The Freelancers

by OverHeart

Chapter 0 - Prologue

Deep in the darkness of Lower Canterlot, two Netrunners plied their trade in the digital world.

Within the Net, Access Granted was busy sorting through stolen data in hopes of finding something useful.

Outside of the Net, Sheet Rock glared over at Access’ motionless body.

“Access, You need to take a break.” Sheet Rock said as she crackled through their comm-link.

“Can’t. I’m busy. Got to sort through all this junk data before sundown.” He responded.

“It already is! Come on just take a break, please?” Sheet Rock pleaded.

Access thought for a moment.

“Alright, just gimme a second. I’ll log out now.” he said.

Access raised his Net Avatar’s hoof to a floating button to log out and his vision filled with a bright white light as he was disconnected. Slowly he opened his eyes and upon letting his eyes adjust for a brief moment he sat up in the lounger.

Noticing that Access was stirring from his dive into the Net, Sheet Rock pulled the cables out the back of his neck then smiled at him.

“You can’t keep spending all your time in the Net, you know.” she scolded.

“I know. I know.” Access responded, stretching his muscles as he did so.

“Go and have a shower, I’ll get dinner on.”

“But…” Access protested.

“Don’t argue, I know we’re hurting for money right now, but that doesn’t give you the excuse to smell like the hobo ponies on the street!”

Access relented and headed for the bathroom. He grabbed the temperature dial of the shower unit in his magic and twisted it, almost immediately hot water began to fall within the shower stall.

With a huff, he stepped into the shower and the steaming hot water, it felt good on his aching body and he rested his head on the shower stall as the water flowed down his head and horn.

Access let the water soak his body as he rubbed some soap into them, the smell of noodles had filled the apartment which made his stomach grumble.

He washed the soap out from his coat and mane then stepped out the shower, he grabbed a towel as he moved towards the door to the living room.

It had been a decade since he moved in with his close childhood friend, Sheet Rock. How he convinced her to let him stay was a mystery and though Sheet Rock wouldn’t admit it, she was glad he was around.

Sheet Rock was a Unicorn like Access and had a long black mane-style and slate gray coat, nearly the same shade as his. It was scary how similar they were in ways, her cutie-mark was a set of interface cables and his a computer terminal.

On the table as he entered the living room was a small metal tray filled with noodles of dubious quality and no toppings to speak of.

“Hardly the candle-lit dinner you promised me when we started this whole venture, huh?” Access joked as he dried himself off.

“I know it isn’t glamorous, we’ll deep dive tomorrow morning and check out the local sub-nets and see if anyone has anything going. Okay?”

Access nodded in agreement.

Author's Note:

This marks the start of the rewritten story.

Events will be quite different throughout the story, i felt that only two characters really had any depth to them so i gave them the spotlight.

I know some will be disappointed but i hope you enjoy the rewrite regardless, i've learnt a lot in the past month.