//------------------------------//
// 11. Princess Alicorn of Hackers 
// Story: Arête - Princess Alicorn of Hackers 
// by Lise 
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I liked to think that I had seen some weird things in my life — Discord's brief second reign, Luna's dream fight against the Tantabus, and that's not even including the strangeness of the Web. All that paled in comparison to what I was seeing now. The mere thought what somepony was capable of was making me sick!

Was the Conglomerate insane? To have a living alicorn, wrap her in dream strands, and then bury her in an ICE factory! No wonder she hadn't managed to break free. If there was one thing close to indestructible in the Web, that was it — strands of pure source code — made to withstand anything, even their creators. 

A series of beeps brought me back to reality. Damn it! I was so caught in the moment that I had completely forgotten what was what. The Multi Run was still going on, and our window of opportunity was closing fast. 

I looked up in the sky. The air was still thick with ICE. For the most part it was targeting the Triumvirs, who were melting snow swarms like a raging dragon in winter. That didn't have any effect on the constant flow emerging from the mountains. The factories must be running on overdrive.

"Everypony, marked or not, head for the Mother," I head MaDster’s command. "Source code only.'

There goes my chance to shine. They were right, though. My silly little code packets and protocols were useless. I guess DD's were too, although I had no idea what MaDster had given her. My participation, from this point on, was view only. 

MaDster led the charge. Ignoring the snowflakes attempting to latch on to her avatar, she steadily continued towards the mountain breach. Several others did the same. I saw FLT swoop down, her avatar constantly shifting colour between cyan and yellow. Her protective aether bubbles were completely gone. Hopefully, at this point they wouldn't matter. As long as she could free Arête, the run would be successful, and...

Without warning, a new swarm of ICE shot up from within the ICE factory. Piercing through the mountain, it hit FLT, derezzing her avatar into nothingness. A dozen voices yelled out in my ears. The voice channel was going crazy. I would have joined in too if DD hadn't pulled me back.

"Damnit, Dink!" she said, giving me the most pathetic excuse of a slap I had felt. "Don't you dare save me only to get yourself nuked!" Touché. I always had a weakness for flashy stuff in the Web. I Definitely was making a note to kick the habit once all this was over. Still, it was hardly my fault things were so awesome in a terrifying, scary sort of way. Hay, this was a story for the history books!

"That's source code, you idiot!" DD continued, though she was still too far from her real life persona for me to take her seriously. "Did you see what it did to FLT?!"

I didn't respond. Of course I'd seen! That was not what worried me. It was the nature of the ICE that was a concern. It reminded me too much of the rogue ICE that had crashed me a few days ago. 

"Don't let that ICE touch you!" I yelled in the voice channel. "It ignores defenses, decoys and cloaks! Use viruses!"

Sweet Celestia, no! As I spoke, I watched the new ICE swarm split apart, destroying any avatar it touched. Half the gamers, as well as several hackers, just had their Web gear rendered useless. I bet they were screaming their heads off in the real world right now. Sort of what I had done, when it had gotten me.

"Everypony continue towards Arête!" I heard Derpy say in-channel. So much better than me. Not a hint of worry in her voice. "Form a cone. The outer layers are to protect the inner. If you get ICEd, try to remain online for as long as possible!"

A blinding flash of blue light swept through the zone. So the Triumvirs were taking an active part as well. No longer mere ICE magnets, they were locking horns with the Conglomerate. That was outright scary. The forums would explode, not to mention the real world media.

When my vision was restored, all the ICE was gone. I looked at the sky — the Triumvirs were still there, just as were what was left from the gamers and Luna's Army. MaDster was leading of course. She probably knew as well as me what was about to happen. By my estimates, the funnel was twenty seconds from reaching the ICE factory — not enough by far. But maybe there was another way.

"DD," I said, quickly grabbing her forehoof. "Ready for something crazy?"

"Wha?—" she managed to ask as I jumped pulling us both down the hole in front of me. There was no doubt she would have said yes, given a bit more time. Also, it wasn't like we were risking much. Both of us had Phoenix escape protocols. At the first sign of red ICE, I'd get us out of here faster than lag.

"You just get ready to dig through dream strands again." I held tight to DD. Only now it hit me that I had no bucking clue what I was doing. Was I seriously thinking we could break Arête free from her web? As we were falling, I glanced in the Web goddess' direction. The dream strands had her almost cocooned. It would be creepy if it wasn't so fascinating. 

As if sensing us, Arête shifted. It was nearly impossible to tell from this distance, but I think she looked at me. That would be so cool if it were true. 

