The Magilev train zoomed along the track, fortunately for Owl Canterlot would soon to be reached thanks to the high speed train. He stared out the window from his seat at the starry night sky, though not as hypnotic as a nightclub the clear night sky of stars and Luna's moon was enough to make him zone out. Owl was a type of pony who would often take the time to zone out and drift away in thought, it was his method of therapy and seemed better than the hundreds of Digibits in cost a 'professional' therapist could offer.
The inner wounds of his divorce were torn back open a bit by having one of few days he got to see his daughter interrupted suddenly. If this wasn't at least a level 11 threat, just two levels short of a level 13 or Terrorism Threat, he swore he was going to slap the pony who ordered him today. Though the train came with small screens on the backs of every seat for everypony to purchase and watch various forms of entertainment, Owl didn't bother now being too focused on the night sky and his inner thoughts consisting mostly of anger and unrest. Eventually he would see the Equestrian capitol city approach close.
Canterlot was a much different city from it's classic ancient image, the old city was still seen and lived in mostly by local corporate personnel who could afford the small but price homes. The mountain now acted as the main support for multiple large ring like structures of steel and concrete which housed a large number of buildings. The old Canterlot city, or the Classic Sub-District, was part of one such ring. From a distance the mountain was a sight to behold, it looked as if Canterlot itself visited a Crystal Corp/EQUE-TECH cybernetics shop and came out with a number of bionic augmentations.
From Canterlot down many levels of the mountain were multiple rings accessed between through a spiraling tunnel road carved into the mountain. Between the ring structures were a number of mansions carved and built into the side of the mountain, partially exposed to the outside with a balcony and windows to grant the rich ponies who owned these structures quite the view. At the foot of the mountain, as if spilled from it, was the lower city and it's six districts. Sprawling at around half the size of Battania's sprawl, the lower city was home to sixty percent of the population.
Surprisingly to some the urban spill was one of the less vibrant urban sprawls in Equestria, fewer nightclubs and mostly the usual advertisement strewn screens dotted the buildings. Most of Canterlot's culture was on the rings, the lower city was almost like their spilled waste. For being in such close proximity to the center of the RSG and RLG as well as Equestria's Princesses combined with the Harmony Council, Canterlot was not without it's crime levels. Though no major criminal syndicates operated in the city there was a number of muggings, murders, and even some light drug trade occurred within the Urban Spill.
The Magilev train pulled into the station at the edge of the Urban Spill, Owl would hear the automated synthetic voice on the train say "Arriving at Canterlot InterCity Station one". As the train pulled to a stop in the station and the doors opened up Owl got up from his seat and stretched his limbs and wings to kick start his body from sit mode to walk and fly mode. Trotting out into the Station he would head out, met with the sounds of mechanum wheels from the various autocarriages rolling onto the asphalt in the vast complex and almost maze like networks of roads and streets of the Urban Spill.
Auto carriages mostly of the smaller two door types, moderately sized four door, and larger transport kind could be seen rolling all over the streets. Normally this many vehicles would lead to a number of cluttered and jammed streets, however thanks to the advancement of the centralized city systems along with the advent of self driving autocarriage allowed traffic to be managed very efficiently. One of many wonders of the Centralized City Systems, or CCS's, which despite the alleged risk of the whole city getting hacked ensured little public resistance to the CCS's advent.
Spreading his wings and taking flight Owl would make his way toward the top Ring, where the two Royal Guard facilities were located on either side of the Classic Sub-District. Both facilities were similar, ten story facilities though with different insignia's lit and hanging above the entrance. The flight would take some time, even for a swift flyer such as Owl, as the Urban Spill alone made for a long distance between the station and the Rings.
Skyscrapers on the Urban Spill were almost entirely of the residential apartment type, given the lower city itself was constructed in response to a swelling population even the rings could not hold. When population grew too large on the ground, urban sprawl was the answer, unless in a cloud city where going up and building another level was an option.
Unfortunately flying was not always perfectly effective in keeping one perfectly safe from mugging, though less common mugging in the sky did happen. Owl generally flew high, above most of the buildings so as to try to not have to move around them. He was aware of the risk of encountering Roof Muggers, given it was night and he was above the view of most CCS security cameras it was the place where some less than legal types might try to strike.
