Arête - Princess Alicorn of Hackers

by Lise


4. Hacks and Dating

"Are you sure you don't want me to hang around?" Amethyst asked for the hundredth time. "You don't have to be ashamed; I can act cool."

I cringed. Saying it out loud just made her all that much more lame. To be honest, I had no idea whether she was cool or not. She definitely was popular, and she did help me out constantly. The problem was, she was my sister, and as everypony knew, having your big sister mingle with your friends was uncool.

"I could ask Derpy to come if you want?" she suggested hopefully. "You remember how you loved having her around?"

"Sis, I was a filly!" I groaned, as I tried to push her outside the house. It was bad enough she had set me up. Having her stay and try to 'influence' things was more than any sane pony could take. "Would you just go? I'll be fine! It's not like I'll be alone with him or anything. Scoots and Belle will be here as well," I lied.

She tried to come up with an argument, but before she could I gave her another shove, managing to get her halfway out. Thankfully, she got the hint. Of course, that didn't stop her from suggesting another 'adult' be nearby. I guess that was what a responsible sister was supposed to do. The only problem was the ponies she suggested — Ditzy, Pinkie Pie and Minuette — weren't exactly known for their responsible nature. If anything, I was more afraid that, if together, they might literally bring the house down.

The clock on the wall said seventeen to four. That gave me about half an hour to relax and gather my thoughts. Sweet Celestia, what was I going to do? I couldn't ask Shady to leave. Well, I could, but I definitely didn't want to. At the same time, I had made a promise to Scoots to log on. Argh! Why must I get everything I wanted at exactly the same moment?! I covered my face with my hooves.

A knock came from the door. That wasn't right. There were still fifteen minutes to the 'party'. Remaining perfectly still, I held my breath in the hope it was all in my imagination. Sadly it wasn't. Another knock followed, making me rush to the door. Shady Daze was early.

Pausing before a mirror, I quickly checked my mane, then took a deep breath, and magicked the door open.

"Well, you're a bit early," I began with my squeakiest voice. There I stopped. Somepony had come early, all right, but it sure wasn't Shady Daze.

"Hello, Dinky," Sweetie Belle said with the widest smile she could muster. For some reason that made my hair stand on end. "How are you?"

"Belle! We were at school together just an hour ago!" I shouted, panicking. A quick glance outside managed to calm me somewhat — there was no sign of Shady yet.

"Oh, don't worry." Belle trotted in, saddlebags and all. "Button is keeping him busy, so I get to have a few minutes with you."

"Are you crazy?!" I turned white. "Surely he'll suspect and then…” My voice trailed off as a sense of unease swept over me. “Wait!" To my horror I just realized something. "What exactly are you planning, Belle?"

The grin on her face told me everything I needed to know. As the front door closed I felt a feeling of doom envelop me.

"Mane," she said firmly.

"Mane?" I took a few steps back. This didn't sound good.

"Mane!" Several combs and brushes levitated out of her saddlebag, and moved towards me menacingly. Before I could move or voice a protest they darted forward, grabbing my mane like bare branches. The sensation petrified me. It was shameful to admit, but the last few years I hadn't really taken particular care of my mane. When I was a filly, Derpy would do that, as my foalsitter. Her mane was blond too, so she had a pretty good idea what to do.

"Ouch!" I shouted, as I felt one of the combs pull too much.

"Be still and it won't hurt!" Belle said strictly. "Honestly, Dinky, next time I'll just bring my sister and leave her to deal with you."

"Belle, I really don't need—" my sister and you forcing my personal life on me! "—my mane done. It's not like it's a date or anything!"

"Dinky, I don't know how to break it to you, but it so is," she said, making me feel as if a cart-load of rocks had landed on me. "Give me some credit, will you? I'm not a filly anymore. I don't mindlessly rush things. You're a friend and I really think you deserve this. Just — and I say this lovingly — don't mess it up!"

"Wha?" I barely managed to ask, before my mind went into overdrive.

Log to web in twenty-three minutes. Explain to DD why Scoots was there. Send a message to MaDster.

Meet Shady Daze in four minutes. Welcome him in. Act cool, but not cold. Wave some mane, no tail flicking, though. Find an excuse to leave him for a while, then go to room and log on.

Was I forgetting something? Probably, but at this point, it didn't matter. That's what happens if you try to cram both lives into one.

