//------------------------------//
// 9: Think Tank p1 
// Story: Shadowrunner: Equestria 
// by law abiding pony 
//------------------------------//

Flintlock walked through the palace with tired eyes and wings threatening to sag with exhaustion.  Between his work and the nature of his tribe he was truly nocturnal, and the blasted morning sun glaring at him through the passing windows was not doing him any favors.  His eyes were spared a bit by his dark sunglasses.  He nodded or gave brief words of welcome to passing guards or palace staff.  His sunglass-wearing face was a familiar one to them all, so he walked past many checkpoints without so much as drawing his badge.

As he continued into the upper reaches of the West Quadrant, the crowds of staff dwindled until it was only Nightborne and the palace staff that interacted with them on a daily basis.  The Nightborne section of the palace was in an originally disused section of Canterlot Castle.  It was a personal choice by Celestia to honor who her sister used to be.  Before the thestrals’ return, the decor was reminiscent of styles close to a thousand years old.

Here, everything was steeples, high domed ceilings, and all of it was blanketed in small statuary.  It was only once Celestia had given leave to the Nightborne to decorate it how they wished that they put their love of Mother Moon into a grand form.  The small statues had been methodically replaced by narrative art.

Furthest from the barracks were lines of gemstone pegasi on marble clouds.  Some of them looked to the moon while their kin focused on a seperate point.  Flintlock frowned sadly as to the left, a few of those pegasi were flying over to a group that he knew to be recruiters, but the sculptor was not exactly an expert in depicting that very well.  

He tore his eyes from the rest of it upon seeing Sunset Shimmer’s secondary office.  The door to it was open, and he could see she was agitated by her stance.  Thankfully, she was looking at her tablet, rather than in his direction, so he was able to slip inside without facing her fury for a few moments longer.

He closed the door behind him, and flicked on the privacy field.  The field washed over him like static electricity, and the act brought Sunset’s attention up to him.  “Finally.  Sit, we need to talk.” 

Being Sunset’s ‘office away from the office’, she didn’t have a desk, just a wall mounted screen and two rigid chairs.  The walls were a muted white with dim blue lights running along the corners of the room, giving just enough light to be more comfortable to thestrals.

Flintlock sat down after Sunset did the same. “I’m sorry about giving that statue to the princess.  I should have waited until after the celebration to give it to her,” he blurted, while still keeping a modicum of composure.  

“What?” Sunset asked, her brow wrinkling in confusion.  “No, no, you did fine giving that back to her.”  Sunset grumbled irritably.  “Honestly, it should have put her head back on straight.  No, the problem is that she’s reviving Plan A behind my back.”

Flintlock grew cold.  Any fear of Sunset’s ire directed at him evaporated, and an angry growl escaped his lips.  His mind’s eye went back to the previous mission.  How Pinkie Pie was convinced Rainbow Dash was part of the lab heist, and how Loyalty reacted to the disgraced thestral.  The mastermind could only be one pony.  “Celestia found Rainbow Dash didn‘t she?  I should have let her bleed out,” he fumed heatedly.  
 
“No!” Sunset countered vehemently, dampening some of Flintlock’s anger.  She bore her gaze into him with such willpower that he was cowed a bit.  “I don’t care how critical she may be to Celestia’s plan.  Ponies like her will be needed when you and I are gone.  Am I understood?”

“I threw away my integrity and self-respect getting us this far!” Flintlock shot back with pained emotion.  “What’s a little more damnation for saving the planet from Nightmare Moon?!”

“Because we can do better,” Sunset shot back with iron cold malice that chilled the air.  She learned it well from Celestia. Her frosty demeanor harshly blunted Flintlock’s own rage, forcing him to clam up.  “Now, let’s pool what we know, and go from there.”

Sunset Shimmer went on to replay the conversation Celestia had with Shining Armor and Cadance.  Ultimately, Flintlock had little to share, outside of mentioning Rainbow Dash had been recognized by the Element of Loyalty.

“All this is going to do is give Celestia false hope,” Sunset muttered with a shake of her head. “How many times does she need to be told how foolish it is to use such a convoluted set of artifacts?”

“At least once more,” Flintlock barked bitterly.  “With Shining Armor back, he’s going to fixate on us.  He never liked the regency, you least of all.”

“He can point at us all he likes.”  Sunset’s demeanor thawed a little, now that Flintlock was thinking more rationally.  “Celestia pulling rank and taking me down defeats the whole purpose of the regency’s existence.  No, we shouldn’t overtly react to the Rainbow Dash complication.  We stay the course, and make sure Celestia sticks to Plan B.”

Flintlock nervously rapped his hoof on the side of his chair.  “That’s assuming Celestia doesn’t pull the plug at the last minute.”

“Then we have to make sure she doesn’t.”  Sunset got up and started tapping away at the wall mounted screen.  “If we can’t make a move anymore, then we can always pull a page out of her book.”

“Which page?” Flintlock asked with an arched eyebrow.

