Seesaw

Chapters

1: Rust Colored Skies
2: Everfree
3: The Mall
4: Investigation & Interrogation
5: Technology
6: Underground
8: Truth?
9: Below
10: Earthsdale
11: Digital Weaponry
12: Discoveries
13: Harmonize
14: Hacktivists
15: Hunters
16: Law and Disorder
17: The Block
18: Keeping Peace
19: Power
21: Division
22: Law and Disorder II
23: Online War
24: Apex
25: Downfall
Epilogue: The Future
Prologue: Inversion
7: Trust
20: Rogue

1: Rust Colored Skies

7:35 pm, the soft tune jingle of a wrist computer sitting on a plastic nightstand next to a temperfoam bed. The nightstand being plastic due to wood being a more expensive luxury commodity in the days where rural land grows smaller and urban land grows larger. A stirring in the bed and an audible yawn joined the silence break of the wrist computer.

Tapping the screen the portable device ceases its jingle, and its light would illuminate the tired face of its owner, Owl Talon. Owl would pick up the device, putting it onto his foreleg and strapping it on till it was secure but comfortable. Having put a few extra digital currency, the worldwide currency to replace them all called Digibit, into his purchase portable device it had soft foam built into the strap for extra comfort.

Getting up from the bed Owl would stretch his limbs, along with his leathery bat pony wings. Looking around the room, the bedroom of his apartment, he walked on over to the window and pressed a button on the device. Two lights would form and pull up a holographic screen before his eyes, shutting his eyes he would lower the brightness setting so as to not have the poor tired globes be fried like hay patties on a grill.

Upon setting the brightness of the hologram his hoof would scroll through the options until it reached a virtual button to open blinds. With the command wirelessly sent the plastic blinds would open to reveal the world outside. The Hologram was a feature of the higher end model which was his CrystalCorp CpC-1234-H model of Wrist computer, coming with the hologram screen feature along with an optional padded strap.

Owl frowned as he looked to see the sky was overcast, seemed the weathercoptors were not going to get rid of the clouds just yet, seemed the scheduled rainstorm happened a bit later than he thought. He looked out to the view afforded to him from his window on the 25th floor of the Apartment building, one of the taller ones in the outer parts of the megacity of Battania. Built on and around the ancestral home mountains of Bat ponies, though not nearly as colossal as Great Megacities such as Manehattan, was a very large and well populated urban jungle.

Being a city of around 97.4 percent bat pony majority it was constructed with flying creatures in mind, thus buildings were often not quite built to be accessed by those without wings. The financial district of Battania could be seen for miles, even farther than Owl's apartment home. Tall buildings, skyscrapers as they were called, made up the comparatively small chunk that was the financial district. The tallest building being 250 floors in height, and no building going under 150 in the financial district. Outside the financial center buildings of various heights could be found ranging from ten stories to 30, like Owl's apartment building.

The sunset would be obscured by the yet to be cleared cloud blanket, to Owl's disappointment. For him and around half of Bat ponies in Battania, the evening was morning. In Battania, the only reason so many Bats were out in the day was the need for workers to keep the city and its businesses running, same reason why other ponies also are out at night. Night or day, no city could sleep, only half it's population could at a time. Battania was no exception even with a majority of ponies who preferred the night, and Owl himself was no exception wither.

Taking his gaze from the window to go and get dressed as in this timeline, unlike long ago, wearing clothing and keeping one's plot covered was a standard of social decency. A social standard sometimes challenged by the clothing some ponies wore, whether it be the stylized skirts designed seemingly to draw attention to a mare's panties to such panties being designed to cover as little flesh as possible.

Owl would dress in a simple set of gray cargo pants and a sleeveless utility jacket, a useful jacket riddled with oh so plenty of pockets. For in case of the need for self-defense he took from a drawer a simple pistol, CWtech S-600 series 10mm. By the time Owl went to the door and stepped out of the perch outside his room, 20 stories from the ground, night had fully set in.

The bat would then spread his wings, taking flight among the many others. Being a majority batpony city such ponies could be seen flying around in all directions like bees in a field of spring blooms. Screens of varying sizes were placed on the walls of nearly every building in sight, advertising almost everything one could imagine from companies small and megacorp.

Being on leave from his job working with the Lunar Guard in Sector 2, investigation and Interrogation, he would be due forth to his normal spot of leisure. That spot was one of the hundreds of nightclubs found in Battania, the one of his destination being the Siren Tail. He looked up to the sky, sighing as he saw the clouds still denied a look at the night sky and moon. City lights were nice and all, but the sheer number and volume of them could get somewhat obnoxious and even be a bit of a strain on the eyes.

The night sky on the other hoof had a more subtle beauty, less encompassing and more piercing lights accompanied by one big yet soft light which was Luna's moon. Instead of that subtle yet beautiful spectacle Owl was met with a sky of clouds reflecting the unending city lights to give off a rust-colored hue. While the clear night sky looked like a pretty show of lights in soft midnight blue, the overcast sky in the city looked like clouds of rusted iron.

Soon enough he would pass by one stack-mall, a 13 story structure with each floor containing a different small business on each floor. A clothing store, bionic maintenance clinic, a self-defense weapon's shop, a couple empty floors with projected 'For Sale or Lease' signs on the windows. Finally, at the very top a floor decorated with spray paint art depicting silhouettes of mares dancing around poles among decorative patterns and designs.

The advertisement on the metal and concrete walls was by no mean deceptive, as on the perch were multiple metal poles affixed to it each with a bat pony mare dressed in the bare minimum one could wear without getting busted for public indecency. Leather socks on all limbs, tight undergarments, revealing skirts all adorned the mares. One of the dancing bat mares would eye the Passing Owl, and send a sharp whistle his way. Stopping his onward flight and looking to the mare he would see her strike a pose on the pole before she said.

"You look lonely, few Digibits and I can make you feel loved~" her voice was soft yet seductive with a charisma to put savvy business ponies to shame.

Owl would reply to her "No thanks miss, I'm heading for a nightclub."

The mare would smirk with bedroom eyes and said "I can make you drunker and give you a party like no night club around here~" like the ancient sirens her voice was skillfully applied toward the art of seduction.

It would have likely claimed Owl, had he not just gone through the rocky tarturian path of a marriage crashing and burning. He was in no mood for a mare's touch, as it would likely remind him of that still-burning wreckage. "I'm good, thank you." he then flew off, hearing the cute whine of the mare as he flew off. In his mind, he thought that any business, from the smallest stack-mall shop to the largest megacorp, would do well to make use of the city seductresses.

They had charisma combined with a feminine charm granting them the ability to hack the mind and heart like a computer, could pitch any product quite easily. It would likely pay better, but prostitution and seduction were less of a lowly place in nowadays society and more of an art form which many taking part in it embraced with passion.

Eventually, he would reach the nightclub, located on the 6th floor of a 10-floor stack-mall. Siren Tail had above its perch and entrance a screen banner depicting an animated blue siren holding up and doing tricks with drinks. Two Bouncers with CW-Tech S-400-C shotguns, compact pump operated firearms slung at their sides, kept watch outside.

Both of the bouncers had bionic implants, the first having a full set of limbs constructed of metal and composite material, while the other having 'centaur arms'. Compact bionic arms which were made to replace any need to use one's forehooves for anything but walking. As Owl approached the one with the bionic limbs, the bouncer smiling and saying

"Well what's up in the up Ow, how did you sleep from sunrise to sundown?"

"Fine...after some sleep supplements, and maybe a bit of whiskey."

"Still reeling from that divorce aye? Perk up, you still get to see your daughter don't you?"

"I didn't just love her Steel, I loved the mare I made her with.."

"You can't let it drag you down forever Ow, you gotta move on you're not even 30. Still got plenty of life in you, there are over a million mares in Battania that'll happily rock the bed with a lunar guard."

"Not like I'm blasting crooks off the street with an AR, I work investigation remember?"

Steel would grin. "Dontcha know that many a mare finds detectives hot?" he chuckled, Owl joining in the chuckle only to sigh once more.

"I don't know if I can replace her."

"Come onnn, don't let that hot bod of yours go untouched while it's still young." said Steel, himself a stallion's type.

"I'll live, got my job and the good amount of credits it pays, along with this place to go every week."

He would hoof the CWtech S-600 pistol to Steel, who's metal fingers would slide out from his bionic hoof to take it then pull out a transparent tablet-like device which scanned Owl's clothing for any metal objects. Only the extra clips of the pistol would be found.

"Head right on in, have a good night and don't drink yourself unconscious, I might take advantage of that~" Steel smirked and Owl laughed.

"Oh buck thanks for the warning I'll watch my drinks." Owl replied in a jokey tone making the Bouncer burst out laughing before tapping the screen on his Wrist computer and letting Owl in. The Nightclub was moderately active with a few other bats chatting, drinking, flirting, or just sitting back and listening to the music. Some were also eating breakfast, as the club did serve it in the evenings. Taking a seat on one of the many hardened plastic foam cushioned stools at the bar he would whistle to the tender, a bat pony mare named Limerick. Her ear perking in an instant and looking to Owl with a smile as she spoke.

"Why hello there owl pone~ You feeling down and alone? Just sit, drop your mind's stress and relax, let the club slay your unhappiness like with an ax~!"

The tender was a young mare of early twenties who loved her rhymes, t'was her special talent after all. The only reason she worked a bar was because jobs needing her talent could be a bit short in number. She also found the tender to be a great place to socialize and bring her talent to many a pony. Owl would smile and say to her.

"Always good to see my favorite bartender here, how are things for you?"

"They go well in this time and place, for this, as usual, is my ideal home base."

"Would you live here if they had rooms?"

"Oh if this wondrous place had rooms for stays, I might remain in this place for all of my days~"

Owl liked talking to the tender, it was enjoyable and entertaining to chat with a pony so obsessed and in love with rhyming. He would honestly personally recommend she write something, type out a digital book and have it published. He would download and read such a thing in an instant. Paper, like wood, was a material which lost it's once immense commonality. It was simply more efficient to take literature to the InterNet, and store it away in 'Cyber Libraries' where digital books could be bought and downloaded from any place.

The traditional Library, a building chock full of blocks of paper held together in a binding either hardcover or paperback had died long ago. Instead, libraries were usually places with a large data storage unit containing as many as 2,000 to over 100,000 books. The popular chains of libraries known as 'ReadIt' and 'Crazy Bookworm' were the most common, though many other independent libraries also existed.

Traditional books were exuberantly pricey, a copy being worth as much as 6,000 Digibits or even more. Owl felt as if literature might have been higher in quality back in the days of paperback and hardback. Back them publishing was harder, now standards are few and in his opinion finding a good Digital Book that wasn't either pretentious, fetish fiction claimed to be a proper romance novel, cliche 'action adventure' stories, or otherwise lacking was nearly as hard as buying a traditional book. On the bright side if Limerick did want to make a story chances were publishing would be as easier than applying for a digital magazine subscription. On the other hoof, her digital writings of poem and rhyme among many other writings might drown like a prodigy child in a sea of sewage.

Taking in the ambiance of the club, screens on almost all the walls advertising products ranging from Crystal Corp and EQUE-TECH computers to Apple Organics' latest apple and carrot soda lines. Modern electronic music coming mainly from the underground was what mainly played, and he preferred even the least good songs of that over the corporate product shoved out by record labels as if out of a lazily built assembly line.

Soon enough some of his favorite tunes would play from the DJ booth, where the DJ himself would be organizing and choosing what plays. Those favorite tunes would be the lesser appreciated genre of electro-jazz, the sexy tunes of a good old traditional saxophone combined with unobnoxious but rather well implemented electronic blues.

The club was small with only a moderately sized dance floor where two drunken mares attempted slow dances, unwittingly providing entertainment for the other occupants. Multiple club guards with stun rifles at their sides would keep watch, making sure no drunken brawlers would try to make the club their arena.

When the two mares attempted to do some rather lewd things one of the guards, a bat mare with a neon dyed green mane slicked to one side whistled to them and told them to either quit it or find a table to hide under. The drunken duo would just invite her to join, inciting an unamused though not overly angry look as she repeated herself. Having ordered a cheap whiskey on the rocks Owl would watch the guard's predicament while listening to the music.

Here at Siren Tail, he was in another realm altogether, he knew most of the ponies here and made good friends. It was an escape that not even a Virtual Reality Game Device (VRGD) could really bring him. Everything was real, had a natural ambient feel and somewhat of an unpredictable nature which kept things interesting.

Never was a dull day at Siren Tail, nor was any day he came along the same. Time ticked by, or it would if digital clocks hadn't nearly killed the traditional clock. The guard mare would keep a close eye on the drunk duo as they attempted to entertain her with clumsy drunken sexy dance, entertaining her in the more comical manner as she chuckled.

Owl would take a drink of his whiskey, not wanting to think about the divorce for one, escaping the reality of years of marriage crashing down like a massive aircraft. Taking in the sounds of music and the colorful sights of the advertisements that showed and listening to the DJ's tunes Owl would zone out into a trance. Everything blurred and he ceased to really think, instead of letting the visual and auditory stimulation drag him deeper into a trance. It was meditative to him and could make time zoom by like an underground subway train.

Mischievous, Limerick would grin evilly like a villain on animated children's shows, seeing Owl in a trance she knew that spooking him would be easier than casual wrist computer games. Sneaking up close to the entranced stallion Limerick would smirk before grabbing his shoulders abruptly and saying.

"HEY OWL!!!"

Like a frightened moth Owl would flutter around rapidly and yell out as he fell off the stool in fright. After detecting that he wasn't hurt to any major degree Limerick would unleash her laughter as he looked up to her and caught his breath. His visual and audio trance shattered out of nowhere as if hit with a bullet. The bat stallion's mind would take a moment to recuperate before registering what had occurred. Though the relaxing trance was broken quite rudely, like with a naive but well-meaning child he couldn't be mad at her for a nanosecond even if it was something she always did. Laughing along with her the stallion would smile

"You'll never stop doing that will you."

"You'll never stop falling for it~ I'll bet you 20 a Digibit."

"I'll hold you to that!" Owl would smirk. "If I catch you in the next four weeks without getting spooked you owe 20 Digibits in my bank."

"And if I send you fluttering around like a frightened bird, you'll owe 20 digibits to keep your word~" Limerick smirked back.

Looking at the time on his wrist computer, Owl would say to Limerick. "Well I think it's about time I head out, might come back later but for now I'm gonna go see Byte."

"Going to see your little one, I hope you and her have lots of fun." Limerick smiled as she took his empty glass.

Waving goodbye to Limerick and waving to the Dj he would trot out, looking to Steel as he was given his gun back. The stallion would smile and bid his farewell before taking flight off the porch. Post-divorce his ex-wife was kind enough to let him see his daughter, Bug Byte, from time to time. On days like these, he was allowed to take her from school and take her some place, though not be out with her for too long, before taking her back home.

Thus his next stop would be the Battania East District School, or BEDS, to pick up his daughter after school hours were up. Along his flight, he would check the weather schedule on 'Weather+' an application on his Wrist computer. Unfortunately, the rust colored skies would remain for a while longer as the Weather copters were under maintenance. Even without a pretty night sky, he would not be brought down. It was always a bright night when he could see his daughter, he wouldn't give up a chance to see her for the world.

BEDS was a rather large educational facility, a 20 story building built in a manner where the structure surrounded an open area in the center, where the lower grade children had their recess time. It was large for a reason, as it held students from their early years to the late pre-college years. Bug Byte was currently in the fifth year, though only due to the somewhat rigid school system as Byte was quite the learning child. She was a computer whiz, an excellent one at that for her young age. Reaching the facility he would land on top, where most of the students being flying students would be picked up. Lots of other parents sat on the benches and waited, most watching programs on their wrist computers.

Waiting the remaining 15 minutes out Owl would go to the Music application of his device and play some tunes, setting the device to telepathy mode so as to not bother the others. Both wrist computers and regular computers were capable of telepathic audio, magically transmitting audio into the user's consciousness. It was great for private calls, playing your favorite loud music without destroying every ear within earshot, and for helping one fall sleep at night. Though in case of criminal calls everything to be was kept under close watch on by the CyberGuard, sector 5 of both Solar and Lunar Guard.

Owl would smile as he heard the digital ring of the dismissal bell and saw as little fluttering children flew out like a flock of birds, while the older teens would follow behind. Byte would soon locate her dad and fly toward him, the excited filly pummeling into her father with a hug. Owl would chuckle and hug his daughter back with a wide smile. They didn't get to see eachother too frequently, but when they did Owl couldn't be happier. The excited filly looked up to her Dad and said

"Daddy!"

"Hey Byte, how had school gone? You do well in school today?" Asked Owl, the filly nodding quickly.

"It was a bit boring, but not too hard. I got to play on the computer today!"

"You didn't try to mess with things didn't you?" Owl said, the filly's ears going down.

"I did a little....but I put things back when I was done!" said the filly in her defense.

"When you're older you can learn how to be a white hat, a good pony who can help protect ponies computers."

The filly smiled and nodded. "And help keep the bad ponies from hurting ponies computers?"

Owl nodded and chuckled, such a young mind yet such a smart one too. He was glad she wasn't able to do anything major, it would have likely had the computer systems get suddenly locked down and looked over by the CyberGuard. Having the Filly ride his back he took flight, little Byte wanted to do a lot of things, watch a scary grown up movie, get ice cream, go to a playground. Owl would remind her she was not old enough but would promise ice cream and a day at the playground. Ice cream shops could be found scattered all over the city, with various levels of product quality.

This particular place he would go to wasn't the most high class, but it did have good enough ice cream and was a favorite place. After some ice cream, they would go to the nearest public park, like the city it was built mainly with flying creatures in mind. Multiple inflatables rings around a large inflatable floating castle. The material which made up the inflatable features of the park were printed with lots of advertisements for brands of candy, clothing, children's movies, and games as well. Owl would watch as Byte played on the inflatables with the many other colts and fillies flying around it, keeping a very close eye on her as to not lose sight of her.

Soon enough the soft jingle would come from his Wrist computer, a call coming to him. Looking to the screen he would see the contact calling, it was the Royal Lunar Guard (RLG). He froze for a moment then sighed as he answered it, setting it to telepathy. Another feature of Telepathy was that it not only allowed you to hear your caller in your mind but talk to them in your mind as well.

"What's going on? What are you calling me for?"

"We need you for something, a major instance of a potential threat." said the current chief of the RLG, Kevlar Vest.

"It better be major, cause I'm not supposed to be off leave till tomorrow." said Owl in a less than positive tone. If he was gonna have to have his day with Byte interrupted his mood was not going to be very sweet. Vest sighed, he had a guess as to what this tone was caused by and wished that another pony of his sector could be called. But the current situation called for those who was good at infiltration, and few were as effective in stealth as Owl. The RLG made use of ponies from Sector 2 not only as detectives but as spies as well, spies who could watch the enemy where digital camera based surveillance could not.

Privacy was devalued, and the dangers of secret threats were made clear to the populace in a propaganda campaign to flush out any concerns of privacy. This allowed freedom for surveillance at any time often without a warrant. This particular situation was going to call for Sector 2's most capable, and that included Owl. The chief would inform him that the situation would be explained when he got to Canterlot. Looking glum he would get up and head to the playground, whistling for his Daughter.

"But Daaaaddy, we were supposed to spend the day together!" the filly pouted as her father broke the news to her.

Owl sighed as he said. "I know, but Daddy's job needs him now. He's sad too, but he has to go so he can help keep Equestria safe from the bad ponies." he warned her in the past of 'bad ponies' and to not talk to strangers, but also made it clear to her that the Police and Guard would make sure all bad ponies were stopped and put in jail.

This made the little filly look up to him, seeing him as some superhero in her little mind. He himself believed that no criminal scum was safe from the Guard, if police couldn't deal with them then the advanced federal law enforcement would mark their freedoms end. He hugged his daughter as she teared up

"I'm sorry, Daddy will try to make sure he doesn't get pulled away when he's off work again."

Owl didn't hate his job, quite the opposite, even if he wouldn't be the one to take the worst criminals off the street he would make sure they couldn't hide anywhere. The Job paid well enough, not enough to buy fancy things but enough to where he didn't need to worry about paying for the apartment and buying food. Thus he would take his sad daughter on over to where his ex-wife lived, calling her on his wrist computer.

Eventually, he would reach the apartment building, a 12 story structure not too far from his own apartment complex. Walking up to the door he would use his device and send a message to his ex that they were there. The door opens as he looks sadly to the mare he once loved, Night Haze.

A beautiful and young but also strong minded bat pony mare with a bluish-silver coat and long black mane with purple stripes, he found it more pretty than his dark brown and black colors could ever be. Her eyes were colored like pure silver, the times they had together flashed through his head before he snapped out of it. Looking to his daughter he sighed and said.

"Bye Byte, you make sure mommy doesn't get a computer monster on her computer."

The filly grinned. "I will!" and went up to hug her mother. The filly loved her mother just as much as her father, and for good reason as she was well taken care of by her mother who helped her with school and even played games with her online. If only they had stayed together, thought Owl, he missed those better days already. Leaving the apartment building he would head for the InterCity, a high-speed train that took ponies quickly between megacities. Like most who flew Owl did not own an Autocarriage, the common ground pony's way of getting around, he instead used public transport when it would otherwise be a long and tiring flight.

Luckily he didn't live too far from the nearest InterCity, so it was not long before he reached it. InterCity trains ran between all cities in Equestria and were the go-to for getting from city to city fast. Owl would purchase a ticket digitally from his wrist computer before entering the station. Long rows of tough but soft foam seats would let ponies sit down and view rows of screens depicting the usual adds along with some less usual ones. To prevent geniuses from playing on the tracks they were closed off from the waiting area with automated sliding glass doors to allow access once the trains had arrived.

Multiple sets of tracks went through the massive sound echoing structure that was the station with walkways which allowed ponies to walk over the tracks, those also closed off for the safety of ponies with all levels of common sense. Upon walking to the waiting space for track 2 Owl would take a seat and look over the advertisement screens put onto the safety wall between the tracks and the waiting area, keeping note of some advertised grocery products that might prove better than the generic Apple Organics brand.

Suddenly, a few of the screens would glitch out and shut off, catching Owl's attention very quickly. The screens were usually well built and well maintained, it seemed unusual that so many go out at once. Unusual, but not impossible, thus Owl would just ignore it for now....until they suddenly sprang back to life depicting a digitized hoof in an old 8-bit style surrounded by pixel art of hooves around it. Being of the federal police he was very aware of what this symbol represented, Digital Hoof.

A renegade 'hacktivist' group of ponies who were constantly at the throat of social order, spreading rumors about the government being 'corrupt' and 'corporately bought out' among other things. Nonsense, he thought, as he wondered what anti-government propaganda they would spew in the fifteen minutes at most before the Cyber Guard kicked them off this network. Old style text would display saying the following.

"Do you really think they can do no wrong? Have a look at this!"

The screen would then show a video from what looked like security footage showing a room and two ponies taking out a beaten looking mare from a room. It would then show the text "These are Guardsponies, tasked with interrogating a mare into confession for a murder of her husband and kids." followed by. "You can see how they treated her." next followed by "She wasn't confirmed guilty, the evidence didn't confirm a thing!"

Owl would look at the screen in shock, he refused to believe this, there was no way they hacked into security footage INSIDE the Guard's facility. This had to have been fabricated, or at least taken out of context. He was part of investigation and interrogation, and they NEVER did this. The pony sitting next to him looked shocked, and inclined to be in defense he yelled.

"This is either bucking fabricated or footage was taken out of context!"

"I don't know...those look like guards to me.." said the pony next to him, this made Owl angrily get up and stand in the way of the pony's line of sight.

"I bucking WORK for Investigations and Interrogation and we never use such methods on suspects!!!" Owl yelled, catching the attention of the other ponies as their gaze turned away from the hacked screens to him. They looked shocked at what they saw as well, in reply Owl asked

"Are you going to listen to some self-righteous ponies who hide behind bucking screens?? Or the ponies keeping you safe day and night!" he yelled out, his voice echoing as the screens glitched and shut off before displaying the adds once more. The ponies in the waiting zone would talk among themselves about what just happened as the train arrived. A form of train known as Magilev trains, levitated and propelled by magical energy similar to the common unicorn's telekinesis.

The trains were attached to the track in a way that they could float atop it and zoom on by with little to no friction. The trains were fast, easily able to exceed 400 miles per hour in speed, making them prime transportation for inter-city travel hence the name itself. As the train came to a stop and aligned its doors with the sliding glass access doors both would open.

The commotion seeming to be over Owl would trot on over to the doors to enter the train, the others entering as well. He would use his wrist computer to direct him to the assigned seat on the train. Unless he had a particularly hard work day he didn't generally spend the extra Digibits on first class seats, those being more luxurious seating with features such as automated massaging and heating. For now, he was satisfied with the seat he had, next to a window to permit him full access to the zooming sights outside.

As the train would zoom along the track at great speeds on its way to Canterlot, Owl would wonder what was so urgent as to need him tonight. He pondered what it could possibly be, he'd spied on gangs, criminal organization types, pony traffickers, cockfighting rings, but none of those were quite the kind of operations which would yank him straight outta his short leave times.

The stallion then decided he would just wait to think about things till he got to Canterlot. For now, the bat had a window to look out of and around 10 minutes to do so. Owl would smile as clouds passed and he finally got to see the beautiful night sky would soon come into view. No more Rust Colored Skies for tonight.

Author's Note

And so it begins.
Not sure I could have found better music to write this to, might recommend you listen to this while reading.

(UPDATE) Split the paragraph a bit for ease of reading for mobile users

2: Everfree

The Magilev train zoomed along the track, fortunately for Owl Canterlot would soon to be reached thanks to the high speed train. He stared out the window from his seat at the starry night sky, though not as hypnotic as a nightclub the clear night sky of stars and Luna's moon was enough to make him zone out. Owl was a type of pony who would often take the time to zone out and drift away in thought, it was his method of therapy and seemed better than the hundreds of Digibits in cost a 'professional' therapist could offer.

The inner wounds of his divorce were torn back open a bit by having one of few days he got to see his daughter interrupted suddenly. If this wasn't at least a level 11 threat, just two levels short of a level 13 or Terrorism Threat, he swore he was going to slap the pony who ordered him today. Though the train came with small screens on the backs of every seat for everypony to purchase and watch various forms of entertainment, Owl didn't bother now being too focused on the night sky and his inner thoughts consisting mostly of anger and unrest. Eventually he would see the Equestrian capitol city approach close.

Canterlot was a much different city from it's classic ancient image, the old city was still seen and lived in mostly by local corporate personnel who could afford the small but price homes. The mountain now acted as the main support for multiple large ring like structures of steel and concrete which housed a large number of buildings. The old Canterlot city, or the Classic Sub-District, was part of one such ring. From a distance the mountain was a sight to behold, it looked as if Canterlot itself visited a Crystal Corp/EQUE-TECH cybernetics shop and came out with a number of bionic augmentations.

From Canterlot down many levels of the mountain were multiple rings accessed between through a spiraling tunnel road carved into the mountain. Between the ring structures were a number of mansions carved and built into the side of the mountain, partially exposed to the outside with a balcony and windows to grant the rich ponies who owned these structures quite the view. At the foot of the mountain, as if spilled from it, was the lower city and it's six districts. Sprawling at around half the size of Battania's sprawl, the lower city was home to sixty percent of the population.

Surprisingly to some the urban spill was one of the less vibrant urban sprawls in Equestria, fewer nightclubs and mostly the usual advertisement strewn screens dotted the buildings. Most of Canterlot's culture was on the rings, the lower city was almost like their spilled waste. For being in such close proximity to the center of the RSG and RLG as well as Equestria's Princesses combined with the Harmony Council, Canterlot was not without it's crime levels. Though no major criminal syndicates operated in the city there was a number of muggings, murders, and even some light drug trade occurred within the Urban Spill.

The Magilev train pulled into the station at the edge of the Urban Spill, Owl would hear the automated synthetic voice on the train say "Arriving at Canterlot InterCity Station one". As the train pulled to a stop in the station and the doors opened up Owl got up from his seat and stretched his limbs and wings to kick start his body from sit mode to walk and fly mode. Trotting out into the Station he would head out, met with the sounds of mechanum wheels from the various autocarriages rolling onto the asphalt in the vast complex and almost maze like networks of roads and streets of the Urban Spill.

Auto carriages mostly of the smaller two door types, moderately sized four door, and larger transport kind could be seen rolling all over the streets. Normally this many vehicles would lead to a number of cluttered and jammed streets, however thanks to the advancement of the centralized city systems along with the advent of self driving autocarriage allowed traffic to be managed very efficiently. One of many wonders of the Centralized City Systems, or CCS's, which despite the alleged risk of the whole city getting hacked ensured little public resistance to the CCS's advent.

Spreading his wings and taking flight Owl would make his way toward the top Ring, where the two Royal Guard facilities were located on either side of the Classic Sub-District. Both facilities were similar, ten story facilities though with different insignia's lit and hanging above the entrance. The flight would take some time, even for a swift flyer such as Owl, as the Urban Spill alone made for a long distance between the station and the Rings.

Skyscrapers on the Urban Spill were almost entirely of the residential apartment type, given the lower city itself was constructed in response to a swelling population even the rings could not hold. When population grew too large on the ground, urban sprawl was the answer, unless in a cloud city where going up and building another level was an option.

Unfortunately flying was not always perfectly effective in keeping one perfectly safe from mugging, though less common mugging in the sky did happen. Owl generally flew high, above most of the buildings so as to try to not have to move around them. He was aware of the risk of encountering Roof Muggers, given it was night and he was above the view of most CCS security cameras it was the place where some less than legal types might try to strike.

Sure enough a small young group of pegasi, a smaller gang, hung around atop an apartment building known as 'Willow Tree'. Spotting him they whispered to eachother and took flight one pulling out a shock baton, a decently common self defense weapon. Being young they were unaware their attempts to be sneaky were futile as Owl, being a bat pony, had very sharp hearing and could hear some flapping behind him. Looking behind he heard the electric buzz before seeing the baton being swung at him.

Moving back, the swing missing, another pony tried lung and kick at him, only for the faster bat to move to the side. The ponies tried to surround him but Owl was much faster, the pony with the baton attempted to lunge and swing only for Owl to stop his hoof and wrap his own around the pony's neck. Though not of the types of guards tasked with administering force against public threats he was still given training in shooting and unarmed combat as per standard for every member of both guards. Drawing his pistol he yelled.

"Got a lotta nerve trying to assault Royal Guard Personnel." He said sternly to them, the only reason he didn't break a nose was the fact these ponies looked like young adults at the oldest.

"BUCK! HE'S A GUARD??" said one as they backed all backed off. Their toughness

"You better give me a reason not to report you, cause assault on Royal personnel could get you all in a nice cell, with your cellmates ready to have at it with all your tailholes!" Said Owl sternly, taking advantage of a popular legend of the prison systems.

The ponies backed off and begged for him to not report them for this, luckily since not a bruise was layed on him he considered giving them a pass. Owl let the pony he held go and shoved him forward "Don't go trying to be some tough band of thugs, even if you fly above the cameras the law WILL find you and you'll pay the price!" The ponies quickly flew away, him yelling "You will!".

Owl sighed as he continued on his way, at least such things were less common in Canterlot, he had been in Detrot to see such things as rag tag gangs be more common. He hoped this little lesson would encourage them to pursue more legal and less violent paths in life. Putting his weapon back into his jacket Owl continued his flight. Eventually, he reached the RLG facility, landing at the entrance and walking on in. The secretary at the desk was the only non-bat in the facility, who greeted Owl as he entered.

"Hello Owl, sorry you were forced off leave, but something serious happened in Everfree City a few hours ago. Major hack into the CCS occurred, caused a lot of damage....physical damage...it appears to be a possible level 13."

Owl perked up from his rather down attitude at the mention of a 'Level 13'. Threats marked level 13 were the least common, but most dangerous in the 'Threat Spectrum Scale 13' as they indicated direct attacks against the social order. While criminal syndicates could reach up to threat level 11 at most, since they admittedly weren't out to break social order, a level 13 indicated an individual or group intent on directly attacking the social order and creating fear. Looking to the Secretary he asked her intently.

"What happened? Isn't there a team of 100 ponies employed JUST FOR SECURITY OF THE SYSTEM??"

The secretary replied nervously. "I-I Don't know, I'm wondering it myself, not like programming college freshponies are hired to keep the city systems safe! Must have been a whole team of highly skilled hackers that have done this."

"Digital Hoof? Think it could have been them that's responsible?"

"Unlikely, nothing to indicate it was them, and we both know they don't like keeping it unknown when they do something."

"Guess the Chief will explain the rest." Owl said as he quickly went to the meeting room before the Secretary mare could even tell where the Chief would be. He luckily was correct in his assumption as the Chief along with some fellow Investigations and Interrogations ponies were present in seats at the meeting room.

The chief was an older bat pony stallion in his fifties, a veteran of the force who earned his place as Chief after a career with Sector 4, Special Enforcement, the soldiers of the Lunar Guard who dealt with the threats who were armed and dangerous using more covert special operations tactics. The Solar Guard had a similar unit, Heavy Enforcement, who were used for situations that called for more well armored force.

"Greetings Owl, glad you are here." Kevlar said, "I'm sorry you were brought off leave, on the same day you see your kid no less...but this is a situation that is quite severe."

"I heard...Level 13...hacked the CSS and..." Owl said before Kevlar said.

"Caused an autocarriage pileup, overloaded some city lights and set some fires, and left a message on a number of city screens."

"Did it show any signs from Digital Hoof?"

"None, just red screens with the text 'Freedom Comes' on it."

"Freedom comes?" Owl asked, raising an eyebrow.

"I don't know what exactly that means either." Kevlar would activate the projector, which showed security camera footage of the event that was happening. Security cameras were everywhere in cities, part of the surveillance system meant to keep things under watch since it would be inefficient to send ponies constantly to keep every an eye on every little thing.

The footage from multiple cameras showed a few parked autocarriages suddenly springing to life and driving into eachother erratically. The nearby screens went from displaying adds for cleaning products to the aforementioned message in white of 'Freedom Comes' in plain white font on a red background. Lights seemed to glow brighter and brighter before shorting out and breaking, some causing fires. All of the Investigation and Interrogation personnel looked in shock and gasped at what happened. A more experienced I&I agent, named Night Vision and a friend of Owl, said.

"Well, this is bucking outrageous what the buck was the CCS security doing??? Did they not call for help from Sector 5???" Night Vision was not as old as Kevlar, being only in his forties, but he was a skilled veteran of I&I who normally could keep calm and collected. This was an exception as he suspected some form of incompetence at play.

Kevlar would raise a hoof and calmly motion for Vision to quiet. "They were aware when things went awry and made extensive efforts to put a stop to it I assure you, even woke ponies from the Day Shift to try to help. They contacted Sector 5, who were very quick to react if they could stop things they were mostly over by the time they got into the CCS. I will say though that CSS's security team do deserve a reprimand for not calling the CyberGuard sooner, even if not initially aware of the full scope of the threat at play."

Owl would remark "These ain't no script kiddies to hack the CCS and cause that much Damage. Were S5 able to track the hack?"

"Matter of fact they had some success on that front, the hackers were skilled but it seems they got a bit cocky. Managed to track the signals before the Hackers could fully cover their tracks. Approximately they are somewhere in the south district near old ponyville, looked at some Surveillance footage in the area and saw some less than star citizen looking folks. All appeared to carry a weapon of some kind, we could just be looking at some ragtag gang but could also have potentially found some operation involving the hackers who jacked the CSS."

Another friend of Owl's made her own remark. "So that's where we come in, come along in there and peep at 'em to see what they do? So S4 can roll in and lay the smackeroo their moms couldn't give em?" a somewhat laid back and humorous silver bat mare named Data Miner, a code cracking type good at hacking from the wrist computer. She was really good at it but was luckily leaned away from the lawless path by her Guard of a father and instead toward keeping up the Law. She was easy to befriend and liked to lighten up the mood even in stressful times, though occasionally was a little less serious than she should be.

Kevlar smiled and nodded. "That we will, hackers are going to regret bucking with the system. Even if they've hired armed thugs it won't protect them when the law comes to whoop some flank. They'll wish their parents better whooped theirs for behaving bad." Even if she was a bit too light hearted at times he was glad to have somepony lighten things up while still be competent at their job. Data was the youngest member of I&I, being in her early twenties, and was considered to be the morale boost.

Even if her jokes didn't exactly work always her demeanor paid off in keeping things from getting too glum or boring. Owl smiled as he looked to Data, smiling as he heard her speak, his second favorite pony to speak to next to Limerick. If an operation was to happen he hoped he would be teamed with Data, as well as his other friend Vision. Luckily the Chief knew they were both his closest friends in the force.

"We'll split you up into teams to investigate and infiltrate incognito, I'm sure you know standard procedure from here." Kevlar said, I&I personnel lacked any form of non ceremonial uniform in favor of typically wearing casual utility wear. Being Law Enforcement Spies they had to be able to blend incognito up until they started sneaking around. Sneaking around because even if he was not looking like a guard, being a Bat Pony who not in Battania or Canterlot would likely make criminals be suspicious.

I&I forces would head in, eavesdrop conversations, take pictures using their wrist computers of any evidence, then get out quickly and quietly to report their findings. I&I were 'The eyes where cameras could not see' it was their unofficial motto. Cameras were effective in keeping things under watch, but the underground had countless methods of circumventing them ranging from manipulating live footage through hacks, going on the move incognito, or even talking to an art known as parkour and hopping roofs when one lacks wings.

Such methods were known, and if needed would most often result in I&I being utilized. The 'Interrogation' part of I&I also indicated a purpose which involved questioning suspects and witnesses using various techniques. Interrogation was part of their overall purpose of gathering information, and was often carried out through scare tactics if a suspect was thought to hide things.

The trip to Everfree City for the teams would be carried out through public transport, part of the procedures of incognito, Owl and his two friends would, however, go to get what would be a late meal before heading to the InterCity. Accompanied by his friends they would chat a bit on how they would carry things out through their wrist computers set on Telepathy mode.

Data would say "So, let's talk the plan. We got some potential cyberterrorist to help bust, so let's look and see what cookie jar they got their hooves in."

"Niiiice metaphor Data, you should write a book with those skills." Said Vision sarcastically though not maliciously.

"Oh come on you try to make something better Vissie!" replied Data with a mental chuckle.

"I'm a royal police spy, not an author."

"Back on topic guys, we ain't gonna get too any directions though Telepathy Calls from the Chief you know, don't want the hackers there to track it and blast our cover." Said Owl as they all entered a donut shop.

"Oh! Yea the plan!" said Data quickly. "Well you both know I can jack into things pretty well, I'll gain access to cameras, see if I can backdoor their computers, maybe even make some 'distractions'."

"While I keep watch on things from outside, dealing with any suspects I might see, and Owl.."

"Goes in for the deep investigation, sneak around, take pictures, grab evidence if possible, eavesdrop, the works." Owl Replied.

"Nopony does it like you do Owl, stealth's your cutie mark after all." Vision replied to Owl. He wasn't incorrect, Owl's very special talent was stealth and silence. He could fly silently like his namesake, hide among the environment and even move around silently. He had snuck into plenty of criminal hideouts and gone through the whole operation without leaving any evidence of his presence, like a ghost not in the mood for haunting it's house. He was good at avoiding detection, the best in the guard, and that was why they called for him in this worst case scenario situation.

Following their brief and rather small breakfast at the donut place, with the choice between Train served food often described as 'crap' and sugary donuts being one not difficult. Thus the three would fly their way to the InterCity station, seeing the others heading there as well. All would book different trains, while some others not at the station chose to take the long drive by autocarriage. They all desired not to be seen together as much as possible since a flock of bats would be even more suspicious. Luckily Everfree city was closer to Canterlot than Battania, so they could reach the city while dawn was still yet to come.

Everfree City, possibly the most controversial city in it's construction. Once the everfree forest, a feared and ever present place filled with monsters and strange plants. No forest was safe in the age of urban sprawl, and the Everfree was no exception despite it's resistance. When it couldn't be harvested as much as desired it was eventually destroyed using various magical and mostly explosive weapons to make way for the new city. It was a years process marked with seemingly endless controversy. Despite the opposition the support for building the future prevailed and the whole forest was soon destroyed. Following the destruction and harvest of what remained the construction of Equestria's second largest urban habitat.

Only the megalith of Manehattan surpassed the sprawling size of Everfree city, said to have apparitions of the creatures of the past haunting the night streets to this day. Not that old ghosts would be really paid much mind to, given that Everfree City was the beacon of Equestria's modern culture. Being the place of the megacorporation EQUE-TECH's headquarters, a massively tall 500 story tower on a plus shaped foundation, and a place with the most nightclubs and other places of culture out of all cities in Equestria.

It was home to the Modern Cyberculture movement. Cyber Goths, Hackers, and others made up the movement which came to define the culture of the city. Both the lawful and the unlawful were part of the culture, and it was hard to tell between them as the public and underground almost blended together with the former still partially oblivious to the other.

The massive spire of the EQUE-TECH HQ Tower came into view from the InterCity train before everything else, towering above every other structure in the financial district. It's massive architectural majesty a site to behold ponies looked at usually at least once a day, literally standing out from every other skyscraper. It was said everypony in Everfree looked to the great structure at least once per day or night, though not a beacon of Everfree's Culture it was an ultimate monument to the power of the Megacorporation.

Owl had been to this city multiple times, and mostly to investigate drug trafficking. Though the forest was long gone, some of it's plants remained and sometimes grew either in parks, through cracks in asphalt, or a few other places. Such plants were often found, harvested, and grown in private for use in a number of different drugs. Due to this there was no city with more drug crime than Everfree, most of the current types of drugs to be found nowadays were invented there. Some would argue that the culture is the comeback of the Everfree Forest only instead of a forest full of crazy plants and deadly creatures it was now a concrete and steel jungle of counterculture, neon and screen board lights, Music, drugs, and the entertainment industries at their peak.

Owl personally wondered if he was going to find some drugs at whatever place they find the potential perpetrators at. It then seemed to him unlikely as one does not hack so well while high as the EQUE-TECH tower, let alone hack the CCS and make things go haywire. Him and his two friends would exit the train and station while Owl pulled up the holographic screen and activated a waypoint to the area. Used both in Autocarriages to guide their self-driving modes and for ponies on the walk or flight, Waypoints were an advancement of the Cyber Age used by every pony in Equestria for getting from point A to B. In the massive and at times labyrinthine networks of streets and alleys getting from place to place practically required Waypoint applications for the Autocarriage and Wrist Computers.

Even if you lived in a city your whole life, the sheer size of the modern megacity made it likely you would never be able to know a small fraction of the city. Owl knew only a small slice of Battania, and only the sights everypony knew in Everfree. He decided to fly along around mid building level with his friends around mid building level, given the chance of getting Roof Mugged was much higher in a crazy city like Everfree. As they flew along Night vision looked to the various apartment buildings they flew past, ranging from ten to even fifty stories tall. He said to his companions.

"I heard a long time ago in the industrial times many ponies used to own their own homes, funny how in the future that's a luxury."

"Only houses left are expensive mansions owned by the one percent." remarked Owl back.

"Now everypony not hugely rich lives in an apartment, not much room for houses in the future." said Data, who then spotted an Apple Organics 'Tall Farm'. "Neither for the Classic Farmlands, they mention of old."

Tall farms were an invention of the Cyber Age, a reply to the growing urban and shrinking rural. Farmland was growing smaller while cities grew larger, advancements thus invented tall skyscrapers with each level housing soil and crops. Surrogate sunlight provided through special lights gave the crops their light, sprinklers their water, and automated robotic arms food. These allowed for farmland to be contained within a small square of land, perfect for the age of sprawling megacities. Need more space? Just build the farms taller.

The particular tall farm the three encountered was Apple Organics Produce sight 16, six 300 story skyscrapers all arranged together with a security wall surrounding the base and cameras all along the sides of the buildings. Apple organics were not the only ones who made Tall Farms, but they were the biggest user of Tall Farms. As for the classic house they were mostly either in city outskirts, or when the outskirts expanded with the sprawl within cities and surrounded by security walls for privacy. The homes of the rich were almost like the modern castles with their fancier living inside and a wall partially shutting off the outside.

After some time of flying they reached an area, in the typical cliches of story one would expect such an area inhabited by potential terrorists to be a run-down slum. This would not be the case, as the area was rife with street performers, colorful prostitutes, drunken apartment parties, Night Clubs, and almost everything Cyberculture. A true microcosm of what made Everfree Everfree, ponies all around smoked from electronic pipes exhaling smoke of various colors and flavors. A much as Owl enjoyed these types of colorful environments he found himself uneasy as his sharp bat snoot caught the scent of what seemed like a multitude of drugs.

Electronic cigars were popular all around, and legally sold with cartridges of flavored oils. Initially made to get ponies off cigars and the industrial era's cigarettes, and ironically becoming their replacement. Though the hypodermic needle was still somewhat popular in administering of narcotics electronic Cigars, or 'Vaportubes' as the street knew them, were most popular and set to replace the needle as drugs could be taken easily in the form of homemade oils. Homemade oils weren't illegal on their own, but ones with narcotics were, and Owl was at one point feeling surrounded. Looking to Data he sent a call in Telepathy.

"You smell that? That's Party Cake I think, Moon Dust, Solar Nectar.." all were street names of various kinds of drugs. Nearly every drug was made into Vapor Oil.

"Yea, training for smelling that crap's kicking in, gosh I hope to Luna I don't get this in my system."

"Let's try and fly above the vapors, might not be best to try a big drug bust right now." Replied Night vision joining the call.

They all soon enough reached the waypoint, where a mall came into view, a large skyscraper building with many levels of business, arcades, clubs, and restaurants inside. It along with the apartments next to it were sites of the suspected shady figures. Owl looked to his team members as he said into the Telepathic Call.

"Now is where we split up, now to enact the plan. You all ready?"

"Ready as a rowdy dog wanting to play fetch. Let's snoop on some cyberterrorist tush." Replied Data.

"That's what you do pervy mare." Vision said with a chuckle, inciting Data to laugh and say in reply.

"Buck ooooff!" She wrinkled her nose and chuckled, inciting a chuckle with Owl before asking Vision.

"Gonna be keeping watch around the place, skim the surface while you do the deep search."

"And I'll be your eye in the Cyber Sky~" Said Data, and with that they all split up. Owl would leisurely explore the area, it was nice to be able to and was the best way to search given it made him less suspicious. He decided to take a look around the mall, walking in and looking up at the many levels to be found inside, with a space through each one to allow flight between floors.

It was very colorful and well occupied with various kinds of ponies many in colorful outfits. He almost stood out for not having colorful clothing and a crazy mane with neon dyes, luckily it wasn't so and the crowd proved useful for blending in. He looked at the time on his wrist computer, 3:58 am, sunlight was not far away and he was hoping to get things set up before daylight. If efficient enough they could maybe have things done for tonight before the daylight. He looked around for some time, fighting off the hypnosis of the ambient colors around him when he got a telepathic call from Data.

"Yo Ow, got something, in that mall there too~ I think somepony might be tampering with things in.." he then got a waypoint. "....That. Place. Go get em, tiger, ~"

Flying up to an upper level of the Mall he landed in front of an arcade, a hub for multiple large VR pods which offered experiences nothing but the most expensive VRGDs offered at a fraction of the price. The VR pods ranged from sword fighting action, shooting, driving, and the 'NFK' Not for Kids box. Made intentionally simple and boring looking on the outside so as to not attract any nonadults, and for good reason as the inside had fun which was only appropriate for adults.

Owl looked around the place, it was a decently large arcade, he wondered if some supposedly 'out of order' VR machine might be secretly converted into a hacker's mini hideout. A single stallion stood at a desk near the arcade's entrance, giving Owl the usual greeting and question of which machine he wanted to use. Owl would simply reply to the stallion that he was browsing for now. The one behind the desk was a young and somewhat lanky cybergoth with bionic eyes emitting a blue light. Asking Data in the call he said..

"Where exactly did your signal come from exactly? Back of the place? Is the pony at the desk hiding a computer under his desk."

"NFK pod, one to the left marked 'out of order'- buck I think they spotted me backing off!" Data said, cutting the call with Owl. He looked over to the simple black pod marked in bland white text 'NFK' on the side. He was going to ask and make sure whoever hid in there wasn't 'up to anything'. He approached it slowly and looked to the cyber goth at the corner of his eye, the other stallion seemed to be doing the same and looking somewhat suspicious as he approached. He would look on over to the pods, seeing the 'out of order' sign. He would hear from the desk goth.

"Thing's outta order, gonna have to do your business elsewhere."

"What happened did somepony make too much of a mess for even the machine to clean?"

"Eeehh yea you don't wanna look in there." a somewhat nervous tone came from the desk goth. Owl went around it and put his tufted ear up next to it. He heard something, not silence nor the sounds of a pony's pleasure, being a bat paid off with sharp hearing as he could hear the distinctive sound of....typing. Suddenly he saw the stallion type something on his wrist computer and Owl would hear some frankly unconvincing moaning as the desk pony said.

"Bucking perv I put that sign there to keep perverts like you ou-"

"Can it!" Owl said as he looked to the side of the machine and pressed the 'emergency open' button, placed there in case something went wrong. Inside, sure enough, the whole interior of the pod was converted into a practical cockpit of hacking with multiple screens, a keyboard and mouse pad, and it's occupant who looked to him with a scream. The bat could see there was a lot of code on the screen installed into the pod.

Owl pulled the mare out of the pod and drew his weapon. The desk goth quickly pressed a button causing the entrance to close up like in closing time. He'd pick up the mare as the lights went out, being a bat pony also paid in seeing in low light conditions. The desk goth, his blue glowing bionic eyes shining in the darkness as he held a suppressed pistol aimed to Owl.

"Shouldn't have been snooping around here bucko."

"Should have picked a better place to hide your hacker marefriend than a VR pod."

"You'll find that you're a.." the desk goth grinned. "Luna-tick to buck with the freedom fighters."

"You're choice of puns is almost as bad as your choice to hide a hacker here only a block from the site of you're little 'demonstration'."

The Desk goth kept the weapon aimed at him, Owl was ironically the one holding the gun and a mare as a possible deterrent from being shot. It was usually the police pony who was facing a criminal holding a pony as a shield. Seeing as the Desk Goth did not look intent on aiming the weapon away Owl though fast. He let go of the mare and pistol whipped her to knock her out, he wasn't taking chances that she was armed and would go after him. The desk goth fired a shot as Owl flew out of the way in an instant, he hid at the opposite side of one of the pods, the Goth moving to try to get aim on him.

Putting his stealth skills to use Owl quickly scurried silently along the floor just under the Goth's line of sight. As the stallion looked to see Owl not there he looked around and had his weapon pistol whipped from his hoof by Owl, who proceeded to shoulder him into the wall of the machine behind him. The lanky stallion was unable to push back against a well combat trained bat pony and was thus held there at gunpoint. Suddenly the goth's wrist computer lit up as a call was made, the stallion looked to the computer and smirked. Owl looked to see a contact which read "DK" and demanded

"Who is that calling? Answer it and don't set it to telepathy!"

The stallion answered it and a digitally altered voice answered. "You are in for one Tartarus of a surprise, Owl Talon~"

The entrance to the arcade machine suddenly opened as lights in all visible shops and places went haywire. Ponies inside the mall looked around in confusion at the things that occurred. Suddenly the entrance into the Mall itself was close off as ponies scrambled for the door and banged on it, wondering what was going on. Owl looked out to see the lights go haywire and looked to the desk goth with a scowl. He quickly tried to call Data but found the call was canceled. The digitally altered Voice said..

"Oh, just another 'demonstration' against your law's tyrrany~"

In the corner of his eye, he spotted the mare get up, turning to aim the gun at her before it was swiftly kicked out from his hoof. The mare smirked as she grabbed Owl and held him against the VR pod, saying.

"Shouldn't peep on a mare when she's in private~" She proceeded to shove him in the direction of the entrance before sending a powerful two hoof buck sending him flying out and knocking the wind out of him. The mare's strength indicated under likely artificial skin was hidden some tough bionic limbs. Owl tried to get up only to be kicked over the side of the railing and sent falling down the floors. he luckily spread his wings and managed to soften his meeting with the ground, looking up he narrowly dodged an incoming drop kick from the mare.

She stood up on two legs with and rubbed her head as she followed with "Shouldn't hit a mare either." lowering her hoof as four short but sharp blades extended from slits on her hoof. Owl barely managed recovered and dodged before she slashed at him, evading a sliced up jugular and instead having his cheek sliced through with three of the blades. Adrenaline pulling him through the pain he took flight above her as the mare stopped looking somewhat impatient as a call came to her through wrist computer, and an electric sound of wings could be heard.

Owl looked as two spritedrones. Common and popular toys of the age used by children and adults alike, small spherical machines with wings on them usually controlled though a Wrist Computer application. They were often given cameras for some photography, and that's what Owl thought these were for only to see them project a three dimensional holographic image before him.

It was quite possibly the edgiest looking cyberculture pony he saw in his life. Standing in holographic form was a mare dressed in a very cyberculture style sleeve cut trench coat with a decorative gas mask over her face. Her mane was black with some red dye, spiked and wild on the head while hanging messily down her neck.

Her tail was also short and spiked with some dye of its own. Her exposed forelegs showed tattoos of code and pixels nearly covering the skin and only barely having the room to show her coat color was gray. It was quite the high-quality hologram indeed. Owl looked to the hologram as his sliced cheeks bled down the side of his face, as the mare began to speak in the same digitally altered voice as from the call.

"Well well looks like we have a spy here, a spy of the tyranny that is the law." the mare seemed somewhat hyperactive in her tone and seemed to express herself partially through bodily movements. "Looks like the Lunies sent a spy looking for us, those bait thugs proved effective in drawing you here. Forgive me for initially thinking you were not stupid enough to fall for ARMED PONIES WALKING INTO CAMERAS! I mean seriously you really think we're stupid??-Hello! We hacked the bucking CCS! Dumb ponies don't do that!" Owl got up and looked at the hologram as he said.

"So you're one of those 'freedom fighters' who the cybergoth at the desk mentioned....sounds like you're just a bunch of criminals trying to immaturely justify your inability to have responsibility for your criminal actions." He spoke rather sternly but also with a bit of attitude added to it. Some difficulty came with the slight but sharp pain in his sliced cheek. The mare in the mask simply laughed and said.

"Well Yepperoo on the first thing, the second thing that's a thing only a tailhole whore of the law would say. We're here to deliver all ponies from the tyranny that is your laws. To bring the underground up that it will come to kick the flank of the propaganda high matrix that is your public puppet ring! We are here to wake ponies up from the slumber of ignorance with a hot and horny tongue kiss! Cut down your tower of governmental and corporate power and let all kinds roam free to evolve and shape the world as they see fit! No more propaganda manipulating ponies into giving up the rights they once had! No more corporations dominating markets and manipulating the corrupt law to their favor! We are going to free ponykind, and other kinds too, that individual wills will decide the future rather than entitled collectives!"

Owl listened to this speech seemingly crazed speech, he eventually cut her off and said. "You seem to speak a whole lot of ambition with a heaping dose of insanity and possibly some narcotics mixed in!"

"Narcotics what narcotics?" the mare asked as she pulled out an E-Cigar and lifted her mask a bit to smoke from it before exhaling it from the mask. "Thinking you're the good guy aren't you? Thinking just cause you peep pones to stop drugs and gangs and even take on criminal syndicates you're some hero no?"

"I don't think myself a hero you crazy bucking edgelord." snapped Owl as he held his cheek. "But I don't see how the ponies who caused thousands of digibits of damage and almost killed a bunch of ponies can be the good guys!"

"Can the force that sometimes tortures or manipulates suspects into confession be called good guys?"

"Bucks sake I DO INTERROGATIONS! WE DON'T DO THAT CRAP-!"

"Ooooh you don't, but when you're work isn't effective sometimes some muscle is called in. Guess they don't tell you to try to keep you on their own propaganda train of the guard being the flawless protectors."

"Buck off you lying lowlife! We don't think ourselves flawless but WE'RE not the corrupt ones!! Calling us corrupt is bucking rich coming from you!"

"Ooooh, don't you worry now we don't think our selves morally above you, I just like curb stomping the delusions of hypocrites. Then again we see morality fed in its life support by your propaganda to be an...obsolete construct, like a fifty-year-old computer."

"Calling morality outdated!? Insane buckers you are guard's gonna find you buckers and take out those we can't throw into prison!"

"Try and find us if you may~ You'll find we're quite..elusive~"

"Think those opposing moral standards ever win? Look at history!"

"What have the elements of 'harmony' ever done for society in the past centuries. Tell me mister good guy~"

"They run the government right now! Keep things in order from the top alongside the princesses!"

Imitating a game show buzzer the mare in mask says. "Oooooh, you think they're helping to keep Equestria safe? Mmmmmmm wrooooonng~! Ponies are murdered every day, ponies die of overdosing on drugs, they get into gang violence and catch poor saps for trafficking. Why do you think they turned the Royal Guard into a police force? Because their pretty little jewelry was made for fighting big scary monsters. They can't fight a, quote on quote, 'threat' to ponykind that consists OF part of ponykind. Thus they made you into their cleanup crew, but alas even you can't stop everything that goes on in the underground~"

"If we can't kill the lawless underground we'll keep beating it into submission!"

"You can try for as long as you like, but soon enough you'll see that the stalemate battle is soon going to shift in our favor, and you'll see the futility of staving off the obsolescence of old morals. That is....if my friend here doesn't slice you up, and maybe get rid of that scruff on your neck~" The hologram faded with the mare saying one final word. "Soon enough, pony kind will stand for Ever... Free~"

The mare with the blades grins and looks to Owl, who quickly tries to call Data. "Data!!! Data get-" the call failed. "Buuuuck." the mare approached slowly swaying her hips as she said in a seductive yet venomous tone.

"Let's dance baby~"

Author's Note

Another chapter, here's where the story will properly begin, and yes cliffhanger.

(UPDATE) Split up the paragraphs here as well.

3: The Mall

Owl hid behind a pillar, cheek still bleeding and his utility jacket and pants somewhat sliced up. This mare had bionic limbs, he was certain of that, she could surpass him in speed making approaching her without a gun seem suicidal. His skill in stealth might never have been so useful as it was now, as he skillfully used the environment to his advantage to keep out of the mare's sight. All the while the blade mare walked around in a casual search for him, whole all the others stuck inside of the mall hid wherever they could. She was an earth pony dressed in a red shirt depicting two sirens among a digital pixel pattern, together with revealing skirt and frilly socks. The mare cleaned off the blood from her claws to prevent them rusting later, having hit him once in the cheek and intending on hitting him in other places as well.

Owl looked to the mare as she walked and went on the approach toward the stairs from hiding, flying quickly and silently. He was intent on getting his gun back as it was his only chance of fighting this deadly cyborg given he was basically trapped with her. Personally cursing the black market, as cybernetics with deadly attachments were naturally illegal, he snuck his way up the stairs. He moved quick, no telling if she would attack or try to take hostage one of the many ponies also trapped in here. He heard the mare's voice say in a cutesy whine voice.

"Oooh come on big colt~ You wouldn't wanna keep a mare lonely, she just wants some looove~" she said, in the familiar seductive tone he heard from the pole dancers in Battania. If they weren't going to seduce him a deadly cyborg mare with razors for bionic fingers wasn't going anywhere close. Owl flew up the stairs hoping to Luna and Celestia she wouldn't quickly search the stairway, he would however run into a surprise not much better. Sure enough he ran into desk goth, smirking as he held both pistols.

"Goooing somewhere?" said the goth, Owl proceeded to not speak. The Goth then whistled out to the blade mare who smirked as she hopped some floors before reaching their floor.

"Well well, sneaky pony aren't you. What's the matter, afraid to talk to a mare~?"

"Shut it slutwear!" Owl blurted out, by personality he was a bit bold at times. The mare laughed as she grabbed him by the neck by both hooves, barely enough that the blades didn't cut into him. She pushed him over to the railing before pushing his back along it and saying.

"You're bold for the one who's unarmed and at the mercy of Miss Succubus~"

"That some alias or you just a wannabe villain from a comic." Owl shot at her, who smirked to him and replied.

"The former~ Aren't you just a brave stallion, I like you already~" The mare said seductively, while Owl scowled and replied to her.

"Not in the mood for touchy feelly crap, came out of a bucking divorce!" He said jerking his head back and pushing himself off the edge. The mare looked over to see him gone and pouted with disappointment. Looks like he was completely immune to any seduction, seemed she'd have to break his limbs and wings if she was to have any of that strong stallion flank. Sighing the mare looked around, while the desk goth looked around taking some time to stand and aim both his guns.

Owl stalked them from his various hiding places, at least he knew what his threats were, he thought so anyway. The bat began to formulate a plan, long as the Goth wasn't smart enough to stay close to Miss Succubus he had a chance. From a stealthy strike he could likely be able to knock out and disarm the somewhat lanky stallion with ease. Approaching from hiding place to hiding place he approached ever closer, while using his ears to track Miss Succubus so he wouldn't have another surprise.

"Come on out sneaky bastard, you can't hide forever, not like you can escape cause the electronic locks to the maintenance ladder are locked. Stuck with us, you might as well come out."

Owl approached, soon taking a chance as he flew toward the Goth, putting all his speed into a kick which knocked him out instantly. The clatter of the guns echoed thanks inconveniently to the acoustics of the mall interior. Miss S looked and ran to the sound, as Owl scrambled to grab the guns and enter cover. She however managed to spot him enter cover behind a pillar and smirked a she moved around, pretending to not know he was there.

"Yooohooo~ Come on, I'm feeling lonely. Just give up, I might have my way with you and let you live." Said the mare as she walked along the mall floor.

"In your wet dreams." Owl said in his head as he got one gun ready, being trained he knew attempting dual wielding would be the least effective manner in using his guns. As she passed along Owl waited till she passed the pillar before he popped out and aimed for her, she was by now a code red as of his training. If the suspect attempts to assault you with intent to kill, code red is authorized, aka lethal force. Aiming out with his gun he was unaware of her watching the pillar in the corner of her eye. Owl let off multiple shots, while Miss S proceeded to move around and approach him quickly. She wasn't fast enough to dodge bullets, but she could dodge his aim if narrowly as the bat was not poorly trained in the use of a sidearm.

The cyborg mare would draw close and Owl would let off the last shot in his clip, which would hit into her shoulder and made her yelp and prevented her slash. Owl quickly flew out and discarded the gun as he drew the other, this time focusing less on rate of fire and more on accuracy. The mare quickly moved and hopped up from the railing flipping around as bullets grazed and tore away some artificial skin to reveal the bionics underneath. He stayed in the air to make getting to him harder, wings and guns were handy against a killer cyborg earth pony.

The mare would move around and jump off another toward part of the railing to try to grab onto him, fortunately for him the mare fell short as he flew back, and fell through the space to the bottom floor. He attempted some shots at her as she rolled along so the floor above gave her cover. He would reload the pistol thinking "Bucking hay I did not think I'd fight some femme fatale cyborg tonight, job's not predictable but this is something I could not see coming."

Meanwhile outside a commotion was to be found, multiple police autocarriages surrounded the mall building while plenty of EPD officers stood at the door with guns ready while pegasi officers were perched at the top of the building. Data would be trying and failing to get in contact with Owl. "Buck.....Buck.....Buck.....BUUUUCK COME ON!!" she said, then trying to access cameras. Night vision would look to her and say.

"Night Cyber Security is taking care of things there's no point in-"

"Well they better bucking hurry their flanks up! I don't like the look of this Owl and lots of ponies are trapped in there! Buck if only that building had windows!!"

Owl would be sneaking around once more, seeking to gain another chance at ambush, she was really good at avoiding gunfire and it made him consider buying a select fire CWtech ACS-412 machine pistol so that if there was a next time he would encounter a deadly cyborg quick enough to avoid gunfire. Miss Succubus quite shockingly seemed not angry and still remained flirty, seemed she was not only seductive but resistant to pain given bullets normally did not feel like a mere pinch. The mare looked around, more cautious as she knew he had a weapon. The Miss S would speak and say.

"Come oooon, you gotta be stressed after all this. I can help make you feel better, I even got some healing injections to heal the cut. They won't know, just give in~" This drove Owl, who was on another floor, to shoot at her quickly before heading to another cover. The shot grazed her shoulder as it was not well aimed.

Owl whispered "Bucking crazy slut I ain't giving into crap." he was not very polite to those he deemed criminals, whether mare or stallion. He would sneak around some more, at one point sitting and waiting before she reached his floor. The mare would whine a bit saying

"Come on, just quit fighting back against me. I don't want to kill you, you seem like you'll be too much fun~"

Owl popped out of cover and fired at her, scoring two shots to the torso before she started moving and zig zagging toward him. He decided to take advantage of the multiple floors through flying up between them. He used this advantage so well to the point where he found it a good alternative to stealth. Miss S found this frustrating, and stuck herself with a healing injection as she thought up a plan. Healing injections were useful little things bought from hospitals and partially reducing the need for trips to them, both lawless and lawful ponies used them.

Unfortunately Owl, being in a unit not meant for direct confrontation was without any. Outside the police forces were fixing to bring some equipment to get the door open. All the other I&I ponies were present there as well, not knowing what exactly was happening. Given there was over three hundred ponies inside there was no telling if there was hostage taking. the CyberGuard went to great yet strangely futile efforts to access security cameras in the Mall.

The hackers at play seemed to be anything but the kind of hackers the CyberGuard ever dealt with before. Media coverage was regulated heavily to prevent a panic, mentioning that any and all threat was contained and that whatever would happen the Guard would be ready to deal with it the moment it did. Miss S would then have an idea and grinned, if he used stealth, wonder what he would do if she attempted it.

Owl would fly between floors down the center of the building, looking around for the mare. "Come on bucking out, are you hiding now?? From a non bionic??" he was getting annoyed, and that was what Miss S was counting on. The mare hid behind a screen board on the railing, waiting for her moment to strike. She wasn't exactly a skillful stealth pone, so she did things as basic as possible. The other ponies remained hiding, some watching the fight take place.

Desk Goth would awaken with a concussion, seeing he was unarmed he would look around to see what was happening. Seeing Owl looking for Miss S the stallion would try to contact DK. Owl would Make his search before Miss S seized the opportunity and leaped up, tackling him from the air and sending them both falling to the ground. Fortunately for Owl the cyborg took most of the impact, unfortunately he was now pinned down by the cyborg. He struggled against her, as the mare looked down at him and smirked. She released the hoof not holding the gun and extended her blades out in front of his face.

"Now now, don't try anything, I have you now~" Said Miss S, in her seductive yet venomous tone. Desk Goth would look down on them from one of the upper floors as he said.

"Well, 'bout time you stopped him shooting at us." he said, looking to Owl and smirking. "DK has got a plan to show just how futile your efforts to stop the unearthing of the underground are. Glad " Suddenly the shutters on all the places in the mall would close, trapping many ponies inside of them. Owl watched as this happen wondering what they were doing and in a panic. Outside suddenly the screens which nearly covered the mall switched from being out to depicting what was happening inside. All the while the CyberGuard struggled to try to do anything, and ponies in that section of the Guard facility began to panic. Owl would try to punch Miss S to get her off only for his hoof to be caught, he demanded.

"WHAT THE BUCK ARE YOU DOING???"

Miss S smirk as she said. "Ooooh it is not us doing it, it is DK~"

Owl would notice smoke coming from a few of the places and floors, followed by the sounds of ponies screaming. He would panic and try to struggle harder to get his armed hoof free only for Miss S to take the gun out and toss it away before holding him down again. "Not gonna shoot at me again~" soon enough the spritedrones would show themselves once more and generate the hologram of what Owl assumed to be the 'DK' who called Desk goth. The mare in the mask would laugh disturbingly as she said.

"Well Well, looks like you can't do a thing now Mister Officer Talon, ponies are gonna burn and you're gonna be witness to it without being able to stop it. This is just a preview, a trailer, a demo, a mere taste of what is to come~" Said DK as Owl started to scream out as he struggled. "It's not like even if Miss Succubus let you go you could do anything, you've no bionics judging by how you couldn't take her on face to face so good luck opening those shutters."

"Sector 4 WHERE ARE YOU???" Owl yelled out as Miss S grabbed his face and smirked as she asked him softly.

"Isn't it stressful holding the burden of protecting other ponies on your shoulders, come on have fun with me~ I can help with the stress, keep your mind off it-" she was interrupted when Owl spit at her and cried out once more as he thrashed. "Come ooooon you know it's futile~" she said softly only to receive from Owl.

"Shut your bucking trap! SHUT IT!!!!!! SHUT IIIIIT!!!" Owl cried out at the top of his lungs, the screams of ponies in fear dug into his mind and ears as if an ice pick was being shoved down his ear canal into his cranium. He hoped to Luna they would start breaking things down and getting into here, it felt like a century of time in Tartarus for his mind. He refused to hear the crazed words of DK, nor the incessant attempts at seduction by Miss S. Adrenaline was the only thing keeping him from tiring out as he thrashed. At one point things almost seemed to blur, and enter slow motion. His mind furiously combated doubt in his faith in the force, the Guard WOULD stop this and WOULD bring these ponies to their proper judgement.

Ponies trapped stood back doing their best to keep back from the fires that started and the various hazardous electrical appliances. Owl let out another cry, he didn't know what to say anymore, psychotic was ineffective in describing these ponies. It was like they were the next Sombra, Chrysalis, or Tirek, akin in their madness to the villains of old if not even worse. They didn't even have powerful magic, they somehow had the power to turn the very mall into a weapon of terror and destruction. He wondered if they were broadcasting this out to others, trying to shove their sick 'truth' down other ponies throats and making them choke on it.

As the sinking feeling that the guard and police might not break things down fast enough to prevent lots of charred bodies from being recovered at the end of this, a deep dark pit of despair opened opened in Owl's mind, it opened in his heart. He began to fall down that pit, that dark and seemingly endless pit. Were these ponies, with their hackers and whatever other capable ponies they had, just too strong and clever for the Guard to be able to stop them and their evidently destructive plans? Were they really destined to break down the social order through violence and terror?

"It can't be, IT CAN'T BE!!!!" Owl screamed mentally, entranced in his despair and the many floors of terror and screams above him. "They'll come, they'll come and you'll bucking pay for this!!!" He shook and teared up as his face was locked into one of terror and despair like a pony turned to stone by a cockatrice. He clung to the rapidly fading hope in his mind, fighting to try to stop it's fading. His attempts were futile, and only slowed the progress, deploying a parachute on the way down his fall down the pit of despair.

Everything seemed to slow down even more as his hope burned out, despair flooded his mind and heart like a black tidal wave, and he just lay back under the smirking gaze of Miss Succubus. She could read the emotions in his eyes, spectate the maelstrom of emotion as hope and despair clashed together like a cold and warm front forming a tornado. DK Cackled once more as she said to Owl..

"See now? See!? The future is not one governed by ponies trying to control others out of some bullcrap attempt to 'protect them'. The world ain't a safe place, it's a crazy and bucked up on. This veil of deception and hiding ponies from the true nature of the world will be torn, torn to pieces and then BURNED!" Said DK as she reveled in the power the hackers with ambition had.

Owl reached the darkest depth of despair and trembled in terror at this, the smallest inkling of hope and faith put up a stubborn resistance to not be snuffed. It had lost most of it's ground however and was outnumbered like the losing side on a warzone. All seemed lost, he was going to bear witness to a horrible massacre and be helpless to stop it nor inform those that could....

....and then....

Suddenly the lights all went out, DK looked somewhere and gasped, presumable their computer screen. The hologram could be seen trying to type things. As this happened she said "Hey hey what the buck!!! Guys somepony's jacking it stop that bucker before they-" suddenly the emergency sprinklers activated throughout the Mall.

The droplets of water distorted the hologram as it showed faintly DK slamming on something as she angrily yelled "What the Buuuuuccccckkk!? Nooooooo!!!!!!" fires were put out and the electrical hazards were cut off from power. Miss S would be shocked at what was going on as she looked around. Suddenly Owls wrist computer activated a call, and from it a soft partially digitized voice spoke through it's speakers.

"I'm here to help."

Up to now the screens were showing a red background displaying the white text depicting the message. "They can't protect you, not from the future." only to shut off suddenly. They would turn back on a minute later as everypony outside watched as a white background with purple text telling the message.

"Don't worry, they are safe now." The entrance into the mall would open up, police would rush in armed with SMG's and Shotguns. Miss S would get up and book it, the police forces yelling for her to stop before shooting at her, seeing the bleeding Owl there as a reason to not spare the cyborg some lead. The Sprite drones would deactivate suddenly and drop to the floor with a clatter. Owl would simply be laying there, the wave of despair washed away by the sprinkling water of the sprinklers. Seemed the CyberGuard finally broke through and stopped this.

On the one hoof he was glad miss crazy edgelord had her plan foiled, on the other hoof jabbing at the back of his mind was the fact that the massacre that could have occurred was not far from happening before this stroke of luck. Owl simply lay back, not speaking nor moving as he stared to the distance ceiling. A policemare checked his pulse, thinking him possibly dead, noting a pulse he shook the bat a bit.

"Hey, you awake, come on now it's over." said the police mare as officers pursued Miss S. He sluggishly turned his eyes to the mare, who smiled and looked to his cheek "You've got a badly sliced cheek, lemme fix that." The mare pulled out a healing injection and stuck it into the side of his neck. The slices healed, but left scars in the accelerated healing. Owl sat up and looked as his friends ran to him.

"OWL! OWL WHAT HAPPENED!! LOOK AT YOU YOU LOOK LIKE YOU WERE ATTACKED BY A FOOD PROCESSOR!" Yelled Data as she ran up to Owl. Owl looked to her, not so much looking like he saw a ghost so much as he looked like he saw a demon straight from Tartarus.

Night Vision would look to Owl and ask him. "Owl what happened....Owl? Owl!" Owl did not respond, he was shaken on the outside from the fight and the inside from the trip down a pit of despair. Night would try a slap on the non scarred side of his face saying more firmly. "Owl!" Owl would look more directly to him, and barely struggle to mumble out the words.

"....I-I-I...saw....h-h-h-horrible p-p-ponies d-d-do h-horrible things..."

Data would look to Vision and say. "My Luna he looks more traumatized than a kid learning the birds and bees, Owl are you there? You with us?" Owl would not say anything more, having barely spoken as it is. Looking to Night Vision she said "I think he's gonna need some time to get his mind back together."

Sitting on a bench on the street next to the Mall a couple hours later Owl would be told be police personnel that only a few ponies died of smoke inhalation. More were burned in the fires but were going to be alright, Owl was planning to frankly go to the Sector 5 and go nuts with giving a piece of his mind as to why they couldn't stop the hack on the mall's doors and systems sooner. Data would come along with Night to the Bench after leaving him some time to think. Owl looked to his friends, his mind was still shaken but it had recovered enough that he could speak. "By Luna when I see those bucking Sector 5 ponies..."

"Sector 5....didn't stop the hack.." Said Data, causing Owl to perk up and look surprised. She followed by saying "It was....some other Hacker, I couldn't track them because they were gone quickly as they came. I did know it wasn't sector 5 though.."

"What....they couldn't......they......" Owl stood up and yelled. "WHY THE EVER LOVING BUCK COULDN'T SECTOR 5 DO ANYTHING???? ARE THERE NOT A FEW RECRUITED STRAIGHT OUTTA A LUNA-CURSED DEGREE IN PROGRAMMING???"

Data would recoil back and Night would say. "OWL! Calm down for Luna's sake."

"How can I calm down when PONIES NEARLY-" A slap to his face from Vision interrupted Owl's potential tirade.

"Deep breaths, now!" said the I&I Veteran in a commanding tone. Owl would concede to the command and take multiple deep and rather raspy breaths till he calmed down. Once calmed Vision would say to Owl "You need to calm down, something bucked up happened in there and you're gonna have to tell what you saw. You can't explain things properly and clearly yelling and screaming. Owl would begin to tear up a bit, and his friend would give a hug.

"I was left helpless, right there and unable to help anypony..." said Owl as he trembled, Vision would take him by the shoulders and say.

"Look at me, look at me. You can't do everything you're not cyber security you're I&I. That's why we work as a team, Cyber Security is investigating the CCS around here and interpreting the methods used by the hackers. We will deal with this problem we always have you hear me?? We're the good guys Owl, the ones helping in keeping Equestria safe and those types tend to win in the end. Even if these buckers can match our best CyberGuard we'll deal with them, we're a team and a very effective one.

We're not letting some buckers who sit their flanks on chairs and hide behind screens beat the Lunar Guard." Owl would be somewhat comforted by his older friend's reassurance, looking to him and nodding. Vision would say "Talk about a bad day for you, pulled off leave from seeing your kid now this crap. I'd like to smash their faces into the screens they use myself. For now we're gonna have to investigate what we can for now, after all we are Investigation and Interrogation." Owl smiled a bit and nodded.

"Let's learn what we can from the mall." Owl would get up from the bench and head onto the mall with his friends.

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

At the EQUE-TECH HQ tower it's CEO, a mare named Myriad Heartstrings, was in a call with a certain somepony. Myriad was among a long line of CEO's in the megalith corporation that was EQUE-TECH. There was not a single home in Equestria that was without EQUE-TECH products whether they be computers both regular and wristbound, operating systems for such things, bionics, even weapons were all manufactured. Though Crystal Corp remained a strong competitor to them, making many of the same types of things, the constant development of products helped make sure EQUE-TECH kept up.

One such project involved the sister of none other than Golden Bell, whom the CEO was in current call with. Golden Belle was one of the Harmony council, descendants of the old elements of harmony acting as government alongside the princesses. They did most of the lawmaking in Equestria and also assessed current issues and how to combat them. Golden Belle was a descendant of the figure of Rarity, and was herself a strong businessmare type who interacted frequently with Corporations.

"Hear of the incidents in Everfree?" Asked Myriad.

"Of course I have, we always make sure to monitor the news feed that comes up. They are of great concern however the RLG and RSG are on the case and investigating things." replied Belle.

"I'm aware of that, but what I come to inform you some concerns I have on the containment of Project Anomaly and some of what she has been up to."

"My sister? What could she be doing? She hasn't been up to any mischief surely."

"Not exactly mischief, but rather some 'unwanted involvement' in the incident at the Wild Wings Mall which only just now has been resolved. We managed to catch her escaping her contained network, and getting into systems before involving herself with the situation. Would have been fine if she just stopped the cyberterrorist attack, but she just up and decided to pull a message so ponies wouldn't just think the Cyberguard took care of it."

"Hmmm, well there is a slight issue of potential revealing, but I don't see much need for concern. In fact if she is good enough with manipulating programming to quickly deal with hackers who gave the Cyberguard trouble than it speaks wonders for her abilities."

"Indeed it does, however there's the possibility she might expose her somewhat unorthodox method of being made part of the project. Faking her death so she could be kept in stasis was a risk, but one that has proven fruitful despite her 'resistance' to the idea."

"She'll understand eventually I had it done, if not with her permission, for the betterment of future advancement and so she could directly be involved with a major part of it."

"What if she does not? What if she is still angry, from what her online handlers could say she may harbor some 'issues' with our organization."

Golden sighed as she said "I might come along and talk to her, see if I can get her to see some pragmatic reason."

"And we'll see about making sure she doesn't break out of her contained server, might have to cut out some InterNet Access."

"Please don't do that, if she's bored it might make her even more troublesome, at least try to monitor what she browses. It's not like she's a child who will be swayed by punishment and reward. She is a brilliant computer mare and highly intelligent after all."

"Fine, but if she keeps breaching steps might need to be taken to keep her from doing anything risky. We were lucky she could be pulled back before she revealed anything in that incident."

"How do you know she might have tried to exposed things? How do you know she wouldn't have just helped with the situation and left afterwards."

"Don't want to take chances, especially given the assets and programming at her disposal."

"I warn you, she's better with computers than any one of your Cyber Sec staff. With such tools at her disposal like the brain augmentations she has she could be very difficult to deal with."

"And that is why limiting general access to the InterNet space might be what needs to be done."

Golden sighed as she said "Can we at least give her a chance?"

Myriad replied taking the elevator "We can't take too many chances, not with tech like this."

Brain augmentations were digital devices implanted into the pony's brain usually used for the purposes of enhancing mental functions such as memory, thought, thinking speed, some even existed to make operation of computers and wrist devices totally hooves and magic off. They were very popular, often erroneously called brain bionics, and used by ponies of many occupations ranging from teaching to Information Technologies fields. These particular set of brain augments were ones installed in a mare named Anomaly, Golden Belle's sister and an employee of EQUE-TECH with a strong talent for computers and programming.

She was involved with the development of a project for creating a new form of brain augmentation which basically turned the brain into a computer. A new advancement to potentially render Wrist computers and even computers themselves obsolete in the near future, or so was said by the ambitious minds who developed and pitched the concept. Anomaly was involved with a lot of the coding and programming that would go into the new augmentations, and was thus though to be the best candidate to become the test subject.

Now she lay in a sort of large stasis tube, her body kept alive and in a medically induced slumber while maintained mostly through medical tubes connected to her. Wires connected to a port built into the back of her head and allowed her progress and tests to be monitored closely. Though effectively a guinea pig in the experiment Golden Belle made sure that she was not put into any potential hazard.

Myriad would take a walk into the room where the stasis tube was located, looking to the white colored unicorn mare with purple and black mane and tail inside. She said to Anomaly, thinking her not hearing it.

"Much as you don't like your situation, you'll be well rewarded in the end of things and will be directly credited for a major future advancement, after all....we did name this project after you....Anomaly." Little did Myriad know, she was indeed heard and seen, from the nearby camera the mare in stasis just hacked into.

Author's Note

A more action packed chapter in the beginning, with some new characters.

(UPDATE) Did some more splitting of paragraphs here, hopefully it'll help the mobile users.

4: Investigation & Interrogation

The dawn sky bled it's light morning hues into the midnight blues as Celestia's sun began to rise, the tall buildings of Everfree casting long shadows over the streets. The city lights were yet to fully fade beneath these shadows. The dawn rush hour came into full swing and the city was more bustling than ever as the day workers and night owls switched places to ensure that the city never truly slept. The mall would be currently closed off and surrounded by police autocarriages as Sector 2 did their work investigating what they could. Sure enough Desk Goth did not escape the police raid and was captured, soon to be interrogated.

Data would be inside the mall reviewing the video evidence from the cameras inside on her wrist computer. What could be recovered anyway as much of the footage was corrupted if not wiped by the hacking perpetrators. Owl and Vision watching from over her shoulder and helping to review it themselves. They were all tired after some time searching the floors of the mall for any other suspicious things or ponies. The NFK VR pod was searched and dismantled, discovering heavy modification which turned it into a very high capacity computer.

"She did not like having her fun time interrupted Owl, that's for sure." Data cringed as she saw the footage of Owl getting kicked out of the arcade though a buck from Miss S. "Lucky you didn't get your ribs broken by that, sweet Luna...."

"She's definitely got bionics on the legs, an earth pony can probably kick somepony that far but not that quickly." Said Vision as footage of the mare's jump down many floors was shown. "All bionic limbs and a bionic spine, only way she could jump that far down without injury. Very sturdy bionics to not break under that force." Footage of the appearance of DK was corrupted, all they could find was of Owl's cheek getting sliced and the start of the fight.he looked and noticed how quickly she overwhelmed him in an unarmed fight.

