, who was watching two other ponies duel. He didn't notice the DJ's disc until it was too late. Vinyl felt her disc hit the stallion hard in the side, there was a bright flash, and she saw him go flying into the ground, stunned. She turned and saw another mare throw her disc at Vinyl, who deflected it easily. With her disc knocked away, the mare was defenseless against Vinyl's counterattack. As soon as she was down and the disc returned to her, Vinyl galloped to where the fighting was heaviest.

With a sonic blast spell, she knocked a group of ponies away and threw her disc at another stallion who was too shocked to react in time. Vinyl jumped, caught her disc in the air and slammed it into the head of another unicorn, knocking him out cold. Vinyl stood up and saw the fighting had stopped, everypony was looking at her with shock. She smiled.

"Anypony who takes me down will have earned the Scratch's respect so... " She spun in place, flourishing her disc. "...Who wants to try me first?"

The other fighters glanced at each other, then at Vinyl, and charged, a few throwing their discs at the DJ. Vinyl avoided them all, grabbing one disc with her magic and flinging at another combatant, knocking him out. Whether it was skill she had earned when given the disc, or she was born with it, she used her Identity Disc like she had used it for years. She knew how to throw it, when to let go, and she never missed her mark, even when aiming for a particular spot on a wall, so it would ricochet and strike a combatant in the flank. It a matter of moments, Vinyl stood standing alone among the rest of the combatants who were all stunned, defeated and unable to move.

Vinyl, panting, brought her disc in front of her. She smiled, no pony knew more about discs then her, both in Equestria and here. She lifted her disc with both hooves triumphantly, this disc was hers, this was what she was, this was Vinyl Scratch...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"She's good. Very good," a guard commented

Crom looked down at the training arena, though his face was emotionless, his mind was calculating millions of numbers per second. Never before had he seen such raw talent in a program.

But she's not a program, a part of his mind said. He shook his head. It was ridiculous, Commander Trixie was right, there are no such things as Users.

But she mentioned Equestria, the part of his mind persisted. Who else knows of the term? Only the Commander, you, and the Interface...

His mind began running the calculations, the evidence was piling against him. It seemed she had to be a User. Eventually, he sighed. There isn't enough evidence yet...

"Put her in the public arena." He ordered. "We'll have her fight one of our warriors and see how she does in a live match."

The other guards nodded and moved to retrieve Vinyl from the training arena.

"Wait!" A voice called out, Crom spun around and saw Trixie emerge from the shadows. "Put her with one of the User-believers. Her own kind."

"Commander?"

"Trixie sees the doubt in your face, Crom. Trixie will put that doubt to rest by showing you that this program is not a User by having her strike down one of the programs who stubbornly holds on to that ridiculous belief."

Crom thought this through, it wouldn't make sense for a User to derezz a program who is loyal to that belief. But it was risky.

"Commander," Crom said. "If she refuses to kill her combatant, then that will only support the belief-"

"You're treading a dangerous line, Crom." Trixie warned, her horn glowing. "Don't cross it..."

Crom closed his mouth and nodded quickly, her turned to the guards.

"You heard the Commander, set the program up against a User-believer, one of the ones we have imprisoned."

One of the guards smiled.

"Sure thing, we'll put that Email script up in the games, I've been looking forward to getting rid of that program for a while..."

The Game has Changed

Vinyl blinked slowly, she felt tired, like she needed sleep, but she also felt empty and drained. She glanced at the circuitry on her armour, the white neon lights were dim and not as bright as before. One of the guards seem to notice this.

"The program needs energy." He reported. "Send her to the Charger."

"The Charger?" That sounded... painful. It also sounds a little erotic. Now is not the time, Vinyl...

The DJ rolled her eyes. Great, now my conscience is starting to sound like Oct... Her eyes widened slightly.

"Octavia..." She muttered. That was when Vinyl began thinking about how on earth she got here. She thought back to Twilight's secret room, the computer and the... laser control. Was the laser pointed at me? Did it blast me and send me here? Where is here, anyways? A mental gasp. Was Octy blasted with me? Or is she still back in Equestria? Argh! I hate not knowing potentially important things. It would help if I didn't feel so drained!

Vinyl looked up and saw she was in an enormous room filled with a large number of ponies.

"Regain your energy here, Program." The guard said. "You have two nano-cycles."

They turned and left before she could react.

"Oh great..." Vinyl muttered. "What am I supposed to do?"

She looked around, the room was covered in tables, ponies sitting by them talking to each other, sipping at their drinks. On the other side of the room looked like a bar of sorts, there wasn't much of a line-up. When Vinyl reached the bar, a stallion on the other side of the ramp, who looked similar to a certain pony who worked at a doughnut shop, came up to her, reaching out a hoof.

"Your disc, please?" He said in a gruff, bored voice.

