//------------------------------// // Episode 1: "CODE: PONY" // Story: Code: Pony Evolution // by Romaji //------------------------------// Twilight Sparkle does not have much to do. This may surprise you, given she is the newest princess of Equestria. However, no duties have been assigned yet, in part because the sisters have not chosen what she would be princess of. So, until the decision was made, it was just a dress and title. "I'm so bored right now." She mutters to nopony at all. ~****~ Funny enough, in an (as of yet) unrelated universe, a boy that could match Twilight in brain power has just the same thought. He could try to listen to the lecture, but he already knew all the answers. Normally, Jeremie Belpois would answer, but those problems were so easy they weren't fun. Then, on the other side of the scale, was how to get Odd's source codes back. He needed to run some tests, which is not possible when you're stuck in class. All in all, a common feeling as of late. He wishes he could get a fun problem to work on. ~****~ Twilight just got that sort of problem Jeremie wishes he had: Not easy, all the pieces are there, and solvable. "Dearest Twilight Sparkle, I apologise for the lack of activity lately. However, I have just what I think will break you out of your boredom. You are going to find and explore universes. Sign here to teleport over to me _____________" Twilight is confused over this new magic. "That would have been helpful if you used that earlier." Sighing, she signs her name. Multiverse magic is not very common for a number of reasons. One, It requires a very, very high level of experience. Two, most ponies with the power to do it are in this universe for a reason, and have no desire or need to go elsewhere. Finally, most universes are magic free, requiring a magic "bubble" to keep ponies from dying due to magic asphyxiation. For Twilight, one and three aren't a problem, and two is bypassed by boredom. The implications of using this magic are lost on Twilight, because she is too bored to care. "Good thing you came, Twilight! We have a mission for you and your friends, should you chose to accept it." Celestia says, not noticing her own reference. To be fair, the reference was from a magic deprived world known as Earth. "Of course I accept! I wouldn't bother signing the letter otherwise! Where am I going?" "The first step is to find out. Cast "Ceux qui errent, trouver"[1] on yourself and paint a shape on paper" "Huh? You don't even know where I'm going? Ummm.... Sure." Twilight is not expecting this to work. A shape? ANY shape? She paints a circle. Nopony expected what happened next. The paint flows on the paper, eventually looking like the Eye of X.A.N.A. "Wow, that was fast." Celestia says in shock. "That worked? How is that even possible?" Twilight says, more shocked than being hit with a lightning bolt. ~****~ "How do you get codes back? How is that even possible? I know it is, but how?" Jeremy mutters to himself. "Need some help, Jeremy? Don't worry, your better half can take care of it." Laura says, getting on all of Jeremy's nerves. Not only did she reference their "relationship" which Jeremy could attest was a lie, but she basically called him stupid. "NO!" "Fine then. Let it be your fault that the world gets annihilated due to X.A.N.A." "Alright class, time to turn in your dorm work." The teacher says to the class. Jeremy reaches down pulling out his project with confidence. Odd is busy unfolding a paper airplane, and the other's start digging through their bags. Then, Ulrich noticed something terribly wrong. The projects have all been replaced with the Eye of X.A.N.A. Looking closer reveals a project someone worked on. That was Laura's paper and it had his name on it. Concerned, he double checks. What? It's now Odd's paper! Confused, he looks at Jeremy's paper. Both of them now saw Sissi's paper with his name on it. They exchange a glance that says 'we need to talk about this' ~****~ "Celestia, we need to talk about this. Why did you send me to a new universe? Why can't I explore one that was already found?" Twilight asks Celestia. It was a fair question. Why send a pony to an universe that could kill them when there was safe universes that needed exploration? What Twilight doesn't know is that all of the old links to other universi are all broken. "You could go to these