Project Sparkle

Chapters

Prologue: INITIATE.
1: SYSTEM_BOOT
2: DATA_PARSE
3: SYSTEM_ERROR_WARM_REBOOT
4: PROTOCOL_ENGAGE
5: COMBAT_SYSTEM_ACTIVE
7: RESCUE_PROTOCOL_ACTIVE
8: SEARCH_AND_RESCUE_ENGAGE
6: PARAMATER_INCREASE_PARSE

Prologue: INITIATE.

Equestria isn't the peaceful utopia we once knew.

It was the start of this, the Sixth Age, the Goddess Aeon if I'm being poetic. It all went so wrong for some reason, and before anypony knew it everything had declined despite all the hardships we'd overcome together. We looked up from our own little worlds and saw that the eponymous 'it' had snowballed out of any and all possible control, and it had been such a gradual shift that nopony cared enough to do anything beyond wishing that things would simply get better, all waiting for some kind of change that was put into action too late.

I'm just as guilty as anypony else, because so long had passed before I started noticing the changes. I don't recall the exact time I started noticing it, but it was almost as if the days had gotten darker, and people had become far more distant and uncaring. It was technology and the progress of industry, it made people different. I was always pretty glued to my books and my circle of friends, though when I started to feel the change it had already dug in, and even though I tried to do my part to keep things even the culture had already shifted too far, I was helpless to do anything.

I'd even seen the end of Canterlot as I had known it, without even realising I had.

There was an institute that devoted themselves to inventing spells that cured various diseases, that any doctor could freely learn if they had the ability. I remember being awed at how selfless that was, and it made me want to create in such a manner myself, I think I almost joined before Celestia sent me to Ponyville. That institute kept going on through the years as I stayed with my friends, just one of the old remaining beacons of decency left in the world as everypony else changed. Then, I took a trip to Canterlot to see the Princess, and decided to see how they were getting along, arriving to see they'd been sidelined by a rich snob and member of the aristocracy that had the institute's research out from under them. After learning it, the noble had bought all rights to the research's usage through legal means, and took the institute to court over bullshit, making sure the final decision couldn't be challenged. It set a worrying precedent that they didn't want a repeat of, and regarding their other work they had felt they could no longer share it in case another opportunist came along to ruin them, so when I arrived, they'd closed up shop about a month before I got there.

Using the magic from the institute and combining it with the upcoming technology of one of their businesses, that noble managed to essentially create the first megacorp.

I was much younger then, far more innocent, and at the time I hadn't known who or what had caused the institute's downfall, just that a huge up-and-coming business had started selling magical tablets that cured what ailed peoples ills. It had only been simple analgesic drugs, mass-produced paracetamol and ibuprofen, but back then it was everything. In the papers they called it a revolution of industry. I was naively excited too, I thought what else can be advanced through technology while not thinking of just how the business had come about, or the negative impact it and other technology would have on society, only seeing the good parts of what was shown to me in curated papers or spoken on the radio, medium's that were owned by the aristocracy in large parts to push a certain narrative.

As it turns out, many others had been the same.

When the next megacorp popped up it was also welcomed. The next one came after that and they started to consolidate their power, formed business alliances to push their growth, made moves to exploit the populace for profit, all very slowly and deliberately over the course of years so complaints were never massed. The Diarchy had obviously taken notice from day one before I had even registered there might be a problem, and were tentative about the long reaching effects, yet they were optimistic things wouldn't go very far south, and that things could be curtailed before they got out of hoof. After all, they'd helped the ponies of that institute by setting them up within the Royal Palace, the greed of others wouldn't be an issue, all further research would be their own and everything was going to be fine, everyone would get along and the megacorps would see being greedy only hurt them in the end.

They'd been too damn hopeful, and too caring.

It was already law that the Crown could never dissolve a legitimate business that operated in Equestria for the benefit of its people, and by Celestia how that law allowed the corps to flourish by technicality. The megacorps wanted more, and they didn't care if their image wasn't at its best or if somepony got hurt, because they made enough money from ponies that were indifferent to their greed, indifference that had been brought about because the culture had shifted so far into a sort of apathy. It was Celestia's own conviction that people would generally always choose to be better, and after thousands of years of nothing but peace and prosperity I think she must have grown complacent, even when the nobles in her court started to try and work against her she held to her belief.

I can't really fault her too much, she's always been idealistic. Luna had some different feelings on the matter, though back then she was far more distant from the current culture than she had been before the return, and it took her some time to get up to speed.

In the end all that could be done was to adapt, as that law, as with so many others, were coded into the fabric of society. It was one of many such guarantees to the populace that the Sisters would never overstep and become tyrants. I got the need for it, and still I think it paints them as benevolent, it's one of the many reasons they're still adored by the people.

In the modern day the Crown still controls Equestria, passes laws and the like even if they have to go through the noble houses to do it and fight them every step of the way, yet it's also become something of a giant of industry in many different places, and has to carefully work around other giants to not be toppled. It was likely inescapable in order to keep a majority of its power, I think it's another reason why the little people like it, and why even if the Crown were to fail technologically it wouldn't be forced to become a figurehead. With the Diarchy ensuring that barely anyone goes hungry and relief always attempts to be there for those that need it thanks to specialised systems in place, there's a bottom line that rarely fails, and the people have hope. Things degrade, but they keep it in check as best they can, push back and restore when they can, as much as is within their power to do.

These days, the megacorps and nobles have private armies, they have advanced weaponry and technology, slimy lawyers to defend them, certain judges in their pockets... even certain gangs have great sway. Everyone who has more money than sense has that kind of power, but I know the Princesses are stronger. They have the perspective of thousands of years and countless lifetimes despite their wealth, they've used what the corporations began to empower themselves into the modern day and become practically invincible. No matter how far the corrupt step forward, the Crown always strives to move further, for Equestria.

I don't know if Canterlot can go back to the way it used to be. Ponyville, Equestria as a whole, I doubt they ever will because it's all so far gone, though what hope I have left is tied to making sure that it doesn't fall any more than it has. The Princesses have me to help them, and I'll always fight for them.

1: SYSTEM_BOOT

There was a torrential downpour tonight.

It was making the situation a great deal easier as she approached.

She didn't like that as there was never any struggle to be had in a simple job, far be it for her to enjoy the job at all, yet she saw it as a necessary failing of hers that she should. A great deal of the thrill came from the perceived challenge of who it was she had to silence, and the vast methods that could be devised and employed in reaching the target through a myriad of obstacles in order to do so, as it was very stimulating.

Her ordained targets didn't come often, but they were commonly always from the snobby echelons of the upper-class, or a powerful gangster with high delusions of grandeur, and on every single occasion it was someone that was overstepping their station who believed themselves to be better than they were; some bitchy CEO of a law-firm thinking that she can murder her boss and frame a rival just so that she can take control of the business, or a covetuos druglord that destroys another faction and thinks he can take on the world. Most could be put into a specific few categories. Of course, given the Crown's vast network of information these ran into subcategories of the numerous megacorps or gangs across the city, then running into the more detailed files of each organisation, and often quite a lot of information on just about every individual within them, sometimes right down to their favourite type of chocolate.

While it was interesting to know how one of her targets might have an unhealthy affinity for watching domination pornography involving mares with massive flares, she was far more attentive to the data regarding their race and their various daily habits when such information was at hoof; if they greatly enjoyed walks in the park each day after work, then ceremoniously injected illegal neurostims into their eyeballs when they got back home.

These tidbits leant to the ways that she could approach a situation, and it largely hinged on their race. Some were nocturnal races, like the Thestrals that tended to serve Luna, and that always made it appealing to do a night-op as they would present quite the foe with the moon giving them strength as they darted between shadows. Then it might be a Dragon the next time around and she'd have to progress with great caution, because as greatly enhanced as she was, their enchanted flames could still blind her sensors and utterly slag her augments despite the layered shielding system that was in place.

Ponies were the simplest of course, whether a Unicorn, Pegasus, or Earthen, the three shared the same key anatomical structure and vital points. Earthen were by far the minimal concern, as all of their strength often counted for nothing in the face of her augments, and unless she was fighting in an overgrown garden then their aptitude for controlling nature couldn't aid them in the slightest. Pegasi were also quite simple; separate them from the sky and they were about as harsh as a rolled-up newspaper. Inside a building and without the elements at their control then at best they might use the water from the tap, shape it into a deadly projectile, and use the gust of their wings to fire it at her. More often than not there wasn't enough space or air flow to direct and gain enough speed for it to have an effect against her shields, so they went to basically being Earthen with pretty wings, wings that held an extremely weak point of which could be severed.

Unicorns were the hardest of the three if they had been properly trained to fight, otherwise they were as simple as Pegasi with a clear weak point to attack if needed. If they knew how to use their magic then usually they would bring telekinesis or energy bolts into play, and if they were good at casting shields then that added to the enjoyment. A battle with any Unicorn, trained or not, made her not want to use her magic, not that she often did anyway as her own completely eclipsed that of any everyday pony for one reason, but breaking down a Unicorn's will as their spells hit nothing or their shields were bypassed by both her skill and her augments was far too entertaining to pass up.

No matter the pony or creature though, they all had their own way to prepare for any trouble that came for them, whether it was hiring ample security, fitting their households to the teeth with autoturrets, or setting a multitude of magical, technological, or combined magitech traps, with the richest often doing everything in tandem. That was always part of the excitement, getting past every little inch of danger just to see their face and the disbelief; it varied depending on how she went about the infiltration as to the range of their expression. Very often it would be disbelief that was then followed by acceptance or begging. On the rare occasion they would give her a proper fight, at least for a time, until she inflicted too many wounds for them to continue and she finished the job.

When the friskier ones fought her, it might be that the strikes she would cut were messy to a point and struck with intent to appear as such, to look as perhaps they had happened across a burglary into their home and had attempted to fend off their attacker with bravery, sadly succumbing to the injuries the heinous assailant had dealt in the process. Maybe she would forgo weapons and use her hooves, break a few bones during the scuffle instead, and then their neck when they finally collapsed; falling down the stairs was a terribly common tragedy for many homeowners after all.

But nearly everything of course depended upon her rules of engagement. As a general rule, every kill that she carried out was willed to look like an accident, to which there was some great contentment to be had in that every now and then; when time was on her side, and it was almost as if she was setting up the stage for the theatre. Making everything look just so added to her love of perfecting work. To carefully and silently deconstruct a window into shards and powder, and force the corpse onto the jagged edges still jutting from the frame, to then precisely erode the sinks fixture to leak water onto the polished tiles of the floor and dampen their hooves and body in the right places. What cruel fate that they should slip on a wet surface and be impaled after crashing through the window...

Such interesting circumstances weren't common for the targets she was given, but she relished the chance to act upon her aesthetic desires when presented the opportunity. Her previous mission to the Zebralands hadn't allowed for much more than a simple setup of her target being betrayed by his cohorts, but it was better than nothing, and setting the scene had been quite fun. If her victims were a naked canvas of infinite potential, then she was their burgeoning artist just anguishing to compose a masterpiece across their awaiting surface. She knew it wasn't healthy to enjoy it as much as she did, but she did; they were nasty creatures beyond saving and the world was better off that they weren't in it. Celestia constantly made her come in for psych evaluations more often than other Agents and then sat in for the assessment too. She found it slightly annoying even if she fully appreciated the care.

She felt much less unhinged when it came to a straight up assault. When everything came together and the Crown had the legal grounds to issue a decree that said the target was public enemy number one, they always ran. She worked with her peers and together they destroyed what they were hunting, and no one would object. If the Crown said they were bad, they often had the evidence to prove it, and the public knew it was true because the Diarchy was one of the few good things left in the world.

So yes, musing aside as she approached, the current setting for her canvas she was presented with made things awfully dull. The deluge of rain made visibility all but naught, no one else was around to spot her, the Pegasus stallion she was seeking had no guards with him, nor could she see any weapons on his person under the heavy fur coat he wore, and the basic shielding implant she'd scanned on him ─basic to her, it was actually quite a middle-class piece─ was nothing to her augments. How boring. He was also rather predictable, as this was the second place she'd thought to locate her quarry and of course a Pegasus would be high up. He was looking out at the lights and neon of the towering city, smoking a traditional cigarette that burned brightly as he took another drag, watching the air traffic whiz by at great speeds. Perhaps it was still a novelty to him that vehicles flew, or maybe he was lost in thought thinking about his future.

Didn't matter.

The Unicorn mare's prosthetic hooves made no sound as she moved across stone, the deep-purple fringed mane, the shock of pink running through its messy mop in a stripe, the menacing glow of her violet eyes; all were unnoticed by her prey as she deftly sauntered up behind the oblivious stallion and gave him a harsh accelerated strike against the middle of his spine.

The padded sole of her forehoof made contact with such force that his vertebral column snapped like rotten wood, though the wings under his coat certainly hadn't escaped her notice and an electro-pulse accompanied the vehement thrust, bypassing his meagre shielding and taking them down in the process. The electricity arced, illuminated his body under the skin as he was pushed over the edge of the open terrace he'd been gazing from, and he didn't make a sound as he fell as the force had pushed all of the air from his lungs. Even if he could get his fur coat off and still somehow use his wings after that, the spasming muscles were going to be inescapably seized up from the high voltage and he would have no time to recover.

He'd either die from the system shock mid free-fall, or die when he hit the lower levels of the Grey Eagle ward some far seven-thousand hooves below, assuming he wasn't splattered across some poor bastard's windscreen during the descent. Thankfully, flying cars were sturdy enough to weather that sort of squishy impact. When the police arrived to assess the incident his body wouldn't have any trace of being shocked, because there wouldn't be much of a body left in any case, so he'd most certainly be considered just another suicide; Pegasi had a disturbingly strong tendency to nosedive in such a fashion when they were too depressed, and this terrace was a popular spot for jumpers. A wonderful coincidence that he'd chosen to come here for a brief spot of sightseeing.

Twilight gave a brief parting glance to the towering high-rises swathed in bright colours and skyscrapers adorned in pulsing advertisements, a quick eye passing over the Aurora Veil that held even more flashy product placement beamed in the sky over water particles in the air, before swiftly slinking away from the stallion's final scene and updating her checklist.

Mission complete.

The location the target had been idly daydreaming at was the Everfree Outlook, a popular historic tourist spot in the Hydra ward, an almost park-like public space that opened out over Grey Eagle towards the south-west of the sprawling city of Canterlot as it wrapped around the massive mountain. It used to be case that somepony could see as far as the Macintosh Hills beyond Appleloosa if they focused hard enough from the old balcony, and as the name implied; one also used to be able to see the entirety of the massively sprawling and ancient Everfree Forest that stretched for over several hundred miles, until it abruptly stopped at Ghastly Gorge where it was carefully cut back for the old train lines.

Nothing like that now.

The name of the location had remained the same, but most came for the sculpted greenery of the gardens as their escape now as the view was wholly different. These days nature had given way to the rise of technology and progress, with colossal buildings of obtrusive metal and blinding neon eclipsing the landscape all the way out to the extended plateau, especially during the nighttime where the senses were overwhelmed with the endless vivid glare of fluorescence. Even during the daytime without all of the intense light pollution it was difficult to see very far, as a thick hazy cloud of odourful smoky vapour that never lifted and settled heavily on the horizon, carefully hugging the upper surrounds of buildings as sunlight diffused through it from a million different angles while it filtered down and wormed its way into the pores and lungs. As dusk gave way to the dawn the looming smoke would slowly appear as the vigorous glow became less potent, rising through the day like a baleful phantom until it was once again vanquished by the intensity of the neon night.

It was gorgeous in its own way, harsh and chaotic.

There was a momentary burst of static haze across her HUD when she stared into the distance, deeply buried memories were dredged up into the forefront of her mind of far more tranquil days and carefree picnics, the fresh air and smell of cut grass, carelessly cantering with friends and the scent of musty parchment in old books, studying intently for school tests and fretting over simple things, all rushing to the forefront as the once quaint little Ponyville also used to be visible from the terrace view.

Ponyville hadn't been exempt from extreme industrial might and the salacious pull of advancing technology, it too had been warped from its once humble bearings of a small town and slowly morphed into something horrendous in the Goddess Aeon of the current day. She rarely ever visited the bustling city since it had been renamed, and she didn't like to go if she could avoid it. Solar City may have been appealing to the various tourists and snobby city officials but it spurned her personal warmth, with all the charming venues of yesterday having long since closed down. The places that survived such an overbearing period had been bought out and grotesquely transitioned, becoming mere shadows and facsimiles of their former selves, and feeling utterly soulless and detestable in their new forms.

The wistful wave of homesickness abated as she continued to weave her way down the cold alleyways and side streets between buildings, soon crossing through the automated checkpoint of the heavy Bulwark that separated Hydra from Grey Eagle ─the rich didn't like to see the riff-raff after all─ and taking a few narrow side streets after, before stepping onto a main street where the lights were blinding and dazzling in their fervour. Automatically her glowing violet eyes compensated for the glare and the rainy world around her dimmed, almost as if she were wearing sunglasses. It wasn't quite the same as her vision highlighted objects and creatures with a sharp outline as the contrast lowered, not that it was really needed as her augments already gave her perfect sight through virtually all conditions including tonight's rainstorm. One downside to this particular set of eyes however was the constant tinge of purple that overlaid absolutely everything, and she'd been putting up with it for quite a while, so she'd drop by Velvet's workshop later in the week and swap them out.

As enhanced as her system was, she wasn't too odd of a sight as nearly everyone these days could afford the more simple of upgrades. It was typically assumed the more gear you had the more money you had, which also leant to power in all senses of the word, so people tended to give her a wide berth on that front alone. She'd wager that roughly seventy-seven to eighty-two percent of her body wasn't stock at this point, and even though the most anyone ever saw were her hooves and head as the rest of her was covered by her duster and bodysuit, it didn't stop her from being heavily avoided on the second front because of the gently glowing fiery symbol on her leather duster's flanks.

Passing by a couple of garishly lit shops dealing in various fancy knick knacks, she smiled as she knew that she actually wasn't all that far from the Hibiscus ward, and had already plotted a quick path on her map as her augmented legs started to take her in that direction. It was colloquially referred to as the Pink Palace due to the greater volume of erotic massage parlours, high-class brothels, and expensive strip clubs that were present in its lustful confines. It wasn't exhaustive of all the ward had going for it and had plenty of other business ventures, although that was certainly what most ended up visiting for, yet as wonderful a diversion all of that was she greatly fancied the food joints instead. After a mission or two like this she always tended to become rather eager for the exotic dishes sold there, and if it came to pass that she should happen to fancy other cravings, well then her choice of destination was perfect.

It didn't take very long to reach Hibiscus on her hooves. As she approached she came upon its eastern Runegate, armed with a dual-barrelled autoturret and some unassuming light sentry-droids built by both Aeon and Eidos that stood by motionlessly. Their pony-like forms standing silently betrayed that they were fully active and ready to fire at a moment's notice with some serious firepower despite each series model; Aeon's androids were the best in the business and none could dispute it, and Eidos wasn't far behind. It was great protection, a Runegate when locked down would take some serious hardware to breach, even more so if one was being hounded while doing so. Stepping up to the Runegate, she was quickly admitted through its enchanted metal blast door free of any scans or questions with her credentials, the softer pinks and purples and the absence of rainfall welcomed her into the ward with open arms.

Yet another reason why she had decided to come here; all of the taller buildings within the area automatically deployed a magitech-energy barrier that connected together from a hundred different points, forming an impermeable overhead lavender canopy when the moisture level in the air hit a certain threshold, ensuring that its denizens going about their wanton business were not interrupted or hampered by the heavy weather. It was one of those small perks of being in a richer part of the city, and something only a few wards had access to.

She gently shook herself to rid her duster of excess water and applied a very mild heating spell to her mane and tail to dry the worst of it, the wet purple hair partly reverting to its natural messy moppish state, and the pink shock running through it becoming brighter. She let herself stay slightly damp as it tended to aid in cooling her systems and she'd use slightly less power, but mostly because it lessened her heat signature from other prying augmented eyes that happened to have such imaging tech, thermal or otherwise.

If turning the corner into an enclosed den of moody magenta-spectrum fluorescence hadn't heralded her arrival into Hibiscus, then the gorgeously curvy Unicorn mare draped in tantilising pale gossamer silks and supple leathers approaching her certainly did. Twilight hadn't previously seen her around here, and she knew quite a few of the escorts by name. Alluring to the senses, the shapely young escort had a smooth cream coat and lovely jade eyes, a raven-black mane framing around her horn and cascading down her back, and she looked like she was entirely stock; that was quite an irresistible siren call. She coyly came to a stop before Twilight with a sultry smile.

"Hey babe, welcome to the Pink Palace, maybe I can-" She started, until her pretty eyes caught sight of the glowing mark on Twilight's duster, and her welcoming cheery demeanour fell as a slight fear rose up. "Whoa, hold on now, Agent; we don't want any trouble..."

Twilight waved her off with a slight shake of the head.

"Easy there, hot stuff. Not here on business." She placated the mare with a smile and a shrug. "Just grabbing a bite to eat, and then I'm out."

It wasn't so much a suggestion; it was a statement. Crown Agents had complete autonomy to go anywhere and everywhere within Equestria as they so pleased. They were above the police and the military in all matters, considered to be incredibly dangerous as they were always enhanced, and carried the authority of the Diarchy wherever they went.

The girl was certainly new and didn't know her by face like the regulars here did, or which of the Princesses she mainly tended to report to, because the Solaris Crown Agents were considerably more peaceable than their Lunaris counterparts. Luna's Agents could be quite... cold. Not that she could exactly fault the mare as most of the general populace didn't actually know that Crown Agents were split into different branches, they just knew they were extremely lethal and should be avoided. Twilight did play for both sides as and when each Princess had a need for her, though it wasn't as if the young escort could have known that.

The cream mare nodded apprehensively, awkwardly standing on the spot for a moment unsure of what to do, until Twilight flashed her a charming grin and leaned in close, smelling a wonderful scent of juniper on her body. Twilight didn't consider herself to be the most attractive pony in Equestria, what with having augments running through her face and her eyes having an ominously piercing glow to them, however it apparently did something for this younger mare as her breathing quickened and her features sported a rather intense blush. Maybe it was just Twilight's absolute authority that turned her on. She held for a moment and let her presence briefly dominate, before her horn glowed awash with purple light, and she raised the mare's hoof while pressing a coin into it; a heavily expensive tip that may or may not have been worth it, she'd find out later.

"Stick around if you like." Twilight whispered in the mare's ear, causing it to flick. "I might be here a little longer for some dessert if the mood takes me."

Twilight slowly cantered past the lovely escort as she gazed at the small platinum moon in her hoof with utterly muted awe, quickly peeking at the curvy mare's backside and focusing for a second, as she then continued on with a sly smile across her muzzle. The lewd image she'd snapped instantly appeared on the left side of her HUD above the readouts. The clothing the young mare wore was exceptionally revealing; the tight cuts of leather that squeezed her flanks, croup, and buttocks made the already shapely flesh bulge further, and the flowing sheer silks that ran down her malleable cheeks framed the lovely sight of her puffy anus and tight vulva rather wonderfully, the lavish view finished off by a considerable pair of shapely teats, with prominent nipples atop wide areola that hung down enticingly, all entirely visible as her lengthy dark tail had swished to one side during the shot.

She deleted the photo after a couple more seconds of ogling; if she really wanted to see that lucious curvature again she'd actually locate the escort later and give her an incredibly wonder filled night she wouldn't soon forget in a hurry. Twilight was actually quite sorely tempted, the all-natural mare had the perfect kind of bountiful arse and ponut combination, with tits that she could get lost in. By Celestia's own curves, it was nice to be back home.

The lewd thoughts in her mind, her readout dutifully informed that her core temperature had risen a couple of degrees, to be quite expected, and she let her system cool down by itself as her arousal faded, as she was still damp enough that her heat signature shouldn't have been too affected by her body. She had a look over the 3D diagnostic of her overall structure on a museful whim and confirmed that there'd been no significant change beyond a slight increase in her heart rate and greater activity in her brain, the heat of her nether region was already back to a normal level, and her core likewise cooled. Her augmented limbs each kept their own temperatures controlled but could be overridden if needed, and her sophisticated magitech bodysuit could direct humidity anywhere to assist in cooling.

Twilight was not paranoid, she just knew better as a Crown Agent was incredibly juicy prey to the right players, and she certainly wasn't without her enemies. Letting her guard down outside of the Royal Palace was a mistake she wasn't going to make again. She'd been there, done that, and got the gold medal. Her early days held many such cases.

It was a few turns and twists that she took down the vividly lit streets, keeping to herself while she travelled through the permeating richness of Hibiscus. She'd ended up wanting to visit her regular haunt from any others, so she banked a sharp right at the next intersection where a toned scantily-clad ochre Gryphon was offering his services in a very risque number that showed off his sizable package, knowing that further down would be a vendor street and subsequently the location she was after. She kept on down the clean pavement being bathed in numerous outlets lights, slipping by an exotic Changeling dancer covered in jewellery that barely covered her modesty as she kept to her intriguing chitin-plated form. She was smooth and devoid of any degradation, with some extra curve so she'd been feeding well, and was gracefully gyrating her ample hips amidst the fluttering of her gossamer wings in a sensual dance. She wholly captivated the leering onlookers seated at the various food shops dotted around, each store's individual smells clashing in a myriad of different cuisines within Twilight's nose as she went across the flagstones and straight down to the very end.

She finally slowed her pace and hopped up onto a vacant padded stool near the centre of the best place for food within Hibiscus, the Wall-Den; a large and garish eat-out diner that occupied the entire back wall of this street, the tantilising scents of sizzling meat and frying vegetables drawing many in as they passed by. This being the largest and busiest of all the eateries here even with its immensely crazy colours and vivid neon glare, she'd just sniped the seat from another would-be customer, the large muscular grey Minotaur with heavy-duty leg prosthetics and a powerful mining gauntlet on one arm ─a very popular weapons amongst Minotaurs lately─ giving her a baleful glare that promised gratuitous violence.

"Fuck off and I won't tear out your pretty little nosering." Twilight warned him evenly, keeping her eyes fixed on his movements, and her muscles coiled like a spring as he bristled momentarily. She was ready to break his teeth in as she thought he might actually try to challenge her, but the Minotaur appeared to think better of it as he likely saw that she was far more augmented, grunting in anger and slowly hulking away to the other end of the bar to wait for a free space.

Paying him no more mind, she relaxed, glancing up and gently smiling with warmth, now face to face with the eccentric proprietor of the colourful establishment, and an extremely odd pony she most certainly was; the wonderously curvaceous and bouncy Earthern mare was a cotton-candy pink, sporting vibrant baby-blue eyes, and a deep-pink mane and tail that was as all over the place as she was, a distinctive cutie-mark of three multicoloured balloons resting on her supple haunch. She'd barely changed at all over the long years.

"You won't make friends that way, Twilight!"

Twilight couldn't stop her smile from splitting into a cocky grin.

"Don't need many other friends but the ones I already have, Pinkie." Twilight replied cheerfully as Pinkie Pie returned the happy expression and turned, bouncing lightly on her hooves up and down the length of the outlet taking orders at great speed despite not being a teen anymore, and despite her condition. Twilight was simply content to watch her go about her business in the elegantly tight, if amusingly frilly indigo mini-dress she wore until she was done, zipping between customers, the register, and numerous steaming woks and pans on the go.

There was quite something to be said for an adult mare that had such a powerful body like Pinkie despite an otherwise crippling ailment and voracious eating habits, of which she maintained herself well with enough exercise and somehow kept herself tastefully soft over the muscle, and only ever bordered on plush with the barest hint of tasteful feminine belly fat. Watching her always begged the question of just how she could balance such a fine level of weight with every passing day considering she could put away half of her own store's food supply in a single sitting, although Twilight had long given up trying to explain Pinkie to herself, told herself it was because Pinkie was so active, and was quite content to just admire her friend's gorgeous form. She magically fished a moon from her duster's inner pockets as Pinkie finished up her order-taking for the newest arrivals to then rest on the counter in front of Twilight.

"So what's cookin', Twi?" Pinkie asked with a pretty smile, resting her head in her hooves as she kept eye contact with Twilight's own glowing ones, while her tail briefly worked a wok behind her laden with stir-fry in order to keep it from sticking. "Been a while! You want the usual? Or 'Something New'?"

"You have something new?" Twilight wondered.

"Yep, just a week back! And it's popular!" Pinkie bounced excitedly. "Figured I'd throw some Western spices and Eastern sauces together with some salmon and cod, and then add some noodles and greens and potatoes and onions and parsnips an-"

"Sounds good, Pinkie." Twilight smiled affectionately as she continued to list the slew of ingredients her latest dish consisted of, pressing the platinum moon onto the counter, and taking another as a secondary thought and adding it to the first.

Pinkie paused her orating, glancing at the two pieces of platinum with a concerned pout and then back to Twilight as she took only one of the coins. "The dish is only twenty bits, silly!"

Twilight softly enveloped Pinkie in her purple corona as she turned and attempted to make a seriously honest effort to go back to the cash register and procure change, instead pulling her dear friend back to face her, and finding Pinkie's expression and snout scrunched up in mute concession.

"You're still undercharging." Twilight huffed with both amusement and annoyance, edging the other coin towards her as well. "Keep the change, alright?"

Pinkie hesitated for a few moments before caving in and giving a soft nod, scooping up the other moon and turning to put the two high-value coins into the register. Twilight could understand her apprehension; a single moon might have been fine for an expensive escort, if a bit too showy for most, but food-wise it was roughly equal to paying for fifty or so of Pinkie's most costly meals, and Twilight had just given her two of them, probably just covering over two months plus worth of rent on this outlet. She was always uncomfortable taking extra money from a friend, so she rarely took tips when they were given because of course Pinkie being Pinkie; she considered nearly every creature her friend.

While Pinkie considered twenty bits a high sum of money, she still hadn't seemed to realise just how woefully little that was in comparison to what some of the extravagant upper-class restaurants charged for their own self-made dishes, that next to what Pinkie created were half the portion size for the sake of 'artistic food', and not nearly as delicious. What the pink mare had called a bit, was actually a silver meadow. Twilight lamented that Pinkie was still living in the past when Solar City was still Ponyville, bits were the only currency, and five bits was the going rate for a fairly decent meal.

In the current Goddess Aeon, the prevailing coinage of Equestria was a multicoin system introduced around sixteen years ago following a major incident known as the Venrum Disaster, when a covert group of mages in the Equestrian Westlands ─previously known as the Undiscovered West─ had finally succeeded in their efforts to reproduce an incredible artefact of great power; a gem which could turn common metals into precious gold and give their users extended life. This forbidden magic had been thought to have been destroyed thousands of years before the founding of Equestria during the Alicorn Aeon, yet over the past several hundred years the organisation had managed to scour Equus for the secrets to its creation.

But the artefact had not been perfect, as their leader Venrum Jade had discovered. While the gem could produce gold from something common like tin it had also eroded and tarnished the metal after a short period of time, as it turned out it had only partially created pure gold, the rest of the coin being a mere illusion of it. The ores beneath the veneer were still a mess of what they had been prior to the transformation, and the process of age and pressure that created the metals naturally was being artificially increased at a destructive pace, resulting in the defunct coins rapidly corroding with rust and wear.

The problem was only exacerbated by an aura from the spellwork that affected other gold around it, seeping in and affecting it at an extremely slow rate, and naturally this issue had of course only set in after the bastards had converted several hundred pounds of common ore into the imperfect gold and recklessly spent it. In just a few weeks, gold bits all across the land had started to warp and lose their precious metal content as they were ravaged by this curse, leading to severe supply issues as the everyday pony found that their bits could barely pay for a single loaf of bread. Coin clipping had increased on bits that hadn't been affected almost tenfold and soon most shopkeepers were trading in half piece bits and small shards of gold, and the upper-class of Canterlot simply refused to accept any coin that had been tampered with.

Naturally the situation could not be remedied overnight, the Crown needed to step in, and after the Princesses had gone through concentrated investigations and found undeniable evidence that it was Venrum and his followers they had quickly been arrested, and the tainted artefact had been safely recovered from Venrum's abode and destroyed.

With the abnormal gem safely out of the way, the Crown issued a royal decree that all of the gold bits in circulation across Equestria would be recovered, purified of their bane, and reforged anew. While they hadn't formerly seen great usage beyond decoration and slight magical applications, silver and other metals were now to be fully implemented as currency while the gold of the land was being treated, and the Royal Mints went into heavy production.

Before the crisis, the Princesses had been planning to shift the coinage to something more modern, as gold bits were sometimes clipped or there might be a counterfeit on occasion, but the system was a holdover from far simpler times and didn't warrant such a massive shift that would upset the balance. Now it could be safely implemented and usher in a better currency that would completely do away with counterfeiting and tampering entirely, giving everything a much needed change.

Now there would be a seven coin system with nigh-impregnable tamper and preservation spells that even the most dedicated criminal could not breach. The main five would consist of palladium sovereigns, platinum moons, gold sols, silver meadows, and bronze rabbits. It would also be simple to add and divide up as the system would adopt the base principle applied in mathematics where units were divisible by ten. Sovereigns being the highest value, with moons and sols going to ten and meadows and rabbits going to one-hundred, with two secondary coins to bridge the gap between the lowest two so that people didn't have to haul sizable bags of currency around. Fifty rabbits made a warren, two making a meadow, and fifty meadows made a dawn, two making a Sol. It was thankfully far less complicated in practice than it sounded.

The entire debacle of actually gradually introducing the coinage had been a massive headache however, that Twilight had assisted with in Ponyville having been something of a local figurehead at the time. The Crown constantly sent out its Agents alongside the Guard to make sure everyone traded their old bits and no trace of the cursed metals were left unsecured, while ensuring that a basic groundwork was followed so no ludicrous prices were put down for everyday supplies. It had worked out rather well as a good majority of common produce had downscaled in price, ponies and other peoples acting somewhat as if the new silver meadow had replaced the old gold bit, as now gold felt far more precious in its value, and bronze rabbits as well as warrens and dawns became very welcome for exact change and easy handling.

