//------------------------------// // Chapter 1 // Story: The Runners // by DungeonMiner //------------------------------// Rarity smiled as she sat reclining on her balcony, flipping through the virtual list of audio files. “Let's see, general advice, general advice, simpler advice for those that didn't get it the first time...ooh. Here we go, ‘Thundr5tep tells a story,’ parts 1-4. Those were fun.” She smiled before she began to play the file, letting the audio play in the speakers installed at the base of her skull. “Good Morning, kids!” The file began, speaking through her living headphones in a deep, tenor voice. “Your friendly neighborhood Thundr5tep here with something special for you this time.” Rarity lifted her drink with her horn and pulled it close, sipping on the fruit-flavored soy smoothie as she looked out on the cityscape around her. “Now, it’s come to my attention that half of you drek-heads didn’t bother learning anything in school, so I’m going to have to fill you in on what happened to our wide world of Equestria. ‘Now Thundr5tep,’ I hear one of you ask, ‘why do we need to know about history? What good is that?’ To which I say, I’m surprised a plank of wood has gained enough sentience to Run with us.” Rarity smiled at that. Thundr5tep was always a little on the vulgar side, but the way he told you that you were being dumb certainly got your attention. “Not knowing your history is like not doing the legwork on a run, it means you go in blind, you miss the obvious, and you wind up getting yourself killed without learning a single fraggin’ thing. So I’m going to teach you the important stuff so you don’t get yourselves killed because you think hitting a corp named Marés Industries sounds like easy pay.” Rarity smiled at that, looking out on the skyscrapers that surrounded her. Decorated with bright neon lights that managed to glow in the setting sun, and bright blue Augmented Reality holo-signs, the whole world was bright with color and sound. Down below, cars, vans, trucks, and more, guided by some of the most advanced AI systems ever produced, drove along, sending up a constant stream of smoke and smog that only made the neon glow brighter. She really did like this series. It was far too short for her liking. “The next few episodes are going to cover the rise of magic, the rise of the matrix, and the rise of the corps. This one, is going to be a quick overview, so you know at least a few things before you wind up dead in a ditch somewhere. “About eighty years ago—” The feed was suddenly interrupted, and Rarity looked up at the AR prompt that just hovered in her vision. She was getting a call from Carte Blanche, her fixer. She frowned for a second before a quick keystroke command brought up her bank account. It was less than ideal. She supposed she really did need to take the call. “Carte, darling!” she called the moment the unicorn’s face popped up in her vision. “How have you been?” Carte Blanche was a lithe unicorn, that looked to be in her early twenties when she was at least a decade older than that, her white fur with black mane always made such a striking figure that it was easy to forget that. “Gem, there you are! I just found a new job for you. One that I think you'll like” Rarity smiled. “I love any job that will pay, dear, you know that.” “Then you will adore this job, dear, trust me,” Carte Blanche said, before a notification on Rarity's AR heads up display let her know that she was being sent an attachment. “Here’s the address of the meetup. I’ll let you gather the team, alright? Just let me know if you’re taking the job or not.” “Of course, dear. Anything for a friend.” Carte smiled. “Mr. Ringo will be wearing a jacket with a red flower embroidered in the lapel.” “Thanks, dear. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I must get ready.” Carte nodded before her face winked away from the AR interface, leaving Rarity with her uninterrupted sunset once again. As she hung up, though, Thundr5tep’s voice continued as if it had never been interrupted, to begin with. “—back in 915, Equestria was still defending ourselves with mundane swords and the trusty bow and arrow. Princess Celestia ruled from on high, and all was right in the world. That was until the very next year, 916, when the Awakening happened.” Rarity sighed, and got up from her lawn chair, and wandered into her apartment. “The Awakening caused magic to flow back into the world as it had never done before in recorded history. Before long, some of the weakest wizards around were still as powerful as Starswirl the Bearded, and it allowed everyone to wield it.” The apartment was a three-room set-up with a living room/kitchen, bedroom, and bath. A whole thirty-by-thirty feet if she laid it all out, not the best, certainly, but it’s what she could afford. “With everypony using magic, the unicorns that used to be all-that were suddenly out of a job. So, without much choice, they started working with steel and lightning, until Equestria began to rise to top of the technological pyramid. This culminated into the development of the Matrix, which is not to be confused with the old trideo movie by the same name.” Rarity kept walking, over into her bedroom, to her closet, where she had a few options to pick from. Double-checking the address with a few keystrokes on her deck showed that she was heading to Club 88, out in the Canterlot Sprawl. Definitely not the place for the black dress with the kevlar weave. Maybe another night, though. “Now, with all these new business opportunities, we come to our favorite