universes, if you can comprehend what the symbol is." Celestia holds up a notebook full of pages so smudged they look like wall painting practice. "Do you see the problem? We can't get to these any more. Being not visited in 500 years-" "-Plus or minus 12" Luna interjects. "Can I continue, sister?" (beat) "Thank you. As I was saying, having not been visited in so long has made contact with them impossible." Twilight's ears droop on hearing that. "Oh. So the dangerous option is the only one. ButwhatifIunleashsomegreatdemonthatkillsmeandmyfriendshavetoholdafuneralanditstealsmythoughtsandtakesoverEquestria?" Celestia laughs. "Don't worry like that! You'll be with the Elements of Harmony. And besides, where there is great evil there is great heros! And, if things come to worst, you can come home." "I should probably learn that return spell." "Draw a 5 pointed star with a pentagon in the middle on the ground, then draw a circle larger than the pentagon but smaller than the star. Here is a picture to help you see it." "Then, you and your friends take their positions. The exact placement of your friends does not matter. All that does matter, is that you are in the middle and one friend is on each spoke. Then, let your magic dribble and fill the grooves. Finally lift your magic up, keeping the shape, and say 'Inversez la nature du réel et fiction: Trouver votre chemin de retour par revenir sur vos pas'[2]. The first line line is common to all universe transportation spells." Celestia notices the note pad twilight took out from behind her back, even though she had nothing on that side, to note take. "Still my ever faithful student, eh twilight?" ~******~ "A faithful student? Have you even seen me in class?" Odd remarked to the DETENTION teacher. This was, for a lack of a better word, odd. He knew something is up. If the Eye of X.A.N.A on his project wasn't enough to show that, the fact that the detention teacher thought he was always focused on his studies and never broke any rules or fell asleep in class oughta be. He doesn't care right now, he has to talk with the team on this. ~******~ "Ignoring that, I think I need to talk with the team. I don't want to pull them out of this world without proper permissions. This is kind of big." Twilight squeaked out of embarrassment. Yes, she wanted to make sure she remembered. She always does, but she does it to keep herself from panicking about how she might forget. Ironically, all of the panic makes her forget. Celestia says "No worries, Twilight, I was not mocking you. In fact, I think that is the appropriate course of action. We have somethings that need some work right now." ~******~ "So, from what we can tell, XANA is playing with pieces of paper, swapping what is said on them around. This'll be easy!" William says. "Just a routine trip to Lyoko." "Just be careful. We don't want you getting possessed again." Yumi says. "Lets go do it." Ulrich says. It's most convenient that the french sewer system reaches near to an abandoned factory that most would not know had the supercalculator inside. If it wasn't for that small quirk, the entire events of Code: Lyoko would have never happened. But it does, and Code: Lyoko did happen. ~********~ Another thing that is quite convenient is that Twilight's friends are willing to go through the multiverse. After a quick conversation. "Ahm not sure what this whole multi whatever thing entails" Applejack says. It's a difficult topic. "Ok, so I preform a fancy spell (the technical term by the way) and we go to somewhere that can only be reached with that spell. When it's time to return, I do another one to get back." Twilight says, her second time explaining it. This one is better than her last one as she didn't go into frivolous detail about how these spells work. She just said what needed to be said. "Ah think ah get it now. Thanks Twhilight! Ahm ready to go with you on this." One down, four to go. The funny thing about Pinkie Pie, is that she seems to have her own rule set. That's the only way to explain how she popped out from behind a trash can that was smaller than her. "Hey Twi! I was wondering what's up, given that my Cecum is vibrating at 1.2836 BPM as opposed to 1.2837 BPM. Did I forget to thank you for the anatomy lessons?" "That was too much information. Anyways, I came to ask you if you're interested in joining the