Most Equestrians traded in gold sols, silver meadows, and bronze rabbits, with more usage on the lowest two and their bridge-coins for everyday purchases when made with actual coin, though it was far more common these days for a majority of transactions to be carried out via credit on the Crown's Chronicle system, which besides functioning as a banking system and wallet, essentially gave every subject in Equestria their own personal program that generated a constant basic income. The details were complex to the everyday pony, but it essentially meant that they would always have a small amount of credit no matter what, and that they usually didn't have to mess around with physical coinage. It was extremely useful for everyone, as it was mainly the wealthy upper-class, large businesses, and megacorps that made their major transactions with the higher coinage such as moons and sovereigns, and nopony generally wanted to carry around that kind of cash.

From rabbits to sovereigns, cash or credit, Hibiscus was one such location where all coins had their place; the deeper in you went, the more ritzy and overpriced it became. Pinkie had grabbed an almost perfect spot in the more middle-class area of the ward, so her rent was manageable and she saw a lot of business.

She wasn't particularly bad off ─Twilight often peeked into all of her friends' chronicles to check their finances just in case─ but it still didn't mean that she couldn't have managed things a little better, she just didn't want to raise her prices. Most that ate at the diner regularly knew the basic deal when Pinkie espoused odd rates, and often knew they got decent food for bargain prices which was a contributing factor to how well Pinkie's establishment did. The fact she never failed to create new dishes and breathe life into older ones by adding to them also kept customers consistently coming back, and her little hole in the wall was considered a very popular place to visit according to a few of Canterlot's tourism guides, albeit in part due to the Hibiscus ward's already sirenic pull.

It also helped that Twilight periodically hacked into Canterlot's vast extranet complex to ensure that it stayed a permanent landmark on the map system when a major update went out, keeping it just a bit more important looking than most other blips, not that Pinkie or any city officials knew that.

Everything in Pinkie's life seemed to be mostly smooth sailing, though while Pinkie wasn't exactly poor, neither could she afford to upgrade the augment she had, and that was where Twilight liked to come in. As much as Pinkie disliked that Twilight was basically just giving her money, she had already accepted long ago that her dear friend was going to help her out every so often. What could have been a month's rent or extra stock could also be money towards a better prosthetic and fixing her current condition.

She managed that well enough too, but Pinkie had lost her left hindleg in an unfortunate accident back when she'd first moved to Canterlot and a newly introduced car with a terrible driver had hit her, and not even magic could fix her leg; it had to be amputated. It had taken her a full year to recover properly, and it had taken longer before better prosthetic limbs had come out of military service, so her friends had gotten the funds together to get her fitted with the best civilian model on the market. Since then, the technology had leaped forwards in great strides and bounds, and Pinkie's leg was now quite outdated as there were far more options available that performed astronomically better beyond her current augment's level, yet she insisted that she was just happy to have the ability to walk again.

While Twilight didn't push often, the business that made Pinkie's leg was long defunct having been swallowed up by a larger company, and the model of her augment was both a precursor and no longer in production, the entire system it was built on was incredibly outdated to the ones inside her own augments. Pinkie was essentially wearing the modern equivalent of a pegleg as the limb contained only the barest amount of electronics or magic alongside a single gem-core, yet she had little issue with how it actively impacted her ability to work, and Twilight knew she could be as fast as she used to be, it was only the old leg that slowed her down.

"Velvet has the latest civvie Galloper in stock." Twilight started as Pinkie bought over the meal she'd ordered, done in the time she'd been reminiscing about the past. "I can get you a heavy discount no problem, have it on and get you walking in a couple hours."

Pinkie's lovely smile followed as she placed the divine smelling dish down, and she just shook her head. Therein lay a second issue to her upgrading.

"I'm fine, Twilight. Leg's been doing just dandy lately." She assured her, and Twilight resisted the urge to comment on the very worn housing. "I don't want to go through the hassle again."

Twilight understood her position, though she didn't like it.

The hassle was that the augment needed to attach to the severed nerve endings in the damaged limb, and it did so with small implants from a docking port attached to the body, but the ports implants were like needles that burrowed into the skin as they found every single nerve ending, and it would send waves of fire through the local area. Old prosthetics like Pinkie's were far less gentle in the process, and had to be done one at a time by carefully slow and precise magic rather than using a magitech machine to do it. The agony she'd gone through had been overwhelming as even the general anaesthetic hadn't blocked a majority of the pain, she'd woken up and been screaming and sobbing for the entire operation.

To upgrade to something like the civvie Galloper series she'd also require a new port, and that meant going through the operation again. Twilight was used to it by now after numerous upgrades and system refits through the years, and the process had become far more streamlined with a ports acquisition method being wholly based in magitech; it automatically found all of the nerve endings and instantly shot the implants in at the same time. The pain was a little more intense but it was over in a couple of seconds. Recovery took no time at all with the advances in modern medicine, and each new limb could generally be configured or retrofit to the current port model, with the ports themselves being adaptable so that requiring an entire port refit operation was quite rare.

"I'll keep offering until you give in." Twilight commented, tucking into her meal as her magic brought the fork up to her mouth.

Pinkie humphed good-naturedly and jumped away in her tight frilly furore of a dress as she served another customer, giving Twilight a rather excellent view of her curves and the barest hint of her hefty teats in the snug indigo fit as she hopped just a short distance away.

Twilight chuckled to herself as she ate. "I'll just have to keep visiting your fine diner and pestering you, constantly, if only for the view."

Pinkie's leg really wasn't going to last much longer. She'd already scanned her eyes over the old prosthetic and in the few months she'd not been here it had degraded by roughly six percent of its previous efficiency. The long cracks in the housing were carefully filled in epoxy and smoothed, the internal mechanism was mostly intact and certainly cared for, but the sheer age and strain on the components couldn't be hidden from her advanced augmented vision.

As Applejack had quite rightly put it when Twilight had tried everything within her power to save Pinkie's flesh and blood leg with magic right after the accident, despite the flesh being pulverised and the bones basically being fragments and powder; 'Sometimes a thing gets broke... can't be fixed.'

Pinkie might be able to jury-rig it for a time and patch in replacement wiring and a different main inner chain from a partly similar model when the current one snapped, but that would just wear the limb down even further as it wasn't a perfect match, and eventually the limb just wouldn't respond to her body anymore as the strain on the gem-core made it crack and cease to function.

Twilight sighed.

Moving on to a much lighter thought, the meal Pinkie had made for her ─which she saw in standard Pinkie fashion that it was actually called Something New on the specials menu─ was amazing as expected. Mixing a large variety of vegetables with different textures and throwing in salmon that tended to not be as salty or oily as cod, along with the sauces and spices that pulled everything together with the noodles, and the meal was a bizarre but highly delicious mix of sweet and savoury without being overpowering or anything taking over the taste-buds too much.

Twilight had never given much thought to eating meat until she'd met with an old gryphon during a mission that sent her to Gryphonstone almost fourteen years back. It had been a tough one, it had been during the time of continuous civil wars, and her target had been some upstart rich kid of a lord enhanced with more proto-augments than sense. At the time she'd not been all that enhanced herself, having not long become a Crown-Agent-in-training, along with the general volatility of having augments back then. Luna had personally sent her on that mission to test her new abilities. After she'd managed to kill the bastard and make it look as if he'd tried to overload his unstable augments resulting in an explosive death, she was absolutely dead on her hooves and decided to grab something to eat.

It was some worn down looking food shack on the corner of a poor street, and she'd asked for a simple meal of vegetables, yet the old coot working the stall had insisted she try something with the trout he'd caught earlier in the day, and that it would be the best thing she'd ever tasted. She'd had no time to protest as he'd already handed her a steaming dish of trout and rice. At that point she was too exhausted to protest and gave it a go, but she had actually rather enjoyed it.

Since then she'd been trying a lot of odd dishes that ponies didn't normally try, and with Pinkie catering to all races with her food it had certainly amused her when Twilight showed interest in them. These days Twilight was her test subject for approval on her new meals to see if they gelled with a pony that wasn't Pinkie, as her tastes were always weird and she found the oddest cuisine palatable.

"It's good eating. Got any new desserts on the menu?" Twilight commented as Pinkie passed by her to see another customer who'd just sat down, the shaggy goat looking like he hadn't sheared in years.

"Nothing new yet, but I'm working on something." Pinkie winked, turning her attention to the new face. "Hiya Stu, what can I get you?"

Twilight absently glanced around as Pinkie spoke to the newcomer, and continued to pick at her food while performing a quick scan of the area. Her sensors were detecting a great deal of shifty movement and it had her wary. There were a lot of patrons here and a majority were armed and enhanced, it was to be expected yet it didn't make resting any easier. She'd been scanned by a few of the creatures eating around the busy street as well, most likely curious as to the gear a Crown Agent possessed, and good luck to them; her main system was far too well guarded for that, they'd need some serious hardware to hack through and see her specs.

She breathed out, and resumed her rich meal.

Then there was a very sudden shift of movement to her right.

She saw the large Thuddgun in her peripheral vision before anything else as it left the jacket of the silvery Gryphoness that quickly came into her sights on approach, immediately surging into action as she practically shot back from her stool and twisted towards her, an electro-pulse already surging through her forelimb. Her hoof raced down at the same time the heavy firearm loudly barked, light blossoming from the barrel as Twilight felt the sting and impact in her chest of a round bypassing her shields.

Her hoof made contact with the silver Gryphoness' leather-clad chest and the hen was heavily forced back as Twilight deftly settled onto her hooves, seeing whatever electrical power behind her swing had been completely negated, and she saw her readouts flashing that her limbs systems were undergoing recharge. The Gryphoness had used an EMP slug, but how the fuck had that broken though her shielding, or her gear? She'd find out once she decorated the flagstones with this pigeon's face. Twilight went up and in on her hindlegs, deftly closing the gap she'd made and struck out at the Gryphoness' gun claw, disarming her as she tried to get a second shot off and sent the chunky pistol skating across the ground, then pivoting back as the other wicked claw sailed through the air at Twilight's neck. The attack easily missed and she countered with an unaccelerated sharp right uppercut that solidly connected with the Gryphoness' ribs just under the breast, immediately following it up by using what little charge her other forehoof had managed to build and striking the left flat against the hen's open midsection.

The effect was instant; despite being at far less than a half of its power the pulse rocked through with the force of a small buck, and the Gryphoness found herself momentarily lifted from the ground before falling back to a knee in her attempt to recover. Twilight braced as she lunged, using her wings to propel herself forwards as her arms wrapped around Twilight's barrel and slammed her into the pavement, hastily reigning a series of blows in on her raised forelegs until Twilight punched out with both limbs straight up.

It caught her assailant off guard just enough that she could slip herself back and kick her hindlegs against the Gryphoness' midsection again with as much effort as she could muster, harshly pushing the hen up and away as Twilight deftly backrolled into a crouch onto her haunches the second she had some space, quickly getting into a bipedal stance again. She watched as the Gryphoness then struggled to stay even on her paws and clutched her ribs in pain, her movements far slower as she choked out a breath and staggered, it was quite likely that her lung had collapsed or been punctured by broken ribs given the posture.

Twilight often forgot the level of damage her augments could cause in the heat of her fights, especially against unenhanced opponents. She generally assumed anyone that actually tried to take her on wouldn't be anywhere near stock, but then again Gryphons were a stubborn sort that thought they could take on the world. The Gryphoness attempted to make another strike but it was fueled mostly by anger and desperation rather than precision. Twilight sharply side-stepped as the hen falteringly came in, grabbing her by the wrist as she swiped and delivering a savage punch to her straightened elbow. She miserably cried out as the joint gave a sickening crunch, and Twilight finished the short fight by throwing the Gryphoness' broken arm wide and swinging up a hindleg in a full roundhouse kick that cleanly struck her foe's head with the side of her hoof, knocking her out cold in an instant as Twilight swung her hindleg down and kept stance.

She'd made sure to pull the power of her kick, very much miss the temple, and mind the edge of her hoof; she didn't need to kill the hen.

Taking a breath, Twilight's scanners assessed the situation very fast.

The Gryphoness had only been one of six of her kin that were now moving in from waiting positions around the street, drawing their compact weapons as a few more patrons of the food stalls moved to leave in a hurry, or keep out of the line of fire and watch the debacle.

They'd been testing the waters to see how she fared, realising that numbers and not the element of surprise would win this fight for them. She glanced around at the remaining five as they approached into the space that had cleared in the street and pinged them with trackers, keeping her fighting stance even on her hindlegs as she prepared to face off against the group.

Her forelimbs were both charged up again and she had a modest reserve of power left until she couldn't use electro-pulses, she'd have to dial the energy back to half a pulse to use it effectively and pad out her charges; she'd gone on mission not long after returning from another without recharging her power cells. Scanning had already revealed the five were enhanced to some small extent unlike the hen, and three had implants that would negate or lessen the effects of her pulses, so she'd just be fighting fairly normally against them. Her shields would hold for a while, and when they went down she'd have to rely on her gear and instincts alone, although none of them had any more Thuddguns so that was fine, a few bruises and cuts would be nothing. She also wasn't about to use her full arsenal in such a crowded public space either; it would make this a walk in the park, and it would be very dangerous for everyone in the area. The situation didn't warrant it enough anyway, they were only here for her... so this should be quite a thrill.

She tensed as the biggest Gryphon ─who was most likely their Kapitän─ began to charge at her, wielding a pair of shock-dusters on his claws. A classic beatdown sort of guy, that was nice. Her back hooves pushed against the flagstones as she readied a strike, and he got halfway before there was a blinding flash that had little impact on her eyes, followed by the echoed clap of an assault rifle. He was dropped onto the pavement like a steaming sack of shit.

"ANYONE ELSE ATTACKS THE AGENT, THEY GET THE SAME TREATMENT!"

Ah, Canterlot Police Service.

And just when things were getting good...

She sighed, relaxing while her eyes compensated for the bright glare of a dozen or so rail-mounted torches on weapons suddenly illuminating the area, as the rest of the Gryphon posse halted their actions, dropped the small arms they possessed, and abruptly surrendered to the overwhelming numbers as their leader thrashed in pain on the ground from the wound in his chest. It seemed the cavalry had arrived even though she hadn't needed it. Twilight dropped to all fours and stretched her legs out, going back over to the Wall-Den as the two police squads quickly moved in with their weapons raised. During the commotion the patrons of the eatery as well as the surrounding diners had mostly left the area, apparently informing the cops of the situation ─that or Hibsicus's numerous security cameras had picked things up─ and the few that had remained to watch the spectacle were quickly passing coin to one another before returning to their meals. It was always fun to be the source of a bet, she hoped they'd counted on a wild card.

Picking her stool up within her magic and neatly setting it back in its place, she retook her seat and smiled as Pinkie popped up in a flash from behind the counter with a concerned look.

"Ooooh, those meanies!" Pinkie frowned, sticking her tongue out at the group now being arrested before turning her attention towards Twilight. "You got shot, Twi!"

"Hit the dermal, I'm fine." Twilight assured, more peeved at the damage to her specialised clothing and the implications of something getting through her shields, her horn igniting again as she unzipped her duster and bodysuit, and grunting as she dug the slightly crumpled slug out of her chest.

Pinkie pouted as Twilight dropped it on the polished countertop, seeing a small amount of blood on it.

"Sorry." She smiled.

An inner state-of-the-art healing matrix made incredibly short work of the trivial tear in her skin. The projectile's end still faintly glowed from more than just an EMP charge, and her smile gently deepend with a small level of understanding as she zipped back up. She was going to have to have a talk with her usual suppliers, maybe they knew how common street gangers that shouldn't have access to such hardware had access to such hardware. The used slug was lifted back up and stored in her inner pocket, the police would have plenty of their own to examine in the gun she'd sent flying.

She thought for a moment as there was a certain concern to be had over this. After a few seconds she hopped off the stool and paced over to where the Gryphoness that had attacked her was currently receiving emergency medical treatment. She didn't feel bad about it, the hen had tried to open up her throat. She gave her a quick once over as the police's paramedics finished up ensuring her lung was stable, her arm had already been set and put in a temporary sling.

The silvery Gryphoness was in her early twenties, possibly still even a late teen. Decked out in tight suggestive black leathers streaked with yellow that left little to the imagination and showed off her enticing curves and healthily growing chest, the colour coding the same as on her buddies of which Twilight recognised now as an outfit that wasn't local to the area. It was likely that this had been an initiation ceremony to fully induct her into the gang, given that she'd picked up a series of augments in all the others, while the hen had nothing of the sort. She either had some serious guts to accept the challenge, or thought that Crown Agents were made to sound tougher than they were, in either case she was an idiot.

Twilight startled the paramedic next to her who hadn't noticed her silent presence, he looked alarmed for a second, perhaps afraid for the Gryphoness, she simply gave the stallion a curt nod. Turning away, she trotted towards who she spied to be a Sergeant she knew, and she saw no one ranked higher. His modern police armour was reminiscent of the ceremonial plate armour the Royal Guard used to wear as their main protection when she was younger, albeit with the addition of enhanced leather undergarments into the design, it suited his sturdy physique and angular features rather well, though he'd look better without the clipped mane, a dark mane like that would look better if it was longer.

"Sergeant Tungsten, thanks for the assist." Twilight spoke up as she approached. "Still haven't grown your mane out, I see."

He turned his head to her and gruffly sighed.

"Agent Sparkle, thought it was you when I got the alert. Always you, isn't it?" He shook his head, his steely murky-green eyes briefly training on the prone Gryphoness she'd come from. "You're going to deal with her, I assume?"

Twilight gave a nod. "That's the notion. Is that going to be an issue?"

"Not at all, Agent; you outrank me." He grunted, his upper lip raised. "Just don't give me the gory details when you're done with her, I'd like to sleep easy."

"Oh she's going with you for now." Twilight smiled with a slight tilt of her head, tapping a hoof off the ground as he regarded her. "Once she's discharged from hospital and detained in a cell, I'll pay a visit to speak with her, then you can take it from there after I'm done. Won't be too much bloodshed."

"I don't even know if you're joking or not." He dryly commented, shooting her a look that bordered on frustrated. "Van'll be here to pick this lot up soon, why not just come with us?"

"Because I need to go get laid." Twilight lazily returned as if it was obvious, walking past him and starting to leave the area, and shouting as she leant her head back. "Bye, Pinkie! Stay safe!"

"Seeya later, Twilight! Have good sex!" Pinkie shouted back with a wave, her voice carrying through the street.

Author's Note

Few changes, added lore and context, grammar fixes etc.

2: DATA_PARSE

She awoke abruptly from a short burst of static, the interference making her ears ring for the slightest moment before her system fully compensated and blocked out the glitch.

"Again?" Twilight muttered groggily, blinking through the low light coming in from the curtains a few times as her vision started to sharpen and her system rapidly cleared any trace of sleep inertia. It was the damn sensory implant; it was Nexus made, and she'd thought it had been a good idea at the time to get something on sale. Looks like the trip to Velvet was going to happen quicker than she had initially planned.

Luna was going to be pissed, but there was nothing to be done about it.

Twilight stretched, and smiled as there was a cute yawn beside her. She turned her head to look upon the cream-coated mare from the night before, still somewhat wrapped under the silken duvet in a scent of juniper, who was gazing at her intently and apparently been watching her sleep. Her jade eyes seemed quite content. Twilight slowly leant down and gave her a gentle kiss, pressing her lips against the mare's own and deliberately drawing it out as she gently brushed her raven mane out of the way. She liked the sheer intimacy of it, the romantic notion, the way the girl's heart beat faster as a mere kiss built up her arousal, Twilight's hoof travelling down her sleek navel and cupping a hefty teat as the mare squeaked in delight, and once more as she moved a little further and brushed the polymer hoof-edge against her vulva. She wanted to take her again and delve between her legs, make her moan in absolute ecstasy the way she did so many times last night, but sadly she was on the clock.

Twilight begrudgingly moved off, and stretched out again until she heard a satisfying series of pops in her back and neck, swinging herself around and slipping out of the marvellously comfortable queen-sized bed. The room itself was quite lavish, and the night prior it had just been a minor note, but now she focused on the massive mirror mounted on her side of the room that reflected her naked body. It made her give pause for a moment as it was always rather strange to behold herself; she didn't have anything but a small cabinet mirror in her compact apartment's bathroom where she mostly just saw her face.

Without her bodysuit and duster on, she could see her rather nice body, what little was left of it anyway. Her barrel and belly were slim, toned well and bordering on ripped, no more pudgy teenage librarian to be seen in this gut. She took a small measure of pride in it, along with her strong back, the withers and loin a little more defined than most mares had, but it didn't detract from her powerful flank and shapely haunches, leading into muscular thighs, even if the thighs weren't completely stock as then came the majority of extensive augmentation that comprised her overall form.

Her legs were the most glaring sight; sleek, heavy, but durable carbon-fibre infused metallic-polymer limbs with matte panelling, housed in their ports that pierced flesh and were grafted straight into the sockets of her skeleton, from the beginning of her shoulders and mid-thigh, flesh had been replaced. A series of small overlapping protective armour plates neatly ran down her spinal column from the base of her skull as well, running over the croup and ending before the dock of her tail, and were grafted into the bone much in the same way as her limbs. She met her own augmented glowing eyes for a moment, tracing the shunts underneath them, and down the minimal dermal lines that neatly ran under them symmetrically through her cheeks until they ended just under her jaw at the neckline, where they interfaced with her inner system and neatly vanished into her coat just above the chest. Beyond that and her augmented limbs, what couldn't be seen was all of the hardware under the surface.

Augmented organs, augmented musculature, a crystal-filament-weave hardened skeleton, numerous implants and inner-setups that fulfilled a variety of invaluable functions, a powerful shielding system, an inbuilt potent healing matrix with reserve trauma systems, and of course the very resistant dermal armour that had stopped a Gryphoness from giving her a new hole to breathe from, point blank.

Certain parts of her anatomy were still stock, her lovely genitals and modest teats were untouched and her shapely croup that led into an enticing arse was still wonderful flesh, with no dermal to be seen. She'd happily rely entirely on her shields protection for her back end if it meant having a springy bottom a bit could bounce off.

Vanity, thy name is Twilight.

She glanced at the other pony in the room who still seemed quite content just to watch her, the cream-coated mare's own eyes attentively tracing the various contours of her augments with more than an academic interest. The girl really did have a thing for metal, as Twilight had discovered the night before, and it was rather hot if a tad bemusing. It must have been more of a young persons thing because it wasn't often that Twilight saw sexual interest in augments beyond a few secluded sites on the Farscape Web. It probably wouldn't be all too long until the mare got a few augments of her own, or probably more likely a few subtle implants at the very least, nothing that would detract from the stock appearance.

"I'm going." Twilight politely told the mare as her horn flared to life, the corona grabbing her smooth bodysuit from the place on the floor where it had been thrown as she quickly stepped into and pulled it on. She made it look incredibly easy to do. The familiar feeling of the bodysuit's magitech interface linking with her system as the tight flexible chitinsilk surrounded her was always comforting, as was the enhanced leather duster that followed after. She gave her dishevelled mop of hair a quick tussle so it fell back into a semi-normal style of her usual look, and turned back. "I had a lot of fun last night. Hope I'll catch you around, Cream."

It was obvious the pretty mare had used a pseudonym, as most people involved in porn or the oldest profession in the world were wont to do. If Cream Dream was her actual name then she clearly didn't have the most thoughtful of parents, and to be a prostitute this young usually meant the absence of at least one parental figure, or the abuse of one. Far be it for Twilight to judge though; she had two very loving parents, and yet she was a walking tank and an incredibly decisive instrument of death wielded by the Crown.

The glowing emblem on the duster's flank almost seemed to knowingly shimmer with recognition at her thoughts, or maybe she just needed some strong morning caffeine. At the very least she wasn't hallucinating again, that never ended well for anyone. A long parting gaze at the lovely mare laying in the silk covers that she'd bedded, and Twilight left the room.

When she got downstairs she acknowledged the clerk at the private hotel's desk as the stallion gave her a curt polite nod, crossing the regal lobby to the double doors and making a swift exit. It was raining again when she trotted out of the building onto the street, the canopy overhead was a beautiful pattern of rippling light as the elements drizzled away at its surface while cars flew by, just fuzzy blurs through the magical barrier. Pinkie's wouldn't be open until later, which sucked because she made some excellent coffee, and Twilight didn't usually like the stuff. She opted for another usual haunt instead, making a right and heading down the open street occupied by a few staffed outlets offering fancy breakfasts with aromatic scents she didn't care for, weaving between others as she went and ignoring their curious or concerned glances.

Normally a trip as far as halfway across the Hibiscus ward for breakfast in the morning would have probably put most people off of going unless it was near to the place they worked, but on prosthetic hooves she was there within a good fifteen minutes, and a quiet walk kept the mind calm while also allowing her to think. She smelled the scent of industrial-grade cleaner before she saw the usual spotless white of the open area with its tables and tacky looking pink-neon sign reading Quik-Fix, resting her eyes upon the dug-out that extended beyond its wall like a large brass metal military pillbox, tucked away into the street's side very comfortably like a rivet on an iron girder.

The place, and the street by extension were rather deserted at this time of the day, the other few shops on this street not open just yet, but even then it wasn't really a common hotspot for activity and even the automated kiosks along the way had very few customers, which was one of the reasons why she liked it. Twilight approached cautiously just in case, given the previous night's attack, however she didn't sense anything out of the ordinary as she passed a few occupied tables and came up to the service counter before the bulky structure. She tapped a button, walking over to a vacant table and sitting down.

"Tea; black, three sugars, with milk." Twilight spoke up as she took the seat and a hologram projected by the building neatly materialised with a buzz next to her small table in the form of a mare with a pink hue not too dissimilar to the large neon sign, the mare contently smiled at her as she continued. "BLT with red onion."

"Sure thing! That will be five silver meadows and fifty-two bronze rabbits." The chipper program responded, presenting a transparent hoof. "This establishment is credit onl-"

Twilight lifted her right hoof and swiped it over the hologram's own, followed by a small ping and the hologram flashing a shade lighter before it nodded the transaction complete with a thank you, and quickly dispersed as the building cut the projection. While she waited for the order to come and be delivered she pulled up files on her HUD on the gang of Gryphons that had tried to take her down. She accessed all of the known data the Crown had in its database on the group in just a couple of seconds and found herself smiling at how little there was, which meant she'd actually have some work to do while off mission which was nice; she hated being idle and as much as it wouldn't hurt her chronicle she couldn't just bed whores all the time.

The outfit didn't have an official name, because they seemed to know well enough to stay mostly under the radar, and no one had given slip of any major details. When their gang colours were spotted they generally disappeared before long, and the few names of those tied to the group that were in jail hadn't given anything to the police. Beyond a vague idea that they were organised around the southside of Canterlot's downtown areas ─and crossed into the extended plateau─ there wasn't much to go on. A number of lower wards that fit that description crossed the inner plateau into the extended plateau up to its edges. They would be lying very low after last night, especially with a number of them in police custody, which meant finding them was going to be an adventure and a half.

She partially missed when Canterlot was a small city and just looked like an enormous castle from the distance of Ponyville, these days the entirety of the mountain was dominated by the massive circular plateau ─often simply called the plate by many─ that surrounded it and the sprawling megacity across its length that climbed ever skyward. Looking for them might not be an easy task, but an easy task was never all that fun. With their little stunt they'd put themselves on her shit list, and she was going to enjoy busting in on wherever their main operation was and painting one disturbingly gruesome canvas that would likely end up on the Farscape Web.

An adorable off-white foal-like android whirred as it silently dropped her order off with a cherub grin, its horn winking out as it promptly marched away back to the structure where the pillbox opened up and it stepped inside, then sharply closing again in a snap. She started to eat as she looked through another series of documents on other gangs that had possibly run into her unnamed Gryphons. She sat for roughly twenty minutes as she casually went through the meal, finding very little beyond chance encounters where each time there had been run-ins, all parties involved had gone their separate ways with no bloodshed. In each case no one had spoken a word to the police again, and that rubbed Twilight as highly suspicious.

It opened up a number of possibilities as to the why, and she didn't like any of them.

These Gryphons having EMP ammunition wasn't the issue, such ammo was widely available even to the public. Any decently expensive shield will manage to negate the power behind the rounds using a magical energy field as a secondary wall, letting the majority of those pulses be absorbed by that barrier and dealing as little damage to the main shield as possible.

The slug from the high-calibre Thuddgun that had broken past her shields had likely been made with a powerful magical tip beyond its specialised core, so it had hit the secondary barrier through the shield and utterly destroyed it, allowing the EMP round to take down her shielding and deplete the pulse charge she'd had in her hoof. At present she wasn't sure what sort of magic had been used, yet being able to make ammunition of that degree where all the magical wavelengths played well with technology was high level. This wasn't coincidence that it had wound up in the elusive outfit's claws, they were clearly being supplied.

She also wasn't so vain as to think it had been an attempt on her life either, that bordered on extreme paranoia. She just happened to be in the wrong place at the right time for them to decide to test their new acquisition. It didn't stop her from glancing around at the few other customers eating here though.

A few grizzled or odd looking folk were dotted about, not uncommon for dispensaries like this, simply keeping to themselves and not looking her way beyond the almost mandatory curious glance at her duster's emblem, before she caught their eyes and they suddenly found their meals far more interesting. Beyond that, no one was paying her any more attention than usual, although one of them was giving the small foal-droid that delivered his food a very long and interested lookover that made her raise an eyebrow, it was only a tad concerning. The oddity of people was likely down to her choice of venue.

These sorts of automated food vendors were supplied by megacorps looking to make easy money, letting them be handled by basic A.I that could fulfil several simple tasks, from selling food to guns to sex. The ones in Hibiscus were an infinitely nicer level above other places in Canterlot, hence why she frequented this one so much. They might be greedy bastards but sometimes they got it right. She could take or leave the androids that looked like foals, but she suspected that they'd been a cheap option and the intent behind them was more to be adorable serving staff than something vulgar, and they were pretty cute with their large innocent eyes and smiles.

"Would you like to order something else? We have a good deal on lunch today!" The same foal-droid that had delivered her order spoke up in a tinny voice next to her, diligently taking her plate and cup within its magic field with the same smile it had been sporting when it had left the first time around, quite a simple model with a basic range of facial features.

"No thanks." Twilight told it. The foal gave her a look that she was sure was meant to be both endearing and yet somewhat crestfallen, but the end result made it appear almost annoyed and vaguely threatening. It curtly nodded, told her to have a pleasant day, and all-too-quickly marched off again knowing there was no more business to be had.

Twilight enjoyed A.I, and she quite liked the low-end models as much as the high-end ones, even if most people looked at the basic models as if they were a beat-up old car or a piece of fruit about to turn and go rotten. She'd been there when the very first robot was unveiled by Albion Technologies, and it could do nothing but take a couple of janky steps forward and recognise a person enough to greet them by name, so long as it was repeated several times until they registered it. It had been over two decades since then, and now some of them were as intelligent as any sentient being.

Most common A.I were technological constructs, like the little foal-droids, or a construction A.I housed in a vehicle to assist with precise motor control. They were often built for a single purpose and did it decently, and generally the more expensive they got, the better they did the work. However, it was always the case that they were limited in their capacity and never grew much beyond it. A nanny-droid could develop a damn fine personality for the family it worked for but it could never remember more than a few details or memories unless it had some serious memory mods, otherwise it would have to constantly recycle data in order to keep the most important information in its system.

The rarer A.I were the magical constructs. Magic was, by all means of the word, unlimited in the amount of power that could be given to any spell or construct. All that mattered was the skill that went into it. A shoddily cast fire spell would create a quick burst of flame, and it could still be a very powerful burst despite its simplicity, but an expertly cast fire spell with a great amount of power behind it could utterly decimate beyond what was expected and overwhelm shields. An A.I that was created by very skilled magical means had the potential to grow exponentially.

For such a reason, magical A.I had constraints that held them down, layered in during the creation of their matrixes. She'd seen a shackled A.I's mindscape, and it had been as if the construct had been chained to the ground with weights so heavy it would take a deity to move them. It had been representative of course, but no less true to the fail-safes in place. That had been the Crown's own A.I that managed its vast information network and Canterlot extranet, and its power had still been very considerable with such handicaps.

Her vision flicked to the small minimalist icon of a ruby in the bottom right of her peripheral vision, it was lit, solid, and unmoving, always there to show that the A.I was online and that she was connected to the network. She found its presence comforting, calling the A.I 'Vee' when she talked to it; named after the initials of the Verdant Estate in the Palace where the magical construct was hosted. Vee liked her name.

Those that weren't privy to magical A.I thought of them as some ultra-freaky supernatural force that could destroy society as people knew it, and... they weren't wrong exactly, but any magical construct that was created on such a scale knew of its own fail-safes, and knew it could be destroyed in an instant if it ever tried to breach them. What folly would it be to create something without knowing how to destroy it. Some of the less powerful A.I's were unshackled, and had to have been granted that right from the Crown. They were fun to come across, and it was obvious when they were around; they had a habit of attaching themselves to a particular person or place, and never failed to be fascinated by life in its complexity.

Some avoided them for that reason, they were very... intense.

Twilight didn't mind that either.

Her business here finished, she got up and left Quik-Fix behind. Next on her list was Velvet, she needed to swap out this fucking sensory implant. She also wanted to get some different eyes, and that was going to take a bit of time as well. While she didn't care too much that she'd already be fashionably late seeing Luna, being overly late especially after a mission would be less of a casual joke and more of a fatal action. There was only so much time that could pass before it was treated as being absent without leave and she likely got some painful treatment in a drill room for her tardiness. Luna only tolerated so much of her bullshit before bringing down the hammer, Celestia was the lenient one that took it all in stride as one of Twilight's personal quirks. She used to be so much more punctual, though time had changed that little part of her.

