Access was surrounded by darkness, this wasn’t the Net or Realspace but somewhere in-between awake and sleeping. He wasn’t used to this feeling and he started to hyperventilate in panic.

Many thoughts flashed through his addled mind, his friends, his actions and the state of the world. Things had never been more prosperous than they were now but he couldn’t help but feel something was missing, something important.

Access felt as if he was going mad from sounds he couldn’t quite hear, things he couldn’t quite see and feeling things he couldn’t decipher. Everything was numb and yet he felt sore which while it was a strange feeling, the pain reminded him that he was still alive.

Slowly he awoke from his post-ejection stupor to his AR display implant buzzing loudly and displaying multiple error messages, most of his implants had been rendered inoperable in the overload, though this was the least of his worries.

Pulling himself up off the ground he pulls the charred and broken neural plugs out the back of his skull with his magic with a groan of pain as a sickening crunch could be heard from the plugs.

“Okay, lets see how fucked up I am...” Access mutters to himself.

He calls up an AR display which thankfully still seemed to work properly and runs a quick diagnostic, reports of multiple problems fill his vision and it was safe to say many of his implants were beyond repair and would need replacing.

Checking on his organic parts wasn’t as easy but as far as he could tell, he was fine apart from some burns and disruption to motor functions. He wouldn’t know for sure until Red Star checked him over.

He could hear multiple groups of ponies outside the apartment, but couldn’t quite make out who despite the walls being paper thin. The day must be beginning for most right about now, What time was it?

Not long after this thought someone started pounding on the apartment door, stumbling to his hooves he makes his way over to the door steadying himself on various bits of furniture.

“Who is it?” Access inquired.

“Its us you dummy!” Titus says through the door. “Let us in already.”

With a grumble Access begins to unbar the door to let his friends in, who swiftly launch into many fevered questions as soon as the door opened. none of which he was particularly able to answer.

“By the sun, you look terrible!” Red Star said in shock, pushing him to the nearby sofa and began to look him over while preparing a few burn and stimulant serums. Hospital treatment was expensive and something they couldn’t afford, nor could they explain the injuries in a way that wouldn't make it sound as if they were hiding that they just committed theft and battery.

Access had suffered a severe burnout from his fight with the glitched avatar, his neural plugs were charred and the surrounding area had been severely burnt.

“Deck burnouts do that to you, Whatever that thing was using it had intended it to be lethal” Access responds.

“Not to sound ungrateful or anything, but how come it didn’t fry you then?” Titus asks.

“My Deck burned out before I did thankfully, I’ve learned over the years to put safeguards in place for situations like this.”

Access points a hoof at his now burnt-out Cyberdeck, though some time had passed it was still smoldering in the corner of the room and was largely a puddle of melted plastic, metal and silicon.

“Are you able to travel, we still need to deliver the data.” Rider states. “I am really glad you’re okay, just so you know.”

“Don’t worry, I’ll be fine” Access assures with a warm but pained smile.

Rider simply smiled back at him though she wasn’t so sure he was being truthful, it felt like he was masking the fact he nearly died with his childish bravado, she wanted to scold him for being so reckless but she couldn’t bring herself to do it.

They’d have to take public transport to the central plaza and walk to Equi-tech tower as using the Van would be too risky this soon after what they pulled. Nobody in Lower-Canterlot would rat them out however, even in these times a sense of community was in the minds of the unfortunate and downtrodden.

After what they had been through a few hours ago a little bit of rest and relaxation was very welcome, leaving the apartment they head down and out of their building and into the busy streets below.

The Sprawl was their home and had been for the majority of their lives, it was many miles of closely packed and run-down concrete buildings, cheap, small and generally very unpleasant places to live but in this district you took what you were given lest someone take it from you by force.

The shaded streets were positively alive with activity, merchants plying their trade, foals roughhousing and many groups of ponies laughing and enjoying their morning. Despite the fact they had very little in the way of possessions, money or even a home. But they all still managed in their own little way.

Rider looks towards the ground for a moment in thought then begins to speak to nobody in particular “Hey, when we get paid, what are you gonna spend it on?”

“New implants and a Cyberdeck.” Access says without missing a beat.