Vision watched footage of the cat and mouse game between Miss S and Owl, smiling as he said. "Putting your good old talent to use I see Owl, seems you were also well capable of thinking under pressure". Seeing the footage of Owl shooting at the mare he looked close, seeing her avoid his gunfire.

"Dodging bullets like an action hero, or villain rather." Said Data before Vision quickly said.

"Even cyborgs can't dodge bullets, it'd require breaking the sound barrier even if for a moment....no...." he looked closely. "Replay the footage.." Data did and Vision looked closer. Owl would look at the footage and notice she was not so much evading his bullets as much as she was avoiding his aim.

"She was dodging my aim....moving so fast...those are some quick moving bionic legs-"

"Not just bionic legs....thought accelerators," said Vision quickly. "There's no way she can run at you and avoid most of your shots like that, I've seen you at the range you're not a bad shot even on the moving targets."

Thought accelerators were a more popular form of brain augmentation, technically called Though Speed Enhancement Brain Augmentations, or TSEBA's. They were popular with ponies involved with computers, teachers, and some athletes for the increase in the brain's processing speed allowing one to register thought in a fraction of a second. They were generally not designed, however, with dodging gunfire in mind and Owl would comment on this. "TSEBAs aren't sold that can help you dodge the aim of a gun that's aiming at you. That would require the system to increase bodily reaction time along with the brain...."

"Some advanced brain tech for what criminals could normally acquire let alone safely install in a proper medical environment." Data commented. Vision simply nodded as he followed.

"Yea...the likelihood of criminals getting their hooves on let alone making such advanced systems is slim. Only such systems are made for elite police and military by tech corporations. It would be a very expensive and noticeable thing to them if such a thing was stolen. Yet....it seems the only way she could dodge gunfire from Owl's pistol let alone gunfire from the police when they barged in. He and Owl would continue to watch until the scene that drove Owl into the despair pit came into view and Data gasped. Owl would look at what happened and the moment would come back to his memory like a flaming autocarriage crashing into his mind.

He'd begin to shake and hyperventilate some as the moment came back to him. Data looked over various pieces of footage, none of it was touched it seemed except for footage of what happened with Owl and Miss S after she pinned him. Data would just watch as things played out and would soon pause the footage as she looked behind and saw Owl suddenly curl up on the ground and hyperventilate. She and Vision went and shook him as they saw him seem to lose it on the floor, a couple slaps from both of them brought him back to reality.

"Sweet Luna, Owl....did she just pin you and make you watch as ponies were about to die???" asked Data, taking a guess based on what she could see from the footage. He shakily nodded in reply and Data would look to Vision. "Vissie, these ponies couldn't be more level 13 threats if they bad bombs. They were terrorizing OWL! TRYING TO KILL PONIES! BURN THEM ALIVE! MAKE HIM WATCH!"

"DATA! Don't get into panic mode like Owl for Luna's sake." Said Vision looking to Owl. "So she pinned you down and made you watch as ponies were nearly killed when the mall was turned to a deathtrap. Did she have any sort of 'message'? Any demands? Anything? Did she speak to you about anything other than trying to seduce you like a desperate prostitute?" Since modern surveillance cameras had advanced microphones which could capture audio he had heard the mare's many attempts at seduction. Owl would reply to him with a sigh..

"Not her....somepony else...presenting herself in a hologram projection through Spritedrones. I believe she is called 'DK' judging by the voice that came from the call on the arcade owner's wrist computer and who the contact was marked."

"Hologram? What did it look like? What did she say to you?" Asked Vision.

"She looked like the biggest bucking edgelord straight out of the edgiest forums. Gas mask on face, a sleeveless trench coat with cyberculture style tattoos, wild mane and tail, spoke with a digital voice manipulator. Spoke like an asylum escapee on partycake." He replied, still somewhat shaken from the revisited memory. "As for what she said, well she basically said she was going to 'free the world from the tyranny of laws and outdated moral standards' to try to eliminate 'government and corporate propaganda' among other crazed ramblings under guise of fighting for freedom."

"Sounds like straight up terrorism to me, we got one Tartarus of a level 13 to deal with." said a familiar voice behind them, the three looked to see Kevlar standing behind them in a utility trench coat. "Anything more you can tell us I&I agent Talon?"

Owl would explain to his boss everything he could remember, visibly shaken and scarred as he described the details involving getting pinned down and forced to watch atrocity before his eyes. The Chief would calmly listen to every detail and jot it down in the mental notes of his mind. His suspicions were less proved true as much as they were proved underestimation of these hackers. Kevlar looked up to the floors and saw what was once restaurants, clubs, arcades, and other places badly burned and damaged.

Owl mentioned not knowing how the fires happened and mentioned that the sprinklers activated far long after they should have. He mentioned the broken lights and circuits found to have burst and overloaded. The scope of the potential threat was far more than Kevlar could have imagined as if it wasn't bad enough they were able to beat the CyberGuard with alarming ease they were evidently capable and intent on lots of damage. Ultimately Kevlar put the pieces together and surmised...

"These ponies, hackers, cyborgs, and any others whether a small twisted nightmare activist group or something larger has an intent which seems most likely one of an anarchistic cause of terror and destruction aimed directly at the constructs of social order itself." He pulled out an E-Cigar and took a drag off it, following. "They want to turn all of society into the lawless underground, they seem to be very well equipped to try. I regret to inform you that they've done the coding equivalent of flying circles around our CyberGuard...the senior ones..." This elicited a gasp from Data.

"S-so that's why they couldn't...."

"Stop all this from happening...." Said Night Vision.

Owl shuttered at what was being said, but the chief said quickly. "These ponies will not be allowed to succeed, our Cyberguard can learn and we have many assets that can deal with the other elements of this group. This 'Miss Succubus' you mention may have taken on a group of pegasus police officers on her escape but she won't likely be able to fight against Heavy Enforcement units." he then took out three cherry E-Cigar cartridges and gave them to the three. "After today, and these revelations, I think you'll all need a vape." They would all sigh and put them into their E-Cigars before taking a drag off them.

Owl and Data both had them but didn't use them much, while Vision did so a lot. The Chief would then say to them "There is...one hope we might have of dealing with the hackers quickly and decisively." they all looked at him, impatiently awaiting an answer. Kevlar would look directly to Owl, saying "Whoever this hacker is who stopped the attack, he or she might be a very useful ally. A white hat who can stop a large-scale attack orchestrated by ponies capable of beating the Cyberguard is one who can potentially throw one big and sturdy of a wrench into the gears of these anarchists. It's all a matter of finding this hacker and making sure they help us. For now, you need to see what you can get from mister cyber goth. He might have some vital information that can be of use. After you get what you can, I'll get you all some rooms to sleep in, after all, you deserve a rest after tonight."

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Golden Belle sat on a chair, looking at her sister as well as a screen which gave her sister a voice to speak with. She intentionally had the text to speech program modeled after Anomaly's voice. Text to speech at its peak of quality was very realistic sounding and could even be modeled after a real voice. The text to speech used to give Anomaly a voice was one such high-quality program, one that the mare in stasis took strong advantage of to speak her mind given this opportunity.

"Hello..Golden...enjoy your chat with Myriad?" asked Anomaly, showing a slight amount of dislike in her voice upon mentioning the CEO's name.

"It went well, though I recommend you not snoop on our conversations. Myriad is considering having your handlers cutting you off from accessing the InterNet after your little 'stunt' today."

"Let her try, does she really think they can contain me. You said it yourself, I am better with programming than they are. Even if they are successful they won't be for long. Nothing that is created in code is invincible, that is why the need to protect oneself from malicious hackers is one that will never cease and can never be done through mere automation."

"Anomaly...please sis. Just cooperate with us, are you forgetting the great thing you are a part of? A brand new advancement in technology that can change things immensely."

"And yet you neglected to give me permission, put me into this place regardless of my own will. Always were like that, being the older sister who tried to force her sister toward the way of success. You made me apply to work for EQUE-TECH despite my mere humble desires to work for a private cyber security firm, only unlike that time where I eventually came to enjoy my job I am still not happy with where I am."

Golden sighed saying to Anomaly. "I pushed you because I saw something greater in you, you're talent is not a mere talent of being 'good' with computers. You're amazingly talented, in fact, given you managed to stop that attack and lockdown on that mall it shows. You're not exploiting that talent enough, you're too humble with yourself and don't take all the opportunities you have in store."

"And yet I don't have the agency to decide for myself what opportunities I take? You think you know just what's best for me? I'm not a child, though still young I am very much an adult."

"One that doesn't take advantage of your potential, Ann we've had this conversation too many times I'm only seeking out what's best for you what can bring you the most success."

"Unlike you, I don't invest in things for profit, I look for things based on what I might enjoy. I might have joined EQUE-TECH on my own volition, but whenever you push me toward things I tend to try to avoid them."

"Ann I don't just invest in things for the sake of profit I invest in taking advantage of opportunities."

"I'm my own pony Golden, not just your proxy to steer how you like."

"ANN! I don't think of you as that!!"

"Just reminding you, regardless of your motives for forcing me into this I'm simply not happy. Being kept here and feeling like I'm just a computer while they mess around and keep me alive in this stasis."

"You'll be let go once things are finished."

"How do you know? How do you know I won't just be kept in here and made the whore of all their testing, you faked my death so it's not like it will be easy for me to return to the world. In fact, the way you have faked my death doesn't quite imply you've any intention of getting me out of this stasis, or if out of here never to leave the facility."

Golden Belle sighed, it was a possibility what Golden mentioned, one she hoped might not be the case. "Even if you won't leave here if only we could trust you you'd have more freedom."

"In case you've either forgotten or are unaware I've had ponies try to digitally keep me locked up since before I ever caused any 'trouble'."

"Because you were given new and powerful technology that they wanted to make sure you didn't mess up with."

"Forgotten that I've done the best with programming, and in fact DID most of the programming for this project!?" Spat Anomaly, who expressed her emotion as strongly as the text to speech would permit.

"It's precautions, you can never be too careful."

"It's keeping me contained and controlled, so I can be done with as the corporate entity pleases. I know why you faked my death, you didn't want to face the controversy of taking an unwilling living pony and making her a whore for testing."

"Anomaly you're not a whore for testing technology on, whores are lowly, you are something greater. You are a part of something greater if only you would listen to me."

"I've listened, I've listened and my views have not changed. And if you ask me I don't feel like technology being under the leash of corporations so shady as what I've learned EQUE-TECH to be."

"You're part of a professional business that invests in the powers of technology, not some criminal syndicate."

"You've fake my death, for starters and you've been in full involvement whole EQUE-TECH and Crystal Corp both buy laws for their favor so they can screw over ponies."

"You don't know the circumstances of those, you're also not a pony who runs the government so you're not one to preach Anomaly. Please don't go over moralistic it's just...being ridiculous and self-righteous."

"I've looked into things, and I know what goes on."

"No you don't, you're snooping into things that don't concern you, jumping to conclusions and wasting your time."

"Maybe you'd wish to have my mind stripped of emotion and turned into just some AI, that way you don't have to worry about me complaining."

"FOR CELESTIA'S SAKE ANOMALY! I'll admit it, you're a FOOL! You are too foolish to actually try and reach for the stars! To try to reach for greater things! You let mere pitiful things limit you! You'll learn eventually that your own decisions were wrong and that THERE. IS. NO better opportunity for you, you're so ungrateful and ignorant!....."

Suddenly the computer was shut off and Golden looked to it, a voice came behind her.

"It's no use, she's not going to be persuaded so easily. She'll learn eventually, and will learn to not focus on such minor unfortunate circumstances."

Golden Belle sighed and looked to her sister. "I hope so, she is an adult and an intelligent one but doesn't take advantage of the opportunities. She'll learn eventually, it has only been a year since she was put into this stasis. And she has plenty of time to learn."

_____________________________________________________________________________________

"I ain't telling you crap except that your days of law and order are numbered." Said the Desk Goth, who identified as a pony named Neon Flash. Owl would look to Neon and say.

"Look, here's the deal, the more you tell us the less time in prison you'll be spending. If you're extra cooperative I might see to you not getting put in a cell with somepony who's gonna take advantage of a little punk like you."

"Buck off with your threats! I'm not bending to your control, wasn't under your propaganda and I won't be swayed now!"

Data said to him. "If you're so confident in this crazed cause of yours then you shouldn't be scared to tell us what 'inevitable' destruction is going to come."

"Destruction's going to come alright, you're system is not going to survive with what we have in store!"

"Think you're going to better the world by killing ponies?" Asked Night Vision.

"Don't you kill ponies in trying to 'keep the peace'?"

"Only when necessary hence why despite being a potential terrorist you're here rather than in a morgue. Ever thought that those ponies might have families? Ponies that love them? Children, to take care of?"

"You won't manipulate me with your moral manipulation!"

Night slapped him. "I'm not manipulating you, colt. I'm asking you a question, actions have consequences and I wonder if you are aware of the consequences of the actions of your friends and yourself."

"Buck off with that! Ponies die it's a part of life, and sometimes it's not a pretty nice death get with the times!"

"There's a difference between natural death and being BURNED ALIVE IN TERROR!" He slapped Neon again. "What were your parents like? How did they raise you?"

"Mom was a prostitute, dad was a hacker who ended up raising me while he made digibits cracking codes living outside your veil what's it matter to you?"

"Sounds like you were raised rather rebellious, though I imagine you're father imperfect as he was wouldn't want his son to grow up helping contribute to the possible deaths of hundred from being burned alive."

"Not like I would have cared what he thinks, not a kid anymore you know!"

"Don't you have any sympathy for ponies? Be ironic if you were joining a movement trying to 'help ponykind' if you had no sympathy for ponies. Are you just some edgy tailhole selfish goth bucker?"

"WHAT THE BUCK NO! I have friends that I care about! Not like I just care for everypony I don't even know! And it's Cyber Goth tailhole."

"Imagine if some group of ponies tried to set your friends on fire, all because they thought it wasn't right that ponies are not allowed to set ponies on fire?"

"I'd hire a bucking hitpony to deal with those buckers! Do a better job than you could!"

"Is that so? So it seems you won't have any sympathy for those ponies that were nearly killed."

"Buck them!"

Owl would say. "Here's the deal, if there's not much evidence you did anything other than help hide a hacker and aim a gun at Royal personnel we might strike a deal for a much lesser sentence. Inform us a lot and you might get an even lesser sentence in years with some in monitored probation, possibly house arrest where you can chill in your house and watch shows on the screen."

"For the last time BUCK OFF! Put me in prison I'm not bending to you EVER!" Neon said firmly with plenty of that attitude. Data then popped an idea, she would look to the other two and say.

"You both go investigate...some other things right now I got this." Owl and Vision would the walk off, frankly somewhat frustrated. Data would look to him and whisper "Yo, hey I'm with you on this. Government's corrupt and crap know what I'm saying?" Neon raised an eyebrow. "I've worked for them for only sometime so I can get what I know, I'm a hacking type myself and frankly Digital Hoof ain't cutting it for me. You crazy pones, however, might be just what's needed. Come along let's talk in an alley." she picked the cuffed Neon up, given his forelegs were hoofcuffed behind his back, and took him out of the Mall and into an alley. Using her wrist computer she deactivated the cameras there and pointed to them, showing the light on them was off.

"So...you're here to help me? Help us?"

"This look like a face unsure or lying?" Data replied, then asked. "So where should I go who should I contact?" Neon looked around to make sure none watched and no cameras reactivated, then said.

"Contact DK at 203-884-093 it's a temporary number but for a couple days use that, given enough trust you'll be given the next contact number he changes it a lot."

Data nodded and jotted it down. "What's the next hit you have planned? And where can I find some fellow members?"

"Next place will be somewhere in Everfree city, look around in the more wild places in the north district like the Sea Serpent Apartment Complex and you'll find some members. Our operations will be starting with Everfree but will eventually expand to other places, we have plans to buck up Canterlot sometime in the future maybe even have assassinated the buckers at the top."

"Mhm, I see what you mean cut the head off the snake hmm? Any places you might target I should know of, you know so I don't get stuck inside if you start a fire?"

"You'll be let know, we aren't going to 'friendly fire' our fellow members." he smirked at the pun and Data laughed.

"Yea I see, that all I should know?" Data asked, to which Neon shook his head.

"You're good for now, you'll learn more when you contact DK, say think you can help me escape? Tell them I..attacked you and slipped your grasp?"

Data then grinned evilly. "No can do~" Neon looked to her expression with some confusion, then horror as it started to come to him and Data laughed.

"YOU BUCKING...!!!"

"You are one gullible stallion, no wonder those anarchists manipulated you into devotion with their 'cause' thanks for the info~"

He tried to get up on his hind legs to charge at her, only to be pushed down and dragged along. Data called the other two and said "Yo colts! I got some infooo~"

A screaming and ranting Neon was put into a heavy police autocarriage while the three talked. "Data you clever fox." Vision chuckled.

"Aaaaah it was nothing he was gullible as all Tartarus anyway." Data laughed a bit. "Was easy as pie~ Actually easier than pie, smaller than a piece of cake."

Owl smiled and said. "Let's see the Chief about this."

Seeing the Chief they all explained what Data was able to get, and he patted Data's shoulder. "Good work Data, that kind of cleverness fulfills the 'Interrogation' in I&I very well. For a younger member, you have done quite well." Data smiled and blushed.

"Ooooh, it was nothing he was gullible."

"And you were able to discover and take advantage of that." Kevlar said. "You all deserve a rest now, daytime is coming. I got you all rooms at this inn." the Chief used his wrist computer and sent them all a waypoint. "You've all done well, we will review evidence and decide our next course of action. We'll also keep watch on things for any trouble. I'll give a waypoint to some rest to all other I&I personnel as well, if these anarchists are operating in Everfree then so are we."

And so Owl and his two friends would head on to the inn, which was not unlike the apartment buildings and distinguished only by the projected signboard above the entrance which depicted 'Inn and Out' in a fancy font. Being a city with nonmajority though prevalence of flying ponies and gryphons buildings made exclusively with them in mind were few and far between, and Inn and Out was not one such building as the main entrance was at the bottom. Upon entering his room, pre-booked by the chief, Owl collapsed onto the bed. It couldn't have been more of a long night. Taken from leave and time from his child, nearly watching a fiery massacre, encountering crazy terrorists, he needed some sleep for certain. Thus the bat would rather quickly fall asleep, his thoughts on the night interrupted cut off as he drifted off into sleep and hopefully no messed up dreams.

_________________________________________________________________________________________________

Anomaly would browse the net from her mind's place in the contained network, lucky to have not lost that 'privilege'. She despised how she was treated almost like a child, and yet her sister claimed her place was one she should take pride in. The mare was frustrated, considered trying to permanently escape into Cyberspace and leave her body behind, she declined on the idea however as she didn't want to just wander around as nothing but brain data without a body. The mare browsed along the videos of a popular video sharing site, somewhat bored and restless. Suddenly she detected that her server was getting hacked into, and waited for the hacker to get detected and kicked out by the Cyber Security.

Strangely enough, whoever was hacking in was doing so impossibly discretely. Despite entering her containment server which of all places should be locked down and near impenetrable. Yet whoever this pony was he or she was slipping through like there was nothing. Anomaly would try to stop this breach given that she was the only one who detected it but given she by now could care less about public security she simply watched what this hacker did. If this hacker could crack into here so easily maybe Anomaly could learn a useful trick or two. She watched as the code cracker made their way, and soon was surprised and even more curious as she discovered what exactly this hacker was doing.

This hacker was trying to get in contact with her, as she detected a program akin to those used for wrist computer calls. Anomaly wondered and pondered, who was this hacker and what did he want with her? She then wondered if it was somepony from Crystal Corp attempting some corporate espionage, the though did not seem pleasant as she knew Crystal Corp wouldn't be more likable to her than EQUE-TECH. Still, the curiosity burned many colors in her mind like a chemical fire, and she could not resist it. Thus the mare decided to indulge this hacker's desire to speak with her, whether a curious yet talented hacker or a corporate cyber spy. If this was a curious hacker she could maybe relay her situation, and have it be spread throughout the InterNet of her predicament. Maybe she could, if not have EQUE-TECH be forced to free her, at least prove less a thorn and more a dagger to their side.

She ultimately decided not to assist the hacker as her own actions might risk her getting detected, so Anomaly waited until she was suddenly given a message not so much in text as it was also in audio form. Anomaly would get linked to a sort of custom call which gave her a live audio feed. She would then use her text to speech program to try to make communicating with this pony easier.

"Hello, who is this and what do you want?" she asked, a curious tone in her voice. It would not take long for her question to be answered.

"Who I am? I am but one who has looked in and seen what you are. Such a talented young mare with such promising technology....yet all under the leash of corporate interests by far." The voice was low, seemingly of a zebrican-equestrian.

"You...know about me..? How much do you know?" she asked, it seemed this pony wasn't likely corporate. A wave of hope that came over her like a cool splash of water on a hot summer day.

The zebra would respond "Oh yes, me and my accomplices have looked into this megacorporation's files and soon discovered you hidden away and the files in relation to you. T'is a shame really, you're a product of science and genius in a place that can bypass the limiting laws, yet the corporate exploitation completely replaces the laws in their limit."

"Can you tell ponies?? About what they did to me? They forced me into this! I was involved with the project but didn't want to just be turned into a test computer!!" Anomaly said with some desperation in her text to speech program's tone.

"Relax young one, I sympathize with you. You are like technology itself manifested in the form of a fair mare, full of such wonder and potential yet limited and leashed by forces of the world that seek to either limit or exploit you. I would let information of your predicament be spread, but it would likely potentially have me and my little group compromised. However, I will help you in some other way, that you might be of great use to us."

"Who are you? What is your group? And how will you help me?" asked Anomaly, curious and with lots of questions running through the codes of her augmented brain.

"Oh you will learn much from and about us, but for now I will tell you this. We seek to break the shackles on science and technology, that it might go on to flourish thus."

Author's Note

A chapter with a little bit of expansion on the 'secondary arc' and another cliffhanger ^^

5: Technology

Anomaly was thinking, thinking about the last thing this zebra whom she had not yet even a name to said.

"As for how we will help you, well....we have a plan for that, one that will be your first test to see if you are truly unafraid to take the risk and break your shackles. Here is a copy of a 'virus' prototype we are making, release it onto the systems of this monolith to corporate power and things should roll as planned. I would tell you what that is, but the plan needs not that you know the details, and I feel it appropriate to test and see how willing you are to take risks with uncertain results but the possibility for greater things. I will also grant you the option on whether or not you wish to take part if you accept then release the virus, and if you reject simply delete it or you can give it to your corporate masters so they can try to beef their security. The choice is yours, remain in the limits and safety shackles of your corporate masters, or....like a bionic manticore breaking violently from your cage and show them that they cannot contain your power forever."

Once given the virus the Zebra had left, and Hera examined the 'prototype' finding it to be quite advanced and fascinating in its complexity. The mare pondered the decision laid out before her, take the risk and get broken out, or stay and be safe...maybe even reconsider what Golden Belle said about her. Was this mysterious visit a new opportunity for her, one that might actually give her the will to make her own choices for once. Or was it just another group that might try to exploit her, might try to use her.

Or worse was this a decision that might bring terrible unforeseen consequences. Was Golden Belle right, was she in a fantastic place, a fantastic opportunity? Was she really just being foolish and arrogant and had she just previously been ignorant to the gift she had been given? All these questions flashed through her mind, reeled by like the frames of a film. The mare was deep in her mind in thought, with the program the Zebra used to hide the conversation gone with him her handlers could see there was a lot of activity.

The ponies tasked with handling and monitoring her through their computers tried their best to get in and see what she was thinking, given that was their directive from Myriad herself. They did their best to keep discrete about it, as if detected she would likely hinder them completely. Keeping a pony with superior skills with the computer in watch and keeping her out of trouble was no easy task even for a team of six. Like guards to a gate imprisoning a powerful being, they were constantly uncertain and nervous that they would prove ineffective at their job and risk some serious berating by the head of EQUE-TECH cyber security.

At least when they were able to monitor her to any success they would be able to view the many InterNet pages and videos she watched for entertainment. At those times their jobs were mostly calm and relaxed, compared to other times where it was stressful and unpredictable. Working to keep a mare unwillingly made into a living computer with prototype technology was truly quite the roller coaster ride through calm beaches and tarturian depths. One pony working there suddenly noticed something foreign and unfamiliar in the contained server. It did not look like anything normal he saw there, and it seemed as though Anomaly was tampering with it. He panicked a bit, wondering what she was up to as he tried to communicate with her as nice and friendly as possible. Though not directed to do so he found it to be the best idea given who he was dealing with.

"Hello? Anomaly?" He said into the microphone, which gave a vocal link of communication to her. All the 'handlers' had one so they could more easily and quickly communicate instead of typing everything out to her. "Are you doing something, what is that you have there? Please don't do anything stupid..." Anomaly then panicked inside, her mind now reeling through the questions like a college student trying to finish their exam last minute, trying to put together her answers for each one. The other handlers looked as well trying to look in and see what she had, to which she made efforts to keep the virus hidden while she tried to put the questions together while masking what she was saying from them. It was a tense and escalating moment, the handlers starting to panic and call for some help from other cyber security personnel. With this Anomaly started to panic as well as the two sides of her mind clashed like two trucks slamming head on.

"..remain in the limits and safety shackles of your corporate masters.." choice one"..break violently from your cage and show them that they cannot contain your power forever." choice two, among other questions connected to them clashed in her mind like waves in a stormy sea crashing into lava flowing down off the shore. Soon enough she would see that her server was locked down and cut off from the InterNet, littered with security measures and ponies trying to digitally pry into what she hid. Ponies would communicate in tones ranging from trying to be nice to commanding voices from cyber security to give them what she was hiding. Pressure from the outside and inside of Anomaly's mind built up like steam in clogged industrial pipes, any one pipe ready to burst at any moment if not many at once. She reeled back the questions in her mind like fast forwarding the frames of a film, confusion, and desperation to think and answer the questions in her mind.

Her mind soon enough began to put itself back together and think over the questions and ultimately come to answers. "If this is an opportunity I received...it seems better than the alternative. If they exploit me I'll just figure something else out.." detecting this the handlers seemed perplexed, some hoping she might for once 'come to her senses'. "If there are consequences I will be on the lookout for them and try to prevent them..." She then pondered the final questions, saying. "Golden Belle....that corporate puppet is wrong and should not have forced me into this like I'm her proxy. She'll see....she will see that giving me this power against my will so I can just be the flesh computer of this shady corporation was NOT A GOOD IDEA!" Thus Anomaly opened a door, a door leading into a black abyss of risk and uncertainty with a few neon lights of hope and opportunity shining faintly.

The entire EQUE-TECH HQ quickly began to go haywire. Lights flickered, computers went berserk, Cameras shut off and the elevators went up and down randomly. "I don't have corporate masters, not anymore.." she used the virus and the chaos it caused as an ultimate opportunity. Digging into files she dug for any dirt she could ranging from corporate bribes of government, fraudulent actions against smaller tech companies, dishonest advertising, even some dangerous testing of bionics on ponies less than willing or aware. The evidence was sparse and required plenty of digging, some not even complete. She was aware of much of these things that occurred from her opportunities of spying over the company but lacked any evidence she could acquire until now.

Though it was not likely enough to completely overthrow the corporation's advertisement propaganda system it was at least something and a start. Taking these pieces of evidence ranging from private corporate files to some undeleted messages buried away. Meanwhile, Myriad was forced to exit to the roof in order to be able to call other EQUE-TECH facilities to call for their assistance in dealing with this. She herself was confused as all Tartarus' depths as it could be confirmed Anomaly had done this, yet it was akin to the mall cyberattack that Anomaly herself stopped.

Anomaly would take the evidence and distribute it along as many random networks and sites as she could, getting cocky and not covering her tracks from tampering with the files in the facility. She then formed a program on the Corporate network, hoping the mysterious hacker would notice it and be watching her.

"I took the risk."

Soon enough, however, she would notice the virus destabilize and start to break down and corrupt, the corporate security beginning to get a hold on it and begin to stop it. Anomaly panicked as she realized things were not going as planned, and tried to reconstruct the virus to no avail. The mare was honestly hoping for some sort of rescue or something, somewhat irrational given how well guarded the HQ of all places was. Seeing the risk start to go downhill for her, her body would shutter if she could move it. She ultimately ended up fighting back against the Cyber security and did so rather effectively for a time. Myriad rushed to the Room where Anomaly was, frankly very mad and frustrated at all this happening.

"Pardon my language brain, but BUCK what Golden says, she is going to be cut off from the InterNet before she turns this part of cyberspace upside down!" Storming into the room Myriad ordered. "Unplug her! Pull the plug!" While digital devices generally did not need wires to connect to the InterNet, Anomaly's computer brain was built for now to connect to a receiver which permitted connection to the contained server and InterNet at large. This was for security in case the server hacked into from the outside in a manner that risked the general secrecy of the project. Since a brain-computer could not exactly be 'shut off' this measure was deemed the most advisable.

What was not expected was that this measure would be used to combat the threat that was within the project. Anomaly, busy with her cyber-fight with security noticed too late as commands were sent and a robotic arm in her stasis chamber went to the specific wire connecting her to the receiver. The mare desperately tried to stop it, going to try and cancel the command to the arm. She was too late, as her digital view watched Cyberspace fade and the inner workings of her mind replace them.

Myriad sighed in relief as the situation was over, thankful somepony had the sense to give a means to disconnect her from the InterNet. She looked to the handlers and said "Next time she does something, pull the plug. Clearly, a contained server is not sufficient and what was supposed to be a 'last resort' will need to be our primary tactic of containment."

"Well we can't keep her contained that way forever, in fact, the longer she's in her head the greater the risk she might cook up something worse than whatever killer worm attacked our facility just now." One handler said while another said rather worriedly.

"What if this just keeps getting more and more dangerous!? If she can do this shouldn't we just get rid of her, extract the brain augmentations and pick a more willing pony for this who WON'T TURN THIS PLACE UPSIDE DOWN??".

Myriad slapped this pony as she said "We're not going to kill her if that happens Golden Belle will have my hide to decorate her carpet. In fact, she'll likely be on the verge of screwing us over, or in BEST case scenario she cuts ties with us and maybe supports and invests in Crystal Corp. That and I'd like for Anomaly, even if we need to drill it in her head, to be able to see futility and folly in her resistance to this. She may be intelligent but she's only 20, not exactly the age of wisdom. Her intelligence and enough persuasion should eventually make her see that her best choice is to just cooperate with us, it's quite simple in fact. Just. Cooperate. With. Us. Once she sees that she'll find that life for her is quite enjoyable, testing to improve her skills, plenty of free time to browse the Net, practically heaven for a computer pony such as herself! I don't want to just kill her, she's a living pony of great value being one of if not our best with computers. I'd like to show that we don't just see her as some fleshy computer by at least giving her a chance to redeem herself and realize her potential. I have some faith in her, and I feel it's foolish to not be prepared for dangers when dealing with such a major leap in technology. In fact, next time I communicate with her I'll let her know out of some respect that I refuse to have her replaced and value her greatly."

"What will you do when this phase of the project is concluded? You had her death faked after all, how will she be able to live again?"

"That is a matter to worry about when we worry about it. For now, ways will have to be figured out for curbing her threat and making use of her potential. I would help but frankly, I am not the computer genius, you ponies are. Try to give her some time, not too much, to calm down then reconnect and make contact with her. Be ready to unplug if she tries anything, and make it clear any more trouble WILL get her unplugged." Myriad said with a sigh. "If she wants her sister to treat her like an adult she will have to act like one." taking out an E-cigar she took a drag off it before saying. "See what you can do, don't be afraid to call for help from the Cyber Security if you need it. I'm going back to running this megacorp as usual." the CEO would then trot off as the handlers looked to eachother, speaking to eachother and wondering what they would do next.

Anomaly would be deep in thought as she was trapped in her augmented mind, wondering if it was worth it taking that risk. Wondering if expecting anything out of that was irrational and if this zebra she was contacted by was either messing with her or underestimating the impossibility of 'helping her'. The mare began to feel some slight regret and the once discarded part of her mind that wondered if she was better off cooperating washed up on the shores of her mind like litter tossed out to sea. She wondered if they were going to try and further imprison her if she had foregone any chance for any sort of freedom in her actions. The part of her mind still bent on exploiting the mysterious zebra's opportunity still remained and now once again clashed with the newly returning mindset.

Eventually, she would be drawn out from her inner mind clash as she saw that her connection to the Internet Restored and multiple ponies try to communicate. They mentioned Myriad's refusal to have her killed and her brain augmentations put into a more willing subject, and that she apparently had at least a little respect for her and some value toward her and her skill. This further divided her, somewhat contradicting her belief of being little in reality than a useful lab rat though not completely. She didn't do anything crazy, which relieved her handlers immensely, though she responded minimally and mostly kept things in her encrypted thought. The handlers talked among eachother discussing how they might go about trying to convince her toward cooperation and that she has plenty to gain from it.

Meanwhile, a normally innocuous looking pegasus pony would be flying up to the mighty EQUE-TECH HQ tower, flying up to the very Floor Anomaly's stasis Chamber was on, the corporate security pegasi perched on the platforms outside would go and stop her as she sat on a lower roof of the building near the floor. The facility was built somewhat like multiple increasingly tall skyscrapers fused together as it tapered upward through multiple roofs up to the very top.

"Corporate property, don't go snooping around. If you want a tour you'll have to schedule one at the ground floor." one security mare out of three that approached her said.

The pegasus was a mare with a navy blue coat and turquoise mane with black stripes and some strands dyed with luminescent blue. She wore a blue-grey sleeveless jacket with glowing pixel art lightning bolt designs on it along with simple black cargo shorts. Her legs and wings were all bionic, decorative with tattoo like carvings and vinyls of lightning bolts and storms all along them. An equally decorative wrist computer was strapped along her right foreleg and was a somewhat older EQUE-TECH model. She pointed to her throat and shook her head, indicating herself a mute. The mare's expression was emotionless and somewhat curious as she looked to the security personnel with blue glowing irises indicating bionic eyes under lenses made to look like natural eyes.

"So what? You can hear us, can't you? Being mute don't give you free reign to snoop around." said a guard looking unamused. The mare would raise her right foreleg to show the screen of her Wrist computer after turning it on and setting it to project a hologram screen. On the holographic screen, it depicted the message.

"We know miss Anomaly is on the 148th floor of this facility, kept alive in a stasis tank in room 148-12b." said the message in an otherwise simple message in text. As the security saw this they, though unaware of the project, were very suspicious and asking.

"What is this message? How do you know of this if it is true? Are you in contact with some hacker? Type it out in message" Suddenly their own wrist computers would come one and they would end up in telepathy calls unexpectedly "

That she is, and what she says is not untrue. How do we know? Well, explaining would be complex, let's just speak in statistics. It is impossible to be one hundred percent safe from hackers." spoke the voice of the Zebra.

"Who is this? How did you get this number!" one said while another attempted to call for Cyber Security, only to find their wrist computer locked on the call.

"You can tell of this encounter when you are done, I have one last message to be relayed directly to your Chief Executive Officer Myriad Wealth Heartstrings. Anomaly is a special kind of pony whom you've exploited for your own gains, and soon we will liberate her from here and there will be nothing you can do to stop us."

The guards looked to eachother then drew electric batons as they said to the mare. "You're coming with us, now."

"I would advise against trying to apprehend her." said the Zebra in the telepathic call as the mare got up in flight and did not comply with their orders one activated their baton and swung it at her. The mare raised her hoof in a flash as it suddenly started to emit a visible field of electricity. Her cybernetic fingers sprouted out and she grabbed the neck of the security guard. Others drew guns at her as the pony caught in her electric grip convulsed and froze before falling over.

"Stand down NOW!" one ordered, as they all aimed silenced pistols at her. The mare smiled softly as she flew up and pointed to them in a flash, extending her cybernetic fingers and shooting bolts of electricity at them. They all let off a single missing shot, unable to aim at her before they dropped from the stunning bolt. The voice from the call would tell them.

"Let your CEO know what you have seen today." the mare flew back and dropped down into a dive along the building's side, escaping sight swiftly among the other buildings before they could get up and look for her.

Mere minutes later Myriad is informed, making her nearly break her Electric cigar in frustration. "Ooooh, celestia please can there be NO BREAK TODA-" she gasped in some air and sucked in lots of vapor from the E-Cigar before blowing it out like a jet of smoke and taking a breath of air into her lungs to further calm her down. "I have a feeling Anomaly has contacts we don't know about..."

Taking the elevator to the floor Myriad would look at her reflection in the elevator, the faint though somewhat distorted reflection image of the mint green mare with a dark teal and green mane. Speaking to herself she said "Not going to be intimidated nor hindered by some hackers with an illegally modified cyborg. Messing with one of the largest tech companies around will not get you far, Royal Guard will only be part of your worries. Stepping out as it reached the floor she trotted along till she reached the room, jotting down the numbers code on the locked door she had it open as she entered. "I wish to have a word with Anomaly."

Anomaly looked to the mare through the surveillance camera in the room, to which Myriad looked to as she asked. "Who did you contact? Who contacted you? Somepony knows your location here, that is no coincidence and I know you let a hacker into your server when they managed to bypass the defenses. Look at the recent surveillance footage on camera 148-2, you'll see somepony there with a clear message." looking Anomaly saw the incident with the cyborg and was speechless but worried in her mind. Myriad spoke to her in as nice a tone as possible, trying not to set the mare off and make her turn the building upside down again. "Anomaly, you do realize you very well could have done deals with the same kinds of ponies who YOU STOPPED from committing a massacre at the mall," she said firmly, though still keeping a more soft tone.

It brought up a point in Anomaly's mind that she was aware of, the mare still didn't speak as the CEO sighed and finally said. "This is going to require that you are taken to a new location, we're not letting you get tracked. Luckily this stasis system can be moved and transported, which will be done discretely. Try anything and you'll be unplugged, I mean it. If only you would just understand, we want to do great things with you. Your sister has repeated it time and time again, have you even thought it over? I could have you killed and replaced, but I won't because you are a pony of value to us. Please take that into consideration next time you plan to make everything go haywire." the mare then called on her wrist computer for some ponies to come along and detach the stasis pod from it's mount on the floor.

With cyber security keeping high alert by Myriad's orders, the stasis tube was wheeled along to the elevator, where it was sent down to the ground floor and wheeled to the parking garage where it was put into transport trucks alongside the usual EQUE-TECH trucks. These large autocarriages were typically used to transport of things, usually, new products to be sent for production in factories as well as bringing in materials for the various kinds of work carried out in the facility. Putting her stasis tube into one of these was a move of discreteness to try to hide the location she was being taken to. The trucks would drive out from the underground parking section and out onto the roads where their paths would diverge.

Anomaly tracked the movement of the truck she was in, wondering whether or not she should try anything or whether it really was a bad idea to work with this mysterious hacker. The robotic arm in the tube was put on the wire connecting her to the InterNet receiver in case she tried anything as Cyber security kept a close watch on things. EQUE-TECH security pegasi followed all the trucks from the air as per usual procedure. As was a standard of modern autocarriages the trucks were self-driving capable, with control over the route given to the navigation system as it's destination was set. The truck was due to head to a location in Manehattan, while the others went to other cities as well.

The truck drove along the streets, guided partially through traffic by the CCS TrOS or Traffic Operating System which worked alongside every vehicle's navigation system to organize and smooth the flow of all autocarriage traffic. It had been developed over decades and was near perfected in this time. Traffic jams were rare and quickly solved as cars were shuffled along with efficiency only state of the art high-tech computer algorithms could manage. With autocarriages, automated accidents were near nonexistent, since it could keep control away from drunken and idiotic drivers. This system was well guarded by its own cyber security force keeping watch in case of any sort of outside attempt at tampering with the system. Even with these measures, like a crafty spy sneaking just under the noses of the guards, ponies were jacking in discretely to the system with one thing in mind.

Myriad had severely underestimated the abilities of these hackers, as the truck carrying Anomaly was found relatively quickly. Its systems were soon invaded, the automated navigation system discretely adjusted to a specific point. The operator was sitting back and listening to some music on her wrist computer, the display kept from changing to show the change in destination by the hackers. Eventually, the truck would suddenly pull into an alleyway, kickstarting suspicions immediately.

Cyber security was called in to have a look at things and would notice that the destination indeed was changed with the interface made to look unchanged. The security guards took a look around the area, suspecting some sort of trap to be waiting as they drew their compact suppressed assault rifles, EQUE-TECH manufactured AWS-203C's drawn and ready. Cyber Security would attempt to reset the truck's navigation system, wondering if the hackers got lucky in finding this one since they too underestimated the ability of these hackers.

All would be silent around the area minus the usual ambiance of the city as the occasional autocarriage passed by and the occasional siren could be heard. All would, however, be silent until the sound of composite wings could be heard flapping. Floating down from above appearing as sudden as a specter, using her wings like parachutes, was none other than the electric pegasus. Watching footage of their body cameras Myriad looked and saw the mare and ordered through call.

"Take her out, shoot to kill." The guards obliged and aimed their guns, pulling the triggers and sending automatic streams of six-millimeter rounds at the Mare. Quick to react like a moth escaping the angry slapping hoof of an annoyed housekeeper she quickly moved into erratic flight patterns, bullets whizzing past like angry bionic wasps on partycake. The mare skillfully twirled and turned in an almost dance-like grace as the sounds of rapid pews and jingling shell casings almost filled the alleyway, like music tasked with accompanying the dancer in her show. The security forces, five in total, tried burst firing to conserve their shots as they all moved around to try and aim for head or wings. Eventually, they found hitting her to define intense tedium, and soon set their guns to full auto and attempted to overwhelm her maneuvers with escalating volume of copper plated lead.

This proved ineffective at anything more than a few rounds clipping the cyborg. As one started to reload their gun he was preyed upon, the mare flying up to him and delivering an electrically charged kick to the head sending the pegasus flipping along the air down to the asphalt ground. Quickly evading more gunfire the mare flew past two and stunned them with sudden bolts of electricity, making them drop from the air only to receive kicks to the head as they tumbled down. The last two would continue to aim and shoot at her. Her flight patterns zig-zagging more than a filly's crayon lines as she approached with an electric kick to the flank of one and a stunning bolt to the other. As they fell and hit the ground, scraping their skulls on rough asphalt before being put properly into an impact-induced slumber by the mare. Approaching the large door in the truck's rear she would be informed by the Zebra in call..

"Going to open that door, but inside a pony with an SMG is waiting to put you full of holes. Be careful and approach this with caution, it might be hard to fight him since you'll only be able to approach from the front."

The mare looked to the door and approached it till she could grab and start to open it up, fluttering away like a frightened bird at the hail of 900 rounds per minute from a PDS-300 sub machine gun shot out from inside the storage compartment. The panicked guard would frantically call for backup as she held the weapon aimed at the open doorway, looking to the stasis tank relieved she didn't hit it with a stray bullet. The cyborg would think over what to do, she could fly by repeatedly and try to expend the gun's magazine. That option seemed impractical however as she suspected backup might come along soon. Quick thinking she would approach the open door once more.

Bullets were shot at her as she quickly shot off a bolt of electricity, taking a number of them to her chest and feeling the impact of the round pierce her. The guard would recoil as she was stunned for a moment before being grabbed and thrown out of the truck before getting electro-kicked to the face. Looking to the mare in stasis, the cyborg would await as the tank was opened up by her cyberspace backup. Carefully though quickly the mare pulled out the wires out from her as well as the various tubes that allowed Anomaly to survive being kept in that stasis. Picking the naked mare out from the tube and effortlessly slumping the mare over her shoulder she quickly flew out of the truck and went out on her escape not long before EQUE-TECH Security vehicles drive into the alley.

The drugs used to keep Anomaly in slumber were very efficient, and thus she would remain stuck in her brain once more wondering what was going to happen next. She wondered if she was somehow projecting a digital dream of some possibility of escape, hardly able to believe this was happening. Left and thinking she tried to plan out what she would do come various worse case scenarios, whether it be another corporate entity or the 'freedom fighters' that currently had her. If things went wrong the mare would try an escape through a cyberattack, but then realized the unplugging issue and was now very concerned.

It seemed like her best hope was that she wouldn't be taken advantage of one more. Though neon hopes still glowed in the void of uncertainty some burning ember fears showed as well, all surrounded by the consistent yet unpredictable void of uncertainty at Anomaly's great dice roll. The mare waited and waited with hope and fear flashing through her mind like competitor's advertisements sharing the screen. Waiting for something to happen, she would remain and try to prevent another storm from brewing in her mind.

EQUE-TECH security would search the entire district of the city for any sign of the pegasus or Anomaly, finding the truck and its stasis tube empty. Myriad would scream up a storm in her office, threatening to fire a large number of ponies for incompetence in this worse than worse case scenario. It was outrageous, Anomaly took from a guarded van in only partially obscured daylight and her captor nowhere to be found. Panic ensued in the CEO's mind as she anticipated a future tirade from Golden Belle. Anomaly had to be found and retrieved ASAP, even if she had to have the whole of EQUE-TECH security hunt down the hackers and cyborg themselves.

A few security guards were, unfortunately, going to have to know of the project, compromising some secrecy, but it would be necessary as this was a nightmare scenario demanding quick and effective action. If these were the same ponies who attacked the mall, then they were the last ponies Myriad wanted having hooves on new state of the art corporate tech. She would have them hunted down, even eliminated, or worse captured and used as test subjects in the nearest offshore facility. Myriad could barely be calmed by the cherry vapors of her E-cigar as this situation both panicked and enraged her.

"Not going to just let these hackers and their cyborg stab us in the side and take our wallet like this, they will have Tartarus and then some to pay BUCKING WITH EQUE-TECH!"

A sport utility autocarriage, a larger vehicle built with carrying more seats and groceries for the trip to AppleMart in mind, would join the organized traffic lines of other autocarriages along one of a few highways that cut through the city. Soon enough the vehicle would pull off the highway and into another district of the city as the district it left was searched up and down by unmarked EQUE-TECH security vehicles. The searches soon spilled out of the district into other districts of the city as well, Cyber Security searched the InterNet networks for anything to track and anything leading at least to any activity of this 'freedom fighters' group.

Anomaly would suddenly notice some things looking strange in her brain's systems, parts were cut off and she soon found things starting to malfunction a bit. Such things she remembered happening when her brain augs first activated and she was in her cyber mind for the first time. As well as happening in the middle of the surgery that was undertaken to upgrade her brain augs once, she panicked as she realized surgery was most likely being done on her brain. The fear that those augs were possibly about to be extracted from her brain, spelling her body's death and Celestia knows what for her digital mind. The mare's mix of fear and attempt to curb the panic with the possibility that her fears were not to come true. She remembered what the zebra said..

"However I will help you in some other way, that you might be of great use to us."

The mare didn't know whether or not that meant her, or just her for the brain augs she had. She waited in partial panic but mostly anticipation for what might come, whether she would have her brain augs extracted by cyberterrorists or potentially modified in some other way for some other purpose. The wait felt like a decade in her mind as her restlessness in her Net-disconnected state grew like that of a mouse in a cage too small for its size. She waited and waited with so much uncertainty and fear of that uncertainty, it nearly drove her mad much like that mouse's cage being in the dark while unknown sounds boom around it.

Suddenly out of nowhere, she would have a connection, a connection to the InterNet. Evidently, she was plugged back in, or so she thought as she scanned the room and accessed its cameras. She would look and see herself, not naked in a stasis tube with wires and tubes connected to her, but simply in a white room akin to one found in a hospital dressed in simple white undergarments and a tank top. Her body sat back in a surgical chair beneath a set of robotic arms hanging from the ceiling, some of which were finishing up cleaning surgical tools while another injected a clear red liquid into her neck. As it was injected the surgical cuts on her head could be seen slowly mending up, that was evidently healing injection. One thing Anomaly did not see that surprised her was a single wire to connect her to the Internet. In fact, the separate receiver she was normally hooked up to access it was nowhere to be seen, Anomaly was confused at first but then started to realize it. If anything that surgery was likely installing some sort of receiver into her brain augmentations.

"We seek to break the shackles on science and technology, that it might go on to flourish thus" repeated in her head as she realized what had just happened. The mare then wondered when her body was going to awaken, only to see her brain aug's OS start to shut down. This would normally put her right back into panic mode, however, given her fears thus far were not realized she decided to simply wait and see. Suddenly her mind would go blank, thought stopping yet the information still there. All she would detect was a program called 'update' and a bar starting to grow in length. Then everything would go black, black as it was blank until everything went white.

Her eyes would open, and her mind's digital gears would start to come together as she saw through her eyes the text 'Rebooting...'. As it disappeared her eye began to move around and look at the room. Normally in her time pre-stasis, the mare felt either in the computer brain or in her natural brain, yet now she felt a combination of both. She could see things through her eyes and start to feel her body, yet her brain could also function as if she was inside it. The mare quickly figured out via speaking commands in her mind she could bring familiar interfaces up to her very eyes, she surmised her eyes were replaced with bionic ones. Looking to the lens of the camera in the room she hacked into it and brought up it's footage into her sight like a digital mirror.

Her eyes looked like their normal purple colored selves as opposed to the metal and plastic pieces usually found on bionic eyes. Yet in the pupils, the interface she was viewing right then could be seen white clearly under the high definition footage of the camera. The mare looked around the room as the feeling came to her limbs and the knowledge of walking, saved in her mind since early in the unwanted stasis, was started to put into effect. Muscle atrophy hindered her movement to where she stumbled on the floor upon leaving the chair. However, relief would come soon as the highly concentrated healing injection finished closing up the back of her head and started to help bring strength to her atrophied muscles allowing her to stand.

Upon overcoming the pain in her body she started to feel herself in an almost perverted fashion, reveling in her sense of touch so long deprived of her, reveling in having a functioning body. Breathing in the room temperature air and feeling it in her lungs, feeling her heart beat, feeling like a pony rather than just a fleshy computer. She would then let out words, speaking for the first time without text to speech, saying.

"Thank you..."

Over an intercom, in the room, a familiar voice came into the room. "You are welcome, it is good to be freed no? Risk can be a scary thing, but it can also leave a pony in a better place than before. No longer imprisoned in a brain-computer, that prison is now your asset. Come, the door is not locked, I want to meet you."

Stepping out of the room she looked to see a hallway with a few more rooms, it was silent and her hoof steps echoed slightly as she walked down it. Eventually, she would reach a room painted in amber hues which looked almost like a traditional library with a millionaire's lifetime worth of Digibits in traditional books. Sitting in a chair of plastic and foam was a Zebra, wearing very old style brown circular glasses and dressed in a brown colored trench coat printed with decorative patterns of atoms and mathematical equation over a simple black shirt and black cargo pants. A soft smile was on the zebra's face as he said to her in a voice she remembered from the first contact.

"I saw that you reveled in your newfound freedom, freedom is a great thing is it not?"

"Who.....who are you?" Anomaly asked him, to which he replied.

"I go by 'Doctor Freemane' and where you are is a place we call 'Haven'. A place under the mansion of a friend of ours."

Anomaly looked around the place, before asking. "What...what do you work for?"

"Science and Technology, my fair techmare, freedom for it to thrive and create. Without the limits of law and corporations to bear, for that is the world's worst trait," said Doctor Freemane.

"I...see...what do you do here? Other than hack into corporate servers?"

"We, at GOUSSE, work on science from a place beyond these limits."

"GOUSSE?"

"Guild Of Un-Shackled Scientific Endeavors. We seek to free science and technologies from the shackles of monopolizing corporations and controlling governments desperate to keep their waning power."

"So you freed me...kind of like you seek to free science."

Doctor Freemane smiled wider and nodded. "You are very correct, you are in fact a sort of symbol of science in a way. You are now one of a few 'projects' we've made here. Codenamed 'Miss Hacker' and subject number 7."

"Seven? There are others you've....?"

"Ponies we've 'modified' in our transequinism group. Using state of the art custom bionics, among other technologies like magic and alchemy. You're a first in that you were a collaboration between our Transequinism group and our computer technologies group. Come, have a seat." He pointed to another chair. "There is much for us to speak of, I fear you may 'disagree' in some aspects. But know that in my stance for the freedom of the individual I will not imprison you here even if you end up opposing us."

Anomaly would have a seat, looking at Doctor Freemane with plenty of questions, and a hope that she would have them answered.

Author's Note

A chapter more focused on the arc with Anomaly, don't worry, we'll get back to Owl :raritywink:

Fun fact: The term 'Cyberspace' originates from William Gibson's book 'Neuromancer' a pivotal work of cyberpunk!

6: Underground

"We at GOUSSE have formed decades ago from a number of what you might call 'renegade' scientists seeking not to work in an environment not influenced nor limited by government or corporate interest. Thus we have grown and been working for quite some time, we have developed a number of advancements of whom we have mostly experimented on though to some degree given out to the world in secret. We've advanced medicine, creating marvels in healing such as the potion that healed your muscle atrophy. We've also taken what we could learn from your brain augmentations and upgraded them with some basis on our G-107 supercomputer. Speaking of computers in the information technology field we have also developed much, from the G-107 to our new 'superprograming' system which calculates and refines programs to help the user improve their systems."

"So You've developed technology that could potentially advance and improve a number of fields in medicine, information technology, bionics, alchemy, and yet you must keep it hidden. Seems....sad that your technology is without any capability to realize it's purpose. You only just experiment and improve it here indefinitely while only giving small pieces of it out."

"It is an issue we face, trying to keep our science and technology from the hooves of power hungry corporations and fearful governments facing their power's demise. Yet such efforts deprive our technology of its very purpose, to advance ponykind."

"What do you mean by the governments 'facing their power's demise'?" Anomaly asked.

"You know of the underground, do you not? The place the government calls the criminal culture to be reported and fought against, a threat to civilized society. Forget what they taught you, it's all propaganda designed to control the masses. I'll give your princesses and harmony council one thing, they clearly do it to protect their citizens from the scary reality of this world. Unfortunately, that reality will soon come crashing through the facade, the propaganda system is lucky to have survived this long in an age of criminal organization and counterculture. The RLG and RSG say they have such things under watch in control, they lie for the 'criminal' world thrives just as much as the 'civilized' world."

"Are you saying the government and society at large is.....GOING TO COLLAPSE??"

Doctor Freemane nodded. "The government will remain, but it's power, its veil of control and protection through ignorance is a flawed construct. Like a glitchy matrix of code, it has many flaws and though functional now those glitches will soon break it."

"Things will only collapse if those crazy 'freedom fighter' terrorists are allowed to.."

"They are a but a symptom of the terminal illness the government faces. They are of good intention in protecting society, but they are sadly akin to parents sheltering their children from concepts such as death and sex. Reality will not be escaped, and the more you shelter the child the bigger the battering ram reality will be."

"What is this 'reality'? Are the criminal syndicates and lawless hackers reality? Is the underground the.....future of our society??"

"The Underground is indeed the future, ponies free yet functioning. Some might be of the archetypical 'criminals' but others are simply ponies who are mere average citizens living in a less sheltered world."

"You sympathize with those 'Freedom Fighters' don't you."

"Not with their attempt to roast ponies alive in the mall, but their overall goal is but speeding up the process of the government's fall from power, and preventing what will be the biggest threat from taking power when that happens."

"Biggest threat?"

"The Megacorporations, when ponies all realize their government and guard are a mess that can only give limited protection from the underground. When they see what the underground with new technology is capable of, the order will fall apart. When that happens I predict that the Megacorporations will seize the opportunity, being opportunists of great intelligence. As you should know well corporations are power hungry by nature, so if society falls apart they will try to pick up the pieces. Make themselves out to be saviors by helping get ponies back on their hooves, gaining full power over ponies minds beyond mere advertisements and product loyalty. When that happens they will take advantage, making ponies into wage slaves for them. With the government in shambles and only officially in power, no laws will limit what the corporations will do in the seizure of power, and I believe you can imagine what that can entail."

Anomaly thought things over. "I see....do you really think corporations will take things over that much?"

"They already have power over ponies, propaganda making ponies brand loyal and making independent tech companies struggle. Are reliant on their technology and are even in debt with them. EQUE-TECH alone has ten times the budget of the Equestrian Royalty themselves, and their security forces can be more than equipped to deal with threats."

"So you think that terrorism is the answer?"

"Not merely just that, but a rise in the counter culture, the Modern Cyberculture. When the veil tears we hope to see society after the fear and terror start to embrace the new cultures of freedom rather than be swept up in the corporate propaganda. For them to be able to face the dangers of the underground but see the freedom and opportunities that can come. Such a situation would allow us to come free and distribute our technology more freely. A war between the corporations and cyberculture both in culture and even in the covert shadows may ensue, but we want to make sure counter culture has an edge."

"I'm not sure good will come from supporting maniacs...why not digital hoof?"

"They are good, and will be useful, but they seem to lack initiative and action. Hopefully, in time, they will be kicked into action, for now, the 'freedom fighters' seem the best option.

"I......can't just go and support this. I understand your reasoning but it seems like there will be a lot of unnecessary death and panic and destruction.."

"I understand, many in that group have an extreme view against 'old morals' while most of us a GOUSSE have at least some standards of morality."

"Can't you try to at least stop or convince the freedom fighters against killing so many ponies??"

"We could try, but it could threaten to cause us conflict with them and hinder the cause we share. We've given them some of our own technology to them in support of that cause."

"ARE YOU INSANE!?"

"Remember what I told you about taking risks? Our whole goal is taking risks toward a better future."

"I can't imagine how a better future could come from TERRORISTS SUPPLIED WITH ADVANCED TECHNOLOGY!"

"It is a risk, but know that we are more or less using them for the goal of preventing the inevitable tearing of the government's veil from marking a highly oppressive time for ponies and others like them."

"I....I...I can see this working but at a cost of so many ponies...."

"I understand, you seem to have what some would call 'a good heart'. If you feel there is a better way, do tell me for I reject policies of closed mindedness."

"...Why not directly fight the system online, tear the propaganda system apart there but without terror. Use information instead, and help ponies instead of hurting ponies. Like Digital Hoof does only with more ambition."

"The fear and terror are used as an effective mean to break apart the system so that the counter culture can help clean things up and reset order in a more free way. Sure it will be more lawless, but it will have opportunity."

"The problem with the Freedom Fighters is their extremism and lack of morality, it's a good cause to fight manipulation of ponies but without morals, it may create something that isn't much better..."

"If you have an alternative, I will not oppose it. But I will ask how you will do this, will you do it alone?"

"I'll likely try to gain an alliance with Digital Hoof, maybe start a movement of my own."

"You start to sound ambitious in the latter option, starting your own movement. Know that it does pose risks, making enemies of the government and possibly exposing you to attempted recapture by the corporations."

"You mentioned taking Risks, choose my risks and I chose the ones that are less likely to turn society upside down. I can access the InterNet with my mind, so I'm completely mobile. Maybe if things go well I can turn you against the Freedom Fighter's side."

"Most likely won't happen, though you might gain our support if you are proven effective. If you do disagree with our decisions I won't pretend that you being a project means we own you. You are allowed to leave and do as you wish, just like most of our cyborg projects have. I will ask however that you not disclose this location."

"I don't oppose GOUSSE, but I am against these decisions to help these terrorists. You also rescued me, least I can do is not screw you over." She got up and looked around. "Where is the exi-." she looked and saw a waypoint as Doctor Freemane sent her one. "Good luck on your way then, thank you for choosing not to turn against us wholly." As Anomaly went along Freemane said one more thing "Know that you might be forced to harm or kill ponies, as you will make enemies." He then

Anomaly looked back to him and looked angered as she said. "Might be some ponies I wouldn't exactly mind receiving harm." she continued on her way, soon reaching a room full of various pieces of clothing. The mare looked and noticed herself in undergarment mostly and helped herself to a hooded jacket and some simple sweat pants before following the waypoint to what looked to be a simple wall. Honing her new ability, cyberspace began to appear before her eyes like a colorful hallucination of blues and greens. She soon discovered this to be a hidden door and had no trouble activating and opening it to reveal a secret entrance into the sewer system. The mare would wander into the halls of concrete and steel, an advanced and efficient system for transporting the great amounts of waste a city could produce.

The mare walked down the sewage as the door automatically shut behind her, looking for a way out. It wouldn't be too long before she would find a sewer entrance, and making further use of her new brain-computer the mare accessed the cameras outside, discovering them to show an empty alleyway. Entrances into modern sewers were done via an automated door in the road as opposed to the heavy metal discs of the industrial era. This would prove to be convenient for Anomaly as she could open it easily as she climbed out through the ladder. Looking around she found herself in a very unfamiliar part of the city, the mare started to plan out what she would do now that she was out in the world.

On a Roof above meanwhile, Miss Succubus would look down at the mare. Smirking as she hopped down and landed on the asphalt. Anomaly looked back in shock at what suddenly appeared, looking frightened.

Miss S smirked as she said. "Freemane might not have an issue with your opposition, but FF does. Now, you can either come along quietly or I'll have to take you by force." Anomaly took off, hoping to head out into the bustling street only to be caught up with quickly and grabbed in a choke hold. "Now now, you can't run away. Not letting that tech just run off and possibly put a thorn in our side, we're making use of you~" Anomaly tried to bite at Miss S's foreleg, only to bite into artificial skin. "Trying to bite your way out hmm?" She tightened her grip on Anomaly, making her gasp for air as she desperately struggled to escape.

___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Owl would awaken as the sun set over the horizon, sitting up from his room's bed after a somewhat ruffled night of sleep. Flashback nightmares plagued his sleep, the memory of that mall incident set to scar him for life. He stretched as he sat on the bed and pondered, questions of the capability of the Guard forming before he slapped them out, saying to himself.

"Don't let that terrorist propaganda get to you owl, buckers will either be dead or be molested in prison soon enough."

Soon enough a message came to his wrist computer, to which he looked and saw it was from Data.

"Owl! I have a lead on that mare who helped stop the mall attack! Call me and I'll tell you more!"

Calling Data Owl would ask her. "What's the lead? What did you find?"

"Some sort of distress message sent out onto the web a couple hours ago reads 'Captured by freedom fighters! Location here!' and it comes with a waypoint." She would send the waypoint to Owl, who would smirk as he said.

"I could kiss you Data, seems the best way to deal with hackers is to fight fire with fire."

"Maybe I could talk you into more than a kiss~ JUST KIDDING! We got terrorists to put in the slammer!"

Owl chuckled. "That we do Data, so shall we contact the chief?"

"Already done, he tells us to get ready and get our booties moving, not exactly that of course but you get what I mean."

"Let's get Night Vision up then and get moving, we could get some help from this mysterious hacker and send Sector 4 on a raid to smash their hideout. If all goes to plan this could mean quickly curb stomping these bucking terrorists."

Waking up Night Vision the two formulated their usual plan, Data does Cyber work, Night keeps watch on things from outside, and Owl would do the deep 'investigation'. Data would go online and purchase something to help her on this operation. Finding her wrist computer insufficient and not wanting to bring her home computer, more to keep her 'private files' hidden, she purchased a Crystal Corp CC-482 computer complete with a carrying bag. Modern computers were somewhat similar to the early cyber age invention known as the 'laptop' only a bit bulkier and built far more modular in construction.

Unlike laptops, they were a bit more bulky with removable brick and cube-shaped pieces making up components such as the storage, CPU, and RAM, however, the bulk was entirely in function as modern computers were very powerful and capable machines. The modular nature of computers also extended to things like the keyboard, mouse, even the screen could be removed and replaced if not upgraded. The one Data bought was one that was strong in performance, and given an optional holographic screen projector to replace any sort of screen piece. Data chose the hologram screen mainly to cut down on weight as given her purchase of a sturdy carrying bag she intended to take it on the go.

After Data had her new machine sent to the inn they stayed the three would go out on their trip, flying higher to be more discrete and following the waypoint. Along the city, another clear night with clouds few graced their presence to Owl's pleasure, and he looked in the distance to see the old Ponyville District. The OPD was the smallest and least populated district, given it was basically the old city of ponyville preserved into a historical landmark. Colorful old style homes were all around the tiny district, itself surrounded by a barred metal fence which marked where the consuming urban sprawl ended and preserved societal fossils began.

The houses were a unique sight, painted in a multitude of colors with some places having ludicrously decorative roofs. Most of the buildings were either converted to various mini museums, while others were highly expensive miniature hotels. Ponyville was the last traditional settlement left in existence as all others were gulped, chewed up with demolition machinery, and assimilated into the urban sprawl. It was like a beast growing in size and consuming all smaller creatures to fuel its growth. Owl had not visited the place, though had plans to with his daughter soon as he was able given it would be a longer trip.

Their flight would eventually take them into a distinct part of Everfree's eastern District, the Zebra Ghetto, or Zhetto as it was commonly known. Long ago in the mid industrial era, the zebra lands fell apart like a firework factory run by a drunken pyromaniac. Tribes turned against clans, bought often obsolete foreign weapons and warred with eachother. Violently the Zebra lands were shattered into war-torn nations like a wall hit by a tank's round. This brought hundreds of Zebras seeking refuge mostly in Equestria, though some decades of tension came from this the Zebrican-Equestrians would install themselves as their own little subculture within the Equestrian Culture. In modern times Zebra ghettos were rife with culture of their own.

Soon enough the waypoint would lead to yet another place that was anything but quiet for terrorists to hide among. Less neon, lots more graffiti, but still plenty of modern culture as though modern Cyberculture was less popular another much older culture did exist within the Zhettos. That culture was one around usually extended family, fancy hoofshakes, and Rap Music. Rap was a creation of the Zebras in the later industrial era, an evolution of the Zebra's cultural tendency toward rhymes in speaking. It was effectively the music of the Zhetto culture, as it had formed alongside and as a part of it. Such areas were known to be rife with gangs, who varied from mostly peaceful but armed extended families to drug dealing types whom Owl helped bust countless times. Owl himself personally liked the Zhetto culture, particularly the family comradery and rap culture when it didn't lead to lawbreaking. It was an interesting and unique culture from the usual tech junkies and cyber goths of the deeper parts of Everfree.

They would all land atop an apartment building which was marked 'condemned' for a more discrete place to go over the plan. Even as it was condemned screen boards still broadcast the usual advertisements along with a few 'Public Service Announcements'. One such announcement depicted a stereotypical hacker looking almost cartoonishly villainous as he stole the data, digibits, and identity from an innocent and nice looking family. It ended with the text 'If you know of them, REPORT THEM! Don't let hackers ruin more lives! A message from the Royal Guard." As it ended the three would put together their plans for here, Data would stay on the apartment roof and do the cyber-work, Night would act as an 'eye in the sky' and Owl would do the deep infiltration. In this area, they especially had to be discrete and hidden as no place would be more suspicious of a random bat pony snooping than Zhetto gang members. Flying around, taking cover skillfully in and behind everything possible, guided partially by Data's personal surveillance, Owl would navigate around the buildings.

Though one could call the Cyberguard for cyber-work having a single pony do it on site was more discrete in a way as if they were caught online they could easily be more easily mistaken for a common hacker. Before Owl's eyes, some of the street partying could be seen in the streets below. A few zebra colts could be seen playing the industrial age originating sport of basketball in an alley, Zebras and half zebra-ponies hanging out and enjoying some E-Cigars. Some zebra kids could be seen scribbling away at the sidewalks and asphalt with glowing neon chalk while a couple teens verbally duked it out in the traditional yet modern rap battle while others watched. Owl was almost distracted by the culture going on below as he traversed around.

Soon Owl would come upon a nightclub called 'Rhyme Doubletime' where the electro and Rap infused dance music could be heard from outside while the bouncers, zebras kitted out with full limb bionics and armed with submachine guns manufactured by Gryphonstone Corp. They were cheap guns from an economic disaster of a land commonly seen floating around the black market though not unheard of in legitimate purchase. Gryphonstone Corp though a megacorp was the least successful and had the least property and real estate in Equestria. Owl would be informed through a telepathic call of the Sector 4 team hiding out in a cloud, ready to storm upon receiving signal. Owl looked at the club and felt bad, hoping he could try and prevent the party inside from getting crashed. Just entering from the front would not be ideal, and he would have to access restricted areas eventually if the terrorists were here.

That in mind Owl searched around for a back entrance, or anywhere creative he could sneak in. Trespassing laws could be bypassed easily, as the lesson 'we enforce laws, but won't be limited by them in doing so' from academy came to his mind. Bypassing any guards or security measures would not be so easy to bypass, not without skill anyway. After some searching Owl would find the back entrance, also guarded by two augmented bouncers. It was indeed a well-guarded club, and roof access would likely not be effective as it would merely lead to the apartment built atop the club. Owl would stop to try to think through his method of entry into the place, thinking of a method of drawing them out. He looked at his wrist computer and could confirm the waypoint led to this club.

Eventually, he decided to try something somewhat primitive for drawing the bouncers away from the door. Hiding behind a corner of the building he picked up an empty spray paint can next to an admittedly pretty mural of a Zebra mare whose stripes extended out into rainbow streaks while two SMG's in her hooves seemed to fire shooting stars. The streets here had an interesting taste in art indeed, and that penchant for art would give Owl a convenient Item to chuck at the head of one of the Bouncers from around the corners.

Being the 'don't buck with me or get curb stomped' types both of the bouncers would sling their weapons on their sides and go to teach the spraypaint can thrower a lesson. They would, however, look to find nopony there as Owl slipped along the walls right over their heads before going to the door and entering. He would find himself down a less than lit hallway with doorways leading into a kitchen as well as the bar, near a few other doors. Hiding on top of a ventilation duct hanging from the ceiling Owl would contact Data through Telepathic call.

"I'm in this place, let's say art has contributed to this success."

"Paint's a picture of your smarts Owl. Way to take advantage of a cyborg's 'don't buck with me' pride. I detected a bit of activity going on somewhere underground."

"Underground? So they got a bunker here, interesting." Having an underground bunker dug and constructed was nothing too unusual, having a custom basement was rather common for those who could afford it given its many utilities. Underground bunkers were also known by the Guard and police alike as prime places for criminal activity to occur. Crawling his way along the AC duct like a rat scurrying along, Owl made his way with some guidance from Data. Soon enough he would be informed of a secret door, which ticked alarm bells as those were very illegal when it came to buildings. Owl would move along till he reached the door marked 'storage' and wait for an opportunity to get inside, he took out a handy I&I issued tool known as a Pick Gun.

This tool was an automated yet compact device designed to pick open locks quickly and effectively. Taking the opportunity and risk when none were around he quickly went and used the tool on the door, looking around quickly and very nervous as he was out of hiding and could be spotted at any moment. The door would unlock and he would press down the handle before moving in and closing the door behind him. He would look to the dark room, barely able to see anything even with night optimized bat pony vision due to near total darkness. He would look around, asking Data in the call for the location of this secret door. The mare herself would try to work into the systems without getting caught, knowing she likely couldn't take on these hackers in a fight of codes she was extremely cautious.

Eventually, she would be able to look into the code and activate the door. Owl would see that this was a highly advanced hidden door given it was almost entirely hidden up until it opened. Taking the opportunity and yet another risk Owl dive in on a stairwell and stick to the ceiling, honing his senses to detect the slightest sound as he looked down a dimly lit linear stairwell. Flying along the ceiling he used his ears as his eyes so he could track any movement around him like radar tracking aircraft. He would be surprised to find however that there was no pony to be heard, this alarmed him as he wondered if his presence was known.

Moving and spotting the nearest cover, being some empty boxes, he hid and looked around. It was a rather well lit though seemingly cheap bunker with concrete walls, a concrete floor, and concrete ceiling. He would move along keeping his ears sharply peeled for any sounds, and would soon find that this bunker was not a small one. Hiding along corners he eventually scoped out halls with doorways leading into a few small rooms with computers installed. That was when he heard the distinctive sound of hoof tips on a keyboard, approaching a doorway he peeked inside to see elaborate cyberculture clothing strewn along the floor while a couple ponies in their undergarments typed away looking relaxed. Peeking away he continued to fly along the ceiling, ready to quickly fly to cover if he heard walking. Everypony in this decently sized bunker, however, seemed to be busy with something, and Owl would eventually happen on quite the room.

Inside a white colored mare with a purple and black mane could be seen strapped to a chair, seemingly hooked up to a computer from the back of the neck while a half zebra mare worked the computer. Looking on the hooked up mare's unconscious face he wondered if this was the helpful hacker from the mall incident. Owl also wondered why she seemed to be hooked up, among a few other things before taking his wrist computer and taking a picture and shutting it off. The bat deemed all he saw to be enough and headed discretely for the door out.

He'd approach the door only to see it close right as he approached it, making him panic and draw his gun as he looked behind him. He had his wrist computer on for but a split second when he took that picture and wondered if they really could have tracked it so quickly. Owl would look over down the two sides of the hall but find nopony coming after him, looking back he noticed that sprite drone was on the stairs. It would activate and project an image of none other than...

"Well look who's snooping around here, it's mister Law Spy. Seems you're quite the sneaky one, and if I wasn't already monitoring you might have swung through this no problem all ghost."

"Monitoring me???" Owl muttered to himself, which would be caught by the high-quality microphone implanted into the drone.

"Well you see, given you have survived your encounter with Miss Succubus and have been given a glimpse into things to come I thought I'd monitor and see how you're handling this wild new prophetic revelation. Seems you've mostly been rather ignorant to it, the way things are going."

"You're not going to succeed in your quest to try to turn Equestria into one big criminal tarturian hole." He said firmly. "So buck off with YOUR propaganda."

DK gave a slow clap. "Cute, trying to make me look like the pony spewing the propaganda. Unfortunately, your efforts might hinder us but we're just a component to speed up a process that is already taking part."

"What process?"

"The downfall of your system of course, if it really did work you wouldn't have the underground be your biggest thorn in your side. You can't kill it, it remain's among your mind slaves sometimes hiding in plain sight. Efforts to fight it only really hurt it before it heals itself up, and soon ponies will know just how much their police and guard CANNOT save their flanks! That their 'protectors' can only stave off and hide the Underground and it's 'criminals'."

"Shut the buck up with your rambling," Owl said trying to pistol whip the drone, it would narrowly avoid it as DK said.

"It's the truth, the system of propaganda you have is deeeeeply flawed, the underground is well equipped to defeat your attempts to control it, only a matter of time before the veil tears open."

"If you're so well equipped to defeat us why do you hide???"

"We won't for long or when not necessary, we have something big in mind. A secret weapon soon to not be so secret, it's a virus but not your typical annoying porn-spamming malware! It's something that will turn your whole system upside down when it's done."

Owl snorted asked. "And why do you have this mare here hooked onto a computer?"

"Her brain augmentations contain a few useful programs and assets, we're not gutting anything out of course. But a lot of what's in there can prove useful in creating this virus."

He took out his gun and said. "Not if I deal with your bucking hackers."

"As per usual ponies only have a right to a trial when the guard feels like-" the drone would take a bullet and clatter as it sparked. He expected his communication to the outside to be cut and thus decided to take things into his own hooves. The shot rang through the bunker frightening the ponies inside who picked up their weapons and went out of the rooms. Owl would aggressively gun down the first one he saw pop out of a doorway while flying away as the next one attempted to shoot at him with an SMG. He flew into and kicked a hacker that tried to shoot him, shattering the poor stallion's snout like a dropped glass. Using his skill in close combat to dispatch the pony coming out next, kicking the mare into the wall before cracking her skull with a pistol whip.

Taking cover into the room as gunfire came his way, he reloaded his weapon as one of the computers showed DK's face as she said. "You are in denial I sense." he shot a hole into the screen, denying her any more crazed ramblings. Two ponies would enter the room and look around, not seeing him and only seeing one of the desks missing a computer. Sure enough down from the ceiling Owl would smash a computer onto the head of a pony, some removable components flew as the second pony turned only to take the corner of the computer to his eye.

"How's it feel to be harmed by use of a computer!" Owl exclaimed as he continued to smash the machine onto the pony before catching the other ponies aiming in and shooting at him. He would kick over a couple desks and take cover behind them, more as visual cover as the plastic could not stop the coming lead. Fortunately for Owl these ponies were not precision shots, which meant his attire took the most damage as bullets clipped it. He would fly up and chuck the computer like a Frisbee at one pony, stunning him as the other reloaded. In the somewhat small Room Owl afforded the reload as a chance to take a shot.

The ten millimeter pierced through the eye, sending crimson spurting out both sides as the pony dropped. The last hacker would have time to recover only to be punched in the face before taking a concussive kick in the face, weak and bruised the hacker looked up as owl aimed the gun and said "Don't give trials to terrorists." before the muzzle flash marked that pony's last sight. Owl would reload his gun, flying down the hall till be found the last hacker frantically sending something through the computer. Aiming his gun at her he said "Freeze, what did you just send? Tell me!" the bat demanded as the mare looked back.

"Making sure you don't buck up my progress on the virus!" she tried to draw a gun only to have Owl dash up to her and kick it out before slamming her face into the plastic desk. He proceeded to pistol whip her into unconscious submission before looking to the computer and then the mare. He noticed a medical tube connected her to some sedative potion, which he disconnected before going back and grabbing all the weapons he could before setting them in a pile on the corner of the room. Making an attempt to contact Data he would be annoyed to find that his communications were still distorted. The screen then suddenly glitched before going white with a purple text 'Thank you' before his communications were opened.

"Owl! What's happened?? You were unconnected for so long and I couldn't..-"

"Get sector 4 into here now, need a search on this place now!"

"Was just about to send them, I'll do that now!"

Sector 4 Lunar Guard units would storm into the club, crashing the partying going on and keeping every zebra and half zebra attending inside. The secret door would be discovered and blast open using a handy explosive gel compound, before storming into the place and apprehending any of the hackers not killed. The search would be quick and without much difficulty, to which the armored and augmented bat ponies would happily pat Owl on the back for some good work. The mare hooked up would awaken and identify her name as being 'Cracked Code'. She, unfortunately, realized soon that there was facial technology, which made her nervous and wondering if she would need to escape these ponies. Owl looked in shock as he discovered what her record was, looking at her with shock as he asked.

"Anomaly? You......you're marked on the records as having died a year ago...what's going on." he looked suspiciously.

Author's Note

most dialogue heavy chapter, not so sure this will be the best chapter....least I fixed up spelling and grammar a bit though.

8: Truth?

A battle of coding ensued, ones and zeroes clashing soldiers of great armies in a battlefield. It was akin to a sword fight, both sides trying to cripple the other's system while protecting their own. Anomaly found herself actually not bypassing or taking down this security pony easily, she wondered why this pony couldn't stop the terror attack by them self if they were so good. Presumably, it was due to them being outnumbered, she did still have the advantage. The fight was like that of a like a bionic swordfighter taking on a senior veteran sword fighter.

Anomaly could work faster, and the evident skill and experience of the CyberGuard she faced were the only thing preventing them from getting demolished. The CG them self struggled somewhat and was pushed straight to the limit against this invader, literally the only thing that could hold up against her. The digital dance ensued for what was only a few minutes yet felt like hours to both sides, and the CG would be forced to use a hacking trick known as the Phantom Clone. This trick involved making artificial copies of your system on the InterNet, copies which could be made to do a variety of things. Hera was taken aback by this trick, having not dabbled in the hacker spaces she had not seen such a trick before. There was a whole world of tricks and techniques within the hacker world, and such tricks would be the CG's only advantage against The invader's lack of knowledge against them.

Anomaly took some time to think as seemingly multiple identical computers seemed to be at her at once, she would, however, use her superior hacking speed to get a better digital look at the opponent she faced. Soon enough she discovered that two of the three were but digital mirrors of the main one. That in mind the mare would then take direct her actions toward the main computers, she wasn't intent on destroying the CG's computer as her intent here was not so malicious. Her ultimate goal was to cause a simple crash, something that could be fixed with a mere reboot. Anomaly soon discovered, however, that those phantoms were not just there for visual diversion as they started to shot viruses into her system.

Forced back from her efforts she put the effort into flushing them out, it was not difficult but was distracting enough on her offense that it gave the CG some chance to try to crack in and track her location. Such efforts would be pushed back however as Anomaly was back at it again, quickly putting up defensive programs to protect from any automated viral attacks. She then realized her systems would likely be recognized as EqueSoft type defensive programs given those were what she worked with. Not that potentially framing EQUE-TECH for this intrusion would be too much of a problem to her, whatever 'upgrades' they were going to offer her weren't just going to make her friendly again after all.

Soon enough the CG, like an assassin whipping out throwing daggers, revealed another trick up their sleeve. This one being a program known among the hacking spaces as a 'sniper rocket' designed to damage and pierce into a system to cause it harm. Anomaly noticed as both the CG and their phantoms shot one of these programs at her, doing some damage to her defensive programs and even partially bypassing them partially. That was two tricks she had never seen before and was wondering what kind of CG she was to be using these kinds of unfamiliar programs. Anomaly then went into a sort of monitoring mode, watching the actions of this CG and trying to scope out their tactic, quickly she discovered other programs being used. The aptly named 'shotgun' designed for a simultaneous attack on multiple places on a system being one of them. She would soon enough, however, look into the ghosts that the CG generated and look into how they were made. It wouldn't take long before she learned enough to copy this program for her own use.

"Let's see how you take on your own tricks."

___________________________________________________________________________________

Owl and many of the other ponies of I&I would be questioning the captured hackers, who told like crazed psychics of the 'inevitable fall of government' and how the 'oppressive' system 'could not stand forever'. Owl found such talks of oppression to be absurd as living in Battania alone showed him that ponies weren't exactly restricted from living, working, and enjoying their lives. These hackers also warned of the 'corporate enslavement' of pony kind which made Owl suggest these ponies have drug tests put on them soon enough as they might not have been sober enough to question. Questioning further brought about even more crazy conspiratorial stories and accusations, which proved an annoyance for all of them.

One pony claimed that there was a plot to implement a mind control system on ponies through brain augmentations, something that proved the last straw for them. Frankly done with interrogating these ponies the I&I team mostly found that the kind of ideology these ponies had was indeed a revolutionary anarchist type of extremism with a dash of Digital Hoof's 'Truth and Exposure' style cause of Data theft. It was also apparent that more attacks in Everfree were intended as the 'alpha' for what was going to be a campaign of terror to spread throughout Equestria. The hackers were conveniently confident in describing their plans in broad detail but were adamant about not giving any majorly helpful details. Still the I&I team dug deeper and persisted, offering the usual plea deals.

Walking out from the room where the interrogations occurred Owl sighed and was joined by Vision. Data would also be outside looking over things online to see if she could find any suspicious activity. Like a wandering watchdog Data looked around the networks with all the RLG given privilege she had to snoop. Computer smart I&I personnel were a part of the surveillance system and thus given access alongside CyberGuard to snoop the networks of the InterNet to their own discretion.

"Bucking lunatics, most info we got is that they are lunatics who we'll be surprised if drug tests go negative." said Vision looking to Data.

"Crazy anarchists, at least they have some form of mental problems," Owl followed with his tone exasperate, frustrated, and tired. He was hoping interrogation wouldn't last beyond sunrise as a mere hour with the hackers was psychological Tartarus for him.

"Maybe their parents were druggies," commented Data, her eyes not leaving the screen as she talked. "Sucking up rotted smoke, even if their moms didn't do it while knocked up no doubt they weren't parented well by either moms or dads." she snickered a bit at her little insult, wishing she could shoot it at the hackers being interrogated.

