//------------------------------// // Chapter 1 // Story: Code Crystal // by Your Average Writer //------------------------------// "H-huh?! What- What am I doing here?!" "Welcome misss...ter? You look different from other cats I've seen" "Wh-who are you?! What is this place?" "My name is-" "Twilight!" Twilight woke up from Spike's voice, as her eyes opened she saw Spike pointing towards the Crystal Empire, they were about to reach their stop. Twilight was called by Celestia to supervise an important excavation that was happening under the castle. A new set of chambers was found. As soon as the train reached it's stop Twilight opened her wings and flew towards the excavation, leaving Spike behind. "Wait! Twilight!" "Who?!" "Come on... you gotta know who I am! Ugh... I hate when all of you make me repeat myself... wait a minute.." "Stay away from me!" "You're not... L-" "Princess Luna!" Twilight said surprised when she found Luna was also here. "I was brought here when they mentioned some ancient artifacts were down there" Luna explained. "This probably has some connection to the incident last year" "The workers should be almost done" Shining Armor appeared along with his wife Cadence. This prompted Cadence and Twilight to do their usual dance. "Never heard of someone named like that" "Then you've been wasting my tine, how dare you do this to me?!" SLAAAAP! "Ow! What the hell!" "He has to show up eventually anyway, he always does" "What... are you?!" "Your worst nightmare" When most of their work was done, the excavation crew allowed Twilight and co. to pass. As they descended the stairs Twilight noticed the abrupt change of scenery of the usual crystal palace she is used to. The place turned into a lab, it had machinery and many gears and bolts. How was this place lost for so many centuries? She knew the Crystal Empire was the most advanced place in Equestria many centures ago. But she didn't expect modern technology. "Princess Luna, do you know anything about all this?" Twilight asked. "I rarely visited the Empire back then. This is all new for me" Responded Luna. The group finally reached the end of the staircase and looked around the big lab. Piles of dusty books, a locked door, a lever in the center, 6 large sized tubes in a corner. Twilight approached the lever. "This looks like the main power switch" She pulled the lever and the room began to shake as the machinery roared to life. A large chair rose up from the ground along with a circular projector that showed a strange image nobody could understand. The chair rolled around and stopped in front of many monitors and a keyboard. The tubes opened. "What... the..." Shining Armor exclaimed dumbfounded. "This all looks... like a computer" Said Cadence. "A super computer" Added Twilight. "This thing must've done something really important" "Look! It's saying something" Luna points to the screens and the main one only has a single word in bold red letters. CORRUPT "Hmmm... information is corrupt then..." Twilight says. ENTER SCANNERS TO CLEANSE "Scanners?" Cadence wonders. "It must mean..." Twilight approaches one of the tubes. "These?" "Careful Twilight" Luna says. "We don't know if it'll be dangerous" "You're right" Twilight steps away from the scanners. "We're gonna need to-" ~BZZZZT!~ "Hello? Hello!" A voice came from the computer. "Is that... Capper?!" Twilight rushed to the screen. "Twilight? Is that you? I don't see anyone here!" Screamed Capper from the blurry screen. "How did you get in there?!" Twilight questioned how Capper got inside a machine that is centuries old. "Beats me, get me out of here!" Capper said. "Now this all sounds like a trap, how is Capper inside?! We just discovered this place and turned it on!" Exclaimed Shining Armor. "I don't know... but I'm not going to leave him there!" Twilight said, stepping into a scanner. "Twilight!" Luna screamed for her as the scanner closed. TRANSFER The computer started building a 3D image of Twilight. SCANNING Inside the scanner Twilight was lifted up by a gust of wind from below her. A glowing yellow circle appears from above her and descends down below, scanning her. CRYSTALLIZING The ring comes back and begins to transform her into a Crystal Pony. Twilight feels silver ribbons being tied on her tail and her mane being put in a bun. VIRTUALIZATION A blinding light engulfed Twilight as she was teleported away. Ice Sector The screen on the computer changed to an icy landscape. A wireframe in a T-pose appeared mid-air. The model begins taking color and form from top to bottom. Twilight is held in a very uncomfortable pose for a pony. Her body completes being virtualized and her hind hooves dangle in the air. Although her eyes are wide open she still hasn't regained consciousness. "H-huh..." She realized where she was. "Woah!" She was dropped down and slammed on the ground face first. "Ow..." She got up and watched her surroundings. "Am I in The Frozen North?" "Twilight!" Shining Armor's voice called out. "Huh... guys? Brother? How did I..." She looked around for the source of her brother's voice. "Theres a microphone here that lets us communicate" Said Cadence. "Ugh... Why am I crystallized?" Twilight looked at her body. "I theorize that the machine utilized the crystal heart, maybe you are inside the crystal heart itself!" Said Luna. "All the cables lead up. The only thing above us is the heart" "That... could actually makes sense" Said Twilight looking around. "I'll have to find Capper and get him out of here" "How do you plan to get him out?" Asked Luna. "If theres an easy way in, there's gotta be an easy way out" Twilight galloped forward. Taking in all the strange scenery, taking a good look at it... everything seemed dated... old... she wonders how it convinced her this was real a frozen north few minutes ago. She took flight and scouted the area, she notices a strange white building in the horizon. "Huh..." "Twilight! The screen is showing Capper is close! He's inside... something!" The voice of Cadance