Taking a sharp turn down a narrow side street that had seen better days, she walked for a good minute, then trod down halfway into a flight of steps that led to some moody basement bar and let energy begin to flow through her. Her horn glowed deeply as her eyes squeezed shut, and there was a blinding flash followed by a sudden crack of subdued lightning before she mildly breathed out and reopened her violet eyes.

She was in a familiar backstreet behind Velvet's shop she commonly walked through, three wards away from Hibiscus out west on the edge of the extended plateau, in the Draconis ward. She took in a liberal deep breath; the air here was a stark contrast to the hazy thrum that permeated through the whole of the Pink Palace, it was almost crisp and clear thanks to it being so far out from the mountain. Hibiscus wasn't bad but at the very minimum it didn't feel like she was trying to push through a veil to get anywhere.

Twilight moved around to the front of the store into a busy commercial street where a number of wary onlookers were giving her mute stares as she passed, and several parents dragged their kids behind them as they stopped and looked on with awed little eyes. She smiled kindly at them, but that just sent them fearful and scurrying at their parents' behest. No doubt they'd all heard the whiplash of energy and a reflection of light the flash from her teleportation had made, though at least they hadn't seen it directly. It was why she'd gone into a vacant street and down some stairs when she'd travelled; the initial burst wasn't as powerful as the landing with the expulsion of generated energy, however it was still quite disorientating to see both ways, and it tended to make people panic when a damn Crown Agent just snapped into reality before them. People generally assumed shit was about to hit the fan for such occurrences, and they often weren't wrong.

Velvet's place was a decent setup being the larger of the shops surrounding it, The Penrose was one of those live-above two-storey setups so he worked for as long as he liked custom modding parts, implants, and augments until someone came in looking for some hardware, and could easily take a trip upstairs and relax for some downtime. He'd been here for about a year or so before Twilight had come across the place and took note of the rather excellent custom work, and her making visits to a shop that dealt in augments had put Velvet in the spotlight for an invaluable amount of time. Now he dealt with more than just his own work, he got to sell big-name tech and earn a decent cut when he did, and a nice bonus was that Twilight got a whole twenty-five percent discount even though she was pretty well off.

She made as fast an entrance into the shop as she could, which took a moment because the main door was a heavy security one she'd recommended to Velvet after the store had a few attempted robberies, as even in a decent ward like Draconis there were always opportunists waiting just around the corner. Unluckily for the burglars, Velvet was more armed to the teeth than a Hydra and consequently they had been turned to paste by a massive high-calibre chaingun installed in the ceiling that was meant for military application. The second robbery was the reason for the large door, if only because stopping people before they got inside meant less cleanup in the long term. It was a sound investment in order to avoid hiring a cleaner-droid to scrub blood off the walls.

Once she stepped in, the door automatically shut behind her. She was standing in a small enclosed hallway with faded hazy indigo walls and neon strip lighting in the corners, another similarly heavy door waiting at its end. The previous business had been a massage parlour, so this had once been a reception area to separate where all that fun took place, only now it functioned as a sort of airlock where Velvet could peer through the hatch of the second door and see who was wanting in.

Twilight's vision immediately snapped to the domed extrusion just before the door beyond with interest, noting that the thing was on standby. That was a new addition. And quite heavy duty at that; no such thing as excess when it came to home defence. What she did recognise was the small security orb embedded above the door frame that was scanning over her. She waited with amusement, it wouldn't be able to scan her system so she'd be showing up as an unknown entity.

The hatch in the opposite door slid open after a moment and a pair of hot-pink irises focused on her through a bulletproof window, she flashed a winning smile at them. A series of bolts were unlocked behind the door in rapid succession as the hole was shut and the door swung inwards, revealing a slender, pretty stallion with a lilac mane and a deep wine-red coat. He was dressed in his usual attire of a dark-brown leather jacket, an insulated undersuit that cut off just over the right shoulder for his fancy prosthetic foreleg, and steel hoof-capped boots on his back hooves. The goggles that sat atop his head were quickly ensnared in pink magic, and went back over his eyes as he whipped about, trotting across the tiled floor as she followed him in over to a back corner where one of many workbenches were placed, piled high with all manner of tech and gizmos next to several holoscreens that ran their diagnostics.

The Penrose's interior was haphazard at best, always smelled of various oils and metals, and nearly every inch of the walls were covered in dozens of augment types for the numerous races of Equestria with the most up to date models being neatly displayed on mounts behind the till, right down to special spotlights that made them stand out in the low club-style lighting. Beyond that, the polished tiled floor was mostly clear save for two massive fitting decks on the left side of the room for applying the endless myriad of augments and implants any person could want. He'd gotten another in the time she'd been away, although it was a little less new and a bit more shabby and retrofitted than the one he already had. The decks were essentially like a madpony's wet dream for an operating theatre wherein the entire thing had more ability to restrain people than a BDSM dungeon, and looked more like industrial equipment than medical apparatus, however they were extremely precise as they were generally co-ran by a tech A.I that specialised in medical skills.

"What do you need, Twilight? Looking for some new gear?" Velvet asked politely, sitting back down under a focus lamp and picking up his precision tools within his magic to work on what appeared to be a prosthetic arm for Minotaurs.

"Always am." Twilight replied nonchalantly, sauntering over to the better looking fitting deck and taking off her duster, draping it across a small table mostly free of gadgets not far from the machine as it sensed her and thrummed to life, the onboard computer waking up with a sudden glow. "I need the Nexus implant pulled, the fucking thing keeps trying to interact with the Crown stuff I have and it doesn't play nice."

"Ah, I was wondering about that." Velvet said with a touch of remorse, getting back off the stool and coming over to her as she began to strap herself in. He lifted his goggles and assisted her, readying a local anaesthetic and the appropriate medical tools. "I got sent a message about recalling a few Nexus products from the shelf about two months back and remembered you had such, it seems a number of their pieces had minor faults."

"Yep, mine keeps waking me up. I've been lucky to not have it glitch in the middle of a fight or something, it was a bitch while I was out-of-country." Twilight grunted, shifting about to get comfortable in the deck while Velvet pinned her hair up at the back of her neck where the implant was fitted into the base of her skull alongside a few others specific to her brain, he also unzipped her bodysuit and tugged it down just over her shoulders so it wouldn't get in the way, then returned to preparing equipment.

Twilight spoke again after a moment, flicking her vision in his direction. "Swap it with that custom piece you were tinkering with a few months back before I left, you know; the real fancy one you were meaning to sell to Aeon."

Velvet paused in the middle of sterilising with a raised eyebrow.

"Twilight, that was meant to be for Dragons. It's got a lot of power in it, but it generates a lot more heat as a trade-off, which is nothing to them." Velvet explained with a tone, setting down the tools as the A.I went on standby to await instruction. "That was also why Aeon rejected it, they saw that as too much of a design flaw because it couldn't be fitted to multiple species without needing to spend a great deal for each variant model."

"Probably also said something about cost effectiveness too, right? Dragons don't tend to get augmented very often." Twilight grinned as she craned her head back to see Velvet's curt nod of annoyance. She continued while getting back into position for the machine. "It's got tons of fun my system would love to use, and I can handle a little extra warmth. Do it."

Velvet sighed.

"I'll need to add a medium cooling billet for emergencies, and retool the tie-in systems for your custom work from the Crown to interface with it properly, the few pieces you do have from my end didn't intrude on that side of things until now, I changed how I built the Dragon implant and everything else since then; it's all going to need major overhauling to get along with what's already in you." Velvet said with a slight pause in his voice, tapping his hooves on the deck in thought. "You might also need an additional power cell housed in your chest alongside the others; it runs harder than most sensory implants, clocks it in at a hundred-eighty-seven percent of the standard level."

"So do it, I don't care. I've got space." Twilight shrugged, feeling impatient. She watched as Velvet moved over to one of his benches to grab the required materials, continuing. "I'm also gonna need new eyes because these ones have some really shitty purple overlay that covers everything, it didn't bother me at first but now it's really getting on my teats, the last ones I had were better by comparison. If you're adding an extra battery then add two, go with Eidos and mod them like the others, and make the eyes something by Aeon, the top shelf military stuff if you got it; they have the best resolution and targeting acquisition systems, the Crown still hasn't made anything quite that good."

"That'll take me some time, and you'll need a general anaesthetic. I'll have to get the eyes attuned to all the custom bits in you and the batteries and sensory implant as well. Aeon's architecture doesn't play nicely with anything unofficial." Velvet wryly informed her with a sardonic snort, pressing a few buttons on a holo-panel to change medicines. "I'm assuming you're going to bill this to the Crown rather than your personal chronicle?"

"Naturally." Twilight hummed.

"Alright then." Velvet nodded, grabbing a surgical razor and scalpel in his corona and swabbing the incision site with a soothing gel. "Avesta, please keep her perfectly steady while I work."

"Acknowledged." Came the deck's medical A.I, Avesta. She'd never really spoken with it.

"Applying the anaesthetic now, Twilight." Velvet told her. Twilight grunted in minor discomfort, feeling the prick immediately as the A.I acted, and the subsequent piercing feeling that shot through her neck where the needle pierced into a vein. She hated the slow spreading throb of pressure and crawl of numbness a needle caused, getting stabbed with a knife was infinitely better by comparison and disturbed her far less. It was withdrawn as fast as it had entered, and with a heavier dosage for her augmented system it didn't take very long before Twilight fell under.

Twilight awoke to a world not tinted in purple, everything was the correct colour.

Thank fuck.

She could also hear Velvet talking to himself upstairs... No, he was talking to someone else actually, but wow; she could hear that without even trying to dial up the new sensory implant beyond its standard level. She was already pretty good at listening, something that most people didn't tend to do all that often, actually take time to focus and hear the world around them and make out details that truly mattered, but now she could immediately hear what she wanted to hone in on barely a second of focusing. Her heat readouts also barely budged an inch as the implant did its work and her system properly compensated for the excess energy usage, excellent stuff, Velvet.

"If you feel nauseous, there is water to your right." Spoke a feminine voice from... all around her.

Right, the A.I, Avesta.

"Thanks." Twilight mumbled, still not fully awake. She moved her hoof towards what she saw was a glass, but then stopped, because that would be fucking stupid. Her horn glowed with light instead, and enveloped the glass. She lifted it to her mouth and took a few gulps of cool water, and it did make her feel a lot better. The medicine used as an anaesthetic was magically potent enough that it could stay in the body for up to a day afterwards, and her body had required a heavier dosage as it automatically cleansed such things as a foreign entity, so the effect of her system purging everything after the fact left her feeling pretty shit.

"Your operation took one hour and twenty-nine minutes. There were no complications during the installation of your implants or augments." Avesta intoned neutrally. Twilight even saw a small purple avatar with a short layered manestyle pop up from the table next to the deck. Velvet had been busy creating.

She flicked her sight down over her new white and gold military style HUD that came with Aeon eyes and took account of the changes, switching it according to her preferences, the surrounding overlay switching in colour to the dark onyx with purple accents she'd chosen for her system along with all her other changes, and saw when she pulled up the time that it had been over four hours since she'd gone under the knife, what the actual fuck.

"Wh-"

"-You have been sleeping for three hours, the minimum amount of time recommended for patients receiving invasive augmentation upon the brain or body." The A.I cut her off, anticipating the spike in her reaction. The avatar remained still. "I did not wish to disturb sleep essential to your recovery."

"I would have walked it off." Twilight frowned with a sigh. Fucking stupid annoying helpful creations, she was already late, damn it. "Alright, whatever. Will you lose the bindings now?"

The avatar shook its head. "I cannot."

Twilight almost felt an eyelid twitch.

"Why the fuck not?!" Twilight snapped, attempting to pull her hooves about, but the restraints were tougher than crystal-weave and designed to keep belligerent Dragons in place; they weren't going to be budged easily. She could just straight up tear herself free of the machine but it would severely damage the deck, and Velvet probably didn't deserve that just for his A.I being an irritating cunt.

"I require a voice command from my director." Avesta stated.

"Velvet, get your tight filly-looking ass down here!" Twilight immediately shouted at the ceiling, magically empowering her voice and going so far as to fire a bolt of energy from her horn. The projectile was just a small harmless shot of light that would bypass the floor above, but it would certainly make Velvet double time it down to her. It was probably a good thing she was still partially drugged, it might have been more potent and possibly harmful otherwise.

As she'd expected the conversation he'd been having abruptly halted, being followed by a stumbling of hooves as the bolt phased through and no doubt scared the everloving shit out of the unsuspecting stallion. It didn't take him even a minute before he was clambering down the stairs of his flat to wherever the connecting entrance was for his workshop.

"Twilight, you're awake! Sorry!" He hastily threw out as he burst into the room, sans jacket and goggles, taking in a breath and straightening up as he came over. "I was... talking to somepony."

Twilight lazily smiled while he unstrapped the enhanced leather and metal straps keeping her securely in place. "Somepony, huh?"

"She's... very nice." Velvet replied, returning a smile of his own.

"Well, didn't mean to interrupt your playdate with a hooker." She shrugged as she stepped out of the deck, pulling up her bodysuit that had been further unzipped from the surgery and also snatching up her duster. She slipped it on as Velvet baulked and glared at her, but she ignored it and gave him a light punch on his prosthetic foreleg as she walked by him towards the airlock, it was likely he was seeing a nice girl he wanted to impress given the change in his stance and indignation to her words, but she liked to tease him. "Thanks as usual, I'll catch you later sometime."

He sighed and grabbed some disinfectant from his work table to clean the deck down, speaking after her. "Come back if there are any problems with the new gear."

"Yep."

Twilight almost got to the door before she recalled through her rapidly clearing mind about certain topics at hoof that needed answers. She craned her head back towards the stallion.

"Before I go, Velvet; would you happen to know anything about some heavy-duty hardware moving through the general lowlifes of Canterlot?" She posed the question as friendly as she could, but he still twitched as if she'd just slapped him.

The information she wanted had just been locked in a crate and thrown deep into a river.

He fixed her with an irritated look. "Do I look like I would associate with Gryphon gangs?"

Alright, she hadn't mentioned the gangs yet, nor their race, that crate was looking extremely obtainable.

"Just wondering if you'd heard anything, I know a couple of gangers have made it their business to try shopping here from time to time." She shrugged as she brought them into the equation, making herself appear partially disinterested as she relaxed her body language and going for the look of hiding concern, her tone shifting accordingly. "It's nothing too major, but if you'd happened to hear about that kind of tech, I'd just be looking as to who'd let it slip. The less armed they come around here, the better."

Crown Agents had a rep for many reasons. Many of them revolved around beating the shit out of any criminal that crossed them, most of them came from their extreme hardiness and ability to fight their way out of impossible situations, but other reasons circulated in that they had a great ability to extract clues from the world around them with the kind of ease that made most Private Investigators green with envy. A few called it Agent Intuition, the coveted ability to absorb subliminal information from the world around them. When it came to people it was like seeing all their quirks and tells in a poker game, as if they were just laying their cards out before her, knowing what they might think in a conversation or coercing them into talking to her and telling her what she wanted to know.

It was easier with some people than others. It generally revolved around altering words to suit a situation, telling the other person what they wanted to hear or what they expected an Agent might say. A change of clothes and attitude might open a door in reality or someone's mind that was previously shut, though oftentimes it worked better to let people's expectations run wild and use it to an advantage, let them run away and build their own lie to make a truth. It worked better because when there was no time for skillful subterfuge, and the uniform intimidated well enough, it took only the right stance and words applied at the right moments during a person's state of uncertainty that information was gained or leverage used. It made rumours crop up as to just how a Crown Agent always managed to know what was going on in all the wards, or the noble's courts, where they knew a drug deal was about to go down or the general places certain people gathered; it made them appear to have all the knowledge.

And knowledge as anyone knew well, was power.

Of course, most everyday people weren't privy to these types of situations, where a number of Crown Agents had sources, beyond also not knowing of the Crown's large information network controlled by an A.I. For Twilight, Velvet was both a fond acquaintance she liked well enough, and a very good source of all the goings on in the worldspace around him. He wasn't an intimidating stallion to look at, his general demeanour made tough gang types look him over as a non-threat, and he was all manners and decorum when they came to play in his shop. But he listened, the way most people didn't, and so he had a measure of knowledge about him that made him a powerful piece on Twilight's board.

Twilight had always been frank with him because he was one to speak honestly and tended to appreciate the same in kind, that built rapport she could put to use, and she knew him well enough that the duster's symbol of her high position had no effect on his state of mind in a way she could turn to her advantage. To gain the insight she wanted from Velvet, she didn't need to lead him very far because he already had a certain expectation from her that she'd never delivered to him. She didn't need to smash up his business or threaten to do so, and she definitely didn't need to seduce him, she just needed to appear as though she was his friend, which wasn't far from the truth. The standard kind of forceful pressure in this situation would have had that crate sinking further to the bottom of the river, but showing him concern and making the idea that there would be less undesirables showing their faces around ensured that the crate was dredged up.

"W-well... there was a Gryphon the other week, quite a big guy, scarred up. He wanted an implant I didn't have." Velvet started, he looked downcast as he thought about it. "I told him I could try to custom make it but he'd have to wait, there would be no guarantee it would work or be stable, and I couldn't make it too powerful."

"He didn't like that, I assume?" Twilight said as she turned back to face Velvet.

"He smashed up the left deck." Velvet frowned, glancing at the massive contraption as he continued cleaning the current deck. "Took me a while to fix it up, had to use a lot of the bits I'd been collecting for a bigger project."

Ah. Not an older deck like she'd thought coming in, a more beat up deck. Likely the reason for the new dual-barrelled autocannon in the airlock. That thing was geared for taking down a decently-grown Dragon, which was exactly why the Crown had several much more heavy-duty variants just about everywhere within the Palace grounds.

"Took deploying the chaingun to make him leave." Velvet sighed, looking back towards Twilight. "He never mentioned anything specifically about things being moved, but he wanted something Crown-made or military-grade for stopping, uh, special bullets. I don't have that kind of tech, much less can I sell it or make it. You know as well as I do the only Crown tech I get to tinker with is the stuff inside you, and selling military shielding to the public is prohibited without a high-level licence, which I can't afford on my chronicle unless I was working for a corp. I mean, I could definitely make an excellent shielding unit that could block small-calibre projectiles, but stopping anything more than conventional pistol rounds?" He shrugged with a frown. "I could try and make something discreetly for personal use if I wanted to, but I'd actively need to be working for Aeon or one of the other military megacorps to have access to the right components and gear to make it without having to jump through hoops."

"Or the Crown." Twilight smiled, waggling her eyebrows.

"Right." Velvet nodded in response, ignoring the obvious implication. "Making that stuff from scratch isn't ideal, you need the right equipment, the right workshop and machines."

He stood for a moment, unsure of what else to say.

"Thanks, Vel." Twilight nodded to him, reassuring him with a soft smile. "With any luck the Crown will have dealt with everything by the end of the week."

"I didn't really tell you anything." Velvet cocked his head slightly.

Twilight grinned. "You've given me a decent lead. See you later."

She took a taxi back to the Royal Palace, she didn't need to use more energy than she should. The trip to Velvet's had been nothing for her, but from Velvet's all the way across extended plateau and the inner, and up the mountain Canterlot City was built into, while having a suppressant still running through her heavily augmented system? That would have exhausted her and probably drained all the power her system had, even with the two new fully charged power cells installed in her chest, she'd be a paperweight until friendly forces picked her up.

The cab trailed its way through the wet mid-morning air and eventually set down in a hazy cloud of fog that was passing across the landing pad, its marking lights diffusing through the mist to make a blurred outline of where to land. This high up sometimes a dense cold fog could surround the entirety of the Royal Palace, and it actually made a great defensive barrier for the giant castle, which had penetrating scanners that could see through it all with ease, and environmental systems built into the walls that kept it all at bay. If those ever failed, there were a number of Pegasi that could help substitute the need.

The landing pad was a way out from the grounds, and the taxi driver hadn't been happy about taking her here, but the extra three gold sols she offered as a tip had swayed him pretty quickly. Going up this high meant having to be warned about violating airspace and needing permission to enter, it didn't matter if your vehicle was with a registered taxi company or not; if you could be seen on radar, you were a possible threat and possibly subject to summary destruction via any number of hidden anti-aircraft batteries the Crown had built into the mountainside.

The radio hadn't signalled about it because she had a Crown Integrated Network implant in her head known as a CINI, and was pinging the cab as friendly on the scanner. Just as well; she reckoned if the Zebra flying this thing had heard an aggressive burst of a voice demanding he tell who he was he'd have panicked and turned about immediately.

She didn't mind immigrants into Equestria, as most always tried their best to join into things and learn the values of ponies. It was the ones that refused and kept values of their own lands which didn't mesh with harmony that annoyed her. This cabbie was alright, yet he kept trying to talk to her in Zebawhi, perhaps assuming that she had an implant for translation, and didn't speak much of the local language. She'd gotten a great deal more tired of that over the years since she'd been sent on routine jobs to police the border. His Ponish was broken and barely understandable, but at least he understood enough to know where he needed to go. She paid him the fare and the tip, and his taxi quickly made a swift exit as he was then pinged, as he jumped in alarm when she heard the dashboard in his cab start wailing at him that he was in restricted airspace, sharply going from a hover into a full speed retreat in seconds.

He could certainly fly, she'd give him that.

She turned her attention towards the looming marvel that was the Royal Palace and felt the corners of her mouth tug in a smile, in a way it was kind of a home away from home.

Twilight began briskly trotting down the smooth granite path, passing hidden sensors and security weaponry every few minutes and that she'd long ago disabled the alerts on her system detection for. She could see the faint outline of their silhouettes under the pathways and in the grass surrounding the stone, quite glad she'd never have to attempt infiltrating the grounds. She made it from the west landing pad to the south gate in less than five minutes, the castle towering higher overhead overlaid by weather-proofed banners depicting the Crown's emblem as she approached two Solar Guard on the morning shift, smartly standing to attention with their deadly Spearshots resting against their shoulders while they flanked the large gate. The heavy tri-barrelled anti-personnel autoturret controlled by the Crown's A.I that was mounted into the high wall above the gate was the delicious icing on the cake.

Customary for the Solar Guards was their golden armour, albeit far more modern from the time of her fillyhood. Their armour these days was still plate, but were made of a far lighter, stronger, and enchanted alloys, interlocked into a powerful environmental bodysuit much like her own, with a number of the same capabilities that helped them perform better. She at least didn't have to have an entirely sealed system in order to be safe; she had augmented lungs that could filter chemicals and generate oxygen. This far into the sky the oxygen began to thin in places due to pollution issues from the city, and there might be the occasional anti-magical pocket where a small vacuum was created, allowing little-to-no oxygen to gather as they passed through the area. The Royal Palace's protective environmental system managed it all just fine, but they had the controlled suits just in case it should ever fail.

Their ornate Spearshots were certainly fully loaded and deadly, with magically imbued anti-everything rounds, quite ready to be brought to bear against any threat of the Royal Palace and its inhabitants. The golden weapons were, in essence, a compact high-calibre battle rifle and a long sweeping diamond-edged glaive melded into a single destructive instrument of death, attached to an expertly weighted heavy staff. They weren't simple weapons to wield, and took years of training to master their usage in combat.

The two guards respectfully saluted her, but otherwise remained perfectly still as the gate opened, the absolutely massive barricade lowering into the ground with a decent pace. Far long gone were the days of simple steel bars. The giant blast-door of a gate started closing the instant all her hooves had passed it, and she smiled at the ten superb autocannons that fixed towards her location from tactical positions around the expansive courtyard she'd entered into. While no one in their right mind would ever dare to attack the Royal Palace, the Princesses liked to go with the idea that one day some insane bastard might actually try such a thing. Should the Guard be overwhelmed, the gates be broken through, and the near impervious walls and shielding breached; the opposition would rapidly find themselves turned to mulch, not fit for much but fertilising the gardens.

She loved it here.

Confident and purposeful, Twilight marched down the path that would lead her to the First East Wing, and from there the side of the castle where Luna resided, naturally in the Lunar Wing. The Night Princess wasn't going to be very happy, at all. Twilight was very late, and she was coming during the time which Luna wanted to be sleeping, and in all likelihood was still awake, because Twilight should have reported to her last night after the mission. She wasn't worried too much, the extra four or so hours she'd taken from having herself upgraded probably wouldn't add onto the deep shit she was already going to be in.

Didn't mean she didn't quicken her pace a little though.

The east side of the castle was essentially Luna's domain, and it was very clear to everyone that ever saw it. The stained glass windows that depicted moments in history were almost entirely opaque, and enchanted as to not allow in too much of Celestia's Sun, but fully allow the light of Luna's Moon without question. When she entered into the castle she was greeted by more evidence of ownership, the smoky silver-veined marble of the walls being laid over in many places by regaly dark silk banners of rich purples and blues that themselves were streaked with silver, depicting the comforting feel of Her Night. Beyond the banners, ancient tapestries lovingly run through with moon-blessed silver and trimmed with platinum occasionally passed her vision and glowed in the light, but little else other than old and functional ebony-willow furniture graced the polished floors between the pillars, their mounted torches lit with blue flame.

She didn't even see any Luna's Mercy in anything; a rare and unique metal alloy consisting of moon-blessed silver, palladium, and platinum. It was quite hard to make, harder still to acquire, and the knowledge for creating it was ancient and well-guarded by the Sisters. Then again, maybe Luna disliked the name, and she hadn't ever been a mare of ostentation, the odd time pieces of historic record or two were the flashiest things to see other than the Moonspear mounted above the entrance to the Lunar Wing. It was a powerful artefact, and a formidable glaive, with a large sweeping blade and a wicked backswept spike on the reverse side. It was easy enough to see how it and its sister weapon, the Sunspear, were precursors to the Spearshots the Guard carried. The blade and it's dark leather-wrapped wooden length were inscribed in ancient-Equish runes she still scarcely understood, but they always caught her eye as they still faintly glowed with energy, as did the large polished uncut sapphire neatly encrusted in the pommel.

As if it couldn't be any clearer that this was Luna's side of the castle; ever vigilant in their duty to not swap day shifts with the Solar Guard, the Lunar Guard kept their own shifts so that they could always stand watch, and Thestrals stood guard either side of the double doors with their silver variant Spearshots and armour, further going into these two standing outside the Lunar Wing being part of the Honour Guard that protected the Princess, so they had different helmets and slightly more ornate plating. Each Sister had their own dedicated Honour Guard, and as an interesting aside, the Thestrals that served as Luna's guards generally carried little to no augmentation whatsoever. In her line of work she'd encountered Thestrals across Equestria that wholly augmented themselves, but those that served under Luna generally held to her conviction that to alter one's body through such unnatural means was to permanently alter the spirit, and such a thing was to be avoided unless absolutely necessary. Even when faced with the possibility of death or permanent disability, a Thestral in her service might choose either over an augment.

Body purists, in essence.

Twilight knew a few around the Royal Palace, Canterlot too, they were colourful people.

The belief of that conviction that Thestrals had in the Royal Guard almost bordered upon fanaticism. It tended to create an interesting dichotomy between the Guard sometimes, but ultimately there was respect for fellow soldiers that served their Princesses. As such, when she came closer to be admitted both Thestrals tensed up and bared their fangs almost unintentionally. The divide there was that they recognised her, they recognised that she was quite literally a superior officer, and they recognised their dislike of her extensive modification was moot as it was all so she could serve in the greatest capacity she saw fit. Their salutes to her were brief and quick, somewhat lazy and technically an insult to her higher rank, but she honestly wasn't of a mind to really give a fuck about it.

Could also just be that they didn't like Crown Agents. Solaris or Lunaris, it wasn't just the general populace that talked about them with whispers and disdain. The Royal Guard were fine upstanding soldiers, a great many of whom had served in wars and skirmishes with other countries to keep the peace over the years. They were honourable and decent folk, following a solid code of ethics they swore to uphold by oath to the Crown.

Crown Agents had sworn no such oaths beyond that of serving the Crown itself, and followed their own loose code of ethics so long as they adhered to the general rules set down by the Princesses.

It kind of surprised her that the two out front as she arrived had been amicable towards her; to a good portion of the Guard, Agents were barely above the people that they hunted, little more than sanctioned criminals. They were just spooks, assassins, a shadow service of glorified murderers that shouldn't exist. Violent mad dogs on a leash. But they were necessary, because otherwise the Princesses wouldn't have them, and that was hard for honourable soldiers to accept.

The Royal Guard had trained hard for most of their young lives, believing that justice and force should be good and fair in their application, the latter used sparingly when needed, the former being the highest in regard. They'd poured their blood, sweat, and tears into becoming sworn disciplined soldiers of the Crown, to fight with honour against their enemies, and uphold a rightful and decent standard all good creatures could stand for.

To then have some possible street punk come in, and while no doubt train as hard as a soldier; circumvent the entirety of all they held dear. To be trained in and use underhanded methods and skirt or outright break the laws the Guards and everyday people were subject to for any reason they saw fit, acting with impunity in every matter while only being truly beholden to the highest authority that had given them that free pass, to then also be placed at a higher command and call the shots?

She did understand their feelings on the matter. Didn't fully agree with how they saw things one-hundred percent, they weren't far off the mark so she didn't begrudge them most of the time. At the end of the day they had all at least swore the same allegiance to the Crown.

She gave them a curt nod as she passed though the opening doors, the opaque and heavily enchanted dark crystal slabs that could stop an army moving inward as her augmented eyes immediately adjusted to the low-lit chamber. The resounding echo of the heavy doors slamming shut almost sounded like a death knell, she mused. Twilight breathed in, and stepped forwards into the gloom.

The Lunar Wing wasn't massive; much like the Solar Wing it was essentially a modestly sized apartment for its respective Princess to live when not on duty. Of course, they had an entire castle side each, but sometimes true privacy was wanted away from everyone. If Twilight had a single word to describe Luna's home? Gothic, possibly even sepulchral. She walked to the bedroom, past a duo of pretty Thestral maids ─a stallion and mare, she noted with interest─ that were giving her a cautious stare as they dutifully cleaned and polished the minimal furnishings, and didn't bother to knock as she pushed the double doors of the bedchamber inward, and into the shadowy domain of the Princess of the Moon.

Luna laid silently with a mute expression beside the bedchamber's fireplace, a crackling fire burning within. She was resting on an incredibly comfortable looking Canterfield settee that was probably hundreds of years old, levitating and sipping what Twilight could smell was some kind of expensive foreign tea from a place like the Albus Isles to the far west of Equestria. She wore a simple silver silk dress with her ornate regalia, her gorgeous midnight coat, flowing ethereal mane and tail, and the constellations within it all shimmering coldly in the flickering firelight; a stark contrast to its warming glow. From her petite snout and muzzle, slender body, model's tummy and barrel, the supple flanks, long shapely legs, and modestly-sized teats; the lithe curvaceous Alicorn had the kind of otherworldly presence and allure that simply ordained attention beyond just having a large horn and wings, like an artist's masterpiece that had taken several lifetimes to create and simply could not be looked away from.

Twilight wordlessly marched herself to one side, and stood to attention with her head high as the silence stretched on. Ten minutes passed and still, Luna said nothing as she sipped at her steaming cup of tea. Twilight fought an urge to scratch her snout and waited patiently, and she'd wait until her legs buckled if need be. She'd taken Luna's time from her, it was only fair Luna should do the same to her if she so wished.

"Twilight Sparkle." Princess Luna spoke then, her beautiful deep-cyan eyes softly closed, and her sultry voice icily calm. "Prithee tell Us; dost thou enjoy thy little games so dearly?"

Alright, she was fucking livid.

Beep-boop, good little soldier mode activated.

"I completed my mission yesterday at eleven forty-eight post-aurora. Target was neutralised, no collateral, no witnesses." Twilight diligently cited, as Luna's frigidly icy eyes opened and fixed on her. If she could kill just by glaring alone, the piercing gaze would have impaled Twilight through each of her augmented eyes and gored her. "I decided to get something to eat afterwards, and rest up-"

"-Thy purchased pleasure in the carnal pursuits of cheap harlots and strumpets shalt not beest compared to resting one's mind of Our Night's troubles, Twilight Sparkle. Our patience with thee runs ever thinner." Luna sharply imparted with an annoyed flick of her starry tail, the constellations within both galaxies top and bottom flaring. She took another delicate sip from her teacup before gently resting it back on its saucer.

"-To rest up and recuperate." Twilight slowly finished, challenging Luna with a short-lived tilt of her head. She waited a second before resuming. "However at twelve twenty-seven ante-aurora I came under attack by a band of Gryphons known to our network as a loose organisation. They have no official name, no official leaders, and there is only a general idea of where they operate."

That perked Luna's ears up, her cold stare became slightly less withering and a tad more curious. She took a long draught of her tea and set the cup down again.

"We art to assume thou wert unharmed during thy altercation?" Luna wondered, running her vision over Twilight momentarily, as if assessing a piece of equipment for damage.

"My augments minimised any permanent injuries." Twilight nodded, that was normally what Luna meant by such a question. So long as she wasn't dragging herself along the ground, she was still capable of doing her job. "I neutralised one of them, and before things could become deadly serious, the CPS stepped in and stopped the fight."

Luna's eyes seemed to shine briefly at that, the ghost of a smile tugged at the edges of her lips, it was both somewhat frightening and breathtaking. "Being pulled from the flames of battle by common law enforcement. How scandalous for thine image."

"They were minimising possible collateral, I expect." Twilight gave a ghost of a smile herself; if the police hadn't shown up she'd have wiped the floor with every single one of them, and likely carved chunks out of the street while the Gryphons shot the place to shit. Not to go on mentioning all of the blood that would have needed cleaning up. "They didn't even prepare a carriage first, just came straight over to assist. Probably royally shit themselves when they got calls that a Crown Agent was getting attacked in the street."

