Neon Dreams

by Bigwig6666

Six

“Hey, Neon.”

Loose Cannon smiled weakly at the camera facing him. The cigarette he had just lit hung loosely from his mouth. He exhaled a large cloud of smoke and sighed. His mane was messier than usual, his eyes worn out and tired. The stress of his work finally getting to him.

He sharply turned his head and cocked an ear out. His mouth twisted into a grimace and he looked back at the camera. “We don’t have much time. They found out what I was trying to do and they’re coming.”

Cannon sighed again and inhaled another drag of smoke. “I don’t know how to tell you this. I just... I hope when you get this you understand what to do, and I know you will undoubtedly be angry,” he said. Smoke billowed out of his nostrils in a dragonesque manner as he exhaled.

He stubbed the cigarette out and immediately brought another to his lips. He flicked his lighter open and lit it, before letting out a chilling, solitary laugh.

“Those Children of the Sun guys I talked about? They were right. They were right, Neon.”

As he spoke, the detective inched forwards towards the camera and lowered his voice to a soft growl.

“Everything Ponyopolis is was built on a lie. What it is now, this cesspit of crime and corruption, is because of one twisted lie invented by scared little ponies too afraid and too ashamed to tell the truth.” He rolled his eyes and ran a hoof through his knotted and matted mane. “Twilight Sparkle. The princesses. It’s all true. All of it. And when I’m this close to exposing it, they start to send their goons after me--Megacity Security.”

He sighed and leant back in his chair, pausing for breath and watched the camera thoughtfully. “Listen,” he began. “It’s important that you-” A loud crash was heard from behind him, cutting him off and caused him to curse and spit the cigarette out. “Shit. Alright. They’re here. I’ve installed coordinates to the Children in this message. They told me one day she’ll come back, and somepony’s gotta take her to them. If that pony is you, Neon baby... then I’m sorry.”

A loud banging was heard from the door behind him. He gritted his teeth and smiled at the camera. “Goodbye, Neon. I love you.”

He reached over to the camera to turn off the recording device, but paused just before it. He gave the camera a grave look and murmured quietly, just as the door burst open and armed guards stormed the room.

“Do the right thing.”

His hoof reached over and stopped the recording, just as the flashes of their guns illuminated the world around him.

***

The alleyways and side streets of Ponyopolis were not as vast or winding as the main walkways and catwalks that ran underneath the skyway, but were far greater in number. Many of them were often used by all manners of creatures who chose a less observed route of passing through the city. Sometimes, criminal elements--gangs, corrupt politicians, or otherwise unsavoury individuals used the backstreets and darkened corridors as meeting grounds or resting spots.

In one particular street, cast in shadow by the massive buildings either side of it, two such ponies and one such droid quietly arose from their thankfully peaceful and incident free sleep. Theirs was a quiet shelter, hidden away from the hustle and bustle of the city for the time being and provided an opportunity to let them catch their breaths. The overhang of one of the buildings covered them from above, and provided shelter against the cold dark of night in Ponyopolis. But with a new day comes another new set of worries as Neon Dream gazed upwards at the sky, thinking on her dad’s final words to her.

The initial shock of losing the last of her family and viewing her father’s final moments in the previous night had passed. The sorrow tugging at her heart had been replaced by a fiery rage that was determined to avenge them both, whatever the cost.

Blue’s eyes sparked and fizzed, hard at work. [I have translated the coordinates provided by Detective Cannon. Would you like to-] it asked politely.

“Yes.” The unicorn snapped at him with a scowl on her face. She immediately felt guilty and apologised. “Please, Blue. Sorry.”

[It is quite alright, Neon Dream. One moment.]

Neon gave the droid an apologetic smile and began to pace. She felt restless and uneasy. Every sound she heard brought the image of her dad’s final moments to her eyes. She glanced at Twilight, who sat quietly and simply waited, and winced. She had woken up at one point in the night and realised they had been cuddling, nestled in close to each other. At first she had recoiled, but then she felt an urge bubbling up inside her, a longing for some parental comfort she hadn’t had since she was a filly, and allowed the cuddling to continue. The princess’s wings were a warm blanket if nothing else. Also, regardless of their situation, she felt safe next to the alicorn.