Sure enough a small young group of pegasi, a smaller gang, hung around atop an apartment building known as 'Willow Tree'. Spotting him they whispered to eachother and took flight one pulling out a shock baton, a decently common self defense weapon. Being young they were unaware their attempts to be sneaky were futile as Owl, being a bat pony, had very sharp hearing and could hear some flapping behind him. Looking behind he heard the electric buzz before seeing the baton being swung at him.
Moving back, the swing missing, another pony tried lung and kick at him, only for the faster bat to move to the side. The ponies tried to surround him but Owl was much faster, the pony with the baton attempted to lunge and swing only for Owl to stop his hoof and wrap his own around the pony's neck. Though not of the types of guards tasked with administering force against public threats he was still given training in shooting and unarmed combat as per standard for every member of both guards. Drawing his pistol he yelled.
"Got a lotta nerve trying to assault Royal Guard Personnel." He said sternly to them, the only reason he didn't break a nose was the fact these ponies looked like young adults at the oldest.
"BUCK! HE'S A GUARD??" said one as they backed all backed off. Their toughness
"You better give me a reason not to report you, cause assault on Royal personnel could get you all in a nice cell, with your cellmates ready to have at it with all your tailholes!" Said Owl sternly, taking advantage of a popular legend of the prison systems.
The ponies backed off and begged for him to not report them for this, luckily since not a bruise was layed on him he considered giving them a pass. Owl let the pony he held go and shoved him forward "Don't go trying to be some tough band of thugs, even if you fly above the cameras the law WILL find you and you'll pay the price!" The ponies quickly flew away, him yelling "You will!".
Owl sighed as he continued on his way, at least such things were less common in Canterlot, he had been in Detrot to see such things as rag tag gangs be more common. He hoped this little lesson would encourage them to pursue more legal and less violent paths in life. Putting his weapon back into his jacket Owl continued his flight. Eventually, he reached the RLG facility, landing at the entrance and walking on in. The secretary at the desk was the only non-bat in the facility, who greeted Owl as he entered.
"Hello Owl, sorry you were forced off leave, but something serious happened in Everfree City a few hours ago. Major hack into the CCS occurred, caused a lot of damage....physical damage...it appears to be a possible level 13."
Owl perked up from his rather down attitude at the mention of a 'Level 13'. Threats marked level 13 were the least common, but most dangerous in the 'Threat Spectrum Scale 13' as they indicated direct attacks against the social order. While criminal syndicates could reach up to threat level 11 at most, since they admittedly weren't out to break social order, a level 13 indicated an individual or group intent on directly attacking the social order and creating fear. Looking to the Secretary he asked her intently.
"What happened? Isn't there a team of 100 ponies employed JUST FOR SECURITY OF THE SYSTEM??"
The secretary replied nervously. "I-I Don't know, I'm wondering it myself, not like programming college freshponies are hired to keep the city systems safe! Must have been a whole team of highly skilled hackers that have done this."
"Digital Hoof? Think it could have been them that's responsible?"
"Unlikely, nothing to indicate it was them, and we both know they don't like keeping it unknown when they do something."
"Guess the Chief will explain the rest." Owl said as he quickly went to the meeting room before the Secretary mare could even tell where the Chief would be. He luckily was correct in his assumption as the Chief along with some fellow Investigations and Interrogations ponies were present in seats at the meeting room.
The chief was an older bat pony stallion in his fifties, a veteran of the force who earned his place as Chief after a career with Sector 4, Special Enforcement, the soldiers of the Lunar Guard who dealt with the threats who were armed and dangerous using more covert special operations tactics. The Solar Guard had a similar unit, Heavy Enforcement, who were used for situations that called for more well armored force.
"Greetings Owl, glad you are here." Kevlar said, "I'm sorry you were brought off leave, on the same day you see your kid no less...but this is a situation that is quite severe."
"I heard...Level 13...hacked the CSS and..." Owl said before Kevlar said.
"Caused an autocarriage pileup, overloaded some city lights and set some fires, and left a message on a number of city screens."
"Did it show any signs from Digital Hoof?"
"None, just red screens with the text 'Freedom Comes' on it."
"Freedom comes?" Owl asked, raising an eyebrow.
