//------------------------------// // Three // Story: Neon Dreams // by Bigwig6666 //------------------------------// High, high above the city, in one of the many skyscrapers that jabbed up at the heavens, in the boardroom of the largest corporation in Ponyopolis, several clean cut ponies looked around at each other nervously. Their boss, the CEO of GlowCorp, sat in a chair at one end of the table facing away from them. The dark room was lit by glowing red lamps that lined the walls, and the sleek, black architecture was a stark contrast to the vibrant colours of the outside world. “So can somepony please explain to me what happened?” she asked quietly. Her sweet, innocent sounding voice struck fear into the hearts of all those gathered. At the far end of the table sat one Mr Grey Dust, owner and operator of Grey’s Delivery Company. His balding head had what was left of his greasy mane plastered to it, and his wrinkled grey suit struggled to contain his large form. “Anypony?” All eyes shifted down the table from the boss to Mr Dust, who nervously cleared his throat and pulled at his tie. “W-well, you see, um, boss, the thing is-” A light giggling was heard from behind the boss’s big chair. A small, light pink hoof reached over from the other side and waved in the air. “Is that an excuse I hear, Mr Dust?” Several of the executives closest to her visibly squirmed and shrunk away form her. “I, uh...” Dust stammered and pulled at his collar for the nth time. The boss’s chair spun around to reveal her in all her short glory. The CEO was, strangely, a filly, for all intents and purposes. On the outside, she held this constant demeanour of innocence and childlike wonder amid an unassuming form, but inside, underneath all that, there beat the heart of a vicious predator, willing to do whatever it takes to stay on top. She was the mastermind behind all innovative technology of Ponyopolis. The big boss, the pony on top of the world. She was the de-facto ruler of all of Equestria now. She was Ponyopolis. She was Equestria. She placed two of her hooves together and swished her curly light blue mane out of her eyes. The large bow she wore added to her unassuming form, and she really didn’t look very threatening at all, making Mr Dust relax and breathe a sigh of relief. Her scarlet eyes narrowed at him as he smiled. “Something funny, Mr Dust?” she said. He shook his head, his smile quickly dropped. “N-no, Miss Glow.” Cozy Glow surveyed the entire room, all the executives wearing all their neat suits and slicked back hair, and sighed. “Aw that’s a shame. Today’s been real hard guys.” She noticed a few of them untense and felt a smile creep up on her. “Anypony got a good joke?” Silence answered her. One of the suits coughed nervously. “Oh okay,” Cozy frowned and tapped her hooves on the Everfree wood table. She suddenly stood up and broke into a large smile. “Oh I got one! You ready, guys?” All eyes were fixed on the young filly. The tension and dread in the room was palpable, setting every one of them on edge. “What do you get, when you let one of the most dangerous ponies in Equestria walk around free?” Her voice struck them like an ice cold shower. As she spoke, a door to the side of the room opened as if on command, revealing two of the most prominent figures in all of Ponyopolis. The first was the head of Megacity Security, a large, red creature with the lower half of a pony and the top half of a gorilla, minus his large horns and iron ring hanging from his nose, and to his side none other than the synthpopstar sensation Love Pulse, a radiantly beautiful sparkling white unicorn with silver hair and feathered hooves. They, combined with Cozy Glow, practically ran the entire city. While Cozy was the mastermind and kept them all on top of the world, Tirek, the large red menace himself took charge of Ponyopolis security, and was the ‘muscle’ of the trio. He abolished the police of Ponyopolis in favour for heavily cybered creatures stripped of magic, what were essentially mindless drones and more of a private army than a real police force. Any real cops who remained had long since been forced into retirement, or met tragic ends in the field of duty. Love Pulse, meanwhile, was an anomaly. She came from seemingly from nowhere and quickly built a fanbase for herself, becoming idolised and practically worshipped by the masses. Rumours abounded that she used magic with her vocalisations, and enchanted the city under a spell. Obvious nonsense, of course, and any who dared say such things were quickly silenced. She took charge of gathering information for her partners, and regularly fed them what she learned when she wasn’t basking in the adoration and love of her fans. The room remained silent as the newcomers entered and flanked their partner on either side. “Anypony? No?” the CEO of GlowCorp giggled. “Well, lemme tell ya! You