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                     Altered Equestria                     
                       -by Zeroraid-                       
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                         Prologue                          
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Prologue
Reins
Mid-day
Reins; rumor was that Reins was a prototype city made during the first couple decades of the Golden Age of Technology. An arcology, supposedly the first of Equestria's offshore colonies. If anypony wanted in or out of the city they'd have to take either the seatrain or the airships which cost a bit of Creds.
To be fair though, not many actually want to leave. Most of their needs and desires are met by the local corporation branches scattered throughout the cities. Then again; that's how the major corporations around the world want things. Since before the Golden Age ended the corps understood that it was adapt or die. Their product had to keep changing, shifting - mutating to keep everypony interested in what they wanted. City denizens feed the machine and the machine takes care of them; it's a parasitic, symbiotic relationship, but it's a relatively healthy one.
The thing is though, despite how healthy the relationship currently is; the corps aren't satisfied with it; they want - need more, and the only way they can do that is by eating each other. For the corporations; espionage, theft, kidnappings, murder and the like are just file folders in a systemized architecture of success.
But that's for another time.
Right now, focus on a minor shop in Reins. Its name; Ashtrail Industries, a three floor building composed of a basement, shop, residential area. Up until three years ago, the building was named Ashtrail Firearms, but that changed when current Owner, Pygmy, renamed it do her sons innate talent for building things other than firearms. Because of that talent and some renovations, the shop was composed of both a Gunshop and a Cyber-Lab. As for the basement? It's been the shooting range ever since it's owner was a filly. They kept it that way, just did some changes to spruce it up a bit.
All that said, Pygmy's son, a young Black Ashtrail, just sits in my lab and stares at the table - well technically he stares at the mare on it who's sound asleep.
… It's not nearly as weird as it sounds.
He's merely waiting for her to wake up again. He'd put her under for a good few hours while he'd been working on her, and now it's time for her to come back out of a medically induced coma. It doesn't take too long by the way, but he does keep an eye on her vitals just in case. When she comes back she's a bit dazed, looks like she'd been sleeping for a good day or two.
"Wha~" Those are her first words when she starts to shake off what was pumped into her hours ago. "Wha happened?" She looks around, stares at the stallion for a moment with that same dazed look before turning elsewhere. "Where am I?"
"Ashtrail Cyber-Labs." He tells her as she looks back to the stallion in confusion before shaking her head. He just uses one of my wings, reaches into table cabinet and pulls out a small flashlight. "How are you feeling?"
"I'm sleepy." He just gives her a small smile as he steps up to her, point the flashlight in her eyes and check them.
"Yeah sorry about that." He tells her. "But I'm not really surprised. That feeling tends to happen when you're under for a while." He admits. "I'm just happy I didn't have to up the dosage to keep you out."
"Why?" She asked in a dreamy, almost cute way.
"Well you wouldn't want to wake up and find yourself being cut open would you?" That made her eyes focus on him surprise on her face.
"Cut… cut open? You mean it's possible I could have —"  
"It happens sometimes." He admits. "Not just here but at the clinics and with the street doctors." Especially with the street doctors. Sometimes a pony just wakes up and their brains start processing everything that happens to them before they go back under; he heard some street doctors didn't even use anesthetic to keep their patient sleeping. He has no intention of telling her that though; she might have a heart attack if he did so he'll keep that to himself. "I'm happy to say that you were a perfect patient though, you didn't wake up once."
"Thank the goddesses…" The mare mutters as he pulls the flashlight back and lets her look at herself. "Does… this mean that we're done?" Black just gives her a smile.
"Yes the surgery's over Ms. Swift." Gesturing to her legs - the lower pair as she takes a moment to look at them. He's asked her about the injury before he'd gotten started. She'd been in an accident — a car crash, and lost her two back legs. The damage had been extensive; said that the Doctors told her that her hind legs were crushed beyond repair - said she'd never walk again. That was two years ago, and now, it looked like the accident had never happened. "Do you want to test them out?"
Ms. Swift doesn't say anything for a moment as she simply stares at her legs. The mare twitches, and her legs follow. All four of them. Her breath hitches at the movement, looking to her surgeon as he nods his head and step back to give her some room. Another twitch and the legs still move. With a bit of caution she eases herself off the operating table and onto the floor. Front hooves first, hind legs next. "I'm standing." Whispering in bewilderment the mare looks at her legs and back to the surgeon. "I'm standing." She steps forward, hind legs are a bit slow to follow her commands but she's moving. "I can walk again!" Ms. Swift starts to tear up and on impulse he uses a wing to catch the few that fall down her cheek. Unprofessional? Yes, but she didn't seem to care. She welcomed the touch. In fact she welcomed it so much that she rushed forward, stumbling for a moment as she tackles the stallion.
"I can walk again! Thank you! Thank you!" She's hugging him, practically crying into his ash colored fur. She trembles and he awkwardly pats her head. Whispering how welcome she is and not to mention it over and over again. "Thank you…"
"Am I interrupting something?" From the doorway a new mare's voice calls out and they both look at her. It's the shop owner, the stallion's mom; she's a relatively tall pink unicorn, with a two toned purple and blue mane pulled into braid with the rest halfway covering one of her yellow eyes. She carries a few scars from her previous occupation as a merc, but even with them, she's still relatively attractive. Least that's what his friends say. To be honest, it's a very disturbing thought actually; to know his friends thought that way of his mother. Regardless Pygmy Ashtrail has the biggest smug look on her face as she stares at the two. "If so I can come back later."
… Black doesn't get what she's implying.
He just looks down to Ms. Swift for a moment as she just stares up at him. Hr coat turning a bright shade of red after a quick minute, breaks the hug and stumbled backwards. She starts to babble an apology before she stumbles again, falling under her feet with a quick yelp. She doesn't hurt herself though; her Cyber-Surgeon moves to grab her so she doesn't knock anything over.
"I gotcha." He tells her and help her back up. "Careful next time, you're still going to need some time to get used to the new legs."
"R-right of course." Swift muttered as Pygmy and her son lead her towards the door.
"You'll need a few weeks to months of practice to get used to them, but afterwards you'll be all set." He tells her and she simply makes a noise, taking slow steps as she followed through the rest of the shop.
"I can feel…" Swift muttered as she looked back at her hind legs. "I can feel them." She turned to the again.. "What did you do - I mean how can my legs look normal - how can I feel my legs?"
"Easy easy." He stops her before she tries to continue. "It's Synthweave. An artificial covering that resembles the skin. As for the feeling; it's a combination of sensory impulse lines located directly under the weave to provide a sense of touch." I give her another smile. "They work by sending signals by connecting to the nervous system and the brain registers the incoming signals as sensory stim—"
"Sweetheart." Pygmy cuts him off, giving a humored look. "You're about to do the thing again."
"Ooh right sorry." He mutters quietly. Black well, he likes tech, a lot actually. He's not a Cyberware Enthusiast, but when he got exposed to tech or starts talking about it, he tends to blab. Either his mother or his friends usually found themselves stopping him before he got too far into his explanations though. "Uh… basically it allows you to feel stuff." He states as they brought the mare to the lobby.
"I see… thank you." Ms. Swift responds as she looks back to her legs for a moment. "So um… what did you do with my old legs?"
"You know, not everypony we augment asks that." He admits. "Usually they just don't care cause they got the better version on them now." Honestly he doesn't know what the others do with them, but he doesn't keep them around. 'I mean that would just be weird… well more creepy weird but yeah.'
"My son put them in the furnace a while ago." Pygmy admits. "They're ash now."
"So that's what you always do with old body parts?" Ms. Swift asks.
"It's what he does." Pygmy admits.
"Swift!" Hearing another voice we all look to see another mare pulling herself up from a chair and trotting over.
"Swell!" Swift calls out as she approaches the mare, still wobbling a bit but her progress is amazing.
"Y-you're waking again! I thought—" The mare hugged her counterpart, whatever she was going to say being reduced to unintellectual babbles as the mother and son look on. "Are you ok, you were in there a long time."
"Im fine sis. In fact I've never been better." Swift told her as her sister looks her over. She wiggled her hind legs, telling them to move and they responded to her commands. It's a nice sight.
"You guys were able to fix her legs, but I thought—"
"I didn't fix them." Black admits as he look at Ms. Swell. "They were to damaged for anypony to repair, had to do a full limb prosthetic limb replacement."
"But the doctors…" Swell began. "They said that the damage was too extensive. They said that even cybernetics would be impossible. We've even gone to other surgeons and they said the same thing."
"None of them were *my* son." Pygmy states proudly as she looks to him. "Doesn't matter how extensive the damage he can fix it with tech. I don't think there's a pony out there that can outdo him when it comes to equus augmentation."
"She exaggerates." The stallion states and rolls his eyes. "Anyway Ms. Swift will need some time to get used to her new legs, till then she'll have some trouble walking in a straight line. She'll be fine if you don't push her too hard though." Black states as he looks at the sister.
"Right, of course." Swell beamed as she looked at her sister. "Well sis are you ready to go home?"
"Um hum. Thanks again Dr. Ashtrail." That earned her a chuckle.
"Black will do; and come back any time if you feel your legs are acting up." He tells her as they start on their way.
"Of course, goodbye." Black and his mother just wave the pair off as they start to disappear. When they're out of sight though Pygmy adopts another smug look as she looks at her kid.
"She likes~ you." Black just rolls his eyes.
"She was just happy to have her legs back mom, that's all." He counters before stretching his wings. "I swear, you think every mare I meet likes me."
"Well you are growing into a handsome stallion. You're bound to start turning heads at this rate." She wasn't exactly wrong. Her son, was growing up to be quite a looker. Sure his muzzle hadn't fully grown in yet and he wasn't that buff as the "ideal stallion", but he stood a head taller than she was, and bore large great wings. His white mane framed a pair of glasses and eyes of gold. "And at this rate I'm going to have to keep the shotgun out."
"Yeah right mom." Yawning into a wing Black takes a moment before walking back inside with his mother. "Either case I think I'm done for now. Nopony else seems to be waiting for replacements or check ups."
"That's true." The mare takes a moment to mess with what appears to be a bracer on her hoof, bringing up what looks like a holographic display that she started to browse through.
Spelltech Bracer, it was a device made some centuries ago. Despite the name it was more a small mana powered computer terminal, though through an earpiece a pony could also use it as a phone or radio. Just about everyone - every pony or griffon or kirin had one, so they weren't too uncommon. Trick was making them. They required a very specific set of skills for a pony to make them and an even more specific set of materials that couldn't just be bought over the counter.
Not going to lie; Black *really* wanted to get the materials to try making one…
"You want me to make some lunch? You should be hungry after all that work you did on her." Mom states as he just smiles.
