Code Lyocoltby MythrilMothChaptersUn monde sans amitiéSmartypantszillaScratch the SurfaceUn monde sans amitiéIt had started so innocently... Twilight Sparkle had taken a day trip to Canterlot to visit with her brother and search for a few new books to take back to Ponyville with her--even though she lived in a library, she was still in a rural village, after all, and Canterlot got all the latest books more quickly. After doing some book-shopping and spending a pleasant afternoon with Shining Armor and his wife Cadence, Twilight had decided to stop by the palace and pay her respects to her mentor, Princess Celestia. When she'd arrived, however, the princess had seemed unusually agitated about something. "What's wrong, Princess?" Twilight had asked. "Oh, Twilight, I'm glad you're here," Celestia had said, tossing her mane and pawing the floor with a hoof. "My sister unearthed something...strange...in the palace cellar. I honestly had no idea it was there, but now..." She had shaken her head. "Well, we're not entirely sure what to make of it. It's some sort of technology..." The purple unicorn's eyes had lit up at this. "Technology?" she'd asked, tilting her head. While certain things were commonplace in Equestria, technology in general was still a rare enough sight that any new, unusual gizmo or gadget fascinated her. "Yes, and I'm afraid neither I nor my sister are very good with such things," Celestia had said. "I've heard, however, that you've developed quite an interest in machines..." "Oh, absolutely!" Twilight had replied, smiling brightly. "What is it? What does it do?" "That's just it...we have no idea what it does. We can't even figure out how to turn it on." The purple unicorn had rubbed her chin with her forehoof, humming thoughtfully. "Can it be moved?" "Possibly," Celestia had hedged, a hoof raised slightly. "Well...if it can be moved, would you mind if I had it relocated to Ponyville?" Twilight had asked. "It might take a while to study, and I'd really rather study it in my own lab. Besides, if it turns out to be something dangerous, turning it on here in Canterlot could be...well..." "Disastrous, yes," the princess had agreed. "Very well, we'll go inspect it together, to see if it can be moved. If it can, we'll arrange to transport it to the library in Ponyville." By nightfall, the strange contraption had been transplanted to Twilight's lab in the basement of the library. It was a curious thing; black and gleaming with a cylindrical tower rising from a broad circular base. Deep grooves and indentations were engraved into the smooth black metal at seemingly random intervals; these indented areas were a dull amber color. She'd spent all night studying it from every conceivable angle, probing it with her magic, hooking up electrodes to it to try to get a reading on it, even kicking it experimentally a few times. Nothing had seemed to yield any response from the mysterious, recalcitrant object. An hour before sunrise, the weary, exhausted unicorn had slumped to the floor, hooves splayed around her. "I give up," she'd groaned. "This thing just doesn't want to do anything..." She'd trotted upstairs and gone into the kitchen for a drink. After enjoying a glass of cold apple juice, she'd suddenly remembered one thing she hadn't tried. She'd smacked herself in the forehead with a hoof, then, and rushed back down the stairs to the basement, where the cold black machine stood silently, as though daring her to make it work. She had then tilted her horn towards the device and funneled a powerful jolt of magical lightning directly into the cylindrical tower. Abruptly, the amber sections of the device had begun to glow brightly; the entire tower hummed quietly with power, golden light pulsing upwards through it at clockwork intervals. The unicorn had cheered ecstatically... However, after an hour, the thing had done nothing more interesting than glow, hum, and pulse. Twilight had finally gone to bed just after sunrise, leaving instructions for her dragon assistant, Spike, to clean up the library and keep the noise down so she could sleep. Just past noon, Twilight Sparkle awoke to an insistent knocking on the front door. She trotted downstairs just as Spike answered the door, and saw a massive crate supported by two pegasi. As Derpy Hooves was one of the deliveryponies, the crate was listing alarmingly to one side. Using her magic to help the ponies support the crate, she guided them into the middle of the room, where the three of them gently set down the crate. "What IS it, anyway?" Twilight asked. "No idea, sorry," Derpy said, looking at her with one eye and a potted plant with the other. "But it came express from Canterlot..." The two pegasi flew away, leaving Twilight to puzzle over the crate. A moment later, Spike belched out a smoking scroll with the royal crest on it. Unrolling it, Twilight read the letter from her mentor: Dear Twilight Sparkle, You should shortly be receiving a crate of equipment we discovered in a sealed antechamber near where the device was found. It seems to be part of, or at least related to, the device. Hopefully, you can divine some meaning or purpose to all this. Princess Celestia Twilight wasted no time opening the crate; inside was some sort of control panel, to which an array of flat screens had been mounted, and four broad golden cylinders, each twice as tall as the average pony. "Great, just what we need...more weird crap," Spike muttered. Twilight bopped him on the head with a hoof. "Just for that, you can help me get this stuff downstairs," she said. It took just over half an hour to move the new equipment array to the basement, where the black tower was still glowing and humming and pulsing. As soon as the new devices were ten feet from the glowing tower, the screens lit up, assorted text and graphics flashing across them. Spike jumped away from the thing, alarmed. Twilight merely examined them curiously. "Th-this stuff just came to life all by itself!" Spike exclaimed. "I suspect...these screens draw power from the original device, and they have to be close to it when it's activated," Twilight said, stroking her chin with a hoof. "These other things are probably drawing power too, though I can't see what their purpose is at the moment..." Her eyes lit up with excitement and delight. "Isn't this amazing? I can't wait to find out what it is and what it does!" "I can," Spike muttered. "I'll be upstairs having a snack." Ignoring the dragon, Twilight settled down behind the control panel, examining it carefully. She spotted what appeared to be a headset, and levitated it onto her head, adjusting the earpiece and carefully positioning the microphone. "Hello?" she tried. "Testing..." //Who's there?// a voice replied. Twilight jumped. "Who--who is this?" she asked. //...I don't know,// the feminine voice replied. //I just woke up...it's cold and dark here...I'm alone...// A window popped open on the center screen of the control array, and a mare appeared. There was something very odd about her. She seemed artificial...not quite real. She was dusky pink in color, with a neon blue-green mane and sharp gray eyes. She smiled and tilted her head curiously. //I can see you now...I think,// she said, her voice now coming out of speakers attached to the control screens. //Who are you?// "My name is Twilight Sparkle," the unicorn replied. "I'm in Ponyville...where are you?" //I...I don't know,// the strange mare replied. //I've never heard of Ponyville...sorry...// She paused. //Come to think of it, I've never heard of anyplace.// Twilight frowned. "Can you describe the place you're in?" //Yes...// The mare on the screen replied, looking around. //I'm in some kind of...tower, I think. The walls are dark, but there's...hold on. I can show you.// A new window popped open on a screen to the unicorn's left. The interior of the tower was dark and silent, with with lighted squares full of numbers and letters in seemingly random patterns moving serenely up and across the otherwise blue-black walls. The floor was light blue, with a series of glowing concentric circles leading to a point in the center. //Hang on...I think there's something else...// The mare trotted over to the wall of the tower and pressed a hoof against it. A concentric ripple of light expanded from her hoof; she gasped as her hoof passed through the wall. //Oh my!// "Careful..." Twilight cautioned. //Alright.// Taking a deep breath, the pink mare stepped through the wall of the tower. The screen on Twilight's left abruptly flickered and changed to show a rocky desert plain, littered with scrubby plants, brown stone outcroppings, and thick bundles of cable which snaked in and out of the ground seemingly at random, pulsing with energy. //Wow...there's...a whole world here...// "That's the strangest-looking desert I've ever seen," Twilight said. //It's a virtual environment,// the mare replied. //Don't ask me how I know that. I just do.// She paused. //I think...I think I might be virtual too.// "Virtual?" Twilight echoed, head tilted. //I...and this world, I suppose...reside in the memory of some sort of computer,// the virtual mare replied. "Computer...you mean this big black thing we moved here from Canterlot Palace?" She turned the screens around on their base to face the glowing black tower. //Yes! That's it!// the virtual mare exclaimed. //That's the supercomputer. I know, somehow, that this world...and me...are connected to that machine.// "Hmm..." Twilight frowned thoughtfully, then turned the screens back around to face her. "So...you're not real then?" //I suppose not...from your point of view, anyway,// the mare said, a note of sadness in her voice. "Still, this is pretty amazing...a pony who exists inside a machine...a whole WORLD that exists inside the machine...! I've never heard of anything like this! I'm glad I figured out how to turn it on..." //So am I...// The virtual mare paused. //I really wish I could remember anything useful, though. Like who I am, for starters.// "Well, since you're virtual...how about I call you Virtua? At least for now." //Alright,// Virtua replied, smiling. She frowned suddenly. //Something doesn't feel right...I'd better get back inside that tower. I get the feeling...I'm not entirely safe here.// Twilight frowned. "What do you mean?" Just then, something that looked like a hermit crab scuttled into view. A blast of energy shot from aglowing eye located just beneath a strange-looking symbol on its shell, narrowly missing Virtua. The virtual pony shrieked in alarm and galloped back toward the tower, phasing through the wall. She collapsed to the floor, panting heavily. //That was scary!// "And strange," Twilight said. "I think you'd better sit tight where you are, Virtua." She brightened. "Hey! I should go get my friends and bring them down here to meet you!" //I'd like that,// Virtua said with a smile. An hour later, Twilight led Spike, Pinkie Pie, Rarity, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, and Applejack into the basement. The mares looked around wonderingly at the strange equipment. "What--what IS all this?" Dash asked. "I...I'm a little scared..." Fluttershy said, shivering as she eyed the black tower nervously. "It's something called a 'supercomputer'," Twilight said. "But this isn't half of what I wanted to show you. I want you to meet somepony..." She trotted back over to the control panel and tapped a few keys. The center screen woke up, and the window showing the inside of the tower popped open. Virtua's face appeared in the window, and she smiled. //Welcome back, Twilight,// she said. "Whoa, who's THAT?" Applejack asked. "An' why's she look so...weird?" "Applejack!" Twilight scolded. "Sorry about that, Virtua." //It's alright,// the virtual mare replied. Introductions were made, and Twilight explained--with difficulty, as she didn't fully understand it herself--that Virtua was an artificial pony who existed in an artificial world that existed inside the supercomputer. "And there's this big desert-looking world outside the tower Virtua's in right now, but it isn't safe for her to go outside because some kind of weird crab monster started shooting at her," she finished. Her friends stared at her as though she'd grown a second head AND a horn out of her butt. "Uh, sugarcube?" Applejack said, taking a step back and raising a forehoof. "That's uh...nice an' all, but...it all sounds jes' a mite far-fetched, is all Ah'm sayin'..." "Yes, I know it sounds crazy," Twilight said patiently, "but it has to be true, because here she is, and even Princess Celestia had no idea what this supercomputer thing does, so--" "Wow, one of these big tube thingies just opened up when I touched it!" Pinkie exclaimed, standing inside the hollow cavity of one of the cylinders which had arrived with the control array. She started bouncing up and down. "It's so roomy in here! I wonder what it does?" "Pinkie, don't play around in there," Twilight cautioned. As she turned to admonish her friend, her tail brushed against one of the controls on the main board... The tube Pinkie had opened closed with her inside it, and a series of new windows popped open on the screens. "Uh, Twi?" Rainbow Dash said, eyes wide in panic. "Somethin's happenin'..." Twilight spun around, eyes wide as she saw a three-dimensional image of Pinkie Pie appear on one of the screens, along with a series of graphs and other displays that were changing too rapidly for her to follow. With growing horror, she watched as the image of Pinkie dissolved into a wireframe, before disappearing entirely. "Pinkie Pie?! Pinkie?!" //Whoa, there really IS a big weird desert here!// Pinkie's voice came from the speakers attached to the control array. "Pinkie? Where are you?" Twilight asked. //Duh! I just told you, silly! I'm in that big weird desert you were talking about! And I see that tower thingie...is Virtua inside there?// "Virtua? Could you step outside the tower for a minute please?" Twilight asked. //A-alright...// The virtual mare left the tower again, and the view on the left screen changed from the dark tower to the brown desert. The group in the basement gave a collective gasp at what they saw. Pinkie had somehow become virtual like Virtua. She was wearing a spysuit in the colors of the balloons that comprised her cutie mark, and two miniature versions of her Party Cannon were mounted on her sides. "Whoa," Dash breathed. "Well, that was certainly unexpected," Rarity said. //This is so cool!// Pinkie exclaimed. //How did I get here, though?// Twilight's brow furrowed. "I think..." she said slowly, "these cylinder things send ponies into that virtual world...into the supercomputer." "But...you CAN bring her back out of there, right?" Fluttershy asked nervously. "I...think so," Twilight hedged. //You should be able to,// Virtua said suddenly. //I believe what happened to your friend is called 'virtualization', and there is a reverse process called 'devirtualization', or 'rematerialization'.// "For a pony with amnesia, you seem to know a lot," Rainbow Dash said suspiciously. //I just wish I knew anything useful, or could understand why I know what I do know,// Virtua replied. Suddenly, the crab-like creature that had shot at Virtua earlier reappeared...and it had brought along two friends. One of them shot at Pinkie, whose flank flashed blue. //Hey! Ow! That wasn't very nice!// Pinkie shouted. Twilight noticed that an image of Pinkie had appeared on one of the screens, and her lower legs were disappearing from the graphic. "Pinkie? Are you okay?!" //Yeah, I'm okay,// Pinkie replied. //That really smarted though.