get...” Her expression grew into a sadistic grin, and she jabbed her hoof at Mr Dust, who cowered and quivered in his chair. “Deleted.” The head of Megacity Security raised his right hand, a hulking mess of wires and metal fused into flesh and bone that formed a cannon, and grinned as the barrel began to glow orange and hum to life. The delivery boss shrieked and fell back in his chair as a jet of energy poured forth, aimed directly at him. The three city bosses grinned together as the rest of the room looked on in silence. “Please! Please! It--It was that Neon Dream! She took your package, and some new kid I hired--I asked Neon to pick it up for you. I-if she stole it take it up with her!” he wailed and cowered behind his seat. Tirek paused and glanced at his partners. Love Pulse looked on with mild interest, and Cozy Glow simply waved her hoof. The centaur lowered his arm cannon and flared his nostrils. “Get out,” he growled. Dust quickly picked himself up and made to leave, waddling away with his tail tucked between his legs. He turned to thank them. “I’m gonna get on the horn to her right away, your, uh... redness?” He winced and turned to leave. Tirek called out to him. “Thank you for your contribution, Mr Grey Dust.” He grinned maliciously as the fat stallion turned around with a smile that quickly faded as the cannon hummed to life once more. Dust threw his hooves up to protect himself. His scream was silent as light engulfed him, and soon only his wrinkled, lightly smoking clothes were left. Tirek pulled his hand back and smacked his lips together. “Delicious,” he chuckled. He flexed his arm. “Never been easier, thanks to this so-called technology of yours.” “Thanks big guy.” Cozy smiled up at one of the few creatures she would call a friend and turned back to the remaining board members as they looked on in horror. “Now... who’s this ‘Neon Dream’?” One of the suits coughed and typed in a command on her holopad. The projected image of a cyan pony with spiky pink hair appeared above the centre of the table. “Neon Dream,” she said as all of them looked up at the projected image as a stream of data ran next to it. “Twenty years old, currently employed by the late Mr Grey Dust, according to her file she was affiliated with the anarchist Cherry Bomb in her youth.” Tirek raised an eyebrow and leant forwards. He inspected the image of the pony and scratched his chin. “Any family? Anypony to raise a fuss if she were to... disappear?” The mare tapped a few more buttons on her holopad and showed them. “Biological father: Detective Loose Cannon, deceased. Adopted father: Detective Salazar Mander, alive, retired. Mother: unknown, presumed dead.” Tirek frowned and tapped his chin. “Loose Cannon, eh? Clear the room,” he barked suddenly. The executives stood and quickly made to leave, avoiding the wrinkled suit, which was thing more than a grim reminder of the fate of any who displeased the trio or harmed the city in any way. The mare with the holopad was the last to leave. She glanced up at the hologram and shivered, and then trotted out the room quickly. Cozy frowned. “Who’s this Loose Cannon guy?” she asked. Love Pulse chuckled. “That, Cozy Glow, would have been the pony who almost exposed us with the aid of that infernal Celestia ten years ago.” She gave her silver mane a flourish. Her voice sounded like a song, flowing through the air, melodic and regal. “We had to deal with him, if you recall?” The filly smacked her forehead. “Ohhh that guy! yeah I remember him. He was funny.” She puffed out her chest and lowered her head, putting on a deep voice. “You’ll never get away with this!” she mockingly imitated the deceased stallion and chuckled to herself as she fell back in her chair. “Yes, well, if you’re quite finished,” Pulse snapped. A bright shimmer surrounded her for a moment, and her true form was revealed to them both. Queen Chrysalis, formerly of the Changeling Hive, pointed her cruel looking and jagged horn towards the hologram. “I thought ‘Megacity Security’ was supposed to be dealing with this!” she snarled. “I’ve built my own empire from the simple idiots of this city! I have all the food I could ever want, and we lost Twilight Sparkle? How?! This could ruin us!” Tirek rounded on her and flexed his chrome arm. “Listen, insect, if we-” The two quickly fell into another shouting match. Cozy closed her eyes and rubbed her temple, her eyebrow twitching as they argued like an old divorced couple, with her as the young filly they shared custody of. She began quietly debating with herself on what to do, forming a plan of attack as it were, in order to retrieve their hated enemy that united them in purpose. Suddenly it came to her, and a wide grin broke out across her face. “Quiet!” Cozy demanded and glared at them both. She reached up and put a hoof around them both, pulling them down to her height and