The Equestrian School of Hackercraft and Villainy

by benxlabs

Prologue: Genius

Prologue: Genius

The Johnson Orphanage wasn’t a first-class place to be. Nowhere near that, in fact. The facilities and services offered there were mediocre at best, and downright harmful at worst. But that was exactly where Akihiro Takahashi found himself. As a young foal, he had to endure the toxic waste that they called food, and had to deal with the absolutely moronic staff that could hardly hold a conversation. Still. Not all was bad. As the other foals quickly discovered, he was smart. Very, very smart.

It was a typical day in the orphanage. In the morning, they were rudely awakened by the screaming of the staff. Those who were unfortunate enough to lollygag never dared do so again. In fact, afterwards, they became the earliest risers. After breakfast, they were left alone for something they called “Quiet Study Time”. It was more like “Every Foal for Themselves and Beat Everyone Else to Death” time. However, today was different. Whoever was in charge had decided that they were old enough to have their first “Lesson”. As they were marched forward in a single file line, rumours flew through the air. “They’re going to kill us!” seemed to be the most popular one. Hearts heavy, they kept marching forward.

Fortunately for them, they were not being led toward their deaths. Unfortunately, it was something even worse. They were led into a small room with wooden tables and chairs. In one dark corner, there was a small wooden bookshelf. One of the staff, a burly stallion with a handlebar mustache, stepped forward. “Alright kiddies, welcome to school!” They all blinked. Someone called out: “What’s school?” The mustache pony glowered. “You bloody idiots! School is where you go to learn stuff!”

The mustache pony left. As he went out the door, he looked back. “Make yourself comfortable, ya little runts ‘cause you’re gonna be here for a while!” With that, he slammed the door shut. He might as well have have flipped a switch. The moment the door was closed, all chaos broke loose. Hooves flew, and mighty kicks were exchanged. By the end of the day, more than half of the foals had suffered severe injuries. Unseen by the others, a small foal remained by the small bookshelf that called itself a library. During the time that the others had been fighting, he had been learning. He couldn’t read, not yet, but he still flipped through the ancient books. Every time he finished one, he felt an insatiable urge to flip through another. The more he “read”, the more he understood. All by themselves, the strange symbols on the pages started making sense to him. The more he read, the more he understood. Soon, he was smarter than the headmaster of the orphanage. And he knew it.

A few months had passed since he discovered reading, and his appetite for knowledge only grew. The others merely taunted him, however. Nerd, loser, and fillyfoal were common names that they called him. He did not give up though. He continued his never ending quest for more knowledge. Now, he contemplated his situation. Living in this filthy mud hole with these barbaric ruffians would lower his life expectancy by many years. These pathetic imbeciles were far below him. Why, they could not even hold an intelligent conversation! What was the benefit of staying here? The food here was hardly even edible, much less nutritious. He could probably get a better meal by begging in the streets!

And that was exactly what he did. There was no point in staying here. In the depths of the night, he slipped away. Determination in his heart, he struck out on his own. The gods seemed set against him, however. That night, thunderstorms and wild winds roared outside. Blown by the wind and battered by the rain, he arrived at the library. Unfortunately, the door was locked. That was of no concern to him. He took out two of the paper clips he had stolen from the headmaster’s office and jammed them inside the lock. Concentrating, he fiddled around with the paper clips until he heard a click. Smiling, he pushed open the huge oak door and let himself in. There he spent the night.

He bolted upright. Something wasn’t right. He was slumped over a pile of Java books and was using a map of the United States as a blanket. It was too bright outside. He had only meant to sleep a few hours. The library would open at any second. He put his ingenious mind to work. He soon had a plan. He would slip out the window, and wait outside the library until someone came. Then he would follow them inside. But was that really necessary? He was just a 9 year old foal, for Celestia’s sake! Would they really consider him a threat? Well, better safe than sorry.

The plan had succeeded without a hitch. Was there ever any doubt? Just as the first staff came to the library, he slipped out of the shadows and entered without a sound. Without a word, he located the technology section and began reading. “Hey, you there! Where are your parents?” Akihiro slowly turned his head. Beside him was the library staff member he had seen earlier. “I said, where are your parents? Besides, I think you’re in the wrong section. The picture books are over there. But-” Akihiro cut him off. Coldly, he said: “My progenitors are deceased. Begone you primitive simpleton.” The stallion looked taken aback. After a few more moments, he slowly backed away, keeping a suspicious eye on him the entire time. Akihiro returned to his reading.

Days went and days passed, and Akihiro continued to read. He read and read, until his mind swelled with astronomy, physics, calculus, chemistry, and coding. Soon he was the smartest person in all of Equestria. And not a single other pony knew. Then the fateful day came when the library recieved computers as part of a educational grant. The sponsoring company, Nightmare Technology LTD., was the rival of Sun Enterprises. The two companies were locked in a everlasting struggle, perpetually fighting for dominance. Nightmare Technology had granted the primitive library a technological overhaul in return for their support. The library had hastily agreed. Not that any of this mattered to Akihiro. All he cared about was that he finally had a chance to test out his knowledge.

