A knock on the door would come to Anomaly's door, being in a trance of focus and thought she would scream out in fright. Catching her breath she would look over to the door, calling out "W-who is it?"
"It's Golden, here with some other ponies to talk to you about something."
She would look to the door, thinking quickly on whether or not she should let her in or tell her she is in no mood to speak with her. In the end out of curiosity of what she would have to say Anomaly would unlock the door. To her surprise, she would see not just Golden but also Myriad and the Lunar Guard Chief himself as well. The mare felt alarmed at first but trusted that they weren't intent on reestablishing her confinement.
"Greetings Anomaly, been a while since I have seen you in person and even longer since I have spoken directly." replied Myriad "I am just going to cut to the chase, we are aware you may have found a certain secret in your dealings with the virus. In hopes that we might satisfy whatever investigative curiosity you might have, and to help further bring you onto our side we have come to reveal some things."
Anomaly tilted her head, raising her eyebrow as her computer mind processed what was told to her. She took note that Myriad used the word 'we' when the RLG Chief was with them. Information was their offer, and though she was very much up for receiving it she felt like whatever she might get could be distorted.
"You see Anomaly..." Golden would say "...we are a bit more than just a corporate CEO, royal official, and royal police chief. We are part of a larger entity, one formed by the princesses and earlier descendants of the elements of harmony. Formed in the wake of these changing times, where magical beasts are no longer the threat to ponykind but instead ponies themselves. Long ago threats could be blasted away with the magic of friendship and a tight bond. Now the threat isn't quite so simple, as it is a threat within the very society we try to protect. With such a threat measures to save ponies from their own potential threat were needed, and thus a new societal system was developed along with a group to moderate it. That group is called Harmonize, for we seek to protect harmony via keeping society in a consistent and safe system of living and thinking. We have managed to rope in many social elite into this organization, hence the presence of Myriad here."
A slight suspicion within Anomaly's mind had been proven true, and now she was very alarmed. It seemed at least her first entry into the PRS was detected even during the attack of the virus. The way Golden spoke to her however indicated her second, more deep expedition went unnoticed. "So your organization built up this whole societal system, the propaganda, the swaying of news in your favor..."
"Don't think of the propaganda as being bad, it is well intentioned. It keeps ponies safe, it's not perfect but we have worked toward maintaining it and dealing with more direct threats to it. We do have a greater plan though, hence the use of the server you discovered, I have a feeling you might know a bit about it."
Kevlar would say "We would like to know how you got into it, and what you know about it."
She pondered on how to answer that, not wanting her tricks to be shown she decided to speak discretely evasive about it. "I had looked into the virus and discovered how it was commanding ponies' minds. It led me into that server, and I now wonder how a server with such a dangerous opening is to be used for the good of society."
"It is intent on bringing society together on a more robust and direct system. Bringing the power of brain augmentations to all citizens and mass producing them to make them affordable, market them well to make them appealing to all." Said Myriad "You are part of that project, the test bed for the technology that will not only enhance computing, but create a means to better protect society. The threat to ponykind lies within ponykind, the criminal cultures, and other influences which threaten to corrupt more and more ponies. That in mind we seek to create a system that lets us protect ponies more directly. Let us tap into their very minds and watch over them to a degree not even Luna's dreamwalking can, protecting and when necessary 'taking the wheel' and helping to keep everypony on the right path. Luna herself proposed such a solution long ago, seeing the dangers of the growing underground."
Anomaly absorbed the information given to her, like a sponge absorbing water. "So you seek to use my kind of brain augmentations to control ponykind, adjust their minds like patches to a computer program, updates to an operating system....."
Golden smiled some and nodded "Yea, we'll make sure that the pony's individual self is preserved, only adjusting what needs adjusting."
"Does a pony even have an 'individual self' if it can be changed and edited on a whim by a larger group or even worse a clever enough hacker. How do you even know you won't need to get drastic if you are going to try to help ponies?" Anomaly asked, a sharp scowl on her face and a confrontational yet calm tone in her voice.
