Deus Ex: Equine Revengeance

"If you want to make enemies, try to change something."

Twilight looked up from her paperwork as the door to her office opened, letting in a familiar cyan blue pegasus clad in a black leather jacket with a black bodysuit underneath it. "Thanks for coming, Rainbow Dash."

"No sweat, Twi," Rainbow said as she sat down in one of the chairs in front of Twilight's desk. "Where's Spike?"

"I had him clock out early. Told him to spend some time with Rarity. Celestia knows they deserve it," Twilight said as she sat her paperwork down, releasing it from the magenta light of her magic and taking a moment to admire Luna's moon as it hung in Fillydelphia's evening skyline. "Listen, before I go into why I called you, I need to know. Are you absolutely sure you're good to come back to work? I mean, you just gave birth. And Scootaloo has gotta be a bigger hoofful now that she's flying and has her cutie mark to boot."

"Don't worry, Twilight. Soarin can handle Scoot and her new brother," Rainbow said. "He can handle anything, just like I can."

"I was still kinda surprised when you two got married," Twilight said, smiling as she thought back to Soarin and Dash's wedding day. "How are Scootaloo's wings?"

"They're working great," Rainbow said with a smile. "I can't thank you enough for what you did for her. Seeing her enjoy a flight always makes me smile."

"Glad I could help," Twilight said, returning Dash's smile. "I don't get why those purists have a problem with what we do. If not for augmentation, Scootaloo wouldn't be able to fly, and I'd still be missing a leg," she said as she held up her right foreleg, the black prosthetic standing in stark contrast to her lavender fur. "I don't even feel the phantom pain from the stub anymore. The accident was pretty bad, but thanks to augmentation, I still live a full life unhindered."

"Yeah. I won't deny augmentation's good and all, but I don't need it, and I never will. That tech would just slow me down," Dash said as Twilight put her leg down.

Twilight chuckled. "Of course you'd choose a pure flesh body for the sake of speed. That's just like you, Dash."

"You bet your flank it is," Dash said, hovering and grinning with a hoof on her chest. "But yeah. I'm good to come back into work. Gotta lose this baby weight soon, ya know."

The grin was infectious, and Twilight found herself grinning with her chief of security. "Anyway. The reason I called you back so soon is because I have a bad feeling about tonight. I can't shake the feeling that something big is going to happen."

"Don't you worry, Twi. I'll make sure nothing bad happens to anypony here," Rainbow said as she landed back in the chair. "You can count on me."

"Thanks, Rainbow," Twilight said before they were interrupted by a new voice.

"Security Chief Dash, your family is in the lobby." The cultured, yet unmistakably masculine voice originated from the speakers around the room.

"Thanks, Dusk Shine. I'm on my way down," Dash said before heading for the door, but stopped to look at Twilight. "Everything'll be fine. I just know it."

________________

"Mom!" Scootaloo called as she flew into her adoptive mother's embrace, hugging her tightly.

"Hey Scoot. What are you and Soarin doing here?" Dash asked after she released her daughter, smiling as she caught sight of the young mare's cutie mark: a sky blue triskelion. Scootaloo had finally realized her acrobatic and aerobatic talent when she got her new wings. The augment was lightweight, but still incredibly durable. A good thing too, since Scootaloo seemed as prone to crashing as her mother.

"Me, dad, and Radiant, actually," Scootaloo said as Soarin joined them, a little foal held securely in a carrying harness on his father's back. He had been looking around at all the new sights, but now was focused on his mother.

Rainbow smiled as she nuzzled her son, making him giggle. "Hey there, Radiant Dash. How's momma's little colt?"

Soarin smiled as Radiant giggled again and nuzzled his wife. "I thought I'd bring the kids to visit you at work. Spitfire canceled practice tonight for some reason."

"That's weird," Rainbow said. "Is she still upset about you and me being married?"

"Yeah. I still can't believe she went as far as kicking you off the team," Soarin said. "I guess Radiant was the last straw for her."

"Probably," Dash agreed. "She still reeling from that buck I gave her?"

"Yeah, that didn't really help get into her good books, Dashie," Soarin said.

"Sorry dude. Hormones. I was pregnant at the time," Dash said. Pregnancy had not stopped her from bucking Spitfire right in the face when they had their little spat.

"I still say that was awesome, Mom," Scootaloo said, earning a ruffling to her mane from her mom despite her protests. "Come on, Mom. Show us around."

"Well, I can give you a little tour, but don't stay too long. It's a school night. Plus your brother needs his rest," Dash said.

"Thanks, mom," Scootaloo said as a unicorn approached them.

"Nice of you to come back to work so soon, Rainbow. Sure you're up to it?" the unicorn asked.

