The Lyoko Warriors have faced many trials in their time fighting the virus XANA, but six new companions are soon to join them in XANA's biggest attack yet.
Twilight Sparkle, the sixth Element of Harmony, known as magic, had been experimenting with interdimensional transportation for weeks. Her friends Rainbow Dash, Rarity, Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy, and Applejack agreed to help her, but when the spell launched, and her friends began seeing a strange eye along walls and in their magic, they began to worry about their safety. Jeremy Belpois, the Techy and pronounced 'Founder' of the Lyoko Warriors, along with his friends Aelita, Odd, Ulrich, Yumi, and William, fight an ongoing war against the malicious XANA, lately the virus has been silent, but Lyoko has been acting strange. When XANA finally attacks, the results are shocking, and cute. The Warriors of Lyoko must now defeat XANA, restore world order, stay covert, and... hide six candy-colored ponies? Code L.Y.O.K.O 3.0
We'd done it for months, countless times with countless risks.
Scanner... Transfer... Virtualization.
But this time it was different. XANA's attacks had just halted, no warning, no viruses, I even agree with Odd, XANA would've at least left some malicious text file saying he was going on vacation or something. These thoughts ran through the mind of Jeremie Belpois as he entered the Lab he considered a second home once more. He'd entered many times, his heart racing and his brain calculating every little detail about his Supercomputer. Today however, he entered lazily alongside Aelita and Odd, walking slowly around the Holomap.
"It just doesn't make sense, no attacks, no Replikas, hell there's not even a Manta in Carthage. XANA's gone dark." He said as the Holomap displayed the results of a Superscan.
"Isn't that a good thing Einstein? If XANA doesn't attack that means he's given up, we can shut down the Supercomputer and go back to normal life." Odd spoke up. Jeremy shook his head and sat in his chair.
"XANA isn't programmed for 'giving up' Odd. Whatever the reason, it means trouble for us." He began typing line after line of code, the computer responded instantly with a blue Eye of Lyoko. "Okay, continuous Superscan active. Backup enabled, network link established. Aelita, can you reroute 20% of power to the security program?" Aelita nodded. "Of course Jeremie, but, what do you have in mind?"
"If XANA is preparing an attack, I want to put up as many failsafes as possible, by the time we're done here the most he will be able to attack is a speck of virtual dust." He smirked as Aelita began to type on her Laptop.
"I hope you're right Jeremie, we don't need a surprise attack." Aelita said, almost glumly. Jeremie nodded as he finished typing the last few lines of programming: Omnirun Program 23-5 'Superscann_Mark_5' for '24' hours. Repeat Function. END OF LINE Troubleshoot Function 23-18 'Scann_Device_1' 'Scann_Device_2' 'Scann_Device_3' compatibility. Allow_Entry: 'Lyoko' <true> Allow_Exit: 'Lyoko' <false> 'require password' END OF LINE Monitor Program 'XANA' for '24' hours. Repeat Function. >ERROR >Program XANA: Malicious response: 01001101 01101111 01101110 01101001 01110100 01101111 01110010 00100000 01100010 01101100 01101111 01100011 01101011 01100101 01100100 00101110 00100000 01000101 01101110 01100100 00100000 01100001 01110100 01110100 01100101 01101101 01110000 01110100 01110011 00101110 Convert 'Binary' to 'English'. >Monitor Blocked. End attempts. Monitor Program 'XANA' for '24' hours. Report Energy Spikes. Repeat Function. END OF LINE >Will Monitor Program 'XANA' >Accessing custom data files. >Accessed. >Command 'Report Energy Spikes' UNDERSTOOD >Initiating... Aelita looked back onto a line of code.
"Did XANA just send that response to us?" She asked. Jeremy rolled back to the binary code.
"Yes and no, XANA sent the response, but it's a ping-send type program." He explained, Odd raised an eyebrow. "It's like a voicemail." Jeremie explained.
"Oohhhh! Well couldn't you have said that in the first place?" He asked sarcastically. "Anyhow, if we're done here I think it's time we head back." Jeremie stood up and walked to the Elevator.
"Yeah, sorry I had to bring you two along, I wanted to be prepared in case XANA decided to attack us in the Factory."
"It's okay, we've all learned to expect such things from XANA." Aelita said as she and Odd followed Jeremie onto the lift. As the elevator rose, leaving behind the Virtual Gateway of the world known as Lyoko, another world had connected itself to Earth, a world that had been connected many times before. A world that could be described as 'Tied to The Darkness, pulled by the Light.' This world was: Equestria.
