Altered Equestria

Epona Industries

Sub-Lab 6

3:10 PM

Time flies when you work with a good team. Twilight Sparkle reminded herself as she looked at her interns, watching them work on their collective projects. Exoskeletons; had to say, the frames were coming along rather nicely, just goes to show how good a job they were doing. 'Honestly I didn't think that they'd be making this much progress in such a short time. We have them for three months, and yet I get the feeling we'll be done with this before the times up.' She thought to herself before making another noise.

Three months, that was how long the Internship was going to be, they were almost hitting the second month now. They weren't remotely close to being done with their projects, but the progress was still remarkable. A group of hard workers combined with a couple late nights of extra work had done wonders for their progress. Granted the extra hours they tended to put in wouldn't affect their paychecks, but it seemed most of them didn't really care at the moment.

Of the twenty-one that were interning at E.I., only 7 were in this group, being lead by Twilight Sparkle herself.

There was Ivory Thorns, Velvet, Roads, Mix Drinks, Wire Circuit, Feather Duster, and Black Ashtrail. She smiled at her group, taking a minute to check the time before calling out.

"Alright everypony let's take a ten minute break and then we'll get back to work." She told them as they dropped their tools and just took a moment to stretch and sit around the table. "That goes for you too Black."

"Hm? Oh right sorry." The dark stallion muttered as his tools hit the table and he scratched his head.

"Man I'm actually kinda beat." Feather muttered as she rested her head on the table and yawned. "I haven't worked this hard in a while."

"It is getting pretty late, you can head home in you want." Twilight stated as she looked at the group and watched Feather grin.

"Thanks Ms. Sparkle, but I think I'll help work on this till our extra hour is up before I choose to head home." The mare stated as she got a nod from Drinks.

"Same." Twilight levitated a book to her side as she opened it to a page she had left off at.

"I'm not complaining, but it's almost like you guys don't want to go home." She said with a loose smile before shaking her head.

"It's not that, I just get really into my work, I could do this all night if it was allowed." Roads admitted as Black nodded his head and he started messing with his bracer.

"Ms. Sparkle; I'm going to make a call real quick, is that alright?"

"It's fine Black." The mare stated as the stallion's earpiece started to bring up a display as he moved to the corner of the room.

"Still as much as I'd like to stay the whole extra hour, I can't." Velvet stated as she looked to the others.

"What's up, you got plans?" Feather asked.

"Yeah, I got I actually have tickets Countess Coloratura's concert tomorrow." Feather whistled as she started to drift away.

"Lucky~"

"I thought they were all sold out." Roads admitted as he looked to the mare. "How'd you get your hooves on those?"

"I got my tickets a couple months ago in advance. Cost a lot of bit, but I got em." Velvet admitted as she looked at the stallion.

"How many you got?" Roads asked.

"Just two, one for me and my little sister. She's a huge fan so I had to."

"Ah~ still nice work, I'm sure she'll be stoked." Wire stated with a smile.

"I'll say." Feathers muttered.

"What's up Feathers, you don't sound so interested." The stallion shook his head as he smiled lightly.

"Sorry, I am, really - I mean I'm a huge C.C. fan myself it's just… my minds a little elsewhere at the moment."

"Ah so where are you?" Wire asked.

"I'm just… you guys heard the news earlier right? About the protests in Canterlot?" The moment the words left her the room developed an odd feel to it as Velvet blinked in confusion.

"There were protests in Canterlot?" The mare asked.

"Yes." Twilight cut in as she turned her attention towards her group. "They're demanding that congress put more severe restrictions on altering the Equestrian body's natural abilities."

"Again? How many protests does that make this year?" Ivory muttered in annoyance.

"Don't know, I wasn't really counting." Roads stated. "But it's getting pretty bad. They're getting more support everyday and the Boosters running around causing trouble aren't exactly hurting their cause."

"Damn… they should know that not all augmented are like that. Most of them just want to have as close to a normal life as they can get." Wire grumbled.

"Yeah, my pa's got Augs and he wouldn't hurt a fly." Drink muttered as Black sighed audibly before returning to the others.

"Could say the same about my brother." Roads stated as he stared off into space. "But there's nothing we can really do about it at the moment."

"You're right." Twilight looked at her bracer and she checked the time. "Alright everypony, I know I said we could get back to work, but let's call it a night. We'll continue this tomorrow."

"Right." Was the unanimous response.

"Um~ actually, Ms. Sparkle?" Black began as he looked at the mare for a moment. "Can I ask you something?"

"What is it?"

"If it's alright I'd like to stay here a bit longer to work on this." Black muttered as he looked at the exoskeleton.