"I'm fine, Facet," Dash said. Rarity's twin brother looked nothing like his sister, having a ruby red coat, a sapphire blue mane with amethyst highlights, and emerald green eyes. His cutie mark was a paint pallet with gems where the paint would be with a hammer and chisel in the background. He certainly didn't look like he belonged in an office building.

"I thought you were an artist, Facet," Soarin said.

"I am," Facet said. "I had a pretty bad case of artist's block and started messing with computers. Who knew coding could be just as much of an art form as painting or sculpting?"

"You fix the firewall?" Dash asked.

"You don't 'fix' a firewall, Dash. you find the loophole and plug it," Facet said.

"Did you plug it?" Dash asked, scowling a bit.

"Yes I did," Facet said before looking at his coworker's family. "Did you like my wedding gift?"

"Yeah. Thanks for that," Dash said, grinning.

"It was no problem," Facet said. "While you're showing them around, try not to forget who made most of the paintings here. My little display of advocating augmentation. I'd never be able to multitask like I can without my augments."

"Yeah yeah. I don't need your fancy tech," Dash said.

"Famous last words, Rainbow Dash," Facet said. "I'll be in my office if you need me." With that, Facet teleported up to his office.

"He seems nice," Soarin said.

"Wait till you talk to him without Radiant around. Then he'll get really snarky," Dash said. "Come on. Let's get this tour going."

"Alright!" Scootaloo cheered as they got moving.

Dash took them to some of the upper floors, mentioning that most of the paintings, many of which depicted ponies in environments of progress while others were portraits of important figures in the company, had indeed been painted by Facet. The unicorn was glad of the praise when his office was visited on the tour. After showing them her own office, which had a certain Spartan feel to it, and had a very good view of the lobby, she took them up to Twilight's office.

"Hey Twilight. Scootaloo wanted your office to be on the tour," Dash said as Twilight came from around her desk.

"This is so awesome!" Scootaloo said as she hovered around the room.

"Glad you're enjoying the wings," Twilight said, smiling at the excited mare before seeing Radiant. "And this must be the new addition."

"Yup. Meet Radiant Dash," Soarin said, turning so the curious foal could see Twilight better. Radiant's name was very fitting. He was about the same shade of cyan as his mother, and had her vibrant red eyes. His mane was mostly blue like his father, but with a rainbow streak down the middle.

"He's cute," Twilight said, letting the foal tug her mane a bit.

The happy moment was broken as an alarm started blaring.

"What's going on?" Dash asked, getting serious.

"There are several fires down in the tech labs. Tracking signals from the researchers indicate that they are fleeing from something, and I cannot get any images on the cameras. They are being jammed," Dusk Shine said as data came up on the screen behind Twilight's desk..

Rainbow looked at Soarin. "Get the kids out of here and get them home. Don't leave for any reason until I come get you."

"What are you gonna do, Mom?" Scootaloo asked.

"I'm going down there," Dash said. "Somepony's gotta protect those eggheads."

"Be careful," Soarin said, briefly kissing Dash before leaving with Scootaloo and Radiant.

"Use my personal elevator, Dash," Twilight said.

"Right," Rainbow said as she checked her rifle and pistol sidearm before entering the lift and heading down toward the labs.

"Rainbow Dash, once you're down there, it's likely that communications will be cut off between us. I'll try to get around whatever's jamming it, but until then, you're on your own," Facet said over the comms, which were suffering some interference.

"Got it, Facet," Dash said before the communication cut off. "Guess I really am on my own for now," she muttered as she exited the lift with her rifle held up. Keeping a close eye on her surroundings, she made her way through the damaged and burning labs.

"Please! No!" The alarmed begging made Dash move faster and she reached a plexiglass door in time to see a pair of scientists gunned down by a burly and clearly augmented earth pony. "What the? I was expecting purists, not an augmented merc," Dash thought to herself as the pony moved on.

By the time Dash had made her way around the plexiglass, the merc was gone and her path clear. Coming to a lab door, she pressed against the wall beside it and carefully opened it. Seeing the way clear, she started moving through when she saw a scientist gunned down. Taking cover, she got a look at the attackers as they came down the lab stairs. Unlike the earth pony from earlier, these two weren't augmented, but they did have high end equipment. And unlike him, they were actually vulnerable.

Peeking around her cover, Dash put several bullets in on of their heads before taking cover again to hide from the return fire. When the survivor stopped to reload, she peeked out and picked him off. Once she was sure the area was clear, she headed up the stairs and into the next corridor. After a brief period, she saw several guards get gunned down and peeked around the corner in time to see a flash of light vanish into a vent shaft. Moving on carefully, she reached another lab and listened to some of the chatter from intruders on the other side.

"We're supposed to kill any scientists we find, but the boss said leave the main objective to her."