// "Uh...I don't think you want to get hit again," Twilight said, studying the graphics on the screen with growing alarm. "There's something on this screen that says you just lost twenty life points. I don't know what that means, but it can't be good..." The crab-things started shooting at Pinkie again. She dodged, bouncing left and right. //Okay, I'm getting tired of these mean mean meanies,// she said. Without warning, two big pink balls of lightning blasted out of her side-cannons. Two of the crab-things were hit dead-center and exploded into blue pixels. "Nice shootin'!" Applejack cried. "Yeah, you totally nailed 'em!" Rainbow Dash exclaimed. The third crab, however, fired at Virtua, whose body flashed blue as she was knocked off her hooves. "Virtua? You alright?" Twilight asked, as a new graphic appeared, showing that the virtual mare had also lost a number of life points. //I...think so...// Virtua stood up, wavering slightly, as Pinkie dispatched the third crab. Five more crabs scuttled into view. "Hurry up and get back in the tower!" Twilight exclaimed. //Right,// Virtua said. She turned and galloped for the tall white tower, Pinkie right behind her. However, while Virtua easily phased through the tower wall, Pinkie simply bounced off. //Ow! I can't get in and my nose hurts,// Pinkie complained. Five bolts of crab-fire struck her dead in the rump, and she exploded into a cloud of glowing blue polygons. "PINKIE PIE!" the group in the basement shouted, eyes wide in horror. "No...she can't be...gone..." Twilight moaned in despair. There was a loud hiss, and the group turned towards the cylinder into which Pinkie had climbed earlier. It slid open, disgorging a cloud of steam...and Pinkie Pie, who looked like she had a terrible hangover, but was otherwise unharmed. "Wow, getting shot at that much definitely wasn't fun," she said. She looked around at everypony, blinking. "Um...why does everypony look like somepony just died?" "Because we thought you DID die, you ditz!" Rainbow Dash exclaimed, flying at Pinkie and tackling her with a fierce hug. "Don't scare us like that ever again!" //I'm relieved your friend is alright,// Virtua said from the screen. //I'm sorry about...what just happened.// "Well, it doesn't look like there's anything to worry about," Twilight said, examining the screen on the left. The graphic of Pinkie had turned red and winked out of existence; the graphic of Virtua was slowly regenerating life points. "It looks like when you go into a tower, your life points recover...I wouldn't go out again unless you absolutely have to, and I wouldn't get far from that tower." //Yes, I figured that part out myself,// Virtua said. //But it looks as though if one of you gets virtualized, losing all your life points just means you go back to your own world.// "That means we can totally explore that crazy virtual place!" Rainbow Dash said, suddenly excited. "Doesn't it?" "It certainly seems that way," Twilight replied, frowning. "I'm not sure how much we should really mess around with this, though." The mares and Spike unanimously agreed that it was time for dinner, and left the basement. Twilight apologized to Virtua and promised to come back and talk to her before she went to bed. As they trotted up the stairs into the main floor of the library, nopony noticed the black shadowy vapor emerging from the supercomputer. And as they left to go to dinner at their favorite outdoor cafe, nopony noticed that vapor slip silently through the shadows, to the outskirts of Ponyville. And nopony noticed as the shadow flitted through the open window of a bedroom of the Apple house, surrounding a poorly-made rag doll which had been placed lovingly upon a red pillow on a large bed. Nor did anypony notice the ominous symbol which suddenly flashed in the button eyes of the old doll...the same symbol that had been on the shells of the crab monsters in the virtual desert... Smartypantszilla//Twilight?// The lavender unicorn opened bleary eyes and looked around sleepily. She had fallen asleep in the lab; the control board for the supercomputer was covered in drool. She yawned and stretched. "Ugh...oh...Virtua..." She ducked her head sheepishly. "I'm sorry...I was just so tired..." //It's alright,// the virtual pony said with a friendly smile. //I'm glad you're awake now, though. It's way too quiet here.// "You still haven't been able to go outside without getting attacked?" //I haven't even tried,// Virtua replied with a sad sigh. //It's just way too risky.// "Yeah..." Twilight frowned. "Well, sometime later this morning my friends are coming back over, and some of them are going to come in there and explore your world." //I can't wait,// Virtua said. //I want to know more about where I am...maybe it'll help me figure out WHO I am.// "I sure hope so..." After finishing her morning chores, Applejack made one last round of the farm before heading over to the library. As she did so, she noticed something peculiar: Big Macintosh was frantically rooting through haystacks, bushels, barrels, and everywhere else. "Uh...Big Mac? Y'lose somethin'?" "Eeeeeyup." "Need some help findin' it?" "Nnnnnope." "Y'sure?" "Eeeeeyup." "Whutcha done lost, anyway? Maybe Ah seen it somewhere." "Nothin' important," the red stallion replied. "...right. Well, Ah'm off. Good luck findin', uh, whutever." Ten minutes later, Applejack was too far away from Sweet Apple Acres to hear her brother's terrified scream. Twilight's friends had gathered once again in the basement lab, where an important decision was about to be made. "Okay, so who's going and who's staying?" Twilight asked. "I'm sure as hay not goin'," Spike said. "It's just too weird." "I'm definitely going!" Rainbow Dash declared, ruffling her wings. "Umm...I'll...stay here, if it's all the same," Fluttershy whispered, curling into herself and lowering her body to the floor. "I'll go!" Pinkie declared. "Getting shot hurt, but shooting those crab thingies was kinda fun!" "I believe I shall pass, if it's all the same," Rarity said, waving a dainty hoof airily. "Ah reckon Ah might as well give it a shot," Applejack drawled. "Right," Twilight nodded. She pressed a couple of keys on the control board, and three scanner tubes opened with a hiss. "In you go!" As her friends stepped into the scanners, Twilight began working furiously at the controls. Windows popped up on the screens, displaying three-dimensional representations of each mare. "Transfer Pinkie Pie...scanner Pinkie Pie... "Transfer Rainbow Dash...scanner Rainbow Dash... "Transfer Applejack...scanner Applejack... "Virtualization!" With a final keystroke, the images of the three mares dissolved into wireframes... ...and appeared in the rocky virtual terrain outside Virtua's tower. //AWESOME!// Rainbow Dash cried. //I'm a Wonderbolt here!// //An' Ah'm...uh...whut th' hay am Ah s'posed t'be?// Twilight activated the viewer that showed what was happening in the virtual desert. Pinkie was once again in her party balloon outfit and armed with her saddlecannons. Dash had acquired a blindingly multihued variation of the Wonderbolts' flight suit. And Applejack... ...was an armored cow. There was really no better way she could think of to describe it. The farmpony's virtual body was encased in armor with a distinctive Holstein heifer pattern. Her normal brown hat had been replaced with a similarly cow-patterned ten-gallon hat that had enormous steer's horns jutting out from the sides. Lastly, her hooves were shod in the gaudiest, shiniest white boots Twilight had ever seen, each with sharp spurs jangling at the heel. Dash took one look at her and exploded with laughter. //Oh man, you look so ridiculous!// she howled. Virtua emerged from the tower, looking around cautiously. She espied the three mares, and her forehooves flew to her mouth. //Oh my...// Pinkie walked up to the tower and tapped it with a hoof. //So how come we can't get inside?// she wondered. //I don't know,// Virtua replied. //But those monsters can't get in either.// "I wonder..." Twilight mused. "Are those creatures a natural feature of that world? Or is somepony or something sending them after you?" The virtual pony shuddered. //I'm not crazy about that notion,// she said. //Well, I'll take a quick flight around and see what's up with this place,// Dash said. She stretched her wings and rose from the ground; as she flew off, a brilliant rainbow trail shimmered behind her. //She's so fast!// Virtua exclaimed, eyes wide. //That ain't nuthin',// Applejack said. //Wait'll ya see 'er really go.// A bolt of energy streaked past Applejack, scoring the ground at her hooves. She and Pinkie whirled to face a new group of crab-monsters; Virtua eeped and galloped through the wall of the tower. Big Macintosh was used to being, well...big. Most of the time, he was the biggest pony in any given crowd. He was rarely around anypony or any creature bigger than him. On this particular morning, however, he had encountered something much, much bigger than himself. Many residents of Ponyville were astonished to see the sturdy red workpony galloping down the road at top speed, looking as though every foul thing in Tartarus was hot on his hooves. Nopony could imagine what could possibly have so thoroughly terrified Big Macintosh. And then they saw what was chasing him. Cue enormous pony stampede. As Virtua charged into the tower, she felt her hooves slide underneath her, and before she could arrest her forward motion, she skidded to the edge of the circular tower floor...and over. She screamed as she fell...and then stopped in surprise as she landed gently on a floor almost exactly like the one she'd just fallen off of. //Virtua? Are you okay?// Twilight Sparkle asked. "Yes...I'm alright. Just...surprised." The virtual pony frowned thoughtfully, then timidly approached the wall of the tower and stepped through. Her eyes widened. "I...I don't believe it..." //What is it?// Twilight asked. "See for yourself..." The viewing window on the left screen flickered and changed, and Twilight blinked. "...what the hay?" //I think...I've found a different sector of this world,// Virtua replied. Indeed, the terrain around the virtual pony was no longer coarse brown desert, but rather lush green virtual forest. "How'd you get there?" Twilight asked. //I...I'm not sure...// //Hey everypony!// Dash's voice burst excitedly from the speakers. //You won't believe what I found! There's a whole bunch of these towers all over the place!// //What?// Virtua cut in. //Did you say there are more towers?// //Yeah,// Dash replied. //You think maybe more virtual ponies live in those other towers?// //It's...possible...// Virtua replied dubiously. //But I don't think--AAAAH!// "What is it? What's wrong?" Twilight cried. //Some kind of bug monsters...// "Get back in the tower!" //I can't! I'm surrounded!// Twilight cursed. "Hang on...there's gotta be some way to send everypony over to where you are..." She began furiously working at the controls, studying incomprehensible window after window of readouts and data. Finally, she found--or hoped she'd found--what she needed. "Okay, gang, I'm sending you to the forest sector!" //Huh? Wait, what?// Pinkie, Applejack, and Dash blinked in confusion as the desert terrain around them blurred and became blocky, and moments later was replaced with green grass and trees. "Okay, that was weird," Pinkie said. "Help! Over here!" Virtua cried. The mares turned, only to find the virtual pony surrounded by wicked-looking giant hornets, stingers gleaming evilly. The eerie eye symbol they'd seen on the crabs was also present on these new monsters. "I've got this!" Dash cried, charging into the fray. As she picked up speed, the rainbow contrail behind her became a blazing rainbow flame; she plowed through the hornets, which caught fire and exploded in showers of blue polygons. A lone crab scuttled out from behind a tree. Applejack charged it, lowering her head like an angry bull. The ridiculously long horns on her absurd hat caught it up and pierced it, and it too vanished into blue polygons and nothingness. "Aww, nothing for me to blow up?" Pinkie pouted. "You'd better get back in the tower, Virtua," Dash said. "Right..." the virtual pony agreed. Before she had taken a single step, however, she stiffened, eyes wide. "Did...did you all feel that?" "Feel whut?" Applejack asked, tilting her head. "I felt...some kind of...pulsation..." "Oh! Oh! Maybe you have a Virtua Sense, just like I have Pinkie Sense!" "...huh?" //Ignore her,// Twilight said abruptly. //What do you mean you felt a pulsation?// "I don't know...it's just..." //Twilight! Something DREADFUL is happening outside!// //Huh? Oh--excuse me a minute everypony.// "I wonder what's goin' on?" Dash asked, looking up at the digital sky, worry creasing her brow. "Somethin' sure as horseapples don't feel right," Applejack said, frowning. "I agree," Virtua nodded. "I feel like...something bad's about to happen..." Twilight stepped out into the bright sunlight, only to find chaos erupting all around her. "What...what..." "It's some kind of terrible monster!" Fluttershy squeaked, ducking behind the unicorn and peering out from between her legs. "I saw it--everypony's running right for the Everfree Forest, and it's right behind them..." "A monster? What kind of monster?" Twilight asked. "I couldn't say for sure," Rarity answered, "but it was certainly the most hideous thing I've ever seen." "And it was HUGE," Spike said. "Like, dragon huge." This observation was rather unnecessary, as whatever had stomped through the town had left considerable destruction in its wake. Twilight shifted her hooves uncertainly, torn between competing disasters. Her friends should be okay in the virtual world, she knew...or hoped...but this monster, whatever it was... "Spike?" she said. "I need you to go back down to the lab and keep an eye on everypony in the supercomputer. You don't need to do anything except make sure Virtua doesn't lose all her life points. I'm pretty sure if she does, she'll disappear for good. If the others lose all theirs, they'll--" "Be okay, I know," Spike said. "I just need to watch what's happening then, right?" "Right. Fluttershy, Rarity? You're with me. We're gonna follow that monster." "Oh goodness...oh dear..." "FLUTTERSHY!" Twilight snapped. "Now is NOT the time! Ponies are in danger!" Fluttershy's jaw tightened, her eyes hardened, and she nodded. "Right." Soundlessly, she took off, following the path of destruction. The two unicorns were soon galloping behind her. Spike watched them until they were specks on the horizon, then turned and walked down to the basement. "So...what d'y'all reckon we do now?" Applejack asked. "I think I'll take a look around," Dash replied. "Virtua, get back in the tower. Pinkie, AJ, you two look out for monsters. If any more show up, take 'em out." "Got it!" Pinkie chirped, saluting. A few minutes later, Dash returned, brow furrowed. "There's a whole bunch of towers here too," she reported. "And one of 'em's glowin' red." "Red?" Applejack asked, tilting her head. "Yeah. Red. Like, really angry red." "That's weird," Pinkie replied, looking up at the tower they stood at the base of. "This one and the one back in the desert were glowing blue." "I know," Dash said. "I've got a really bad feeling about that red tower." //Did you hear that, Virtua?