“It’s as simple as it is distasteful.”  Sunset took in a long breath to center herself.  “We hire some shadowrunners of our own.”







Later that evening, Rainbow Dash was in Fluttershy’s workshop.  The mechanic didn’t have any vehicle jobs at present, so there was plenty of room for Rainbow to stretch and practice various kicks and punches against an improvised punching bag made of little more than a sand-filled burlap sack.  She punched the bag, crying out in martial force.  She could feel her muscles tiring, but still ready for more.  She was drenched in sweat from an hour’s practice, but the pounding of her heart was steady, fast, and strong.  She kicked off the bag while using her wings to flip around, and bucked the bag as hard as she could without magic.  She ripped at the burlap, but her hoof slid along at a glancing hit.  She used the mistake by leaning into her momentum to land on the other side of the bag while grabbing onto it with her forelegs and attempted to body check it.  An act that might have worked on an actual pony instead of a chained up bag of sand.

Rainbow realized this of course, and twisted herself so she landed on all fours.  From there she paused to catch her ragged breath.  Her chest heaved up and down, but the rush of it all brought a smile to her face.  

“Wow mommy, that was so bangin’!”  Amber cheered as she bounced around on the last step into the garage.  

Sparks was buzzing in the air throwing clumsy punches of his own over his sister’s head.  “You got that mean dirtbag big time!”

As always, Rainbow Dash was more than happy to drink in the praise of her audience.  “Oh yeah, momma’s back up to specs!”

“Glad to hear it,” came Winter Glen’s hearty laugh as he descended the tight, narrow staircase deftly carrying a bowl of thin soup.  “That fake blood doing you okay?”

“That fake blood was nasty!” Sparks complained with a harsh whine.  “It tasted like gross.”

By the Moon, he actually tried drinking it! Rainbow Dash did her damnedest to hide her laughter from behind a hoof as Amber Lotus berated Sparks for actually disliking blood.  Any other mother might have been concerned, but if the artificial blood was good enough to flow through her veins, her son would be fine licking a few drops.

“Well duh, fake blood tastes bad,” Amber teased as if it was basic knowledge.  “You gotta get it from a pony like this!”  Amber wheeled around and bit her father’s leg with her little fangs digging into his skin.  

The stallion yelped in pain and dropped the soup right on top of Amber’s rump, causing the filly to bounce back in surprise.  The bowl clattered away while Amber bounced around trying to cool off from the hot soup sticking to her tail and backside. Amber immediately started running around in circles trying to escape the hot soup.  “Ahh!  Mommy help it huuurts!”

With her motherly instincts nearly causing her to panic, Rainbow looked around for something, only to find her sweat-stained towel.  She grabbed it with her teeth and threw it at Winter.  “Here!”

Sparks started pointing and laughing at his sister while Winter caught the towel and deftly roped Amber into it to stop her.  He started vigorously scrubbing her down as best he could.  “Serves you right, you little bloodsucker; you made me drop your mom’s dinner.”  He kept grumbling while occasionally shaking his bitten leg trying to will the pain away.  

“Sorry, daddy,” Amber cried through the sniffles.

Rainbow was quick to arrive at Amber’s side, cooing and patting her head.  “Hey, hey, who’s my tough girl?”

Amber looked up at her with teary eyes and sniffled loudly.  “Me.”

“That’s right.  You’re tougher than some ol’ dumb soup.”

“Hey,” Winter interrupted with a faux-wounded tone, complete with a hoof over his chest.  “I poured my heart and soul into that soup.”

“Well, can you put the rest of your heart and soul into giving her a bath?” Rainbow Dash requested with the best lovey dovey eyes she could muster.  It was a look she could only give to him, and even then only in private.  The others must never know she’d do it willingly.  Not ever.

This was a fact Winter knew all too well.  It was for that very reason it worked on him every time.  “You’re lucky you’re hot stuff,” he deadpanned.  He hefted Amber onto his back so both he and Rainbow could give her a kiss on the forehead.  “Come on, girly whirly, let’s get some cold water on you.”

Amber scrunched her face, but refused to outright cry in front of her brother.  “Yes, daddy.”

“Thanks, Winty, Let me clean things up down here and I’ll come on up to join you.”

“Alright,” Winter stopped himself before continuing up the stairs.  “Oh by the by, Rarity called, and said she’ll be here in like, a minute.”  

Sparks watched them go for a moment before bounding over to Rainbow Dash as the mare tilted her head at the news.  

“That quick?  Why bother with a heads up at all then?”

“Dunno, said it was about that think tank.”  

“Momma,” Sparks interrupted, giving Winter an excuse to hurry along to help Amber.  “Can I learn to fight like you do yet?  Pleeeeeease!”  The little colt leveraged his best puppy dog eyes and most pitiful begging posture.

“I’d like to bucko, but—” the rattle and grind of the garage door opening cut her off.  Both thestrals watched the shutters slide up to reveal Applejack, Fluttershy, and Rarity were approaching from the street.

