//------------------------------// // 10. Multi Run // Story: Arête - Princess Alicorn of Hackers // by Lise //------------------------------// Half past eight. The second lap of the Bolt quarterfinals had just started. The news feeds described it as the greatest clash in Web history. If I had a say, I'd dub it 'boredom boring boredly'. What did ponies see in that game? It was outright stupid! A bunch of pegasi flying about like flies, trying to slice each other's avatars with hoof blades. Seriously, it took three updates for it to get the offensive magic system right. Now wonder Sweetie Belle was a top player — she was the only one who could use it properly! "Oh my gosh! Scoots really is on fire tonight!" DD clapped her hooves happily beside me. For some strange reason she and Scootaloo had remained friends in the Web, despite the recent real life experience. Why, I had no idea. "Did you just see that?!" She jumped to her hooves, along with half the crowd in the stands. "Scoots sliced Gruffian in half!" She screamed in my face. "She sliced him in half!" Even through the avatar my gaze must have been deathly, for DD quickly stopped her fanfilly screaming and sat back down. "Shady is doing quite well, too." She attempted to change the subject. "A bit tense, but maybe because he knows you are watching him?" I wish! Though, maybe? Anyway, I had enough. We could probably stay a while longer. The cron virus was set to go at nine. Potentially the game might be over by then. Knowing Scoots, that's what she was trying to do. So egoistical, that filly! How I envied her. "Let's go," I grumbled, standing from my seat. "But this is the best part," DD pleaded. "Can't we stay a bit more? We're in the VIP section, even." Celestia, preserve me. I so much wanted to say something snarky. It was enough that I was dragged to this stupid tournament — and in the VIP section to boot! The foals might find this cool, but not me. I hated everything about Bolt. Even watching Belle and Scoots couldn't change that. Hay, even Shady couldn't! "Come along, DD," I went towards the stand exit. "You can drool watching the finals." If there even are finals after this. DD let out a sigh that would make Harshwhinny feel guilty. Of course, I was used to her antics. We weren't going to stay here and that was final. Walking through the doorway, we were transported to the shopping part of the sector. That's another thing I hated. Why waste money on junk when you could make your own twice as good using a simple dream sculpting kit? Some ponies had more bits than brains. "Everything ok?" DD asked as she joined me. "You seem a bit off." "You worry too much," I lied. In truth I was more than a bit off. The Dinky part of me wanted to log off and gallop screaming to Amethyst or Derpy. "Are you all set?" "Uh-huh," she tilted her head. I couldn't be sure whether she was answering my question, or being skeptical about my answer to hers. "Let's go." I transported out of the sector. The plan we had agreed upon was straight forward. No complex plan, no back doors or inside ponies, just a brute force cascade of attacks. Our only chance was to overload the system, and for that we were going to need to cause as much chaos as possible. Then we would wait for an opening and head for the inactive ICE factory. According to MaDster, that was where Arête was being kept. Luna's Army would then proceed to drill a hole in the landscape-construct and free her. It sounded so neat in theory, and that's exactly what worried me. Unlike the real world, nothing was neat in the Web. I checked my scrollbox. No new messages. To be expected — no hacker worth his code would send messages before a run. Superstition aside, it was careless and could only result in complications. Beside me, DD had already opened five aether windows. I could only recognize half of the code there. MaDster must have given her quite a boost in protocols. And in the meantime all I got was a bucking T-shirt. That and the stress of being MaDster's proxy. "And you—" I asked, trying to appear casual, "—not nervous?" "This is the most exciting day of my life!" DD clapped her forehooves. "We're on the first wave to free the Mother Alicorn of Hackers!" Way to get overexcited. We weren't the first wave. Hay, we barely were part of the first wave. Everypony else was a big name. FLT herself would be leading the charge. The only reason I was there was because I was MaDster's protege. Naturally I would feel out of place. Not DD, though. Looking at her, one would think this was the most normal thing in the world. Damn her calm behaviour! "Just, please don't freak out when FLT and the rest show up," I said, my back to her. "I don't want you embarrassing me like at MaDster's." "I promise I'll behave," she was quick to assure me. What was worse was that I knew she meant it. Hay, I