"I don't know what exactly that means either." Kevlar would activate the projector, which showed security camera footage of the event that was happening. Security cameras were everywhere in cities, part of the surveillance system meant to keep things under watch since it would be inefficient to send ponies constantly to keep every an eye on every little thing.
The footage from multiple cameras showed a few parked autocarriages suddenly springing to life and driving into eachother erratically. The nearby screens went from displaying adds for cleaning products to the aforementioned message in white of 'Freedom Comes' in plain white font on a red background. Lights seemed to glow brighter and brighter before shorting out and breaking, some causing fires. All of the Investigation and Interrogation personnel looked in shock and gasped at what happened. A more experienced I&I agent, named Night Vision and a friend of Owl, said.
"Well, this is bucking outrageous what the buck was the CCS security doing??? Did they not call for help from Sector 5???" Night Vision was not as old as Kevlar, being only in his forties, but he was a skilled veteran of I&I who normally could keep calm and collected. This was an exception as he suspected some form of incompetence at play.
Kevlar would raise a hoof and calmly motion for Vision to quiet. "They were aware when things went awry and made extensive efforts to put a stop to it I assure you, even woke ponies from the Day Shift to try to help. They contacted Sector 5, who were very quick to react if they could stop things they were mostly over by the time they got into the CCS. I will say though that CSS's security team do deserve a reprimand for not calling the CyberGuard sooner, even if not initially aware of the full scope of the threat at play."
Owl would remark "These ain't no script kiddies to hack the CCS and cause that much Damage. Were S5 able to track the hack?"
"Matter of fact they had some success on that front, the hackers were skilled but it seems they got a bit cocky. Managed to track the signals before the Hackers could fully cover their tracks. Approximately they are somewhere in the south district near old ponyville, looked at some Surveillance footage in the area and saw some less than star citizen looking folks. All appeared to carry a weapon of some kind, we could just be looking at some ragtag gang but could also have potentially found some operation involving the hackers who jacked the CSS."
Another friend of Owl's made her own remark. "So that's where we come in, come along in there and peep at 'em to see what they do? So S4 can roll in and lay the smackeroo their moms couldn't give em?" a somewhat laid back and humorous silver bat mare named Data Miner, a code cracking type good at hacking from the wrist computer. She was really good at it but was luckily leaned away from the lawless path by her Guard of a father and instead toward keeping up the Law. She was easy to befriend and liked to lighten up the mood even in stressful times, though occasionally was a little less serious than she should be.
Kevlar smiled and nodded. "That we will, hackers are going to regret bucking with the system. Even if they've hired armed thugs it won't protect them when the law comes to whoop some flank. They'll wish their parents better whooped theirs for behaving bad." Even if she was a bit too light hearted at times he was glad to have somepony lighten things up while still be competent at their job. Data was the youngest member of I&I, being in her early twenties, and was considered to be the morale boost.
Even if her jokes didn't exactly work always her demeanor paid off in keeping things from getting too glum or boring. Owl smiled as he looked to Data, smiling as he heard her speak, his second favorite pony to speak to next to Limerick. If an operation was to happen he hoped he would be teamed with Data, as well as his other friend Vision. Luckily the Chief knew they were both his closest friends in the force.
"We'll split you up into teams to investigate and infiltrate incognito, I'm sure you know standard procedure from here." Kevlar said, I&I personnel lacked any form of non ceremonial uniform in favor of typically wearing casual utility wear. Being Law Enforcement Spies they had to be able to blend incognito up until they started sneaking around. Sneaking around because even if he was not looking like a guard, being a Bat Pony who not in Battania or Canterlot would likely make criminals be suspicious.
I&I forces would head in, eavesdrop conversations, take pictures using their wrist computers of any evidence, then get out quickly and quietly to report their findings. I&I were 'The eyes where cameras could not see' it was their unofficial motto. Cameras were effective in keeping things under watch, but the underground had countless methods of circumventing them ranging from manipulating live footage through hacks, going on the move incognito, or even talking to an art known as parkour and hopping roofs when one lacks wings.
Such methods were known, and if needed would most often result in I&I being utilized. The 'Interrogation' part of I&I also indicated a purpose which involved questioning suspects and witnesses using various techniques. Interrogation was part of their overall purpose of gathering information, and was often carried out through scare tactics if a suspect was thought to hide things.