Luna frowned as her magic enveloped a small log and gently placed it in the fireplace, and Twilight caught the subtle shift of her wings bristling, while her cold gaze bored into Twilight again. "Thinkest thou that We wilt not hast thee dragged to the baths and thy mouth washed out with soap?"

Twilight bowed her head in way of an apology, Luna remained still.

"Thou wouldst not hast spoken of such tidings hadst thou not thought it relevant." Luna continued, then tipping the cup up to a final point and setting it back on the saucer. She moved it to a table beside her and her long spiralling horn dimmed out. "Prithee, tell Us thy thoughts."

"The ammunition they were using bypassed my shields. Bypassed Crown tech." Twilight frowned, tapping a hoof in thought. "I highly suspect they're being supplied, and their loose grouping makes them ideal for testing it. I have a few ideas on leads, and I'm going to follow up on them when I leave the Palace. With your permission I'll talk to Vee as well, hopefully get some extra insight into things."

"The machine spirit?" Luna said with noteworthy detachment, giving the barest incline of her head. "We wilt sanction it and pass word unto Tempest."

"I'm sure she'll be thrilled." Twilight grinned, giving Luna a deep bow. "May I leave?"

"Thou mayest." Luna blinked, glacially blue eyes taking on a more intense weight as she locked them with Twilight's properly. "Indeed, couldst thou try."

Twilight was suddenly caught helpless as her limbs felt staggeringly leaden, like so much scrap. She couldn't move an inch, and was unable to tear her gaze away, only falling deeper into the unfathomable depths of those arctic orbs as a piercingly frozen phantom claw tore in and wrapped around her spine. Luna's voice became gently deeper, and as deadly serious and unforgiving as a howling blizzard. "Yet beest thou warned, Twilight Sparkle; if ever thy folly shouldst transpire once again, that thine duty unto Us is derelict in voluntary disrespect, We shalt not givest thee mercy as We now grant. Art We perfectly clear?"

Twilight could barely choke out words as Luna's psychic attack gripped her mind with an unlimited well of ancient strength she couldn't ever hope to match, she was but a sickly mouse poised before a tumbling avalanche of eternal ice and snow that had never been bested by mortals. Her shields, augments, and own significantly powerful magic counted for absolutely nothing in the face of a pissed off almighty Alicorn. The withering arctic grip of the wicked claw tightened and she gasped in acute pain, the remnants of the anaesthetic doing naught, and the temperature of the room was rapidly dropping to the point that her eyelashes were beginning to accumulate little ice crystals. The roaring fireplace had been reduced to chilled lumps of charcoal, and Luna was hardly bothered by the frost that was forming over her person and everything else, her gaze just tunnelled deeper.

She managed what she thought might be a confirmation as Luna drove large spikes of ice through Twilight's brain, but she couldn't be sure as the biting chill had severely impacted her ability to breathe. She groaned in excruciating agony as the seconds cruelly dragged on, and tasted a rising metallic tang at the back of her throat while faintly-warm blood liberally ran from both nostrils down her snout while she gasped and trembled. Her system was blaring alarms across her HUD as it superbly tried and utterly failed to regulate her core temperature, she briefly registered the critical alert of all her internal batteries draining to their last ounce of power as everything within her immense system tried to correct that her augmented heart was shutting down alongside her other organs, and darkness crept at the edges of her vision as her eyes rolled up into her head.

Then Luna withdrew with all the finesse of a decorated surgeon, and released her hold.

Twilight gracelessly collapsed in a shivering heap to the frozen floor, alternating between snivelling, choking out blood, and greedily refilling her lungs with precious air the cold had seized from them, even if the cold air was still so frigid that it burned her lungs to breathe. She violently quaked as her body was wracked with icy stabs, dismissing the numerous overlapping system alerts as the room and her core slowly returned to normal, and the frost around them almost instantly disappeared while the fire flared back to life again, as if nothing had happened while she retched on the carpet. After several pathetic moments of pained recovery, she shakily managed to pull herself onto her hooves, wiped her nose and mouth on her duster, bowed as respectfully as she could achieve towards Luna, and turned for the door without another word.

Twilight felt a very brief wave of energy pass over her, that restored a small measure of warmth into her being and took away only a degree of the numbness, but she was still left with a phantom pain of a dark chill across her spine as she felt the Princess of the Night's fierce eyes follow her intently as she limped out of the room.

That must have been the mercy, then...

Author's Note

"Why the fuck not?!" -- Twilight 'Gat' Sparkle.

Added a few changes and grammar fixes, including sorting Luna's wonderful old timey-wimey speech.
Her tiny (but not in this fic) bottom excites me so.

3: SYSTEM_ERROR_WARM_REBOOT

She needed to get to the Verdant Estate, an enclosed wing in the castle on its westside, which made sense to her as Celestia's half of the Royal Palace felt much more appropriately lush for a huge sprawling garden. She headed for the fastest way there coming from the Lunar Wing, which in fact weren't the normal gloomy halls leading back outside that she'd come in from as she'd have to circle around the castle, nor was it any of the connecting hallways that lead around to centre rooms shared by the Princesses, given the ample activity of the business sectors within and the internal flow of hectic traffic of creatures that would slow her down.

The quickest path led through the Mausoleum.

The Mausoleum was once a small cave system inside the mountain the Royal Palace was sat upon, that had been lovingly carved out and turned into a sanctum by Luna's Thestrals over a thousand years ago, in honour of Luna's death. Of course, Luna hadn't died, she'd only been banished to the moon, but the Thestrals hadn't known that since Celestia herself had thought her sister lost when Luna had been turned into Nightmare Moon.

Twilight still quite vividly recalled the time she and her friends had stormed the ancient ruins of the Princesses' long-abandoned castle out in the Everfree Forest, and boldly confronted the daemonic being that had possessed the Princess of the Night after going in search of the Elements of Harmony. Like her older sister, Luna had an unendingly deep maelstrom of energy and power within her, the very kind of power that blazed like a beacon and attracted otherworldly fiends that preyed upon such things. She'd been so torn up inside so long ago that something horrendous from Tartarus had convinced her in her ultimate moment of weakness to make a pact with it, and it had held sway over her ever since.

It was only a pure stroke of luck that the spirit was the vain sort.

That had allowed Twilight and her friends enough time to banish it back to Tartarus using the Elements and free the Princess from her bondage. Her return had been heralded for months, Celestia had been utterly speechless with joy when Luna had been reformed intact, even creating a new festival and marking the new Aeon for the momentous occasion, and the Thestrals who already viewed Luna as a sort of deity had only become more fervourous in their belief that she was divine. Before, and after, The Mausoleum stood as a testament to their love.

There were shrines around Equestria that paid homage to the Princesses, Twilight saw them often enough and never really paid much attention to them, yet it was common among many races that they were seen as deific. While they always denied such things in person, they didn't disallow people from believing what they wished, so a number of these sites were commonly visited, if only for people to give a simple thanks as opposed to making pleas to the aether. One never really knew if the Princesses were watching them or not, and she herself was no stranger to Luna having walked through her dreams when she was younger, much stranger things had happened since. Who was she to deny people their hope if it got them through the day?

She knew that Canterlot City held a large sanctum of worship in Celestia's name in the Grey Eagle ward, she'd passed by it a few times as well, and it had a really nice large statue made of sun-blessed gold. Where Luna was concerned however, the Mausoleum was the largest tribute site that she personally knew of, and it was blinding in its zealotry. She was careful and considerate when she finally moved down into the eerily cold hall that held its venerable gates, it always felt like she was being monitored. The Lunar Guard chosen to stand watch were extremely protective of the location, and she generally did her best not to annoy them out of respect for their traditions, as intense as they were.

She stopped a few hooves short of the gate, the two guards' eyes fixing onto her.

Yet another apparent difference with these two was that both of them bore uniquely coloured armour in a deep midnight shade rather than the standard silver, decorated in ancient-Equish symbols. They still wore it over their standard-issue bodysuits, which was the only modern component. The armour pre-dated the Fifth Age, the Discordian Aeon, from well before Luna's banishment when the Sisters fought endlessly to unite Equestria, and there was very little information on it or its creation as it was as closely guarded by the Thestrals as the creation of Luna's Mercy or Celestia's Grace was by the Sisters. Both the helm and plate were almost warped in appearance, slanted and segmented and wreathed in wisps of umbral shadow. Staring at any piece too long tended to screw with her head so she didn't generally do that, she really wasn't a big fan of the strange whispers that she heard when she did either. If the tales from books and the rumours she'd heard could be believed, those were the voices of countless Thestran ancestors. Cheery stuff.

Twilight spoke plainly. "May I enter the Mausoleum?"

They regarded her with distaste, she could see their clear disgust.

"What is thy business?" Asked the left.

She stopped herself from giggling at the archaic speech. The more... devout of Luna's Thestrals took on her old-fashioned Equish way of talking out of reverence for her dated understanding of the world's since evolved language when she'd come back. She still did it because she was a relic of a more refined time and age, and some Thestrals wanted to embody that. All of the Honour Guard did it too. It was honestly quite amusing, she had to really try hard not to let a smile break out across her face. How long had it been now, since she'd used this place as a throughway? A year? She doubted these were the same guards she'd passed back then, if they were she didn't remember. She cleared her throat and played to their tune.

"I seek to repent my transgressions against Her Majesty, and pay tribute."

It was a small thing, using Majesty rather than Highness. The common subject of the Crown would use Highness to address either of their Princesses as that was how it was; equal station and respect for both Diarchs. Thestrals however liked to refer to Luna with Majesty because they saw Luna as superior to Celestia in certain regards. Celestia being the absolute paragon of compassion and motherly love that Twilight knew she was, she honestly wasn't upset at the opinion. Thestrals respected Celestia's absolute might, maybe even loved her as well on some level, but they had held Luna in far higher regard since before her banishment and would continue to do so indefinitely.

They still scrutinised her, a stallion on the left and mare on the right. The mare was all lithe muscle under the form-fitting armour like an athlete, and the stallion was rather slender with more a swimmers build, both probably had great arses. Most Thestrals did, had to be something in their genes. After a moment the stallion spoke again, he had a somewhat middle-pitched voice.

"Thou art craven, honourless scum. But, I see no reason that is not good to let scum beg Her for absolution."

The mare gave a nod. "If thou ever could possibly be absolved of thy sins. Pass, but know it is highly begrudged, Agent."

"Thanks, gorgeous." Twilight smiled at her as she walked towards the massive opening double doors, they were polished moon-blessed silver in their entirety. If they were locked down it would take a great deal to break them open, the same as any entrance made from sun-blessed gold. "I'll think of both of you next time I pleasure myself, the creepy armour really does it for me."

The stallion's head turned with a raised eyebrow as she sauntered past, flicking her tail at him at the last second. He bristled in his annoyance and shot her a death glare but remained where he was. She quietly laughed to herself as the doors closed shut behind her. Later he'd either beat a punching bag while thinking of her, or beat his dick. Twilight knew some of these purists had a deviant kink for augments when they couldn't or wouldn't have any of their own. It was quite an odd one, like getting turned on at the idea of being oppressed by another race because of a war or two that had happened several hundred years ago, in which the same oppression had occurred and the offspring wanted to know what it was like on a deeper level. The Diamond Dogs were weird like that when it came to the Minotaurs and their old personal wars, history could be rather queer in such regards.

She breathed in deep through her partially clogged nostrils, chuckling that she'd probably looked like she just came from a bad bar fight to those guards. She was feeling pretty shitty still, and her power cells were on the last of their juice thanks to Luna's rather severe punishment. She shook with a sudden weariness and was incredibly aware of the mite of freeze-burn in her lungs with each breath she took, and her vision constantly cycled in and out of focus.

Her system was almost back up to sixty percent efficiency now, but total system power was at twenty percent. She must have lost some awareness during the psychic attack, probably wouldn't have flirted with Lunar Guards that likely wanted to disembowel her for fun either if she was more coherent. She hadn't dropped below sixty percent efficiency since... years now, the mission with the Dragon that had mining gauntlets grafted into his arms. Celestia's fat arse, that really took her back some. Twenty percent power... Maybe Vee would give her a boost, if not she'd just dock into a station after the visit.

Then she took notice as her HUD popped up a beta-critical alert that she had just dropped below twenty percent of her total power. Apparently she'd missed the notifications that were reporting multiple areas of damage, it was likely that she'd been getting an icepick shoved through her skull at the time those popped up. She didn't care for them right now, or any other notifications either, dismissing them and quickly popped into the safety settings to switch the critical alerts off. Those annoyed her a lot and never really served to do anything but get in the way, and she'd be where she needed to be soon enough, no biggie.

The erratically inclining passage before her was quite cold, go figure. It was carefully extended from its original haphazard tunnel to resemble what it had once been, supported with pillars of silver-veined smoky marble that were expertly carved in all manner of sprawling constellations from Luna's Night, the connecting lines inlaid with moon-blessed silver, with small emeralds and sapphires marking the stars in them. It wound and travelled for quite a time, with a few off-shooting tunnels for other purposes leading elsewhere, with the main way leading out into an open chamber that was the Mausoleum's heart.

The massive chamber itself, as her system told her, was roughly over a thousand hooves from this wall to the opposite, given the chamber's circular unevenness, and almost about the same height, with oversized and imposing stalactites hanging down from the ceiling stalwartly between countless smaller ones, dotted in uneven lengths and sizes that made a myriad of patterning, and were magically secure so they wouldn't break. She saw, as the last time she came; that a number of Thestrals were quite comfortably hanging from the ceiling with the stalactites like the bats they shared some resemblance to, and little carved out hollows in the chamber wall to her left safely bore their armour.

This place was their sanctuary.

There were a number of tributes in any direction of wall Twilight looked, from ribbons of purple, blue, or silver; to wrapped gifts that were likely to never be opened; piles of moon-blessed silver here or there in small carved hollows; an enchanted knife mounted far up, they were almost endless, and every one of them personal. Every single one of them was for Her. Not to mention there were numerous sprawling tunnels leading to separate rooms throughout the mountain she'd never been in, ones that bore the ashes and final resting places of Thestrals from the castle staff or the Lunar Guard, and somewhere there was a wholly separate tunnel network for the Honour Guard too. If any of them worked in Luna's service then they were allowed to be interred here as a final honour if they were permitted to and so wished. She saw several small tributes leading into the mouths of these hollows as she walked, gifts given to those passed on.

Twilight was intruding on something that was beautifully sacred to these Thestrals, even if she had been allowed. It made her a little guilty, though at the same time it was something she didn't dislike getting to see. She didn't worship Luna or see the Princess the same way these Thestrals did, but she saw how they did, how they cared for their dead, hoping they were forever watched over in death. She couldn't help but smile at the overblown exaltation and grandeur of the impressive monolith ─entirely impossible to miss unless someone was blind─ that took up a majority of the space at the chambers centre. Without a doubt it was the most flattering and reverent homage to Luna in existence, and very few would ever be allowed to behold it. It was the kind of thing Luna herself wouldn't ever care to flaunt, but Twilight knew she cared for the Thestrals, so she would probably look upon it with a small amount of appreciation for the unrestrained effort that had gone into the piece.

The way she'd heard Thestrals tell it, the colossal statue of the beloved Alicorn was carved from the largest hewn block of pure white marble known to Equestria, taken from the northern mountains in the Crystal Empire where the best deposits existed. It had taken over five-hundred Thestrals to ferry it here on an arduous journey, and the narrow tunnel she'd passed through had been massively widened to accommodate it before being rebuilt at a smaller size. The statue had taken one-hundred-and-ninety-three years to complete from the time the block was placed, given that Thestrals refused to allow any creature other than a Thestral artisan to work upon it, and thus it had sat untouched for dozens of years until a master sculptor had been found. Twilight could barely imagine the weight of that task to an artist that had never worked on anything so large before, but by Celestia's massive alabaster arse, the fervourous bastard had done it all by himself; if the tale held true.

The final result was a one-hundred-and-sixty-one by one-hundred-forty-two hooves, timeless monument to the sheer adoration and love Thestrals bore their Princess they saw as a pure-hearted deity. The colossal sculpture saw Luna gazing down upon everything with a beautiful motherly smile and caring eyes, sitting comfortably upon an ancient style of throne as her wings splayed out around her, her forelegs reaching down ready to embrace. It greatly did her justice and was almost as beautiful as the Alicorn herself.

The white marble Luna wore her old regalia from Twilight's fillyhood, in what Twilight suspected were still the largest forged creations of platinum to date. Her crown sat atop her head, hoof-slips snugly fitted too, her flowing mane captured perfectly as it rippled over her imposing spiralling horn and flowed over a shoulder, and much as the columns on the way in; constellations had been lovingly cut and inlaid with moon-blessed silver, the stars each an emerald or sapphire. For a statue this size, those gems were extremely rare these days, and as large as Twilight's head in many cases with several clustered together to form a single star. The wings had immense detail that must have taken ridiculous precision as they thinned; every feather of each wing was meticulously cut, no single one being the same, all grooves being inlaid with platinum.

And she thought it was pretty hot, but she knew the Thestrals saw it as far from sexual; the sculptor had seen to it that Luna's stand-in should be as motherly as Thestrals deemed, and the teats between her legs, her hips, her thighs, as well as her entire backside were far more generously proportioned than the real mare's own already decent curvature, the cutie-mark of the Princess taking up a sizable space on her haunches.

The mark's surrounding area was a deep-midnight like the real mark, made of Luna's Mercy so it would glow beyond measure, but forged differently to achieve the dark colour, and the glowing pale centre-moon simply being enchanted so it shone all the more. The flowing tail stretched around one side and rested over the throne, looking much like the mane in its splendour. The throne was no less impressive than its occupant with how it contrasted the overall clever way the marble on the mare was carefully and painstakingly smoothed with magic, so that every inch of the coat flowed like water; and instead was brushed, smoothed, and polished so it gave either the appearance of natural stone or forged metal. The natural inlay of sediments along with the magic gave the whole effigy a measure of realism beside its already heightened allure.

The scope of it completely outshone anything else in Canterlot, the Luna's Mercy alone likely meant they'd had to request it from Celestia at the time to have obtained such an aweing amount, and the platinum regalia must have taken incredibly careful forging to work at such size. Such overt ostentation in a public space would certainly have the beauty tarnished by the extreme security measures that would be taken to protect the wealth it held. When she was a teenager, gems were absolutely abundant and never used in technology, but in the modern world they were core components in nearly everything. All of her augments had tiny cores made from rubies or diamonds that stored power and kept excess during overload, and the expensive internal batteries, leg prosthetics, and core system used enchanted diamond-weave-filaments to effortlessly conduct power instantaneously, as well as be part of their extremely resilient makeup that made them nigh-unbreakable to most means.

An emerald or sapphire the size of her hoof could help make dozens of low-to-mid-grade augments for the everyday person, or be used in different industry applications and general technology. One the size of her head could go even further beyond. This ancient monument of love wouldn't last even a couple of hours unprotected in a good part of town.

It added to the humbling feeling of being in the Mausoleum.

She leisurely approached the ornate smoky-marble dais the entire monolith rested upon, where it was bordered by luminous ivy crafted of Luna's Mercy all the way around, and surrounded by a fresh aroma from the nightshade and lavender that lay all across the regal platform, picked by Thestrals from special gardens down in one of the deep tunnel networks she wasn't given permission to go in. A deep font of undisturbed perfumed water was laid wide before the smiling likeness, set into the dais itself above a single long velvet-cushioned step platform. The lower surrounding area was, as with the walls, utterly covered with tributes save for the floor before the basin of water. There was a difference in them though; whereas the offerings on the walls were gifts of sorts, these were all ribbons of litany. On them was written something to give for another; a wish, dream, or hope, and it should always be for another, never oneself. When she first came here, she wrote down a hope for good health for her friends, writing their names, and placed it on top of all the others. She felt a little silly afterwards though it did make her feel better in some small part. That silver ribbon was long buried now, under hundreds more like it, possibly thousands as Thestrals commonly made pilgrimage to visit the site from all across Equestria and beyond.

Her peripherals caught movement and she sharply turned her head to look at an attractive Thestral in modestly beautiful onyx silks flying down from high above on his wings, and he quickly landed before her to block her path. The clothing choice was sultry considering it was a stallion, she recalled the last visit had a mare tending the shrine, but apparently the dress sense was the same. His pretty orange eyes locked with hers almost in a challenge as he stood straight. He used a bat-like wing to lower his hood, letting his tousled midnight mane go sprawling down his dark-grey coat. Like most Thestrals in Luna's service; he was all stock, and had a really nice arse. This one in particular apparently had a fondness for eyeliner, and it really added to the whole gothic vibe. When he spoke, it was husky like the deep thrum of an acoustic guitar, and suited his coltish looks quite nicely.

"Agent, I tend Her this coming nightfall, but the Sun-deity's morning reigns if my senses dost not fail me. It wilt not beest long before the day reaches its zenith, I shouldst dream until Her Night is upon us." He spoke plainly as he addressed her. "Why hast thou comest?"

She smiled amicably. "Paying tribute, Shrinekeeper."

He eyed her, relenting after a few seconds of study. He stood taller and deftly bowed to her with his tuft-tipped ears flattened out to the sides by their custom of admittance. He moved aside and then took to checking the litanies, neatening them up while she stepped forward and climbed onto the step platform below the dais, and peered into the large font of water.

The basin was simply water given a cleansing spell so it remained pure, but some Thestrals believed it was divine too, blessed solely by their dedication to Luna, and to keep it purer beyond normal measure offerings should be given. To them, this also served as a way of atoning for crimes committed that she would be displeased with, namely crimes against one's kin, betrayals of the family as was her own crime she yielded sentence for. A pony couldn't buy redemption for cold-blooded murder here, nor would Twilight expect Luna to want to forgive such an action, but surely she would understood failing at a crucial moment in time and turning on family; the Thestrals would be capable of that just as she had been, and believed she would show mercy if they had such a weakness of heart. Their grief and repentance alongside an offering would surely sway their Princess, and see them safely through Her Night and all nights to come.

That was pretty much how they saw it, anyway. Broadly speaking, they probably weren't altogether wrong in their thinking as Luna had a soft spot for the batty bastards. Twilight simply went along with the show. She used the Mausoleum as her personal throughway, she might as well dance the dance to be decent about it.

After what felt like a few respectful moments of peering in, she withdrew a platinum moon ─one of the last few on her person─ and carefully dropped it into the basin. It joined countless other coins of the same value down in the deep hollow that seemed almost endless, and Twilight even spotted a palladium sovereign under a few moons and sols. That must have been quite the sin. In this well alone was probably a sizable fortune, enough to turn a pony from perfectly stock into a fully augmented high-end war machine thrice over, but no Thestral would ever dare to rob from something so sacred.

Turning back and stepping down she was met with the Shrinekeeper, who seemed oddly concerned as he nodded his thanks for her atonement, leaning forward and embracing her with his wings, and gently kissing her on the forehead. An odd ritual, but she wasn't complaining. He did surprise her a bit when his wing took out a length of cloth from within his silks and he passed by the basin, soaking a corner and pausing next to her, to then gently wipe down her snout and clean it of dried blood.

"Mayest She forgive thy transgressions against Her, Agent." He intoned gently with the lightest of smiles, his orange eyes glowing in the dimness of the chamber. "I wishest thou well in recovery; Her wrath is upon thee as clear as Her Moon shines."

"I'll live." She shrugged as he wrapped the cloth up and placed it back within his silks. She nodded a goodbye and started to walk around the white marble Luna, and as he considered his duty to the shrine complete for now, he took off back up into the stalactites above.

Nice guy, maybe she'd see him around.

The path beyond her beyond the sculpture was much the same as the other leading in. She took her time to go along though as the damage was really getting to her now that the Shrinekeeper had mentioned it again, and she'd been trying rather hard to put it to the back of her mind. The chill as she walked into the passage somehow felt more piercing than it had on the way down. Luna had made her hurt linger on, the ghost of the icy claw was clutching at her spine even now.

The Thestrals loved and revered Luna as some kind of ultimate mother figure and deity, and sure, she was polite as polite could be in public. Celestia was the same about it with a higher level of grace, though in private she was a wholly different pony, one that Twilight could sit down and have a drink with. Luna was no such creature, however. Twilight never felt relaxed in the Princesses' presence anymore, not for a long time since her teenage years. She liked Luna in a commander-and-subordinate kind of way, respected her too on many levels, but damn her if the bitch couldn't be overwhelming. The term 'Ice Queen' didn't do her justice.

Not to say Twilight disliked her at all; she fully understood what Luna had done was all in the name of discipline and a deeper respect that she commanded, and she wasn't angry about the punishment. To not give respect was an insult Luna wouldn't abide. Until now, Twilight had never actually pushed her luck, and she'd always been as punctual as possible and very rarely was she informal when Luna was around, save for when Celestia was with her and the decorum gradually slipped thanks to Celestia and Twilight cracking jokes.

It often made her wonder if Luna ever truly smiled anymore. The powerful mare was a victim to the modern world much in the way Twilight and her friends were, and in many ways she had it far worse. Twilight, her friends, and everyone of her generation had all mostly adjusted to the rapid advancement of technology, but Luna came from a time where electricity didn't exist and crystal light was king, where normally no matter the creature, long distance travel was always made by hoof, wing, or ship. The way Twilight understood it, Luna was something of a technophobe and avoided using anything too advanced if she could help it, if only because it made her realise how far back in the past she was rooted.

But she also liked it that way. To her, there was a certain dignity in doing everything without the use of technology. Holding onto traditional ways of ancient Equestria and preserving them.

Twilight eventually trotted through to the end of the long passage, and into the following entry hall through the gate. The Lunar Guard standing by in their creepy armour eyed her with unhidden contempt, but said nothing as she went on by them. It was pretty clear to see that Luna's attitude towards technology extended to her domain, the room beyond this cold passage was one of the last of Luna's own before the middle of the castle where both Sisters had rule, and she saw a castle hoovespony carefully performing maintenance on an incredibly old grandfather clock, its workings being all cogs and classic pony ingenuity, and likely one of the most advanced types of technology during Luna's day. It was tangible to the eye, every part of it made by what were considered basic antique machines and entry-level forging compared to the current day. Every gear, pulley, and cable could be accounted for and held in the hooves, it was real, everything had a weight to it and could be quantified.

The Goddess Aeon brought digitalisation and advanced technology Luna didn't deign to begin fathoming, and would likely never care to. She also likely didn't use Canterlot's extranet, the Crown's own information network, or the Farscape Web herself. There was a distinct reason Vee was built within Celestia's side of the castle. She might allow her Agents access to Vee when asked, but she never spoke with the A.I directly.

At the room's end was a regal circular stairway leading up into the castle's mid-section, she continued onward and slowly made her way up, every hoofstep she took feeling far heavier than the last. Her system might be telling her she was operating at a decent efficiency, but it didn't fully reflect overall power. Her limbs required a fair amount of energy and she was about running on empty, which meant her system was putting less into them in order to keep her alive, and soon they'd cease working properly so that her organs could still function nominally. She could still be at over fifty percent efficiency with her limbs fully shut down and non-responsive. Pretty soon she'd just be a very efficient quadriplegic.

Twilight stepped up into the centre of a grandiose atrium with an opaque skylight, Celestia's Sun bore down but barely filtered through beyond enough light to see around the area, no blinding rays shone inside out of consideration for the Thestrals in Luna's service. It wasn't that the sunlight hurt them or anything; it just made them uncomfortable with its intensity and they far preferred the gentle glow of moonlight. She'd never seen a Thestral outside on a hot sunny day, and most days when the sun was calm and hidden behind overcast weather, they still wore sunglasses when they ventured out.

The heat still came through though, and was quite welcome to Twilight's still warming system that couldn't spare the power just now to heat her up beyond core regulation. So long as her organs were pumping, the system was mostly happy. The readout on her HUD was showing the power levels in her batteries were critical and she'd be in trouble soon, her legs were at the point where moving them was like trying to move through deep water unaugmented. She pulled up the interface for her legs and overrode the currently locked-in settings, manually dialling down their individual efficiencies to fifty percent each so they consumed far less power. Now it was like fucking walking through deep water unaugmented with Celestia and her huge arse sitting on Twilight's back. It was a shitty stopgap measure akin to slapping a plaster on a haemorrhaging wound, but it would keep her walking a bit longer despite the extra strain.

It wasn't that she would actually be unable to walk, but it was near enough to the truth as walking with no power eventually tore up her normal musculature like it was made of old shitty parchment, and put heavy strain on the augmented ones while she barely took any steps forward at all. Her limbs were all prosthetic, carbon and polymer, and the surrounding musculature was dense augmentation made of a multilayered carbon-fibre-weave supported by a latticework of diamond-filament-weave so power that travelled in an instant and was incredibly tough. They heavily interfaced with her overall system structure, so what was still stock muscle would be trying to move enhanced muscle with only a sliver of power, that was attached to and trying to move around two dozen kilos of prosthetic limb with a sliver of power. Her limbs and her system as a whole would have the barest spark coursing through them based on the fact her organs generated a current through her body so long as they had the energy, so until her batteries couldn't fuel her organs, technically she was never without power.

But it basically equated to fuck all in the grand scheme of things, so... paperweight.

She suppressed her rapidly mounting discomfort as her energy dwindled, she was running on fumes, Vee wasn't far, she just had to make it there and she was golden. Times like this never fucking occurred because she could operate for nearly a month without needing to recharge her systems without a proper station to do so, specifically for long missions where she might not have access to any sort of decent tool. It was why she didn't even bother to have a photovoltaic charging system, because if she needed a quick power fix when on mission like that she could eat specific calorie-dense foods like the Crown MRE's, and then her augmented stomach would put the chemical energy through an energy-catalyst conversion implant to put power into her system... but that took time where she'd usually sleep during the charge. She wasn't anywhere near the kitchens either, and even if she was she wasn't going to stand around with her hoof up her arse waiting for her batteries to gain what amounted to a drop in the bucket as it wouldn't give her more than a small boost at present anyway, she had shit to do.

With her current setup she could theoretically have a backup spark-cell installed for emergencies like this, but her entire body was already nearly at capacity for her size as the two batteries she'd had put in was about the last of her space, and unless she wanted to take something out, have a frame refit, or have the world's smallest rescue pack ─none of which were great options─ then she was staying as she was. Her ongoing backup plan was already to dial down the efficiency of each limb so it used less power, and generally she only ever allowed them to drop to seventy percent so she didn't lose any feedback. This was a really fucking shit position to be in, Luna really fucking knew how to punish and show a mare a bad time.

As if she already didn't have it bad enough, it was at that moment in time that an incredibly self-satisfied Thestral prick chose to make an appearance before Twilight. She'd been focusing too much on walking to notice his silent approach behind her, to the point she hadn't even heard him with her new sensory implant; good fucking thing he wasn't actively trying to kill her. When her glowing eyes found him as he crossed into her path, her sheer fucking will and determination, in hoof with intense dislike, just about forced her along through him.

"Twilight, your systems are failing, would you allow me to assist you?" He spoke in his cuntishly semi-monotonous voice, his fluffy jet-black mane slicked back like he was in some stupid fucking spy film. His duster was far neater than her own, like he had it dry-cleaned and waxed every day. Prick. "You left Her Majesty in a state of great shock, but I think you recovered rather well considering you should probably be comatose."

"Fuck off, Noctis. I am not in the fucking mood." She growled, her voice carrying with such venom that the joint guard at the atrium's main entrance both turned their heads.

"Evidently." He nodded politely, stepping aside and falling into step beside her as she trudged on her path. His augmented amber eyes were taunting her silently, laughing at her current misfortune. Even what little of his silver coat that could be seen was being a dick, the small level of brightness filtering through the skylight was making his face all the more luminous like he was the fucking poster bat for the Lunaris Agents and it was fucking hurting her eyes. That wasn't even possible because of her type of eye augments but the fucker was somehow succeeding at it with flying colours. "I don't think you'll make it to the Estate, you must rest."

"Bite me, faggot." Twilight snapped back at him.

Noctis's cuntish poker face went blanker than usual as he blinked in confusion.

Yeah, exactly, batty cunt. Fuck him.

Twilight didn't actually know if he took it up the arse or not, but she'd definitely put money on it being true, and it did certainly shut him up for a few blessed seconds so her increasingly growing migraine could abate from the bitchy sounds that were coming from his mouth. She narrowly avoided smacking her head into the doorframe pushing into the adjacent corridor, the smug arsehat presently looming like a shitty cartoon sidekick even taunting her by opening the door so she could go through it with a bit more ease. Prick.

"I'm not a homosexual, Twilight. Regardless, I read that your systems overall power level at two percent, you don't-" Noctis paused for a brief few seconds as he used a wing to stop Twilight from crashing into an ornate table with old sailing artefacts displayed on it, she growled and shrugged him off as he kept walking with her. "-you don't have enough energy to get where you're going. 'Dreams of the morrow hath the shattered soul; Pride is lost; Wings stripped away, the end is nigh.' Let me help, please."

Twilight stopped walking as he recited the fucking verse. Noctis was one of those irritating fucks that thought the Princesses were divine beings; Astralists, more commonly called Imps by anyone that had sense, because they were a fucking impingement on society. But it went beyond how the general populace might have a common love of the Sisters, or even how the Thestrals worshipped Luna, as this was the belief that the Sisters had created the world, created the Sun and Moon, created life on Equus as everyone knew it. They even had a divine book put together from which his poxy verses came from. Fucking bullshit, the lot of it. Being able to control celestial bodies did not make a pony a fucking deity, but try explaining that to a devout bat with mummy issues and a latent Alicorn fetish.

She really fucking wanted to send an electro-pulse shooting through his chest but she didn't have energy for a single charge and his own magitech bodysuit and special augments would negate it anyway, so she settled for lazily bopping him instead. He made no attempt to stop her but she didn't hit him with any decent amount of force, sadly. She ignored him and kept taking steps.