sounded just like my sister. The next ten minutes passed in semi-silence. DD would ask a question every now and then, and I would promptly ignore her. It was a small miracle neither of us got tired. It all had to do with nerves, I guess. She liked talking when she got nervous, while I shut myself in. I barely noticed the beeping sound in my ear. The spy protocols I had set up had caught mention of the virus outbreak in the gaming sector. Already there was panic among several boards. Yes! I smiled. It had been weeks since I wanted to try out my newest creation — a virus that mimicked the Sombra virus. Of course my variant was largely harmless. Even the most basic of scans would reveal that there was nothing to be afraid of. The panic, however, would attract plenty of attention, not to mention a significant amount of Conglomerate operatives. The media's involvement alone would have them providing stupid explanations for hours. "Nice trick," a voice beside me caused me to jump. It was FLT. How in Tartarus had she managed to get here without triggering any of my warnings? Instinctively I turned towards DD to shout at her for not warning me, but I soon changed my mind. The way she was staring at FLT, I was expecting her to ask for a signature. Really, DD? You couldn't stop yourself from embarrassing me at least today? "Where is MaDster?" I asked, trying to cover up DD's behaviour. "Oh, you know MaDster," FLT waved a hoof dismissively. Actually, when it came to the Web I didn't know a bucking thing about my mentor. "For the time being we must get ready. Our window of opportunity won't be long." "I've set up spy eyes in a few sectors," I began. A wall of aether Windows appearing above us quickly made me stop. So this was the difference in our skills. I swallowed uncomfortably. FLT had managed to hijack the visual feed of over fifty sources. Hay, some of them were from hacker avatars. Quickly, I checked to make sure my own was secure. "Are you ready, DD?" FLT asked. To my great surprise Diamond didn't faint. "If we get our chance, we'll be hitting that factory hard. Remember — skill cuts deeper than fiction." A typical FLTism. Before I could make a witty remark several of the aether windows started glowing red. No question what that meant — the Multi Run had started. My eyes darted from place to place as I tried to keep up with events. Hackers across dozens of sectors attacked every know Conglomerate cluster in existence. By Celestia — it was magnificent. How they passed through firewalls as if they were paper. Even rising stars, such as myself, were raising Tartarus. It was absolutely pathetic how Conglomerate operatives attempted to protect their nodes. Fancy tech and vast numbers were no match to a little hacker ingenuity. Beside me, DD chuckled as avatars fell to the ground as flies. "They are playing with the weight protocols," she added gleefully. "And those idiots haven't locked their settings." "Hardly," FLT said, her voice dead serious. "They want us to win. The moment a third of a node's defenses are compromised ICE is sent to the location." "Isn't that what we want?" I asked cautiously. Something told me this wasn't the result FLT was hoping for. What was she seeing that I wasn't? I knew the Conglomerate was expecting our attack. We all did. Their behaviour seemed pretty standard — when everything else fails, send the ICE. "It's starting." FLT pointed at the screens. At first I didn't catch it, but in a few moments it became clear as day. Thousands upon thousands of particles started emerging from every mountain throughout the Web. My scrollbox filled with automatic messages informing me of the same. The ICE had been launched, and it was far more than I ever had imagined. "Will they be alright?" DD asked, as the white swarms viciously sped towards our members. "Twilight's Scholars will see that they are." As usual no explanation given as to whowhat the buck a 'Twilight’s Scholar' was. I could guess it was a pony recruited by Twilight Sparkle, but a bit additional information wouldn't have hurt. "Come, let's go." FLT sent us a new set of Web coordinates. "Wait!" I felt my blood run cold. "Weren't we supposed to wait for the ICE to clear before we..." "Silly Harpy," FLT laughed forcing my avatar to transport. "If we wait that long, we might as well give up." No prep talk, no encouragement, no warning. A blink of the eye and we were above the ICE factories... half a mile above them! Every instinct in my body screamed for me to log out. The change was just too sudden, even for the Web. Only the sensation of FLT's wing on my forehead prevented me from doing so. Celestia, have mercy! my stomach was in knots. I really, really, really hated flying. And still, a small spark of insanity in me was absolutely enjoying this. "We have less than a minute," FLT said, as