Filing that tidbit away, Dash silently opened the door and put several bullets in one of their heads. The other two quickly took cover and returned fire. Dash kept her cover and peeked out to take a shot at one, only managing to wound him before needing to take cover again. "I do not need a firefight right now!" Peeking around again, she fired and took out the wounded one, hiding out from the last one and sending some blind fire his way before peeking out for more accuracy.

Once it was clear, she paused to reload her rifle before moving on. Making her way through another corridor, she reached the door to a third lab, where a lab tech still lived.

"Dash! Thank Celestia you're here!" he said before an augmented unicorn mare came out of the vent behind him and gunned him down before engaging a cloaking device and fleeing. The tech was able to open the door before succumbing to his wounds.

"They're gonna pay," Dash muttered as she took cover, looking at five intruders who had entered the lab from the lower level. "So far I've encountered twelve intruders. Ten normal but with good equipment, and two that have some high end augmentations. They're obviously mercenaries, but who hired them? And what's the motivation?"

Putting those thoughts aside for later, Dash peeked above the rail and shot one of them in the head several times before taking cover again. After moving to a better spot and picking off another two intruders, Dash noticed a canister land near her. "Concussion grenade!" Moving quickly, she got to the rail leading down the stairs before the grenade went off. Sending out some blind fire, Dash peeked out and picked off the second to last before rolling to cover behind a large object on the lab floor. Just in time for it to take some bullets. "Sorry, Twilight. I bet that's expensive," she muttered as she peeked around and took out the last guy.

After reloading, she headed out of the lab and headed through the corridor. This didn't make any sense. Why would mercenaries be attacking Sparkle Industries? Sure there were purists, but they'd never hire augmented mercs. That would only make them look like hypocrites. This wasn't about augmentation. There was some other motive. But what was it? And who was the mare in charge of them? What was their main objective?

Rainbow was broken from her thoughts when she was blindsided and bucked through a glass screen into an office. Pain coursing through her, she got a bead on her attacker, a masked and highly augmented pegasus, as the mystery pony approached her. Rainbow reached for her pistol only to be bucked through the office wall. Through the haze of pain, she saw something that nearly made her heart stop: her family in the hooves of the mercs. Soarin struggled in vain against the earth pony, while the unicorn's magic field held a struggling Scootaloo and a crying Radiant.

"MOM!!!" Scootaloo screamed, though it seemed distant to Dash.

Dash tried to get up at hearing Scootaloo's voice and her son's crying, but her body wouldn't respond to her will, and she lost consciousness.

______________

"Rainbow Dash! Rainbow Dash!" a familiar voice slowly roused Rainbow.

"Oh thank Celestia you're alive," Twilight said as Rainbow's vision cleared.

Dash slowly glanced around with her good eye. Pinkie Pie, Rarity, Applejack, and Fluttershy were there too. As was Princess Luna and, to her surprise, Princess Celestia. Celestia looked like she had been hastily roused from her sleep. "What happened?"

"You were hurt pretty badly," Fluttershy said. Dash was covered in casts and bandages.

"The doctors said that you're lucky to be alive, Rainbow Dash," Rarity said.

"Where's my family?" Dash asked.

"Well... they're uh..." Pinkie Pie's mane had deflated, and her coat was a darker shade of pink.

"I'm sorry, Rainbow Dash. They were burned beyond recognition, but the coroner said they didn't suffer," Celestia said in a very somber tone.

"The company was never the target. They just wanted to get you away from your family," Twilight said in the same tone as her mentor.

Dash barely managed a gasp. "No... No..." She had lost everything. Her husband, her children, and her body was heavily damaged. They were right there, and she couldn't do a damn thing to save them. She should never have left them. She was overcome with grief. But just as quickly, it was replaced by something else: rage. She wanted revenge, and she would hunt her family's killers to Tartarus and back if she had to. "How long until I heal?"

"The doc said you're completely crippled," Applejack said. "Whoever did this to ya was thorough."

Dash looked at Twilight. "Augment me."

"Dash, are you sure?" Twilight asked. "You said -"

"I know what I said," Dash said, cutting her off. "Things have changed. I want answers. I want to know who attacked us, who murdered my family. I will never stop looking until I find out who did this and make them pay. Every augment the company has, I want it, Twilight. Don't spare anything. Make sure I get everything."

Twilight and everypony else present could hear the determination in the mare's voice. She wouldn't be denied so easily. "Alright. I'll get everything set up. You just rest. It'll be a long operation."

Dash nodded and closed her eye. "Soarin... Scootaloo... Radiant... I'll find whoever took you from me. I'll make them pay. I promise you that. Cross my heart and hope to fly... stick a cupcake in my eye."