“Maybe a new weapon, district is getting more dangerous all the time.” Titus answers.

“Medical supplies, Lots of ponies around here could sure use them” Red Star answers with a frown.

All of these were good enough responses but Rider found herself torn on how she should spend the money, not that anyone would complain how she went about that.

It wasn’t long until they reached the district’s train station, each paying for their own ticket they head out onto the platform to wait.

Transportation had advanced by leaps and bounds since the steam-power days, Such a system of automated transports were essential to a city this large and most forms of transport were entirely electric as well as being entirely automated.

Some time later the train arrived thundering up the tracks and stopping with a loud screech, upon boarding they opt for a private cabin.

“How do you reckon they’ll react when we rock up?” Titus asked.

“Considering we’re being expected I should hope they react well enough.” Access grumbled.

“Whats stopping them from just shooting us and taking their property?”

Nobody had an answer to that, they’d either have to just wing it or be ready to start shooting if things got ugly though that’d likely end up in them getting killed.

The trip to the Central Plaza and then Equi-Tech Tower would take roughly an hour, the city had become much larger in recent years almost to the point where the mountain it was situated on was completely obscured. Even the interior of the mountain had been hollowed and used to further develop the city.

Passing into a tunnel constructed through the steel ring walls that separated Lower and Upper Canterlot the four friends looked outside their window as the train zipped out the other side to what looked like a whole other world.

Dusty, grimy streets gave way to gleaming steel and marble, Lower-Canterlot had its share of artificial neon lighting but Upper-Canterlot used and abused it to its fullest.

“What a view!” Titus exclaims.

“Never ceases to amaze does it?” Red Star asks.

Titus nods “You’re telling me, we’ve spent way too much time in the Sprawl”

Access nods before saying “Yeah, would be nice to live here wouldn’t it”

“Sure would” Titus says wistfully.

Upper-Canterlot was home to some of the richest and most influential ponies in Equestria and was the kind of place you wouldn’t want to cause trouble in, unlike Lower-Canterlot there were security drones and heavily armed police units everywhere, ready and waiting to quell any and all trouble.

And just to the north, was the one place the four of them never thought they’d tread. Equi-Tech Tower.

The train was now slowing for its approach to the Central Plaza Station and would soon arrive, Rider and Access begin to stand up and make their way to the train’s outer doors. Red Star and Titus follow a little distance behind and begin to talk among the two of them.

“You know, ever since Access nearly got fried Rider has been keeping a close eye on Access.” Red Star whispers.

“She probably feels responsible, we couldn’t have known what he’d face in there and she couldn’t have either.”

Red nods in agreement “Once this jobs over with we should just relax for a little while, poor mare is gonna have a heart attack if she gets a scare like that again.”

Rider and Access were stood at the exit to the Central Plaza waiting for their comrades, getting a little annoyed that they were taking their sweet time.

“You two finished?” Access grumbles.

“Yeah yeah, keep your hair on!” Titus laughs.

Heading out of the station they found themselves in the middle of Upper-Canterlot’s market district, many nice smells waft from the street food kitchens nearby as well as many corporate ad screens playing their loud and bright advertisements.

The Sprawl had many of the same things, but with a decidedly lower quality though this was to be expected since no corp wanted to spend good money on ponies who’d never be able to buy their products, of course this often didn’t stop them from doing it anyway in some sick attempt to torment them with status they’d never have.

To some degree this annoyed Access as he had lived in the Sprawl all his life, even before he met his friends and to see such a divide among ponies even now had rubbed him the wrong way and every pony he walked passed could tell.

The more he walked and took in the sights the more he wanted to tear it all down, it wasn’t fair that he and by extension everyone he knew from the Sprawl had grown up on so little when there was such plenty available within a short trip.

He had to keep his cool for as long as he was here, Now on final approach to Equi-Tech tower and with all four members of the crew together they enter the Tower.

Author's Note

Now we are getting into rewrite territory, originally i had intended this to be no more than 6 chapters, but after reading it i found it to be uninteresting so i rewrote it.

I can't say for sure how many chapters there will be now, but i can say it will be many, along with some seperate side stories, one of which is already being written.