"Are ya sure this'll work, Twilight?" Applejack asked. The six ponies had gathered in the library, a circular red rug spread beneath them. Twilight had researched point-to-point teleportation via Micro Matter rings, she theorized it would be like bending an Electron path and utilizing it to travel to any point in the world or galaxy. Much safer and quicker than her usual teleportation, and the Experimental Leyline Teleportation Highway System. Celestia had messaged that disharmony would spread and manifest in other worlds. And that if Twilight could control this, Equestria would reach Equilibrium and perfect itself.
"I have absolute faith in it, we'll be in another world soon enough." Twilight said setting a book in the center of the rug. Her friends went silent, as Twilight had instructed earlier. The Unicorn opened the book, a few rays of light spreading across the rug to the mares around it. Fluttershy looked as though she were going to yell in terror and run, but she was literally stuck. The magic had taken hold. A light formed in the center, about five inches over the rug, and hovered for a few seconds. It's glow was hypnotizing, an orb of white light, small rays emitting like a miniature sun as it spun around in place. There was an obvious pattern, the light would quickly rotate a quarter turn, an inner, harder to see blue layer would slowly rotate around, it had many curves and holes, like a miniature landscape. Before Twilight could observe any further, the orb spun violently and expanded, blinding the onlookers instantly. When the light cleared, and the sight of the ponies returned, they found that all had not been left untouched. The library was wrecked, as if a team of Tornado Pegasi had hosted a wrestling match for days in the room. The area near the mares however, was untouched. Twilight looked around curiously then sighed, her head lowering and eyes closing.
"It'll take all night to reorganize this." She said sadly. As she opened her eyes, her heart nearly skipped a beat. On the floor, burnt into the rug, were three circles. The center was equivalent to the size of the orb from before, and completely separate from the rest of the marking. The second circle was larger, surrounding the other mark perfectly. But the last was the scariest to the six friends, who now looked at the circles in fear. The last circle was burnt on the edge of the rug, making what seemed to be an eye, the final and truly menacing part was: There were four lines, stretching out to four of the mares. One pointed to Rarity, who bit her lip as she stared at the line stopping at her hooves. The second pointed to Pinkie, who seemed both eager and scared to poke the line. In the center was Fluttershy, who hid from the mark, about to cry. On the other end, a single line pointed directly at Twilight, as if reaching out to her for some untold but undoubtedly malevolent purpose.
"Twilight, dear. A-are you alright...?" Rarity asked fearfully. Twilight blinked rapidly, realizing she had somehow been casting magic, but her aura was red. As she looked at her friends, the symbol on the rug blinked in her eyes rapidly, though unbeknownst to her. The other mares said not a word, but instead stood in collected silence, awing at the events just unfolded before them.
"Girls?" Twilight asked quizzically. "Girls...? You okay?" She noticed the same symbol flash in her friends eyes, one by one from left to right, as the symbol passed on, her friends regained their senses. Twilight threw off the anomaly as temporary insanity and sighed.
"Sorry. I thought I could get the spell right, we'd finally be able to travel anywhere we needed... Equestria would finally be perfect..." She stood, closing her book and putting it away. "I'll handle this, don't worry about me." With that, Twilight's friends left. Though they all had an excuse to stay, the lavender mare insisted they get some rest. After cleaning the library, rubbing off the ashen mark, and replacing books to their shelves, the sun had set. Exhausted, Twilight laid a sleeping Spike in his bed and laid in hers. She looked up to the moon, bearing the cratered mural Face of Luna. A memory she loved and despised. As the last of her consciousness slipped from her, the mare entered the world of dreams once more.
It was the end of the school day, Jeremie, Aelita, Odd, Ulrich, Yumi and William had gathered in the cool shade of the Snak-Shak in the courtyard. What would normally be excited chatter and comical reminiscence on events was replaced with silence. As the Warriors quietly drank their respective beverages, Odd decided the ice had become too thick.