Twilight herself remained silent, deep in thought. She was thinking about Spike, and where her little dragon, all grown up now, would be. She hoped he was as okay as can be, he must have been hit hard by her... disappearance. The princess had some of her own questions for the Children of the Sun. How did they know she was real to begin with? Who was their mysterious ‘boss’. Were any of her friends involved with them in any way? With every answer she received in regards to anything in Ponyopolis, she only received more questions.

She chanced a look at Neon, and the two locked eyes briefly. They smiled at one another, and turned to look as Blue beeped and began to speak again.

[Translation complete. The Children of the Sun coordinates direct to the Scrapheap.]

Neon groaned and rubbed her head and went back to pacing, now mumbling under her breath. “Alright... if we... no... but then...”

“The Scrapheap?” Twilight asked with a cock of her head and a glance at Blue. “What’s the Scrapheap?”

Blue looked at her. She could have sworn it was looking straight through her and shivered. Droids were still very unfamiliar to her, despite how friendly this one was. She silently scolded herself and reminded herself to keep an open mind, especially in this future she found herself in. The droid’s mechanical and somehow soulful eyes dimmed, making it appear forlornness almost, and added a hint of equinity to its otherwise blank face. [It is where I was born, Twilight Sparkle.]

The alicorn stared blankly for a few moments. “Oh. Right.” She winced. “Um...” She quickly glanced upwards as a shadow passed over them. A car landing on a rooftop nearby. She breathed a sigh of relief and continued on. “What, uh, what does that mean?”

Neon rolled her eyes and released her own sigh of relief. “Stop being dramatic, Blue.” She turned to address Twilight. “It’s where they’re made and housed, mostly, on the lower levels. It’s just what we, the dregs of society, call it. it’s official name is the industrial sector.” She paused and shook her head. “Since the Novos took over, most ponies just call it the Scrapheap.”

“Novos?” Twilight’s ears pricked up at the familiar name. “Who are the Novos?”

“Cybernetically enhanced weirdos obsessed with BMs. Crazies hanging out with crazies I guess.” The unicorn tutted and stretched her legs. “From what I’ve heard they’re not overly fond of strangers, so whatever COTS did to let them share territory must be something special.” Her ear twitched as she heard sirens in the distance.

“BMs?” the princess asked.

“Body modifications.”

Twilight nodded. “I see.” She didn’t see. Not even close, really. ”The Novos... like the hippogriff Queen Novo?” she wondered if there was some correlation between them, or if it was just a coincidence. A shiver ran down her spine as she wondered what ‘body modifications’ meant. ”It can’t mean more than turning into a seapony right?” she thought hopefully.

[I have information,] Blue said, breaking through both her and Neon’s thoughts.

Neon tilted her head, her ear twitching as she listened to the sound of roaring traffic. “What is it, Blue?”

The droid’s eyes fizzed and sparked. [There are several energy signatures approaching us from every direction.] It turned its head towards one end of the street. In the distance, the tell-tale flashing red and blue quickly grew. [Energy readings match Megacity Security.]

As if on cue, a large shadow cast by an armoured van, emblazoned with the Megacity Security emblem on the side, passed over them. They quickly darted into a portion of the street covered by an overhang and held their breaths.

Neon flared her nostrils. Her emotions, a swirling chaotic mess of anger mixed with frustration mixed with a fiery vengeance boiled up inside her. “We stayed here too long.” She shot Twilight a look as the princess peered upwards cautiously. “I’m ready for a fight. What about you, princess?”

Twilight roused herself, and gave her friend a stern look. “Neon, I know you’re in pain, but we can’t fight this-”

“Why not?” Neon snorted. Her lip curled upwards into an ugly sneer. “Why don’t you want to fight? They stole your life from you! You heard my dad--they lied to everyone!” She grew angry quickly. Her emotions, the frustration brought on by both last night’s and this morning’s events, the anger she felt at seeing her dad’s last message, Sal giving his life so they could escape, it all boiled over in one moment and threatened to consume her in a fiery, vengeance fuelled blaze.