"All ready," Belle said triumphantly. I hadn't even noticed it was over. Staring blankly, I turned to look at her.

"Oh, don't worry; you'll do fine." She waved a hoof then went out of the room, her army of combs and brushes following behind her. Damn Belle and her confidence! She could have at least given me a few pointers.

Before I knew it, there was a new knock at the door. My reaction was instant, just like when I was in the Web. Hooves reached for the door and swung it open. Outside was a slightly startled Shady Daze, hoof still in the air, ready to knock again. I must have caught him by surprise in more ways than one, because I noticed his face flushed slightly.

"Hey," I grinned like an idiot. "How are you, Shady?" Celestia, take me! I had fantasised about this moment countless times. It was supposed to make a lasting impression. Instead, the real world made it look so lame...

"You changed your mane," he said with a slight smile, and walked in. On the inside, I was screaming in agony. Even if he hadn't been my crush, I hated appearing stupid in front of others. It was enough that my eyes were slightly weird. "I brought you some roses. I heard you liked those."

"Err, thanks, but I've already eaten." I did my best not to slam the door behind me. Really, Belle? You have to start blabbing out my food preferences? "Is there anything you'd like? I have some fresh muffins."

"Right, you used to bake those." He sat at the living room table. Well, now I could relax. He had just slipped up. I never baked those. Like most ponies, I got them from Sugarcube Corner. The fact that he didn't know meant that he was attempting to make small talk.

"Why, yes." I took advantage of the situation and placed a bowl of muffins in front of him. "Enjoy those. I'll just be a few minutes. I have to... freshen up a bit."

Not giving him a chance to respond, I rushed up the stairs and into my room. The door shut, I leaned against it breathing heavily. That could have gone a lot better. The silly thing was, nothing had actually happened! We had barely exchanged a few words. Sweet Celestia, we spent more time in school than just now!

"Think Web, think Web," I said out loud. This was no time for a panic attack. Not when I didn't know what to expect inside. Unpacking my Nightmare 5 gear, I carefully placed it over my head. It felt slightly uncomfortable — the crystal edges were a bit sharper than I was used to. Definitely lighter and more compact than my old gear, though. I could definitely get used to this.

"Here we go," I whispered, then took a deep breath and connected to the Web.

Three seconds of transition, and then the endless magenta landscape emerged all around me. I had chosen the Rosesand sector for our meeting place because it was of no particular interest to anypony. The Conglomerate used to have a full cluster of buildings here once, yet chose to move them for one reason or another. As a result, only endless reaches of red sand remained.

My new avatar felt weird. In general I preferred to use an earth pony model — so much simpler and more practical. Besides, it gave me something of a social boost. Having a unicorn as an avatar was pretty bad — only big names and celebrities did that. Currently, I didn't consider myself either.

Apart from its appearance, the avatar felt decent. DD had maxed out its storage with various protocols. She had left the viruses to me — that was one area in which I surpassed her.

Typing the invite message, I sent it to both DD and Scoots. As I did, I made a note to remember we were not in the real world. That meant no real life talk, as tempting as it was. Barely five seconds later, and two connection cones appeared — one blue and one gold. Leave it to Scoots to use her Bolt championship effects. Only grand champions were given the right to have their avatar effects appear gold — bragging rights that Scoots took full advantage of.

"Hey, Dink, I managed to come on time for once—" DD said the moment her avatar had fully formed.

"Well, was about time you—" Scootaloo said at the same time.

Aware of one another, they both stopped. It was that awkward moment when you were doing something and then realized you weren't alone — at least I assumed that to be the case. DD was in her usual Crystal Pony avatar, only this time wearing her Arête pendant. Scoots, though, had brought something I had never seen before. As far as I was aware, she had six avatars — four custom-built to give her an advantage in the specific game she was playing, a golden pegasus build for important Web events, and a 'Rainbow Clone' build for casual Web browsing. This must be her seventh — a sleek, deep purple Crystal Pegasus, modified so as to reflect her real life wing proportions. It was weird.

"Err, DD, we'll be having a guest this time," I said, breaking the silence. "You know Wings, right? She has agreed to come along and help us with... things and stuff. That's okay with you, right?"