"Hey, DD," I said, as Arête shone in bright magenta. "I think your goddess is looking at—"

Everything around me went black. No more magenta alicorn, no more ICE factory, no more DD even. Buck it! Did I just get ejected? Immediately I tried to take off my Web gear. My hooves grabbed the head of my avatar.

What the hay?! This didn't seem like real life. Semi-panicking, I checked if my Web functionality was still here. Messages were still present, along with my standard enhancements, protocols, viruses... It was just the sensory areas I had problems with. Oh, and I couldn't establish a connection to anypony.

"Hello, Harpy," a voice said. Literally a blink of the eye later, Arête was floating in front of me, two feet in front of me. By Celestia, I could feel the power emanating from her — divine and beautiful in a terrifying way. Part of me wished I could look at least a fraction as inspiring.

"Err, hello Goddess?" I whispered. Seriously, how does one address such a being? She was the Celestia of the Web, for goodness sake!

"You're an idiot." Her eyes flashed an incandescent blue. Wait, what? That's not how a goddess is supposed to talk! "When you jumped down this buck hole, what was the best you thought would happen?"

Don't say a word, Dinky! Don't even make a sound. I really didn't think that far ahead. Actually I had been so caught in the moment, that it was the adrenalin talking.

"You know what I am, right?" She didn't seem pleased at all. 

"The Princess Alicorn of Hackers?" I blabbered before I could stop myself. Idiot! Now what had I done?! "Star Pony!" I quickly corrected myself. "You're a Star Pony. MaDster told me about the promise Princess Luna made and..."

"Luna," Arête sighed. "That crazy filly and her delusions of grandeur. Now she thinks she can free me from this place. She could be so foalish sometimes."

Well, this was uncomfortable. I didn't even know how to react. Having an immortal princess being addressed as a 'crazy filly' was definitely a first. Just how ancient was Arête? As old as Celestia? Older even?

"You have no idea of what's going on, do you?" she sighed.

"Not really." Usually I would argue, but in this case honesty was the best policy. I did think I knew what was going on, but now I had no bucking idea.

"You have heard the rumours, right? That I can see and hear everything in the Web?" Her horn flashed magenta for a moment. Rows of giant aether windows appeared all around us. "It's sort of true. I can see everything, just not all at once. And I do keep the Web from collapsing." She smirked. "Do you know what else I do?"

I shook my head.

"ICE."

"Ice?" I asked unsure what she meant.

"ICE," she repeated. A giant crimson snowflake appeared between us. "ICE cream, you scream. Did you really not figure it out yet? Buck it, Harpy! You were supposed to be one of the smart ones. I never was held in an ICE factory, I am the ICE factory. The good stuff, not that colorless shit." 

She was making the ICE? She?! This was insane!

"The mountain is just a prison that keeps me locked in. It could have been a lake, wouldn't have made a bucking difference." There, she did it again! I couldn't help but cringe. She must have seen my reaction, for she suddenly stopped talking and moved a bit closer.

"Are you uncomfortable hearing me swear?" she asked slowly. I honestly had no idea if she was amused or furious.

Hesitantly, I nodded.

"What did you expect? I've been in the Web ever since its creation," she floated slightly away. "’Sees and hears everything’, remember? Not like you should mind."

Merciful Celestia, blast me to the moon! Suddenly I felt like going deep in the Everfree Forest and never coming back. There were things I had done in the Web I didn't want anypony to know about. Arête probably had seen them. She had probably seen every secret of every pony, griffin or other creature in the Web. All those basket cases who had posted the Conglomerate was watching everything had it right all along!

"Maybe this would calm you down?" Arête asked, and before my eyes changed to Shady. Oh, buck, no! I screamed on the inside. "No? Something more familiar then?" She transformed to DD's avatar briefly, then almost immediately to my old one.

"It's fine, Goddess," I said meekly. While being in her presence, I felt like my real life self.

"Whatever," she reverted to normal.

"So what happens now, Goddess?" I shifted uneasily.

"Literally nothing." The aether windows displayed images of the ICE factory. There was me and DD frozen mid fall, MaDster leading a cone of avatars towards the Arête, the Triumvirs surrounded by their aether bubbles, even the Web goddess herself, prisoner to the dream strands.

"You and DD keep on falling for another ten seconds, after which I'll see to it you are ejected safely out of the Web. MaDster and the rest, despite their best efforts, only manage to make it to the opening before the crimson ICE activates and kicks them the buck out. Luna tries to lead the charge on her own, again, and this time manages to actually get within wing's reach of me. We don't get to chat, though. The ICE manages to push her out. Twilight and Zecora disconnect, seeing that there is no point continuing the run."

Could she estimate all that? If so, that was depressing. And I thought I felt trapped in the real world...