The trip to Everfree City for the teams would be carried out through public transport, part of the procedures of incognito, Owl and his two friends would, however, go to get what would be a late meal before heading to the InterCity. Accompanied by his friends they would chat a bit on how they would carry things out through their wrist computers set on Telepathy mode.
Data would say "So, let's talk the plan. We got some potential cyberterrorist to help bust, so let's look and see what cookie jar they got their hooves in."
"Niiiice metaphor Data, you should write a book with those skills." Said Vision sarcastically though not maliciously.
"Oh come on you try to make something better Vissie!" replied Data with a mental chuckle.
"I'm a royal police spy, not an author."
"Back on topic guys, we ain't gonna get too any directions though Telepathy Calls from the Chief you know, don't want the hackers there to track it and blast our cover." Said Owl as they all entered a donut shop.
"Oh! Yea the plan!" said Data quickly. "Well you both know I can jack into things pretty well, I'll gain access to cameras, see if I can backdoor their computers, maybe even make some 'distractions'."
"While I keep watch on things from outside, dealing with any suspects I might see, and Owl.."
"Goes in for the deep investigation, sneak around, take pictures, grab evidence if possible, eavesdrop, the works." Owl Replied.
"Nopony does it like you do Owl, stealth's your cutie mark after all." Vision replied to Owl. He wasn't incorrect, Owl's very special talent was stealth and silence. He could fly silently like his namesake, hide among the environment and even move around silently. He had snuck into plenty of criminal hideouts and gone through the whole operation without leaving any evidence of his presence, like a ghost not in the mood for haunting it's house. He was good at avoiding detection, the best in the guard, and that was why they called for him in this worst case scenario situation.
Following their brief and rather small breakfast at the donut place, with the choice between Train served food often described as 'crap' and sugary donuts being one not difficult. Thus the three would fly their way to the InterCity station, seeing the others heading there as well. All would book different trains, while some others not at the station chose to take the long drive by autocarriage. They all desired not to be seen together as much as possible since a flock of bats would be even more suspicious. Luckily Everfree city was closer to Canterlot than Battania, so they could reach the city while dawn was still yet to come.
Everfree City, possibly the most controversial city in it's construction. Once the everfree forest, a feared and ever present place filled with monsters and strange plants. No forest was safe in the age of urban sprawl, and the Everfree was no exception despite it's resistance. When it couldn't be harvested as much as desired it was eventually destroyed using various magical and mostly explosive weapons to make way for the new city. It was a years process marked with seemingly endless controversy. Despite the opposition the support for building the future prevailed and the whole forest was soon destroyed. Following the destruction and harvest of what remained the construction of Equestria's second largest urban habitat.
Only the megalith of Manehattan surpassed the sprawling size of Everfree city, said to have apparitions of the creatures of the past haunting the night streets to this day. Not that old ghosts would be really paid much mind to, given that Everfree City was the beacon of Equestria's modern culture. Being the place of the megacorporation EQUE-TECH's headquarters, a massively tall 500 story tower on a plus shaped foundation, and a place with the most nightclubs and other places of culture out of all cities in Equestria.
It was home to the Modern Cyberculture movement. Cyber Goths, Hackers, and others made up the movement which came to define the culture of the city. Both the lawful and the unlawful were part of the culture, and it was hard to tell between them as the public and underground almost blended together with the former still partially oblivious to the other.
The massive spire of the EQUE-TECH HQ Tower came into view from the InterCity train before everything else, towering above every other structure in the financial district. It's massive architectural majesty a site to behold ponies looked at usually at least once a day, literally standing out from every other skyscraper. It was said everypony in Everfree looked to the great structure at least once per day or night, though not a beacon of Everfree's Culture it was an ultimate monument to the power of the Megacorporation.
Owl had been to this city multiple times, and mostly to investigate drug trafficking. Though the forest was long gone, some of it's plants remained and sometimes grew either in parks, through cracks in asphalt, or a few other places. Such plants were often found, harvested, and grown in private for use in a number of different drugs. Due to this there was no city with more drug crime than Everfree, most of the current types of drugs to be found nowadays were invented there. Some would argue that the culture is the comeback of the Everfree Forest only instead of a forest full of crazy plants and deadly creatures it was now a concrete and steel jungle of counterculture, neon and screen board lights, Music, drugs, and the entertainment industries at their peak.