---

// Important: This code came from example-code.com. I take no credit for it.
//This is just random code copied off, actually this has nothing to do with hacking...
//It’s actually just a hash encryption algorithm. :P
package com.test;import android.app.Activity;import com.chilkatsoft.*;import android.widget.TextView;import android.os.Bundle;public class SimpleActivity extends Activity { @Override public void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) { super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);TextView tv = new TextView(this); String outStr = "";

CkCrypt2 crypt = new CkCrypt2(); boolean success;

success = crypt.UnlockComponent("Hahaloltroll"); if (success != true) { outStr += crypt.lastErrorText() + "\n"; tv.setText(outStr);setContentView(tv);

return;}

String s; s = "If you’re actually reading this then stop.";crypt.put_HashAlgorithm("sha1");crypt.put_EncodingMode("hex");

String hash;hash = crypt.hashStringENC(s);outStr += "SHA1:" + "\n"; outStr += hash + "\n";
crypt.put_HashAlgorithm("md2"); hash = crypt.hashStringENC(s); outStr += "MD2:" + "\n";

outStr += hash + "\n";crypt.put_HashAlgorithm("md5");

hash = crypt.hashStringENC(s);
outStr += "MD5:" + "\n"; outStr += hash + "\n";crypt.put_CryptAlgorithm("aes");

crypt.put_CipherMode("cbc");

crypt.put_KeyLength(256);

crypt.put_PaddingScheme(0);

crypt.put_EncodingMode("base64");

String ivHex;

ivHex = "000102030405060708090A0B0C0D0E0F";

String keyHex;

keyHex = "000102030405060708090A0B0C0D0E0F101112131415161718191A1B1C1D1E1F";

crypt.SetEncodedIV(ivHex,"hex");

crypt.SetEncodedKey(keyHex,"hex");

Perfect. The code was complete. He chuckled. This was going to be too easy. He clicked the “Start” button on his custom coded program. As the robotic tine of his septicore computer announced his success, he leaned back in his chair. It had been several years since the library had been upgraded. Much had happened since then. For one, he had become quite an accomplished hacker. His young age and small stature often made his enemies underestimate him. That would be their last mistake. Utilizing ingenious code and deadly strategy, he would orchestrate...accidents. So far, he had transferred millions of dollars from the Phillydelphia City Bank to his personal bank account and managed to cover his tracks so well, it seemed as though the money had simply disappeared.

His new target was the Baltimare City fund, presumed the most secure bank in all of Equestria. Ha. It was almost funny. With all their fancy Sun Enterprise technology, they thought they were indestructible. He would prove them wrong, while lining his pockets at the same time. It was a win-win situation, wasn’t it? Months ago, he had already uploaded a backdoor program to their databases. He now reactivated the program, gaining instant access to the main database. But that would be too easy. Of course, they encrypted all their data using a complicated algorithm. No matter. Smiling to himself, his hooves flew across the plexi-glass keyboard at a speed unrivaled by anyone in all of Equestria. He knew this naturally. A brute-forcer wouldn’t do. It would take too much of his precious time. Oh no. This little challenge deserved better. He went deep into his archives and unzipped a file that he usually left alone. “AlertOverride.exe has been successfully unzipped.” The computer announced with a hint of amusement. Time to get to work. Utilizing the backdoor he left himself, he planted the program in the security code. Immediately, all security cameras went offline. Those in the operations booth saw only a burst of static. But this static was not just regular static. He was too refined for such a brutish approach. Oh no. The Static was perfectly calibrated. The only pattern of its kind. This “special” static pattern had a most unique effect. It immediately rendered anypony exposed to it for even one second under the distributor’s complete control. The best part was, it was subconscious. Those drooling buffoons didn’t even realize they were hypnotized.

The first thing he had his new thralls do was to disable all security systems. With all alert systems gone, he was now clear to move on to the second stage of the plan. He ordered the security personnel to de-encrypt the entire database. It was true, he could have done that dirty work himself, but what was the point of needlessly dirtying his hands? He giggled maniacally as he saw each spec of information reveal itself to him. Credit cards, phone numbers, social security numbers, he had it all. With this...he could simulate an entire city! But it was time to go. Despite all his preparation, the BCPD were some smart cookies. They could probably track his IP to this hotel room, given a few months and brutal searching. He would be long gone by then though. After he finished gathering his meager belongings, he called the front office, and using his audio integrator, lowered his voice to an acceptable masculine tone. “I’m checking out. Close the room.” He hung up before waiting for a reply. With that out of the way, he headed out the door. Upon opening the door, however, he realized he had miscalculated. Standing outside, grinning smugly, was a mare. She looked like the typical New Yoke City yankee. However, the gun she was pointing at him told him otherwise. Was she part of the BCPD? Could they really have tracked him so fast? He should have looked outside the peephole before blindly stumbling out. That was stupid of him. How could he have been so careless? He tried to bluff his way out of his predicament. “Y-you can’t shoot me! I’m j-just a foal! The police can’t shoot little foals! Right?” The mare grinned viciously. “Then it’s a good thing I’m not from the police.” His heart sank. This was worse than he thought. That was his last thought before something slammed into his heart, and everything tipped sideways and went black.