"Of course you do." Twilight muttered with a smile. "Just let me check in with the boss to see if it's alright." The mare stated as she started messing with her bracer. for a moment.

"Thanks."

"Trying to get a head start on tomorrow, Black?" Roads asked as he looked at the stallion and started cleaning up his station.

"Not exactly." The stallion muttered as he looked back at his work. "Whenever I work I keep going until I find a good stopping point, and I just don't think I'm at that point yet."

"I think I can get that." Roads stated.

"Alright, Black, she says it's alright, but she's only letting you stay for an hour, that's all we can offer you tonight."Twilight stated as she looked at her intern and got a nod in return.

"That's fine." The stallion stated as he returned to his work and the others just gathered up their things.

"Well I gotta go." Velvet stated as she stared at her hooves, watching the metal fingers retract and seemingly disappear. "I swear that always looks a little weird… either case I'll see you guys tomorrow?

"Yeah."

"Later Black, Ms. Sparkle."

"Take care everypony." The mare stated as she watched everypony leave for a moment before checking the time and reached for her bag, pulling out a book to read as she turned to a marked page.

"So what's today's book?" Black asked as he continued to work.

"Digital Haze." Twilight stated as she turned a page. "It's about young stallion, who's trying to figure out what happened during the past week of his life, all the while dodging police forces and an apparent hit-squad out to get him."

"Ah." Black made a noise as he continued working. "Not a bad read."

"My brother recommended it to me, but it doesn't really fit my tastes."

"Brother?" Black looked up from his work as he turned to the mare. "You have a brother?"

"Mh hm." Twilight turned another page. "I never told you guys?"

"No." Black took a minute to return to work. "What's your brother like?"

"He's a great pony, he's always been there for me growing up." Twilight stated with a smile. "He's always been the kind to look after everypony, and make sure they're safe, I guess that's why he joined the Police Force back in Canterlot."

"Your brother's a police officer?"

"Mh hm." Twilight. "One of their senior officers, last I talked to him he was taking on a rookie." It was Black's turn to make a noise as he stopped working and set his tools down and looked at his hoof. A telekinetic field disappearing as he took a minute to roll his hooves and take a breathe. "Sore hooves?"

"Yeah, it tends to happen when I focus telekinesis to act as fingers for to long." Twilight looked at the stallion, closed her book for a moment before walking over to the dark pony and made a noise as she checked his hooves. "Usually I just need to take five and then I'll be fine."

"I see. Still I'm a bit surprised." The mare stated as she released his hooves.

"About what?"

"You have remarkable control over your telekinesis, it's almost on par with a real unicorn." She admitted as she looked at the stallion's earrings. "It's impressive, you must have practiced quite a bit."

"I'd be lying if I said I hadn't." Black admitted before rubbing the back of his head. "My mom got me used to using it, She wanted me to try learning to control my equestrian magic when I was little."

"Is there a reason for that?"

Black scratched his head before nodding. "Yeah actually. I used to suffer from IMB." Twilight blinked in surprise.

"Really?" IMB - Inversive Mana Burning. It was a condition some Equestrians developed. It happened when their innate mna reserves were to high and their bodies could handle it, the mana started attacking the body like white blood cells against disease. So far the only way to really deal with it was by either syphoning off excessive mana or learning magic control practices.

"Yeah, Mom had me study magic control practices to help get better."

That's good to here." Twilight muttered as Black nodded his head and started to focus, one of his earrings glowing as he focused his magic around his hoof, molding it from a wave of aether into five bony astral fingers. He flexed them before lifting up his tools again. Twilight just took a moment to watch, taking a seat next to the stallion as her book was left forgotten.

"You have an interesting technique." The mare stated after a while. "Who taught you to build like that?"

"I'm mostly self-taught actually."

"Mostly?" Twilight asked as Black nodded.

"I use a few techniques my mom taught me to build firearms, then I just edited the method a bit in order to get what I needed."

"I see." Twilight muttered as she continued to watch before her bracer. started to go off. Leaning back the mare answered, a familiar screen forming over her eye. "Hello?… yes, I see. I'll be right there." Hanging up on the caller Twilight made a noise as she pulled herself to her feet.

"Trouble?"

"No, I'm just being called upstairs, the others need my help apparently." The mare stated as she made her way towards the door. "You won't cause any trouble if you're left alone, will you?"

"No ma'am, I'll be good."

"Good." Twilight stated as the door closed behind her as Black returned his gaze to his work, he popped a few joints in his neck and stretched.

"We'll I got just under an hour to work on you, let's see what we can do."