Upon making eye contact with Rainbow Dash, Rarity galloped the final stretch.  “Flash, good to see you up and about.  I—” Rarity daintily sniffed the air and wrinkled her nose at the pungent body odor.  “Oh my, well it smells like you’re back to full spirits.”

“Glad to see you too,” Rainbow Dash grumbled with an eye roll.  Rarity virtually always smelled faintly of flowers, but not today.  This time, she didn’t have any perfume on, and that only ever meant one thing.  She gently nudged Sparks towards the stairs.  “Why don’t you go up and join your sister in the tub.”

“I don’t wanna,” Sparks whined, much to Rarity and Fluttershy’s gentle amusement. “She peed in the water last time!”

Embarrassment circled the mares.  Fluttershy quietly giggled behind her mane, Rarity had to turn away to let loose a wide grin, Applejack tilted her hat to cover her face, and Rainbow blushed through her fur.  “That was an accident and she said she was sorry.”

“Nu uh, she did it because she was being a featherhead!”

Now Rainbow gave her ‘irate mother’ scowl.  “Are you going to make me get the ‘thing’ out?”

Spark’s ears went flat in a real hurry and he cringed back.  “No.”

“Then get your tail up those steps, mister!”

“Yes, momma!”  Sparks sprinted up the steps, stumbled once, but vanished soon enough.

Rarity at last allowed herself to cuckle aloud while Fluttershy placed a friendly hoof on Rainbow’s withers, making her old friend sag a bit from ‘mom’ mode.  “You really shouldn’t use that old robot of mine to scare him.”

“Oh he’ll be fine.”  Rainbow looked to Rarity and the others now that she didn’t have little ears listening in on business.  “So, you three were on a job today?”

“Kinda,” Applejack offered as she got over her supressed laughter.  Fluttershy left Rainbow’s side to set about closing the garage while Applejack carried on.  “We spent all day doin’ legwork around that Resolute Chorus tower.  That scientist was a prick, until Rares told’m we were part of a penetration test team.”

Rainbow Dash completely forgot the insult about her smell and leveled an annoyed glare at the sole unicorn.  By then, the garage was closed again, leaving them in privacy.  “Rares, did you really drag them along on that nothing burger?  That AI was either insane, or got its math wrong or something.”

“Oh, there’s more to it than that,” Rarity countered as she waved a hoof back and forth.  “While passing AJ and I off as pen testers, it allowed us to get Moon Dancer’s credentials to get into the building, but she was tight lipped on giving any other info.”

The name didn’t ring a bell for Rainbow, but then she never cared enough about eggheads to remember their names anyway.  “Well, did the Princess at least give us a reason to go there, or is this all you?”

Rarity flitted away towards the stairs, only barely noticing the spilled soup in time to keep from stepping in it.  Her eyes traced the winding trail of little hoofprints of soup as she continued on.  “I may have brought the matter to Celestia’s attention, but she at least knows this could be quite relevant to matters at hoof.”

“Gotta say I agree after hearin’ the sales pitch,” Applejack butted in while inspecting a scuff in her chromed left foreleg, trying to determine if it warranted cleaning.  “Rares might be on ta something.”

Rainbow did a sighing growl and turned towards her childhood friend.  “Flutters, tell me you at least have some common sense about this.”

Fluttershy ducked behind her mane and started fiddling with her forelegs.  “We - well, I like to think I do. I was looking for ways to get out of the building if things went sideways.  So I can’t really say I saw anything that stood out.”

“They’d be doing a terrible security job if you had,” Rarity added hastily, causing the demure pegasus to focus more on getting the sand bag out of her way and escaping the conversation. 

Rainbow groaned with intense disinterest. “Does Queen even think this is worth our time?”

“As a matter of fact she does,” Rarity stated with a definitive smile and nod. “How do you think we got a scientist to think we’re legit pen testers?”

“Fine, whatever,” Rainbow relented with an exasperated huff. She turned away and started making for the stairs. “You girls have fun, I’m going to eat and take a nap.”

“Nuh uh, you gotta come with us, chummer,” Applejack called as she reached out and grabbed Rainbow’s tail.

“Oh, of course I do,” Rainbow growled. 

“If Rare’s right, you need ta see this fer yourself.”

“What?!” Rainbow snarled with sudden aggression. “That I’m actually a full on test tube baby?  My parents made me!” Rainbow stomped on the ground hard enough to rattle some nearby bolts.  “Either by their genes or by paying a doctor for genetics, but they were the ones, not some damned brain tank!”  She gave a challenging equine snort at both Rarity and Applejack to say otherwise. However, only Rarity backed up a bit at in shock at her vehemence. 

Applejack matched Rainbow’s defensiveness with stubbornness of her own.  “I thought you didn’t care what some insane AI thought of ya.”

Rainbow squirmed under Applejack’s smug face, made even worse when the earth mare lifted that oh-so-sarcastic eyebrow.  “I don’t.  But Rarity does, and,” she redirected at the unicorn, “the whole reason you want to go there is to get some dirt on the crown.”