// Spike asked. "Yes," Virtua replied, studying the walls of her safe haven with a puzzled frown. "I don't know what it means, but..." "Oh...my..." Fluttershy said as she got her first good look at the terrifying monster. "It's even more hideous than I thought!" Rarity exclaimed, collapsing on her handily-summoned fainting couch. Twilight's left eye and right ear twitched. "It's...it's my old Smarty-Pants doll," she said flatly. "Your WHAT?" Rarity exclaimed. "My Smarty-Pants doll. I made her myself, when I was a filly. She was my favorite toy..." She frowned. "I never did find her after that whole mess with the Want-It Need-It spell..." "Well, darling, I'd say you just found her," Rarity drawled. "Why did...you make such a huge, scary doll...and make it so poorly?" Fluttershy asked timidly. "She wasn't this big when I made heWHAT DO YOU MEAN POORLY?" "Nothing!" Smarty-Pants turned to face the three mares, and let out a terrifying bray that shook the ground. Her massive button eyes flashed...and in each enormous mismatched eye, a staticky grey symbol flickered... ...the same symbol on the monsters in the virtual world. "Did...did you see THAT?" Rarity exclaimed. "I sure did," Twilight replied, mouth set in a grim line. "I don't know how, but whatever made Smarty-Pants grow big and alive and...and evil...is in that supercomputer." She scowled. "I've gotta get back to the library. You two...just...keep her busy. And don't hurt her! She's very precious to me!" "Us...hurt...HER?" Fluttershy demanded, eyes wide with fright. But Twilight hadn't heard her, as she had already teleported several times and was halfway to the library. Twilight appeared with a pop and a flash, startling Spike, and hurriedly levitated the headset onto her own head. "Virtua!" she called. "This is Twilight! Can you hear me?" //Yes!// "Everypony else hear me okay?" //Loud an' clear, sugarcube! How's everything out there in Ponyville?// "Wrecked," Twilight replied. "Listen, did anypony see anything unusual there?" //Yeah,// Dash said. //One of the towers in this forest is glowing red.// Twilight rubbed her chin with a forehoof, then nodded. "Right. I think...you need to get Virtua to that red tower without anything killing her." //To the red tower?// Virtua asked uncertainly. //Are you sure about that?// "No," Twilight admitted. "But whatever's been sending those monsters inside the supercomputer is causing trouble out here in the real world too." //No way!// Dash exclaimed. //Whut kinda trouble?// Applejack asked. "...no time to explain," Twilight said hesitantly. "Just...trust me. I really think getting Virtua to that red tower is what we need to do." //Alright, if you say so...// Virtua replied shakily. Virtua stepped out of the safety of the tower and joined the three virtualized mares, who nodded grimly at her and moved to shield her. Wordlessly, the four mares set off into the forest, Dash taking point. For several minutes, nothing happened. The tension was thick and heavy in the air. "I see it," Pinkie whispered. "Wow, it reminds me of that time you had that really really bad zit, Dashie..." The malevolently glowing red tower loomed ahead of them. "Might take us a spell t'git there," Applejack said softly. "Ah reckon--" A hornet divebombed her from above, stinging her right in the flank. She let out a holler and bucked straight up, sending the digital menace flying into the trunk of a tree. Pinkie shot it with her saddlecannons, and it disappeared. "Dang that hurt!" Applejack grumbled. //You just lost ten life points, AJ,// Twilight cautioned. //Be careful.// "Right..." A few seconds later, an entire swarm of hornets descended upon the mares. Pinkie's cannons spat blazing pink electric death at dizzying speeds. Dash zoomed around, setting hornets ablaze with her rainbow flame trails. Any bugs that got too close to Virtua, Applejack dealt with, either by horn or hoof. After a few minutes of intense combat, no enemies were left, and only Dash had lost any life points. "Oh yeah!" the rainbow-maned pegasus cheered, pumping a hoof. "We totally kick butt!" "Sharp, POINTY butt!" Pinkie added. //No time to horse around, girls,// Twilight admonished. //You've gotta get Virtua to that tower right away!// It only took the quartet a few more minutes to reach the base of the tower. Unfortunately, they encountered a welcoming committee. "Okay, whut th' hay are THOSE?" Applejack said. Two large iron spheres barred the group's path to the tower. "Big...metal...ball...thingies?" Pinkie ventured. The spheres split open vertically, revealing glowing eye-symbols. They flashed red, and two massive vertical waves of fire spread out, creating perfect circular walls of death. "Big metal fire-wall making ball thingies!" Pinkie yelped as she dove for cover. Virtua scrambled out of the path of the attack, but was clipped on one hoof, and let out a cry of pain. Dash flew down to check on her. Applejack didn't make it out in time. "Son of a buckin' b--" "APPLEJACK!" Dash cried. //It's okay, Rainbow Dash. She's safe. She's back in the lab.// "Oh, yeah, right," Dash replied, heart hammering. "Still, that was scary." //Virtua, you lost twenty life points, and you don't have a whole lot,// Twilight admonished. //Whatever you do, don't get hit again.// "I'll try not to," the virtual mare said. The iron spheres had closed up again. Pinkie started shooting at them, but her lightning balls just bounced off the smooth metal. "Okay that's not fair," she pouted. "I bet you can only blow them up when they're opening up to shoot," Dash said. A moment later, the spheres opened again, their malevolent eyes glowing. Dash frowned and charged the one on the left. The air in front of her began to shimmer, and a sonic boom shook the forest. A rainbow shockwave spread out from the pegasus; the sphere she had charged exploded violently, while the other was merely rolled over onto its side. "Get it now, Pinkie!" Dash cried. "Right!" Pinkie fired again; this time, her shots struck true, and the second tank dissolved into polygons. "You're all clear, Virtua!" Dash yelled. "Get in the tower!" "Right!" With a firm nod, Virtua cantered through the outer wall of the tower. She had expected the inside of the red tower to look more...dangerous. She had expected, perhaps, an ambush, more monsters... Instead, the tower was as peaceful and serene inside as any other she'd seen. The virtual mare trotted slowly toward the center of the floor; as she crossed each of the concentric rings, they lit up brightly, with an echoing digital chiming sound. Once she reached the center, she found herself lifted into the air; she tilted her head back, eyes closed, as she ascended to another level. She landed gently on a floor almost to the one below; the rings here made the same pleasant echoing chime as she crossed them. When she reached the dot at the center of the circle, a holographic display appeared in midair before her. She reached out with a forehoof and tapped it. Her digital hoofprint pulsed brightly, before words appeared on the screen: As soon as these words finished forming, the shimmering displays scaling the walls suddenly plunged violently downward. Somewhere at the base of the tower, a surge of energy erupted skyward... Fluttershy and Rarity trembled in each others' grasp, watching with wide-eyed horror as the crudely crafted giant doll closed in on them, killing intent in her mad, mismatched button eyes... ...and then suddenly, Smarty-Pants shrank back to her original size and fell limply to the ground with a faint, comical squeak. The virtual mare examined her flank, where a cutie mark depicting a graceful ballerina made up of zeroes and ones had appeared. //Looks like you were right, Twilight.// Twilight wiped sweat from her brow with a hoof. "I'm glad it worked. Good job, Virtua--" //Digital Dancer. That's my name...I finally remembered.// The virtual mare beamed happily out of the viewer window on the control monitor. //And I know what this world is called now, too. It's called Lyocolt.// "Lyocolt?" Twilight asked. "Weird..." //I'm still not sure where this world came from, or where I came from for that matter, but...at least now I know who I am.// "That's great, Virt--I mean, Dancer." Twilight tilted her head. "Any ideas about that...whatever-it-is we just fought?" Dancer shifted uncomfortably. //Yeah. There's...something in here besides me. Something evil. I don't know what it is, but...// Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie emerged from the scanner tubes. Dash shook herself violently. "We gotta shut this thing down, Twi. We gotta shut it down NOW." "No," Twilight said firmly. "If we shut it down, Digital Dancer..." //No, I agree with Dash,// Dancer replied. //The supercomputer is too dangerous to leave running.// "But..." Twilight looked around at her friends, and at the virtual mare on the screen, then sighed and lowered her head. "You're right." She frowned. "I'm not sure how to shut it down, though...I mean, I barely figured out how to turn it on in the first place." //There should be a master bypass switch on the supercomputer mainframe,// Dancer said. "There aren't any switches on it anywhere," Twilight replied. "I've examined every inch of it. And this control board doesn't seem to be able to turn it off..." "A good buckin' oughtta do it," Applejack said. She backed up to the supercomputer, reared, and... ...bounced off a forcefield. "Yeah okay can't buck this bronco," the farmpony muttered around a mouthful of floor. Twilight scowled and probed the forcefield with her magic. "It's...strong," she said. "I can't break through it..." The mares and baby dragon looked helplessly at one another. "So...what do we do?" Spike asked. //We do what we did today,// Dancer supplied at length. //Whenever this...thing...launches an attack in your world, we find the red tower, and deactivate it.// Twilight nodded thoughtfully. "I guess...until we understand more about Lyocolt and the supercomputer, that's about all we can do..." In a trampled, twig-and-leaf-strewn forest clearing on the very edge of Ponyville, a large red stallion bent his head and gently picked up an old, battered, poorly-crafted rag doll. With a happy sigh of contentment, Big Macintosh trotted home. Scratch the Surface"Good morning, Dancer." //Oh, good morning, Twilight!// the virtual pony replied. //Did you sleep well?// "More or less," the unicorn replied. "I just wish I knew what happened to my Smarty-Pants doll after..." She sighed. "Oh well. That old doll's been at the center of chaotic episodes that completely disrupted Ponyville twice now. It's probably for the best if she's lost..." Dancer tilted her head. //But she was important to you, right?// "She's just an old rag doll," Twilight said dismissively. "So, what have you been up to?" //I've been trying to find out more about this world,// Dancer replied. //It's been difficult, because a lot of the data sectors in the supercomputer appear to be corrupted.// She frowned. //Some of what I have found is puzzling.// "Oh?" //I...don't think I had a virtual form until you turned on the supercomputer,// Dancer replied. //It's as if I was formatted as a pony when the system started up. And I think...whoever created the computer, and this world...wasn't a pony.// "Wasn't a pony? What do you mean?" //I'm not sure. Some of the data I've extracted references things that make no sense. I can't explain it,// Dancer said, shaking her head. //And like I said, the entire memory core here is a complete mess. I do know two things, though. //There IS something else in here with me. When you turned on the supercomputer, it woke up.// "Yeah, we kinda figured that out." //The other thing,// Dancer continued, //is that somepony left a message. It's heavily encrypted. I've started decoding it but it might take most of the day.// "Be sure to let me know when it's done," Twilight said. "Anything we can learn about all this will help. Especially if we're expecting any more incidents like yesterday..." //In the meantime, let me tell you what I do know...// The walls of the cottage shook as the throb of pounding bass pulsed through the floor. A unicorn wearing purple shades nodded her head in time with the beat as she stood behind a turntable. After what the neighbors would say was far too long, the noise level tapered off. Still nodding and softly beatboxing to herself, the mare trotted up the stairs from the basement to the living room, then headed to the bathroom to drop something other than sick beats. In the empty, quiet basement studio, a shadowy mist seeped up out of the very foundation, oozing up the cables snaking from the turntable, and settled into the still-spinning record. As it revolved, the faint, staticy image of an eerie concentric eye superimposed itself onto the record... //There are five sectors,// Dancer said as a wireframe map appeared on the right-hand screen, displaying four detailed, differently-colored sectors arrayed around a black sphere adorned with the same eye symbol that had been on the monsters that had attacked her. //Desert, mountain, forest, and polar...and one that doesn't appear to be accessible. I think there used to be a holographic world map of Lyocolt, but...// She frowned. //It looks like a lot more hardware is supposed to be connected to the supercomputer than actually is.// "I've got...four screens, four scanners, and a control board," Twilight said. //Hmm...yes, you're definitely missing some components.// Dancer shrugged. //I don't think it really matters. I mean, you can talk to me and send your friends into Lyocolt...// "I'd like to make the next trip over, actually," Twilight said. "It'll be easier for me to understand what's going on if I'm right there where it's all happening." //Alright.// Dancer tapped her chin with a hoof. //Also, I'm trying to figure out why your friends couldn't access the towers. According to my data, anything except those monsters should be able to enter towers.// "Maybe they've been sealed somehow?" Twilight suggested. "Somepony fixed them so nopony but you can get in?" //Possibly,// Dancer replied. //I'll look into it. Now, let me explain some of the finer points of what you can do from your end...// An hour or so before lunchtime, Vinyl Scratch was chilling out on the living room sofa, flipping through a trade magazine and sipping a cold glass of asparagus juice. Her roommate, the snooty and somewhat uptight cellist Octavia, trotted into the room, looking rather cross. "Scratch? How many times have I asked you not to leave your infernal pounding noise running when you're not in your studio?" The unicorn blinked. "Huh?" It took her a moment to realize the floor was vibrating. "That's weird," Scratch muttered, setting aside her magazine. "I coulda SWORN I turned it off..." "Well, you didn't," Octavia said sniffily. Scratch rolled her eyes. "Pop a gasket, why dontcha? I'll crank it down. Sheesh." Twilight's friends piled into the library after lunch; the six mares and Spike descended into the basement lab. The unicorn had explained that Digital Dancer had new information for all of them about the supercomputer. "The message has finished decoding," Dancer informed them once they had all taken positions around the control screens. "It's a video recording...I'll play it now." A flickering video image appeared of a creature the likes of which the ponies present had never seen. Bipedal, with pale, hairless ivory skin and two arms. A thick, not quite shoulder-length mane of pinkish-silver hair, meticulously styled. Sharp green eyes, lined ever so slightly as though with age, magnified by silver-rimmed spectacles perched on an impossibly small nose, which rested above a flat, thin-lipped mouth that, like the eyes, seemed to be lined with age. This being was clad in a dark rose-pink sweater and a maroon skirt, over which it wore a pristine white lab coat. //Greetings,// the strange creature spoke in a feminine voice that, to the ears of those present, seemed somewhat aged, yet still firm and clear. //If you are viewing this message, then a terrible mistake has been made. //My name is Dr. Aelita Belpois. Please listen carefully; it is imperative that you, who have somehow reactivated the supercomputer, are made to fully understand the danger you and everyone you know and love are now in. For in reactivating the supercomputer, you have almost certainly reawakened the most dangerous virtual entity in the history of artificial intelligence. //By the time you discover this message, it will almost certainly already be too late...XANA is likely already awake, and won't rest until you are dead. //XANA is a multi-agent artificially intelligent entity with the capability of manifesting and controlling digital aspects in the physical world. In order to do so, XANA must activate the command towers located within the virtual world that resides inside the supercomputer. The computer is unique in that it generates a form of energy which can manipulate reality. XANA uses the towers to take control of this capability, and uses it to attack the real world. //In the past, we have been able to stop XANA on several occasions, but despite our best efforts, we have been unable to completely destroy him. We are also unable to dismantle or destroy the supercomputer itself, for reasons which are far too technical and complicated to explain here. Our final, desperate act was to place the supercomputer aboard a missile and launch it into a collapsing wormhole. According to my husband, the odds of the supercomputer surviving this journey, let alone ending up anywhere that life exists, are impossibly small, but having spent much of our lives fighting XANA, we were unwilling to take any chances. //We have programmed a guardian intelligence, created from my own personality engrams, to serve as a monitor and defensive weapon against XANA. In the event XANA awakens, this guardian must be safely delivered to any activated towers--towers that have turned red--and deactivate them. //You must be extremely careful to avoid allowing the guardian program to be destroyed by XANA's monsters. You must also take care to work swiftly, because any damage XANA causes in the real world will be irreversible. We were forced to lock out the 'Return to the Past' program because using it increases XANA's power. Whatever you do, DO NOT attempt to unseal this program! It will only make fighting XANA that much more difficult for you. //I wish you the best of luck, and I am deeply sorry that this burden has now fallen upon you.