"I just don't get it... An entire month..." The blonde spoke up. He had said the truth. Exactly one month ago this very day, XANA had ceased all attacks, right after launching his biggest attack in the year: An attack on Carthage. ________________________________________________________________________________ XANA had outnumbered the Lyoko warriors twelve to one, each warrior having no more than thirty life points. A Kreeper had taken aim, and was preparing a massive attack, literally siphoning its own life points to blast the core away. Odd had taken the blast unintentionally, having been shot from his Overboard from above. He fell straight into the blast, the energy ripping through his source code and blasting the two shields instantly. Strangely, the blast didn't destroy the core. Instead, the blast aura surrounded the core and tinted the orb crimson. After that, XANA retreated. Every monster on Lyoko devirtualized, every tower turned blue. The Way Towers stayed their usual white, but seemed faulty on certain codes. Mainly, the transport itself. Jeremie spent every night for the next week scanning for the problem. But it seemed there was none, every time he tried to center in on the anomaly it simply blended in with the other programs. Impossible to locate. ________________________________________________________________________________ The silence that had built was broken by a collective ringing, the Warriors quickly retrieved their phones and powered on the screen. A black symbol, The Eye of Lyoko, or more known, Eye of XANA, blinked on. Jeremie acted quickly, flipping his shoulder bag onto a bench and opening the laptop stuffed within. He was less than surprised to find a familiar coding load onto the monitor
>RemoteIP: LYOKO >Error_Detected >Program 23-5 'Superscann_Mark_5' Return: Negative >Monitor Order 'XANA' Return: Active >Diagnostic >Energy_Spike_Change >Base: 5%
>10%
>30% >Current: 45% END OF LINE
Jeremie quickly began to type, barely touching keys as he entered a new code.
"And Code Wormhole is?" Ulrich asked curiously. The others showed curiosity as well, even Aelita.
"We're about to find out." Jeremie replied. "Everyone to the lab. And be ready." The gang instantly threw away their cans, tossing their phones back into their pockets they raced off the campus, straight into the forest they had traversed so enthusiastically so long before. Another journey was coming, and none of them planned to miss it. They all shared one thought, a collective idea developed by their both longing and hatred of XANA. A thought both depressed, and exciting. Here we go again... Here we go again!
Twilight was unsure if she was crazy, or if it was really happening. She watched as everything around her began to fade into oblivion, every inch of the reality she knew slowly broke away, leaving clear husks of her environment only recognizable by hollow husks in the form of white squares, as if she had just fell onto a giant 3D blueprint of the town she called home. The residents of her world faded, but they were not shown in the same manner. There was no remnant of them. No husk, no blueprint, not even the slightest trace of their energy. Before she could question the situation, the world collapsed in around her, like a large, blue and black hurricane, of which she was the calm, fearful eye. As the world imploded, five objects came in the distance. At first, they were blurs, silhouettes that she could not comprehend. They soon became clearer and clearer, taking a familiar form and color each. The first was a hyperactive, jumping pink blur, echoing in a high voice many things that for some reason were heard, but not comprehended. Two were flying, and the yellow was squealing in fear, like a tiny foal having the worst Nightmare since the first days of Equestria. The other simply rode the currents, under it ran an orange pony, and nearby them was a white and purple shaking pony. All of her friends were still around, but Twilight didn't know why.
Finally, the ponies all joined in the center of the world-cane. All in a completely perfect circle of six, Each one showing a different level of fear and curiosity. None spoke, for none could. It felt as if the breath of their very lungs was gone, and their thoughts scrambled about like the world they once saw. They each exchanged uncertain glances, waiting to wake up, or perhaps meet a Princess who was playing a joke. A minute, though it felt like hours, and nothing happened. Twilight opened her mouth to try and utter even the slightest sound, but was interrupted by a blinding white forming between them. Instinctively, everypony turned their heads, shielding their widened eyes against the burning beacon of hope, or perhaps fear. Twilight tried to catch a curious glimpse of the object, regretting it instantly as she realized what it was. The object she was burning her eyes to stare at was the very glowing orb that she had accidentally summoned a few days earlier. She watched in awe as a white circle appeared under it, surrounded by another further out, and another out of it. From the most outer ring stretched four lines. Three on one side, one barely visible on the other. Her eyes finally gave out, as did her consciousness, as she slipped into sleep. A sleep she was afraid she would never wake from.