smiled at them. “Listen, as long as nopony finds out the truth, we’ll be alright, right? What’s one pony gonna do against little old us, and the entire city under our hooves?” “Megacity,” Tirek interjected with a grin. “Nothing.” Chrysalis also couldn’t help but grin after realising the filly was right. “See! That’s what I’m talking about, big red!” Cozy beamed at him and flapped her small wings. She rose into the air and landed on the table and turned to face them. “Now, here’s what we do, alright?” She laid out her plan for her comrades, as they both grinned maliciously and listened intently. Several minutes later and once finished, Chrysalis changed back into her ‘idol’ form of Love Pulse, and sent a message to her various showrunners across Ponyopolis that she was going to be making an appearance at one of her clubs soon. If Neon Dream was indeed working with Twilight Sparkle, then they needed the city on their side, and who else could garner support than the beloved Love Pulse? Tirek sent a secure message to his entire force and put out an all points bulletin on Neon Dream, deeming her a dangerous criminal and labelling her a threat to the safety of the city and its inhabitants. As they went their separate ways, soon Cozy Glow was all that was left in the boardroom of her enterprise. She began to giggle, which turned into a cackle, and then into a roar of laughter as she threw her head back and howled like a madpony. *** “Alright, here,” Neon Dream grunted and thrust some holopads towards Twilight. “Here just... read these. They’ll explain everything. I think. I hope.” Her apartment, her home, her fortress of solitude, now playing host to none other than the long dead Twilight Sparkle. She couldn’t help but laugh at her predicament. Twilight looked at the strange technology and turned one over in her hooves. “What are these things? They look like books but... made of light?” She furrowed her brow and pushed her hoof through the words ‘written’ on the screen, and quickly yanked it back with a small yelp. The grumpy unicorn opposite her rolled her eyes as she stepped out of her company uniform, bundling it up into a ball and casting it aside. “Well they’re not gonna bite you,” she muttered. “Look.” She lifted one up with her magic and pointed to the screen. “You push this button right here, this one, when you wanna read something. From there it takes you to another page, where you read what’s on there, you get it?” The princess’s brow remained furrowed. “What happened to books?” “Hmph. What happened to paper, more like.” Twilight looked at Neon and her brow only furrowed further. “What do you mean?” “Well, there aren’t any trees anymore, so there isn’t any paper being made, so there aren’t any books being made." The alicorn’s jaw fell open. “What happened to the trees?!” “Ah jeez,” Neon snapped and turned away. “Look your worshipfulness, just read the damn history reports on it, they’ll tell you everything you wanna know--get off my back about it already.” Without another word she grabbed her phone and flicked it open, noting the several missed calls and text messages--all from her boss. Or former boss as some of the messages indicated. She counted the words ‘you’re fired’ at least a dozen times in the first three messages alone. With a sigh she deleted the voicemails without listening to them, and took a deep breath. “Shit,” she muttered. “Shit... shit, shit shhhit.” She gave an angry kick to a nearby box of her stuff and continued to curse. She slammed a hoof against the wall as well and hung her head in defeat. “...Shit.” Twilight watched her sadly. She opened her mouth to say something, but again words failed her. She was in a strange new world, far from the Equestria she knew and loved, with a strange pony with something of an anger problem. “Is there anything I can do?” she eventually asked, hopeful if nothing else that she could lend a comforting hoof to her saviour, as unwilling as she may seem. Neon straightened up and ran a hoof through her mane. “Yeah... there is.” She turned to face the princess, her face wretched and hollow looking. “Can you go back in time and not ruin my life?” The princess winced. “I’m... sorry, Neon. I didn’t mean...” Neon waved a hoof and slumped down against the wall. Her horn lit up with magic. The sound of something opening in the other room made Twilight’s ear twitch. Soon enough two bottles floated into view, to which Neon dropped one in her own lap and offered the other to the princess, who took it and sniffed it as the caps were twisted off. The pink glow subsided, and Neon took a sip from her bottle. “Ugh!” Twilight cried, and thrust the bottle away from herself and pawed at her nose. “What is that?” “Beer.” Neon chuckled as she stuck the bottle in her mouth and began to chug it, much to the princess’s mild horror. Finished, she dropped it and burped loudly. She