"Honestly I'm starving." The two of them make their way behind the counter and head upstairs. Entering the residential part of our home, Pygmy just starts messing with her bracer, bringing up a holographic screen and started to flip through it, her eyes looking through the mail she had received while Black just drops down on one of their couches and start to relax.
"Bills… junk… junk… ooh that dress I bought on the net is being shipped today." Black recognize the glee in her voice.
"When will it get here?" He's almost dreading that answer. Seriously the price of that thing…
"Few days from the looks of it. I was beginning to wonder if they'd run out of stock." Black just gives a brief almost muted noise.
"With the price on those things I wouldn't be surprised if they still had a bunch in stock." He mutters.
"What was that sweetheart?"
"Nothing mom." Black say a bit quicker than he'd like. "Talking to myself." Picking up a nearby book he starts to browse through it with a smile. The books one he's read through a few hundred times now. It's a space odyssey about a ragtag crew that seemingly gets into trouble everywhere they go. It's a good book… the only problem is that it was discontinued a long time ago. So there's no sequel to find and look through. His favorite character is this mare named River, she's a bit weird but that's just because she's been experimented on for years now.
"You did good today Black." Pygmy states as she finishes her browsing and starts looking through the fridge for something to make. "Thanks to you a mare's able to walk again."
"She didn't deserve losing her legs to begin with, all I did was give them back." He admits as he turns a page in his book.
"Just like that little filly who had Osto… Ostogen- that brittle bone stuff." He just flips a page in his book.
"Osteogenesis imperfecta." Pygmy makes a noise.
"Right that; and then there was that stallion who'd gone blind… that pony needed a new lung, that grandmare who suffered from severe memory loss." Ok he had to cut her off right there.
"That last one doesn't count mom." He looked up from his book with a smile. "All I had to do was give her a few neural implants and she was good to go."
"By~" She trails off as he snorts.
"By reinforcing and augmenting the synapses in the memory centers of her brain, making it possible to recall knowledge she had unintentionally locked away in her mind." The stallion shrugged. "No big deal."
"No big deal he says." Mom chuckles to herself. "Mares and gentlecolts - I give you my son the super genius, Black Ashtrail." She shakes her head. "Swear you have a gift sweetheart, and it's great that you use it to help ponies."
"Well I am an Ashtrail after all." He reminds her. "And we help ponies, that's our motto."
"Really?" Pygmy makes a noise. "Strange last I checked our family motto was 'You won't find a better place to buy your guns on this side of Equestria' … hm I might need a few memory implants myself."
"You know what I mean mom." Black snickers. "We help ponies, it's what we do… and your memory's fine you don't need implants to make it better."
"You just don't want to augment me." She pouts.
"I augment those that need them. You don't need them." He tells her.
"And if I did?" Black just shrugs and goes back to my book.
"I'd augment you free of charge." He tells her as she just perks up.
"Really?" She returns to the table, two bowl floating beside her as she drops down on the second across from her son. "Free of charge huh? Why, because I'm your mother and you love me?"
"No, because any money I'd get from me augmenting you goes straight back into your pockets."
"Damn right it does." The mare gave him a smug look as she notices something. "Oh looks like you have a call." I look down, stare at my bracer and notices that it's releasing a small audio buzz as it glows.
"Hm, guess so…" Tapping an earpiece he just wait as it spread a holographic image over my left eye. "Hello?"
"It's good to hear from you Black."
Hearing the voice Black smiles for a moment, as he leans forward. "Hey Ion, what can I do for you?" Ion was Black's Job Counselor, helped him get into internships programs and job offers.
"I've got some good news, you remember those internship files I helped you fill out?
"Ion? what does he want?" Pygmy asks as she raises an eyebrow.
"He's asking about my internship papers..." Black stated as he just turns a page in his book.
"That Pygmy, how's she doing?"
"Mom's fine, but yeah I remember. What about them?" Ion just makes a noise on the other end of the call.
"It turns out that somepony wants to meet with you, give you a shot."
Whether he intended it or not Black's tail started to wag as he puts down his book.. "You'd better not be pulling my leg Ion."
"I wouldn't joke about this kid."
"What is it?" Pygmy asked.
"Ion says there's a place I can Intern at." Pygmy's yes brighten as she stops eating.
"That's wonderful news! Where at?" She asked as Black shrugged.
"Where can I intern?"
"E.I."
Black's tail went stiff as he heard the two letters. His heart stopping for a moment as well before it started itself up again. "E.I. as in Epona Industries? The company that does everything from cybernetics to pharmaceutical drugs and aerospace?"
"The very same."
"How— I mean how did you get me an internship there?" He heard Ion chuckle.
"I didn't do anything but help you with the paperwork. You're the one with the skill set they were looking for. Anyway someone there saw something they liked and decided to give you a shot at their paid internship program. You still interested?"
"I… Yes! Of course I am, but where do I… what branch wants me to intern?"The stallion started to sputter before Ion cut him off.
"The Manehattan Brranch."
"I— ok I— I can't go to Manehattan!" Yelling suddenly Black failed to notice his mom starting to mess with her bracer. "That's back in the mainland, I can't go to Equestria!"
"Oh yes you can." Pygmy cut in as she continued messing with her Bracer. "Ticket~ already~ bought." The mare stated with a smile. "You're all set for a flight tomorrow morning."
"Mom!" The stallion shouted as his mother's smile began to slip.
"Black Nucleus Ashtrail do you know how many ponies would kill to go work for Epona?" She didn't wait for him to answer. "A lot! And they're giving you a chance to see what they have to offer. I am not letting you miss this opportunity." The mare gave her son a look of finality as he opened his mouth to say something.
"I… ok…"
"Good now that that's settled, I'll see you in Manehattan."
"Ion - wait…" Black heard Ion hang up as the earpiece started to fizzle out into blocks of orange. For a moment he said nothing as he stared into space. "I… I'm going to Manehattan." He said after a while. "But what about our shop?"
"We'll have to close your cybernetics lab for a while." Pygmy admitted. "But I'll be able to manage the gun shop in the meantime - still got plenty of buyers around here."
"Well yeah but—"
"No buts Black." Pygmy stated as she gave her son a smile. "This is a golden opportunity for you. You show them what you can do and you might be able to get signed on full time. You'll finally be able to get out of this one trick town."
"But I like this one trick town…" Whining Black looked down as his ears dropped to the sides of his head.
"I know you do honey… I do too, but the world has more to offer than this. We get by on your cybernetics and my weapons dealing… but just working here— it's a waste of your skills." She reached across the table and grabbed her child's hooves. "There's so much out there, so much for you to learn. I don't want you to miss out on it alright? I want to see you blossom even further than you already have. Ok?" Going quiet Black just looked down and took a breath.
"Ok mom." Black gave his mom a light smile as she hugged him. "You sure you'll be fine without me for a while?"
"Course I will, I mean even with you gone I won't be alone. I mean Anima will be here to keep me from getting lonely."
"Yeah he will…" The stallion blinked for a moment before groaning. "Oh damn it."
"What's wrong?"
"I forgot to let Anima out after he ate." The stallion muttered. "Poor guys probably going stir-crazy in his cage."
"Well you were pretty busy earlier today. I'd be surprised if you didn't forget to do something." Black grumbled under his breath as he picked himself up for a moment.
"I'll be right back."
"Take your time, food needs to cool a bit anyway."
"Right…" Walking over to his room Black pushed the door open without so much as a thought and the moment he did, he was greeted with what sounded like chirping. A red and white bird rested in its cage, just waiting to be let out. He smiled at it. Using a wing he waved at his pet before walking into his room.
His rooms a bit of a mess; one tettering at the boundary between a techies workstation, and a bedroom. There's plenty of building tools scattered about and small creations - trinket's of fused steel and alchemic magic. Likewise there are texts on old magic and science stacked around and papers lie scattered with scribbles. His room almost always smells of something - a byproduct of the union of unnatural chemicals they reside on a table. This week it makes his room smell sweet, but he actually he chooses to pay it little attention at the time.
"How's it going Anima. Sorry I'm late." Releasing Anima from its cage is lets out a small visible burst of static before it started to fly around the room. "Was really busy this morning, had to do pair of full leg replacements for Ms. Swift Hooves. Took me a bit longer than I thought it would." Feeling the bird land on his wing he smiled before patting it's head. "Sorry for forgetting about you earlier. I promise I'll make it up to you when I get back." Anima simply chirped before Black chuckled to himself. "See I gotta leave you and mom for a bit. Got an internship with Epona so I'm going to go to Manehattan." Anima chirped again as the stallion shrugged. "Yeah crazy right, I wasn't expecting them to answer when Ion and I sent out those internship papers. Most I was expecting was Gringlot ya know." Another chirp. "I'm leaving tomorrow morning apparently, but I'm not sure when I'll be back." Another chirp. "Yeah I'll be careful, and don't worry if anything happens to me, you know how to find me." The stallion smiled as his bird nuzzled him. "Love you too."
"I'll never get over the fact that you can communicate with that bird." Looking to the doorframe Black could find his mother smiling at him. "Animal tongue really is impressive."
"It's not that I can really communicate with animals mom." The stallion muttered with a smile as he let Anima fly around his room. "It's more like I can understand their feelings. There's a difference."
"So you say. It's still something amazing, not many can pull that off. Be really helpful with dealing with the dogs and try peeing on our walls." All Black did was chuckle for a moment before smiling.
"Sorry mom, no can do. Believe me I've tried, most I can do is get them to stop doing it while I'm outside."
"Boo~." Pouting his mother plopped down on his bed as she patted a spot next to it. Without a word he obeyed and say across from her. "You haven't been taking care of your mane." The mare noted as she ran a hoof through it.
"Sorry, been so busy working, I haven't really had the time to." Shaking her head his mom used her magic to open one of his drawers and pulled out a brush and comb. "You don't have to ya know, I'm old enough to do it on my own now."
"Maybe, but you haven't so far." She noted before she began brushing his mane. For a while neither said anything, simply enjoying this moment together as they listened to the rain outside. "So~" The mare began.
"So?" Black repeated.
"Meet any cute mares?" The stallion just groaned as he glanced back at his mom.
"Mom…"
"What I'm serious. You're a handsome young stallion Black." The mare stated as she continued working on his mane. "I know there are some mares out there interested in you."
"Name one." He seriously doubted that she knew a mare that was interested in him.
"Velvet Spanner." She didn't even wait five seconds to respond.
"What- no way." This time actually looking at the mare Black gave her a surprised look. "There's no way I'd try going after Ms. Velvet."