“That’s not—” Rarity started only to be interrupted by Rainbow getting in her face.

“Don’t pull that lie you told Celestia on us.  That whole conspiracy connection was just an excuse to rob a lab and you know it!”

Rarity acted offended, and was about to leave in a huff when Applejack roped both of them in close with both forelegs.  “Now, you two listen here.  We can squabble all day about why we’re goin’, but the fact is, Ah think Rare’s got somethin’ about this whole connection thing. Even if she didn’t, Celestia’s now expectin’ us ta go anyway.  We have ta go no matter what now.”

“Ugh, fine.”  Rainbow struggled and shook her way out of Applejack’s grip.  “This was your idea, Rares, so you plan and lead it, I’ll be with the kids until we’re ready to go.”

“As it just so happens,” Rarity announced with renewed enthusiasm, “that’s what I’ve been doing all day, well, minus the legwork that is.  There’s word on the Matrix of a decker who has exactly what we need to make the job as smooth as silk.”





Pinkie Pie puffed on an empty smoking pipe as she paced back and forth in her condo.  A water elemental in the shape of a small alligator sat lazily on the glass desk next to her, its eyes vacant. Water slowly oozed away from it and threatened to spill onto the floor. 

Her condo was well-lit by multiple scented candles, all of which were of baked goods.  

“I don’t like it, Gummy, I don’t like it one eensy beensy bit!”  Pinkie jabbed a hoof at the pony sized screen sitting on the desk.  The center of the evidence board had a picture of Rainbow Dash’s face.  Holographic strings connected her to various other pictures or documents ranging from the best pictures she had of Rainbow’s crew, most of which were blurry at best.  In bold words, her patron spirit’s name, ‘Gelos’ sat above it all.  A fat pink string connected Gelos to Rainbow Dash, a color that meant ‘friend’ to the detective.

“Why, Gummy, why does Gelly keep telling me she’s a friend?!  Rainbow is a criminal, and a traitor.  Not friend material, no way, no how.”  Pinkie looked up at Gelos’ name.  “So why? Why? Whyyyy?!”

Pinkie Pie let her head flop on top of Gummy as she slid down.  The water gator was bisected by the intruding pony snout, but he simply took the shape of two water droplets that rolled away from her so it could reform back into an alligator.  

“I’ve never misread Gelos’ signs before.  And he pulls some good pranks, but they’ve never lasted this long.  Where’s the punchline, Gummy?”

She looked back up at Rainbow’s picture, but Gelos gave no sign. Pinkie used the tip of her mane to lasso a cupcake over and started munching on it. Flinty wants me to think she’s a baddie. So do what records we have left on her before the SIN burn. …Unless I’m being given only part of the info.

Pinkie sat bolt upright. “Secrets and lies. The Sections, the Nightborne. All of it bakes secrets and lies like Mrs. Cake bakes triple mint strudles.”

Pinkie looked back up at the board where Flintlock had string connecting him with Rainbow Dash and the half moon symbol of the Nightborne. “Then there’s Flintlock. If RD was really bleeding out like he said, then how did she escape?” She closed her eyes to remember the night of Denim’s capture. 

From her perch on top of the earth elemental, she clearly recalled the trail of blood Rainbow was leaving behind, and how Flintlock ran without any noticeable limp. “He wasn’t slowed down, and he didn’t say she had help, so how could she get away?”

Pinkie’s eyes drifted to center on the moon. “Super duper black ops?  Maaaybe. Gotta put on a good show. Maybe he chased her to bandage her after they were out of sight.

“But from what Sky Stinger was gloating about, we stopped her plans. Was she in the basement to snatch the Element?  Maybe the data that AI had?” She looked to Gummy for answers, yet all he did was give a slow, uneven blink.  “You’re right, Gummy, if she were super undercover and was already in place to take both the Element and the data, there’d be no reason to order the sting op.”

Pinkie turned around and clapped her hooves. “So it all comes back to when Flintlock ordered the go ahead: when he saw her in the whirlybird.”

Pinkie’s adrenaline was pumping now as she could feel she was getting closer to the truth. “If she were a good spy, then Flinty should know that, what with being the regent’s right hoof stallion. I didn’t know who she was, so he would have acted like he didn’t know her either to cover for her. But if she is a bad guy, then how could she possibly escape him when there was an obvious blood trail to follow? She had to be slowing down and easy to arrest.”

“Pride maybe? Maybe he slipped up?” Pinky spun around to looked back at her board. “No way. If he was going to lie to protect his pride, he would have said somepony helped her, something that wasn’t his fault, but he didn’t.”

Pinkie flicked an ear towards the water gator and gasped a few moments later. “Maybe he killed her instead?!” Pinkie cried out before licking the frosting off another cupcake. “Could be. If she really was a traitor to the Nightborne, that’d be the perfect motive. Even if you’re right, Gummy, his position would protect him too. Plus he might be under secret orders to kill traitors on sight anyway.”

