Deus Ex: Equine Revolution

by Melon Hunter

Prologue: Shadowplay

Welcome to Deus Ex: Equine Revolution

Once upon a time, in the magical land of Equestria... ponykind changed as it never had before.

It has been twenty years since the return of Princess Luna, and the world is a place of innovation, technological and magical advancement. Yet, it is also a place of chaos and conspiracy. Powers, old beyond imagining, manipulate the flow of events within Equestria from behind a veil of shadows, fixated upon goals so fickle and intricate that they will take years, decades, even centuries to come to fruition.

The world is as it always has been: a study in friendship. New corporations seek to advance the already booming industrial and research sectors, intent on outdoing one another with the latest spell, magical gimmick, or arcano-mechanical augmentation. The settlements of Equestria expand as the population rockets, the rich remaining in their opulent, secure enclaves, unfeeling or perhaps unaware of the plight of the poor outside. The lower classes are forced into ever more crowded slums, pushed down by the twin machinations of government and employers. On the surface, a serene harmony amongst ponies is presented. Yet, beneath this veneer, the tensions of an increasingly unbalanced land fester and threaten to boil over. Technology gradually advances towards a Singularity, as magical communication networks span the world and arcane devices become ever more entwined with the lives and bodies of the ponies they serve. When it is finally reached, the barriers between the organic and the magical will be erased forever.

In this time of extremes, organisations have broken free of the autocratic reign of the immortal Princesses, seeking to carve out their own destinies upon the global chessboard. Whole cities now sway to new political and social agendas, and the Royal Guards of Canterlot are a poor second to the private military forces of the new corporate empires. The bearers of the Elements of Harmony position themselves amongst the webs of intrigue, each seeking to further their own cause whilst evading those who would seek to control them for their own purposes.

Ponykind is changing and battle lines are being drawn between flesh and machine. The new technologies of arcane implants are creating a new class divide. On one side, the ‘Naturals’, ponies who eschew implants because they are morally opposed to it, too poor to afford it, or afflicted with a rare magical condition that renders their bodies permanently incompatible with it. On the other side are the ‘Augs’, ponies augmented with arcano-mechanical implants. With approximately one-tenth of all ponies possessing these augmentations twenty years after Luna’s return, these ponies are slowly becoming the new face of Equestria.

The foundations are laid for the future of all ponies, but evolution can be a painful process, and can leave many by the wayside. Right now, the proponents and opponents of augmentation are locked in a bitter conflict that threatens to end in violent, bloody upheaval of a magnitude not seen in Equestria for more than a thousand years. The choices made by a select few here and now will alter the course of history... or perhaps end it all together.

It’s not the end of the world... but you can see it from here.

This is the Equine Revolution.

---

Prologue: Shadowplay

High up in an unassuming tower’s penthouse, a single mare stood in the darkness of her living room amongst the lengthening shadows, surveying the wonders and woes of the city laid before her in the red afterglow of dusk: Canterlot. She allowed herself a small smirk of triumph at having secured this abode. A window that swept from floor to ceiling in a single pane of glass was the least of its splendid features, despite it allowing her a stunning view of Canterlot and nearly half of Equestria beyond that, a vista that many pegasi would have given their two front hooves to see. It was quite literally the height of living. Yet, at the same time it was a repugnant reminder of how the opulence of the few was paid for by the misery of the many who lived beneath the city proper. The poor were crammed into tiny hovels, working their hooves to the bone for a few measly bits; the slums were an unfortunate addition to the view.

She sighed a little as the thought skimmed across her conscience. The city, like so many of its siblings, was pulled in opposite directions; it reached for the heavens with the new-found confidence and innovation of its inhabitants, and yet it was simultaneously dragged down by the yokes of grinding poverty and crime that so many unfortunate ponies had been bound to.

The return of the Princess of the Night had swept away the millennium-old stasis that Equestria had been locked in, true, and she appreciated the exponential leaps in technology that had resulted from this: who could imagine a world without the Equestrinet to communicate through, or arcane augmentations that could replace a broken or failing body part and give new hope to a life that before would have been doomed to disability or death?

And yet, Equestria had changed, and not all for the better. Progress had at first been wondrous, but as the world left behind its old habits and moved onto pastures new, so too did its morals. No longer were ponies fixated upon one another’s well-being; money and power now trumped friendship. Corporations thought nothing of exploiting their employees and customers. A civil war amongst the griffon clans on the borders of Equestria was entering its thirteenth year; it had gradually poisoned its neighbour, and no longer were firearms and mercenaries only found in frontier towns. Violence and war had slowly, but surely, crept back into the Equestrian psyche.