"What's wrong with Velvet?"
"She's married!" The stallion stated as his mom just shrugged.
"She's interested."
"No mom, just— just no." The stallion grumbled as he shook his head for a moment. "Try somepony else."
"Willow Shades." The look he gave her was more confused than anything.
"Really?" The mare just nodded her head as she adjusted the comb to continue working.
"Really. She's always stopping by the shop to see how your doing, and she gets so disappointed when she finds out you're still out." Pygmy smiles as she just stares at the mess of white that was his mane.
"Ah hell…" The stallion grumbled.
"What, she's not a bad catch. She's pretty, she's young. She's smart." Black just shrugged. Mom was right, she was all of those things. But…
"She's practically plastic." Glancing at his mother Black sighed. "Seriously she's got more implants than one of those playcolt mares Glide has pictures of."
"Well you have me there." His mother admitted with a shrug. "Certainly looks like she could be a playcolt mare." The mare admitted before shrugging. "Still you know she used to be always insecure about her looks. She just decided to do something about it. Granted she could have tried some other methods that didn't involve what had to be trillions of bits in plastic surgery and body sculpting, but I swear even without it she's a good catch. Bet she could make you happy~." At that Black released a sad smile as he shook his head. "It's just a thought you know. When you take over the shop your going to need a wife to help make me grandchildren."
"Sorry mom, but you're going to have to wait a while before that happens."
"Why?"
"Because I'm not looking for a marefriend - besides you're not nearly old enough to worry about having grand-!" Stopping midword Black yelped as his mother pulled at a particularly thick knot in his mane. "Ow ow ow!"
"Sorry sweetheart." His mother muttered as she worked her way through the mess of her son's mane. "Your mane wouldn't be so tangled if you took care of it more often - or got it cut."
"But I like my mane long~" The stallion whimpered. "Feels natural."
"I bet it does." The mare muttered as she continued her work. "Now back to my previous question… have you met any cute mares?"
"Mom~" The stallion started to whine.
"I'm not dropping this." Pygmy admitted.
"I know." He grumbled as he stared off into space.
"So have you found any?" The mare pressed as the stallion shrugged and started to think.
"Well… I don't know, maybe?" He grumbled again.
"Have you slept with them?" That earned her another look, this one of pure surprise, and a hint of disgust. Seriously, was she about to ask him about his sex life - or rather lack of.
"Mom!"
"I know how this goes sweetheart." Pygmy stated without a hint of playfulness. "That time of year - adolescence kicks in, and hormones are high. Even if you don't start developing feelings for the opposite sex. You start to develop certain… urges."
"Oh sweet Equestria we are not having this conversation." This was quickly becoming a conversation he wanted out off.
"All I'm asking for is a yes or no sweetheart. Have you been sleeping with any mares out there…" The mare paused. "Or stallion's if your into that."
"I— I mom no!"Shaking his head Pygmy had a moment of trouble trying to work on her son's mane.
"No what? No you haven't been sleeping around or no you haven't been sleeping with stallions?" The stallion snorted.
"I haven't been sleeping with stallions."
"So you have been sleeping with mares." Black just looked at the mare.
"No!"
"Boo~" Pygmy stated as she worked on another knot in the stallion's mane.
"Mom~" Black grumbled as he took a much needed breathe.
"Hey I want grandkids someday, and I'm not getting any younger you know."
"You're 38!" Black countered as Pygmy frowned.
"Not. Getting. Any. Younger." Finishing her brushing the mare nodded to herself as she set the tools aside and look at her work. Reaching for a blue hair tie the mare pulled his mane back and tied it back. "Done." Watching her son sigh in relief she shook her head as he cracked his neck.
"Thank mom." Looking over to his table he walked over to his table before using his wings to lift up two pairs of engraved green earrings. Fastening them onto his ears the stallion did a quick shake before looking to his mother and smiled. "So… anything else you wanna talk about before I start packing? Anything that doesn't involve my non-existent romance/sex life." At that the mare went silent as she looked at her child before another smile crossed her face.
"You've really grown you know that." She muttered after a while. "Looking at you, it's hard to remember you're still the same little foal that used to take apart my electronics - I mean you still do, but you've learned some level of self control." Black made a noise as she shook her head. "You've become a fine stallion Black."
"I have you to thank for that." Pygmy got a hug as she smiled.
"Yes. Yes you do… be careful ok? Promise you'll be careful?" The mare asked, a worried look on her face as she breaks the hug. "Manehattan's a big city, anything can happen."
"I know mom, and I promise I'll be careful." Pygmy just smiles as she looks at her offspring.
"Also; bring a gun." She said with a tone of finality that brought the return of shock to her face
"Mom!"
"What?" She asked innocently.
"Why do I need to bring a gun?"
"Self-defense." She just smiled at her son. "Duh." Pulling herself from the bed the mare stretched for a moment before stepping towards the door. "Anyway I'll give you some privacy to pack, you have a long flight tomorrow." Pygmy stated as Black just pouted, watching his mom leave before staring off into space and leaning back on his bed.
"I'm really doing this… I'm going to Manehattan."

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                 Stepping into Manehattan                  
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Stepping into Manehattan
Equestria
Manehattan. 9:15
Manehattan; it's a city that never sleeps. No matter where you go, no matter when you get there there's bound to be at least some part of it that's still awake and alive. Streets are relatively crowded and lined with thousands of lights. Billboards show the latest advertisements pulled straight from the datasphere; showing either the latest fads like cosmetics or outfits. Sometimes they'd switch to display up and coming movies or new cds from famous artists.
All that said Black simply takes it all in as he enters the city. Staring at the various lights and ponies going about. Looked a lot like home actually, just… cleaner. "So this is Manehattan… it's certainly… bright." Muttering to himself Black started to walk further into the city although he did stop for a moment when his bracer started to buzz. Tapping his earpiece the stallion sighed to himself before walking on. "Hello?"
"How was your trip Black?"
Ion, honestly wasn't expecting to hear from him so soon. "Tiresome; spent the first hour or two on the plain napping." The stallion admitted before sighing to himself. "Either case I'm here, Now I just need to get to Epona right?"
"That's right, but I'd recommend finding a place to stay first. You brought bags didn't you?"
"Sort of." Black muttered as he felt his backpack for a moment before feeling his earrings. Arcane Runes; they were something that was carried over from the Mystic Age so long ago. They were "retro" but immensely popular among wannabe spell casters. Through the proper engravings these mana infused stones could be "pre-programmed" to do a number of things; amplify innate magical reserves, act as a light source, amplify arcane powers, act a portable storage system, or even act as a short lived weapon.
Hell, he'd there were even records in the past that some even used them to harness the "power of souls" or be used as a phylactery.
Course that ranged under the forbidden arts; Dark Magic, Maleficium.
Black wore four of these Arcane Runes as earrings, so he could use only four spells out of goddess knew how many were out there. "My bags aren't taking up much space."
"Earrings?"
"Earrings." Black repeated as Ion chuckled.
Alright, if that's the case you better head straight to Epona; you know the way?"
"Five seconds." Black muttered as he looked around before trotting off. Bus stop. Not looking for a bus ride but the terminal next to it. Accessing the holographic controls and it gave him a map to work with. 'Let's see I'm… here and Epona is… all the way over there…' "I got a map in front of me and just enough time to get there before orientation though I won't be able to find an inn or hotel in time." Black admitted as he continued looking at the map. "Ooh there's a lot of cybernetics and robotics labs that I can see if I take this route."
"I swear you and your fixation with machinery. You need better hobbies kid."
"What can I say I like what I like." The stallion muttered before downloading the terminal map into his bracer. and walking off. "Besides I wouldn't complain about my hobbies since it's gotten me and my family a steady form of income."
"Well that's true, you turned a gun shop into a cybernetics lab almost completely on your own."
"I wouldn't say that, it was only possible because mom supported what I was doing." Black shrugged to himself before hearing a whistle. Turning his head he looked to see a pair of mares trying to call him over, asking if he was looking for a good time. Though from the way they were looking at him he had a good idea of what they were thinking. He blushed, and made quick work to disappear from their line of sight. "A-anyway I'm going to have to head straight to Epona. Don't want to be late and miss the opportunity just because I was tardy."
"Make sure you don't stop at any of the shops you mentioned. You don't have that much time to kill."
"I know, I know." The stallion muttered as he shook his head. "I can wait an hour or two before I stop to check those places out."
"I sincerely hope so, you want to leave a good impression by making it on time, and being late will definitely come back to bite you if you aren't careful."
Ion stated as Black just took a breath. "Yeah yeah, don't worry I'll be on time."
"Also, make sure you look up a place to stay while your here."
"Got any places you might recommend?" The stallion asked.
"Give me some time to look up a few places. After that I'll get back to you."
"Alright." Ending the call Black went back to looking around. His eyes scanning all the different streets and signs that were present around him. "Now which way if Hoofington street… that way." Walking along the stallion stared at the rest of the metropolis.
Manehattan was arguably Equestria's most technologically advanced city. Arguably, because supposedly Canterlot was supposed to hold that position. Black wasn't sure which really held the title. Still so long as he got to see different forms of tech he wasn't complaining about which city he was in. Glancing at a mare he took notice of her showing off a hoof to one of her friends. It was completely cybernetic- a nice model made by Llamrei Corp. Came equipped with retractable manipulators so she could hold things. Must have cost a pretty penny. "Wonder if she got it for aesthetics or not."
A good question - not exactly an important one but a good question. Go anywhere around Equestria and you'd find a number of augmented ponies. Some having gotten their enhancements simply because they would work better than their originals while others got them out of necessity. He should know - back at home Black had built and applied artificial limbs for ponies that both needed them or didn't. Though the former was thankfully more commonplace back where he was from. Still that didn't stop a few from just getting them just for the sake of it.
"Sleipner Incorporated proudly presents the latest in Cybervision technology. With our new ODIN model cybereyes…"
Looking to one of the advertisements Black watched as it played on. Cybereyes, worked by replacing the actual organ with a cybernetic replacement. In exchange they allowed for enhanced visual resolution, and color coordination. ODIN had the added benefit for seeing through ultraviolet, infrared, and no-to-low light illumination. Also offered telemetry analysis, such as data on heat dispersion, and visual magnification. Not to sure what a civilian pony would do with an eye capable of all that but Black could think of some military usages for it. "Probably the real reason they made it."
"We must put a stop to augmentation!" Hearing a new voice the stallion turned his head to see a pinkish mare speaking. Megaphone in a grip of magic and her blue eyes were - as some would describe - burning with passion. She wasn't alone either. There were a number of other ponies with her, each holding up signs and shouting their own words. "Augmentation defiles the bodies and Equestrian spirit."