we dove down towards. Swarms of white snowflakes passed by us. I could feel the brush against my avatar. It was insane! "The moment we touch the ground, the ICE will target us. Launch everything you have before that." "This is so cool!" DD shouted. That filly really did have no fear. Once this was over, I was going to shout my head off at her. Right now, however, my mind was too dazzled to even care. I did a quick refresh of my spy protocols. Two aether screens formed in front of my face, displaying what was going on in the other sectors. The major Conglomerate clusters had already managed to get rid of the attackers. This was to be expected. Even the best couldn't survive an encounter with hostile ICE for long. The normal sectors were still in play — the ICE there was having a hard time identifying who was a target and who a standard user. That wasn't going to last for long, though. FLT wasn't kidding when she said we had a minute tops. Interesting enough, there were a few instances of snowflakes just amassing for no reason whatsoever. There were no valid targets, as far as I could tell. Maybe this was work of Twilight's Scholars, whoever they were? "Way to mess things up, idiot! I heard in my ear. If I wasn't so good, your crap would have crashed the tournament before we'd won. Scoots? I saw her and the rest of the team emerge in the sky a short distance away. All five of them were there, along with a dozen others I had never seen before. "Are you crazy?!" I shouted. Suddenly, I felt as if a hedgehog was running around in my stomach. "Get out of here! You’re a living target! If the ICE trashes your avatar..." "Mother Alicorn of Gamers, yo! I heard her laugh. Besides, Twilight said it would be fine. You just don't mess up your part. Great. As if I wasn't under enough pressure. I looked back at my aether screens. Of the entire Luna's Army only nineteen were left, most already in our sector. The rest had either logged off, or had their avatars deleted by the ICE. I held all my viruses at the ready. If the ICE turned hostile, things were going to go down pretty fast. "What's our target reference?" I heard DD ask. Seems like she shared my concerns. "MaDster's Web grab location," came the answer. "Arête appeared there for a reason. Our best chance would be to... Oh, aether sparks! Stick close to me! The ICE has gone hostile." An aether bubble wrapped around us, as scores of white snowflakes shot our way. What the bucking buck?! We were supposed to have a minute. There was no logic in this. There still were more than enough targets in the Web, besides, we hadn't done any illegal activity that should trigger a response. "ICE has us as assigned targets, a voice blasted in my ear. I couldn't tell who it was. "I'm going through the list now, but I think it's got most of us. "Everyone who’s tagged, launch your stuff and scram!" FLT shouted. "We need time, so keep the ICE away from us. Everypony else, get to the factory. We need to crack that thing open before things get worse." We are so dead Some proxy I turned out to be. If FLT wasn't here, the run would already be over. Actually, it still might be. The longest time I had survived when attacked by ICE was seven seconds. Not nearly enough to get anything done. I could only hope that DD and the rest would have enough time to do what they needed. Packets fell upon the mountain like rain — nukes, disrupters, derezzers and custom protocols I'd never seen before. Most barely hit the mark. From this distance the avatars could only hope for the best, as they spewed clouds of viruses to counteract the ICE. All temporary measures, but enough to help them break away from the swarms targeting them. Buck it! That's why it's always good to have a pegasus avatar! Or at least something with wings! "I'll throw you out of the bubble," FLT said, as a smaller aether sphere emerged around us in an attempt to stop the invading snowflakes. "I doubt you're on the list, so you should be safe. Remember to save your code for when it counts!" Before I could voice one of the dozens of questions that crossed my mind, DD and I were literally kicked out of the aether bubbles. For a few seconds I watched in disbelief, as FLT flew off, taking the ICE swarm with her. Buck, this felt weird. The feeling quickly fled, as reality took hold. "D, levitate!" DD screamed beside me. Not a moment too soon either. My clumsy attempt of a spell, barely managed to cushion the worst of the fall, leaving me shaking on the ground. I could literally feel the pain jolt through my body. Good thing I had an avatar. "Are you alright? Please tell me you are alright!" DD's voice buzzed through the ringing in my ears. Almost drunkenly I pushed her aside and attempted a step forward. Celestia, was I shaking hard. "D-do your thing, DD," I struggled achieve a semblance of stability. "I'll