// The recording faded to static. Twilight looked around at her grim-faced, horror-stricken friends, and at the virtual visage of Digital Dancer. Her ears drooped. "I...I'm sorry, everypony. This...this is all my fault..." "There's no way you coulda known, Twilight," Dash said. "Yes...please do not blame yourself. Why, we have dealt with forces which threatened to destroy Equestria before. We can certainly do so once again!" Rarity added. "Yeah! This XANA thingie's no match for our friendship!" Pinkie chimed in. "It...it couldn't possibly be worse than Discord..." Fluttershy said quietly. And then the entire library started to shake. "SCRATCH! TURN. IT. DOWN!!" "I can't! It's stuck! I--AAAAAH!!" Vinyl Scratch collapsed to the floor of her studio, blood trickling from her ears. Upstairs, a similar fate had befallen Octavia. The possessed sound studio cranked the bass even higher. Twilight's ear twitched. "Okay, I've TRIED to be nice about that mare's obnoxious music, but this is the last straw..." "Oh, come on, Twilight," Pinkie said. "Scratchy's music rocks! Well, no, it's more like it...wubs?" "Wubs me th' wrong way, y'mean," Applejack muttered. "Yes, I'm most definitely not wubbing this," Rarity complained. "Yyyyyyeah whenever you ponies are through making bad puns?" Spike said, digging in one ear with a claw. //Everypony, listen!// Dancer said urgently. //I'm sensing pulsations--// "We're ALL sensing pulsations," Twilight said through gritted teeth. "It's this mare who lives nearby, she's a DJ--" //No, I mean evil pulsations,// the virtual mare clarified. //I think XANA's launched another attack...// The purple unicorn groaned. "Wonderful." She shook her head. "Pinkie, Dash, you go deal with Vinyl Scratch. Applejack, Rarity, you're with me. Fluttershy, Spike...you'll have to work the scanners." "Oh, no...I couldn't possibly..." Fluttershy said nervously. "Would you rather go to Lyocolt and fight monsters?" Twilight asked. The yellow pegasus let out a frightened squeak. "Well...when you put it that way..." //Don't worry, I can talk you through it,// Dancer assured the timid mare. "And do I get any say in the matter?" Rarity demanded snippily. "No," Twilight replied curtly. The white unicorn sighed theatrically. "Oh, very well then..." //I've located the activated tower,// Dancer said. //It's in the desert sector.// "We'll be right there," Twilight said. As the two unicorns and Applejack stepped into the scanner tubes, Fluttershy perched herself nervously in front of the control board, while Spike put on the headset. "Oh my goodness," Fluttershy whispered. "So many buttons..." "It's not that hard," Spike said. He pulled a roll of parchment out from underneath the control board. "See? Twilight wrote it all down just in case." //And anything she missed, I can help you with.// "Um...alright..." Fluttershy's eyes scanned the parchment. "O-okay...um...scanners on..." She began nervously pecking at the control board with her hooves. //Set the transfer coordinates,// Dancer prompted. "Coordinates set," Spike said after a moment of furious hunt-and-peck typing. Fluttershy consulted Twilight's checklist, then began tapping controls clumsily with her hooves. "Transfer Applejack...transfer Twilight Sparkle...transfer Rarity..." "Scanner Twilight," Spike said into the headset. "Scanner Applejack...scanner Rarity..." Fluttershy's hoof mashed down on the Enter key. "Virtualization...I hope..." The three mares landed lightly on the dusty brown digital terrain; Dancer was already waiting for them nearby. "...okay now see, y'all don't look like some kinda rodeo clown out of mah worst nightmare," Applejack groused. Twilight Sparkle was clad in a facsimile of the black spandex catsuit she had worn during the misadventure involving the Royal Canterlot Library and a time-travel spell. Green-tinted wraparound sunglasses covered her eyes, and a ninja sword was strapped to her flank. Rarity sported a tasteful, elegant black-and-gold karate gi. "Oh, this IS rather nice," Rarity said, examining herself. "Quickly, the tower's this way!" Dancer said, turning and trotting off down a narrow pass. The ground beneath them trembled; angry red ripples pulsed through the ground, moving in the direction the virtual mare was heading. The others quickly fell in behind her. After several minutes of travel, Dancer suddenly skidded to a halt, rearing. "Stop, everypony!" she cried. A gaping chasm stood between the four mares and the activated tower. "Wonderful," Twilight said. "Now I wish I'd made Fluttershy or Rainbow Dash come with us." "I forgot to tell you this," Dancer said, "but you really don't want to fall into chasms like this. If you do, you can't rematerialize in the real world--you'll be lost forever." "No fallin', gotcha," Applejack replied. "So...any idea how we get across this here canyon?" "I have an idea," Rarity said, as dozens of needles limned in a pale magical aura darted away from her, trailing strands of light. As the others watched, she started to sing while she worked. "Step by step, putting it together...stitch by stitch, need to make it strong enough to walk on...I'm sewing...us a briiiiiiiiidge..." And with a few minutes' work, she had done precisely that: constructed a stylish and sturdy virtual cloth bridge. The others stared at her as she trotted onto the plush fabric. She turned to face them. "Well? What are you waiting for?" The others glanced at one another, shrugged, and followed her. As they crossed the bridge, Dancer turned to Twilight. "Your friend is amazing," she said, "but...was it really necessary for her to sing?" Twilight shrugged. "Sometimes the ponies around here just break into song for no apparent reason. You get used to it." "SCRATCH! OPEN UP!" Dash yelled, pounding on the door. "Maybe she can't hear us?" Pinkie suggested. "No DUH, with all this noise," Dash replied. "Oh well, only one way in..." She flew back several feet from the door, then rammed it full-speed. The door gave way with a loud crash and a shower of splinters. The noise became almost unbearable. Dash futilely covered her ears with her hooves. "Here," Pinkie said, passing her some earplugs. "I always keep earplugs stashed all over Ponyville. In case of earplug emergencies." While Dash was inserting her earplugs, Pinkie rushed into the cottage. She reappeared just as Dash walked into the living room. "Omigoshomigosh! Dashie! They're out cold! Both of them! And I can't stop the music!" Dash raced downstairs, observing the two unconscious mares. "Oh man, that can't be good." She trotted quickly over to the spinning turntables, studying them for a minute. She started turning knobs, then pulling loose cables. Nothing seemed to work; in fact, the music grew even louder, and Dash was thrown off her hooves. As she stood up, she shared a glance with Pinkie, and they gathered up Scratch and Octavia and carried them upstairs and out of the cottage. Once they were a safe distance from the horrific noise disturbance (and had drawn a crowd of onlookers), they removed their earplugs. "You think that XANA thingie is behind this?" Pinkie asked. "I dunno, but it might be," the pegasus said. "We'd better get these two to the hospital." "The tower's just ahead," Dancer said. //Um...everypony?// Fluttershy said timidly. //I think there's...m-monsters...coming r-right at you...// "We see 'em," Applejack said, skidding to a halt. "Ugly critters." Three enormous, red, crab-like monsters, each with four long, spindly legs, blocked the path to the tower. They glared hatefully down at the four ponies with an array of glowing blue-white eyes. The now-familiar symbol of XANA was emblazoned across the tops of their shells. The center crab fired a laser blast at Rarity; the ground at her feet briefly reverted to wireframe. "Really! How uncouth!" "You need to attack their weak point!" Dancer said nervously, sidling to the edge of the path to take cover behind a large rock. "An' just where th' hay is THAT?" Applejack asked. "Only one way to find out," Twilight muttered. Her horn glowed, and her sword rose into the air, spun to face the giant enemy crabs, and flashed toward them at surprising speed. It glanced off the shell of the nearest crab, doing no appreciable damage and angling off to the right. A forest of gleaming needles appeared around Rarity and flew at the crab which had shot at her. Two of them embedded themselves in the symbol on its shell; the monster flinched and shuddered, legs creaking and groaning as it stumbled. //That's it!// Spike called. //The eye symbol on their shells is the weak point! It doesn't look like it, but Rarity just did massive damage!// "Got it," Twilight said, eyes narrowed as she brought her sword around again. Dodging a laser blast that got entirely too close, she turned her sword and struck again. This time, it buried itself to the hilt in the XANA symbol on her target's shell; the crab twitched spastically for a moment before exploding into blue polygons. Rarity's crab had recovered slightly, and taken a shot which actually hit the white unicorn. She scowled and hurled more magic needles at it. After four more hits, it joined its brother in oblivion. Applejack, meanwhile, had taken three hits from the remaining crab as she tried to move into position to attack it. She leaped high into the air, twisted her body around, and rammed the horns on her ridiculous hat into the crab's weak spot. It dropped to the ground but failed to explode; an assist from Twilight finished it off. "Okay, looks like the coast is clear!" Twilight said. "Dancer, hurry up and deactivate the tower!" "Right!" Dancer replied, charging full-tilt at the side of the tower and phasing through. The virtual mare trotted slowly toward the center of the floor; as she crossed each of the concentric rings, they lit up brightly, with an echoing digital chiming sound. Once she reached the center, she found herself lifted into the air; she tilted her head back, eyes closed, as she ascended to another level. She landed gently on a floor identical to the one below; the rings here made the same pleasant echoing chime as she crossed them. When she reached the dot at the center of the circle, a holographic display appeared in midair before her. She reached out with a forehoof and tapped it. Her digital hoofprint pulsed brightly, before words appeared on the screen: As soon as these words finished forming, the shimmering displays scaling the walls suddenly plunged violently downward. Somewhere at the base of the tower, a surge of energy erupted skyward... The pounding dub music that had been shaking a large section of Ponyville abruptly cut off. Vinyl Scratch and Octavia had been rushed to the Ponyville Hospital, where Nurse Redheart had examined the two unconscious mares, and informed Pinkie and Dash that they'd make a full recovery in a few days. Relieved, the two ponies had returned to the library. After sending a letter to Princess Celestia and doing some nice relaxing reading, Twilight paid Digital Dancer one last visit before tidying up the library and going to bed. "I think I'm starting to understand more of what's going on here," Dancer said, studying the holoscreen. //What do you mean? I thought Dr. Belpois' message explained everything pretty clearly.// "Not entirely," the virtual mare replied. "I think XANA was originally imprisoned in the supercomputer, and then escaped...but somehow, was driven back into the supercomputer, which it looks like at some point he was trying to destroy from the inside. Now, though, it looks as though he's taken a different approach--he's sealed himself inside the core of Lyocolt and fortified it." //Turning his former prison into a stronghold?// Twilight asked. "Exactly." //So that's why there's a barrier protecting it...// "Which XANA probably created after Dr. Belpois tried getting rid of him by shooting the supercomputer into that wormhole." The walls of the tower suddenly began to pulse an angry red. "What in the--?!" Dancer glanced wildly about, eyes wide as she reared in alarm. The concentric symbol on on the floor changed from soft blue to bright red, and a holographic display flashed into being in the air before the virtual mare. She stared at it and gasped. "It...it can't be...!" //What's wrong, Dancer? What's happening?// Twilight asked. "It's XANA...he's...reconfiguring Lyocolt..." //He's doing WHAT?!"// "Reconfiguring..." Data began to fly across the holographic display rapidly as Digital Dancer ran her hooves across it, eyes darting from side to side as she frantically attempted to make sense of and, if possible, reverse whatever the malevolent virus was doing. After a few moments, she collapsed heavily to the floor, and the tower returned to its normal, serene blue. //Did you stop XANA? What's happening?// Twilight asked nervously. "I..." Dancer sighed. "I couldn't stop it. XANA is too powerful, and the program he executed was embedded in the virtual environment before I was even created." //So...what did he do, exactly?// "See for yourself," Dancer replied, absently reaching up and tapping a forehoof against the hovering screen. On the screen to Twilight's right, the virtual map of Lyocolt and its five sectoors appeared once again. "This is Lyocolt as it was when you reactivated the supercomputer," the virtual mare explained. She tapped her screen again, and the map changed, exploding violently outward and reconfiguring itself into something completely unrecognizable, with multiple sectors and no sign whatsoever of the ominous black sphere. //What the...?// the unicorn gasped, startled. "This is Lyocolt as it exists now," Dancer said. "XANA has merged the existing virtual world with another virtual world he absorbed at some point in the past. There were five sectors; now there are ten." //Ten sectors...// "There are well over a dozen towers in each sector," Dancer continued. "With that many towers at his disposal, XANA...may be too powerful for anypony to stop." //We'll stop him,// Twilight promised. //And maybe we can find a way to get you out of there and into our world.// "I'd like that," Dancer said with a smile.