“But then whhhy say she got awaaay?!”  Pinkie groaned in exasperation. “I don’t have the pieces of the puzzle, Gummy, and it’s a doozie. I’m getting to the bottom of this one alright, but I need to know where to find them.  Back to the scene of the crime, Gummy, come on we got gum shoe to chew!”






Late the next evening, Rainbow Dash and Twilight Sparkle sat in a truck while waiting in a carpark.  The engine was off, but they kept the air on.  The parking garage was just starting to slow down in activity.  Ponies had been filtering out of the stairs and elevators for close to half an hour by now, as the building’s upper workspaces closed down for the night. With Rarity and the decker she hired acting to give them a clear way inside, it left Rainbow and Twilight to themselves.  

Rainbow kept a half-lazy eye out, feeling somewhat safe behind the tinted glass of the truck.  She was idly combing her mane so it would be comfortable tucked under her robes.  

Twilight busied herself with memorizing the building layout Celestia had forwarded to them, along with Rarity’s plan.

However, something kept nagging at Twilight, preventing her from correctly going over the plan for the twentieth time in her head.  She looked at Rainbow out of the corner of her eye, watching for signs of lingering anger or irritation, but the thestral seemed more or less focused and mindful of her surroundings.  “Flash,” Twilight started, making sure to only use her street name from here on out.  “Is it a bad thing to be artificially made?”

Rainbow snapped her head around, more out of being jarred from her train of thought than anything else.  “What?”

Twilight busied her hooves by combing her green-dyed hair, making sure it looked professional.  Rainbow had been cheap enough to only buy the slime green dye on clearance, so Twilight ended up a hideous green with both her fur and mane.  Washable with soap thankfully.  

“I overheard what all of you were saying from the stairs.  I grew up in the palace, so I don’t know what… others think about it.”

Instead of answering, Rainbow bared her teeth a bit, but looked back at the elevator Rarity was supposed to signal them from soon.  “I ain’t in the mood for this.”

Twilight’s gut reaction was to drop it there and then.  But she had to know.  “You probably already know this from your time in the Nightborne, but Celestia and my - my mother, they always taught me a parent’s duty is to make their children better than they were.  What that entails isn’t always perfect,” Twilight added with an attempt at levity.  Rainbow didn’t react, which also meant she didn’t react negatively.  Progress.  “Sooo, at least as far as the ahh—” she knew this next word might be taken badly, but it was all Twilight was familiar with.  “As far as the wealthy are concerned, gene therapy is seen as a matter of course.”

Rainbow growled and at last shoved her face into Twilight’s own.  “Shut your trap!  I don’t want to think about feelings and drek while I’m on a mission.  That’s how runners get geeked, got it?!”

Twilight recoiled and pressed herself against the glass.  “Okay, sorry, I just thought—”

“Keep thoughts like that for when we’re not one word from getting shot,” Rainbow instructed curtly with a poignant tap on Twilight’s chest.  In spite of Twilight’s age, Rainbow couldn’t help but see her almost like a child.  A fine scientist perhaps, probably a giant in the life she used to lead, but a practical toddler as far as the street was concerned.  Rainbow’s face softened and she pulled away from Twilight to give her space.  “Even if we had the time, there’s no point in it until we get some answers.  Focus on keeping yourself alive and us out of trouble for now, sound smart?”

That could have gone better.  Twilight sat back normally and brought Winter’s shotgun up and held it tight in her magic.  It had been modified by removing the stock and replacing it with a large, clear, kinetic crystal. “Yeah… it does.  Sorry.”

Rainbow slouched back behind the driver’s wheel, and said nothing further.

Eager to clear the air a bit, Twilight opted for a different, more relevant topic.  “Can I ask why Rarity’s leading the team this time?  I thought you were named the captain.”  Twilight got a bit nervous when Rainbow slowly slid a tired look at her.  “My brother always said a commander has to be the one in charge or group cohesion breaks down.”

“If we were military.  But we’re not.”  Rainbow kept her eyes on the parking deck, but started shuffling her robes around so she could stretch her wings a bit to keep from getting stiff.  She glanced at Twilight only to see the unicorn’s brow was furrowed. That face probably meant she was formulating a new question, if Rainbow’s motherly experience was worth anything.  “Let me put it in egghead terms. I’m basically a freshmare ordering a bunch of seniors around because the principal promised extra credit.”

Twilight relaxed her shoulders as the analogy registered. “Oh, that makes sense.”

“Besides,” Rainbow added with a scowl. “This whole job was Diamond’s idea, so she can take lead this time.”  

Silence fell over the truck for a few more minutes with Rainbow not wanting to make any conversation and Twilight not wanting to press any unseen buttons. 

Eventually though, it was Rainbow leaning forward which pulled Twilight’s attention back outside.  The thin crowd of departing ponies was gone, save for a few who were lingering in their parked cars, idling on their phones or already diving the Matrix on cyberdecks of their own.  

The earpiece Twilight was wearing let off a ping sound heralding Rarity’s voice.  “Coast is clear, loves. Nopony should think twice about us on this floor now.”