Owl personally wondered if he was going to find some drugs at whatever place they find the potential perpetrators at. It then seemed to him unlikely as one does not hack so well while high as the EQUE-TECH tower, let alone hack the CCS and make things go haywire. Him and his two friends would exit the train and station while Owl pulled up the holographic screen and activated a waypoint to the area. Used both in Autocarriages to guide their self-driving modes and for ponies on the walk or flight, Waypoints were an advancement of the Cyber Age used by every pony in Equestria for getting from point A to B. In the massive and at times labyrinthine networks of streets and alleys getting from place to place practically required Waypoint applications for the Autocarriage and Wrist Computers.
Even if you lived in a city your whole life, the sheer size of the modern megacity made it likely you would never be able to know a small fraction of the city. Owl knew only a small slice of Battania, and only the sights everypony knew in Everfree. He decided to fly along around mid building level with his friends around mid building level, given the chance of getting Roof Mugged was much higher in a crazy city like Everfree. As they flew along Night vision looked to the various apartment buildings they flew past, ranging from ten to even fifty stories tall. He said to his companions.
"I heard a long time ago in the industrial times many ponies used to own their own homes, funny how in the future that's a luxury."
"Only houses left are expensive mansions owned by the one percent." remarked Owl back.
"Now everypony not hugely rich lives in an apartment, not much room for houses in the future." said Data, who then spotted an Apple Organics 'Tall Farm'. "Neither for the Classic Farmlands, they mention of old."
Tall farms were an invention of the Cyber Age, a reply to the growing urban and shrinking rural. Farmland was growing smaller while cities grew larger, advancements thus invented tall skyscrapers with each level housing soil and crops. Surrogate sunlight provided through special lights gave the crops their light, sprinklers their water, and automated robotic arms food. These allowed for farmland to be contained within a small square of land, perfect for the age of sprawling megacities. Need more space? Just build the farms taller.
The particular tall farm the three encountered was Apple Organics Produce sight 16, six 300 story skyscrapers all arranged together with a security wall surrounding the base and cameras all along the sides of the buildings. Apple organics were not the only ones who made Tall Farms, but they were the biggest user of Tall Farms. As for the classic house they were mostly either in city outskirts, or when the outskirts expanded with the sprawl within cities and surrounded by security walls for privacy. The homes of the rich were almost like the modern castles with their fancier living inside and a wall partially shutting off the outside.
After some time of flying they reached an area, in the typical cliches of story one would expect such an area inhabited by potential terrorists to be a run-down slum. This would not be the case, as the area was rife with street performers, colorful prostitutes, drunken apartment parties, Night Clubs, and almost everything Cyberculture. A true microcosm of what made Everfree Everfree, ponies all around smoked from electronic pipes exhaling smoke of various colors and flavors. A much as Owl enjoyed these types of colorful environments he found himself uneasy as his sharp bat snoot caught the scent of what seemed like a multitude of drugs.
Electronic cigars were popular all around, and legally sold with cartridges of flavored oils. Initially made to get ponies off cigars and the industrial era's cigarettes, and ironically becoming their replacement. Though the hypodermic needle was still somewhat popular in administering of narcotics electronic Cigars, or 'Vaportubes' as the street knew them, were most popular and set to replace the needle as drugs could be taken easily in the form of homemade oils. Homemade oils weren't illegal on their own, but ones with narcotics were, and Owl was at one point feeling surrounded. Looking to Data he sent a call in Telepathy.
"You smell that? That's Party Cake I think, Moon Dust, Solar Nectar.." all were street names of various kinds of drugs. Nearly every drug was made into Vapor Oil.
"Yea, training for smelling that crap's kicking in, gosh I hope to Luna I don't get this in my system."
"Let's try and fly above the vapors, might not be best to try a big drug bust right now." Replied Night vision joining the call.
They all soon enough reached the waypoint, where a mall came into view, a large skyscraper building with many levels of business, arcades, clubs, and restaurants inside. It along with the apartments next to it were sites of the suspected shady figures. Owl looked to his team members as he said into the Telepathic Call.