smacked her lips together and clicked her tongue, wholly unsatisfied with it. “You ever drink, princess?” she wondered. Twilight shook her head and gave the bottle a wary glance. “I like cider every now and then around Hearth’s Warming...” “Ahhh cider! The good stuff!” Neon chuckled dryly. Hearth's Warming was something she always used to look forward to. She, her dad and Sal would always swap gifts and tell stories, usually of cases the two partners had worked. She grew sad as old memories, sad memories, came to her in an instant. “Speaking of apples-” She interrupted her own thoughts and stood up. “You hungry?” As if to answer her, Twilight’s stomach let loose an audible grumble. “Ill take that as a yes. I was planning on getting some stuff on my way home. Guess I’ll do that now.” The former delivery pony sighed and shook her head. “Listen, just stay here, don’t answer the door for anything, and I’ll be back soon. Read the holopads, for the lot of good it’ll do you.” Twilight turned to look down at the strange device in her hooves. “Holopad,” she murmured. “I would have preferred a book, but... this’ll do. I have a lot to catch up on, I guess.” She looked up at Neon and smiled. “Thank you, Neon.” Without anything else, she focused herself on reading the holographic pages, pouring over the knowledge of the past seven hundred years or so she had missed in her absence. Neon paused before heading out. “You’re... welcome,” she mumbled quietly, then opened he door and left to get some groceries. Thankfully, the nearest superstore was just down the street, and without her uniform she blended right in with the masses going about their daily lives. She wondered what she would do now, now that she was out of a job. No doubt Dust would send somepony after her, and after the ‘package’. She winced and crossed the concrete ground, thanking whoever built this mess of a city put platforms up near ponies’ houses. “Maybe I’ll see if Sal has anything,” she murmured. She hadn’t seen the old dragon in a few weeks. Now would be the perfect time to visit him, and she hoped he wasn’t in touch with any of his old buddies on the force even after getting canned. Neon soon reached the superstore and marched inside, thinking if she looked like an average pony not harbouring a long lost princess of Equestria, then nopony would think she was harbouring a long lost princess of Equestria. She sighed and shook her head, forcing a smile onto her face as she began grabbing some food supplies, and hoped she had enough karma left for it. Karma became the currency of Ponyopolis soon after the corporations took hold. Physical money became a thing of the past, what with metal being used to mass produce building materials and gold quickly being mined to exhaustion. Thus the karmic system was put in place, so instead of getting paid with physical cash, a pony, or any creature for that matter, would get points towards their karma for doing their jobs. Some jobs, like a cop for instance for instance, got you solid blocks of karma that could last you for ages, even make you rich if you had a good grasp of finance. Some jobs like a corporate representative got you so much more, and could afford you the really nice things in life. Jobs like a janitor or garbage collector, however, were the barebones of society and you’d have to ration it out to afford to feed yourself. The higher your karma, the richer you were in a sense. The poorer in karma you were, the closer to a terrible end you got. Neon herself was somewhere in the middle, not earning too much or too little, and managed to save what she could, all for her dad’s dream of retiring somewhere sunny. It hit her like a truck when she realised she was probably never going to get that dream fulfilled, thanks to Twilight and her sudden visitation. “That’s not fair,” she told herself. “It’s not her fault that she’s...” She suddenly became very aware she was speaking in public, despite the aisle she currently walked down being completely empty. Her ears swivelled around as she listened for anypony approaching, and quickly filled up her cart with the last of the things she needed in silence. Tins mostly, with a few dehydrated things in case they needed to leave quickly. Why she thought they might need to leave quickly she didn’t know, but something in her instinct, mixed with her dad’s teachings, told her to always be prepared. She pressed her hoof on the checkout pad and breathed a sigh of relief as the payment went through. "Thank you Mr Dust for never doing your paperwork." Her former boss was notorious for doing that, and as long as she was still registered as having a job she had karma to spend. She debated for a moment on whether she should buy as much as possible to save her the trouble, but decided against it, thinking it would be too much work. Just as she was bagging up her items, a news report