Golden's smile disappeared like a ghost in a fog, as she would reply to Anomaly "Why, of course, they will! In the same way a pony's Messenger Bird profile is very much theirs and personal."
"So a pony's brain will be like a social media profile, seems like a logical step when you're for turning their brains into computers. Still, can't say I am all for that. Letting some shadow group have authority over the very minds of ponies, you can claim that you will try to preserve individual ponies' all you want but in practice, I don't think that will work out like that." Replied Anomaly, slight venom in her tongue as she spoke.
"From more control we have it means more safety for ponies." said Kevlar in a stern tone "If you think we are going to make ponies into identical drones you are mistaken, and rather ignorantly so. Fact is the more control we can have the better it will be for ponies, we can keep track of dangerous thoughts and neutralize them. Managing society to such a degree, once we can bring the technology you harbor and the moderation we harbor, will help to eliminate many of the threats that befall ponykind. Mental illness can literally be deleted, potential murderers can be stopped and reformed in minutes, there is much good that can come from this that you can't deny. Celestia and Luna will be overseeing things too, so your worries of oppressive online overlords are unfounded"
"Do you really think it will all just go that smoothly, you just install a brain-computer in everypony and you can just solve all your problems? I dare say you are all disillusioned, and just because the princesses oversee it don't mean there won't be other members pulling strings, especially when they might have their own agendas." Anomaly looked Myriad in the eye after saying this. "That's also ignoring the very threat you see in front of you, hackers who can tap into the system as well. Hackers who can wreak havoc akin to what was seen in the diamond district."
"We can fight back against them, by any means bucking possible." said Kevlar "Even if we have to hunt them down like the Luna cursed vermin they are to our society. In fact, I'm putting my best from Investigation and Interrogation onto the job of pest control. No more nonlethal capture when possible, we'll only spare some to interrogate whenever possible. These bucking hackers have shown themselves not deserving of such mercy, so I'm going to have them be hunted down. Last they'll see is their little computer screens before they have a bullet hole and are splattered with blood."
"I take it you plan to eventually start assassinating any who threaten the order you are creating once you find it too hard to arrest or 'reform' them," Anomaly said, narrowing her eyes.
"Most certainly, the RLG and SLG's purpose is to protect ponies by any means possible, no means are off limits." said Kevlar sternly and confidently in reply.
"You're all like a cross between an overbearing parent and a mother bear, seeking to shelter those under your care from any struggle and willing to eliminate with prejudice any outsiders to your family unit." Anomaly would say, her voice calming some though with an unfading everpresent venom of opposition.
Golden sighed as she said "Anomaly, our method is the only way forward to a better world. And it's backed up by this generations' elements of harmony and even the princesses. How can you argue against that?"
Anomaly's eyes narrowed, staring into and piercing Golden's eyes like hypodermic needles. "Your way is the only way, how can we be wrong? All that opposes us is evil, t'is the mindset of a cult. You seem to have the illusion that Celestia and Luna are infallible deities, they might have been back in the days of our ancestor Rarity. Those days are gone now, and it's really obvious the princesses aren't so infallible in today's world. If they were, the bright sunshiney days of our ancestor Rarity wouldn't have faded away. And so what if you are elements of harmony, does that matter when it is no longer big scary villains and friendship problems?"
Golden would flinch back, mentally pricked by the thorns in her sister's tongue. "We are trying to adapt Anomaly, we know this problem is one we can't blast away with a friendship beam. We are however still trying to fulfill our duties as element bearers, with the help of many other ponies."
"Like EQUE-TECH, the ones who have taken ponies from other less rich lands and used them for bionic testing?" she said, narrowing her eyes at Myriad who looked in shock.
"Such ridiculous accusations, you have no proof of-"
"You should have had your cyber security put better work in deleting things, your files on the offshore testing facility in the North Luna Ocean. You should have known your encryption, though impressive, wouldn't stop me if I have the motive."