Un monde sans amitiéIt had started so innocently... Twilight Sparkle had taken a day trip to Canterlot to visit with her brother and search for a few new books to take back to Ponyville with her--even though she lived in a library, she was still in a rural village, after all, and Canterlot got all the latest books more quickly. After doing some book-shopping and spending a pleasant afternoon with Shining Armor and his wife Cadence, Twilight had decided to stop by the palace and pay her respects to her mentor, Princess Celestia. When she'd arrived, however, the princess had seemed unusually agitated about something. "What's wrong, Princess?" Twilight had asked. "Oh, Twilight, I'm glad you're here," Celestia had said, tossing her mane and pawing the floor with a hoof. "My sister unearthed something...strange...in the palace cellar. I honestly had no idea it was there, but now..." She had shaken her head. "Well, we're not entirely sure what to make of it. It's some sort of technology..." The purple unicorn's eyes had lit up at this. "Technology?" she'd asked, tilting her head. While certain things were commonplace in Equestria, technology in general was still a rare enough sight that any new, unusual gizmo or gadget fascinated her. "Yes, and I'm afraid neither I nor my sister are very good with such things," Celestia had said. "I've heard, however, that you've developed quite an interest in machines..." "Oh, absolutely!" Twilight had replied, smiling brightly. "What is it? What does it do?" "That's just it...we have no idea what it does. We can't even figure out how to turn it on." The purple unicorn had rubbed her chin with her forehoof, humming thoughtfully. "Can it be moved?" "Possibly," Celestia had hedged, a hoof raised slightly. "Well...if it can be moved, would you mind if I had it relocated to Ponyville?" Twilight had asked. "It might take a while to study, and I'd really rather study it in my own lab. Besides, if it turns out to be something dangerous, turning it on here in Canterlot could be...well..." "Disastrous, yes," the princess had agreed. "Very well, we'll go inspect it together, to see if it can be moved. If it can, we'll arrange to transport it to the library in Ponyville." By nightfall, the strange contraption had been transplanted to Twilight's lab in the basement of the library. It was a curious thing; black and gleaming with a cylindrical tower rising from a broad circular base. Deep grooves and indentations were engraved into the smooth black metal at seemingly random intervals; these indented areas were a dull amber color. She'd spent all night studying it from every conceivable angle, probing it with her magic, hooking up electrodes to it to try to get a reading on it, even kicking it experimentally a few times. Nothing had seemed to yield any response from the mysterious, recalcitrant object. An hour before sunrise, the weary, exhausted unicorn had slumped to the floor, hooves splayed around her. "I give up," she'd groaned. "This thing just doesn't want to do anything..." She'd trotted upstairs and gone into the kitchen for a drink. After enjoying a glass of cold apple juice, she'd suddenly remembered one thing she hadn't tried. She'd smacked herself in the forehead with a hoof, then, and rushed back down the stairs to the basement, where the cold black machine stood silently, as though daring her to make it work. She had then tilted her horn towards the device and funneled a powerful jolt of magical lightning directly into the cylindrical tower. Abruptly, the amber sections of the device had begun to glow brightly; the entire tower hummed quietly with power, golden light pulsing upwards through it at clockwork intervals. The unicorn had cheered ecstatically... However, after an hour, the thing had done nothing more interesting than glow, hum, and pulse. Twilight had finally gone to bed just after sunrise, leaving instructions for her dragon assistant, Spike, to clean up the library and keep the noise down so she could sleep. Just past noon, Twilight Sparkle awoke to an insistent knocking on the front door. She trotted downstairs just as Spike answered the door, and saw a massive crate supported by two pegasi. As Derpy Hooves was one of the deliveryponies, the crate was listing alarmingly to one side. Using her magic to help the ponies support the crate, she guided them into the middle of the room, where the three of them gently set down the crate. "What IS it, anyway?" Twilight asked. "No idea, sorry," Derpy said, looking at her with one eye and a potted plant with the other. "But it came express from Canterlot..." The two pegasi flew away, leaving Twilight to puzzle over the crate. A moment later, Spike belched out a smoking scroll with the royal crest on it. Unrolling it, Twilight read the letter from her mentor: Dear Twilight Sparkle, You should shortly be receiving a crate of equipment we discovered in a sealed antechamber near where the device was found. It seems to be part of, or at least related to, the device. Hopefully, you can divine some meaning or purpose to all this. Princess Celestia Twilight wasted no time opening the crate; inside was some sort of control panel, to which an array of flat screens had been mounted, and four broad golden cylinders, each twice as tall as the average pony. "Great, just what we need...more weird crap," Spike muttered. Twilight bopped him on the head with a hoof. "Just for that, you can help me get this stuff downstairs," she said. It took just over half an hour to move the new equipment array to the basement, where the black tower was still glowing and humming and pulsing. As soon as the new devices were ten feet from the glowing tower, the screens lit up, assorted text and graphics flashing across them. Spike jumped away from the thing, alarmed. Twilight merely examined them curiously. "Th-this stuff just came to life all by itself!" Spike exclaimed. "I suspect...these screens draw power from the original device, and they have to be close to it when it's activated," Twilight said, stroking her chin with a hoof. "These other things are probably drawing power too, though I can't see what their purpose is at the moment..." Her eyes lit up with excitement and delight. "Isn't this amazing? I can't wait to find out what it is and what it does!" "I can," Spike muttered. "I'll be upstairs having a snack." Ignoring the dragon, Twilight settled down behind the control panel, examining it carefully. She spotted what appeared to be a headset, and levitated it onto her head, adjusting the earpiece and carefully positioning the microphone. "Hello?" she tried. "Testing..." //Who's there?// a voice replied. Twilight jumped. "Who--who is this?" she asked. //...I don't know,// the feminine voice replied. //I just woke up...it's cold and dark here...I'm alone...// A window popped open on the center screen of the control array, and a mare appeared. There was something very odd about her. She seemed artificial...not quite real. She was dusky pink in color, with a neon blue-green mane and sharp gray eyes. She smiled and tilted her head curiously. //I can see you now...I think,// she said, her voice now coming out of speakers attached to the control screens. //Who are you?// "My name is Twilight Sparkle," the unicorn replied. "I'm in Ponyville...where are you?" //I...I don't know,// the strange mare replied. //I've never heard of Ponyville...sorry...// She paused. //Come to think of it, I've never heard of anyplace.// Twilight frowned. "Can you describe the place you're in?" //Yes...// The mare on the screen replied, looking around. //I'm in some kind of...tower, I think. The walls are dark, but there's...hold on. I can show you.// A new window popped open on a screen to the unicorn's left. The interior of the tower was dark and silent, with with lighted squares full of numbers and letters in seemingly random patterns moving serenely up and across the otherwise blue-black walls. The floor was light blue, with a series of glowing concentric circles leading to a point in the center. //Hang on...I think there's something else...// The mare trotted over to the wall of the tower and pressed a hoof against it. A concentric ripple of light expanded from her hoof; she gasped as her hoof passed through the wall. //Oh my!// "Careful..." Twilight cautioned. //Alright.// Taking a deep breath, the pink mare stepped through the wall of the tower. The screen on Twilight's left abruptly flickered and changed to show a rocky desert plain, littered with scrubby plants, brown stone outcroppings, and thick bundles of cable which snaked in and out of the ground seemingly at random, pulsing with energy. //Wow...there's...a whole world here...// "That's the strangest-looking desert I've ever seen," Twilight said. //It's a virtual environment,// the mare replied. //Don't ask me how I know that. I just do.// She paused. //I think...I think I might be virtual too.// "Virtual?" Twilight echoed, head tilted. //I...and this world, I suppose...reside in the memory of some sort of computer,// the virtual mare replied. "Computer...you mean this big black thing we moved here from Canterlot Palace?" She turned the screens around on their base to face the glowing black tower. //Yes! That's it!// the virtual mare exclaimed. //That's the supercomputer. I know, somehow, that this world...and me...are connected to that machine.// "Hmm..." Twilight frowned thoughtfully, then turned the screens back around to face her. "So...you're not real then?" //I suppose not...from your point of view, anyway,// the mare said, a note of sadness in her voice. "Still, this is pretty amazing...a pony who exists inside a machine...a whole WORLD that exists inside the machine...! I've never heard of anything like this! I'm glad I figured out how to turn it on..." //So am I...// The virtual mare paused. //I really wish I could remember anything useful, though. Like who I am, for starters.// "Well, since you're virtual...how about I call you Virtua? At least for now." //Alright,// Virtua replied, smiling. She frowned suddenly. //Something doesn't feel right...I'd better get back inside that tower. I get the feeling...I'm not entirely safe here.// Twilight frowned. "What do you mean?" Just then, something that looked like a hermit crab scuttled into view. A blast of energy shot from aglowing eye located just beneath a strange-looking symbol on its shell, narrowly missing Virtua. The virtual pony shrieked in alarm and galloped back toward the tower, phasing through the wall. She collapsed to the floor, panting heavily. //That was scary!// "And strange," Twilight said. "I think you'd better sit tight where you are, Virtua." She brightened. "Hey! I should go get my friends and bring them down here to meet you!" //I'd like that,// Virtua said with a smile. An hour later, Twilight led Spike, Pinkie Pie, Rarity, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, and Applejack into the basement. The mares looked around wonderingly at the strange equipment. "What--what IS all this?" Dash asked. "I...I'm a little scared..." Fluttershy said, shivering as she eyed the black tower nervously. "It's something called a 'supercomputer'," Twilight said. "But this isn't half of what I wanted to show you. I want you to meet somepony..." She trotted back over to the control panel and tapped a few keys. The center screen woke up, and the window showing the inside of the tower popped open. Virtua's face appeared in the window, and she smiled. //Welcome back, Twilight,// she said. "Whoa, who's THAT?" Applejack asked. "An' why's she look so...weird?" "Applejack!" Twilight scolded. "Sorry about that, Virtua." //It's alright,// the virtual mare replied. Introductions were made, and Twilight explained--with difficulty, as she didn't fully understand it herself--that Virtua was an artificial pony who existed in an artificial world that existed inside the supercomputer. "And there's this big desert-looking world outside the tower Virtua's in right now, but it isn't safe for her to go outside because some kind of weird crab monster started shooting at her," she finished. Her friends stared at her as though she'd grown a second head AND a horn out of her butt. "Uh, sugarcube?" Applejack said, taking a step back and raising a forehoof. "That's uh...nice an' all, but...it all sounds jes' a mite far-fetched, is all Ah'm sayin'..." "Yes, I know it sounds crazy," Twilight said patiently, "but it has to be true, because here she is, and even Princess Celestia had no idea what this supercomputer thing does, so--" "Wow, one of these big tube thingies just opened up when I touched it!" Pinkie exclaimed, standing inside the hollow cavity of one of the cylinders which had arrived with the control array. She started bouncing up and down. "It's so roomy in here! I wonder what it does?" "Pinkie, don't play around in there," Twilight cautioned. As she turned to admonish her friend, her tail brushed against one of the controls on the main board... The tube Pinkie had opened closed with her inside it, and a series of new windows popped open on the screens. "Uh, Twi?" Rainbow Dash said, eyes wide in panic. "Somethin's happenin'..." Twilight spun around, eyes wide as she saw a three-dimensional image of Pinkie Pie appear on one of the screens, along with a series of graphs and other displays that were changing too rapidly for her to follow. With growing horror, she watched as the image of Pinkie dissolved into a wireframe, before disappearing entirely. "Pinkie Pie?! Pinkie?!" //Whoa, there really IS a big weird desert here!// Pinkie's voice came from the speakers attached to the control array. "Pinkie? Where are you?" Twilight asked. //Duh! I just told you, silly! I'm in that big weird desert you were talking about! And I see that tower thingie...is Virtua inside there?// "Virtua? Could you step outside the tower for a minute please?" Twilight asked. //A-alright...// The virtual mare left the tower again, and the view on the left screen changed from the dark tower to the brown desert. The group in the basement gave a collective gasp at what they saw. Pinkie had somehow become virtual like Virtua. She was wearing a spysuit in the colors of the balloons that comprised her cutie mark, and two miniature versions of her Party Cannon were mounted on her sides. "Whoa," Dash breathed. "Well, that was certainly unexpected," Rarity said. //This is so cool!// Pinkie exclaimed. //How did I get here, though?// Twilight's brow furrowed. "I think..." she said slowly, "these cylinder things send ponies into that virtual world...into the supercomputer." "But...you CAN bring her back out of there, right?" Fluttershy asked nervously. "I...think so," Twilight hedged. //You should be able to,// Virtua said suddenly. //I believe what happened to your friend is called 'virtualization', and there is a reverse process called 'devirtualization', or 'rematerialization'.// "For a pony with amnesia, you seem to know a lot," Rainbow Dash said suspiciously. //I just wish I knew anything useful, or could understand why I know what I do know,// Virtua replied. Suddenly, the crab-like creature that had shot at Virtua earlier reappeared...and it had brought along two friends. One of them shot at Pinkie, whose flank flashed blue. //Hey! Ow! That wasn't very nice!// Pinkie shouted. Twilight noticed that an image of Pinkie had appeared on one of the screens, and her lower legs were disappearing from the graphic. "Pinkie? Are you okay?!" //Yeah, I'm okay,// Pinkie replied. //That really smarted though.