"Integrating with the machine is wrong!"
"When will enough be enough?!"
"Augmentation is ruining our society!" The protests continued; some listened, some ignored them. Black was actually one of the ones that listened as they came from across the street. Anti-Augmentation protesters, he knew about them; after all he'd run into a few back home. They were ponies that disagreed with cybernetics enhancement; thought it was wrong to replace the body with mechanics. It went against the goddesses design as they believed. Still they weren't too problematic, beyond talking Anti-Augmentation protesters were harmless. Well… more or less. Purity was one that a pony had to keep an eye out on. Trotting away from the area Black sighed to himself. Purity, it was one of the more radical Anti-Augmentation groups. They weren't mere protesters; they already had committed multiple acts of breaking and entering, vandalism, theft, arson… they were dangerous to say the least. Willing to go to lengths to try stopping pony augmentation.
Shaking his head Black pushed those thoughts away as he took a breath. "Nope, stop thinking about Purity Black, you don't want anything to do with them." Besides, he had more important things to think about. Like Epona Industries and this internship he was going to be a part of. "Wonder what they will have me work on." A good question, Epona built just about everything in the book, exactly what would they have the interns working on? In his mind though Black was busy thinking about all of Epona's current publicized products, and made a noise as he did before tilting his head unconsciously. "I want to say cyberlimbs, I heard that they were busy working on some new models to replace their older ones."
Epona Industries
Executive Suite
"He's headed your way."
"Good." A mare muttered as she looked outside, keeping her eyes on the city of Manehattan as she listened to her P.I.E. "I hope he's as good as his portfolio says he is. We need skilled interns to work here and not just some with an inflated ego that think they know everything."
"You don't have to worry about that, he's one of the best you could ask for in an intern - or an employee."
"I'll be the judge of that." The mare stated as she shrugged slightly and used magic to bring a cup to her lips. "Still I have to say his credentials do seem fabricated. No pony is this talented."
"Trust me his credentials aren't fabricated. He's just that good."
"I'll have to see him in action then won't I?" The mare questioned as she shrugged. "Still Ion, with how often you speak of him I admit I am a tad interested. Granted how long I stay interested depends on if your just pulling my leg."
"Geeze talk about a skeptic - I promise he's every bit as good in the the lab as he is on paper."
The mare simply made a noise as she leaned back in her seat. "I do hope your right Ion. I don't like being pranked. Now if you'll excuse me, I have another call to make."
"Course, I'll be in touch."
"Good." The mare stated as she turned halfway in her seat to look at her bracer. "As will I." Ending the call the mare stayed silent as she stared out her window again. For a while she doesn't say anything, simply puts a hoof on her cheek as she listens to the city life. A moment later she messes with her Bracer, only this time her entire window comes to life with a holographic screen as she begins her next call. "Little Ashtrail…"
Epona Industries
Courtyard 9:30
Epona Industries. Alongside Llamrei Enterprises and Sleipner Incorporated, it made up the part of the trinity of Megacorporations in Equestria. It looked… bigger than the pictures made it out to be. "There's got to be at least 50 floors in this place." Black muttered as he walked into the building; his head pointed upward at all the various floors. The lobby had a fountain but he barely paid it any attention. Instead he was more focused on the ponies going back and forth around the floor. There were no inventions from what he could tell, but then again they were likely on some of the more secure floors. Still this place was quite a sight - that much was certain.
"I think I'm going to cry."
"Go ahead, I won't judge." Another stallion muttered as he joined the pegasi in staring. He wasn't the only one. A number of other ponies had gathered to check out the building interior, their focus darting from one thing to the next in an attempt to take in everything. If one counted there'd be around twenty two. Given their states of dress it was safe to assume that these ponies were others here for the internship.
"Wow…" One muttered.
"Didn't expect there to be so many floors…" Another admitted.
"I never thought I'd actually get to be here." A third said nervously.
"Me neither." The fourth scratched their head.
"Pretty crazy right?" The fifth released a weak chuckle.
"Hello everypony." Turning to the new voice the group was greeted by one of the apparent staff ponies. The mare - like just about everyone - was shorter than Black was. A lavender unicorn dressed in a simple lab coat. Her two-toned purple and raspberry mane was pulled into a bun and she wore glasses over her violet eyes. "You must be our new interns, my name is Twilight Sparkle, it's a pleasure to meet you all." The group responded with a series of different greetings though altogether it sounded more like a jumbled mess. Ms. Twilight Sparkle didn't seem to mind. Out of curiosity though Black tilted his head at the smaller - really average-sized - mare as she spoke. She was~ kind of cute. No jaw dropper, but she was cute. She did look familiar though. Not sure why but she did.
'Twilight Sparkle, Twilight Sparkle… oh I remember! She's the daughter of Twilight Velvet, the astronomer. How could I have spaced on that? I mean she looks almost exactly like her mother.' Maybe it was because her mane was in a bun instead of let down. Nodding his head Black followed after the group as they started to move. Stopping only when a chill ran down his spine forcing him to look around. "What was that?" Finding nothing around the stallion slowly shook his head as he started jogging to catch up with the group.
Up on a higher floor a mare smiled lightly as she continued staring downward. "So that's little Ashtrail…" The mare thought before stepping back from the railing and started to move again. Making her way to the elevator the mare hit a button as she was lead downstairs."Let's see how well you fair, little pony."
"It's a pleasure to meet all of you. I am Lady Red Blade, the CEO of Epona Industries, and I'm here to welcome you to our esteemed company. Many of you have gathered here under the pretense of expanding your skills, others in the pursuit of knowledge. I am here to tell you… that such a thing is in your reach. Here at E.I. we'll be working to advance your skills and knowledge of cybernetics through the introduction of techniques and styles passed down throughout the ages, all in the hopes of assisting you in pursuing your careers as Cyber Engineers and Surgeons. Understand this however, during our time together we do not merely aim to teach you, but we aim to *learn* from you as well. You have skills and styles unique as each of you, and I have learned in my time that when you unite such skills together what you are capable of creating is only limited by your collective imagination. May you enjoy your time with us, and may we make wonderful memories together."

//-------------------------------------------------------//
                          Sparkle                          
//-------------------------------------------------------//
Sparkle
The Dusty Mare
It's not the sunlight in his face that wakes him up; it's the noise that reaches his ears. Sure there's the "sounds of the city" playing in his ears, but beyond that there's the noise coming from his Bracer. Really shouldn't have set it to act as an alarm clock. Regardless, Black listens to it, crawls out of bed with more than just a bit of protest. Yawning, the stallion rubs his eyes and takes a few seconds to stretch. "I'm up, I'm up… not sure for how long though." The stallion mutters looking back to his bed only to get a louder noise coming from his bracer. Seriously, the bed was unbelievably comfortable, he wondered if he would be allowed to bring it home with him. "I wish." Black muttered as he shook his head. "Anyway come on sleepy head, no more dreamland adventures for the day…" Talking to himself the stallion yawned as he headed over to the bathroom and started the shower. Good fifteen minutes later though he was out, still a tad exhausted but at least he was up and moving. "First though I need…" He looked over to his bracer found it still roaring for attention. Without much thought he walked over, shut it off and checked the time.
"I got time for breakfast…" Now he just needed to fill his empty belly. Yawning slightly the stallion looked in his fridge before frowning to himself. "Oh yeah, empty." Sighing he made his way back into the room and started to mess with the built in terminal. "Hello this is room 72, I'd like to order room service." Placing his order a moment later the stallion settled on the floor and looked around. The Dusty Mare; it's one of Manehattan's many hotels. Wasn't the largest or the fanciest, but it had just about everything that a pony could more or less ask for. After yesterday's orientation the stallion had went looking for the place - really any place that would be close enough for him to rest his head for a few hours. "Love to be back home in my lab though." The stallion muttered as he got to his feet and checked the door.
"Room service." A mare called out as she wheeled a cart into the room and smiled.
"Thanks." Black returned her smile for a moment, though it dropped the moment that she disappeared. He was to busy digging into his food to hold onto it. It was pretty easy to distract the stallion sometimes, all one needed was either tech or food in his face. Pausing for a moment Black heard a familiar ringing as he groaned slightly. Got a call it seemed. "Seriously I just got up..." Black muttered as he looked at the counter. "Answer."
"Hi sweetie, it's mom."
"Hey mom, wasn't expecting to hear from you so soon." Black returned to his food. "What's up?"
"Nothing much, I just wanted to see how you were doing. How was your first day at E.I.?"
"Not bad, we just did orientation and they had us start work." He heard his mom squeal for a moment.
"That's great! You always did like to hit the ground running. So what are you going to be working on?"
"Mecha." Black took a bite of his food as the other line went dead for a moment.
"R-eally?"
"No mom I'm messing with you. We're building exoskeletons to help the disabled walk again." The stallion chuckled slightly as his mother breathed a sigh of relief.
"Oh thank the stars…"
"Come on mom, you should have been able to see through that one." Black stated as he took another bite of his food. "There's no way they'd have interns building machines of war. I don't even think Epona builds war tools."
"Least not lately."
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"Military contracts."
A fair point. Black simply shrugged. "I'm pretty sure no one has done that since the war ended 20 years ago mom. There's no need to worry about that."
"Well I wouldn't be too certain about that~"
"What, some of your old contacts tell you something interesting?"
"Not exactly. But you should know that major competing companies like E.I. and Llamrei do have their own little skirmishes going on."
"You mean Corporate Wars?"
"Bingo."
"Mom I'm pretty sure nothing like that will happen while I'm in Manehattan." Black stated with a shrug.
"You can never be too sure."
"Mom~" Black sighed as he rubbed his forehead.
"Did you bring your sidearm?"
"Mom you asked me before I left." He could feel his mom pouting over the phone.
"I need to make sure my little foal is protected just in case anything goes down in Manehattan. So do you have it or not?"
Black rolled his eyes as he looked at his things and nodded halfheartedly. "Yeah, yeah I have it. Don't plan on using it though."
"I know. It's like a condom sweetheart; rather you have it when you don't need it then not have it when you do."
"Not the analogy I'd use…"
"I know, I know. But speaking of condoms~"
"Oh come on, mom~ it's only my second day here."
"I know, I know, but I'm still pretty sure you already found one or two mares that are cute."
Black didn't say anything.
"You have found some right?"
"It is *way* to early for this…" Black muttered before taking a breath. "I don't know, maybe?" Pygmy squealed over the phone, forcing her son to cover is ears.
"YES! I need names sweetheart, give me all the details. What do they like? Are they pegasi, unicorn or earth pony? Do they like guns?"