rest of us in exploring the multiverse. You know what that is?" Twilight asks. Pinkie Pie takes out a pair of reading glasses (which Twilight knows she doesn't need) and "Inversez la nature du réel et fiction: How to explore the multiverse." (Reverse the nature of real and fiction: How to explore the multiverse) from the trash can, somehow perfectly clean. She puts on the glasses and reads the intro paragraph. She nods a nod of understanding. "Of course I know what that is! And yes, I would love to join you! And then we can throw a we-found-another-universe party!" "Thanks" Only three left. Twilight opened the door to Rarity's boutique, the place she was meaning to go to. She sees, unsurprisingly, Rarity working on fashion. It wasn't all she did, but when things calm down, normally she is found doing that. Twilight knows better than to interrupt her work. She waited for her to notice her. Rarity looks up. "Oh darling, I'm so sorry I didn't notice you! You look like you have something big to talk about!" "Why yes I do. Have you heard of the multiverse?" Aaaand that was the big question. "Darling, I have. But only in science fiction. I think you're talking about something else." "Would you please come with us exploring the multiverse? I know I need 6 ponies to come with me." "Exploring other worlds? I'd love to come with you darlings, but I've got a lot of stuff to work on" "Please. The elements don't work unless we're together." "Of course. I might even come up with some new fashion. I'll come, but on one rule." "Which is?" "I get to bring my couch." "Deal" Down to the final two. Wings are quite convenient for going to a friend who lives in the clouds. "Hey, Rainbow Dash." Dash drops the Daring Do book she's reading. "TWILIGHT? You didn't see that! How did you even get up here?". Twilight points at her wings. "Oh right. I keep forgetting you have those. But you just flew through a wall! Wait.... anti cloud walk spell. So, why are you here?" "Oh, only suggesting that you come with the rest of us in exploring other universes ." "WHAT?! Heck ya, I want to do that! I'm a little bored right now, so this is going to BE AWESOME!" "Glad I could get you on board." "Just don't do that again. You almost gave me a heart attack!" Just fluttershy left. "Could you help me convince fluttershy?" "Yep. Is she the last element left?" "Yes" "eep!" "Don't worry fluttershy, the rest of the elements will be with you to help. You won't be dead weight." "oh. Ok." "Yes! All of the elements agreed to help! It's time to start exploring!.... Right after I clear things up with Celestia." ~****~ "It's time to virtualise!.... Right after I remember what the tower location command is." Jeremie says. "Can't you just look... oh right. XANA swaps written info around." Ulrich says. "Wasn't the command 'list accessPoints -a'?" Alita mentions. "Thanks Alita! the tower is in The Mountain Sector. Odd, Yumi and Ulrich, enter the scanners." ~****~ "No matter how many times I get virtualised, it still feels strange." Yumi quips. "You could say it feels ... odd." Odd jokes. Ulrich and Yumi both facepalm. "That is such a bad joke." Ulrich says. "Can you hear me?" Jeremie says over the comlink. "Yes, we can" Odd says. "Good. the tower is in front of you, right behind that mountain. Hornets, Krabs and Bloks block the path. Heh, It's funny that they use each of your favorite monsters." "That was quick. Although, we are experts." Odd reports. "Experts huh? Then why are you down to one AP?" Yumi says. "We'll guard the tower and you, Yumi, go in to deactivate it." Ulrich says. "Got it." Yumi enters the tower. ~****~ "Twhilight, are you sure this'll work?" AJ asks. "Don't break my concentration!" Twilight responds. Her magic fills the grooves in the ground. ~****~ Yumi levitates up to the main console. ~****~ Twilight lifts the magic to about head height. ~****~ Yumi's hand is scanned and accepted. She gets to the code input screen. ~****~ "Inversez la nature du réel et fiction:..." [3] ~****~ She inputs code Lyoko. It fails, and the tower suggests "PONY" as an alternate code ~****~ "...Virtualiser, devenir vrai...." [4] ~****~ Confused, she types in "PONY" ~****~ "...et le faux!" [5]. Twilight's magic glows bright enough that all anypony can see is white. ~****~ The tower deactivates, and two sectors appear in Lyoko: The Crystal Sector (which could