The old Equestria may have been slow to move, frozen in time even, but it had been hospitable, and had a place for everypony. The new Equestria was beautiful, yet harsh. It rewarded those who cut their own path. For the ones left behind... well, perhaps it was better not to dwell on that.

Ponies had been given the tools to be masters of their own fates, yet depressingly (and predictably, a cynical part of her added), most had simply sleepwalked from one overseer to another, allowing the corporations and media to take over their lives, organisations that were almost invariably far less benevolent than the Princesses.

Princesses... Her gaze swept to the glory of Canterlot Castle, a thousand-year fortress of harmony. She pondered the quirks of Royal Household, and how it dealt with the forces that threatened the ponies it protected. Two of the greatest threats that Equestria ever faced were sequestered there; one had been rehabilitated and now resided as co-ruler, the other adorned the gardens as a statue, a monument to its own hubris.

She idly wondered whether the same fate awaited any organisation that stepped too far out of their own edicts. Somehow, she doubted it. Despite all their pomp and power, pity was the only real emotion she felt for the alicorns. They were little more than glorified caretakers who spun the Sun and Moon around on their endless cycles. Yet politically, they were foals playing at being rulers, all their proclamations and speeches being little more than hot air whilst the true masters of Equestria watched and pulled their innumerable strings from the shadows. Masters that she was all too familiar with...

“Good evening, Canterlot,” a distorted voice said.

She took a step back to survey the plate glass window, now flickering with orange lines as the spells within transformed it into an interface for communication. Peering at the silhouette and the information beneath it, she nodded and flicked a switch on a nearby wall with her hoof to open her own channel.

“Early as always, I see, Fillydelphia,” she replied.

“Oh, you know me, Canterlot. Well, as well as you’re ever going to know me, of course.” Fillydelphia chuckled. “It’s funny how much you can ascertain about a pony, even when you can never see their face or hear their real voice. For all I know, you could be a beautiful young pegasus mare, or a cranky old earth pony stallion, or even one of Celestia’s own prized pupils. And yet, I believe if I were ever to bump into you on the street, I’d know who you were in an instant! You have such a charm about you, and—”

“When these secure channels were set up, Fillydelphia, I doubt the purpose was to flirt with your anonymous colleagues,” she cut in, annoyance creeping into her voice. “Can we at least try to remain civil for the duration of this forum?”

“Why, of course. I wouldn’t dream of imposing upon you.”

At that, two more orange outlines burst into view next to Fillydelphia’s, each bearing their own snippets of information.

“Evening, evening all,” another distorted voice called. It was just as unnatural-sounding as Fillydelphia’s, modulated to remove any of the original user’s true voice, and yet had its own unique inflection, as if the owner had burst into a meeting it was late for, sounding flustered and out of breath.

“Trottingham. And Hoofington. Greetings,” the mare said. “I’m afraid we are not quite ready to start, but it should not be long before—” Suddenly, a final two silhouettes jumped into view, five anonymous faces spread across the entirety of the screen. “Never mind, then. A roll call please, of this meeting of the Loyalty sub-division of the Grand Council.”

“I’m already here, my dear. You know that,” Fillydelphia said. A pause. “Oh, very well. Fillydelphia.”

“Trottingham, present and correct.”

“Hoofington, calling in.”

“Manehatten’s here.”

And... silence. The mare was on the verge of pointedly clearing her throat when the sixth voice suddenly spoke.

“Ponyville.”

“And Canterlot. We are six?”

“We are,” five modulated voices agreed in unison.

“Then we are quorum. And, to business. As I’m sure you are aware, there have been some... interesting developments in the Everfree Forest.”

“I’ll say. Some sort of new research facility being built there, of all places. And by Princess Luna, no less!” Trottingham exclaimed.

“Huh. I was happy when I could count the number of R&D facilities in Equestria on my hooves. Another one popping up? I don’t like the sound of this, particularly under Royal Command. This is gonna get out of control, you mark my words. AugCon’s already being set alight by Sparkle’s new aug harnesses, and it’s still over six months away!” Manehatten said. “I got T & S Medical breathing down my neck, trying to get Sparkle out of the limelight. Feels like the entire city’s fallen to that pair of brats.”

“What exactly is the point of building an entire facility out there, anyway? It’s not like there isn’t a major R&D lab in every city anyway! So much more accessible!” Hoofington said.

“But that’s entirely the point. It’s being built in the ruins of the old Royal Castle. Not only is it isolated, so they can get away with far more dangerous experiments than they’d ever hope to produce in a city-based lab, but it’s also steeped in wild magic. Huge breakthroughs could be made out there that simply couldn’t be replicated anywhere else,” the mare replied.