"Mom calm down. I haven't even talked to the girls yet." Pygmy made a noise that signified her disappointment. "I'll talk to them later and give you details afterwards, till then I gotta finish breakfast and get ready, kay."
"Fine~ just promise you'll call as soon as you have anything."
"Yes mom." Black muttered halfheartedly.
"Promise."
"I promise I'll let you know about the mares I meet… later." The stallion stated as he waved a hoof over his heart and crossed it. "Anyway I gotta go mom; just finished breakfast and should get going."
"Alright, love you sweetheart."
"Love you too. End Call." Hearing the line go dead Black shook his head as he leaned back and returned to his food. "I swear she is way to interested in me getting a marefriend." Not that he wasn't grateful or interested. It was just… these kinds of things were difficult for him. He was a techie through and through, not really a socialite. Sure he had friends back home and he didn't have much of a problem meeting new ponies but he preferred to work on his craft then go out and meet new faces. "Speaking of faces though I should check in on the gang later, see how they're doing." Finishing his breakfast the stallion looked to his clock before gathering up his things for the day. Glasses were once again on his face, his clothes for the day were chosen and his bag was in place. "There we go, good as new." The stallion muttered as he fastened his smartwatch back onto his hoof and set the earpiece in place. Right on time it seemed, had another call coming in. "Again? Hello?"
"Good morning Black."
"Hey Ion good to hear from you… again." The stallion muttered as he made his way over to the balcony and pushed it open. "What can I do for you?"
"I'm just checking in on my favorite techie that's all."
"Well that's kind of you." Black muttered as he stared out towards the Manehattan skyline and smiled. "It's a nice view." The stallion thought aloud.
"Good morning." Seeing a pegasi fly by him the stallion waved them off.
"Morning." He shouted back before looking over the balcony and jumping off himself. It was a 70 floor drop, probably went from 0 to 60 in less than a second. Didn't bother him in the slightest. Spreading those over-sized wings of his, the stallion broke into a glide before turning down one of the streets. Landing wasn't all that difficult - fact he glided into a walk, tucking his wings as he did and took a better look at the city. "So anyway, how's it going? I wasn't expecting to hear from you so soon."
"None ever do. I take it you're on you're way to E.I.?"
"Where else would I be going at this hour?" Black stated as he smiled slightly.
"When tech is involved, you could be going anywhere at this hour."
"You sound like my mom." The stallion groaned.
"I take it you just got off the phone with her?"
"How'd you guess?" Black muttered with a sigh.
"She asked about mares again didn't she?"
"Yep."
"Hm~"
Ion said no more on the subject and in turn Black found himself walking in silence. Not that he was complaining about it at the moment. Rest of the city would be filtering that out in about an hour or so.
"So how is Manehattan treating you so far anyway?"
"Well the sights are nice - nothing like Reins but it's still really nice." Black muttered before shrugging. "I like it, so far anyway."
"No complaints?"
"Not at the moment." The stallion muttered as he adjusted his bag. "Mean no one tried to mug me yet so… yeah I'm good."
"You don't sound all that convincing."
"I just… miss my tech." Black stated. "I wasn't able to bring most of my hardware when I came here, just small little projects and my tools, long as I'm here I won't be able to work on all the stuff I'd like to work on."
"Things like your Exo?"
"Oh no, I brought that." Black made a noise. "It's not finished yet and I won't be able to work on it often but I brought it." He grinned. "There's just a lot of other stuff back home I want to work on. Like Mockingbird or Sanskrit."
"You build to much you know that?"
"Maybe." Black shrugged. "But what can I say; I like to build."
"True, anyway I just wanted to ensure you were fine with your new surroundings. Though I guess it's still a bit early for any real complaints isn't it. I'll call back in a few days to check up on you again."
"Alright talk to you soon, Ion."
"Later kid."
Ion hung up a moment later, leaving Black to walk the streets in relative silence. All he heard now were the 'sounds of the city'; a.k.a hovercraft, the sound of shops opening at this hour and the like. "I really want to look at one of these hovercrafts one of these days, we only have grounders back in Reins." The stallion muttered as he watched one fly by. A tiny voice in his head told him that he only wanted to dismantle the piece of tech. It wasn't exactly wrong, but still it was besides the point.
"Omp!" Stopping black snapped out of his thoughts as he looked ahead, finding a mare with a selection of books now scattered around her.
"Sorry!" Black squeaked as he helped the mare up. "I wasn't paying attention to where I was going."
"It's alright." The mare stated before her eyes locked onto the stallion. "You… you're one of the new interns."
"Uh… hi Ms. Sparkle." Twilight Sparkle adjusted her glasses as she stared up at the stallion for a moment.
"And you're Ashtrail right? Black Ashtrail."
"Yep." A silence passed between the pair as Black used a wing to scratch his head. "Uh… how about I help you with these?"
"Huh? Oh yes, that'd be great." Whatever had put the two in a daze was forgotten as the two started picking up the books, one through the use of magic the other by his wing.
"I know this book…" Black muttered as he looked at a book with a fond smile. "Madam Hooves and the Black Order. I haven't read this in months. Good choice." Setting the book aside Black went about gathering a few of the others around him.
"You've read it before?" Twilight Sparkle smiled as she as she reached for another book. "I've been curious about reading it for a while now. It's the sequel to Madam Hooves and the Veiled City isn't it?"
"It is. The author was supposed to have done a sort of stand alone or prequel to the series, but she decided to finish this one first so everypony wouldn't be left in suspense for too long." Black explained as he stacked another book. "It dives further into her search for her daughter in the city of fog."
"Yes! Wait is Ash Kicker really trying to help her or is he really working for Zeus? I was a little concerned considering where she left off in the last book." Twilight admitted as she drifted off topic before shaking her head. "No don't tell me, spoiler's ruin the story." The stallion chuckled as he stacked another book.
"Agreed, but I'll say this. The author doesn't disappoint."
"Just like A.K. Yearling."
"True." Stacking the last book Black looked back to the mare as he returned her books. "Here you go. I have to say you have excellent taste in literature."
Twilight flourished a bit as she finished stacking her own pile. It wasn't that often she received a compliment on her book choices nowadays. Pausing Twilight's color returned to normal as she looked back at the stallion. "Thank you for helping me with my books."
"No problem. I take it your bringing those to E.I.?" Black asked as the pair started walking on.
"Yes, I like to read them in my spare time." Twilight admitted. "What about you?"
"If I'm not reading I'm building tech, and if I'm not doing either I'm working on alchemy. Though when I do read it's mainly stuff on how to build tech unless my mom hides those and lays out other material to read."
"You're a hardcore techie I take it." Twilight asked with a smile.
"Well that's one way of saying it." Black smiled light-heartedly. "But what can I say - I like to build. It's what I do, makes me happy."
"It's good to do what makes you happy." Twilight muttered with her own smile. "That's the whole reason I started working at E.I. I love science and building technology. Especially since it's being used to help ponies."
"Same." An easier silence crossed between the pair as they kept walking.
"So how did you start building?"
"Uhm…" Thinking back to his mom the stallion gave an awkward smile before it became more sincere. "It's always been a part of my life really. Mom's family owned a gun shop since before I was born, I used to help her build merchandise before I started displaying a talent for manufacturing other forms of tech."
"You own a *gun* shop?" Twilight gave him a look.
"Well… technically it's now a gun and cyberware shop and I don't own it yet but… yeah." Black gave her an awkward look as he scratched his head. "That's not going to affect me interning at E.I. will it?"
"Well… no. I'm just a bit surprised that's all." The mare admitted. "We don't hear that our interns run a gun shop."
"Yeah I get that." Black muttered. "But I figured you might have already known, I mean it was on the papers I sent in." He stated. "But enough about me; what about you? What did you do before you started working at E.I."
"I used to help my mother at her job; studying the stars." Twilight admitted as Black made a noise.
"Really?"
"Yes, honestly I wanted to be an astronomer when I was younger, follow my mom's hoofprints." Twilight stated with a sincere smile.
"But then you found your talent in science." Twilight nodded happily.
"In a way, yes, I like knowing how things work, what makes them tick."
"I know that feeling." Black grinned. "I think that's the main reason I started building in the beginning. The joy of taking apart something new for the first time."
"Figuring out what each component does to make the device work." Twilight continued.
"It's a great feeling." The two said together as they sighed in unison. Reaching Epona Industries the two looked at one another before smiling. Though it quickly ended when the two realized what they were doing and flushed. Looking back to the company the two pressed on in another silence before Twilight coughed slightly.
"So~ you build cyberware?"
"Yep, build the best in Reins." That caught Twilight's attention.
"You're from Reins?"
"Hm? Yeah, I didn't mention that?" Twilight shook her head. "Well~ yeah I'm from the colony. Where are you from?"
"Canterlot." Black whistled at that.
"The capital huh." Before their conversation could press on further the two found themselves interrupted by a coughing mare. "Hm?"
"Willow, is something wrong?" Twilight asked as the mare looked at her.
"I know you just got in, but the CEO would like to speak with you Ms. Sparkle."
"Oh, I'll be right there." Twilight stated as she looked back at the stallion for a moment. "Sorry I have to get going. Maybe we could continue this conversation later?"
"Sure thing." Black stated as he watched the two mares trot off. Left alone Black tapped his hooves a few times before looking around. "Well… I still got some time before we start… might as well waste it."
Author's Note
Initiating P.I.E....
Initiating voice_narration.wav
Opening Encyclopedia
{E.S.F.}  
The Epona Security Force is Epona Industries personal defense force, charged with protecting company personal and acting as company enforcers.
Cyberfingers   
Cyberfingers are an implant commonly associated with Equestrian cybernetics. Located at the base of the hoof. Typically distinguished by their glossy, metallic appearance they extend in order to act as fingers, enabling the augmented pony to grasp items similar to Griffons and Dragons.
Items
Limb Enhancers  
Limb Enhancers were once a common item located in Equestria. Developed to act as pseudo-limbs for Earth-Ponies they were later mass produced for all Equestrian use. Limb Enhancers operate through the use of a synthetic manastone that draws power from innate Equestrian mana reserves. It was found that Limb Enhancers steadily drain mana from their wearer, causing unnatural graying of the coat and mane and were effectively discontinued, being replaced by Cyberfinger Implants.
Ashtrail Model 14mm Heavy Pistol "Ardonlight"  
Black's chosen sidearm, usually kept concealed in a protective compartment in his bag. An original model, deigned for Black's personal use.
Atlesian M-35 Assault Rifle {Modified}  
A popular assault rifle favored by Private Security Forces and corporate threat-response teams. Mass-produced, with reliable firing accuracy.