"Sure." DD flashed a polite smile. Alarmingly, I didn't catch as much disapproval in her voice as I thought I would. "Heya, Wings. Sorry I couldn't make it yesterday. I guess Harpy told you what happened, huh?"

"No worries." Scoots waved a hoof casually. "Was just the group phase. Will send you VIP invites for the finals."

"Thanks. That would be nice."

I cringed. Small talk, especially stupid small talk, really peeved me off. This wasn't what I agreed to! And it certainly wasn't why I was keeping Shady alone in my living room downstairs.

"So, shall we get started, or what?" I asked in my usual fashion. This was the Web, after all, and here I was a lion. "DD, any ideas?"

"Sorry," she sighed. "I tried toying around with the code. It's too different. If it's encrypted, I have no idea how. Nothing I've seen can encrypt selectively. I also checked the sector we were in yesterday. It's been reconstructed as an entertainment hub, so we won't be able to get much from there. Nothing on the boards either. Weird thing is, there's no mention of the incident in the Conglomerate Eye. I checked the feed twice. Usually they brag to the moon about crashing hacker avatars."

"Well it's not like we did much to fight back," I snorted. Deep inside, I was still a bit upset how easy it had been for the ICE to get through my defenses.

"That's another thing. White ICE shouldn't be able to do that. I checked the specs and it didn't make sense. I also asked a friend of mine to check in the Conglomerate logs. Not one mention about ICE being in that sector."

"You know somepony in the Conglomerate?" Scootaloo gaped. To be honest I would be impressed as well, if I didn't already know who it was.

"Oh, I have many friends," DD laughed and waved her mane. It took me quite a lot of effort not to choke. 'Many friends' my hoof! I liked the way she waved her mane, though. Maybe I would try it out on Shady. Damn it! What was I thinking?!

"Any input from you, Wings?" I asked sharply. "Or did you just come for the sights?" The was a nasty thing to say, but Scoots had it coming. Most probably I'd have Tartarus to pay for this in the real world, but right now I felt it was worth it.

"As a matter of fact..." A message from her appeared in my scrollbox. It contained a location address somewhere at the edge of the snow sectors. Generally I avoided those. There was a reason they had that name.

"Are you bucking serious?" I had just done a data ping of the exact location. "That's a bucking ICE factory!"

"Relax," Scoots actually laughed at me, as if I were one of her gamer fans. "It's been inactive for months. We just go there, do a quick look-see and head back out again. Easy."

"There are no inactive ICE factories," I countered. "Besides, what's so important there?"

"That's where the Web grab was made," Scoots said smugly. How I hated when she did that! There was no argument I could make against us going there now. I'm going to get you for this, Scoots! Just you wait!

"What Web grab?" DD asked.

"Somepony didn't tell you, I see?" Scoots looked at me demonstratively. What was her game? There was no way I'd go about telling personal stuff like that. What's in one's Web shrine stays in one's Web shrine. Moments later I got a private message from her. Good thing I hadn't enabled my avatar's facial settings yet.

Don't mess this up for me! Say you have to get back to your date or something and log off!


This I didn't expect. Guess that explains my print in Scootaloo's Web shrine. I wasn't the reason it was placed there, DD was. Well, at least I wasn't torn off the poster. That counted as something, possibly.

Glancing at Scoots' avatar I saw she was still staring at me.

"Damn," I said in the most fake voice possible. "Guess I must get back to my date now. Sorry, DD. Wings will have to tell you about the Web grab while I'm gone."

"No worries, Harpy," DD chirped, completely missing the point again. "You go have fun."

"Right," Scoots added. "Just don't take toooo long."

How more obvious could one get? I logged off, removed my gear, then remained there staring at the wall. Was Scoots seriously making a move on DD? Those two hated each other in real life, like really, really hated each other. Sure, DD liked to hang out with the Boomdrops in the Web, and she knew who Scoots was, but she had mentioned several times she didn't like her outside the Web.

Anyway, I had my own problems. Tossing my gear to the floor, I rushed out of the room and down the stairs. Shady was still there, thank Celestia, the muffins in front of him untouched. Hearing me, he quickly grabbed one, taking a large bite.

"These are really good, you know," he said, mouth half full. I knew from experience that he was lying — you have to actually chew food to tell what it tastes like.

