Altered Equestria

Epona Industries

3:30 PM

A full day of working brought a smile to Black's face; and because of that it was actually with a disappointed sigh that the young stallion found himself having to leave E.I. His inner techie was telling him to try getting in a few more hours to work. Epona's workspace after all, was something that he liked, there was more room for him to do his craft here instead of at the shop back home.

"I wonder if we can expand the building…" Black muttered as he grabbed his bag and made his way towards the entrance. "Problem is that costs a lot of money." Black thought out loud as he used a wing to scratch his head. "Stil if we could expand the building a bit, maybe we could add a few more things in, or at least spread out since we're still in a cramped space." Making a noise the stallion failed to notice somepony running up to him.

"Black, hey Black!" Turning the ashen stallion looked to see a dust colored earth-pony trotting up to him.

"Oh hey Roads." Roads was one of the interns that worked with him. Seemed like a few of the others were beside him as well. Mix Drinks was a unicorn stallion with a deep blue coat and orange mane, and he had a bored look on his face. Velvet was a unicorn mare that truly lived up to her name. Ivory Thorns, a pegasi mare with ivory fur and greenish yellow mane. "Hey guys heading home?"

"Actually we were going to hit the city for a bit." Ivory stated started flying next to the dark stallion. "You know, take a minute to relax and see the sights."

"Roads was wondering if you wanted to come." Drinks muttered as he stared off in the distance.

"It'll give us a chance to get to know each other." Roads stated as he looked up at the dark stallion. "You interested?"

All Black did was smile a bit and nod his head. It sounded like a good idea, after all, he wanted to get a better look at the city himself. 'If they hadn't brought it up, I'd probably just head to my hotel and work on some small gadgets until tomorrow.' The stallion thought to himself. "Sure."

"Awesome!" Roads beamed as he adjusted his bag. "Well you heard him guys, ready to go?"

"Well where are we going?" Velvet asked as she stared at the stallion for a moment.

Wherever the day takes us!"

That was more or less what they did; the five equus just made their way around town, taking the time to enjoy themselves. Velvet got them to take a couple pictures, Roads found small store for them to window shop at, and Black? Well, Black kept doing detours at other cyberware shops. As of now though; the five found themselves sitting at a local burger joint, taking a moment to eat as they rested their hooves.

"You really like tech dont you?" Roads asked as Black just scratched his head and gave a nervous smile.

"You can tell huh?" Ivory just made a noise as she looked at the dark stallion.

"Kinda hard not to." She began with a smile. "It feels like everytime we walk past a shop you disappear into it for a few minutes to either talk to the shop owner or to stare at their wares." She took a bite of her food as Mix Drink nodded his head.

"I… guess you got a point." Black admitted with a nervous chuckle. "But yeah… I like tech, I'm a pure techie."

"I bet." Mix Drink muttered as he took a bite of his food. "You're enthusiastic about it, it's a good thing."

"You never work a day if you do something you love, right?" Velvet stated as she took a drink.

"That's how the saying goes." Black muttered as he gave her an embarrassed smile. "What about you guys, you like working with tech?"

"Yeah, just not as much as you obviously do." Roads nudged the stallion in the side as he spoke.

"What got you guys into this anyway?" Black asked as the Mix just shrugged.

"It gives me something to do for the summer." The stallion muttered before returning to his food.

"Well, I got into it because of my dad." Ivory stated. "My dad and I use to work on his hovercar a lot when we had time. It gave me the basics about building. It turns out I was pretty good at it."

"Really?" Black got a happy nod as Ivory smiled.

"Well I got into this because of school." Velvet stated as she drew the others attention.

"School?"

"Yeah, there was a bring your parent to work day at school, and one of my classmates folks works here at Epona." She gestured to the direction they had come from and towards where Epona should be stationed. "They said there was an internship coming up for all young inventors. I took a shot and they seemed to like my internship papers." Taking another drink Velvet got a noise from the others.

"I actually didn't know anything about it till my job coach told me about it." Roads admitted as everyone looked at him.

