• Published 18th Apr 2013
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Ponywatching - ThunderTempest



Stories from TMP prompts

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Prompt #433-Friendship.exe

The pony, wreathed in a plain brown cloak, ducked into the alleyway off the street without a second’s hesitation. The soldiers, all the same grey unicorn, and clad in the flak vests and gold insignia to signify their membership of the Royal Security Force, followed soon after. However, when they entered the alleyway, they only found piles of detritus and refuse, as well as a bum, asleep or dead by the wall.

“She’s gotten away,” said one, checking that the bum wasn’t their target in disguise.

“She can’t be far. She must be recovered. Ruler Celestia wants her toy back,” said another, his uniform marking him as an officer. “You two double back. Make sure she hasn’t given us the slip prior to this. Contact Ariel Division, get them to sweep the sector.”

The soldiers left the alleyway, and a small metal spider crawled out of a pile of rubbish, its single red camera eye scanning the environment. Then, by some unspoken command, millions of similar robot spiders poured from their hiding places in the alleyway, and began lumping together. In under five seconds, the figure of a pony was standing in the alley, missing only a head. The last spiders, including one that was nearly double the size of a Sweet Apple Corporation Apple, formed the head. As the last spiders clicked into place, an electrical charge rippled over the pony’s body, activating a chameleon feature, turning her ‘skin’ purple. The pony’s horn lit up with a purple glow, pulling her cloak out from behind a bin and wrapping it back around her body. Her eyes checked both directions of the alley, making sure that nopony saw her, and then she ran off towards the other end, away from the soldiers.

****

If somepony was to try and describe Trixie Lulamoon in one word, that word would likely be ‘Annoying’. To the Royal Security Force, she was annoying because she was a damn good picker, capable of breaking into almost anywhere. To the ponies in the underground rebels, she was annoying because her optical implants could tell when you were lying, and thus could expose half of them with a single tip in the right place. And both groups considered her annoying because they needed her, and she knew it. She was also a rabid kleptomaniac, and unfortunately had the skill to back up her compulsion. Anypony giving the blue unicorn a hug would likely find their credbits missing afterwards.

****TIME****

But Trixie was one of those ponies who knew absolutely everyone. If you had stolen data, she could find someone who needed it. If you needed somepony eliminated, she could find somepony to do it. And it was this, despite all of her annoying personal habits and quirks, which kept her alive and in a delicate balance between the Security Force and the underground rebels. But Trixie hadn’t survived without gathering a few vital instincts. Thus, when a purple alicorn, (Trixie could make out the shapes of the wings under the pony’s cloak), stumbled into the software shop that Trixie ran, which also served as a front for the rebels on occasion, Trixie’s instincts blared at her to get the purple pony out of sight right the heck now. So she escorted her from the software shop’s floor upstairs to her private residence, and told her to wait for a while.

When she came back down to the shop’s floor, an officer of the Security Force was waiting for her.

“Lulamoon?” he growled.

“You’re talking to her.” Trixie casually pulled out a bottle of oil, and began lubricating her artificial front right leg.

“We have reason to believe that an escaped experiment was heading through this district. One of Ruler Celestia’s favourite ones, as well. Should you see this pony,” the officer passed Trixie a poster, “Please notify a Royal Security Force officer when you can. She’s supposedly dangerous, so don’t confront her yourself.”

“Got it,” replied Trixie as she stared at the poster for the pony currently in her upstairs bedroom, while the officer showed himself out of the store.

“Experiment SP-4-RK13, Twilight Facility?” she muttered to herself.

Author's Note:

Written for Prompt #433-“The Future Is Now”
The Prompt: Reimagine My Little Pony as cyberpunk.

I kinda like this universe.

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