Arête - Princess Alicorn of Hackers

by Lise

2. Two Lives

School was the worst part of life, but also the best. Before the creation of the Dream Web, it was just a place to be. I didn't know any ponies too well back then, nor was I part of any cliques. Nopony was particularly close to me, though nopony hated me either. Guess I was just one of those background types that remained unnoticed. The Web changed everything. While as 'Dinky' I remained ignored, as 'Harpy' I was well known and had dealings with an alarming number of Web groups.

"Hey, Dinky," Sweetie Belle greeted me cheerfully as she passed by. Formerly a Cutie Mark Crusader, she was now the only unicorn on the Bolt top twenty list. I sort of liked her, although I tried to stay clear of gamer types. "Excited about the finals?"

For several seconds I stared at her. It took me that long to understand what she had in mind. A few seconds more and I knew what she really had in mind.

"Oh, the Bolt thing," I answered, then diverted my attention to my saddlebag, pretending I was searching for something. "For a moment I thought you were talking about math finals." Not my best redirects. By Celestia, I hoped it would work. After last night, I was in no mood to handle such a conversation. Especially with Belle.

"Riiight," she smiled conspiratorially. "Must be that, I'm sure..."

"Listen, Sweetie, I really—" don't need to get hitched the thought popped in my mind, "—am not a huge fan of Bolt. I've only played it, like, once. Besides, I really don't have the time to..."

Nodding unconvinced, she walked to her desk. Damn it! I so hated when she did that. Mostly because there wasn't anything I could do to get back at her — not at school, not in the Web either. Silently, I took my seat and stared aimlessly about the classroom. Six more months and I would never see it again. The moment couldn’t come fast enough.

My first class was literature, which was extremely vexing. It was torture enough listening to Cheerilee as she struggled to explain things in such a way that even a foal would understand. Having half the class make kissy sounds and lewd comments every third paragraph made me want to glue their mouths shut. It would be interesting if I could create a Web virus that could do the same. It should be possible to scramble all voice output of somepony's avatar in the Web, rendering them mute. That would be hilarious.

Five minutes in, I flopped on my desk. As usual, nopony noticed. Maybe I should jump on my hooves and yell at everypony for being the idiots they were. That might actually be fun, and it would get some reaction. After all, what did I have to lose? At least once in my real world life I should do something that would send ripples throughout the entire school, throughout the whole of Ponyville even! Of course, I knew I was fooling myself. No way I'd do anything of the sort.

When the bell rang, I didn't even bother looking up. There wasn't any point — History was next, followed by Geography and...

"Dinky?" I heard a whisper, along with a gentle nudge on the shoulder. "Dinky, are you okay?" Barely lifting my head, I glanced to the side. My mind had just come up with the perfect answer — innocent, yet with enough sarcasm to sink a boat. The words never left my mouth. Standing next to me was the pony I hated most of all — my secret crush.

"You really seem out of it," Shady Daze said. I didn't dare look him in the eye. That only seemed to make matters worse. The blockhead that he was, he interpreted it in the worst possible way. "I'm taking you to the nurse," he said adamantly, then had the nerve to help me up.

What are you doing, you idiot?!? I wanted to shout at him. Instead, I only squeaked "Thanks," and went along. Curse this real world! Why did I have to be so pathetic? In the Web I could impress him in five seconds. He would be the one making googly eyes at me!

"Really nice of you to help." I let myself be led into the corridor.

"You really should take better care of yourself." My ears shot up. Could it be he actually noticed? "Sweetie Belle mentioned you weren't well, and after looking at you, I see she wasn't kidding."

Belle, prepare to have your save games deleted! "That's nice of her. It's nothing, though, I'm fine, actually..." Before I could finish, a forced cough filled the corridor. My blood ran cold. There was no mistaking that cough — it might as well be an introduction card. Shady Daze apparently recognized it as well, for he instantly stopped in place.

"Loser, I need a word with you!" Silver Spoon barked at me. If there was such a thing as a school enforcer, she was it. Class and student council president, she had the power to do literally anything to anypony, anytime she wished. The way she looked at me with her icy stare made me want to hide behind Shady. "You may leave, Daze."

"But Dinky needs to go to the nurse," the colt began. So sweet, and so utterly foolish. No one talks back to Silver. If she spoke to you, it meant the hay had hit the fan. Unless you were Diamond Tiara, of course.