"You have a job coach?" The stallion just nodded.

"Yeah, had one for about two years now." Roads explained. "They've been helping me get internships so I have something to put on my resume."

"Nice." Velvet stated as she got a grin. "What about you Black? How'd you find out about Epona?"

"Same as Roads, but I didn't find out about it until a few days ago when we were about to start."

"Seriously?" The others gave Black a look as he nodded. "So you could have missed this?" All Black did at first was scratch his head before nodding his head.

"Yeah I guess so." He gave a more genuine smile as he thought back. "Ion helped me send out internship papers to just about every cyberware company in Equestria. Epona just responded first."

"That so huh. Well you had options then." Ivory stated as she took another bite off her food. "Still glad you came here."

"Same, Epona's a dream for any cyber surgeon." The dark stallion admitted as Ivory chuckled. What?"

"That's not what I meant." She stated as she looked at the dark stallion over for a moment. Black just looked at Roads and Mix in confusion. One just chuckled the other chose to distract himself with his drink.

"So what do you guys think about Dynamo leaving?" Mix asked after a while and Velvet just frowned slightly.

"Dynamo… Dynamo,that was who again?"

"Dynamo was the stallion they brought up earlier when we were on break." Mix stated as he took another drink and Velvet made a noise.

"Right, he's the one that got sent to the hospital." Velvet slammed a hoof on another as she nodded. "Sorry, I kinda zoned out after they said he was going away, what happened again?"

"Did he have an accident?" Black asked as Mix shook his head.

"Nah, he apparently had a lot of stuff in his system." Mix explained as he frowned. "You know Clarity."

"Oh right." Roads muttered as he crossed his hooves. "Man that's tough, wasn't there a lot in his bag too?"

"Yeah, the CEO said there was enough to distribute to everyone on company grounds." Roads made a noise. "So while they had him at the hospital they called the cops and arrested him."

"Pour guy." Black muttered as Mix shrugged.

"Yeah, but he brought it on himself." Roads admitted as he shook his head. "But seriously, who brings drugs on company grounds anyway?"

"Someone who thinks they can get away with it." Mix stated as he shrugged.

"Uh… question." Ivory asked as she leaned on the Table. "What's Clarity?"

"You don't know what Clarity is?" Black asked in between drinks.

"No, should I?" The group looked at each other as Black took another drink.

"I guess not, I mean, less you know your drugs." Black stated as he lowered his cup. "Clarity is a drug that stimulates the neurons in the brain to better understand and learn things while granting laser like focus." He explained for a moment. "My mom told me about it once, said it was used by ponies who were desperate to meet their deadlines and stuff." 'She also said some of her old mercenary buddies used them…' "The chemical compound pretty dangerous though, use too much of it and the over stimulation can cause a seizure, even if that doesn't happen when it runs out you start falling apart."

"Yeah, I had a classmate who took that stuff once." Roads muttered with a sigh. "Said it took the edge off from studying, didn't say it made him start forgetting things."

"Why would Dynamo bring something like that on Epona grounds?" Ivory asked as Mix finished his drink.

"Well the CEO said it was probably for distribute, so I guess it was for us. Help us focus on what we were building… or it could be he just couldn't function without it anymore."

"Either way it's pretty sad." Roads admitted as he sighed. "So can we change the subject now?" The rest agreed and their conversation shifted.

Manehattan

Sprawl 8:37 PM

The Sprawl; It's the heart of the cities; heart of Manehattan, the heart of Reins an so much more. It's where anything and everything can happen. It's where the clubs reside, it's where the restaurants are set up and a few thousand other places. It's the best place to be,where anyone and everyone goes. A pony could disappear in the cities nightlife, blend into the crowds, hit up the nightlife, maybe even get their hooves on some cheap - if blackmarketted- hardware.

It's also the perfect setting for the corporations and street gangs have their dirty work done. After all, anything could happen in the Sprawl, didn't matter if it was in the old capital of Canterlot or one of the many arcologies like Reins.