Initiating P.I.E. shutdown...

//-------------------------------------------------------//
                  A Moment Among Interns                   
//-------------------------------------------------------//
A Moment Among Interns
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."

//-------------------------------------------------------//
                   The Incident At Epona                   
//-------------------------------------------------------//
The Incident At Epona
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.

//-------------------------------------------------------//
                     Interns Over Kid                      
//-------------------------------------------------------//
Interns Over Kid
Goddess everything hurt; not only that he was insanely tired. Tired and hurt, never a good combination… also what in Tartarus was making that beeping noise? Forcing his eyes open the stallion grunted, closing them again as he found the light bothering him. "O~w." Black grumbled as he squinted, finally adjusting to the light and looked around. "Where?"
"Well I'll be, your awake." A voice to his left caught the stallion's attention as he turned to see a pale white earthpony with a short raven colored mane sitting next to him. "Welcome back to the land of the living."
"Oh.. hi." Black muttered before closing his eyes and made to pass back out. Barely a second later though the pony's eyes snapped open and he leapt out the bed. "Ah! what happened- where am I?" He flinched a moment later as he gripped his head and leaned back down. "Ow ow ow ow ow!"
"Don't do that." The stallion grumbled as he brought his hooves to the ponies head and started to massage it to alleviate the ponies headache. "Never make sudden movements after just waking up understood; especially when you've been out for as long as you have."
"R-right." The Black took a breath, trying his best to will the headache away as felt the stallion rub his skull. A moment later he looked at his bandaged wings. " What happened to me? How long have I been out?"
"You went through a glass screen and took a bullet to the head. You've been out for roughly a month."The stallion admits. "Lady Red's wanted to make sure you pulled through though, so she had me be your doctor." The stallion admitted before turning his attention to his bracer and started typing something away. "Speaking of which… she'll want to know your finally awake."
"Lady Red… thats the CEO of Epona right?" Black muttered as he looked at the stallion. "Why would she-"
"Do you not know how bad her company image would look if one of her Interns died?" The stallion said without a bit of humor.
"Oh…"
"Though I gotta say, you dying seems a bit unlikely." He chuckled as he ended his message and smiled. "Especially since you have such a strong life-force. You were still alive despite having a bullet lodged in your skull for… what five hours?
"I… what?"
"Oh yes, most ponies would have died on the spot, but your will to live is astounding." The pony stated as he looked at the stallion. "Still I'm curious as to how though. Regardless of your life-force that glass should have shredded your insides, but they didn't get anywhere close to damaging your insides."
"A dermal mesh of nanofibers woven throughout the skin." Black muttered in pain. "Over subdermal plates, over a fortified skeletal structure." Black groaned as he stared off into space.
"Defensive cyberware huh, that would explain a few things." The stallion muttered as he frowned for a moment. "And yet… I checked your insides, you don't have any cyberware."
"Techmage." Black said simply as his head started to hurt. Techmages had three "classes" Two main and one advanced. The first involved using magic to augment control, and modify technology. The second involved using tech to empower, harness and manipulate magic." The third and Advanced form involved spontaneously generating cybernetic augmentations. Though made of pure mana they functioned as perfectly as their real counterparts. There were a number of issues though; to start every pseudo-augment required at least a minute of uninterrupted focus to create. Second they required continuous concentration to maintain. Third, they needed "maintenance" daily. Fourth; they "broke" and disappeared when exposed to excessive trauma or anti-magic.
Still despite it's hindrances, it was a useful skill.
Ah I see. Most Impressive." The stallion admitted as black looked at him.
"So who are you?" The stallion's visible eye widened.
"Oh I'm so sorry. My manners seem to have escaped me for the time being." The stallion admits as he scratches his head with a hoof. "You can call me Stables, everyone does. What about you, do you remember your name?"
"It's Black… Black Ashtrail." Introducing himself Black watched Stables one visible eye lights up.
"Ashtrail… I think I've heard of that name. I can't seem to recall at the moment… but I'm sure it will return to me in time." Stables mutters before returning his attention to him. "Still now that you're awake, do you want to try walking? It's alright if you don't feel up for it at the moment."
"I've technically been in bed for a month." Black responds by rolling over slightly, placing his hooves on the hospital floor and force his body to stand. No complaints, bodies willing to listen. At least for a moment anyway. Next moment he's seconds away from kissing the floor. The world blurs for a minute and Black loses his ability to focus, his body goes numb and he's stuck hearing some ringing in his head. Stables holds him up though, helps him balance out.
"I guess it's still a bit to early for you to be moving after all…"
"No I'm fine, just lost my footing for a moment." Black muttered as best he could. "I can do this, just got to find my balance, put one foot in front of the other." Take a breath, take it slow. Legs are like lead, feels like he hasn't used them in years. They walk together for a moment and afterwards Black breaks away so he can move on his own. Making pretty good progress too.
"Well look at you go." A mare's voice called out as Black looked at her. "Like a duck to water, you walk like you haven't been bedbound for the past month." The mare states as she looks at Stables and smiles. "Nice work Stables."
"He deserves the credit, not me." Stables stated as he looked at Black with a hint of affection. "You should never underestimate one's will to live and he's the one telling his body to move."
"True." The mare stated as she looked back at Black for a moment. She was… pretty to say the least, lithe as well. Taller than he was, with scarlet eyes, a mane of velvet and a coat of peach. Her suit was well maintained and she had a bag resting on her back. "It's a pleasure to finally meet you, little Ashtrail."
"Uh… hi." The stallion muttered as he looked at the mare. 'Wow… I didn't know they really made mares like her…' Stables just looked at his counterpart before shaking his head.
"Black this is Lady Red, the CEO of Epona." Black looked at him for a moment surprise on his face as he stood up straighter.
"At ease little Ashtrail, we're neither at the office nor is it working hours." The mare just smiled beautifully as she stepped forward. "That said Stables, how is he looking?"
"We just got him walking, but he's the epitome of health." Stables states.
"Please don't exaggerate." Black groans.
"I'll be sure not to."
"Anyway…" Black looked around for a moment as he finally took in his surroundings. "Where… where are we, this doesn't look like a hospital room. Well it does, but not public."
"You'd be right." Lady Red stated as she settled down in a chair. "This is a private medical wing located in Epona, normally only staff get a chance of coming in here." She muttered before looking elsewhere for a second. "Consider yourself lucky."
"Oh…" The stallion looked in the direction that the mare was looking and found nothing staring back at him. "Thank you, both of you."
"I was just doing my job." Stable admitted.
"I was protecting my company image." Red admitted as she looked at Stables who frowned at her. She just shrugged as the room fell silent. Lady Red took a moment to stare at the dark stallion's wounds. "You're lucky." The mare stated as she stared at the bandages around his head. "You're lucky that head wound wasn't fatal, or reduced you to a vegetable. I can't really say the same for a great many that took one like that." She paused for a moment. "Can honestly say the same about all the glass the doctors had to pull out of your wings. I'm impressed that we're not going to have to do a full cybernetic wing replacement on you Ashtrail." Red muttered as she made a noise. "You got a guardian angel watching over you."
"I guess~." Black shrugged as he turned away from the mare's gaze. There was something… strange about it. Not exactly concern or "knowing" there was just… something strange about it. "So um…" He paused for a moment as an image washed over him for a moment and he bit his lips. "Where is she?"
"She?" Lady Red began as Stables twitched.
"Ms. Sparkle, where is she? I saw her when I went through the glass and…" Stables turned his head to the side as his ears drooped
"Black…"
"She's not with us anymore." Red stated as she sighed. Stables just gave the mare a look as she narrowed her eyes. "She's gone, I'm afraid." Black fell silent as his eyes widened.
"She… she's gone?"
"Black…" Stables repeated the name as he rested a hoof on his counterparts back.
"Damn it…"
"There was nothing you could have done Black." Lady Red muttered as Black shook his head.
"I could have done something. I was there - I was right there! I was in the same damn room as her and…" The stallion cursed for a moment as he and the others fell silent.
"You're still with us… that's all that's important right now." Stables whispered as he removed his hoof from the taller stallion's back.
"Hm…" Black wasn't all that convinced. Though that did raise a question to him. "Before I was shot… I was fighting one of the intruders with an ESF operative. What happened to them?"
"They're alive, thankfully, pissed off to hell but they're alive." Lady Red crossed her front hooves as she looked at the stallion for a moment. "But that's besides the point. I'm not here to talk to an intern about stuff like that."
"Then what are you here for?"
"Well I think you already have an idea; given what happened at Epona a month and how long it's going to take to undergo repairs, I'm afraid we'll have to suspend your internship with us this summer."
"Oh… yeah I guess that makes sense." Black fell silent as he looked at his boss… former boss and Doctor for a moment as they just nodded. 'Guess that means I don't really have a reason to stay in Manehatten any longer.' He raised his hooves to his head, stopped and started looking around the room.
"What is it?" Red Blade asked.
"Where's my glasses?"
"Oh right." Stables muttered as he reached for the nearby table and grabbed the desired item. "They got kind of damaged in E.I." The stallion admitted as he passed them to the taller pony. "Sorry." Black didn't say anything for a moment as he looked them over. Both lens were cracked, and the frame was destroyed on one side. He wouldn't be wearing these again.
"It's ok. They weren't prescribed anyway." Black sighed as he returned to the bed and sat down. "I just… liked these."
"If it makes you feel better you look better without the glasses." Red Blade admitted.
"Really handsome." Black rolled his eyes, giving Stables and Lady Red a light smile.
"You guys sound just like my mom." The stallion stated before thinking about the older mare. She must have been worried sick since he hadn't called in during an entire month, and if he's right she knew about the attack by now. "I need to call my mom… let her know I'm ok."
"That doesn't sound like a horrible idea." Stables admitted as he sighed. "Let her know your come early."
"What about the others?" Black asked suddenly as he looked to Lady Red.
"You mean the other interns? Well thankfully they weren't on the premises when things went down, so they're fine. I told them a month ago when I let them go."
"So they're back home too?"
"Or wandering around Manehattan." Red Blade stated with a shrug. "Give or take they live in the city or not."
"If they're in the city I should probably say hi before I leave." Black muttered as Stables nodded his head.
"About that~" Lady Red began as she adopted a loose smile. "Before you get to that I have some questions for you little Ashtrail."
"Lady Red…" Stables voice gave a warning, one that the mare seemed to ignore for a moment.
"What's wrong?" Black asked as Lady Red brought up her bracer as she messed with it, bringing up a screen and watched the footage of last months attack.
"Tell me, where'd you learn to shoot like this?" Watching the footage Black just stayed silent for a moment as he thought back.