// "Uh...I don't think you want to get hit again," Twilight said, studying the graphics on the screen with growing alarm. "There's something on this screen that says you just lost twenty life points. I don't know what that means, but it can't be good..." The crab-things started shooting at Pinkie again. She dodged, bouncing left and right. //Okay, I'm getting tired of these mean mean meanies,// she said. Without warning, two big pink balls of lightning blasted out of her side-cannons. Two of the crab-things were hit dead-center and exploded into blue pixels. "Nice shootin'!" Applejack cried. "Yeah, you totally nailed 'em!" Rainbow Dash exclaimed. The third crab, however, fired at Virtua, whose body flashed blue as she was knocked off her hooves. "Virtua? You alright?" Twilight asked, as a new graphic appeared, showing that the virtual mare had also lost a number of life points. //I...think so...// Virtua stood up, wavering slightly, as Pinkie dispatched the third crab. Five more crabs scuttled into view. "Hurry up and get back in the tower!" Twilight exclaimed. //Right,// Virtua said. She turned and galloped for the tall white tower, Pinkie right behind her. However, while Virtua easily phased through the tower wall, Pinkie simply bounced off. //Ow! I can't get in and my nose hurts,// Pinkie complained. Five bolts of crab-fire struck her dead in the rump, and she exploded into a cloud of glowing blue polygons. "PINKIE PIE!" the group in the basement shouted, eyes wide in horror. "No...she can't be...gone..." Twilight moaned in despair. There was a loud hiss, and the group turned towards the cylinder into which Pinkie had climbed earlier. It slid open, disgorging a cloud of steam...and Pinkie Pie, who looked like she had a terrible hangover, but was otherwise unharmed. "Wow, getting shot at that much definitely wasn't fun," she said. She looked around at everypony, blinking. "Um...why does everypony look like somepony just died?" "Because we thought you DID die, you ditz!" Rainbow Dash exclaimed, flying at Pinkie and tackling her with a fierce hug. "Don't scare us like that ever again!" //I'm relieved your friend is alright,// Virtua said from the screen. //I'm sorry about...what just happened.// "Well, it doesn't look like there's anything to worry about," Twilight said, examining the screen on the left. The graphic of Pinkie had turned red and winked out of existence; the graphic of Virtua was slowly regenerating life points. "It looks like when you go into a tower, your life points recover...I wouldn't go out again unless you absolutely have to, and I wouldn't get far from that tower." //Yes, I figured that part out myself,// Virtua said. //But it looks as though if one of you gets virtualized, losing all your life points just means you go back to your own world.// "That means we can totally explore that crazy virtual place!" Rainbow Dash said, suddenly excited. "Doesn't it?" "It certainly seems that way," Twilight replied, frowning. "I'm not sure how much we should really mess around with this, though." The mares and Spike unanimously agreed that it was time for dinner, and left the basement. Twilight apologized to Virtua and promised to come back and talk to her before she went to bed. As they trotted up the stairs into the main floor of the library, nopony noticed the black shadowy vapor emerging from the supercomputer. And as they left to go to dinner at their favorite outdoor cafe, nopony noticed that vapor slip silently through the shadows, to the outskirts of Ponyville. And nopony noticed as the shadow flitted through the open window of a bedroom of the Apple house, surrounding a poorly-made rag doll which had been placed lovingly upon a red pillow on a large bed. Nor did anypony notice the ominous symbol which suddenly flashed in the button eyes of the old doll...the same symbol that had been on the shells of the crab monsters in the virtual desert...
Smartypantszilla//Twilight?// The lavender unicorn opened bleary eyes and looked around sleepily. She had fallen asleep in the lab; the control board for the supercomputer was covered in drool. She yawned and stretched. "Ugh...oh...Virtua..." She ducked her head sheepishly. "I'm sorry...I was just so tired..." //It's alright,// the virtual pony said with a friendly smile. //I'm glad you're awake now, though. It's way too quiet here.// "You still haven't been able to go outside without getting attacked?" //I haven't even tried,// Virtua replied with a sad sigh. //It's just way too risky.// "Yeah..." Twilight frowned. "Well, sometime later this morning my friends are coming back over, and some of them are going to come in there and explore your world." //I can't wait,// Virtua said. //I want to know more about where I am...maybe it'll help me figure out WHO I am.// "I sure hope so..." After finishing her morning chores, Applejack made one last round of the farm before heading over to the library. As she did so, she noticed something peculiar: Big Macintosh was frantically rooting through haystacks, bushels, barrels, and everywhere else. "Uh...Big Mac? Y'lose somethin'?" "Eeeeeyup." "Need some help findin' it?" "Nnnnnope." "Y'sure?" "Eeeeeyup." "Whutcha done lost, anyway? Maybe Ah seen it somewhere." "Nothin' important," the red stallion replied. "...right. Well, Ah'm off. Good luck findin', uh, whutever." Ten minutes later, Applejack was too far away from Sweet Apple Acres to hear her brother's terrified scream. Twilight's friends had gathered once again in the basement lab, where an important decision was about to be made. "Okay, so who's going and who's staying?" Twilight asked. "I'm sure as hay not goin'," Spike said. "It's just too weird." "I'm definitely going!" Rainbow Dash declared, ruffling her wings. "Umm...I'll...stay here, if it's all the same," Fluttershy whispered, curling into herself and lowering her body to the floor. "I'll go!" Pinkie declared. "Getting shot hurt, but shooting those crab thingies was kinda fun!" "I believe I shall pass, if it's all the same," Rarity said, waving a dainty hoof airily. "Ah reckon Ah might as well give it a shot," Applejack drawled. "Right," Twilight nodded. She pressed a couple of keys on the control board, and three scanner tubes opened with a hiss. "In you go!" As her friends stepped into the scanners, Twilight began working furiously at the controls. Windows popped up on the screens, displaying three-dimensional representations of each mare. "Transfer Pinkie Pie...scanner Pinkie Pie... "Transfer Rainbow Dash...scanner Rainbow Dash... "Transfer Applejack...scanner Applejack... "Virtualization!" With a final keystroke, the images of the three mares dissolved into wireframes... ...and appeared in the rocky virtual terrain outside Virtua's tower. //AWESOME!// Rainbow Dash cried. //I'm a Wonderbolt here!// //An' Ah'm...uh...whut th' hay am Ah s'posed t'be?// Twilight activated the viewer that showed what was happening in the virtual desert. Pinkie was once again in her party balloon outfit and armed with her saddlecannons. Dash had acquired a blindingly multihued variation of the Wonderbolts' flight suit. And Applejack... ...was an armored cow. There was really no better way she could think of to describe it. The farmpony's virtual body was encased in armor with a distinctive Holstein heifer pattern. Her normal brown hat had been replaced with a similarly cow-patterned ten-gallon hat that had enormous steer's horns jutting out from the sides. Lastly, her hooves were shod in the gaudiest, shiniest white boots Twilight had ever seen, each with sharp spurs jangling at the heel. Dash took one look at her and exploded with laughter. //Oh man, you look so ridiculous!// she howled. Virtua emerged from the tower, looking around cautiously. She espied the three mares, and her forehooves flew to her mouth. //Oh my...// Pinkie walked up to the tower and tapped it with a hoof. //So how come we can't get inside?// she wondered. //I don't know,// Virtua replied. //But those monsters can't get in either.// "I wonder..." Twilight mused. "Are those creatures a natural feature of that world? Or is somepony or something sending them after you?" The virtual pony shuddered. //I'm not crazy about that notion,// she said. //Well, I'll take a quick flight around and see what's up with this place,// Dash said. She stretched her wings and rose from the ground; as she flew off, a brilliant rainbow trail shimmered behind her. //She's so fast!// Virtua exclaimed, eyes wide. //That ain't nuthin',// Applejack said. //Wait'll ya see 'er really go.// A bolt of energy streaked past Applejack, scoring the ground at her hooves. She and Pinkie whirled to face a new group of crab-monsters; Virtua eeped and galloped through the wall of the tower. Big Macintosh was used to being, well...big. Most of the time, he was the biggest pony in any given crowd. He was rarely around anypony or any creature bigger than him. On this particular morning, however, he had encountered something much, much bigger than himself. Many residents of Ponyville were astonished to see the sturdy red workpony galloping down the road at top speed, looking as though every foul thing in Tartarus was hot on his hooves. Nopony could imagine what could possibly have so thoroughly terrified Big Macintosh. And then they saw what was chasing him. Cue enormous pony stampede. As Virtua charged into the tower, she felt her hooves slide underneath her, and before she could arrest her forward motion, she skidded to the edge of the circular tower floor...and over. She screamed as she fell...and then stopped in surprise as she landed gently on a floor almost exactly like the one she'd just fallen off of. //Virtua? Are you okay?// Twilight Sparkle asked. "Yes...I'm alright. Just...surprised." The virtual pony frowned thoughtfully, then timidly approached the wall of the tower and stepped through. Her eyes widened. "I...I don't believe it..." //What is it?// Twilight asked. "See for yourself..." The viewing window on the left screen flickered and changed, and Twilight blinked. "...what the hay?" //I think...I've found a different sector of this world,// Virtua replied. Indeed, the terrain around the virtual pony was no longer coarse brown desert, but rather lush green virtual forest. "How'd you get there?" Twilight asked. //I...I'm not sure...// //Hey everypony!// Dash's voice burst excitedly from the speakers. //You won't believe what I found! There's a whole bunch of these towers all over the place!// //What?// Virtua cut in. //Did you say there are more towers?// //Yeah,// Dash replied. //You think maybe more virtual ponies live in those other towers?// //It's...possible...// Virtua replied dubiously. //But I don't think--AAAAH!// "What is it? What's wrong?" Twilight cried. //Some kind of bug monsters...// "Get back in the tower!" //I can't! I'm surrounded!// Twilight cursed. "Hang on...there's gotta be some way to send everypony over to where you are..." She began furiously working at the controls, studying incomprehensible window after window of readouts and data. Finally, she found--or hoped she'd found--what she needed. "Okay, gang, I'm sending you to the forest sector!" //Huh? Wait, what?// Pinkie, Applejack, and Dash blinked in confusion as the desert terrain around them blurred and became blocky, and moments later was replaced with green grass and trees. "Okay, that was weird," Pinkie said. "Help! Over here!" Virtua cried. The mares turned, only to find the virtual pony surrounded by wicked-looking giant hornets, stingers gleaming evilly. The eerie eye symbol they'd seen on the crabs was also present on these new monsters. "I've got this!" Dash cried, charging into the fray. As she picked up speed, the rainbow contrail behind her became a blazing rainbow flame; she plowed through the hornets, which caught fire and exploded in showers of blue polygons. A lone crab scuttled out from behind a tree. Applejack charged it, lowering her head like an angry bull. The ridiculously long horns on her absurd hat caught it up and pierced it, and it too vanished into blue polygons and nothingness. "Aww, nothing for me to blow up?" Pinkie pouted. "You'd better get back in the tower, Virtua," Dash said. "Right..." the virtual pony agreed. Before she had taken a single step, however, she stiffened, eyes wide. "Did...did you all feel that?" "Feel whut?" Applejack asked, tilting her head. "I felt...some kind of...pulsation..." "Oh! Oh! Maybe you have a Virtua Sense, just like I have Pinkie Sense!" "...huh?" //Ignore her,// Twilight said abruptly. //What do you mean you felt a pulsation?// "I don't know...it's just..." //Twilight! Something DREADFUL is happening outside!// //Huh? Oh--excuse me a minute everypony.// "I wonder what's goin' on?" Dash asked, looking up at the digital sky, worry creasing her brow. "Somethin' sure as horseapples don't feel right," Applejack said, frowning. "I agree," Virtua nodded. "I feel like...something bad's about to happen..." Twilight stepped out into the bright sunlight, only to find chaos erupting all around her. "What...what..." "It's some kind of terrible monster!" Fluttershy squeaked, ducking behind the unicorn and peering out from between her legs. "I saw it--everypony's running right for the Everfree Forest, and it's right behind them..." "A monster? What kind of monster?" Twilight asked. "I couldn't say for sure," Rarity answered, "but it was certainly the most hideous thing I've ever seen." "And it was HUGE," Spike said. "Like, dragon huge." This observation was rather unnecessary, as whatever had stomped through the town had left considerable destruction in its wake. Twilight shifted her hooves uncertainly, torn between competing disasters. Her friends should be okay in the virtual world, she knew...or hoped...but this monster, whatever it was... "Spike?" she said. "I need you to go back down to the lab and keep an eye on everypony in the supercomputer. You don't need to do anything except make sure Virtua doesn't lose all her life points. I'm pretty sure if she does, she'll disappear for good. If the others lose all theirs, they'll--" "Be okay, I know," Spike said. "I just need to watch what's happening then, right?" "Right. Fluttershy, Rarity? You're with me. We're gonna follow that monster." "Oh goodness...oh dear..." "FLUTTERSHY!" Twilight snapped. "Now is NOT the time! Ponies are in danger!" Fluttershy's jaw tightened, her eyes hardened, and she nodded. "Right." Soundlessly, she took off, following the path of destruction. The two unicorns were soon galloping behind her. Spike watched them until they were specks on the horizon, then turned and walked down to the basement. "So...what d'y'all reckon we do now?" Applejack asked. "I think I'll take a look around," Dash replied. "Virtua, get back in the tower. Pinkie, AJ, you two look out for monsters. If any more show up, take 'em out." "Got it!" Pinkie chirped, saluting. A few minutes later, Dash returned, brow furrowed. "There's a whole bunch of towers here too," she reported. "And one of 'em's glowin' red." "Red?" Applejack asked, tilting her head. "Yeah. Red. Like, really angry red." "That's weird," Pinkie replied, looking up at the tower they stood at the base of. "This one and the one back in the desert were glowing blue." "I know," Dash said. "I've got a really bad feeling about that red tower." //Did you hear that, Virtua?