"Now is where we split up, now to enact the plan. You all ready?"
"Ready as a rowdy dog wanting to play fetch. Let's snoop on some cyberterrorist tush." Replied Data.
"That's what you do pervy mare." Vision said with a chuckle, inciting Data to laugh and say in reply.
"Buck ooooff!" She wrinkled her nose and chuckled, inciting a chuckle with Owl before asking Vision.
"Gonna be keeping watch around the place, skim the surface while you do the deep search."
"And I'll be your eye in the Cyber Sky~" Said Data, and with that they all split up. Owl would leisurely explore the area, it was nice to be able to and was the best way to search given it made him less suspicious. He decided to take a look around the mall, walking in and looking up at the many levels to be found inside, with a space through each one to allow flight between floors.
It was very colorful and well occupied with various kinds of ponies many in colorful outfits. He almost stood out for not having colorful clothing and a crazy mane with neon dyes, luckily it wasn't so and the crowd proved useful for blending in. He looked at the time on his wrist computer, 3:58 am, sunlight was not far away and he was hoping to get things set up before daylight. If efficient enough they could maybe have things done for tonight before the daylight. He looked around for some time, fighting off the hypnosis of the ambient colors around him when he got a telepathic call from Data.
"Yo Ow, got something, in that mall there too~ I think somepony might be tampering with things in.." he then got a waypoint. "....That. Place. Go get em, tiger, ~"
Flying up to an upper level of the Mall he landed in front of an arcade, a hub for multiple large VR pods which offered experiences nothing but the most expensive VRGDs offered at a fraction of the price. The VR pods ranged from sword fighting action, shooting, driving, and the 'NFK' Not for Kids box. Made intentionally simple and boring looking on the outside so as to not attract any nonadults, and for good reason as the inside had fun which was only appropriate for adults.
Owl looked around the place, it was a decently large arcade, he wondered if some supposedly 'out of order' VR machine might be secretly converted into a hacker's mini hideout. A single stallion stood at a desk near the arcade's entrance, giving Owl the usual greeting and question of which machine he wanted to use. Owl would simply reply to the stallion that he was browsing for now. The one behind the desk was a young and somewhat lanky cybergoth with bionic eyes emitting a blue light. Asking Data in the call he said..
"Where exactly did your signal come from exactly? Back of the place? Is the pony at the desk hiding a computer under his desk."
"NFK pod, one to the left marked 'out of order'- buck I think they spotted me backing off!" Data said, cutting the call with Owl. He looked over to the simple black pod marked in bland white text 'NFK' on the side. He was going to ask and make sure whoever hid in there wasn't 'up to anything'. He approached it slowly and looked to the cyber goth at the corner of his eye, the other stallion seemed to be doing the same and looking somewhat suspicious as he approached. He would look on over to the pods, seeing the 'out of order' sign. He would hear from the desk goth.
"Thing's outta order, gonna have to do your business elsewhere."
"What happened did somepony make too much of a mess for even the machine to clean?"
"Eeehh yea you don't wanna look in there." a somewhat nervous tone came from the desk goth. Owl went around it and put his tufted ear up next to it. He heard something, not silence nor the sounds of a pony's pleasure, being a bat paid off with sharp hearing as he could hear the distinctive sound of....typing. Suddenly he saw the stallion type something on his wrist computer and Owl would hear some frankly unconvincing moaning as the desk pony said.
"Bucking perv I put that sign there to keep perverts like you ou-"
"Can it!" Owl said as he looked to the side of the machine and pressed the 'emergency open' button, placed there in case something went wrong. Inside, sure enough, the whole interior of the pod was converted into a practical cockpit of hacking with multiple screens, a keyboard and mouse pad, and it's occupant who looked to him with a scream. The bat could see there was a lot of code on the screen installed into the pod.
Owl pulled the mare out of the pod and drew his weapon. The desk goth quickly pressed a button causing the entrance to close up like in closing time. He'd pick up the mare as the lights went out, being a bat pony also paid in seeing in low light conditions. The desk goth, his blue glowing bionic eyes shining in the darkness as he held a suppressed pistol aimed to Owl.
"Shouldn't have been snooping around here bucko."