"Aha," I replied absentmindedly, my mind still trying to make sense of what was going on in the Web. "Let me get you something to drink." I headed towards the kitchen.

"No, you don't have to bother with..." he began, but I quickly cut him off. I really, really hated useless small talk, especially when I was thinking.

"Shady, it's okay, just chill." I opened the fridge and levitated a bottle of milk. No time to bother with glasses, I went back to the living room and sat down across him. The bottle gently landed next to the bowl of muffins.

"You know…” I bit off one of the rose petals on the table. As a typical gamer, Shady hadn't bothered to put the flowers he brought in water. Understandable, but it wouldn't hurt him to show some class now and again. "You almost messed up at ManeCon. If Archer hadn't been there to buff you, you would never have made the kill, and at your health you were one hit away from being respawned."

I levitated another few rose petals to my mouth. Despite myself, I was getting more and more curious what Scoots was up to. What if they started flirting? Or fighting? I remember DD messed up several avatars that tried to hit on her. One turned out to belong to some griffin hotshot. Last I remember, he quit the Web after the incident. Either that or he started using a new avatar.

Noticing the silence, I snapped back to reality. My glance moved from the wall, to Shady, to what was left of the roses on the table, then back to Shady. Holy Celestia! He was looking at me with a mixture of surprise and infatuation.

"What?" I asked meekly, shuffling my hooves as I tried to remember what the hay I had done to merit such a reaction.

"Nothing," he laughed. "I just never expected you to be like this. In school you weren't exactly noticeable. Quiet, but not too quiet. The absolute average pony, I guess." He paused to take another muffin. This time I saw him actually chew. "I didn't even know you liked Bolt."

"Oh." Realizing I was the focus of attention brought the Dinky part of me back to center stage. "I like watching the tournaments, just not playing the game itself. It's a bit—" boring as heck! "—challenging for me, being a unicorn and all."

"I can teach you," he offered, way too eagerly. "I’m fourteenth best, you know, and only an earth pony,” he said in an obvious effort to impress me. “Besides, Sweetie Belle is a unicorn and she holds the number seventeen spot. Soon to be fifteen, if this tournament goes well," he laughed again. "I really can't believe this. When she first suggested I give you a chance I didn't think anything would work out. You know how she gets when playing matchmaker, and..."

"Belle suggested you give me a chance?" I asked. Something inside me exploded — something I had no control over. Big mistake there, colt! And you were doing so well too. Now see me in full Harpy mode! "Give me a chance? What do I look like? Some rag in the mud you can pick up, in your benevolence, and throw away if you don't find it shiny enough? And don't you be blaming this on Belle! That filly has two careers, constantly helps ponies find their cutie marks, is there for her friends, no matter how useless they may appear, and finds time to maintain a steady relationship! What have you done? Taken a few photos for the school paper and joined Scoots' team. Well let me tell you, it wasn't on merit!"

I was absolutely fuming. There were few things in life that could make me explode like this, and Shady had just managed to trample through all of them.

"You know what?" I stood up. "Finish your muffin, heck, finish the whole bowl, then quietly get up and leave. And if hear that you're 'giving some other mare a chance', I'll get Scoots to kick you out of her team faster than you can say lag!"

No point in bothering to wait for a reaction. I stormed up the stairs and into my room again. I was furious. Furious and hurt. Did every stallion have to be a jerk?! Curse Shady! He should have remained a distant fancy I could never reach. At least then I would have continued to have dreams. Now...

"Buck it!" I stomped on the floor. "Buck it! Buck it! Buck it!"

This was why I hated real life! Things always found a way to get messed up. I might have the best day of my life and disappointment would still find a way to rear its ugly head and buck things up. I wasn't going to cry, though! I was Harpy now, and Harpy never cried! Harpy would get her act together, log on, and become the greatest hacker the Web would ever know!

Feeling numb inside, I grabbed my gear. Just as I was putting it on, though, the door of my room swung open.

"Damn it, Dinky!" Shady stormed in. "Yeah, I'm a jerk, I've always been! Tartarus take me, though, if I don't try to..." He suddenly stopped. I could see his glance slowly move from me to my gear, then to the rest of the room. Twicode manuals, gear parts, energy drink bottles... It wouldn't take a genius to figure out what was going on.

I swallowed. My worst day ever had just gotten worse — Shady had discovered my Web identity...