Beneath a featureless grey sky, a large robed figure stood at a seashore. The Ocean extended for as far as the eye could see, and beneath the clouded waters lay a bottomless abyss.
Suddenly, the waters near the shore began to churn violently, sending waves that cascaded outwards in all directions. An enormous tentacled monstrosity, standing several stories tall, emerged from the darkness of the waters, sending the sound of rolling waves echoing through the stillness of the beach.
The robed figure looked upwards at the behemoth, a glint of approval appearing in its concealed eyes.
“Do you have it?”
“Yes,” replied the gargantuan monster, its immensely deep voice reverberating through the air, “Creating another one was a simple task. Echoes of Milleniummon’s essence resounded throughout time and space upon his defeat.”
“May I see it, then?”
A tentacle extended from the behemoth, quickly snaking its way towards the robed figure. It stopped just short of him and uncurled its tip, revealing a black seed that radiated intensely with malevolent energy. The cloaked figure reached out and grabbed the seed, holding it in the palms of his large taloned hands.
“I have also taken the liberty of adding some of my own power to it as well. It will take hold of its host far more quickly than the original.”
“Ah, yes, good, very good!” The cloaked figure said gleefully, “With this, all my plans will soon come to fruition!” The figure laughed wickedly, piercing the silence of the realm with the sounds of sinister intent. “All that it needs now is a suitable host!”
“Perhaps I can be of assistance in that regard,” replied the behemoth, “all that I ask is that you bring the one who thought she could escape from me.”
“That,” said the robed figure, “would be my pleasure!”
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The sun shone warmly over the small town of Ponyville. The town bustled with activity, with many ponies enjoying the warm spring weather. Not all ponies had chosen to spend the day outside, however.
One such pony was the newly-coronated Princess Twilight Sparkle, who was hard at work in the basement laboratory. Several months had passed since becoming an alicorn, and despite her new status as Equestrian Royalty, Twilight had chosen to remain in Ponyville with her friends. Her new title proved to be mainly ceremonial, as most Ponyville citizens still went the the mayor for local affairs, and most higher matters of state went straight to Celestia and Luna. Her role in that year's Winter Wrap-Up was nearly identical to that of the previous year, organizing the town's activities to make sure everything was running on-schedule.
However, Twilight had taken it upon herself to use her new position to garner new responsibilities. Using her authority to gain the funding of Equestria’s Royal Treasury, Twilight took it upon herself to start a new project that would revolutionize magical studies: ENEIGHAC, the world’s first computer. For the past several months she’d been extremely busy doing the necessary paperwork to build the machine, so much so that she’d begun to neglect the friends that helped her earn her new position to begin with.
The massive grey machine standing before the alicorn spanned the entire basement, covered in large vacuum tubes, blinking lights, spinning tape reels, and small monitors displaying diagnostic data. Twilight observed the monitors carefully, taking notes on her clipboard as ENEIGHAC hummed loudly, continuing its mysterious work.
“Hey Twilight!” shouted a voice from upstairs.
“What is it, Spike? I’m a little busy right now!”
“Your friends are at the door!” replied the dragon.
“Oh, well, why didn’t you say so? Tell them to come in.”
“Sure thing!”
Spike invited the five ponies inside, and shortly after Applejack, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash and Rarity descended into the basement.
“Hey Twilight, we were wondering if—” Rainbow Dash stopped mid-sentence as the group noticed the gargantuan machine that spanned the basement. “Whoa! What is that?”
“Oh, this? This is my latest project. Meet ENEIGHAC, the world’s first computer!”
“Ohmygosh a computer! That’s amazing!” said Pinkie, bouncing excitedly. “Wait, what’s a computer?”
Twilight rolled her eyes.
“A computer is a machine that performs a series of pre-programmed logical operations to solve problems.” Twilight motioned to a cardboard box, which was filled with cards with numerous holes in them. “With these punch cards, I can instruct ENEIGHAC to perform all sorts of logical and mathematical operations! In a single second it can perform thousands of additions or subtractions, 385 multiplications, forty divisions, or three square roots! With its ability to process complex thaumic calculations, magical researchers will be able to develop new spells faster than ever before! Isn’t it amazing?”
The other ponies stared at Twilight as though she were speaking an entirely different language.
“Uh... Sounds great, sugarcube,” said Applejack. “Anyhow, the rest of us were wondering if you’d like to join us for a picnic over at the park."
“Sure thing!” said Twilight, “Just let me finish the rest of these diagnostic tests, I’ll be done in about fifteen minutes.”
“Alright, just don’t keep us waitin’ too long, ya hear?”
“Oooh! What does this button do?”
Twilight eyes widened as she looked over to her side to see Pinkie eying a large red button on the the machine.