[/hr] Jeremie, Odd, Ulrich, Yumi, William and Aelita watched in shock ridden awe as the elevator doors creaked open, revealing a very active Supercomputer. In the place of the Holosphere spun six Avatar Cards. The classifying data for Lyoko Warriors and Creatures and alike. But instead of any familiar faces or symbols, each card displayed shocking images. Six Equines, mythological but mere description. From observation, Jeremie was able to observe almost all of them perfectly. A Unicorn, two Pegasi, and two normal horses. But a few details caught their eyes instantly. These horses were all oddly colored, no colors at all realistic. As the cards spun again, Jeremie approached and placed his hand upon the only card he could not identify. A lavender horse, bearing both a horn and wings. This was certainly odd, as every other Equine only displayed either one or none of the traits. But this one had them all.
"Something you wanna tell us about Jeremie?" Odd asked as he poked at the card of a pink horses upper body, its smiling face and mischievous eyes gave odd a little case of nostalgia as he thought of the times he had shown the same face. He was quite surprised when the card flipped to it's bronze back-side. Upon it were three balloons, highlighted in a light golden color upon the darker background.
"Odd shut up," Jeremie stated with annoyance. "XANA might be toying with us. Aelita, see what you can see onscreen, I'm gonna figure this out..." In response, Aelita plopped herself down into the seat of the Computer, tapping at the complex keyboard with ease.
Display_Activemaps
>Enter Requirements_ Active >Loading... >Active Sectors Discovered
>Displaying Sectors "Ice" "Forest"
Soon, two Greenframe Maps appeared on screen, displaying three blips on each, all of them were blue. All of them had only 50 LifePoints each, and were obviously inactive on Lyoko. Aelita picked up the microphone and hastily strapped it to her right ear, adjusting it and sighing.
"Unidentified Avatars. You are within a restricted zone. Identify. Or be destroyed," She spoke with false confidence, improvising a greeting that would fit for possible enemies or allies. She could never be sure if the listeners were Sentient, or simply a game of XANA. She only hoped that whatever was in her fathers world meant no harm to it, or to them.
Not only did Twilight awake to a pounding headache and a nagging confusion. But now she heard distorted, disembodied voices. Great... Yes, hello. I'm fine. You can go now, I'll do the same and wake up from my horrible dream to promptly rush into the drugstore. Thanks! She wanted to say, but of course that wouldn't be very 'ladylike'. She settled with the second best option. Faithful Parley.
"Hello? Who is that?" She asked nopony in particular. After a moments pause, the voice returned. Clearer this time.
"I- I'm Aelita Stone.. A-and you are?" It asked, obvious just as confused as Twilight was. A fact that certainly didn't reassure the young Alicorn.
"My name is Twilight Sparkle... Where are... you..?" As she spoke, a horrible fact set in. She was alone. "Where are my friends!" She promptly blurted out, much too loudly. Instead of a reply, she heard strange crackling, as if the voice had dropped a giant folder of heavy parchment. Twilight was worried that she was truly alone now, until the voice returned.
"I'm not where you are, I'm talking you from somewhere else. Far away. I'm using a special... object that allows my voice to reach you as I ta-"
"I get it.. you're using a long-range communication device correct? Magic based." Twilight interrupted.
"Umm.. Yeah. Sure, magic. Off the topic. Can you look around for me? Basic motor controls. You seem very unstable from what I'm seeing." Twilight nodded as a small orb manifested in front of her. She assumed she would have to follow it, like a flashlight or a hoof doctors use to check patients. As it floated a little upwards, her head moved perfectly with it. As it reached a point, it turned green and emitted a sound much like a bell. It then floated down, and Twilight found herself struggle to move her neck. She took a deep breath, only to find there was no air.
"Alright... so it is affecting you." Aelita echoed. "Do me a favor, try to turn around and enter that tower for me." Twilight was about to ask 'What tower?' before she noticed the towering cream colored cylinder. She observed it, making note of the pulsating cables that fed into it, seemingly engulfing the lower half in it's inky black grip. She looked up, noticing white smoke emitting from the top. She hoped that wasn't a bad sign as she approached it.
"Where's the do-" She half-asked, putting her hoof on the black and falling inwards. Her mind almost quit working as she found herself in an endless plane of blue. Small squares violently and rapidly exchanged positions, data, and forms in seemingly random patterns. She almost reached to touch one before a low pulsating ringing filled the air. A bright light appeared under her, revealing a circular bridge. Another light appeared as well, a circle further in. Lastly, a dot, about as large as Twilight, lit up. As she observed the shape, her eyes widened.
"G-get me.. get me out of here..." She stuttered frantically, tears forming in her eyes. "It's gonna kill me... I just know it.."
