86-34: Arc 1: Fight the Power, Fight the Fad

“You sure this is the place, Badger?” Circuit Cut asked as they stood in front of an old carriage workshop in the streets of Manehattan.

“Yeah, this is the place”, Badger replied as he moved to the door and knocked on it.

The door opened and an orange unicorn greeted them. He had a sprocket for a cutie mark. “Welcome. Cipher said he was expecting you guys. I’m Ratchet and this is my shop.”

The workshop was a mess. Tools were strewn all over the floor and the desk was swamped with paperwork.

Ratchet led them to the back room, where they found Cipher going through some reports.

“Ah, Badger, Circuit Cut, Hot Shot. Nice to meet you all.”

“Hi. So about those answers you promised?” Badger reminded Cipher.

“Straight to the point. I like it”, replied Cipher. “Alright, gather around. First, time for a history lesson.”

“Well, I’ll be getting back to work. Call me if ya need anything,” said Ratchet as he trotted out of the room..

“You guys are familiar with the bloodshed that took place a year ago, right?” Cipher began with a question. “I’m sure every pony remembered it”, Badger remarked, as thoughts began playing in his head. Equestria consists of oceans and landmasses but ultimately enclosed by mountains which are too high to climb and the weather being too harsh to fly over. One day some colts went playing by the mountain side and discover a passage through the mountains. Next thing you know the whole of Equestria wants to go through it to see what’s on the other side. What they didn’t expect were the mountain trolls deep within the terrain.

“Yeah, that was the first time Equestria saw war, but are you aware of why we incurred so many loses?”

“Uh, was the fact that mountain trolls were 3 times taller and 5 times stronger than any pony?” Circuit Cut said, raising his hoof.

“Well, true”,replied Cipher as he continued,“It was not only their brute strength, but their technology as well. Our swords and spears could not match their guns. Their guns proved so effective, even we’re using them now, though they’re modified versions the ones the mountain trolls used, and they could wield them easily because unlike us, they had fingers. Not only that, the harsh and cold weather dealt a blow to morale as ponies faced the thought of either dying at the hands of a mountain troll or freezing to death. Due to the high casualty rate, the Equestrian Relief Force (ERF) was formed, and I was a member of the first batch. The group consisted of pegasi combat medics, the best from Cloudsdale, as we were in charge of airlifting and healing wounded soldiers in the battlefield. However, these still were not the main contributors to the high death toll. You see, the trolls pushed us back only till the mountain range’s entrance and not beyond that. It was then that Equestria’s top brass, Canterlot High Command(CHC) decided to counterattack with the intention of taking and holding the mountains, and sent in the KampfHoofen, Germane’s elite military division, to accomplish this task. We patched up many of the KampfHoofen personnel, mostly because they were more likely to survive till we patched ‘em up, but still many more of them were lost during the initial counterattack and defense of key points along the mountain’s passage. No amount of weaponry or cold would cause such widespread death if only we withdrew as we should have. From there, we knew that CHC would place their own goals ahead of the ponies of Equestria, so after the war finally ended(due to the lack of troops), the remaining ERF and KampHoofen members left the military to watch over Equestria from the shadows, donning the name Old World Legion(OWL), to reflect in our attempt to bring Equestria back to its former self. We sure did have our hands full, as there was much unrest after the war, and CHC even sealed off the mountain passageway to prevent it from being used ever again.”

“So, long story short, you guys were unhappy at CHC’s decisions and then decided to become vigilantes?” Badger said.

“We had to. The riot in Flankfurt was about to get worse as some ponies managed to get guns into the city, and we stopped ‘em before they got passed around.”

“Oh yeah, I remember the riot of Flankfurt. One of the worst at the time”, Badger remarked.

“So, my point is, we managed to thwart potentially dangerous plots from developing. Then a few months later we heard of how Twilight and her friends defeated Nightmare Moon, which became an inspiration to us. Finally there was hope, something greater than any weapon: the magic of friendship. We knew that this was a key component in bringing back the old world. But then, some strange things began to happen: First was the budget cuts and widespread downsizing of military and law enforcement. CHC justified that Equestria was entering a new age of peace, and the existing size of peacekeeping forces were not necessary. Second was the weird trends sprouting from the theme of friendship, examples being shipping and the emergence of Wild Equestria. This was unlike the culture of ponies to act crudely towards something of great significance. Now, we think the two are related, and we need your help to prove it.

“Our help? Why us?” Circuit Cut asked, puzzled.

“Because you believe in the same vision as us, and that what’s going on now is wrong. That is enough. Also, you’ve associated with them before, so they’ll be inclined to enlist your help again, especially after you’ve done well in the previous mission they assigned you.”

“...alright, I’ll bite. What’s the deal?” Badger asked, mildly interested.

“Alicorp Industries is a company for researching new magic spells and increasing spell power. They had a defence contract with CHC, but the strange part is that their main research facility in Fillydelphia is built on government land i.e land owned by CHC, and no outside pony has ever been able to acquire government land, even if they had any kind of contract with them. We want to know what Alicorp Industries is up to. I’ll need you to infiltrate their complex in Fillydelphia and acquire some data off their servers.”

“Hacking, eh? I guess that’s right up your alley, CC”, Badger remarked.

“Perfect. They only allow unicorns in,” said Cipher.

“The thing is, how am I going to get to their servers? I mean, I’m sure they don’t just let anybody near their servers, now do they?” Circuit Cut asked.

“I’ll take care of that. We have a unicorn on the inside. He’s worked his way up enough to get into the server room. Their systems are new, with many of them requiring some configuration. He will then take you to the servers where you will attempt to configure them while also accessing the information. You get the data, their servers will be configured, and both of you exit the area with smiles of gratitude seeing you out. The rest of us will then meet you at the designated rendezvous point.”

“Sounds like a plan. I’m game for it", Circuit said, somewhat excited.

“Hang on. I’m going with him”, Badger said.

“No. Too many familiar faces and they’ll suspect you. Besides, you’re not a unicorn”, Cipher replied.

“But someone has to watch out for him.”

“My contact on the inside will keep him safe. I give you my word.”

Badger thought for a moment, and then looked at Circuit Cut, who said “Hey it’ll be ok. Plus, maybe I can find some information on some of their ‘other’ endeavours.”

“Alright, then. Let’s do this”, Badger replied.

~~~