Rainbow flicked her ear to give a reply.  “Got it, Twiggles and I are on the move to point A.”

Twilight used her magic to slip the shotgun under her jacket and into the harness wrapped tightly to her barrel. 

Rainbow pulled her hood up over her face and stepped out with Twilight following her lead. 

The pair made off at a casual pace, but Rainbow noticed how Twilight kept giving the occupied cars worried glances. “First rule of infiltration, rookie, always act like you belong here.  Acting suspicious makes others suspicious. So…” Rainbow turned to look at Twilight, trying to gauge what she knew about her. “Act like you’re writing a school report on books or something.”

Twilight nodded once, and let her mind wander to old familiar places. “You know I actually wrote a paper on the psychological impact of reading paperback text over strictly digital media.” Twilight was so beside herself with glee at having an excuse to prattle, she entirely missed Rainbow had turned back and was largely ignoring her. “Apparently those with cybernetically enhanced brains or neurological gene augmentations of D, H, and L classes all possess natural enhanced information retention when using digital media over traditional paper. Not to mention how long D types have propagated in the collective gene pool over the past four generations. I fall into the newest M type, by the way,” Twilight lectured on with no small amount of pride. “And let me tell you, I can read an e-book twenty times faster than the national average, all with no cyberization on my part. No small feat, mind you. In fact I believe you’d be among the L types.  I’d love to compare—”

“We’re here,” Rainbow announced dryly. 

“Huh?”  Twilight blinked, and didn’t even realize she had blindly followed Rainbow into an elevator lobby. Aside from Rarity, and the new pegasus decker, no one else was around the drab concrete room. 

Everyone was kitted out for a real fight.  All of them wore large coats to hide various weapons, but the two cyberdecks were simply too large and were slung openly on their owners’ backs.  Of them all though, Rainbow stood out the most with her hood concealing all but the tip of her nose as faint magic helped hide the rest.

The pegasus decker scoffed derisively at their arrival and cast a dismissive look at them both.  “Oh, this inspires confidence.  A wagemage flunky who thinks the mysterious caster look is actually intimidating, and a loose-lipped rookie whose so green she even looks the part.  Where did you find these two meatheads, Diamond, the back alley behind the orphanage?”

On one hoof, Rainbow was glad she wasn’t recognized, and on the other, she had to play her part. Posturing was not to be ignored. She looked the gold-and-orange-stripe haired, neon-green coated pegasus with a critical eye. The mare also had a sharp, if butch looking physique and had clothing to impress an air of sophistication of all things. Rainbow kept her tone aloof. “I could care less what some wannabe corp-jockey thinks of me. I’ll do my job, so make sure you do yours.”

Twilight was hardly insulted by the pegasus’ verbal sparring; if anything she was curious about the new decker’s methods of infiltration, but even she could tell when she had to at least look mean. “We all gotta start the game sometime right?  I’ll be just fine.”

Rarity loudly cleared her throat and slightly stepped between everyone. “Flash, Twiggles, this is Lightning Dust.”  Rarity made doubly sure to make the name sound impressive, playing to her ego. “She’ll be my backup during dives.”

Twilight was an admittedly subpar social butterfly, but even she could see the smug superiority on the lime-green pegasus’s face. It was the same look the corporate heirs had for her in class. At least if she’s a shadowrunner, she has to have some actual skill compared to those miserable curs. “Why does that sound like your real name?”

“Because it is,”  Rainbow answered with genuine confusion she was too slow to hide. A small, old part of Rainbow was jealous.  Even with five years of being a fugitive, that suppressed part of her still wished she could get her name out on everyone’s lips.  But not as a shadowrunner. Casting your street name far and wide was such an alien concept to her, Rainbow had given up on it long ago.  Nope, un uh don’t care. Let her be stupid.  Feeling self-vindicated, Rainbow directed her attention towards Rarity. “We have a timetable to keep don’t we?”

“Quite right.”  Rarity took Moon Dancer’s ID card and slotted it in the reader beside the call button. It chirped happily and opened for them. “This will get us to the gene labs. Our first stop will be security, and then up two flights for the primary server farm.  Flash, you’re the muscle, our client has given us weapons free.”

Flash nodded solemnly, but said nothing. 

Twilight swallowed the lump in her throat. At least it’s Knights Errant instead of the Royal Guard. So… Twilight knew of the private security company of course, but had never seen the business end of their state of the art weapons. 

“Shouldn’t that be a given against the Knights?” Lightning asked incredulously. “Now I wish I hadn’t demanded you leave that Farmer out of this.”

Rarity stepped inside the elevator, prompting the other to follow. There was a prominent camera in one corner of the elevator, making Twilight nervous, but neither decker paid it any mind. I guess they already took care of it.

Once everyone was aboard, the elevator raced up the large skyscraper. It was fast, but not enough to keep Twilight from asking, “Lightning, isn’t it dangerous to use your real name in our - um - line of work?”

Rainbow rolled her eyes from under her hood, but she forced herself to keep her mouth shut. 