flashed on the billboard across the street. She cocked and ear and listened out to it, caring only to glance over for a split second through the store's doors. She froze and gaped in horror as her own mugshot stared back at her. A glory shot from her heyday as a rebellious teenager. “Breaking news!” the newscaster exclaimed. “Neon Dream, known to be an anarchist and suspected to have terrorist affiliations, recently broke into the bank of GlowCorp and stole an item of extreme importance from the vault. If spotted, please do not approach, and calmly inform your local authorities. The suspect is considered extremely hostile and dangerous. More on this story to follow.” Neon grabbed her bags and darted out of the store, trying to hide her face as much as possible. Ponies all around her stared up at the billboard, making note of the angry looking rebel. The bags she held with her magic both helped and hindered her here, as for fear of being seen she looked down at the ground, unable to see where she was going. “Shit, shit, shit,” she repeated to herself quietly. “What am I gonna do? Sal. Sal would know what to do-” She interrupted herself by stumbling into somepony, mumbling an apology and tried to pick up her stuff as quick as possible. “Hey! Watch where you’re-” The stallion she bumped into started in irritation. He gaped and pointed in horror at her. “That’s her! That’s that anarchist!” he cried. Soon more ponies started to point and gasp, and the stallion backed up away from her. “Somepony get security!” “Ahhh hell,” Neon muttered. Her apartment building door was right there, if she could just reach it... An idea came to her in that moment. She licked her lips and ignited her horn and widened her eyes. “Move! Or I’ll blow you all to smithereens!” she yelled as manically as possible. They already thought she was an ‘anarchist’ and had ‘terrorist affiliations’, why not just add fire to the fuel, at least to get out of there while she could. The crowd scrambled to get away from her, shrieking and crying amongst themselves in a frenzy of fear and sudden panic. All save one, strange, tall, purple dragon with green spines, who watched her from a distance before he too disappeared. Neon quickly grabbed what supplies she could and dashed to the door of her block. There was nopony around now to see her enter, thankfully, but she could hear the sirens getting close already. ”Jeez they were fast,” she thought with panic rising in her. She pushed the door open and darted up the stars to her apartment door. She fumbled with her keycard and dropped the bags. “Come on... Got it!” The door slid open and she thrust the bags inside before leaping in and frantically closing the door behind her. Twilight looked around in a start and leapt to her hooves. “Oh my gosh, Neon, what happened?” “They know.” Neon gasped. “They know you’re awake, whoever they are.” She giggled as Twilight looked into the whites of her eyes. “They know and they’re coming. I’m a wanted mare.” Her breath, like her words, came short and ragged as she began to panic. “Ponies recognised me outside. We can’t stay here. Shit. Shit, shit, shit shitshitshit-” The princess placed a hoof on her shoulder and gave her a gentle shake. “Neon? Look at me.” She cupped the unicorn’s face in her hooves and forced her to turn after a second. “Can you hear me?” Neon stared into her eyes and felt the panic begin to quell. “Yeah... I hear you, Twilight...” she whispered. She hadn’t felt this helpless before, not since her dad... “Everything’s gonna be f-” Twilight suddenly shot up and stared at the door. She sensed something terrible coming, and instinctively folded her wings around the unicorn. “What are you-” Neon began, just as an almighty explosion rocked the world around them. With a flash of magenta light, she found herself outside, on the ground, in an alleyway somewhere. Her stomach churned and she promptly turned to throw up. After wiping the trace of spittle from her mouth she looked at Twilight in wonder, and no small amount of awe. “What was that?” she murmured. Smoke rose up above the city, and Twilight shakily stood, panting heavily. “I haven’t done any magic in a while, I wasn’t sure if I could...” she mumbled with a smile. “I guess I can...” Neon stood and looked towards the smoke. She squinted, and saw the last remnants of her apartment on fire. “They blew it up? Were they aiming for us?” “I suspect so, Neon. Come on, we need to go.” Twilight looked around and frowned. “But where?” The princess seemed surer of herself now, thought Neon. ”Maybe all that reading helped her get a better grasp of her situation?” She felt dread build up inside her as the thought of living off the grid came to her. “I... might know a place,” she said quietly. They both flattened themselves against the wall as a large crowd of ponies suddenly marched past the alley entrance. Traffic