“Well, isn’t that a good thing? We’ve always encouraged augmentation research. I know the Honesty bunch keep banging on about ‘the evils of bodily mutilation’, but really? Princess Luna, the mother of all augmentations, is building a research facility in the Everfree Forest, and you’re complaining?” Hoofington countered.

“Not at all! The Everfree facility could prove incredibly useful to us, but thanks to being hamstrung by those Honesty idiots and their tame Apple Corps campaigners, we’ve got barely any control over this place, and events are moving without us. They’re already augmenting the workers needed out there. It’s why the Sparkle Industries harnesses have garnered so much interest. This is potentially the most lucrative research facility to ever be built in Equestria, and we’re sitting here, doing nothing about it!” She stopped, suddenly aware of her out-of-control temper.

“Calm down, dear. We can sabotage it or manipulate it however we want. You know that,” Fillydelphia said. “We’ve outwitted the Princesses many times before, and usually they don’t suspect a thing. Remember the Discord Incident?”

“Oh, how can I forget? Unleash an ancient evil to distract Celestia from a multi-billion bit scheme gone wrong? A most proportionate response!” she sniped back. “I propose—”

“We watch. And we wait,” Ponyville suddenly said. “Nothing more. Nothing less.”

“I agree. This could be a goldmine for us. If anything dangerous comes out, then yes, by all means destroy it. If anything useful comes out, we get hold of it. But for now... I believe a show of power is required,” Fillydelphia said.

“Whatever do you mean?! How will that in any way help us?” Trottingham exclaimed.

“We have a target. A target that has made... a most unfortunate breakthrough. Sparkle Industries.”

“Sparkle? They’re making the aug harnesses. Thought we were leaving well enough alone for now. You want T & S to climb on top of ‘em even more than they already have?” Manehatten said.

“Yeah! What breakthrough? I never heard about another breakthrough!” Hoofington added.

“Oh, you really don’t know, do you?” Fillydelphia said in a succinct tone. “Remember that debacle a few years ago? With the pegasus wing augs? And the Alicorn Protocols?”

“Ugh, how can I forget? Cloudsdale spent months wrapping up unicorns in enough red tape to stop ‘em auging themselves into alicorns,” Hoofington said, sighing. “What gives? I thought we nipped that little problem in the bud.”

“There’s been a complication. Sparkle, if my intel is correct, has successfully built a prototype for a unicorn horn aug,” Trottingham said.

A dreadful silence descended over the conspirators.

“I... thought that we had definitively written off a horn augment as impossible,” Ponyville said carefully.

“Apparently not,” Canterlot replied.

“So what? We update the Alicorn Protocols? No biggie. I’ll dial up Cloudsdale now. When’s it even going to be announced to the public? AugCon?” Hoofington said.

“No, no, NO!” Fillydelphia burst out. “We cannot simply hide behind legislature this time! A discovery of this magnitude would be far too damaging if it was revealed. We didn’t expect something like this for years! The public must not know of this!”

“We hafta operate ahead of the game, Hoofington. We can’t let this slide and just hope we can chuck a leash on it,” Manehatten said.

“Besides, why do you think the aug harnesses have been so widely advertised? They need that smokescreen, the other augmentation companies will be all over them if they knew, and rightfully so! We need to end this here!” Fillydelphia continued.

“There’s no need to be so forceful, old chap,” Trottingham said.

“Forceful?! This is urgent! To hell with niceties!” Fillydelphia snarled.

Canterlot?

As the argument raged back and forth upon the screen, the mare blinked as the telepathic link suddenly opened up.

Yes?

We have her in our sights. The sequence can be eliminated.

What? What do you mean—

Sent to Stalliongrad. Marketing conference. Last-minute switch-up. Now returning in corporate sky carriage. Confirm kill order?

Wh—NO! Leave her! Too important!

Could be disguised as accident. Too risky to leave alone.

I said leave her be!

Your words, not mine. Carriage entering Canterlot air space in two minutes. Your call.

No. We cannot destroy such a valuable asset. I shall deal with her later.

...Very well. I shall withdraw.

Sighing in exasperation, the mare turned her attention back to the screen.

“It cannot be allowed out into the public sphere,” Fillydelphia demanded.

“No. But destroy this research altogether? That is supremely foolish. We have been waiting on a development like this for years,” Ponyville said. “Alicorn. Is that not what we want?”

“Not just for anypony,” Trottingham said. “But our natural disadvantage that our... little group has is that we use mortals against millennia-old foes. No matter how carefully we construct our movements, the Princesses will always have the luxury of still being alive to see a century-long plan through. Perhaps—”

“Total destruction is not necessary. I have a rogue agent in the research team. We can extract the necessary information with their help,” Canterlot cut in. “As with the aug harnesses. Sparkle is a goldmine, but a perilous one. We can take the data and tools we need tonight. Afterwards... maybe we can chase our ultimate goals after all.”