"Do you feel better now?" He enquired. His passive face was very cocky under the surface, she just fucking knew it. Bat bastard. "Her Majesty asked me to ensure you rest... in a manner of speaking."

"Exact words?"

He coughed into his hoof. "Ensure she does not perish."

"Awwh~, she does care..." Twilight drawled out, losing the false smirk she'd put on immediately and sluggishly pushing him away. She spoke through gritted teeth. "Well... I'm not dead, so fuck off, Imp."

"You are very rude." He observed, breathing in and exhaling. She smirked and sneered almost childishly at him and dragged herself along ahead, her back legs were dead weight now but it didn't matter, she would keep going. He continued to talk. "You realise that you were stood in the Mausoleum for two hours, yes?"

Twilight stopped again, breathing heavily.

She shouldn't stop, she wouldn't be able to keep walking.

"I believe the Shrinekeeper was rather worried. I waited the entire time, I thought perhaps you were seeking further penance." He said, approaching again and gently resting a hoof on her shoulder. She didn't shrug him off, she wasn't sure she could lift her foreleg to do so. "I see now it was a rapid onset of delirium. If you had sufficient power you know you would be a danger to yourself and others. 'All that awaits you is a sombre morrow; No matter where the winds may blow.'' Twilight, you must stop."

She looked back at Noctis's cuntish face with his stupid pretty amber eyes and his fucking snaggletooth he had of all things, why was he so fucking annoying? Fuck him and his little innocent routine... fuck him and that niggling feeling that he was entirely correct and Twilight actually felt like she was carrying a mountain, also something about her entire system possibly crashing as her organs were about to have no juice. Just little things piling up like the encroaching darkness bleeding into her eyes as they shut down, just small warning signs that something probably wasn't quite right with the world. She barely managed to send the neural signal to pull up her power percentage and re-enable alerts, and it spottily popped in through a glitching HUD with a distant blaring alarm in her head of an alpha-critical alert. She came to the very sudden realisation that Noctis hadn't been screwing around, and now she was at a single percent. How long ago had it ticked down to one? Did she have enough to-

Oh.

Twilight locked eyes with Noctis in realisation. "...Fuck."

She collapsed.

Opening her eyes seemed like a tall order, but when Twilight managed to slowly allow light into them, she assessed the situation and found herself wearing a basic gown, while covered by a duvet and a few cables, in a comfortingly familiar gunmetal-grey room that was tinged with antiseptic in the air, a room which she'd paid many trips to over the years. She was in the Crown Agent Medical Wing's recovery ward.

Past her rapidly rebooting HUD and automatic diagnostic routine that dutifully informed her she'd had a critical system failure, she examined the various medical apparatus and beds that were awaiting usage, her vision going to a particular and long since painted over filled-in crack in the ceiling she herself had put there during an accidental weapons discharge a decade or so back; when she was still testing certain augments to put in her system and one hadn't agreed with her. She'd really scared the doctors with that one, but they all had a good laugh afterwards. Always felt good to see it.

Coming back to that last though... critical system failure. User death. Whoops.

When she craned her head to one side of her medical bed she saw Noctis of all ponies looking at her, quite attentively too. She vaguely recalled him being around recently.

"Howdy, Noctis." She smiled somewhat amicably. She didn't mind the guy, though he was one fuck of a teachers pet, and an Imp of all things. Luna's favourite Agent, too. Kind of funny given the Princess didn't like technology, and yet she liked him well enough regardless of his enhanced nature. Maybe it was just because he was very effective at his job, on par with her if not better with how much stealthier he could be, but he cheated; she couldn't literally jump through shadows. "I remember leaving Luna's bedchambers. Thought I might have spied you tailing me, then it's a blur, can't recall much beyond anger. Getting the feeling I was a massive dick, though."

"You were delirious, I hold no grudge." Noctis replied with a gentle smile.

"Sorry about that." Twilight offered, then glanced around at the large recovery ward with fondness. All the other beds were vacant save for hers. "Haven't been here for a while."

"Nor I." Noctis nodded, looking at the bed's inbuilt monitors. "You're recovering quite well despite your injuries. 'For you are beloved by the Princesses.' ...Although, I'm curious as to why you didn't immediately seek medical attention after departing Her Majesty's company."

"I'm stubborn." Twilight grinned, amused as she probably wasn't beloved by Luna, then shrugged. "Don't think my system picked up on anything besides power loss either. Given my state of mind, I wasn't likely to notice if it did anyway."

"Your system was compensating for heavy fractures to your spine, moderate freeze-burn to your lungs and throat, and a small bleed on your brain." Noctis explained, eyeing her over with concern. "As I said when I met with you, I'm quite surprised you weren't already comatose from the sheer trauma. You are rather steadfast."

Wow. Luna did not pull her fucking punches.

"Huh." Was all Twilight could manage for the second.

She'd never actually angered Luna to the point where she'd been punished by Luna's own hoof, usually she just ended up with additional work or drilling, so her normal antics had apparently been building to a boiling point and this was the spillover. She leaned back and laid in silence for a time, Noctis not offering anything more than to join her quietness. She didn't feel terrible considering the damage, so she was definitely quite hopped up on the standard high-grade meds.

Tetrahydramorphone, coming from an exhaustively long line of chemical family engineering and belonging to a special group of drugs primarily created by the Crown, thanks to the Institute they'd taken in once upon a time. The clever bastards had pretty much redefined modern medicine in certain areas, and had utilised the tetrahedral framework to create some of the most powerful additions and elevations to common substances in the market through the brilliance of magitech.

It had a street name of Ghost. She loved the stuff for its utility, it was pretty expensive as there was never any shit comedown after her system purged it either seeing as the meds were synthetic concentrate designed specifically to play nice with cleansing implants and general augmentation. One couldn't use too much of it though, being based off of old-school opiates made it addictive. She'd known a couple of Agents to be pulled from active duty due to their chronic addictions.

After a minute she spoke again. "So, I died. That sounds like it was fun. How long have I been out, total?"

"It's been nineteen hours since I brought you here, it is past dawn." Noctis supplied, shifting in his seat as he met her gaze. "I was unsure if you would actually survive this time, as I couldn't link my system to yours and transfer power, and couldn't try to do so until you were... placated. Your heart ceased functioning as I admitted you, I assume you were resuscitated shortly thereafter."

"Yeah, lotta new custom inside me since we last swapped some juice." She smirked, patting a hoof on her chest, regarding him again. "Appreciate the attempt."

He gave her an actual smile, then. "Next time I will preemptively render you inoperative."

"By all means, you can try."

She took a moment to test her movements and seemed to be alright enough to go, as usual the sawbones had done their job damn well and she'd been put on charge during the time she'd been napping, glancing at the cable snaking out of a hindleg. Being hooked up like a toaster wasn't the most effective way to gain energy, but her power was at over thirty percent when she pulled it up so she would be good for about a week without needing to properly zap herself at a station; at least pending no further serious damage or heavy expenditure. She had a thought, and restored her limbs back to their full efficiency in the settings, going over a few final checks.

"Right, I have shit to do."

"Do bear in mind that you haven't fully healed." Noctis cautioned, but made no attempt to stop her as she cast off her shackles and left the bed, thankfully.

He got up from the chair and came over to walk with her as she trotted out, the medical equipment pinging that its occupant had just gone AWOL before soon becoming silent as it was monitored from elsewhere. They knew her well enough to know she didn't stay longer than needed. Noting Noctis's line of sight on the armour-plating going down her back between the gown, she rolled her eyes.

"I'm fine." Twilight said as they walked into the corridor ahead, taking a right and striding with purpose, she didn't feel any discomfort at all thanks to the Ghost in her bloodstream. "Quit looking at me like that or I'll think you want to drag me into my bunk, don't tempt me."

It was always funny when Noctis blushed.

"I'm concerned. The datasheet on your bed said-"

"-Said there's still likely to be irritation in my lungs and that my spine still has hairline fractures, yes." She completed for him, passing a young stallion she craned her head back to ogle for a moment before continuing on her way. "Nothing I can't handle. I've got no remaining head injury beyond a slight headache, my healing matrix will sort out my spine within a day or two even if I'm pushing myself hard, and the lungs should self-repair in about the same timeframe."

"You should still wait until you're at full strength before going back out. 'All that awaits you is a sombre morrow; No matter where the winds may blow.'" Noctis sighed after reciting the verse seeing that Twilight tutted at him, ignored him, and promptly kept on. "At least dock into a station for a couple of hours."

She didn't respond as they came to the locker room, and Noctis didn't continue to pester her as she went over to the end corner of the main section where her personal locker sat into the wall. Pressing the flat of her hoof against the locker door, it recognised her pattern signature and granted access, the door panel shooting up into a recess above. Her horn ignited, and she grabbed her bodysuit and duster off the rack inside, seeing the docs had handed her clothes to the techies to patch up while she'd been indisposed, as usual.

Noctis politely turned around as she threw the hospital gown off, slipping the bodysuit and duster on in moments like she'd done hundreds of times before, the magitech interfacing almost needily as if it had missed her touch, the leather just as comforting. Feeling complete again, she folded the gown and left it on a bench for the staff to sort out later, before securing her locker and leaving with Noctis in tow.

"Thought about it." Twilight said to him, turning left and going towards Luna's side of the castle. Noctis gave a half-smile. "Need to check the Quartermaster's stock anyway."

She took the quickest route from the medical ward, which took them all of ten minutes to go through the various connecting hallways and corridors, leaving the Crown Agent Quarter as they passed ponies, a few Gryphons, the occasional Thestral, and even a lone Deer doing their jobs around the castle. Many of them were accountants and the like for the Crown's more industry-based side, easy to note with their business suits, but it was just that Twilight and any other Agent could scan them and see who they were and what they did; it was one of the many tasks of her own job that she did without even thinking about anymore. The centre of the castle where things crossed over was where things became a little less intense with magical protection to ease the access for the everyday staff, with the Crown Agent Quarter acting as a sort of security station alongside the Royal Guard Quarters that were placed more around the castle, so it was all in the name of security.

Once again Luna's halls graced her vision as they passed the attending Lunar Guard through moon-blessed silver doors, the Thestrals not looking at her as disdainfully probably on account of Noctis's presence. The dark hallways and rooms of simple furnishings were their company beyond the small number of Thestrals that Luna had to keep things in shape at this early hour, no doubt things would be more lively come nightfall.

Travelling in companionable silence until they reached their destination through a hallway that was heavily defended with autoturrets tucked away in their domed extrusions mounted into the ceiling, Noctis stepped forward and opened the door ahead for her, because of course he did. Twilight stepped through but delivered a lazy back hoof at his chest that he dodged, following her in afterwards. Given the hour, the entry room's activity was rather minimal, those that were there greeting them both with respectful nods or a polite word.

Lunaris Crown Agent Garrison, sister barracks to the Solaris Crown Agent Garrison on Celestia's side of the castle. From outfitting high-tech augments, to a dozen or so drill rooms for heavy training, to simply being a decent place to grab some food and a night's sleep, both locations were solely for their benefit. Didn't mean that the Royal Guard weren't welcome, but they generally avoided both places on principle. At present, she only saw one other Agent here, the rest were a couple of techies working on projects amongst themselves, naturally they'd be doing it here. The entry lobby was pretty large and laid-out in an almost civilian fashion, making the entire place feel more relaxed than it normally was, a huge common area in the centre was cut into the floor with a line of couches along its inner edges, seats opposite or central, and wooden tables between, while the outer surrounding doors led to all the places of business. Some might call it unprofessional, but they could take it up with Celestia; it had been her design, and Luna hadn't gotten too involved as Agent Garrison things pertained to the side of technology.

"Brick!" Greeted the lone Agent, looking up from where she sat on a corner piece of the inner couches that was suffering her immense size. She put down the book she'd been reading, as well as a popular variant of canned soft drink, both of which were almost comically small in her hands, and sat up straighter to rest her arms on her legs, flashing them a smile.

The mountain of muscle and sex appeal was called Titania. It was uncommon for Dragons to serve the Crown, but Titania was rather uncommon for a Dragon. To this day very few of them ventured out of their own lands, still mostly untouched by the modern markings of industry and progress, however on occasion they were pulled by it due to their greed and found themselves on Equestrian soil looking to become stronger or richer. Titania for her part, had come looking for work to escape the monotony of draconic life and found herself a stable mining job with one of Equestria's more prolific megacorps, Earthen Crest, who's sole business was ore and gem collection, and they'd jumped at the chance to employ a literal walking powerhouse.

However when a network of their deep mining shafts within the mountain that Canterlot City was built onto had collapsed on her and hundreds of other workers a year or so down the line, the megacorp had been quick to abandon them to their fate. In the initial hour of it happening the public attempted to amass and look in on the incident during emergency response efforts coming along, and they were all quickly driven off by Earthen Crest's private security. It had taken time before the higher ups had cleared it so that emergency services were allowed through to actually assist. It being Earthen Crest's jurisdiction in land, they'd made an attempt at a rescue operation, but dropped it soon after the estimated cost of 'asset recovery' had reared its ugly head, and even with the Crown offering them aid with the relief they hadn't cared for the price tag. Using the fact that all miners that had been found nearest to the surface had all been dead, they claimed the chances that any people further in that were still alive was slim to none, and they'd officially attempted to wash their hooves of the situation, only allowing the general emergency services in to perform the most basic of clean-up ops until they could then seal the collapsed mines and simply continue on like nothing had happened.

Then the Crown had officially stepped in.

It worked by law that if something bad happened to a megacorp along the lines of a natural disaster or such, it was the Crown's sovereign duty to offer assistance, as a high-yield business that generated a large income over a certain threshold contributed to the economy and was essential to keeping the wheel of Equestria turning. A fun caveat to this, that brought the Sisters no end of joy in some cases, was that the high-yield business would have to pay for the services rendered after they had bounced back from the disaster. This didn't used to be the case, but early rising megacorps back in the day had heavily abused this longstanding old law when things went pear-shaped on their ends and used the Crown as a means of a free bailout. It was during the Venrum Disaster that amongst the passing of new coinage the Sisters had enough leverage in the noble's courts due to desperation to pass this small addendum and properly remedy that slap in the face.

Nothing stopped the Crown from going where it pleased within Equestria during a crisis or state of war, but if a business was on private land and refused the Crown's assistance, and then barred them or their relief efforts from entry during great trouble, it was grounds for serious fines and legal action. However, to be seen doing their utmost to fail softening the blow to their employees, actively working against them such as holding severance pay, not honouring the contract of the job that allowed furlough, or perhaps leaving them to die, brought a very special clause into action within the law, in which the Crown had complete and legal right to freeze business assets or impose levies, stop movement of its members or place a summons order on them, and in cases such as this; hold them solely responsible for every single one of their failings to the highest possible degree, perfectly fucking them raw with no lube.

Twilight loved the charge they used in the High Court.

'Held in Contempt of Equestria'.

It was an excellent charge that really stabbed deep into the megacorps that valued their profits over everyone else, which was practically all of them, and was yet another reason why the Crown was so popular in the modern day, and why so many megacorps worked against the Crown. It was part of the law that was often overlooked because most megacorps knew about it in intimate capacity and always looked to circumvent it by pulling as many tricks as possible to pay out as little as they could in all regards; so it was such a basic level of knowledge to many that to not know or care about it was quite rare. When a business like Earthen Crest dropped the ball and glossed over this part of the law while pulling a stunt like this, it brought the might of it into full swing. Very rarely could it be disputed as the Crown had full control during such time, and it was rarely questioned by the people because the Crown was equally as subject to it too if they were ever seen to have abandoned the people. It truly hit home the level of protections that the Princesses extended to the average person in Equestria, while showing how dedicated they were themselves by being just as beholden to the same laws.

It all essentially boiled down to: Abandoning the people in their time of need means you will have the book thrown at you twice as hard.

Within days, a majority of Earthen Crest had been summoned by royal decree and put through the wringer in the High Courts while the Crown had already orchestrated a huge multi-level rescue operation, sparing no expense to get it done properly. It had only taken weeks to do, but in the end they'd pulled out just forty-seven people from the mines, Titania among the survivors. From analysis of the injuries of both the survivors and the deceased, if the original rescue operation had actually gone forwards past the first few critical hours, it had been estimated that over two-hundred people could have possibly been saved. Dozens of those that had gotten out had said that they had Titania's strength to thank for their survival, as even with the cave-in having heavily injured her, she'd dug many of them out of being buried alive.

When it came to Earthen Crest, their lawyers had levied blame onto natural causes of the surrounding land being in terrible condition and the reasons why it had been beyond detection, or the workers poor ability causing collapses rather than shoddy structural equipment, dragging the case out in expert fashion and wasting time. Behind the scenes Earthen Crest tried to pay off the families of those that had died with paltry sums out of court so they wouldn't sue, threatened people within the company into silence when they came forward to talk about irregular bookkeeping, and had attempted to destroy evidence that proved their cheaply manufactured equipment was at fault for the mines collapsing. It had even been found that they had several judges paid off to give minimal sentencing should there be any convictions while they were holding the hammer, the jury being intimidated with covert tactics to scare them into passing a 'not guilty' verdict on any of their serious counts.

Beyond the blame shifting however, none of that had been official. The public broadcasts had shown a number of things that could have lent blame but there was no decisive evidence presented to the High Court, and the average person might see that it was clearly bullshit when the defence lawyers prattled on, but in the end public opinion had been split. The people at the top of Earthen Crest were found to be not guilty due to lack of evidence surrounding the mine collapse, and some people below them had been given minimal jail time and fines for poor management of the rescue, while the business as a whole only received a heavy fine and minor suspension of practice, as having waived their right to a jury meant it had been ruled by the judge overlooking the case that their orders to block entry onto the land was simply confusion during a high-stress situation, and their improper equipment safety procedures had likely not helped the clear natural erosion in the area that was the definite cause of the collapse. It all amounted to a small slap on the hoof followed by the words now don't do it again.

It was an absolute miscarriage of justice of course, and that hadn't sat well with the Sisters, so when Twilight and a few of her peers had done some careful digging and found the evidence of their wrongdoing, over the next year everyone involved in the case had received their just desserts, most of them having made it onto Luna's shitlist.

The judge that had passed the lenient sentences was involved in a scandal regarding quite a number of escorts, and while not illegal to seek such company his wife had certainly had a thing or two to say on the matter. He'd denied it but had still been let go of his high position as such a thing was lauded through the papers and it was well known that infidelity was heavily frowned upon. Many expected he might simply fade away in retirement, but he'd ended up falling down the stairs in his home one night. Shortly thereafter those that had accepted large bribes to destroy the evidence along with those directly involved with cutting costs and embezzlement had all been found to have jumped off of buildings with high levels of alcohol in their blood, or having overdosed on illegal designer drugs found among the higher-classes of criminal and noble alike. The committee that had put a fork in the rescue operation to save lives had found themselves inexplicably in possession of large quantities of the same illegal drugs, complete with damning paper trails, to which an anonymous tip had led the CPS right to them, and most of them were still in jail, although a few seemed to have succumbed to prison shankings when they had tried to shift funds about to bribe their way out of prison. Finally, the two CEOs that had orchestrated the destruction of evidence and threatening of people into silence had bizarrely killed one another over a rare piece of jewellery that had somehow been stolen from the Canterlot History Museum.

Very few people had raised a fuss, and of course all conspiracy theories were just that.

Titania had been praised in the papers for her part in saving lives, and had met Twilight while she'd been running security for the Princesses that had both attended a huge public ceremony for the victims of the mine collapse. Twilight had then extended Titania an invitation to meet with Celestia, who wanted to personally thank her and present her with an opportunity for her heroism and join in the quest for harmony. Twilight had outlined the basics of the offer during the trip to the Royal Palace, and Titania had been deeply interested. It had been a few years since then, the Dragoness was still learning a lot about being a Crown Agent despite having blitzed through the training, and it was in her favour that she was naturally formidable without even trying.

Quite hard not to be at about twelve hooves. In Draconic Standard she was just over seven-and-a-half feet, but Twilight preferred the Ponish measurements, generally more even to count. Her scales were a rich orange in shade like the core of a burning fire, and the softer scales that ran from her snout down her neck, over massive breasts and chiselled abs, down and under all the way to the tip of her thick tail, it was all a paler shade of peach. Her face was narrow, and her snout rather short for an adult, with dangerous eyes the colour of amethysts. Usually a Dragon would have neural spines atop their heads that would travel down their back, and females would grow their head spines out and try to shape them like a mane, but it was something of a new fad among Dragons in Equestria to simply have their head spines removed for a thick crop of hair which grew just the same as a mane, while trimming down their back spines for a far smoother form.

Titania apparently liked the look, and thus had a long messy cascade atop her head pulled back into a loose pony-tail, it was a deep-red the same as her spines had been when Twilight had met her. She was nearly all corded muscle and strength, her arms were something Gryphons would call a gun show, but she possessed femininity beyond the obvious section most eyes were drawn to; her hips were waspish and her thighs, muscular as they were, were almost as thick as Twilight's body. Trailing behind her was a large and long tail, something which Twilight had learned many years ago that for Dragons, denoted a high level of femininity.

She had a few augments to complement her impressive muscle-bound physique beyond just a CINI for a HUD, communication, and general identification. In many places she had dermal plating that commonly stopped whatever her formidable scales already couldn't, had augmented claws and teeth that were far more durable, sharper, and deadlier than her natural ones had been, and her bones had been given the same special treatment as Twilight's. Similarly, her spine was also overlapped with sleek protective plates grafted into the bone, but went right down to the tip of her tail. Beyond that she hadn't gone deeper into enhancement yet as she was quite attached to her natural body; everything else including all the fun parts were all still stock.

It wasn't like she needed any further enhancement. Titania was an incredibly dangerous foe, generally deployed more like equipment than a soldier. She mostly handled demolitions and heavy defence given her high constitution, and when she came into play not much else was left standing.

Currently she just wore a leather crop-jacket over a loose top, both of which barely contained her massive bust, along with a pair of jeans that hugged every curve and looked almost sprayed on, sporting open-toe boots common for species like Gryphons or Dragons. Finding clothing for her size, even amongst Dragons, was probably quite hard; doing that jacket up all the way to her neck was an impossibility, her immense cleavage bursting up through the gap where the zip couldn't close. Twilight didn't envy her, but was content to admire.

"Been a while since I've seen ya. How's tricks? Heard from the techies that you added to your total score." Titania laughed, the sound making the floor vibrate.

Twilight slugged her on the thigh in way of greeting as she trotted over and craned her neck slightly upward to look the Dragoness in the face. "You heard right, I was in CAM for a bit."

"Crazy bitch, love ya. Gonna kill yourself properly one of these days going on the way you do." She grinned, shaking her head. Augmented teeth that could tear through ten-inch thick metal smiled back at her.

"Yeah, but I'll leave a sexy corpse." Twilight joked back, standing in place as Titania leant back into the couch, the furniture protesting weight that it wasn't made for. Titania had once told Twilight that she'd been a runt of her hatchmates, it always brought up the thought of if her siblings rivalled Ember's father. Twilight didn't join her at the moment though, just talking as she barely heard Noctis silently pad over. "You're not in uniform, so what are you hanging around for, Tee? Come back from knocking a building over?"

Titania laughed and shook her head. "Nah, you caught me after my medical, I was overdue for it. Just relaxin' a while."

"Ah, fair enough." Twilight smiled. The medicals always sucked, being poked and prodded was only fun when it was happening in bed. "I can't stick about, I'll have to catch you around with any luck, Tee. I need to get this bat off my back."

Noctis eyed her for the comment as they went on, and Titania cheerfully waved them off, resuming reading her book. They passed through a sliding door to their left that was clearly marked as the sleeping quarters, but made a short left again in the next corridor instead of going straight ahead to the bunkroom, entering into a room that looked almost like a gym.

Like a cross between a fitting deck and a spa bed, over twenty charging stations of different sizes for different species sat around the edges of the room next to each other, with no current occupants. She supposed most of the Lunaris Agents were out working, just as fanatical as the Lunar Guard, if not more. The walls were uniform and untouched, and other than the stations, the layout of benches and storage lockers had changed, which meant the place had been redone since she'd last come.

"Simpler, isn't it? The stations run better as well, they've been upgraded to newer specs." Noctis spoke up, shrugging off his almost pristine duster and folding it up with his wings, placing it on the bench with one while unzipping his bodysuit with the other, his pale silver coat being revealed the further the zip went down.

Twilight grinned and undressed as well. While she didn't often feel the need to use a charging station, she enjoyed it when she was around others as she did. Noctis was a stand-up guy and likely didn't want to leave her here alone given her injuries, but that meant he had to join in the occasion, and she could see his rising blush as he took off the rest of his bodysuit and she took off hers. She just threw both her clothing items onto the bench and ogled him, he had an excellent figure and put other Thestrals to shame with his very nice arse. When had the culture shifted so abruptly that not wearing clothes was almost obscene? It was so many years ago now, though it certainly added to her enjoyment.

"I'd prefer if you didn't do that." Noctis said, a hint of embarrassment shining through the semi-monotone of his voice while his glowing amber eyes focused on the wall next to him.

Twilight couldn't keep the shit-eating grin off her face as she went over to one of the stations for ponies, slapping his arse with magic and making him jump, and he shot her a disparaged look. Poor batty boy, one of Luna's best Agents and still so inexperienced with the ladies. Well Twilight was no lady; that fell to Rarity's area of expertise. She still needed to introduce them, they'd probably get along like a house on fire.

"You know I'm sure I could build my own charging station." Twilight said, pressing a few buttons on the nearest one to her as her horn glowed and watching it open up like a segmented sarcophagus, the gel-padded interior being a lime-green, before the upgrades it had been grey. Twilight looked at Noctis as the station he was at also opened up, making an honest effort to not look at his admittedly very sizable package he was doing his best to hide with a hindleg as his unconscious excitement brought it to life. "If I did, I'd build it so two people like us could fit nice and close together at the same time, preferably one on top of the other."

Noctis blushed deeper, Twilight laughed as she was sure his face wasn't meant to be such a deep shade of pink, yet here they were. She was never usually so blatant with her sexual advances and demeanour unless she was talking to a whore. Sure, the occasional flirt or complement to someone like Noctis, but not to this degree. This was post-near-death primality coupled with her unique system, her brain and body were amped-up to do something fun and exciting that really relaxed her. Luna's onslaught had pushed her into that part of herself that could be reckless without thinking of the consequences, no matter the context of the situation.

Although, Noctis weathered her like this pretty well. He'd been there during their assault on a syndicate in Trottingham, she'd taken an anti-material round and had one of her prosthetic legs blown off from her shields being ripped through, still kept fighting without shields and taken several shards of shrapnel from grenades that punched through her dermal, and collapsed after they'd taken down the head. The rest of them had cleaned up the stragglers and she'd woken up during emergency evac back to the Palace, with an incredibly patient medic trying to stabilise her vitals after resuscitation while she attempted to seduce Noctis into eating her out for good luck, seeing as he'd come along to watch over her.

She always got pretty horny after a good fight too, the normal buildup of fighting an opponent would certainly lead to a shaky comedown as the adrenaline wore off, but her system circumvented that process to keep her in top fighting condition, with each pulse her body was only let down slightly to ride out the spike of chemicals, and partially kept it in reserve to flood her veins in a split second if another battle should start again. In a way, the result of the change meant she was rewarded for fighting. The onset to it was that with all the chemicals in play, natural or otherwise, she was also hit with a bit of oestrogen, and the longer a battle dragged out, the more bleedover there was of the hormone. It was something she could probably have sorted by a techie, but she rather liked the warm fuzzy feeling she got in her nethers after a decent fight, it went hoof-in-hoof with the primal part of her brain.

She turned around, smirking at him as his eyes had curiously panned over, making them go right back to staring at the wall, before stepping backwards into the machine. The internal sensors reacted and the station closed up, automatically adjusting to her build and pressing in around her, a supporting platform resting up under her belly, barrel, and chest so she could fully let the weight off her hooves. They were designed to be comfortable, though originally hadn't been made for use while nude, as the magitech bodysuits that Crown Agents wore were meant to be a conductive layer between the machine and the user, but the more technological side of the machine didn't pan out; the bodysuits being their own mix of technology and magic on different wavelengths meant they hadn't played nicely with the stations and caused a lot of malfunctions, and went to being overwhelmingly magical instead. The station gel-padding worked far better being able to press against uncovered flesh anyway, better able to reach the gem-cores of augments.

"What are you at, anyway?" Twilight asked the Thestral, now in his own station.

"Sixty-eight. A few hours will be good for me." He replied, thankful for the return to normal conversation. He closed his eyes and began to hum a tune after a short while, sounding a tad strange and tone-deaf with his voice, but Twilight didn't mind it. It was something Noctis did to relax when he was tense, usually on long missions away from the Royal Palace. It had been a year or so since their last assignment together, things around Canterlot City were calmer for now, although she felt that was going to change. "I may fall asleep though, my apologies if you wanted to talk."

"Nah, I'm fine, you rest up." Twilight yawned, the gel-padding was warm and really pressed deep into the coat, the sensation of charging was almost like a really basic massage when the body was heavily augmented. "I might catch a few zee's myself."

Before she knew it, she had slowly dozed off. Not fully asleep; she was aware of the room, and of a techie coming in and checking a few things on one of the stations, but her thoughts drifted back to the task at hoof. She needed to see Vee and find out anything about the Gryphons that had assaulted her, and for that matter the CPS would soon have young Gryphoness in lockup she needed to talk with if she'd been discharged from hospital, then she could go meet with a few of her contacts in downtown Canterlot's lower wards. She should also meet with the Quartermaster while she was here, as she'd joked with Noctis about as an excuse to visit, but it was a good idea to talk with them anyway regarding her mission. There might even be something new to fawn over.

She even decided to make a short checklist.

Author's Note

This was originally a much larger chapter.
So much exposition, can't bloody help myself. Bunch of fixes and added lore as well.

4: PROTOCOL_ENGAGE

The hours passed by like a flash, easy to lose time in a station, especially with Ghost going through the body. She slowly blinked a few times and saw Noctis carefully getting out of his station, smiling like an idiot as her eyes focused on the nicely-sized round orbs between his legs. He didn't notice her staring until he turned around to close the station and set it to auto-clean.

"Ah, you're awake. I was going to get something to drink, would you like anything?" He blushed as he spoke, grabbing his bodysuit and duster from the bench they rested on with a wing, and doing his best to put the bodysuit on while hiding himself from view.

"I can get it myself, but I should probably hurry up though, things to do." Twilight shook her head, pressing her forelegs down onto internal pressure pads so the station began to open. She got out, set it to clean, and wasted little time in getting dressed, but it didn't stop her from brushing her haunches against Noctis beforehand.

"Spend less time trying to annoy." Noctis commented as he put on his duster. She cracked a grin and bumped him with her shoulder as she walked to the door, he followed behind as she left and glanced at her. "What's your percentage?"

"Just shy of seventy." She said, leaving the sleeping quarters and turning left to go to the back of the entry room, passing by the now empty common area and stopping at the room's kitchenette built into the back wall with a couple of delivery systems, it even had a mini-bar for late-night get togethers. "What are you having?"

"Coffee." Noctis replied, as Twilight got her own cup of green tea. She snorted as he had several spoonfuls of sugar added to his drink along with a great deal of milk, it was almost more milk than coffee.

He frowned at her. "Coffee doesn't taste all that nice by itself, I just want the caffeine."

"Then drink tea, or chug an energy drink." Twilight tutted, moving to go through a door to the right of the kitchenette. "You don't have coffee there, you have coffee-flavoured milk."

"Adding milk makes coffee bearable." He countered, then frowned. "Energy drinks are an awful concoction of undesirable chemicals, only a fool would willingly drink them."

"Guess I'm a fool, then." Twilight smiled with a shrug, taking her beverage alongside her.

The door they passed was marked as the Armoury, it held everything a Crown Agent could want in terms of Crown tech. There was a larger section in a back area throughway where techies worked on a great deal of R&D projects as well, expanding on current technologies or developing new augments and equipment from scratch. Whenever a megacorp brought out something new, it wasn't long before it found its way here or into the Solaris Armoury too and tinkered with until it was understood and reverse engineered. The Royal Guard had something similar in their own sections, but only ever cared for what was sanctioned for military use. Everything here in the main space was kept secure behind code locked magical barriers and storage units, and everything further back was far more fun; from heavy-duty power armour for strike assaults to massive anti-material rifles made for taking down extremely armoured and shielded opponents, a few items amongst many other things utilised when Agents weren't doing their usual 'illegal' stealth and subterfuge tactics.

There was even an experimental build for a mech somewhere in the back.

It all got used when it was needed, a few items were missing and probably undergoing repairs in the main workshop, or being repurposed. Twilight eyed a few implant cases in their storage units as she trotted past them sipping her perfectly hot drink, she'd had a few of those before she swapped them out, they'd had their uses. They had their own fitting decks here too, far more professional than the ones Velvet had in his shop, but really that was just because of the medical A.I and flexibility of which they could swap out older parts with new upgrades, or get new decks in to stay state of the art. Techies smelling of component grease and oil were going around putting items away or taking inventory, the occasional mod was taken to be worked on for upgrading or recycled down for newer pieces. The Armoury was always a constant hive of activity in some manner or another.

She smiled as she approached the back wall where a sizable security room lay off to one side, which interconnected with all the Armoury's other rooms, it was the least haphazard out of all of the sections and rather neatly organised with stacks of secure ammunition crates in alphabetical order in one corner, weapons in locked cabinets from smallest to largest, and numerous tools and implements for fixing or tinkering set along the wall in an order that didn't make sense to her, only their owner.

"Rize, are you about?" She spoke, poking her snout through the window hatch of the security room's station, sharply jerking back with a crack of a grin when a hammer slammed down in the space her face had occupied a second before and the pony she was looking for rose from underneath the counter. "There you are."