"… my mom." He admitted finally.
"Your mom taught you to shoot?" Red Blade asked.
"She taught me ever since I was little, it helped that we had a firing range in our basement."
"Why would you have a firing range in your basement?" Stables raised an eyebrow as Black looked at him and shrugged.
"We kept it for those that wanted to field test our wares. Mom and I just used it more often. She figured it wasn't enough to just build our wares, but best to know how to use them as well."
"Your wares?"
"Ashtrail Industries, It's a gunshop in Reins- well it was until we added my cybernetics lab."
"Ah… that makes sense." Lady Red stated as she continued looking at the footage for a moment. "You're a good shot, but you're actual fighting skill kinda sucks."
"I… I don't usually pick fights." Black muttered as he scratched his head. "Is there a point to this?"
"I wish there wasn't…" Stables got a confused look as he just looked down.
"I'll keep this simple Ashtrail. I want to hire you." Red Bade stated as Black looked back to her.
"Hire me; but you just said my internship-"
"I don't want you as an intern." The mare stated as she shut down her bracer. "I want you full time."
"Excuse me?"
"You build well, you shoot well. I like that, I want that. Will you let me have you is the question."
"Uh… your offering me a job but… I have one. I work at my mom's shop."
"I'm aware." Red stated as she stepped forward and caused the shorter pony to backpedal a few steps. Was it just him or did she just get bigger? "I don't care though, little Ashtrail. I like you, I want you."
" Uh… you might want to rephrase that."
"You're skilled little Ashtrail, you have a gift. I could use somepony like you." Her voice dropped from seductive and commanding to almost motherly as she raised a hoof to his cheek. "If you wish to return to Reins, return to your mothers shop that's fine, but know this, the world is bigger than your arcology and your shop and if you return, you'll wonder of the 'what ifs'. What if you took a chance - took a leap towards the unknown? What if you stayed, what if you worked for us?" The mare stated. "You'd wonder how'd you grow, you wonder what you'd learn, what you'd experience?" She stared at the stallion for a moment before her bracer went off to alert her about something. Withdrawing the hoof she looked at it before her expression changed. "I have to step out for a moment, if you two will excuse me." The mare lowered her head before stepping out as the two watched her leave.
"She's interesting isn't she?" Stables muttered as Black colored slightly.
"Yeah…"
"She is right though." The stallion muttered before looking at his counterpart. "It's always the 'what ifs'- the choices that get to us at one point in life. In your case; what if you go home, what if you stay. Either one you chose will lead you to question how things would be if you took the other path and every choice you make after will affect how your story turns out." Stables whispered. "That's how life works." The two fell silent as Stables adopted a far off look.
"Are you… are you happy with the choices you made?" Black asked.
"Not all of them, I've made bad choices in my life, but my choices led me here, lead me to you." Stables smiled. "And I'm happy about that."
"… what?" Stables released a chuckle as Black colored slightly.
"Don't worry about it. Just know this. My story now intertwines with yours, as does Epona's. Whether it be as a line, a page, or even a chapter, that depends on the choice you make now; will you return home, will you stay and see how things turn out?" The stallion admitted before taking a breath.
"Right…" Black muttered as he scratched his hoof for a moment. "But I don't know what I want right now."
"Take your time Black. You don't have to make that choice now, we can't force you to make it when you aren't ready." Stables stated as he reached up and patted his counterparts head. "Take as much time as you need, search your feelings, search your heart, and then you'll get your answer." Stables backed away as he looked at his P.I.E. for a moment. "I need to go, I have other patients to see."
"Right." Watching the stallion leave Black stayed quiet for a moment before touching his head. "Stables?" Stopping at the door the pale stallion looked back at him before giving him a curious look. "I've… never been good at making choices… but I've always been curious… I want to understand things and…" The stallion paused as seemed to stumble over his words. "I want to know why Epona was attacked."
"As does everypony." Stables admitted. "You have the chance to be a part of figuring that out though." The stallion stated with a smile. "And whether it be because of your innate curiosity or not, I think you've made your choice."
"Yeah."
Manehattan Police Station
"Captain. Captain wake up."
"Huh?" The white stallion muttered something incoherent as he sat up, his junior officer setting a cup of coffee on the table as they let their wing brush against the cup's edge. "Ugh… what happened?"
"You were a few seconds from passing out again. You sure you don't want to head home to get some sleep?" His junior asked in concern.
"I'm too far from home to do that, Flash."
"You know what I mean." Shining Armor just waved a hoof dismissively as he levitated the cup to his lips and took a drink. Sweet nectar. Just what he needed to stay awake. "You've been up for days now, You could really use a rest."
"I'm fine." Shining Armor stated as he leaned forward and looked at his police reports. He swiped his hoof, the screens changing as he looked through them. "Anything new on the Epona case?"
"Not much. All we really got is that the weapons they used were customized Atlesian models and the armor was standard kevlar, could pick em up anywhere." Shining just gave Flash a nod as he took another drink.
"Did you check to see if any companies that might have sold their armor en masse?" Shining Armor asked.
"Yeah we didn't get much I'm afraid. We checked their buyers records to and couldn't get a lead. I'm thinking they were picked up off the black market."
"What about the bodies in the morgue, find anything?"
"Nothing yet, no known gang or company affiliation." Flash admitted. "Whomever these guys are; whomever hit Epona - they're ghosts."
"Great…" Shining Armor muttered as he ran a hoof on his temples. "Ghosts, just what we need." The stallion sighed as he stared at his coffee for a moment. "What about the ones still alive?"
"Dead." Shining gave Flash a look. "We found traces of a cortex bomb in each of their heads. They took themselves out shortly after we caught them." The younger stallion shook his head. "These guys… whomever they are, they are not making this easy for us." Flash muttered as Shining grumbled something under his breath. "Not how you expected to spend your time in Manehattan huh?"
"I originally came to take some time off just to visit my sister and then I find out her company was attacked." The stallion muttered. "That's everything a big brother wants to hear."
"Hey, we'll find her."
"I know. I just wish it wasn't taking this damn long." Shining grumbled as he returned to his coffee. He wasn't normally like this when a case was brought up, but this time; well it was personal. His little sister, his blood was involved. 'This is why they don't like us getting attached during cases…' The stallion thought with a sigh. 'But this is what happens when our families get involved.' Shining took a breath before he looked at his cup only to find it empty. He picked himself up with a grunt, pulling himself away from his chair as he made his way towards the coffee machine. While he waited for it to pour the stallion opened up his bracer and looked at the image on it. "Twily…"
Epona
CEO Office
"So you'll stay." Lady Red muttered as she looked at the dark pegasi as he scratched his head. "Are you sure about this?"
"Honestly no." Black stated as he shuffled slightly. "But I wanna know what happened a month ago, and I'm not going to figure that out by going home."
"No, I guess you won't." The mare admitted as she leaned back in her chair and made a noise. "The curse of curiosity. Just remember what happened to the cat." The mare stated as a screen popped up before her and she glanced at it. "Either case welcome aboard."
"Yeah thanks… so is there like paperwork or something I need sign?"
"Normally, but we'll get to that later, right now though, can you fly?" Black looked at his wings for a moment as he moved them for a moment before winching in pain. "I'll take that as a no. Well give it time. I wanna get you prepped before we officially start working together anyway."
"Right… so what do you want me to do anyway? I build pretty well but I still have a ways to go in that department."
"You build, you shoot; I want you to do both." The mare stated as she looked at her newest employee.
"What do you mean?"
"I want you on Epona Security detail." The mare stated as the stallion blinked in confusion, his eyes widened a moment later as he looked at the mare
"You want me to be ESF?" The stallion asked as he looked at the mare. "Seriously?"
"There's more to being ESF than just shooting ponies, they have other skills, other talents." The mare stated before staring through the stallion. "During your time with them you'll learn that." The mare muttered before addressing her intercom. "How is she?"
"Pissed to high hell."
"Sounds about right." The mare stated as she pulled herself from her chair and stepped forward. "Follow me Black, there's somepony I'd like you to meet." She reached for her office elevator as she typed in a code. "Come on." Black obeyed as he followed the mare into the elevator as she hit a button. "While you're with us we'll have to put you through your paces and have you fitted for gear. Also we'll be moving you into one of our apartment complexes to live at. No doubt your hotel room is taken by now. Do you have any problems with that?"
"No, I guess not." The stallion muttered before watching the older mare turn to him. "Anything else I need to know?" The elevator hit their designated floor as the mare lead him off.
"You'll be working with a group during major operations, but most of your time you'll be paired off with one of our senior staff. They'll be the one in charge of your training, but also, you'll be their caretaker for a while."
"What do you mean?"
"You're a cybernetics expert right, well, we're pairing you off with an operative that's recently undergone heavy augmentation." The mare stated. "She'll need somepony to look after her till she can get back in the field. So you'll be her hooves and wings until she can do things on her own again, not only that if she gets banged up, it'll be your job to fix her." Red walked up to a room as she fed it her card key. "Good to see you're up Calista, I have somepony here to see you."
"Red…" Calista. Calista was a pure white unicorn bound in a wheelchair; with hair like raven feathers and eyes of emerald. Though said eyes did seem to flash crimson as she looked at her employer. The mare took a calming breath as she stared at her counterpart. "What did. You. Do?" The mare growled as she watched the mare step closer. "What in Tartarus. Did. You. Do?"
"I made a choice." The mare stated as she looked at her latest intern. "Black this is Calista, she's the ESF that'll be paired with you."
"Uh… hi."
"We've met." Calista didn't take her eyes off Lady Red.
"We have?" Black asked.
"The attack one month ago. I put a gun to your back." The mare admitted without looking away from Lady Red.
"Oh…" Black muttered. "Well it's good to see you again."
"Mh." The mare just kept looking at Lady Red as the mare made a noise.
"Black could you give us a minute?" Red asked as Black just looked at her for a moment.
"Um, ok…" The stallion muttered as he backpedaled out of the room and watched it close. He took a breath before leaning back against a wall. "What the hell did I get myself into?"
"I don't really think you want that answer."
Black looked up confusion and surprise on his face as he turned his head. "Who said that?"

//-------------------------------------------------------//
                    Living Arangements                     
//-------------------------------------------------------//
Living Arangements
“You’re what?”
Black just scratched his head as he heard his mom's voice in his ear. The flat tone leaving her spoke volumes as he just sighed. “I’m… going to stay in Manehattan for a while longer, I got hired on as part of the Epona Security Force.” The stallion heard his mother take a slow almost cathartic breath.
“They want you as security.”
The mare repeated as Black nodded. Then the moment he realized this wasn’t a video call he spoke up. “Yeah, crazy.”