The princess flexed her wings and stamped her hoof. “Neon, listen to me.” She spoke calmly, sternly like a mother to a foal. “I do, but we need to be careful. We need to think about this.” She rolled her eyes as the unicorn tutted and turned away, looking up as the shadow of security passed by them and light shone down on them.

Neon grumbled under her breath. “You just want us all to hold hooves and brush each others hair don’t you?” She batted her eyelashes and raised a hoof to her mouth, giggled like a schoolfilly, and put on the best posh accent she could. “And we shall all play in rainbows, darling--rainbows!” She dropped her hoof and glared at the princess, her face resuming the serious scowl she had acquired. “Well, princess, times have changed. it’s a horse eat horse world, whether you like it or not, we have to fight sooner or later.”

Twilight grew impatient and flicked her tail sideways. “Stop it, Neon.” She closed her eyes and inhaled, then exhaled slowly. “Listen.” She opened her eyes and looked at the unruly pony before her. “Bickering won’t get us anywhere, we need to-” She yelped as a spotlight suddenly fixed on them both, stunning the princess and making her see spots.

”Neon Dream.”

Several loud, distorted and robotic voices called out to them from above. Neon shielded her eyes and shrunk back against the wall as far as possible. She heard the sound of guns being cocked, and looked down. To her startlement, there were several officers wearing the solid black, skin tight uniforms of Megacity Security. Their eyes, hidden behind red visors, were blank and uninhibited by emotions--indicators of the technology used to create them. They were all earth ponies, save for one pegasus, so they lacked the dexterity granted to unicorns by magic. To counter this, each one wore a harness that connected a mechanical arm directly into them, a device that held and pointed their guns--big, vicious looking guns--at the two ponies and droid huddled together.

Twilight couldn’t help but marvel at such a thing, wondering why this technology hadn’t been implemented before, albeit a simpler, less perverse twist of a pony’s soul version.

”Do not resist.”

“Neon, stay close to me.” Twilight whispered as her wing extended over Neon. Neon silently obeyed, eager for a fight, but the sight of all those guns trained on her gave her pause and her her stomach perform somersaults. Several of the officers stepped closer. The princess also stepped forwards and flourished her head. She narrowed her eyes and cleared her throat.

”Stand down, officers.” Her suddenly booming voice rang out, startling the unicorn at her side even further.

The security forces remained undeterred, however, and remained stock still. Not even their guns swayed. They were intended to be as droid like as possible, cruel mockeries of life, both organic and artificial.

”Do not resist,” they repeated in unison.

Twilight repressed a shiver as she heard the underlying voices amidst the distortion, her alicorn sensed more finely tuned to that of a regular pony. ”I’m so sorry this happened to you,” she thought.

Neon tugged at the princess’s wing. “It’s no use,” she whispered. “Security are all hard wired together, ponies given cybernetic implants and ‘upgrades’ to act as one unit, usually given commands by some drekhead using a computer. Probably in there-” She glanced up and pointed at the security van hovering above them. How Blue hadn’t noticed this earlier she didn’t know, and made a mental note to upgrade its radar tech. ”Stupid droid.” She glanced over at the mechanical pony. His eyes sparked and fizzed wildly, clearly computing something, though what she didn’t know.

The princess began to form an idea. “They’re all given commands by the computer?” she whispered back, her voice now returned to normal, though hushed as she conferred with the unicorn.

Neon nodded silently.

“I see.”

Twilight’s plan was simple. ”Take out the computer, take out the officers, right? How hard can that be?” She was about to find out the answer in just a few short moments.

”Neon Dream. Do not resist,” the distorted voices repeated. ”You are wanted in connection with theft, arson, anarchist activities, murder, and terrorism of the state.”

Twilight felt movement beside her, and before she could react her friend pushed aside her wing and started forwards.

Neon felt her face flush with blood. The fear she felt quickly turned back into intense anger and unrelenting rage. She glared into the barrels of the guns pointed at her. “What?” she hissed. “Did you say?”