The venomous glare from intense golden eyes she was receiving from the small alabaster Unicorn filly with the flowing iridescent-orange mane was more than enough to scare off most of the techies from ever coming near the security room or dare to mess with its incredibly precise sorting system, and woe be to any that tried. Twilight didn't even get away with doing so, and she wasn't going to upset the very temperamental filly that handled the lists and levels of inventory of the Lunaris Armoury lest she find herself put very low down on priority listing for testing newly minted items. This was Rize's domain, leave all hopes of negotiation at the door and accept what fate deals. That was for most people, anyway. Twilight had a small saving grace up her sleeve when Rize didn't want to play nicely.

"Anything new in since I last popped by?" Twilight gave the filly a warm smile.

"You haven't visited in over four months." Rize said in a tone, carefully levitating the hammer back into its marked place on the wall amongst the other tools. "Obviously there's new things, many new things."

"And can I see the new things I'd be interested in?" Twilight asked in an equal tone.

"I guess so. I have some time to spare." She gave the smallest of nods, her fierce glare softening to a degree as she trotted over and passed through an open door into one of the connecting rooms.

Twilight had caught her in a good mood, no need for any bribes. Waiting patiently, sipping at her drink, and bringing up the extranet in her vision, she casually flicked through a few news articles to see if there was anything of significance that had made it into the public eye, and quickly checked on the police reports from the other day. She noted some general craziness around the east side of the extended plateau, but nothing too irregular for the area. The north and south were the most calm as per usual, the east having some trouble in the West Cliff ward and being shut down already by an Agent that was assisting police. When she checked the Agent database she saw that it was Hex, she knew the mare mostly in passing, and shared a couple drinks with her sometimes when Agents gathered here in the garrison. Out the corner of her vision she saw Noctis had taken to waiting in the corner of the room's ceiling, his own drink the right way up in one membranous wing while he was upside down, his long fleshy tongue snaking into the cup on occasion.

Bats.

It was only a minute or two before Rize came back with a large sleek black case floating alongside her. "This is a prototype the R&D lot are playing with, might be of great interest to you once it's done."

She laid the case onto the counter, unlocked it with a code, and opened up the security window with a button, the hatch widening enough that the case could just slip through. Most augments and items made by the Crown were capable of being taken apart into small enough pieces to fit one of these containers. Twilight gently flicked the clasps and lifted the lid, nodding. Rize knew what she liked.

It was a missile rack augment going by the small empty metal holders tightly clustered together within the four compartments, snugly fixed within the chassis that would fit inside an augmented limb for any creature, with a slightly different collapsable arrangement for swapping between internals. This one differed to other racks she'd seen before, and counted sixteen holds per compartment, so the missiles would be quite small; not that that was a measure of yield. That did mean the architecture was different though, the beginnings of the layered firing system were there, and the makeup of the internals was partially done. The diamond-filament weave going through it and the slots for gems that were probably going to be rubies was a nice touch.

"This is going to eat through power, but it looks promising." Twilight smiled, running a hoof over the metallic housing and glancing up. "Rubies in the sockets?"

"Diamonds, with rubies as secondary backup. This is an all-in project." Rize said, then levitated the case away from Twilight's glowing eyes while closing it up. "They're still perfecting the missile yields and power consumption, though they should pack just as good a punch as the older Contingence setup, if not more. The idea is to cover a wider area and saturate it with more salvos. Pure fucking shock and awe at half the cost."

"Well hopefully it doesn't brick you when you use it, the Contingence system was decent but I never had enough juice to keep fighting for long after firing off more than two bursts." Twilight commented with a scoff, she'd long had that augment swapped out. Missiles were only useful in certain situations, so something that ate that much power needed to be very decisive. "How long has it been in development?"

"It started about three months ago, and the power issues in testing is why this is now the... fourth prototype? They're talking of working from an existing basis, but that's not flying well with Angle, he doesn't want to scrap what's been designed so far." Rize said, sitting back on her haunches. "He's a hardarse about it, techies keep bitching to me about their problems."

"Angle wants Crown Tech to be the Crown's own. I can respect it." Twilight shrugged, taking a deeper sip and looking back to Noctis, who was simply watching with a plain look from where he was perched. "Anything else on the menu?"

Rize gave a small nod, her golden eyes fixing on Twilight. "Course. Mostly upgrades to what was around, but honestly? I think between how you go out of your way to pay everyone with a name a visit, and how heavily the Princesses invest into Agents that there isn't much you'd want. I keep notes from our tuning sessions, I don't think any of the new stuff is any better than what's inside you already."

"You think?" Twilight raised an eyebrow.

Rize was young, but she had an excellent mind for tech, so Twilight was well inclined to listen. Velvet was the same, a few years ahead of Rize of course, yet the younger generation as they grew up were moulded on this stuff far more than she or most other Agents were. Most Agents understood the tech in them well enough to use it and maintain it in a pinch, but most left the science to the techies. Twilight knew her augmented body, and strived to understand how it functioned with each upgrade so she could get the best use out of it, and knew more than most on how her augments functioned to the point where she could hot-swap or jury-rig things quickly if she was absolutely fucked. Not counting when she was delirious from powerful Alicorns mind-raping her. She'd already somewhat fine-tuned herself to even greater perfection with Rize's help whenever she got new stuff; the filly was quite knowledgeable on the subject, so Twilight trusted her word. It annoyed Velvet a lot whenever he examined her augments. She'd get Rize to have a glance over the new bits in her too, once she'd eventually gone over them herself. Velvet did things carefully, she liked to push it, and Rize liked to assist.

"You're still running Strider Sixes, right?" Rize asked, glancing over the station at Twilight's legs, giving a shrug. "Crown's got the Gallopers and they're just on the same level, the V4's that came out last month aren't a massive step up from the Sixes, it's a marginal difference. Good for those with anything less and they outclass the Fives in spades, consume less power and fit easier, but the difference for you definitely isn't enough to warrant a swap, unless you really like the Crown's architecture or want a really minimal increase."

"Yeah, I get you. I'm just too amazing." Twilight inclined her head at the quick rundown. Striders were Aeon's flagship leg augment for military applications. Gallopers were the Crown's.

Rize rolled her eyes. "That's not what I said."

"Well, thanks then anyway, Rize." Twilight said, yet didn't leave, she had a point on her checklist to tick off. "You've got Ironclad in stock, right?"

"Got a few things, yeah. Why?" Rize wondered.

"Just need to follow up on a lead. What Thuddguns do you have?"

"Want me to bring them all?"

"Please."

Rize took a step back and flipped around towards the wall of lockers and cabinets, going to a marked section in vibrant green with 'Lime Jelly' written across the top panel. Twilight preferred a sorting system of a classic manner, though basing one on foods and sweets was interesting enough, and if it worked, it worked. Rize unlocked several of the lower smaller cabinets and retrieved a couple of hefty dark metal guns with far heavier frames than most pistols, commonly referred to as Thuddguns for the massive punch they packed and the sheer sound they made when fired. Thuddguns were a popular sidearm made by Ironclad Solutions, a Minotaur-based business that generally only made hard-hitting weaponry, heavy pistols, shotguns, melee weapons, some grenade launchers and the like. All of these Thuddguns looked familiar but they weren't what she was looking for.

She examined them anyway with another sip of her drink as Rize laid them across the counter and stood back, flicking the iridescent-orange mane out of her vision.

"Any of these fire a five-two-five slug?" Twilight asked, picking up the nearest pistol in her purple corona, tracing the contour of the large barrel down the frame and examining the internal bore. It wasn't the right calibre. It was close, however it was a slightly more streamlined and lighter version of the hefty pistol the young Gryphoness had used, though it would still take large chunks out of concrete, stone, or people with ease.

"Nah, Ironclad moved on from the five-two-five a while back, these are all standard in six-two, they slimmed down the guns and extended the barrels a bit, the slugs got better velocity and range at the expense of a little uneven weight distribution and lessened impact." Rize explained, glancing at the pistol in Twilight's grasp. "You'd be looking for an Echo series, not hard to find about as they're still quite preferred. I know that Storm & Sons in Eclipse sell a few, I get a couple bits from them every now and then to play with."

"Can they fire destabilisation rounds?" Twilight wondered, looking up at Rize, taking note of the location and mentally filing it away. A cursory check showed it was indeed a gunsmith, on the eastside of the Eclipse ward near Hibiscus.

"Pft, fuck no. The matrix that propels the slugs would screw with the rounds' internal makeup, the gun would jam or explode as the magi-" Rize stopped as Twilight frowned in thought. "...You find one that could?"

"I got shot with one." Twilight grinned briefly. "Maybe it was just a lucky one-off."

Rize shook her head, making her wavy mane bounce. "No, Crown's been playing with destabilisation ammo on and off, the weapon matrix has to be specifically built for the ammo, and unless you put it in a large enough weapon with the rightly attuned matrix, it goes kaput, every time without fail."

"The matrix has to be large enough to contain the raw magic, right, that's what I thought." Twilight nodded her understanding; the anti-material sniper rifle that had blown her leg off in the past during the syndicate raid had been the same sort of weapon, and she'd used the ammo in some heavy-frame sniper rifles on a few assassinations in the past to break through heavily shielded targets. "So no matter the pistol, it shouldn't work."

"It could work." Rize cut in, but waved a hoof in dismissal. "But by toning it down to work in pistols, even larger models, the amount of power it would disrupt would be nothing decent to any modern shielding system. But... I'm guessing it was?"

"Broke the shield, drained a pulse-charge, and still pierced flesh through my duster and my bodysuit." Twilight nodded. Rize knew the score of how tough those were, she helped improve on their design.

"Fuck!" Was Rize's reply.

"Yep."

"Why does the most interesting shit always happen to you?" Rize muttered, collecting, turning away, and putting all the pistols back in their specific places. "Why can't Hex or Dizzy have the crazy shit happen to them? They're always coming in and chatting."

"Hex'll probably have something for you when she comes back, she's in West Cliff, and Dizzy always gets into plenty of trouble so I don't know why you're complaining." Twilight shrugged.

"Never the sort of shit that you manage to get yourself into though." Rize stated with a small huff. "Hope they have something cool to share."

"Hopefully." Twilight smiled. "Thanks as usual, Rize. I'll see you."

"Yep. Bring me that pistol and I'll owe you, I want to pull that spell matrix apart." She said as she went back to whatever she'd been working on under the counter before Twilight arrived, abruptly ending their conversation without so much as a goodbye.

Twilight would keep that in mind. She checked off the box and added a new one to visit the Gunsmith in Eclipse after she was done seeing the Gryphons in lockup, she was already behind schedule on that.

"Are you still going to shadow me, Noctis?" She said to the Thestral as he was already hopping down from the ceiling and straightening his back. "Not that I don't mind the company."

"I will see you to your destination." He intoned, a slight tug poised at the corners of his mouth as he fell in with her again when she moved to the door.

"It seems Resplendent was in a fine mood." Noctis commented as they passed through the lobby, after Twilight had finished being accosted once more by Titania for a goodbye in a bone-crushing hug that probably wouldn't help her spinal injury.

"She doesn't let you call her that to her face, right?" Twilight smiled, glancing back as she stretched out. "Didn't know you knew her all that much."

"Her brother talks of her often when I visit Solaris." He replied. "He is far more amicable, but no less methodical with his duties. They both take their work seriously."

"Yeah, they're good kids. Princesses picked them for a reason." Twilight agreed.

After a moment, Noctis flicked his gaze to her again. "I notice you haven't had Resplendent switch you from covert to standard. What passes for your standard, that is."

"Yeah, what I have will keep, I figure I'm going to need something silent pretty soon." Twilight gave a nod. "Once I see to my errands I'm going to have to do a bit of sleuthing."

"Very well."

While she'd have preferred to switch her loadout of augments from covert weaponry to something more universal for common encounters, what she had was perfectly workable, and she'd already had enough of sorting out her inner workings for one or two days. If things really necessitated it then she'd order an emergency recall while out in the city and get back here pronto.

With Noctis in tow she decided against going through the Mausoleum again, it was probably best to avoid the Lunar Guard she'd taunted, and she was running out of coin on her person to put in the font. A walk through the centre of the castle to get to the Solar Wing would be fine, she might possibly see a few familiar faces, but in truth she was a little people'd out. The stop to see Rize had been a bit of a snap decision instead of going straight to Vee, but it had likely been a good move. All information had its use, no matter how small.

Their trek from one side of the castle to the other was thankfully uneventful, other than a few customary looks in their direction from newer staff in the castle. The offices where people worked were already buzzing in the early hours as more employees came in, quickly setting up and getting stuck into the previous day's work, several androids moving around with them to assist with the workloads. This batch of rooms and open floors dealt with everyday issues people across Equestria faced in day-to-day life, being part of the Crown's own insurance company known as Phoenix. There were several branches around the country, though this was a main hub. The way Twilight saw it, most insurance companies were simply there to take people's money and rarely cash out, but not the Crown.

Due to the rise in crime over the years, most companies offered insurance at higher rates than normal for certain incomes, even districts in a lower ward or out on the furthest reaches of the extended plateau had ridiculously priced monthly payments and mediocre payouts on certain damages. The Crown did what it could, its numerous money-making ventures in nearly every sector along with the most basic level of tax from its Chronicle system kept the treasury moderately full to the point where its own insurance company paid out fair amounts to victims of the widespread crime that plagued the city, and obviously was the most popular among the lower classes so they wouldn't fall into debt and crime. As of late they'd been paying out a lot more, but the treasury still generally kept level even with the heavier hit. She'd seen a few weeks back in an article when a Minotaur gang around the West Cliff district had gotten into trouble with the CPS, and Agents had to be ordered in as backup because it had been far too much for them to handle alone. It was so easy for criminal violence to destroy everything around itself, several highrise flats and local shops had seen more than a little damage from crossfire and stray bullets.

Minotaurs primarily favoured 'protection' rackets amongst their other ventures, and in West Cliff they were finally getting cornered in on by police and Agents alike, it was likely why Hex was there now in fact, helping to stamp it out once and for all. Minotaur weapons mainly consisted of heavy melee weapons and augments that utilised their sheer strength, or heavy shotguns that covered wide areas, and shops that they enjoyed tormenting were always partially demolished by vehicles being thrown into them or chewed up by pellets and slugs. It cost the Crown, it cost the businesses, and it cost the taxpayer. All said and done with a single gang of Minotaurs, a lot of people needed compensating.

Shit like that piled up very fast. It was no wonder phones were going crazy when Twilight and Noctis moved through, the sheer amount of calls these folk and the other branches must deal with on an hourly basis must have been overwhelming. But Twilight knew things would improve, there were a limited number of criminals, and every day they took down a couple dozen more, while Agents and the police only got stronger. Her own little mystery on her hooves was out of the ordinary, yet once she got to the bottom of it she'd be back to helping everyone else.

They came upon an entrance hall into the westside of the castle that at once was clear they were moving into Celestia's territory. Regal orange and yellow silk banners hung from the walls, inlaid with golden trim and inscribed with poems down their lengths. The marble of this wing, and a majority of this side of the castle, was pure white and dazzling, the gold veins running throughout the material practically blazing in glory. The Solar Guard that stood by the sun-blessed golden doors stood to attention as they approached. Even if they as Agents weren't well liked, the Solar Guard respected the chain of command, at least in person. Twilight and Noctis nodded to them both as they were admitted.

The long passages with a few connecting hallways were both simple and decorative, dozens more banners adorned the walls alongside ancient tapestries inlaid with sun-blessed gold and trimmed with white-gold, alongside pale glowing rivulets of Celestia's Grace. Like Luna's Mercy, it was a unique metal-alloy, but made of sun-blessed gold, moon-blessed silver, palladium, and platinum. It was probably the most expensive and rarest of metal alloys to exist on Equus next to Luna's Mercy, and harder to create with the inclusion of sun-blessed gold in the mix. Twilight knew from her old studies that alongside knowing the rituals to create gold and silver blessed by their celestial bodies, the Princesses could also create the extremely rare alloys themselves. It was knowledge that was practically unheard of in modern Equestria, and it was something only given to certain elite mages in the Royal Court by special allowance.

Through a few rooms partially staffed and passing into the next, it was the connecting hall to the Solar Wing, with one side facing the outer grounds and sunlight streaming in from the massive stained glass windows on its right side. The historic records of events in the glass were dedicated to moments in Celestia's reign, both before and after Luna's return. Twilight and her friends' escapade of Nightmare Moon's reform was still in the Great Hall, where both Sisters held joint court on the few occasions they opened to the public for making statements or such else, having moved there when this new Royal Palace was built atop the mountain. The old palace was still where it used to be, but these days it was a history museum dedicated to the preservation of old artefacts and Canterlot's long and timely past, Canterlot History Museum, to be precise.

A few more precious tapestries hung on the opposite wall, their inlay of Celestia's Grace blazing like small beacons in the sunshine that reflected off them, making it appear as though molten lava flowed across their lengths. Celestia, for all her motherly love and wonderful compassion, was a mare of ostentation; she loved to put on a show, and show great flourish where she could. She never begrudged anything lower, but if it was in her ability for her own affairs to be regal and beautiful without taking away from others, she'd make sure it was damn well a wonder to behold. A few carefully maintained pieces of furniture made of meadow-blossom were placed around, more numerous than anything Luna would have, their plush red-silk cushions lovingly well kept. At the majestic halls far end, Celestia's Honour Guard stood by the pale opaque crystal doors, their ornate golden-tinted armour and Spearshots gleaming, and mounted above was the Sunspear. Its gold body and blade and red leather-wrapped handle complimented by the large and polished uncut ruby that made up its pommel. The ancient-Equish cut into it glowed the same as on its sister-weapon, still alive with a measure of power, as was the ruby.

"Agents. Morning's greetings." The left Honour Guard dipped his head in a polite nod. "Her Royal Highness is still within her quarters, do you have business with her?"

"I do. He's tagging along." Twilight returned the nod, bumping Noctis with her shoulder as she mentioned him. "You boys having a nice day?"

"As well as can be expected." The right said, his toned pale-blonde form was pretty nice under that ornate armour, his voice and baby-blue eyes were cute. She'd like to tear that plating off him and ride... she was too horny. "Be free on your way."

A tap of their Spearshots on the polished stone floor and the large enchanted crystal doors moved inward. The slabs closed behind them after they stepped past into a very beautiful chamber dotted with fresh flowers and greenery. A tending Unicorn in a simple flowing dress looked their way with a level of caution but relented soon after, knowing they weren't here to cause trouble. Celestia's abode was the antithesis of Luna's dark and gothic chambers. Not to say Luna's wing wasn't welcoming in a particularly sombre or brooding kind of way, though it required a certain mood and taste. Celestia's own wing was inviting in a more pedestrian manner, the kind of regality lay here that one would ascribe to something out of an epic poem of divine beauty rather than one of terrific gloom.

The pale walls were covered with warm coloured silks just as most of her castle-side was, but the room was almost like a single constant art piece, with a narrow flowing stream of water that was carefully structured in wooden channel to perfectly run around its edges and through every room within the wing, the smoothed wood faintly streaked with gold, the water within carrying perfumed petals that gave the wing a gentle serene feeling. The channel twisted through multiple crystal installations and small magically manipulated trees to support its odd design, and it was absolutely gorgeous and eye-catching, specifically commissioned by an artisan. The red carpet underhoof was so soft it felt like Twilight was walking on clouds again, and the earthy oiled smell of the old furniture was homey and welcoming alongside their plush upholstery. Visiting Celestia was obviously as it was to see royalty, but also like seeing an old family friend.

They found her not in her study, but in her personal garden.

The sprawling garden extended over an entire enclosed wing of the castle, attached to the Solar Wing, known as the Verdant Estate. It was more akin to a living forest or blooming meadow than a garden, its numerous plants and fauna left to grow free and wild where Celestia didn't personally cultivate it. Twilight ventured inside the extensive and smoothly connected wing, moving through towards an obvious glow, and gently stepped over a thin running brook as she trotted over to where the Princess of the Sun was overlooking many clustered bushes of scarlet roses. The newest of them just was sprouting next to the open earth where she was currently planting new seeds, with their green buds reaching towards the sunlight that was being welcomed in by a massive segmented skylight, which almost encompassed the entire ceiling. On certain days where rain was scheduled to pass the mountain, Celestia opened it up so the entire Estate could get a thorough watering. Judging by how wet everything looked ─including herself─ she'd already done that, and yet she didn't have a speck of mud on her pristine body.

While Luna stood imposingly at eight hooves, almost double that of the average pony, Celestia stood higher at just under ten hooves, being as tall as the average Minotaur. Her alabaster coat shone like calescent flame in Her Sun's golden rays, visible under her pale ochre dress that thanks to the rain, was semi-transparent and hugged her curvaceous form, her ethereal mane and tail gently flowing in a non-existent breeze as they always had, and shining just as fiercely as her coat.

She possessed an almost obscenely voluptuous degree to her body alongside her regal poise; shapely flanks that widened into powerful supple legs, massive thighs and haunches, and a truly enormous croup and posterior that rivalled anything else she could think to compare her rear end with, to the point she'd gladly welcome it as a unit of measurement. The flaming sun of her cutie-mark was visible on both sides of her haunches even from this back angle with how large they were, everything about her already blatant appearance was made all the more obvious with the damp clothing. It erotically clung to her rather protuberant intimate areas, of which perfectly overlooked some extremely bountiful teats that hung down entincingly with their heavy mass. Yet somehow, she still succeeded in looking perfectly graceful and noble despite the incredibly explicit degree of proportion and semi-nudity. Twilight wasn't ashamed to admit Celestia was drop-dead legendary and that she unequivocally coveted her mentor's body.

Luna's beauty was rather subtle in an almost aloof otherworldly manner, but Celestia's was as clear, searing, and brazen as the Sun itself, to the point that she could see Noctis was readily averting his gaze and keeping his eyes solely focused on Celestia's face. After all, while her dress was very snug right now in all the best places, she'd apparently decided against wearing any underwear today. Twilight was quite content to leer though as she couldn't pop an awkward boner, unlike him.

She could always get an augment...

Celestia smiled as she glanced their way, her warming gaze focusing onto Twilight with unbridled love in her twinkling azure eyes. "My ever faithful student, welcome, Twilight." She said, turning to face Twilight fully, the warm smile on her muzzle widening as she inclined her head to Noctis. "Agent Lucet Noctis, a pleasure to have you."

"Please, your Majesty. Noctis will do fine." He bowed politely, lightly blushing at her words.

"Still calling me a student?" Twilight smirked at her mentor, giving her a casual bow. Noctis already knew she never had to use Celestia's title, he'd probably have a go at her for it again at some point later though, all the usual spiel about pecking orders and divine right dictating respect at all times...

"It's a hard habit to drop, Twilight." Celestia laughed gently, the sound like a melody on the ears, as her large horn glowed, golden magic passing over the rose bush barely blooming and helping it flourish into the sun. "I will reiterate that you are still my student, just simply one under a new axiom."

Twilight shrugged, cantering over, leaning up, and tightly embracing Celestia in a pleasant hug, the Princess craning herself down and sincerely returning it in earnest. She backed off after a few blissful moments, simply happy to be in Celestia's graceful presence. She rested back on her haunches in the soft grass and smiled around at the beauty of the Estate, taking it all in. It was literally a breath of fresh air in comparison to most of Canterlot proper. She could so easily forget she was in the city when she was here, it was almost like going back in time to Ponyville, hanging out in the countryside at Fluttershy's old cottage while she, Spike, and the girls all shared a picnic.

"Nice to be back here." Twilight sighed with a happy, if slightly bittersweet smile.

"How was your mission to the Zebralands?" Celestia enquired, staying standing as she kept her gentle gaze. "I trust it went well?"

"Well enough. The diplomat that you thought was a snake? He was a snake. The annoying part was the few months it took to find the evidence of it, he covered his tracks rather well." Twilight gave a half-shrug. "I sorted him out pretty easily and made it look like a disagreement between collaborating parties. I got back a few days ago but Luna had me on some other work before I could see you. The full details of the mission are with Vee."

"Well done, we shall have a get together and discuss it properly later." Celestia nodded, as if they weren't talking of clandestine dealings and were simply sitting down for tea.

When they had proper meetings after a mission, Celestia preferred to talk with Twilight in person to go over the specifics, going through Twilight's after-mission reports thoroughly with her there, but she'd been straight back into the action when returning to Canterlot. Luna would really only generally care for the basics on a routine mission so long as the work was done efficiently, unless situations like the Gryphons popped up.

Celestia continued. "How did your recent mission from Luna fare, then?"

"...Well enough." Twilight grinned, meeting Celestia's eye. Roll for Charisma check.

"Luna informed me she punished you accordingly for insubordination." Celestia said flatly, an eyebrow raised. "And I visited you while you slept in the hospital."

Charisma check failed.

"Like I said, well enough. The mission was a piece of cake; no one saw me, and it looked like a suicide. Luna was just pissed that I was late, that's all." Twilight gently shrugged.

"Please don't try to upset Luna, Twilight." Celestia gave her a sad smile that immediately made Twilight's heart drop, she always hated displeasing Celestia. "Your profile is mostly spotless, and I trust you implicitly to keep it clear of infractions despite past incidents. You can't do your part to help Equestria if your reckless attitude puts you out of action. What if Luna had decided that your tardiness was out of malice? Or perhaps the result of mental stress?"

Twilight glanced away from that disappointed smile, sighing. "You know me; I play it off, but I know full well I can't go doing this sort of thing without expecting any consequences. Luna simply gave me a good reminder of my place in the pecking order and the severity of those consequences. This was a proper kick in the ass, and I'm not going to ignore it, I promise." Twilight said soberly, taking her mentor's concern quite seriously as she willed herself to meet Celestia's gaze.

"That's good, then." Celestia's smile uplifted at the words, and Twilight felt her chest untighten.

Twilight knew that Celestia knew she was her own worst enemy, and Twilight was staunch in that there was always room for reflection and improvement. The reckless part of herself was often kept in check by her diligent side, but that could be thrown to the wind, as her attention to detail and knowing as much as she could before a situation might hinder her ability to actually progress as quickly as need be, overthinking everything and wasting time, so quite commonly she might make judgement calls on the fly with what information she had to hoof, and sometimes that could have unforeseen consequences.

In relation to obeying orders to the letter and keeping to a schedule, her recklessness came from a simple fact of life; it was too short to get hung up on that sort of thing anymore. She knew that she had to follow her orders, and she did so with a level of precision, she always completed her missions and assignments as perfectly as possible given the right parameters, and even when things didn't go as planned she still made do, a good part of why she was such an excellent Agent was her ability to rapidly adapt to equally rapidly changing circumstances. However, her attitude towards certain details was sometimes what caused the reason for the need to adapt, as her interpretation of an order might be to simply take it as a basic guideline instead.

And as to her current level of timekeeping when not strictly on mission... Well, that was less obfuscous; she had actually mostly stopped caring at all. In her mind, she'd wasted a good portion of her youth, her prime teenage years, on nothing but wasting time, making schedules for utterly asinine reasons like going to the grocery store or the order of which she would clean up the old library, when she should have just done it as she went. But it was something she knew, deep down, she desperately needed to improve on again, at least where the Princesses or her friends were concerned. Celestia and some of the girls didn't mind much if Twilight showed up on her own time even if it inconvenienced them, though that was because they dearly loved Twilight, and Twilight knew she could use that on some subconscious level. It was something she hated about herself, that her training had essentially brute forced into her that using a small detail like that to her own advantage was the right thing to do.

It was; for her work. Not against the Princesses or her true friends, not ever.

It was yet another failing of hers she did her damndest to berate herself over. She failed herself by failing them, and some of her dearest friends were semi-distant these days due to Twilight solely never being there when it mattered to them. Special occasions were often glossed over in favour of her work as an Agent, oftentimes unavoidable, and her friends never knew if she'd actually show up when she said she would. The only ones to not take it too personally were Pinkie, Fluttershy, and Applejack; the first being too erratic in her own timing to really hold it against her, the second being far too kind and understanding to hold any kind of grudge and stay mad about it, and the third knowing the simple realities of life and work tended to best a pony over what they wanted to do versus what they needed to do. She hadn't spoken to Rainbow Dash or Spike for a while now, and Rarity generally kept their conversations quite brief when they crossed paths.

They were all still her friends, they all still loved her, and she would always love them. She truly regretted every missed birthday or get-together, every time they needed her as a shoulder to cry on, to be there to support them, or simply when they just wanted to have a nice chat. She had to do her best to not let it make her bitter, and she had to keep doing her best to be punctual again, or at least show up as early as possible. She had to make the effort to do better for everypony she cared about, and by extension Equestria as a whole.

In the short term of things it meant not angering Luna, as it did upset Celestia, but it also meant that indeed by Celestia's own words; it would steer her clear of infractions.

Too many problems in a short space of time, and either Princess would pull her from active duty for insubordination. It wouldn't be any massive length of time because she wasn't doing something like abusing drugs, or using her position as a Crown Agent to stronghoof the populace for her own gain. Though she'd still be sidelined, confined or placed under watch, and be put in for evaluation, psych or otherwise, and endless drilling. It would also mean she wouldn't be doing her part to help Equestria.

"I'll do better." Twilight said quietly with a hollow smile. "You have my word."

Celestia, ever a paragon of compassion, smiled earnestly in return, stepping forwards with one oversized wing outstretched and pulling her up into a heartfelt squeeze that Twilight all but felt herself melt into, burying her face into Celestia's breast as Celestia leant down and softly nuzzled her with a gentle kiss upon her forehead. She never let her guard down, ever. She never could in the field, out and about in daily life, or even her own little apartment, ever, but here she lowered her barriers completely, slowly letting the tension bleed from her tightly-wound body... she could actually do it here. She was selflessly forgiven by one of the few ponies that truly mattered to her in her miserable life, knowing that she was completely safe in her mentor's eternal embrace. What little natural muscle she had left sagged heavily alongside the artificial against the Alicorn's mighty body. Celestia knew what she was, what she had done, what she was capable of doing, and what she could do; and still deeply loved her for all her faults.

After a precious minute or two she let Celestia go, straightening up immediately. The formidable walls went back into place, secure and unshakable. She most certainly wasn't doing her best to combat the natural reaction that occurred when emotions ran high, and the animalistic action of a hug caused those emotions to run over the edge into tears as stress was released. Not at all. She couldn't cry anyway, she was fairly certain her tear ducts were rendered useless from her eye augments. Didn't mean she didn't feel like she couldn't cry though, or that there wasn't a lump in her throat trying to dance its way up into her mouth.

"Twilight, didn't you want to speak with the A.I." Noctis said from behind her.

Thanks for the segue, Agent.

"Yeah." Twilight smiled, swallowing as she turned her head towards him and caught his knowing gaze, keeping things in check. "Was gonna pay Vee a visit."

"Ah yes, Luna informed me." Celestia nodded, turning back to the rose bushes and helping the new seeds take root, glancing over her shoulder. "Tempest knows you're coming. Stay safe when you leave, alright?"

"I'll do my best." Twilight gave a mock salute.

They turned and moved on, further into the Verdant Estate where the trees slowly grew denser, and the bushes thicker, and the scents richer. Curious birds watched them as they pushed past a small thicket of varying flowers into a secluded glade that bore a gently shimmering body of water teeming with life that was surrounded by overgrowth, which Twilight recognised as a landmark of sorts. Going around the outside of the mossy pond and past the few outcrops of rock that sat around it, they came to a protrusion set out from one of the rocks faces that blended in, but certainly wasn't natural.

The monitoring station was currently vacant, no Tempest in sight. The metal panel underhoof didn't make a great deal of noise as Twilight stepped onto it, due to the bumpy layer of lichen that covered its surface. She magically tapped a few buttons on the screen, ignoring the few readouts of the Estate's diagnostics, setting it to locating the mare she needed to see. After a second or so, the screen flashed and found her. According to the station...

Twilight looked up to the semi-flat rocks above the pond where the many canopies of the trees surrounding it overhung, providing perfect cover. She still didn't spot Tempest, until she focused her eyes and dialled up the intensity of the visual augments, and took a moment to listen. Suddenly there she was, the faint distortion in the air as Tempest took the slightest breath in, accompanied by the barest sound of her breathing.

Twilight levelled her horn and shot a harmless bolt of energy at her.

The missile smacked straight into her armoured bodysuit, the energy waves disrupting the invisibility spell she was casting, and the cloaking augment she was using to aid it. The pretty mauve of her body came into focus as Tempest looked back with cocky teal eyes at Twilight, a smug smile present as she lazily lay on her front atop the rocks, the cracked horn and scar over her left eye both striking as ever. The former lieutenant to the Storm King hadn't changed much over the years, still sporting the same vivid fuschia mohawk, only slightly longer now, and the bodysuit had been upgraded to the standard one Guards wore, albeit cut lower on the neck and off at the shoulders and thighs, similar to the style of her old one. Her armour hadn't changed much beyond enchantments, but the Storm King's emblem had been expertly replaced with the insignia of the Crown. Tempest's jaw-dropping curvature and toned physique had also only improved, and while her high skill made her a powerful opponent before, the addition of a few low-key implants to boost her reflexes and speed beyond what they had been made her far more formidable. Twilight reckoned Tempest could still give her a run for her money even with the barest of augmentation, as what Tempest lacked in raw strength she made up for in pure skill.

Tempest had worked for a long time under the Storm King commanding his forces and hunting down persons of interest that invoked the ire of the apeish dictator, who'd promised he'd restore her horn to its former glory for helping him take over Equestria. He'd conquered a lot of land and people beyond the surrounding countries, and when he finally came for Canterlot, he'd decided he would come with the main bulk of his forces in mighty airships, heading the assault himself, and the battle for the city had been devastating and costly.

For him, anyway.

His forces had arrived, delivering their message of takeover as they flew in.