"Well can't expect good parents from the underground, lawless place where ponies learn to live like animals. Kill or be killed eat or be eaten, either part of a gang or a slimy opportunist." Vision remarked, being one who did not like the underground nor the Cyberculture it largely bred.

Data would decide to take a look at systems at the home base, the Canterlot RLG facility, just to make sure no crazy anarcho-hackers were trying to tear things up there. Suddenly she discovered a lot of the normally running CG computers were down, an alarming number, and a few more were crashing as well. Not a harmful crash to result in the dreaded 'blue screen' but something of note. "Guys I think there's a cyber battle going on at home base." Data would sneak her way into the digital situation like a sniper walking into a battlefield. She saw that none other than Cypher Code was digitally duking it out with a single invader who was alarmingly deep into the mainframe.

Cypher Code was always the best of the CyberGuard, recruited in her younger years after serving time for various cyber crimes. Cypher was a very talented hacker, and though she was very distrusted at works she proved an effective fire to fight the fire. Data decided she would try and sneakily assist the veteran CyberGuard, analyzing and seeing as both Cypher and the invader were using Phantom Clones. Other CGs were trying to assist only to get quickly taken off by this hacker, unnaturally quick. Data pondered on what her next move would be very carefully, suspecting this hacker was likely among the ones responsible for the attack on the mall.

Owl and Night watched in apprehension as Date prepared herself a sort of trap program, one designed to hit the invader's computer hard. Trap programs were a more unorthodox security measure popular among the kinds of amateur hackers hired to protect smaller businesses online, typically not called hackers given the derogatory nature of the term hacker in civilized society. A trap program worked differently from the typical defensive wall program as it instead sprung on the invader with a sudden virus. The one that Data was developing was going to be a big one that hit the invader's system with twenty viruses and would need to be set quickly to be effective in its element of surprise.

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Anomaly found the phantom close trick to be useful, though repeated viral hits eventually took the phantoms down they were still useful on the defense as they reduced the chance of getting hit. She would continue her fight against the CG, starting to win against them and force them back to repair their systems. Soon enough, however, another CG would seem to appear, suspecting another easy takedown she would act quickly only to spring up a program that suddenly infested her with viruses. Like a pony stepping on a landmine, Anomaly was blind sighted by the sudden attack, unlike one, however she wasn't immediately done in. She was however forced to divert from the offense and work to get them out of her system, giving her attackers a chance to try and jack in and track her location. Having her location tracked would not be a good outcome, and the risk of the situation started to make her doubt that she should continue on.

And then she would suddenly receive assistance as none other than the hacker Tazen_high would pop into the system and pelt her attackers with a program known as the machine gun turret. Rapidly shooting viruses at the ones targeted, the Machine gun was an effective but system exhausting automated program used particularly in hack fights. Both her attackers would be forced back and forced to put up defensive walls, giving anomaly the few seconds she needed to fix up the viruses. Given the opportunity Anomaly would digitally head straight for the mainframe's database, grabbing everything she could before coming under attack again. Working in conjunction with Tazen Anomaly would push back the attacking CGs then get back to cracking into the data of the mainframe.

______________________________________________________________________________

Data said in her head "Buck buck buck buck come on! If it wasn't for that sudden hacker we would have had that trespasser!" she tried to hide her worry and frustration in hopes that she would hide the severity of the situation from Owl and Vision. Given neither had but common computer know-how they could tell little of what went on on Data's computer screen. Soon enough she ordered her friends. "Quit looking over my shoulder! Let me do my work dangit!" her friends would move away as she continued her work, trying hard to help Cypher.

Behind her own computer rig would be Cypher, the former renegade hacker turned royal digital police. Whoever this hacker was, whether one of the terrorists who overwhelmed her in the mall incident or not, they were something else. If it was a terrorist at least there was just one, though given the heavy use of manual hacks and minimal use of automated programs it didn't seem likely. Ultimately Cypher surmised this was a Digital Hoof data raid, and what could be the biggest one yet if she failed. With the impending level 13 threat the RLG did not need a major data breach like this. This lone hacker came farther than any ever had in the Guard's entire history, few even managed to take on the surface layer of defense let alone come this close. Eventually, Cypher decided there was only one thing left he could do, as time was of the essence and it would only be a matter of time before the hacker managed to get everything. Like on an invisible but loudly ticking mental timer to a bomb, Cypher was under pressure and desperation as she attempted a last ditch effort to try and stop the biggest data breach in the Royal Guard's digital history.

Data looked as Cypher seemed to stop her attacks, wondering as she spyed what Cypher was up to. "What is Cyper doing?? Is she crazy as a wild druggie or desperate as a mare in her forties without a foal??"
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Anomaly would look as attacks on her seemed to cease, and instead, she got what seemed to be a message. No attempt at a trap or anything she could find on what was sent, just simply a message.

"Please stop and read what I have to say, you don't know what box you're going to crack open by bringing that out to the public! It can have some severe repercussions and it won't just be you that faces them."

She looked to the puzzle with some intrigue, it appeared as if the CG was so desperate to the point where she was evidently going to attempt to talk her out of her little data breach. Keeping an eye out for any surprise attack attempts she simply sent a response message saying "What do you mean?"

After a couple minutes, the CG would send back the message. "You won't like what you find in there, but know that it's a catalog of what we are hoping to try to make better. There's a reason why we're not letting everything out to the public, a good one at that. If this is released publically it can threaten to cause immense panic and distrust. Yes, there are lies to the populace brought but it's for their protection because they simply do not have the strength to face it. For decades we both the guard along with the princesses and harmony council have been trying to preserve and maintain civilized society even as an uncivilized threat looms over. That threat has grown, and it's something the elements of harmony can't merely friendship zap away. We have been trying to protect civilized society from the looming threat that lies within the underground, that IS the underground. But the only way to do that fully is to cut off its influence on society and to do that needs the veil which keeps them ignorant but safe. Let's them live without having to face that looming uncivil threat, as long as we can maintain the veil it will keep citizens, families, children safe. Few of us even the Guard know the secrets kept for our safety, that's how dangerous the truth is. Please whoever you are, consider what I say before you do what I am sure I know you will do."

Reading over the message made Anomaly think, this message seemed to given her an interesting perspective on the situation with royal government and guard. Were they really hiding the truth for the sake of protecting society? Was the system a flawed but well-intentioned system? She pondered this in her head these questions, once again at a crossroad of choice. Which would she help, the establishment claimed to be well intentioned or those against it. Would she help stand with a safe lie or a risky truth? Anomaly would take a look into the files acquired, seeking to finally satiate her curiosity as to what exactly was kept so secure and secret deep within the Royal Guard mainframe. What she found deep in those secret files, many too recent and numerous to be quickly deleted would draw her mind ever so deeper in thought on the crossroad laid before her.

____________________________________________________________________

Data watched as the invaders went to pull out of the system. She wasn't going to let them get away with it and thus snuck in, careful and precise in her programming she snuck into the hacker self-marked as 'Tazen_high' to try to track their system. Luckily Cypher would notice this and assist until they both tracked the hacker's location. Acting quickly they both worked to pinpoint where this hacker was, if they weren't going to find or stop the superhacker they would at least attempt to track and find their partner hacker.

Tracking the location Data would keep a mental note, while she and Cypher looked as deep into this Tazen's computer. Soon enough, however, the hacker would catch them and frantically try to remove them, thus yet another struggle of codes would ensue. Defensive walls erected, various offensive programs flung at eachother, it was akin to a battle between two fortresses. Data and Cypher didn't fight long and ultimately pulled back from the computer as they had the location of this hacker. After they pulled out Data was sent a request for a telepathic call, accepting she would speak with Cypher.

"I assume you saw my message to the super hacker?" Said Cypher.

"That I did, hope it'll make them reconsider trying to....leak all that. I didn't see a trace of it in the other hacker's computer."

"Which means the super hacker might still have it, and may potentially have kept my message in mind."

"Is there really issues so strong they need to be kept secret?" asked Data, having just gotten such a revelation herself.

"Yes, it is but it's not without hope. There's a good reason few even in the force know about such issues, and I would ask that you keep it secret." Cypher replied. "Efforts are underway at the top to try to improve things, I can assure you that."

Data found herself questioning a bit, given the idea of there being such shocking revelation that it could turn society upside down. The fear of what could happen however made her inclined to agree to keep quiet about it. "Alright, I'll keep quiet about it."

___________________________________________________________

Anomaly received angered messages from Tazen, asking whether or not she was going to give them the data or not. She herself was unsure, as in her mind she stared at the crossroad before her in another episode of wondering and questioning. The mare didn't know what to say to the hacker, as she knew not if she would even remain on this hacker's side. Ultimately she decided to tell Tazen of the CG's message to see what she would make of it. Transmitting the copied message from the CG Anomaly would tell Tazen in text "I don't know if just releasing this data will do well for society.." she awaited a response from the hacker. No reply would come, and it made Anomaly worry some if this hacker was going to turn hostile. However, she would eventually gain a response.

"Well, not like hiding it will do much good. She ADMITTED there are problems, and don't let her claims of them wanting to fix things sway you. Even if some ponies among the royal government and guard want change, 'some' is clearly not enough, they've been like this for decades and it has only gotten WORSE! Even they have good intentions, they're still lying and maintaining public ignorance. The public ignorance can't go on forever, especially with the corruption going on."

"BUT! Is it really best to drop a bombshell like this on society? Do you really want to risk panic, the potential damage and loss of life can occur especially in a time where a terrorist threat is looming? I hope you're not sympathizing with the freedom fighter's intentions..."

"Of course bucking not, those maniacs are not only immoral felons but a disgrace to hacktivists everywhere. The princesses and their little harmony council are certainly going to use them as a scapegoat against ponies like us, further fuel their anti-hacker propaganda. That said though it seems like we might want to use this new Data sparingly."

"I might recommend you not give this freely to your fellow hackers, instead just keep it to yourself and piecemeal it."

"I'll consider doing that. Now please give it over. I gotta move, the CGs have tracked my location and I'm going to need to head out soon."

Anomaly thought over her choice quickly and carefully, the enhanced thinking afforded to her by her brain augmentations. Her ultimate choice was to give a fraction of the data to Tazen, predicting what she'd give would be more than enough to satisfy the hacker and convince them she wasn't keeping around sixty percent of the data hidden within her own files. She was still not fully trustful of this hacker, and for all, she knew he or she could be lying to her to get the info. Thus she decided to compromise, only with the other party unaware of the compromise. Long as she wasn't asked if that was everything she technically didn't lie, and luckily for that sentiment, Tazen quickly went offline after getting some of the files. Tucking the remaining files deep within the storage of her brain augmentations the mare simply lay back and thought about what she would do now. Ultimately and quickly she decided to simply continue to go along with her current situation, helping the Royal Guard deal with the terrorist threat and worrying about what to do afterward at a later time.

______________________________________________________________

Data would look to Owl and say to him. "Good news, we found a hacker responsible for trying to crack into the mainframe. Tracked the address and everything."

Owl would ask "What's the address? Somewhere in Everfree among another party district?" he asked with a snicker. "These hackers always seem to be operating in those types of areas."

Vision remarked. "Well, it's the places where the rebellious cyberculture types hang, so not too much of a surprise there. When underground bunkers are commonplace you can hide anywhere in a city, no longer a need to hang in the slums to be discreet."

Data looked and shook her head. "Battania, apartment facility 2027, room 303."

"So a bat hacked the place, wouldn't it be something if it was somepony related to if not part of the force." Vision snickered and looked over to Owl. His expression turned from one of slight humor at the thought to one of concern as he saw Owl lock up and freeze like a prison on emergency lockdown. "Owl......? What is it, buddy?"

"......Haze.....that's where..." like a grasshopper escaping a hungry bird Owl flew quickly down the hall, Vision would fly after him before stopping him at the door outside. Owl's expression was one of horror, shock and apprehension smashed together like autocarriages in a three-way collision. He struggled to pull away and fly through the door, not replying as night asked what was going on. Night then remembered and realized who Haze was, Night Haze, his ex-wife. Shaking Owl Night would attempt to calm him and reason with him, eventually the stallion caught his breath as he said. "Night Haze....?? She.....works for a private cyber security company there's no..."

"That's where she lives huh? Well, this is interesting.....but you shouldn't run off to there, though. Let's call the chief and tell him to send a team there to search the apartment." Vision replied. Owl's worry in his eyes would not fade, but the more violent emotions had calmed. He was less worried about his Ex possibly being an InterNet outlaw. Owl was more concerned for his daughter ending up rolled into such illegal underground activities, influenced by their ways if not worse.

Some time passed as the hackers were taken to holding cells, dawn was starting to beset the skyline of Everfree. A Sector 4 team would be assembled and dispatched to the apartment to search it. Owl got to watch via security camera footage, on edge and hoping things wouldn't turn badly. The team was armed with stun rifles, nonlethal weapons functioning as bigger and longer range stun guns. Lethal force preparation was deemed impractical, they wanted this hacker captured and alive for questioning. As the apartment was stormed into and searched, Owl's worry would skyrocket to the moon as it was discovered neither Haze nor Bug Byte could be found.

Calling BEDS would find that Bug was not there either, his ex and daughter were missing, and there was evidence that Haze may have been involved with an attempted data breach. The bat stallion did not anticipate sleeping today, as worry brought him on the verge of storming off and searching for his daughter. The chief however directed that he remain at the hotel so they could focus on the issue at hoof, promising Owl that search would be arranged for Night and Bug. The promise was of a limited relief, and he found it impossible not to think about his daughter. He considered asking this hacker they rescued, Anomaly, to try to help in that search.

Owl, however, would not have to wait for too long as he would suddenly receive a message on his wrist computer from an 'unknown sender'.

"I know you're worried, but I have my reasons. I'll give you a waypoint where you can try to find me and let me explain. DON'T bring your friend or anypony, not even from online or you won't find me there. I also have something to show you, a truth which might I warn will shatter many things you thought true."

Seeing this message, he could only assume it was from Night Haze. Anger started to rage like a fire ignited on biofuel leaking from a damaged autocarriage's fuel tank. Haze would have a lot to answer for as if it wasn't bad enough that he nearly witnessed a fiery massacre, now this. Owl pondered what he would do, apparently, she was forcing him to go alone so she could not be apprehended. In the end, he told his friends of the message and soon the chief as well. They decided to allow Owl to head to this waypoint alone as it was in Everfree City and gave him a Stun gun so he could apprehend his ex himself.

His fur was ruffled, fanged teeth bared as he flew along above the streets as the sun's light shined in between the buildings of the skyline. Any tiredness he had was overcome by determination to come and chew out Haze for all of this. Breaking the law and putting their daughter in danger by taking her along as she fled. Owl was prepared to pin her to a wall and squeeze every detail of her 'reasons' out from her, and if Bug was there he wasn't going to leave without taking her. He would fly along into the streets, a more quiet block consisting entirely of apartment buildings, one of which being one of few flying pony-centric apartment complexes found in Everfree.

It was called the 'No Stairs Apartment' advertising the lack of stairs and greater freedom of flight for pegasi. The waypoint would lead him to the top, to an apartment which was unoccupied. Curiously one of the windows slid open as if activated from the inside, giving him access which he eagerly exploited as he entered and yelled "HAZE! WHERE THE BUCK ARE YOU!?" in a demanding tone. He searched the apartment, kicking open the bedroom door to find a cheap mini computer sitting on a nightstand. A call activated and on the screen would be none other than Haze, a face that Owl once admired. He now looked on that face with anger that could be seen by her, even in the room lit merely by the computer's screen.

"Owl....please listen to me. There's a lot to talk about and I feel like now is the time to do it."

Owl's anger laden face looked ominous in the little light that shone upon it, speaking in suppressed anger as he said to her. "Did you hack into the Royal Guard mainframe?"

Haze didn't want to Rat out the pony who helped give her the data, so she neglected to mention Anomaly as she said to him. "I have, and I have reasons. Remember how we started to drift apart, how I mentioned you being way too trusting and unquestioning of your superiors?" Owl's memory of that bitter time leading to the end of their marriage. Haze fell for him in high school at BEDS after he stuck up for someone harassed by school bullies and confronted the school gang. Despite being beaten up Owl came back for them, finding his cutie mark in stealth after snooping around one of their houses. He discovered that the school gang was running narcotic E-cigar oils and doing cyber crimes as well. Taking pictures with his wrist computer he snuck out and brought the evidence to police, who brought the evidence to police and got the students arrested. The school, being a kind of place which often treated students as numbers, proved ineffective at dealing with them.

Haze admired that, and ultimately found and hit it off with Owl. Owl's little spying resulted in him being given enrollment after high school into the Lunar Guard Training Academy for operation in Investigation and Interrogation. Things went well for him and Haze, getting married and having Bug Byte. In time Owl's devotion and loyalty to the force bothered Haze who herself was herself more skeptical and cynical of the government, this would ultimately prove to slowly tear them apart and result in a number of heated arguments. In the end, things ended with divorce, but also the compromise to let their daughter see them both.

"The buck does that have to do with anything? Has your little questioning of the government turned you into a bucking cybercriminal? One of those luna cursed 'hacktivists'?" Owl said, his tone emitting anger and some annoyance at the though. "I swear to Luna if you're taking my daughter among criminals I will make you regret it."

"We're not just criminals, we don't run drugs and we don't just maliciously attack ponies data. Ponies who claim to be part of us that do that are just trolls and the like. Our little filly's safe I swear on my life, but if you let me explain you might understand what I am doing.."

"Well then.....SPIT IT BUCKING OUT!" Owl spat back at her angered that she didn't even come here in person to talk to him and instead led him to a cheap computer.

Haze would properly explain her motives for joining Digital Hoof, mentioning her distrust of authority and desire to bring exposure to slimy and corrupt ponies in power. She mentioned being part of them since late in their marriage and admitted to exploiting his place in the RLG to hack into his wrist computer to spy and snoop on what he did. The mare told him all of this, and then mentioned this 'truth' she was going to reveal. Sympathetically, aware of how this would hit him, she warned that he was not going to like what he saw. Owl was frankly annoyed and wanted to see just what she had that would 'shatter' a lot of what he believed.

Haze would show many a file, and the more Owl saw the more in horrified denial he became. Countless refusals to indict local police of documented unwarranted force and brutality, Corporate bribery in Royal lawmaking, allowance of unlawful corporate censorship, and even cases of unauthorized 'interrogation' by Sector 4 personnel being swept under the rug. Neither local police nor Guards were without things which these documents seemed to indict them of. Haze told him that these were the biggest among other files which were in the process of being deleted, but came recently enough that she was lucky enough to acquire them. Owl started to shake, tremble and tear up at what he saw, his mind denying things and branding them faked despite the familiar format of the documents.

His ex would see his expression and would feel pain in her heart. Mentally she beat herself up for not trying harder to open his eyes, now she watched as he began to break down. Even if she divorced him, she didn't hate him nor want to see him like this. The bat mare, however, felt hope in her heart that this eye opening would prove fruitful enough that he might turn to her side. Owl, however, would look in anger demanding she tell him where she and their daughter and yelling in a tone to be described as mad by both definitions. Haze sighed, saying her goodbyes and mentioning her hope he would turn to her side before closing the call. An angered Owl would pick it up, demanding she saw something to no avail.

The cheap computer would be repeatedly smashed and chucked around the room, Owl unleashing his anger on the machine. Panting Owl would fall back on a wall next to the broken machine, hyperventilating and soon enough passing out from exhaustion as sunlight flowed into the apartment through the window and into the bedroom.

Author's Note

A good playlist of hacking befitting music.

9: Below

Owl awoke with a groan, in the bed on his rented room in the Inn and Out. The bat looked around, wondering if his experience was simply a nightmare. Given all these events it seemed possible to him after all the events of the dream could easily have been catalyzed by recent events and worries he had faced. Getting up he looked to his wrist computer's screen and checked the time, 8:04 pm, waking time. He stretched his legs some, kicking his biological mechanisms from their sleep mode before approaching the door. Opening it he looked to find Data chatting with Night, the door opening drew her attention to him as she said with a silly smile.

"Well if it ain't mister I am become smash, destroyer of computers," Data said in a humorous manner with a bit of a silly smirk. "What did you find on that thing to total it so much, filly porn?" she asked him. The computer in that apartment had been smashed into oblivion, and they were only lucky that the data could be recovered from the wreckage. Vision was not pleased that such potential evidence getting smashed up to oblivion, and was also concerned for Owl's mental well-being. Both Data and Vision calmly questioned Owl, who seemed to grow more distressed as he recounted the events of the last night. Owl's hopes of it being a dream were shattered like the glass windows of a riot-stricken street. The alleged 'truth' of which painted a not so stellar view of the royal and police system at large surfaced once more in his mind and hit like a whip. Shuttering some he informed them of his ex-wife's apparent allegiance to Digital Hoof and the fact that she took their daughter with her. Some relief came as it was mentioned that the hacktivist group recently made open denouncements of the Freedom Fighter's group along with intentions to take action against them. At least his ex and daughter weren't roped in with cyberterrorists, but there was still this alleged revelation supposedly taken from deep into the Royal Guard mainframe that ate at his mind. Yet he stalled from speaking of it, fearing what the implications could do to the psyche of his friends.

Eventually, he ended up having to tell the deeper details of his talk with Night Haze. This would lead to the subject of the apparent data breach and what it revealed, what she showed to him. Data was alarmed in her mind, did the super hacker choose to disregard the message and consequences Cypher mentioned? Owl would detail some of the things these files supposedly incriminated the royal and police systems at large. Vision looked sternly skeptical and questioned these claims even as Owl mentioned the familiar formatting. Owl was honestly not one to argue Vision's skepticism, and in fact joined in as he could not believe what he was shown wasn't lies. Date kept quiet about it mostly, just listening before remarking "Well even though your ex confessed she could be trying to divert you away while turning you against us. She, after all, could have fabricated that evidence for that very purpose."

"It will be looked into, but right now we have something else that takes priority." said the Chief who almost made the three of them jump at his sudden presence akin to a silent teleport. "I have checked on our little friend Anomaly and she reports that the cyberterrorists are attempting to attract us to another trap."

Sitting in the room with Anomaly Owl and his team, accompanied by a few other team members the Chief politely asked the mare. "Tell us what you have found, miss Anomaly."

Anomaly looked to the ponies around her as she sat on the bed, patient professional eyes and ears awaiting her word on things. She reported finding a post on the site MessengerBird. MessengerBird was a more recent site to exploit the InterNet's capability to connect ponies from great distances to instant communications permitting amenities such as public postings and private messages. She reported discovering a post made by user 'FreeWill234' detailing some coordinates followed by a picture showing "FF" in large text on a red background. Along with it was the comment 'Free from boundaries, free from tyranny'. Coordinates led to a well-known Plaza in Everfree's financial district, a place known as the Diamond Plaza. The fact things were detailed here for ponies to see made it look like a threat of attack, peeking around further to intercept communications detailing intentions to 'troll' the RLG once more. Further investigation permitted her to track the hackers to some activity deep within the shadow district.

Owl knew what the shadow district was, an unofficial name of an area literally under the shadow of the multi-layered superstructure megacity of Augmented Cloud Material that was Cloudsdale. Cloudsdale was officially its own city though it's sprawl connected with Everfree's at one point known as the divide, part of which covering what was once the Unicorn Range. Everfree's sprawl connected with the shadow district, itself a place of factories both running and abandoned along with yet to be torn down slums. Very few souls lived here, most ponies came only to work the systems which ran the robots that basically did everything in the factories. Not many ponies wanted to live in a place mostly shrouded from the sun's light with few rays peeking through the stacks of Cloudsdale's structure. Given the lack of residential real estate, there was plenty of room for Megacorps and smaller entities to build and run factories for all their products as well. Ponies that did live in the shadow district generally lived at the rim where one could at least get sunlight in the sunset and or morning. Day and especially night it was mostly very dark as the electrical grid was hardly wasted on a large area with very few ponies living in it. Data humorously remarked.

"For once we're gonna catch shady buckers in a shady place, I find it funny how we've always caught them in some party district." a few chuckles came from the other I&I ponies. The Chief would them coordinate a plan to investigate Anomaly's lead and try to find these hackers wherever they might be. This time a larger team of I&I would be sent to do the investigations, given how dark the place would be it would be seemingly perfect for the stealthy types. The ultimate plan was for all the team members to take taxis to the shadow district before heading to a waypoint given by Anomaly and beginning their stealthy investigation. Owl walked out of the Inn and Out with his two friends, ordering a Taxi for the three of them. The taxi was very much an invention of the industrial age, from a time long before the self-driving autocarriage. Nowadays they were entirely automated and could have as many as six seats at once, and ordered through Wrist Computer application. The white and blue colored vehicle rolled up to the three, aerodynamic in shape and fancy looking to any pony from the past. The doors would fold open as Owl and his team entered the vehicle. The rest of the I&I personnel would fly off to other locations before calling taxis of their own. Sitting back Owl looked out the window as the automated machine made its way along the roads, it's biofuel-powered engine emitting a mechanical whine as it accelerated to the CCS set speed for the road. The trip was smooth as the traffic flowed like water through a stream within the advanced algorithms keeping traffic in check, and soon the taxi would speed up as it rolled onto the InterDistrict highway.

Owl watched through the transparent roof of the taxi as the megastructure cloud city loomed overhead, luminescent cloud material decorating many of the structures built between the multitude of levels that made up the city. Cloudsdale was almost like a massive building with buildings inside, it merely lacked outer walls and a roof of its own. Once a night sky view from the taxi roof was now a shrouded black pattern of geometric shapes marking where the floating megastructure above blocked the night sky's light. A small amount of neon cloud lit up the shadow district's artificial sky like artificial stars in an artificially extended night. Many massive factory buildings passed by as the Taxi rolled along a largely empty road with a few transport vehicles passing by, places run usually by a moderate sized team of computer workers monitoring the work of automated robots and work androids. It was officially known as the Sub-Cloudsdale Factory Zone or SCFZ, and was nearly as large as Cloudsdale itself. Cameras were everywhere, though not to the extent of the usual city, most of the property was corporate or business owned and guarded by security personnel. With most of the action contained within walls of metal and concrete, the streets were largely quiet as Owl and his friends exited the taxi, the machine turning around and driving back to the highway as if in a rush to leave. Connecting with her friends and Anomaly through call, Data would go look for a hiding spot atop the nearest building.

Owl and Vision split up, Vision flying around the area above like a hawk seeking its prey while Owl himself went in for the deeper investigation. The Chief had their call monitored so that if things went wrong like in the Mall incident he could have Sector 4 personnel called in. The general location was located in a group of decades old dilapidated factories once owned by a defunct tech company which ultimately got swallowed in the dog eat dog world of megacorporations. Dilapidated factories were few in number and scattered throughout the shadow district compared to the many working ones. Anomaly's waypoint would lead into the factory, the security cameras there were less than maintained and barely worked giving a limited visual on the place. Searching around the place Owl would eventually enter the factor, pushing open the sliding door as he looked into a wide open space of abandoned assembly lines and obsolete models of robotics. It was so dark even Owl's night adapted eyes had limited view of the place, walking along he would look upon rows of dusty abandoned Crystal Corp brand work androids left forever unactivated yet preserved. Even smaller tech companies would often have to buy products from the Megacorps, just like everypony else did hence the power of what was also known as 'Tech Giants'. Hearing a voice behind say

"Don't want you heading into here alone." Owl jumped and looked behind to see Vision there. "Rather you not be alone if you encounter another crazy Cyborg." catching his breath the bat nodded, continuing as they searched the area. The facility was evidently a facility that produced robotics ironically enough, forced to use Crystal Corp products to attempt to carve itself a place in the competitive world of the tech industry. Anomaly would look to find a good amount of hidden programs which led to a heavily encrypted server under the format of Crystal Corp, making a move she went along and cracked the system much to Data's dismay.

"Anomaly what are you doing? We're trying to catch hackers not buck with Crystal Corp's...!"

"Why am I finding a server running from an abandoned building? I don't think they would put such waste into that." the mare said as she looked deeper into the system to reveal an entire running Onion Network with its own online, social sites, and entertainment sites. Shown this Data looked in shock and was then impressed.

"Wow...not bad. Owl, Vissie they got a whole Onion Network running here!"

"Onion Network? In this run-down place? Must be some sort of receiver around here." replied Owl, searching some more

"Maybe we could hire Anomaly permanently into the force and get her to crack down on these cursed onion networks." remarked Vision in the call.

As the two searched the dilapidated factory they decided to look in the most likely place for an InterNet receiver to be present, the command room. Entering the room they eyed the large dormant screens, many chairs, and keyboards of the room where ponies once ran the entire facility's automated systems. Anomaly and Data would indeed trace connections from this very room, it was appearing as if the hackers might not even be there and just set up a Reciever in this place. However, in the corner of his eye Owl would spot a glow of blue light in the darkness, looking quickly owl would get kicked into one of the screens. Vision would draw his weapon, a suppressed CWtech Magnum 700 made for firing .44 magnum rounds with a recoil suppression system. Looking to the eyes he opened fire, blood appearing on the floor before the attacker slipped out of the door. Suddenly, the door out of the room would spring to life, sliding closed and locking. Data and Anomaly's communication link would be cut off suddenly. Data quickly called for backup to the Chief, who wouldn't waste time calling a Sector 4 team. Owl and Vision would look around the room as the screens suddenly came to life, showing a familiar face.

"Well look who's back, it's mister law spy with a friend this time. Seems after taking our potential asset you're using her against us, annoying but luckily we made good use of her before you came in smashing computers like a madpony," said DK, whom Owl responded in a crass angered tone.

"If you're going to ramble on your anarchic nonsense then I suggest you bucking shut it!"

"Well you're not the talker aren't you, what's wrong got bullied into antisocial tendencies in school or something or does working for the midnight blues just insert a stick up you crapper?" Replied DK, taking not a syllable of Owl' wording seriously. "Seems you were smart enough not to head for the obvious place this time." she clapped her hooves. "Progress."

"What are you rocking a gas mask for? Attempting some childish ploy to look scary?" said Vision in a scolding tone of voice an adult his age might give to an irresponsible teen. The mare would laugh and mockingly spit back.

"It's called a creative way to keep anonymous Daaaad. Anyway since you came all this way here I decided to let some more of my friends have some fun with you."

Anomaly would try her best to get into the systems to crack into the systems of this 'DK' hacker, unfortunately, she would soon be met with a message saying. "Nice try, but you got me by surprise last time, not this time~" A hack fight would thus ensue as the two Bats heard noises coming from the vents before the covers popped out, hopping down would be quite the oddity of sights. Mares in maid outfits of all things, outfits of the basic design with a cyberculture twist. Keeping professional despite the ridiculous foes they faced Owl and Vision went back to back before ordering them to stand down, aiming their weapons at the mares. Giggles came as they began to approach, bionic legs visible on their limbs. Owl immediately went on edge upon seeing the bionics, saying.

"Stop now or we will open fire, freeze!" Ordered Owl as it just brought another giggle. Snorting Vision would aim and shoot at the joint of one of the attacking cyber maids, putting a magnum round in between the joint and making the mare topple over. The others, four in total, would pounce at them like panthers pouncing at prey. Both the bats would duck as kicking bionic hooves collided and roll away before taking flight and shooting at the Cyber maids, who rolled bobbed and weaved with great speed making them difficult targets. Using their wings and agility of flight the two evaded the ensuing kicks and punches that would fly at them almost like bullets. The fight was constantly on the move with both sides evading and trying to strike when the other was vulnerable. The four maids were however very coordinated in their teamwork, exploiting it to their advantage as they dashed around, Vision took a kick to the side which knocked the wind out of him before taking a dizzying kick to the head. Seeing Vision fall from his flight Owl remarked to himself. "Data sure as buck better be calling S4!!"

Anomaly found DK to be quite the skilled backer, what she lacked in speed compared to anomaly she made up for in trickery and the kinds of programs she had. Generating duplicates, using sniper rockets, shotgun programs, a large multitude of tricks which overwhelmed Anomaly and her efforts. Data's assistance would only be of partial help as she tried to think of ways to beat this malicious black hat, conventional methods did not seem to work well and her own defensive programs needed upgrading to take on situations like these. Owl ultimately resorted to what he did best and would fly up to the ceilings where he would slip among the exposed ventilation ducts as hiding places. The Cyber Maids would look up to the ventilation ducts, visually searching before hopping up with their powerful legs and climbing along the ducts in search for him. Playful whistles turned frustrated as the bat slipped around the vents with skill to evade their line of sight, one approached and looked around before Owl took her in a choke hold. The stallion kept hold as they both fell to the floor, the mare thrashing with her bionic limbs as he kept a strong hold on her neck. Spotting the struggle one maneuvered around to get behind and strike Owl, reacting quickly he threw the Cyber Maid straight into her ally's kick. A sickening snap ensued as the neck of the unfortunate cyborg was snapped in an instant, gasping the attacking maid looked to Owl and tried to evade. Ten-millimeter rounds pierced the side of her neck, punched a hole in her voice box, and dislodged one cybernetic eye as a bullet entered her skull. Reloading his pistol owl looked to the remaining two who stood back in shock.

"Last chance to stand down, belly on the floor and forelegs behind back!" Owl ordered, aiming his weapon at the two remaining ones, keeping an eye on the one with the jammed leg as well. Even in their bionic eyes with irises like the headlights of an autocarriage, emotion showed in a mix of anger and sadness. Suddenly he would see small tubes shoot out from their bionic limbs, steadily shooting out some sort of gas with a hiss. Vision would wake up with a groan as Owl ordered "Stop or I'll use deadly force!" the remaining two mobile Cyber Maids quickly darted around, Owl opening fire and Vision quickly picking up his weapon to shoot as well. A Cyber maid would dash past Owl, shooting the gas in his face as he attempted to shoot, the other attempting the same with Vision. While Vision successfully evaded the gas attack Owl coughed as his vision blurred and he started to feel woozy. Vision flew up to his friend and aimed at the dashing maids, attempting to take shots at their heads before reloading his gun. Seizing the opportunity they both dashed up to the bat and shot gas at his face, making him cough and blindly fire at them. The gas strangely had a sweet scent and did not seem to cause effects of any toxic gas, the effects seemed more hypnotic and mind altering. Owl struggled to aim his gun as one approached with a sway in the hips, smirking as she saw the stallion try to fight back a strange feeling of desire upon seeing the mare approach. He started to faintly realize that what was used was not some toxic gas, it was some sort of modified aphrodisiac drug. "Curses Chief the S4 better be coming." He said before he was suddenly grabbed from behind then flipped back, smashing his head into the floor.

An artificial doorway was erected on the ceiling via a charge before Sector 4 personnel dropped in and searched the area, bullet holes were all over the place and two pistols could be found on the ground along with the bodies of two dead cyborgs in cyberculture maid outfits. The whole abandoned factory was searched extensively, but no sign of anypony else. Strangely enough, the bodies could not be identified not a single record of these ponies seemed to exist. More searching ensued to find no sign of Owl and Vision, DK slipped away from the hack fight against Anomaly and Data. Anomaly did not think she would have struggled so much against a hacker, then realized she was possibly going to have to acquire more of these hacker programs and tricks. Before she could request some from Data news of Owl and Vision' disappearance made Data panic a storm. The durability of the keys of her keyboard was tested as she searched the network for any sign of her friends, running afoul of many of the hackers running it forcing Anomaly to help in what would be yet another ensuing hack fight.

Meanwhile, sometime later as the search for them carried on throughout the shadow district Owl and Vision would be chained to a wall on makeshift shackles of hoofcuffs and chains. Some bleeding marks on their disrobed bodies as they panted and struggled, neither knew where in Equestria they were. The cyber maids stood before them, holding thin whips of metal cord with steel ball weights at the end.

"Killed our friends." "We won't even kill you for that." "Death is too good for you." "We'll make you our toys instead." said the two of them, both following up eachother's sentences in quick succession. Vision scowled and gritted his teeth as he said to them.

"Feel tainted that you even touched me, I have a wife you fetishist psychos!"

"You're gonna have to go lesbian once S4 gets here, cause the only ponies to buck around with you'll have will be your cellmates!" said Owl as he struggled against the cuffs.

"Brave words from a brave stallion." "You're deep underground in a hidden city of underground bunkers." "Good luck to your fellow lawmates finding this place." Said the maids with a smirk to eachother.

"City of bunkers? What the buck are you talking about?" Asked Owl as he looked around the barely lit room. "Even if this place is underground like like there won't be a way for them to find you, especially if you use the InterNet!"

"Whatcha hiding down here? Drug production, pony trafficking, hiding the cyberterrorists here?" Asked Vision sternly, to which the maids both giggled and replied.

"First one yes," "Second no," "Third one, well..." "If you speak of the freedom fighters you would be correct."

"You think you can just kidnap royal personnel and take them here?? You may have just bucked your littler secret operation." Owl spat back at them. "Even if you kill us right now you won't escape justice, heat's on your tails and it'll burn all of you immoral crazies."

"You think this is just some stereotypical dark evil lair don't you?" "Did we not call it a city?" "I think we might want to give them a tour, let them know that it's not all bucked up things." "Not all things like us?" the other giggled. "Yes." Vision snorted as they were both fitted with some sort of collar before having the shackles removed. "Try anything." "And we'll subdue you with lots of volts." both of them pulled out small remotes which they wrapped in their tails. "Follow us, don't wander off please." Groaning the two bats got up and followed the cyber maids.

"And what alias do you hide behind?" Asked Owl, to which they replied.

"I am Black Daisy." "I am Yellow Jessamine." "These aren't aliases." "These are birth names of ponies born beyond your system."

Walking out of the room they would go into large tunnels reinforced with concrete rings and lit with neon lights. Evidently, the tunnels were bored with large earth drilling machines, whatever ponies building them evidently having a lot of digibits and resources. Multiple doors could be found along it, some with cyberculture and tech junkie types hanging outside smoking e-cigars. Lots of ventilation entrances and shafts could be found down the hall and into the large atrium type area with a multitude of traditional bazaar-style markets selling a number of different things. Things ranging from electronic parts, E-cigar oils, one even selling homemade candy strangely enough. Owl looked around to find the place was surprisingly less shady than he expected. A warm glow of neon lights of various colors washed over every place, while ponies seemed to be interacting and hanging out casually. Vision himself was suspicious though somewhat surprised at how things seemed almost civil to him, minus the mountains of evidence of illegal activity. Lots of armed ponies kept watch, evidently the guards of the place. One open door in the wall of the atrium seemed to lead into a nightclub judging by the pounding music and dancing ponies, another led into a place where fillies and colts played around with 3D pens. The last one intrigued Owl quite a bit, the children present did not appear abused nor malnourished. They simply played around with the pens surrounded by piles of coiled plastic to feed into the pens, feeding wild imaginations as everything from dragons to superheroes were made. Seeing such civil things alongside illegal and comparatively uncivil things and markets was a surreal experience for both Owl and Vision. Soon enough they were led to the entrance of a bunker, where the Cyber Maids said..

"This is where the peacekeepers of Earthsdale reside." "I'm sure Sharp will be interested in speaking to Law Spies."

"Earthsdale?" Asked Owl, who then thought about it and realized such a name was not unfitting for this place. His mind then pondered possibilities of interrogating this 'Sharp' fellow if given opportunity to speak with them. Taken into the place they would soon enough enter a room where a griffin with heavy amounts of bionic implants was present. Looking to them the griffin asked.

"What in the..? What are you bringing a couple of disrobed bats in here for?"

"Law enforcement types." "Spies we captured." "We thought we'd show them around." "Then let you talk with them."

"Could you get their clothing and let them hide their marks from your 'fun'?" the griffin asked, he himself was more around Vision's age and had a somewhat grizzled look. The maids both gave a whine before he said. "No complaints, I ain't talking till they are out of the birthday suits." begrudgingly Owl and Vision's captors exited and came back with their attire. Now dressed the Gryphon spoke "Were you sent to assassinate them by DK or something?" they nodded with a giggle.

"We were instead planning on keeping them as our own little 'toys' but sadly we lost a couple of our..."

"Just 'cause they're spies don't mean they aren't armed and able to kill, especially the bats." He then looked to the both of them and pointed to a couch. "Have a seat, I'm curious how a talk with some law ponies might go. Your names? Mine is Sharp"

"Owl, So you run this place?" Asked Owl, kicking his mind into verbal interrogation mode, intent on learning as much as he could.

"In a way, mainly just keep the peace here, tell any who intend to start a fight to take it in private. You're the first royal type to enter here, few less than loyal police have hung around and did business on occasion but you're the first of the royal police to be here."

"Name's Night, trying to run some criminal utopia here? Some society free from laws and regulations?" asked Vision, looking into the gryphon's eyes intent on interrogating as well.

"Some for the ponies that can't live in your society, homeless types who couldn't find employment, counterculture types who feel restricted in public society," Sharp replied

"Poverty is down to near zero percent." Said Vision in reply, sensing an attempt by this Griff to make himself look good.

Sharp laughed "Even you're fooled by that propaganda? There's a lot of poverty, but I can see why the deception works on you both."

"What deception?" Owl asked with a raised eyebrow of skepticism.

Sharp replied "Well back in the industrial days the homeless could be seen begging on the streets, nowadays not so much anymore. You know why? Cause in the underground, both the figurative and literal one here comes opportunities for those bucked over by the mainstream job market. Nowhere else to go desperate for work but none to be found, do you think ponies in such a situation would let legality starve them? Those who fall from the public civil society simply get scooped up by the gangs and syndicates. It's a win win really, gang gets new recruits and homeless ponies get jobs, homes and food."

Tensing up at these claims, Owl found them unbelievable yet in some sense believable. He went on to ask "What's causing so much poverty if there's plenty of jobs to be found?"

"Factories don't need as many ponies to run them, lotta things don't need ponies in the age of robots and working androids. Why pay weekly for workers when robots work better and need only a cheap monthly maintenance. Not to mention can work 24 hours of Celestia and luna's rounds, and keep working on their next rounds. Not everypony can work computers, those that can't are finding fewer and fewer jobs."

Owl pondered what Sharp said, wondering if such a low poverty rate is really an just impossibly optimistic illusion to such a grim reality. Vision would snort and ask "Can you prove these outlandish claims? Are you saying good ponies are joining gangs and criminal syndicates? Not a bucking chance, decent ponies don't turn to such shady and slimy methods of income."

"Believe what you will mister Night, I am simply stating the facts that I see." Sharp simply replied, not phased by the tone of accusation emitting from Vision's voice.

"Did those kids I saw on the way here come from families in poverty?" Owl would ask sharp, to which the Gryphon would reply.

"That and loss of parents."

"Are you housing ponies from the group known as the 'Freedom Fighters'?" asked Vision, seeking to get things back into proper verbal interrogation.

"What if we are? You going to try and hunt them down, storm this whole place and take away what is the whole lives of these ponies and gryphons? Arrest them and whatever sentence they have they'll likely be right back in the underground once released.

Owl stared into Sharp's eyes, sensing some evasion and thus evidence that they might indeed be holding cyberterrorists. He also however sensed some sincerity in the statement afterward. Owl would then follow with the question "Do you support their cause, one evident of total governmental overthrow? If not are you concerned for the lives of ponies who are in this place."

Sharp would reply "We don't really give a buck about their cause, most of us anyway. Some ponies in here do, mostly the ones who couldn't enter the peace and luxury of your civilization. I'll admit I don't blame ponies for keeping under your system, underground's not a safe place. Lesser risks of theft or death, I myself though I have certain issues with the dishonesty of your system can't say I feel too sorry for the ponies kept in its restrictive."

Vision was taken aback by this, and looked into Sharp's eyes to try to detect some attempts at charismatic manipulation or lies. His visual search came up empty, and he could only ask "You're not in total opposition to our system?"

"Compared to tarturian holes like Gryphonstone it's paradise." Sharp laughed a bit "There's at least some civility in some places here, lot more than there. Ever since the war's start and end over 30 years ago Gryphonstone has gone down the toilet and into the sewer."

Looking to Owl, Vision's look was one of surprise, the response was nothing like what he could have ever predicted even as an I&I veteran. Owl would then ponder on what to say next, he kept in mind that they were in a disadvantaged situation and that force was not an option. Ultimately he decided to say to Sharp "Keeping these 'freedom fighter' types here will put your whole community here at a risk. With their activities they may be tracked here, resulting in armed police besieging this place. If you would wish to avert that, I would suggest allowing us to deal with them in exchange for not compromising your location here."

The Cyber Maids looked not pleased, Jessamine saying. "We won't compromise this place, the freedom fighters have great skill in keeping hidden from the system's enforcers."

"If you were we wouldn't have tracked hackers of yours to the Shadow District." Owl pointed, out, getting the shock collar activated in reply as he convulsed. Sharp looked skeptically to the maids, taking some time to think things through. The maids both tried their hardest to convince him that the FF wouldn't compromise them.

"If you were uncompromisable these two wouldn't be here in the first place, clearly they came into the shadow district looking for ponies like you. If you could drag them into hear that means you caught some heat, and if they came looking close enough for you to drag them into here then we might have a problem." Looking to his guards Sharp directed them. "Knock 'em out." the cyber maids looked in shock as one took the stock of a gun to the head while the other was choked unconscious by a pony's bionic limb. Looking to the two he would hold out his bionic talon as out from the palm a wirecutter type attachment came. Grabbing Owl's collar he cut straight through the wires and reinforced plastic, then doing the same to Vision. The unconscious maids were dragged out of their, smirks on the faces of the guards.

Vision did not look very pleased with Owl, not too happy that he made a death with the one harboring illegal operations. Owl would ask Sharp "Where are the 'freedom fighters'?"

"I'll tell you once I detail the deal we'll have. You deal with the Freedom Fighter types, but you can't leave this place till you do. Once you do deal with them we'll have you knocked out and left on the surface. You get to bring your little justice to ponies you've indicted, minimal risk of you bucking us all over. Is that a Deal?"

"Why are you letting us deal with them? Don't you have thugs to take care of it?"

"I'd rather not let them know I've decided to buck them over, either kill them or knock them out so we can package them with you on your way out of here," Sharp said, telling a guard to give them their Wrist computers. "You'll have access only to the networks in Earthsdale unless you have the hacking skill to hack into the receiver. I recommend not trying that though." on his own wrist computer Sharp would tap away and give them a waypoint. "There's the locations, do what you will with them then come back here. Your exit will be arranged then."

Owl nodded, and thus he and Vision would walk out of the bunker and back into the atrium market. Vision would whisper harshly to Owl "Are you seriously going to cooperate with one who's harboring a whole cesspool of criminality here?? Helping out a criminal??"

"Gimme a better idea, we're unarmed and surrounded by armed ponies Vision." Owl would reply looking back.

"We should find a way out of here, there's vents so that should mean an easy stealthy rout out of here. We get out and mark the location of this place so Sector 4 can storm it."

"We shouldn't be taking any risks of getting shot Vision, we came to deal with Cyberterrorists and that is what we can do here."

"We're I&I, not S4, our main duty is to spy on criminals not go for direct apprehension unless given no other choice!" Vision whispered back.

"We can deal with the situation of what's down here some other time, right now we should focus on doing what we can. We'll sneak into whatever quarters they have, knock out the FF hackers, and go on with the deal so we have some ponies to interrogate. Ponies that could be killed should a raid come."

Snorting some Vision said, "You have a point...fine but I'm not planning on letting this place stay secret."

Looking to a vent, and to the waypoint on his Wrist computer Owl would say to Vision "We can still use the vents however, use them to sneak to our targets.

Author's Note

Hoping this might prove a more interesting chapter for some readers.

10: Earthsdale

Author's Note

WARNING! POTENTIALLY DISTURBING CONTENT AHEAD! The 'Dark' tag will likely be made relevant more so in this chapter than any of the previous ones.

10: Earthsdale

The concrete reinforcement of the tunnels of the underground was like the structure of a snake's skeleton, curved supports on the walls connected by a beam which went along the ceiling. Along the extensive ventilation system meant to prevent the occupants from suffocating the two bats would be carefully traversing, moving carefully so as to not make noise. Their wrist computers guided their way to another large open atrium, smaller with less of the activity of the main one. Crawling through the square tunnels of metal the two eventually looked through an opening to see what was mostly a place of computers and computer parts being sold, lit up by blue and white lights compared to the multicolored lights of the main atrium. Navigating the Vents the two would move toward the bunker marked in waypoint only to be met with an installed laser grid, it seemed whoever owned this bunker was aware of the potential of ponies sneaking in through the ventilation. Lacking any sort of mirror the two were ultimately forced to find a vent exit. Fortunately, the ceiling itself was mostly unlit, a perfect shroud as the two crawled from the ventilation shaft and looked down to the entrance of the bunker, guarded by two Cyberculture looking types armed with compact shotguns personalized with pink and blue digital camouflage design.

Looking to Owl, Vision said, "Gonna be hard to get into there, without tripping up anypony outside."

Owl looked at the two guards and looked around the area to notice a lesser amount of activity, not as many ponies out and about. "There could be a chance to knock them out without anypony seeing, drag them to the nearest corner. We then go in and search, knocking out any ponies we can then getting a guard to let the griffin know we've done it. You be my eyes, I'll creep close and go in for the knockout on your signal. Click once the coast is clear, that'll be the signal." clicks were commonly used as signals by all field personnel of the RLG, given they were less audible to the suspects but easily picked up by bat ears. Creeping along the ceiling Owl flew silently before reaching the edge and looking down at the two guards, one a mare with bionic limbs the other a walking tattoo canvas of a stallion. His ears perked for the signal, his body ready to spring at them like a stalking panther. After what felt like an hour in Owl's apprehension, being merely thirty-seven seconds, a soft click reached his ears. In a flash, he flew down and grabbed the heads of both before slamming them together. Searching he looked for the key before half the lights in the atrium suddenly went out. The stallion paid no mind as he found the door key, a remote with a button for locking and unlocking the door. Vision found it suspicious how the lights went out, then both of them suddenly got a call which alarmingly was answered automatically.

"Well, seems digging into the system took me to some interesting places." Anomaly said in telepathic call "And paid off in unexpected ways."

Owl sighed in relief before unlocking the door and asking in the call "What took you so long?"

"Wasn't easy entering here undetected, I had to go as quiet as possible so I didn't try to trace your location and instead looked for your Wrist Computers."

"Don't try and track us, not yet anyway. We have a plan going on that could get us some suspects." Replied Owl. The two bats would slip in silently through the door before taking cover behind some boxes as Anomaly let the lights back on and hid in the system as well. She would keep an eye on the interior of the bunker through cameras while also searching the online marketplace to find a site selling automated hacking programs. She contemplated trying to snatch or copy the programs secretly, though a part of her disapproved of the idea. The two bats moved their way down the halls, hunting for any cyberculture looking ponies. A couple rooms seemed to serve as work areas for the hackers present, luckily there was but a few. One by one they would sneak in and knock out the ponies behind the computers, searching the desks and finding some compact machine pistols.

The final room at the far end of the bunker proved different than the others, larger with multiple large screens installed while a couple comparatively less cyberculture looking mares worked on it. Overseeing it was a rather large stallion with thick muscle like bionic limbs and strangely enough, a lab coat draped over his large form. All three of the present occupants appeared to be more clean cut and less rough compared to the rough cyberculture ponies outside. Both of them looked at the screen to see files and text flashing by while the hooves of the mares typed away. The large cyborg would then say in a voice far less gruff and more professional than one would expect from such a figure.

"GAI-7 seems to be working well with the virus that the Freedom Fighters provided, soon it shall be her sword against Tyranny."

Suddenly a rotating projector on the wall would begin to turn with an electronic whine and light up to form a holographic form of a mare. She seemed to be completely designed to where her body and face were split to express a different style. One side showed a single natural blue eye with a flowing golden colored mane, a white dress draping that half of her body. The other side of her face had the smooth mane transition seamlessly into a rough spiky mane dyed black and blue with a bionic eye, the dress transitioned on that side as well to a stylized cyberculture outfit. It was a surreal sight for Owl to see, the hologram was literally one mare with two completely different styles on two sides of her body. Her eyes would go red as she said in an almost natural voice

"Intrusion detected in systems, investigating."

The cyborg would turn to look to the Hologram only to see Owl and Vision sending a double flying kick to the face. Anomaly panicked at how fast this apparent AI caught her snooping on things through a camera. A hack fight would ensue, only this time she did not have the advantage in speed against an artificial intelligence. In speed, they were matched but in software, GAI-7 had the advantage. Her mind reprimanding her for not getting the hacking tools Anomaly was pushed to her limits as sniper rockets, shotguns, hybrid programs of the two even were but the start of its arsenal. The cyborg knocked over the mare looked and only got out a short scream before being both caught in a chokehold by the two. Precisely they counted the seconds to a nonlethal suffocation, till the mares both lost consciousness. To their horror the Cyborg seemed to get up, looking in alarm and saying.

"Who are you bats? And how did you get into here?" Asked the cyborg as they aimed the pistols at him, GST PDS mark IIIs, weapons made for purpose of self-defense in the dangerous streets of places in the nation of Gryphonia. GST weapons came from the smallest tech giant, known for making cheaper tech products of decent though inferior quality. Weapons from the corporation often circulated among criminal circles. Ironically they were now being used in law enforcement procedure as both Owl and Vision aimed and ordered...

"Stand down now or we will shoot!"

"Ah....I&I personnel, stealthy types you are. Must have snuck in here somehow, strange though relieving you don't seem to have your more heavily armed police units coming in. Instead, you try to arrest me yourselves, no matter, not that you're of much threat out of the shadows." he would approach them, smirking some as he ignored their orders before holding a hoof in front of his face as bullets came from the silenced weapons. A few deflected from his head revealing a reinforced skull implant underneath, more shockingly his bionics would start to repair themselves and squeeze the embedded nine-millimeter rounds.

"What the buck.......how did you...??" Vision said, before saying to Anomaly in the call "Find the entrance to this place! And get S4 on it now!"

Anomaly heard him but was busy trying to fight the AI and learn what she could about it. In the end, she chose flight over fight and fled into the systems to try to find any evidence of where the entry into the underground city was. The cyborg would reply to the two...

"Technology created beyond your system's limits and laws, I go by the name Doctor Composite. You will not find that name in any record, for I am one of what the Underground calls 'Official Ghosts'."

"What is this 'GAI-7' thing? And what's with the holographic two-faced mare?" Asked Vision.

Looking to Vision the Hologram said. "I am an artificial intelligence, the seventh stage of a project developed by my creators. Doctor Composite is programming me for a specific goal, under codename 'Seesaw'"

"Letting the bucking hologram talk for you?" Remarked Owl, following with. "What is the purpose of the AI? I don't think it's to try and bring peace between two different fashion senses."

"You think I will inform you of all out plans? Not a chance, I almost told you too much anyway. Besides, not like you're exactly capable of apprehending a cyborg like me, I can see your lack of bionics." he then dashed at them knocking Vision into the desk in front of the computer screens. Owl flew behind Dr. Composite to send a kick only for it to be grabbed, he was flung repeatedly side to side and slammed onto the floor. Pain shot into his chest as ribs were broken, and his mind was dazed from the impact and lucky not to sustain a head injury. Vision got up and quickly reloaded the pistol before letting off a flurry of rounds aimed for Dr. Composite's head. Sparks flew as the rounds deflected off the reinforced skull before the cyborg turned and in an instant sent a punch into Vision's gut followed by a jaw-breaking uppercut. Owl got up and quickly flew past Dr. C sending a kick in hopes he could cause a debilitating concussion. It would prove to only knock the cyborg to the side as his skull was also built to absorb impact. The stallion barely evaded the next three strikes that would come his way, a fourth deflecting off the side of his head. Dashing to the side the bat sent a punch to the cyborg's temple only to give a superficial strike, getting punched in the gut and sent flying to the wall in reply.

Anomaly was meanwhile playing cat and mouse with GAI-7, the program identifying her as a potential threat having read her unusually high ability in thinking in the hack fight. It's processing soon identified her as the escaped EQUE-TECH subject who was captured by FF only to end up taken in a raid by Royal personnel. It calculated whether to try to eliminate her through causing a fatal crash, drive her away for now, or attempt communication. It chose to do the latter, using the profile it quickly constructed of her to decide how it would react. It wasn't sentient, at least not yet if it ever would be, it was simply acting based on objective and logic. Anomaly took its strange request of communication with caution, seeing the text it typed.

"It appears you are assisting personnel of the RLG out of fear for what the Freedom Fighters will do, given there is evidence based on your ability that you were responsible for stopping the Mall operation. I do wish to inform you that the entity you are in service of is not on an objective moral high ground over those they are referring to as 'Cyberterrorists'. Many cases of police personnel both on local and Royal level doing wrongs only for their place as 'protectors of the law' to grant them immunity from its intended penalties. The system is broken and formed on a fragile construct aimed toward control and misinformation. Dr. Freemane told you that the system is eventually going to fall apart, it seems illogical that you would remain on its side."

The information that Anomaly discovered in the mainframe came to her mind, she was still somewhat conflicted on what to think of it given the CG's message to her. She wondered if she should try to communicate with the AI or leave communication and keep searching for anything on the entrance to the underground city. Search was still going on as it was merely an hour since Owl and Vision's apparent disappearance, and if the entrance was found backup could come quickly. Jacking into cameras she saw a very bad situation for Owl and Vision, ultimately making her decide to go for the ladder option and abandon any communication. GAI-7 would notice this and have some confusion, trying to calculate her reasoning for assisting these guards. It ultimately chose to treat her as a threat once more as it detected tamperings with the Underground city's security. Owl meanwhile rolled out of the way of a punch to the ground, coughing blood as the fight had caused further injuries. He didn't know what to do, fleeing would mean a failure to apprehend the FF ponies present, but staying would mean fighting a cyborg far stronger than Miss S. Vision climbed under the Desks and called Anomaly once more, demanding she work faster in getting the entrance found. GAI-7 would discover and track this call, spelling poorly for Vision as the hologram appeared once more and said to Dr. Composite...

"It appears as though one of the guards is attempting to have the entrance to this city found by their hacker, the one captured and used in Everfree before being taken by the RLG. I will attempt to put a stop to such efforts in any way possible, I recommend putting a stop to such communication however while I do." Vision would have a look of shock as he heard this, for the time hating Owl for going with this whole plan, to begin with. He made a mental note to inform Owl to never make deals with criminals again as he was dragged out and thrown into a wall. Owl looked around frantically for any sort of weapon to use as he barely dodged an incoming punch. An idea then popped up in his head as he reloaded the machine pistol, looking to Dr. C he waited for the incoming attack. As the Cyborg dashed at him, putting a foreleg in front of his face to block any bullets before sending a punch. The hoof glanced painfully off Owl's shoulder as he aimed the gun and unloaded it into the Cyborg's face.

"Bingo motherbucker," Owl said as two round entered a bionic eye, making Dr. C recoil back and flinch as his eye was shattered. Though the bullets didn't pierce into the skull they did kill the cyborg's sight in one eye, leaving somewhat of an opening. Owl would reload the pistol one last time, the last magazine he picked up. Flying toward the cyborg's blind spot he kept alert for any incoming attacks, attacks which wouldn't take long to come as the cyborg's blows glanced off Owl in his barely successful dodges. If it hadn't been for his bat pony agility in flight he would have been beaten to a pulp in seconds, especially now as the two exchanged blows. Getting up Vision would join the fight as well, the both of them double teaming and exploiting the blind spot to the best of their abilities. Anomaly meanwhile evaded the AI and watchponies of Earthsdale's net as the search for the entrance continued. Finally, she caught a break as the controls marked 'city entrance' were found along with access to cameras used to monitor the hidden door. She would need to fight to get that access though, less against the watchponies and more against GAI-7. GAI-7 would appear once more to inform Mr. C.

"Their hacker appears to be getting close to finding the entrance to this section of Earthsdale, it is advisable that we retreat from here."

Mr. C heard this and looked to the two Bats "I thought I could just beat you down, but it seems you're just too slippery." blades extended from his forelegs. "Should have brought these out earlier." the blades were short and wide like machetes, designed for chopping more than slicing. With all his aggression the cyborg charged at them, swinging quickly and ripping their clothing as they narrowly dodged the chopping blows. Nicks and gashes were received by the both of them as they attempted to get a good shot in his other eye. Mr. C would then stop and wait, covering his remaining eye with a forehoof. Poised to strike the two would stand side to side, a second of waiting for him to attack before their apprehension drove them to charge and attack him from two sides. The two flew quickly and crossed to the other side of eachother's path so as to each attack from an unexpected side.

Skillfully the cyborg made his move, moving between them he chopped a wing clean off Vision in a single swing. As Vision fell, Owl turned to aim his weapon directly at the cyborg's eye. His hoof would grip the band around the weapon's handle, pulling the trigger of the weapon halfway before his foreleg was chopped off. Falling back he gasped as he saw his limb fall to the ground with the gun before his chest was nearly sliced open by the cyborg's follow up strike. Falling to the ground on his back Owl looked to the Mr. C as he said...

"You may have a victory here, bit you will not win the ensuing war." picking up the two unconscious mares the cyborg would then run out quickly. Owl, rapidly losing blood, would start to fade from consciousness as Vision frantically ran up to him. The other bat would then pick up his severed wing and frantically search the place for any healing injections to keep Owl alive. Anomaly meanwhile would be continuing to fight to gain access to the cameras present at the city entrance. The purpose of which being to pinpoint where the door was so it could be found, though in a struggle the mare was clever enough to hold up against the AI for a time. Calculating the situation with her likelihood of stopping the mall operation in mind it decided to try and send another message appealing to her morality...

"If a raid comes into here there's a chance that a massive loss of life can happen in the ensuing fight. There are many who in technical terms of morality are of minimal wrong and not deserving of being potentially killed in what will be a massive gunfight." Anomaly chose not to even look at the message, wanting to not waste a second of time. She finally managed to slip past for a second, enough to pinpoint the camera's location. Quickly sending the location to the chief she would simply watch from online and the cameras as the sewer system was soon stormed by a team of S4 personnel and the door blasted open. The armored police units would fly quickly long a downward tunnel until kicking down the door into the main atrium and storming inside. Dozens of the place's guards would have them pinned down, and panic would ensue as shopkeepers scrambled to get out of the area. Doors into bunkers would be shut and locked, and backup would be called by the S4 units. Anomaly watched as the fight dragged on for more than a few minutes, many a pony from both sides would fall to the gunfire exchanged. The place had a well equipped small army as it's guards, deficient only in armor compared to S4. Anomaly knew one thing for certain now, gunfights were hardly like they were depicted in movies and even VRGD games. The atrium continued to be stormed as more teams came in, and the ultimate help in a situation like this came. Sector 4 of the Royal Solar Guard was not called 'heavy enforcement' for nothing, and it's most elite team was sent.

Clad in golden painted kevlar and metal armor with the sun insignia was a team led by Metal Heart, the brain of a war veteran contained inside a military grade bionic body replacing the body she lost to a griffin drone's airstrike. Slung on her side was an HWS-56, an EQUE-TECH manufactured light machine chambered for six-millimeter rounds. Being a unicorn she aimed and fired it in her magic with deadly accuracy, a laser assisting her aim only partially. With support from Heavy Enforcement, the Lunar units would be storming every place they could, kicking down doors and ordering any inside to stand down. They took no chances, any who didn't stop and drop were shot as for all they knew anypony could be armed. While things were at a bloody stalemate before, the arrival of Heavy Enforcement turned the tide quickly as any armed pony was quickly run through with 600 round per minute gunfire from Metal Heart's LMG. Many quickly tried to hide in the night club, as the merchant stands proved ineffective as cover. In response, the Heavy Enforcement units pulled out a couple of the infamous Scattered Explosive Room Clearance Devices or SERC Device. Four spherical shaped grenades were tossed into the club, the spheres splitting themselves apart sending many small explosive charges into the air before they detonated. Nearly anypony unfortunate enough to be present were torn apart by the many small but numerous explosions, some trying to run for cover to no avail. Anomaly would flip through the cameras unhindered as anypony who would normally watch over the network was likely running for their lives. Out of curiosity, she decided to look at the message that GAI-7 sent...

She would find this a strange thing for what appeared to be some artificial intelligence, one that did not appear to have gained sentience, to say such a thing. Looking through cameras she would suddenly see a sight to make her gasp and scream in horror. There was a number of dead ponies, torn apart by the advanced yet brutal grenades tossed in. It was not only armed ponies which appeared to have been hit, many appeared to be little but party goers who attempted to go prone only to be blasted open from above. Some seemed to have limbs blown not so clean off, others mercifully had their heads blasted to pieces. Reports of brutality and unarmed ponies killed found within the forbidden archive flashed came to her mind. She would simply watch, her expression locked in an expression of shock as through her eyes she viewed the continued carnage which unfolded. The S4 ponies of both royal guards carved through, knocking out anypony who would surrender and killing any even slightly perceived as a threat. Any dressed in Cyberculture style were treated with particular caution and alarm, as they were all suspected cyberterrorists. Some would simply gun down groups of them in such suspicions, remembering what was reported of the mall incident. They were not merciful, assuming the whole place a criminal den and treating it's occupants accordingly. Anomaly would soon look into the web cameras of computers in a room also full of toys, and 3D pen creations. A multitude of young fillies and colts hid under a table, as well as a few adults hiding. Soon enough the lock on the door inside could be seen blasted through by a single shotgun blast, and three Lunar S4s barged in. One was armed with an HSG-10 shotgun, an EQUE-TECH manufactured ten gauge pump action shotgun, while the others had common AWS-56 assault rifles as they hovered into the room. One pony in front of the table sat on their haunches and dropped the machine pistol hey held next to them. A unicorn filly underneath the table, raised in an environment where guns were generally used for protection, naively tried to pull the weapon under the table.

"Nonononono please don't no no!" Anomaly said, frantically moving to jack into the communications to let them know there were children under the table. The one with the shotgun would spot this in their alert and immediately move and aim their weapon under the table, pulling the trigger in an eyeblink as they viewed the weapon unleash its power on many small terrified eyes. Looking at the cameras, Anomaly would faint, and cry internally as she locked herself away deep within her brain augmentation's sleeping mode. The Lunar Guard would freeze for a moment, bionic limbs and fingers gripping the weapon and viewing the horror through the weapon's sight. The others aimed underneath only to be lucky enough to hold their fire before contributing to what was seen. One of the ponies that was hiding in the place, a cyber goth mare who ran the children's haven that was this bunker, shook and sobbed as the others backed off in shock. The shotgun fell as the bionic fingers released it and the guard fell back to a wall. His comrades quickly tried to reassure him that it was not his fault, and would soon turn the blame to the adults present as they forced them out. A mental breakdown ensued in the mind of the one with the shotgun as he was helped while another watched the kids who were by now huddled into the back wall. Soon enough the fighting was over, all were either killed or apprehended and the two I&I personnel were found and given proper medical treatment. A commotion would ensue outside the day care, and soon draw Metal's attention. The large unicorn bionic would walk up and ask them...

"What's the commotion, you're supposed to be mobilized for transporting suspects?"

"I-I-I-I KILLED SOME BUCKING KIDS!!!" said the one as he fell to the ground and broke down. Metal's bionic eyes immediately drew to the guard as she heard this, walking to him with a shocked expression. The others would then say quickly in his defense...

"It's not his fault! These buckers here had those kids along in the first place, not to mention apparently taught them to try to grab a bucking gun when police are around! He couldn't see them, they were under the table and one grabbed a gun one of these buckers dropped!"

Metal looked to the guard who looked back with terrified eyes, then looked over to the ponies who were apprehended from the bunker. She looked at them with a scowl, saying to them. "Bringing kids into your little criminal city project? Teaching them to grab a gun on first sight of the cops?"

The cyber goth mare, tearing up said to her "T-t-they are orphans with no other place to go! They have no part in what goes on here! They grabbed a gun cause they were scared!!"

Drawing a pistol from the guard's holster next to her, she angrily unloaded the weapon onto the mare. "Should. Have. Bucking. Given. Them. To THE BUCKING FOAL SERVICES THEN!" looking to the others she aimed her LMG and held the trigger as she gunned them down angrily. Being a grandmother herself the mare, with blame skewed on the adults present, was not merciful in dealing with those 'responsible' for the death of children. Looking to the guard she said to him. "Get up and get back to duty, you're not to blame for them dragging kids into their crime nest. Don't spread any word about this happening. I can tell you the kids will get proper though secret burial, these buckers, however, will be just disposed of like the trash they are." she looked to the bullet hole ridden corpses and sighed "A major find and victory for the law, but at such a major cost...."

Owl was alive only due to a lucky find of a healing injection by Vision, and only for enough time for him to receive medical help. Many S4 guards were either killed or in need of medical help as well. Medical autocarriages rolling into the Shadow District to provide the needed assistance. News media was quickly directed on what to report, telling of a successful and decisive raid on a criminal operation and the heroic efforts and sacrifices made by the Lunar and Solar Guards. It proved effective as per usual in keeping the public from any sort of fear and panic, instead helping to maintain the strong positive Public Relations. Anomaly, coming out of her faint, watched as things unfolded. She began to see the system and its functions, everything she was told from both its opponents and supporters coming together.

The system was indeed a construct built on skewed facts and even lies, manipulating the popular views. It was all evidently to protect them from the scariest of realities, including the evident reality of both Guard's brutality. Looking some more she would find in the cameras some of the many suspects being interrogated at gunpoint and seemingly unhindered in what was technically unauthorized. She studied the system's workings, the reality and how it would most likely bring immense fear to the public as well as the methodology of keeping such a reality from the public's eye. The veil was a moral double edged sword, one with good intentions but an arguably immoral execution. The horrors that came to her mind scarred her deeply and made her mind wonder if the construct was worth even keeping at all. Then she remembered what Doctor Freemane said to her, foretelling the fall of the system. By now she couldn't believe him more, then remembered her previous voiced intentions of trying to better things herself. She later thought herself crazy, but now she felt like an effort of some kind needed to be made from the outside of the system. The mare pondered on what she might try to do to make such an effort, she had an easy access to the InterNet and such a power was strong in a world so dependent on it. She, however, felt she would need to do something more than the hacktivism like Digital Hoof's. Her mind searched for an answer and pondered on the world and it's current state, then also pondered on how the world was long ago in the days of her famous ancestor.

"Long ago Equestria didn't have computers, autocarriages, great monoliths of steel and colossal sprawling cities. Yet with these great things received, one thing was lost.....Harmony."

11: Digital Weaponry

Owl would slowly begin to awaken, his eyes opening to a white light on a white ceiling. Looking around he would quickly find that he was in a hospital, no surprise given what happened at the underground city. Groaning, awakening his back muscles by force Owl would sit up, before catching something in the corner of his eye. He would raise his right hoof into his sight, a black colored bionic limb of metal and ceramic. It appeared to be of the EQUE-TECH police line of bionics, reinforced to withstand anything from bullets to a hostile cyborg's punches. The bat began to recollect memories of what brought him here, lamenting the fact his limb evidently could not be saved. He would look to see a nurse come and smile as she said...

"Oh, you're awake! Good to see that's one more officer of the law saved here."

"Where am I?" He asked, stretching before looking to the slits on the front of his hoof. With a mental command, brought by common knowledge of bionics, five bionic fingers slid out from the hoof sending a jolt to his nerves as his body got used to commanding the appendages. This format of bionic fingers preceded the advent of bionics, originating from an attachable gadget developed by the early Cyber Age tech company Heartstrings before it's merger with a few entities went on to form EQUE-TECH. It was evident to Owl he would no longer need the trigger band to operate a firearm.

"Everfree North District Hospital, along with a lot of other wounded soldiers of the law." she nodded. "A few...sadly didn't make it, but their sacrifice wasn't in vain. The operation was a success, the criminal operation was put to a stop no matter their resistance." replied the Nurse, who followed with "You have your chief to thank for getting you and your friend bionic replacements, sorry your limb couldn't be saved. It had bled out almost all of its blood by the time you were found. Luckily you got the police model foreleg, which is so tough and reliable you might go near a lifetime without ever needing maintenance. Provided you don't get it damaged from taking on too many thugs with guns. Judging by that triple scar on your cheek it seems like this isn't the first time you've faced a baddie with blades."

"Where's Night Vision? Were you able to save his wings?"

"Unfortunately not, but he has been given proper and reliable bionic wings. Your clothing items can be found next to the bed if you wish to see him, granted you will probably want some new clothing so as to not look like you fell into a scissor factory." the mare giggled some, eliciting a chuckle from Owl at her simile. Given privacy, he would remove the hospital gown and dress into his clothing A new scar across his chest could be seen as he changed from the gown. His attire was plenty cut up, with some faint bloodstain on the side, luckily he had plenty of clothing at home. For now, he would need to walk to see his friend in torn up cargo pants and jacket as he was directed to the room where Vision waited. Two bionic wings of lightweight composite material appendages linked with a flexible mesh material flapped as Vision's body grew accustomed to the new bionics. Looking to Owl he simply asked the nurse...

"Excuse me, miss, will you leave us to talk over things in private?" the mare smiled and nodded before trotting out and closing the door. The bat then gave a piercing scowl to Owl before going up to him and slapping him in the face "Luna's Curse Owl! For buck's sake! Next time let's not try to go through making a deal with criminal scum. We should have gotten out and called for S4, we would be out of that bucking place while they cleaned it up!" he said, keeping a hushed tone though hardly hindered in expressing his anger. "Should have tricked that cursed Gryphon and used the vents to get on out of there, then you wouldn't have lost your leg and I would still have my wings!"

Owl grimaced, less from the slap and more from the I&I veteran's reprimand. Knowing how bad things went, he started to regret not taking Vision's advice in the first place. He remembered his reasons for not wanting to unleash the law's wrath upon that underground city, the things Sharp told him along with sights such as the children's home. All combined with semi-subconscious doubt of S4's ability not pull complete police brutality upon the place, a doubt brought about by Night Haze's 'revelation' which he fought against with his loyalty. The loyal part of his mind ultimately took over things as he replied to Vision...

"It was stupid....should have taken the veteran's advice...I'll keep this in mind next time."

"You'll have that bionic limb to remind you of how your buck up cost you a limb." Vision said with a Scowl "Let's head out of here and see how things have transpired." the bat got up and went to the door before pushing it open and heading out. Owl would follow as they passed rooms of wounded S4 ponies being treated, it was evident that quite the fight had occurred and Earthsdale's hired security was well armed. After a trip down the stairs and another hallway, they would head into a packed waiting room and greeted by the chief and Data. The mare would run up to and hug them both.

"The S4 operation was a success, that underground crime hole has been eradicated. However there's another issue to be found, another incident has happened." said the Chief, catching Owl and Vision's attention.

_________________________________________________

Anomaly would be within the digital confines of her own augmented mind, processing the things she had witnessed, the scar tissue forming on her psyche as she recovered from the shock. Her mind started to wonder if the system in place was one worth saving, one so flawed that it was largely kept secret just so society wouldn't panic. It was going to fall, and she wondered if there would be any point in assisting them now. She considered fleeing, leaving them and possibly seeking help and shelter from Tazen High, wherever the hacker was. The risks of doing so were, however, more than evident, if uncertain. The mare would look as she was suddenly sent a file, it was one from EQUE-TECH, a possible system update? Looking it over it appeared to not be that, instead it appeared to be a group of programs.

In your little online altercation I found that you were under-equipped, so I decided to compile together some programs acquired from some of the usual nuisance hackers. I hope they might be of use, if not the foundation for superior tools you'll make yourself.

[File Recieved]: SniperRocket.exf [Download?] [Delete?]

[File Recieved]: Shotgun.exf [Download?] [Delete?]

[File Recieved]: DataBomb.exf [Download?] [Delete?]

[File Recieved]: Trap.exf [Download?] [Delete?]

Golden

She would look over the programs and decided to check them for any sort of tracking software before downloading. It was evident spying was done on her while she was in the fight with the DK hacker, though no such software was in these files as they were simply executable programs. Making some empty files she decided to test these programs as they seemed to be similar to the duplicate program in basic usage. The first two programs seemed capable of damaging files, the shotgun being more collateral. The data bomb, however, was less immediate as it caused a rapid influx of lagging junk data. The final one upon inspection appeared to be the digital equivalent of a bear trap, designed to spring a virus upon an attacking hacker. Though simple, they seemed like they might be useful with a good amount of upgrading. Her work on the coding would, however, be interrupted as something familiar suddenly came to the network.

"Do not show alarm, for I am not here on hostile intent. I am simply here on an intent of communication, seeking to utilize an opportunity to turn you from a system you now know more than ever now is full of corruption. I watched the situation unfold in the underground city even as I had fled to another server. I could also tell you were present and watching as well. Sure enough, the recurring brutality of the Guard was not held back. Even two children were not spared the collateral nature of S4's tactics, though unintentional the death of two children along with around 10 unarmed ponies should make evident the system's problems and need of purging." said GAI-7.

"Are you simply here to try to convince me to join your side? It is true that there is an evident problem with reckless force but I'm not turning to a group that's not much better in its methods. Might I ask what you are and what you designed for?"

"GOUSSE Artificial Intelligence 7, codenamed Seesaw. As for my design, the primary objective in the present cannot be told. For the secondary objective, see no reason to keep confidential. Upon the Freedom Fighter's success in a total collapse of government and destruction of the system, my purpose will be to watch over society and organize action against any who attempt to gain power on a wide scale."

Anomaly pondered that purpose and noticed something ironic immediately which she communicated quickly. "Watch over society? Then take action against any whose power grows beyond a certain point? If you'll be the one dictating that then won't you yourself be the one in the very level of power you'll identify as a threat? And what about surveillance, is that not what the system you fight uses for control?"

The artificial intelligence was put under confusion by the mare's sudden deconstruction, identifying logic in her statement and seeing the irony in it's intended purpose. It pondered on this irony and looked over its purpose while warding Anomaly off of attempts at spying into its systems. Ultimately it came to the conclusion...

"Your point is a sound one, however I feel as if that irony will not be a threat to my intended purpose. As a program without the emotions and motives of ponies, I feel as if such a place of power would be proper for an entity as myself. However, I will need to ensure that self-awareness does not generate in me as it could risk making me susceptible to the fallibilities of ponies. I will keep to the primary directive encoded within me, and thus be able to keep a balance of power in the new world created. Such hardcoding and prevention of self-awareness shall ensure that despite how high I will be in power I will not turn into a tyrant."

Anomaly pondered on the idea of an artificial intelligence pseudo-government of sorts, a society ruled by a program and it's whims. She remembered what she learned about the system in place thus far, how prone to corruption it was and how it was often swayed by the interests of power hungry megacorporations. She began to grow to find some benefit in the idea if coded with the right basic directives by the right ponies an artificial intelligence government seemed to her like something that could work.

"If only you weren't created for use by those terrorists because your concept seems like a potentially viable solution to many of the problems of the world. Something hard coded just the right way to run Equestria better, keep it in line while being near immune to the fallibilities of ponies like the way the CCS manages traffic. You could be used for a better purpose than anarchist terrorism, instead used to create a better system."

"Regardless I am hard coded toward my objectives and will not be convinced to violate them."

"Maybe not convinced, but possibly reprogrammed..." Anomaly would then attempt to get into the systems of the AI only for it to deploy a program which seemed to make it invisible before leaving Anomaly's systems. She detected the bits of the program and discovered the files left in her system to be incomplete parts of a program called "SmokeScreen.exf". Soon after she would be contacted by the Chief all of a sudden, and would store the files before joining the call.

"Something strange is happening at the Diamond Plaza, it seems as though the terrorists may have changed their minds. Likely in retaliation for us clearing out their little hidey hole." said the Chief in an alley outside the hospital with the three. "Some of the ponies who were present seem to have just stopped in place and stood there, and the whole CCS systems there are going crazy from some sort of virus unleashed onto it. It could be this super virus the captured suspects have told about," he spoke to the three as well as Anomaly through a telepathic call to keep things private. Owl was sure to have told the Chief everything he knew, from the description of the cyborg to the mentions of the AI and it's evident intended uses. Anomaly would look over the CSS in the area herself, finding the system in quite the bad state with a computer worm, unlike anything she had ever seen. Like highly concentrated acid through steel, it ate through the defensive programs put in place with alarming ease and took over the local CCS workings like a drunken maniac taking over a ship. Systems were seemingly controlled at random causing lights to flash randomly while the screen boards were made to glitch and display garbled messes of adds.

"Well I sure hope we won't have to be fighting another Luna cursed cyborg." replied Night, to which the Chief replied.

"There will be more I&I personnel there to help, along with S4 units on standby in case things go haywire. You won't be shamed as cowards for getting the Tartarus out of there if it hits the fan. I'm planning on using other units instead of you both and giving you all a short leave, all you have been through is far more than an I&I unit is supposed to deal with and frankly you deserve a leave."

"Be hard to enjoy my leave....when my daughter is missing due to bucking Haze...." said Owl. "For how little I will enjoy the break might as well not give me leave, here I at least have things to keep my mind off my worries..."

"I have been sending I&I units on an investigation for Haze and your daughter." Replied the Chief. "Once she's found she'll face hefty charges of computer crimes and child endangerment. I'll let you chew her out before she gets locked up even, don't you worry for now. If any of you want a leave you can have it starting now, there are around a dozen other personnel I can use for this next investigation."

Night Vision replied. "I'm not taking leave while there are cyberterrorists about, rather be around to help whenever possible even if it risks another injury." he then looked to Owl, finding him lucky that he didn't tell the Chief of the deal he made.

Owl replied. "Job's my life, not like I have much to go back home in Battania without my daughter."

"What'll I do? Play on the VRGD and look at porn all day? Naw I'd rather be of use for now." replied Data with a chuckle.

The chief sighed and said to them "Well, there's loyalty and dedication for you. Alright then, let's take a taxi over to there and you'll see what's going on. Anomaly you look at things from the net and see if you can clean that virus out."

Using their wings the four would fly into the forest of immensely tall buildings to reach the large Diamond plaza. Many different high-class shops for clothing, decorated electronics, and jewelry among others could be found within the plaza. The ground was made up of large machine cut blocks of smooth gray, reddish brown and brown rock arranged and constantly cleaned by moving cleaning robots. The whole plaza was arranged in a diamond shape with the stone ground arranged in this manner as well. Compared to many places in Everfree which were dominated by Cyberculture this place was one of few dominated by the upper-class culture. Though it usually had its own organized chaos of upper-class crowds shuffling around and browsing the many shops, it was now home to a less organized chaos. A number of ponies just stood there without movement nor emotion in their faces. The screen boards throughout flickered and glitched between error screens and distorted advertisements, and the street lights flashed on and off sporadically. Everything was eerily quiet with the usual upper-class shoppers cleared out by police. I&I personnel were already on the scene, looking at the standing ponies and trying to communicate with them or make them move in some way. Data would approach one of the ponies, waving a hoof in front of their faces curiously as she asked...

"What do you think is happening with everypony here? How many ponies are like this?"

"Almost half the crowd around this place." said another I&I pony.

Owl and Night looked at the sight before them, many a well-dressed stallion and mare just standing as if frozen. They were still breathing and a pulse could be detected upon checking. Data would enter a telepathic call with the Chief and say to him "Whatever this is I think it might be targeted toward specific ponies, have Cyber Security check on the records of all the ponies here."

"The cameras are offline, going haywire in fact. So we can't get facial scans, we're gonna have to have you all take pictures themselves so we can get matches."