// Spike asked. "Yes," Virtua replied, studying the walls of her safe haven with a puzzled frown. "I don't know what it means, but..." "Oh...my..." Fluttershy said as she got her first good look at the terrifying monster. "It's even more hideous than I thought!" Rarity exclaimed, collapsing on her handily-summoned fainting couch. Twilight's left eye and right ear twitched. "It's...it's my old Smarty-Pants doll," she said flatly. "Your WHAT?" Rarity exclaimed. "My Smarty-Pants doll. I made her myself, when I was a filly. She was my favorite toy..." She frowned. "I never did find her after that whole mess with the Want-It Need-It spell..." "Well, darling, I'd say you just found her," Rarity drawled. "Why did...you make such a huge, scary doll...and make it so poorly?" Fluttershy asked timidly. "She wasn't this big when I made heWHAT DO YOU MEAN POORLY?" "Nothing!" Smarty-Pants turned to face the three mares, and let out a terrifying bray that shook the ground. Her massive button eyes flashed...and in each enormous mismatched eye, a staticky grey symbol flickered... ...the same symbol on the monsters in the virtual world. "Did...did you see THAT?" Rarity exclaimed. "I sure did," Twilight replied, mouth set in a grim line. "I don't know how, but whatever made Smarty-Pants grow big and alive and...and evil...is in that supercomputer." She scowled. "I've gotta get back to the library. You two...just...keep her busy. And don't hurt her! She's very precious to me!" "Us...hurt...HER?" Fluttershy demanded, eyes wide with fright. But Twilight hadn't heard her, as she had already teleported several times and was halfway to the library. Twilight appeared with a pop and a flash, startling Spike, and hurriedly levitated the headset onto her own head. "Virtua!" she called. "This is Twilight! Can you hear me?" //Yes!// "Everypony else hear me okay?" //Loud an' clear, sugarcube! How's everything out there in Ponyville?// "Wrecked," Twilight replied. "Listen, did anypony see anything unusual there?" //Yeah,// Dash said. //One of the towers in this forest is glowing red.// Twilight rubbed her chin with a forehoof, then nodded. "Right. I think...you need to get Virtua to that red tower without anything killing her." //To the red tower?// Virtua asked uncertainly. //Are you sure about that?// "No," Twilight admitted. "But whatever's been sending those monsters inside the supercomputer is causing trouble out here in the real world too." //No way!// Dash exclaimed. //Whut kinda trouble?// Applejack asked. "...no time to explain," Twilight said hesitantly. "Just...trust me. I really think getting Virtua to that red tower is what we need to do." //Alright, if you say so...// Virtua replied shakily. Virtua stepped out of the safety of the tower and joined the three virtualized mares, who nodded grimly at her and moved to shield her. Wordlessly, the four mares set off into the forest, Dash taking point. For several minutes, nothing happened. The tension was thick and heavy in the air. "I see it," Pinkie whispered. "Wow, it reminds me of that time you had that really really bad zit, Dashie..." The malevolently glowing red tower loomed ahead of them. "Might take us a spell t'git there," Applejack said softly. "Ah reckon--" A hornet divebombed her from above, stinging her right in the flank. She let out a holler and bucked straight up, sending the digital menace flying into the trunk of a tree. Pinkie shot it with her saddlecannons, and it disappeared. "Dang that hurt!" Applejack grumbled. //You just lost ten life points, AJ,// Twilight cautioned. //Be careful.// "Right..." A few seconds later, an entire swarm of hornets descended upon the mares. Pinkie's cannons spat blazing pink electric death at dizzying speeds. Dash zoomed around, setting hornets ablaze with her rainbow flame trails. Any bugs that got too close to Virtua, Applejack dealt with, either by horn or hoof. After a few minutes of intense combat, no enemies were left, and only Dash had lost any life points. "Oh yeah!" the rainbow-maned pegasus cheered, pumping a hoof. "We totally kick butt!" "Sharp, POINTY butt!" Pinkie added. //No time to horse around, girls,// Twilight admonished. //You've gotta get Virtua to that tower right away!// It only took the quartet a few more minutes to reach the base of the tower. Unfortunately, they encountered a welcoming committee. "Okay, whut th' hay are THOSE?" Applejack said. Two large iron spheres barred the group's path to the tower. "Big...metal...ball...thingies?" Pinkie ventured. The spheres split open vertically, revealing glowing eye-symbols. They flashed red, and two massive vertical waves of fire spread out, creating perfect circular walls of death. "Big metal fire-wall making ball thingies!" Pinkie yelped as she dove for cover. Virtua scrambled out of the path of the attack, but was clipped on one hoof, and let out a cry of pain. Dash flew down to check on her. Applejack didn't make it out in time. "Son of a buckin' b--" "APPLEJACK!" Dash cried. //It's okay, Rainbow Dash. She's safe. She's back in the lab.// "Oh, yeah, right," Dash replied, heart hammering. "Still, that was scary." //Virtua, you lost twenty life points, and you don't have a whole lot,// Twilight admonished. //Whatever you do, don't get hit again.// "I'll try not to," the virtual mare said. The iron spheres had closed up again. Pinkie started shooting at them, but her lightning balls just bounced off the smooth metal. "Okay that's not fair," she pouted. "I bet you can only blow them up when they're opening up to shoot," Dash said. A moment later, the spheres opened again, their malevolent eyes glowing. Dash frowned and charged the one on the left. The air in front of her began to shimmer, and a sonic boom shook the forest. A rainbow shockwave spread out from the pegasus; the sphere she had charged exploded violently, while the other was merely rolled over onto its side. "Get it now, Pinkie!" Dash cried. "Right!" Pinkie fired again; this time, her shots struck true, and the second tank dissolved into polygons. "You're all clear, Virtua!" Dash yelled. "Get in the tower!" "Right!" With a firm nod, Virtua cantered through the outer wall of the tower. She had expected the inside of the red tower to look more...dangerous. She had expected, perhaps, an ambush, more monsters... Instead, the tower was as peaceful and serene inside as any other she'd seen. The virtual mare trotted slowly toward the center of the floor; as she crossed each of the concentric rings, they lit up brightly, with an echoing digital chiming sound. Once she reached the center, she found herself lifted into the air; she tilted her head back, eyes closed, as she ascended to another level. She landed gently on a floor almost to the one below; the rings here made the same pleasant echoing chime as she crossed them. When she reached the dot at the center of the circle, a holographic display appeared in midair before her. She reached out with a forehoof and tapped it. Her digital hoofprint pulsed brightly, before words appeared on the screen: As soon as these words finished forming, the shimmering displays scaling the walls suddenly plunged violently downward. Somewhere at the base of the tower, a surge of energy erupted skyward... Fluttershy and Rarity trembled in each others' grasp, watching with wide-eyed horror as the crudely crafted giant doll closed in on them, killing intent in her mad, mismatched button eyes... ...and then suddenly, Smarty-Pants shrank back to her original size and fell limply to the ground with a faint, comical squeak. The virtual mare examined her flank, where a cutie mark depicting a graceful ballerina made up of zeroes and ones had appeared. //Looks like you were right, Twilight.// Twilight wiped sweat from her brow with a hoof. "I'm glad it worked. Good job, Virtua--" //Digital Dancer. That's my name...I finally remembered.// The virtual mare beamed happily out of the viewer window on the control monitor. //And I know what this world is called now, too. It's called Lyocolt.// "Lyocolt?" Twilight asked. "Weird..." //I'm still not sure where this world came from, or where I came from for that matter, but...at least now I know who I am.// "That's great, Virt--I mean, Dancer." Twilight tilted her head. "Any ideas about that...whatever-it-is we just fought?" Dancer shifted uncomfortably. //Yeah. There's...something in here besides me. Something evil. I don't know what it is, but...// Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie emerged from the scanner tubes. Dash shook herself violently. "We gotta shut this thing down, Twi. We gotta shut it down NOW." "No," Twilight said firmly. "If we shut it down, Digital Dancer..." //No, I agree with Dash,// Dancer replied. //The supercomputer is too dangerous to leave running.// "But..." Twilight looked around at her friends, and at the virtual mare on the screen, then sighed and lowered her head. "You're right." She frowned. "I'm not sure how to shut it down, though...I mean, I barely figured out how to turn it on in the first place." //There should be a master bypass switch on the supercomputer mainframe,// Dancer said. "There aren't any switches on it anywhere," Twilight replied. "I've examined every inch of it. And this control board doesn't seem to be able to turn it off..." "A good buckin' oughtta do it," Applejack said. She backed up to the supercomputer, reared, and... ...bounced off a forcefield. "Yeah okay can't buck this bronco," the farmpony muttered around a mouthful of floor. Twilight scowled and probed the forcefield with her magic. "It's...strong," she said. "I can't break through it..." The mares and baby dragon looked helplessly at one another. "So...what do we do?" Spike asked. //We do what we did today,// Dancer supplied at length. //Whenever this...thing...launches an attack in your world, we find the red tower, and deactivate it.// Twilight nodded thoughtfully. "I guess...until we understand more about Lyocolt and the supercomputer, that's about all we can do..." In a trampled, twig-and-leaf-strewn forest clearing on the very edge of Ponyville, a large red stallion bent his head and gently picked up an old, battered, poorly-crafted rag doll. With a happy sigh of contentment, Big Macintosh trotted home.
Scratch the Surface"Good morning, Dancer." //Oh, good morning, Twilight!// the virtual pony replied. //Did you sleep well?// "More or less," the unicorn replied. "I just wish I knew what happened to my Smarty-Pants doll after..." She sighed. "Oh well. That old doll's been at the center of chaotic episodes that completely disrupted Ponyville twice now. It's probably for the best if she's lost..." Dancer tilted her head. //But she was important to you, right?// "She's just an old rag doll," Twilight said dismissively. "So, what have you been up to?" //I've been trying to find out more about this world,// Dancer replied. //It's been difficult, because a lot of the data sectors in the supercomputer appear to be corrupted.// She frowned. //Some of what I have found is puzzling.// "Oh?" //I...don't think I had a virtual form until you turned on the supercomputer,// Dancer replied. //It's as if I was formatted as a pony when the system started up. And I think...whoever created the computer, and this world...wasn't a pony.// "Wasn't a pony? What do you mean?" //I'm not sure. Some of the data I've extracted references things that make no sense. I can't explain it,// Dancer said, shaking her head. //And like I said, the entire memory core here is a complete mess. I do know two things, though. //There IS something else in here with me. When you turned on the supercomputer, it woke up.// "Yeah, we kinda figured that out." //The other thing,// Dancer continued, //is that somepony left a message. It's heavily encrypted. I've started decoding it but it might take most of the day.// "Be sure to let me know when it's done," Twilight said. "Anything we can learn about all this will help. Especially if we're expecting any more incidents like yesterday..." //In the meantime, let me tell you what I do know...// The walls of the cottage shook as the throb of pounding bass pulsed through the floor. A unicorn wearing purple shades nodded her head in time with the beat as she stood behind a turntable. After what the neighbors would say was far too long, the noise level tapered off. Still nodding and softly beatboxing to herself, the mare trotted up the stairs from the basement to the living room, then headed to the bathroom to drop something other than sick beats. In the empty, quiet basement studio, a shadowy mist seeped up out of the very foundation, oozing up the cables snaking from the turntable, and settled into the still-spinning record. As it revolved, the faint, staticy image of an eerie concentric eye superimposed itself onto the record... //There are five sectors,// Dancer said as a wireframe map appeared on the right-hand screen, displaying four detailed, differently-colored sectors arrayed around a black sphere adorned with the same eye symbol that had been on the monsters that had attacked her. //Desert, mountain, forest, and polar...and one that doesn't appear to be accessible. I think there used to be a holographic world map of Lyocolt, but...// She frowned. //It looks like a lot more hardware is supposed to be connected to the supercomputer than actually is.// "I've got...four screens, four scanners, and a control board," Twilight said. //Hmm...yes, you're definitely missing some components.// Dancer shrugged. //I don't think it really matters. I mean, you can talk to me and send your friends into Lyocolt...// "I'd like to make the next trip over, actually," Twilight said. "It'll be easier for me to understand what's going on if I'm right there where it's all happening." //Alright.// Dancer tapped her chin with a hoof. //Also, I'm trying to figure out why your friends couldn't access the towers. According to my data, anything except those monsters should be able to enter towers.// "Maybe they've been sealed somehow?" Twilight suggested. "Somepony fixed them so nopony but you can get in?" //Possibly,// Dancer replied. //I'll look into it. Now, let me explain some of the finer points of what you can do from your end...// An hour or so before lunchtime, Vinyl Scratch was chilling out on the living room sofa, flipping through a trade magazine and sipping a cold glass of asparagus juice. Her roommate, the snooty and somewhat uptight cellist Octavia, trotted into the room, looking rather cross. "Scratch? How many times have I asked you not to leave your infernal pounding noise running when you're not in your studio?" The unicorn blinked. "Huh?" It took her a moment to realize the floor was vibrating. "That's weird," Scratch muttered, setting aside her magazine. "I coulda SWORN I turned it off..." "Well, you didn't," Octavia said sniffily. Scratch rolled her eyes. "Pop a gasket, why dontcha? I'll crank it down. Sheesh." Twilight's friends piled into the library after lunch; the six mares and Spike descended into the basement lab. The unicorn had explained that Digital Dancer had new information for all of them about the supercomputer. "The message has finished decoding," Dancer informed them once they had all taken positions around the control screens. "It's a video recording...I'll play it now." A flickering video image appeared of a creature the likes of which the ponies present had never seen. Bipedal, with pale, hairless ivory skin and two arms. A thick, not quite shoulder-length mane of pinkish-silver hair, meticulously styled. Sharp green eyes, lined ever so slightly as though with age, magnified by silver-rimmed spectacles perched on an impossibly small nose, which rested above a flat, thin-lipped mouth that, like the eyes, seemed to be lined with age. This being was clad in a dark rose-pink sweater and a maroon skirt, over which it wore a pristine white lab coat. //Greetings,// the strange creature spoke in a feminine voice that, to the ears of those present, seemed somewhat aged, yet still firm and clear. //If you are viewing this message, then a terrible mistake has been made. //My name is Dr. Aelita Belpois. Please listen carefully; it is imperative that you, who have somehow reactivated the supercomputer, are made to fully understand the danger you and everyone you know and love are now in. For in reactivating the supercomputer, you have almost certainly reawakened the most dangerous virtual entity in the history of artificial intelligence. //By the time you discover this message, it will almost certainly already be too late...XANA is likely already awake, and won't rest until you are dead. //XANA is a multi-agent artificially intelligent entity with the capability of manifesting and controlling digital aspects in the physical world. In order to do so, XANA must activate the command towers located within the virtual world that resides inside the supercomputer. The computer is unique in that it generates a form of energy which can manipulate reality. XANA uses the towers to take control of this capability, and uses it to attack the real world. //In the past, we have been able to stop XANA on several occasions, but despite our best efforts, we have been unable to completely destroy him. We are also unable to dismantle or destroy the supercomputer itself, for reasons which are far too technical and complicated to explain here. Our final, desperate act was to place the supercomputer aboard a missile and launch it into a collapsing wormhole. According to my husband, the odds of the supercomputer surviving this journey, let alone ending up anywhere that life exists, are impossibly small, but having spent much of our lives fighting XANA, we were unwilling to take any chances. //We have programmed a guardian intelligence, created from my own personality engrams, to serve as a monitor and defensive weapon against XANA. In the event XANA awakens, this guardian must be safely delivered to any activated towers--towers that have turned red--and deactivate them. //You must be extremely careful to avoid allowing the guardian program to be destroyed by XANA's monsters. You must also take care to work swiftly, because any damage XANA causes in the real world will be irreversible. We were forced to lock out the 'Return to the Past' program because using it increases XANA's power. Whatever you do, DO NOT attempt to unseal this program! It will only make fighting XANA that much more difficult for you. //I wish you the best of luck, and I am deeply sorry that this burden has now fallen upon you.