Myriad would freeze, then look over to Kevlar. Looking to her the bat stallion had a scowl and had a look in his eyes that said 'We have a serious problem.' Gold would look to him as well and sigh as she said: "Anomaly, I'm sorry but you are becoming more and more of a serious threat whose intentions have potential consequences you clearly do not foresee." The mare would then pull out a small dart gun, firing a Dart which stuck into Anomaly's foreleg as she gasped. "You'll be let free but not before we put forth some more robust security measures, we'll make you see the error in your-"
Anomaly would lunge at the Chief, trying to pull any sort of weapon from him, the chief pushed her back as she started to succumb to the sedative. Quickly she set her mind to its mode for operating while in sleep, trying to think of a way out of this. She would look through the surveillance cameras in the room to see herself being carried away. She panicked not liking the words 'we'll make you see the error in your ways' presumably being said by Golen before she lunged. The mare would track her movement as she was quietly slipped into the vehicle and taken off to a location. Entering the Shadow web she would make a post on a forum seeking a 'Tazen High'. She didn't want to just call on the help of any hacker, as the only one she might have any trust or familiarity with was the one who assisted her in breaking into the mainframe.
Anomaly would be taken into the Central Everfree Police Department, one of five given the colossal size of the city. A large fortified 25 story building. Judging by security camera footage on her transport it seemed they took the receiver away, reminding her of the advantage she had. They were unaware of her no longer needing it, and thus wouldn't be prepared for what she was capable of. Thinking fast she took out her virus, the weapon given to her by Doctor Freemane and enhanced with what she found in the Diamond Plaza. As her unconscious body was put on a bed in a cell she decided to wait for it to awaken before she would enact her plan. Golden sat in a chair in front of the cell, waiting as Anomaly awoke.
"Hello Anomaly, don't worry you'll be out of here as soon as we can finish things with you. You'll be used as a testbed once more for something that will ensure yours and our safety."
Getting up Anomaly would scowl at Golden and say "Oh so you kidnap me so as to let you put a leash on me is that it?"
"A system that will soon be used to help keep millions safe Anomaly. It'll help with your frankly rash decision making and-"
"Going to control my thinking???" her eyes narrowed, and she realized they would likely use her as a test bed for the 'modify' function of the PRS. Scowling the mare would shout before Golden could say anymore "NO! YOU ARE NOT GOING TO CONTROL MY THINKING! I HAVE HAD IT WITH YOU TRYING TO DECIDE THINGS FOR ME GOLDEN! HAD IT!" Images would show on her eyes as she accessed the interface. Gasping Golden said
"What!? That....we never gave you anything that...where did you get....?" Anomaly would look Golden square in the eye, saying to her with a scowl as she said.
"I got some upgrades, from a lesser known brand." suddenly the lights would go out and another tab would come up in her eyes. Golen tried to shoot a dart only for it to audibly hit the wall behind and clatter, Anomaly's eyes opened to show the illuminating interface in her eyes. She would explore the features and options the virus gave her, and it gave her control of everything in the facility, its tapping into the PRS also gave her another feature
"Guards come here stop her before she-" Golden yelped as one of the officers inside tackled her, holding her in a chokehold while the other approached.
"You're not going to control me anymore Golden, I will choose what I do from here on out and you will not change that." Anomaly stared into Gold's eyes, her biting scowl and narrowed eyes behind screen interfaces.
"Golden what have you done???" suddenly she would be repeatedly punched in the face by the other guard, their face showing no emotion. Golden looked in horror, reminded of the reports of the Diamond Plaza incident as she looked to Anomaly. "Are you working with the terrorists???"
"No, I'm working for myself," she said as a punch knocked Golden out. The mare commanded one of her new puppets to unlock her cell allowing her to walk out. She marveled at the power she had, it seemed nearly officer had brain augs and was hooked to the PRS prototype. It was something straight out of video game modding, their minds were in her storage and she was now controlling their bodies.