talked through the microphone. "Could it be...?" Twilight flew towards the white structure she spotted, landing in front of it. "Capper!" She screamed, no response. "Ugh..." She pressed her hooves on it's wall. "What is this thing? Can I get in-" The touch was enough, her hooves phased through and she fell inside the tower!. "Waaaah!" Twilight landed flat on her face in a blue and white circular platform that looked like an eye. "Ughh..." "T-Twilight?!" She recognized that voice! Twilight got up and- "Huh? Who are you?" In front of her was an anthro fox with a scorpion's tail instead of a normal fluffy tail. "It's me! Capper!" "Capper?... What happened to you?" Twilight knew that WAS Capper's voice, was he transformed just like her when he entered this world? "I... I have no idea.. I just woke up like this!" He approaches her, both stand in the center of the platform. "And I've been stuck in this place for like an hour or so!" "But that's ridiculous.. we just-" They were lifted off the ground. "Woah!" "Waaah!" Capper and Twilight were lifted up to a smaller platform that floats above them, safely dropping them on it, the platform began to light up. Twilight noticed the many small binary squares that decorated the walls inside of the tower. A similar one suddenly appeared in the middle of their platform. She looks at Capper, he shrugs. They approach this mysterious square to find it lacks any of the binary mess that everything else had. Capper poked the screen. CAPPER CODE LYOKO The binary squares began to drop down. Leaving the tower pitch black. "Capper... what is going..." Capper and Twilight feel something strange happening to them. Capper looks down at his feet and Twilight looks at her tail. They look at each other. "Woooaaah!" "Waaaaah!" Both of them were lifted up by an unknown force as their bodies began to explode blue pixels, their bodies end up as wireframes that fade away "Noo! Twilight!" Everyone outside watched as the duo vanished in front of them. Two scanners open right after and drop Capper and Twilight back to the real world. Capper was back to his cat self. Twilight remained crystallized. "Ow... huh..." Capper looked at himself. "Well... at least I'm back to this" He looks around. "H-h-hey... there..." "Capper! You're all okay!" Says Luna. "Twilight!" Shining Armor helps her up. "What happened?" "W-we-we don't know... that was so strange..." Twilight struggled to stand. "Huh... I'm still crystallized..." Cadence came flying from above. "The Crystal Heart is fine! Nothing seems to have changed" Capper stands up and looks at the switch. "I think it's best if we shut this down..." He walks up to the switch. SWITCH! The machine slowly turns off... "I agree, I should read up about this when more of the place is uncovered... hopefully theres books..." Said Twilight, not noticing her crystal glow was going away. "Huh... Twilight? Your crystal glow is gone..." Said Capper. "Oh it's fine, it only happens when I'm outside... of the... Crystal..." She turns to Cadence who flies back up. Capper was confused. "Is something wrong?" Cadence raced back down. "TURN IT ON! TURN IT ON!" Capper flips the switch back on. "Cadence...?" Shining Armor was confused. "The Crystal Heart... it stopped moving when you... turned off the machine..." Cadence said. "B-but why?! I'm sure this thing was always off before! Why does the heart need it now?" Twilight says. "I... I may have a theory..." Said a new voice, everyone looked at the stairs to find Sunburst. "This may have something to do with.. what we did last year.." "You mean..." Twilight realizes what Sunburst means. He nods. "Theres no doubt about it, this place must be the creation of Dr. Franshoover" Sunburst looks at the ceiling. "And we finally found his biggest secret" "Who? Dr. Franshoover? What?" Capper was confused. "He was a inventor who dedicated his life to understand the Crystal Heart... This must be... what keeps it alive!" Twilight looks at the scanners. "He's able to remove any imperfections that may corrupt it by entering the Heart itself" "Wait, we were inside a HEART the whole time?!" Capper scratches his head. Twilight nods. "This is starting to be too much to take in for everyone..." Sunburst looked down. "Think of the Crystal Empire as one big clock, this is what keeps the clock moving" "That's an easy way to put it... I guess" Capper looks around. "So... Does it really change anything, with this machine having to stay on and all?" "Not really, but I will definitely investigate more about this machinery once we leave and let the workers keep going" Twilight pointed to the stairs. Once the excavation crew once again went back to see if they can uncover more of the secret chamber, Twilight and Capper sepparated from the rest and walked towards the train sation. "So, you're going back to Abyssnia?" Twilight asked. "I... I guess?" Capper looked around. "I don't know really" "You're probably just as confused as I am from all this, but If you don't want to be involved it's completely fine by me, I can take care of the rest" Twilight reassured. Capper looks back at Twilight. "I know but... It feels kinda personal somehow, with what that bunny told me and all" "Huh?... Bunny?" Twilight is confused. "Yeah, that bunny, you didn't see her? She was looking at us the whole time" Said Capper. "Capper... There was nobody else inside that place except for us!" Twilight is even more confused. "Black fur, purple eyes, black jacket and pants? Come on, she definitely made huge contrast with the whole blue place" Capper was getting worried. Twilight shook her head in denial. "Hah... Am I going crazy? I saw her! She talked to me! She talked about waiting for someone called Jack or... apparently someone who "replaces" him this time" Capper began to sweat. "Capper... I think it's best you stick around" Twilight looks back at the excavation site. "I was thinking about doing that, why?" Capper looks at the excavation site. "I have... a strange... hunch..." Twilight's eyes glow red