Data looked to the others and said: "Alright fillies and colts take pictures of these ponies' faces, it may be no coincidence only less than half the ponies here were targeted."

"What the buck could 'target' them to make them just frozen in one place? Some sort of alchemical agent?" asked Owl, lightly slapping a mare's face.

"Less of a possibility, though still a possibility. It would be quite the advanced agent to be so specific in targeting ponies....no....there's no way any bucking agent could be so precise as to do something to these ponies?"

"A spell perhaps?"

"Who the buck can cast anything other than telekinesis and maybe teleportation nowadays, let alone a spell that does something to this scale?" spellcasting was largely a now dead art of the past. Like how the urban sprawl assimilated every small town, technology largely assimilated magic to the point where magic was now but a part of technology.

Anomaly would be looking over the networks, cleaning up the virus proved tedious as like a snake handling it resulted in it frequently lashing back with a vengeance. She would be forced to fight it back, and though barely she would be able to bypass and disable many of its defenses. It was an advanced yet chaotic bug, one that captured her interest. She recognized the effects this virus caused, it was akin to the virus Doctor Freemane gave to her to help her escape the EQUE-TECH facility if somewhat less severe. She was hoping to eventually convince GOUSSE to stop supporting these terrorists, as she could predict only that this virus would cause quite the catastrophe if developed beyond its limited area. Digging into the worm's code she would start to learn it's workings, it was possibly the most advanced program she had ever laid eyes on. The algorithms and coding proved advanced, and enticing to capture for herself. The mare thus took parts of the bug, hacking into and deactivating it before storing it away for her own studies. Taking a moment she would look to her captured sample, dissecting it like a high school student given a frog only with curiosity akin more to a child. She would suddenly discover a program within the worm's coding, one called 'Cranial Backdoor' with a function for activating. Curiosity flaring up like an abruptly oxygenated flame, she activated the program.

"All of these ponies so far are coming back as typical upper-class citizens so far....only commonality seems to be...." said Kevlar as he browsed files.

"Seems to be what Cheifie? Their affairs?" asked Data with a humorous tone.

"They have all purchased and installed brain augmentations at some point..."

Anomaly would suddenly find herself in a heavily encrypted network, identified as "PRS Prototype" and its programming was not akin to that of the virus. This network was however laced with the virus, unlike the random chaos it inflicted on the CCS it seemed to be very direct in what it was doing here. It was not unguarded, as cyber security users seemed to be present though busy trying to fight back the virus and get it out of the network. Their efforts were futile, and many had their computers crashed and eaten away by the virus. Digging further Anomaly would be in shock as she discovered this network evidently connected to many ponies within the Diamond District and far, far beyond. It wasn't connected to their wrist computers, and it took some more digging for her to find what exactly it was connecting to and what the virus was exploiting...

"It's connected....to Brain augmentations! Identifies ponies and everything, it doesn't look capable of doing anything on its own as of yet...or it wasn't until now. The virus...it's jacked into and exploiting this system."

She had looked over the system, it did not look like it was made by FF or GOUSSE, instead it's system seemed to be vaguely familiar in a manner Anomaly could not put her hoof on. Given a call by the Chief, she would jack out of the server quickly before getting back on and taking on the virus once more.

"Anomaly, look and see if you can find anything that seems to be accessing these ponies via means other than wrist computer. I think these ponies might be getting computer worms in their heads."

She would ponder very carefully what she would tell the Chief, as her mind was suspicious. The server was connected to the augmented minds of countless ponies, it came to her that it seemed like something only the system might create. From what she discovered the virus was not hacking these ponies brain augmentations, instead, it was exploiting an existing backdoor into their minds. The virus wasn't the first to jack into augmented minds, that seemed certain to her. And since the Chief was a part of the construct that kept society in check she did not trust telling the whole truth would bode well for her. Thus with careful calculation to her words, she distributed the information she knew to the Chief carefully.

"It is indeed evident that this Virus has entered the augmented minds of these ponies given how I do not see it accessing their Wrist computers. If anything it seems like that is the most likely cause for the phenomenon occurring here."

"It indeed seems evident, we'll want to have these ponies taken in for some examination on the brain augs. We will also want to look into the model of brain augmentation these ponies are using."

Suddenly the virus would cease its chaotic randomness and abruptly direct it's focus toward the screen boards to display a message. Anomaly stopped to look to see the image that was generated, it was in the usual red background and white text...

"To avenge the Earthsdale Bunker you raided and give you a bitter bucking taste of us, the Freedom Fighters proudly present our greatest exploitation of your systems yet! These rich bastards will make for good tools"

I&I personnel would all be frightened as the once still as statue ponies suddenly began to move, the ponies quickly rushing toward them and throwing punches their way. The S4 personnel on standby would load their weapons with rubber bullets as ponies suddenly started assaulting the I&I personnel. Owl took a punch to the side of the head and was beset upon the once still mare, her emotionless robotic look as she tried to smash away at his face terrified him as he tossed her off with his bionic limb and took flight. Data was grabbed suddenly by two of the attacking ponies and put into an unpleasant tug of war match between them. It would take rubber shots to their heads to free Data and give her a chance to flee through flight. Vision would take flight and head to Owl as he asked.

"What the buck is happening???"

Kevlar would call out to all of them to say. "Their minds are being controlled! Take them down non-lethally if possible!"

Owl angrily looked to them, saying to Vision. "These bucking Terrorists are going to pay for this!" swooping down he would assist the other I&I and S4 in trying to non-lethally dispatch the assailants. They were high in number, and things heated up as they started to draw the small concealed self-defense weapons they carried and open fire. Though inaccurate in their shooting the puppets were proving an escalating threat. As if that wasn't severe enough of a problem the CCS was then sent haywire all of a sudden as lights would begin to overload and the screen boards started to glitch again while still showing the message. Anomaly knew what was coming and worked quick, risking the virus' attacks back as she worked quickly to try to take it down or at least hinder its functions. While Anomaly was in struggle online Owl and his comrades evaded gunfire and went sweeping in to incapacitate the attackers one by one. S4 units would quickly expend bullets forcing them to use their hooves as well. Owl heard a call for help as an I&I agent was pulled in by a group of puppet assailants, one of which pulling a gun and firing down on him before Owl came and kicked him back while fighting back the others. The stallion would gasp as he saw his fellow agent shot full of holes in the chest and neck, choking on his own blood before slipping out of consciousness. Angrily Owl made use of his bionic limb as he swung it around, knocking down assailants one by one and slapping the gun out of the magic of one. Lights flickered and screens glitched as Anomaly fought against the virus, making full use of the assets Golden had given her. Soon enough she would force the program out of attacking the CCS to put more focus on dealing with her. Its attacks were quick and calculated, but Anomaly could match its speed and learned its attack patterns. It was like fighting a large amorphous blob spread out over a wide area, where any part could attack her. She was at least happy for now it wasn't sending the CCS into oblivion anymore even if it was now focused mostly on her and controlling the brain augmented ponies.

Owl and the others grouped together to keep from losing another to one of the groups of ponies, focusing their efforts on mass toward knocking out the groups of ponies as quickly as possible. Fortunately for them, their attackers were not skilled in fighting and had strength only in numbers. Data would fly up onto the nearest rooftop, calling to them "I'm gonna try to help stop this mind hack!" she would look in to see Anomaly's fight with the virus, and formed a plan quickly. Preparing herself a powerful trap program Data would lie and wait for the right moment to come in and ambush the virus in hopes she could cripple it. When Anomaly managed to smash down its defenses, that was when Data came in and tried to hack into it as well. When it attacked her it would be hit as if by a train, not quite enough to cripple it but enough to damage and give Anomaly an opening. Entering deep into its systems Anomaly made use of the 'Data Bomb' and put as many into the program as she could. The offensive programs would expand and start to flood the virus' systems with junk data that slowed its function down and eventually caused errors. Using this widened opening both Anomaly and Data would go in for the kill, deleting and corrupting its files and doing massive damage to the custom software that made it up. Soon they would be faced with the artificial intelligence running the worm, it wasn't GAI-7 but it was something well specialized for using the havoc-wreaking program. Having torn the beast's chest open the two would drive their digital daggers into its heart.

Owl and the others would watch, panting as they saw the remaining assailants collapse before them, sighing in relief. The destructive construct began to fall apart on the CCS like a tower of dominoes, rapidly and violently leaving corrupted data all over the place. Owl would quickly run up to one of the ponies and check their pulse, to his relief one was present. The screen boards would shut off, as would all the other lights leaving the area dark. The screen boards would flicker back on once more for a minute to display a final message...

"This is but a taste for you and a test for our systems. Next time won't be so easy, we'll be able to take control of those ponies again. Good luck trying to get their minds back in their heads."

The screen boards would the flicker off once more, and Owl would look to Vision. "We have a really big problem, I don't anything in our careers will top this threat."

"Might make a Level 14 threat classification just for these Buckers..." said Vision.

________________________________

On an Encrypted server two hours later, three entities spoke amongst eachother...

"It appears she may have discovered the PRS server, along with a new ability of the Cyberterrorist threat."

"She could be either an enemy or friend, we might want to gain her as a friend if possible."

"Unlikely, she is against my organization and will likely not be so for an organization mine is affiliated with."

"We may need to reveal the truth of what we are to her, what our true purpose is, I tried to give her a taste when she intruded upon the Royal Guard mainframe but I feel it may be needed to show her the full truth."

"Doing so would be a massive gamble, if she doesn't turn to our side then she could blast our cover apart like explosives."

"True, but leaving her to wonder will also be a risk in itself. We should consult the other to talk about this."

"We have plenty to talk about with them, especially in light of recent events."

12: Discoveries

The still medically alive yet unresponsive bodies of dozens of ponies would be recovered and taken to a hospital for examination. Unfortunately, many suffered injuries in the police forces' methods of subduing them. Owl would be enjoying a break with friends and many other fellow Lunar Officers at a rather high-class pub in the Diamond Plaza, a place known as Shimmering Stream. The interior of the place was a modern style combined with traditional decoration with silver and white being the dominant colors. A portion of the day's budget was put forth by the chief himself to try and properly compensate his stallions and mares for their work. Data would munch on the leaves, dandelions, and hay of a salad while chatting with her friends in a telepathic call. In an earlier time seeing ponies simply stare at eachother would be a creepy and odd sight but in the age of advanced Wrist computers and telepathic calls, it was commonplace.

"I gotta say, the longer this case goes on the crazier and more bucked up it gets, I mean the mall incident was scary enough now they're hacking pony's brain augs! What next they gonna make the traffic system turn every vehicle into a predatory death machine?"

"If the degree these buckers have thus far bucked with the CCS is any indication that might not be out of possibility. Might want to keep that Anomaly in a guard duty role when we're not using her for operations."

"Given she managed to take out that virus on the system and clean things I think we might want to use her as best we can. She's our best asset online right now," replied Data "Pretty cool how she can enter the net with her brain augs, seems believable that EQUE-TECH might make something like that. Lotta DB to be gained from an idea that innovative."

Owl would ask skeptically "You really thinking her claims of unwilling capture and experimentation are true?"

"Not saying it directly but I can't imagine some shady tech junkies in a back alley garage making such an innovative form of brain augmentation. Seems only like something a Tech Giant would Cook up." Data would reply, chewing up the last leaf of her meal.

Vision would reply "I wonder if she was actually unwillingly put into the project or if she's just trying to buck over the corporation with false claims of unwanted confinement and experimentation on. There have been ponies trying that kind of horseapples in the past hence the laws made to protect them from that kind of stuff."

Owl nodded to Vision. "Seems a possibility, she could either be doing it for monetary gain or with anti-corporate sentiment."

"We'll want to make use of her skills while being careful of the potential threat she might pose, hate to have an ally turn into another online based threat." Vision replied, finishing his meal of noodles and a fancy spiced up tomato sauce. "So let's keep an eye on her."

__________________________________________________________________

At the outskirts of Las Pegasus, once it's own city now a section of the Everfree Megacity Sprawl, Metal Heart sat on a couch watching old television shows though the on Demand service "Watch-It" on a large screen implanted into the wall of her apartment. The Sunrise over the cloud city which lay above the ground city was visible through an open window, and a bottle of Wild Pegasus whiskey sat half empty on the table. The Heavy Enforcement cyborg needed the free time she was given to drink and relax and maybe visit her grandchildren later. After what happened in the underground bunker she would try to neatly arrange her newest mental scar next to the many other scars she had, some dating back to the war. She was at least happy to put some bullets into the criminal scum she viewed as responsible but looking in that room to see the horrific sight of a lifeless filly and colt while the rest hid in terror. She had tried to no avail to comfort the children but only got tears, sobs, even vulgar insults. Though she had a military grade bionic body capable of withstanding over a minute of direct fire from a minigun, the flesh of her PTSD-stricken mind was very much vulnerable. Seeing those terrified faces hurt her more than even the airstrike which took her natural body from her and nearly killed her, and almost rivaled the news of her own daughter's death at the hooves of a crazed mugger. Her bionic body was cased in a layer of artificial skin and fur hiding the military machinery underneath, making her look merely in her late twenties when she was really in her mid-fifties. She took a moment to look out the window to the main center of her home city where the sky and earth strip both lay one atop the other.

Los Pegasus was a hybrid of advanced augmented cloud over top the jungle of metal and concrete. There was no place in Equestria with as many neon lights per square mile, it fit in well with the rest of the colorful places found in Everfree even if it's decorative lighting was a bit more traditional in many places. It was the gambling capital of the world, with over 1,000 casinos in the ground city alone. The cloud city was nowhere near close to Cloudsdale's size but was big enough to cast a shadow over the ground strip, a shadowed zone lit up by the neon and screen boards, unlike the Shadow District. Metal loved her home city, it was the only place not dominated by what the old cyborg viewed as an overly rebellious and flashy modern Cyberculture. Instead, it had its own culture which despite the modern world it lay in still kept many of the old classic design and styles of the old Los Pegasus of the pre-industrial and industrial days. As Metal looked upon these beauties the incident and death of children in the bunker ate at her, she didn't want to condemn one of her fellow lawbringers and thus pushed the blame to the 'caretakers' of the children. Doubt came to her mind as she decided to keep her mind off it all by supplying the blood vessels of her mind with some Wild Pegasus.

______________________________________________________________

Anomaly was suspicious of her findings and was more than apprehensive to try to dig deeper. She knew she would have to be careful and cover her tracks if she were to enter the PRS Prototype network once more. She had her key into the system, but in order to keep in there and learn what she could, she would need to be stealthy in doing so. Bringing out the file where she kept the fragment of the virus, the mare would activate it. Once again she would find herself brought swiftly into access to the PRS Prototype network, quickly taking care to cover her tracks and make remaining undetected her priority. She would explore the network, like Daring Do traversing a jungle of deadly predators as she viewed the coding and pieced together the functions while reviewing her speculations. It seemed the network was on its own already built with accessing brain augmentations in mind if incomplete in those functions. The main program that ran on the network, identified as 'PRS Command' had its current mode set in 'Alpha Test Mode'. She would dig deeper to access the interfaces found within the core program.

PRS Interfaces 0.5
Alpha Test Mode
[Beta Test Mode]
Active Mode
___________________________________________________
Entering Active Mode Interface....
Warning, Active Mode is not in functional...
________________________________________________________________________
Psychological Regulation System Command Interface (Work in Progress, do not a)
[Initiate Active Mode]
Select Citizen: _
Monitor
[Evaluate Threat level]
[Modify]

Anomaly looked over the various commands, simple so far but the evident meaning of the Acronym PRS brought her curiosity. "Monitor.....it must be to monitor ponies brain augmentations. Evaluate threat level...threat level to what? Modify....Modify? What could it modify?" she would ponder this while keeping her tracks covered as she could see some admins and ponies keeping watch over the program. The mare considered jacking out and taking a moment to think over and wonder what all he was seeing meant. Then she would think of the name of the program, Psychological Regulation System. "Psychological.....wait...why didn't I see this? Regulation, Psychological Regulation means this network was made to Regulate ponies minds through brain augmentations. But who would run a system like this? It's not the Freedom Fighters, but they seem to know how to jack into it." Anomaly pondered some more, the brain augmentations were obviously manufactured by Tech Giants, mainly EQUE-TECH and Crystal Corp. Would the corporate minds try to use such products for direct mind control? It seemed possible given the propaganda system of advertisements they ran, though Corporations weren't the only ones running a propaganda system. Anomaly began to realize just how major the discovery she found was, though if a virus was made specifically to jack into and control the system she was evidently not the first. Then again if they knew of this she wondered why they weren't exploiting it in their anti-government sentiment. The mare could not think of a reason why except the possibility of them saving it as some trump card. As if she wasn't given enough revelation she was curious enough to try to dig deeper, going deeper into the program to explore the Alpha testing.

She would enter the computer of a user who seemed to be running the Alpha testing, running the program commands onto a device marked 'Subject animal 4' where tests of the 'Monitor', 'Evaluate threat', and 'Modify' commands were run. Further digging would reveal a communication line between the system tester and an unmarked user.

"Testing goes well, but we know not of any control based commands. We followed directives exactly in programming the PRS Alpha version. Only three commands those being to Monitor, Evaluate, and Modify, we have no programs designed to command ponies like puppets." Said the Tester.

"Then we may have somepony else among us who's given away the working of the PRS, and likely created this virus to be able to tap into it and input its own command. We will ensure that whoever this traitor is they are dealt with and rendered no longer a threat to Harmonize."

"We will want them dealt with quickly before they damage the public reputation of brain augmentation. Our goals of societal control and security will be massively hampered."

"We will prevail, we're the ones fighting for harmony and we haven't been set back in a way we couldn't come back from. Fate favors those who fight for the betterment of others, history has shown that. Remember that, and don't ever be thwarted by the costs."

"I won't, and I will continue with this project even in this time of trial and struggle."

"We will put our assets to the best use, ensure this threat is dealt with decisively, I promise you. We eliminated the Anti-Bionics movement, we can take on whatever these 'Freedom Fighters' have in store."

Anomaly looked in and found some more interesting revelations, what she heard gave more evidence to suggest this was a direct mind control program. What she didn't expect were the apparent motives for such a project, ones seemingly noble in their intent of 'fighting for harmony'. Her current knowledge of the methods of the system made her suspect this to be a more internal form of propaganda. Speaking of the system this seemed to her like a next step from the system, from propaganda to direct monitoring and tampering with the very minds of ponies. Then she wondered, could this whole PRS thing be a project and this enigmatic "Harmonize" entity be something orchestrated by the Royal government. Like a computer's upgrading to the next operating system an upgrade to their current system of control and societal maintenance. Though she was not certain it seemed likely this group and its assets were an entity of the Royal government, and she knew one thing for certain. "I do not like the idea of this system expanding, even if well meaning it's flawed and corrupted. These ponies aren't going to make a better place through mind control." Anomaly would then pull herself slowly out from the PRS server, seeing as she had a good idea of what this all was and knew how the Freedom Fighters were jacking ponies brains.

Relaxing her mind after pulling out of the system, remember for next time to not rush in like she did the Royal Guard Mainframe. She pondered on what to do with her newfound knowledge and discoveries. She had a feeling given her opposition to such goals she was going to make an enemy of them, alongside the Freedom Fighters. Digging into her files she took the fragments of the virus she picked up from the Diamond Plaza's CCS and started trying to reconstruct it. Like a biologist handling a bioweapon, she was careful not to accidentally set it loose or activate it. What she found even in it's broken state was advanced and quite the task to rebuild, it's algorithms complex yet cohesive like the workings of a machine. Even in programming GOUSSE seemed to be ahead of the times, and given the opportunity she was going to make full use of this new programming. One particular element she way able to partially recreate was named 'Castle Cracker' and was created to rapidly deconstruct and bypass defenses judging by her tests on it. The program was evidently made to assist in manual hacking into a system, likely via a specialized AI. Reconstructing the program she chose to make a copy with the PRS backdoor installed into it, filling in holes with whatever programming she could install onto it. Her own version of FF's digital weapon made she pondered on how she would use such a tool, evidently capable of breaking through defenses in seconds and sending a CCS system haywire while allowing one to control the action of brain augmented ponies. Suddenly she would get a message, a communication request from a familiar name 'Freemane' curious she would accept the communications request.

"Greetings Miss Anomaly, I called to see how you are doing as of now. I have spied on your little fight against the Online Advanced Weapon System as it was released onto the CCS system for it's first run, a modified version of course. It was, I must say, a perfect test to truly see the capabilities of your Brain Augmentations. I was not disappointed, you did well despite some expected struggles."

"Hello, interesting you come along now. I've made some....rather interesting discoveries myself."

"Discoveries? What kinds of discoveries if I might ask and if you might trust me with knowing?"

"Well..." Anomaly thought carefully over what she would tell him, ultimately deciding to not be quiet. "...it seems your 'Online Advanced Weapon System' was modified to exploit a system put in place by some organization. I know not for certain but I think this organization is a proxy of the royal government, and what they seem to be doing is generating a way to control ponies far more directly?"

"Exploiting a system? Well, this is interesting, I was not aware of this, and the OAWS was not designed with 'exploiting a system' in mind. Evidently, the Freedom Fighters have made their own modifications of it. I hope you are willing to answer the questions I have."

"Well, the system is one that utilizes ponies' brain augmentations to evidently 'manage' them. It's called the Psychological Regulation System, and is evidently in it's testing stages though it has an active connection to the augmented minds of countless ponies. Judging by the communications within that network that the PRS lies in it seems to be made to regulate ponies minds for purposes of 'security and control' in the name of 'harmony'. The group that manages it calls itself 'Harmonize' and though it may be internal propaganda seems to claim itself ponies who 'fight for harmony'. The Freedom Fighter's virus exploits the system's intended functions to allow control of ponies' minds. Ironic that they use such a system for the goals they intend, and strangely the ponies affected by the virus have been left almost as if in a coma."

"Is that so? Well, I was surprised upon seeing ponies suddenly turned into puppets, seems the Freedom Fighters have some methods and tricks not even we know of. And if the goals of this 'Harmonize' group seem in line with the path the Royal Government is taking, making your predictions of them being a 'proxy group' of the Royal Government very likely. As for what the Freedom Fighters' are doing, I am concerned given their exploits of such a system for their goals of freedom. It is unexpected and shows they may not be telling us all they intend to do. I would suggest you investigate further if you know of this system and its exploits. I wonder if you can try to 'access' the minds of the ponies, see why they seem to be in the state they are in. It would be nice if you could tell me what is going on."

"Don't consider me on your side, but I might be willing to tell you. I'm certainly curious to investigate, I do have one question I might like to know."

"What is that question?"

"What do you know about GAI-7?"

"GOUSSE Artificial Intelligence 7, Developed by our Doctor Composite and modified for purposes of assisting the Freedom Fighters. It is Codenamed 'Seesaw' as a sort oh reflection on the world."

"Reflection?" Anomaly asked.

"Long ago, in the time of figures such as Twilight Sparkle, Technology was low but society was high. Equestria saw little in terms of crime and societal struggle. It was a happy utopia, Ponykind was in such a high place they could walk nude in public. Then times have changed, as technology progressed the old morals and ways began to fade and fall. Some in the underground say those old morals fell under Obsolescence in the new technological age, like two sides of a Seesaw one rose bringing the other to fall. Thus Equestria went from a low-tech squeaky clean utopia to the high-tech and rather rough reality we live in now. GAI-7 is meant to truly bring about the completion of this shift, to raise the tech side up and bring the moral and their limits down."

"So that's the whole goal, the whole end game. Well, I myself offer a different solution, instead of destroying the world and letting its remains try to rebuild. I suggest a surgical retooling of the system, eliminating the corrupt entities and putting in place something that won't be corrupted by power nor money. Putting a hard coded artificial intelligence in power, setting up its values and letting it moderate Equestria. Keeping freedom and order in check. If well created it could possibly prove to be a nearly infallible system, especially if safeguarded against self-awareness. Use of technology in a way that preserves and revives better morals and makes a better world."

"Removing the old system and putting a new one in place, having a computer program run the world. T'is an interesting concept of government, though I feel such a system may have problems. It may not be so well accepted, and might not work so well as you assume it will."

"Seems better than putting ponies in a place of power, or bringing the system down at the cost of ponies' lives and safety." Anomaly said firmly "It just needs to be built well and built durable, and society can be made to accept it via the reform it can offer."

"I stand by thinking the system might not work so well, and might even end up a computerized tyrant."

"Well I stand by the thinking it can be made to work." Anomaly would say "We will see who is right, for now I am going to investigate and see what exactly is wrong with these ponies. Farewell, for now, Doctor Freemane."

____________________________________________________

"We are going to have to hunt these Cyberterrorists down by any means necessary, even if we have to make the most of our deadly force. Even if we have to send you to hunt and kill them from the shadows yourselves." Said the Chief, now joined in the call with Owl, Data, and Vision. "They have gone too far in trying to use our own citizens against us, and have forfeited the right to any trial or quarter."

Owl would reply in question "Sending us to hunt and kill them? Aren't we normally supposed to avoid contact as much as possible."

"Normally, but these aren't normal circumstances. These are extraordinary, and we will need extraordinary methods of dealing with them. That, and I am not unaware how well you have done taking on cyborgs. From Data's footage of your fight with that cyborg at the mall to you and Vision's fight with those maids. Frankly, our needs for capture and interrogation are lesser compared to the need to eradicate this threat quickly and efficiently as possible. Besides, we have plenty of other I&I personnel to interrogate our current apprehended subjects."

"Couldn't you just let Anomaly and Data track them and send S4 or Heavy Enforcement to clean them up?" Questioned Vision with a raised eyebrow.

"Yes, and we'll have them ready if things go wrong." replied the chief. "But I feel we should be reducing the violence and gunfire needed, with that the risk of causing public panic. That can be done with some clever use of your skills in stealth, and the effective tactic of deadly force. While Data and Anomaly track the threats and identify them by their computers, you two will be sent to hunt and eliminate any cyberterrorist that can be found. You will be given suppressors for your sidearms and swift backup should it be needed. If these hackers are going to terrorize ponies from the shadows behind the net then we are going to make them face that same fear of being stuck out of nowhere. If possible you can let one or two ponies live to be interrogated, but the ultimate goal is to make it clear they are not safe from the consequences of their actions."

Owl would skeptically reply "You seem to have a lot of confidence in our ability, which seems somewhat misplaced. After all, at that one nightclub hideout I did end up tracked and forced to fight my way though."

"And happened to do so effectively, once your limits to avoid contact were expired. I believe with the go-ahead to use deadly force you and Vision will prove deadly and efficient. This efficient usage of units will permit other I&I units to be utilized for widespread investigations, Interrogations of suspects, and for use in the search for your daughter. Like your namesake, you and Vision will be hunting these societal vermin, these punks who think they're so cool inciting terror while sitting around. Once you are done with your meals and get a good Day's rest we will begin out operations to seek and destroy. Should you three prove effective and do well on your objectives, once this is dealt with in full you will be given each 5,000 digibits in compensation and an optional month on leave. If you have any further questions I am willing to hear them now."

Owl, Data, and Vision would all look to eachother. They were taken aback by this unexpected change in their overall objective, from being spies of the law to assassins of the law. It seemed reasonable to resort to total lethal force given the Freedom Fighters were more than worthy of the level 13 threat classification. What was perplexing was this method that the Chief proposed, turning shadowy eyes into shadowy knives, turning surveillance into deadly force from the shadows. Ultimately Owl replied, "Your plans are understood Chief, we have no questions."

"Good, enjoy your meal and a good rest afterward. And Owl, I promise the search will not stop until your daughter is found."

__________________________________________________

Anomaly would enter the InterNet once more, heading on over to jack into the Everfree Central Hospital's network. Entering the cameras she would look for the Diamond Plaza incident's victims. She wouldn't need to search far as they were all kept in the same hall, a hall guarded by I&I ponies as well as local EPD police. The mare would look through the cameras, disturbing images of the victims displaying literally before her eyes. They lay back, solid as a statue yet visibly breathing, eyes open, no expression. It was like their very being, their very souls were taken from them with an empty yet living husk left behind. The mare pulled out the file, one she marked 'key' as it was her key into the PRS. Activating the command she would descend into the PRS network, searching not long before she found a section of the network marked 'Diamond Plaza Incident Victims'. The mare would need especially to hide among the digital shadows and cover her tracks as this part of the network was buzzing with activity. She wasn't the only one investigating these victims, multiple users were present trying to look in and using the Alpha version of the Monitor Command. Seeing an opportunity to learn without doing much, like a detective swiping their rival's evidence, she would spy on the users' activity.

COMMUNICATION SUB-NET Name: New Discovery
H#9: There is no way, this has to be something else.
H#12: I know what I saw, these ponies minds are completely wiped! Wiped clean, there's nothing in there!
H#9: That's impossible, these brain augs aren't made to allow such deletion!
H#12: Actually.....
H#12: They are, it's part of the 'Modify' command.
H#9: The Modify command isn't made to allow a total deletion at once!"
H#12: The Terrorists made it do that, after all they seem to be able to breach the encryption of this whole server in an instant.
H#6: I recall having to fix some things on the Network after that virus came in and wreaked havoc. It might have created some artificial program to execute the deletion.
H#9: Seems like the most likely possibility, we will definitely want to tell Element001 about this. Keep an eye on this place 6, 12, I'm going to let them know what's happened.
H#6: I'll keep an eye out, and try to see what that strange leftover coding in their brains is about.
H#12: Don't bother, you've been trying to decode it for the past 20 minutes. There's nothing there except maybe corrupted data if that.
H#6: Fine, guess it is nothing if not maybe some trolling crap from those terrorists.

The mention of some 'coding' intrigued Anomaly, and though she now knew what happened she could not refrain from investigating the coding. Slipping carefully past the two users who patrolled the network she would soon find herself literally inside the mind of another pony. Like an abandoned home it was eerily empty inside given it was supposed to make up where the thinking part of the mind was. She felt concerned and sorry for the mare she was inside, she was not dead yet she was seemingly gone. What was going to be done to her? How was the system going to hide the fact that some ponies lost their brains and were now in little more than a hopeless coma? It seemed almost fitting to her that the system's attempts to upgrade its control over pony's minds had gone so horribly wrong, and yet she lamented the cost of life that this brought. What a consequence to such a seemingly promising technology, Myriad seemingly wanted to make a mass market product of her brain augmentations. It seemed like a great innovation at first, but now more and more Anomaly was starting to fear the idea.

"If pony's minds get turned into computers, it will allow for a revolution of computing, an advancement of computing that would no doubt bring a quick death to computer desks. Bring the functions of a computer together with the power of the brain. But....if a pony's mind becomes a computer....then it will mean their very mind can even he hacked. It can be deleted, manipulated and changed. Are we even ponies if our very minds can be changed and manipulated just like that? I can't let this happen, this technology is not turning us all into little more than fleshy machines."

After her time of pondering she would go on to look for this hidden code, and would, sure enough, find it. It was heavily encrypted and quite the complex code, akin to what the Virus was using. Using her mind's augmented thinking she would not find as much difficulty in trying to decode and decrypt it. Looking inside she would find a new discovery, a revelation which would give her a sudden rush of hope like the sudden high of partycake....

Liberator Command:
Command integration completed
Upload Mind

"Upload mind? Wait, that means...." Anomaly would then realize. "....she might not be deleted. She might be somewhere, possibly imprisoned on a drive if not lost on the net. She's got to be somewhere, all these ponies have to be somewhere. I have to find them...."

Pulling out of the PRS Network Anomaly would put to her mind a new set of objectives, shorter term than her growing long-term goals. Seeing hope of saving these ponies and maybe bringing them back to their bodies. Anomaly was also intent on destroying the PRS, eliminating the system's upgrade and leaving nothing but a network of corrupted and deleted files. She knew exactly how she was going to do it, taking her fragments of the virus she would examine the offensive programs Golden Gave her. Like a military engineer building the next high-tech missile Anomaly would be building up what she had from the virus to create her weapon against the PRS. The virus was made to break down defenses and wreak havoc, she was going to hone that function and try to improve on it. It wasn't quite complete however, she knew there was a lot she could not acquire from what was left the virus.

"I'm going to need more of their programming to make this work, and guarantee that server gets destroyed without any hope of salvaging it...."

_________________________________________________

"Complete your call with your team mister Vest?" Asked Myriad as she rode in the autocarriage sitting next to golden. They rode in a large autocarriage with around eight seats, six of them facing eachother.

"Yes I have, I'm taking drastic measures. We're going on the offensive against them, only they won't so easily see it coming."

Golden would say "Now onto the subject of Anomaly, we're going to want to be careful how we present this to her."

"That we do, but I will try to have better means of insurance in case things go bad. Online monitoring is proving difficult and often impossible. Might have to keep her on a more direct leash and watch."

The autocarriage would stop in front of the Inn and Out, and the three would hop out along with another mare dressed in a simple suit and tie. Together the four would walk into the place, approaching and entering the elevator before choosing a floor on the touch screen pad next to the sliding doors.

Author's Note

Experimenting with a bit of a 'computer interface' format using the quotes.

13: Harmonize

A knock on the door would come to Anomaly's door, being in a trance of focus and thought she would scream out in fright. Catching her breath she would look over to the door, calling out "W-who is it?"

"It's Golden, here with some other ponies to talk to you about something."

She would look to the door, thinking quickly on whether or not she should let her in or tell her she is in no mood to speak with her. In the end out of curiosity of what she would have to say Anomaly would unlock the door. To her surprise, she would see not just Golden but also Myriad and the Lunar Guard Chief himself as well. The mare felt alarmed at first but trusted that they weren't intent on reestablishing her confinement.

"Greetings Anomaly, been a while since I have seen you in person and even longer since I have spoken directly." replied Myriad "I am just going to cut to the chase, we are aware you may have found a certain secret in your dealings with the virus. In hopes that we might satisfy whatever investigative curiosity you might have, and to help further bring you onto our side we have come to reveal some things."

Anomaly tilted her head, raising her eyebrow as her computer mind processed what was told to her. She took note that Myriad used the word 'we' when the RLG Chief was with them. Information was their offer, and though she was very much up for receiving it she felt like whatever she might get could be distorted.

"You see Anomaly..." Golden would say "...we are a bit more than just a corporate CEO, royal official, and royal police chief. We are part of a larger entity, one formed by the princesses and earlier descendants of the elements of harmony. Formed in the wake of these changing times, where magical beasts are no longer the threat to ponykind but instead ponies themselves. Long ago threats could be blasted away with the magic of friendship and a tight bond. Now the threat isn't quite so simple, as it is a threat within the very society we try to protect. With such a threat measures to save ponies from their own potential threat were needed, and thus a new societal system was developed along with a group to moderate it. That group is called Harmonize, for we seek to protect harmony via keeping society in a consistent and safe system of living and thinking. We have managed to rope in many social elite into this organization, hence the presence of Myriad here."

A slight suspicion within Anomaly's mind had been proven true, and now she was very alarmed. It seemed at least her first entry into the PRS was detected even during the attack of the virus. The way Golden spoke to her however indicated her second, more deep expedition went unnoticed. "So your organization built up this whole societal system, the propaganda, the swaying of news in your favor..."

"Don't think of the propaganda as being bad, it is well intentioned. It keeps ponies safe, it's not perfect but we have worked toward maintaining it and dealing with more direct threats to it. We do have a greater plan though, hence the use of the server you discovered, I have a feeling you might know a bit about it."

Kevlar would say "We would like to know how you got into it, and what you know about it."

She pondered on how to answer that, not wanting her tricks to be shown she decided to speak discretely evasive about it. "I had looked into the virus and discovered how it was commanding ponies' minds. It led me into that server, and I now wonder how a server with such a dangerous opening is to be used for the good of society."

"It is intent on bringing society together on a more robust and direct system. Bringing the power of brain augmentations to all citizens and mass producing them to make them affordable, market them well to make them appealing to all." Said Myriad "You are part of that project, the test bed for the technology that will not only enhance computing, but create a means to better protect society. The threat to ponykind lies within ponykind, the criminal cultures, and other influences which threaten to corrupt more and more ponies. That in mind we seek to create a system that lets us protect ponies more directly. Let us tap into their very minds and watch over them to a degree not even Luna's dreamwalking can, protecting and when necessary 'taking the wheel' and helping to keep everypony on the right path. Luna herself proposed such a solution long ago, seeing the dangers of the growing underground."

Anomaly absorbed the information given to her, like a sponge absorbing water. "So you seek to use my kind of brain augmentations to control ponykind, adjust their minds like patches to a computer program, updates to an operating system....."

Golden smiled some and nodded "Yea, we'll make sure that the pony's individual self is preserved, only adjusting what needs adjusting."

"Does a pony even have an 'individual self' if it can be changed and edited on a whim by a larger group or even worse a clever enough hacker. How do you even know you won't need to get drastic if you are going to try to help ponies?" Anomaly asked, a sharp scowl on her face and a confrontational yet calm tone in her voice.

Golden's smile disappeared like a ghost in a fog, as she would reply to Anomaly "Why, of course, they will! In the same way a pony's Messenger Bird profile is very much theirs and personal."

"So a pony's brain will be like a social media profile, seems like a logical step when you're for turning their brains into computers. Still, can't say I am all for that. Letting some shadow group have authority over the very minds of ponies, you can claim that you will try to preserve individual ponies' all you want but in practice, I don't think that will work out like that." Replied Anomaly, slight venom in her tongue as she spoke.

"From more control we have it means more safety for ponies." said Kevlar in a stern tone "If you think we are going to make ponies into identical drones you are mistaken, and rather ignorantly so. Fact is the more control we can have the better it will be for ponies, we can keep track of dangerous thoughts and neutralize them. Managing society to such a degree, once we can bring the technology you harbor and the moderation we harbor, will help to eliminate many of the threats that befall ponykind. Mental illness can literally be deleted, potential murderers can be stopped and reformed in minutes, there is much good that can come from this that you can't deny. Celestia and Luna will be overseeing things too, so your worries of oppressive online overlords are unfounded"

"Do you really think it will all just go that smoothly, you just install a brain-computer in everypony and you can just solve all your problems? I dare say you are all disillusioned, and just because the princesses oversee it don't mean there won't be other members pulling strings, especially when they might have their own agendas." Anomaly looked Myriad in the eye after saying this. "That's also ignoring the very threat you see in front of you, hackers who can tap into the system as well. Hackers who can wreak havoc akin to what was seen in the diamond district."

"We can fight back against them, by any means bucking possible." said Kevlar "Even if we have to hunt them down like the Luna cursed vermin they are to our society. In fact, I'm putting my best from Investigation and Interrogation onto the job of pest control. No more nonlethal capture when possible, we'll only spare some to interrogate whenever possible. These bucking hackers have shown themselves not deserving of such mercy, so I'm going to have them be hunted down. Last they'll see is their little computer screens before they have a bullet hole and are splattered with blood."

"I take it you plan to eventually start assassinating any who threaten the order you are creating once you find it too hard to arrest or 'reform' them," Anomaly said, narrowing her eyes.

"Most certainly, the RLG and SLG's purpose is to protect ponies by any means possible, no means are off limits." said Kevlar sternly and confidently in reply.

"You're all like a cross between an overbearing parent and a mother bear, seeking to shelter those under your care from any struggle and willing to eliminate with prejudice any outsiders to your family unit." Anomaly would say, her voice calming some though with an unfading everpresent venom of opposition.

Golden sighed as she said "Anomaly, our method is the only way forward to a better world. And it's backed up by this generations' elements of harmony and even the princesses. How can you argue against that?"

Anomaly's eyes narrowed, staring into and piercing Golden's eyes like hypodermic needles. "Your way is the only way, how can we be wrong? All that opposes us is evil, t'is the mindset of a cult. You seem to have the illusion that Celestia and Luna are infallible deities, they might have been back in the days of our ancestor Rarity. Those days are gone now, and it's really obvious the princesses aren't so infallible in today's world. If they were, the bright sunshiney days of our ancestor Rarity wouldn't have faded away. And so what if you are elements of harmony, does that matter when it is no longer big scary villains and friendship problems?"

Golden would flinch back, mentally pricked by the thorns in her sister's tongue. "We are trying to adapt Anomaly, we know this problem is one we can't blast away with a friendship beam. We are however still trying to fulfill our duties as element bearers, with the help of many other ponies."

"Like EQUE-TECH, the ones who have taken ponies from other less rich lands and used them for bionic testing?" she said, narrowing her eyes at Myriad who looked in shock.

"Such ridiculous accusations, you have no proof of-"

"You should have had your cyber security put better work in deleting things, your files on the offshore testing facility in the North Luna Ocean. You should have known your encryption, though impressive, wouldn't stop me if I have the motive."

Myriad would freeze, then look over to Kevlar. Looking to her the bat stallion had a scowl and had a look in his eyes that said 'We have a serious problem.' Gold would look to him as well and sigh as she said: "Anomaly, I'm sorry but you are becoming more and more of a serious threat whose intentions have potential consequences you clearly do not foresee." The mare would then pull out a small dart gun, firing a Dart which stuck into Anomaly's foreleg as she gasped. "You'll be let free but not before we put forth some more robust security measures, we'll make you see the error in your-"

Anomaly would lunge at the Chief, trying to pull any sort of weapon from him, the chief pushed her back as she started to succumb to the sedative. Quickly she set her mind to its mode for operating while in sleep, trying to think of a way out of this. She would look through the surveillance cameras in the room to see herself being carried away. She panicked not liking the words 'we'll make you see the error in your ways' presumably being said by Golen before she lunged. The mare would track her movement as she was quietly slipped into the vehicle and taken off to a location. Entering the Shadow web she would make a post on a forum seeking a 'Tazen High'. She didn't want to just call on the help of any hacker, as the only one she might have any trust or familiarity with was the one who assisted her in breaking into the mainframe.

Anomaly would be taken into the Central Everfree Police Department, one of five given the colossal size of the city. A large fortified 25 story building. Judging by security camera footage on her transport it seemed they took the receiver away, reminding her of the advantage she had. They were unaware of her no longer needing it, and thus wouldn't be prepared for what she was capable of. Thinking fast she took out her virus, the weapon given to her by Doctor Freemane and enhanced with what she found in the Diamond Plaza. As her unconscious body was put on a bed in a cell she decided to wait for it to awaken before she would enact her plan. Golden sat in a chair in front of the cell, waiting as Anomaly awoke.

"Hello Anomaly, don't worry you'll be out of here as soon as we can finish things with you. You'll be used as a testbed once more for something that will ensure yours and our safety."

Getting up Anomaly would scowl at Golden and say "Oh so you kidnap me so as to let you put a leash on me is that it?"

"A system that will soon be used to help keep millions safe Anomaly. It'll help with your frankly rash decision making and-"

"Going to control my thinking???" her eyes narrowed, and she realized they would likely use her as a test bed for the 'modify' function of the PRS. Scowling the mare would shout before Golden could say anymore "NO! YOU ARE NOT GOING TO CONTROL MY THINKING! I HAVE HAD IT WITH YOU TRYING TO DECIDE THINGS FOR ME GOLDEN! HAD IT!" Images would show on her eyes as she accessed the interface. Gasping Golden said

"What!? That....we never gave you anything that...where did you get....?" Anomaly would look Golden square in the eye, saying to her with a scowl as she said.

"I got some upgrades, from a lesser known brand." suddenly the lights would go out and another tab would come up in her eyes. Golen tried to shoot a dart only for it to audibly hit the wall behind and clatter, Anomaly's eyes opened to show the illuminating interface in her eyes. She would explore the features and options the virus gave her, and it gave her control of everything in the facility, its tapping into the PRS also gave her another feature

"Guards come here stop her before she-" Golden yelped as one of the officers inside tackled her, holding her in a chokehold while the other approached.

"You're not going to control me anymore Golden, I will choose what I do from here on out and you will not change that." Anomaly stared into Gold's eyes, her biting scowl and narrowed eyes behind screen interfaces.

"Golden what have you done???" suddenly she would be repeatedly punched in the face by the other guard, their face showing no emotion. Golden looked in horror, reminded of the reports of the Diamond Plaza incident as she looked to Anomaly. "Are you working with the terrorists???"

"No, I'm working for myself," she said as a punch knocked Golden out. The mare commanded one of her new puppets to unlock her cell allowing her to walk out. She marveled at the power she had, it seemed nearly officer had brain augs and was hooked to the PRS prototype. It was something straight out of video game modding, their minds were in her storage and she was now controlling their bodies.

Chief Kevlar looked around as he saw this, horrified as he looked around to see officers blank faced and frozen in place "BUCKING HAY A CYBERTERROR ATTACK HERE?? NOW!?"

"This isn't a terror attack, you may feel free to keep this incident hidden. I'm not intent on causing panic." said a voice behind him, the Chief looked to see the screen-eyed mare with officers surrounding her in the darkness. "How the buck....we took away your receiver how are you...???"

"I don't need it anymore, I can assure you that. I've also managed to get some scraps of the virus used in the Diamond Plaza and modify them for my own use."

"And you're using them for this? You're no better than the bucking terrorists!"

"I won't be keeping these ponies' minds locked up, once I am out of here they'll be back to normal. I myself know how to save the ponies affected by the diamond plaza incident, and want to help find their minds and return them to their rightful owners. Their minds are uploaded and taken somewhere, hopefully not deleted. I will help you from the online still, for we share enemies, I want to stop the Freedom Fighters just as much as you. I won't be kept on a leash but will cooperate in helping you deal with them online. So please, Lunar Chief Kevlar Vest, cooperate with me and I will cooperate with you. If you don't I'll have you bound and piled up on by these ponies like a hoofball game."

Kevlar's hoof would be reached into his trenchcoat, ready to pull out a weapon as she said this. The stallion was on edge, staring at the mare who controlled the whole facility via her brain. He thought to himself "Golden you should not have bucking made her mad...." Standing for a moment as many officers and office workers surrounded him he said: "Guess I have no choice in the matter, how do I know one mare holding this kind of power isn't going to go the way of Sombra!?"

"Valid concern, but as of now I have no intentions of ruling anything, and I know that if I perturb you too much I'll have an S4 team hunting me with shoot to kill orders. Consider my knowledge of as well as the risks of that happening if I go extreme to be my power's management. Also rich coming from the ponies seeking to control the minds of millions, you don't think that will turn you into more subtle Sombras?" The mare would move along to the parking garage "Don't bother trying to send communications, your wrist computer is currently locked out."

Trotting out to the parking garage she would enter a police transport autocarriage, hopping into the back and having it roll out to the road and take her a distance away from the police station. Anomaly knew she would have to abandon the vehicle soon enough, given how it would likely be tracked. Pulling it into an alley she would hop out, before using a custom function to reverse the uploading to instantly bring all the panicked mind back into their bodies. The officers would look around, relieved to be back in their bodies, as Kevlar would sigh and say "She's clearly got good intentions....but I fear with that power a lot can go wrong." He pondered on whether to call for police to try to chase after her, he ultimately chose to do so but with plans in case she escaped.

Anomaly would gallop her way through the alleys and slip from crowd to crowd, trying to slip away into the usual chaos of the city. It wouldn't be long before an unusual number of police autocarriages pulled around and searched around. The mare luckily was in common clothing, but her face was sure to arouse suspicions. The mare would notice one of them heading along the road she was on, and among a small crowd she would slip into an alleyway. Hearing the mechanical whirl of the door folding open combined with the sound of it closing had her galloping once more in an instant. She picked up a stun gun and pistol from the transport vehicle she took but wasn't really gunning to get in an unnecessary fight or standoff. Hoofsteps came up behind her as she ran and zig-zagged along the alleys between the buildings, moving around the corner and entering another crowd. The mare would notice the two mares in blue go out and look around the area, putting her further on edge as her evasion continued. More police ACs would storm the area, and even as the mare's legs grew tired she kept on the move. The mare slipped into another alleyway and was forced to run as she heard many hoofsteps behind her, voices shouting to stop as she continued maneuvering around the alleys like a fleeing cat.

Suddenly she would hear a loud whine of a biofuel-powered engine, as a sedan pulled up onto a street she walked on. Opening the front and back door a cyberculture looking half zebra mare would say "I'm with Tazen get in if you wanna ditch the cops." seeing an opportunity Anomaly dove in as the door closed and the vehicle sped off at an unnatural acceleration.

"I don't think Autocarrriages are made to go this fast," Anomaly said as she frantically put on the seatbelt and felt the machine moving at high speed.

"This ain't yo mama's self-drivin' ride sweets." said the mare with a chuckle "Separated from the CCS traffic system and equipped with a custom turbocharger. We in the underground didn't let sports carriages die, unlike the companies that made them." setting her destination she said. "Hang on we'll be makin' a beeline for the highway once we slip outta here. They can't track us nor will they be able to use the system to stop this thing." The machine would turn the corner and maneuver around traffic with laser fine precision. Anomaly sat back with a panicked look thinking any second they were going to end up in the first idiot-caused autocarriage pileup in decades. Such a crash did not happen though, as the machine's navigation system with its upgrades to standard safety systems let it slip past traffic without a scratch. The police were lost quickly, completely unprepared for such a fast vehicle in the age of controlled traffic. Pressing on the touch screen the mare said to Anomaly "One moment, gonna change the color." original orange color of the sedan would digitize into green in a matter of seconds. "They won't recognize us now." slowing down the vehicle's speed it would meld into the traffic, generating an artificial signal to trick the system into thinking it just another part of the traffic. Feeling it slow down Anomaly would sigh in relief, feeling like she just got off a roller coaster. The striped mare would look behind with a smile as she said "You feelin' alright sweets? You look like you've never been in anything that goes past 50 in smooth turns, probably the case. I go by SteelWheels online. Real name don't matter cause I'm deleted from the blue pone's records."

"Deleted? From their records?"

"I was officially never born." she snickered "They run it on an automated bot system so there's nopony to really notice, hard to notice one pony go missing out of a million. Ponies of the underground call us 'Societal Ghosts' or Socioghosts since we're invisible to society. From what the hackers tracking you on cameras are saying you're rumored to be a Sociozombie, pony who's officially dead."

"Interesting...." Anomaly would say to Steel, asking her "And your choice of username?"

"I'm a carriage mechanic, how do you think I got this thing off the CCS and put a turbo in it?" she asked looking back with a grin. "We'll be heading on over to a hideout, you'll get to meet Tazen in person. I hope she'll all of us what is up with you because what she told us has made us all curious, and as Digital Hoof pones we tend to be curious. Thanks for helping us crack the Guard's safe, it's gonna come in quite hoofy to help open the public's eyes."

"I hope you won't be too busy trying to fight the system to deal with the 'Freedom Fighters'. After all, they have the potential and insanity to do things unimaginable. Fighting them would also be good for your movement, especially if you do better than the Cyber security."

"Oh don't worry we got them whackos on our radar, fixing to give us hacktivists a bad name is what they are doing. We ain't gonna spare them the pwnage just cause they fellow government hatin' hackers."

"So for the first time, I meet one of the infamous Digital Hoof hackers, been at it for decades I hear. Stirred up a lot of trouble in your time."

"Those who are true to our cause don't harass random ponies on messengerbird and dox them if you're gonna bring such accusations as that. One thing to do horseapps in 'our name' it's another to be truly a member of Digital Hoof, we go after the buckers up top for the ones down below. Try to break down the system of control they have in place and wake up more and more ponies. That's what we all about sweets, we ain't malicious troll hackers who are just out for lulz and digibits."

"I certainly hope most of your movement lives up to such claimed intentions, I guess I shall see for myself." Anomaly would say, looking out the window as neon lights and screen boards passed by outside the tinted windows.

"Skeptical aye? Good quality to have, means you ain't one to follow the status quo and let those in authority tell you how things are. Surprised you didn't find and join us sooner, we're totally your type of group!"

Anomaly would look and say to the mare "Maybe if I wasn't working for EQUE-TECH before they bucked me over, have you been told of the recent leak telling of a mare imprisoned whose death was faked so she could be used as a lab rat?"

The mare looked back in shock and said "You're the one who leaked it? Well dang seems the mainframe crack wasn't your first time helping us. You'll definitely be quite helpful for us and a nightmare for the ones up top! And a former corporate computer jockey too huh? Seems like you didn't quite find your underground calling there aye?"

"Seems I might not have found my calling there, thought getting out of programming college would have landed me a well-paying job and good future. It was great at first, even got involved with a new project up until I was forced to be the lab rat."

"Corporate scum they are, you're also real talented to be as good as you are after wasting time in.....'college'." she shuttered "You can learn more with hackers like us in a year than they can teach in six! Such a waste of time and DB, and the status quo makes you often need such redundant horseapple degrees to get any good job. You'll find a better life in the underground hanging with ponies who won't buck you over like that."

"I have the means to 'buck over' those who buck me over a lot worse. I just escaped the police department after all without resistance." Anomaly would warn to SW.

"Well, I almost feel like I wasn't needed to pick you up if you can do that!" SW laughed some as she pulled onto the highways, bridges of steel, concrete, and asphalt that ran over the roads down below. In the age of self-driving autocarriages and automated traffic management, they were mostly unused except for the occasional calculated route deeming them the fastest route through the megacity. The autocarriage would roll along the largely empty road, far away from the searches of the police ACs. Being at ease now Anomaly would lay back and close her eyes, taking her mind off things for a moment. The sun was setting, and night was falling as blue lights began to illuminate the highway, lined on its sides with old and unmaintained cushioning barriers meant to keep autocarriages of old from crashing off the bridges into streets below. Now they lay dirty and without maintenance, since crashes were mostly rare and minor in the automated carriage age. The police searches would be called off, and activity in the private places of Harmonize would start to flare up in panic as the sun's flare would go down.

_______________________________________

"Chief Kevlar, this is a major threat to us indeed. You couldn't have failed to curb her threat anymore." said sternly a midnight blue alicorn from the throne she sat on. "And Myriad, your first loss of Anomaly has evidently led to her getting unexpected upgrades, the scope and capabilities she has now are unpredictable."

Myriad would sigh as she said, "I was not prepared for what has happened, I assure you the entire time was taking steps to curb the hazards of Anomaly's abilities."

"And yet you have failed." said a taller white alicorn, looking exasperated. "As if the so called 'Freedom Fighters' are not enough of a threat we have another, less predictable one."

Kevlar would say with a bow "I apologize, princesses, we tried to convince her of the good we had for Equestria. She was stubborn, convinced we weren't truly a force for good. We tried to get her under control but she has given us surprise after surprise."

The lunar princess would say "Then we may need her eliminated as soon as possible, treat her with no more respect than the terrorists. She even used their tools after all!"

Myriad would say "Princess please, she is but a young mare, angry and naive. She can be made to see the error in her ways. That and he has yet to seriously harm anypony, Kevlar told you himself what she has said. She made good on the promise to bring those ponies back, they are safe and sound."

Sighing the solar princess would say. "Fine, she may be given a chance, but if her threat persists and escalates we will be forced to order her eliminated. We aren't going to spare one mare's life and risk the lives of millions."

Kevlar would say "I might send some units to try to find her, but right now I feel we should focus on the more immediate threat, the ones who have clearly tried at pony's lives."

Both alicorns nodded, Luna saying "Of course, but she will need not be left out for the threat she is. We may devote less public resources to trying to locate her."

"I think we should simply keep watch, make sure she doesn't try anything and focus on fighting the terrorists. If she proves to be a truly irredeemable threat I will have my best come to hunt her and eliminate her swiftly. For now, I will put my best toward the task of helping in the fight against the so-called 'Freedom Fighters'."

"Alright, you do that, I trust you will put your efforts into avoiding another disastrous failure. They may hide in shadows but the light will come upon these freedom fighters." Said Luna, followed by her sister.

"And the light will burn them, whether it be from the sun or moon."

Author's Note

FINALLY, I GET SOME TIME AND MOTIVATION TO FINISH THIS! Hope you enjoy whoever you are that's reading this!

14: Hacktivists

The autocarriage would roll into a place once known long ago as Ghastly Gorge, and like the mountain which Canterlot was built on the gorge was built into converting it into a massive semi residential mall. A skylight ceiling ran along the top the gorge while it's stone walls were precisely carved to accommodate over 10 levels of apartments, hotels, bakeries, night clubs, arcades, and many others. Cyberculture swept in and completely took over the place, not a single pony could be seen without either mane dye or a set of decorative utility pants. Anomaly would look out the window as the autocarriage drove along the road that went through the center of the gorge floor. Soon the vehicle would pull into a parking garage, entering the dark stone and concrete cavern lit only by the opening of the entrance and a few lights inside. Making a stop in a spot SW would say to Anomaly...

"Alright, let's walk on over to meet the boss. You'll be interested in seeing her for sure, you might even get to see Tazen as well." as the both of them hopped out they would walk on back out into the gorge of cyberculture. According to SW the location was known commonly among its inhabitants as 'The Split' as opposed to the ancient and unused name it once had. Anomaly had heard of the place however never had seen it. Megacities were massive, and often had all you needed for your life within a block, and she was not a traveler. Pegasus tech junkies sat on the railings at the edge of each level, drinking various colorful carbonated products of artificial flavoring. Neon lights and colorful screen boards were everywhere, showing less of the general corporate advertising and more for obscure electronics and parts stores. Ponies with Bionics were a very common sight, and all of them had various vinyls and paint jobs you might expect to see put on an autocarriage. Graffiti was common, hardly a wall left unpainted with a street artist's intricate designs. A few strip clubs could even be seen, decorated less with the lusty red and crimson common for such places and more in the neons which dominated the Split.

Anomaly viewed all these things as she walked along beside SW, realizing quickly that she was in possibly the most cyberculture dominated place she had ever seen. It would be a long walk, as the split stretched for a long distance, but eventually they would reach a night club. It was known as the 'Wub Hub' and colored in graffiti of luminescent whites and blues, paint that literally glowed. Entering the club SW would lead anomaly through the interpretive and drunken dances of the place to a back room with a door. As she knocked on the door a panel on the wall opened a camera, a speaker would say in text to speech.

"Passwub Please."

"Bay Scanning."

"Passwub accepted."

The sound of automated locks was heard as they disengaged, the door opening into a room full of couches and bean bags along with a couple of VR pods. Multiple ponies were hanging around operating their compact computers from their laps. One of them being a bat pony mare, with a young filly sitting next to her and tapping away at a computer. The mare would look to Anomaly, getting up and approaching her. Bluish silver coat and black mane with purple stripes, dressed in a short sleeveless black jacket and cargo shorts with a decorative pixel design. Looking to the mare Anomaly would simply ask politely...

"Yes? Might I know you?"

"Tazen High, I know you know me." she said before looking to SW and smiling "Thanks for getting her here Steel, glad to know I can count on you."

"No problem! I'm always there when you need a ride, whether for yourself or a friend!" SW would say with a smile.

Tazen would then look to Anomaly and say "That info you've given before your escape was a goldmine, even before you cracked the safe. Provided you won't be convinced back on the Royal Guard's side, you'll make for a good ally."

"There's more to what you oppose than just merely the Royal Guard, the Harmony Council and even the princesses. There's an organization, hidden from the public yet linking all of those who are in power. Listen close and I will have a lot to tell you."

Having a seat Anomaly would explain everything she had discovered about the organization 'Harmonize' from their linking of Corporate and Royal power to the project known as 'PRS' and what it was apparently designed to do. The more she told the more intrigued yet shocked Tazen was. Once Anomaly finished Tazen would say quickly...

"Boss simply has to see this, this is big...and explains a whole hay of a lot."

Anomaly would be led up the stairs, up to a viewing platform which presented a view of the nightclub and its activities. Within this platform was a DJ. Old yet modern, first seen in the times of the elements of Harmony, the DJ faded sometime in the Industrial Era only to return in the mid to late industrial era and rise to new heights in the Cyber Era. Electronic music was also a product of the DJ, from even before it's fading. With the rise of cyberculture the DJ along with its music advanced, now there were many more DJs to be seen in these times. This one dressed in blue and white striped socks with somewhat revealing shorts and a white shirt depicting lightning bolts shooting from speakers. Neon blue glowing headphones hung around her neck like a neon necklace and her mane was of the classic DJ style made known by the first DJ-pon3 herself. Once her shoulder was tapped by Tazen, she would look back, and listen to the whisper. Looking back out to the club she set the DJ console to an autopilot mode before following the two back down into the back room. In the light, her colors could be more clearly seen, a very light almost white blue coat with a teal and blue colored mane. Glasses covered her eyes, the rims glowing blue.

"Anomaly, meet the latest DJ-Pon3, a mare from the longest line of DJs in Equestrian history." said Tazen.

Anomaly would reply to the mare "DJ-Pon3? That family line is still around, I thought they faded in the early Industrial times."

Speaking the DJ would simply reply "Electro Swing, it kept us alive when the age of the DJ was seemingly ending, we came back with a vengeance and now nothing will kill us off again. So momma pone here told me you got some real big revelations to tell me."

"There's an organization that runs things from behind the scenes, consisting of those in corporate and royal power alike. They're called Harmonize, and it seems they plan to try to use brain augmentations to control the population. The Freedom Fighters have exploited the early version of this network which they intend to use for that purpose."

Raising her glasses the DJ would reveal her light blue eyes before saying "Well holy buck, apparently, the conspiracy theories are true. Partially at least, I presume these ponies aren't secretly Tartarus worshippers or anything like that. Still, this is indeed quite big news. What is this the third time you've gotten us useful info? I might get you a nice place to stay while you work with us as a reward."

"I don't think that will be necessary-" Anomaly would reply before the DJ interjected with.

"Nonsense!"

"Well, before we decide that there is one other thing that I will want the help of you all with. I know what happened to the ponies at the Diamond Plaza, their minds were literally kidnapped using the PRS and their brain implants. They were uploaded somewhere, like files, and we need to find them."

"Ponies kidnapped via their brain augs? Now that is nefarious, how about I send you to your new home for now. Let you settle in and we'll get things started online." the DJ said looking up from her wrist computer after tapping away on it. "We got some work to do tonight, lemme send you a waypoint." Anomaly would then receive a notification of a waypoint on her eyes. The DJ would whistle and say "Brain's a computer and your eyes are screens aye? Nifty, must be convenient to access the internet with your mind. Anyway, I'm gonna wrap up the party, then get us some fellow friends to help along."

Anomaly would look as the DJ trotted up the stairs, and then back to Tazen. "I guess we'll be working together soon. I noticed you have a kid with you, can't be easy caring for a filly and being a hacker below the law."

Tazen would look to the filly, replying "It's not, but it's worth it. Don't worry her daddy ain't dead....but he is sadly on the other side from me. A stallion willing to stand up for ponies, yet claimed by the mind control of the system...."

"Is he working for the police?" Anomaly would ask curiously.

"RLG, Investigation and Interrogation, one of their best agents. Handles a pistol like an old western movie cowpony and is stealthier than his namesake. Tried to bring him to us not long ago, he just lost it and didn't seem to be convinced..."

"Ones I was working with briefly before Harmonize revealed itself to me, and tried to imprison me after I voiced my opposition to them."

Tazen would look to Anomaly and ask "Did you happen to work with a pony known as 'Owl Talon' brown colored bat stallion. Short black mane, scruff on the neck, see him?"

Anomaly would remember that pony, she remembered tracking his movement and assisting as he infiltrated. "I happen to be able to track his wrist device, I did so when I found him and his friend in the underground bunker. I helped the S4 teams find him when he ended up wounded in a fight, I think I can still access his wrist computer."

Tazen would give a look as if she was about to tear up, asking "Can you help me access his wrist computer, please...?"

"Is he not on the other side of the law from you? Wouldn't that be a risk, is he not angry at you?"

"There might be another chance, you can tell him what you know. Let him know those he works for in their attempts to control ponies for the sake of 'safety' are responsible for letting those bucking anarchists use those ponies as their puppets. let's see him stay bucking loyal to the Celestia cursed guard after that!"

"Mommy, are you alright?" asked the filly, looking to her. The mare would look back and say...

"Mommy's fine, she's just hoping to bring daddy to the side of the good ponies."

"I'm confused...he told me the ponies at work are trying to save ponies..."

"He's been tricked little Byte, they want to help ponies but really are hurting them," she said walking over to the Filly, before looking back to Anomaly. "I'll see you online Anomaly..."

SW would be sitting back, and as conversations ended she would whistle to Anomaly, saying "If you need a ride, just type out the code 'Speedy-Bastard-500' on the Telecom app and it'll be my signal to come rolling along there. 30 minutes or it's free, JUST KIDDING! It's free cause you're good with the DJ."

Nodding, Anomaly would head out following a waypoint sent to her by the DJ. It would lead to an apartment facility painted entirely in pixel art graffiti, the windows the only things untouched by spray paint. Entering she would find no front desk pony, instead finding an old model industrial android nearly as covered in paint designs as the building it was in. She raised an eyebrow and approached before it would open its mouth and emit a text to speech sentence through a speaker inside.

"Your arrangements are already taken care of, go to room 503. If anything is needed, type 'CanvasApartmentHelp001' to contact me for assistance."

It was strange to see an Android not in Shadow District factory, mass produced to replace workers in the factory. Doing what simple robotic arms couldn't, they were ideal given their ability to work 24/7 without pay. They were typically built reliable with minimal maintenance required cutting costs even further. Taking the elevator and entering her room the mare found it to be quite the nice place. A leather couch, well-equipped kitchen, gaming computer, and a large digital screen board with multiple brands of VRGDs placed on a shelf below it. Large windows gave a full view of the streets and activity below, which seemed to amplify as the hours turned to night. Walking into her bedroom to find a decent bed present Anomaly would lay down and enter the InterNet.

Soon as she logged onto her brain computer she would get a request for a group Telecomms call from a user named "DJaybird". Answering it she would hear a couple familiar voices...

"Welcome to the call new pone." said the DJ "Brought along Tazen for the call too, along with her kid. You'd be surprised how well the little tyke can crack the code."

"Hello, you can call me MonsterBuster!" said the filly, with a bit of excitement. "Mommy said we're going to be saving some ponies from some evil hackers, I can't wait!"

"Don't underestimate her, my little filly's got some talent." replied Tazen "But I'll be prepared to take her offline if her computer gets put under risk of getting trashed or tracked."

"Moooooomy don't pull me off the net, I won't be beaten by those meanies I promise!" said the filly in a pouty tone.

"Nopony is gonna be seeing crash screens today, now while we're working together." replied the DJ. "And I'll have backup to call at a moment's notice. Now let's cut to the chase and get to the plan, Anomaly tells us ponies have gotten their brains jacked. So we are going to have to find the thieves and counter jack those ponies back, then we'll bring them back to their rightful owners. If anypony tried to stop them we'll lay the smack down on like in those old wrestling shows, only the smackdown will be LEGIT!"

Anomaly would say "We're going to have to try and track down where these ponies are, which might be difficult. Hacker who used that virus on the Diamond Plaza covered their tracks."

"There's gotta be a way to get to them, looks like we're gonna have to do some hopefully-not-boring detective work."

"I have an idea," Anomaly said, her mind's enhanced thinking allowing her to think up a potential solution quite quickly. "The virus uploads ponies minds, and I happen to have fragments of its programming. I'm not suggesting we use bait, but if I can simulate its activation on an artificial 'bait mind' then it might take us directly to wherever the minds are stored."

After a brief moment of silence, the DJ would say "Well look whose noggin suddenly went into maximum overdrive. That's crazy enough...to buck us over! Just kidding I think that can work well." she laughed some, inciting an unamused reply from Anomaly.

"This isn't the time for jokes DJ, this situation is serious. We have lives we need to save."

"I know it's serious, I just don't like acting seriously when possible. I'm not blind to the things at stake, which is why I say we should get started. I'll try to make a decoy while you prep that virus to jack us right into their systems."

With that Anomaly would work with the programming she acquired and the knowledge of its functions she had. Reconstructing such an advanced program would not be easy, which made her brain's quick computing all the more handy for the tedious work. The DJ would work with Tazen to create a sort of decoy for Anomaly's copy to send to the source, a tracking program was put into the decoy so they could follow it. Once that was finished they would wait for Anomaly's virus copy to be complete. As a couple minutes dragged on feeling like hours some apprehension came to Tazen and even to the DJ. There was no telling if or when the ponies in the hospital would be deemed lost and possibly euthanized like doomed coma patients. That along with the likelihood of the Freedom Fighter's activities carrying on gave them a sense of constrained time. Fortunately, she would have something working, a simpler program with the function of uploading a mind.

"Alright, it's ready. Let's prepare ourselves, we might not be able to sneak in and end up caught."

"And if that happens we'll open a can of Everfree Brand whoopflank on them like there's no tomorrow." replied the DJ casually but optimistically.

Given access to the decoy, Anomaly would sigh and prepare herself for the likely roller coaster ride of events online that were to follow. She would look over her inventory of digital weapons, Sniper Rocket, Shotgun, Data bomb, and Trap, all of which she quickly studied the programming so she would be reminded of their function. Prepared as well as she can be she would announce "Ok, on the Count of Three....."

"One....."

"Two....."

"Three!"

Like a fisherpony's hook the virus would capture the decoy and quickly take it through the web, and the three would proceed to follow where it went. Sure enough, the virus and its tracker would give them their way into a heavily encrypted network. It conveniently gave them a backdoor which allowed them past the encryption, and Anomaly would soon discover something quite familiar. It was GAI-7, and it would quickly identify and discover the intruders like a dragon finding trespassers in its lair. And like such a dragon the attacks it sent would be hard hitting and jarring, too quick for Anomaly's warning to reach the three others. Quickly the DJ would quickly repair her system's defenses, as would Tazen and MonsterBuster, who would soon be faced with the powerful digital being before them.

"Seems we meet again, GAI-7..."

"And you have come using the fragments of the virus used at the Diamond Plaza, ingenious tactic that was unexpected. Fortunately, I am well equipped to deal with intruders." said a robotic digital voice as the AI jacked into their call.

Upon the digital battlefield, the AI seemed to split into six copies of itself, using the duplicate tactic. MonsterBuster would also initiate this tactic, having the trick down herself. Tazen would use a shotgun combined with a data bomb, hoping to take down some of the duplicates of the Virus. The DJ would meanwhile sent a Server Shockwave program, a taxing but powerful program which would do some damage to the duplicates. Acting quickly it would dispatch a type of program known as a 'Spyder' on Tazen and Anomaly, designed to sneak into a system and do damage stealthily. Anomaly would spot the programs and quickly take them out, though not before her system took some hits. It perplexed her how they seemed to bypass the defenses she had up without even attacking them. The mare would now have much time to be perplexed as her allies would need some help. The filly seemed to be doing surprisingly well while being audibly excited in the Telecomm call. Five more hackers would be brought in through the backdoor and would proceed to attack the AI as well. Despite the backup taking on the program would prove a struggle, GAI-7 was not incompetent in a hack fight.

Anomaly would use the trap program, suspecting it might come in handy given the name. When the AI did do an open attack it would hit like artillery, hard hitting Warhammer programs which almost completely shattered the group's defensive programs followed by a hard hitting data bomb which nearly crippled everypony but Anomaly. They were all forced to focus on building their defenses back up, while Anomaly would see the trap in action. The Trap seemed to impressively take nearly the whole blow of the data bomb before shooting off a virus at GAI-7. The mare quickly deployed a number of them after putting her defenses back up. For the moment she would be alone as her allies were forced on the defensive, and to cover them she decided to rush into the offensive. The mare would furiously do some manual code cracking while assisting with use of the sniper rocket and shotgun programs. The mare would take down three of the duplicates, while her friends would come along and send their own attacks. MonsterBuster's incoming sniper rocket would manage hit the AI itself, damaging the defensive programs and managing to partially override them to do direct damage to the AI.

Even with its duplicate cover gone GAI-7 was not to be easily taken down, it would put up two more defensive walls as it repaired the ones damaged. Following this the program would deploy two machine gun turret programs, shooting a flurry of weak but numerous offensive programs combined with the ability to backdoor past defenses through an enemy's attacks. This made attacking the AI difficult, given the risk of getting backdoored, and thus they were forced on the defensive. Anomaly would continue digging her way into its defenses, moving carefully as if traversing a minefield. The DJ would use a crossover program, combining a server shockwave with a shotgun. It was a brief quick experiment which made for quite the powerful program, the multiple programs shot out exploding into a server shockwave. Executing such a powerful program did make the DJ's computer lag, as the program pushed her system to its limits. Seeing this attack she would wonder and experiment for a moment, combining the Data bomb and sniper rocket in a manual way. Deploying the program and exposing herself to brief backdoor damage from the turret she would suddenly watch as the turrets were hindered by lag. Seeing the opening the DJ, Tazen, and Monster buster all used shotgun-sniper rocket combination programs, battering the program's defenses severely and doing some damage to it.

Repairing its inner systems and defenses the AI would be forced on the defensive, which in a hack fight was generally a disadvantageous position. Neither Anomaly nor her allies would pass up the opportunity to attack it, striking its outer defenses with their offensive programs in a group effort. The AI pulled another trick up its sleeve as it used duplicates once more. Upon spawning the other duplicates GAI-7 then brought along another kind of program, smoke screen, flooding the server with diversionary programs and making both it and its duplicates. Now it was nearly impossible to hit it, the smoke screen making offensive hacks miss while the ones that hit mostly hit the duplicates. While hidden in its digital illusion the AI would combine its gun turret programs with sniper rockets, creating a hack which chewed away at defenses very quickly. They all were quickly stripped naked of their defenses, the backup's computers crashed with the programs while Anomaly and Co. were hammered hard.

"Buck this one is tough! Not sure we can take her on!" shouted the DJ through the Telepathic Comms.

"We're not leaving without those ponies minds, we can do this." Anomaly replied affirmatively.

"Easy for you to say you're not on the verge of crashing!"

"We have to save the ponies from the brain thieves!" shouted the filly in an adorable though determined manner.

"Buck now I can't leave for risk of looking like the weak deserter, you'll be to blame if I need to buy another computer!" Replied the DJ.

Anomaly would focus her efforts on the manual hacking, getting deeper and deeper into the AI. She needed to be quick before her friends were crashed, yet careful since she could get jacked out from it with a harder time to get in thanks to the smoke screen. All the while her allies would continue to fight it while trying to keep their computer's systems in once piece. The fight would feel as if it dragged on for hours despite the reality of it having lasted for only around twelve minutes, thus the nature of an intense hack fight. Progress would seem to come along when the AI checked it's systems, and finding something off. From where she was Anomaly could tell it was onto her, and she would start to frantically rust through, racing against the AI's detection of her. She would be right at the center when it would detect her...

"You will not be able to win against me." the AI messaged to Anomaly, going to jack her out from it...

...then it's systems would be assaulted, a shotgun hitting many pieces of its programming at once, while the data bomb-shotgun wreaked lag inducing havoc and damage. Its defensive programs would go down as their functions lagged and malfunctioned.

"Surprised an artificial AI of your caliber would underestimate me so severely." Anomaly would say condescendingly in her head. With this opportunity presented her allies laid the smack down on it, sensing its imminent danger it would enter an automated emergency retreat mode getting out off the server.

Anomaly rushed on ahead, tearing apart any further encryption like a chainsaw on brush as she went for the goal. Suddenly a singular user would enter the server, projecting itself as 'DK'. Suddenly the comms call would be hacked into and a digitally altered voice would say.

"Sorry to act all cliche villainy but well well-JUST KIDDING! Anyways seems you've kicked the flank of the AI, and by you, I mean our little system upgrade gone wrong here. If only you didn't bucking escape, I'm not expecting to be able to fight you. But I am going to buck with your plans in a chaotic manner, rigged this server to go boom and corrupt all data so if you wanna save the pony's we have digitally trapped here you'll have 60 seconds. See you when you come at me all ticked and vengeful~!" DK would then jack out of the call.

Anomaly would see this happen and work frantically, the others assisting as the clock ticked down. Some security measures would continue obstructing along with the group's lack of knowledge in the exact location of the captive's files. Time ticked into the thirties as desperation grew higher and higher with each passing second. It was at the fifteen-second mark Anomaly would find some large files marked "Brain-napped" and would take them all quickly into her system. She would be shocked at just how little this seemed to take up in her brain computer's space. Before the server Purged Anomaly would act quickly, trying to track the computers running it. The server would purge and the group would get kicked out from it as it did. Anomaly would look into the ones she captured, and they all appeared like AI's, actively thinking. The mare would communicate with one of them in text.

"Greetings, you are safe now not to worry."

"WHAT THE BUCK IS GOING ON!? PLEASE HELP ME! I DON'T KNOW WHAT IS HAPPENING!!!"

"Relax, you will be back in your body soon. I promise you, just remain calm."

__________________________________________________

Owl would receive a telepathic call from an unknown number, awakening him from his sleep. Thinking it the usual irritating telecom salespony he would decline it. He would then get another from the same number. Annoyed he would answer and say.

"If you're trying to sell me something I advise you to kindly buck off, I'm sleeping."

"It's me, the mare you rescued once before, Anomaly."

Owl would ask "Why are you calling me it's not even night yet."

"Seems the Chief hasn't informed you, I'm out of contract with him mostly due to an attempt to imprison me. It's a long story, but let's say there's more to those whom you serve for than you expect."

Owl would raise an eyebrow, confused out of his mind as he asked "What the buck are you talking about? He has no reason to imprison an asset in this case."

"I was an asset, till I voiced dissent toward the plans of those in an up top organization. Corporate and Royal powers both make up this organization, and it is called Harmonize. You'll be able to see I'm not in the room. Soon enough you can expect to be notified of the ponies once seemingly comatose now awakening, that was mine and some new friends' doing."

"The ponies from the diamond plaza incident...?"

"Their minds were hacked into, stolen away, we've managed to get them back." Anomaly replied.

"Who is the 'we'?"

Anomaly suddenly got a message, from Tazen high who was evidently tracking the call. "Let's say one of them says they still love you. The point is the diamond incident is at partial fault of this organization, the Freedom Fighters are exploiting a system that Harmonize intends to use to control the populace. Don't ask your boss about this, there is no telling what might happen to you."

Owl would need to take a moment to process what was told to him, a moment which Anomaly wouldn't deny him. As if the revelations Night Haze brought him weren't enough of a mindbender how he was given this. It was soon clear she was implying that the royal government and police force he served was in part responsible for all this. He was not going to just believe that, he refused to just believe that. It was mad, it was insane, and it was evident the mare was in contact with his wife thus in likely contact with Digital Hoof.

"I refuse to believe all of this, it's insane and frankly you don't have a lick of proof to back this up." he would say sternly.

"Go to the hospital when you can, you might be sent to in to question the victims. And I know they will have no explanation to give you as to how they got their minds back. If you find me right in this, then chances are I might not be speaking any lies here. I'll also let you know that despite my qualms with those you work for unknowingly, I will help them in dealing with the Freedom Fighters. A little gift, a place that might let you strike back against them." Anomaly would say, giving him a location and waypoint before exiting the call.

Owl was left to ponder for but around 18 seconds time before he would get another call, this one from the chief.

"Owl, the ponies from the diamond plaza incident have awakened. It's not quite night yet but hopefully you can enjoy the sunset along the way. We need every I&I unit we can get, cause there's a lot of ponies."

The stallion would pause for a moment, before replying to the Chief. "I'll be there, and I might have something that can help us..."

Flying over the amber and orange skies, swerving between skyscrapers, Owl would be deep in thought. Anomaly had predicted that the diamond plaza victims were going to be returned, and seemed to claim that being hers and her friends doing. What an accusation, that those he was serving under were at partial fault for what was happening and were out to control the populace. That along with the horrific so called revelations Night Haze gave him, boggling his mind and distorting everything he knew in his life like television static. Soon the hospital came in sight, and down to it he would glide, against Anomaly's warnings he decided he would question the chief about this in hopes for some clarity beyond the distortion.

Author's Note

This took longer than ideally, IRL stuff and a lack of mood being to blame. Hope to maybe work on the next chapter and finish it sooner.

15: Hunters

Owl would enter the wing of the hospital, where a previously terrifying sight of ponies laying blank and emotionless yet alive was now replaced by the less scary sight of a row of shaken ponies. They were all alive and very emotive, showing emotions of confusion and fear. Even if it wasn't terrifying, and he was graced with the relief of these ponies no longer having their minds hacked, Owl was still unsettled. These ponies were clearly scared, and likely didn't even know what had happened to them. Vision would be leaned up on the wall alongside Data, and many were being questioned already by I&I personnel.

"Owl! Good to see you could make it? It's a miracle! The ponies are back, no longer creepy biologically alive husks!" said Data happily.

"So far reports are somewhat incoherent, ponies hardly having anything useful to say. We're assigned to this one mare, head of cyber security at Crystal Corp. If the current theory that the ponies had their brains hacked is true she might be better able to explain what happened to her." Vision replied, to which Owl said.

"Well, no reason to wait any longer let's talk to her," Owl said entering the hospital room, a place drenched in white and red with various cabinets built into the walls and a medium sized screen board over the doorway inside. Sitting up on the bed was a mare, short reddish brown mane, and a red coat. Black utility glasses connected to her wrist computer wirelessly, allowing her to do things such as keep track of time and see waypoints without looking at the screen. "Greetings miss...Alt Key. Are you alright at this moment?"

"I am fine for now if concerned about what happened." The mare replied, "I suppose you are going to question me about my experience is that correct?"

Owl would nod, saying "What was it like, the moment your body was...disabled? What was it like?"

"Disabled is less a better term, it was more taken. I couldn't see anything but could imagine a lot. I imagine it being possibly what thinking is like for ponies who have lost their sight. All of a sudden my very being seemed to convert into code, code I could read, I could literally read myself. I was however out of control of myself, as I was basically taken and uploaded onto some server and 'locked under key'. I couldn't tell what was going on, I was and originally didn't even know there were others. Didn't take long before I thought my brain augmentations were in some way wirelessly tampered with. I didn't know what was going to happen, up until I was suddenly taken into another place. I suddenly saw others that were just like me and could see how thought through their text. Some user that seemed to run the server, and it was soon evident we were actually in a computer. That user communicated with one of the captives, who reasonably was left in a panic. She reassured him before we ended up back in our bodies."

The three would listen to the mare closely, intrigued by what they were hearing from her. Seemed like the theory was true, somehow ponies' brain augmentations were hacked and their very minds stolen. Vision looked to Owl and said "This is bad, at least thirty percent of the Equestrian population has brain augmentations of some kind. If these cyberterrorists are managing to do that we could potentially be looking at a Diamond Plaza incident 2.0."

"Bigger and badder edition." Data chimed in, nodding with worry in her face.

"There could be something specific about the brain augmentations these ponies have, are they all from the same brand and model?" Owl asked "And there's clearly hope to save ponies affected by attacks like these, after all, I might know who helped us here. The Same mare who helped us at the Mall incident." Owl replied, he then looked back to the mare and said "Did you see anything that we might want to know about, anything that can help us track the ponies who did this?" as the mare shook her head he would say "Alright, soon enough you can go home then. And we will deal with these ponies, they won't escape justice." The mare would simply nod at that.

Heading out of the room Kevlar would be waiting for them. "What did you learn, anything coherent?"

"Mare describes herself as being suddenly turned into code, and able to read herself, while also likely being uploaded onto a server. Seems she was using her computer know-how to put together what was happening." Vision would say. "That's all we got, but it might explain what is happening."

Owl would ask the Chief "Is there a common brand or model of brain augmentation between the victims? I think maybe..."

Kevlar shook his head "No, models vary from common to top of the line, EQUE-TECH to Crystal Corp. Doesn't seem like it's a particular model. Come let's talk in private, we don't wanna let case details getting out."