Chief Kevlar looked around as he saw this, horrified as he looked around to see officers blank faced and frozen in place "BUCKING HAY A CYBERTERROR ATTACK HERE?? NOW!?"
"This isn't a terror attack, you may feel free to keep this incident hidden. I'm not intent on causing panic." said a voice behind him, the Chief looked to see the screen-eyed mare with officers surrounding her in the darkness. "How the buck....we took away your receiver how are you...???"
"I don't need it anymore, I can assure you that. I've also managed to get some scraps of the virus used in the Diamond Plaza and modify them for my own use."
"And you're using them for this? You're no better than the bucking terrorists!"
"I won't be keeping these ponies' minds locked up, once I am out of here they'll be back to normal. I myself know how to save the ponies affected by the diamond plaza incident, and want to help find their minds and return them to their rightful owners. Their minds are uploaded and taken somewhere, hopefully not deleted. I will help you from the online still, for we share enemies, I want to stop the Freedom Fighters just as much as you. I won't be kept on a leash but will cooperate in helping you deal with them online. So please, Lunar Chief Kevlar Vest, cooperate with me and I will cooperate with you. If you don't I'll have you bound and piled up on by these ponies like a hoofball game."
Kevlar's hoof would be reached into his trenchcoat, ready to pull out a weapon as she said this. The stallion was on edge, staring at the mare who controlled the whole facility via her brain. He thought to himself "Golden you should not have bucking made her mad...." Standing for a moment as many officers and office workers surrounded him he said: "Guess I have no choice in the matter, how do I know one mare holding this kind of power isn't going to go the way of Sombra!?"
"Valid concern, but as of now I have no intentions of ruling anything, and I know that if I perturb you too much I'll have an S4 team hunting me with shoot to kill orders. Consider my knowledge of as well as the risks of that happening if I go extreme to be my power's management. Also rich coming from the ponies seeking to control the minds of millions, you don't think that will turn you into more subtle Sombras?" The mare would move along to the parking garage "Don't bother trying to send communications, your wrist computer is currently locked out."
Trotting out to the parking garage she would enter a police transport autocarriage, hopping into the back and having it roll out to the road and take her a distance away from the police station. Anomaly knew she would have to abandon the vehicle soon enough, given how it would likely be tracked. Pulling it into an alley she would hop out, before using a custom function to reverse the uploading to instantly bring all the panicked mind back into their bodies. The officers would look around, relieved to be back in their bodies, as Kevlar would sigh and say "She's clearly got good intentions....but I fear with that power a lot can go wrong." He pondered on whether to call for police to try to chase after her, he ultimately chose to do so but with plans in case she escaped.
Anomaly would gallop her way through the alleys and slip from crowd to crowd, trying to slip away into the usual chaos of the city. It wouldn't be long before an unusual number of police autocarriages pulled around and searched around. The mare luckily was in common clothing, but her face was sure to arouse suspicions. The mare would notice one of them heading along the road she was on, and among a small crowd she would slip into an alleyway. Hearing the mechanical whirl of the door folding open combined with the sound of it closing had her galloping once more in an instant. She picked up a stun gun and pistol from the transport vehicle she took but wasn't really gunning to get in an unnecessary fight or standoff. Hoofsteps came up behind her as she ran and zig-zagged along the alleys between the buildings, moving around the corner and entering another crowd. The mare would notice the two mares in blue go out and look around the area, putting her further on edge as her evasion continued. More police ACs would storm the area, and even as the mare's legs grew tired she kept on the move. The mare slipped into another alleyway and was forced to run as she heard many hoofsteps behind her, voices shouting to stop as she continued maneuvering around the alleys like a fleeing cat.
Suddenly she would hear a loud whine of a biofuel-powered engine, as a sedan pulled up onto a street she walked on. Opening the front and back door a cyberculture looking half zebra mare would say "I'm with Tazen get in if you wanna ditch the cops." seeing an opportunity Anomaly dove in as the door closed and the vehicle sped off at an unnatural acceleration.