“It’ll be for the best, I suppose. I take it you’ve got a plan, Canterlot?” Hoofington asked.

“Yes. The aug harnesses are able to be piloted remotely. The contact in the labs has given me remote access to them. I can disguise it as a tragic accident, spell matrices gone haywire, or something like that. We can destroy all research put into the horn from there. Apparently, it’s due to be unveiled at a specialist conference in Baltimare tomorrow night. The labs will be packed out with all the researchers. We’ll be able to terminate any further investigation into the aug that way.” She shuddered at the horrible thought of what she was about to do. How many would die tonight? How many families would be torn asunder? How many parents ripped from children, lovers forever separated... no. She couldn’t think like that, this had to be done.

“That’s gonna hurt the aug harnesses something chronic, Canterlot,” Manehatten said.

“We kill two birds with one stone. The horn aug will be destroyed, and the harnesses delayed, and by extension, the Everfree research facility. That will give us more time to gain some leverage there. Mare Cognitum will be essential. Sparkle Industries is expendable,” she reassured them.

“Pragmatic as always, eh, Canterlot? I look forward to seeing your handiwork,” Fillydelphia said.

“I do not celebrate death, no matter how essential it is to our cause,” she spoke through gritted teeth.

“Oh, my dear, don’t get too hung up on the loss of a few pawns,” Trottingham said, in a perverse manner of consolation.

“They’re not pawns. I think of them as... heroes, if you will. Sacrificing their lives for a cause they will never know and yet one that furthers the lives of their compatriots. There is nothing more noble. Heroes in an invisible war.”

“Very well, then. Heroes they are. Just make sure they die, all the same,” Ponyville said with barely disguised contempt.

“Of course. That will be all. We will reconvene in three days’ time.”

As the five said their farewells, the orange glow faded, leaving her once again to contemplate the view of the city before her. Her gaze alighted on a tower in the distance.

“I’m sorry. I’m so sorry. I wish there was another way, but...” She looked down, seeing a magazine on the floor with a smiling purple unicorn mare on the cover. She picked it up, and nuzzled the picture with her cheek. “But the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few. This must be done. It must.” Was she justifying her actions to herself? Or apologising to the mare who would never know why her employees had to be slaughtered? She blinked back a tear. “Forgive me. Forgive me, Twilight Sparkle...”

And as the sun set on Canterlot, the shadows behind her lengthened, just a little bit more.

Comments

[TundraStanza]

Dang.
Spit just got real.

[Masquerade313]

Alright... While I've only just gotten past the bold print, I'm too tired and I feel the need to leave a comment regardless.

I tend to prefer a more dialogue-driven narrative, but I commend you on your descriptions of everything, from physical things to intangible ideas. I eagerly await a time where I'm not so darn tired, so that I can procrastinate to such a wonderfully written story.

[Gear Shift]

This is just wow. It's like reading the Icarus Effect all over again

[RaisingShad0ws]

I really don't get what just happened... Extremely confusing and dark starts are something that really gets me thinking I guess. It was good, but Could you at least explain the scenery a little more? Maybe what the office looks like or something? Please?

[Liquid Squid]

Ha, Spock quote. Kudos.

[shadowher]

I can't believe I finally got myself to read this fic and all it took was for me to stay up till 1:30 in the morning woohoo. Awesome chapter melon, let's see if the guys from that russian forum are right about this fic

[BurntMyWater]

Oh, this is a direct translation of the start of the Deus Ex Human Revolution game. I played through this. Good job dude. Very nice.

[Paladin Redflare]

Read it with Adam Jensen's voice.

Tiara and Spoon Medical?

[Focusphobia]

I seriously had thought there was only one DX/MLP crossover fan fiction. I'm glad to see I was wrong.

[Quylaa]

821760 Oh man...no wonder they're in the spotlight. They're always in the spotlight.
I can't wait to see what you do with this. Deus Ex: Human Revolution holds a special place in my heart, and I love it as much as I love ponies.

[KiltedKey]

This is why the featured page exists: To get new authors like you a shot at getting known, and having your ideas out there for the rest of us to read and get giggly at. I mean that in the best of ways. So many great stories might never get noticed if they didn't drop on the featured page. Sometimes, you see something quite special, and from what I've read, this is it.

We need some fresh science fiction that isn't Fallout or the Conversion Bureau, and this is totally right up my alley. I plan on - eventually if my readers don't kill - writing a WipEout: Equestria. I'd love to see how you write hard science fiction, more so with pony. I just... I'm giggling reading this prologue.

Consider yourself bookmarked and followed. Never stop writing. Not for your followers, but for yourself.