”Murder? These sons of bitches have the gall to call me a murderer?!” She screamed inside her head, unable to contain the rage and the anger she felt for a second longer. She licked her lips. ”They call me an anarchist and a terrorist? I’ll show them anarchy.”

Her horn crackled to life and a pink lightning singed through the air above their heads, where it then connected with the wall opposite them, leaving a faint scorch mark and a crack.

The officers reacted quickly. Their guns hummed to life, glowing a gentle red at the ends of the barrels. Their distorted voices exploded, screaming at her to stand down.

Several green dots appeared on her body, laser guides for their guns, coming to a rest in between her eyes. She snarled and ignited her horn again, blinded by vengeance for her family. Twilight quickly rushed forwards again and put another wing in front of her. “Stop!” she cried.

The officers seemed to listen to her and stood still again, although they kept their guns still trained on where Neon would have been standing. Twilight cleared her throat again and raised her head up high. “You know who I am?” she asked calmly.

The officers paused for a moment. ”Affirmative,” the distorted voices confirmed.

Twilight nodded and forced a grin onto her face. “Then you know what I can do, don’t you?”

Several minutes of silence passed. The guards remained unmoving, no doubt their technology-addled brains processing new orders. At least, that’s what Twilight hoped was happening. She glanced down at the unicorn at her side and scowled disapprovingly.

Neon looked down, the gravity of her actions setting into her. “Twi-” she began quietly.

“Shush, Neon.” Twilight’s voice was uncharacteristically cold. She was both disappointed in and afraid for her friend now, fearing if she hadn’t been fast enough then something terrible might have happened. Movement behind them made them both turn and look. Blue’s metal hooves clanked on the hard floor as the droid shambled forwards.

[Subject: Megacity Secur-r-r-rit-t-ty.] Its voice glitched out, its movements were no longer as refined as they should have been, and its eyes sparked and fizzed wildly. Neon’s eyes widened in realisation. She remembered holovids she had seen of droids going haywire, speaking in distortion and with static infused words, shortly before going on a rampage.

“Twilight...” she murmured.

Twilight didn’t move, and kept staring at the droid as its eyes began to glow, entranced by the look it was giving her. She could see something there, some hint of maliciousness that-

“Twi, move aside.”

The princess snapped out of her trance and quickly hopped out of the way. It shambled past them, moving like a monster out of an old holovid. Its glowing blue eyes shifted to stare at the officers instead.

“What are you doing, Blue?” Neon hissed.

Blue turned to look at her. Its eyes dimmed lightly, almost knowing what she was thinking. [I will be fine, Neon Dream.]

Neon stared at it with wide eyes. “No, Blue, that’s--what are you doing?”

[Obeying my prime dire-re-rective,] the droid cryptically replied.

Neon glanced around at the various guns trained on them. “What prime directive?”

Blue turned back to the approaching forces. [Detec-tec-tective Salazar Mand-d-der, dated 2777: K-k-keep Neon safe.]

The security officers still remained frozen, seemingly frozen by their own programming as they continued to process. Twilight rustled uncomfortably and eyed them all, and the droid in front of her. There was a lot to worry about now, and she didn’t like it.

The tiniest possible smile crept onto Neon’s face regardless, and try as hard as she could to repress it, she couldn’t. “Alright, keep me safe from a distance,” she quietly told the droid, very aware that there were several pairs of guns raised at them. One false move from Blue--from any of them--and it was curtains.

[That is inad-d-dvisa-b-ble,] Blue continued. Its voice continued to glitch and warp. It sounded like it was struggling against its own programming, like a circuit had come loose.

“Just do it, Blue. I don’t want you to get hurt.”

[Droi-oi-oids do n-n-not feel pain.]

“But you’ll die you stupid robot!”

[I can be reb-b-built.]

Twilight looked at her friend as they continued to bicker and smiled. ”He’s loyal I’ll give him that,” she thought, happy to see even the faintest trace of a smile on the unicorn’s face despite their grim circumstances. Neon noticed her looking and pointed at the mechanical pony, as if to say, ‘are you believing this guy’.