"Should have picked a better place to hide your hacker marefriend than a VR pod."
"You'll find that you're a.." the desk goth grinned. "Luna-tick to buck with the freedom fighters."
"You're choice of puns is almost as bad as your choice to hide a hacker here only a block from the site of you're little 'demonstration'."
The Desk goth kept the weapon aimed at him, Owl was ironically the one holding the gun and a mare as a possible deterrent from being shot. It was usually the police pony who was facing a criminal holding a pony as a shield. Seeing as the Desk Goth did not look intent on aiming the weapon away Owl though fast. He let go of the mare and pistol whipped her to knock her out, he wasn't taking chances that she was armed and would go after him. The desk goth fired a shot as Owl flew out of the way in an instant, he hid at the opposite side of one of the pods, the Goth moving to try to get aim on him.
Putting his stealth skills to use Owl quickly scurried silently along the floor just under the Goth's line of sight. As the stallion looked to see Owl not there he looked around and had his weapon pistol whipped from his hoof by Owl, who proceeded to shoulder him into the wall of the machine behind him. The lanky stallion was unable to push back against a well combat trained bat pony and was thus held there at gunpoint. Suddenly the goth's wrist computer lit up as a call was made, the stallion looked to the computer and smirked. Owl looked to see a contact which read "DK" and demanded
"Who is that calling? Answer it and don't set it to telepathy!"
The stallion answered it and a digitally altered voice answered. "You are in for one Tartarus of a surprise, Owl Talon~"
The entrance to the arcade machine suddenly opened as lights in all visible shops and places went haywire. Ponies inside the mall looked around in confusion at the things that occurred. Suddenly the entrance into the Mall itself was close off as ponies scrambled for the door and banged on it, wondering what was going on. Owl looked out to see the lights go haywire and looked to the desk goth with a scowl. He quickly tried to call Data but found the call was canceled. The digitally altered Voice said..
"Oh, just another 'demonstration' against your law's tyrrany~"
In the corner of his eye, he spotted the mare get up, turning to aim the gun at her before it was swiftly kicked out from his hoof. The mare smirked as she grabbed Owl and held him against the VR pod, saying.
"Shouldn't peep on a mare when she's in private~" She proceeded to shove him in the direction of the entrance before sending a powerful two hoof buck sending him flying out and knocking the wind out of him. The mare's strength indicated under likely artificial skin was hidden some tough bionic limbs. Owl tried to get up only to be kicked over the side of the railing and sent falling down the floors. he luckily spread his wings and managed to soften his meeting with the ground, looking up he narrowly dodged an incoming drop kick from the mare.
She stood up on two legs with and rubbed her head as she followed with "Shouldn't hit a mare either." lowering her hoof as four short but sharp blades extended from slits on her hoof. Owl barely managed recovered and dodged before she slashed at him, evading a sliced up jugular and instead having his cheek sliced through with three of the blades. Adrenaline pulling him through the pain he took flight above her as the mare stopped looking somewhat impatient as a call came to her through wrist computer, and an electric sound of wings could be heard.
Owl looked as two spritedrones. Common and popular toys of the age used by children and adults alike, small spherical machines with wings on them usually controlled though a Wrist Computer application. They were often given cameras for some photography, and that's what Owl thought these were for only to see them project a three dimensional holographic image before him.
It was quite possibly the edgiest looking cyberculture pony he saw in his life. Standing in holographic form was a mare dressed in a very cyberculture style sleeve cut trench coat with a decorative gas mask over her face. Her mane was black with some red dye, spiked and wild on the head while hanging messily down her neck.
Her tail was also short and spiked with some dye of its own. Her exposed forelegs showed tattoos of code and pixels nearly covering the skin and only barely having the room to show her coat color was gray. It was quite the high-quality hologram indeed. Owl looked to the hologram as his sliced cheeks bled down the side of his face, as the mare began to speak in the same digitally altered voice as from the call.
"Well well looks like we have a spy here, a spy of the tyranny that is the law." the mare seemed somewhat hyperactive in her tone and seemed to express herself partially through bodily movements. "Looks like the Lunies sent a spy looking for us, those bait thugs proved effective in drawing you here. Forgive me for initially thinking you were not stupid enough to fall for ARMED PONIES WALKING INTO CAMERAS! I mean seriously you really think we're stupid??-Hello! We hacked the bucking CCS! Dumb ponies don't do that!" Owl got up and looked at the hologram as he said.