"Alright guys see ya tomorrow." Black called out as he and the others parted ways. A smile found its way to his face as he watched them leave, before going off on his own. "They're nice, I'm glad I get to work with them." The stallion muttered as he turned a corner, disappearing into Manehattan's Sprawl and taking in the sights. He honestly liked the Sprawl at this hour. Sure, Reins had taught him anything it was that the Sprawl usually grew more dangerous as the hours past, but that was just the price of living in a metropolis. "Still long as I stay away from the bad part of town things should be fine." The stallion thought as he looked around. "I know I should probably head to my hotel, but I also want to take a look around town first and get a better feel of the city."

"Mama mama! Look Sapphire Shores' is on tv!" Hearing the voice Black turned his head to see one of the street tvs. True to the young filly's words Sapphire Shores was on, singing one of her latest singles for all to hear. Listening to the song play for a bout Black made a note to buy the single later before turning on his way. Sapphire Shore's a great artist, she's always been a great artist, but if he was gonna be honest; Black prefered Songbird Serenade. She was cuter in his book. Don't get him wrong Sapphire Shores was easy on the eyes, but she was more Glides type. "Not that I'd have a chance with Songbird Serenade anyway." He admitted with a light hearted smile as his stomach growled and he groaned. "Oh come on, I feed you a couple hours ago, how are you still hungry?" His stomach didn't answer and Black just sighed. Fine I'll grab you something to eat, just give me a few minutes to find a spot."

A few minutes turned out to be 15. He found a Halal stand and ordered a gyro, took a seat on the side of the ground and started eating. It wasn't much but it'll do for a quick dinner.

Turning on his Smartwatch he set it to act as a radio.

"Mares and Gentlecolts, words can not express how excited I am to say that 5th World Enhanced Games games will be help in Equestria this year."

Blac almost choked on his food. "What really?"

"So far over 8000 augmented athletes from around the world plan on participated. This marks the first time Equestria has been chosen to host the games and everyone seems to be excited…"

"Well I'll be damned." Black muttered as he took a bite of his food. "I wonder if I could get a ticket to watch." He thought for a moment before leaning back and turned skyward. "It would be nice, I mean I've never been to the games." He huffed. "Then again I've never really been into sports to begin with." Black admitted before returning to his food, stopping only when he saw

someone disappear into an alleyway. "Hm?" On impulse he turned, tilting his head slightly as tried peeking down the alley only to fail.

To be curious or not though, that was the question.

Getting to his feet Black finished his gyro and using a wing to chuck the foil wrapper into the trash. That done he flapped his wings, taking to the sky as he flew over to the nearby building and stared down at the alleyway. A hooded pony was heading down the alleyway, a bit of a limp in their step as they continued walking. They staggered for a moment as Black got to his feet for a moment, stopping only when they kept walking. "Where are you going?" He asked before watching them drop. Watching them struggle Black just took a breath before jumping down and glided to the floor. Whomever was on the ground looked at him, and even with their hood on he could recognize the panic and pain in their eyes. "Easy… easy, I'm not hear to hurt you." He stated as he stepped forward and looked them over. "You're bleeding." He muttered as he used a wing and hoisted them up. "I'll get you to a hospital."

"Who the hell are you?" A mare's voice called out as they looked up.

"Not important right now." Black stated as he started walking further down the alley and adjusted the mare on his back. "Just know I'm getting you help."

"Help huh?" The mare on his back chuckled. "You're not from around here, are you?"

"Nope." Black admitted as he flapped his wings. "Anyway I'll get to a hospital. They'll be able to take care of you."

"No hospitals." The mare muttered.

"You need medical attention." Black countered as he frowned. "You're going to bleed out at this rate."

"No. Hospitals." His counterpart choked out as Black shook his head. Taking a moment he looked back into the street for a moment before shaking his head.

"Alright, hang on."

Manehattan

Epona Industries

9:00 PM

Yawning to herself the CEO of Epona just took a moment before taking a drink of her coffee. Red Blade frowned at the taste; its bitter as usual, but something's a bit off from it. "This is why I don't usually buy cheap brands." It was just too bad she was out of the good stuff. "And my buyer won't have any more until the month is up." She groaned as she set the cup down and returned to looking out at Manehattan. A few minutes after she did a Warning screen came to life on her window as she sighed. Clapping her hooves in response the image of a young mare popped up on screen.