“Come away, Neon. Let Blue do his thing.” The princess shook her head and backed up, pressing a wing into Neon and moved her backwards as well. She didn’t even realise she referred to the droid as a ‘he’.

Blue shambled forwards another step. It raised one of its hooves, and with lightning quick speed, dashed forwards into the nearest officer. Its metal hoof punched clean through the armoured uniform, and time seemed to slow as the small side street erupted with chatter and movement.

Neon and Twilight dove to the ground, the latter covering the former with a wing as shards of wall rained down on them. Bullets riddled the concrete where they had stood, missing them by mere inches.

Neon glanced upwards as Blue continued to fight for them. It moved less like a droid and more like a pony, kicking and bucking like it knew how to fight, more than simple programming could ever achieve. Aside from its movements and judging from the way it was speaking, she assumed somepony had hacked it, although the answers to who, why or where from eluded her. She nervously looked around for any such pony, any such creature really, that could have been watching them as the last of the bullets left the guards’ guns. They didn’t have time to reload as Blue moved in towards them, snapping their necks and punching through their bodies, like in the cartoon she used to watch as a filly.

Twilight also chanced a look upwards and immediately wished she hadn’t. Blue was a whirling mass of death, one of its hooves firmly in the jaw of one of the security officers as their body twitched uncontrollably. Blood splattered its face and chest, and its hooves were stained a deep red as well. Its cold blue eyes gazed around looking almost bored, scanning for further hostiles. The princess felt her stomach churn at the sight of such casual brutality.

“Go on, Blue!” the unicorn at her side cheered gleefully, earning her a worried look. “You seeing this, Twilight?”

[There is an esca-ca-pe vehi-hi-hicle approaching. W-when it ar-rives jump-p in,] Blue said, eerily calmly as it stood amidst a slaughter of its own making. The lack of metal face plate on it gave it a monstrous appearance, not to mention the various bloodstains covering it. It reached up a bloodied hoof to the sky as a shadowy figure approached them. [There. G-g-get in.]

Neon squinted and recognised one of Dust’s Delivery’s vans. She gaped as the side door swung open to reveal that purple and green dragon waving at them.

“Come on!” he yelled. His voice was softer than she expected. She recognised the driver too, even as he gave her a goofy smile and a cautious wave, and felt the heckles on the back of her neck stand up on end.

“Bright Spark,” she growled as her ears turned down in annoyance. “I’ve got a bone to pick with you.” She glanced back and saw Twilight gaping in horror at the carnage around them. Blue stood silently and still, having seen off the last of security for now. “Come on, Twi!” she called.

The princess swung her head around and looked at her, or straight through her, and promptly fell face first into the ground. Neon cried out and darted over to her, helping her up as much as possible. “Come on!” she grunted. The dragon leapt down from the van and hurried over to give her some assistance, helping hoist the alicorn into the van.

Blue started towards them and froze as sirens rang out through that part of the city. Neon and it locked eyes. “Don’t you dare,” she muttered.

It simply reached up to its head and gave a sharp tug. When it showed it’s hoof again it held up it’s CPU, a droid’s very soul, and held it out to her. Neon’s magic surrounded it and gently took it and held it close to her chest. She understood what that gesture meant. A droid can’t die if their CPU remains intact. It was all she needed to rebuild it--him. She solemnly closed the door to the van and rested her head against it. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath.

The rumble of the engine kicking to life made her stumble. She fell back onto her flank and cursed, before jumping up and trying to make herself look dignified. She cocked her head and listened and held a hoof against the door as she heard sirens approach rapidly. She glanced ahead towards the driver’s window and saw they were already speeding away. She groaned and hung her head in defeat, staring at the droid’s CPU as it remained surrounded by a small pink glow. “Shit. You stupid... damn you, you dumb droid, how am I supposed to rebuild you without a body?”

She turned around slowly and glared at the stranger in the van with her.

The dragon gave her an apologetic smile as he cradled Twilight’s head in his lap. The princess was breathing steady, thankfully, and from what she could see was uninjured in any way.