remind you of the Ice Sector or the Crystal Empire) and The Everfree Sector (similar to the Everfree forest). Also, the mane six are now in Lyoko, in The Everfree Sector. "So, did it work?" Yumi asks "Yea, but it has some strange effects. Like two sectors appearing out of the blue and 6 life forms appearing in the new forest sector." Jeremy reports. "Can you pull up a map of the new sectors?" Ulrich asks. "Got it. Here are the maps." Jeremy says. The maps of the two new sectors appear in front of them. "I know what those sectors are." Odd notes. "Oh really? Please explain." Yumi asks. "Ok. Have you ever watched My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic?" Odd asks. As Yumi has noted, getting virtualized feels odd. It feels even odder if you have no idea that it's going to happen. It's crazy odd if not only do you have no idea that you're going to be virtualized and you're getting virtualized by somepony who, till about a minute ago, didn't know about the multiverse. Needless to say, everypony was feeling really queer. "Ah'm not sure Twhilite you performed that fancy spell quite right." AJ says. "I know we're in some virtual world." Pinkie Pie says. "And how would you know that?" Twilight asks. "Because my spleen is vibrating at 120 BPM as opposed to 116 plus the square root of 3 plus the square root of 5 BPM. Digital worlds don't pay as much attention to the slight error." Pinkie Pie responds. Needless to say, everypony looks at Pinkie with a look of extreme confusion. Finally, Twilight breaks the silence. "Next time, just say it's your Pinkie sense." "Oh. Ok." "Darlings, I don't mean to interrupt, but we all look quite different. And we also have convenient weapons that fit us well. Pinkie Pie has a cannon literally with her name on it, Fluttershy has an animal call whistle, Rainbow dash has a sword, I have a gun that can shoot magically charged gems, Applejack has spiked horseshoes and Twilight can call spell books to her disposal." Rarity says, causing quite a bit of confusion. "huh?" Fluttershy says. "How do you suddenly know that? Twilight is supposed to be our know-it-all egghead!" Rainbow Dash asks. "I looked at the objects and got a short bio on them. That just seems to be how it works here." Rarity responds. To everypony's (except Rarity) surprise, this actually works. "And about how we look different, we're being drawn using 3D animation as opposed to the 2D animation in Equestria." Pinkie Pie says. "I'm just not going to question that." Rainbow Dash says. "Wait, you're a brony? Why did we not know of this earlier?" Ulrich asks. "It never came up." Odd replies. "For heaven's sake, I share a dorm room with you. Why didn't I know you watched ponies?" "Um, because I started a month ago and I do it after you go to bed?" "Never mind that. What do you know about those two sectors?" Yumi asks. "This place feels familiar. Like the Everfree forest." Rainbow Dash looks around. "Although, the Everfree does not have one of those in it." She is pointing at a (deactivated) tower. She is interrupted by a megatank starting to open fire. "Alright, we've got company. Lets destroy these freaks!" Dash says as she hits the mega tank in the eye with her sword dealing 75 AP of damage. The mega tank fires, just missing Rainbow Dash. "Incendier!" [6] Rarity says as her gem leaves her gun. The gem gets destroyed by a circular laser. Then she notices that there is more than one megatank. "He isn't alone. Use extreme caution" "Trying! Come on dragon! You know what to do!" Fluttershy yells over the sounds of combat. "You deal with the, umm... Bloks! I've got the .... Megatanks!" Twilight says, stopping to find out what the names of their opponents are. "Die, monstre! Vous n'appartenez pas à ce monde!" [7] "One thing I just found out about these 'ponies'. On one side is The Eye of XANA. They're most likely possessed by XANA or new monsters for these new sectors." Jeremy says on the team's transport over to the Everfree Sector. "I'm not so sure about that. Besides, they were just defeating some of XANA's monsters" Odd remarked. "It could be mind games. Besides, they changed the tower deactivate command to 'PONY'. This is clearly a trap." Yumi says, quite cautious. "I agree with Yumi." Ulrich agrees. The X.A.N.A onslaught was not too much of a problem for the elements, but it still caused damage. AJ is at 