“That doesn’t begin to describe it… when I let you go to Manehattan, It was to further your skills, not to be a security officer.”
“Yeah I know.” Black muttered as he shook his head and looked to the side, his attention focused on the two mares that were in the hovercar with him. Calista seemed to be out of it, her attention not really focused on anything, while Lady Red seemed to be going through something on her bracer. “Bu hey, you always wanted me to try new things.”
“I also wanted you to be a doctor at one point.”
The mare stayed silent before sighing.
“Still… I guess this is out of my hooves. Just… what will they be having you do?”
“Well I have to get some training, and then I’ll be getting assignments.” Black explained.
“Well at least they’re not throwing into the deep end of the pool yet… still you want me to send you anything? Kevlar vests, weapons? A box of condoms?”
“Mom!?” Lady Red looked to the flustered stallion in interest. “I don’t need those!”
“Says the adolescent stallion who’s going to be spending a lot of time with an older mare.”
Black made a noise as he heard a giggle.
“Relax honey I’m just teasing; trying to lighten the mood.”
The mare went silent.
“But seriously, do you need anything?”
She asked again.
“I can send more clothes if you need some, some of your inventions too. I can even send you a few books if you want.”
“Thanks mom.” Black said with a smile. “Some extra clothes will be nice, not to mention something to read in my spare time.” Black admitted. As for my inventions; I’ll have to get back to you on that ok?”
“Alright honey,.. Oh sorry that’s a customer, I have to go.”
“It’s alright, I’ll talk to you later mom.”
“Stay safe, and remember the rules I taught you firearms.”
“Don’t draw it, less you plan to use it.” Black stated. “And always shoot to cripple, never to kill.” Reciting the first two rules Black felt his mom nod her head through the other end of the line.
“Thats my boy, now be safe, I’ll talk to you later. Love you.”
“Love you too mom.” Black ended the call before sighing to himself. That call had been about as well as he expected. Least it wasn’t the first one; the mare had been worried sick since she heard about the attack on Epona. The fact that she restrained herself from not going full “Wick” was amazing. ‘If she did, half of Manehattan would be Ground Zero by now.’
That probably wasn’t an understatement, the mare did after all own a gun-shop, and there was probably enough weapons there to rival a small armory.
“So, how’s the mother?” Lady Red asked as Black looked to her.
“She’s good, just worried.” Black stated. “She always worries about me.”
“It shows that she cares.” The mare stated as she leaned back in her seat. “Wouldn’t you be more concerned if she seemed nonchalant with whatever you chose to do?”
“I guess.” The stallion admitted as he felt the carcome to a stop.
“Lady Red, we’re here.” The driver called out as the mare looked out the window and smiled slightly.
“Ah good.” She muttered as she used her magic to push open the door and step out. The driver met her outside a moment later, pulling out a wheelchair as Calista push herself out the seat she’d taken in the car.
‘She’s having trouble synchronizing with her legs.’ Black thought as the while mare stumbled into the wheelchair for a moment.
“Good, now let’s get you two upstairs.” Lady Red stated as Black traded places with the driver as he pushed Calista to the steps, searched for the Anti-grav controls and floated her towards the door. He followed Lady Red to the third floor where she used a key card to gain access to a room. “Alright we’re here.”
Black just looked around the room as he took everything in. The room was pretty normal, with plenty of signs that someone was living here already; bit of a mess, though. There were books, and a TV, a couch and a bed. Some pictures of an ever stretching plain with Equestrians were hung up on the wall. There was some laundry taking up space in a bag and an assault rifle resting on the table.
“Nice piece.” The stallion muttered.
“Pre renaissance era Equestria.” Lady Red stated as she stared at one of the pictures. “The Farplanes, supposedly all Equestrian souls go there once we die.” The mare whispered. “It is beautiful.”
“Uh… I was talking about the gun.” Black stated as Lady Red looked at him. “Valkyrian Mk6 right? Looks like custom job. Really nice.” That actually earned him a snicker from Calista as she looked back at him.
“You know your guns.”
“I grew up in a gun-shop.” Black admitted before he turned to look at Lady Red before pausing. “The painting is pretty to.” He said quickly as Lady Red smirked for a moment.
“I’m glad you think so. The mare stated as she fully turned to him. “Anyway, Black this is Calista’s apartment, you’ll be staying here with her for a while.” Black blinked as Calista’s smile faded.
“Excuse me?”
“I thought I was just supposed to help her if she needed it.” Black stated as Lady Red just nods.
“That will be easier if your staying in the same place and not an entire apartment apart.” The mare states as she looks between the two. It’s only temporary though, as soon as Calista can manage on her own, we’ll be moving you into a separate housing unit.” The mare fel silent, thinking before nodding her head. “Think of this as your first assignment.”
“But -”
“I don’t want him here.” Black looked to Calista, her eyes narrowing in anger as she bit her lips. “And I can take care of myself.”
“Not right now.” Lady Red stated as she crossed her hooves. “It’ll take a while before your body adjusts to the new wares running through you.”
Running through me?” Calista muttered. “So it’s more than just the legs.” The mare took a guess. “How much?” The mare asked. “How much metal is in my body?”
“Enough to keep you alive.” Lady Red muttered as she looked back to Black. “I’ll send some things over in the next few days. In the meanwhile I’d recommend taking good care of Calista here.”
“Uh… right.” Black muttered as he scratched his head with a wing.
“In the meantime I need to go, I have a meeting to handle.” The mare admitted as she started walking off. “Don’t run him ragged Calista, I’ll be seeing you.” Calista didn’t say anything, just staring into space as Lady Red left the new pair alone. Black opened his mouth to say something only to fall silent for a few seconds later. He had no idea what to say in this situation.
“What can you say?”
Turning his head Black looked around before his attention was drawn to a few things starting to rumble. “Huh.”
Outside
Lady Red heard things break even from outside the hall. An angry roar punching through the air as just kept walking. “Sorry Calista, but this is how things are going to be for a short while.” The mare muttered as she reached her car and stepped inside. “Back to the office.”
“On it mam.”The driver responded as they drove off, Red Blade just sighing as she hit a button on her side and a privacy screen rolled up, cutting her off from the Driver and the rest of the world. She started to make a call, only stopping only when her eyes narrowed. “What are you doing here?”
“Just visiting.” The mare just crossed her hooves as she stared at the opposite end of the car. “How have you been?”
“Better.” She admitted. My company is still going through repairs, but’s going well regardless.”
“That’s wonderful news.” Lady Red just made a noise. “What about Calista how is she?”
“Well she’s angry, but that’s to be expected.” The mare stated as she looked elsewhere. “She’ll pull through though, she’s strong like that.”
“And you’re giving her a partner.”
The mare just frowned as she glanced back at her counterpart. “How exactly did you figure that out, it was only decided hours ago.”
“What, pray tell, manages to escapes my notice?”
That earned a sigh from Lady Red. “Of course, your good that way… too good sometimes.” The mare admits as she starts messing with her bracer. “Yes I’m giving her a partner, though as of right now, he’ll be more of a nanny till she can walk again.”
“I see.” The mary continued dialing something on her bracer before stopping. “Are you doing the right thing?”
“Well, it’s not a completely terrible idea.” The mare stated as she uploaded something into her bracer. “I have faith in Calista’s abilities. That’s all I need in the end.”
“And her partner.” The mare said nothing as she closed her eyes for a moment. “Will he be a good addition?”
“He has his skills.” The mare admitted. And he’ll need training, but he’ll be fine after that.”
“Are you certain?”
“Is it your place to question me?” The mare countered as she looked back at her counterpart. “I do my job, they do theirs, and you do yours.” She states. “That’s how the world works.”
“You have a point.” The two fall silent as the mare sighs.
“Why are you here?” She asks finally. “You know better than to contact me like this, so what is it? What brings you here.”
“My lady… I told you, I’m just visiting.”
Calista’s Apartment
Black gulped as he looked at Calista, things flying around her as trashed her room. Telepathy. Simple arcane technique, just forgot how destructive it could be at times. Especially in the hooves a real unicorn.He watched, the miniature twister spinning about the room before it began to slow. When it completely ended, the magic suspending the objects in the air faded before they fell like rocks. Calista just breathed for a moment, her eye closed as Black took a step forward. “Uh… you feeling better?” He asked meekly.
“Wow, smooth as silk aren’t you?”
Before he could respond or seek out the source of the voice Calista spoke.
“I need you to leave.” Themare ordered as Black blinked and looked at her.
“Uh - but.”
“Just… just leave.” Calista muttered. “Go out for a few hours… but just… leave.” Black didn’t say anything before taking a step back.
“I’ll see how things are around town.” He whispered as he headed towards the nearest window and pushed it open. “I’ll be back later, ok?”
“Yeah.” Calista nodded her head as Black climbed out the window and took flight. A few minutes after he vanished Calista looked at her hooves and turned them, “feeling” the iron and steel that was connected by pseudo-nerves.
“Why?” She brought the iron hooves to her head and pressed them against her skull. She cried.
Outside
Black took a breath as he landed in a random street, looking back in the direction he had come from and felt his ears drop to the sides of his head. He wasn't sure what to expect when he saw Calista with her augment, but having her throw a telekinetic fit was certainly not what he was expecting.
“I’ve never seen anypony get like that before.” He admitted to himself. “I’ve never seen anypony angry about getting augmented.
“Everyone you’ve augmented wanted them. That’s why.”
The stallion made a noise before frowning stopping when he raised his head and looked around. In the crowd he couldn’t tell who had spoken to him, they all seemed lost in their own little world, going about the city like they would naturally. “Who… who's there?”” The stallion didn’t get an answer this time, and after standing in the middle of the sidewalk for almost a minute he went back to walking, continuing on his way with a cautious look over his shoulder.

//-------------------------------------------------------//
                           Intro                           
//-------------------------------------------------------//
Intro
It's the age of technology, and as one would expect corporations hold all the power. Problem is they aren't satisfied with just that. They want more so they spend their days eating one another, growing fat and plump as they use everything they can get their claws and hooves on in order to further personal goals. They use the datasphere to force feed the public the latest fads, watching them eat everything up. Buy this. Obey that. Buy More.
Technology keeps marching on; changing, shifting, mutating - it's adapt or die.
Now a days most folks just spend their days either drifting about the Sprawl, plugging metal into their bodies, or immersed in bliss of Virtual Reality.
Cause of this people don't realize is that something's wrong with the world. Maybe it's caused by the Corps latest tech, maybe it's caused by something else. Regardless: the worlds changing, and some are starting to realize it.
What it'll lead to is up for debate.