was, for once, at a stand still in the air. Neon swallowed hard. No doubt security was looking for them, poking through the wreckage of her home. It dawned on her hat they tried to do, and a scowl quickly spread over her face. “Those bastards blew up my apartment!” she grumbled. “Neon! Focus! Where are we going?” Twilight harshly asked. After a moment’s silence Neon turned to her. “My dad’s place. In the dragon district.” She twisted her face and tapped her chin as she looked at Twilight’s back. “You gotta cover those up.” “My wings?” Twilight looked back at them and noticed the tips of her feathers were singed, causing her to tut. “Eh, that’ll buffer out. What with?” Neon looked around for anything they could use. As if some divine force was looking out for her, she spotted a large tarp currently not in use. “That would do.” Twilight gave it a disdainful look and rustled her wings. “But that belongs to somepony else doesn’t it?” “I don’t think we can afford to be picky now, princess.” “Please, just call me Twilight, Neon. I don’t feel like much of a princess.” Twilight’s expression grew dark, distant. Neon noticed the look in her eye and shivered. ”Maybe letting her read those holopads wasn’t the best thing to do unsupervised,” she thought with a wince. She felt like she should say something inspirational, but how can somepony be inspirational to a princess who has lost everything? Those holopads no doubt held a many deep and dark truths nopony should have to learn, considering they were written well after Twilight’s ‘death’ and well after her time in the sun. The unicorn pitied her in a way. She shook her head and grabbed the tarp, holding it up with her magic. Neon cautiously approached the princess with it, the warm pink glow of her magic illuminating he alleyway around them for a moment. “Let’s... um... here, Twilight,” she murmured, eager to get going as another crowd of ponies marched past them, thankfully paying them no heed. “Let’s get this over with.” Twilight gave a stiff nod, rousing herself from her thoughts. “I guess. Is it heavy?” “You’re a big pony, you can manage it.” “I’m not that big--ahh!” Twilight’s legs buckled under the sudden weight thrust onto her back. She scowled as the unicorn laughed, and straightened herself up as best she could. “See? I told you you’d manage.” The princess shot her a look and stuck her tongue out before breaking into a large smile. It was nice to laugh, even when the world seemed as cold and unfriendly as it did right now. “So where’s this dragon district?” “About five miles that way-” Neon pointed down the alley, noticing again the princess’s faraway look in her eye, no doubt probably thinking of her old friends and family. She tapped her chin and turned around. “...Or that way.” She groaned and rubbed her head. “Jeez I don’t know.” Twilight placed a hoof on her shoulder and smiled. “Don’t worry, Neon, we can just start walking can’t we?” Neon shrugged her off and turned away. “We don’t even know where. We need an info terminal. They’re dotted around the city. They have maps. If we can download one, then...” she trailed off, and started pacing, trying to think. ”What would dad do? Grab a gun and raise hell, probably. Unhelpful here, Neon.” She cursed herself silently. She wasn’t her dad. She had never once tried to be her dad, she didn’t even know if she had the stones to be a cop, let alone the temperament. Her dad was a hero, and she was just... her. “I don’t know, Twilight...” Neon mumbled eventually, and stared up at the alicorn, now wearing the tarp like a weird shawl. “What do you think?” Twilight stepped forwards. Her face unreadable as her eyes pierced into the young mare’s own. “Take a deep breath, Neon. Relax. You know this place better than I do.” She spoke like a teacher, not like the ones Neon had had growing up, who only cared about getting paid, but like a real teacher, one who understood her student’s suffering and guided them to victory. “What’s the first thing we should do?” Neon puffed her cheeks out and kept pacing. “Well, we need to stay out of sight as much as possible. You got enough juice in you to do that magic thing?” Twilight nodded. “Good. That should help.” Neon exhaled slowly and stopped pacing. She closed her eyes and furiously tried to think of how best to get to Sal’s. She opened her eyes and turned to the princess as a mad thought passed through her mind. “I might have something... listen...” As she spoke, Twilight couldn’t help but smile. Although she didn’t seem like it at first, the young unicorn would have been a prime candidate for Celestia’s School of Gifted Unicorns. The princess’s heart heaved for all the ponies she failed, and tears began to sting at her eyes again. She blinked them away and focused on the present, listening to Neon as clouds began to form in the sky above, casting a dark shadow over Ponyopolis.