“Does she now?" Silver Spoon took a step forward. "In that case, I better see to it she gets there. I would hate for her — and you — to get lost along the way." Curiosity got the better of me. Secretly, I glanced at Shady's face in the hopes I would see a blush. "You better tell Miss Cheerilee that Dinky will be absent for the rest of the day."

Damn it, Silver! Couldn't you give me ten more seconds? I cursed on the inside. This was setting out to be my worst week ever — broken gear, deleted Web account, awkward hook-up after class, and now Silver was on my back. Could things get any worse?

"Come along," she ordered and started walking. We continued in silence, doing our best to ignore each other. When we passed the nurse’s office, however, I started to get more than a little concerned.

"But weren't we..." I began, only to be sharply cut off.

"Keep on going," her icy tone made me wish I really was sick.

Reaching the filly's toilet, Silver opened the door and signaled for me to enter. My ears flopped. I was in deep trouble now. The worst part was that I had no idea whatever for. Hesitantly, I stepped over the threshold, only to have her shove me inside. The door slammed shut behind us. Something slid along the floor, stopping at my hooves. I looked down. It was a Nightmare 5 Web headgear rig.

"Diamond?" I gasped in amazement, only now noticing the mare standing at the other end of the bathroom. "What the hay?!" My Web persona burst through. "I thought we agreed never to talk at school! Especially about the Web!"

"Sorry, sorry," Diamond Tiara replied, her lower lip trembling. Wow! Never in my life did I think I'd witness that in the real world. "I know we agreed, and I'm, like, really sorry I dragged you here, but I didn't have much choice!"

Talk about awkward. Looking at it from the outside, it almost seemed like I was bullying her. Nearby, Silver gave me a warning look. Don't mess her up or I'll hurt you, it said, clear as if she had spoken it out loud.

"Right after the ICE crashed your avatar, I knew I would be next..." Diamond Tiara began.

"Err, DD," I said, nervously looking at Silver Spoon. Buck! She wasn't supposed to hear this stuff!

"So, I took a risk, just as you suggested," she continued, completely ignoring my hints to shut up. "I disabled some of my gear's safety protocols, and jumped directly into the dream threads."

"Diamond..." I said through my teeth, eyes still on Silver. "Maybe we should discuss this later? In the Web?"

"Oh, will you shut up, 'Harpy'!?" Silver's outburst made both me and Diamond stop whatever we were doing and stand to attention. "Did you honestly think that I don't know about your stupid little hacks? Diamond told me on day one! I gave her her first gear as a gift, for Luna's sake! Honestly, sometimes you are as stupid as you want others to believe you are! Now shut your trap and let her finish!" Or you'll regret it, her piercing gaze added. "Go ahead, Di."

That was scary. Of course I suspected Silver knew about us, she being best friends with DD and all. I just wished the details of last night's fiasco had remained private.

"Anyway," DD went on, unbothered by Silver's outburst. "The threads had their own security protocols, way different from ICE. They just linked to me and systematically started removing all modified code. It's like they were restoring the original settings. So, I knew it was a matter of seconds before my gear auto-disconnected me, so I physically pushed through the threads and went in further."

"You what?!?" I shouted. "You dived into the dream threads of a sector as it was being collapsed? Knowing all your mods were being erased? And that a swarm of ICE was out to get you?" Part of me was terrified, but also envious... extremely envious! This was legend-grade material. If DD had managed to capture this on aether vid, she would be the talk of the Web!

"Sorry. I know it was stupid," she sighed, missing the point, as usual. "But it was worth it."

Whatever I was about to say vanished from my mind, replaced by a single thought — the source code.

"You got a fragment!" I felt like hugging her.

"Not just any fragment," she said tossing me a sheet of paper. Immediately I caught it with a levitation spell and brought it closer. Diamond wasn't kidding when she said the code was different. I couldn't make head or tail of it. It all seemed like a random collection of symbols stretched, shaken, then grouped together in some unclear fashion.

"Two thirds down," Diamond said helpfully. I was just about get there, when the door behind me swung open.

"How dare you!" Diamond Tiara yelled. Seeing her transform into full Alpha Queen in less than a second made me shiver. I knew she wouldn't do anything bad to me, though my subconscious didn't, causing my entire body to tremble in fear. "Don't you see this room is occupied?" She moved towards the unfortunate newcomers with the grace of an Ursa Minor. "Don't you?!"

Silence. I could only assume the mares were nodding in agreement. This was the Diamond Tiara that Equestria knew — ruthless, petty and terrifying. Pity she couldn't bring that side of her into the Web.