"Shut off the power! Shut off the power!"

"What's going on downstairs?" She asked as she looked to see Twilight Sparkle coughing on screen.

"Apologies Ms. Blade, we're experiencing a malfunction with Project Grimiore."

"Ah, should have guessed, it blew up again did it?" Red Blade saw fire extinguishers in the background as Twilight turned her head for a moment.

"Yes I'm sorry, but it's still going to be a while before it's ready."

"That's fine." The mare muttered as she closed her eyes and floated her cheap coffee to her lips. "I wasn't expecting it to be ready at this point yet anyway."

"Lady Blade?"

"It's an ambitious project, and we still have plenty of time before out deadline." Red Blade stated as she stuck out her tongue. "Gross… till time's up, we'll keep working on Grimiore, make certain it's ready." She reaches for a crimson ball on her desk before making a noise, tossing it in the air a few times with her magic before closing her eyes. "In the meantime, Twilight, what do you think of your group of interns?" Twilight blinked before smiling slightly as she adjusted her glasses.

"I think they show wonderful promise. They're individual styles are a bit rough, but they are talented, not to mention hard-working; I don't think I could have asked for a better set of interns."

Twilight got a nod as the CEO of Epona turned to her. I'm happy to hear that." She admitted before going quiet. "Any problems though?"

"Not yet, at least not from my group."

"Perfect." Red Blade smiled lightly as she closed her eyes. "Anypony you find that stands out though? Anypony in particular worth mentioning?"

Manehattan

Dusty Mare

5:40 AM

"Fucking hell."

"Language." Black muttered as the mare lying on his bed started to come back to. His Hooves stayed on her form, one of his earrings glowing as it cast a pre-loaded spell. Before him the mare just looked around, dazed confusion on her face before she turned to him. "Morning."

"Where am I?" Throat sounded parched, wasn't to surprised. She tried sitting up and he just held her back down, his attention no shifting from what he was doing.

"Don't move yet, we're not done yet." The stallion ordered as he continued to focus and the mare tilted her head to look herself over. Her wounds were healing, closing at a gradual, but accelerated pace.

"What are you doing?"

"You have a full set of subdermal bio-wires woven under your skin to simulate and repair your body's damaged tissue." Black stated. "I'm manipulating those wires in order to further speed up your healing." The mare just looked at him as she stared in surprise.

"How do you know that? You a street doc?"

"Not even close." Black stated with a smile as he stopped what he was doing and tapped an earring. "I'm just a techie, one that uses magic.

"Technomage." The mare stated as she stared at the stallion.

"Bingo." Black stated as he yawned into a hoof. "Anyway that should do it. Though I'd still recommend you stay in bed for hours. Especially since once I turn off that Pain Inhibitor your going to feel like you just went through hell."

"Hm…" The mare muttered as she stared at the dark stallion. "Who the hell are you?"

"Just a stallion who has work in a bit and hasn't had a lick of sleep." Black muttered as he stared off into space. "I guess I'm gonna need coffee if I plan on surviving work today." The stallion grumbled as he got to his feet and started walking towards his balcony. "Anyway, you can stay here for a few hours, meanwhile I gotta go."

"You're just letting somepony stay at your place?" The mare asked as Black chuckled.

"It's nothing like that, besides this isn't even my place. This is just a hotel I'm staying at for a while. That's all." Black admitted. "Anyway, take care, /I'll be back in a few hours."

"I'll be gone by then."

"I bet you will." Black admitted as he pushed open the balcony and started walking off.

"Wait." Stopping Black looked at the mare, confusion on his face as he watched her frown. "Why'd you help me?"

"You needed help." Black said simply. "And I don't know any better when it comes to not poking my head where it shouldn't be." He scratched his head. "It's a huge problem of mine." He laughed nervously. "Anyway, bye."