part of the story. The Corps. The corps quickly raised to power after a delivery job went wrong. After that, they were granted the ability to hire mooks to protect their stuff, and because we can’t have nice things, this meant they began to build armies.” She’d go with the armored synth-leather vest, she decided. It was punk enough that it would blend in at the club, and was bold enough that she could wear it without feeling that she was sacrificing her fashion sense. “So, before long, these small business were on the verge of starting a war, until the good Princess stepped in to keep them calm. Unfortunately, that came at a price, the price of the corporate court, where the higher-ups can pick and choose to do what they want when they want, and of course that means keeping the poor pony down.” With her wardrobe selected, and her mane altered to look ever-so-slightly punk-ish, she finally reached for her pièce de résistance, her A09 submachine gun. Sliding that into the armored vest’s hidden holster, as well as a handful of extra magazines that fit in on the other side. “And that’s where we come in, my fellow Runners, crawling in the shadows and the city’s deep underbelly for everything the corps want. They want you to steal from another corp? We volunteer. They need someone kidnapped? We're right there. Murder, thievery, and more, that’s our job, but when you steal from the amoral, is it wrong?” Rarity slung her deck over her back, making sure it was plugged into the data-jack behind her left ear, and walked out of her room. Locking the door behind her, she quickly made her way down to the parking garage, checking the timestamps on her audio file to gauge how long it would take before she called the others. She had enough time. “But that’s philosophy that’s probably a little too deep for you piles of drek, so I’ll cut it short. Besides, I’m in the middle of a run myself, and these Ahuiztech mercs are going to try and geek me if the dumpshock doesn’t. So, with that in mind, let me give you my usual piece of advice. Shoot straight, conserve ammo, and never make a deal with a dragon. Thundr5tep signing off, chummers. Stay safe in those shadows.” It was almost as if Thundr5tep was wishing her luck as she walked up to her Yama Streetdart motorcycle. She slipped inside, letting the sleek, black titanium slowly close around her. The motor revved beneath her, purring through her body as the streetbike’s lights snapped on. It was strong enough that she almost didn’t hear her comm ringing as she initiated a call. She smiled. She always did love driving this thing. The Streetdart pulled out of her reserved parking space, rolled down the ramp, and out the gate, which opened automatically as it read the infrared code on her bike. And she was off, flying across the Canterlot streets and lost in the colors of the setting sun. “Hello?” a drawling voice said, as an earth pony’s face appeared in her view. “Steel? It’s Gem. We have a job.” The earth pony smiled. “Well it’s about Celestia-dang time. I’ll call Wingmare and Rock Candy.” “Perfect, I’ll let Web know. I’m sending the address now.” The mare’s eyebrows raised as she read the sent attachment. “Club 88? Ain’t that the new punk-place they opened up three blocks down from the Final Regret?” “It’s also the place that’s been siphoning their power for the past week,” Rarity confirmed. The earth pony was silent for a second. “Y’all want me to shoot it up afterward?” Rarity smiled. “Maybe another day, dear.” “If you say so. See you there, Gem.” <><><|><><> Club 88 was as punk as Rarity thought it was. Dressed in fluorescent colors and decorated with discarded police tape, the whole building screamed “teenage rebellion.” Honestly, it made the unicorn worry just a slight amount that their new boss perhaps had no taste. Then again, so long as his money had taste, it probably didn’t matter. Steel Core was waiting for her by the door. “Well, howdy, Gem. Good to see you.” The earth pony with orange fur and a large stetson on her head, was as much machine as she was flesh. All four of her legs had been replaced with metal machines. Every single one of them had been loaded up with more weapons than Rarity cared to think about, but it certainly made her effective. Though she did have to admit the small neon bulbs that ran through her hind legs that traced out the trio of apples that used to be her cutie mark was a very nice touch. “Steel,” Rarity greeted. “The feeling is mutual. Where are the others?” “Wingmare and Miss Web are already inside,” the metal cowpony replied. “We’re just waiting on Rock Candy now.” As though she had been summoned, a black van with brilliant, pink highlights careened around the corner. The black wheels with black hubcaps screeched as they ate the asphalt, leaving both ponies with a glance at the mural that had been painted on its door. The whole side of the van was decorated with a scene straight out of a heavy metal album, with a loincloth-clad barbarian wielding a massive guitar-ax that fired lightning into the sky. It was the tackiest thing Rarity ever saw and was instantly recognizable as their getaway driver’s van. It screeched as it came around the corner, halting right in front of the pair of ponies. A moment later, the door shot open, and a pink earth pony with obvious cybereyes and a data jack in the back of her head stepped out. “Hey girls!” she said, her voice bubbly and happy despite the steel-studded, black synth-leather vest that was perhaps a little too metal for the punk club behind them. “Sorry I’m a teeny-weeny bit late, but