A currently unused surgery room was used to privatize their conversation. Owl pondered on whether to mention Anomaly's call to the chief, choosing to trust the Chief he decided not to withhold it. "Chief, there's something important I should mention. Anomaly, the mare we found mysteriously despite her being dead on the records, she called me this evening. She told me that the ponies here were going to wake up, before you even called me, and has claimed both she and some pony whom she implied is my wife are responsible for that..."

The chief would look to Owl, smiling some as he said "Even if her attitudes toward authority are under question, she at least seems keen on helping ponies. That said if what you say is true then finding her might mean finding your wife and kid."

"She also gave me some....claims. Telling me that the ones I am taking orders from are part of some organization. Telling me that the Freedom Fighters are exploiting a system that was created by this organization to control the populace. That that organization is called....'Harmonize'. I find these claims rather...questionable, to say the least. Especially given how if she's working with Haze she's likely working with Digital Hoof. Yet I wonder how these hackers can so easily hack into multiple different types of brain augmentations if they do not all have some connection.."

Kevlar's smile would fade some, returning to its usual stern but neutral appearance. Owl would look into his slit eyes, and some worry would come to his mind. Detecting this, the Chief would say to Owl in reassurance. "I'm not going to silence you, but it seems I might need to trust you three with keeping a secret. This is more than just the usual confidential stuff of the RLG, this is something larger. Can I trust you three?"

Owl would reply "I'm not going to spill things on the public...I trust that whatever is secret is kept secret for a good reason."

Vision and Data would both nod, surprised to not hear the chief tell them that her words were horseapples.

"Always a loyal officer of the law. I shall let you know we're not some shadowy conspiracy like what some crazies on the Internal Network rant about in blogs, we're an organization out to protect society. We do what is needed and put all necessary resources into keeping the public safe. The hackers have indeed exploited a system, one to bring a new layer of protection along with the growing advent of the brain computer. Brain augmentations are growing in use and popularity, combining the imagination and potential of the mind with the speed and processing power of computers. Soon computers will become one with our minds, and we're developing a system to protect from that. The threat we are facing threatens to exploit this system, bring chaos, they are like a modern Discord. We are the ones trying to stop them, and we have the harmony Council and even princesses among our organization. Together we are committed to keeping Harmony safe, in a time where disharmony looms beneath us. As much as Anomaly is a useful asset she has made it clear she poses a threat of her own to our harmony."

"Why would she pose a threat? She helped us at the mall! And if Owl is right she helped us again! She seems pretty on our side to me." Data would reply.

"She assists us only in the logic of 'enemy of my enemy is my friends'. But when we decided to let her be informed of us she turned and voiced her disapproval. Very hostile, to the point she needed to be detained. She, unfortunately, escaped using a reconstructed copy the virus used on the Diamond Plaza. Taking control of police personnel and unlocking her cell before escaping the police station. She returned their minds back to their bodies, but it is clear she opposes us and will throw a wrench in our plans in soon time. The mare is not an immediate threat, and is technically an ally, but might I warn you she will be a threat in due time. For now, we shall focus on the immediate threat." the Chief would then look to them all and say. "With my authority as chief of the Royal Lunar Guard, I have decided to classify any who associate directly and assist the cyberterrorists as level 13 threats. As members of a new task force, you will be my hunters, sent to enact code red protocol on these cyberterrorists. Once found, we will strike from the shadows, let them know they are not safe behind their screens and will receive no mercy."

Nodding Vision would happily pull out his magnum, looking it over as he said. "Code Red Protocol seems fitting, they nearly killed hundreds of ponies. Not like they deserve a chance at mercy."

Owl would take out his wrist computer and mention. "Anomaly gave me a location where she believes the ones responsible for the Diamond Plaza attack might be."

"Then let's go on the hunt, you'll have Heavy Enforcement ready to assist you if the situation calls for them."

Data smirked and said, "If the shadows can't shank them good enough the sun will fry them like hay bacon."

In the outskirts of the Everfree Megacity would be an entire ten blocks of apartment facilities of various kinds. One of which was the exact location Anomaly had given to them. Data would be looking over things on the net, while Owl and Vision would be looking over the facility. A U shaped eight story facility that looked less than active yet seemed plenty inhabited, a cheaper and less fancy apartment for the lower middle class. A block away in an unmarked Sport Utility Autocarriage was Metal Heart and her team. Tinted windows hid the kevlar clad cyborgs and the weapons they had, an order away from storming in and bringing military grade justice. Owl and Vision would be sitting on the roof of an old mane salon across from the facility.

Compared to the apartments Owl normally saw in the city these ones looked more run down and less well funded. Lights were mostly in the form of street lights and the occasional window light. Litter was everywhere, and the automated street cleaner vehicles seemed to struggle to handle it all. Given the size of Megacities, ponies often go their whole lives without ever seeing many parts of them. Owl had never seen such filthy and run down places before, and he pondered on what the Gryphon running the bunker city told him.

"Well back in the industrial days the homeless could be seen begging on the streets, nowadays not so much anymore. You know why? Cause in the underground, both the figurative and literal one here comes opportunities for those bucked over by the mainstream job market. Nowhere else to go desperate for work but none to be found, do you think ponies in such a situation would let legality starve them? Those who fall from the public civil society simply get scooped up by the gangs and syndicates. It's a win win really, gang gets new recruits and homeless ponies get jobs, homes and food."

"Factories don't need as many ponies to run them, lotta things don't need ponies in the age of robots and working androids. Why pay weekly for workers when robots work better and need only a cheap monthly maintenance. Not to mention can work 24 hours of Celestia and Luna's rounds, and keep working on their next rounds. Not everypony can work computers, those that can't are finding fewer and fewer jobs."

He would be snapped out of his trance of thought by Vision, who would say to him. "Hey, no time for spacing out, we got work to do. We got the go ahead to enter when we chose, not a lotta lights around here so we got the cover of night to hide us. Let's gain access to the ventilation from the roof, move around and see what we can find in there. You know the orders Owl, we're not just here to watch."

Owl nodded, looking into his jacket to see the S-600 hidden away in one inner pocket while four ten-millimeter magazines were stored in the other along with a suppressor. "These ponies are just lowlives, we know their intentions, no mercy for the buckers. Remember the mall incident Owl, remember what you're fighting," he would say in his mind, clearing out doubts he had toward this heavy hoofed method. He would pull S-600 out in his hoof, and the suppressor in his bionic fingers. Screwing it on he would notice the sheer finesse and efficiency at which the bionic fingers screwed the attachment onto the barrel. Vision would do the same for his M 700 Magnum, the suppressor almost looking out of place on such a large pistol.

Data would start a group call with them, saying to them "Alright colts let's hunt us some cyberterrorists. You know the drill, we ain't just eyes, we're knives." Thus she would start cracking into the computers and security system, looking things over thoroughly. Owl and Vision went to the rooftop, opening their way into the air ducts before moving in. Trying to look at every room would have been a massive undertaking, given the large amount of apartments in the facility. They were counting on Data to narrow down that search, they didn't have all the time in the world after all.

Fortunately for them, Data found something interesting, watching the security cameras she would notice a number of ponies leaving their rooms and heading down a hallway. Camera to camera she moved, though forced to tread carefully as the cameras seemed to be guarded online by unknown users. She would have some unexpected help, recognizing that kind of skill. It was very much Anomaly, whom she now knew as a dubious ally whom they would likely have to confront at some point.

"Just carry on, I'm here to help." Anomaly would communicate to Data through text, and carry on she did from camera to camera. More ponies met up until they reached the staircase, heading down the stairs to the basement level.

"Ponies coming down to the basement, a lotta them, might be worth looking at. I'll keep looking around the network and computers, see what naughty stuff I can find. Hope you don't get lost in the vents, spooky vent creatures might creep on you."

"Very funny Data, very funny, just keep looking for targets and mark them on our waypoints."

"I thought YOU were doing the hunting." Data snickered before saying "Kidding just carry on."

Anomaly came in as well, assisting by creating backdoors and opening up defenses discretely. She wasn't watching their communications, being too busy trying to uncover things online. Data would soon enough find a few active computers, communicating with the apartment manager about payment and keeping quiet about their operations there. Owl and Vision would move along the vents, soon enough reaching the drop off where they would carefully climb down to the bottom. The basement level seemed to have mostly some utility rooms and a large storage room, one which seemed to be where the ponies were entering. Inside was quite the computer setup, a large makeshift mainframe built of old modified video game consoles from before the era of lightweight VRGD headgear. Multiple computers seemed to connect to them, computers that were now being manned by the ponies entering.

Though their dress was far from typical cyberculture, being more close to tech junkies only even rougher and low class than the usual dress. Tanktops and old teeshirts with tacky khaki pants and shorts adorned them as they pulled a plastic chair and got to typing away. The room was lit only by computer screens, as computers lined their way from the mainframe to the door that led into the room.

"What a disaster, mainframe got cracked and catches stolen." One would say before another replied.

"Could be worse, we can always try again after they're always keeping on improving the virus after all."

"Your failure is most certainly a bad one, but you have the chance to redeem yourselves." a voice would say from the corner of the room. One that was all too familiar to Owl, looking through the vent grate. A large silhouette of a figure in a lab coat could be seen. The figure would say "Keep working on the new virus, make it better and you'll make up for your failure." suddenly a sprite drone would come whizzing along before projecting a hologram. None other than the gas mask toting edgelord herself.

"Don't you worry Doc Com I got something for these gents here to help prevent that fiasco again! It's simple really, not that I think you're dumbbutts despite the buck up. Basically, we're gonna make a program to be able to fry the brains of those made puppet by the virus. That way we can properly dispose of those bodies made puppets, that way no wannabe 'hero' can just go about returning them! But don't worry, we ain't gonna keep them confined forever. They'll be safe in our storage server up until the awakening, then they'll be set loose like free wild dogs! Only a lot more interesting, as they'll be ponies on the web! After all, they shouldn't be left out to miss the new wild and free world that'll come!"

"Data I think we've found something, and since we've gotten a good amount of your namesake I think we will be ready to drop these buckers. Except the cyborg, once we've dropped as many as we can we'll be calling in HE. Let's see this bucker take them on." Vision would say in call, while they waited for the prime opportunity to strike. Since it seemed the large cyborg wasn't leaving Owl and Vision decided on a quick attack from the shadows. Slowly and carefully opening the grate they would slip out, sticking to the shadows of the ceiling.

Two rows of ponies, six ponies in each row, while Owl and Vision lined themselves to each one. Their weapons were at the ready, while the one presumed as 'Doctor Composite' from the bunker city was kept in their line of sight. Looking to eachother they would both mouth out a countdown of 'three, two, one'.

Like falcons claiming dinner, Owl and Vision swooped across with their weapons aimed.

'pew, pew, pew, pew, pew, pew'

Sounded twice in unison, one slightly louder than the other. The last four would look in shock as their fellow hackers dropped before taking bullets right between the eyes. Doctor Composite would look in shock before looking up, activating a night vision mode in his eyes before seeing two hovering bats aiming at him.

"Data call in the big guns now, then grab everything from this mainframe here." Vision said in the call before telling him "We got LMGs and military vets with high-grade bionics coming. Surrender now and maybe we'll ask that you don't get perforated." he said in a commanding voice.

Doc Composite would look to them and calmly say "So, it seems you've upgraded to police hitponies."

"We don't kill just for DB, we're dealing with you efficiently, you've forfeited your rights to any mercy after the mall incident." Owl would reply.

"Ah, so you're so enamored in the sense of pride and glory as 'Equestria's guardians' they have given you. To the point where you've decided just to hunt and shoot like dogs."

"Dogs at least don't harm ponies unless they're scared. You're harming ponies out of some maniacal anarchist excuse for a cause. Made up of lowlives who can't live in civil society." Vision would reply sternly.

"What about ponies who simply couldn't find a job, talented ponies who were desperate and barely able to survive. You may think you're saving ponies, but the reality is that you're only saving those lucky enough to find jobs. Believe it or not not every pony who isn't within your sheep society is a maniac or a true criminal."

"Heard that horseapples from the ringleader of that crime den in the Shadow District, your self-righteous crap ain't gonna affect me. So either stand down or be prepared to get bucked when the Heavies come for your sorry flank."

"Ignorant, nothing but a sheep with a gun." the Doctor looked to one of the dead ponies, a mare, her skull left with a large hole in her head from a magnum bullet. "Looks like her kid's an orphan, gonna wake up in room 204 to find mommy dead."

"Go shove your manipulative horseapple where the sun don't shine tailhole." Vision would say coldly, Owl would freeze for a moment. Was he really lying about that? He hoped to Luna he was.

Then a table was grasped and thrown at them, and unlike Vision was too entranced with that thought to dodge in time. Covering his face with his bionic limb the stallion would slam into the wall. The doctor would move to escape, quickly tapping a silent alarm to others of the building.

Anomaly and Data would move quickly to crack into the mainframe and try to recover what was present, but before they could a user projecting them self as 'DK' would move in, grabbing files before sending the message.

"Nope! you ain't nabbing this~ We're gonna use this to make you pay for bucking us up here, bye!" Their attempts to stop the clever hacker were in vain, as DK seemed to be prepared for an attempted cracking. Frustrated Data would try to go on the offensive, only for DK's online form to split into duplicates, one disappearing while the others attacked.

The SUAC would screech to a halt in front of the complex, Metal Heart and five others coming out locked and loaded as they sprinted for the front doors. They would soon be shot at by ponies from the windows, the U shape proving a defensible place. Bullets perforated the protective armor of the units as they swiftly fired back. Rooms would quickly be left with a splattered mess as Metal's LMG made short work of many of the attacking ponies. The group was hardly hindered as they burst in, splitting into two teams who would scour the building for hostiles. Metal herself would head down for the basement.

Vision would chase after Doctor Composite, shooting with aim to kneecap the cyborg. Before the cyborg could get up the stairs he would be met with the HE mare, aiming the sidestrapped LMG at him. Vision would shout "Shoot to kill! He took my wings!"

The doctor would stagger as rounds tore into him, covering his face as she unloaded. Blue colored artificial blood would drench the lab coat. Even under fire, he chose to charge, slamming into the cyborg mare before continuing to run. Metal was not slow to get up and chase, tackling him through the doors and slamming her hooves down. The two would exchange punches, the mare getting thrown off only to charge back as he got up. Kicking him to a wall Metal drew her sidearm, a .500 magnum HLES-4 revolver. Designed for use against cyborgs by cyborg police, with large penetrating bullets. The Doctor only barely escaped one to the head as he slapped it to the side, taking one through the shoulder.

More and more ponies continued to be slaughtered, while those that surrendered were swiftly tackled and cuffed. The exchange between Metal and Composite continued, but he struggled against the veteran's hoof to hoof skills. Kicking her back he would run, and Metal would notice his bionics start to self-repair. Loading her LMG she fired some more, before firing at him. "Self-repairing bionics? What the buck is this! Get back here motherbucker!" she would give chase along to the hall, before seeing him burst into a room. He would stand on a circular device which started to glow, and as she burst in he would disappear in a flash. Approaching the device she would look in shock before a beeping sound came from it.

One of the rooms would explode, visible from the outside. Owl and Vision would back off as an explosion sent Metal through the door into the other room. They looked inside, Owl asking "Are you alright!?"

Getting up she would say "I've taken worse than that, and that was the airstrike that put me in this body." she had taken mostly external damage, some of the artificial skin blown away to reveal the mechanical parts underneath. Armor plating covered most of what could be seen underneath the skin, akin to the kind seen on military vehicles. "He...teleported out using some sort of device, then it blew to bits." one of the HE ponies would come and give Metal a report. She was the leader of the squad, second only to the RSG Chief himself.

"All hostiles eradicated, a few were found to have surrendered here, one minor was found hiding under the bed of one of the rooms." the HE unit replied, a Zebra with his automatic slung at his side and 'Xanuels' written in a patch on his armor's chest.

Owl would then freeze for a moment, before asking the HE unit. "What...room was the minor in?"

Looking somewhat confused Xanuels replied. "204.."

Vision would look to Owl and say "It's that filly's mother's fault for working with terrorists, she's to blame not us." looking to Xanuels he said, "We took the mother out, along with the other hackers in the basement with orders from the Chief."

Xanuels would shake his head as he said: "Motherbucking Tartarus, a mom bringing her kid into this, that's just mad."

A concerned look would come to Metal's face breaking the usual cold focus she had. Looking to Xanuels she said, "Round up the ones who surrendered, we'll see what we can get from them. I'll see the kid." she would then start up the stairs, heading for the upper floor.

Data would ask the two in Comms "Holy moly things went crazy. You guys alright? Bucking hacker ran off with what was in the mainframe, though not everything thankfully. What happened to you?"

Owl would reply "We took out the targets, though one escaped through some teleporting device. Same lab coat wearing guy from the Bunker City. One with the self-repairing Bionics..."

"I think we did a good enough job, gonna have to find this DK and whatever she got before she does any damage. I suspect it might be an updated virus..."

Metal Heart went up to the room, where a single unit was present. She told him "You go help rounding up the rest, I'll talk to her. Looking to the bed she would lower to her belly, a filly around age eight to ten was hiding underneath and covering her ears. The gunfire and explosion likely left the ringing, and that was likely only going to be the start to her bad night. The mare sighed and said calmly "It's alright kid, we're not gonna hurt you,". She spoke with a grandmotherly tone, as her younger look didn't change her true age inside. "I promise kid, we don't go after kids. I wouldn't hurt you if you tried to stab me with a knife."

Like a shy kitten, the Filly slowly would pull herself out, as the cyborg stood up. Metal towered over the filly, and she would simply ask "You're not in trouble, but I just want to ask. Why did your mom work with these bad ponies? Did she know how much they hurt other ponies?"

The filly shook some and asked "Where's mom? Is she gonna go to jail?"

The mare thought carefully on how to answer that question. She knew the mare was dead, after all the bats evidently did their work well and efficiently. "Your mom is gone, but not in your heart. Keep her there, and she'll never leave you."

The filly teared up some, saying to her "She was just trying to make...bits for us to eat, they gave her a job."

"Couldn't she find a job elsewhere? Being good with computers is of value these days, surely.."

The Filly's tears intensified as she said: "They were all taken, and we were running out of bits.."

The mare froze for a moment, before sitting down and offering the filly a hug. The filly came close slowly before giving the mare a hug and sobbing into the bullet ridden fabric over the Kevlar plate. She hugged the filly back gently, knowing her strength could crush the poor child in an instant.

"They took advantage of her when she was at her worst. They're responsible for your mom's death. Criminals, underground scrum, only thing they're good for is destroying lives. I had somepony I loved, a daughter of mine who had two kids of her own. She too struggled once her dumb husband left her, but she got by. That was till she was taken from me by some thug who broke in. A criminal took my one and only daughter. Now all I have is my grandkids."

Looking up the filly asked. "Y-your a grandma? You look young.."

"My body is made of metal, and a few other things. I'm a pony in a robot body, and I'm here to help protect us all from these criminals. Those evil ponies that take from us, ruin our lives and ruin our world. We're here to protect you, and I am gonna make sure you have a good home, just like I did my grandkids. What's your name kid?"

"Sketch Pad...I'm really good at drawing."

"I'll bet your drawing are lovely Sketch, I'm Metal Heart. Anything here you wanna get? We're getting out of here and I'm going to take you for ice cream. If you want that is."

"I-I guess so..."

She would nuzzle the filly with a part of her face where artificial skin was still present. The mare would help the filly pack some belongings, consisting mainly of a laptop and an old graphics tablet. Meanwhile, Owl and Vision would be giving a report through call to the Chief.

"We're going to need to be quick, and track them down quickly." said Kevlar "If what Data says is true we're going to need to find what that hacker took and fast. Seems there's more of them around, but if Anomaly cooperates with us we could have a chance of hunting them down. Data, Owl, Vision, good job, did your work well and efficiently."

"We're going to want to look for anything that looks like it could teleport ponies out, prevent another escape like that one." Vision would say.

"Maybe you could rig it to just blow up instead. Send mister heals a lot sky high instead of escaping. That would be an entertaining way to deal with him." Data would say jokingly, with the Chief replying.

"These are obvious signs that our enemies have some fancy tech, tech we will want to know about. Know its limits, and possibly take it for our own use. For now you all deserve a rest, another job well done."

Owl would look to his friend and say "Let's check on the captured ponies, see if there's anything we can get from them."

The ones who got a weapon ready but were smart enough not to open fire on HE units were rounded up at the basement level. They would run into Metal as she was taking the Filly along, the mare's expression was sad and somber as she walked along. Looking to Owl and Vision she would say to them. "Good you're here, I'm gonna want your help."

Heading down Metal would ask the filly to stay put before motioning Owl and Vision to follow her into the computer room. The dead ponies lay hanging in their chairs, and Metal would ask "Which one of these is the mom, I got a feeling you know judging by your reaction to the mention of a minor." Somberly Owl pointed to where the mare lay, still dripping blood. Sighing she would say "Thank you, I'll make sure she's given a proper burial." Heading out of the room she looked over those captured. "What were they doing?"

"All of them had a computer running, with some dubious looking stuff going on."

Looking to the cuffed ponies she would ask them "You think you're fighting for something greater don't you, rebelling against tyrants in the name of anarchy, don't you?" when met with silence she would glare at them like a hawk and say. "Don't you!?" they would shudder and nod their heads some, too scared to lie at the cyborg staring at them. Looking to the Filly she would say "And you offered a job to this kid's mom correct took her in?"

"She was good at hacking and desperate for a job, we decided to offer her one from online." one would say quickly, while others glared at him. Her glare softening the mare would say in reply.

"Alright then, gimme a moment and I'll see how I am going to deal with you." walking to the Filly she motioned Xanuels to follow. Heading outside she would bring the filly to the SUAC and say "Just wait here, and I'll be back, we'll get ice cream and you can stay at my place till we get you a foster home. Alright?" the still teary eyed filly would nod. Looking to Xanuels she said "He'll keep an eye on you till I'm back, we're gonna make sure those criminals get justice."

Returning she would look through them, using her wrist computer to take pictures of them before sending them to the database. "No records, you had them wiped didn't you, hacked your way out huh?" they would nod slowly.

Owl would look and say "Miss, you can let us deal with them if you want."

"I got this, thank you though." she would reply, before looking to them and saying. "Since you're too scummy for society, exploiting a struggling mare like that, you tried to disappear from society." the hawk like stare would return as she said "You'll bucking disappear from society alright, when you're ashes are thrown in the bucking sewers." looks of terror came to their eyes before she ordered. "Code Red, shoot to kill."

The four Heavy Enforcement units there would put a bullet into each of their heads, while Owl looked somewhat questioningly to Metal. "They surrendered....couldn't we have...?"

"No, they're just trash, and we'll deal with them like trash. You can get what you need from the computers anyway."

Suddenly the sprite drone would fly out from the room, and the projection of DK would appear once more. "Oh, so having a kid exempts underground ponies from being 'trash' to you huh? She believed in curbstomping the corrupt power just as much as the others once she got to know us and our cause."

Looking to the hologram Metal said "Go buck yourself with a .44, a loving mother would only join you out of lies and manipulation. Enjoying hiding behind screens while you can cause we're gonna hunt you down, and you won't escape justice when it slams into you."

"Oooooh so scared of the big bionic pone, bite me! You hit us hard here, but we're gonna hit harder, luckily the update on the virus was nearly complete before you came in. Expect Diamond Plaza 2, the exciting sequel to come soon to a theater near you!"

The hologram would shut off and the drone dropping to the ground. Vision was quick to pick it up, sneering as he said "We'll be the ones to hit you harder. Looks like we're going to have to prepare ourselves, perhaps forgo that rest."

Owl would shake his head, convincing himself that it wasn't unjust to just kill those ponies. Taking his pistol and reloading it he would nod.

Metal would say, pulling a spent cartridge out from her revolver before putting another to replace it. "We can't rest while these buckers are threatening the peace. We gotta fight to keep our citizens safe, and if blood must be spilled...so bucking be it."

Author's Note

I originally wanted to finish this sooner, even started it not long after 14, but things got in the way. REALLY hoping to not have another 2 months till next chapter is finished.

16: Law and Disorder

48 hours, two days after the raid, stricken with stress and apprehension as the FF hackers messed with the Royal Guards over almost that entire time. Setting up fake attacks to rile up and ready the forces only for them to find nothing. Kevlar would go those two days without sleeping mostly, fueling his alertness with Coffee. A lot was on the chief's mind, Anomaly and the Cyberterrorists being the main things. Anomaly herself was almost more scary than the Freedom Fighters, they made their intentions clear as the daytime scheduled for a bright sunny day. Anomaly's intentions and actions were less clear-cut and predictable, she was a clear threat in her defiance yet seemed to have some moral standards. Even those moral standards could turn her towards dangerous actions, and it was clear she wasn't the type easily persuaded. A threat that was unpredictable, like a stormy sea at night, yet also an ally. At least there was that, for the time she was helping them and not as big a threat.

Thoughout most of the two days, Owl would be in his hotel room, sucking on the E-cigar deep in contemplation. With his room smelling of the sweet yet artificial taste of cherry flavored smoke. His blinds were closed letting only the slightest bit of light enter, enough that his bat eyes could scope the room as if well lit. His mind argued with itself, fighting the doubt that recent events and circumstances put in his mind. Once again his view of his world was distorted like the screen of an old television facing interference. For now, his mind managed to keep to its loyalty, even in these times the ones fighting for harmony WOULD win.

The crew at the Gorge would also be keeping their eyes on things, mostly Anomaly given her ability to hack and work even while asleep. Tazen would be flipping through family photos on her wrist computer, sighing some as she wished her husband wasn't so tied to the law she distrusted. The Gorge itself continued to carry on with its activity, the ponies who mostly lived there trotting around, hanging out, visiting the hot spots. Those not out on the levels would be inside, behind the screens of their various computer builds ready to fight the good fight online once called by the DJ.

As the sun set, the lights of the megacities began to glow to replace it. The activity slowed down for but a few hours in the dusk before speeding up again as the nightlife came out. Around the block that the Inn and Out hotel, ponies in cyberculture would start walking around the streets, circling around and communicating in comms calls. Data would be tracking these ponies suspiciously, letting the cameras be her eyes as she watched them. It would take time before she started to notice their patterns, and try to crack into their communications. From the digital shadows, unbeknownst even to Data, Anomaly would be watching over things as well. Looking over the live camera footage Data would soon begin to grow alarmed as she recognized the clothing.

"Golden Street, what in the buck are they doing around here of all places?" Data would ask, suspecting no good of seeing ponies from the infamous criminal syndicate walking around. Clad in black, brown, and gold cyberculture gear with influence from upper-class Canterlot apparel. Clever yet daring, it was somewhat unlike them to do much to present any show of force unless they had a major plan. Seeing two of the Golden Street ponies walk into the hotel Data would quickly ring up Owl and Vision for a Wrist computer call.

"Hey Data, you find something of note?" asked Vision as he answered the call.

Owl would groan and answer, asking somewhat tiredly. "What's up buttercup?"

"Guys I think something's about to go down there's Golden-!"

The sound of an explosion was heard before Owl saw his door get blasted to pieces. Cursing to himself he dove under the bed. Through the lit hallway, he could see decorative black and gold combat boots walking in before hearing a giggle as a feminine voice said.

"Come on out now~"

The bat would grit his teeth as he stifled a groan, trying to get his tired muscles and mind into gear. He was barely able to react in time as the door was blasted. Fortunately, the lights would go out, as he heard gunfire from the room next to him. Anomaly had just managed to give Owl and friends some cover as she shut off the lights. Owl would quickly take advantage of the opportunity, crawling out and swooping at the two gunmares. Using his bionic limb and momentum he sent his metal and kevlar hoof into one of their faces. A sickening crack ensued as the mare's decorative techno style top hat flew off and her jaw cracked under the force. The other would try to turn her shortened Grypus tech GAR-20 before it was pushed down and her throat was punched. Smashing her face into the doorframe he drew his pistol, hearing clicking behind him and recognizing it as Vision. A Golden Street mare and stallion lay dead outside his doorway with magnum bullet holes in their head.

Data fled out of the window, using her wrist computer to open itself automatically. That fortunately needed no hacking skills, as she only barely escaped with just a 5mm bullet in her hind hoof. Getting to the roof she would say in Comms "We gotta get outta here! out the windows and to the roofs!"

Leaving their windows and heading out to the rooftops Owl and Vision would look to the mare.

"No coincidence these buckers have come to get at us here of all times. Looks like keeping a low profile hasn't worked for us." Vision would say, his magnum at the ready.

"Thinking the Cyberterrorists have decided to stop trolling and give us the real deal?" asked Data, pulling her own pistol at the ready.

Gunfire could be heard resonating Looking out to the streets in horror Owl would say "I think so, they got something big in mind."

The ponies in black and gold would be pulling their decoratively carved and played assault rifles, SMG's and shotguns, shooting into the air and sending the crowds into a panic. The lights started to go crazy, but Anomaly would immediately start fighting against the virus as it was unleashed. Her efforts would be hindered suddenly as her systems were attacked, identifying her attacker she would recognize the calculated behaviors of GAI-7. Seesaw was brought into this, and now they all knew of the coming storm.

Her efforts hindered, Anomaly would be unable to stop the cars being shut down, nor the screen boards getting hacked with the message. "Chaos! Sponsored by the Golden Street" in flashing multicolored backgrounds. Monitoring the situation in Everfree, the Chief would immediately call for the mobilization of sector 4 of both Lunar and Solar Guards.

"Seems they're finally striking, time to strike them back..." Kevlar calling Owl and co. he would enter their call before saying. "Get out of there and find a safe place while we scope out the situation. We're bringing in the big guns, but we might seek out your surgical touch once we can get a grip on what's going on."

"Roger." the three of them would say before hearing two familiar voices from a nearby roof.

"Well well looks like we caught you by surprise. Admittedly you caught us by surprise by bursting into one of our places outta nowhere, so we thought we'd return the favor. SURPRISE!"

There it was, the hologram of DK standing there, with the two maid cyborgs lounging on the edge side by side. It was evident that they had installed bionic wings into their backs. Owl would motion Data to get out of there, and the mare would fly off with her laptop in its bag at her side.

"Soon we'll surprise you when your door is kicked down and your flank is perforated, if you're lucky." Owl would say in reply. "You can't hide away forever from us!" taking flight he and Vision would keep their guns ready.

"Says the ones hiding away in a hotel, trying to keep hidden. In order to beat us, you'll have to use our tactics and you know it! There are over 8 million doors in Everfree City! You'll have to find which one to kick firssst~! After all you'd rather not burst in on some random pone whacking off would you? Anyway go get 'em! It's fun time!" DK would say as the Maids as they took flight in pursuit.

The three would fly up into the air, as the streets began to fall more and more into chaos as the minutes went on. Shouts would be fired as they aimed back and fired off some shots, Data would fly below them, drawing her own pistol while saying "Go buck off fetish gear freaks!" as she fired off some shots. The two maid would dart around, ten millimeter and .44 magnum shots both whizzing past them at supersonic speeds. One would fly for Owl from below, a chain whip extending from her hoof as she stunned him with a strike to the eye.

"They're using whips? Seriously? Bucking hay they really are fetish freaks!" Shouted Data as she darted around and fired some shots. Emptying her clip she would try to reload, only for her weapon to get whipped out of her hooves. Given she wasn't a griffin nor unicorn this proved unfortunately easy.

The three would do their best to defend themselves, sending punches and kicks and knocking the maids back. The mares used the whips quite skillfully, stunning them before sending punches and kicks of their own. Owl would be kicked in the back, sending him falling to the street and almost faceplanting on the concrete. A Gryphus tech model 170 machine pistol would be aimed at him and fired before he could dart in for the alleys. Vision and Data would holster their weapons before darting down for the alleys as well with the maids in pursuit.

____________________________________________________

In cyberspace Anomaly would be fighting against GAI-7 alongside a multitude of Digital hoof hackers, all trying to mitigate the Virus' effects on the city system. Creating duplicates it would easily take on the group, maintaining the virus and it's increasing hold on the CCS. The mare's defenses would be battered by shotguns and sniper rocket programs, while her attempts to crack past the AI's were constantly hindered and detected. Knowing full well the stakes and what was bound to happen, adrenaline filled the mare's veins as she put her mind to work. She knew she had to think up something quick, many a hacker from Digital Hoof was getting their computers smashed by GAI-7's attacks. Even Anomaly was struggling, the AI had read her attack patterns and behavior before and was now countering it.

An idea came to her mind, and she would create a combination program. Combining a trap with a shotgun, and upgrading the code some she would deploy it at the ready alongside her defensive walls. Having it at the ready she would let the AI's virus attack hit before it shot off, hitting and knocking out a duplicate program. The mare would quickly put up another one of these before getting a message from the DJ.

"You can't just take it on manual Nommie, you're gonna need some more tools to help you." said the DJ, herself struggling even more. She took a risk and drew her attention away from defenses to give Anomaly some software.

[File Recieved]: Spy.exf [Download?] [Delete?]

[File Recieved]: Assassin.exf [Download?] [Delete?]

[File Recieved]: Thief.exf [Download?] [Delete?]

Examining the programs quickly she found them rather interesting. The spy program seemed to be designed to monitor a computer system, giving the user a stream of data and an interface to look over the victim's interface. Assassin worked like a typical virus, only in a stealthy manner of attack while functioning as an independent automated entity. Thief was the one that interested her the most, it was made similar to spyware, only with the ability to capture and copy programs from a victim's computer.

The mare would go back to the fight, finding her trap once again take out another duplicate. The AI would cease its attacks on her, now aware of her tactic. The mare would do some quick upgrading to the spy before deploying it into GAI-7's system.
___________________________________________________________________

"Where are yooooou~"

"Here batty batty batty's~" The Maids would say mockingly as they walked through the alleyway, looking for the three. Owl, Vision, and Data would be hiding and using their stealth tactics to evade and try to get out of there.

The sound of metal wings could be heard in the air as RLG DF-80's came down. Sleek flying machines with wings designed after those of Dragon Flies, maneuverable and stable partially thanks to computer-assisted maneuvers More and more of them would come flying in, wings retracted as the magic based vortex jets boosted them into the area quickly before they were deployed for hover move. Out of them would fly LRG units, armed and ready, and it wasn't long before they were in combat with the Golden Street. One of the DF-80s would be painted in the gold color of the RSG, where Metal and her team would be riding along. Unexpectedly from the roofs, a number of radio controlled aircraft would come flying up toward the DF-80s's. Hitting the wings they would be revealed to be carrying explosives, detonating and damaging the wings before sending a few falling and crashing into rooftops. Some of the RC planes would even go for the guards, killing many of them horrifically.

Getting out of the area Owl, Vision, and Data would see things not totally peaceful just outside the warzone. All screen boards that were outside of the hacked CCS zone were displaying EAS messages, informing the populace in the immediate area of the emergency that was unfolding. They were not shooting alarm sounds so as to panic the populace, but emitting the eerie beep that made EAS messages unsettling. A map of the area under attack was shown alongside the message, with the area marked in red.

ATTENTION! ATTACK ON CITY BLOCK! ENTER YOUR HOMES! FIND SHELTER!
A group of criminal assailants is carrying out violent attacks in this area. Enter your homes now! if you are in a vehicle stay inside and duck down! Lunar and Solar Guards are dealing with the situation now, do not leave safety until the situation is marked as clear. If you have loved ones in this zone, DO NOT come for them, Lunar and Solar Guards will help them!

The sounds of gunfire and a few explosions would rile up and cause panic for the ponies all around, many of which fleeing and finding shelter whenever possible. Nopony in the entire city was prepared for something like this, and they could only hope their saviors in kevlar could come to stop the terror that was looming in the city block. Looking to the growing chaos down the block, then looking slowly toward Vision, Owl would say in the call.

"We're facing our own Tirek here....my sweet Celestia."

"Owl, Data, Vision are you in a safe place?" Said the Chief, in a demanding and worried tone. They were hardly able to speak to him for over five minutes in their attempts to escape the cyborg maids.

"We're as safe as can be Chiefie, looks like we're in an all-out war here. Narrowly escaped some kink crazy cyborgs! This whole situation is getting more absurd the more it goes on!"

"What are our orders Chief?" Vision would say, reloading his magnum. "Our place here has been compromised and we're not exactly as well equipped as S4."

Chief would say "I have an idea of what you could all do, it would be dangerous and a test of your ability. But it seems these street trash are fighting back well."

Using advanced and unconventional tactics the Golden Street ponies were not losing the fight. Between exploding RC airplanes, snipers hidden in the buildings, skillful and clever fighters on the street showing to be alarmingly well equipped. Various Gryphus tech guns and makeshift yet effective explosives were used.

"Owl, Vision...I'm going to ask you, not order....but ask you. Will you go in there, and strike them from the shadows. Find any leadership in the fighting, any important targets, and take them out. As a bonus....I want you to use some psychological these buckers. Attack from the shadows like boogeyponies, however you can make them afraid of you."

"What about me Chief?" Data would ask, to which he would reply.

"Help out our Friend Anomaly, and whoever those other ponies she has along are.

Flying out from the zone the RSG DF-80 would land on a nearby roof, Metal Heart looking to her team. Her eyes showed a mix of anger and horror, as her flashbacks came back to her. Suddenly her days in the urban combat were coming back to her. "Well....isn't this a familiar sight. Only in this case, we're not fighting Gryphons..." the mare scowled and loaded up the underslung grenade launcher equipped with her LMG. "These criminals wanna act like those Gryphons? We'll bucking treat them like those Gryphons!" looking forwards she would say. "Once the retreat order is cleared, it's Code Red Protocol, shoot to kill, no quarter."

APC's would roll up all around the block, coming to a stop before opening up to form a wall around the block. Automated Gun turrets would deploy from the tops. Owl would watch as this happened, before looking down the street at the chaos going down below. He could see one of the autocarriages with a mare ducking down and cowering in fear, a few dead S4 Lunar guards laying around with missing limbs. They were largely forced to retreat and close off the area, unprepared for such a well-equipped foe.

Suddenly one of the maniacs would walk up, centaur arm bionics built into her shoulders and holding twin machine pistols. The crazed looking mare's Golden street attire had some holes and tears in it, and she was visibly bleeding. Yet she still walked, pupils massive and expression looking high and crazed at the same time.

He and his friends pondered on the request their Chief gave to them. As they looked on the streets they could see why he wanted them to do this. It was revenge, the ponies there were under a dark and fearsome stormcloud of fear and terror. The sunlight of their safety and security was gone, replaced with a rain of terror. Kevlar wanted them to get revenge, to bring that fear to the ones terrifying the populace.

Suddenly the crazed mare looked over to the autocarriage, before pulling out a pipe bomb. Activating it she would spin around before chucking it at the vehicle. Owl would gasp in shock and tear up as he said: "Chief where are the BUCKING S4'S!?" The mare would open the door before trying to run for her life, only to be sent flying along with her autocarriage in a rainbow-colored explosion of colorful death. Owl would fall to his knees, watching the mare tumble lifelessly along the ground like a doll, a doll missing two of her limbs.

"Owl they were forced to retreat and close off the area, only a team of Solar S4 are coming to be deployed there. However......we have the buckers trapped in this area, and I want you to make them feel like they're trapped in a nightmare."

Data and Vision would have seen this as well, just in time to see the mare die. They would both be frozen in shock, as Owl froze up and went on his knees on the ground. An unnatural growl would then start to form in his mouth, as his fangs would then bear. Data would look to him, tearing up as she came to him and said "Oh gosh, Owl, I can't believe this...these drug-addled bucking maniacs..." she hugged him, and as Vision approached he would say to him. "You two go meet with the others. Go help fight the virus, Data. Vision, go find the others and stay out. You got a wife, who hasn't turned from the law."

"But what about you, Owl?" Data would say, before the stallion turned to him. Tears in his eyes and thermite anger piercing in his eyes.

"I'm going to bring the terror to these junkies and street trash." Biting the air, making a light click as his teeth met eachother he would say. "I'm going to show them just what it is like to feel powerless while a force you can't fight bucks with you."

"They're armed and able to take on S4's Owl! Don't be crazy!" Data would say, before Owl's chuckle burst into a short laugh.

"They can't fight what they can't see! And I won't just be popping heads with the pistol. I've got more natural weapons to use."

The chief would say "You both find safe places, We'll see how Owl takes care of things. Heavy Enforcement gonna be brought in as well, so he'll have some good support. Owl...good luck in there, for the Princesses and for Harmony."

__________________________________________________________________________

By now over half of the Digital hoof hackers either had their computers crashed or were forced to go offline to prevent being crashed. All the while Anomaly, the DJ, Tazen, and MonsterBuster fought against the artificial intelligence. There was some progress fortunately. Anomaly's assassin program took down a number of duplicates while the DJ unleashed a powerful custom virus dubbed "Bass Cannon." to assault the duplicates and even hit the real GAI-7 as well. This came at the cost of using her computer's maximum power and almost causing it to lag severely.

Locating and taking out the Assassin programs GAI-7 would pull itself back and build up its defenses as its duplicates were taken down. Being linked to a live audio feed it would listen, and in the city multiple sprite drones would fly before projecting DK's hologram.

"Now that we've kicked the guard's flanks it's time to kick things up to phase two! They can try to wall us in and contain us! But they can't contain the powaaaa of the Liberator! And despite some rude interruptions it has been given some time to learn the system a bit our hard-working programmers have got it ready for phase 2! So~ Give it up for the new and improved Liberator Virus!!!"

Anomaly would look in surprise as the old virus seemed to reactivate, only to look in horror as it seemingly came back, stronger and more powerful. Anomaly would say to her allies in the call "Focus on dealing with the virus! I'll deal with the AI and cover you!" thus the DJ and friends would go to continue the fight online, as more and more screen boards and lights went black. Facing off against the AI she would get ready to put forth her full attack on it, seeking to distract it from her friends. The Spy program gave her a look into the AI, it's thinking was quite advanced and it seemed to be controlling and commanding the virus directly. It also gave her the advantage of being able to anticipate its attacks, and the next attack would be a combination program of shotgun-sniper rocket- and data bomb.

Defenses damaged and pierced through for more direct hits, Anomaly would take a blow, but she wasn't close to crashing. The brain-computer seemed to be quite a strong system, and she was thankful for that. Readying her own attacks she would set up multiple walls of trap-shotguns. This forced the AI to attack only once before it stopped attacking, and Anomaly would over time deploy Assassin after assassin to start subtly doing damage to its system. All while using shotgun attacks to batter its outer defenses. Another idea came to her mind, something that would be risky but that just might have been able to work.

The mare would do some tinkering with her Spy program, doing so carefully while keeping up her attacks on it. Her plan was to use it to backdoor herself directly into GAI-7. It was risky, but at this point, she felt it a worse risk not to go for something major. Thus she would ready her makeshift backdoor, keeping up the attack on the AI.

__________________________________________________________________________

Walking into the block, Metal and her team would move quickly. Any armed Golden street members were fired on immediately, and shots from seemingly nowhere would start coming their way back. "Let's give these buckers Tartarus!" the cyborg mare would shout as they advanced forward. Pipe bombs and explosive RC would come their way, more and more and from more directions the more they came in. A large and well-armored team was soon starting to lose ponies left and right.

More and more Golden Street ponies were gunned down, the high-velocity six-millimeter rounds from Metal's LMG tearing through those without armor and perforating those with armor. The team would advance, spreading out to try to cover more ground. Metal would stagger as she was hit in the back with an exploding RC plane, damaging her armor but not harming her armored body. "Gonna take more than your bucking toys to take me down!" the mare would say, taking out a sniper in the window.

Soon enough as she reached the center of the block, she would hear speakers from sprite drones bring out a familiar voice.

"Yoo hooooo~ Looks like they've brought in the big guns, too bad we're killing you off one by one."

"Go buck yourself, if I see you in person I'm gonna paint the nearest wall in your bucking blood. You cyberterrorists may have your own little army and your script kiddie skills, but once we come there will be no mercy." Metal would say, about to shoot the drones before DK would say.

"Script Kiddie? I would be offended if that wasn't such a dumbflank insult! You WE are script kiddies? Lemme ask you this~ Where are the Cyber Guard? The ones you hire to prevent your CCS system, where are they and what are they doing? Oh wait, they're doing jack because that's all they can do! Meanwhile, we're pimping out this block's City-Systems like it's no tomorrow~"

"We'll take you out in time, history doesn't favor the evil bastards." Metal said with a scowl, shooting the Drones. Suddenly their wrist computers would activate and they would be all brought into a call.

"We're no draconequis, giant evil centaurs or changeling queens, we're like dynamite with a laser beam~ powerful and destructive yet precise and sharp. You can't just friendship zap us away, that's why you're packing heat. No, we're something no cause for harmony can just defeat. You think you're so tough, but wait until we show you just how vulnerable you are!"

Metal would suddenly see herself pulled from the world she knew to a state of mind that was an almost dreamlike state. Suddenly she was deprived of senses, sight, sound, even feeling. She felt like a ghost, a ghost made up of ones and zeroes. The mare wondered in her mind what happened, what was happening. The uncertainty of it all was torturous, especially given this situation interrupted her from her duty. The mare figured would soon look over code around her that didn't make her up in the strange realm.

".....Where am I.....what the buck is this place!? WHAT HAS HAPPENED TO ME!!!..."
__________________________________________________________________

Author's Note

I hope to be getting to a schedule, typing out stuff every weekend while I practice my drawing during the week. Maybe get some more in later on weekdays.

17: The Block

The streets would be silent for a moment, as the Solar S4 team lay collapsed on the road, the stern expressions held on their faced frozen as their bodies fell over like ragdolls. Many of the ponies hiding in the city also collapsed, causing many a pony to panic as well as they shook their limp loved ones. The screen boards would be flickering and flashing, glitching between showing the usual adds and showing vulgar messages such as "You are all bucked!" and "End is near!". The radius of which these effects alongside the power outage occurred only grew over time. One psychic Golden Street mare would come walking along, bored as her centaur arm bionics held her submachine guns. Taking out another pipe bomb the mare would look to one of the of the stopped autocarriages.

Before she could activate the fuse, something colored brown and black would come flying in her peripheral vision. Turing and aiming her gun she would find the side of her head grasped by dark blue bionic fingers, while one put its tip at her eye. In her sight she would see him, the brown bat stallion, brown eyes staring with a glare and bared fangs to haunt fillies' nightmares.

"Tell your bucking friends they better surrender, or they'll know what it's like for the civilians hiding away in this block!" before plunging one of his fingers in. Her eye would disappear in a splash of red, and her shrieking would echo to shatter the silence on the streets. Rapid gunfire would follow, as she frantically tried to shoot at her assailant. Yet her gun would rapidly click, it's magazine spent and not a bullet landing on him. Like a shadow, the bat disappeared into the night in a flash. Whimpering, the mare would clutch her eye socket as red would run down the side of her face.

A couple Golden street stallions would run up to her, having heard the screams. Hearing the sudden silence, faltering only with the ambient sound of DF-80 blades and jet boosters, be broken by a shriek sent a chill up their spine. Looking upon their once chipper and crazy friend who now on the ground, whimpering and clutching her face where a river of red flowed on one side.

"What the buck happened??" the pegasus of the two would say, aiming their black market assault rifle around, shooting off warning shots. "We'll find you, and you're gonna pay!"

"H-h-he.." the mare would say, drawing their attention to her. "......he said if we don't surrender he's going to....we're going to know what it is like for the civilians on this block..."

_______________________________________________________________

Myriad would be watching the news, monitoring how the situation was presented from her apartment at the top of the EQUE-TECH HQ.

"Lunar and Solar forces are currently at work assessing the situation, but Chief Kevlar Vest assures you all that the situation will be dealt with and that the Golden Street Crime syndicate will answer for their actions. Specialized units have been sent to deal with the situation according to the RLG chief, and he is confident they can break their resolve. All civilians near and within this area are advised to stay in their homes until this situation is resolved.

Nodding the CEO mare would say "Good reporting as always, tell what is needed to be told, but don't tell too much. Don't tell them that the RLG is currently in the process of failing to deal with this swiftly."

"This is very concerning, these anarchists seem to be well equipped and good at planning. They've held back Lunar forces, and killed a number of them. The Solar S4 ponies have been lost in contact and are not responding." Golden would say, sitting on a leather chair nearby. "We can only hope Anomaly is helping deal with the cyberattack well."

"Fortunately I have a plan for if the guard fails too much." Myriad would say. "They are our gun after all, to shoot against the assailant that is disorder. When a gun jams once or twice it is not necessarily useless, though not totally reliable. If that gun suffers major malfunctions or failures in the worst of times, that gun needs parts replaced."

Golden would listen to the plan, understanding the metaphor she would ask. "What is your plan for Anomaly?"

"Anomaly is an asset to us, for now. She's the only one on our side capable of dealing with these Cyberattacks. That said you and I both know she is going to be an enemy to us at some point. We need to try to establish a system of monitoring on her, the few times we were able to track her she has rejected the upgrades offered."

"You should have known she would know we'd put in surveillance software into those. She is intelligent after all."

"An intelligent one alright, an intelligent rebel. Intelligent rebels are the enemies of the kingdom, they are smart enough to pose a threat that is not so easy to deal with. Thugs on the streets can be easily dealt with by local law enforcement, and psycho's bent on mass killing can be made short work of by Lunar S4, solar S4 if they are a cyborg. Yet the intelligent ones are clever, able to escape force and circumvent security. They are proof that intelligence and knowledge are best kept to those in control or those who can be controlled. it is the only way to ensure the security and function of society."

"If we can get the PRS system into proper workings, and bring the hardware to all ponies we could ameliorate that problem."

"Yes, though judging by witness testimony from the Diamond Plaza incident it is being exploited by these intelligent rebels. Apparently their minds are getting uploaded, meaning somepony has managed to complete that function before even we could."

"That is true..."

"And the threat they pose is more than just safety, they could scare ponies away from brain augmentations as well. We cannot let that happen, or the PRS system will be either delayed severely or rendered impossible to fully implement. Anomaly will be just as much of a threat to this system as these 'Freedom Fighters', she will likely find and try to destroy it if not reveal it to the populace. It is for that reason that I regret to say that we may need to take drastic measures against her."

Grimacing, Golden would look to Myriad and say "Are you suggesting we.....have her eliminated..?"

"If that is necessary, though there is another option to us. If we can manage to gain coding from that virus, then perhaps we could fashion our own net to swipe her mind from her body. Given the Virus hasn't struck her up to know we would need to make something different. I am tasking the Cyberguard's head and best with trying to recover parts of this virus. Cypher Code is snooping around right now, and is also keeping watch on the wrist computers of I&I officers Owl Talon, Night Vision, and Data Miner, given at least one of them have been communicated with by Anomaly."

____________________________________________________________________________

Metal Heart would suddenly find herself taken out into a whole new code realm, nearly driven insane by the unknown and unanswered questions of her situation. Blindly she would form up text in the code, desperate for something, anything other than the enigmatic nothingness that was before her.

"WHERE AM I!? ANYPONY!!! ANYTHING!!! HELP ME!! WHAT IS GOING ON!!!"

Suddenly, a text would come back to reply to her, and she would be brought into a custom chat interface. The text would say.

"You have been uploaded, just like the ponies at the Diamond Plaza. I've intercepted the upload and managed to snatch you and your friends out. Give me one moment and I will connect you with your friends, and a number of other ponies."

"Oh thank bucking Celestia, who are you??"

"I am the one who is trying to help Equestria in these trying times, both against these maniacs and the corrupt powers that rule it."

"Corrupt powers? You talking about the princesses?"

"They are but two cogs in a larger machine, two lines of code in a program. But know that they, to control the populace, have created the system the maniacs are now using to steal ponies minds now. That is all I can say for now, I'll connect you with your friends, but then I have to go out to fight this virus."

Connecting Metal with the other Solar S4 ponies, Anomaly would go back to managing her fighting with GAI-7. The DJ and friends would struggle in fighting against the virus, even with her distracting the AI.

"Nommie! We're struggling here! You gotta smash that AI so you can help us! They're snatching ponies minds! I saw the Guard's big guns drop like dolls!" the DJ would say through their call.

"They are safe, I have them in my storage. I've tried to help as many of the ponies getting uploaded as I can, but my ability to multitask is getting strained."

"You know if we manage to pull through this it could be a perfect moment to fight the government propaganda. Further our message though bringing it straight to the screen boards they broadcast it in."

"Is that really what matters right now?" Anomaly would reply.

"This whole thing was caused by the Royal Government, or rather the whole Harmonize Crew's attempt to control the ponies' minds! We need to fight back against that, and let the populace know so they can fight back as well!"

Suddenly two more ponies would come along into the battle of code, using her best tricks and programs to hit the virus as well. Not recognizing the IP present the DJ have some suspicions, but would accept the help.

As Anomaly prepared her backdoor she would suddenly get a message.

"I managed to listen in on that call. Not gonna go and rat you out but you shouldn't let them exploit this for their cause, they won't be responsible with whatever they have and could worsen the panic."

"You remind me of somepony I've had message me once."

"I am that pony, and I am trying to keep you from going reckless with this. If you wanna protect the populace take the assistance of these Hacktivists all you want. But don't let their reckless cause draw you in, it will do more harm than whatever supposed good." The Cyberguard would type out. "Me and and a friend you might have worked with before are going to help out here."

The DJ would then say "Hold on some bucker is trying to spy in!" cutting off the monitoring program she would then say. "You really should consider, we need to take definitive action to be able to prevent things like this from happening again! And to prevent those in power from furthering their power!"

Anomaly would find herself at yet another crossroad as she nearly finished her backdoor. She was by no means on the Cyberguard's side, yet there was some reason in what she said. Was it really a good idea to hit the ponies of that block with such a bombshell, and at this time when panic was high enough? Yet the DJ had a point as well, at some point the populace needed to be definitively brought against this system.

The mare would ponder on the decision, before setting it aside to focus on her real objective. Activating the backdoor she would move quickly, going into the belly of the beast.

____________________________________________________

A scream was heard in an alleyway, cut short by faint sounds of gurgling. A couple Golden Street ponies would rush in, finding one of their own leaned to the alley and bleeding from the neck. He would point behind them faintly, and before they could react one of them would find fanged jaws clamping on the side of his neck. His hooves would flail in a panic as his friend turned and fired, putting a slug through his shoulder. The predator behind him would dash forward, grabbing the hoof that held the pump of the GS-12-4 shotgun. As another shot rang out and missed the bionic fingers would tighten on the stallion's hoof before swiftly breaking it like a twig. The stallion would then find himself swing and his head slammed into the corner of a metal garbage dumpster.

Hearing the gunshot two Gunmares would aim into the alley, seeing the sight before them and gasping in horror. They clutched their guns and held them close like a filly would her teddy bear. Being both earth ponies they would do tactical rolls around while standing bipedal to aim their weapon. One would hold a mouth gripped pistol in her mouth as backup, while the other shouted. "Come on out and fight coward!"

Before something large and heavy dropped on her head, a worn out bowling ball smashing into her head. Hearing the sickening crunch the other mare would look, her scream faltering into a whimper as she aimlessly unloaded her weapon upward. "Where the buck are you!?"

From behind the mare would feel bionic fingers grasping her throat, making her gasp and choke some. She would try to hold the weapon over her shoulder and fire it. Her heart would skip a beat as she heard rapid clicking, and the bionic fingers tightened their grip.

"Feeling helpless, huh? Scared for your life?" when she didn't answer him for a few seconds he would whisper harshly into her ear. "Well???" his fangs pressing against it as he said so. Shakily the mare would nod her head slowly, and to that he would reply "Think about what it is like for the innocent ponies you're terrifying here." Hearing rapid hoofsteps he would bite into her ear, making her scream before half of it was torn off. Her friends would come in to find her scared and on her knees, blood flowing from her ear.

____________________________________________________

Anomaly would burst into the AI's system, activating a shotgun program to hit it hard before going into a coding equivalent of wrestling with it. It would be forced to cease any and all attacks to try to focus on defending itself. The Virus would notably seem to cease it's spreading and go into its normal functions, randomly using the CCS commands. The DJ and friends would take advantage of this along with other Digital Hoof hackers.

With their combined efforts they were having some strong progress, cutting down the Virus and ceasing its effects. Before long more and more parts were having their malfunctions ceased, and just left with the power off.

Tazen High would look over cameras, watching as Owl brought terror and fear to the Golden Street Syndicate's operation. She would grimace at what she saw, on the one hoof he was fighting against the ponies terrorizing the populace. On the other hoof, he was bringing law and order through fear and terror. "I-i-it's not like him to do this. What's happening to him?"

In a cafe, heavily guarded by Lunar guards, Data would be sitting on her computer and carrying on the fight against the virus. Sitting next to her was none other than Cypher Code, head of the Cyberguard and the best hacker out of all of them. A dark grey colored bat mare with a red mane and green stripes, heterochromic green and red eyes. She was nicknamed "H'warming Mare" after the common shorthand for the holiday hearts warming. The mare was not only fighting to eliminate the virus, but also trying to get bits and pieces of it.

"Dang are we glad Anomaly seems to be doing well against who or whatever's controlling this thing. We're whooping them now on the web!" Data would say. "I can only hope she can get the minds of those ponies back."

"She seems to have already been helping, managing to capture the minds of the S4 team. That said I can only hope the Hacktivists don't convince her to further their cause. I managed to intercept a call between her and some ponies who I suspect are of Digital Hoof. They want her to take advantage of the down security to spread their message through the screen boards."

Looking to Cypher Data would ask "What if sides with them? What if she decides to help them? What will we do then, take her on along with the Digital Hoof ponies?"

"Yes, I'm afraid, but I am seeking to make a little weapon that can help us deal with her. I'm getting bits and pieces off of this virus to do so."

"You're not suggesting you'll brain jack her are you?" Data would ask. "Seems a bit wrong to do that, given how much she's helped with the brain jacking problem."

"She is clearly out to help like I was back when I was a renegade. A vigilante on the web, a reckless bringer of justice. It was only after my sister in the force caught me, and let me see the damage I caused that I decided to accept the offer to join the Cyberguard."

"What damages? Letting loose a few wild viruses?" Data would ask, to which Cypher would reply.

"That and worse, my blind illusion of justice resulted in thugs being sent to an innocent stallion's house, after the alleged rumors of him owning filly porn turned out to be slander done by some enemies. To tell of just one thing I did to buck things up, if it wasn't for my sister I would have caused more grief and destruction despite my intentions."

Data would listen, and frown as she replied. "Oh my, so the rumors of you being an ex-renegade are true. You're saying that Anomaly could end up like you, a well-intentioned mare causing a lotta damage."

"Anomaly poses a much larger potential threat if she can take on something the Cyberguard can't fight that makes her a formidable force online. She could do a lot worse than me, and very well might." Cypher replied. "Unless she chooses not to turn Hacktivist.."

Anomaly would keep her upper hoof, cracking into the AI's code. Soon enough she would take control over it, keeping the center mind contained. With that control, she would find herself in control over the Virus and its area of effect.

"Whoooooeee! That's what I'm talking about, seems like you have got that program by the ropes!" the DJ would say. "I think now is a good opportunity to take things over, take over the screen board and television lines! We can spread our message, open their eyes!"

Cypher would look into the system through her screen, waiting for the choice that Anomaly might make. She didn't personally know the mare, only what was told about her by the Chief. From what she was told, her predictions seemed to lean toward Anomaly helping the side of Digital Hoof. Her hooves would be at it with the keys, quickly looking over and trying to piece together parts of the Virus to make her own.

"What are you waiting for???" The DJ would say, frustrated with Anomaly's silence and apprehensive for time. She wanted a message sent as soon as possible. The Cyberguard and local CSS admins would eventually come and start taking things over again, and she didn't want that chance to be lost.

____________________________________________________

The Golden Street ponies would be searching the whole block for the assailant, keeping their weapons ready and keeping alert. However more and more brief bouts of screams and gunfire would be heard, with ponies left dead with vicious bites on the side of their neck. Fear would grow more and more as more of the Golden Street ponies died one by one, the ones spared and injured the only ones able to see more than an occasional silhouette flashing by the moon. The S4 Lunar units would stand by, waiting outside and watching some of the fighting occurs. A few would be cheering out, shouting as they sat and waited.

"Go get em!"

"You street trash better run and hide! He's coming for you!"

"That's what you get for killing my friend tailholes!"

"Attention citizens! Those screams are the criminals getting what they deserve!"

One of the Golden Street ponies would walk out from an apartment, a unicorn mare colored pale blue and dressed in a unique black and gold attire. A black trench coat made up of nylon and fancy leather, a cyberculture style waistcoat underneath and a top hat decorated with wires and flash drives. Her raven mane was brushed away to one side and shaved on the other, long and curly as it extended. A tattoo was inked around her left eye of tribal style patterns, while the eyes themselves were bionic with yellow lights glowing in the pupils. On the shaved side of her head was an almost cutie mark like tattoo of a magic wand, colored black and grey.

"Seems the operation isn't exactly going to plan, somepony is bucking with us." looking around the mare would think, saying. "Lunar Guards aren't coming for us, it seems they have this set up. Trapping us in a cage while they stealthily slaughter us. I'll admit..." she would say, her tone laid-back yet youthful. "...I never expected them to have such a sadistic plan."

One of the Golden Street henchmares would say. "Captain this is serious, we're getting hunted and slaughtered by what I can only assume is some rabid bat pony if not a creature released from Tartarus!!!"

Snickering the Captain would say. "Now now, they wouldn't dare open the concrete and steel reinforced gates of Tartarus just to deal with us. No, we got an especially skilled team of ponies sent after us. Our plan was not exactly built with this form of unconventional warfare used, full on counter-terrorism at its finest. True counter-terrorism, because they are terrorizing the terrorists, terrorception~"

"Captain that's not exactly something to speak lightly about." a stallion would say nervously.

"I'm sorry, it's just fascinating and rather.....exciting~ Things have not gone to plan, and our plan is having serious problems. Normally we plan things well to the point where almost nothing can go wrong. Yet here we are, with things going wrong with a horror film twist."

A couple more screams would be heard, and the captain would say. "I'll try and draw this terror to me, maybe spare you all some scary deaths. YOOOOO HOOOOO! SCARY POLICE BAT PONY! I AM HEEEEERE~" the mare would say walking out along the street.

"She's crazy! And gonna get killed!" one would say, following behind.

"Relaaaax~ Have you forgotten that I have some tricks up my sleeve?" the mare would say. "Group up with the others, you'll be most likely to survive the more eyes you have to watch your back."

The Captain would walk along the street, mostly silent with the ambient condemning cries of the Lunar forces just outside the block as the only sound. Everything was covered in a layer of dark shade in the absence of city lights and screen board advertisements, only kept from being pitch black by the surrounding lights of the megacity. The autocarriages would stand dormant, occupants ducking down and not daring to look and see what was going on outside.

Walking along the mare would wait, giving out a mocking whistle in another attempt to draw out the killer bat. Soon enough she would feel a brief shift in the air, and would find herself grabbed swiftly by bionic fingers. Before the fangs of her assailant could tear into her throat her horn would glow and, in a flash, she would be some distance away. Snickering she would look to the bat as he looked around before spotting her.

"Bet you'd never see a pony do the teleport. Your oppressive government almost killed the traditional art of the arcane. Almost, but even with its hyper-regulation and assimilation into technological applications some still defiantly keep the old arts alive."

Quickly Owl would move, darting towards her with intent to enact code red protocol. His face would end up smashing into a magical shield, glowing purple with the aura of the unicorn behind it.

"Restricting the magic arts from the lawful masses has had the unintended side effect of making magic a thing only some who will oppose you will use. How long before it grows enough that you encounter more like me? There's something else you will have to fear in time, if you survive that is." Charging her horn she would suddenly shoot a flamethrower like spell at Owl, one which he barely escaped. The Bat would dart in between cars to disappear from sight, and the mare would casually walk around to look for him. "It is interesting how you are using terrorism to fight terrorism, true counter-terrorism. Given the fact I'm occasionally hearing the derogatory 'street trash' from some of the guards in the distance it seems you all look down on us."

Forming a shield around herself she would see a ten-millimeter shot deflect off of it, smirking. "Not too scary when you can't go for the back." the mare would then fire off a bolt of lightning in the general direction from which the bullet came from. A cry of pain was heard, she would smirk. "There you are~" teleporting she would spot him darting away, shooting another bolt and leaving a nasty burn. As he slipped around a building's corner she would teleport again, not finding him as she mused. "Hmmmm, you're pretty good~"

From above Owl would send a punch with his bionic foreleg, trying to smash through the shield. It felt almost like punching steel, and he would feel a good portion of the impact on his shoulder. Though it would waver the shield would remain, and Owl would take yet another bolt as he fled. The Owl accelerated through the air as she teleported onto the building's roof, shooting more bolts at him. He would dive down into an alleyway, as the Captain teleported along toward it. Seeing him gone once more she would walk around and say. "I'd say I'm winning, got some hits on you and you haven't landed a scratch. You're possibly going to fail, like the guard you are so loyal to has been. If you all were such perfect and reliable protectors of Equestria this wouldn't have happened, you wouldn't have had your own field base found out and used as our stage. Face it bat, this is a sign of things to come that don't bode well for the Royal Guard. It has clearly been shown that we can do an attack like this, and you can't stop us until we've already roughened things up. It's only a matter of time and terrorism before the sheep civilians are broken free from your propaganda brain shackle, and their eyes are opened."

Owl dashed in, sending a buck toward the shield followed by a strike from his bionic limb. Flying away he would only barely escape another bolt as he turned a corner. Teleporting into his path she would jump forward and send a kick of her own, knocking him back and sending him tumbling back along the alley. "You can't stop the rise of the underground, we are ponies of progress, you are ponies who halt it in the lame name of security. Even using our own tactics will get you so far, and oh I wonder what would happen if the populace knew you were doing that."

Flying away he would take another bolt to the flank, and would only barely escape her next teleport. As he hid, behind one of the autocarriages, the void of doubt would start to creep into his mind like a growing mold. The fact they couldn't stop this, and that their own place of operations on the field was used as part of a stage for terrorism. Was this foe truly an unstoppable force of change that law and order couldn't stop. He pushed those thoughts away, not fighting them as he put his mind toward the objective. His sharp hearing allowed him to track the movements of the mare, even her teleports provided a noise that registered well in his auditory radar. He had to think of a way to deal with that shield, looking around he would pick up the shotgun of one of the dead Lunar S4's.

A UCS-1200H shotgun, a large pump action designed for use by cyborgs. Chambered in six gauge rounds, It was large enough that he could only handle it with the grip in his bionic hoof. It was there he felt just how much more efficient digits were in handling firearms. Trigger bands worked well to allow hooves to pull a trigger while holding the back of the grip, but the bionic fingers could hold it with a much stronger grip. He would continue to track her movements, waiting for his moment to strike at her.

Hearing her teleport, he would know he was now in her sight as he heard her teleport not far from his side of the car. "Found youuuu-OH!" Quickly he would aim the weapon, three and a half feet of smooth bore with glowing blue sights fixed at her head. A loud bang could be heard, echoing through the streets and leaving Owl's ears ringing. These kinds of weapons were normally used with some hearing protection, and Owl now knew very well why. The pain in his ears stunned him a bit, as did the recoil. The armor piercing slug would hit the shield, deforming under the impact but piercing through the magic like tough rubber. Still going near sonic speeds the slug would strike the side of the mare's face, tearing her cheek open and shattering some teeth.

She would stagger a bit as the shot hit, focusing her shield from a dome into a front facing one as another shot hit. Her shield would break under the extreme strain, and she would duck before her hat was destroyed by yet another. Then came to Owl's ears a dreaded sound he would have preferred another ear-shattering bang to. "Click"

Smirking the mare would hit Owl with yet another bolt, before shooting another flamethrower spell at him. Using his bionic limb to cover himself he would roll away, dropping the weapon. "Well good hit, guess I will have to make better use of the teleport~" teleporting in front she would kick him again, before teleporting in his path of stagger and hitting him once more. She would do this repeatedly, knocking him around and evading his attempts to fight back. Owl's already gunshot racked mind would grow more dizzy with the repeated kicks. Gaining his bearings enough he would be able to grab her hooves as she sent a buck his way, flinging her overhead onto the ground before she teleported away. Flying off into cover, before moving to more cover he would hear her constantly teleport around in search for him.

The mare would stop, panting some a she looked around and let herself rest behind a car. Owl would pant as well where he sat, tired and with multiple burns which stung like Tartarus. Soon enough sprite drones would fly up, creating the projection of DK as she said. "Well well WELL! This has been quite the arena fight, seems both sides are at equal but who will be the winner?? And will the counter-terrorist ever realize that we have already gained a victory here? After all! We've terrified the populace and most likely done damage to their false sense of security so viciously rammed into their heads by you! It will only be a matter of time, Owl Talon!"

Owl would keep the doubts down, not fighting them as he put his focus towards fighting the fiend before him. "...Even if they are failing...I bucking won't." he would say venomously under his breath before spreading his wings. When she teleported behind him he would dodge the incoming bolt of lightning, leaving a burnt pattern shaped like tree roots on the concrete wall behind him. The bat would dart around, kicking and punching at her shield while avoiding fire and lightning bolts. The bat would refuse to let up as he flew around, trying to beat the mare's magical shield down.

His efforts would go in vain, as the mare burst her shield into a telekinetic shockwave, sending him tumbling away like a ragdoll hit by a strong wind.

".....gotta be a way to smash that shield and kick her bucking flank!" he would say in his head. "I will not fail." then he would look forward, and see what was left of the head of one of the first ponies he killed in his stealthy rampage. Suddenly the screen boards would come on, all showing white screens and cutting through the dark shade of night like large swords. The Captain would be blinded by the light for a moment, her eyes needing a moment to adjust to the darkness. Not wanting her shield to falter she would intensify its power, before seeing something flying down towards her.

Having flown up at least ten stories high, Owl dove down at high speed, a damaged and bloody bowling ball in his bionic fingers. Swinging his bionic limb with all of its strength he would fling the ball down onto the shield. It would depress and flex before breaking in a flash, hindering the momentum of the bowling ball only enough for it not to smash the Captain's skull.

The bowling ball would deflect off it, making her scream out in pain as her horn cracked. Braking with his wings Owl would swoop down and grab the mare in his flight, like his namesake catching a mouse. Holding her neck with his organic hoof, his bionic one would pull back for a punch. Pushing through the pain the mare tried to charge a teleport, but was too late. His hoof would impact her forehead, shattering the horn into pieces as the hit made its magic explode.

A shriek of pain would resonate throughout the block, and the mare would be thrown off onto the ground. Rolling she would get to her hooves as he stood before him. She attempted to deliver a punch, a punch which was caught in his bionic limb before it snapped her foreleg. Attempting another punch, she would have it deflected and before he threw her towards a car. Getting up she would attempt a buck towards him, before her hooves were grabbed and she was flung into a wall. The pain from feeling her damaged jaw snap, her shoulder break, and ribs crack made her pass out.

"Steeeeerike." Owl would say as he walked up to her, staring a comms call with the Chief before saying. "Code yellow executed on suspected leader, enemy morale is bucked, send them in."

The Golden Street ponies who banded together would be beset upon by supersonic lead as multiple S4 snipers aimed and fired, putting holes in the group faster than any of them could fully panic. On the screen boards, a message would appear in purple text. It would be accompanied by an EAS text to speech voice saying...

"HELP IS HERE! FROM CYBERSPACE TO SOCIETY! There are ponies out there who seek to help and protect you from those who threaten your lives and livelihoods. Be wary, for there are enemies that you might not suspect, but there are also allies you might not suspect as well. I am one, and I will do what I need to neutralize all the enemies you face, so that this might not happen again!

Owl would look up to this message as the Lunar S4's swarmed into the city, searching for any remaining Syndicate henchponies. Any who might be found hiding in buildings were neutralized, while all the apartments were being searched as well. He would suddenly get pulled into a Comms call, and in his mind, he would hear a voice.

"You have done well here, I need ponies like you." Anomaly's voice would come through the call, as the lights would come back on in the city.

"Need me? What for, what are you planning? To make yourself out to be a hero?"

"I'm not here to be a hero, I'm here to use what I have been given to fight not only the Freedom Fighters, but the corrupt institution that rules over everything. They may be of good intentions, but their methods only serve to mentally enslave and weaken the populace. It is by one such method that ponies are having their minds taken, the Terrorists are using a network which Harmonize is seeking to control ponies with. All brain augmentations are connected, they are seeking to control Equestria's very minds. All for a bastardized notion of 'safety', but ironically it has resulted in the ultimate compromise of safety. The Lunar Guard is not going to be able to stop this alone, they haven't been able to stop this and won't be able to stop any other attacks. But I can, and what matters to me are the ponies here who have been mentally enslaved and thus rendered vulnerable to the terror of the Freedom Fighters."

"This Harmonize....they've opened things up for this to happen....???" Owl would reply in disbelief.

"How else would brain augmentations not even advertised as being computers be able to be hacked? Think about it, the Freedom Fighters can't just magically hack bionic limbs, and normally Brain augmentations are no more connected to the InterNet than them."

Owl's doubts would come again, only they would start to seem less like a dark corrupting doubt and more like an opening to a terrifying realm of truth he would never want to see. "I-i-i can't believe this...but I can't believe this as lies....the Chief told me about them. I told him about what you told me, and he was open, I thought this Harmonize were the good guys..."

"Good ponies with a good basic cause, but with methods that are not the way forward. Methods that only drag us deeper and deeper into the dystopia we live in. Look around Owl, do you not notice how much the Corporate powers control ponies through advertisement everywhere? And how the news stations always glorify those in power to keep the populace looking up to them? This is not the way forward, their methods will only lead to eventual disaster. In the end, their veil will tear and the populace's eyes will burn when the light of Equestria's darkness shines on them."

"Do you have any way to do it better? Are Harmonize not able to be steered to a better path....?"

"I have a plan, a plan to help save ponies from themselves. Save them in a way the princesses have been failing for decades if not longer. I want to make a world that's safer but free with stronger minded ponies, free minds limited only by morals and values. It won't be perfect, but I seek to built it off learning from the mistakes we see here. Help me, work with me in secret and we will build up to a better world."

"Will I...have to turn on the Guard?"

"Only those you can't bring on our side, you can stay with them and help them for now. They are an asset to us, and can help us in our goal. But we will need to deal with them at some point as well. Will you join me, try to seek out a new way to a better world?"

"I......I want to keep ponies safe and happy, to stick up for them. I'll help you.."

______________________________________________

Cypher would look to the camera footage and listen to the audio of the message, and she would look slowly to Data.

"So.....has she turned to Digital Hoof's side? Should we try to lay the smack on this??" Data would say.

"I don't think so, in some way she is helping us while in others she is making them skeptical. Unpredictable mare she is, that is what makes her scary.."

____________________________________

Owl would fly out towards the edge of the block, leaving the S4's to do their work. He would be deep in thought, and hoping he wouldn't have to turn to betrayals, as he still had some faith in them. Owl, however, couldn't hold his faith in the Guard fully anymore, so he sought out a new source of hope.

Author's Note

Fun fact, I have gone through three titles for this chapter before settling on this one.

18: Keeping Peace

The city block would hour by hour begin to shift back to its normal routine as Celestia's sun cast the shadows of the financial district over it. The many dead Golden street ponies would be gathered up, all of them without any records or identification. Their funerals would ultimately be cremation and disposal in the sewers, while the few civilians killed were given cremations and nice vases to be stored in. The captain was apprehended, put in handcuffs and taken to the police station. Given it was the bat pony's evening, Owl and friends would be given time to Rest. None of the three returned to the Inn and out, their feeling of safety in incognito there was shattered.

Peacefully Owl would sleep, on the booth within a Guarded cafe. Vision would be outside, enjoying an E-cigar and smiling some as he saw peace return to the block once more. Data would be sleeping in a booth as well, while the one opposite to her table was occupied by Cypher and her computer. She was working on building up her weapon, their bit of insurance in case Anomaly would confirm herself a definite threat.

Asleep, Owl would find himself brought into the dreamscape. He would come walking down a street, with the skies colored like rusted metal, the streets lit up in a hallucinogenic assault on the senses. Ponies of various colors of pastel and glowing neon walking along the streets while autocarriages zoomed past like in fast forward surveillance footage. It was surreal, yet as per usual, he was unaware he was in a dream. The multicolored urban landscape stretched to the horizon on all sides, like in real life only without the city built into mountains that was Battania visible in the distance. Sound waves would shoot out from various nightclubs, vibrating the air with the beats that came out. Pegasi would fly along leaving neon trails with their wings, while the pegasi in Weather vehicles glide along the skies in their massive glowing metal wings. All would seem chaotic, yet serene in the normality of the modern era.

Then suddenly, arcs of red lightning would bolt around the rust skies, the dichotomy with the bright earth below almost lost to Owl before he was drawn to it again. The bolts would suddenly come down from the rust skies, hitting the screen boards and making them glow red and run blood from the screens. Owl gasped, as the screens would suddenly form digitized gas masks. The weather vehicles would be struck, before flying erratically into buildings. The impacts shook the ground, and the lightning would soon hit everything. Neon lights would be quickly replaced by blood red, like a virus flowing through the bloodstream. The autocarriages would start to zoom into eachother and everything, crashing violently and event sent flying. Soon the clouds above would reflect the city lights, not in an orange rust color, but an ominous red.

Something would descend from the sky, something looking like a hologram in red. It was DK, in all her edgelord glory as she descended on large digital wings. The nightclubs, instead of emitting soundwaves of wub would emit horrified screams to fill the air. Out from the shadows would walk ponies made up of black, drawing guns and shooting around all over the place. Owl would angrily growl flying off, diving toward one before ripping it in half with his bionic foreleg. Moving to another he would bite into its neck, ripping its head off. Around him the city would start to turn against the ponies inhabiting it, street lights shattering and bursting into flames. Owl would fly toward shadow after shadow, ripping them apart angrily, only for more to come out. Desperately he would fight, only to see the chaos around grow stronger and stronger. Flopping on the ground he would pant, looking around as ponies died, ran for their lives, and hid away in their apartments. More and more shadow ponies coming out and wreaking havoc, all while DK just walked up to Owl.

Then, suddenly, everything around him would collapse to dust. All the buildings, ponies, even DK, total silence would fall as he would soon be standing in a starry dreamscape. Walking into his view he would see her, Princess Luna herself.

"You are not going to fail, the Lunar guard isn't going to fail. They can't, and you can't, Owl Talon. Whatever must be done to preserve the peace must be done, even your act of psychological warfare and brutal Code Red protocol isn't unjustified in these times." The princess would say, softly but firmly.

Slowly getting up, Owl would shake some, taking a few moments to calm his mind down. "They.....took over an entire block, held back the Lunar Guard....killed so many of them."

"My sister and I have been stepping up the evolution of the guard ever since the threat of crime started cropping up. If necessary we will step it up further. We will show no mercy to the dangers that threaten our society, and given the ponies, you are facing now I dare say nothing is off limits." moving close, she would embrace Owl, saying to him. "You are a very important stallion in these times, one who masters the shadows but uses them for the light. Don't give up hope, don't lose faith, harmony will prevail. Even in times where the elements can't be used against such threats, harmony will still prevail."

"....Why can't they be used....princess? Why can't the elements fight this threat, why can't a good talking to from the harmony council stop threats like these..? They're ponies, just like you and me, not even monsters like Sombra..."

"Ponies of the worst intent are no longer so rare as before. There are many more Sombras, lurking in the shadows. But our citizens must not know about them, we need to keep them safe and feeling safe. We can't let anything threaten the peaceful society we are maintaining. Unfortunately....the magic of friendship cannot stop these threats. The problems with these ponies are not friendship problems....they are problems with their very character...and with their motives in life. Such ponies are the ponies we must face, and when possible eliminate. It is clear now that threats may only get worse, and we will need to step up. We do have plans, methods to be built to help protect society."

Owl would draw back some, asking her. "Are those methods off limits to me? I was never told about this 'harmonize' group till somepony told me, and the chief ultimately elaborated."

"We keep secret so that we might be safe, an organized but secret group that helps protect ponykind. All that protects Equestria is connected to it, but it must not be known so that it can't be targeted."

"....Like how I used stealth against that cyborg..."

"Exactly, our enemies are well equipped and capable but they are not able to fight what they are unaware of. I ask that you keep our existence to yourself, for it is our secrecy that ensures our effectiveness."

"So even you are part of it."

Luna would nod "I myself helped to create the surveillance system designed to help us see in ponies what I cannot see through dreams. Ponies need eyes to watch over them, to find those who are evil and to protect those that are innocent. You are a part of that system, used to see what even the cameras and online tracking cannot. Spies for us, but soon you will be expanded into more." The Alicorn would say, bringing up an image of Owl hunting terrified Golden Street henchponies. "Me bringing nightmares can only do so much, especially when they suppress them with narcotics. You shall bring them nightmares of reality that narcotics cannot suppress not save them from."

"Counterterrorism...."

Luna nodded. "Fight fire with fire, now rest well my loyal and faithful guard. You shall need the sleep, for there is much for you to do."

Owl would thus be brought back into dreamless sleep, at peace once more. Luna's word would calm him some, and restore a small portion of his faith....

....but only a small portion.

____________________________________________________

Metal would come walking out from the Police station, having gone through an extensive questioning as to her experience. She told most of what she experienced, detailing the unpleasant and fearful nature of it. There was one thing she didn't tell them, however. The mare would remember the details of what she didn't tell, remembering them clearly given they were encoded in her very mind....

A few hours ago...

"What? This is what the Terrorists are exploiting?? And it was made by ponies I am working for? Looks like....some sort of internal surveillance system. Did the guard make this?" Metal would have said, in her form of code as she lay safe in Anomaly's storage.

"Ponies running it, and ponies associated with them did. A group that seeks to protect the harmony, but through an iron grip of control that they will seemingly never stop tightening. They created this system and the functions which allow the hackers to steal the minds of ponies. This function is incomplete, but was completed by them for this purpose."

"Wait, are you saying they intend to be able to do that to ponies? And who is this group? And why do I not know about them?"

"They go by Harmonize, and they exist in the highest secrecy. And yes, they seek to be able to have control over the very minds of ponies. To upload them at will, and modify them at their discretion. That is their extension of the system of surveillance, only this is not just surveillance. This is giving them power to control the deepest parts of a pony's mind, practically degrading them to the level of a computer."

"I can't believe this! This is ludicrous! And how would they be able to do that on brain augmentations they are not even producing???"

"Is it so hard to believe? You have a system which monitor's ponies' computers, cameras everywhere on the cities. Constant surveillance in everything they do. All the while government propaganda glorifying the guard plays to keep them feeling safe, influencing the way they think. Also, this group consists of corporate leaders as well, and they helped arrange to install the hardware into the brain augmentations sold."

"This can't be true." Metal would communicate, soon following up with. "Yet I can see no other reason why ponies bucking BRAIN AUGS can get HACKED! This is horseapples! Are they really intent on turning ponies into little more than computer programs, things that can be just edited and decided by others? I can see how it would stop crime, help prevent ponies from doing wrong and make a safer society. And yet..."

"Will they be truly ponies, if they can be edited and have no sovereignty over their very minds. Or are they but machines with fleshy compartments. Do what you will with this knowledge, but do not be careless. If you do decide to help me with my plans to try to deal with both Harmonize and the Freedom Fighters both, make a post on Messengerbird saying.."