"Now get out and don't let me see you again this week!" Another yell, followed by the door slamming loudly. "Sorry about that, Dink," she reverted to her DD voice again. "Did you see it?"

"I'm... getting there," I answered still shaking. Curse my real world self! A pink hoof moved beside me, pointing to a section of the paper. "Right, thanks... DDE23 dash FF dash source Arête?"

"Isn't it exciting?" I felt Diamond hug me. Way too awkward. Not knowing how to react, I turned towards Silver. The grey mare was just standing there rolling her eyes. Could it be that this was the way Diamond Tiara acted when she wasn't pretending to be mean? Could it be that she was... special?

"Err, it is?" I felt the urge to move away. Physical contact was never pleasant for me. Thankfully the hug soon ended, as Diamond grabbed the paper with such speed one would think it was a list of master passwords.

"Arête!" she repeated. "Mother Alicorn of Hackers!"

"Well yes, but I still don't... " I froze. Surely she wasn't implying what I think she was. Arête. Anyone involved with the Web knew that name — the make-believe deity that prevented lag, restored corrupted data, and made code work after a single prayer. So far no one credible had seen this entity, but many claimed to have felt her presence. It was said that she could see and hear everything that went on in the Web, and helped those that followed the Web code. Me, personally, I didn't believe in that one bit. Diamond, however, was fascinated by that stuff. She once even showed me a picture of her custom made authentic Arête pendant. The bucking thing cost more than my house and everything in it!

"Come on!" I waved a hoof. "Surely you don't mean..." I stopped, not wishing to finish the sentence.

"Just think about it! The ICE, the Tris appearing all of a sudden," Diamond seemed to be in a world of her own. "I found this in the source code, Dink! It can't be a coincidence! Would Luna just add a name on a whim? Would the Conglomerate use it in their code to pander to us?"

She definitely had me there. Not that I believed the Mother existed — that was stupid. I did, however, believe it would be very much like the Conglomerate to build something in an attempt to control the original code. Now that got me interested.

"So what do we do?" I asked.

"We go back in," came the answer. "Tonight."

"Hey now." I took a step back. "Don't get crazy, now. My gear just got wiped and..." I paused. The Nightmare 5 was still on the floor in front of me. According to articles I'd read, it was pretty high end, higher than I could afford even if I saved up for the next five years. "I'm supposed to take this, aren't I?" I frowned at her. The eager nod told me that was the case. "I'm just borrowing it, mind, until I get my own gear... or something."

Silver Spoon snorted — what I would expect from a lifer. She didn't understand the Web and never would. That wasn't my main concern, however.

"Diamond," I began, "what exactly do you know about Arête?"

No answer. The pink pony smiled sheepishly at me. Great, just great! Like in the Web, she only did that when she wanted me to do something for her. I didn't need three guesses to know what it was this time.

"I'll look into it," I sighed. Somehow I knew I would regret this.

Author's Note:

Lifer - short for 'real lifer'; a pony, or other being, who is largely unaware of the Dream Web, preferring to live solely in the real world. Also used as an insult among Webbers, Indicating one of poor skill.

Comments

[Kitty Creeper]

That moment when I realize that I would probably be a Lifer...

[Swan Song]

Wtf your world building has already coalesced into a unique edge-of-seat mystery teasing the cast and audience with tantalizing hints of an answer WTF

[Hobbestc]

I'm enjoying SS as a big bad body guard. DT as a human being is interesting too. What age do you have them at in this fic? If you said it before i must have missed it.

[Zaid ValRoa]

I'm reminded that I've yet to catch up with Mr. Robot...

Some people classify hacker media in several ages, mostly pre and post Matrix. The reason I believe your story works with the way you handle the exposition is because Arête behaves much in the same way as an eighties hacker film. By this I talk about the slightly dystopian setting, futuristic technology that seems more realistic than the way hacking is protrayed in modern media, compliments well with heavy synth music.

I'm liking what I'm seeing, and whatever negative aspects I may notice I'm more than willing to take in stride as a particularity of the genre.

Also, from now on I'm reading Dinky's lines in Kurt Russell's voice.

[StoneCap55LWP23]

I looked at down. It was a Nightmare 5 Web headgear rig.

I looked at down.

.....what?

[Lise]

8111783 oops O:)

[AyanamiRei]

The more I am reading, the more I am loving this story! <3