Ghost in the shell: Equestrian architecture

The medical section always smells strangely sterile. Osborn thought. “How´s it going back there, Aloe?” Osborn asked as the medic was massaging a gel into the back of his shoulder.

“Won´t go any faster if you keep interrupting me.” She responded with an irritated tone.

“Sorry.” Osborn took a slow breath and kept still.

The doors to Aloes office opened and Applejack stepped in. She wore an orange jacket with a white shirt visible beneath it and a pair of blue jeans.

“Hey, Applejack.” Osborn tapped two of his fingers against the side of his temple.

“Hey , Osborn.” She tipped the edge of her hat at him. “You okay?”

“Well I didn´t end up with bullet in my stomach this time.” He shrugged. “So you know, there´s that. Know who tried to kill me and the major?”

“Not a clue who she was. Or if it was even a woman to begin with.”

“What do you mean?”

“The body was originally an android, but instead of a central CPU in the head someone decided to put in a braincase along with a human brain.” Applejack dug into her pocket and Osborn felt a shill spread through his skin. “Now here´s the strange thing; there were no memories on that brain that weren´t completely destroyed or corrupt except one.” She took an audio device out of her pocket and played. It produced a hoarse, cackling laughter that looped after three seconds.

Osborn drew a slow breath and rubbed his chin and mouth. “So you mean some poor bastard had all their memories removed and then their brain got implanted into an android body?”

“Reverse order, probably. But that´s the gist of it.”

Osborn felt the hairs in the back of his head rise. “Turned into living weapon and send out to die.” He shook his head. “That can´t have been a pleasant way to go.”

“I wouldn´t know, Osborn.” Applejack said. “But now I am frankly more concerned of what this means for us that are still alive.”

After a moment of considering Osborn knew what Applejack meant. “You think someone has it out for the Major?”

“I´m pretty certain after what attacked. You did say it was going after her?”

“She or it, tried to crush my shoulder when it smashed it´s fist through the roof. But that was probably because it couldn´t see what she was grabbing at then. When the Major came into sight she went straight for her though.”

“Add to that the body was almost an exact copy of Twilight´s right down to the very length and thickness of her hair.”

“They must have gotten her specs from the planted worm.”

“Luckily they managed to exterminate it and plug every leaking channel.”

“Could have come a little sooner if you ask me.” Osborn padded his stomach.

“Fluttershy had to perform a manual search through the network in order to find it.” Applejack said. “If you hadn´t gotten shoot we might have never even suspected a hack. And something even worse could have happened.”

“Well I´m always glad to could be of use.”

Applejack gave of a chuckle. “In that case you will probably be dancing when you hear the orders the chief has for you.”
Osborn grunted and drew a sigh. “So what is it now?”

“She´s said that we won´t be provided with any additional support until we manage to produce some solid evidence. Luckily we have something to go on. The code was partially incomplete but Fluttershy managed to find the location of the hack at least; Blue Solace.”

“I´ve got some acquaintances there.”

“I know. That´s why you and Rainbow Dash are being send there to find out who hacked us. Me and Twilight are going to look into the name that you turned up.”

“Okay, when are we going?”

“Tonight. Any questions?”

Osborn looked over his shoulder. “Will you be able to finish your massage before then, Aloe?”

“Only if you sit still.”