Lighting Dust bore a deeply smug grin at Twilight. “Sure it is. But let me ask you this: how much are you getting paid for this run?  A thousand, maybe three tops. We are up against KE after all.”

Twilight wasn’t sure what number was reasonable. The classic egotist. Maybe I should go low. “Just over a thousand.”

“Well, I’m getting fifty large because my name carries weight. Everypony knows I’m the go-to for freelance decking, plus it helps I have the means to delete myself from any police databases.”

“Can’t erase a pony’s memories,” Rainbow warned. 

Lightning shrugged. “So?  You can’t use organic memories to search a database.”

Rainbow eyed the rapidly changing floor number above the door and decided to cut in with something actually useful. “Twiggles, listen up. Don’t bother trying to grab Knights or their weapons with magic.  You’ll only end up with a burnt horn, got it?”

Twilight didn’t even get a chance to reply when the elevator dinged. The doors opened up to a short lobby. A set of metal double doors sat in the back, a pair of potted cacti, and some unused cushioned benches stood near the elevator. Lastly, a security station was built into the wall on the right side of the far doors. 

The station was just large enough for one pony, and was made of the same polished, blue composite ceramics as the rest of the upper floors. A thick plane of glass protected the Knight sitting at the station, with only a thin slit allowing physical paper or ID cards to be passed through. 

Twilight followed after the others, doing her best to appear calm and somewhat bored to be there. 

“Yoo-hoo!” Rarity called to the knight cheerfully.  She made sure to wave Moon Dancer’s ID card so the scientist’s picture wasn’t shown. “So sorry, but I left my keys in the lab. You mind buzzing me in?”

Twilight followed after Rarity, not noticing Rainbow and Lightning were hanging back to avoid crowding the guard. 

The Knight wore a cloth uniform, but upon seeing the crowd of mares, and eyeing the two cyberdecks, he tapped a kite shield shaped badge on his chest, causing an armored jacket to form around him along with a visored helmet. He watched both unicorns and spoke with a mix of professional courtesy and chastisement. “Lab policy is clear, absolutely no cyberdecks are permitted beyond this point.”

Rarity feigned embarrassment with enough authenticity to make even Twilight wonder if it was real. “Oh dear, I’m so sorry, I forget I wear the thing once I get off work sometimes.”  She looked to Twilight who was conveniently right next to her. “Here, Sweetie, can you hold it for me while I get my keys?”

“Oh, uh, sure thing.”

As Rarity was giving the cyberdeck to Twilight, she also levitated the keycard face down to the guard. The earth stallion took it without looking at the picture on the other side. His side of the desk was a large touchpad with a scanner to the left. 

Both mares grew more nervous the longer he kept stalling the scan. “Tell me, how did you get your deck if you don’t have your keys?”

Twilight saw his other hoof was slowly sliding towards the right side of the touchpad. At this angle, she couldn’t read the buttons, but the small isolated red button was obvious enough to her. 

For her part, Rarity used the levitation of her cyberdeck to disguise her also taking a silenced SMG out of her jacket. “My friend here was holding it for me.  We’re going off for drinks later.”

“Bringing a cyberdeck to go out drinking?  That makes sense.”  The stallion tried to press the panic button on his console, only to find cork meet his hoof instead. Sweat appeared on his brow as his eyes moved over to see a purple glowing drink coaster was covering the button. 

A heavy tapping brought his attention back to the mares, only to find the barrel of a gun poking through. 

“You seem like a handsome fellow,” Rarity commented sweetly. “If you want to stay that way, you’re going to send your armor back, and let us put you to sleep so you’re out of our way.”

He glanced between the coaster and the gun once more. “My armor would hold for more than enough time to force that coaster outta the way.”

“Here’s a question,” Twilight said as forcefully as she could muster. An act she bolstered by hoping she could avoid having to kill him. “Are you paid enough to die like this?  We’re here for data, not your buddies’ lives.”

Rarity frowned briefly at Twilight, but didn’t contradict her aloud. 

The Knight grit his teeth and moved his hoof away from the panic button. “Like this?  No. But you better turn your tails around right now if you want to survive the week. You runners should know this place holds top government secrets or you wouldn’t be here. You go through those doors, and the Knights will be the least of your worries.”

“We’ll consider the warning, darling.  Now would you kindly back away so you don’t fall on the console.”  Rarity waved her gun, making the stallion stand at the back of the station and pressed his lapel so the armor vanished. Rarity then pulled a pistol from her jacket and shot a dart into the stallion’s neck. When he collapsed a few seconds later, she put her weapons away and levitated the keycard through the reader. 

With a friendly chirp, the doors swung open. Lightning Dust was the first to reach the security station and groaned at the sleeping stallion. “Diamond, why do you bother with the dart gun?  The Knights are a bunch of first rate rod sleeves, they wouldn’t show you mercy.”