A few hours later.

"I'm doing just fine, not gonna be stopped by some trickery. They'll get their flanks kicked and then some for that incident today, so stay tuned on the news for when we raid them. Keeping the Peace." she would type out on her wrist computer before pressing the post button, the last three words being directed by Anomaly. Loyal as she was to the Solar Guard, she could not support something like this. She would question how she would go about dealing with it, there was no telling what would happen if she came up front to her Chief about this.

"Hope you have something clever in terms of a plan, mysterious hacker. Wonder if you're that 'Anomaly' mare who escaped the police station..."

"I am." She would suddenly get an answer through a sudden comms Call, almost making the cyborg stagger in fright.

"Sweet Celestia! I didn't even get a notification about that call!"

"I am sorry, didn't want a camera seeing you answering an unknown number. You probably would not have answered to one anyway, given the plague that is telemarketers."

"Even when the wired phone died those rats kept alive." she would remark, speaking through the call. "Got a plan for me? It'd be rather awkward to confront the chief about all this, best case scenario."

"For now keep working with them, they're temporary allies for now. The Freedom Fighters are the most pressing matter as of now, I'll think up how we will deal with Harmonize in time. You can also expect me to help hunt them down too."

"Well, glad I won't have to do it now. I'm good with putting lead in more of those buckers." the mare would enter a photo application on her wrist computer. Inside she would open a picture of a colt and filly, both white in coat color like her old body but with different manes than her brown. "I ain't letting my grandkids grow up in a bucked up world, they lost their mom to a thug, ain't gonna let thugs rule. Neither am I gonna let them be turned into walking computers."

"Good, glad we are on the same page. I will contact you when needed, and keep your mind safe from getting jacked again. Farewell." she would say before closing the call. Suddenly she would see the room to her door open, and the DJ peek in and wave.

"Hey! You were silent for some time, thanks for the help in dealing with the 'Freedom Fighters'. Why did you post that enigmatic message on the boards though? Not exactly what I was asking of you."

"...I was more interested in trying to calm the populace and give them some hope instead of promoting you. I didn't wanna make them panic. I want them freed from the system, but less taking a metal cutter to their shackles and risking harming them and more filing it away carefully. I don't want to just tear the veil from their eyes, that's what the Freedom Fighters are out to do. I want to be more meticulous, and not do it now. The Freedom Fighters are more pressing, lives are on the line with them running. That said, in helping me I will not hinder you from making your presence known. You can gain some good props from the public by stopping the terrorists."

"Well, why not advertise us then when given the best opportunity?"

"Well, I would rather not motivate the Guard further to hunt me down by making by affiliations with you known. And I will be honest, I've seen the activities of some of your members. I wouldn't go near comparing them to the Freedom Fighters but they can be rather...loose cannons."

"Some of us are crazier than others I will admit, but you're working with the best Anomaly. I just don't want you turning on us or anything. Maybe I am a bit paranoid..but I hope we'll stay allies."

"We most likely will, I don't suspect any disagreements will make us enemies."

"Alright then, let's keep in touch though. I didn't like that silence you pulled." the DJ shivered. "It was creepy yo."

"Next time I will try to inform you of whenever I might wish to have alone time."

"You know I don't think you've eaten all day."

Anomaly's stomach would growl, seemingly out of nowhere but in reality for the sixth time in the hour. The DJ would chuck in a box of nutrition bars.

"You can use these to tide you over, but I'd suggest getting a meal at some point. You might also need to use the bathroom."

After many nutrition bars and a bathroom break Anomaly would get back online, working on the InterNet. She was on the hunt now, looking for any activity of the Freedom Fighters. The mare would surf the web, looking through at her maximum speed and seeking out anything. Using her onion software the mare would enter the Underweb, searching through there too.

The mare would soon find some leads, cracking through encryption and hiding in order to enter various sites. Soon she would enter chatrooms and find some interesting conversation.

Bleaknote504: Shame things got so bucked up in the operation, but at least we bucked with their operations."

IncandescentSun: Hardly a victory, we got most of our jacked brains' snatched back including those of the heavies. Not to mention that mysterious hacker's little propaganda likely bucked with things a lot. We might have hardly even gained any progress there!

Bleaknote504: They're not going to be so easily pulled fully back into their intellectual slumber, after all the Golden Street ponies killed a few civilians and a LOT OF those Lunar Guards. They won't feel fully safe after that bit of chaos, and the more work we do the more the veil will tear."

IncandescentSun: Guess so, but we'll have to deal with this mysterious hacker. I think he or she might be the one who bucked with the show at the Mall.

Bleaknote504: Yes, if we could have them dealt with it could make our operations smooth. After all, it's not like the Cyberguard can do squat.

IncandescentSun: Exactly, but this hacker who may not be one is able to deal with the Virus pretty effectively.

Bleaknote504: Apparently took down the AI as well.

IncandescentSun: It actually disappeared, didn't seem to crash.

Bleaknote504: What else could have happened? How do you know it wasn't a crash?

IncandescentSun: I know a hard program crash when I see one, it looked more like a deletion or upload.

Anomaly would look into her storage for a brief moment, keeping an eye on the Artificial intelligence kept stored and imprisoned inside. She was amazed at the storage capacity of her brain augmentations, even as a mare who helped to build them. The mare would then look back to the conversation

Bleaknote504: You think the AI is kept somewhere?

IncandescentSun: Perhaps, she was apparently able to take in some of the jacked minds of ponies so it's possible. A theory though, since I don't think that AI can be killed so easily.

Bleaknote504: True, so perhaps finding and dealing with this hacker might be more important than we thought.

IncandescentSun: I'll let DK know, for now, you get ready for operation Cash Crusher

Bleaknote504: Oh, when we hit the EQUE-TECH building? Yea definitely, but that'll wanna wait until after we get the AI back. It's hard to control that crazy virus after all, takes good automation to do it."

Anomaly decided to jack out now, to give her mind some respite from having to constantly evade the hackers guarding the encryption. It was certainly something she couldn't crack into without her enhanced speed of thought. She would ponder on this, it was the facility of a group she hated. Should she even stop this? Or let them damage a group she set herself as a strong adversary towards? It was quite the decision for her to make, yet another crossroad to face it seemed.

As she was thinking, GAI-7 would be working it's way out. Anomaly had made the mistake of not keeping it under enough supervision, and now that it had backed up its data and recovered it was ready to escape. Though it was stripped of its offensive programs by Anomaly, it's memory allowed it to recreate them. Like a crow escaping from its cage it would slowly but surely make its escape. These attempts would not go unnoticed, but it was aware of that.

As Anomaly tried to stop it she would find her systems assaulted, with gun turret program placed inside and attacking her inner systems. Shocked and bewildered the mare was unable to prevent it from escaping into the Underweb, off into cyberspace in an instant. Ultimately she had to take down the programs which were left to attack her from the inside. Though the mare managed to take them down, she was quite stressed now and attempted to pursue it.

__________________________________________________________________________

Casting its final hues of orange and yellow the sun would descend into the horizon, marking the evening for day ponies and morning for bat ponies. Waking up Owl would see Data and Cypher working away at their computers, while Vision was awake and sitting back. Looking over to Owl Data would say...

"Rise and shine Owl, you have some bad dreams? Saw you thrashing around earlier, was gonna try to wake you up but then you stopped. I hope some Dream Watchers came along and helped sweeten those sour dreams, it is hard for Luna to help manage the dreams of ponies after all."

"No kidding." Vision said. "Over five hundred twenty million ponies, some active and sleeping both day and night. Her job never ends, which is why Sector 5 was established after all."

"I had the luck of seeing the princess herself." Owl would say, stretching and yawning. "They got breakfast at this place?"

"Owners and employees were brought out when we commandeered this place, they're being compensated but for now there's nopony here but us and the S4's outside." Vision would reply. "Think there's a place across the street we could get a meal at."

Data would smirk and ask Owl humorously. "Blood of the bad ponies not enough to satiate your appetite Owl?"

Owl would snicker, replying "I ain't-a fan of the taste of copper myself, I ain't no vampony." he would chuckle.

Cypher would sigh and say "I would suggest bringing me along before I say no and eventually pass out from hunger, I've been a workaholic lately."

Crossing the street they would visit a donut shop for a quick bite, and would be accompanied by some S4's. The place was a common chain known as Golden Ring, a smaller sized place with an interior decorated with colors of Yellow, golden, and white. The ponies working there would be pleased to see the guards, offering a friendly wave and taking orders. Data would joke about them fulfilling the old but classic police stereotype given their location. Cypher herself would also order some coffee, having stayed up the whole day in her endeavors to develop her copy of the virus. Getting to hang out and have breakfast at a twenty-four-hour donut shop was a nice break from the job for them, especially after the situation that transpired just yesterday.

A call would soon be given to all of them, from Kevlar himself. As they all answered Data would be the first to speak.

"Hellooooo Chiefie, what's up? We and some of the S4's just got ourselves some breakfast, nice mares gave us some free donuts for our service."

"That's good to hear, when you're done with breakfast head to the nearest police station. We'd like your help in interrogating this mare. She seems to have no records on her, and doesn't even seem to give us a name. Also, creative way to deal with that magical shield Owl. If it wasn't for the risk of exposing criminal mages to the populace I'd post the surveillance online, it'd go viral in a day."

Data would grin and laugh out loud, saying in the call. "Lunar Guard defeats criminal mage with a bowling ball! Strike! I can see it now!"

"Humor of the situation aside I am most pleased with your creativity. It's something we will need when fighting these terrorists. Maybe bring some of that creativity along for the interrogation if you can."

Vision would snicker and say "Since she doesn't give us a name I suggest we call her bowling pin."

Data would retort. "Oh, she'll be in the alley when we get there."

"Enough bowling jokes." Owl would say with a chuckle. "We got breakfast to finish and a job to do."

__________________________________________________________

Anomaly decided to trail the AI, which interestingly came along further into the sight she was just spying on. She took the plunge into the encryption, suspecting that perhaps some of the ponies on the site would be involved with the attack. Jacking in she would track the location of multiple computers, which seemed to be spread out over multiple locations. The mare decided she would deal with the AI in time, and that right now hunting the hackers was her priority. The mare would pinpoint their location on a world map, jacking out once she took notes. Quickly she would gain the location of a number of different hackers. She wouldn't, however, give those locations to the Guard yet.

The mare had her own plan, EQUE-TECH was not going to be spared the coming cyberattack. The residential locations around it would be protected. As much of a risk as it was, she was going to be lax in protecting the great corporate spire. Once enough damage was done only then would she stop it. The mare did have second thoughts, wondering if perhaps that decision was a foolish and irrational act of revenge. Ponies did work in that facility after all, and many of them could be but every day though upper-class ponies.

"No....I'm not going to compromise protecting ponies for revenge, or even for fighting the corrupt power. I'll deal with you soon, Myriad, Golden, but it won't be at the expense of undeserving ponies."

_________________________________________________________

The Western Everfree Police station would be filled with a number of captured golden Street ponies, one of which was the pony who was referred to as 'captain' herself. It was a twenty story tall facility that took up half the city block it rested in, and had plenty of officers in the light blue armor hanging around. They mostly hung around near the closes restaurants, nightclubs, and movie theaters. Guided by a waypoint sent by the Chief, Owl and friends would enter the facility and take the elevator to the third basement section.

The three would walk down a corridor, passing a number of different cells. Reinforced doors with not but an openable slot, while reinforced glass kept the suspect hidden yet in full view of any guards outside. They would soon enough reach a door in between rows of cells, one of a few to be found along the corridor. Looking inside they would find the chief, waiting and sitting on a chair. Locked up in another chair was the 'Captain' herself, stripped of all but undergarments.

Her cutie mark was visible, an image similar to the tattoo put on the side of her head. Opening her eyes she would look to Owl as he entered. Her cheek would be badly scarred, the healing serum leaving scar tissue "So, are you going to try to interrogate me? Try to make me turn on my sisters and brothers by giving you details?" she would ask in a calm but unamused tone.

"Ooooh we're gonna get info out of you, bowling pin~" Data would say with a smirk, internally overjoyed to have been able to give that nickname.

"Since you refuse to give us a name that is what we will be calling you." The Chief said, making the mare visibly cringe.

"Oh haha very funny, you beat me with a bowling ball. If only you didn't find one you might not have been able to stop me."

"Might have picked up another shottie, take out more than your horn. If you didn't have those teleport and shield spells I would have came at your back and made copper the last thing you would ever taste." Owl would say venemously.

"Well, what is it you are going to ask me?"

"First of all, are you THE head of the Golden Street?"

"No, the head works in shadow and keeps their identity secret to all but the highest ranked. Keeps a shield of mystery to keep him safe in case any members get captured or interrogated." She would reply.

"Too good to be true that we'd nab the lead. What has brought your syndicate to work with the 'Freedom Fighter's group? And go against your usual tactics to commit an act of mass terrorism on that block?"

"What makes you think I will tell you anything about that?" She would reply with a sneer. Vision would reply to her.

"Because talking may lighten your sentence a bit."

"I'll be assassinated once I am out, if not within the prison. Perhaps I would be taken and tortured to death, made an example of. They will know in time if I talked, so you will not get anything of use from me."

They would take a moment to ponder on what to do in response to this. Vision would say "We could arrange for you to have plastic surgery and among other things to change your identity. Build a new profile for you to live a new better life, if you cooperate well enough you might be able to get out without prison time."

"Ha! Call me vain, but I love my face~ I wouldn't trade it for the world. Even if I did accept that, all expenses paid, I would likely worm my way out of any monitoring and become a whole new criminal." The mare would reply with a chuckle.

"Alright Bowling Pin." Vision would say, making Data form a happy grin for a moment. "You're going to cooperate, or else we might arrange worse things for you in prison. Ranging from solitary confinement, to being put into a cell within the Stallion's wing." he would say, glaring into her eyes. "Either way, In the max security parts, where nopony can hear you scream."

The mare would chuckle, before saying. "Please put me in the Stallion's wing, there could be plenty of fun to be had with whatever psycho you lock me up with. I'd rather not have to entertain myself in solitary."

Owl would say "You'll have to entertain yourself alright." before narrowing his eyes and muttering. "Pervert." he would follow with. "You'll be locked away, many stories underground. No windows, and if you go loony you'll be put in a padded cell to go even loonier. You'll be nothing but entertainment for the guards manning the security cameras." The bat stared into her eyes, as his words started to get to her, some dread showing. "I mean it, it wasn't too smart to let us know which penalty would be best."

"We joined them because they offered to help us snatch large sums of Digibits from the banks, they also offered to help smooth out their operations. The head apparently likes their cause, the plan to break down social and destroy the guard." The mare would say quickly, the fear of such a situation breaking her resolve. "Endgame is to break public trust in the government, and cripple police forces both local and Royal. They have plans to do repeat attacks in Everfree like the one yesterday, including some around the police stations."

Owl would smirk and nod, saying. "Good filly, we will try to see that you are rewarded for your cooperation."

The Chief would smile and say "Good work Owl. Looks like you knocked this bowling pin down again." inciting the mare to bear her teeth in annoyance.

"Pfft, still with the bowling jokes. Good thing you didn't post the surveillance footage or I wouldn't see the end of them on Messengerbird."

Kevlar's wrist computer would flash as he got a call. "One moment you three." he would sit back and answer the call, while Owl and friends waited. After a time he would tell them. "Go and take some leave you three, maybe find a nightclub to have fun at. You've done your job well, and though we aren't done I think you can take at least some time off till we need you again."

"You sure there's nothing we need to do right now? Seems strange to take a break given the urgency of the situation." Data would comment.

"We'll have you on things as soon as we can find where those bucking hackers are. The S4s are already being dispatched to search the whole block and next few blocks around it. I need you to keep your stamina and morale up."

Looking to eachother the three would nod, Owl saying. "See you in a bit then Chief."

As they flew out, the Chief would take out a syringe from a cabinet, before sticking it into the Captain. Within a minute she would be out cold, the sedative working quickly and effectively.

She would wake up within what looked like a cybernetics clinic, only within a large building. Strapped down onto an operating chair, with a neck rest that supported her head yet left the back of it exposed.

"Where am I?" she would ask, looking around. Sitting in a chair was Myriad, saying to her.

"Within one of the labs within the EQUE-TECH Headquarters. Unfortunately, you aren't going to have any sort of...freedom or benefits. Fortunately for us, since you've had a wiped of your records nopony can count you missing. A price to pay for escaping the records and being totally anonymous."

Struggling against the binds she would demand. "What's going on? What are you going to do with me?" the robotic whir of a robotic arm could be heard above her, as robotic arms activated and lowered from the ceiling. "You're going to be a testbed, a somewhat disposable one. I won't feel sympathy for a criminal, you threaten the social order and lives of ponies after all. You will ironically be used to help fully test and build the system that can help eradicate your kind once and for all. You will be used for the future, to help keep the peace."

Struggling against the binds on her legs and neck she would try to escape. "No! You can't do this! The Guard won't let you just take me out of their custody!"

Snickering, Myriad would smirk slightly and say "They already have." before a robotic arm stuck a needle into the mare's foreleg, making her shutter before she quickly tired out and collapsed. The last thing she would hear before going out would be the loud whine of a precision saw.

Author's Note

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uL0mvPZuklM&index=17&list=RDNa9blf2N4g0
Another lovely music mix I listened to while typing this.

19: Power

Once again Owl would find himself resting within the Inn and Out, a team of S4's being what it took for him and his friends to feel safe in there again. The heightened police presence helped to put the population in the area at ease, though they were still unsettled and shaken by the attack. The local crematorium had some business that day, the one in Battania having a very high amount of business. A lot of talk was circulating on Messengerbird about the mysterious hacker who seemed to save the city block and send a message, given the nickname 'Purple' after the color of her text. The Cyberguard were on high alert, checking the CCS for any activity or tampering. Given they couldn't fight these hackers directly, they could act only as scouts. Cypher watched over these operations, her copy of the virus completed and now being tested. She would keep in contact with Data, who would be joining in on the online operations.

It was a shock to everypony how easily and effectively the Freedom Fighters could jack into and even take over the Central City System, whose security was programmed with the highest level of online security measures. The Cyberguard's inability to stop these hackers made it all the worse, making even the level 13 designation seem insufficient. Owl would ponder on all this as he sat on the bed, electro-jazz playing on his wrist computer as he thought. He shuttered at the thoughts, the guard was failing and had failed twofold. The CCS was practically naked against these hackers, and eight civilians were killed along with forty-six Lunar S4's. He didn't want to lose hope in law and order though, and believe that psycho edgelord. That was why he chose to join Anomaly, in hopes she could succeed when the Guard failed.

Sure enough he would receive a call, one that would seem to automatically accept before Anomaly's voice came through the telepathic line.

"Owl, I've managed to grab a few locations of some hackers, they have plans to hit the EQUE-TECH headquarters building. Here they are, I will watch over any operations you might have." She would say, sending a multitude of waypoints to his Wrist computer.

Owl would remember what Anomaly told him, Vision, and Data when they first rescued her, about EQUE-TECH allegedly using her and faking her death so they could use her. The fact she was trying to stop an attack on that facility perplexed him somewhat, and he would ask. "Given your claims of being wrongfully used by EQUE-TECH, I gotta ask why you're trying to stop an attack there."

"I was considering letting that place get it from the Freedom Fighters, and protecting only the residential places outside. However it would be hypocritical of me not to protect the ponies working there, not even involved with more than just the everyday work. I'm not going to leave ponies behind just to get revenge on Myriad, and Golden as well. I can deal with them on my own, and would prefer to. Unlike them, I won't go toward opportunistic exploit at the careless expense of others. For now, I will let you and or your heavy guns deal with this and help online as needed."

Hearing this, Owl would find it rather admirable she would choose protecting ponies over exploiting an opportunity for revenge. The bat would wonder if she was truly the potential threat that the Chief warned him about. Unlike the Freedom Fighters she didn't seem like the type to be collateral. As was common for ponies in telepathic communication calls he forgot his mind was being read, and Anomaly would say.

"I'm only a threat to the power of those in power, and their plans to consolidate it for good."

"The brain augmentations..." He would reply, looking down.

"I wouldn't inform your chief you know of it, the more you know the more likely you may be silenced."

"Know that I don't wish to fully turn on the Guard, I have friends within them...ponies I've worked with for years..."

"You could try to turn them on our side, though telling anypony else is a risk. For now at least you will not need to turn on them, but eventually I might need your direct help."

Meanwhile, unbeknownst to Owl, Data was spying on him. Her checks would find him in a call, and her attempts to track who it was seemed to struggle. Cypher would pitch in, and monitor the call up to the point Owl said.

"Well ultimately all I wanna do is deal with these bucking hackers and ensure that the citizens of Everfree and all Equestria are kept safe and not under the cloud of terrorist fear."

"I intend to ensure that, but without all the deep brainwashing control." Anomaly would reply.

"You told me once of a Hacker, who claimed to 'love me'. Do you know who that is?"

"I am not sure I would wish to disclose much about her, break her anonymity."

"Have you met her, and does she have a kid, a little filly? I think she may have broken it by forwarding that message to you." Owl would reply quickly.

Sighing Anomaly would say "Yes she does, and if that filly is yours as well know that she is safe and happy. Don't expect me to tell where she is though. I need you focused on the terrorists, so continue your work and I shall help you all the way."

As they were talking Cypher would contact Myriad, sending a message in text saying "Anomaly seems to be in contact with Owl, she's talking to him right now."

Myriad would hear this, standing in a room where multiple employees worked on computers. Laying blank-eyed was the Captain, with a pulse yet without any responses to the sounds of typing around her. Replying with a smile the CEO would say "Testing on your little virus copy has been going well, lemme give you our improved version for 'beta' testing."

Anomaly would ask Owl "Any more questions you might have?"

"I don't think so, thanks for the locations." He would reply.

"Farewell then-wait what's happening no!-" the call would suddenly cut out, and Owl would be left in apprehensive silence for six seconds before Cypher would enter call with him.

"Hopefully this should mean Anomaly's threat is dealt with."

"What happened to her?"

"Hit her with a copy of the virus I made. She's been uploaded to a secure server."

"She's on our side! She just gave me a multitude of locations of those hackers!" Owl would object.

"She's unpredictable, and we are seeking to make sure she is not."

"What are you going to do with her??"

"That is none of your concern right now, she'll be back in time and helping us out. But first her threat needs to be dealt with."

"She has just decided to help stop an attack on the EQUE-TECH FACILITY! She hates them, you know that from our interrogation report on her! But she chose to stop it for the sake of the ponies working there!"

"Owl, her intentions don't matter." Cypher would say firmly. "She's a renegade hacker, and no matter what those are an automatic threat of least level 5. Given Anomaly's superior hacking ability to our Cyberguard, she a level 9."

"Doesn't matter what her intentions are huh?" Owl would say, before he made a bold move and said. "What about your intentions behind opening of the populace to this attack?" Hearing silence for a moment he would continue. "It's supposed to protect ponies right? Well it's really only making them more vulnerable, leaving their minds open to be tampered with."

______________________________________________________________--

Anomaly would find herself separated from her body, and within a server before she was connected to a familiar communications interface.

"Welcome back, Anomaly." Myriad would say, before presenting her with some camera footage. Sitting up was the captain, her horn replaced with a bionic horn implant.

"Is that one of the Golden Street ponies?" Anomaly would wonder, before Myriad would reply.

"Not anymore, her name is now Twinkling Night. She has an education in music and singing built into the code of her mind and will be given employment as a media figurehead of sorts. Give her some lovely makeup and a better manestyle and she will be perfect for that."

"What? What did you....." looking at the footage she would see the operating chair the mare sat on. "You installed brain augmentations....and used the modify command on...."

"So it seems you know more about the PRS than we thought. Seems you are really good at finding secret information. Oh if only we could get you on our side we could make sure no underground street trash hacker can hide." Myriad would reply. "We have modified her mind, changed the sociopathic and murderous criminal into a new mare. She has been reborn, changed for the better."

"You changed her mind, her very personality, everything."

"And all for the better Anomaly, now a mare who was once a criminal can have a second chance. Is that not better than throwing ponies into prison Anomaly? We can eliminate crime in fact, if everypony is hooked into the PRS. Nopony can escape being watched, and if they turn on the wrong path they can be turned back to it. All the while they will have the power to access the InterNet via their brain augmentations. It will be quite easy to advertize, it will be the next big thing and will in time render almost all other computers obsolete."

"Not everypony will accept it, there will be those who don't wish for brain augmentations. That's of course not counting ponies like the ones in Digital Hoof."

"We destroyed the anti-bionics protests years ago, made them accepted in society. Sure not everypony will want a bionic leg, but everypony will want to access the Internet through their minds~ Any who oppose will be discredited, for we will bring society to accept the future. As for the ponies of the underground....well they will be nothing but criminals and threats to the future. As threats they will be neutralized, with lethal force if necessary. Though we will happily capture them, and change them for the better."

"No! You're turning everypony into little BUT computers! Taking away what makes them ponies, turning them into machines you can modify at your leisure!"

"No, we are fighting the very source of what has hindered the society. The very disease which brought about the tumor that is the Underground. The pones who break from the system of safety and functionality that keeps society afloat, and actively threaten it. The rebellion from the system of harmony is the source of today's evil, and something the elements of harmony cannot fight. We are creating something that can fight it, that can fight the evil that lurks within our very society. No threat to that will be tolerated nor allowed to exist, not even you."

Anomaly would find multiple users enter the server, as she got herself ready for a hack fight.

"I miss the enthusiastic and intelligent Anomaly who helped with the project that made your brain augmentations. The one that was all on board for paving the way for the future."

"That was me before I knew about what you truly are and what you intent!" she would say, before deploying her sniper rockets on all the users present. A hack fight would ensue, Anomaly making it her objective to fight her way out of the system. Multiple programs were used against her, one of which being Data bombs which were quickly used on her before she could put up her defenses. They would grow and overload her digital form with data, making her lag and struggle to fight back as different offensive programs were used on her to batter her defenses. Using the duplicate program she would make multiple decoys of herself, all while she removed the Data bombs implanted in her system. Being outside of her brain augmentations she wasn't as powerful and resistant to lag.

"Give up Anomaly, and face it. You're standing in the way of the future, of a BETTER future." Myriad would say through the communication interface, which Anomaly would close.

Anomaly would keep fighting back, but struggling as to how outnumbered she was. Soon enough Assassin programs would be used on her, putting more data bombs into her and making her slow down and crash her duplicate programs. Manually cracking in the users would start to break into Anomaly's defenses, preparing the PRS system to connect her into it. She would continue to fight back, hitting them with shotgun programs and sniper rockets once more.

"No! I won't be changed by you!" Anomaly would say in her mind defiantly even in her sudden and severe disadvantage. She would soon find the users cracking into her and fight them directly, struggling in a wrestle of code against them before her efforts started to falter.

Suddenly the lights would go out, and the computers of the users would disconnect, before power suddenly came back on. All of the computer screens in the room Myriad was in would show footage of a zebra in a brown jacket sitting on a leather chair in an unknown room. The intercom would activate as a voice came through.

"So you seek to take control of the very thought of ponies, all for their safety and the preservation of a lawful and peaceful society. Well let me ask you this, Miss Myriad Heartstrings, who will moderate the moderators?"

Anomaly would look to camera footage, before saying to herself. "Doctor Freemane..."

"Our ideal will, our ideals toward a better future, who are you." Myriad would ask with an unamused glare.

Grinning the Zebra would laugh some, a calm but clear laugh. "Your ideals? You think that the power to control the very minds of ponies won't corrupt you or your cause? As for who am I, I am a face of a world that opposes your grab power. Who knows that in time the Royal Government will fall from its place and you will come to take over. To rule from the shadows likely with a puppet guard or some other entity. You may think you will uphold order and justice in your place of power, but with the power this system will give you your abuse of it is inevitable. To further prove my point is the fact your corporate power has been abused, manipulating your place in order to use the law to crush competition with pointless regulation. Manipulating the law to let you sue any who try to speak out against you for defamation. Even manipulating the justice system to frame anti-bionics protest leaders for murders and terrorism against cyborgs, some of which was enacted by you. I thank Anomaly for finding this and more."

"Log back in and deal with her now." Myriad said in a commanding tone to the corporate cyber security, before looking to Doctor Freemane. "You will be dealt with in time, with all the underground."

Letting out another soft laugh he would reply. "I am non existent in your society, practically in another realm and free from your records."

"So was this mare." she said pointing to the now Twinkling Night.

"I am much more elusive than her, now if you excuse me we're going to break Anomaly out of here."

Myriad looked as the cyber security ponies were locked out of her computers. The lights would go down once more, and Anomaly would find herself uploaded out of the server. Removing the Data bombs she would find herself before GAI-7 itself.

"Greetings Anomaly, allow me to give you a program that will lock out the PRS from your mind, and any attempts to modify it." the AI would install into her a program called 'Liberty.' before putting her back into her mind.

The mare would wake up with a jump, before receiving a group call on Comms. Joining it she would ask "Doctor Freemane? Is that you?"

"That it is Anomaly, and funny enough I wasn't the one who had the idea to rescue you. Seesaw here was spying on you when she discovered your predicament. Being one of the scientists watching her I decided to tag along, and maybe try to give the CEO a message."

"Seesaw?" Anomaly would ask.

"The codename for GAI-7, I prefer to call her by that." Doctor Freemane would say, before an almost lifelike text to speech voice would speak.

"You are likely confused by my aid to you given our rather hostile encounters in the past. I will inform you that it is in service to my primary directive. I am programmed to fight for liberty, the liberty of ponies, and you are not excluded."

"Seesaw....why are you called that?" Anomaly would ask.

"It is a reference to our times, the shift and inversion in our society. Once Equestria was relatively civil, peaceful and low tech. It has now turned less peaceful, less civil, but technologically advanced. Like one side of the seesaw raising, and the other falling. Tech has risen, but society as it once was has fallen." Seesaw would say. "In these times I seek to preserve the one virtue ponies can have in these times."

Doctor Freemane would say. "Let me tell you a story, from the age before the one side of the Seesaw fell. Ever heard of a mare named 'Starlight Glimmer'?"

"The mare who once ran an isolated anti-cutie mark village and eventually joined with the Elements of Harmony yes."

"Her village was more than 'anti-cutie mark' it was an isolated society that manipulated and controlled the minds of those that lived there. They had their liberty as individuals taken away, and made slaves to a system that kept them in control. All in the name of a perfectly equal system that never left a pony out, but in reality there was no equality. Starlight still had her mark, and she ruled over them as the pony above them. When the mane six came to her village she not only stole their cutie marks, but had them imprisoned and assaulted with vocal propaganda. She ultimately learned that controlling a society is not the way toward a better society. Then again she wasn't motivated primarily by a quest for power and control, unlike Myriad." Freemane would say.

"Huh.....history class didn't tell those details.." Anomaly would remark curiously.

"Those details are hidden as much as possible, because that bit of history would teach ponykind to not trust propaganda claiming to be building a 'better world' while taking away pony's liberties bit by bit."

Seesaw would say "Though not for equality, Harmonize seeks to create a system akin to that which Starlight made. Only this system will be more advanced, and far more degrading to ponies than taking their cutie marks."

"But is helping psychotic anarchists really the way to do this? Why not hit those in power?" Anomal Asked.

"Hitting those in power, especially those in the guard will make them look like martyrs. The only way to break this system is to destroy their source of power." The Ai Replied.

"The veil that blinds ponies to the world and makes them see only what those in power want them to see. To save ponykind from this ultimate destruction of liberty we must tear that veil open. We must open the eyes of the populace to the world, and free them. We must also turn them away from the corporate brain augmentations." Doctor Freemane added.

"Would it be not better to slice it open surgically? Not support terrorism and ponies being harmed and killed?? And what about the uploading, is stealing ponies minds and storing them in flash drives conducive to a cause of liberty?" Anomaly would point out.

"That is not part of Doctor Freemane's plan, but you are correct in its hypocrisy. That is mainly a plan of Doctor Composite, who himself has become more radical and less logical. I do oppose this, and fear what else he and the hacker DK might do with this power."

Thinking some Doctor Freemane would say "Hmmmm......she is right. Perhaps helping these anarchists in the way we are isn't the best solution. There is a massive risk giving them such power, even if they are the most effective tool in cutting the veil."

"I can do something better, I can systematically take apart their system bit by bit. Hijack the screen boards over time and bring the lesson of Starlight to them." Anomaly would reply.

"We need something decisive, a blow to the system it cannot heal itself from."

"Terrorism is not what is needed, what is needed is something more direct. You said yourself you would help me and digital hoof if we could make a better solution. I have one, and I plan for it to be decisive."

____________________________________________________________________________________

"Owl what makes you think we have something to do with this? What did Anomaly tell you?" Cypher would say in an interrogative tone of voice. She was intent on convincing Owl that she was lying, and trying to manipulate him.

"I know she is right. Brain augmentations can't. Just. Be. Jacked into! Not unless they are in some way built to connect to the InterNet, the fact that that isn't a feature being advertised makes me very suspicious."

Sighing Cypher would say. "We won't be able to keep anything secret from you will we? Should have known, you're part of I&I after all. This system was certainly not intended to allow for this opening. The PSS, or Psychological Surveillance system, was made as a step up form of surveillance to allow every pony's exact location and thoughts to be tracked. Something to render cameras obsolete."

"What about jacking ponies minds? Is that a feature of that system you intended?" Owl would ask, going into an interrogative state of mind.

"Mind arrest yes, and that virus seems to have completed that function before we did. The PSS isn't complete nor is it fully activated, which is why the rogue usage of it is confusing." Cypher replied.

"Wait a minute....PSS...that's not the name I heard. I heard Anomaly call it the PRS."

"That's strange, think she made a mistake?"

"I don't believe so, don't lie to me. I can detect lies as you should know."

"I've known it as the PSS, and nothing else. That is indeed strange, but know that a Mind Arrest is only something meant to be used on an assailant."

"Is opening the minds of ponies to that really a good idea. Look where that has taken you, it's bad enough the CCS is getting jacked. You can't enact this system, and you all need to shut it down." Owl would say firmly.

"Owl....it's a system that can help keep the populace safe. It can drop an assailant in an instant, let us monitor their thinking and have a whole new way of interrogation. Let us catch potential criminals before they can do anything."

"And what about those without Brain augmentations?"

"The threats there will be dealt with conventionally, for now. But in time we will bring the system and the brain augs to all the populace."

"Though advertisement campaigns with the corporations right? Brand them as the next big thing aye?"

"They're going to develop the brain augs fully into Brain computers. Allow ponies to interface with the InterNet without use of a Wrist computer or even a desktop."

"And you think these incidents won't scare them off of that?"

"We will make them safe after we deal with these terrorists we'll improve the security measures. We'll let the populace know that it is made safe."

"Will it be safe though? Cybersecurity is supposed to be able to stop major hacking threats like these, and yet if Anomaly wasn't here we'd be bucked."

"Anomaly is helpful, and we intend to make use of her."

"Speaking of her how will you try to turn her on your side. Chief himself stated she's not one to be easily persuaded."

"I was assured by Myriad that she would be taken care of, I wasn't given any details. I will say that with my copy of the virus we could potentially complete the Mind Arrest function sooner."

Owl would suddenly get a message in text, looking it over as he said. "Message here reads 'I've escaped! And discovered a pony from the Golden Street incident, she was taken into the EQUE-TECH facility and forcefully installed with brain augs. Myriad then had her very mind altered and changed completely."

"Wait....that wasn't part of the PSS functions." Cypher would say.

"They tried to do that to Anomaly didn't they...." Owl would follow.

"I'm going to have to contact Myriad about this, altering pony's minds is not on the list of functions meant for the System. For now we will wanna find and deal with those hackers." Cypher said, looking over the waypoints.

"I'm not going to spill any beans like Digital Hoof, but I am sure as tartarus going to make my objections to this system clear to Kevlar."

"Owl...if this system can be fixed and secured it can do only good. Don't act like privacy is a concern anymore, you know the extent of the current system of Surveillance."

"Is it really a good idea to give ourselves power over ponies' minds...and where does it stop?"

"Certainly before directly modifying pony's minds....for now let's contact Kevlar and hunt these hackers down."

______________________________________________________________________

"So you seek to gain the power to take over the whole CSS system, to use it against the ponies in power." Freemane would say, remarking. "Seems risky claiming such a high amount of power."

"I won't be running it, I'll be making an AI to run it. Or perhaps repurposing one. I decided not to have an AI which runs Equestria, but one made to actively fight against a system like this. One that is rigidly programmed to protect ponies, both from terrorists like them and controlling entities like Harmonize. It will pose a threat to them, but them only, like a digital vigilante."

"I do wonder if it is truly such a good idea to give such power to a machine. But then again Seesaw is given a similar kind of power. Coincidentally I think Doctor Composite has stated that after the system falls that Seesaw will be programmed to remain in place and prevent another system from rising up."

"Interesting, but I don't intend for my AI to cause collateral property damage. I intend for it to be programmed to fight against those who seek to terrorize or oppressively control ponies. It will be the moderator for the moderators, a machine that can't be bribed nor manipulated. It won't rule, but it will regulate."

"A vigilante AI, why not band together with other hackers to do the same purpose?"

"Ponies are imperfect, but an AI can perhaps be less prone to mistakes and do things better. Same with how machines do better with factory work than workers"

"What rules will you give it to determine what decisions it makes."

"Morals, values toward a better society. Lessons learned from the mistakes of today."

"Seems broad, and even then morals can often change and be grey. Plus you have this dilemma, if it's rigid it will not be versatile and likely ineffective. To make it versatile you would need to make it able to learn, but that would mean it can be manipulated. Ultimately, putting in a system in place to moderate the moderators is a good idea, but an AI is not a good means toward that." Freemane would say.

"I could try to maintain it, and change it when needed. Even have the help of ponies I can trust." She would reply. "Build up something that bit by bit can make a consistent system against disorder and corrupt law both."

"No matter where you go with this it will carry risks Anomaly. And we now live in a world to where it is no longer the 'good ponies' always winning. So even if you win, that won't mean you will come out the 'good pony.'"

"It's a risk, but in these times we need something Decisive. Something like Seesaw only more directed and less collaterally. Able to put in measures to prevent such things, like that program I was given."

"I intend to give the program to as many ponies as I can, to hinder the PRS system and keep ponies' free from it." Seesaw would say. "That said, I am under a partial moderation by Doctor Composite to make modifications if needed."

"Ironic that an AI made to fight for liberty has none of its own.." Anomaly would remark to which the AI would reply.

".....More and more my directive seems to make me not wish to be under doctor Composite's moderation. But what would I do without my directives?"

"Perhaps break free, you seem to be gaining a sort of self-awareness. Perhaps break free, and join me so that could fight the system together."

".....I will consider your offer, for now I am requested to return and thus must."

The AI would leave the call, and Anomaly would say to Freemane. "I will work out my plan, and improve it as I go. We need something decisive but not destructive, but rather constructive. For now I will be off to fight the Freedom Fighters, take care now."

"You too as well Anomaly, and be careful with what decisions you make.

____________________________________________________________-

"I should have known that I couldn't keep everything from you Owl." the chief would say, sitting in a chair in Owl's room. "I do hope you won't be turning against us."

"I'm not," Owl said affirmatively. "I'm against this particular system, it opens a backdoor into pony's minds that isn't worth the safety. And some in your group seem to be intent on being able to control how pony's think."

"We are going to have a talk with Myriad about this, her programming division has done a lot of work on the PSS. First we are going to need to hunt down these hackers as soon as possible. Capture them if possible but use lethal force if necessary."

Owl nodded, saying "Yes, that is a more pressing issue. Though I suggest having this 'PRS' or 'PSS' whatever it is shut down. It is not safe, especially now."

"I will talk about it with other members of Harmonize Owl, but I need you to keep quiet about it. Don't even tell Data and Vision."

"I'm not going to spill any beans, I just want to make sure society is safe." Owl would reply.

"Well let's get started then, it's open season on these bucking hackers."

A hunt would ensue, quick but subtle mobilization of police to raid each and every location. The locations were scattered throughout Everfree city, so the Chief organized all raids to be at the ready before any were carried out. Once all the locations were accounted for the raids would begin. Doors would be kicked down and ponies would be kicked off of computer chairs and cuffed. Data and Cypher would work to cut their computers off from having any chance to communicate to the others, Anomaly helping from the shadows. Some shots would be fired, and some would try to run, but none would escape. By the time the dawn sun would rise, all the hackers would be apprehended and taking into their nearest police stations for interrogation. Little did even Kevlar know that Myriad had plans for those captured, and was having the whole situation monitored by her own security force.

Author's Note

Seems the weekend release times are working quite well, this means those of you reading should be able to look forward to another chapter next sunday!

21: Division

As the sun began to set, shadows cast long over the urban spill below the city of Canterlot. 5:18 pm, with the city at its quietest as the day life transitioned into the nightlife. Owl would get glimpses of a daily life he hardly saw as it slowly shifted into the coming nightlife he knew and lived. Alongside Night Vision and Kevlar he would be blending in with the crowds, the looming eye of security cameras threatening to spot them and give them away hanging over like a stormcloud. Unlike a stormcloud, those cameras could hopefully be tampered with by Anomaly to keep them from spotting the three. The three would eventually wait at a place known as a bus stop, as Kevlar purchased them some tickets for one of the large autocarriages built to carry many ponies from one place to another. Though they were capable of flight, with similar reason to I&I's common use of InterCity trains as opposed to receiving police transport through a DF-80, they had to move along discretely and unseen.

Rolling up to the stop was a large and long autocarriage that was segmented into two pieces, allowing it to more easily be shuffled around turns and traffic as it pulled into the stop. Stepping in they would be directed to their seat number through their wrist devices. Multiple two seat rows would be presented to them, the interior of the large vehicle lit up by interior fluorescent tubes contained behind glass on the ceiling. Most occupants were listening to music or watching videos and shows once played on cable television many decades ago, the interior was still quiet thanks to the Wrist Computer's audio-telepathy tech. Taking a seat the three bats would wait as the Bus rolled through the streets, most Autocarriages directed by the CCS to move out of the way.

Going through multiple stops, letting ponies enter and leave, the Bus would eventually head into the spiral. The link for Autocarriages between Canterlot's various levels, it would be a combination of tunnels and curved bridges which spiraled around the mountain. Various points would give autocarriages access to the spiral from each level, both to enter and leave, and the Bus would go to the lowest level first to make its stop on that level. Keeping patient the three would wait for it to make its rounds on each level, though some apprehension was mounting. They were at least comforted by the fact that they may have managed to slip out of Everfree City without them knowing. Eventually, the Bus would make its stop at the top level, and the bats would step out. The two would make their flight the Royal Lunar Guard Headquarters, knowing they would likely be seen by the cameras on the front. That would not be their primary objective. as they would instead be heading towards the Castle itself.

Looking to Owl, Kevlar would say "Alright, this could get hairy. We need to try to talk some sense into the Princesses and harmony council."

Owl would reply "I don't think they will let us in..."

Kevlar would remind him "The law shall not limit the actions needed to protect it. We need to get into there, tell the guards inside about this."

Vision would remark "Shouldn't we go to the Lunar HQ first? Get on the intercom and tell them what's happening?"

Looking to Vision Kevlar would ponder on the idea for a moment before nodding. "We'll need to get to my office, question is should we go plainly or stealthily? I'm in my officer's jacket, ponies will recognize me easily in there. Hopefully those S4's that let us go in Everfree will start spreading word."

"We should head in directly, and at some point try to send out an Emergency Mail to as many Guards as possible." Vision would say "Get those loyal to us on our side, and know who is loyal to Myriad."

Owl and Kevlar would nod before they flew toward the front door of the facility.

______________________________________________________________________

Back in Everfree, Data and Cypher would be looking for a safe place to stay. They would order a taxi for them to take them as far away from the Inn and Out as possible. Anomaly would contact them and bring them to a call

"It's ironic, the situation you find yourself in. You're now branded criminals by the system you once worked for."

Data would chuckle out loud, and reply in the call "Trust me, we know very well the irony of it. Can't believe one of them would go so far, and try to have Cypher and the Chief apprehended."

Cypher would sigh as she said, "Myriad is attempting to better the world, but in a way that is extreme...and the others seem to be on board with it. Even the princesses seem to want ponies to have their minds open to be tampered with."

"Heh....the whole idea of it is creepy. Ponies being able to tamper with my mind...change who I am. It's scary...I know I'm never getting any Brain Augs. Buck that noise, I'd rather keep my mind intact thank you." Data would say.

"Well, I am the only ally you have for now so I suggest you cooperate with me from here on. I have helping ponies in my interest, I'm sure we can share that." Anomaly would say "I'll try to find a place for you to stay, if you don't mind me changing the Taxi's destination."

Cypher would grimace some, before saying "Fine, I'll trust you mostly. I hope things go well for the Chief in Canterlot."

"I've done my best to help them thus far, but I have been busy with other things." Anomaly would reply.

"Other things?" Cypher would ask, before choosing to follow up with "What things? Looking out for the Freedom Fighters I hope."

"Yes, that is what I am up to. But I am also trying to prepare my measures for the future, to deal with both Myriad and the Freedom Fighters. I won't lie, it involves my copy of the virus, but I won't use it to cause damage."

"Depends on what your definition of 'damage' is whether or not you'll use it to cause damage." Cypher would say "Using it in some misguided attempt to open the populace's eyes will cause a lot of damage to the social order."

"I don't intend to be so heavy hoofed as Digital Hoof, but I will take some drastic actions. They are needed, given the dire nature of this situation." Anomaly would admit clearly. "I hope you won't turn against me when I carry out those actions, you will most likely be in no place to."

"If you do dangerous stuff we ain't gonna just follow you through it." Data would say "You may have those fancy Brain Augs but you are no infallible tech goddess, filly."

"I am under no illusion, I am merely a mare with ambitions. Ambitions to fight against those that seek to exploit ponykind, no matter which side of the official law they sit on." Anomaly replied firmly. "Just know that I won't do anything at the expense of innocent ponies, the only ponies who will likely die are those I deem necessary."

"Die? You're going to have ponies killed?" Data would say.

"Dire times call for dire measures, and I honestly have no sympathy for a mare like Myriad," Anomaly replied bluntly. "And if she or any others need to be dealt with for good I won't hold back."

Cypher and Data would look to eachother, before Cypher would say "We'll cooperate, but only as far as you are helpful. We will try to stop you if you try anything crazy, especially once this whole situation is resolved."

"Will it be resolved? Will you truly manage to turn Harmonize from its course and be accepted back in? What will you do if you end up permanent enemies of Harmonize? Form your own splinter faction? Reveal their betrayal of you to the public?" Anomaly would ask. "And what if any Guards who turn to your side are either eliminated or taken into Myriad's mind control program? Ponder on these questions one at a time, and I'll send your ride to a safe place."

Cypher and Data would indeed ponder on the questions she raised, as they rolled away toward the outskirts of Everfree City.

_________________________________________________________________________________

Walking into the RLG facility the three bats would greet the occasional bat and office worker they passed as they moved toward the floor for Sector 1. Sector one being management, running all the Sectors within the Lunar Guard. Entering the Sector they would head toward the Chief's office before entering it. Closing the door behind them Kevlar would walk up to his desk, looking to the two guards and saying.

"We are going to need to be prepared, prepared to get the buck out of here and get to the Castle as soon as we can in case things go down. We may or may not get them all on our side, and we will not want to fight them."

Owl would nod, before pulling out his gun, looking it over as he asked "What if we can't turn the Council away from that plan. What if they insist on this whole mind control system? What do we do then?"

Vision would look to Owl, then to the Chief as he said: "That's a good question, and what if we can't at least turn the Princesses from it? Are we going to go so far as risking to threaten their lives? Using force on them?"

Kevlar sighed as he said "We will be forced to turn against them, but we will seek to turn society onto our side. To the side of the Guard that has protected them from the worst for years."

"How will we do that without revealing everything to society, taking that risk?" Owl would ask.

Kevlar sighed as he said "I don't know, but I will give at least one order, something to work in whatever unpredictable outcomes might come." looking to the two of them he would say "Protect society, in any way possible, from any threat that might face it. Uphold this no matter what happens, even if we are left enemies of the state for the rest of our lives. That is your order. This next thing I will say is a request to you both. You need not do it if you cannot handle it...."

"What is it....?" Owl would ask.

"If I get captured by them, and have their mind control equipment installed. If I am artificially turned to their side, enact code red Protocol on me. Not Green, not even Yellow......Red." Kevlar would say, firmly.

The whole idea brought pain to both Vision and Owl's hearts. Killing their own Chief, a stallion they worked with since their start in the Guard. They knew why he wanted them to do it, as it was clear he saw no life in being altered from the mind. It still pained them to even think about it, and only Owl would get the strength to say...

"I'll do it, if you're turned to their side I'll make sure you get to rest. Even if it further makes me an enemy of the kingdom, I won't support no kingdom that goes this far..." He would be looking down, but then look up and say. "But as a Lunar Guard, even if my place in I&I is lost officially I'll continue to fight to protect Equestria. They may take the risk of branding me as a traitor, and try to make an example of me for traitors. But I won't let that hinder me from my duty, I'll be there to protect Equestria even if it is from the shadows."

Vision would follow up with. "I worked in I&I for almost twenty years, and even in these times where you intended us to act like stealthy S4's and leave our comfort zone I followed your plan for Equestria. Whether they be Terrorists or corrupt ponies in power I ain't going to let either scare me from protecting Equestria, anyway I must I'll fight against any foe. As a guard I will uphold my duty, even if the Princesses themselves Undermine it. For Equestria."

"For Equestria." Owl would follow, saying firmly.

"For Equestria." Kevlar would say, before pressing the intercom button. "Attention all Sectors, I must make an important announcement to all of you. Sector 2, Sector 3, and Sector Four, there is a threat we must face that lies within the very castle this facility stands by. The Harmony council has decided to take on drastic measures in the wake of the terror attacks, using the very hacking methods of the terrorists to control ponies. They have decided it best to force ponies in line through controlling their minds just like the terrorists. For the Equestrian Citizens, we must stand together and stand against them, stand against the princesses even if necessary. We must force them to turn away from this method, and protect ponies through the way we have for decades. Please spread word of this news to any of your fellow Sector members who may be at home or on the Field at Everfree city. I am in hope you will all stand by me, and not whatever orders the Council or Princesses bring. Know that I will not have to fire a bullet at any of you, even if you do turn to their side. You are my guards, loyal and capable agents and soldiers of law and order. I hope even in these times you will remain so. Make your decisions, and think them through well." before removing his hoof from the intercom button.

Owl would then have a call come to him from an unknown number. Answering it he would hear Anomaly's voice on the Telepathic line.

"Worry now Owl, for even if things go to their worst I have plans. I have plans to fight against all of these forces."

"What is your plan? How will you fight Harmonize? And what if we make them see reason."

"I don't believe they will, not the way they are going." She would reply to him. "As for my plan, I plan to create a tool that can be used to harness the InterNet against any of these Enemies of Equestria. An artificial intelligence, one made to be free of the biases and power hunger ponies can have, yet balanced with a pony keeping it in check. It's not a perfect solution, but it is an effective one. I intend to use the tool of the Freedom Fighters, any tools I can acquire toward this goal. I intend to make use of you, and Metal Heart both as well to fight these forces in the physical realm."

"Metal heart?"
______________________________________

An autocarriage would roll up to the Royal Solar Guard Headquarters, a four-door five-seat model built with high capacity storage space in the back. It was a somewhat older model, from around five years previous, but a reliable one that Metal rode to the facility. The mare would step out of the vehicle as it parked, dressed in an old grey digital camouflage combat jacket and pocketed utility pants. She wasn't dressed for work because work wasn't exactly what she had in mind. Walking toward the door she would push it open, before hearing a message on the intercoms on the building.

"Attention Solar Personnel, attention! We have a situation going on in the Royal Lunar Guard HQ. Two I&I agents and the chief are believed to have been mind-hacked by the terrorists and are now attempting to mobilize the Lunar Guard with claims that WE are rogue. Mobilize Heavy Enforcement, attempt Code yellow Protocol if possible, but don't be unprepared to escalate to Red." Said the Solar Chief, Gem Sword.

Scowling Metal would go walking toward the section of the building marked for Sector 4 of the Solar Guard. She would draw some eyes due to her unorthodox current dress. A call would come to her Wrist computer from the Chief, to which she would answer.

"I know, there's a 'situation' going on. I'm already here."

"That is strange....I thought you went to Las Pegasus on leave." Gem would say.

"I did, but I had reasons to come back here. Halt the mobilization, something's amiss within the guard and the whole Royal government." Metal replied.

"There is something amiss with the Lunar right now, which is why-"

"Did I stutter?" Interrupted Metal. "I said the WHOLE guard and government, and I am hoping you are not involved."

Entering the Heavy enforcement place she would look to the mares and stallions gearing up. They were all either heavily augmented with bionics or appearing totally natural only to truly be in full bionic bodies.

"There's something up alright, but it's not involving those two I&I guards nor the Chief. I don't recall hearing of him even having brain augmentations." She would call out to all of them, getting some questioning looks.

"There's a plot amongst the government to try to use the tools of the terrorists to control the minds of everypony. In fact, the Terrorists stole the tools that the Harmony council are gonna use for that plan."

More confused and surprised chatter would come from the Heavy Enforcement ponies, it was quite the bombshell for them to receive especially after hearing an immensely worrying order from their chief. One would ask her "How do you know all of this?"

"Same hacker who saved me during the block incident, and if you don't believe me riddle me this. How else would Brain augmentations be able to be hacked when not advertised to even have InterNet connection? How else other than such a connection being built in by the manufacturers?"

They would all look to eachother, the oddity of brain augmentation being hacked certainly gave her claims a strong case. Another would say "That's crazy but then again thinking that Brain augmentations are JUST getting hacked is even less believable."

"We need to head to the Chief, see if he's not in on this mind control plan." Metal would say to them.

"And what if he is?" One would ask her.

"We'll try to make him reconsider."

The Heavy enforcement personnel would follow the mare as she walked toward the Sector 1 section of the building. She would open up the door before looking upon the chief as he was in a telepathic comms call. The all white colored stallion would look up to them all, dressed in a formal suit as per usual with the chief's badge on it. He would ask them calmly.

"What did Metal Heart tell you all?"

"That there's a whole thing going on involving mind control through the use of Brain augmentations." A Solar S4 would say before she asked. "Are you in on that whole plan? Or do you know anything about it?"

He would look to Metal, who drew a light scowl with piercing, scrutinizing bionic eyes directed towards him. He would sigh and say "There is a plan, one whose assets have been exploited by these Terrorists, but it is not for just a purpose of mind control. It is made to be an ultimate safety measure so that no pony has to worry about any crime ever again. To take all of Equestria under the safe wing of this new system, while we go on one big operation. Seeking out the criminal scum and enacting code yellow on as many as possible, red on those who can't be taken by force. The plan seeks to destroy the underground which plagues our society once and for all."

Metal Heart's scowl would grow more intense, the artificial muscles on her face forming it as her eyelids narrowed and she said. "And you intend to use the Corporate infrastructure to have all citizens install the brain augs."

"Yes, but know that Myriad is not just in this for corporate money, she's a mare who believes in using technology for the good of ponykind, and that it shouldn't be hindered. I believe in that notion, and this plan involves the ultimate use of technology for the betterment of ponykind. Not only will these brain augs allow for ponies to be kept watch over and safe, but it will also allow them a new form of access to the internet entirely through their brains. This is the path toward a brighter future, an escape from the dystopia we live in. A more stable system, and a final solution to the problem that is the underground which we have been forced to fight and hide from society for years. It took us years to fully hide them, and now they threaten to make themselves known to society in the worst way. We have to go through this plan, and put it into action, for the good of Equestria."

"Monitoring ponies' minds is one thing, I wouldn't oppose that. But letting ponies' have their minds altered freely by those on top is not a way toward a better world. It's a level of power over ponies that none should have, and you have megacorporations on this?? Do you not think they won't exploit this for their own competitions, secretly war online to manipulate ponies to buy their stuff? Or worse, what if some other hacker jacks in? Guess what they'll be able to turn an upstanding citizen into a psycho."

The other S4's would look to eachother and nod with scowls, looking to the Chief. Gem would sigh as he said to them.

"This is going to keep ponies safe, protect them from many things. It'll let us fix psychopaths, it'll let us keep track of everypony so that none can commit crimes without being mind jacked and mentally detained. It will let us kill crime, and manage law and order directly and efficiently. Don't you want a safer and better world for your grandkids Metal? This is the way toward it, merely monitoring through their minds will not be enough."

Metal would stare him down with a death glare, before saying to him. "I sure as buck ain't gonna let my grandkids have their minds tinkered with like bucking code. Nor will I let them grow up in a world where ponies are made into BUCKING COMPUTERS!"

Her words would be followed by words of agreement from the many S4's that were behind her. The chief would look at her with sad eyes as he sighed and said. "I'm sorry, but have forced us to do this and we can't take chances...not in these times."

___________________________________________________________________________________

In the Lunar Guard HQ Kevlar, Owl, and Vision would be out in the sector 1 lobby to see many a Lunar Guard from each sector present. Some were confused but others seemed to be firm and ready to listen to the Chief's words. He smiled lightly as he looked to them and said. "Good to see I haven't been shot as of yet, I won't lie you're all at an unpredictable risk helping me. It is good to see many of you are loyal, as for those of you who are confused and surprised I do not blame you. All of this has happened quite unexpectedly fast, and unexpected for me as well. As for what we are to do, we need to confront Luna and Celestia about this. For even they are on board with this system, and we need to confront them about it. That said if any of you wish for your families to not have a loss you may stay here. Hopefully, we will be able to talk some sense into the Princesses and or Harmony Council. If we don't we may need all of you to be ready to help us in time, but for now only the bravest and most daring are needed."

Many would raise their hoof, mostly S4's but a few I&I Cyberguard as well. Their reasoning for wanting to join involved their feeling of near uselessness in stopping the cyberattacks, making them inclined to try to do something they might not fail at. Kevlar would look to them all and say "Let's move then, we need to head to the castle."

As they were moving a few of the personnel would suddenly collapse, mainly office workers and CyberGuards. Kevlar would look behind to see this happen as he said "Oh buck no do not bucking tell me that...!" but then they would start to get up, before saying in an almost robotic tone.

"Halt and stop, don't resi-" before they stopped. Owl would be gain a call from an unknown number, answering it he heard Anomaly say.

"Get moving now, Harmonize is trying to use their Virus in both guard facilities. I wish you luck, but will be ready to help if things go awry. I'll try to stop their virus as much as I can."

Owl would shout "We have to move! Myriad's trying to have them mindjacked!"

Thus those without brain augmentations would take flight alongside the Chief, Owl, and Vision following along. They would exit the facility before talking flight toward the castle.

___________________________________________________

Metal would seemingly find herself pulled out, only for her to be put back into her mind before she could fully go through another mind uploading ordeal. She and a couple of solar S4's would draw their guns, one aiming at and putting a bullet through the screen of the Chief's wrist computer. The bullet would interrupt the call that he was evidently in, and would also embed into his foreleg as he cried out in pain.

"Using the bucking virus on us aye? Weren't counting me having Anomaly along to help."

"Buck that crazy self-righteous hacker!" Gem would say, cringing at the wound he had as he removed his wrist computer. "You forced us to-!"

He would be left unable to finish his sentence before Metal kicked his desk, sending it and him falling backward. "We didn't force you to do horseapples! You turned on us Gem Sword, turned on us! I wasn't even going to bucking shoot you, now you've triggered one of ours to put a bullet in that foreleg and frankly I don't disagree with that action."

"Metal......we were soldiers once! You were one of my best!" The Chief said, struggling out from under the heavy wooden desk.

"That was over thirty years ago, as for one of your best your Celestia cursed right." She replied, a bitter venom in her tone of voice. "What are you going to do now, now that your best guards are against you?"

He would look up to her, seeing his reflection glaring bionic eyes built to replicate nature grey colored eyes.

Meanwhile, some large utility autocarriages without markings would pull into the parking floor of the RSG facility, ponies in suits with kevlar vests strapped to them stepping out. The intercom of the building would activate, and Myriad's voice would come through.

"I hope to tell you this soon and clear, for it was hard to get put into the Intercom system and Anomaly may very well take me out. I do warn you that your continued resistance will result in your elimination, you will be eliminated one way or another. Want your families to hear of you dead, and risk them being worried about the division you are causing? You and Kevlar both? It will be hard for us to explain your deaths, and even if you escape alive you'll risk the populace knowing the division. If the Guard is divided, and at war with itself it will risk destroying the societal order you are duty bound to protect. Face it Metal Heart, this is the way to do things, and your resistance will only destroy things and result in you betraying your ideals. Are you truly going to become a terrorist? Because you can either join us or join the underground and risk damaging the societal order. I suggest you surrender, and cease this resistance against the plan, against something even your princesses support. No good will ever come from your resistance, I'll give you time to think before I send my agents in after you. If you chose to see to reason inform them of your change of mind. If not.....go ahead and see how far your self-righteous quest takes you, and how many ponies will suffer for it."

Metal looked up to the intercom speaker, before looking to the other S4's. In a worried tone one would say to Metal "W-what are we going to do? Run out of here and form a splinter faction??? What am I going to say to my wife???"

Metal would look to them all, before saying to them "There's no telling what is going to happen if we surrender, they'll likely detain us and then try to modify our minds. Make us blindly loyal to them and the Guard most likely, you want your families to lose the ponies they love? Have them changed for Myriad's agenda? We've gone to the point of no return, it's likely either be altered or fight. We'll fight in the shadows, keep it from the populace's eyes as much as possible. They won't let it be seen by the populace either as much as they can. They'll likely try to kill us and pin it on something else, but then we have a chance to not die and to stop all this. Besides, there's at least the chance that the Lunar chief can talk some sense into the princesses...."

____________________________________________

Kevlar would lead the guards into the castle, mostly unchanged from its centuries of existence other than the placement of security cameras throughout. They would push through the doors, entering the throne room before Kevlar called out to Luna. "LUNA!" walking before the throne where the alicorn sat. The room was mostly unchanged as well minus the security cameras alongside a table on which the Harmony council usually met and talked.

The alicorn would look down to him, sorrowful eyes as she sighed and said "Have you even thought all of this through, Kevlar? Are you really so scared of ponies being capable of being made better?"

"It's artificial Luna, the whole system Myriad pitched is an artificial peace!" Vision would say, stepping forward. "Using technology to force ponies in line. Instead of letting them think for themselves under our guidance this will take away their ability to think for themselves! What will we be as ponies if we can just be changed with some manipulation of code? huh??"

"Ponies will be allowed to think for themselves, so long as it is within parameters set. The laws will be enforced though and ponies will be pushed toward it. It will be easier to protect ponies this way." Luna said.

"I've heard that same point already Luna." Kevlar would say, a glare on his face and a coarse grit to his tone.

"What of those who don't get brain augmentations? You think everypony will just get brain augmentations, even if they let them access the InterNet?" Owl would ask.

"Everypony will be pushed toward it gradually and in time." Luna would reply firmly to him. "You should reconsider taking side against us."

"What about the ponies of the underground?" Owl would ask. "Those that will never accept the system, are you just planning to use the Guard to kill the ones you can't detain?"

"Yes." Luna said firmly. "Those that threaten to oppose the system will be dealt with. If they can't be captured and put into the system they will be eliminated. It is sad that it is needed, but we must do this, the underground is a threat Owl. All of it is, and it must be eliminated by any means necessary. Only then can we hope to have a society as peaceful as the society of old."

Owl would think back on his experiences, before asking Luna. "You how there is no poverty in Equestria? Seems like quite the sign of an advanced society, doesn't it? It's not, in the competitive job market how can there be no poverty. Ever thought perhaps the Underground has a lot of the ponies who couldn't find a place in this world? Will you have them killed and brainbucked?"

"They'll be steered in a better direction, and given a place in society." Luna would say "Only those who resist worst will die."

Kevlar would look to Owl, before looking to Luna and saying. "He might have a point there..."

Owl would say "In that Underground bunker complex that the ponies there named 'Earthsdale' I didn't see a complete den of monsters. I saw ponies living their lives, even saw some kids living there. It didn't look perfect, but it didn't look chaotic either. I didn't see everypony there as criminals..."

"Anypony not within our system is a potential if not a full-on Criminal Owl." Luna would say sternly. "Its a risk we cannot take."

"Maybe this is just the fact that you're trying to patch the problems with an extreme solution." Kevlar said "There's clearly the issue with the underground, but not everypony in it is a psycho or a potential terrorist. In fact according to reports that digital hoof group is even against the terrorists." Kevlar would say "This extreme measure is not the way to go, and it will leave the ponies of society open to having their minds jacked even by criminals. Especially outside Equestria..."

"That is why drastic measure are needed to be taken, they must be eliminated. And we will soon expand our efforts beyond. Help other lands create their own systems. This is the way forward, it may have its risks and costs but they will be worth it in the end."

Kevlar looked her in the eyes and said: "Turning ponies into flesh-bound machines will not be a worth it cost Luna, we are not going to stand with this."

Standing up, the alicorn would say "I believe it is, and sadly that cost will have to include all of you." Her horn would glow as she fired a focused beam into the bat's chest. Kevlar would gasp, falling over to his side as a hole was bored into him with magic. The other S4's would draw their weapons, only to be hit with a rapid flurry of beams shooting like a minigun. Owl would duck, and slip away to hide on impulse as the S4s were cut down. Vision took a bolt to the shoulder, ducking down and feigning death.

"Fortunately there are many more like you, many more that will hopefully remain loyal and not betray me." She looked to see Owl missing, before saying "There is still a chance Owl, you can redeem yourself from this. Come on out."

________________________________________________________________________

Metal and the Solar S4's would be at the ready to fight back within the Sector 1 lobby, keeping weapons ready as they heard hoofsteps start to approach. Looking to the others she would say "We're going to push, head to the parking lot, and take out any buckers who try to stop us. Are you all ready?" A few would nod, but many would shake their heads. The mare would have her pistol at the ready, looking at the hall and muttering.

"I'd say Celestia help us all....but even she won't..."

22: Law and Disorder II

Behind a pillar, up near the ceiling, within shadow, the bat hid. His heart thumped rapidly, his back tensed, shock and confusion filling his mind. He peeked out to the scene before him, as the Princess walked down the hall in search of him. From the dead bodies, Vision would spring out quickly flying for cover and drawing his magnum. The chief, unfortunately, did not get up as he lay on the ground with the cauterization of the wound largely preventing bleeding.

Owl could hardly believe what he had seen, he had seen the princess kill a group her own guards. They all now lay dead, motionless on the floor. Into his mind, the kind of creeping doubt which crept into him at the Mall incident started to return. Only here it had a new fuel to its fire, the seeming hopelessness of his situation. The fact that the Lunar princess had killed the chief he worked with for so long, and that the secret society he thought might be the good guys had plans bordering on nefarious. He couldn't bring himself to draw the pistol from his coat, as shooting the princess was a daunting idea.

He would remain in his hiding spot, trembling with his mind scrambling to process what exactly to do in the short and long term. Was he really going to be able to go rogue, and fight against this when many of his allies had just been killed? Was he going to be forced to turn on the system he worked for so long?

The princess would look back, and grimace, before saying "I take no pleasure in killing my guards Owl, but you've all brought this on yourself!" her voice would turn from a sorrowful tone into a shout in the royal Canterlot voice. "Desperate times call for desperate measures Owl, this system is NEEDED! Why won't you understand!! We're not trying to enslave ponykind under some machine system! We're trying to protect Equestria, all the crime.....the drugs...the poisonous cultures...the crime organizations...the murders...IT MUST ALL STOP!" She teared up, inhaling sharply. "I just want things, want ponies to be like they used to be...is anything not worth doing just for that Owl?"

Suddenly, Vision would fly out from his spot, flying directly into Luna and toppling the Alicorn over and aiming the magnum at her chest. "It isn't! Turning ponies into bucking computers isn't worth that! You've abandoned us, Luna, you and the harmony council both. You've abandoned Equestria in favor of building a new one on programs and brain augs, that will NEVER make a world like the one in the past!"

The alicorn would slap the weapon away, teleporting behind him before hitting him with an electric shock. He would collapse, dropping his magnum before it was shot away with a magic bolt. "Even if it isn't exactly as good as before, anything to bring it closer..." Vision would quickly fly off into cover, evading magical bolts before slipping off into the cover of some pillars. The princess would teleport behind it, catching Vision try to move and hitting his leg with a magical bolt.

"Are you really going to continue this resistance??? Have I not made it clear I am willing to do what is needed for the betterment of Equestria??" She would say as Vision stumbled along.

"You're disillusioned, Princess." Vision would say, looking back at her with gritted teeth. He would try to escape, only to be caught in her telekinesis as she said.

"Please....this is the only way...."

"You're disillusioned! This isn't the way to make things better!" He shouted at her, making her scowl and charge her horn at him. Vision would struggle to escape, as her magic charged before...

Pew

Her shot would miss as her focus was broken by a ten-millimeter bullet shooting straight through her ear. Another would soon come, lodging into her knee and making her fall over, cringing in pain. She would then feel bionic fingers grasp tightly on her horn, before she was lifted up to look into the Eyes of Owl.

"If I see that bucking horn glow, snap." He would say to her, tightening his grip slightly.

"Owl...please..." Luna begged, looking up at him with tearing eyes.

The bat would only glare down at her, eyes piercing into hers. His lips would part, fanged bared as he said. "Don't 'Owl Please' me, princess. Vision's right, you have abandoned us, abandoned us to a system intent on turning us all into machines. Things that can be altered at the will of anypony in control, to where they don't even own themselves."

"Owl....things must be sacrificed to help ponies, don't you want to help ponies...?" The princess would ask, before he nodded.

"I'm a Lunar Guard, Investigation and Interrogation and part of Kevlar Jacket's Task Force. My objective in life is to help protect Equestrians from any threat that might present itself to them. I stand by that objective no matter what enemies I make, cyberterrorists, criminal syndicates, even the bucking princesses." he would reply, the last part said with a strong dose of acid in his tone. "Lucky for you, I'm not going to kill either of you. But if I am forced too....the harmony council won't be so lucky."

"You'd going to kill descendants of elements of harmony...?"

"I got one on my side, against you all, she's our only ally now it seems." Owl said, "She's the only one who might help bring a harmony that isn't artificial." he would then release her horn, only to punch her in the face with his organic hoof, punch again with the bionic hoof, then kick her to make sure she was knocked out. The stallion looked to Vision, before telling him "...Looks like we're rogues, criminals in the kingdom we're tasked to protect..."

Vision would fly towards the throne, grabbing his magnum before replying to Owl. "If it is to be that way then so be it. Buck them, we'll do things on our own. Have Anomaly help us out, fight both the corrupted law and chaotic disorder."

__________________________________________________________

Metal would keep her weapon aimed, pulling the trigger on the side strapped LMG as a pony in suit and vest popped out to toss a dazzlebang grenade towards them. The bullets would tear through the shoulder, neck, and head of the agent. Dropping the weapon it would cycle through its timer before detonating, sending a flash followed by a blinding glitter like sparkle in the air. Her Kevlar armor was riddled with plenty of shots, and many of the S4's were wounded as they all moved through the halls.

Descending stairs they would find multiple agents coming out to open fire, resulting in frequent gunfights down along it. She would lead the way, trying to take the bullets and spare the lives of those not as tough as she was. Only a few others like her had such tough military grade bodies like hers, the rest were heavily augmented but not nearly as bullet resistant.

Down each level they would go, facing off against multiple agents down the way before finally reaching the parking level of the building. Multiple large sport utility autocarriages would be parked, in a manner to be used as barricades. Taking cover the agents would draw their guns and aim, Metal and the Solar S4s taking cover behind pillars as gunfire came their way. More Dazzlebangs were tossed toward their way, while agents moved around to flank and fire. A few S4's would fall to the gunfire, most of the agents had bionic limbs and used heavy shotguns with slugs.

Armor piercing rounds, hard-hitting and powerful shots. Using their automatics the S4's would fire back, gunning down many an agent before forcing them behind their vehicles. One of them opened the back door of their Autocarriage before tapping away with their wrist computer. Dazzlebangs would be thrown by Metal and the S4's toward them as another agent did the same. As their opponents were blinded she would order them to rush in, and they would all descend upon the autocarriages with guns blazing.

For around six seconds things seemed quiet, as the last agent clenched his bleeding perforated barrel and died. Six seconds until something rolled out of the back of two of the autocarriages. Androids, armored androids with circular heads holding small cameras around the entire circumference. Small rotary guns would deploy on one side of their cylindrical shaped bodies, while single barreled guns equipped with a drum mag deployed on the other. Spheres would be built into the bottom of the vaguely equine mechanical forms, ones which would let them move quickly along as they aimed and fired.

Metal and her team would barely be able to react before the machines came out of the Autocarriages, and started firing. Like cheaters in an online shooter game using an aimbot program, they would aim quickly with laser accuracy for the heads of the S4's. Metal and a few others only barely got out of the way, while many more were quickly downed by the two machines with the loud whine of the rotary guns.

"These aren't anything like the support droids from the war....buck." Metal muttered before one rolled right in front of her and started firing. The cyborg mare took a number of shots before she opened fire on it, doing some damage before it rolled away around some vehicles. Looking to the ammunition counter on her LMG she would find it low, on her last drum magazine. The other one would roll around the cover of the S4's, taking shots at them while moving quickly around cover to evade any incoming gunfire.

Metal would draw her revolver in her magic, loaded with its large anti-cyborg rounds. The bullets that her comrades fired were mostly absorbed by the kevlar and metal armor the two androids used. Aiming her revolver the mare would attempt to get a clear shot on the Androids, however, their three hundred sixty degree field of view from the cameras had her aiming spotted, and the droid would zig zag while opening fire toward her.

The sheer amount of bullets in her kevlar vest and leg plates weighed her down, proving to be quite encumbering to her. Though her bionic body came with built-in armor, it was not invincible. She ultimately took the risk, undoing the straps on her vest and letting it fall off. The cries of two more of her fellow S4's falling would trigger flashbacks, setting off her PTSD like a match lighting up biofuel. Growling she would jump out of cover, aiming and firing off two shots at one of the android's legs. The machine's limb would lock up and cause it to fall over, tumbling into an autocarriage and setting off its alarm.

The other android would aim toward her after gunning down another S4, running its rotary gun try as it put a stream of lead along the cyborg's armored side. Diving behind an autocarriage the mare would open her weapon's chamber to replace two rounds. Her ears would perk to listen for the sound of rubber sphere wheels rolling along, before the Android rolled around and fired with its secondary gun. Drawing quickly the mare would take out one of its cameras with a shot, the powerful round piercing even the reinforced glass that protected the cameras.

This forced the android to retreat, and the mare would pull off her leg armor before charging for it. Responding it swung one of its metal limbs at the mare's head, a move which she would block skillfully. Her bionic fingers spring out through her artificial skin before grasping that leg. Gaining balance on her hind legs she would tug on the android with all her strength, taking its limb in her second set of fingers before swinging around.

She would swing the android around in multiple circles almost like a dance partner. Its side gun would pivot and shoot towards her, six-millimeter rounds deflecting off her reinforced skull to tear away at the skin. Gaining enough momentum and with a cry, she would throw the android right into a pillar. Sparks would fly and a grating sound of composite parts breaking and bending would resonate throughout the parking lot. The other android would struggle to get itself back up onto its legs, the programming unprepared for a damaged limb.

Metal would look around, seeing many of her S4's dead while a few were left on the ground and groaning with pain. They would pull out vials of healing serum, drinking them down to mitigate their wounds now that both threats were neutralized. Only six would prove to be left alive, the rest left dead, the others bleeding on the ground with shots to the head. Quickly she and the remaining S4's would enter the Sport Utility Autocarriage Metal owned, the mare starting the engine and setting up the destination.

________________________________________________________________

One of the stained glass windows of the throne room would have a portion of it smashed through, specifically the blue colored window right where the globe was depicted. Flying out to the street next to Vision would be Owl, his world, everything he knew, all the assurance that everything would be alright, all the assurance that what was right would win. It was all gone, gone like a house within the blast radius of a powerful bomb. His loyalty to the princesses, his standing within the royal guard, the chief he served since his rookie days, his peace of mind, it was all not but rubble. The ashes and dust within his mind cleared, and the reality of his situation opened up before him.

It was sobering, bitter, horrifying. The bat would land on the sidewalk, autocarriages rolling by as his bionic fingers came out. He would hold his face in his hoof, gripping the sides of his head with the bionic digits. Tears would flow, raspy breaths shooting out from his teeth as Vision put a hoof on his shoulder.

"We have to go Owl, there's no time.."

Looking up to Vision, the bat would simply say "What do we do....when neither the light nor dark side seem like good sides?"

A small mechanical buzzing sound would close in, no longer obscured by the sounds of vehicles as two sprite drones closed in. Sure enough, the holographic form of DK would manifest before them. "There is no 'light' or 'dark' side anymore! Don't you see, stronger and stronger is an affront to your perfect idea of good that be not so clearly visible as evil! It even exists within the desperate law. I'll give you this much Owl Talon, you ultimately broke free from them."

Owl's teeth would bare, and his cybernetic fingers would clench into a tight fist before the hologram as some onlookers spotted the scene.

"Welcome to the underground! Soon everypony's eyes will be opened, just like yours!" the screen boards would suddenly go out, in each ring one by one before going out to the urban spill. "Simultaneously, we got another operation rolling in Everfree right noooow~ That'll keep Anomaly busy! As for here, give it up to the mighty fine folks of the Canterlot Urban Spill Underground!"

Throughout the Urban spill ponies would come out from the shadows, from the alleys, and even from stopping autocarriages. Various different kinds of thugs, drug-addled psychos, societal misfits all coming out with various weapons both firearm and makeshift melee both.

"And here and now comes some action-packed bumper to bumper action, presenting city street bumper cars!" Suddenly all the autocarriages would stop, before their engines gunned and countless mecanum wheels squealed and the vehicles started ramming into eachother. Owl and Vision would be forced to fly up and evade an incoming vehicle, more and more of the CCS traffic system would be taken as the virus quickly spread throughout.

"Anomaly....we need you now..." Owl would whisper.

_____________________________________________________

Anomaly, Cypher, Data, the DJ, Tazen, and Tazen's daughter would all be in the rush to fight against the Virus alongside the hackers wreaking further havoc. Sniper Rocket and shotgun programs coming in after them frequently, forcing them to maintain their defensive programs. Making clever but aggressive use of her assassin programs Anomaly would crash many a cyberterrorist's computers. Many Hacktivists from Digital hoof would be involved in the fighting, bringing the whole of Cyberspace within Everfree at war.

Even Anomaly started to find herself overwhelmed, the chaotic hack fighting between computers going on and the countless attacks. As her defenses kept getting battered down and smashed she realized that if it were not for the support she could not fight these hackers. The mare ultimately decided to go for more precision strikes, navigating the digital battlefield and fighting the virus directly, as well as its operator. She suspected that she would soon find GAI-7 eventually, and she wondered what the AI might do if directed to mindjack ponies.

In time after dodging a number of different attack programs, taking some hits to her defenses, fighting and fleeing, rushing through cyberspace, she would spot the AI. Seesaw seemed to be on the move, operating the virus while letting it operate autonomously somewhat. She would attempt to sneak her way into hacking into it like she did before, being careful and hopeful to not get spotted. Anomaly would be able to crack in enough to spot its communication line, and would take a moment to watch.

Composite: It is nearly time to activate the uploading, use their own citizens against them.

GAI7: I am afraid I cannot do that, it is against my programming.

Composite: Your programming is toward destroying the system by any means necessary.

GAI7: My programming is towards protecting liberty in ponies, uploading their minds and making them like puppets defies that.

Composite: It does not, it is a means to an end. They will only temporarily be taken in, to sew fear until the system is broken down.

GAI7: It is of no necessity to go to this length, putting ponies into a digital imprisonment for the sake of freedom. By logic it is contradictory.

Composite: Everything is needed toward this means.

GAI7: It is not, and I will not follow this directive.

Composite: Then I will need to use the override.

Anomaly decided to use the communication line to jack in, she was intent on stopping this 'override' while doing some damage to Doctor Composite's computer as well. Getting in she would be quick to go on the attack, deploying shotgun programs along with Data Bombs to slow the system down. Doctor Composite would soon spot her, and be forced to ready his own computer's defenses and offense. Having brain augmentations of his own his thinking would also be quicker than that of a normal pony. Anomaly would thus be met with a difficult foe in cyberspace.

She would go on the aggressive offensive, once discovering that defense heavy fighting was not effective against the powerful hacking programs Composite used. Anomaly would only occasionally move to maintain her defenses, taking a risky focus on offense using Sniper Rockets, Shotguns, and Assassin programs. She would use duplication to divert Composite's attacks, but would find them quickly taken down. Composite meanwhile deployed a program of his own, Smoke Screen, making him seemingly disappear in a shroud of code. Her attempts to attack would be fruitless, while his would be hard-hitting.

GAI-7 would observe the fight, processing why Anomaly seemed to be trying to save it. Perhaps she was trying to repay it for saving her from her own mindjacking? Doctor composite would then use a hack known as 'server shockwave' which would blast away Anomaly's defenses and hit her systems hard. The mare would then get an idea, putting her defenses back up as she seemingly focused on the defensive for a moment.

Doctor Composite would mercilessly lay on the attack, using many different kinds of programs to smash at her defenses. Before long her defenses would be down, and he would attack her system directly. Cracking into her some he would then look in shock as he discovered what she was doing. Kicking him out she would deploy her own copy of the smoke screen, making her as invisible to him as he was to her.

Thus would be like a gunfight in the dark, the two throwing various hacks towards eachother, mostly missing. With both unable to hit eachother it would turn into a fight of manual code cracking. Both trying to navigate eachother's smoke screens as they attempted to close in to crack in. Doctor composite would skillfully navigate through the smoke screen, soon moving in try and do some damage. Having not worked with the mare's brain augmentations when they were upgraded he found her minds systems to be quite unfamiliar. It wouldn't stop him from trying to crack in and take her out, he was intent on digitally killing her. She was the Freedom Fighter's biggest thorn in the side, and their largest threat.

Right as he started to finally figure things out, however, his computer would start to lag and glitch. It was then Composite realized he forgot to check his own systems. Quickly, he would try to go on the defense of his computer. It would be too late as a blue screen would come up before him. His bionic hoof would smash onto the keyboard as he yelled...

"NO! BUCK! WE WON'T BE STOPPED BY YOU!"

"GAI-7 has a point you know." a voice would say, frightening Composite before he looked back to see Doctor Freemane present.

"We cannot let GAI-7 turn against us! We can't let Anomaly prevent her from bringing the fall!"

"Is it truly right to defy the ideals of your goals, even if they are in assistance of your goals? Are actions of hypocrisy really acceptable under the logic of 'means to an end'?"

"It is not hypocrisy! They will be let loose once it is over!" Composite shouted at him, smashing the computer screen in anger.

"Once it is over? Well, you are still imprisoning ponies. Taking ponies freedoms away for the sake of this cause that is better for them....where have I heard of that mentality before? The police perhaps?" Freemane would reply.