// The recording faded to static. Twilight looked around at her grim-faced, horror-stricken friends, and at the virtual visage of Digital Dancer. Her ears drooped. "I...I'm sorry, everypony. This...this is all my fault..." "There's no way you coulda known, Twilight," Dash said. "Yes...please do not blame yourself. Why, we have dealt with forces which threatened to destroy Equestria before. We can certainly do so once again!" Rarity added. "Yeah! This XANA thingie's no match for our friendship!" Pinkie chimed in. "It...it couldn't possibly be worse than Discord..." Fluttershy said quietly. And then the entire library started to shake. "SCRATCH! TURN. IT. DOWN!!" "I can't! It's stuck! I--AAAAAH!!" Vinyl Scratch collapsed to the floor of her studio, blood trickling from her ears. Upstairs, a similar fate had befallen Octavia. The possessed sound studio cranked the bass even higher. Twilight's ear twitched. "Okay, I've TRIED to be nice about that mare's obnoxious music, but this is the last straw..." "Oh, come on, Twilight," Pinkie said. "Scratchy's music rocks! Well, no, it's more like it...wubs?" "Wubs me th' wrong way, y'mean," Applejack muttered. "Yes, I'm most definitely not wubbing this," Rarity complained. "Yyyyyyeah whenever you ponies are through making bad puns?" Spike said, digging in one ear with a claw. //Everypony, listen!// Dancer said urgently. //I'm sensing pulsations--// "We're ALL sensing pulsations," Twilight said through gritted teeth. "It's this mare who lives nearby, she's a DJ--" //No, I mean evil pulsations,// the virtual mare clarified. //I think XANA's launched another attack...// The purple unicorn groaned. "Wonderful." She shook her head. "Pinkie, Dash, you go deal with Vinyl Scratch. Applejack, Rarity, you're with me. Fluttershy, Spike...you'll have to work the scanners." "Oh, no...I couldn't possibly..." Fluttershy said nervously. "Would you rather go to Lyocolt and fight monsters?" Twilight asked. The yellow pegasus let out a frightened squeak. "Well...when you put it that way..." //Don't worry, I can talk you through it,// Dancer assured the timid mare. "And do I get any say in the matter?" Rarity demanded snippily. "No," Twilight replied curtly. The white unicorn sighed theatrically. "Oh, very well then..." //I've located the activated tower,// Dancer said. //It's in the desert sector.// "We'll be right there," Twilight said. As the two unicorns and Applejack stepped into the scanner tubes, Fluttershy perched herself nervously in front of the control board, while Spike put on the headset. "Oh my goodness," Fluttershy whispered. "So many buttons..." "It's not that hard," Spike said. He pulled a roll of parchment out from underneath the control board. "See? Twilight wrote it all down just in case." //And anything she missed, I can help you with.// "Um...alright..." Fluttershy's eyes scanned the parchment. "O-okay...um...scanners on..." She began nervously pecking at the control board with her hooves. //Set the transfer coordinates,// Dancer prompted. "Coordinates set," Spike said after a moment of furious hunt-and-peck typing. Fluttershy consulted Twilight's checklist, then began tapping controls clumsily with her hooves. "Transfer Applejack...transfer Twilight Sparkle...transfer Rarity..." "Scanner Twilight," Spike said into the headset. "Scanner Applejack...scanner Rarity..." Fluttershy's hoof mashed down on the Enter key. "Virtualization...I hope..." The three mares landed lightly on the dusty brown digital terrain; Dancer was already waiting for them nearby. "...okay now see, y'all don't look like some kinda rodeo clown out of mah worst nightmare," Applejack groused. Twilight Sparkle was clad in a facsimile of the black spandex catsuit she had worn during the misadventure involving the Royal Canterlot Library and a time-travel spell. Green-tinted wraparound sunglasses covered her eyes, and a ninja sword was strapped to her flank. Rarity sported a tasteful, elegant black-and-gold karate gi. "Oh, this IS rather nice," Rarity said, examining herself. "Quickly, the tower's this way!" Dancer said, turning and trotting off down a narrow pass. The ground beneath them trembled; angry red ripples pulsed through the ground, moving in the direction the virtual mare was heading. The others quickly fell in behind her. After several minutes of travel, Dancer suddenly skidded to a halt, rearing. "Stop, everypony!" she cried. A gaping chasm stood between the four mares and the activated tower. "Wonderful," Twilight said. "Now I wish I'd made Fluttershy or Rainbow Dash come with us." "I forgot to tell you this," Dancer said, "but you really don't want to fall into chasms like this. If you do, you can't rematerialize in the real world--you'll be lost forever." "No fallin', gotcha," Applejack replied. "So...any idea how we get across this here canyon?" "I have an idea," Rarity said, as dozens of needles limned in a pale magical aura darted away from her, trailing strands of light. As the others watched, she started to sing while she worked. "Step by step, putting it together...stitch by stitch, need to make it strong enough to walk on...I'm sewing...us a briiiiiiiiidge..." And with a few minutes' work, she had done precisely that: constructed a stylish and sturdy virtual cloth bridge. The others stared at her as she trotted onto the plush fabric. She turned to face them. "Well? What are you waiting for?" The others glanced at one another, shrugged, and followed her. As they crossed the bridge, Dancer turned to Twilight. "Your friend is amazing," she said, "but...was it really necessary for her to sing?" Twilight shrugged. "Sometimes the ponies around here just break into song for no apparent reason. You get used to it." "SCRATCH! OPEN UP!" Dash yelled, pounding on the door. "Maybe she can't hear us?" Pinkie suggested. "No DUH, with all this noise," Dash replied. "Oh well, only one way in..." She flew back several feet from the door, then rammed it full-speed. The door gave way with a loud crash and a shower of splinters. The noise became almost unbearable. Dash futilely covered her ears with her hooves. "Here," Pinkie said, passing her some earplugs. "I always keep earplugs stashed all over Ponyville. In case of earplug emergencies." While Dash was inserting her earplugs, Pinkie rushed into the cottage. She reappeared just as Dash walked into the living room. "Omigoshomigosh! Dashie! They're out cold! Both of them! And I can't stop the music!" Dash raced downstairs, observing the two unconscious mares. "Oh man, that can't be good." She trotted quickly over to the spinning turntables, studying them for a minute. She started turning knobs, then pulling loose cables. Nothing seemed to work; in fact, the music grew even louder, and Dash was thrown off her hooves. As she stood up, she shared a glance with Pinkie, and they gathered up Scratch and Octavia and carried them upstairs and out of the cottage. Once they were a safe distance from the horrific noise disturbance (and had drawn a crowd of onlookers), they removed their earplugs. "You think that XANA thingie is behind this?" Pinkie asked. "I dunno, but it might be," the pegasus said. "We'd better get these two to the hospital." "The tower's just ahead," Dancer said. //Um...everypony?// Fluttershy said timidly. //I think there's...m-monsters...coming r-right at you...// "We see 'em," Applejack said, skidding to a halt. "Ugly critters." Three enormous, red, crab-like monsters, each with four long, spindly legs, blocked the path to the tower. They glared hatefully down at the four ponies with an array of glowing blue-white eyes. The now-familiar symbol of XANA was emblazoned across the tops of their shells. The center crab fired a laser blast at Rarity; the ground at her feet briefly reverted to wireframe. "Really! How uncouth!" "You need to attack their weak point!" Dancer said nervously, sidling to the edge of the path to take cover behind a large rock. "An' just where th' hay is THAT?" Applejack asked. "Only one way to find out," Twilight muttered. Her horn glowed, and her sword rose into the air, spun to face the giant enemy crabs, and flashed toward them at surprising speed. It glanced off the shell of the nearest crab, doing no appreciable damage and angling off to the right. A forest of gleaming needles appeared around Rarity and flew at the crab which had shot at her. Two of them embedded themselves in the symbol on its shell; the monster flinched and shuddered, legs creaking and groaning as it stumbled. //That's it!// Spike called. //The eye symbol on their shells is the weak point! It doesn't look like it, but Rarity just did massive damage!// "Got it," Twilight said, eyes narrowed as she brought her sword around again. Dodging a laser blast that got entirely too close, she turned her sword and struck again. This time, it buried itself to the hilt in the XANA symbol on her target's shell; the crab twitched spastically for a moment before exploding into blue polygons. Rarity's crab had recovered slightly, and taken a shot which actually hit the white unicorn. She scowled and hurled more magic needles at it. After four more hits, it joined its brother in oblivion. Applejack, meanwhile, had taken three hits from the remaining crab as she tried to move into position to attack it. She leaped high into the air, twisted her body around, and rammed the horns on her ridiculous hat into the crab's weak spot. It dropped to the ground but failed to explode; an assist from Twilight finished it off. "Okay, looks like the coast is clear!" Twilight said. "Dancer, hurry up and deactivate the tower!" "Right!" Dancer replied, charging full-tilt at the side of the tower and phasing through. The virtual mare trotted slowly toward the center of the floor; as she crossed each of the concentric rings, they lit up brightly, with an echoing digital chiming sound. Once she reached the center, she found herself lifted into the air; she tilted her head back, eyes closed, as she ascended to another level. She landed gently on a floor identical to the one below; the rings here made the same pleasant echoing chime as she crossed them. When she reached the dot at the center of the circle, a holographic display appeared in midair before her. She reached out with a forehoof and tapped it. Her digital hoofprint pulsed brightly, before words appeared on the screen: As soon as these words finished forming, the shimmering displays scaling the walls suddenly plunged violently downward. Somewhere at the base of the tower, a surge of energy erupted skyward... The pounding dub music that had been shaking a large section of Ponyville abruptly cut off. Vinyl Scratch and Octavia had been rushed to the Ponyville Hospital, where Nurse Redheart had examined the two unconscious mares, and informed Pinkie and Dash that they'd make a full recovery in a few days. Relieved, the two ponies had returned to the library. After sending a letter to Princess Celestia and doing some nice relaxing reading, Twilight paid Digital Dancer one last visit before tidying up the library and going to bed. "I think I'm starting to understand more of what's going on here," Dancer said, studying the holoscreen. //What do you mean? I thought Dr. Belpois' message explained everything pretty clearly.// "Not entirely," the virtual mare replied. "I think XANA was originally imprisoned in the supercomputer, and then escaped...but somehow, was driven back into the supercomputer, which it looks like at some point he was trying to destroy from the inside. Now, though, it looks as though he's taken a different approach--he's sealed himself inside the core of Lyocolt and fortified it." //Turning his former prison into a stronghold?// Twilight asked. "Exactly." //So that's why there's a barrier protecting it...// "Which XANA probably created after Dr. Belpois tried getting rid of him by shooting the supercomputer into that wormhole." The walls of the tower suddenly began to pulse an angry red. "What in the--?!" Dancer glanced wildly about, eyes wide as she reared in alarm. The concentric symbol on on the floor changed from soft blue to bright red, and a holographic display flashed into being in the air before the virtual mare. She stared at it and gasped. "It...it can't be...!" //What's wrong, Dancer? What's happening?// Twilight asked. "It's XANA...he's...reconfiguring Lyocolt..." //He's doing WHAT?!"// "Reconfiguring..." Data began to fly across the holographic display rapidly as Digital Dancer ran her hooves across it, eyes darting from side to side as she frantically attempted to make sense of and, if possible, reverse whatever the malevolent virus was doing. After a few moments, she collapsed heavily to the floor, and the tower returned to its normal, serene blue. //Did you stop XANA? What's happening?// Twilight asked nervously. "I..." Dancer sighed. "I couldn't stop it. XANA is too powerful, and the program he executed was embedded in the virtual environment before I was even created." //So...what did he do, exactly?// "See for yourself," Dancer replied, absently reaching up and tapping a forehoof against the hovering screen. On the screen to Twilight's right, the virtual map of Lyocolt and its five sectoors appeared once again. "This is Lyocolt as it was when you reactivated the supercomputer," the virtual mare explained. She tapped her screen again, and the map changed, exploding violently outward and reconfiguring itself into something completely unrecognizable, with multiple sectors and no sign whatsoever of the ominous black sphere. //What the...?// the unicorn gasped, startled. "This is Lyocolt as it exists now," Dancer said. "XANA has merged the existing virtual world with another virtual world he absorbed at some point in the past. There were five sectors; now there are ten." //Ten sectors...// "There are well over a dozen towers in each sector," Dancer continued. "With that many towers at his disposal, XANA...may be too powerful for anypony to stop." //We'll stop him,// Twilight promised. //And maybe we can find a way to get you out of there and into our world.// "I'd like that," Dancer said with a smile.