Epona

CEO Office

4:15 PM

She never liked that statue. The mare stated as she looked at the item before floating a ball to her side. "I swear this thing only brings back bad memories." She muttered as threw the ball at it for a moment and watched it harmlessly bounce off. "Still, that said you have your place here - remind me of the past." She admitted before floating her ball back to her side and started to bounce it against the floor.

Turning her attention towards the world of Manehattan outside her corporate office, she just made a noise as she lets some form of classical musical play in the background. A cup of aged wine resting beside her on the desk, mostly forgotten, as she pulled herself from her chair and started to walk towards the window. "City's beautiful tonight." Muttering to herself the mare just sighed slightly as a series of screens popped into existence at the wall behind her.

"How's everything going with the Project?"

"It's taking some time, but we're making progress."

A stallion's voice called out as the mare just smiled.

"Good."

"This is a particularly ambitious project, Lady. Red."

"Are you sure we'll be able to finish this before we have to go to Canterlot?"

Twilight's voice spoke up as Lady Red turned to her desk for a moment and levitated her wine to her side.

"We should be able to, after all we have the best minds in Equestria working on it." The CEO stated as she stared off into space. "Unless you don't think you'll be able to."

"It's not that; I would just like a bit more time to ensure we have everything working properly before we show this to the world."

"Is that all?" The mare took a drink from her wine. "I guess you do have a point, but there's not much we can do about that can we? We have to show this to the big wigs in Canterlot in just a couple months."

"Is there anyway we could speed up our production time?"

"We could get more hooves to help us… maybe the interns?"

"No,"

Twilight's voice rang out.

"As of now this project is still confidential. We can't have anypony outside of Epona personnel learning about this."

"Correct." Lady Red took another drink of her wine. "We brought them hear to learn how to better their craft not our private projects." She admitted as she turned her gaze towards a particular street. "That said I -" The silent alarm cut her off, the CEO looking towards the monitor behind her as it turned red and started flashing a message.

Alert

Environmental Malfunction

"Environmental malfunction, laboratory sub-section five. All lab chiefs, please report in."

Lady Red just frowned as she looked at the screen before crossing her hooves. 'Malfunction?' "What's going on down there?" What responded to her was a garbled mess of static. "Report in."

"Holy- where did these guys come-"

"Oh god don't shoot!"

"We've got armed forces!"

The mare frowned as she took a breath. "Damn there probably here for..." She muttered before waving her hoof, bringing up another barbled holoscreen for her to look at. "Security Team do you hear me?"

"We read you."

Epona

Sub-Floor 6

"Environmental malfunction, laboratory sub-section five. All lab chiefs, please report in."

"Hm?" Black made a noise as he heard the automated announcement. "An emergency?" The stallion muttered as he stared at the flashing red light before looking back to his work. "I'm still not at that point yet, but I should evacuate just in case." The stallion admitted with a slight pout before pulling himself from his station and grabbed his bag. "Let's see… if that's the case I should find the emergency exit… this way." The stallion muttered as he walked off towards the stairs. The young stallion made it without much remarks, stopping only when he saw somepony running the other end of the hall.

Without much prompting he raised a hoof intending to call the pony over when a noise filled the grounds and the pony dropped.

"What on-" Seeing somepony else walking down the hall Black blinked, stepping back as he caught sight of the weapon they were wielding, and taking a moment to aim at him. "Oh-!" Black didn't wait, he raised his wings and jumped. A sudden flap sending him down the direction he had just come as he turned before running. Gunfire filled the hall, and it was either by pure luck, bad aim or some higher power that kept him from being hit during the short interval. "Shit!" Black screamed, though the noise was drowned out by more gunfire as he turned a corner and took cover. The wall he hid behind was quickly riddled with holes and he reached for his bag. "Wow wow wow, don't shoot! I'm just an Intern!" He shouted as he tapped something on his bag and hidden compartment popped out the side. "What's going on - are you with the the ESF? If so I'm just an intern, why are you shooting at me? "

The figure just walked forward before stepping into the corner. At the same moment they turned however; Black snapped a wing forward and smacked their assault rifle, forcing gunfire to be fired sporadically to the nearest wall as he used his second wing to slap the weapon magazine and rip it out. When all he heard was an empty click Black was pushed back his attacker- a bipedal- as they used the butt of their weapon to try and knock him upside the head. They missed, as Black used his wings to grab onto it, and for his reward he was pushed back into the wall as his attacker kicked him. They discarded their weapon reaching for a knife and brought it down.