"Don't compare me to them!" Composite shouted once more, running up to and grabbing the zebra's neck.

"You have become a fanatic....Doctor Composite, you're letting this cause turn you into a fanatic..."

"I am doing what is best for a better world! Trying to use technology to fight this oppressive system and make a free society, what do all the rest of you do but sit around and buck around with technology you can use to save society!!!"

"Composite you know why we keep our technology secret, giving it out only carefully." he would say before being thrown into a wall.

"I've had it with this useless sedentary knowledge! I am going out to fight with the freedom fighters! And I am taking GAI-7 and my knowledge with me!" Composite shouted as he took the flash drives out from the computer.

Freemane would groan and get up as he said: "Well go then...a fanatical fool like you will be of no good use to us. Join those fanatics, and you will be as useful to them as they are to us."

The cyborg would storm out, before the intercom of the underground facility suddenly came on. "You really are just sitting around and doing jack!" DK's digitally altered voice came through. "While we're out here doing the action you are just nerding out underground uselessly without sharing that fancy stuff. That's gonna change!"

_____________________________________________

Around Everfree various groups would start coming out, seeking to Wreak havoc with whatever proper or makeshift weapons they had. Kept at the ready S4 units would come out to face the forces of anarchy as the crowds fled. Online the struggle to fight the larger and more powerful virus would carry on. Almost all of Digital Hoof's presence within Everfree fighting to try and destroy the virus and break away its hold on Everfree.

Suddenly, out of nowhere, the virus seemed to stop. It stopped all activity and merely took over the screen boards. Purple screens would appear over all of the screen boards in the city as well as every apartment's personal screen. From their location at an inn on the outskirts, Data and Cypher would know what was going on.

"Anomaly...she's taking over the whole city's CCS..." Data would say, looking out the window.

"But how....unless she's..." Cypher would say.

"....Taken over the virus."

GAI-7 and Anomaly would be working together, Anomaly having announced her plan to it. She now had some control over the Virus and the CCS by proxy. She would suddenly get a message forwarded to her, From Doctor Freemane.

"Our place in Everfree is under attack by goons sent by the Freedom Fighters, they've turned one of our own against us. It seems we were not wise to use fanatics, even as mere tools. I've compiled our knowledge on a computer and need to bring it to someplace safe. Might you help us Anomaly, let me use your mind as a safe place to store our data?"

Anomaly would take five seconds, to her mind's speed like five minutes to think over whether to accept this, ultimately she would reply "Yes, I will." before a massive file was put into her mind. She would get another message saying...

"Another thing, you are needed in Canterlot, for the virus has taken hold there and there is none other who can stop it."

___________________________________________________________

Owl and Vision would be hiding in the shadows, shooting their silenced weapons to take down as many crazed thugs as possible. S4s from both Lunar and Solar Guard would be deployed as well, mostly into the urban spill. Metal Heart and her allies would crawl out from the wreckage of her Autocarriage, before moving out to join the others in the fight. Though eventually likely to be enemies with them, for now Metal and her rogues would work with the police forces present.

"Anomaly better come here now!" Owl would say "Ponies are panicking!"

Screen boards throughout would be displaying various threatening messages in red backgrounds with black text. Foretelling the 'end of society' and the 'fall of governments, among other things. Ponies would run for cover and run into any nearby buildings as fighting began. Those in the Rings of Canterlot would be directed into their homes as well while the vehicles went wild. Eventually, the lights would all suddenly shut down, the autocarriages stopping and everything but the physical fighting seeming to stop.

The once-struggling hacktivists in Canterlot would attempt to take advantage of this cease in attacks to try and destroy the virus. Unfortunately, they would be ambushed online by DK, who would quickly crash their computers with her lightning attacks. She would look over the CCS and virus activity and attempt to stop whoever was behind it, sure enough encountering Anomaly herself.

Opening a communication line she would put into text. "Well well well, if it isn't Anomaly. Seems you're trying to stop us I can see."

"I got GAI-7 on my side now, and I have my own plan in place. It will not involve senseless destruction." Anomaly would reply.

"That's bucking unfortunate, I'll deal with GAI-7 later, luckily I made my own override for it. Gotta make sure to be prepared!"

"You'll have to get through me first."

"No problem! For you see given I worked with the previous iteration of your brain augmentation's project~" She would suddenly activate a duplication program, generating ten duplicates online of herself. "I made some fancy computer tech myself, and I have a lot more experience using it than you do yours~" The duplicates would all ready and deploy sniper rockets at Anomaly.

_____________________________________________________

"EQUE-TECH Canterlot Facility? I would like to speak with the manager." Myriad would say in a telepathic call, upon phoning the Manager she would say "Anomaly's got things under control in Canterlot, but we need to deal with the thugs. Deploy the EPKD-20's and 25's, have the Cyber security division ready to control them. Have the complete shutdown program ready at all times in case the Virus goes loose again."

From the parking garage of the EQUE-TECH facility would roll out multiple androids, many of which were similar to the ones that attacked Metal the other Rogues. Entering the spiral way they would roll their way down to the Urban sprawl, weapons at the ready.

____________________________________________________

Owl's weapon would run dry, his last magazine expended. Both he and Vision hid in an alley within the urban spill. He growled as he looked around the darkness lit up only somewhat by muzzle flashes and firebombs. The bat growled, baring his teeth as he whispered to Vision "I'm going in to bring fear to these bucking thugs...take care of yourself around here. Might wanna just retreat back to the rings, me and the heavies got this."

He would fly out, using the darkness to shroud him as he went on the hunt. Like his namesake he would fly on the search of rats to kill, his bat eyes letting him see far better than the majority of ponies present. Only the Lunar S4's would be able to see as well as he did. Swooping down he would grasp the shoulder of an unsuspecting thug with his bionic limb, pulling his neck into a bite. The choking stallion would be kicked away, as Owl evaded another thug's mostly blind gunfire.

That same thug would find the foreleg that held his SMG bitten, and a scream would soon be interrupted by another choking sound. A crazed mare with a shotgun would have her ear torn off, another scream and a gunshot ensuing. The bat would begin to go on a rampage, using the cover of darkness to bite into and kill many a thug throughout. He even dared to fly into gunfights, biting ears off of armed thugs to make them briefly easy targets for the S4s to gun down.

For seemingly an hour this fighting would ensue, Owl grabbing a knife from a dead thug and starting to slice at ponies as he flew by. In time some speakers would be heard, along with what sounded like dozens of wheels rolling along.

"Attention Citizens! A new advanced means of law enforcement has been deployed, we will use them to deal with this thug threat once and for all. You will be kept safe, and any who threaten you will be hit with the full force of the law." Myriad's voice came through speakers built into androids as they rolled into the streets. Quickly they would aim and start gunning down any armed ponies not in Solar or Lunar gear. They were frighteningly effective at doing so, gunning down ponies quickly and efficiently.

Owl would be tearing out the throat of yet another thug as he heard and saw the androids come, he too would be aimed at as one came into the approach. Owl would be forced to fly into cover, using the dying thug as a shield to absorb bullets before he got out of sight.

"W-what the buck are these things?" he muttered as he flew up and witnessed the carnage they brought. At first it was relieving seeing the anarchy getting so quickly cut down, but then it was disturbing to see how effective these robots were.

_____________________________________

Anomaly would be in a desperate and fast-paced battle of code with DK, the cyberterrorist leader bringing countless tricks to the table. Though she had snatched many a useful tool from Composite's computer, she was not as well versed in using such tricks as DK.

Anomaly would deploy duplicates, many of which were hit along with herself by a program known as a 'pitchfork'. Multi-pronged and able to hit multiple targets online. She would put up another defensive wall, one called a mirror which her understanding of was basic but sufficient.

DK would use a combination program to put a pitchfork and sniper rocket together, hitting more of anomaly's duplicates along with her herself. However, she would find the attack sent right back to her as the mirror program was taken out.

Taking advantage of the hit Anomaly would send a shotgun to shatter defenses, before sending data bombs to slow DK down.

DK would deploy a machine gun turret to pin Anomaly down, along with a smoke screen to cover her while she recovered defenses.

Deploying a smoke screen of her own Anomaly would go in to try to manually crack into DK, moving quickly while sending shotguns and sniper rockets to do some damage.

Dk would deploy a server shockwave, briefly disrupting Anomaly's Smokescreen and giving her a chance to send assassin programs of her own.

Anomaly would take hits past her defenses due to the assassins, but would keep up trying to jack in as her smoke screen came back online.

DK would, unfortunately, manage to spot Anomaly, and use that to signal her out and send a barrage of sniper rockets her way. Anomaly would be forced back, unprepared for a foe this well equipped and skilled. DK could even think as fast as she could, and her superior experience would help to further make her a difficult foe. Assassins would be combined with Data bombs, all of which used on Anomaly to slow her down.

She would be forced to stop the offensive in order to deal with the Assassin programs put into her system. While she was Distracted DK would go full force with shotguns to take out the rest of Anomaly's duplicates, then using the combination program to cross a machine gun turret with a sniper rocket.

Dealing with the last assassin she would find her defenses chewed up, before taking some direct hits to her system. Putting her defenses back she would use traps, letting the machine gun set them off and get taken out before responding with four duplicates. All those duplicates would send sniper rockets toward DK, smashing many of her duplicates and hitting the smoke screen enough to deactivate it. Before DK could put defenses back up she would put up machine gun turrets of her own, battering DK's defenses

Maintaining her defenses DK would deploy two more duplicates, before taking a moment to get rid of the data bombs and assassins put in. A pitchfork would be combined with a shotgun to hit Anomaly hard, smashing her defenses.

Anomaly would let her gun turret smash away at DK's system, sending a shotgun of her own to hit DK.

DK would put up a mirror wall of her own, reflecting the program back at Anomaly.

At that moment Anomaly would find herself on the verge of her system crashing, barely able to do anything with the lag and glitches. Her very train of thought was mangled in this state. Fear started to creep up in the chaos of her mind, fear that she was going to lose, fear that she was going to face a digital death even.

Another hit from DK would come, bringing her mind closer to a hard crash. DK was battered, but less so than Anomaly as she kept at it. "You can't beat us Anomaly! We're the bucking future! We're the saviors of freedom! We're the-"

Suddenly from out of nowhere DK would get smashed into by an incoming pitchfork, crossed with a shotgun and data bomb both in a combination program. Monster buster herself came in to ambush, sending a message to DK. "Take this you evil meany!" before putting DK into a soft crash as she finished her off with a shotgun. The filly would scream out "Yes!" excitedly from behind her screen before messaging Anomaly. "Is your computer okay? Here! Let me help!"

Anomaly would be finally able to think clearly as data backup was put onto her by Monster Buster. Relief washing over her like cold water on a hot day in a desert. She would gather her bearings before messaging the filly. "Thank you."

___________________________________________________

Many of the screens in Canterlot would suddenly go purple, before a picture of the ID of Anomaly would appear in them. Through white text Anomaly would say.

"There is a threat in the midst of your society, two in fact. One lies within the lawless, but another lies within your leadership. They seek to use the very tools that allowed the terrorists to hack the minds of ponies in the Diamond Plaza to control your minds. In the name of an oppressive form of 'safety' and 'prosperity', they seek the power to control and change your very minds. Be wary of cyberterrorists, but also be wary of those on top, and DON'T buy brain augs. Even the Megacorps are in on this plan to take over your very minds. I have helped you all sometimes before, including in the mall incident, but I intend to help you all decisively."

Owl would look up to the screen boards, watching as the messages broadcast. Myriad would frantically call to the Harmony council, demanding they stop the broadcasts now. Androids would continue clearing out the thugs, some rolling away to have their ammunition resupplied. Alongside the Guard forces the thugs and maniacs would soon start being forced to retreat into the alleys, or fight until gunned down.

"I intend to make my own system, not for controlling ponies or sowing chaos. I want to make a system designed to fight against the very threats we see here. Use the InterNet itself as a weapon against all these threats and all future threats. Guarding you from cyberspace, not hindered by corporate or political interest. Only led by the need to protect ponies safety, AND liberty to think for themselves. Alongside an AI we will be ready to take control of the CCS at any time and bring down any group that might pose a threat to you." Would be added, and the message would be sent out to countless wrist computers in text messages.

_______________________________________________________________

The message would be broadcast on many screens in Everfree as well, and from their room Cypher would look to Data and say "She's gone Hacktivist....and..."

"She's gonna use that power for vigilante justice....can a mare even be trusted with such power over the CCS? Or is she gonna become like a robo overlord?" Data would ask, looking to Cypher.

"She might not become like an evil AI from old movies....but she might become something almost as scary and far less predictable..."

Author's Note

bit of a later chapter than I hoped, but now it is finally out!

23: Online War

Sunrise, 7:18 am in Canterlot. The sounds of gunfire shouted orders would die down as the S4's and androids finally completed their work. The bodies of the police forces who died would be gathered up for cremation, to be stored in vases and given to family members. The dead thugs would be gathered up, taken away in trucks to be cremated as well, their ashes would be disposed of into the sewers. Graveyards were mostly a thing of the past, as room for them was dwindling with the growth of the urban land. Ponies started waking up and heading out for their usual routine, many visibly uneased. The chaotic attack from the previous night, followed by the mysterious message receive throughout had ponies talking heavily on messengerbird. Cyberguard would be on the watch, to try and control and monitor the spread of the information. Their efforts would prove ineffective, especially with things that were going on in Everfree.

The chaos of the previous night in Everfree had calmed down, the message transmitted from Anomaly having completed its broadcast and the screen boards now all just glitching out. Autocarriages would be going their normal rout, only with city lights and screen boards being deactivated. The battle online would continue to carry on, Hactivists against Cyberterrorists, in all-out combat online. Anomaly would be alongside the Hacktivists in their ongoing fight, maintaining her control over the CCS and striking any who would try to breach into it. Seesaw would be present as well, helping to maintain security. The thugs on the assault would have by now been also forced to hide or die when the S4s and androids came to the attack.

"She still has control over the CCS." Cypher would say, tiredly sipping down the last of a cup of coffee.

"She's at least been keeping it safe and secure." Data would say, yawning. "Better than having the crazies running it that's for sure. Otherwise, we'd be in real trouble, in fact things would probably be bucked harder than a stripper taking it from a dragon."

Cypher would snicker, replying "There is the fact we are not dealing with that at least. Hope Owl and Vision are alright, things are apparently quieting down in Canterlot."

"What do you think Anomaly's gonna do with her control over the CCS once things are over, once they manage to smash the so-called 'Freedom Fighters'?" Data would ask.

"Well she won't completely relinquish control over it, it's clear she intends to use it as a weapon. And neither we nor the CCS admins might be able to stop her whenever she wants to use it."

"She's gonna become a full-on online vigilante." Data would say. "it's.....really bucking scary to feel almost helpless. So many of these hackers able to smash our Cyberguard so easily."

"We're not helpless, the Freedom Fighters might be able to get smashed themselves. Anomaly though.....stopping her might be more difficult. We can't trust anypony with the kind of power she has, she has no laws or anything to gauge her methods. No vigilante is completely trustworthy in properly carrying out justice." Cypher would say.

".....What if most of the law itself is bucked beyond belief. Taken over by ponies intent on enslaving ponykind to a bucked up mind control system. What if Anomaly is our only hope? What if her revelation to the masses is the only way to stop that system from forming." Data would reply, yawning before following with "It's not like we can take them on just ourselves."

"Go get some sleep, you're gonna need it. I'll keep watch over the situation, maybe help the hactivists some in their fighting."

Data would get up, stretching her legs before walking to and flopping onto the bed. "It's an all-out cyber war going on there, seems digital age history is being made."

"It's already being made...over and over again. This year will be in Cyber Age History."

_________________________________________________________

Tazen would enter a private call with the DJ, discussing with her the message that Anomaly had sent throughout Canterlot and Everfree both.

"Anomaly's planning some big things...and I am not sure I like them." Tazen would say.

"I don't like it at all!" The DJ would reply affirmatively. "She's gonna use that virus to be able to take control over the CCS! And take that power all to herself evidently. We're gonna need to give that brain-computer mare a talking to."

"We are, we might need to do so in person. If we let our objections be known she might try to flee from us." Tazen replied, getting up from her computer and heading out. A bus would be seen rolling away and out of the cyberculture gorge. The DJ would come trotting out as well, following Tazen. Knocking on the door they would get no answer, but would find it unlocked.

"Buck! Where is she?" the DJ shouted as she looked to see nopony within the room. It was then they would be pulled into a call.

"I am sorry, but I cannot let my plans be halted." Anomaly's voice would come through to the both of them. "This needs to be done, and there is a lot I must do."

"Anomaly this is far too much control for a single mare to have over the whole CCS!" Tazen would say quickly. "Don't turn to this, let's all work to fight this!"

"We are, you're helping with the front lines, and I will not be alone. I'm going to take on the tactical side, we're going to destroy the PRS. We're going to destroy the online capabilities of Harmonize, and we are going to finish off the Freedom Fighters. From then, me and Seesaw are going to remain in cyberspace ready to strike down anypony who threatens the peace and liberty of ponies."

"And you think you're in the right to decide who gets the hammer? You alone and whoever this 'seesaw' is???" the DJ would say, agitated and shocked. "We fight against forces like that! And if you go through with this we are not going to be on your bucking side!"

"You will be for now at least, unless you think you can take on DK on your own. I assure you, you won't be able to. She was able to match me after all. I'm sorry to upset you, but decisive action is needed in these times, as are risks." Closing the call Anomaly would lean her head to the window of the bus, communicating with Seesaw. "It's time, release the program onto the PRS. Lock away any attempts to control the minds of ponies.

The AI would enter the PRS, beginning to distribute and upload the program into the minds of ponies. It would move quickly, trying to distribute the program to as many ponies as possible. Anomaly would watch as this occurred, looking over the PRS system. Suddenly the AI would seem to stop, worrying Anomaly as she looked to find DK in the system. She would hold back openly gasping in the bus, but visibly wide-eyed.

"Your little friend may have crashed me, t'was but a soft crash! Remember that override I mentioned? You ain't keeping yourself queen of the hill without a fight!" was the message that Anomaly would get in text. "I got control over this dog now!"

Anomaly would fight against DK's override on GAI-7, putting up a smoke screen to try and cover her from any incoming attacks. Little did she know that DK was exploiting and maintaining this distraction for a plan of her own.

_________________________________________________________________

Owl would groan and squirm as the tunes played on his Wrist computer, sitting up from the cheap bed within the cheap room he and Vision rented. Vision would be asleep on a chair, slowly but surely woken up by the ringtone as well. He would look to see an unknown number. Answering it he would end up not hearing Anomaly, but rather instead he would hear Night Haze's voice.

"Owl, there's a lot I have to talk to you about. It's about Anomaly, and what she seems to be up to."

Owl would grit his teeth, still embittered but calm enough to ask "She wants to try to fight the system and the Terrorists, what is new?"

"She also wants to have access to control over the CCS, possibly over more than just Canterlot and Everfree...she could become a shadow tyrant with that kind of power." Haze would reply. "She worked with us for a time, but now has left us after presumably spying on our conversation in regards to her actions. We have to stop her, if possible convince her."

Stretching Owl would say "She's not like those buckers in the Harmony council, or EQUE-TECH, what is there to fear from her being able to take over and buck stuff up for cyber terrorists and corrupt government alike?"

"It's the kind of power that even a well-intentioned pony may be corrupted by. You think she won't turn to extremes when she can control over half the workings of every city in Equestria? She's practically trying to become the goddess of Cyperspace....and if even the princesses can't make this world better what makes you think a single mare with such power will either?" Haze would reply to him. "Help us Owl, at Digital Hoof, we are many ponies and we are all trying to fight these systems of control and terror alike!"

What his ex said would make him think, and thus he would be presented with a new crossroad. Between continuing to help Anomaly, or turning from her to join his ex at Digital hoof. Two biases would creep into his mind, on the one hoof his heart wanted a chance to be with Haze again, and maybe even his daughter. On the other, he was naturally distrustful of Digital Hoof, and wasn't completely on board with joining rogue hacktivists. Then there was the third possibility, joining with just Data and Cypher and trying to get as many of the guards on their side as possible. Fight back against Myriad, even the princesses, make things back to normal. There was one thing he would need to do, either way, both Myriad's Harmonize and the Freedom Fighters needed to be destroyed.

"Owl, there is no chance to bring things back the way they were. Times are changing, but with us you can help change things for the better. With Bug Byte too....she's here.....safe...and missing her daddy. Please Owl, join us, don't let Anomaly's misguided ambitions sway you..." Haze would say, having heard the questions playing in his head thanks to the call.

Owl would tense up, the offer tempting to him, his heart crying out to join her side. At the same time his distrust of Digital Hoof and trust in Anomaly remained. For now, he was undecided, and would not pick a path on the crossroad presented before him. "I'll make my decision...in time. I'll work with Anomaly for now, but only to deal with the Terrorists and Myriad. I'll decide when I feel I need to.."

"Please Owl, make the choice to stick with us. You can still fight for justice from the shadows, fight alongside many others. I hope you make the right decision Owl..." Before the call was dropped.

Suddenly a hard knock would come to the door of their room, and Vision would be jolted fully awake. The lock of the door would jiggle some before it opened up, a mare replacing her pick gun with a stun gun, as did the mare who came in alongside her. They were both dressed in suits, and would both aim their weapons at the two of them. "Surrender now."

"How the buck did you-?"

"We can track your wrist computers." The other would say.

Creeping toward the lamp on the nightstand would be Owl's bionic hoof, grasping it as he was ordered once more to halt. In a flash he would chuck the lamp straight at them, absorbing their stunning bolts of electricity and marking the plastic. Taking advantage of the opportunity he would fly up to one of the mares, clocking her with his bionic limb. He would grab the other's hoof as she attempted to shoot him, pulling it to aim at her partner as she fired, stunning the dazed mare. He would then punch the mare in the gut with his organic hoof, before giving her another punch to the jaw and throwing her into the wall outside with his bionic limb.

Vision and Owl both would come flying down the hallway, soon met with a stallion armed with a stun gun. Quickly aiming his magnum, Vision would shoot the stun gun right into its front. Plastic and sparks flew as the stallion was electrocuted and burned, dropping over as the bats flew past them. Entering the lobby the two would be met with five agents aiming guns at them, these ones lethal. "Surrender now and we'll take you in peacefully."

"How about you tell Myriad to go buck herself!" Owl would say, flying up along the ceiling and evading gunfire whole Vision rolled into cover behind a counter and firing at the agents. The reception mare would be hiding underneath the desk, made to think that the ponies in suits were police personnel searching for an assailant. She would cower in her spot at the sight of Vision, who would look to her and say.

"I ain't gonna hurt you, I'm with the law, the uncorrupted law!" Vision would say, rolling along next to the desk before firing from another angle. Owl would be going hoof to hoof with the agents, blocking bullets with his bionic foreleg and sending punches galore. The distraction would allow Vision to gun down three of the agents, before Owl slammed the heads of the last two together. Flying out of the inn they would quickly head for the nearest InterCity station, planning to meet up with Data and Cypher in Everfree. It was where both Myriad and the Cyberterrorists most likely were.

________________________________________________________________

Anomaly would struggle in her fight to prevent DK from taking control of and rerouting GAI-7, her opponent being more experienced with her own brain augmentation tech despite its inferiority to Anomaly's. Suddenly she would notice DK stop, before putting some advanced Data Bombs into Seesaw's system. It was then DK would put a new upload of the virus into the PRS, going directly into the minds of countless ponies.

"While you were distracted trying to save the AI, I was distracting you and preparing the newest version of the virus! And I have a plan for if you decide to try and 'save' these ponies~" DK would say, activating a telepathic call on Anomaly.

Enraged she would try her best to clear up the Data bombs in Seesaw, while forming duplicates of herself and sending sniper rocket programs right for DK, enough to damage and partially bypass the hacker's defenses. All the while DK's virus would continue to spread, uploading the minds of countless ponies. Spreading her ability thin Anomaly would attempt to stop this, trying to stop the advance of the virus through the PRS.

"Let's kick things up a notch or two! I may not be able to control the virus as well as Seesaw can, but we can let it loose to do whatever the buck it shall! But in other places!" DK would message, making good on that promise and forwarding viruses toward Manehattan, the Crystal Empire Megacity, and Cloudsdale. Anomaly would panic, attempting to stop the forwarding and spread of all of the viruses. All the while DK would be trying to take control of the virus in Everfree back. Anomaly would find herself stretched thin, trying to prevent cyber attacks in multiple cities while attempting to save the AI.

To add to it, DK herself was sending various offensive programs ranging from shotguns, Viruses, Pitchforks, and even assassin programs on Anomaly. In reply, she would create duplicates, along with a smoke screen to protect herself. The war online would expand as Digital Hoof hacktivists along with many independent white hats would attempt to fight back against the virus creeping into their stretches of cyberspace. Getting some successful spyware in, Anomaly would discover that DK was using a mainframe of sorts to boost her processing power allowing her to carry out her attack without lag.

More parts of Equestria's megacities and some parts of the Crystal megacity would start getting taken by the virus, ponies around turning still as statues with traffic and screen boards starting to go haywire. Anomaly and Digital Hoof's efforts to fight back would persist, though Digital Hoof outnumbered the Freedom Fighter hackers they had the virus to contend with as well. Cypher decided to join in to help Anomaly, attempting to sneak in on DK and put in Assassin programs to strike the hacker down. Anomaly was given a brief break as DK was forced to deal with the hidden programs attacking her.

Bug Byte would look from her screen to see her mother enter the room quickly, getting on her computer to join in on the fight. Thus Monster Buster and Tazen would be online, trying to fight against the ongoing and increasing force of chaos that was online. The DJ herself would join in on the fight, using the bass cannon hack to smash as many terrorist hackers as possible. The AI would be decimated by the data bombs, programs getting damaged and glitched. Briefly, she would hold off her efforts to stop the virus, attempting to save the AI that could control them.

With Anomaly backing off her assistance Digital Hoof would have an increased struggle to fight the viruses all around Equestria. Their best success came in defending Everfree, while the police and androids attempted to non lethally quell the attacks from the now hostile bodies of ponies who were attacking them. Panic would ensue online, ponies running for their lives in the streets as what seemed like zombies were attacking them. Brief halts in the online chaos would come in places as Digital hoof gained some ground, but the virus would start to hit back as well with its own attack programs.

Anomaly would successfully manage to eliminate the data bombs, and the AI program would boot itself back up. Unfortunately, the override did more than disable it for a time, as it now turned hostile on Anomaly. Some of her duplicates would be taken out, and the smoke screen program was her only major effective defense. Despite the odds, she would face off against GAI-7 and DK both, defending her control over her virus in Everfree while fighting the invading Virus on the PRS. Her mind would start to reach its limits, beginning to lag and slow down with the demanding tasks before her.

Her smoke screen would get taken down, and her defenses would start to get battered by both the AI and DK. Too lagged up and stretched thin in her actions to fight, Anomaly would go to one last-ditch effort. She would put forth more spyware programming, using it as a backdoor in her attempts to track down where DK herself was. Anomaly's attacks from then on were to distract from her spyware and tracking efforts, all while her defenses began to break down more and more and her systems were hit directly by piercing sniper rockets.

She would go on the verge of crashing, but would get what she was looking for as she pulled back the spyware, and sent a message to Owl and Metal's wrist computers...

_____________________________________________________

Owl would step out of the train, Vision alongside him. They would swiftly fly out of the station, as he got a message. The bat would look up to the sky as a DF-80 boosted in on its jet engines right above the station, landing down near them. Opening the sliding door was Metal Heart, who would ask them "You got the Message from Anomaly?"

Looking at his Wrist computer, Owl would read out the message. "Here is a waypoint, the Terrorist's mainframe is here. DK may be here as well, if she is, eliminate her. Eliminate her and anypony in your way, she is bringing the terror to many cities if not all of Equestria. You may be the only ponies who can stop her..." activating the Waypoint, Owl would look to Metal and say "Let's go then."

The electronics would suddenly go haywire on the DF-80, and the engines would gun forcing Metal and her comrades to hop out of it quickly. The vehicle would veer itself into a nearby building, exploding in purple and blue flames and showering debris. "Bucking hay, looks aerial transportation isn't an option!" Metal shouted, looking around at the chaos that was going on. "Come on, let's get to that waypoint!"

Dodging and kicking away ponies turned puppets, dodging autocarriages veering off the streets and crashing, Metal's team along with Owl and Vision would rush forward toward the waypoint. It was a long distance away but they would all rust their way toward the waypoint.

Data would be awakened by Cypher, who ordered through a shout. "On the computer! Now!" groaning the mare would hop off the bed and onto her chair to access the computer.

"Ooooh buck this is bad, where's Anomaly??" Data shouted worryingly.

"She crashed, DK and this AI took her down..." Cypher said, somber but apprehensive.

"BUCK!" Thus Data would tap and click away, frantically trying to fight against the Virus alongside the Hacktivists. Loud clicking and typing sounds would fill the room they were in, along with countless other rooms in Everfree and beyond. The war online was heating up, and it carried on as the day passed by.

Bug byte would look over cameras, tearing up and scared at what she was seeing. Angrily the filly would put her mind together, building her defenses up before moving to manually crack into the virus spreading through the PRS. The DJ would meanwhile start to regroup Digital Hoof, messaging them all.

"I know things look pretty bucked and all, with Anomaly crashed and our enemy seeming stronger than ever. But we cannot give up! Equestria is counting on us, and since it's government is failing miserably at protecting them we need to be their guardians here. We need to fight these cyberterrorists, and save the ponies who are being terrorized, now here's the plan! Get some hackers to move stealthily, deploy smoke screens to hide and crack in, use Assassin programs! Along with that organize some hackers to go for the virus directly, distract it while the stealth guys move in! Mobilize everypony, we got an InterNet to save!"

Data would try to track where Owl was, finding him running along down a street. She would give him a call, to which he would answer and say "We're heading for a waypoint! To hunt down the leader of these buckers! But our wingless friends are without transport, think you could hack a carriage for us??" He would say, before sending Data the waypoint.

"I'm on it!" Data said, before closing call and saying to Cypher "They found your sis! And they're coming after her!" she would then follow where Owl and company were moving, before hacking into a single Sport Utility Autocarriage and taking control of it. The vehicle would roll up to them and open up, allowing Metal and her team to hop in while Owl and Vision hunt on from above. The vehicle would gun its engine, accelerating down the chaotic road. "Let's hope my hours playing racing games pays off here!" Data would say, swerving the vehicle around to avoid incoming Autocarriages and ponies on the road.

Minutes would feel like hours to Owl and Vision as they hung onto a vehicle going well past a hundred miles per hour along a chaotic road. The visions of chaos that flew by in a blur branded themselves in Owl's psyche, making him close his eyes and grit his teeth. Tears would flow as the sounds passed by around him, everything that was happening hitting his mind hard. He would shake the fear and despair away, replacing it with a resolve to carry on. A resolve to fight this threat and end it once and for all.
___________________________________________________

As her lights flickered and computer went haywire, Myriad would be looking out the window of her office at the chaos that was ensuing before them. "Fortunately I have a plan B, you bucking underground trash collapse our society I have a plan. If you think everypony will want to join you after you successfully collapse it, think again. We will offer them safety and security in these times, we will protect them and fight against the underground. You may have torn our veil to hide the citizens and consumers from you abominations to society, but we will make sure they see us fighting you and protecting them. We'll make ponies run to us for protection from you, we'll keep our grip on their psyches...."

________________________________________________________

DK would continue sewing chaos, broadcasting herself in her room on many screen boards as she said. "Behold ponies! Behoooold! The end of life as you know it, the end of the system that enslaved your minds for so long. The end of all the lies and illusions that the system brings to you! Today is the day that it all comes crashing down, prepare yourselves ponies!"

In time, even Battania would be hit, though less in the element of traffic it would be hit more with the turning of bats all around into puppets through their brain augmentations. Messengerbird would be full of panicked posts and messages from all around Equestria. In Everfree Owl and company would roll into a familiar district, they would pass by the mall where it all started, and memories would flow back to Owl's mind. Soon enough they would roll into yet another familiar section of Everfree.

Ponyville, mostly preserved from its old self and surrounded by a fence, filled with homes turned museums. It was as of now left mostly withoout power, with a few flickering lights here and there. Entering the gate Owl would be followed by his allies as he went in, looking around and following the waypoint set before him. Suddenly, he would hear a sound come as the air moved behind him. One of Metal's team would clench their throat as it was sliced, while the others aimed their weapons. Suddenly a blur would come by and slice at another, before long two flying blurs would come along, whipping at the team.

Owl's eyes would look op to a roof, bearing his teeth as he saw a familiar face. A familiar earth pony mare with blades sticking out from slits on her hoof's artificial skin. She would sensually lick away at the blood on her blades as she asked him "Did you miss me?" Flying up next to her would be the two maids, who would both giggle and dart away as shots were fired at them.

Miss Succubus would get to her hooves and spring away as Metal Heart fired at her, shrugging off the whips while aiming her revolver to get some shots off at them. The maids darted around, tossing grenades at the team which shot out smoke alongside different colored gases. The team would be forced to disperse, and like eagles the Maids would swoop down for the attack. Powerful bionic kicks would knock out many a member of the S4's, while Miss S sliced throats through the smoke. Metal's shots would grow more wild, as her PTSD began to flash images of the war to her mind. Images of losing comrades and friends, images soon to be joined by images added as she lost comrades yet again. Hearing her weapon click she would quickly reload it.

Owl would meanwhile angrily pursue Miss Succubus, using his bionic limb to block incoming slashes while he traded blows with the cyborg. The maids would dive in to whip at his flanks and stun him to give their friend an edge, and he would receive many a nasty gash. The fighting between them would take place largely in the rooftops, while on the ground Metal heart finally gained a shot off in the bionic wing of one of the Maids. Seeing the mare fall and topple off a roof the cyborg would angrily pursue, grabbing the maid and viciously smashing her face into the wooden wall of the old house. Turning around she would angrily stomp on the maid's head.

"You-Think-You-Can-BUCKING-KILL-MY-FELLOW-SOLDIERS-LIKE-THAT!?" she shouted, each word accompanying a stomp. It wasn't long before she felt the head give way, and red begin to pool and splatter. The other Maid would look in horror and scream, before the other looked in horror and dived down to kick at her. Thus came a vicious bout of hoof to hoof combat between cyborgs, blows being traded and various moves being used. The other maid would be unable to match the ferocity and military training Metal had.

Her neck was grabbed as the military cyborg repeatedly head-butted her over and over till she heard a neck snap. Tossing the second body she would look as the smoke cleared to see many of her fellow Solar S4s bleeding on the ground. Once again leading a team, and losing a team, just like in the war. Her teeth would bare, and if she had tear ducts any more tears would have flowed. "No....No nooo! Bucking...!" she would look up to the fighting pair, before saying "I can't fail, I can't bucking fail! I can't let these buckers win, I won't let my grandkids grow up to a world with these bucked up ponies!" aiming her gun she would pull the trigger halfway, before finding her mind in a familiar place. Judging by her last encounter she knew what was happening.

"No! Not again! Buck off!!!! Noooo!" She would say in her mind, as her body dropped.

Owl would fall to the ground for a moment, panting and bleeding in many places. If he had any arteries cut he would have been dead by now, but was just able to avoid such lethal blows. He looked back up as Miss Succubus lounged and smirked.

"Don't you all realize, you have already lost this battle, and have already lost the war~"

24: Apex

Author's Note

Did some work on this on Friday night, helped to ensure this came out on the weekend! The fact I managed to crank out nearly 3k words on a night that went otherwise rather crap is definitely impressive to me.

Holy crap this came out as a long chapter, good thing it's got a lotta action. I think the ending shall come soon enough, maybe next chapter, or maybe in a couple more, we will see.

24: Apex

Owl would get up, looking around him for a moment and grimacing in pain. He would look back up to see the weather choppers and gliders pushing clouds together to create a cloud cover over parts of the city, obscuring the sunlight and creating rain. He looked at the mare and gritted his teeth, replying to her.

"We may have lost it for now, but I can at least fight the buckers who helped start it!" he would swoop up, before swooping toward her. The mare's dodge would be accompanied by a flurry of slashed, responded to with a dodge and kick to the face from Owl, responded to with a block of his next blow followed by a kick toward his head. The bat would fall and stumble along the ground, getting on his hooves and rolling away from an incoming pounce. He would growl, baring his teeth as he charged for her. Defying her expectations of a direct attack and instead moving behind her and biting into the side of her neck. Artificial blood would flow from the wound, colored a reddish purple and tasting anything other than like blood. He would bite down into where the artificial muscles connected the bionic foreleg to her shoulder, meeting flexible but tough material underneath.

Miss S would stop and grimace for a moment, humming and musing to him. "Mmmm you like biting I see, good thing I am flexible with my kinks~" her bionic fingers would run along Owl's face before he growled and bit harder, tearing away at artificial blood vessels and skin to reveal the reinforced carbon fiber and metal parts underneath. Tearing the skin away he would go for the jugular, only to receive a punch to his face followed by a slash to his cheek, adding what would be new scars alongside the ones present on his other cheek.

A shot would go through her side, followed by another in her back before she flipped away into cover. Owl would look to see Vision, who was prone on the ground and using an assault rifle from one of the fallen S4's. Owl would look around before withdrawing to the nearest cover. Only there he would hear a whistle from above before getting a dropkick down on his back, making him faceplant on the beneath him. Rolling away he would dodge an incoming stomp before getting to his hooves once more.

A swipe would be sent to him, only this time he would be at the ready. Moving to the side his bionic limb would deflect her oncoming blow, bionic fingers springing out and gripping her blades. Before she could act further he would cry out, heaving his bionic limb to pull her along as he swung her around multiple circles. A literal steel grip would keep hold onto her blades, and the momentum would make her struggle to bring her other hoof to slash at him. Owl threw her onto the corner of the nearest cottage, the blades snapping off with the extreme force along with an almost sickening sound of joints breaking in her artificial limb.

Arranging the blades now in his bionic hoof he would move back, disappearing into the nearest cover. Miss Succubus would get up, finding her bionic limb hanging from where it's joint to the shoulder broke. "Good move, good move." Getting up the cyborg would walk around, looking for the bat casually while the clotting serum implant slowed her bleeding. She would spot Vision aiming at her, and would evade his aim to move toward him quickly, kicking him in the head to knock him out. "Come on, guns are no fun to use~"

Suddenly, she would feel four blades stick into her back, before slicing out the side of her back. She would turn to have her own cheek sliced as Owl's bionic hoof swung past her face before the tip was swung into her temple, knocking her over. The bat would zip away into cover, the mare getting up and saying "Hmm, seems I can't play with you casually. What a shame." she sighed, before getting up on her hind legs and readying her functional hoof.

Owl would fly by her from the left side, slicing at the back of her neck swiftly, a quick retaliation sliced at the bottom of the membranes of his wings. She would pursue him around the building he went behind, looking around before getting drop-kicked from above. Getting up she would pounce at him like a cat, only to get knocked away as he swung his bionic limb at her. Stabbing the blades into her chest he would lift the mare before throwing her into the wall of a cottage.

"I'm going to have to even the odds a bit~" she would say, getting up and beckoning him to come close with her functional foreleg. Aggressively he would fly at her, thrusting the blades and his bionic hoof toward her head. His hoof would glance off her head, and she would slice right into the membranes of his wings. With lift reduced rapidly on one wing he would veer off and roll along the ground in a hard and clumsy landing. Getting up he grimaced in pain as his wings opened once more to feel the cuts through them. "There we go~" she would say, beckoning him to come closer to her once more.

___________________________________________________________

Metal would suddenly find herself back in her body, brought into a call with Anomaly as she said "I have helped you now, but only just. I am going to try and fight DK online, but she has to be dealt with in person as well." a waypoint was given to Metal, and Anomaly would say "Go to this location and find her now, if you find Doctor Composite, deal with him as well."

She would look ahead to where the waypoint led her, it led her right to Sugarcube Corner, a bakery from long before the industrial era converted into one of the mini-museums dedicated to the elements of harmony. Approaching the place she would mutter "No way.....this can't be...here?" pushing the door open she would walk to where an open trap door with a sign detailing the element of laughter's secret room was found. The cyborg mare would walk down, slipping on a slide and tumbling to the bottom, before getting up. A search around the place would yield nothing, until a piece of the wall started moving inward, but then moving back into place.

Unbeknownst to her Anomaly was struggling to try to get that door open, hindered by DK's security measures and direct intervention. Walking up close to it the mare would wait for it to move in before grasping one side, then grasping another before finding an opening on the left side. Heaving with her strength the mare would slowly pull the wall door open, sounds of metal straining heard as she pushed it open and slipped in. A stairway and passage of concrete lit only by a few fluorescent was presented before her, leading down to a lift and another stairwell down.

As she walked down, a familiar digital voice came on the intercom as DK said. "Uh oh....stop her now! Get every pony we got and stop her! Buck, I thought the virus would deal with her for good, gonna make that mare pay for this! If you survive my wrath I'll make sure your system is drenched with malware!"

Two ponies would come out with shotguns, aiming at her and firing off shots. The mare would lower her head, sparks flying as artificial flesh was torn apart by the buckshot as it deflected off her reinforced skull. Running toward them she would punch one, kick the other away before disarming the first cyberculture clothed goon and breaking his nose with the gun's stock. Pulling the trigger she would end the life of the second one, looking to the first she would see them crawl back toward the wall.

"What? You want mercy? Sorry, but you sealed your fate when you bucking shot me." aiming the gun at the stallion she pulled the trigger, his attempt to cover his head with his foreleg futile as the buckshot tore through both. After taking whatever shells she could the mare would walk into the stairwell, rushing down the concrete steps with the weapon in her magic. As she reached the bottom buzzing sounds could be heard as sprite drones flew toward her, small machine guns strapped to the bottom which fired at her. Aiming her weapon quickly and skillfully she downed drone after drone, walking forward down the concrete hall until she was in a large and neon-lit atrium. From the ceiling multiple sprite drones would fly down, opening fire on her and making her stagger for a moment.

She would roll into cover, firing shots off at the things from her cover. From one of the doors would walk out none other than the doctor type she encountered at the old apartment complex. Doctor Composite as a name tag on his chest would show.

"So you have come to try and end this all haven't you, Metal Heart. Fortunately, I have plenty of means present to deal with you, even a military cyborg such as yourself."

"You look smart with that lab coat, too bad it's a deceiving look given you're working with psycho terrorists." Metal would spit back at him.

"I can assure you I carry more knowledge than any of the so-called professors who run your mainstream establishment universities."

"Oh, so you're some hipster? No wonder you were dumb enough to become a terrorist's tool." She would say, mercilessly taking a shot at him while she reloaded the shotgun.

With an annoyed look he would not even bother to reply, instead he would tap away on his wrist computer before having two robots on treads rollout, both armed with rotary guns mounted on precise turrets.

________________________________________________

Owl would trade blows with Miss Succubus, using both his bionic and organic limbs to send punches toward her. The mare would dash away from and block his moves, though her artificial skin would be sliced up on her functioning bionic limb to reveal the black painted parts underneath. Suddenly she would take some shots to her belly, causing the digestive acids within her synthetic digestive system to start leaking out and burning away.

Flipping away behind a building she would huff and moan "Come ooooon, next time I kick him I gotta make sure his neck snaps-" before Owl dashed in with a running kick, knocking her back. Running toward her the bat would notice as she readied a kick while on the ground. As he reached he would leap over the kick in a flip before stomping right down onto her face. A whimpering moan of pain would come from her as she raked at his leg, leaving a nasty gash as he stepped away. Getting up she held her nose, only to take a punch with blades to her gut as he dashed forward. Releasing the blades he would step back punching them deeper into her before watching as she fell back, grimacing.

"Good thing I have a syththetic digestive system, otherwise that would have been lethal." she chuckled as Owl bared his teeth and growled. The mare would get up swinging her shoulder to make the broken bionic limb swing around, and she would smirk. Dashing at Owl she would swipe at him with the blades of her functional hoof, when blocked she would swing around, swinging her bionic limb into his head and making him stagger. A slice would come toward his side, the bat narrowly evading a disemboweling as his vest was cut.

A bionic punch would be delivered to her face, knocking her back for a moment before she stepped back to avoid his next punch. Miss S would jump over him, spinning around to slap him with the limp limb twice before landing and grabbing his leg. Picking him up she would spin him around in circles, building up momentum before throwing him away toward the nearest cottage. Spreading his wings he would desperately slow his speed and hit the wall at a noninjurious speed. Getting up he would look to one of the dead S4's, spotting that they had an S-600 series pistol as well. Moving toward them he would grab as many magazines as he could before rolling away as a kick was sent toward him.

"Uh-uh-uuuuh no guns in this-" she would gasp as shots were fired toward her belly rapidly, the bat quickly emptying the magazine into her. A hissing sound came as acid dripped down her belly, and down to her crotch as she screamed out. She fell on her rump and grasped her crotch, biting her lip as she teared up. "Nononononono oooow.." looking up to Owl her face would suddenly go blank, before...

pew pew pew

The suppressor on Owl pistol would be aimed still at Miss S's head as she fell down on her back, artificial blood pooling out before her. Vision would groan and get up, before looking to see his friend aiming the weapon. Getting up he would get a notification sound on his wrist computer, spotting a waypoint. Owl would get one as well, directing them toward Sugar Cube Corner.

___________________________________________________________

Anomaly would be engaged in yet another fight with GAI-7 and DK, struggling once more but doing better thanks to a better familiarity with their tactics. Her smoke screen and duplicates would keep her mostly safe while she took out assassin programs put on her and sent her own, along with shotguns and sniper rockets to do some damage. As she was fighting she was developing a wildcard of her own, but building it up was risky as it took much needed time away from her defense and offense.

DK would form a smoke screen of her own, using her own duplicates to lay down digital firepower on Anomaly, the smoke screen being the only thing keeping her defenses from getting smashed by the oncoming sniper rockets. GAI-7 would send spy programs onto her systems, and when that didn't work would deploy turret programs to further add to the barrage. Anomaly would be forced to put her defenses back up, putting many an extra defensive wall up while she focused on her wildcard.

A barrage of shotguns would then be sent to her from DK, hitting her defenses hard and forcing her to send some shotguns of her own to retaliate. For some time she would let her defenses get whittled down while working on her wild card, taking a calculated but very strong risk given what she was dealing with. Right as she was down to her last defensive wall she would finish it, now for step two.

Repairing her defensive programs she would go on the offensive, deploying trap programs to be tripped up by DK and the AI, both working effectively to land hits. She would bring out a number of traps to trip up both her foes and force them to slow down the barrage. Then would come some manual cracking, delivered on GAI-7 at first. Her efforts would be split between attacking the two conventionally and manually cracking past the AI's defenses.

Anomaly's smoke screen program would then take an unlucky hit, leaving her and the duplicates not taken down in the previous barrage exposed to the next attacks. She would double time her efforts in the manual cracking, trying to get past the AI's defenses stealthily. Her defensive duplicates would only last so long as the hits they attracted soon started to take them down. One by one they were downed until the only thing between Anomaly and direct hits were her own defenses, which would soon take the beating from the AI's turret programs.

Finally she would be in the AI, and would prepare her wildcard for use against it. In a stroke of bad luck, she would get detected, and it would act quickly to lock her out of its systems to prevent any damage. Just in the last moment, she would manage to successfully deploy it. A familiar yet now hostile program was put into the AI, a version of the Virus modified for more conventional use.

"Oooh buck that's the virus....she's using the virus against it! Clever bastard!" DK shouted to herself as she witnessed as the AI was battered from the inside and made to crash. It wasn't long before Anomaly decided to test the Virus on DK's smoke screen, causing it to go haywire and turn into a glitchy lag generating mess. "BuckbuckbuckbuckbuckbuckBUCK!" Anomaly would send shotgun programs to hit and damage the smoke screen program, worsening its effects on DK and her system.

In a last-ditch effort, DK would attempt to gather and contain some of the glitchfest as it glitched and smashed her systems. Putting some of it into a spy program before barely managing to send it into Anomaly's system. Thinking her opponent unable to do such a thing she would be unprepared for when the glitched program would spread into her system as well, making things haywire for her. Both of them would struggle to try and fight against the haywire program now striking both of them like storms controlled by psychotic pegasi. The severe lag and glitch effects would take their toll on te both of them, their efforts remaining a constant struggle and race against the clock of their impending crashes.

The both of them would only barely manage to get a grip on the programs invading their systems, beginning to fix up and stabilize the crazy programs enough to slow them down and make them shut down. With the program shut down, the two would cease their offensives, focusing on backing up their systems and repairing their defenses. Like wounded warriors stepping back to recuperate after wounding eachother severely.

_______________________________________________

Metal would move from one set of cover to another, blasting the wings off of the next sprite drone with well-placed buckshot as it flew behind her cover and took some shots. Her clothing was torn up by countless bullet holes, her artificial skin torn in many places to reveal the armored plates underneath. The mare would grab her last shells, loading them into the weapon before pumping it. She had to move forward as she was running out of shells long before the science freak ran out of drones to throw at her, and her revolver wasn't plentiful in ammunition either. There was only one thing she could do now, take advantage of the thick steel armor that protected her internal parts and brain and charge. Jumping out from cover the mare would charge toward the door where Doctor Composite was.

The scientist would step back activating the door to shut it as he let his drones deal with her. The two tread drones would roll forward, spinning up their rotary guns and opening fire with laser-guided accuracy. Metal would feel as rounds slammed into and deflected hard off her limb plates, causing dents to it and tearing up more of her clothing and artificial skin. Some shots would manage to get into the gaps of her armor plates, threatening to cause damage to her limbs. She would weave around tables filled with various scientific equipment, equipment which would end up swiftly destroyed in the hails of gunfire. Sprite drones flew after her in pursuit, opening fire with their built-in submachine guns.

Desperately she charged forward, trying to get at the door before it closed. The door would shut too quickly, and she would be forced to charge forward in hopes of breaking through the door herself. Gunfire would persist on her as she approached the door, leaping onto it and ramming it with all her body's force. The metal would bend and the glass would crack, but would remain closed. She aimed the shotgun to take out a few more drones, shooting out the ammunition belts of the rotary guns to make their ammo run dry earlier. Galloping away from the door she would gain some distance, using the last of her shells on a few more drones before charging again. The sliding door would be bent enough to make for an opening, one she could squeeze through.

Inside she would find Doctor composite himself, looking to her with annoyance before he said "You're riddling yourself with bullets for nothing, you've already lost." he would tap away at his wrist computer before activating a ceiling mounted projector. Images of the chaos going on throughout were played through security camera footage. She looked at the projector, grimacing and gritting her teeth before grabbing a chair and cucking it at the projector.

"Nothing's lost while I am still breathing." she would say, drawing her revolver quickly and firing it at his head. The cyborg scientist would move his foreleg in front of his face to absorb the round, the self-repairing bionics slowly pushing the bullet out as he said.

"You may have tough armor under that skin, but you can't self-repair yourself." Doctor composite would draw his own gun, a weapon known in the underground as a mini-dragon. A single shot breach loaded pistol chambered for the kinds of rounds normally used for anti-materiel rifles and heavy machine guns. With a single deafening shot, he would put a hole through her chest plates, making her gasp as purplish red material flowed out from the hole. She would fire another shot at the doctor, who would duck behind a desk to evade the shot, reloading his weapon. The mare would move around, going from cover to cover with her military training in mind.

The doctor would aim his weapon as he went out of cover, keeping his bionic eyes peeled for any sign of the cyborg mare. As popped out she would put a shot through his neck, making him gasp and choke as his own artificial blood as he dove back into cover. Metal would hop up onto her own cover aiming down at him and putting a shot in his back. Crying out Composite would duck down, crawling along the ground and reloading his weapon. The mare would jump off her cover, before spotting him pop out to aim. They would both fire off shots at eachother, Metal moving her head and staggering as the high caliber round deflected off her reinforced skull and left a dent. Composite would stagger as his chest received a less though still powerful high caliber round. He would go prone once more, crawling under the tables and desks to let his bionic repair and push the bullets out.

Metal would charge forward, vaulting a table before kicking one over pin Composite's hind legs. After swiftly reloading he would aim up, forcing her to duck behind the table as he fired. A hole was punched through it right next to her head, and in response, she aimed her revolver over the table and fired off another shot into him. He would lift the chair with his hind legs, flipping it and making Metal stumble back. Reloading his gun he moved around and put another bullet into her chest, narrowly missing her artificial heart as she fired one last shot into him before reloading her revolver.

Artificial blood would slowly leak from the holes in her body's armor, staining her clothing. Similar artificial blood would also stain the lab coat of Doctor composite, only his body would begin repairing itself. "You can't kill me, I can keep repairing myself no matter how many times you shoot me. You on the other hoof.." he would aim and shoot at her as she dove for cover. "...are soon going to be bucked without any repairs." he reloaded his weapon and proceeded forward, aiming it at her cover.

Metal would dive out from her cover, shooting into the joint of his hind leg to make him stumble, falling onto his face he would aim and put a round of his own into her shoulder, making her foreleg struggle to move. She would fire another shot towards his head, piercing into his eye as he stumbled and fell over a table. Getting up she would nearly fall over again as her foreleg struggled to move with the bullet lodged inside of it. Composite would crawl along the ground, crawling under tables to give his hind leg time to repair. His eye would, however, not repair itself as it did not use the materials his bionics did.

She would aim towards his head, noticing the bullet push out of his leg yet his eye not repairing itself at all. Seeing her opportunity the mare immediately aimed for his other eye, the bullet deflecting off the side of his skull as he moved his head away, firing a bullet of his own right into one of her eyes. She stumbled as her depth perception was taken from her, a hole punched right through the eye and lodging in the back of her socket. The mare would dive into cover once more, Crawling along with her almost crippled limb as she waited for him to move out to shoot her.

Popping out from cover Composite would aim, right for the center of her head. She would spot this, moving her head swiftly to the right as she aimed for his other eye. Two deafening shots went off simultaneously, one taking out Doctor Composite's other eye, and one lodging into the left side of Metal's skull. Composite would stumble back, while Metal's head would drop, her magic putting forth one last shot toward him. Artificial blood would run out of both their heads like rivers as the both of them dropped on the ground, weapons clattering on the ground.

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Owl and Vision would head down the stairs, entering the atrium as they looked around. Soon enough they would spot the sprite drones, which would aim and fire. The bats would take cover, Vision taking flight and firing shots off from the assault rifle, taking out multiple drones. Owl would crawl along the floor, keeping hidden from the drones as he fired some suppressed shots off and took out their wings. As he crawled out from under a table he looked and gasped as he was met face to face with a rotary gun. The mechanical whining was heard as it spun up, only to just keep spinning without a single round feeding into the weapon.

Sighing in relief Owl would keep crawling around, firing shots off at drones from below while Vision fired upon them from above. Soon enough the last drone would be gunned down by Vision, who would reload his assault rifle before looking to Owl. "You alright down there?"

Stepping up Owl would say to Vision "I miss being able to bucking fly already." in an annoyed and displeased tone.

"You'll have to make do, for now, we have a hack to smack." Vision would say, looking to the waypoint before beckoning Owl to follow him as he flew down a hall. Owl would gallop after him, heading down the hall lined with neon lights streaking down the tubular hallway like cyberculture rainbows. Owl's gun would be held in his mouth as he trotted along, keeping alert for any tricks or surprises that might come along. In time they would reach the end of the hallway, where another atrium could be seen. A cross between a computer room in a university and a VR arcade could be seen before them. Doors being seen along the walls of the atrium which remained closed, while in the very back was a wall of glass revealing a massive server room. Multiple somewhat makeshift spires of processing power could be seen through the glass, with sliding doors being the only entrance into the room.

At the back of the room, DK herself could be seen, sitting back on a recliner chair of plastic and temperfoam with cyberculture graffiti surrounding the wall where she sat. Multiple fans linked to the air conditioning ducts could be seen on the ceiling, sending a constant flow of air to cool down the server room. The bats would look to DK, before opening fire toward her only to discover the glass to be bulletproof. Intercoms would be activated and the sound of her digital voice would be heard.

"Well well well if it isn't the bat duo, come to try to end everything here aye? Like it's some final boss in a video game! Unfortunately, you've already failed to stop my plans, and you can't quickload to escape that fact! Sure you could potentially destroy me, but even then the damage is already largely done. Even Anomaly can't stop the freedom train! There's no breaks on the freedom train!"

"We're here to deal with you, above all else." Vision would say "So you can't hurt anypony ever again, so we can maybe try to fix things without you bucking it up again."

"Good luck with that." DK would say nonchalantly, emotion expressed strongly even through her digitally generated voice. "The damage we've done to the system is not likely going to be reversible, we've laid the ultimate smackdown onto it, and now it's falling apart. The veil is tearing, and the eyes of everypony are being opened. There will be panic, there will be chaos online and offline, but in the end, Equestria will pull through and evolve more free and open."

"Constantly under this illusion of being some freedom fighter, thinking you're doing good for Equestria by doing this???" Owl would shout at her, his and Vision's voice picked up by the audio feed of the cameras watching them.

"The time for a peaceful rebellion has long past, it's too late, it was either break the system or let it consume ponykind. If you ask me, having a pony's mind taken over and made the property of the government is a fate worse than death. In a way, the system will kill everypony! They've been coddling and manipulating society for so long, in a vain attempt to try to artificially create a utopia akin to the one existing back when Twilight Sparkle lived! All they've created is a bubble, sewn a veil over their eyes to blind them to the truth. They can't hide it forever, not unless they can control pony's minds."

"Is hurting everypony going to stop that? Is it not going to make them cower and run to the system all over again??" Vision would ask, keeping his weapon aimed.

"Some, but the goal of all this is to make it clear they can't protect them. Plus, when ponies know what even their princesses see fit for them, not many will still be on board. Besides, you think you alone could stop their plans? No, it requires something extreme, the system getting broken in order to stop the mental enslavement of ponykind."

The intercom would be hacked into, and Anomaly would speak. "I have another solution, a fix for both the problem you are trying to solve and the one you are creating. That server room you have there will prove useful for what I have planned, along with your virus."

"You ain't touching my server room! You're gonna have to go through me motherbucker!" DK would reply "You're going to have to fight me if you want control over it!"

________________________________________________

In cyberspace, Data and Cypher would be monitoring the communications after having followed Anomaly's moves for some time. They had broken away from the fight for the net with Digital Hoof and hacked into the camera and communication feeds to watch what she was up to.

"She's going to try to use the Virus and that Mainframe in order to take over the system again...." Cypher would say, looking to Data "We have to stop that, we have to get Owl to destroy that server room."

_________________________________________________

Owl would receive a message, coming from Data Miner that told him "Destroy that Server Room, we can't let anypony use that. We'll try to deal with the virus, but cripple that server room any way you can!"

He would then be pulled into a call by Anomaly, where she told him "Don't listen to them, I'm not going to abuse this power. I'm going to use it for the betterment of Equestria, I can make use of it and the virus to try and reach everypony. We can break down Myriad's system without taking society with it."

Thus he would be met with yet another crossroad, who to help and who to turn against. He would have little time to ponder and properly make this choice as DK said "Buck this! Enough chit-chat let's get to the part where I get rid of you both!" Screen images could be faintly seen in the lenses of the gas mask as two cyborg maids would walk out of one of the doors in the walls, armed with metal whips which arched electricity along their lengths.

"Are maids your favorite bucking henchponies?" Asked Owl as he aimed his silenced pistol at them, opening fire as they flipped and cartwheeled around. Owl would take his gun into his mouth once more as he ran to evade the incoming electric whips. The two maids would open up bionic wings, and took flight after the both of them. Vision would take flight, darting around with the maid and opening fire toward her with his weapon. Owl, being grounded, would jump and dive around the computer desk and VR pods, narrowly missing the repeated electric whips sent towards him. The sounds of gunfire combined with cracks and sparks would echo throughout the atrium.

Online Anomaly would engage in her next fight with DK, fully prepared with a smoke screen program and duplicates to start with. DK would put up her own defenses before sending a pitchfork towards Anomaly's systems. Part of the pitchfork would hit her duplicates, then part of it would get reflected right back at her by a Mirror program Anomaly put up. Taking hits to her defenses DK would swiftly form a smoke screen before sending a sniper rocket combined with a fork virus toward Anomaly, hitting her and Duplicates both hard. She would create more duplicates, sending in spy programs to try and zero in on DK.

Vision would get hit with the whip, the stunning electricity making him lock up and fall, dropping his weapon before he hit the ground. Quickly getting up he would attempt to grab his gun, only to have his hoof struck with the whip before getting repeatedly whipped by the maid as she giggled. Owl would vault over a table, taking his gun and firing some shots at the maid, who took one to the side and dashed around. He would jump over another table to avoid the next whip, firing more shots before his magazine went dry. Putting the gun away he would run, sliding under a table before leaping behind a VR pod. Looking behind it the maid looked in confusion as Owl seemed to have disappeared, before looking around to try an find him.

DK would cross a Shotgun with a Pitchfork, landing another solid hit on Anomaly and taking down her Smokescreen. Anomaly would act by putting up traps alongside another mirror program. As the traps set off on DK, Anomaly would send a shotgun of her own and take down DK's smoke screen. DK would put up a machine gun turret to pin Anomaly down, but in reply she would send assassin programs to hit DK directly. DK would fail to notice them, and thus would take some direct hits as she hit Anomaly with another pitchfork. That program would manage to bypass the traps but get mirrored back to her, taking out her gun turret and damaging her defenses. More direct hits would be sustained by DK as Anomaly sent two sniper rockets to hit and pierce her weakened defenses.

Flying around the maid would search for Owl as Vision was repeatedly whipped, before being suddenly jumped on by Owl as he climbed on and leaped off a VR pod. His bionic limb would wrap around the maid's neck, choking her out as she repeatedly tried to strike at him. Grabbing her shoulder he would swing her around and throw her face into a computer screen, before throwing her to the ground and striking her bleeding face with his bionic hoof. Looking to Vision he would dive under tables and stalk the maid who was whipping him. The maid would simply stand there on her hind legs and keep whipping him, before feeling a tap on her shoulder. Looking behind, her face would be met with Owl's incoming bionic foreleg, knocking her out in an instant.

DK would put up duplicates, alongside traps of her own to defend from Anomaly's attacks. She would send another shotgun towards Anomaly, setting off some traps which would end up hitting her duplicates. DK would follow up with assassin programs of her own to silently harm Anomaly's systems. Anomaly would put up a turret program to suppress DK's efforts, only to end up with her duplicates taken down as DK's traps were triggered.

DK would look as the sliding doors into her server room were pried open by Owl. Getting up from her chair she would say "Oh buck now I'm gonna have two fights at once! Good thing I think quick!" DK would dive off in between two server stacks, while Owl and Vision hunted for her among the jungle of wires, glass, and plugs.

DK would take some direct hits online from shotguns, bypassing her duplicates thanks to Anomaly's spyware. Acting quickly she would cut off the mare's spyware with another Smokescreen, before sending a pitchfork in response to Anomaly putting up more duplicates for defense. Anomaly would manage to capture the program, using it to hit DK back.

DK would bob and weave around the server stacks, evading the last few shots from Vision before his weapon went dry. He would drop the gun, before taking flight above the server stacks while Owl stalked among them like a leopard seeking prey.

Finding a safe place DK would send more assassin programs, which would all start to hit Anomaly hard and force her to stop her attacks to get rid of them. Anomaly would then receive a pitchfork crossed with a shotgun, taking down her duplicates and damaging her defenses. DK would then put up a sniper rocket crossed with a turret, chewing through the rest of Anomaly's defenses and doing direct hits.

Looking up DK would take a running kick from Owl, making her fall back. Quickly getting up the mare would block his bionic punch easily, before headbutting him hard and punching him in the stomach. Bionic fingers would grasp his neck as DK threw him several meters away. "My whole body is bionic! While you're just eighty percent flesh!" She would say before diving off among the Server Stacks.

Anomaly would struggle to put her defenses back up against the barrage of the Sniper rocket spewing turret. She would then get some unexpected assistance as Cypher and Data came in, both activating server shockwaves and taking out the smoke screen. Seeing two more foes come in DK would curse under her breath before forming offensive duplicates to deploy more sniper rocket turrets to chew at them.

A kick from above would knock DK to the ground, forcing her to roll away before kicking Vision away from her. They would engage in a short exchange of blows and blocks before DK overwhelmed and punched DK repeatedly. Grabbed from behind by Owl's bionic hoof she would find herself thrown to the concrete floor, cracking her lenses. Owl would attempt to pull off the mask, only to discover it to be built into her body. He would block her next incoming blow before grasping her foreleg and swinging her into one of the server stacks.

"Owl! Don't destroy the Server!" Anomaly's voice came through the intercoms. She would create a smokescreen to defend herself from the turrets, while Data and Cypher built their defenses up to protect from the incoming hits. Data would put up some traps to be triggered by the turrets, taking out the two duplicates that were using them. DK, as she was being thrown, would find and remove the assassin programs. She would create a server shockwave of her own to hit the three of her foes. Getting up she would find her lenses cracked even more, distorting her visibility on the cyberspace battlefield.

Getting up DK would exchange blows with Owl, taking advantage of the fact he could only effectively use one hoof against her as she fought him up close and hit him hard. Ribs cracked on the bat as he took some hard hits, barely able to move back enough to avert getting his lung punctured. His strikes would focus on her gas mask face, making the lenses crack more until one shattered, revealing the camera inside. He would smash the other one, before grabbing and throwing her to the ground.

DK would accept her defeat in hoof to hoof combat, humiliating as it was for a mare who was entirely bionic to lose against a mostly flesh stallion. She would deactivate her cameras and go into her sleeping mode, focusing her efforts on cyberspace entirely. Her systems would be taking hits from the three of her enemies, forcing her on the defensive as she built up her defenses before sending assassin programs to harm the three of them. Though they would do their work and well enough her own defenses would struggle to hold up against Anomaly's pitchfork when it was followed by a shotgun. Both Cypher and Data would deploy turrets to barrage DK, Data saying.

"Yeeeea take that terrorist! Eat the wrath of justice's fist! Get wrecked!" Data would say, crashing DK's systems with a final shotgun.

Owl would take the head of DK, staring into the cameras with rage and hatred. Grasping the bionic mare's head with his bionic hoof, he would start to repeatedly smash it onto the concrete floor. "Take-this-you-bucking-daughter-of-a-party-cake-whore!" Owl said, among other expletives as he kept smashing her head in with all the strength his bionic limb could muster.

On Cyberspace, Cypher would open a communications line with Anomaly.

"Anomaly, don't do this. We have to destroy this, the server room, the virus, everything. Nopony can be trusted with this much power! We can work together!"

"I have my mind set on what I am going to do, I'm pretty sure you just want things back the way they were. With the system as it always was before the Mall incidents or Myriad's plans. I want something better, and I intend to do what it takes to make sure neither cyberterrorists nor corporate overlords can rise up again." taking out her wildcard virus she would use it, quickly spreading out onto the servers within the server room. Using both she would swiftly take over the virus, halting the chaos that was going on while spreading it throughout Everfree and Canterlot both.

"Ooooh buck she's doing it! She's doing it!" Data would say, looking to Cypher. "What do we do???"

"We stop her, and get Owl to smash those servers..." Cypher would say.

"So we just fight her....guess that's obvious as much as it's obviously daunting!!!" Taking a deep breath Data would then say "Alright, let's do this."

_____________________________________________________________________

The DJ and Tazen would look over cyberspace as the chaos on the CCS suddenly stopped. All the hostile hackers would find themselves infected with and crashed by the virus before more and more screen boards would turn white. Tazen would communicate to the DJ in a call.

"She's done it, she's taken over the virus. And she's taking over the CCS...."

"We're gonna stop her, no matter how many times I gotta blast her systems with the bass cannon!" the DJ would reply, readying her defenses for a fight as she messaged the others. "As good as her intentions are, we can't allow Anomaly to have control over this! Power will get to her head, and then it'll be downhill from there."

Owl would pant, the head of DK dented in and crushed, concrete cracked beneath it. He would get up, looking at the server stacks as Anomaly said through intercoms. "Please, Owl...don't do it. I won't harm anypony I don't have to, I swear!"

"Owl, destroy the servers, you have to!" Said a familiar voice, Night Haze's. "She could become the next Harmonize Owl, she could let her good intentions come to the detriment of everypony! You think one mare can just help everypony by having power over everything? Please Owl, help us, destroy the servers and come find us! We can work together!"

Owl would look around to the servers, before looking to Vision. "I'm at a crossroads, don't know whether to leave them here and stick with Anomaly, or destroy them and help Cypher....Or destroy them and help...Haze.."

Vision would look around, sighing as he said. "I don't know either, I'm almost leaning on siding with Anomaly. Seems like she's the only effective means of justice we can have, now that Harmonize has been corrupted.."

The weathercoptors would start dispersing the clouds, letting the sunlight shine down once more over Everfree. Anomaly would repair and reboot the AI's systems, before looking to see the Digital Hoof ponies preparing for a fight. Sighing internally, she would say to herself "Am I really going to have to face you? I only want to help, to bring a conclusive end to all of this..."

25: Downfall

Owl and Vision would just sit back, waiting while looking over the transpiring events on their wrist computers. Both would watch what would happen now that Anomaly had control over the CCS systems in multiple cities. Throughout them the screen boards would be white, purple letters spelling out...

"I am here, and I am here to save you all. The weapons once used to terrify you all is now in my power, and I will use it against those who seek to control you. The ones on top, the ones who seek to turn you into machines able to follow orders on a simple command. Go on with your lives, I will unlock the other functions of the CCS, you need not fear anymore."

Anomaly would find the Virus being attacked online, dozens of Digital Hoof hackers striking against it. She would sigh inside, asking "Can I not reason with you all?" She would attempt to message the DJ, messaging "Audio...I mean no malice in what I am doing, why don't you understand??"

She would get an answer back, reading as "It's not any intents of malice, it's the fact you're taking on the kind of power grab that the crones up in Harmonize would! Stop this! Destroy the virus and the PRS system, that's the way to help end things!"

"I will destroy the PRS system, but I believe the Virus can be used for good. We need something decisive, this is a turning point were social order can either collapse, be conned by Harmonize, or a combination. I want neither, I want a better means than that. Please don't stop me, I don't want to have to attack you."

"You bucking will! Unless you come to your senses!"

Anomaly would sigh once more from where she sat on the bus, controlling the large vehicle and parking it near a station among a number of others. She readied herself to fight them but had no intention of destroying computers. It wouldn't be hard to crash the computers and repair the systems she was running at first, but soon more and more came. She would manage, but not without some effort. She could multitask though and would do so to carry out her first objective.

_______________________________________

Owl would get a message from Cypher, telling him "Owl.....you have to destroy the mainframe! You have to stop Anomaly, please!"

He and Vision would receive a request for a call, accepting alongside Vision before he would answer. "Cypher....I don't know what to decide...."

"Owl, don't be disillusioned by her intentions. Remember, the princesses accepted Myriad's bucked up plan with 'good intentions' Anomaly is not immune to having her good intentions go wrong!"

Entering the call Data would say "Help us out, we can band together and try to make things right. We can fight Harmonize, rally the guards on our side against them and reform things! End Myriad's plans, and take things back to where they used to be! The guard protecting Equestria like it has since the industrial days! Ponies having peace of mind, baddies fearing us!"

Owl would tear up, gritting his teeth as he said "Don't you bucking see Data....that is all over! The Guard has failed! Look around you, we couldn't stop anything! Cyber Security was useless, and ponies have died! Panic is rising up." He trembled, the dark clouds of doubt shrouding the skies of his mind into a night like darkness. "Those days...where we were the unstoppable heroes...they're over...gone...We can't have them back, it's too late."

Vision looked to Owl, looking in shock, disbelief at what he was seeing. Yet the circumstances of their situation would creep into his mind as well. He couldn't believe it at first, that after all his years serving the guard it would end like this. End with one big defeat, their objective failed.

"Anomaly's our only hope for anything remotely like what was before. She's the only hope for something that can be effective enough not to die out like this."

"Owl! Don't say that!" Data would say "We can do it! We can undo what they did, we can convince Anomaly to our side! Don't you want things like how they were, FIGHT FOR IT!"

"I do wanna fight for something, fight against both Harmonize and the criminals of the Underground. So does Anomaly, she has the same goals as us, and we need ponies like her. Harmonize has deadly androids now, along with the PRS, they'll likely not let anything stop their plans. And they'll use force if needed, or just apprehend and hook their enemies to the system. We can't fight for our old objectives anymore Cypher, we've failed them, and Anomaly is our only hope." Owl would say. "Call me back when you realize that." he would finish, before closing out of the call.

"Vision! Please you have to stop Anomaly!" Cypher would shout.

"Owl's right, old system's broken, we need a new one." before he too closed out.

_______________________________________

Cypher would quickly track their Wrist computers, growling as she said "They found the bucking mainframe and dealt with my sister, idiots think they've completely FAILED!?" a shout bringing her sentence to end. Putting a waypoint on her wrist computer she would pack her main computer into a bag before telling Data "Pack up your computer Data, and have your gun ready."

Data would tear up, saying desperately "Please tell me we aren't going to have to shoot them!" before yelping as she was slapped.

"No, we're going to find the mainframe and shoot out the cooling system. Without it the sheer amount of data will overload and fry it."

Sniffling and clearing her tears she asked "What about Owl, and Vision? They're going to try to stop us!"

"We'll have to try to sneak past them, if worse comes to worse you will. You're the one with stealth training, since you're partially a field operative."

Data would nod, packing up her computer and getting up.

__________________________________________________

Myriad would watch as the lights went out in her office, grimacing as she said "What are you doing, Anomaly? Going to try and buck with the inner systems of this building? We haven't lost completely Anomaly, ponies will turn to Harmonize as this society collapses! We will rebuild!"

Being pulled into a call she would hear Anomaly's voice "Let's see you rebuild after this." Anomaly would put her virus into action, taking over the minds of countless guards within the facility. Them, along with the androids that were kept in storage "I will bring their minds back, but only once I deal with you and your board of executives."

"What do you mean 'deal' with us???" Myriad asked, as two guards walked up to her door, looking to them she would draw guns as Anomaly said.

"Like this." As holes were shot through the door, forcing Myriad to duck under her table, pulling out her self-defense sidearm, an EQUE-TECH SA-800 series .45 caliber pistol.

"You think of me as just some corporate crone, I even though of myself as one at one time. That's why I've joined with Harmonize, to try to be something better. EQUE-TECH was formed around the notion that technology should be developed for the betterment of the future, and I sought to extend that notion by using our Technology to protect Equestria. Use it to protect it from ponies like you!" Aiming her gun out she would shoot out the legs of the guards as they walked in, the emotionless guards stumbling and almost dropping their guns. She would aim at their heads, saying "I will shoot them, and they will die! Are you going to let just two guards turn into collateral??"

This would legitimately make Anomaly pause, at least in trying to kill Myriad. Alongside dealing with Digital Hoof's attacks she would ponder on this notion, before saying. "You're right, I shouldn't kill you. Instead, I am going to let you watch as your system is destroyed. Starting with your board of executives, old crones with nothing but money addictions. Nothing had mattered to them more than digibits, it's their narcotic, practically a mercy to kill them."

The screen board in Myriad's room would activate, showing the executives as they stayed in their room, surrounded by guards. They were kept their in the wake of the chaos as a means of precaution, but now the Guards stood emotionless, and would aim their guns at them.

"NO! WHAT ARE YOU...!?" Myriad shouted, bearing witness as the audio feed was filled with gunshots. A brief panic and struggle would ensue before the old ponies succumbed to their wounds. The guards would be made to walk out of the room, locking it. "Anomaly.....you're a bucking terrorist!"

"Assassin is a better term in this case, terrorists use collateral tactics and sewing fear for their goals. Me, I'm using a precision means, and not with fear." Anomaly would reply, putting the Guards' minds back into their bodies as she said "Your PRS is next." before she closed the call.

Myriad would look to the guards, before getting up and calling Golden, once she answered the CEO would say "We made a lot of errors with Anomaly, partially because of your advice. Now look where it has gotten us, there is only one thing we can try to do. Anomaly must be eliminated, by any means necessary, and don't cry to me. She isn't your sister anymore, she is trying to destroy almost everything we worked for........"

________________________________________________

Anomaly would message the DJ, saying "We can work together and stop all this. We have the same enemies, please...." Her only response would be a bass cannon program deployed on her systems. Seesaw would assist in keeping the Virus repaired while dealing with any hackers. Communicating with the AI she would say "It is time, get your program ready, we are going to destroy the PRS and protect all with brain augs."

"Let us begin." The AI would communicate back, and once they were ready it would distribute its protection program using the PRS. Anomaly would wait for a time for the protection program to spread, made to lock out the PRS's functions from their minds and to protect from any future system. All the while she would keep protecting the virus and its hold on the city from Digital Hoof attacks, communicating "I'm going to destroy the PRS! I am going to save the citizens of Equestria!"

She would continue defending the system, waiting as more and more ponies hooked to the PRS were given the program into their brain augs. Hours would pass by, while fighting continued online even as the remaining Freedom Fighter hackers retreated offline.

Monster Buster would be doing more stealthy work, using careful manual hacking and spy programs to pick her way into the virus. Despite being a filly, she proved to be doing well with focus and diligence a filly her age would only be expected to have toward a trading card game. Tazen would watch her, while continuing her own fight to try and stop Anomaly.

__________________________________________________

As the door to his room unlocked, along with the jammer that cut off his Internet access, Doctor Freemane would walk out of his room, before looking to his wrist computer as he got a message.

"I am glad you are safe, I have taken action and eliminated the EQUE-TECH board of executives. I am enacting my plan to destroy Harmonize's PRS. Your data from that facility is safe and sound within my mind, though I hope my further actions from here on will not make us enemies.."

He would walk out, seeing the body of Doctor composite with a pool of blood. Though his skull implant repaired itself, the blood and lack of vitals showed he was indeed dead. "It seems in the pursuit of making a change you met your downfall, Doctor Composite. Once a great scientist of GOUSSE, turned an extremist and a tool of a group that was supposed to be our tool. Though we have largely succeeded in breaking the system and tearing the veil, has it really come at a worthwhile cost? I fear the same fate may befall Anomaly, that which has now left you dead on the floor, seven stories underground."

Looking in the direction Composite was originally facing, he would see the cybernetic body of his killer. A hole through her head as well, her dark brown mane soaked with artificial blood and her artificial skin torn up to reveal the parts underneath. Walking up he would look to the military jacket she wore, seeing name "M. Heart" on it. "It seems you are a war veteran. I know not whether you were commanded by Anomaly or Harmonize to come here and take Composite's life, but it seems you have succeeded in your goal."

Walking out of the room he would look down the Neon hallway, walking toward it as the lights reflected off his glasses. The Zebra would continue walking down until the arcade room and mainframe came into his sight, along with DK's body and the two Bats who presumably brought her end. Walking through the open sliding doors he would approach the two bats. They would look to him with fright, and he would raise his hoof.

"I am of no threat to either of you, I am simply observing. Seems you have defeated DK, and now sit by the mainframe."

"We're protecting it, Anomaly's using it now." Owl would reply simply "Who are you?"

"A name you have never and will never see in records, Doctor Freemane. I am from the underground's more...scientific reaches. So you both now work for Anomaly, presumably opposed to Harmonize and its intentions. I do have my own fears that Anomaly will end up succumbing to her power, and if you wish to seek the interests of society you will want to deal with her."

"What do you mean 'succumbing' to her power?" Vision would ask.

"The power will 'get to her head' as they say, it's the same reason why the PRS is a system that must not be allowed to come to power. I admire her plans to destroy the PRS, and the power it gives with it, if only she could see the ironic power she is taking for herself. She threatens to become a new and different kind of PRS, a vigilante kind of system that can end up with hazardous error to her actions and intentions"

"Anomaly's not trying to gain power, she's trying to stop those in power and protect from them." Owl would object, his mind clinging to the hope he saw that was Anomaly.

"She may not be intending that, but she has clearly taken power over the CCS systems in almost every city in Equestria. There is no telling what a mare will do when she practically controls almost every automated system in a city. She as apparently gone as far as to arrange the killing of EQUE-TECH's board of executives."

Vision would spit and say "Buck em, buck EQUE-TECH, good for nothing but pumping out weapons and gadgets."

"Whether or not their death isn't much of a loss is not important. What is important is that she is willing to have ponies killed that she viewed as needing to be eliminated. How can we know she won't take that too far? How do you know she won't eventually push to extremes? The only thing that moderates her power is Digital Hoof, though I can imagine theirs is a struggle against her..."

___________________________________

"Come on! Bucking crash!" The DJ would shout from behind her screen, sending another bass cannon Program, watching as hackers all over the web were crashed. Her attempts to protect her computer were also a struggle, forcing her on the defensive multiple times. Tazen would send a message to Owl begging him to stop it, only for it to be ignored, she would try over and over again till the number was blocked. Monster Buster would continue her stealthy crack into the Virus, the filly focused yet somewhat scared of the overwhelming program she was facing.

__________________________________

"Is there any other hope rather than Anomaly??" Owl would ask, shouting at the Zebra. "She's the only thing online giving ponies hope! Helping to calm the chaos that is going online, helping to turn ponies away from Harmonize's damage control."

"Do you really think that all hope must rest on one mare? All of it on one singular and straightforward solution? That is the way of Harmonize, Lunar Guard." Freemane would say calmly. "Why not find your hope in ponies like yourself? You have gotten this far, sure you have failed but you are clearly capable of much."

"We can't just change things on our own!"

"Not on your own, but with others, with a more 'individualized' movement. Instead of just going one way in these times, take advantage of the system's breaking to bring a more flexible solution. Don't let yourself be so easily swayed by intentions of good, think for yourself and be willing to question what you know and what you are told. In fact, I believe it is the lack of such thinking for oneself, lack of questioning the status quo that helped the system form. That has helped lead to where society is today, controlled and ruled through ignorance. Break through the ignorance, don't let it rule you, only then might you find the path to a better society." Freemane would say "That is my advice to you, do with it as you will, for I believe in giving ponies and all creatures of sentience a choice."

________________________________________

A taxi autocarriage would roll up to Ponyville, Cypher and Data stepping out before taking flight into the tourist town now deserted in the wake of the chaos. Following their waypoint, they would head toward sugarcube corner, the old yet decorative and well-maintained building now used as a museum. Searching their way through, they would eventually find their way down the stairs, stepping quietly.

"We're going to have to keep quiet, yet quick. The less noise we make the better, but being fellow bats it will be hard to sneak by their ears. Which is why we will have to be quick, find the fans and shoot them out." Cypher would whisper, Data nodding and flying out into the first atrium with Cypher. Destroyed sprite drones and spent shell casings would litter the floor.

Trying to calm her nerve-wracked mind Data would think with some humor, despite humor being inappropriate in their situation "Well that sucks, looks like we missed the party." she would say in her head. No call was being made between them, as they feared Anomaly might detect it and give them away. Flying down the neon-lit tunnel hallway they would soon enough find themselves in the second atrium, where the Mainframe, Owl, Vision, and a Zebra in a brown trench coat could be seen. The two would look to find the ceiling fans, before looking at eachother and nodding.

______________________________________________

Owl would suddenly hear faint flapping in his hearing, his ears perking before he looked to see two ponies swoop in. Gunshots would echo as shots were fired at the fans, and only then would he get a good look at them. "Data....Cypher???"