be a decoy." DD didn't seem too convinced, but a quick shout on my part made her get to work. I felt bad for doing that, but at this stage I really needed some space. Think Web. Think Web. In the Web I was invincible. Here I could do anything. The aether windows were still floating in front of me, anchored to my avatar. It was pretty useless looking at them now; anypony who was part of the Multi Run was in the sector, or locked out in the real world. Win or fail, it was all going to be decided here. Quickly, I reset my windows to focus on events nearby. What was left of Luna's Army was trying to keep the ICE swarms occupied, but it was a losing battle. Even with the help of Scoots and the gamers, there wasn't much that could be done. Although not targeted, none of them had any experience using Web protocols and viruses properly. At best they were somewhere between a minor annoyance and an annoying distraction. "Better look good for your fans, DD," I forced a laugh. "Who knows when you'll have another chance to bust into an ICE factory." I was expecting a chuckle, a groan or even a snort. When I head neither I turned around. DD was standing there completely motionless, as if she were frozen. On the ground, less than a step away, a bright magenta glow sprang through a crack in the mountain surface. "You have to be bucking kidding me," the words scraped my mouth. Could it be? Was that actually Arête? It was as if time suddenly stopped. Forgetting about the ICE, the run, and everything else, I went next to DD. "She touched me," my friend whispered, staring at her glowing forehoof. "The Mother Alicorn of Hackers actually touched me! I saw her through the breach. Just for a moment I saw..." A loud boom filled the air, nearly knocking me to the ground. What, by Celestia?! I looked at the sky. Three glowing orbs had appeared. Like triple suns they shone, drawing the swarms of ICE towards them. No bucking way! Did this mean what I thought it did? Three orbs — one grey, one purple, one light blue. I had seen Web grabs of this before. Hay, I even had pictures stuck on my Web shrine back home! The Triumvirs. All three bucking Triumvirs had appeared. I could hardly make them out from this distance, but still they were there! "I'll take care of things from here, muffins," a soft voice sounded in my ear. You just move slightly back. I could almost laugh. Of course it would be MaDster. Typically appears out of nowhere, like in real life, then does the craziest thing imaginable. And of course, who would MaDster bring, but the entire Triumvirate! Even from this distance I could see the crazy pegasus dive down from the sky. Come to think of it, this was the first time I saw Derpy in avatar. It was a custom, grey, Male Pegasus build, of course, of the type that wouldn't be given a second glance. Suddenly, warning messages covered my aether screens. The ground do beneath my hooves started glowing a venomous blue. This definitely wasn't good! Seeing DD still gazing at her hoof, I rushed towards her, pushing us both out of the zone of the glow. Silver Spoon wasn't kidding when she said DD couldn't take care of herself when it came to facing danger. "Don't you have any self preservation skills?" I shouted at her. "Arête blessed you, I get it, but don't you ever do something that would get you hurt!" I was shouting at her, but also at myself. Where were my self preservation skills? Years in the Web and I still acts like a little filly, as of this was a game without consequence. Sure, I always feared getting caught, but I never honestly believed I would. Even when things were bad, I believed, in the back of my mind, that everything would be sorted out somehow. Getting back up, I offered a hoof to DD. Buck! Even through her avatar I could I tell she was crying. Her head was slightly tilted and her lip was trembling slightly. Damn it, I felt so rotten. "Hey," I helped her up. "It's okay. Things are fine." Celestia, I am really bad in lying. I sounded like the heroine in a soap opera. "Just keep it together for a little longer. You don't want Arête and your fans to think you're anything less than perfect, right?" Hesitantly, she nodded. That was one pony calmed down. Now how the buck was I going to calm my own nerves? Everything around was going to Tartarus. Extremely slowly, I turned around. "Buck it all!" I swallowed. The entire mountain was drilled with so many holes that it could well be a pin cushion. And that was not the most shocking. Deep inside the bowels of the ICE factory, I could see her — Arête, the Star Pony, the Alicorn of Hackers, the Web goddess, and every other name used to describe her. As waves of magenta light passed over me, I found I could hardly breath. She was real! She was bucking real, buried inside a... Suddenly I froze. You have to be bucking kidding me!