"So you're one of those 'freedom fighters' who the cybergoth at the desk mentioned....sounds like you're just a bunch of criminals trying to immaturely justify your inability to have responsibility for your criminal actions." He spoke rather sternly but also with a bit of attitude added to it. Some difficulty came with the slight but sharp pain in his sliced cheek. The mare in the mask simply laughed and said.
"Well Yepperoo on the first thing, the second thing that's a thing only a tailhole whore of the law would say. We're here to deliver all ponies from the tyranny that is your laws. To bring the underground up that it will come to kick the flank of the propaganda high matrix that is your public puppet ring! We are here to wake ponies up from the slumber of ignorance with a hot and horny tongue kiss! Cut down your tower of governmental and corporate power and let all kinds roam free to evolve and shape the world as they see fit! No more propaganda manipulating ponies into giving up the rights they once had! No more corporations dominating markets and manipulating the corrupt law to their favor! We are going to free ponykind, and other kinds too, that individual wills will decide the future rather than entitled collectives!"
Owl listened to this speech seemingly crazed speech, he eventually cut her off and said. "You seem to speak a whole lot of ambition with a heaping dose of insanity and possibly some narcotics mixed in!"
"Narcotics what narcotics?" the mare asked as she pulled out an E-Cigar and lifted her mask a bit to smoke from it before exhaling it from the mask. "Thinking you're the good guy aren't you? Thinking just cause you peep pones to stop drugs and gangs and even take on criminal syndicates you're some hero no?"
"I don't think myself a hero you crazy bucking edgelord." snapped Owl as he held his cheek. "But I don't see how the ponies who caused thousands of digibits of damage and almost killed a bunch of ponies can be the good guys!"
"Can the force that sometimes tortures or manipulates suspects into confession be called good guys?"
"Bucks sake I DO INTERROGATIONS! WE DON'T DO THAT CRAP-!"
"Ooooh you don't, but when you're work isn't effective sometimes some muscle is called in. Guess they don't tell you to try to keep you on their own propaganda train of the guard being the flawless protectors."
"Buck off you lying lowlife! We don't think ourselves flawless but WE'RE not the corrupt ones!! Calling us corrupt is bucking rich coming from you!"
"Ooooh, don't you worry now we don't think our selves morally above you, I just like curb stomping the delusions of hypocrites. Then again we see morality fed in its life support by your propaganda to be an...obsolete construct, like a fifty-year-old computer."
"Calling morality outdated!? Insane buckers you are guard's gonna find you buckers and take out those we can't throw into prison!"
"Try and find us if you may~ You'll find we're quite..elusive~"
"Think those opposing moral standards ever win? Look at history!"
"What have the elements of 'harmony' ever done for society in the past centuries. Tell me mister good guy~"
"They run the government right now! Keep things in order from the top alongside the princesses!"
Imitating a game show buzzer the mare in mask says. "Oooooh, you think they're helping to keep Equestria safe? Mmmmmmm wrooooonng~! Ponies are murdered every day, ponies die of overdosing on drugs, they get into gang violence and catch poor saps for trafficking. Why do you think they turned the Royal Guard into a police force? Because their pretty little jewelry was made for fighting big scary monsters. They can't fight a, quote on quote, 'threat' to ponykind that consists OF part of ponykind. Thus they made you into their cleanup crew, but alas even you can't stop everything that goes on in the underground~"
"If we can't kill the lawless underground we'll keep beating it into submission!"
"You can try for as long as you like, but soon enough you'll see that the stalemate battle is soon going to shift in our favor, and you'll see the futility of staving off the obsolescence of old morals. That is....if my friend here doesn't slice you up, and maybe get rid of that scruff on your neck~" The hologram faded with the mare saying one final word. "Soon enough, pony kind will stand for Ever... Free~"
The mare with the blades grins and looks to Owl, who quickly tries to call Data. "Data!!! Data get-" the call failed. "Buuuuck." the mare approached slowly swaying her hips as she said in a seductive yet venomous tone.
"Let's dance baby~"