Peewee needed some last-minute rotor maintenance,” she said, motioning to the flying drone that popped out of a small dock on the top of the van, that hovered next to her. Steel shrugged. “It happens.” “Just let me park, and I’ll be ready to go in,” she said before the van roared back to life and drove away, piloted by it’s AI as Candy had told it to. “So what do we have here?” she asked. “Club 88? Sounds like a happenin’ place, huh?” “Or something like that,” Steel said. “Come on, girls,” Rarity said. “Our Mr. Ringo won’t wait too long.” Without another word, they headed into the club, where they were immediately assaulted by a deafening combination of punk and club music. The beat thundered through their bodies, rocking their bones and sending shivers down their rib cages. Peewee hovered above the trio as they made their way in, forcing their way through a  sea of pubescent colts and fillies that were “against the system.” The drone was busy looking around, doing its best to avoid the infrared laser light show that kept the AR dancers swinging with the music, while looking for the rest of the team. Rarity took it all in with a professional detachment. This was a meetup, nothing more. She wasn’t here to correct the teens, tell them to stop eating corp-packaged rebellion, and move on with their lives. She was here for a job. She scanned the room again, searching for any sign of the pair of pegasi that they were supposed to meet. Instead, she mostly saw teens with too much cash and not enough sense buying synthol, and some light drugs that a real ganger would turn down for being too weak. She did spot a handful of older teens hovering around the bar, all dressed in trench coats, with anarchy symbols sewn into the shoulders. Rarity could pick them out as obvious Runner posers. The kind that thought that wearing a trenchcoat made you edgy. She shook her head in disappointment at them, before she looked around again. “Found them!” Candy yelled into her ear. Rarity looked over at the driver before the pink mare pointed to one of the tables in the corner. Taking a quick moment to zoom in on them with the telescopic vision that came standard in her robotic eyes, it took Rarity only a second to spot the others. Two mares sat around a table, one light blue with a shock of rainbow-colored hair, the other buried in a hood as she stared at a large spider crawling around on the table. “This way!” Rarity shouted, wishing not for the first time that she had bought some cyber ears to block out the thudding club music. The three made their way over, pushing through the sea of teens before coming to the table. The second they were within a foot of it, however, all sound suddenly ceased. There was no thudding music, no cries of ecstasy as the teen took some nice trips, just total silence. She couldn’t even hear the sound of her eyes whirring in her skull. Wingmare, the pegasus with the rainbow hair, waved and motioned for everyone to sit down, before pulling out her comm glasses and sending everypony there a text. “Web was getting tired of the music, figured it would be best to quiet everything down for a second.” Rarity quickly sent a text back. “No one saw her cast?” Wingmare smiled. “She’s good like that.” Rarity nodded slowly. She knew that Web wouldn’t do something crazy, the pegasus didn’t like attention anyway, but the idea that maybe someone caught her casting in a club might bring some suspicion their way, especially from the club bouncers. “Alright,” she said, sending some texts to the party. “Let me sync our comms real quick,” she typed, before pulling out her deck and jacking it into the back of her skull. The moment she sat down, her hooves began to fly across the keyboard, locating their devices before pulling them all onto her own Personal Area Network, pulling them off of public matrix access and making all of their gadgets and toys extensions of her own network. If anypony wanted to get at them from the matrix, they’d have to go through her. With a final keystroke, and a confirmation notification from her AR interface, she then turned back to the others. “Alright,” she texted. “We’re safe on that front. Now, our Mr. Ringo tonight is wearing a jacket with a red flower embroidered in it. Look around, but don’t be obvious about it.” The mares nodded, all except Web, who was apparently not wearing her AR glasses. It took Wingmare actually shoving her a bit before she was woken from her reverie with her tarantula, and a moment later before her glasses were on, and she was catching up on the conversation. Peewee, meanwhile, was flying over head. Candy was sat, slightly slumped next to Rarity as she took control of her drone, and flew her around for any sign of their contact. Steel was looking left and right, using her cybereyes to search for him while Candy used her drone. Wingmare was looking through her organic eyes and was a bit of a disadvantage, but this was not her strong suit anyway. Web, on the other hand, had just caught up with the conversation, and sent a quick message through her comm to everyone else. “I’ll check the Astral, brb.” Her body suddenly slumped as Web passed into the astral plane, and she was gone for only a few seconds before she was suddenly back. She grabbed her comm, and typed away, writing. “He’s upstairs, waiting for us.” Rarity nodded, before sending a quick group text. “Alright, let’s go upstairs. We move as a group, stay close but not too close, and remember, don’t threaten our Ringo, even if you’re sure he’s going to backstab us.” Wingmare sent a quick text back. “Well, he