“Shock?” Neon grunted.

The dragon nodded and stroked Twilight’s mane. “She’s gonna be fine.” He reached out a claw towards the unicorn with a friendly smile. “I’m Spike,” he said.

Neon extended her own hoof and replied curtly. “Neon. Dream.” She looked down at the princess, then back at the dragon again. “You wanna tell me what exactly that was?” she grumbled.

Spike chuckled softly. “A friend hacked your droid and gave you a chance to escape.” His voice was softer than she expected, he sounded more like a pony than a dragon when he spoke, quite different from Sal.

Neon groaned and ran a hoof through her mane, and winced as she sniffed and realised she hadn’t showered for a while. “Oh that’s all is it? You know he was a family friend?”

The drake nodded and took a deep breath. “Yeah. We gave Sal that droid, hoping one day he wouldn’t have to use it, but just in case, we-”

“We?” Neon raised an eyebrow and lanced towards the driver’s seat. “COTS?” she murmured after a moment’s silence.

Spike smiled. “Yeah. That’s what they call us, right? Crazy COTS. Heh.” He leant back as Twilight began to stir. He immediately snapped to attention and gently lowered her down. “Twilight? Can you hear me? Twilight?!”

“Hnnn...” the princess groaned and turned over. “Just a few more minutes, Spike...”

Neon watched silently as her eyes snapped open and she bolted upright. “Spike! It’s really you?!” she cried happily. Tears immediately began to flow from her eyes as she swung her hooves around the dragon’s neck and pulled him him into a tight embrace.

“Twilight!” Spike cried back and swung his own claws around her.

The two embraced one another like old friends. Like family. Twilight planted several kisses around his face and continued to squeeze him. Neon couldn’t help but feel a bitter jealousy rise inside her as they began to talk and catch up. She felt like she was intruding, so she away, choosing to clamber forwards into the passenger seat. She glared at the pony next to her, who waved and smiled as she readjusted herself.

“Hi, Neon,” Bright Spark cheerily said without a care in the world. He reached into a small bag next to him and withdrew a cookie. “Want one?” he asked as he took a bite from it.

“Not a word,” Neon muttered back. “Not in the mood for your shit, Sparky.”

“That’s fair.” Bright Spark chortled to himself and leant back in his chair, quietly munching on his biscuit. He was, strangely, manually piloting the van even as they flew through the skyway. “I’m sorry... for what happened, Neon,” he said to her as an awkward silence fell upon them.”

“I said not a word.”

“I know, I know, but--oww! Why’d you hit me?” Bright Spark rubbed his shoulder and frowned. His wings, now free from the restraints of his delivery uniform, rustled against the chair. “I’m trying to apologise-”

Neon raised her hoof again and glowered at him while Twilight and Spike continued to reunite behind them. She closed her eyes and let her hoof fall limp. “Just drive, you hateful horrible little colt,” she muttered, ignoring his hurt look. He fell silent and focused on driving.

”What a shit start to a day,” she thought and gazed out the window at the world whizzing past. The sun was just barely above the skyline right now. She hoped she could find another model of Blue to repair and install his chip. She held it up with her magic and examined it closely.

Bright leant over and pressed a button on the radio. Music began to play, some synthwave song by Love Pulse. “I hate this song,” Neon muttered. A smile twitched at the corner of her mouth, feeling the catchy tune creep into her soul. Her stomach rumbled, and she turned her hungry eyes over to the small bag the colt’s side.

“So do I,” Bright chuckled in response, and offered her it. “Just leave me one.”

Soon enough they were both humming and mumbling the words to a song they both hated as they sped towards their destination.

Comments

[Bigwig6666]

https://gyazo.com/90244dc04cdf7e52ac11a8675c64d4c3

Featured 13/08/2020

Waaay thanks gals and ghouls we deed eet

[Benjamin981]

This is getting really good, its way to underrated have an up vote.

[Bigwig6666]

10384192
thanks!

[Razzy]

Welp, I think Megacorp Security is gonna bring bigger guns now.

'them I’m sorry' - then