“Pinkie, no! Don’t!”
Pinkie pressed the button, causing ENEIGHAC’s loud humming to die out. The lights stopped blinking, the data on the monitors faded, and the tape reels stopped spinning.
Twilight’s face distorted into a grimace, and her wings flared angrily. “Pinkie!” she yelled, “That was the emergency shutdown button! You could have damaged ENEIGHAC by pressing it in the middle of its tests! Now I’ll have to manually reboot the machine with my magic and start the tests all over again!”
Pinkie grinned sheepishly. “Eheheheh... Sorry Twilight.”
“It’s fine, just ask me before you try anything like that, alright?”
“Okie dokie lokie!”
Twilight turned towards ENEIGHAC and sighed. “Sorry girls, but I’m afraid I’ll have to skip the picnic today. Restarting ENEIGHAC means I’ll have to restart the diagnostic tests.”
“What? Oh come on!” exclaimed Rainbow Dash “Can’t you do it after the picnic? Ever since you became a princess you’ve hardly had any time to hang out with us!”
“I’d have to agree with Rainbow, darling,” said Rarity, “I understand that you’ve had important matters to attend to, but this doesn’t strike me as anything that you can’t come back to later.”
Twilight looked towards the machine, and sighed deeply.
“Well... Okay,” she said, turning back to her friends, “Just let me turn the machine back on to make sure it runs properly. It’ll only take a second.”
Turning towards ENEIGHAC, Twilight lowered her head and channeled her magic through her horn. She shot a beam of purple energy towards the machine, causing it to hum to life as the numerous lights and monitors flickered back on.
“There, that’s done! Now, why don’t we get going?”
“Alright, cool.” said Rainbow Dash.
“I’ll bring the cupcakes!” exclaimed Pinkie.
As Twilight turned around to join her friends up the stairs, ENEIGHAC began to sputter loudly, sending small sparks flying throughout the room. Fluttershy squeaked in fright and hid behind the other ponies at the sight of the malfunctioning machine.
“Twilight! What’s going on?!”
“I don’t know, Rainbow! This isn’t supposed to be happening!”
The machine began to glow brightly, and in a single second the entire room was consumed in an intense burst of light.
————————
Wha... what happened?
Fluttershy awoke to find herself floating in a featureless white void.
What’s going on? Where am I?
Images of many different locations flashed across the white background. Mountains, deserts, forests, towns, and villages appeared before her briefly, only to disappear just a quickly. The various landscapes were populated with numerous strange creatures of various shapes and sizes.
Wow... Look at all these strange creatures! What is this place?
“This is the Digital World, a simulated world created through ENEIGHAC.”
Fluttershy was startled by the sudden voice, deep and booming.
What? Who-who’s there? Who said that?
————————
“Is everypony alright? I heard something really loud down there!”
Huh?
Fluttershy was brought back to her senses by the sound of a voice that was quickly descending the basement stairs.
“I’m alright, Spike.” Said Twilight, rubbing her eyes from the light. “What about you?” Twilight turned towards the other ponies, “are you girls alright?”
“Yeppers!”
“I think so, darling.”
“Yeah, I’m alright.”
“Ah don’t feel no different from before.”
Fluttershy looked around to see herself standing in the exact same spot as before with her friends, as though nothing had ever happened.
“Fluttershy?”
“Um... I’m okay, Spike.”
“That’s good.” said Twilight, “no need to worry Spike, everypony seems to be okay.”
“If you say so, Twilight. Just holler if you need anything, alright?” The baby dragon said, climbing back up the stairs.
“Yeah, yeah, we're all fine,” Rainbow said, irritated, “so are we going to go to this picnic or what?”
Twilight glanced back at ENEIGHAC and sighed heavily.
“I’m sorry Rainbow,” she said apologetically, “but it’s really important that I figure out just what went wrong with ENEIGHAC. This is the most important project I’ve ever worked on, and I can’t afford let a mistake like this happen again.”
“What?!” exclaimed Rainbow, “Oh, come on! We finally get you to do something with us and now you back down? Not cool, Twilight! Not cool!”
“I’m really sorry Rainbow, but this really is that important!” Twilight lowered her head sighed again before looking back up towards her friends.
“Look, I know this means a lot to you all, so I promise I’ll make time to hang out soon, okay?”
Rainbow narrowed her eyes and glared at Twilight.
“Pinkie Promise?”
Twilight remained silent for several seconds. On one hand, she didn’t want to neglect her friends. On the other, ENEIGHAC was the most important thing that she had ever worked on in her life. Torn between two choices, Twilight looked back at her friends, then back to the machine, ears flattened against her head. She couldn't decide.
“Well?”
Twilight sighed heavily, and turned back to the computer. “I'm sorry girls, but I have to get back to work.”