54AP; RD, 31AP; Pinkie Pie, 49AP; Rarity, 59AP; Fluttershy, 35AP and Twilight is at 63AP. "Everypony! The monsters have left us alone!" Pinkie Pie says. "Good thing too, that was exhausting. Although, strangely not painful or physically tiring." Twilight says. "Hey, who are they?" Applejack says, pointing at the Lyoko Warriors. "Odd is in front, Ulrich is on the right and Yumi is on the left. I can't make out their expressions from here." Rainbow Dash scouts and reports. He dashes up to welcome them. "Careful darlin' Ah think that might not be taken so kindly." AJ says. Ulrich dives at Twilight, katana aimed towards her head. "Détourner!" [8] Twilight says, sending out a line of purple magic deflecting his sword (and by connection, him) away from her. "Not giving up easily, I see. Very well then." Yumi says as she hits RD using Tessen Fans, hitting her middash. RD gets hit by the first three attacks, but barrel rolls away from the rest. "Now you tell me." RD says. Ulrich runs at AJ, knocking her towards the digital sea. He didn't notice the rainboom behind him. "Hey, Odd! Why are you not attacking us?" Twilight says, not noticing that AJ is falling to her near certain death. "Because I don't think you're evil." "Like shit they aren't." Ulrich says, slashing Fluttershy. She dodges the later attacks but falls down to 10AP. "EEEEP!" Fluttershy screams. "Listen! We might be able to reason with them!" Twilight calls out. "We won't be indoctrinated!" Yumi screams, throwing her fans at Rarity. "Arrêtez projectile!" [9] Rarity says, firing her gem right at the fans. They stop in mid-air, then fall to the ground. "I'm willing to let them come with us." Odd mutters. "WHAT?" the Lyoko Warriors call out. "We haven't attacked you. I don't see the issue." Twilight reasons. "Fine. We'll devirtualize them. If anything goes wrong, it's all your fault." Yumi says. "Terms accepted." Odd replies. "Good! Let us see here, we have me, RD, Rarity, Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie. Where is AJ?" Twilight asks. "Umm, I kind of threw her into the Virtual Sea." Ulrich shyly mutters. "RD, quick! Get her before it's too late!" Twilight calls out of panic. "Will do!" RD says as she starts dashing down towards the digital sea. "That was mighty impolite of him to throw me down here like this." AJ mutters. "Ah wonder what happens to things that touch ... The Digital Sea." "Come on! I can do this! This is what I trained my whole life for!" RD cheers herself on. He knows that whatever happens to AJ if she hits The Digital Sea is bad. Very very bad. "Oh, look. It's RD. Ah wonder why she's after me so fast. She has continuous Rainbooms after all." AJ says, unknowing of the danger she's in. "Almost there! She's not dead yet!" RD continues. She just grabs AJ's hoof, right before The Digital Sea claims her. "Hold on tight! You'll need to if you want to live!" "Holding on!" AJ yells. "You think she'll make it?" A panicked Twilight asks Team Lyoko. "She will. Look now, they're heading back up now." Odd consoles. "I'm so glad." She sniffles. "I'm so glad I could make a friend in you Odd." "Don't forget about us!" Ulrich says. "We couldn't darling. Although, perhaps not in the best way so far." Rarity says. "Ah'm a bit confused. What did you do?" Applejack asks. "Oh, only saved you from certain death." Rainbow Dash replies. "Nothing too big." "So what would happen if Ah touched that?" "You would get split into a billion little pieces, all of which scatter outwards at ridiculous speed." "OH." "If I attacked Odd right now, would he die? If you got my AP to zero, would I die?" Twilight asks. "Odd would not die, he would return to earth. However, since you have never been on earth before, you would die." Jeremy explains. "What about touching the digital sea?" "That would kill either of you." "OH. That's bad." "Ah'm back." Applejack says. "yay!" Fluttershy says. "Thank Celestia!" Twilight Sparkle cries out. "LET ME HUG YOU!" "Ah..." Applejack says right before a cuddle so strong, she's glad Lyoko doesn't deal cuddle damage. "Ah don't have a choice do I? Not that I'd want one." "What do you say about devirtualizing and calling it a day?" Jeremy asks. "When we do we are going to have that we-found-another-universe party?" Pinkie Pie asks. "I'm up for that." Odd approves. "Lets devirtualize and decide after that." Jeremy says.