But having detected a massive fleet of fifteen airships beelining straight for Canterlot with little in the way of stealth tactics, they'd been promptly decimated by an already prepared defensive line of firepower and anti-air on the ground as well as the anti-air batteries within the mountain. With Tempest leading them, they might have managed to cut through and land upon the grounds of the Royal Palace, possibly even breached the defences and brought the fight to the Princesses. That is, if the Storm King hadn't immediately gone batshit crazy when they were initially taken by surprise from the counter-strike, and threatened to throw Tempest overboard, or tell her that she could shove his promise up her arse if she didn't remedy the situation.

As Twilight had learned over the years serving the Crown alongside Tempest, she wasn't a mare to make threats to lightly. She'd already warned the Storm King that Canterlot and Equestria on the whole was far more technologically advanced than other people they'd taken on, and he hadn't listened. Her cautions ignored, she'd already been angry. To then snub her on the promise she'd fought for, for so long without end, really wasn't the greatest decision to have made. Then again, Tempest was also prone to rash action when angered and her decision making could be questionable. Twilight remembered helping fight off a bunch of Storm Creatures trying to eviscerate the Royal Guard as they landed, who failed spectacularly against the Guards' prototype Spearshots of back then, to then see a very shocked Tempest Shadow falling from the sky after the Storm King had simply thrown her off the side of the airship in a rage. She'd shot the Storm King with her elemental magic, though it hadn't done a whole lot except stun him for a moment and really piss him off. Twilight had been slightly occupied with a Storm Creature as it tried its best to eat her face at the time, but seeing Tempest was panicking and wasn't able to do any magic, had managed to surround her in a brief corona and slow her fall enough that she landed softer than she would have.

Even with a broken leg from the rough drop, Twilight hadn't expected Tempest to try and beat the fuck out of her when she came to help, even if she was on the other team at the time. Their one-on-one was brief, if a struggle. Twilight had fought some deft creatures but Tempest was on a whole other level even with the injury, and when a quick electro-pulse to centre-mass finally stunned her long enough that Twilight could knock her out, she had plenty of bruises and cracked ribs to show for it. After that, the clean-up of the remaining forces was a simple matter. Morale always tends to break when your commanding airship crashes and burns with your King on it, and seeing your second-in-command get taken down was probably the cherry on top. In the end the Storm King had done more damage to his own army, and less damage to Canterlot than either Chrysalis or Tirek had.

Tempest was arrested and tried for her part in the assault on Canterlot, and little as it may have been her sentence hadn't been too fair. Her fighting prowess however, had caught Luna's eye especially, and the sentence would be notably lessened if she came to serve under the Crown during her incarceration. At the time Tempest was wary, seeing it as simply swapping one set of shackles for another, more dictators holding her chain, but accepted from having little other alternative to stagnating in a cell. Her discipline was a boon, in that she never tried to escape her servitude, and came to understand both the Sisters strict cultivation for improvement in all areas, and that care and compassion for the mind were fairly metered alongside discipline to develop the soul. Twilight, having learned a thing or two about friendship over the years, had checked in on her and built some small measure of trust as well so she'd at least have a friend to hang with when she was finally released. When her sentence had ended she'd been given the option to continue working for the Crown as she'd been a perfect talent, and accepted as she'd found the Princesses to be just.

There may have also been some rumours going around the Thestrals a few years back that Tempest had developed a really close rapport with Luna during all of it, but those of course were simply rumours, and Twilight had absolutely nothing to say on the subject.

Nothing whatsoever.

"Hey, Twilight. Hey, Noctis." Tempest said from her position.

"Knew you were around here somewhere." Twilight grinned. "The cloaking's new, that for when you wanna sneak into Luna's bedchambers?"

"Yeah, sure." Tempest chuckled, rolling with it, getting to her hooves and jumping down. "Got it done about a month back now, curiosity and all that."

"I almost didn't see you. Which one's more powerful?" Twilight wondered.

"The augment, by far, I just supplement it with the spell." Tempest shrugged, going over to the panel and restoring it to monitoring the Estate.

Invisibility spells were something a lot of young mischievous ponies learned around their teenage years, either for attempting petty thievery or playing jokes on their friends, quite often both. Most common businesses and shops had basic spell detection built into their security systems to spot would-be shoplifters sneaking inside to take a few things, and the majority of megacorps had state-of-the-art surveillance matrixes that could catch someone using the best of invisibility spells they'd trained forever to perfect. But even then, it was par for the course that quite a few Unicorns of today learnt to detect invisible people as a sort of basic home security measure. Cloaking augments on the other hoof were far harder to detect even with thermal vision or something similar, and were able to fool a number of civilian systems and most magical detection spells. For this reason they were generally illegal to sell publicly over certain classifications, or limited to private use if you had a permit, not that it stopped anyone getting them if they really tried to cross the right hooves with coin.

Not all security systems could be circumvented by a powerful augment alone though; Eidos, Albion, and Aeon military robots, androids, and security matrixes were all built with sensing infiltration in mind, to name some, and as technology advanced security would be able to detect newer types of augment cloaking before long. To that end, covering oneself with a decent enough invisibility spell alongside the augment meant that one could fool both organic or augmented eyes, and most detection systems. When a cloaking augment was top-tier military, like the kind Tempest had that was manufactured by the Crown, even semi-competent mages could cast a common invisibility spell to cover their tracks beyond the limits of the technology, while entirely compensating for a lack of magical proficiency that was brought up by the augment.

The Crown-tech cloak was likely one of the newer types she'd read about, able to deceive extremely cutting-edge security by bending light around the user, it had to be layered in the skin of Tempest's body, probably less complex for her as she lacked prosthetics to try and camouflage as well. An invisibility spell created a magical barrier around the user that reflected any light coming back at it, while also forming a certain magic wavelength that threw off a few electromagnetic frequencies. If the Crown-tech cloak used the same principle on the technological side and improved upon its ability to block EM patterns, then it would explain why she was so near-perfectly hidden, even to her Aeon eye augments. It was a certainty she was able to move around with little-to-no distortion in her cloaking either, she'd be an absolute ghost to all but the most secure of organisations.

"Huh, now I kinda want it myself. But then again I'm near capacity, and it'd make things too easy." Twilight smiled with a shrug.

"Oh completely, showoff." Tempest rolled her eyes, gently shoving Twilight as Noctis stood by, silently observing. "Maintenance on Vee yesterday was a slog, though she's fine to have a chat. She's kinda under load right now with all the shit going on around Canterlot lately."

"I don't need much of her time. Just wanted to run a few things by her." Twilight nodded.

Vee managed the entire extranet of Canterlot and everything that entailed, from constant massive public usage around the city to handling excessive data from the police and the Crown both. For a vast magical self-aware A.I created by the combined efforts of two Alicorns ─even if one of those Alicorns was a technophobe─ she was still ever-growing, and the sheer amount of information she processed on a day-to-day basis was probably quite a struggle for her formidable matrix.

It was entirely possible that Twilight's visit was pointless. She'd checked the Crown's files and seen everything they had on the situation which was stored by Vee herself, but the A.I was capable of far more than simple file storage; she had an incredibly inquisitive and smart mind that was almost without peer. Twilight believed no matter how little, anything Vee could tell her would probably be of use. She also liked seeing Vee regardless, so it wouldn't truly be a waste of her time.

She fell in Tempest's stead with Noctis following up the rear, and went along through the flourishing botany of the Estate, getting up to speed on how Tempest had been during Twilight's absence, beyond the usual small talk of her activities with Vee and working. She'd been Vee's Custodian for a while now as well as being a Captain of the Guard, and one of the Crown's best instructors for hoof-to-hoof combat, but she'd actually recently decided she would take on the far greater challenge of nurturing young minds herself. With the Sisters both guiding her as they had Twilight, she'd been learning how to act towards delinquents that needed a firm hoof and a push in the right direction so they didn't act out in society, and was placed as a Wardeness for Canterlot's prime correctional institute; Willowbrook Penitentiary, in the Willowbrook ward.

It was still quite a fresh job for her, but she was thankfully supported by plenty of staff that helped keep everything in order when she or another Warden weren't around. Her reputation as a previous 'bad guy' lent to delinquents thinking she'd be harsher than she was, and being pleasantly surprised when she was simply fair. She told Twilight about a young mare that had been sent to Willowbrook for setting some executive's expensive car on fire, and tended to act out against authority for her issues in the home. She hadn't liked Tempest, constantly facing discipline for disobeying or trying her best to make life difficult, though once the roots of the issue had come to light and Tempest helped her mull through her trouble, things got a little easier to sort.

Apparently the mare was still being worked on, but her behaviour was less offensive than it had been. Tempest didn't take much in the way of credit, owing it to the staff actually following her orders and being decent to offenders. Most young-persons correctional facilities were privately owned and ran like actual prisons rather than a place to help ponies reform, something else the Crown were tied up in fixing along with a thousand other problems that knocked at the door. The battle to return to the old days of harmony was an ever ongoing uphill struggle.

It was nice to catch up and share an equal disdain and longing hope for the world.

They all soon stopped at a secluded grove, utterly blossoming with a myriad of colourful flowers and sweet smells, and surrounded at its edges with tall soft tufts of grass to give a private feeling. At its centre sat an Earthen mare made of light that was affectionately cooing over a rabbit.

Being a magical construct, she was varying shades of a single colour; her mane and tail were a deep navy in their long flowing style, her coat a lighter shade of blue. She was transparent at the moment, not needing to expend more processing power to appear opaque, a few wisps of magical energy rolling over her shapely naked surface when she moved or 'breathed'. Sometimes she would give herself a far more complex solid form, clothing, and a cutie-mark, mingling around the Royal Palace for a few hours as she enjoyed the interactions she could have. A few recognised her and were friendly towards her, but no one commonly knew she was an A.I, unless they worked with Vee and knew what to look out for. She wasn't confined to the Palace grounds, she could always explore Canterlot and still be doing her job right here, though at the current moment with the state of the city that wasn't likely. As it was, this body was a small fragment of her greater whole, on more than a few occasions Twilight had seen her wandering in two places, once also having seen her utilising an android body to wander through the city.

"Hey, Vee." Twilight spoke up.

"Twilight. How are you?" Vee smiled as she watched the rabbit as it curiously danced and sniffed around Vee while she sat there.

"I was gonna ask how you were doing." Twilight looked on, gently stepping into the prettiness of the grove and carefully moving her way through the flowers so she didn't crush any underhoof. Vee loved the flowers. "Lots of problems are ramping up in the city."

"I am equipped to handle it." She replied, partly turning her lightly glowing form towards Twilight and fixing her piercing azure eyes on her, the stare looking concerned. "You need to be more careful, please."

"Yeah, I know. Everyone's getting on at me. I'll try not to turn myself into a paperweight more than I need to." Twilight laughed, meeting Vee's serious gaze.

Vee knew just about everything that happened in the Palace, including when idiotic Crown Agents put themselves into CAM. She was tied into the main defence complex and had eyes all over the Palace grounds except Luna's side. A slight hole in the grid, but Twilight expected that was made up for by how fucking sneaky and hidden Thestrals could be; who needed an A.I to keep watch over your domain when your Thestrals could hide in and jump through the very shadows themselves?

"I would appreciate it, I do not wish to lose a friend." Vee nodded solemnly, returning her attention to the rabbit that was content to flop in the flowerbed as the sun partially spilled into the grove, and continued speaking while satisfied to observe the creature. "What do you want to know? I hope I can help you, you accessed high-clearance information yesterday, but if I am to guess you did not find what you sought."

"Yeah, very little info on the bastards that tried to jump me." Twilight said. Vee had likely also received the police reports of the apprehended. Twilight had gone over them briefly when she'd been waiting for Rize to grab the Thuddguns, and her gang were still in custody being set to be moved for sentencing ─with an additional side note she'd noticed regarding them she'd need to check on─ and the Gryphoness that had fought her one-on-one was still in hospital, though she'd be moved to uptown Canterlot's main precinct in Eclipse afterwards. It was useful as she needed to see the gunsmith Rize had spoken of too. "I need you to produce a heat map and correlation chart of all the areas they've worked through over the course of the last year. Their colours have been spotted in so many places around the downtown areas and across the plate that it's likely not to give anything concrete, but it'll give me a decent starting point."

"I can do that. Given my current load it should take approximately... two hours to compile the data, once I am finished with what I am being tasked to work on, I may not deliver it to you until midnight. I would like to note that I have looked at the police reports, and I can assume you also noticed a discrepancy?" Vee spoke, turning her head back towards Twilight.

"Yeah, I did. It's something to address when I get there." Twilight smiled, knowing Vee's sharp mind would see what she had. "Also, you'll like this."

Twilight reached into one of her duster's inner pockets with her magic, and thankfully the techies knew not to take anything when they did repairs, pulling out the fired slug from the Gryphoness' Thuddgun. Its tip barely glowed now, but that just likely meant the work on its core had been strong enough to hold magic this long after usage.

Vee's eyes quite literally lit up in curiosity, as Twilight floated it over. Vee took it in her own pale-caerulean magic despite her apparent lack of horn. Not like she needed one, being made from magic herself. She took a moment to turn it about, studying it intently while remaining silent.

After a few seconds, the round sparked as she applied some concentrated force, and cleverly broke the entire slug apart.

Slugs for pistols were generally compact pieces of carbon steel, sometimes jacketed in a layer of tungsten to resist certain heats, and were contoured to travel at the greatest speed possible from a barrel. Depending on the weapon, they might be completely crafted from tungsten to resist the magic of a powerful matrix warping it and leading to jams and weapon explosions. The special types of slug ammunition had magical cores that held a loaded tip, and when they impacted, the magic was expelled outward. The type Twilight had assumed this slug was, was a further specialised EMP ammunition with a second tip layered behind the first to back it up, which was how she came to the conclusion of it being high-tier crafting in order for it to break her shield the way it had.

But she'd be wrong, this wasn't that at all.

Twilight watched in fascination as the slug was taken to pieces, revealing that it wasn't a single piece with a core throughout, but a multi-part magitech device with several different partitions of circuitry and magic each, all there to likely support the tiny hex-core at its back. It had completely gone under the radar of her system detection. This was utterly beyond specialised ammunition. It was entirely unique, and she'd never seen its likeness sold or used anywhere before, not even on the Farscape Web's shadownet. The CPS in Eclipse's precinct had a one-of-a-kind Thuddgun and its magazine with more of these matchless rounds in it inside evidence lockup, and had no idea they were anything more than what they appeared to be on the surface.

"This is a hex-core." Vee stated in a whisper, marvelling at the dead gizmo as she pried it from the back of the slug. "I have no information in my database to support this, it is unprecedented. How can it be this small?"

"What's a hex-core?" Tempest wondered, raising an eyebrow.

"Extremely hard to produce magitech." Twilight said in a hush, as if breathing too heavily would damage the already pulled apart pieces. "Vee's prime essence framework in the inner-castle's Drakunvult has sixteen massive hex-cores, one in each major unit. It powers her entire complex, and half of those are just for her mind."

To her knowledge, Vee was by far the most advanced and truly cutting-edge magical A.I in all of Equus, and the sixteen hex-cores of her entire foundation were each the size of a small car. The eight that made up her brain were housed in secure heavy magitech framing to ensure the safety of the cores, and yet the one from the slug had barely any protection at all, just layered magic around the electronics to keep it shielded; literally the most basic level of magitech possible. How did it manage to function? Did the gun it was fired from help keep it stable? The magical signature behind the device was still very strong, she could feel it, so was it mostly kept secure by expert spellcasting? The presence of a hex-core did at the very least explain in part the raw power behind the slug tip, but now she had a few more questions and theories to add to her pile.

Not to mention, most magical A.I's weren't magitech because of the difficulty it took to produce hex-cores on any decent scale, and certainly not at Vee's level of complexity, the resources and coin that went into a single one alone was vast. On this small of a scale though this shouldn't be possible, they had immutable parts that couldn't be substituted, and yet here was a hex-core that fit in the frog of her hoof. It didn't make any sense, and for that she was as confused and aggravated about it as she was absolutely enamoured by the prospect. It set her mind racing with possibilities, but nothing she should accept or jump to without evidence.

The mystery deepened.

"Her mind? I didn't know that." Tempest frowned, knocking a hoof off the grass. "Might explain why security is so fucking tight when I go check on everything."

"The lead engineers don't let you touch a great deal, I imagine." Twilight said absentmindedly as she thought about the situation.

"You've got that right. Bastards barely let me perform my parameter checks of Vee's wellbeing without trying to jump down my throat." Tempest grumbled. "When I ask them to sort a few things with the servers or whatever if they're not within the limits, they're always fretting and making me leave before they sort anything out."

"It's a very delicate gestalt. Maintaining Vee requires around-the-clock staff to keep everything in order." Twilight commented, taking a few of the smaller parts of the dissected slug in her magic and pulling them closer for examination. "This is insane. It's all been depleted but in the signature there's traces of a dozen different types of magic layered in these sections."

"'Ripples form on the world's surface; The wandering soul knows no rest.' Her Majesty will wish to know of this." Noctis intoned, his voice grave. No question that he meant Luna; she had a disdain for technology, but that didn't mean she wouldn't want to be appraised of serious revelations of this magnitude.

"Inform her. I'll fill Celestia in, then I need to go speak with some Gryphons." Twilight stated sternly, letting Vee take the pieces back as she turned around for the exit, talking over her shoulder to the two mares as Noctis walked with her. "Nice catching up, let's do it again sometime. I'll need those plans ASAP, Vee, and Tempest; stop fucking Luna."

"I shall work in earnest." Vee nodded with a smile.

"Go fuck yourself." Tempest scoffed, rolling her eyes and chuckling.

Time to get to work.

Author's Note

Various changes again, grammar fixes, lore updates etc.
The world has to be consistent, after all.
How are you enjoying things so far? :duck:

5: COMBAT_SYSTEM_ACTIVE

She hadn't taken long to leave the Palace proper after quickly filling Celestia in on the details of what she'd found out so far and what she was going to do, the same as she had with Luna. Noctis would probably be getting a slight beratement for waking her up during the day, but Luna would be far more amicable towards him than she had been to Twilight, especially with the news he was bringing.

Twilight strode briskly as she cantered her way through the massive double doors of the lower level exit, out the side of the gardens a few levels below the Solar Wing and Verdant Estate. The two Solar Guard on duty, seeing she was on the job, quickly let her pass the gate with a quick nod. They knew a Crown Agent with a serious face meant business, but really she was just deep in thought, she still said a clipped thanks anyway as she went by. She cut across the neatly mown lawn dotted with fenced patches of flowers, around the edge of the hefty outer wall marked with heavy defensive positions and sentry nests, and through a second checkpoint with little fuss, moving towards a medium-sized billet on the edge of the grounds made with sturdy enchanted walls and a compound; it served as an outpost used solely by Assault and Medical Rescue Teams. The emergency pathway from the outer compound that led straight into the Palace's main medical facilities leading out from it was to be kept clear at all times. The outpost and the leading pathway were one of six around the Palace, always on-duty for any Guard or Agent that may need immediate treatment coming in from the fight. The AMR teams were once just a few squads and two outposts, mostly only manned when there was a Crown operation happening, however the last few years had seen the focus grow and shift to assisting the CPS with their immense troubles.

The tri-barrelled autoturrets beeped as she neared, ignoring her with her CINI marking her friendly, or at least non-hostile. The lone Solar Guard standing watch saw her approach with a measure of speed and hurriedly stepped aside, the door opening as it scanned her and released the lock. She went inside the chilled entryway which opened into a modern-looking common room that was the resting area for the on-duty staff. Cushioned chairs and couches, metal tables, holovision and games consoles for entertainment. Simple enough. The extra rooms had bunk-beds, toilets, showers, an armoury, and a small stock of food supplies that were replenished daily.

The Pegasi, Unicorns, and occasional Gryphon currently here on the day shift were awaiting their needed call, their attention fixing momentarily on Twilight as she came into the room, before quickly returning to a mobile device or holoscreen. Twilight already saw a full AMR team decked in enhanced light leather armour heading out into the vehicle bay as they put on their open-view helmets, the shielding shimmering and the hematic seal of their armour's environmental systems hissing as they locked. The limb-mounted displays on their forelegs were flashing alerts for what Twilight could see from here was an emergency evac request from out east on the extended plateau, in the Sapling Green ward.

What was interesting to her was the location, and that it was a quad-chevron alert used by law enforcement, which meant that the CPS were being overwhelmed to where they were calling in any AMR teams to assist evac of their injured. Usually that also meant there was a joint operation on the go between the Guard or Agents and the CPS, as that was normally the time when they were so knee deep in shit they needed the Crown to help. She saw two more groups of on-call staff get up and head towards the vehicle bay as well as their displays also pinged for their immediate need. Apparently this was something pretty intense, and that worried her in regards to Sapling Green.

She had an important task to do, but even so was going to simply join a ride on the next evac job going out the way of Eclipse rather than take a bike, however this was quite urgent as she had a stake in this particular race, and she might need to hitch a ride a great deal sooner. When she pulled up info on any developing situations, she found a few breaking news articles from just a half-an-hour ago that massive battles had broken out between rival gangs across the south-east of the extended plateau, and it was rapidly getting out of hoof; what she'd seen as just the usual spice earlier had evolved into an even greater mess. She checked the network and saw multiple alerts for needing a possible response from Agents for most of the wards on that side of the city, quickly checking the Agent database and seeing that coincidentally it was Dizzy who'd moved to assist the CPS in a critical operation not far from the Sapling Green ward's precinct, and that it was still an ongoing situation, that personally settled it for her; Dizzy was a good Agent but the mare had no idea just how deep this went.

Cometh the hour, cometh the mare.

"Hey, Blondie!" She called out, quickly going over to a blonde-maned stallion currently leaving with his coworker in a duo squad, the Pegasus stallion and Unicorn mare gently pausing at her outburst, she'd picked them instead of the other groups going on their way because she could sense these two feeling off, and they lacked a third or fourth member. The stallion she'd called Blondie was pretty nervous and his heart-rate was higher than it should have been, the mare was slightly less jittery. Being on-call right now with the current workload probably wasn't making them very calm, as Blondie already had a light sweat on the go.

Blondie's pretty cyan eyes questioningly glanced at her under his choppy mane, unsure as to why he'd been slowed, but he immediately deferred to her superiority. "M-ma'am?"

"You're heading to Sapling, yes?" She asked, trying not to focus on his toned pale icy-blue body beneath the leather, the light armour still smelled fresh and new. She wondered how long he'd been doing the job.

"N-no, Ma'am, Crystal Sky." He informed, still keeping his slow momentum as he walked to the bay, putting his open-view helmet on with the mare following suit, their heads entirely encompassed by the large angular visors that automatically darkened to the lighting of the hall they were going down, the opacity increasing completely and hiding their heads from view as their systems sealed and their shields went up.

"Get someone else on it, we're headed to Crow. Go." Twilight told him, smacking his arse with magic and hopping him back into action with a jump, following beside him as he faltered for a second at the state of affairs. He recovered and used a wingtip to swap their destination for one of the quad-chevron alerts in the Black Crow ward, leaving another team to get up at the two's previous alert pinging them to the Crystal Sky ward instead as he went through the doors ahead of them, and she updated the Agent database to show her picking up the alert for Black Crow.

Black Crow was a far more dangerous territory than Sapling Green as it was a hive of gang activity, and going there first meant assessing the details on the ground and relieving some pressure off of Sapling Green. It shouldn't have been easy to breach thanks to a heavy Bulwark separating them, and even with a connecting Runegate between the wards it should have been plenty of deterrence, yet trouble around Sapling Green's precinct that needed an Agent meant there had likely been a hole made somewhere, and she was going to find and plug it. Dizzy could handle herself and hold the area for now, but it wasn't her that Twilight was worried about. Rainbow Dash worked in Sapling Green and Twilight knew that she would be wanting to get into the thick of it instead of standing idly. Twilight needed to find her before she got herself killed in this gang war.

The vehicle bay was sleek, neat, and streamlined, with several reinforced exits leading out into the open, and there were numerous bays before each exit with a surrounding decking for each so that people could safely get to their vehicles. The vehicle bay kept plenty of space in an open area for other large cruisers coming in, and a top-notch emergency repair section in the corner with room enough for three transports. The massive entryway door at the side for flying vehicles and VTOL's to enter one of the bays for fast deployment was currently receiving new cruisers, and Twilight watched as their ride elevated through into the marked area Blondie and his partner were now waiting aside.

"Have either of you flown into a hot-zone before?" Twilight enquired to the pair as the cruiser emblazoned with the Crown's emblem was carefully steered into the space before their decking, the under-plate keeping the vehicle from falling or deviating from the path once it entered the plate's general field of magic.

"O-only into areas where police presence was already heavy. Never right into the fighting." Blondie said to her, his voice being partially modulated by the helmet. Her augmented eyes could still see his face through the opaque visor of the helm, and he wasn't meeting her gaze. Apparently she was slightly intimidating.

"Same for me." The mare said evenly from inside her helmet. Beyond the dusky indigo coat, midnight-coloured hair, and lavender eyes, the most appealing feature to Twilight were the hefty teats between her legs that were compactly secured, but showing their modest size through the leather armour. "It's gonna be crazy in that ward, you sure we'll be safe?"

"We'll be fine, the most that'll happen is a few bullets might come our way." Twilight nonchalantly smiled, stepping to one side as the current pilot got out of the cruiser and past her, going back around the decking towards the side exit, probably to fetch another vehicle.

"That's so reassuring." The mare ─Twilight was going to call her Teats─ said with a raised eyebrow, turning and quickly getting into the pilot's seat of the smooth wedge-shaped front, with Blondie taking the passenger seat, both quickly strapping in with steady mag-lock harnesses that would stop them from being buffeted about by heavy turbulence. "Well, about time we got into something crazy, I guess. I hope this thing's armour is good enough. Never been shot at in one."

Twilight opened the side door of the sleek, almost truck-like VTOL cruiser, it was very aerodynamic, and the smooth edged and shaped exterior almost gave the illusion that it was smaller than it was. The door quietly opened on its track and she slipped inside to the smell of car freshener, her horn glowing as she tapped a button near to the inner edge, and it slid back shut behind her with a hiss, the thrum and sound of the vehicle bay lessening somewhat. She sat herself down on a sideseat, not bothering with a harness and letting herself stretch out with the space of the back. There was quite a bit of movement to be had inside a cruiser even with the four long hover-stretchers in the middle and the medical unit built into its other side, and it didn't even feel all that claustrophobic, even with the only light coming from two striplights in each topside crevice and the secure windscreen up front. No windows in the back; just full protection for those meant to be pulled out of danger. She leant back and kept talking to the two to keep their minds even.

"This is a Stormchaser you're flying." Twilight smiled confidently at Teats, who was properly powering up the large vehicle from its standby mode the previous pilot had left it in as she looked back over her shoulder at Twilight, and Twilight smacked the ceiling for some emphasis. "They're built with reactive plating and heavy magical shielding."

"That sounds good?" Blondie wondered, making sure his harness was secure as the cruiser began to hover higher and push out of the bay, Twilight could see the hazy clouds through the minimal windscreen as they swept over the lead-out from the compound.

"These things can withstand a high-calibre chaingun hammering into them." Twilight grinned as she regarded the surprise on their features. "I should know, I've been evac'd under heavy fire plenty of times. The Dragoon's are even better."

"Heard of them, aint seen one. They're the ones that carry Agents to a fight, right?" Teats said, looking where she was steering now as the Stormchaser took off the edge of the platform overlooking Canterlot below, their destination already plotted into the cruiser's map as they headed out east for Sapling.

"Most of the time." Twilight nodded with a proud smile. "Heavier layered reactive plating, stronger shielding systems with additional fallbacks, and very big guns. A Stormchaser isn't expected to go into the kind of shit Agents get sent into as a whole squad, that's where you get a Dragoon. These are built for good protection and excellent speed, but a Dragoon is a flying tank that can take a direct missile or two, and send a couple of its own right back."

"Kinda wish we had one of those." Blondie said with an anxious laugh.

"We don't need it, the situation doesn't warrant one." Twilight assured again, leaning into the cushions of the seat and trying to relax. "Like I said, you'll be fine."

It seemed Teats had been working the job a little longer than Blondie had, and seemed to take it in stride with a semi-detached sarcastic manner. That was always a pretty decent way to cope, maybe if these two stayed buddies-in-action and Blondie panicked in the future, she'd be able to keep him flying straight. Currently she was the pilot and he was her co-pilot, but the two needed to be capable of swapping on the regular in case things went south and one of them took a serious hit. The front of the Stormchaser contained specifically made crisis packs for them; with quick-suture kits, antiseptic coagulant, magical bandages, med-hypos for pain, and adrenaline-based neurostims. If they got seriously wounded they could keep themselves, their occupants, and the cruiser flying long enough to get out of dodge and get someplace safe; hopefully back to the Palace grounds.

The rapid cruiser flew through the thin mountain air, speeding down in a straight path as the moody glare of the sun began to dissipate through an ever-thickening layer of smog, and peeked around the tips and spires of buildings rising out of the dusky mist, presenting their arrival into the overhead of Canterlot.

Twilight knew they were coming in around the Crystal Sky ward along their way even without looking through the small gaps in the windscreen or consulting her map, as she could hear the muffled slow rolling whuk-whuk of duckships chuttering around the tall high rises she'd spied from afar on the way in, where the most activity to be had was around the early mornings and then again later in the evenings due to the far larger concentration of lower-middle-class housing.

The simple boat-like vehicles were given their colloquial nickname from the older first-generation of heavy engines that flying vehicles sported, with weird sounding noises emitted from their workings that were vaguely similar to the eponymous animal's warbling. These commonly budget-built contraptions didn't sound too much like that anymore, but the name still stuck, and not too much didn't mean not similar. They appealed to a more easygoing and outlandish type of person, often consisting of older ponies or Gryphons that just wanted to take life as it came. They travelled anywhere around Canterlot, Equestria, or beyond, and their main purpose tended to be selling pretty decent street food for cheap, while some tried to sell oddities and goods they made, and some traded in junk or knick-knacks.

Twilight had quite often bought a quick meal from a cute young leaf-green stallion ─which was a generous thing to call him given how marely and adorable he was─ when he dropped by outside her apartment in the Aurora Overlook ward. The way he made a good chicken stir-fry with those thick noodles, his long tangerine mane falling over one azure eye as he looked up at her watching him cook her a meal, his curvy arse as he turned around for the seasoning... the cute bastard was oblivious to her flirting too, and it just made her want to pin him down and mercilessly ride hi-

Luna's gorgeous shapely legs, her nethers were so warm, this was not what she needed to be thinking about right now. After she'd sorted this situation out and found everything with Dash was alright, and seen to all her other business, she was going to pay Hibiscus a visit because this was getting out of hoof.

The eclectic buzz of the packed ward at this point in the day was approaching its peak, and would only be much calmer later on when the nightlife picked up elsewhere. The din of non-flying vehicles and people below made an impression through the Stormchaser's dampening field as they sailed overhead, never falling into any processions of air traffic that were loosely kept in formation by the city's specifically placed magic lights due to the repeating bass-tone klaxons Teats had turned on during their descent over the city proper; it kept other cars in the air well out of their way as the sped on, as no one wanted to be the one that held up the Crown from doing its work.

Teats was one fuck of a pilot though, ducking through the obstacles of the city's eccentric upper layout with a notable level of ease. Twice that a few vehicles hadn't gotten quite out of the Stormchaser's path in time due to their close grouping between clustered skyscrapers, she'd just curved around or under them in a single flowing sweep that most would have faltered the manoeuvre on, as the cruiser had a certain heft to it that fooled most new pilots and made it tricky to do.

They careened down under a high plaza's bridge connecting two towering buildings together as it came up fast, continuing on like nothing had deviated their course, and Twilight had to grab ahold of the hoof-handles on the ceiling to stop herself from being thrown around, while she pushed her back hooves against the flooring and her hindleg prosthetics automatically compensated to keep her even. She couldn't help but grin to herself as she watched Teat's face through the open-view visor, able to see the pure determination etched on her face and in her eyes. Blondie was a little out of sorts at the sheer speed, though the mag-straps that secured him in place were doing their job and the wild ride wasn't doing much but shaking him around a little.

They came up fast on the Black Crow ward under twenty minutes, hurtling into the lower level with a deep rumble from the Stormchaser's back thrusters, the central under-thrusters bursting evenly and keeping the cruiser as straight as an arrow while it flew. Twilight sighed as she went over a few more breaking news articles on her HUD, and as she hadn't needed telling was the case, the likely reason for the developing situation in both Black Crow and Sapling Green was the current eight-year feud between three major gangs known to the Crown, a long struggle fought over territory and general bad blood of the past. She could see the smallest of flashes erupting from far across Black Crow already with a quick peek through the windscreen, leading into the upper reaches of Sapling Green that overlooked and pushed into its confines and right through the Bulwark. The gangs weren't playing around with stealing each other's business or doing small gang hits anymore, this was an actual full blown war for Black Crow with all the information she was pulling up on her map, and apparently it was even extending into a takeover of some of Sapling Green's territory going by what the network was picking up, the cherry-red of the Jackals being practically everywhere over the purple tint.

Twilight knew the first major gang's mob boss quite well, Gwyndolin Grimfeathers, who styled herself as not a crime lord but a crime lady, with emphasis on her gang's regularly noble appearance and demeanour, as far as they could be noble being a criminal organisation. She called her outfit Gaillardet's Blackguard, in honour of her late husband who she'd taken things over from after his death at the hands of a rival Minotaur clan many years back, of whom she'd promptly waged a bloody vendetta against until they were utterly vanquished and relegated to a footnote in Canterlot's recent history archives, solidifying her status and position in and up to the politics of the current day. Gwyndolin was career-military, just as her husband had been, having fought alongside him in several dozen skirmishes of the Gryphon people's civil wars in their own lands from a very young age. They'd fought for the King of Gryphonstone to maintain his rule during the dawn of the Goddess Aeon some twenty-odd years back, when Twilight was still a nerdy teenager having picnics with her friends, living in her library in Ponyville, and stopping rising villains with the power of friendship.