Rarity huffed as she watched Rainbow take point in scouting ahead. “It’s not just about mercy, LIghtning. You’ve never seen a friend of a dead pony go on a marehunt.  I have,” she added with a hard look. The answer made Lightning Dust nonchalantly shrug and run off to join Rainbow Dash. 

Through it all, Twilight smiled a bit. Glad I was able to give Rarity a chance to spare him.  Her relief was short-lived. She steeled herself and followed after everyone else.  

The floorplan of the labs was simplistic, making it difficult to get lost, thanks to the convenient labels on the walls.  Rainbow Dash was on point, sprinting between benches and potted plants with eyes open for patrols, cameras, or trip lasers.  The others followed one step behind her while Rarity kept an eye towards the back.

Rainbow came to a halt upon seeing a fixed camera aimed down the path they needed to go, and waved the others to join her.  “Diamond, how long are the cameras going to be out?”

Rarity checked the timer she had running in her cybernetics.  “I’d say ten more minutes, barring any radio checks.  Keeping the guard alive will mean the biometrics won’t raise any red flags, so they shouldn’t think to check for a feed loop just yet.”

They crept along a for several meters until Rainbow Dash came to a dead stop next to a short potted tree. She carefully pulled the branches aside to reveal a hidden camera. “Did you guys neutralize the hidden cameras too?”

“Got them, no sweat.”  Lightning ribbed Rarity hard enough to cause her to meep out of pain and surprise.  “Ha!  I told you hiring me was smart.  Who else would have a sleeper trojan waiting for a night like this?”

Rarity tried not to rub the sore spot and simply nodded.  “Yes, yes, it’s gotten us this far.  But it won’t last much longer now that the feeds are looping.”  

Rarity was cut short by Rainbow forcing a hoof in her mouth while making a shushing sound.  Everyone went tense as Twilight carefully looked around the corner Rainbow was crouching at.  Down the long well-lit hallway, a large Celestia sized robot was patrolling towards them.  It looked sleek, and friendly enough, yet its permanent a-little-too-wide smile seemed forced, almost unnerving.  Its unblinking eyes that were locked forward only worsened the look.

Twilight knew the model well.  All the evidence she needed beyond its shape was that cheshire grin; and that its hooves glowed a calm blue, indicative of a nearly perfect sound dampening spell.  It was the same model employed occasionally in the royal palace, and it was headed straight for them.  Panic threatened to explode within her, but Rainbow’s presence kept her from flying off the handle.  No no no, this is bad, this is very very bad!

Rainbow slipped backwards and pulled Twilight along with her.  The mage looked at the two deckers and shook her head before pointing to a door into a laboratory close by.  As soon as Rarity swiped Moon Dancer’s card across the reader, the mares raced inside the lab as quietly as possible.

The lab itself had large windows, giving them a clear line of sight on the droid, and vice versa, so they ducked behind a counter covered in equipment that ran along the center of the room.  The lab was dimly lit, barely giving the non-thestral members enough light to avoid banging into anything.  

Twilight scrambled behind a large machine, her eyes wide and her breathing shaken with terror.  In her mind’s eye, she was a filly again, who wandered off and saw one such droid cutting down a row of mannequins.  But those target dummies had looked like real ponies in her eyes back then, complete with clothing and viscera.  No amount of explanation from Celestia, her brother, nor even her own logic could erase that moment of abject fear.  She risked looking up from in between two pieces of equipment.  The robot had stopped in the middle of the hallway, still facing forward.  The eyes were deceptive.  It can see you even if it’s not looking! Fearing she was about to scream, Twilight slipped back down and squeezed her eyes and mouth shut.

Rainbow Dash appeared at her side before Twilight’s emotions could spiral out of control.

“Hey, hey,” Rainbow whispered as she pulled her hood back enough so Twilight could see her face, “keep your cool, Twiggles, it didn’t see us.”  Twilight shook with fear, but she managed to keep her eyes on Rainbow and her brave expression.  “We’ll be okay if we keep out of sight.”

“That thing is tartarus made manifest,” Twilight whispered.  She bit her hoof, which was slowly allowing her to calm down.  “We can’t fight that thing.”

Rainbow nodded with a tense frown.  “I know.  I trained alongside them a few times, ran a mission with one too.  Let’s hope the cyberheads can shut it down when they jack in, eh?”

Mentioning the deckers brought Twilight’s focus back enough for her to think to look for them.  Rarity and Lightning were already at the far door with Rarity already hacking the device.  “Right, sorry.”

Rainbow helped Twilight back to her hooves.  “Don’t be,” she added with the same reassuring grin she used on her children.  “Fear is important, ya know.  It keeps you from doing something stupid.  Moon knows I still forget that sometimes.”

Twilight smiled weakly and started quietly walking towards the others, while being mindful to keep her head down.  “More advice from Winter?”

Rainbow growled a bit at his real name being use.  “Remind me to tell you his street name later, but yes.”

Rainbow’s mild irritation helped distract Twilight even further from her fear, and by the time she made it to the deckers, she had more or less gotten her breathing under control.  For now. 





End part 1