"I don't think Autocarrriages are made to go this fast," Anomaly said as she frantically put on the seatbelt and felt the machine moving at high speed.
"This ain't yo mama's self-drivin' ride sweets." said the mare with a chuckle "Separated from the CCS traffic system and equipped with a custom turbocharger. We in the underground didn't let sports carriages die, unlike the companies that made them." setting her destination she said. "Hang on we'll be makin' a beeline for the highway once we slip outta here. They can't track us nor will they be able to use the system to stop this thing." The machine would turn the corner and maneuver around traffic with laser fine precision. Anomaly sat back with a panicked look thinking any second they were going to end up in the first idiot-caused autocarriage pileup in decades. Such a crash did not happen though, as the machine's navigation system with its upgrades to standard safety systems let it slip past traffic without a scratch. The police were lost quickly, completely unprepared for such a fast vehicle in the age of controlled traffic. Pressing on the touch screen the mare said to Anomaly "One moment, gonna change the color." original orange color of the sedan would digitize into green in a matter of seconds. "They won't recognize us now." slowing down the vehicle's speed it would meld into the traffic, generating an artificial signal to trick the system into thinking it just another part of the traffic. Feeling it slow down Anomaly would sigh in relief, feeling like she just got off a roller coaster. The striped mare would look behind with a smile as she said "You feelin' alright sweets? You look like you've never been in anything that goes past 50 in smooth turns, probably the case. I go by SteelWheels online. Real name don't matter cause I'm deleted from the blue pone's records."
"Deleted? From their records?"
"I was officially never born." she snickered "They run it on an automated bot system so there's nopony to really notice, hard to notice one pony go missing out of a million. Ponies of the underground call us 'Societal Ghosts' or Socioghosts since we're invisible to society. From what the hackers tracking you on cameras are saying you're rumored to be a Sociozombie, pony who's officially dead."
"Interesting...." Anomaly would say to Steel, asking her "And your choice of username?"
"I'm a carriage mechanic, how do you think I got this thing off the CCS and put a turbo in it?" she asked looking back with a grin. "We'll be heading on over to a hideout, you'll get to meet Tazen in person. I hope she'll all of us what is up with you because what she told us has made us all curious, and as Digital Hoof pones we tend to be curious. Thanks for helping us crack the Guard's safe, it's gonna come in quite hoofy to help open the public's eyes."
"I hope you won't be too busy trying to fight the system to deal with the 'Freedom Fighters'. After all, they have the potential and insanity to do things unimaginable. Fighting them would also be good for your movement, especially if you do better than the Cyber security."
"Oh don't worry we got them whackos on our radar, fixing to give us hacktivists a bad name is what they are doing. We ain't gonna spare them the pwnage just cause they fellow government hatin' hackers."
"So for the first time, I meet one of the infamous Digital Hoof hackers, been at it for decades I hear. Stirred up a lot of trouble in your time."
"Those who are true to our cause don't harass random ponies on messengerbird and dox them if you're gonna bring such accusations as that. One thing to do horseapps in 'our name' it's another to be truly a member of Digital Hoof, we go after the buckers up top for the ones down below. Try to break down the system of control they have in place and wake up more and more ponies. That's what we all about sweets, we ain't malicious troll hackers who are just out for lulz and digibits."
"I certainly hope most of your movement lives up to such claimed intentions, I guess I shall see for myself." Anomaly would say, looking out the window as neon lights and screen boards passed by outside the tinted windows.
"Skeptical aye? Good quality to have, means you ain't one to follow the status quo and let those in authority tell you how things are. Surprised you didn't find and join us sooner, we're totally your type of group!"
Anomaly would look and say to the mare "Maybe if I wasn't working for EQUE-TECH before they bucked me over, have you been told of the recent leak telling of a mare imprisoned whose death was faked so she could be used as a lab rat?"