Another miss. Although it was just barely; the blade slamming into the wall and sliding downward as Black used the wing holding it to push it to the side. With little prompting they raised their second limb, and made a fist, bringing it down on the stallion's opposite wing as it curled around him as a makeshift shield. Five hits, and a trio of muffled shots rang out, forcing the attacker to step back a bit and stare at the wound punching through their kevlar. When they looked back at their target they saw that he was using telekinesis to hold a handgun, as he re-aimed it. One more shot, this time smashing into the protective mask as their head snapped back. The moment that it did though Black moved, lunging forward as he pistol-whipped his attacker in the throat and caused them to gag. A wing grabbed their helmet, pulled it forward and made them curl into themselves before pulling the helmet off their head and smashed his gun into the back of their skull until they stopped moving.

His attacker down Black took a breath and looked at his work. "Ok… I've never met an ESF since I've been here, but I'm pretty sure you're not one of them." He stated as he raised his bracer. "Call Police." The number dialed, however that was only before it started being replaced with static. "Oh come on… call Police, call Police…" More static. Black just swore as he looked at the downed assailant. "Must be jamming the signal… just great." He muttered as he turned back down the hall and started to run.

This was not his fight. Whatever was going on right now he had absolutely nothing to do with it - as such he had no reason to get involved. He was just an intern for the company, not one of their actual staff or security personnel.

Shots rang throughout the hall and Black groaned to himself. "Damn it, Black you really should stay out of this." Didn't mean he was going to. "Fuck." Running down the hall the stallion reprimanded himself, only to he run back, stopping when he reached the still unconscious attacker and took their rifle and mag. "I'm gonna need this." Heading back the way he had come from the stallion didn't bother stopping, running across the halls and stared at the countless broken windows and dead.

Now Black wasn't one for sabotage, but he recognized a torch and burn anywhere. Monitors were broken and equipment was smashed. There was no attempt at salvaging anything, simply hit and destroy all the data. But that was all besides the point.

What mattered was that at this moment the stallion jumped into one of the destroyed rooms when a hail of bullets almost punctured his skull. He looked at the direction that he had been shot at, seeing a couple of figures starting in his direction before he took a second to look around. When they reached the room he had been hiding in they took aim, searching for the stallion in the small room only to find him missing.

"Where'd he go?"

"He's gotta be in here somewhere."

A bit away and down the hall Black crawled out an air duct and looked back at the pair as they stepped into the room. "Nope." Without much thought he took off, heading further into the building and took in the sights. An emergency wall was stuck, halfway locking part of the rest of the hall away but he still made it by crawling under the opening. About to step further into the next hall the stallion hugged a wall when he saw that a number of others were walking through it, more or less patrolling the area as he hung his head. "Looks like I'm not getting through this hall without some noise." He aimed the rifle, taking a much needed breath before releasing a shot as one dropped. Another shot, another one dropped. Then a third, then a fourth.

"Just like mom taught you." Black whispered as he took another shot. The rest of the group caught on at this point, opening fire as Black took cover and looked at his weapon. "Accuracy's good. Nice stopping power… little on the heavy side though." The stallion remarked as he turned and took aim. "What I'd expect from an Atlesian-model." A series of bursts left the weapon as everypony dropped and he stepped forward. One of them tried reaching for their side arm, a near impossible task considering that a hole went in their hand a moment later. Another tried, he shot their arm as well. "Be smart and stay down, try reaching for your weapons you'll get the same treatment." Apparently they were all hard at hearing; the moment they all started reaching for their weapons again he put a bullet into their arms. All of them effectively crippled he turned their bodies over and took their rifle magazines and shoved all but one into his bag. The last one he replaced popped into the rifle he was holding and looked at all he had done. "Sorry."

Black made his way down the next part of the room, kneecapping and disarming everypony that he couldn't be able to simply sneak past. When he was done he technically robbed them. "So glad mom taught me to shoot. "The stallion stated as he looked at the rifle again. "There's certainly some curious modifications added to this thing…" Black would have loved to take a real peek at this in his spare time, but as it stood he had other matters to attend to. "While I'm at it." He focused, two earrings glowing as he focused on a second spell.

He was in a good spot so he could focus properly, this spell needed his full attention to use properly. His body glowed a minute later static dancing around him before fading away as he nodded his head.

Turning down a corridor Black almost bumped into somepony. He raised his rifle, they knocked it away, pulling it forward and smashed the butt of their weapon into his and forced him to drop it. They took a second to aim, he countered by snapping a wing out and grabbing their weapon magazine before pulling it out, so all they got was an empty click when they tried firing on him. He moved barely a moment later, kicking them in the groin as they doubled over as he got to his feet. Charging the would-be shooter, he tackled them to the floor, made to bash their heads against the ground. No luck, the figure raised their clawed fingers, grabbed his head before bringing it down on their helmet and headbutting him, forcing the stallion to stumble back. They took a moment to get to their feet and grabbed his head again, this time dragging him towards a nearby wall before ramming the ponies skull into it a few times.