"Huh? Why?" The DJ asked, suspicious.

The stallion sighed.

"I need to ID you so I know how many energy rations I can supply you."

Vinyl wasn't comfortable in letting go of her only and best form of defense but she slowly reached back, pulled her disc out, and handed it to the stallion. The stallion took the disc quickly and placed it in a small slot, where some lights slowly lighted up. The stallion glanced at it, then stared at it in surprise.

"Huh..." He said simply, pulling Vinyl's disc out and handing back to her. "Extra energy rations... I wonder what you did to get on Security's good side..."

The stallion leaned down below the ramp, and appeared a second later holding a glass with clear liquid in his hooves.

"Here you go, standard supply. Come back for the second round when you're finished with that."

Holy Celestia, this is a bar! Vinyl realized. She wasn't in the mood for alcohol but the drink looked very tempting... more tempting than it should've. Vinyl turned and sat down at the nearest table, ignoring two other ponies who were discussing about something, they didn't seem to notice her either.

"...strange that less and less programs have been coming in... you'd think Security would keep the recruits coming in, considering how many we lose each micro-cycle." One pony finished, a mare, she sounded familiar.

Vinyl continued staring at her drink, judging how it was clear like water, it was probably vodka.

"It's not that strange." The other pony replied, her voice also very familiar. "Most of the recruits brought here are those fanatic rebels that tried to take over the system from Security and the Interface that were found after they were scattered. But their numbers are low now so it makes sense that fewer recruits are coming in. It's obvious they're gonna have to find a solution quick or their won't be any programs left to play the games."

Vinyl sniffed her drink, it definitely didn't smell like vodka. It didn't smell like... anything.

"So what are they going to do? Are they going to have to start looking for strays, like us?" The first mare asked.

"I doubt it, it's rare for programs to lose their discs and become strays, it's not a dependable way of finding programs for the games."

Vinyl tilted the glass side to side, watching the liquid swirl around. Could it be just water? But that didn't make any sense...

"What about other User-believers? Why not just round them up and have them in the games?"

"Are you crazy? Then Security would have a second rebellion on their hooves, and this time the programs would have right to rebel. Nopony wants to be thrown in the games. Not to mention a large percentage of all programs in the system are User-believers..."

Vinyl shrugged and tilted the glass to her mouth. She was planning on downing but the moment the first gulp reached her mouth, she stopped drinking and swallowed her gulp. Her eyes widened and she felt a euphoric feeling of bliss wash over her. She didn't know it, but her circuitry brightened as the energy spread through her, revitalizing her. But it wasn't enough, in a second, her circuitry dimmed and the feeling passed. Vinyl didn't wait and downed the whole glass, basking in the euphoria.

"That reminds me..." The first mare said. "Why did a group of 'fanatic' User-believers rebel in the first place? What happened to make them fight?"

"Apparently, after the Interface became system administrator, they tried to take control of the system. They probably thought that with the power shift the Interface was weak and would be unable to stop them. I guess they didn't count on Security overwhelming them."

"But that doesn't make any sense, why would they... Hey, are you okay?"

"Huh? What... Woah, are you alright?"

Something clicked in Vinyl's brain and it brought her back into reality, she had been slouching in her chair and she leaned up. She was disappointed that the feeling was gone but she felt much better, more energized, and no longer empty.

"Yeah," She quickly said. "Sorry, I was..."

Vinyl stopped as she stared wide-eyed at the two mares before her. She knew them and couldn't believe they were here. On her left was a mare with a blue and pink mane, wearing armour with white circuitry. On her right was a mint-green unicorn also wearing armour with white circuitry.

"Lyra... Bon Bon?"

The two mares glanced at each other, then back at Vinyl.

"That's not our names, program. I think you have us confused with somepony else."

Oh no, don't be like Rarity now... But Vinyl knew these two very well, she wasn't gonna give up so easily.

"Guys, it's me, Vinyl Scratch! You're friend?"

Lyra blinked, then her eyes went wide.

"Wait a cycle... You knew us before?" She turned to Bon Bon. "I think this program knows who we were before we became strays!"

"Were? Strays? What are you two talking about?"

Bon Bon looked at Vinyl sadly.

"We're sorry, we lost our original discs sometime a few cycle's ago and we became strays with no memory of who we were. It was only a matter of time before we were picked up by Security and sent to play in the games..."

"You knew us!" Lyra exclaimed. "What were we like? What did we do?"

"Something's not right..." Bon Bon said, looking over Vinyl closely. "You don't seem familiar at all but the name Bon Bon... that name rings a bell..."

"Guys, how did you get here?" Vinyl asked, when something clicked. "Wait... you don't remember... What the hay happened to you two!?"

Before either could respond. A hoof touched Vinyl's shoulder. The DJ turned and saw a guard standing before her.