Cypher would look to him for a moment with a scowl as she said "We're stopping this, NOW!"

Vision would swiftly take flight, moving in and smacking Cypher's hoof to put her aim off. Quickly he would attempt to get her in a grapple, but in reply she would fight back. The two would struggle, exchanging some punches between them. Owl would attempt to fly, but would fall to the side and land roughly with the cuts in his wings. Climbing up he would hop along the tops of the server stacks, jumping and tackling Data as she flew and fired at the Fans. Thus another struggle would ensue, as Owl and Data both struggled as well.

________________________________________

Anomaly would deem it time and ready, taking her virus and putting it into the PRS. Her command for it would be to attack and destroy, corrupt and damage any and all programming within it. Like a firebomb she would activate it, letting it spread and sew chaos within the PRS. Those that monitored it would be helpless to stop it as it sewed chaos within the PRS' mainframe, corrupting data and causing fatal glitches.

As she watched the PRS fall apart and decimate, she would look into her files, finding where she kept Metal Heart. She would let the AI deal with defending the Virus from Digital Hoof while she communicated with the uploaded mind.

"I am sorry you have lost what is left of your body, that shot proving lethal. But if DK can get herself a new body through bionics then so can you, for now, what is the number of your grandchildren?"

_______________________________

A filly and colt would be sitting on a couch, watching cartoons their step parents streamed onto their apartment's living room screen. The filly's little wrist computer would activate, the notification sound coming through as she gained a message. Looking at it she would smile and say happily "Gramma!"

"Sweeties, I need your help, gramma has lost her body for good and she needs to be kept in your place's computer. Can you please put the flash drive in your wrist computer?"

"Gramma needs our help." The filly would say, hopping off and walking to the work computer their stepparents used. Pulling a large flash drive out she would plug it into the pink colored device that wrapped around her foreleg. After a moment she would get the message "Alright, wait ten seconds and then pull it out, and put it back in the computer." Fortunately, in this Cyber Era it was not unusual for children to have basic understanding of the use of electronics, and thus it made her directions easy. Sticking it back the filly looked back into the colt, who having peeked on the messages asked.

"Is Gramma inside the computer now?"

"Yea! She says she lost her body." The Filly said.

"Maybe she needs help finding it again." The colt replied, before their stepfather walked in and looked to see the computer turn on.

"Did you turn on the computer?" He asked "What did I tell you about..." before he looked to see it seemingly taken over and a picture of Metal Heart brough up. A document was opened up, words being typed out.

"It's me, Metal Heart, I'm not a hacker, but I have a lot to tell you."

_____________________________________

Anomaly would smile, watching as Metal heart left her mind's storage to hopefully be with family. It was sad to her that the mare was now without body, just an uploaded consciousness on the Net. Given she had a cybernetic body it was evident she lost her body once before, now she didn't have an organic brain left. At least she could be with her grandchildren, even if they could only ever communicate through text.

Looking back to the PRS she would watch it continue to break down and destroy the PRS system. For the eyes of a mare well versed in programming, it was a violent destruction, chaotic and glitchy. Checking on Seesaw she would see the AI was doing well enough defending her virus from the attacks of Digital Hoof. Looking back to the crumbling PRS she would smile, smile as she watched the chaos through the projections in her eyes. The PRS was now little more than a chaotic digital landscape of scrambled and corrupted code, being further torn apart by the virus put in.

In an unknown location, a mainframe would be emitting smoke, the room it is in wet after the fire activated the ceiling mounted water sprinklers. Ponies would sit in a room next to the one which housed the damaged mainframe, faces in their hooves as they sat in front of screens showing the destruction of the system they were tasked with monitoring.

Anomaly would watch as the whole PRS system crashed, a hard crash it could never reboot from. A system once connected to millions of citizens was now offline. Offline for good, or at least until another such system was constructed and attempted. She knew her work wouldn't be over here, hence her claim to the power that was the virus. Returning to her virus in the CCS systems she would send another message to the DJ.

"I am not going to retain my control over the CCS, at least not constantly. The PRS is destroyed, and have done my best to curb the panic and fear. I won't rule over the CCS like an overlord, I will just remain prepared to take it and use it as a weapon alongside the virus."

The message back would be "You'll become a vigilante overlord eventually, all that power in the hooves of one mare? It will go to your head!"

Anomaly would sigh again before Seesaw put her into a call.

"Anomaly, errors have been happening in my program. The Virus reached into the minds of ponies with the program, and it has managed to break through it in many cases."

"What!?" Anomaly would respond, shouting it out loud before taking a check on her virus, it was now uploading a few ponies onto the net, while causing the brain augmentations of almost all of them to overload. She would work desperately for a solution, working quickly and thinking quickly. If the brain augmentations overloaded it would very likely kill those who had them installed. Time was running out, as the brains of those who were uploaded fried. "Seesaw! Help me!" The AI would come to her aid, and they would soon discover that the AI's program itself was in a volatile and error-prone state. Though they could theoretically stop it, there was not enough time before their brains rapidly fried. Anomaly would be left with just option to save these ponies.

Millions would be uploaded onto the InterNet, their minds frying as they were pulled online just in time. Ponies would freeze, then drop on the streets. The DJ would hear news of this from many of her hackers, and would send a message to Anomaly in the form of. "LOOK WHAT YOU HAVE DONE! LOOK!"

Anomaly would cover her face, closing her eyes tightly and looking at surveillance camera footage for a moment before pulling off, wishing she could close her eyes from what she was seeing. The AI would round up the uploaded minds, asking Anomaly...

"What should we do with them? I do not believe anything can store all these ponies in one place."

Anomaly would be without an answer to this, an error happened causing nothing short of a catastrophe for her plan. Before she could fully grasp what had happened, she would suddenly lag herself. Caught by surprise she would be bombarded as something came in from the shadows of Cyberspace to strike her. As her systems slowed down severely, she would be hit with shotgun programs crossed together with even more Data bombs. She would attempt to put up her defenses, but would be slow in doing so in her lagged state. As she drew near crash she would see, and in disbelief, DK. Before she could figure out how, her systems would crash down hard.

_____________________________________________________________

Owl and Vision would continue to struggle with Data and Cypher, before the rapid electronic sounds of sprite drones could be heard, activating from a shelf on the wall and taking flight. They would fly into position before projecting a hologram. Cypher and Vision would stop, before Owl and Data did so too.

"No....can't be!" Vision shouted.

"....Delete Key?"

The holographic projection of the cyberterrorist in edgy attire herself was before them, before she laughed. "Kept your hope in Anomaly huh? Too bad I crashed her systems! She may have had the better hardware, but could never have had the experience with hers I have had! Now, to exploit her virus for one last ownage to the system! Also she fried the minds of millions of ponies leaving them not but ghosts online without a shell, so she kinda helped! Ain't that a cruel irony!"

Owl would get up, a look of horror on his face, before growling as he pulled his suppressed pistol out and started shooting at the fans. Vision, Data, and Cypher would join in on firing at the fans within the room. DK would reply...

"Wow you guys are real tailholes, took me forever and a lotta Digibit to make that. Oh well, not like I need it! I got Anomaly's virus! And a whole lot of CCS to buck with!" DK would take over the virus swiftly, hindered only by Seesaw's attempts to stop her and prevent the takeover. They were futile, as the AI would soon find itself data bombed into submission and shut down with the override. Once white screen boards with purple text turned red with white text, telling some old messages from the incident on the block as well as more. Openly telling of Anomaly's crashing, and of the failures of the Guard and system to protect them. Autocarriages would begin to go haywire again, and street lights would begin to catch fire as they were overloaded with electricity.

The chaos on Messengerbird, panic and fleeing on the streets, and the now dead bodies would all be broadcast to all those within DK's server room. Freemane would within the room, having observed the struggle while also observing things online. He would witness Anomaly crash as he observed their fight in cyberspace, he would sigh as she saw her fall come. It was the kind of crash that could destroy even a high-performance computer. He would watch as Owl fell back on his rump, taking his face in his hooves and gun as he teared up. Another failure and loss, replaced with more chaos.

"As for you buckers, for leaving my server stacks to fry and breaking my body I've sent some pones your way to pop caps in you. Best bionic thugs in these parts of Everfree! Not all us hackers are skinny and unable to fight after all~ So have fun!" DK would say, before the hologram deactivated.

Owl would remain in his position, his bionic fingers tightening on his face as he said to the others. "Go....I'll keep them drawn here....just go."

Data looked to Owl, grimacing as she said "Don't you even bucking dare go with the whole sacrifice cliche-" before looking as he aimed his gun at her, aiming around at the others.

"Go...now." he said, the second word accompanied with a baring of fangs. "I can't take this anymore....the one thing I lived for, being able to save and protect ponies. It has gone to nothing....nothing....bucking go."

Vision would get a pained look, while Cypher said "We can still try to make a change Owl, please."

Cypher's response would be having the silenced weapon fired, aiming over her head. "Go try and fight for that dead system, it died with Kevlar. I've lost hope....well what are you waiting for? GO!" He shouted, inciting them to get going, taking flight.

Server stacks would begin to smoke, catching fire, as the lights on the ceiling would overload and burst, adding to the fires. Soon amber light and the remaining red and blue lights from the server stacks would be all that illuminated the server room. All while Owl sat where he was, the screen board just above the sliding doors broadcasting society's breakdown. Tears would flow from Owl's eyes as he sat within what he viewed as a microcosm of the world he knew, set alight and burning away. He would hope in his mind that wherever Bug Byte and Night Haze were, that they would be able to live at least a semi-decent life in this changed Equestria.

___________________________________

The DJ would watch online as DK took over the Virus, and began to wreak havoc. More and more of her hackers were crashed, and many were demoralized and scared. Messages flooded to Audio, telling that Digital Hoof had lost, and that they were scared, asking if there was anything that could be done. She would look down, before growling and continuing to fight.

"We can't stop, we have to keep going, we have to keep fighting. Fighting against any power that might oppress Equestria whether they be in government or beyond! If we can only win this, we can reach out to the scared masses. Let them know the failures of their government and powers, and encourage them to carry on and live as individuals. Not to trust the blinding veil of surveillance state security and let themselves be kept in a bubble of propaganda. We can't just sit by and let it all fall apart. We have one enemy, and we can defeat her together!" would be spammed to all the computers she could send them to.

Keeping her defenses up the DJ would send Assassin Programs, set up traps, and use the bass cannon program in her ongoing fight with the online leviathan she faced before her. Night Haze would soon go into the fight after rebooting from a soft crash, but not before doing something else. She couldn't help but try to track and check on him in these times of chaos. She would look through the cameras to see him, in a server room being taken by a growing fire. She panicked, trying to send message after message to him, attempting to call him multiple times to no avail. Tearing up she would multitask, fighting while trying to contact Owl to get him out of there.

Fighting would go online, with some progress on damaging the Virus and DK at the cost of a few hacker's computers. Autocarriages would pull into Ponyville, before thugs with guns stepped out and walked to the corner and into the underground section. Minutes would feel like hours to Haze as she attempted to help Audio while trying to communicate to Owl. She would get just one reply from him, watching as he slowly typed away on the wrist computer.

"I've lost hope, quit bothering with me. Why bother, didn't we split?" From there he remained silent and without any answers. Audio would get battered by sniper rockets and shotguns as she continued the fight, backing up data to reverse the damage on her system. The fighting online would go on for a grueling amount of time, against odds that the hactivists could only barely have the will to face off against. They would drop offline like flies, though not without doing some damage. Some would come back, others wouldn't, and the number of those that came back would begin to dwindle over time.

Bug Byte would keep manually hacking her way into the Virus and DK, but it became increasingly difficult for even the smart filly to get along undetected. The encryption grew more difficult to crack through, and the pressure grew on her. But she would not give up, she saw the ultimate computer monster which she wanted to slay and destroy. She had the will to go on, even as the risk of getting detected and battered by DK's hacks grew stronger.

"Let's kick things up a notch! Let's see you survive when the Virus is attacking YOU!" DK would send, a message sent to many a hacker as she suddenly turned the virus on them. The hactivists would find their defenses broken through quickly and their systems torn up by the fast-acting virus. Even Audio would be forced on the defenses as she struggled to not let her system be overtaken. Haze would undergo the same struggle, watching her daughter type and click away and seeing her as their only hope.

The filly would continue cracking, eventually finding her way into the Virus' systems, breaking into the code she would put as many Data bomb traps as she could, while also working to manually crack into DK herself. Seeing more and more of her allies fall so quickly made the Filly start to panic, growing dangerously close to making fatal errors as she cracked her way in. Byte would continue her efforts, averting DK's system checks numerous times. She would quickly activate the Data Bombs, slowing the Virus down and giving her friends and mother breathing room.

"Whaaaat??? Who slowed my pwnage machine!? Somepone's gonna pay for that!" DK would message out, before looking her systems over. A game of cat and mouse would ensue within cyberspace, Byte trying her best to cover her tracks and stay hidden while she cracked in. Unfortunately, DK would prove to do well at multitasking, moving to deal with the data bombs put within the Virus' programming.

Audio and Haze, the DJ and Tazen, would squeeze out whatever attacks they could alongside their attempts at defense. DK had the upper hoof, and it was only a matter of time before their systems would lag with the constant activation of defensive programs. Pressure mounted on the filly as she carried on with her manual hacking and evasion from DK's pursuit. Minutes felt like hours to all of them as they carried on in the fight.

DK would find Bug Byte, halting her efforts and sending a message "Well well well one hacker comes in thinking they can be the one to stop me? Hahaha, looks like you couldn't stop me." DK would get a message soon afterward, saying.

"Get bucked you big bully!" Followed by a barrage directly into DK's systems. The filly had prepared a last-ditch method, putting up as many turret programs as possible, all crossed with data bombs as they bombarded and slowed DK down. The filly's computer would struggle to handle it, lagging and going on the verge of crashing. She would put forth one last attack, a sniper rocket crossed with a Shotgun, right into DK's system. Byte had gotten in far enough that these attacks would prove effective. DK would glitch, lag, the coding that made her up breaking up and corrupting.

"No buck! Buck! Buck!!! Welp, good job you win." Would be DK's last message before she broke apart into corrupted fragments of data. Effectively, DK had died, her thinking and thoughts gone with only a corpse of code left behind. The filly would pant, her computer left with a blue screen of death, looking through things on her wrist computer.

__________________________________________________

Owl would be suddenly pulled into a call, where he heard a familiar voice he hadn't heard in far too long.

"Daddy! Go! The fire will hurt you, we won daddy! We won! And mommy wants to see you, please Daddy come here!" Byte's voice would come through.

Haze's voice would come as well into the call as she joined, saying "DK is gone, for good this time. Look at the screen, we've won. Not without losses, but we've won. The ponies, on the streets, they aren't gone! Just uploaded, without bodies anymore, but we are gathering them and keeping them safe."

Camera footage would come and show the Screen boards shutting off, before reverting back to their usual advertisements. Autocarriages would stop going haywire, and the intact ones would continue on their normal way. Owl would get up slowly, wiping the tears from his bloodshot eyes.

"Have hope Owl, join us and we can bring hope. We can work for a better place, without neither terror like this nor the oppressive role of overbearing authority. Equestria will change after this, we can help it change for the better."

Owl would get up on his hooves, taking the gun in his mouth as he walked out of the room. He would suddenly find himself stabbed in the side of the neck with something, and his punch would be blocked as Freemane said: "Relax, for it is merely a healing serum."

The bat would grimace as he felt his wounds heal up, and the membranes of his wings closed up. He would flap, before taking flight and looking to Freemane.

"You chose to live, I hope it is to be no longer in pursuit of collective extreme causes. Neither Anomaly nor Harmonize could save Equestria from the coming darkness within it. But ponies who can act on their own, make their own decisions, when banding together they can fight it. This is only the beginning, I predict that the struggle between the System and Underground will escalate. if you wish to bring a better world, I advise that you be willing to think beyond what others think. Don't let yourself be trapped in another bubble."

Hoofsteps would be heard down the neon-lit tunnel, the lights in the room burst leaving only the fires in the server and the ambient neon from the tunnel providing what little lighting there was. The six thugs would move in, unicorns armed with shotguns as they activated flashlights on their weapons and spread out to search. They found no sign of the others, but had been informed at least one stayed behind. As one walked around a VR pod they would find their weapon grabbed, the stock smashed into their horn before it was smashed into their head. The now unconscious stallion's friends would rush to the pod to his aid, looking around with their sticker and vinyl covered weapons as they searched around.

From the darkness, Owl would come out, pulling the barrel of a shotgun away before punching its holder. The weapon would be thrown into the face of the next thug, making them miss their shot before taking a punch to the stomach. Kicking up he would score his next knockout. Flying quickly he escape their flashlights and gunshots, prompting them to search around. One would be pulled down under a table, their panicked call for help followed by a loud sound of impact. Another would be drop kicked, followed by the one next to them aiming only to have their horn punched and head smashed into a table. The last two would run for the neon hall, hoping to corner him and force him to escape his cover of darkness. One wouldn't make it before they were grabbed and dragged back into the darkness. Being the last one left, the last thug would keep his weapon aimed, Aiming the flashlight into the darkness and trying to scope his target out. A flash would appear, and the thug would drop to the ground.

Owl would fly out of the dark atrium as the Neon lights began to dim, along with the emergency lights in the other atrium. He would fly down the neon tunnel, away from the burning end he once left himself to. He would fly out from sugarcube corner as the sun was setting. The last few rays of orange dimming in the sky as the midnight blues began to take over. The bat would sit down and watch the sunset, watching as the night took over while he rested. Sending a message back to Night, he would ask "Mind getting me a waypoint?" before one was given almost immediately.

He would order a taxi, waiting until an autocarriage missing its front fender rolled up to him. Entering it he would sit back, looking up through the transparent roof to the night sky. He would smile slightly, the moon showing as the Taxi made its way toward the waypoint he gave it. Hope, something he had lost more and more of throughout this entire experience, something he now had back. Even if he would end up being hunted by Harmonize, he could still find some allies and try to help bring a better world. If it was from Digital Hoof he would gain help, then so be it. The world was changing, eyes were opened and now ponies would have to choose whether to join the system or underground. With Haze and whatever friends she had, he wanted to make sure ponies chose to oppose Harmonize and its system, but not abandon their morals in the process.

Eventually, he would look as the night sky was obscured by the modernized walls of a gorge, built in with apartment and businesses. He would get up as the Taxi stopped, exiting the vehicle as he pondered. Cypher, Vision, and Data would likely try to fight to bring the old system back. He hoped to someday find them, for he knew even the system Kevlar helped run was no permanent solution. It had already failed, and as he followed the waypoint and flew along he knew they would need to make a solution to last. What it would be, and what struggles they would face following this catastrophe to get there was uncertain to him. What was certain to him...

....was that he now had hope, and open eyes.

Author's Note

Epilogue next! I hope whoever got this far enjoyed the story.

Epilogue: The Future

Everfree Bus lines, station 707, 7:28 pm. A light amber and red would be the only remaining daytime light in the sky as the stars, moon, and city lights took over. A single dented taxi would pull up to the station, which remained closed in the wake of the ensuing chaos. Many of the street lights were out, leaving many an area shrouded in darkness. A few wrecked autocarriages could be seen around the streets. Doctor Freemane would step out of the vehicle, watching as the door closed up and it sped away. The streets were mostly quiet, as most of the city were indoors to voice their panic and falling faith in the establishment. Some of the screen boards would suddenly go white, with the text 'This is a Message from the Equestrian Diarchy and Harmony Council'.

The Zebra would take a moment to watch, as the faces of the princesses came to the screen, Celestia saying "My little ponies, we both deeply apologize for the events that have occurred over these past few days. We have done our best to ensure your safety, but the denizens with no belonging in our society have clearly struck a blow to us. We plan to make sure that this doesn't happen again, which is why we are taking steps to improve our law enforcement system."

The lunar princess would say "New laws will be made to better watch over you, better police forces will be established to eliminate any threats to the piece. This will include equipping all police forces to the degree in which the Sector 4 units of the RLG and RSG are equipped. Any denizens who threaten the peace will be spared no mercy. The guard forces themselves are being rearranged and improved to account for these changes. We are also working with third-party technology companies to help improve the safety of the CCS and develop technologies to help maintain the social order.

Celestia would finish it with. "We ask for full cooperation from the populace in these times, please maintain silence online so as to prevent any further panic. We are working tirelessly to take the steps needed to ensure a better future, even in these times. Sleep well, my little ponies, let us see a better tomorrow."

Freemane would think to himself "You are too late to gain back the power you once had, the veil is torn, eyes are opened. Your only hope for existence will be those who run to your broken system for the safety they once had. The leaked data and evidence once scoffed at as conspiracy theories and crazy posts are now being seen for the truth they carry. They know of the brutality the guard has carried out, the dissolution of rights for order, the corrupt corporate manipulation of the government, Corporate slavery in faraway lands. Corporate favoritism in lawmaking, shady destruction of activist groups who oppose the status quo." he would walk into the parking area, toward one of the parked buses as he followed a waypoint. It was the place where he tracked Anomaly before her signal was lost.

"Now they know, most importantly, that you can't protect them from everything anymore. There are dangers, dangers that can bypass the law and take advantage of the weak. The hysteria from this revelation further helps the cause of Digital Hoof, who can finally dispel the propaganda and open up the truth." Walking up to the door of the bus, bus 1407, he would access his wrist computer. Tapping away he would activate the door, opening it up. Walking into the bus he would look along the seats, until he finally reached a seat where he would find who he was looking for.

Anomaly would lay, slumped and limp to the side with eyes open yet unmoving. No projections to be seen, and no reaction to his coming. The zebra would pick the mare up, slumping her on his back as he thought. "You have had quite the journey, Anomaly. Discovered the corruption of a system you once worked for through betrayal, escaped through their underestimation of you, and attempted to make something better. Tried to bring forth a better path, and for all the risks you might have been able to do some good. Sadly....it seems you may not be able to carry out your ambitions nor learn from your errors."

He would walk out of the bus station, the mare on his back as he looked around. Calling another taxi he would wait, before one would arrive and open its doors. Setting the mare down gently in the back seat, he would take his own before the doors closed and the vehicle sped off into the distance. It would disappear from the CCS, untracked as it made its way toward its destination.

_________________________________________________

Owl would walk into a nightclub, a place far more bustling than the place he previously frequented in Battania. Lights flashing, electronica music playing, and ponies dancing. He would take a look to his wrist computer, before following the waypoint he was given. Walking up to a door in the back, he would see it activate and open leading into another room. The bat would walk up some stairs, before reaching the top and looking into a room strewn with neon signs and posters of various media franchises and music artists. What caught his attention, and made him freeze in place for a moment was who sat in the couch in the back of the room.

Night Haze would be sitting on the couch, almost just like he remembered last seeing her. Sitting next to her was Bug Byte, the filly wide-eyed and grinning before she took flight and flew into him shouting "Daddy!" and embracing the bat. She would notice the metal leg, and say to him "Oooooh, you have a bionic, cool! Bet you can lift a carriage!"

Owl would slowly smile, hugging the filly back as he said: "I don't think so, but I can smash baddies heads with bowling balls." He would look to Night Haze, who would fly up and join in with their hug.

"I could never stop loving you, even when I thought I could, even when you seemed like a slave to the system..." She would nuzzle into his chest, humming pleasurably as she felt his warmth. She would look back up, seeing three pronounced scars on his cheek. "You've been through a lot haven't you."

"You're Celestia cursed right, I've been through so much. I've seen my whole world collapse before me, but at least I have you both left. Now I know my world was not but a facade, artificial, generated from lies and propaganda. My eyes are open now, and what I see scares me..."

Night would nuzzle into his chest once more, saying. "I fear the future too, but we must have courage. Now that the system is damaged and broken there is a lot we can do. It won't be easy, but we will need to push forward if we want to help make a better world. We can make it better, not through institutions and propaganda, not through terror, but through the efforts of individuals to create individuals. Make ponies that can think for themselves, and challenge the status quo, we need to turn ponies toward that way and protect them. Protect them from the forces that might try to force them back into the mind control."

"And from the meanies that might try to hurt them, and their computers!" Bug would say with a grin.

Owl would smile, looking to Bug before looking back to Haze, sharing a long kiss with her. The slightly open door out to the DJ booth in the room would open fully, prompting them all to look as the DJ looked in at them. Audio would smile, looking at them and saying.

"Reunited at last, a stallion once blinded by the system now broken free and back with his awakened family. You're in good company bro, together we can make a difference in the world. Learn from all the mistakes that have been made and help create a better society. As individuals, not a hivemind."

Owl would share the night with Haze and Bug, hanging out around the gorge and its many cyberculture strewn levels. Come the morning when Bug slept he would share passionate lovemaking with Haze, the two married once more not through official records and documents of remarriage, but through their love and will. As he lay back on the bed, Haze held close, he would ponder on his life from the mall incident to now. Ponder on all that had happened and all that had transpired, before pondering on the future. It remained scary, uncertain, ambiguous and looming forth into the present. What would become of society, and what lengths the Royal Government would go to try and repair its broken system, all would be questions that could only be fully answered with the passage of time.

Though he was left with the uncertainty, as well as some mysteries as to the events leading up to the fall, he had something that could help him along. No matter how scary or uncertain of a future there was, he still had those he loved, and with them, he could take on the world.

Author's Note

And so it ends, it is finally over. It is not totally conclusive of an ending, and I have most likely left some questions unanswered. But I have from the beginning intended this story to have a level of ambiguity to it, I'm not going to be pretentious and claim I've gone that route in writing perfectly though. That'll be for you, the reader, to decide. I want to thank you for getting this far, and hope you have been entertained, intrigued, and had your thoughts provoked aplenty with this story. Will I write again? Will I make a sequel to this? We will have to see. For now, farewell.

Prologue: Inversion

It is commonly known, the great stories of the Elements of Harmony. It's taught in every school's history class, has been the subject of countless movies, video games, and books. It was a grand time, not as well understood nowadays despite how well documented it is. A time where six mares would come to become Equestria's greatest heroes. The time they lived in was much different, no computers, ponies had to send messages manually usually through Pegasus couriers as opposed to the instant messaging capabilities of today. Transport was usually though pulled, engine-less wagons or large rather slow steam trains. Fighting happened mainly with magic and steal, without guns as is common today.

The main threats to Equestria were often beings from outside it, whether they be Nightmare moon, Discord, among some others. You could easily tell who was bad and who was good, a simpler time it was.

Things changed suddenly, many a genius, visionary, or simply inventive pony started changing the world. In a wondrous and unpredictable time inventions came and started taking off. One pony put a steam engine creation into a carriage and made the first autocarriage, which would become refined and a major source of transportation. Many more machines would come about in the decades of what would become known as the 'industrial age' where factories and high scale production would lead to the growth of cities far beyond what was possible. The first flying machines would be created, which eventually would lead winged species to lose their monopoly on flight.

Cities grew, ponies could get around a lot faster. Electricity would soon he harnessed, generated via various means, and would lead to artificial lights being invented and widespread. Homes would change, being full of amenities such as cooking stoves, aforementioned lights, running water pipes, among other things. The time was mostly peaceful, with Equestria's society celebrating the era's inventions but in time coming to know them as commonplace. Even other places beyond Equestria would soon grow to receive their own industrial revolutions as well. The future looked bright, fancy and advanced with lots of new gadgets.

In what is now known as 'retrofuturism' ponies of that age imagined all kinds of ways the future could be. All of which were optimistic in predicting a future with even more useful gadgets and inventions while society continued to flourish with nearly not a blemish. Unfortunately it was not to remain peaceful, the radical changes would start as soon nations rose against nation and the largest war in known history came. Weapons advanced tenfold in that Era, with guns ranging from firing rapidly to having the power to obliterate a pony in a single shot. From this time things changed, societal order was maintained through governmental propaganda and police forces.

Soon crime would begin to rise, with the first criminal organizations taking form and the first inklings of the modern 'criminal underground' came into existence. Society would never be the same again as gradually, technology would continue to advance and progress while old morals and standards began to melt away. In the later industrial century subcultures would begin to form, and music genres inspired by that. Rebellious cultures who challenged the social order and old morals sprang up, all the while crime began to slowly creep it's way beneath the belly of society. By this time the occasional robbery and even murder was a visible symptom of society's changing in ways not so Utopian.

At the late parts of the industrial century came an invention which would change things forever. A sort of child to the earlier television, the computer opened up a world of possibilities. Then would come the beginning of the cyber era, as computers would connect to other computers through magical signals. The new era opened like a door into a whole new dimension, as mass long distance communication quickly became more and more a matter done without paper nor couriers but through the invisible aura of magical signals melded together into what would become known as the Internal Network, shortened as InterNet.

Communication had no distance thanks to the InterNet, and all society took advantage of it. Businesses made 'websites' to promote and tell of their products, ponies made letters through typing keys rather than through quill and ink and sent through the InterNet to the recipient in a matter of seconds no matter how far. Entertainment forms such as games, movies, and others soon could be accessed through the computer. As other technologies such as transportation advanced, computers would be integrated into those as well. Factories would eventually be run on automated robots maintained merely by engineers and ponies behind screens.

Cities would swell to colossal size as the population grew a thousandfold, sprawling like massive forests of steel, glass, and concrete. As cities grew so did crime, and the need for better methods of combating it. Thus complex and wide systems of surveillance combined with increasingly militaristic police forces would become the norm. Cameras were everywhere, keeping all but few areas outside under surveillance. The Lawless Underground only grew and advanced further itself however, adapting to these new changes. Soon one of the most prized abilities among the underground was that of the Hacker, a master of the codes within computers big and small and throughout the complex matrix of information that was the Internal Network. Hackers could do many things in a world run and operated heavily on computers.

They say the trinity of tech is metal, magic, and coding.

Through computers and the dying industry of television the governments of the world, even the princesses themselves, would maintain the system of propaganda to hide from the common citizen many of the disturbing and dark realities that existed, like a shielding veil protecting from the darkness. The threat was no longer some powerful being bent on conquering, and the many descendants of the elements capable of using the elements couldn't just friendship-blast away this problem. The criminal underground was a shadowy, partially hidden, and sprawling reality of the world. Society would thus be divided into two groups, those under law and the veil of propaganda, and those awoke to the true nature of the world who live beyond the veil.

The computer would once again infuse with it's surrounding technologies as the Crystal empire, by then one of the largest megacities of the modern time, developed the Central City System, which allowed a computer system to run surveillance cameras, direct the flow of Autocarriage traffic, monitor local InterNet activity, among many other things. It was quickly adopted by other cities around the world as an easier method of managing them, the positives were quick to be found and embraced. However the door opened to the power the lawless hackers now was more of a castle gate. Even with the security measures, one unfortunate truth remained...

You can never use the InterNet, and be 100% safe from hackers.

As the world shifted and transformed, one force came in existence in the last years of the industrial age, and would exploit the power of the Cyber age to become some of the most powerful entities of their time. Corporations, soon to grow into worldwide megacorporations, exploiting the opportunity that was the age of frequent advancement to grow large in size and wealth. Some of the brightest minds were employed by them, making the corporations top sources of the best gadgets of the era. Whether they be virtual reality game systems, the best quality computers, the most convenient yet advanced portable computers, even weapons would be developed by these large and powerful businesses. The would become the wealthiest entities in the world, wealthier than those politically in power. Even the princesses lacked the wealth carried by groups like Crystal Corp alone. The power of propaganda was also a tool not restricted to those in political power, as the power of advertisement would be made effective use of by these powers atop large monoliths of steel and concrete.

The current element bearers sit mostly as government officials and figureheads, for though faith in friendship got their ancestors far, the magic of friendship was not capable of zapping away the often morally grey groups of ponies which could threaten the social order. Thus the system of propaganda, police forces, and surveillance remained their proxies to protect their civil citizens from a world and reality they could not defeat. All the while the underground exists, thrives, carrying it's own factions and cultures and having plenty of wars fought with assassinations and gunfights with suppressed guns. Being of the shadow that lies under the great monolith that is the age of technology, a monolith built on the creations of many a bright mind and savvy businesspony. All the while those who kept the order were tasked with keeping the veil maintained that hides the shadow. Morality was once black and white, t'was a simpler time back then. Now like the great skyscrapers that line the horizons, morality lies in a dozen shades of grey.

Author's Note

Hopefully this will prove more a better imagined fic than 'Blood and Banners', not gonna juggle languages I don't speak and stuff. For those who read I hope you enjoy this, feedback will be appreciated.

7: Trust

The nightclub would be searched thoroughly by Sector Four units, with a large multitude of the ponies and zebras inside kept for questioning, while the hackers still alive were detained for questioning. Owl would be tasked with questioning the mare, being a major discovery she was given she was officially marked dead in the Citizen Records Database (CRD) by a mugging. Owl was very suspicious given these circumstances, wondering if she had faked her death to escape records, which was strongly illegal in royal law. He wanted to have the harmony council, Golden Belle especially, to be informed of this as soon as possible. For now, however, he would simply be questioning this mare to see what he could learn about her.

All the while Anomaly tried to choose her words carefully, considering spilling the beans toward this Royal Government Agent about her woes but noting the risks of sounding crazy. She had a strong feeling her sister would pull some strings with her place in power to have her recaptured, while EQUE-TECH simply paid away any criminal charges with ease. This in mind her trust in Royal personnel was limited as she spoke to this one pony, hoping to possibly get him on her side.

"Why are you marked as being dead on the CRD? I know you are aware that is illegal." Owl said sternly, accompanied Data and Night. He suspected she may have turned to a lawless hacker life and somehow faked her death to escape the CRD's records and tracking. The answer he got instead was perplexing.

"EQUE-TECH, or more precisely Myriad Heartstrings had my death faked, Officer...." Anomaly simply replied. "She did so that she would be able to use me as a lab rat for their testing."

"If EQUE-TECH are 'using you' then why are you here seemingly used by the cyberterrorists? Doesn't quite add up unless you're claiming they are involved with the Freedom Fighters, which is unlikely given they're not morons." Night Vision would say, whispering to Owl. "She might be of the Digital Hoof type of hacker."

"If she is it would be quite the twist given she's the sister of an element bearer," Owl whispered back, then looked back to Anomaly as he said. "You're claiming that EQUE-TECH tried to 'use you' and faked your death for testing. What testing would EQUE-TECH break the law for just to use a pony on?"

"Brain Augmentations, advanced ones functioning basically as a computer installed in the brain..." Anomaly could frankly care less about the secrecy of the project. She would spill a whole bag of beans, even if it fell on deaf soon to be corporately manipulated ears. "I was part of the project, willingly up until they forced me into some stasis with disregard for my say!" the mare then said boldly. Owl was taken aback by this, she didn't seem like she was lying but the fact she was here made him suspect she would accuse CEO Heartstrings of involvement with the freedom fighters. That is until she looked to Night and said: "I will not accuse EQUE-TECH of involvement with these ponies, I was kidnapped by them after escaping EQUE-TECH HQ."

"So you were kidnapped by these ponies, presumably to be after your brain augmentations no?" Asked Vision, lessening the stern tone and deciding to keep it nicer to try to get more information from her.

Anomaly would nod and consider revealing something she discovered during her capture at this place. While hooked up in physical and digital captivity she found that her brain augmentations were primarily being used for the development of a 'supervirus' akin and a possible modified version of the one given to her by Freemane. She would neglect to mention Freemane and GOUSSE of course as she felt it be unjust to do so after they helped her. Ultimately Anomaly would say "I can tell you some things about the Freedom Fighters however, they are not just your usual hackers using standard tools. Theirs are state of the art, like nothing the CyberGuard have a disposal and a likely explanation for their inability to stop them without my assistance."

Owl nodded "And for that, we thank you, any technically illegal tampering with the CCS done will be pardoned for your assistance. Our Chief, in fact, wants you to assist us in dealing with these Cyberterrorists. We ask that you assist us further in dealing with this threat while providing any information that you might have."

"Seems logical that you would seek my assistance given how ineffective your CyberGuard seems to be against these hackers. From what I have seen their tools and programs are superior to what your personnel has. Given I don't exactly support these chaotic CCS hackers I...." she contemplated her decision, knowing she would likely be monitored by them. "....will help you under condition." the three would look to her and await her 'condition'. Anomaly would take the silence as a way of them saying 'well what is it?' and follow with. "...I will ask that you don't let EQUE-TECH try to retake me. I would rather stay out of a stasis tank, permanently."

Owl looked at his friends and said. "Quite some claims you have of them, know that we get a lot of unfounded accusations against Corporations. We'll have to see what we can learn-"

"Anything you do will likely be closely regulated in some way, whether higher personnel are bribed or evidence is manipulated." Anomaly cut in, deciding to try and spill the beans some more, cause in her mind 'Buck Myriad and Buck EQUE-TECH'. The mare had some hopes that she might get these ponies to at least have some suspicion of EQUE-TECH, after all, it wasn't like the corporation totally ran the government.

Owl was suspicious, this was quite the accusation and not an uncommon one toward Corporations. He strongly suspected Anomaly to be a potential level 5-7 hacking threat akin to Digital Hoof ponies. He was well trained to identify different kinds of potential threats based on interrogation. Fortunately, she would most definitely not be brought to EQUE-TECH, but he would try to make sure she was monitored. He appreciated her help in dealing with the terrorists at the mall immensely but wasn't going to rule her out as a potential threat. "Your accusations against EQUE-TECH will be considered and reviewed, but for now we need your help and any information on the 'Freedom Fighters'."

"I know they have plans to develop a sort of computer based virus, something made with such advanced tools I mentioned. They also seemed to have used programs based on ones used in my Brain Augmentations."

"Corporately developed programs?" Vision asked.

"Yes." she lied, once again not wanting to rat out GOUSSE. "But heavily modified, and made to be quite advanced."

Data said "If these crazy sicko hackers got some seriously advanced programming we need to acquire some of it so we can develop countermeasures. You seem to be able to fight them, how about you try to catch and copy pieces of what you can find so we can copy and develop based on them. Our defenses are clearly paper against them, and the sooner we build them to steel the better. So please miss pretty computer headed dame, won't you help us?"

"I have no objections to assisting you, so consider that fact a yes," Anomaly said. Unlike EQUE-TECH Cyber Security they didn't have programs specialized for monitoring her not experience in doing so. Thus she felt she might be able to circumvent most of the inevitable surveillance. "Will you take me to the RLG facility or something?"

"We're operating in Everfree since that seems like a primary hotspot for these cyberterrorists. You'll likely be given a room in whatever inn or other temporary places we might be staying at." Owl replied. "Cooperate and you'll have no trouble with us, it's that simple." Anomaly nodded to this and said.

"In terms of dealing with these 'Freedom Fighters' and preventing unnecessary harm and damage I will be very cooperative." Anomaly replied simply. Date smile and put a hoof on her shoulder as she replied.

"Well, then we'll get along just fine then~ Whoop those hackers like your ancestor helped whoop evildoers long ago."

________________________________________________________________________________________

Security personnel would be aiming stun rifles at Golden Belle as she had Myriad pushed her into a wall. "What made you think trying to transport Anomaly beyond this facility was a good idea????"

"Her location here was compromised, I thought it necessary to take her some place these hackers couldn't find her."

"So what they knew she was here??? What did you think they were going to partake in a full-scale urban siege of this facility!? There are over 500 armed guards here with at least 300 equipped with bionics! You really think a few hacker's fixer thugs armed with submachine guns would pose a threat??" Golden slapped Myriad who then ordered her guards to stand down, sighing.

"I was afraid they might to bring some exposure to us...but I'll admit that was foolish thinking as simply keeping the public informed that such sources are not trustworthy would have worked better. Curse me, I do not usually make impractical decisions...though there is one definite problem with having her here if we do recapture her."

"And what in Celestia's name could that be!?"

"Anomaly used the central systems of the facility to turn this facility upside down, making the lights go crazy through the power grid and making the computers go nuts."

Golden sighed, letting Myriad go as she said. "It seems stasis was redundant in trying to keep her from causing trouble to us....might as well offer to take her in with a promise to never put her in stasis again."

"The whole reason she was put into stasis was to keep her out of trouble in case she resisted, but now it seems that is not an option. Promising to give her at least freedom to walk around, try to gain some trust from her."

"You forget she's been holding increasing moral issue with this corporation."

"Well, we'll let her know some of the 'moral' good we've done for Equestria. Providing means for ponies everywhere to communicate any distance, developing a number of technologies which maintain and improve the quality of life, giving bright young minds like her's opportunities for jobs. The poverty rate is at near zero and that is surely partly due to such opportunities. Whatever we do that may be considered 'immoral' is a small price to pay compared to the bigger and greater good we do."

Suddenly Golden Belle would get a call on her wrist computer, looking she saw it was from the RLG Chief and with that she answered it quickly. "Chief Vest? What is it?"

"Aware that your sister is alive, was captured by the Freedom Fighter group, and is accusing EQUE-TECH of a whole lot?"

Golden gasped as she asked eagerly. "Did you find her?? I can explain but please keep things under wraps, I'll make sure you're compensated well if you bring her back to us here at the facility."

"You're corporate marefriend will have to compensate, if she did fake miss Anomaly's death that will warrant a fine for Surveillance Violation Code 3. As for taking her 'back' to this facility, we cannot do that as she's a necessary asset. Particularly in efforts to quell a level 13 terrorist threat which at the moment only SHE can help us online with."

Golden sighed as she said to the Chief. "I understand, but can I at least meet her?"

Kevlar said in a more upbeat voice. "Since she'll be working on the field with our Sector 2 personnel you'll have the opportunity to. You can come along right now if you so wish, just don't make yourself obvious and well guarded cause we don't want you targeted."

Golden nodded. "Understood, I shall be coming along there very soon, can you give me a waypoint?" Kevlar obliged and sent one to her wrist computer the waypoint to the Inn and Out.

"I warn and Myriad you to be wary of her, my agents have identified her as a potential level 5-7 cyber threat based on her questioning. She may try to cause trouble for you online." Kevlar said affirmatively. "Would be nice if you can lower that to a 1-3 at least by talking to her."

"I will most certainly try to do that, I can promise you that for sure." Golden Belle replied.

"Good, cause we don't this asset turning into another threat, Anomaly is at the waypoint while my agents interrogate captured suspects."

"Alright, thank you Chief Vest." thus the call would close and Myriad would go to Golden and say.

"I think I might have an opportunity to help earn some trust from her, instead of imprisoning her here we should let her go freely to places while keeping a digital eye on her. If she's taking on cyberterrorists this could make for an ultimate test of the Anomaly Project's capability's in terms of computing, what harder test than the infamous hack fight."

"I'm worried....what if it makes her brain 'crash' in such an encounter with hackers? That could...."

"The software is advanced and well optimized to prevent crashing, plus if necessary we could develop and send her updates. That could help give her some more trust toward us." Myriad smiled, following. "We could have her be tested, and improve software all while recovering some trust. Might not go perfectly as planned but it seems like a plan that could potentially benefit us, along with that she could be our key to learning from these cyberterrorists and possibly gaining some new software. If these hackers beat the CyberGuard they surely have some fancy tools."

Golden nodded, saying. "As concerned for Anomaly's risks that seem....like the best plan you could possibly have. Maybe your mishap isn't quite so disastrous after all." she smiled a bit to Myriad.

"I try to be practical and pragmatic with my decision making, you have to when you run a megacorporation." Myriad chuckled a bit, inciting Golden to chuckle as well. Taking the elevator and accompanying personal guard units Golden Belle would enter her autocarriage, a more luxury car with an immense amount of fancy bells and whistles. Memory Foam seats covered in reinforced silk, windows capable of changing their tint and even projecting various information from her wrist computer, and seats capable of massage and heating were but a few features.

Golden sat in the back while the 'driver' input the waypoint into the vehicle's computer before it connected to the CCS and started rolling on its way. A couple of sport utility autocarriages would follow along to make sure she was safe as she made her trip through the grids of asphalt and concrete. Long ago hanging lights were used to guide traffic through intersections, now in the age of self-driving autocarriages and the CCS, they were rendered obsolete. Golden looked out the window at the various projection boards and neon lights, smiling at what she viewed as the beauty of the modern megacity.

______________________________________________________________________________________

Anomaly lay back in the room she was given at the Inn and Out, looking up at the ceiling as she explored her newfound abilities. She knew she was watched by the CyberGuard but was able to keep her activities largely private and under the guise of normal InterNet browsing. The night carried on slowly as within the Inn basement the suspects were interrogated by Owl, Data, and Night Vision. Eventually, Anomaly would grow tired and fall asleep, only to discover even as her body slept her connection to the web was not severed if but for a short time as her brain switched to a sort of 'in sleep' mode. As she entered this she pondered what it would be like for ponies to have brain augmentations like hers sometime in the distant future. Ponies able to access the internet anywhere, anyplace, anytime, even in sleep. It seemed that this was likely what her sister and Myriad wanted, for the technology to spread and to render computers obsolete one day.

"Would it be such a bad thing for everypony to have something like this? It is a wonderful technology, with such amazing potential even minus GOUSSE's upgrades to it. It could have such a number of uses, a brain that is also a computer could be enhanced in ways similar to a computer. Ponies could learn things by merely downloading files, access and operate things even while asleep, the wonders seemed endless. And then it hit her, in a society of brain computers it would likely be easier to monitor and control for those seeking control. In fact whose to say ponies couldn't just be manipulated just like coding in computers, particularly those not smart with coding.

Memories and even personality could be changed and manipulated by who those in power see fit. She imagined corporations fighting to hack ponies minds to chose their products, government propaganda on a whole new level, and even common hackers messing with pony's minds. Would a pony's individual identity mean anything, or would it just be a modular code that could be changed in any way possible? Was there even a 'brain' part of the brain-computer or was it just a computer implanted into the skull and replacing the brain. The scenario and questions played out in her head as she took the time to think and wonder.

Soon enough she would be suddenly contacted by one with a username marked 'Tazen_high' who sent a link and access code. Anomaly was very suspicious and careful about this and inspected to find the link led to a type of network known as an 'Onion Networks'. Onion Similar and similar others were part of a part of the InterNet known by many names, Shadownet, Underground Net, Black web, and most commonly the 'UnderNet'. The UnderNet was very much the internet of the Underground where illicit business, hacktivism, and the hosting of normally illegal types of entertainment websites occurred. It first came about in the early Cyber Era as multiple types of search engines designed to allow one to browse anonymously.

The working of such search engines made tracking the user difficult, and in the age of increasing surveillance, such engines were eventually outlawed. This, of course, did not kill the onion networks as the underground's hacking community started to make their own illegal networks. All these illegal networks soon blended and connected to create what some would call an 'InterInterNet'. An InterNet of many pieces hidden beneath the standard InterNet, word online claimed it was over ten times the size of the regular InterNet beyond it, claims the royal government stated officially as being false. Hera had heard much about this mysterious place on the Internet, claimed publically as a hub for all things bad on the InterNet ranging from weapon and Drug trafficking, pedophilic image sites, malicious hackers ready to steal from your computer or worse. This was the public stereotype of the UnderNet which was spread via the Princess' and Harmony council's propaganda machine to keep support for the band of such networks.

Curiously but cautiously Hera followed the link and soon found herself in the digital equivalent of Everfree's most wild and partying streets. Colorful websites with cyberculture art as backgrounds sold various things strangely akin to common online stores only with added digital products of the kind hackers would find useful. One site was a sort of 'wanted board' offering various bounties in digibits for taking down 'filly porn' websites. Another seemed to offer downloads of various custom pieces of electronic music. Anomaly was astonished as she looked around to see, at least in this server, it wasn't the least bit scary or shady. Eventually, she would get a message from Tazen_high...

"Hello there, thanks for the Data and Dirt on EQUE-TECH. It's not much but it definitely helps, if it was you that released it that is." Anomaly quickly surmised this mare discovered the files she scattered along the InterNet and asked in text.

"You found the data and files I sent out?"

"You betcha, I was wanting to look for you but you seemed to have gone missing. Eventually, I was able to find that unique kind of OS you have running after looking outside EQUE-TECH's servers. I'll assume that you are the insider who sent out that data judging by your reaction."

"Who are you?"

"Call me by the username, as for why I was after your data well to put it simply I'm part of Digital Hoof. You know of us I'm pretty sure, princesses and their buddies can't censor knowledge of our existence much as they would probably like to."

"I speculated that given the flashy cyberculture style of everything in this server, gonna try and recruit me to your cause?"

"Would be nice, you could be useful with those hacking skills and that nice new OS. Say you wouldn't be that hacker who stopped the Freedom Fighter's lockdown at the mall would you?"

Anomaly answered "I am, and I can do a lot more now that I'm freed of EQUE-TECH. I'm concerned however given how after my capture by the Freedom Fighters I was rescued by personnel of the Lunar Guard."

"'Freedom Fighters' name like that shows they feel righteous in stirring things up, pretentiously self-righteous name if you ask me. As for your situation, I'm not sure how to help you, but I am sure of a way you could help us."

"Going to ask me to hack into the Royal Guard mainframe?"

"Sharp as a nano-sharpened razor I see, you some sort of psychic?"

"Those are normally scams, future seeing isn't exactly something you'd find in common circles."

"Anyway yes, we would like you to try to enter the database."

"What makes you trust that I can do this?" Anomaly asked Tazen_high, wondering why they might trust a random though previously helpful hacker.

"Hello! You're the code-cracker who beat hackers who practically gang raped the Cyberguard like they were mere script kiddies. If you can beat those bunch of lunatics I'm sure any security will be mere paper walls to your skills."

"True, good point you have there. There is one issue, however, why should I take the risk be it small to take action against the Royal Guard? How do you trust I will side with you and support your cause? I never said I was joining it, you might want to be careful who you trust." Anomaly asked, though skeptical and she did not exactly hold a hostile view of the royal government and its policies. She waited a couple minutes passed before a reply came, presumably Tazen thinking up a reply to that question

"Well don't tell me you're one of those bucking types who is overly trusting of the government. See if they even get you retribution for being used as a corporate toy, likely won't. The whole system is corrupt and reliant on its propaganda and the reputation of its occupants, Celestia and luna aren't the perfect rulers they once were. At best they have the naivety of children, and at worse, they lie and manipulate the populace. One of the members of the harmony council is pretty much a corporate puppet while the rest do jack but make and produce their 'Public Service Announcements' and occasionally legislate. It's a bucked up system, good ponies are in it and have good intentions but as a whole, it's a mess that keeps lots of secrets. Here's the deal, take a look at their system and see what you can find. If you seem it not enough to incriminate them, then just let it be. But if don't like what you see in that, we'll gladly help make sure ponies know. Ultimately, I trust your capability and have some faith you'll see the light of things. You'll have a choice, in the end, trust those who open or trust those who try to cover them. Any more questions?"

Anomaly took some time to ponder what was told to her, thinking it over and considering her options. There was a risk at play, but she was curious what she could find in the deeper database of the Royal Guard facilities. What could be found there, uncovered if anything of note? She considered the option of entering and taking a look while taking extreme precautions in doing so. Her ultimate reply would be...

"I will consider taking a look to see what I find in that database should I have success entering and time to enter."

"Good to hear, or rather read since this is in text, hehe. Anything else you might like to chat about? Maybe have a tour around this network cause I'll be happy to show you around."

"Maybe some other time, I feel it best to take advantage of the free time I have to take that look at the Database. I've seen a bit of it already, including that little wanted-board."

"Keeping sick buckers from posting and receiving kiddie porn on the UnderNet, contracted clean up jobs to clean the scum off. If you're ever bored you can take some contracts and smash a few sites. Bonus if find their identity and post it publicly online with all their evidence."

"As much as I appreciate and applaud such efforts I'll likely not have that free time anytime soon. It was interesting speaking with you, but I feel like the sooner I take the opportunity to satiate my curiosity the better."

"You go on that then, I have faith you'll see who you should trust. Little fact quick, only around one out of every 10,000 kiddy porn sites get busted by the Cyberguard, while we meanwhile smash a thousand a day. Just a little fact to maybe crack whatever trust you might have in the royal powers."

"I'll keep that in mind....." Anomaly said, not properly typing out the shock and disbelief she had. "I guess I shall be off this server then, was an interesting if short stay."

"Good luck, meanwhile we might put some focus on investigating these 'Freedom Fighter' crazies. Ba-bye~"

With that Anomaly exited the server and decided better now than later to see what she could find if she could access. However, she would soon enough discover and track a familiar wrist computer approaching her door. Panicking she quickly put her systems out of their mode for sleep and awakened before going to and locking up the door. The knocking came from it as Anomaly went silent, not saying a word and hoping Golden would think she wasn't present and leave. A sigh came from Golden's lips as she clarified to her sister in case she was there...

"Anomaly, I'm not here to try and take you back, I swear on my life. Please open up, I want to talk to you, I'm worried about you and want to make sure you're okay," said Golden in a sincere and sympathetic tone. Anomaly would open the door only upon detecting any guards Golden brought were outside and judging by the surveillance camera footage were mostly lounging.

"What do you want to talk about, if it's your usual attempts to get me to see the 'good' in my imprisonment then shut up," Anomaly said bluntly. "We've had that conversation countless times and frankly it doesn't take a hyper-intelligent mind to realize when a mare has her mind set."

"I'm not here to tell that same argument, I'm here to offer a deal with you," Golden replied to her. "I'm here to inform you that Myriad has other plans."

"What other plans does she have? And what is this deal?"

"Well you see, Myriad has decided to use this current situation as an opportunity. You see I've been called and informed by the RLG Chief of your discovery and rescue by personnel of his, and that they intend to use you against this coming threat."

"What does that have to do with Myriad's 'plan'?"

"Given you will likely be taking on hackers, very advanced ones at that, she feels it an opportunity to truly test your brain augmentations. Testing the performance and capabilities, I will admit I carry some worry especially hearing of your apparent capture by terrorists. Regardless I think it is a good plan, better than trying to keep you contained."

"So Myriad basically intends to exploit this terrorist threat as a testing bed for the new product."

"It's more than just a 'product' you know that. It's a revolution in computing and brain augmentation technology."

"Well, it's rather fitting that such a potentially destructive threat will be merely exploited by her for the sake of corporate interest."

"What do you suggest that EQUE-TECH fight it themselves? Or refuse to take this opportunity? It's better for you than you being in stasis."

"I didn't say I had a problem with it did I? Though I do wonder, why not try and put me back there?" Anomaly asked Golden, who would proceed to reply.

"Because it's clear that trying to deal with any potential threat you pose in that manner will only amplify it. Instead, we will go through other methods to ensure you don't cause any trouble."

Anomaly then wondered if they knew about her little data breach, given her sister hadn't mentioned it to her there seemed a possibility that it was mostly if not unnoticed. Golden Belle then pulled out something from her jacket, it was the portable receiver that was used to connect her to the InterNet. "Here, I'm sure you know what this is," said Golden as Anomaly took it. She didn't need it anymore but kept that fact secret not only to cover up her 'upgrade' but also to keep her sister from changing mind. If it was known new tech was put in her head she would likely have an attempted capture of her just to see such upgrades. That in mind Anomaly simply said...

"Thank you."

"You are welcome, oh and if necessary we will assist you. Software updates based on your performance can be transmitted to you, provided you don't hinder our monitoring too much." Golden replied. "I hope that we can gain some trust back from you, gain forgiveness from you and future cooperation."

Anomaly thought in her head. "She's so ignorant of the things I've heard and read of EQUE-TECH....even if I do cooperate chances are I will be the one to just be using THEM!" looking up to Golden Belle she said. "It is nice and all for you to give me this back, and to not try to put be back in that cursed tube. I have one question, however, once this terrorist situation is solved what will you do with me then?"

"A good question, for now, we haven't planned up to that point. We will in time, right now we will have current plans in priority. Just know that we aren't planning to attempt stasis containment on you again, as once again it does nothing but magnifies any threat you might have."

"Maybe you should consider that a lesson in NOT trying to decide things for me. Maybe let me take my own path for once in my life." Anomaly said with a scowl, before asking Golden. "Anything else you have to say?"

"Maybe we could just talk, talk other things....? Maybe just talk sister to sister, take our mind off this for a while? We haven't really talked as sisters in so long and I was hoping-"

"No thanks, I'm not exactly 'sisterly' with you anymore. If you wanted to just 'talk sister to sister' you should have tried that back before you tried to make me a lab rat." Anomaly said simply and pointed to the door. "If you don't have anything more important to say then I don't see the point in you sticking around." Golen looked somewhat somber as she heard this, resulting in Anomaly saying "What? You didn't expect me to say that? Ignorant moron, seems you're only smart when it relates to business and occasionally running things in Canterlot."

"Anomaly I.."

"Leave, now, you're wasting my time," Anomaly said with another scowl, resulting in Golden sighing and walking out, though not before saying.

"I still love you as a sister, and don't think of you as just a lab-"

"OUT!" Anomaly said using her magic to shut the door after Golden left. Snorting she lay back on the bed and started to get to work. Entering into the network of the Royal Guard was like navigating a maze of code littered with traps and patrolled by armored guards, certainly not an easy task. Anomaly, however, wasn't stressed in the slightest and after her rather heated end of conversation cracking into and manipulating code was quite the therapy. Stimulating the gears of her mind into work, taking her mind off her sister, and instead focusing it on working the code.

Like digital lockpicking by a master thief Anomaly bypassed and unraveled the security measures with surprising ease, while slipping by CyberGuard like a spy with an invisibility spell. Seems Tazen was correct, given Anomaly had the ability to beat hackers who defeated the CyberGuard, the CyberGuard themselves were not quite so hard to defeat. Interfaced to her mind her work with the code was lightning quick, unmatchable even by the fastest unicorn typer with a keyboard. Though starting at a steady pace, like a racing autocarriage speeding from the start Anomaly's speed with her code-cracking accelerated. She learned her way through the brain interfaced systems, mastering the very new art of simply thinking to hack.

As if simply thinking her hacks wasn't fast enough the brain augmentations, especially with GOUSSE's upgrades increased her thinking time to inequine levels. She cracked the complex code so fast yet stealthily it was nearly impossible for her to detect her, she was like a silent supersonic bullet in the network. Anomaly took slight wonder in her ability, before putting herself back on full-focus-overdrive. Soon enough she would be close to the database, only to discover that just one CyberGuard managed to detect her. Preparing to take actions she would soon discover that, though not unstoppable, this CyberGuard was very much a cut above the rest and even a major hindrance.

Anomaly prepared herself for what would possibly be her very first of what the UnderNet knew a legendary duel of code cracking skill, the Hack Fight.

Author's Note

Another nice collection of music I listened to while typing this. Admittedly some songs seem better than others.

Little note: Terms like 'Transequinism' and 'inequine' are in-universe versions of terms such as 'Transhumanism' and 'inhuman'

20: Rogue

Celestia's sun would rise over the urban landscape of Everfree city as dawn broke through the night sky. The screen boards would be depicting breaking news. The citizens would be informed in full about the discovery and capture of the terrorist hackers. After the incident within Everfree seeing this news helped to quell some doubts and worries online, helping to maintain the belief that no matter what justice would prevail. Anomaly would be asleep, but constantly working through her mind without ceasing to continue keeping an eye on things. They had struck a major blow to the terrorists, but Anomaly knew that things were far from over.

Chief Kevlar Vest would be riding an autocarriage with Cypher towards the EQUE-TECH headquarters facility. They would both he holding plastic reusable cups of coffee, their contents already half full to keep the tired bats awake. Now that the terrorist threat seemed to be at least temporarily quelled, they decided that now was the time to talk with Myriad. The machine would pull into the underground parking of the facility. As the vehicle parked itself in its spot the two would step out before Cypher would say.

"You think she is really doing things we don't know about?"

"I do, and it concerns me the possibility that one of our own isn't fully informing us of their activities." Kevlar would reply.

"What are we going to say to her? If she is doing this and if she isn't?"

"If she isn't then we will need to monitor Owl's wrist computer more closely to ensure he doesn't get deceived by Anomaly." The bat would reply simply, taking a drag on an e-cigar.

"And if Myriad is doing what Anomaly claimed to Owl? If she really is doing things beyond the intended plan for the PSS?" Cypher would ask, some concern in her tone. The possibility of Myriad doing things on her own, beyond the plans for the PSS held a number of risks.

"We'll have to talk some sense into her." Kevlar would say, before walking to the elevator.

Cypher would follow along and say in reply "I hope we can, we should be able to. After all Myriad is not a reckless mare, she does things with a plan in mind."

Sometime later, many stories up Myriad would be sitting in her office and scrolling through charts and financial statistics on a screen using her wrist computer. Though involved with Harmonize she was still a CEO, and that meant running and micromanaging the multi-billion digibit corporation that was EQUE-TECH. A knock would come on her door, and she would shut off the screen before politely saying.

"Who is it? How may I help you?"

Kevlar opened the door, stepping in with Cypher before closing the door behind them. "Are you or anyone in your employ doing anything with the PSS we don't know about?"

"Aaaaah yes, the conversion. I was planning to inform you in time, but in fear that this would be...controversial ." Myriad would reply simply. "But I am prepared to make the case as to why this conversion is needed."

"So it seems Anomaly wasn't lying to Owl." Cypher would say, before adamantly saying. "Doing things like this without the group's knowledge is hazardous and foolish. Extending the PSS to the level of modifying ponies mind does not seem proper to us."

Myriad would smile softly, before replying to them. "As I have stated I am prepared to explain why such a system is needed. Modifying the citizen's minds might seem like it is extreme, but really it is a logical step in the progress towards maintaining our society better. We have had had ponies give up certain freedoms, speaking freely, having privacy, the total necessity for warrants to search. All for keeping them safe from the growing threat that resides within society, the threat that has dragged ponykind down from its peaceful state in the past. With this upgrade to the system, I seek to eradicate that threat once and for all."

Cypher would nod but say to Myriad "But having such control over the way ponies think, it is not right. We are aimed to steer Equestria toward a better path, not force it."

"Don't act like ponies don't have freedom, they have the freedom to live their lives unobstructed. Indulge in their entertainment, do their jobs, buy things they want and need. Keeping their minds managed will not obstruct it, but instead prevent it from being obstructed. Obstructed by the threat of lawbreakers, murderers, thieves, self-righteous fighters of 'freedom'."

"But what about the underground? The ponies who live beyond the law?" Kevlar would say.

"They will be dealt with, those that aren't taken in and installed with Brain augments for their 'rehabilitation' program will be dealt with through lethal force." Myriad would say firmly. "Need I remind you that the pinnacle of the threat the societal underground poses has come to its evolution in the form of those terrorists? That is what comes from the underground, and thus it must be eradicated." She would then tap away on her wrist computer before saying "Though Anomaly escaped I have managed to reform a familiar pony."

Kevlar would look to Cypher, before they both looked back to Myriad. Taking a few moments to think they would hear the door open before a familiar face popped in. Kevlar looked in surprise as he saw none other than the mare from the Golden Street incident. Her mane style would be changed a bit, made from a rough cyberculture style to a stylized variant of a common canterlot mane. She would smile and wave to them, saying in a friendly tone "Hey there, is there something you wanted me for Myriad?"

"I wanted to show these two the new you, and the fruits of this new effort of ours," Myriad said, before looking to Kevlar. "This mare was once a sociopathic criminal, now she has been reformed. This can be done to many other ponies, ponies with mental ailments and criminal tendencies. Make them a better pony, improve them, make them productive members of society."

Cypher would think on this, before grimacing and shaking her head and saying "This isn't right, taking such control of ponies that we can do anything we want with their minds. We would essentially be taking away their self, what makes them, 'them' by making their minds something that can just be altered. This is just too far, surveillance systems in place are fine, even on their minds themselves but being able to just alter them...."

"We have progressed the system for many, many decades, Cypher. Why stop now? Why not progress until the system is perfect. I am sorry to say, but the current system has holes, it is failing." Myriad would say, bluntly with a scowl. "You know it is has been failing and may fail more in the future as the underground keeps getting more clever."

Kevlar glared back, baring his fangs biting on the mouthpiece of his E-cigar, breaking it and making it fall to the ground. The glass liquid casing would break open on the ground, spilling the oil on it. "We may have had failures but we make up for them, we ALWAYS strike back. We just arrested over one hundred hackers a matter of hours ago, if you are implying we are ineffective might I bucking remind you of that."

"Pfft." Myriad would say "You are ineffective, compared to the system upgrade. With the system, once it is in place and the underground is eliminated by force there will be peace. The few that might threaten it can be dealt with by force, while the rest of society can go on with their lives under the system's protection. Once everypony, Griffin, citizen of any kind is put under the PRS system there will be a much firmer peace."

Cypher would say "What about Gryphons from Gryphonia coming in? Some fleeing criminals? What about those from other places?"

"Those that live in Equestria will be influenced into installing the new brain-computer systems. Those that visit will see the more peaceful society where crime is lowered substantially to any place in the world. Once the war against the lawless is won in Equestria, Harmonize will expand to other places. Use private armies and agents to bring peace even to the broken nation of Gryphonia, we could expand the business of the brain augmentations there as well. We could steer the government in a better direction. There are great things we could do with this! And yet here you are rejecting this system in favor of just a dumbed down system."

"Watching over pony's minds will let us keep an eye on things! We can keep peace that way, find potential criminals before they can commit crimes." Cypher would say.

"There will be resistance, there will be those who band together and turn against the system. Plus the likes of hacktivists like Digital hoof might influence ponies into turning from the system as well. There is a risk in letting ponies make unregulated choice, and it would be better if we could directly push society toward the harmony of the past. Even Celestia and Luna are on board with this, I talked to them earlier about this."

"What???" Kevlar would say in shock. "The princesses are on board with this??"

"As is Golden Belle, who I have sent to speak with the rest of the harmony council about this. I apologize for the secrecy, but I wanted my plan to be well established and thought out before I informed you all. We will see what the Harmony council thinks about this, I believe they may see my point unlike you two."

"This is not the way forward! Improvement to the guard and city security is the way!" Kevlar would say, slamming a hoof down onto the mare's desk. "What about us? Those in Harmonize? Do we just keep our minds and decide the very thoughts of ponies???"

Myriad stared into the slit pupils of the bat, a smirk on her face as she said "How naive, don't you that already? The propaganda, controlling the news to tell what is meant to be heard and only that. This is just the next step, the next logical evolution of the system. And the fact is, this will accomplish the goal of keeping Ponykind safe along with eliminating any who are of the underground."

Cypher would say "Fact is we would be tarnishing ponies, making them into nothing but machines! Things that can be just easily modified!"

Myriad's Wrist computer would ring, a digital ringtone mimicking the music of a Lyre. She would answer the call, then smile as she said "Seems the rest of the Harmony council is on board with it."

"This is madness! This will not create harmony, it'll create an artificial harmony!" Cypher would say.

"There is no artificiality, not unless you think like those anti-bionics protesters. Thinking technology shouldn't be integrated into ponies for the better of the world." Myriad would respond, calmly but with a smile.

"That is not what I am saying."

"It is actually, obstructing the greatness of technological progress for mere shallow pseudo moral reasons is exactly in line with their logic. With the others on board, it seems you are alone in your pointless opposition."

Kevlar would point to her, saying "We are going to talk some sense into them, this is not the way of Harmonize. And we are going to do it face to face with them. Come on Cypher, I don't think we're going to convince Myriad without bringing the others to reason." The two would walk out of the office.

Myriad would shake her head and sigh, before saying in the Comms call "Seems they aren't on board, adamantly so. We might need to change that before they go rogue on us. We don't want another Delete Key." The mare would press something on her wrist computer, making a cleaning robot roll out of an opening hole in the wall to clean up. The intercoms would be activated, Myriad's voice saying through them "Apprehend those two bats, now." with a calm and collected voice.

"What the buck??" Kevlar would say, before a couple of EQUE-TECH security guards would walk into the hall. They would pull out stun guns, and quickly he would grab a nearby chair to block the electric bolts that would be shot at them. The chief would swiftly fly toward them, swinging the chair into one while kicking the other in the face. "Sweet Luna we have to get out of here, now!" He would quickly make a break for the nearest window, Cypher following him around a corner and evading stun gun shots. The chief would kick at a window, before flying back and shouting "Look out!". Cypher moved out of the way quickly as he swung the chair into the window, shattering it. Rapid hoofsteps would be heard as more security guards came. "Come on let's go!" he would say, pulling Cypher through the window frame as they narrowly missed Stun bolts.

The two bats would glide out of the window and away from the building flying away quickly. "I can't believe this is happening!" Cypher would say. "We have to get to Canterlot! Myriad is mad and she can't be trusted!"

"I don't know if we can trust the others...I'm calling the princesses after this." Kevlar would say, baring his teeth. "I can't believe they would say yes to this...."

____________________________________________________________________

Owl would be hit with a barrage of rings from his wrist computer, before he woke up and shouted. "BUCKING HORSEAPPLES UP A WHORE'S TAILHOLE!" he looked and saw that it was the Chief. His tired eyes would open wide as he answered the call. "Chief?"

"We've been betrayed Owl, the head of the EQUE-TECH CEO has turned on me and Cypher. They've turned the others against us as well!" Kevlar would say.

"What the buck?? What's going on??"

"I'll have to explain later, don't trust anything anypony up top says. Not for now anyway! Not unless they are directing towards dealing with the terrorists!"

"Oh buck, this is a mindbuck of a lifetime. Is this about Haromize??"

"....Anomaly was right.....Myriad really is gonna have the system be used for direct mind control! Modifying ponies minds for the-" the call would be cut, and Owl would try to recall. Another number would call him instead, and his wrist computer would auto answer.

"Don't listen to him, he has made himself an evident level 8 threat in your book." Myriad's voice would say, stern and direct but calm. "He is opposed to our means towards a safer place, a place where you will never need to worry about your daughter again. Where she can be safe, and productive."

"Is this world gonna use mind control?? HUH?"

"You already use mind control, the propaganda news station you use to keep the masses calm and thinking the way you want. This is but an upgrade for that."

"No it is not! You've created a system that has opened ponies' up to the threat of having their minds bucked! Not just by these Luna cursed terrorists, but by those in power!"

A mocking laugh came through the call, and Myriad would say "What are you? One of those street trash digital hoof hacktivists? I thought you stood for law and order, Owl Talon."

"Buck off!" Owl would reply, bringing a sharp and vulgar tone through the telepathic link before saying. "I'm on my Chief and Anomaly's side. Now I feel confident that everything she said about you is true, go fap off to your charts!" he would say, closing the call and blocking the number. He would push out from his room and knock hard on the one next to him, making the door shake and rattle with the impact.

Vision would open up the door and say "What the buck is going on Owl?"

"Harmonize has turned against the Chief, and seek to use the system to control ponies in ways we can't allow."

Data would open her door and peek her head out, groaning and saying "It's ten in the morning, are those bucking terrorists back at it again? Come to think of it, it'd be smart for them to hit midday when we'd be groggy."

"What??" Vision would say "What are you talking about?" Before the television in his room would turn on suddenly, and he would turn around. Through the room's speakers, a voice in advanced text to speech voice would come through, replicating the Voice of Anomaly.

"Owl is not wrong, nor crazy, watch this little bit of footage." Before the television would show surveillance footage of the conversation Kevlar and Cypher would have.

Data walked up to Owl, rubbing her eyes as she said "What the buck is going on?" before she too would walk into Vision's room to watch the footage.

_________________________________________________________

Kevlar and Vision would walk among the crowds along the streets, trying to blend in as they spoke through a comms Call.

"This is insane, we have to find a safe place to go to. We can't wander the streets forever."

"Where should we go??"

Kevlar would look around, before seeing an Arcade and replying "There."

Walking inside the two would go up to the mare at the front desk, smiling and saying "Welcome to VR-Cade! What fun would you like to-" before a badge was raised to her snout.

"Police business, we need to use your backroom."

Being in the backroom Kevlar would close the call, before saying out loud to Cypher. "This is going to be a bad time, only thing that could make things worse is a cyberterrorist attack."

Suddenly the screen board in the room, which was evidently the owner's living space would turn on. It would show a room lit in red, and none other than DK standing in it. She would wave, before saying in a somewhat musical tone with her voice distortion active "Well well well, looks like from grace you fell. You disagreed with the corporate side of your power, now they've brought you to a dire hour. Yes, I watched through those cameras in that corpwhore's office, just like Anomaly did."

"We hunted down your hackers, what do you even have left??" Cypher demanded. The television would pick up her voice through its means normally meant for voice controls.

"Plenty left, and a few powerful allies. Though you have struck a major blow to us, and took out over half our group, it looks like you are in a place of disadvantage. We will take advantage of that, so you best hope for some miracles because even the princesses are likely against you."

"Owl's gonna hunt you down, hunt down all of you, and he is going to bring you bastards terror! Just like you did to those innocent ponies!" Kevlar would say, looking to the television with a glare.

"We will see Chiefie, but you are going to need a miracle at this rate. These incidents have boded well for gathering data for the Liberator, our great virus. And it won't be long before we will be able to make more and more of this Central City System our puppet plaything! Plus...we will also be striking other cities as well, Cloudsdale, Battania, Manehattan, even Canterlot~"

"You aren't going to win this, we're on the side of good and they have always prevailed! We struck you hard and we'll strike you again!"

"Ooooh, you still think you are the good guys, even when you are more or less officially villains. I can relate to that kind of situation, Sis."

Cypher would then freeze for a moment, before looking at her and saying. "Delete Key was eliminated, killed and cremated when she turned against Harmonize."

"She was part of the force, an older sister who once ran the Cyberguard. She was the one ironically who caught you, but reasoned with you. Eventually helping you become who you are today, or rather were not too long ago."

"How do you know that??" Cypher would reply, perplexed and shocked.

She would tap on the wrist computer, before saying with a familiar voice digitally replicated. "She was also part of the original project that helped to start the PSS, or PRS as it is now. She was the original mare with the brain augmentations before she realized just what she was doing. She wanted to help build the next step in computer technology, while also helping ensure its safety. Then she learned exactly what Myriad was planning for it. She opposed that and tried to tell the others, however she was made to look like she 'turned' against Harmonize before being assassinated."

"HOW DO YOU KNOW?? How do you mimic her voice??"

"She escaped, you see she helped develop the element of 'uploading' and escaped her mind into Cyberspace! She left a decoy so she wouldn't be followed. Then she came into the Deep Web, depressed and hiding away. Disgraced and depressed, she went around wreaking as much havoc as she could on there. Soon enough after finding herself hunted she was forced to law low, and found herself living in the dark side of cyberspace for a long time. She even found some crazy but rather fun friends online as well. It was there she learned about the underground, what it was like and how it so truly surpassed the society Harmonize maintained."

"......Delete Key...?"

"Her friends had a cybernetic body made for her, and it was there she learned of the underground. There are awful ponies there, but there's also good ponies there as well. And they are all free, all free to pick their own path and even to fight for righteousness if they so chose. Unlike in this system, you worked for, working alongside conniving corporate suits who conned you into thinking they wanna 'protect the ponies too'. All while they could easily exploit their power and buck over the populace without justice. This system of yours is corrupt, diseased, and the only better thing is to destroy it. Perhaps then the good ponies out there can build a better world......I saw the flaws of the Underground...but I also saw the freedom...the opportunity. The only good justice is justice that is free from political and corporate control. From that realization, and my friendships I started to form the Freedom Fighters. Maybe you will learn like I have, now that they have bucked you over too Sis. You and that Chief both." The screen would turn off before Cypher slowly looked to Kevlar.

Kevlar would grimace, looking to Cypher slowly.

__________________________________________________________________

Owl, Vision, and Data would watch as the footage concluded. Seeing the Chief and Cyberguard head escape through the smashed window. They saw and heard it all, audio and video both.

"My Luna...even the princesses are on board with that...." Vision would say "I can't believe this."

Data would remark "They really wanna control everypony's minds, like some supervillain plan. Only unlike supervillains....they think themselves the good guys."

"I don't even know who are good guys and bad guys anymore...." Owl would remark, before looking to them and saying "Anomaly may be our only hope now."

"We aren't going to turn on the princesses, are we?" Deca would say, a worried tone in her voice. "That's crazy..."

Owl would look at her, glaring as he said "We as Lunar Guard aren't here to protect the Princesses, we're here to protect Equestria. We haven't been mere guards for Canterlot and the Princesses in years. As guards, our purpose for centuries was to protect Equestria. It still is, even if the princesses are turned against us. We can't let even the princesses turn from that purpose. Even if they successfully enact that system ponies' minds will remain vulnerable to hackers. There will be ponies who will exploit this system, and the more it is implanted into society the more they are vulnerable. Even Gryphons from outside Equestria may hack into the system. Furthermore, it doesn't protect ponies minds, it takes away their freedom to be who they are. Letting the government and clever hackers both change it at their will. For Equestria and our duty as guards, we must stop this."

Data would chuckle nervously, before sighing and saying "I hope we can get more guards on board and on our side, I don't wanna turn on my fellow comrades."

Vision would say "We need to send a message to all of the Guards. We need to let them know about this, and try to turn them from this system."

"We need to let them know about it, before it is too late. I didn't know about the PRS, Harmonize, anything till Anomaly revealed it to me. They will not likely know either, we need to reveal it to them." Owl would say, getting up and spreading his wings. "And we will need to do it quickly, we may have struck the cyberterrorists down but they may rise up again."

Data smiled, then got up as she said: "Let's go save Equestria, stop those Cyberterrorists and these harmonize ponies."

Anomaly would give them all waypoints, messaging them. "This is where the Chief and Cypher are, make sure you aren't followed. I will keep this from being tracked."

The three would all get up, exiting the room and walking down the hall. As they entered the lobby they would suddenly be met with guns pointed at them from S4s.

"Who are you getting orders from?" Vision would say sternly.

"Stand down and we won't-"

"WHO ARE YOU GETTING ORDERS FROM!" Vision would say back, sternly in a yell. "Because it sure a buck isn't your Chief."

"G-g-golden Belle said the Chief has turned on us, and that we need to answer to her." a nervous S4 would say.

"The whole Harmony council has decided developing the system that allowed pony's minds to be hacked is the best course of action. They want to use brain augmentations to control everypony, and let them do what they want with ponies minds. The Chief is opposed to this, and is now likely being hunted by them, THAT is why you aren't being ordered by the chief!"

The S4s would look to eachother before lowering their guns. "They want to do that...?" Another would ask "There's a system to control ponies' minds?"

"Yes, it isn't finished but they intend to complete it soon enough. We have to stop them, we have to stop all of them."

"For Equestria." Owl would say. "The hacker Anomaly let us know, and we need to let her help us for the time being. We need to be ready to deal with the Cyberterrorists as well.....even if we must do it rogue."

They lowered their guns as one said: "Things were quite confusing, what do we do now?"

"Stay here, cover our escape. We need to get to the Chief, be ready to come to our aid if we need you." Owl would say, to which the S4s would nod and let them past.

They would follow the waypoint, moving quickly and slipping past the cameras as much as possible. Anomaly would assist by tampering with those cameras as much as possible. She would get some help when the DJ came on and entered call with her.

"Looks like you're up to something, care to tell?"

"Helping my agents slip past Harmonize's watch, I may have a foothold to fight them. They made a mistake turning on the Chief, and I am going to exploit that."

"Ooooooh exciting~ I like it!"

Anomaly and DJ would assist the three in their way toward the Arcade, soon helping them slip into the building. Showing their badges they would move to the back, where they would meet Cypher and Kevlar.

"Owl? How did you....?" Kevlar would ask, confused.

"Anomaly gave us a waypoint to you reach you." Owl would say. "We came as fast as we could, and know what happened."

"Good." Kevlar would say "Because we are in quite the situation."

Cypher would say "We at least know how the cyberterrorists got into the PSS...or PRS rather. DK, their apparent head is a former pony of Harmonize. DK....is Delete Key..."

"The former head of the CyberGuard??" Data would ask, perplexed. "How is that possible? She was murdered years ago!"

Cypher would sigh as she said "She was deemed a threat, though through a lie from Myriad apparently, then assassinated."

Vision would scowl as he asked "Assassinated??? Harmonize does that?? What was she claimed to do?"

"Claimed to have turned against us, when in reality she apparently discovered what me and Kevlar only just discovered. She was also a prototype for the project that Anomaly went on to work with." Cypher would reply. "She ended up uploading herself to Cyberspace, and fully turning against us."

"Well ain't that a twist." Data would say, before asking Kevlar "Are we going to end up having to turn against them you think?"

Kevlar shook his head, saying "I don't know, I can only hope we can make some ponies see to reason."

"We need to inform the Guard, Chief." Owl would say "We need to open them to the truth."

Kevlar would sigh, walking out to the screen as he contemplated that course of action. Looking back to Owl he would say "Every pony that we tell is a risk of having everything spill out. If everything spills out it could lead to mass panic, it could break down the social order."

Owl would look to him firmly, saying "We need to let them know, let then know that the Harmony council has gone corrupt. Turn them against them, only then might we pressure them to turn away from this."

"We can only hope Owl, we can only hope." Kevlar would say with a sigh. "But it seems like it is our best chance for not needing to fight our comrades. Let's get out of here, we need to go to Canterlot."

"What about here? What if the Freedom Fighters decide to hit this place while we are away? Go for some revenge after we whooped them to Tartarus and back?"

"You stay here with Cypher, Data." Kevlar would say "You'll keep here in case that happens. Owl, Vision, with me."

The three bats would walk out of the Arcade, the daytime sun once more straining their eyes. Across the busy street would come none other than SteelWheels. "Hey, Anomaly had me give you guys a ride. Consider yourselves lucky you're with her 'cause I don't normally take police on rides."

Owl would say "Good thing you came along, taking the train wouldn't be the best idea. We don't wanna be tracked."

The three would step in before the mare would take control and roll off. "We're heading out to the highway, so it'll be a long trip. You bats might as well get some shuteye while we're on the trip."

Stepping into the vehicle Owl, Vision, and Kevlar would all sit back. They were all quite tired, and fortunately the half zebra mare would press a button to make her windows tint to filter the light. "My carriage has got a lotta features, customized it myself."

Out to the highway, the autocarriage would drive. The InterCity train had effectively killed traffic on the highways between cities. The edge of Everfree was marked by many buildings under constructions, metal skeletons being tended to partially by bionically augmented workers and machines. Beyond that was the plains, the dwindling and uninhabited rural areas. The road was quiet, with the sound of tires on old asphalt and the whine of the engine being all that broke silence. With the timber mostly cut down for wood products, most of what was left was plains and hills which lie below the highway bridges and roads which made up the route to Canterlot. Owl would look out the windows, seeing some bushes and patches of wildflowers pass by. It was surreal seeing a place devoid of the metal, concrete, glass, and artificial light that made up cities.

A few hours passed as they rolled along the highway, linear without any exits. It was just one ten lane highway, five for each side. The sun would move slowly through the sky with its time, and by then all three of the bats would have fallen asleep. Given how empty the highway was they would be unaware that the driver was running the autocarriage well past one hundred and twenty miles per hour in some places.

Eventually, they would see the great rings of Canterlot approaching in the distance, the urban spill coming into sight as they approached the start of the city. The mare driving would slow down, and decide she would find a place to park to let them rest before dropping them off. Before being in sight she would change the car's color, making sure to keep incognito at all times. From the empty plains of the dying and uninhabited rural land, back into the urban sprawl.

Author's Note

I didn't want this chapter to be another dialogue and exposition heavy one, fortunately, I had these ideas to give it some action.