When Black dropped they reached for their sidearm, stopping only to find the holster empty and found the weapon pointed at them from the stallions hoof. Four shots, rang out, two in the legs, two in the arms sent them sprawling as Black just took a second to stand and rub his aching skull. Looking at his attacker trying to move he just took a moment to rub his head before checking the side arm magazine. Reloading it, he let out to more shots, this time in their clawed hands as they screamed for a moment. Taking that as his cue to leave Black moved, stepping over the body and retrieved the pilfered rifle along the way before muttering an apology and ran off.

"My head's gonna be ringing for a few hours." The stallion muttered as he rubbed his had and continued to run. Further he ran, the more damage he found, more bodies too. Scientists, and attackers of him wanted to puke the sight. "Looks like a shootout." He muttered as he slowed his run and looked around. "Guess the E.S.F. finally got involved… hopefully they won't try shooting me just because I'm here. I can not deal with two different groups trying to shoot at me today."

"Should have thought of that before you barged in here." Freezing Black felt something press into the back of his head. Him and his big mouth; had to jinx it. Glancing at one of the working windows he found somepony flickering into existence behind him.

'Thermoptic camo.' The stallion thought as he grunted and dropped his weapon. 'Now that's something I haven't seen in a good while.'

"You don't look like the ones that are attacking. Who are you, somepony that thought they could just sneak in here?"

"I'm an intern. I'm working here for the summer." Black stated as he dropped his weapon and raised his wings to show he wasn't armed anymore. "Are you with E.S.F.?" 'Always wondered if I'd run into one of these guys, just wish my first meeting with one didn't involve one pointing a gun at the back of my head.' The stallion thought before turning his attention forward.

"An intern? What are you doing up here?"

"Being stupid." The stallion stated as he looked back for a moment. "I swear I'm not your enemy. My name is Black Ashtrail, you guys should have me on file." He paused for a moment. "I even have my ID if that helps prove I'm not -" The stallion paused as he saw the flames shimmer for a moment. He didn't think, he just moved, ducking down as the E.S.F. opened fire. A minute to late it seemed as they went flying over his head and into the hall. They hit something, causing the air to glitch for moment before another flicker into existence.

Seeing a new target the E.S.F. member opened fire, spraying round after round at the armored target as they stepped forward. Black put some room between them, pulling out his sidearm before opening fire. The infiltrator simply reached forward, their left arm opening up as both weapons seemed to be ripped from their individual grips due to telekinesis before throwing them to the side as they charged. They threw a series of punches, first at the E.S.F. member them at Black before grabbing the stallion and throwing him into a wall. They returned their attention to the E.S.F. member a second later, rushing the individual as they started blocking to the best of their ability.

"Oh man… give 'em one thing; they hit like a runaway train." Black got to his feet and charged, tacking the figure from behind. Off balance they looked back before making a noise. They reached behind them, grabbing the stallion's tail and hoisted him over their back and onto the floor before raising a leg. The stallion rolled to the side as they brought it down, and the E.S.F. member jumped over him and planted their hooves into the figures chest and pushed them back.

They pressed the attack, charging, turning and planting a hard kick into their chest as they went back a bit further. Black retrieved his sidearm him and opened fire, planting round after round at the figure before they tossed the E.S.F. member aside and charged across the room, lunging at the shooter and tackled Black into a wall. A fist smashed into his face and broke his muzzle, the second he barely managed to avoid by twisting his head to the side as it went through the wall. The third time though went for his barrel causing him to cough up a bit of blood as his attacker stepped back and threw him across the hall. It was either because he lacked the time or the strength to recover properly; Black more or less just wrapped his wings around his body as he smashed into a glass screen and found himself colliding into some equipment. He grumbled to himself as he tried picking himself up as magic flickered around him.

"Ow~ ok Black new plan… new plan… oh goddess everything's blurry."

"Black?" Hearing his name Black looked to the side as he stared at the a blurred figure seemingly hiding under a desk.

"Ms. Sparkle?" Stumbling forward he paused when something smashed into his head and pushed him back. From the feel of it, it was a foot, what came after was the back of his head colliding with the wall behind him. He grunted, trying to look up as he found the same armed figure dusting themselves off and looked behind them at the frightened mare. "No… leave her out of this…" They just turned back to him, and with barely any hesitation drew their sidearm and pulled the trigger.