"All in all, a good attempt," Arête said frighteningly calm. "Well planned out, a lot of effort put in, nearly successful. Of course after this security will be doubled, and I'll be moved to another prison, maybe a lake this time, and everything would start from scratch."

"All this has happened before?" I blinked.

"Kiddo, you have no idea," there was a hint of regret in her voice. MaDster said she had been brought to Equestria at Nightmare's Moon return. Had she been held captive all that time?

"So..." I began. I felt I had to say something, anything. But what could an idiot like me tell a goddess? "Err... Why did you hack my avatar?" Great going, Dinky. Way to make everything about you. "I mean there must be loads of cooler ponies in the Web." And way to mess up the save. Maybe I should just shut up.

"You were here," she stated flatly. "Starswirl blocks most stuff I try. When a breach opens I get a bit of talk time, then they bucking close it. I've talked to MaDster a few times, she's nice. So is WingClipper, though she acts like a jerk."

WingClipper had spoken to Arête? Wait! WingClipper was a mare?! There was no way Arête could be wrong, but I had spoken to him on four occasions and each time he had made it abundantly clear he was a stallion. I had even managed to hack into his settings and see the make of his Web gear: a Firefly 2 Elite, exclusive for male unicorns.

"Listen, the ICE will auto-activate soon," Arête interrupted my train of thought. "Do me a favour and tell Luna to stop. It's touching and all, but she's becoming obsessed with this. Also each attempt bucks things up for me with Starswirl."

Great. I was to deliver a message from one goddess to another. And the message wasn't good news. Isn't life grand?

"I'll eject you safely before the ICE gets you." Arête disappeared in the void. "And say 'hi' to DD. She earned it."

Wait! She was going to eject me? Holy buck! For some reason Arête could identify Conglomerate code.

"Wait, I..." Before I could finish I was falling again. DD was gripping me tight, trembling like a terrified bunny. Buck it! One second. I literally needed one second. Now I had ten till the end of the run — the unsuccessful Multi Run that had burned over fifty elite Webers. 

"You were right, DD!" I shouted. Nine seconds. "I am an idiot!"

"What?" I felt her stop trembling. 

From the corner of my eye I could see red snowflakes slowly rising up in the air. Eight seconds.

"The biggest bucking idiot in the Web!" Seven seconds. "Remote disconnect override protocol: Phoenix Lite."

DD's avatar disappeared. Messing with another's avatar was somewhat of a taboo in the Web, but under the circumstances she would understand. Hopefully. She would be mad as heck for a while, but I doubted she'd do anything drastic. 

Six seconds.

The crimson ICE was stirring quite violently below. It was obvious that Arête was managing to keep it in check. Soon, though, even she would be unable to do that, and it would swarm up, deleting any code on contact. Quite possibly the entire sector would have to be rebuilt.

Five seconds.

I disabled my Phoenix protocol. Silver Spoon had told me that having two active copies at a time would be bad, so I was going to bend the rules a bit.

Four seconds.

I transferred the code in one of my virus packets. Only script ponies did that. The resulting virus would be as elegant as a swine in mud, and unoptimized as heck, but I wasn't aiming for style or efficiency. The only key factor was speed.

Three seconds.

Again, I glanced at Arête. She was literally just hanging there, looking at me with her emotionless expression and creepy glowing eyes. Should I go on with this? What if she wasn't what she seemed? Also there was a chance MaDster could get it right...

Two seconds.

"Buck it all!" I shouted and launched the Phoenix virus. "I hope you're bucking worth it, Arête!"

One second.

Well, that was it. No logging out on my own now. Either Arête would eject me back to real life, or I would have the rather unpleasant experience of getting my avatar deleted... again. If things went badly, the Conglomerate might also get enough data to identify me in real life, which meant pretty much everything I feared. At least DD was safe. And I had managed to keep Sis from getting involved. Sis... I couldn't begin to imagine what she was going through. Having me skip school then vanish had never happened before. Most likely it never would again.

Zero.

I braced myself. A pool of giant red snowflakes swarmed beneath me. Within seconds I would crash into them and into Dream Web oblivion. DD was definitely going to be pissed. 

The impact never came. For no reason gravity stopped having an effect on me, leaving me floating a hoof's length from the ICE. Whoa! Only once before had I seen anyone mess with Web physics, and never at such a large scale. Some serious permissions were involved here. I watched in disbelief as the crimson snowflakes lost their redness.

"Arête," I whispered. "Is this you?"

As if reacting to my voice, the ICE swarm burst in all directions surrounding me in a vibrant magenta.

"Thanks, Dinky," a soft voice echoed all around. Seconds later the magenta glow became incandescent...