"Program! Your time is up, it's time for you to enter the games."

"What? No!" Lyra said. "She may know who we are, you can't just-"

"We can and we will." The guard replied simply. "Get up program, you have work to do."

Games, huh? Vinyl stood up.

"Chillax, guys." She said to her friends. "I'll be back before you know it."

She turned, not seeing the worried looks on their faces.

"There goes our one chance of finding out who we were..." Lyra muttered.

As Vinyl was led out of the room, she glanced at her guard.

"So... These games, what are they like?"

"You know that disc match you had earliar? Well, it's basically that but with one program as your opponent."

"Pfft! Really? This will be over in seconds..."

Then I can get back to Lyra and Bon Bon and figure out what the buck is going on!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Vinyl looked around the circular room she was in. Once again, the guards had left and the doors had closed behind them.

"Okay, this is starting to get old!" She called out. Suddenly, she felt the room move, like an elevator. She was going up and she heard noise, like a crowd cheering. Vinyl felt the room stop moving and the cheering became even louder, just outside the door where the guards had left.

The door opened, revealing a smallish arena surrounded by hundreds of ponies cheering on in excitement.

These games must be pretty popular. Well, no need to disappoint them! With that thought, Vinyl strolled out confidently, a wide smirk on her face. Too bad my glasses didn't come with me, ah well, I'm sure I'll find some more soon.

Unknown to Vinyl, high above in a private observation room, Trixie and Crom looked down at the DJ with interest, Trixie smiling confidently.

On the other side of the arena emerged another pony with blue circuitry armour, a gray Pegasus with a certain... condition with her eyes. Vinyl instantly recognized her and did a double-take.

"DERPY!? No way, you're here too!?" Her smirk returned. Oh I'm gonna wipe the floor with her...

Derpy looked frightened, but when she saw the confident smirk on her opponent's face, she scrunched hers up in defiance.

"You think you're gonna wipe me right out, don't you!" She called out.

"Pretty much, yeah!" Vinyl replied over the roar of the crowd.

"Attention programs!" The robotic female voice sounded out. "Let the Disc Wars match begin!"

Instantly, Derpy drew her disc and threw it straight towards Vinyl, who barely dodged the whirling weapon. Vinyl got up from the ground.

"So that's how it's gonna be, huh? Alright, Derps... Time I showed you why no one bucks with the Scratch!"

She drew out her disc and threw it at her opponent.

Above, Trixie smiled as the battle began.

"See, Crom?" She said. "This program jumped straight into the game, she didn't even hesitate drawing her disc against a User-believer."

Crom didn't answer as he looked down. Something's not right...

Trixie glanced at him, and looked back at the fight.

Vinyl had underestimated Derpy, it turned out she was pretty good with a disc too. She grab her returning disc and jumped over Derpy's, when she landed and looked up, her disc had returned to her hoof. Vinyl continued grinning, the challenge was exhilarating and she loved every moment of it. The crowd seemed to be enjoying it too, judging from the cheers that erupted every time one of them dodged of blocked a disc.

Vinyl decided to throw her disc again, but instead of dodging it or blocking it with her own, Derpy flared her wings up and rocketed to the side, flying along the rim of the arena, towards Vinyl. The DJ only realized just in time that she was coming in for a melee attack and dodged, barely avoiding the strike. Derpy continued flying on.

So you want to use your wings? Fine... I've still got my magic! Vinyl thought as she stood up, she felt her disc flying straight for her head and, without moving her body, grabbed the disc with her magic and flung it straight back to Derpy, who squeaked in surprised and knocked it away from her. She stopped in mid-air when she saw Vinyl defenseless and threw her disc at the DJ.

Vinyl grinned slightly and jumped in the air, grabbing the Pegasus' disc with her magic and bringing it into her hooves. Then she spun and reached out a hoof for her own disc, which flew right back to her. She continued spinning and landed on the ground.

"Hah!" She called out brandishing both discs in each fore hoof menacingly to the open mouthed Pegasus, grinning like a maniac. The roar of the crowd was deafening. Clearly, something like this was very rare, if not unheard of.

"Alright, Derps!" Vinyl called out to the stunned Pegasus. "It's clear I've got this fight, with both discs and you weaponless, let's just call this over now!"

Derpy blinked, and her face contorted with anger. She seemed insulted.

"I'm not weaponless, bit-brain!" She called out, flaring her wings once more, only the circuitry lining her wings glowed and hummed like the outer ring on the discs. Vinyl blinked.

"No way... You can use your wings as weapons too!? That is so bada- Oh shit!" She barely avoided Derpy as she charged, her wing almost grazing her.

Vinyl spun and blew a sigh of relief at avoiding what would've been a humiliating defeat.

"Alright, come and get me, let's see how good you are at using those in combat!" Vinyl called out.

