After taking a moment to enjoy being a unicorn again, Searing looked around at the strange environment she and Discord were in. It was mostly a black void, filled with giant glowing green grasshoppers made of 0's and 1's jumping around, fading in and out of existence while ignoring Searing and Discord. "Where are we?"

"We're deep in the internet," Discord said. "Pure binary code, not even processed into pictures, text, video, whatever it is. Somewhere in here is our next destination. Well, not so much somewhere as it is someone."

"Who?"

"I think it would be best for me to show you. Come." He jumped onto Searing's back. "Onwards, to victory!" Searing gave a resigned sigh before trotting forward. It wasn't long before she felt Discord fall off after hitting his head on a bridge or something neither of them saw. "I'm okay!"

"Of course you are," Searing muttered. She waited until he was back on before resuming her resigned trot in. . . Whatever direction she was going. There were no landmarks, just the digital grasshoppers. It felt like she was walking on a very hard surface, yet her hooves made no noise. "Do you know where we're going?"

"I most certainly do."

"Which way is it?"

Discord shrugged. "I dunno."

"How could you. . . I'll just go ahead and give up now. Before I get a headache."

"That's the spirit!"

A few hours of aimless walking, pointless discussion, and three fights later, there was a change in the landscape. There was a large dark zone that the digital grasshoppers avoided. While it was mostly pitch black, there were a few spots of light that still managed to shine through.

The anomaly put Searing on edge. Something about it felt beyond wrong and just straight up Weird, which was saying something with a literal chaos chaos spirit sitting on her back and playing with her mane like it was an action figure. "Discord, what is that?"

Discord put Searing's mane back on her and looked at it. "We're here." He slid off her back and stepped in front of her, posing as if presenting a product. "Behold, Searing!" He grandly announced. "The source of some of the craziest stuff on the internet! None other than The STBlackST himself. And some other people."

Searing squinted and looked into the void to make out the speck of light Discord was referring to. "It's just a bunch of people at computers."

"There's more to it than just computers. We are just past the minimum safe viewing distance of 1000 feet. If you want to get closer, you'll need some protective gear."

"Armor?"

"Chemical gear. You do not want to accidentally inhale any of the drugs good stuff STBlackST uses. That stuff scares me, and I'm a chaos spirit. You remember that one confusing playlist I had you watch?"

"Which one?"

"American Boot, bread tank, space cakes, that stuff."

"Ahh, that one. He made all that?"

"Yes. I suppose a closer look is in order?"

Searing gave him a resigned look. "We're not getting out of here without getting closer, are we?"

"Nope."

The mare sighed. "Do you want me in unicorn or human form?"

Discord thought about it for a full minute. "Let's go human. The payoff will be spectacular!"

"Payoff?"

"You'll know later. For now, you need to get dressed." He tossed her some shiny, tight looking latex clothes, and a booklet with a picture of the full outfit on it. "Let me know if you need any help." With a snap, the full carpet bathroom appeared around Searing, and after going to her human form, she started on the outfit.

Before putting anything on, Searing looked at the booklet. The cover described the outfit as a chemical and biohazard protection set with full filtration, full coverage, and easy breathing. She looked between the description and picture a few times. "I'd rather have function only. Still, it does look good."

The first piece to go on was the mostly transparent bodysuit, with some opaque bits to preserve some degree of modesty. To her irritation, the wedges on the feet were attached, but they weren't anything she couldn't handle. There was a zipper on the back, and it closed very smoothly.

The second piece was the dress, and it was a snug fit, though not restrictive. While straightening and smoothing it out, Searing noticed that the back felt clean and smooth, with no trace of the zipper underneath.

The gloves were a trivial matter and fit like a glove, barely worth mentioning.

The fourth part was a dual hood and collar, with one snug hood that went over her head and a larger loose one like one would find on a winter coat. The mask's tubing attached to the back of the larger hood, but there was nothing to see or feel on the inside. The filtration process was likely all magical, and she was fine with that.

The last piece was the mask itself, which fit neatly on and sealed well with the latex on Searing's head. Securing the straps behind her head was a bit tricky, but she got it secured with some effort. To her relief, she could still breathe easily enough, and while everything was a bit darker, it was simply like looking through tinted sunglasses instead of a near-blinding darkness.

She didn't have long to look at herself in the carpet mirror (however that worked) before the bathroom disappeared. Where her reflection was, Discord now stood, three gas masks over his face and wrapped head to tail in clear stuff. "Okay, I have some questions," Searing said.

"Is one of them why you get the lovely set that you're wearing now and I only get the saran wrap?" Discord asked. "If so, it's because I got scammed by the design team. The result is very nice, but they charged way too much to design and make it. Took up almost the entire budget. All I could afford for myself was the saran wrap, and even then, I had to negotiate on the price."

"What design team?"

"The team of Scetchie, Shaddi, and Skamm." He paused after saying the names. "I really should have seen it coming."

"Yeah. And maybe you can have the Dewey, Cheetum, and Howe contract attorneys look into it."

Discord snapped and nothing happened. "That's an excellent idea, Searing! There's no way that could possibly go wrong. Now, onwards, into the black!"

Searing followed Discord into the murky sphere. The data grasshoppers were no longer visible. As they approached the center, the motes of light became clearer. Each one was a set of monitors on a cluttered desk, and each desk had someone sitting at it. Each person, their faces rendered featureless, had a vest with a name on the back. Doctor Lalve, Eltorro64Rus, LazyPurple, SoundSmith, BruvaAlfabusa, and more that the author either doesn't know, can't think of, or just doesn't feel like listing.

As they approached the middle, a haze filled the air, blurring what few things could be seen. Finally, they found their guy. STBlackST, like everyone else, was at a cluttered desk. The surface was covered in open TF2 medkits, and there was a white powder over everything. "Is that. . . Cocaine?" Searing asked. She'd learned enough in Crystal Prep to recognize the stuff.

"No. It's the drugs good stuff. No sane man can make the kind of stuff he does, and this is the answer to how he does that. That is the stuff that scares me."

"Can't you just, I don't know, choose for it to not affect you?"

"This stuff is so powerful, I can't do that."

STBlackST paused from the train scene he was working on and slammed his face into the drugs good stuff, kicking up a cloud of the stuff.

"It's that potent?" Searing asked, keeping her distance from the drugs good stuff.

"It is. And I'm going to get some for myself." Discord carefully went around the desk, sneakily grabbed a bottle with a pair of long tongs, and put it in a glass jar. After securing the lid, he teleported it away.

"What use would you have for that?"

"Souvenirs are a thing, you know. I just need to carefully rinse it all off before putting it with the rest of my stuff."

"Yeah, sure." Searing's face suddenly itched and she brought a hand up to scratch it. Not only did she fail on account of the latex, but she suddenly started seeing weird things. "Discord. . ."

"Yes, Searing?"

"Why is. . . What is. . ." She suddenly collapsed.

Author's Notes:

The picture popped up once in a Discord server that I'm part of. Liked it, saved it, and put it in my dA sta.sh so I can embed it here.

There's only one chapter left after this one, then SVUA will be done.