was…” Rarity ignored any further texts, and stood up, followed by her team before they all walked out of Web’s ball of silence. The thumping bass and wailing punk guitars met their ears in full force, and Rarity did everything she could to keep her ears from popping as they were suddenly assaulted by sound. They quickly went up the stairs to a small balcony, where a section was cordoned off by what Rarity could only assume was soundproof glass. Once there, the party was soon met by a large earth pony bouncer waited for them. The massive pony glanced down at her, and raised an eyebrow as though asking to be impressed. Well, Rarity was always ready to impress. “We’re here for Mr. Ringo,” Rarity practically yelled, even though the music wasn’t nearly as loud up here. As she spoke, a faint smell began to fill the room, a strange, almost imperceptible smell. The pleasant scent tickled the bouncer’s nose, and while he remained firmly between them and the balcony, he had certainly changed his attitude. “Ma’am...I...I’ll be honest, you’re not the first ponies to approach me tonight, I need proof that you’re the real deal.” Well that can be arranged. “A Miss Carte Blanche sent us. She’s our fixer. You ask Ringo about her, see if it rings a bell.” The bouncer nodded, before he walked inside the balcony, and quickly whispered to the pony in the jacket with the flower. They shared a few words, before the bouncer quickly made his way back to the balcony entrance. “Mr. Ringo will see you now.” Rarity bowed to the large stallion before they walked in, leaving the silence behind them as they stepped into the business section of the club. Or at least, the section where ponies are rich enough to buy silence. As they stepped in, though, Rarity did take a moment to thank her stars that she bought that pheromone emitter bio-implant. It was still the best purchase she ever made. They quickly made their way to the table, and they finally met with Mr. Colt Ringo. This Colt Ringo was a slim stallion with a coat the color of soycaff. His mane was slicked back, and he wore a pair of sunglasses, despite the fact that it was in the middle of the night, and inside a dark club. “So you're the Runners miss Blanche told me about?” “That’s us,” Rarity said, turning on her pheromone emitter again, while her cyber eyes took a few photos of their contact. “Alright, I have a job for you. Simple smash n’ grab.” Rarity smiled, but she knew better. There was no such thing as “simple” in her business. He slid a small datachip across the table. “This chip has the address of the location my employer needs you to hit.” Rarity took it and slot it into her data jack, and was immediately met with a code lock. “You have it locked,” she said. “This is sensitive information. I cannot release it until you take the job. I’m sure you understand?” Rarity gave the slightest frown, but continued. This wasn’t the first time a Ringo asked for something like this, and it wouldn’t be the last. “I do, in fact, understand. However, now I have to wonder if the object that we’re stealing?” “I also cannot divulge that until the job is accepted.” Rarity sighed. “How much?” “My employer is willing to pay 600 nubits each.” Rarity looked to the others. The team looked to each other. That was all Rarity needed. “Make it 800.” Mr. Ringo frowned. “700 no more.” “Deal.” “All the information is on the chip. Code is 9712.” She entered the code, and sure enough, the data was now available. She’d have to go through this later. Right now, she had a deal to close. “Very well, what’s the timeframe?” “Three days, no more.” “Alright. I’m glad we could be of service, Mr. Ringo.” <><><|><><> “That fraggin’ drek-head!” Wingmare shouted. They stood outside of the club, gathered around Candy’s van, and Wingmare was throwing a fit. To be fair she had a reason to be upset. “We’re getting shafted!” she cried. “Only 700 nubits for taking on one of the big six? We should be getting paid thousands for this.” “Yeah, we should,” Steel agreed.  “We’re getting fragged, and we’re never taking a job from this Ringo ever again.” “So we’re actually taking this job?” Wingmare asked, shocked. “We have to. If we back out of this, we get blacklisted. There ain’t nopony that’d do business with us again.” “Right, so we’re just going to die instead,” she muttered darkly. “It’s not as hopeless as it sounds, dear.” Rarity said suddenly. “What do you mean, Gem?” Web asked. “The building is basically ignored,” she said, tapping away on her deck and eyes flying across invisible AR windows. “It’s a satellite building. Warehouses mostly, with a few offices the higher it goes. It seems to be low security, even. We might just get away with this.” “But we’re still going to be underpaid.” Rarity smiled. “Oh, just watch him try to leave with the gem without paying us.” “Gem?” Candy asked. “Yes?” “No, as in, there’s a gem?” “Ah, yes. The mark. Supposedly, we’re after a small gem. It doesn’t seem too impressive, which of course, means it’s magic.” “Of course,” Web said, stroking the abdomen of her large spider. “So we’re not up a creek without a paddle just yet.” “No,” Rarity said. “But this is certainly no milk run.” Steel sighed. “So we have three days?” she asked. Web nodded. "Not my preferred time table, but it's workable. I might need to work through the night, but I might be able to do something." “Then we better get started on the legwork," the cyborg cowpony said with a sigh. Rarity nodded, as they all piled into the van. They were about to hit Harmony Inc. One of the largest corporations in Equestria.