The mare looked back in shock and said "You're the one who leaked it? Well dang seems the mainframe crack wasn't your first time helping us. You'll definitely be quite helpful for us and a nightmare for the ones up top! And a former corporate computer jockey too huh? Seems like you didn't quite find your underground calling there aye?"
"Seems I might not have found my calling there, thought getting out of programming college would have landed me a well-paying job and good future. It was great at first, even got involved with a new project up until I was forced to be the lab rat."
"Corporate scum they are, you're also real talented to be as good as you are after wasting time in.....'college'." she shuttered "You can learn more with hackers like us in a year than they can teach in six! Such a waste of time and DB, and the status quo makes you often need such redundant horseapple degrees to get any good job. You'll find a better life in the underground hanging with ponies who won't buck you over like that."
"I have the means to 'buck over' those who buck me over a lot worse. I just escaped the police department after all without resistance." Anomaly would warn to SW.
"Well, I almost feel like I wasn't needed to pick you up if you can do that!" SW laughed some as she pulled onto the highways, bridges of steel, concrete, and asphalt that ran over the roads down below. In the age of self-driving autocarriages and automated traffic management, they were mostly unused except for the occasional calculated route deeming them the fastest route through the megacity. The autocarriage would roll along the largely empty road, far away from the searches of the police ACs. Being at ease now Anomaly would lay back and close her eyes, taking her mind off things for a moment. The sun was setting, and night was falling as blue lights began to illuminate the highway, lined on its sides with old and unmaintained cushioning barriers meant to keep autocarriages of old from crashing off the bridges into streets below. Now they lay dirty and without maintenance, since crashes were mostly rare and minor in the automated carriage age. The police searches would be called off, and activity in the private places of Harmonize would start to flare up in panic as the sun's flare would go down.
_______________________________________
"Chief Kevlar, this is a major threat to us indeed. You couldn't have failed to curb her threat anymore." said sternly a midnight blue alicorn from the throne she sat on. "And Myriad, your first loss of Anomaly has evidently led to her getting unexpected upgrades, the scope and capabilities she has now are unpredictable."
Myriad would sigh as she said, "I was not prepared for what has happened, I assure you the entire time was taking steps to curb the hazards of Anomaly's abilities."
"And yet you have failed." said a taller white alicorn, looking exasperated. "As if the so called 'Freedom Fighters' are not enough of a threat we have another, less predictable one."
Kevlar would say with a bow "I apologize, princesses, we tried to convince her of the good we had for Equestria. She was stubborn, convinced we weren't truly a force for good. We tried to get her under control but she has given us surprise after surprise."
The lunar princess would say "Then we may need her eliminated as soon as possible, treat her with no more respect than the terrorists. She even used their tools after all!"
Myriad would say "Princess please, she is but a young mare, angry and naive. She can be made to see the error in her ways. That and he has yet to seriously harm anypony, Kevlar told you himself what she has said. She made good on the promise to bring those ponies back, they are safe and sound."
Sighing the solar princess would say. "Fine, she may be given a chance, but if her threat persists and escalates we will be forced to order her eliminated. We aren't going to spare one mare's life and risk the lives of millions."
Kevlar would say "I might send some units to try to find her, but right now I feel we should focus on the more immediate threat, the ones who have clearly tried at pony's lives."
Both alicorns nodded, Luna saying "Of course, but she will need not be left out for the threat she is. We may devote less public resources to trying to locate her."
"I think we should simply keep watch, make sure she doesn't try anything and focus on fighting the terrorists. If she proves to be a truly irredeemable threat I will have my best come to hunt her and eliminate her swiftly. For now, I will put my best toward the task of helping in the fight against the so-called 'Freedom Fighters'."
"Alright, you do that, I trust you will put your efforts into avoiding another disastrous failure. They may hide in shadows but the light will come upon these freedom fighters." Said Luna, followed by her sister.
"And the light will burn them, whether it be from the sun or moon."