Derpy took the challenge and charged the DJ, who deflected the wing attack with Derpy's disc. Derpy swung with her other wing, but Vinyl deflected with her disc, the energy seemed to clash with each split second contact. Vinyl saw an opening and brought both discs in a stabbing motion to Derpy's chest, but the Pegasus reacted quickly and threw them both off-course with her wings. For the next moments, the two traded blows, trying to strike at each other while also blocking the counterattack that followed.

After a few moments, Vinyl had an idea for an attack of a different kind. Seeing her opening, she smacked her head into Derpy's. Hard. The Pegasus stumbled back as the crowd gasped in surprised then quickly cheered. Vinyl then charged at her dazed opponent and struck at the base of her wing. The disc, however, didn't stop at the surface, like before. Instead, it sliced right through, cutting the wing clean off. Vinyl stared with a horrified expression as the wing fell to the ground, and disintegrated into thousands of tiny little cubes. The crowd cheered louder then ever before, but it didn't silence Derpy's pained scream that shook Vinyl to the core.

The Pegasus collapsed, writhing in pain. Vinyl looked down at her disc, her eyes wide. This wasn't a game, it never was. But she knew. Her conscience pointed out. She knew the whole time.

"Oh Celestia... Derpy!" Vinyl knelt down next to her. At first, Derpy tried to move away from Vinyl, but the pain was too much. She gasped and collapsed again.

"Why..." She struggled to say. "Why aren't you ending this?"

"I didn't know." Vinyl answered, her voice a whisper. "I didn't know that I'd..."

"How... How can you not-" She gasped as pain surged through her again. "P-please... just end it..."

Vinyl reeled back. "What!? No! Just hold on, I'm sure help is on the way..." Her voice trailed off.

There was nothing to signal a pause in the match and the crowd continued cheering.

"Please..." Derpy pleaded.

"No! I can't kill you!"

"DEREZZ ME!" Derpy shouted, tears streaming down her face.

Vinyl knew the wound was causing her intense pain, and she had the power to end it by ending her life. Vinyl activated her disc, it began humming, she hated the sound. She slowly raised her trembling hoof into the air to deliver the killing blow. And then made a terrible mistake. A mistake she would regret her whole life. She looked into Derpy's eyes as she stared at her. Vinyl stood deathly still, her hoof raised in the air. Everything went silent, the sound of the crowd dulled until it was barely audible but Derpy's painful gasps and sobs still sounded clearly. She couldn't do this, not to her friend. But she couldn't let her suffer either.

Only you can help her now, Vinyl.... By ending her pain. Her conscience said.

Vinyl, still staring Derpy, brought her disc down, slicing into her body and she disintegrated into millions of cubes. The crowd cheered loudly. The female robotic voice droned something along the lines of Vinyl winning the match but she barely heard it, she just knelt by the pile that was once Derpy, until a pair of guards took the DJ away. She didn't resist.

Trixe stood up, turning to leave.

"Trixie was right, as she always has been." She proclaimed. "The program killed the User-believer like I said she would. Now why would a User derezz a program who believed in them?"

"Because she didn't know..." Crom muttered.

"Sorry, what was that?"

Crom whirled around, facing his superior officer.

"She didn't know this was a battle to the death! She didn't know she was going to derezz another program until it was too late!"

"That only supports the evidence that she isn't a User, Crom." Trixie replied. "Users are supposed to be all-knowing. This program is a glitched stray, nothing more..."

Crom stared as Trixie left the room. He was mad. Mad at Trixie. Forcing programs to kill each other is bad enough, but you neglecting to tell her that she was about to kill was beyond cruel!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Vinyl sat in her cell, staring blankly at her disc. She thought about the battle, about how Derpy died and she learned a few things. She wasn't in Equestria.

If Celestia knew about this, I wouldn't be surprised if she walked in here personally and ended this cruel sport.

It wasn't Derpy that she killed.

But that doesn't matter. She looked like Derpy, she sounded like Derpy... She felt like Derpy... And I still killed.

She continued staring at her disc and sighed. She had no idea her disc was a lethal weapon until she cut off Derpy's wing. Her screams still echoed clearly in her mind, as well as the crowd's chee-

Vinyl looked up at the realization.

"The crowd cheered..." She muttered. "The crowd cheered before and during the fight... they cheered as I sliced her wing off and they cheered when I killed her... They wanted me to kill her! Those sick motherbuckers!"

She stood up and lashed her disc, it flew across the room, bouncing off the walls, until it landed next to her. Slowly she picked it up, panting in anger. Then she slumped down in defeat. If the people themselves enjoy it... How can I stand against this?

Then, Vinyl felt a tear move down her cheek. Then another. Her eyes watered, clouding her vision. She scrunched up her face and fell to the ground, sobbing quietly... I hope to Celestia you weren't sent here, Octy...