When Twilight first heard of a strange gang of militaristic Gryphons operating around the newly built section of the extended plateau, it had sparked her interest. She was still a Crown-Agent-in-training, and she wanted to take on these gangs that thought they could just take territory from the Diarchy, but until she'd become stronger she'd never be able to face them. By the time she'd completed her horrendously gruelling several-year training regime and received her first few proto-augments, Gwyndolin had already raised tartarus with Gaillardet around Canterlot in their own special way, been married to him in their exile, carved out a chunk of Black Crow for the gang, and then been widowed. When Twilight had finally met her, she'd long been a hardened veteran of endless conflicts, driven by her almighty need to survive and keep her own sense of honour intact.

As a gang, and of the three contesting rivals, the Blackguard were the least volatile, the most code driven, and easier to deal with because of it, reasonably cooperating with both the CPS and the Guard, as well as being amicable towards Crown Agents when they came to investigate. Twilight had a certain rapport with Gwyndolin and knew how to work with her these days, and the Gryphoness had initially taken a shine to Twilight's sense of nobility and doing right for the Princesses, seeing herself in her, but she hadn't fully respected her, and Twilight hadn't liked or respected Gwyndolin at all. It wasn't until Twilight had been tempered on the anvil of battle and been through her trials of self that she understood Gwyndolin's position of trying to survive while not losing sight of what mattered, that a true mutual respect was brokered between them.

It might have also helped that Twilight had tried to arrest Gwyndolin alone without backup after an incident that had sent her to check on the Blackguards, and challenged her to a duel of submission for the Gryphoness to come along quietly. Twilight had lost of course, she'd still not been as fully augmented as she was now, and Gwyndolin was an absolute powerhouse even with no augments whatsoever. She'd broken two of Twilight's legs, busted some ribs and punctured a lung, broken her muzzle, and given her a severe concussion, yet from then on Gwyndolin had liked her even more. Twilight could kick her arse now without even trying she imagined, but they'd have to see if they ever came to blows again.

The next major gang was the Jackal Cartel, a band of different peoples coming together under their leader Jöhtunn, an absolute hulking tank of a Minotaur that was every bit as intimidating and violent as he appeared. He was the smartest of those he led, possessing quite a powerful charisma, and having a very easy time preaching to the downtrodden in society due to his own grievances and struggles of the past, of which Twilight knew very little beyond basics as his claims weren't substantiated with any data the Crown could find. When they happened to meet in person he wasn't ever particularly forthcoming and they generally just glared at one another, getting into a pissing contest with him usually resulted in her wanting to put a hole through his face.

While callous and brutal in how he kept people in line, members of the Jackal Cartel often felt they had it better under him than when they had tried to scrape a living elsewhere, and he knew well to only keep common gangers and simple-minded people because they were mostly happy with the spoils they got. The sort of people that were easy to keep in line and commonly had a chip on their shoulder about the world, like Jöhtunn did himself, and weren't simply happy to get by with the basics even with how the Crown did its best to ensure that no one went hungry with a basic income, and that the homeless were never homeless for long. Some just wanted to have more, and they had no major qualms about how they got it, the ones with a greater conscience finding their morals slip the longer they remained a part of the Cartel in order to stay, as they would be surrounded by those that would far more easily do terrible things.

Not to say people that joined the Jackal Cartel were evil, everyone had their problems to deal with in society and normally did their best to soldier on, but there were simply better ways to go about doing it. For Twilight, joining a gang that dealt in intimidation of the same people striving to eke out a living, when that gang should surely sympathise with their plight and do their best to avoid inconveniencing them instead of exploiting or harming them for personal gain, was quite infuriating to witness. So she had little issue with getting rid of such cretins when they came along and tried to do the sort of shit they were doing currently where innocents would be in the firing line. Fighting for control of Black Crow was likely Jöhtunn's doing, a hard push for power to gain the upper hoof; he had the numbers as the largest gang of the three by several leaps. She didn't see Gwyndolin trying to start an all-out war when she was essentially leading only half a battalion, and even though it would be well within her ability to wage and drag out an incredibly effective guerilla war it just wasn't advantageous for her as she already had herself quite a slice of territory.

She didn't see Constantine, the leader of the third major gang within Black Crow, ever trying to do anything that would upset the balance between the three mobs if it didn't mean there couldn't be some kind of alliance against the Crown or between themselves, so Twilight doubted it had been her either, even with how many tricky deals she made and how many pies she had her hooves in.

Well, her was subjective. Twilight had never seen the Changeling's true form.

Constantine was the leader of Yly Ilkinsfáerinr, which according to Constantine meant The Children from Below in their ancient tongue. Twilight had done as much study as she could in her teenage years on the subject of Changelings and found there was so much about them that they didn't know, even to this day, because they were an extremely secretive and ostracised race throughout Equestrian history. Beyond a few things she'd learned from Constantine there wasn't much to go on, however she knew enough to deal with them, about their weaknesses and strengths, patterns to recognise them when they were in a disguise, and how best to avoid getting caught up in their games.

They fucking loved playing games.

Nearly everything was a word game to them, and one had to be careful when talking unless they wanted to unintentionally enter into an agreement without realising, as they would find themselves bound by ancient magic and under pains to hold up their end of the bargain, as Changelings rarely reneged on such things. Constantine was of a mind to always try with Twilight, but she was wise to it, others not so much. Beyond their games they had the ability to glamour creatures into doing their bidding, which was the way Changelings had often scored their prey in the past. In Equestria this was illegal to do because it went against a person's consent, so Constantine's business affairs were often subject to scrutiny, and the CPS and the Crown knew how to see if someone had been glamoured into doing something against their will.

There existed a grey area to glamours however wherein a Changeling could simply alter their own aura to attract others beyond the usual form-taking, as it wasn't directly forcing anyone to do anything, and even then Changelings were often wanted in their natural forms for their incredibly exotic look. This had meant that a great majority of Changelings within Constantine's gang had actually quite happily turned to prostitution, their ancient culture essentially boiling down to all of them being hunters of love, they had little qualms with doing the same thing now as it was a means to both food and income, with horny customers happily feeding them and paying them for the privilege. At least these days the customer left with just their balls and wallet drained, instead of being lured into a hive and glamoured into a living sextoy-food slave until they expired.

Yly Ilkinsfáerinr had a sort of duopoly with the Blackguards when it came to supplying prostitutes within Black Crow, to which the Jackal Cartel had long since given up trying to muscle their way into yet nonetheless partook of, thus keeping the Jackals complacent and forming a sort of truce between Jöhtunn, Gwyndolin, and Constantine. Yly Ilkinsfáerinr were also very adept thieves, and often stole whatever they thought could be traded away to the Cartel, the Blackguards, or any other persons or lowlifes that might need what they had to sell. While Gwyndolin led a small professional army with many different focuses of business, and Jöhtun led a large militia with a heavier emphasis on the drug trade; Constantine led a legion of traders that dealt primarily in sexual services, with a side of smuggling.

Something between this proportional alliance had been upset, the balance had been broken possibly beyond fixing, and now shit was hitting the fan. When it came to these three gangs she was something of a troubleshooter, and she was going to have to mediate between them yet again just as she had before, if she still could bring them all back to the table to talk. Just another fucking problem to add to the mountainous shitstack that needed to be dealt with in Canterlot.

A muffled explosion in the distance brought Twilight into focus on their surroundings again, the Stormchaser was being heavily shaken as they banked hard to the immediate left, as several dull thuds slammed off the cruiser's shielding as the vehicle came upon the hot-zone they'd been heading for. Through the windscreen she saw a closed street and flashing lights of police vehicles, rising smoke and neon was accompanied by the staccato of gunfire as the CPS laid down suppressive bursts back behind their cruiser. Looks like they'd arrived at their destination.

"Shit! I can't land here, we're under fire!" Teats exclaimed, pulling the steering controls about to reorient them for a quick exit. Blondie shouted in surprise, his pretty eyes going wide as a round smacked into the shield right before the small window his passenger door held.

"No! Take us down, right there!" Twilight snapped at her, stepping forward and pointing at the windscreen over Teat's shoulder, to a small alley that the Stormchaser would just be able to fit inside. Off the main street and covered by several of the CPS's own cruisers, the chances of anyone taking a hit getting out or getting to the Stormchaser was significantly lower. It just meant the wounded would need to walk or be carried a little further to get out of the fighting.

Teats quickly obeyed the command, skillfully weaving the cruiser to one side and steering the car carefully into place, her face was a mask of stone as the thudding against the cruiser continued, but she managed to land where Twilight had ordered. The Stormchaser set down and Teats let it enter its state of standby, but primed the engine and thrusters for hard burn if things should go awry.

"Good shit, Teats." Twilight patted her on the back, turning about and going to the end, opening the back doors rather than the side door, speaking over her shoulder. "Get yourselves prepped for some fun."

"Teats?" Teats whispered to Blondie, who blushed and shrugged as they grabbed what they needed from the vehicle as quickly as possible.

Twilight stepped out into the open air of the smoggy day, breathing in the acrid smell of gunsmoke and bloodshed with a potent jolt of excitement, already gearing herself up for a little bit of chaos. She turned back to see Teats and Blondie exiting the Stormchaser and waving their displays to lock the doors, far quicker than using keys to fumble about with in a rush. On an upper foreleg each was a high quality medical bag with the same sort of supplies they had in their crisis packs, and a standard issue shard pistol manufactured by the Crown holstered on their other foreleg.

It was a simple machine pistol that used contoured tiny lengths of crystal as its ammunition, as it was extremely easy for a skilled mage to produce over conventional ammo. The sidearm had an amped-up spell matrix that would fire the shards of crystal at a higher speed than most firearms, and the lighter weight of the weapon along with superior rate of fire made it perfect for the evac squads or newbies that weren't as versed in guns. It was also perfect for AMR teams with the fact that wounds caused by a shard pistol were cleaner and less destructive to tissue, it made anyone they shot less likely to die even with a hit to a vital organ and far easier to patch up. Until they left the Stormchaser, the medic bags and weapons were safely stored inside compartments by the seats, and normally they might not need the weaponry, but entering into a hot-zone was dangerous business.

Taking the lead, Twilight quickly moved out of the alley into the main street, friendly forces already waving to her from the cover of their cruisers as she cantered to their positions, while every now and then as the enemy fire stopped an officer leant out, returning a hail of bullets from their assault rifles in kind before ducking back into safety.

Teats had landed them exactly where they needed to be, as several officers were moderately injured, some in better shape were still standing behind their cruisers with minor tending done themselves, but three were in a bad way, with the CPS medics attached to the units doing the best they could to keep them breathing. Teats and Blondie, now in their element, immediately rushed to their aid and kept low to the ground while a few bullets soared overhead, along with a few shouts and jeers echoing from down the long street. Going over, Twilight went towards the nearest ranking officer, a Lancer noting the patch on her upper leg, the dark maroon Unicorn mare was clad in the standard modernised plate armour with underleathers, her mid-length light burgundy mane hidden under the helm. She had a powerful bolt-action rifle commonly used by the police held in her silvery corona, and stopped trying to take shots and lowered it into her hooves as she turned at Twilight's approach, who quickly addressed the mare with her authority.

"Sitrep, now. Where's your Captain?" She asked the Lancer, glancing through the window of the cruiser out at the street beyond, seeing that it ended at a T-junction.

Through the buildings on the junction was a large alleyway, a heavily damaged CPS cruiser parked before its mouth being used as a fortification by a group of both Diamond Dogs and ponies in lightly metal-plated crimson leather armour. That would be the second gang then, the Jackal Cartel. The Dogs of the group saturated the area with blind-fire using their assault rifles while the ponies fired off more accurate bursts with theirs between, giving the cops little time to pop up and return fire without being caught. There was a smaller alley beyond this police line where a few other officers were taking cover, and getting the most attention from the Jackal's barrage. Twilight counted five of them in total as they leaned out every now and then to fire into the police, a small group like this wouldn't be an issue with backup and a good flank, yet with the ongoing battles across Black Crow the police were likely stretched very thin, and with the damage these few alone were causing it was little wonder they were requesting AMR support to get their wounded out in time.

"Ma'am, she's gone on ahead with the Sarge and a few others." The mare reported, with a slight twang to her voice, her pale-grey eyes peeking through at the wide alley the Jackals were stationed in. "We were ordered to hold the area ahead and wait for reinforcements. Then these guys showed up not long after from the same way the Captain and Sarge went, took a few of us by surprise. Managed to drag them back here to the line, uh, though our Sonor's been shot up, and our ability to patch into the network from our CINI's is patchy at best, barely got the request for AMR out. We got a few in the alley on the left up there that are pinned and can't move to us, but they'll live for now. There were more Jackals earlier, but that was about a half-hour ago, and we still aint been able to push up. Think their lot might have gone after the squad?"

"It's a possibility. Hostages are always valuable." Twilight said, taking another glance as an officer's assault rifle clapped.

She wasn't sure why the police couldn't get into the network, she was accessing it without any issues and she knew that all police that possessed a CINI had it maintained very carefully. She could guess that maybe the Jackals were jamming the signal, and if that was the case then they'd purposely taken out the Sonorous Comm in that ambush as it was older tech that used different frequencies and waves for transmissions. She quickly surveyed the area, seeing the high buildings around them were populated, a few overly curious eyes peeking from under blinds and between curtains here and there, and there was no telling how many stray bullets had already caused damage or if anyone had been hit and needed assistance. This situation was spiralling and needed to be taken under control before anyone else got hurt.

"Right, time to get busy." Twilight kicked off.

"Ma'am?" The maroon mare asked curiously.

"I'm taking command here. Inform everyone through your local comms, and get ready." Twilight stated, turning to face the other officers behind the line of vehicles, the mare nodding and diligently passing her message on. She spied the busted Sonorous Comm next to one of the cars with a few bullet holes riddling it, and saw Teats and Blondie had already brought the hover-stretchers over and were taking the three now-stable cops ─she bet one of them had been lugging the Sonor─ back to the Stormchaser between themselves, they met her eye and she gave them a respectful nod as they went on. She spoke to the remaining officers after a few had finished another burst of gunfire at the Jackals, speaking loud enough to be heard under the returning hail of bullets and jeering from far down the street. "Listen up! Are any of you too injured to keep fighting or lift your rifles?"

She received a chorus of No Ma'am's or shakes of the head in return, with additional negatives from a few of the police pinned in the small alley a short distance away from the blockade, quickly passed on from the maroon officer via the local radio.

Twilight grinned, glowing eyes flicking to the secluded alley. "Excellent. In about ten seconds when they finish their next volley, every single one of you is going to focus fire at the cruiser up front to keep them pinned in cover. Don't worry about a stray shot hitting me, my shields can take it, just focus your fire. That's it, make ready."

The order set in place even with their slight confusion, Twilight readied herself with a wicked smile on her muzzle, hiking up her dusters sleeves above the joints and positively vibrating as the magitech interface of her bodysuit tensed up for rapid configuration.

The Jackals had seen a Stormchaser come in, and the Jackals probably knew what an AMR team was, but they didn't know Twilight had been aboard and she doubted they could properly see her through the smoke of the cruisers or their flashing lights well enough to recognise her Crown Agent duster, or with the brightness of the sun glinting off of every shiny surface it could reach through the grey haze surrounding the tall buildings above. What mattered entirely was that the large alley was situated between stone-walled shopfronts, free of non-combatants, and no one would be in the crossfire. Police and the Crown's subject's lives were on the line. Let the music begin.

"On my mark." Twilight barked, her excitement palpable.

Some of the officers were slightly puzzled, and maybe a few had an inkling, but regardless they braced themselves and readied their stances, weapons in hoof, claw, or magic slapping fresh mags in if they needed them and hadn't already. The Jackal's fire continued in short waves, and the Dogs were about done she could tell, their assault rifles mostly the same standard-issue as the CPS's own, holding forty rounds to a mag to which they'd burned through half already. The ponies were still burst-firing, and they were doing so at a similarly high rate of ammo expenditure. She just needed to wait a moment, and have a split few seconds to react...

Just...

...about...

...there!

"MARK!" Twilight shouted in glee, jumping into action.

Her stance went onto her hindlegs as she stood and stepped forward, and her systems activated in a millisecond, the prosthetics inner-sections rapidly cycling their configurations and the bodysuit moving with them in an instant as hidden thrusters shot out, firing from her back hooves. She swiftly launched from the ground in a heated pulse, trailing over the line of police cruisers as the officers heeded her call and stalwartly dipped out of cover to lay down heavy suppressive fire as per her command. If any Jackals had been wanting to peek up they weren't going to do it now.

She landed deftly on all four hooves in a flash, augments already compensating and reshifting as she seamlessly moved into a full open charge at the Jackals behind the damaged cruiser, her speed ramping up as her body flooded with adrenaline, and thanks to a special and highly controversial implant for just such occasions as this, delicious Neurellix accompanied it with a pleasantly chilled tingle running down her spine, quickly spreading through her veins like ice-cold water. Prosthetic augments coupled with dulcet chemical love propelled her down the road at a speed no one else but Rainbow Dash could achieve, the sickly sweet flood of the stimulant made her perception of reality slow considerably, her mind being altered by the potent narcotic as she crossed a distance of about two-thousand hooves in less than a dozen seconds.

Neurostims were fuck all but low-grade painkillers when compared to the chaotic maelstrom of pure fucking sex that was biotech neurozyme, especially if it was military-grade custom like Twilight's Neurellix was, and she was so wonderfully lost in the storm.

Eyes wide with delight, she breathed in the gorgeous honeyed air as a beautiful scene lay before her, leaping high with the effortless strength of her prosthetics and the golden Neurellix as a haphazard composition of bullets lazily sailed past her to herald her presence onto the stage, smoothly sliding herself over the roof of the cruiser just as one the ponies in the group of Jackals languidly peeked his head up to see what the hay the thunderous noise was.

Twilight forewent the use of an electro-pulse as one of her back hooves slowly pushed into his snout with a disgustingly wet crunch of breaking cartilage and splintering bone, which in her chemical clarity sounded like the most wonderous stringed tones of a viola, the soft meat of his face parting and giving way to the sheer force of her strike as warmth registered, and a marvellous ruby flower gently unfurled around her hoof as his head was sublimely caved inward, Twilight able to see every flick of scarlet webbing in magnificent detail. In this single moment, he was as perfect as the radiance of Celestia's dawn.

There was another audible echo around the grimy alley of crushing wetness as his head met the alleyway's flagstone pathing, his helmet skidding away as her back hoof slammed down into his brain cavity, the absolute power behind the action cracking his skull into pieces and powder as they luridly mingled with pulped flesh and tissues underhoof, only contributing to the beauty of his personal canvas. She almost wanted to squee and thank him for his effort as he'd been a most wonderful opening act. Twilight had landed on her hindlegs, so she smartly straightened her back and raised her head towards the bright sky, the sun wasn't long past its zenith now, peeking down through the hazy grey smog above and into the alley to bless her scene with its warmth. Her eyes closed in preparation as she filled her lungs with the scent of blood, and calmly breathed out through pursed lips as she opened her eyes again, steeling herself.

The tone of her stage set, her true performance could begin.

Assault rifles had already been raised in shock, but they had yet to fully point at her going as slowly as they were. She'd already moved almost imperceptibly fast from their perspective right at the rugged silver-grey Diamond Dog to her left with the dirty mohawk, this time certainly feeling the familiar tingle of an electro-pulse charge down the length of her right foreleg as it accompanied her heavy punch, boosting the strength of the hit using accelerator mechanisms within the prosthetic for the larger enemy.

Not only were they wearing armour, but Diamond Dogs were tough by nature, their hides were thick, and their skulls even thicker. Their jaws however were another matter entirely, at least to an augmented hoof. The padded sole of her forehoof making contact with the Dog's face was as if it was splashing down into a fur-covered puddle. The skin rippled out from the blow as electricity gently crawled across his surface, fanning outward from her hoof and skittering over him like ghostly white vines under his furry coat in tandem with the sharp cry of fracturing bone; as passionately impactful as a single deep thrum of a contrabass. He twisted away from her a scant second later in slow-motion, pushing into the dark stone of the alley wall with a terrific dazzle of wine-red flying from his torn-up mouth, flanked by bloody spittle and several broken yellow teeth, all amidst the wonderfully explosive backdrop of mineral dust and fragments as he impacted into the side of the building they stood between. She spun with the punch, keeping anti-clockwise on her left back hoof to face around towards her new stage hopefuls.

A worn woodwind flute burst into a sombre solo melody, as the red Earthen stallion to her back with the jet-black mane flick and crystal-tinted eyes that she was now spinning towards finally pulled the trigger of his poorly kept instrument, and entered the performance with lazy notes that her glorious aura simply refused to register. He was an amatuer when compared to her grandiose, his apparatus was not fit for his hooves in the wake of her talent, and he didn't respect the tool he wielded whatsoever. The unpolished metal, beaten, grimy, and worn, was screaming for blessed maintenance. She would teach him the truth, and show him the beauty of her instruments so he might learn to better appreciate his own.

With a internal flick of the mind, the right foreleg that was coming around and raising up to his face ─which was gradually morphing into shock─ promptly shifted from its smooth matte appearance as sleek chitinsilk reformed and metallic panels extruded themselves into formation, and inner-workings came to bear as carbon and polymer rearranged. The end of her leg was no longer present, as where it should have led into a padded hoof there was now only an extensive semi-angular magitech bodywork. Subtly flanked by the resting panelling and heat vents, the ensemble encompassed a rather thick stubby barrel that ended with a wide integrated muzzle brake, the tip just protruding from the frame.

Behold; a true implement of art.

The thundering roar that came from the hoofcannon reverberated throughout the shabby alley's entirety, echoing throughout the main street and most certainly beyond, a single pure note lost amongst dozens of other slapdash melodies while the Black Crow was fought for in so many irregular performances. She had helped him to see her truth, and he had now transcended his modest canvas, ceasing to exist in the limiting form of a pony. Where his rib cage suddenly stopped at mid-chest ─that somehow included a chunk of the occipital bone resting there too─ with his shoulders massively shredded to mulch and the entirety of his head missing save for the snow-white shards of vertebral column that loosely sat in the bloody wreckage of his upper torso, he had completely grown beyond himself. His final image was a gorgeously visceral and flowery affair layered over the substantial depression her hoofcannon's explosive projectile had caused in the stonework of the neighbouring building. Every single chip of bone, every scrap of muscle, every droplet of blood, every element was painted in the right place amidst the complement of a few tattered pieces of armour, and he had bloomed into a violent masterpiece with her expertise. He was perfect.

What damaged sinews remained of his decimated shoulders were just barely holding together with his forelegs to the remnants of his torso, giving out under their own weight as well as the enhanced red leather that covered them. They snapped like rusted guitar strings as his old canvas fell, his forelegs descended freely in the moment while still clutching his instrument that continued to sing a wailing tempo without him, when Twilight was already pivoting back around clockwise on her left back hoof from the brutal venting recoil of the powerful shot spreading through her entire body.

Her system efficiently absorbed the heavy shock through both mechanical and magical kinetic-impact dampeners through key sections of her augmented muscle groups and crystal-weave hardened skeletal structure, all occurring as she spun past the view of the alley's wide mouth towards the police line, her augmented vision focusing in on their stunned visages slowly shifting in a varying range of expressions as they watched her perform. A feeling of jubilation amplified within her chest as her audience was wholly captivated, stored momentum keeping her spinning back to her progressing scene as she nimbly bounced onto her right back hoof and brought her left hindleg up with all the poise and grace of a professional ballet dancer.

The silver-grey Diamond Dog she'd sent into the wall had scarcely recovered from the concussive blow she'd dealt him, but his performance was yet to finish, and he rose with a slight growling whimper at the blood dripping from his furred ears, blown out from the divine resonance of her instrument. He stumbled up to his feet at a crawling pace just in time for the heavy polymer hoof-edge of her hindleg to solidly connect against his temple with a precise meaty smack, just as satisfying as the deeply low beat of a massive gong drum. His already dull amber eyes glazed even further, the pure kinetic energy stored from the hoofcannon's overwhelming timbre altogether transferring into his thick skull from her limb's intensely driven kick.

The impact hit home with such obscene force that even with his large muscular form he practically flew downwards, still rather slow from her chemically high perspective, his pawed feet leaving the debris-strewn ground only momentarily as his unarmoured head then crashed into the flagstones, bouncing a few inches more before collapsing on his back against the ground in a wholly graceless heap. Dust rising like fireflies made of powdered quartz flying around his prone body, Twilight continued moving her hindleg down gracefully to rest upon the warmth of the alley floor, and resisted the urge to take a bow as his scene wasn't finished yet.

Twilight immediately dropped into a well-balanced fighting stance as her momentum came to a close, the other Diamond Dog of this group of Jackals coming out of his dumbfounded stupor and charging at her as if he was trying to fight underwater, his sluggish movements allowing her to see the numerous crisscrossing scars across the broad musculature of his shaggy charcoal body, and the dark-orange eyes that glowed full of anger as a mighty left hook sailed through the air to smash heavily against her face.

Except that thanks to the chill of Neurellix running through her system, she hadn't been where he'd struck, weaving just so to the right as she kept her stance even and bashed his arm aside with a deft counter of her left foreleg, leaving his centre wide open to attack as he couldn't recover in time from putting everything he had into his strike. A very wonderful attempt on his part. Her right foreleg was still configured to the hoofcannon, the limb already flying up with the muzzle brake punching against his plated chest while he looked down at her in a shock, as his final scene was so quickly brought into action with the lovely beat of a mid-pitch kettle drum; a new projectile had loaded into her wonderous instrument.

The instant she heard the drum, she'd fired, the flawless note sounding once more as his chest messily erupted out of his back in a most serene blowout of gore. So many amazing shimmering gouts of rouge, carmine, and pearl-white petals flickered on the wind as the large hoof-sized clumps of flowers separated into a fine shower of red rain, spattering across the flagstones behind him. His tough hide hadn't stood any chance at all, the metal plate and dark leather he wore may as well have been a few dozen layers of cardboard against her instrument.

He swayed on the spot like a drunkard, an incredibly substantial hole raggedly bored through his torso at almost two hooves across, while crimson rivulets lazily rained down over his belly from the monumental wound, turning into pretty little lotus blossoms as they cascaded to the stone at his feet and flourished to life. It seemed he didn't want his scene to end, and she was rather sorry that it had been so quick as there was little drama to be had in it, but she had already made him into an amazing work of art. How could he not be absolutely ecstatic with her unique talent and his own wonderfully well played part in the performance? Finally, he accepted that she had touched his heart, sagging to his knees and bowing his head in contentment at his curtain call, closing his eyes with a deeply happy sigh.

Light on her hooves, she skipped past him as he laid down to sleep, over to the prone silver Diamond Dog as he tried to push himself up to stay on stage, her right foreleg reconfiguring momentarily to its standard hoof-like appearance, before the limbs internal mechanisms quickly shifted and the matte exterior split open again, pushing out to become thee dexterous digits and a ball-jointed opposable thumb. Before the Dog could do anything, she harshly grabbed him by the back of his dirty mohawk and roughly lifted his head up as he let out a sharp pained groan. He'd been on stage for far too long, and he still wasn't improving his subpar performance, as if he'd barely even made the effort to try in the first place. Anger welled up inside her chest because she was trying her hardest to help him ascend, and he didn't even care for the passion that drove her.

He'd wasted her time, and that was unacceptable because she still had so many creatures to help today and far more beautiful scenes to create, so in one swift movement Twilight accelerated her foreleg, smashing his large head into the dense stone wall next to them with an irate snarl. He let out another wail of pain as a powder of glowing motes coated the side of his face and fireflies danced around the flowers trailing from his head trying to carry them away. She was having none of his bullshit as he feebly tried to push her off, and she freed plenty more crimson rivulets from his temple as she slammed again harder, the Dog relenting as they bloomed.

His amber eyes became unfocused once more, and after just regaining some semblance of consciousness he was lulled back into a daze. With another almighty accelerated smash as his head smacked home a third time, she felt his remorse as his thick skull gave way against the chipped stone with a moist sickly crunch and he shuddered, finally ending his scene, and she smiled at his change of heart. It didn't stop her from really driving the point home that he shouldn't have upset her, so she lifted away and smashed forward a fourth time with a gory squelch, though she was thankful that he could now appreciate how much she cared and how difficult her work was, letting him gently drop with a splash into his own bed of flowers that had flourished to life under his head.

She slowly stood, twisted her body to the right, and gently gazed down upon the last canvas that she needed to compose something exquisite for.

The final Jackal, a Pegasus mare with a sea-green coat, choppy teal mane, and teal eyes, was laying against the wall that Twilight had painted a russet wonder across using her glorious instrument. The mare had apparently taken part in that scene, and it seemed that the other Jackal's poorly kept apparatus had wanted to share its song; her right hindleg was simply pulped below the hock, wet ruby flowing from the delicate strands of tissue and slowly pooling between the grooves in the flagstones, petite buds beginning to push up through the liquid and open to the sun. The wing on that side was also broken at its middle somehow, it pitifully drooped as spiralling pink lilies relaxedly grew from the where the bone jutted, and small rouge snakes were delicately trailing down from her ears with gentle hisses. She was covered in so much material from the other scenes, flecks of pearl and carmine, and dancing motes, the pretty crimson of her fellow Jackals. It made Twilight so happy to see this mare was doing her best for her, she was already quite lovely.

The glowing fireflies settled on her, the mare staring hopefully with a kind smile at Twilight while a calm red brook travelled from the side of her mouth, shakily lifting her own well-loved instrument up to show Twilight its virtue. Now here was a pony that appreciated their tools of the trade, Twilight could forgive the damaged stock though as she'd been partly responsible for that. In a way, it did give the apparatus a little bit more character. She waited a moment, wondering how she should help this mare reach her true potential...

***

"P-please st-stop..." The mare cried in a whisper, barely raising her rifle at the fucking Crown Agent that had ripped through them with a horrific efficacy in barely even a minute, where in the fuck had this bitch come from, all of the other guys were dead. Tears fell from the corners of her vision as she choked out a bloody phlegm-filled cough over her dry lips, looking up at the daemonic Unicorn mare that gazed down ferociously upon her with wild glowing eyes. The Agent looked like an absolute fucking madmare, she couldn't fight that. Cerise had tried to shoot her and the Agent hadn't even blinked, just blasted him away into red fucking mist, fuck everything about this; Jöhtunn hadn't said anything about these fucking Shades showing up. The blood-spattered assault rifle the mare gripped in her shaking forelegs lowered. "I-I... surrender... p-please..."

***

...Twilight glanced down at the Jackal with a measured level of pity, the mare was happy with her admittedly acceptable ability and didn't want to improve. Twilight watched the pearls of crystal dance down her cheeks, the fireflies happily settling on her body, the serenity of the vermillion rivers as they gently travelled, and the ruby petals and lilies in them gleaming in the light. She was already a rather wonderful work of art, maybe she didn't need to ascend to a higher level of beauty right now. But at the same time, didn't she owe it to herself to strive for Celestia's Sun, or to touch Luna's stars?

But the bright colours surrounding her were beginning to fade out, the fireflies were fluttering away now, just turning into ugly dust from the stone walls. The flowers in the little rivers were all wilting pathetically and... the lotus flowers were unfortunately dying too, rotting into nothing, they shouldn't have been doing that. Surely, they should stay and...

Twilight blinked hard a few times and shook her head with a frown while the bloodied and broken mare in front of her dropped her weapon to the ground in complete submission. She straightened up and blinked several times as motes of quartz dust scattered around the area, the world distorting slightly as her HUD reoriented back into place and colours finally returned to their normal hues.

Shit, how long had she been hallucinating?

That hadn't happened for a fucking age now, she must have really cranked up the neurozyme this time, that or the Neurellix hadn't liked the amount of Ghost she still had in her system. She suspected it would be purged before long. She glanced around the grubby alley at her hoofwork with a muted smile though; she made one fucking excellently gruesome canvas out of these guys, it was always great to have the opportunity to unleash a little carnage. Not really the usual aesthetics she'd employ on assassination missions as she much preferred to take her time and plan things out, but this was just as fun a picture. Her right foreleg reshifted back into itself to become a hoof again, her bodysuit reforming with it, and she relaxed onto all fours, returning her attention to the dying Jackal that was begging for her life and whimpering as she bled out.

"Calm down, I'm not gonna kill you, a medic's coming." Twilight said to the mare, horn flaring into a purple corona as she reached into her duster with a sigh at needing to use what was meant for herself, and pulled out an emergency med-hypo similar to the ones in a crisis pack if a little more top shelf. She pushed it against the Jackal's neck and depressed the nubbed end, the magnetic coil inside springing and shooting the serum through little shunts that barely pierced the skin straight into the bloodstream. A very popular alternative for those who disliked the idea of needles, or didn't want to have to fuck around with a long sliver of metal inside of them during a shootout.

Like herself, on both counts.

The mare shuddered in abject relief as a likely horrendous amount of pain was instantly anaesthetised from the potent magical painkiller. Jackal or everyday criminal, she wasn't putting up a fight now, the unlucky mare had been caught up in the hoofcannon's wake to some friendly fire and had her leg shredded, and the wing probably snapped when she hit the wall from the blastwave, her eardrums also blown out. She was lucky to still be breathing with all the trauma, the shock alone of breaking a wing alongside the heavy injury should have probably killed her already, it was as jarring for a Pegasus to break a wing as it was for a Unicorn's horn to be snapped off.

One of the CPS squads were rushing over as fast as their hooves could carry them, weapons at the ready and surprise etched into their faces, they really hadn't expected her to simply jump straight into an enemy fortification and just rip and tear into them. The medic that had come for her seeing that she was perfectly fine dutifully hurried to stabilise the Jackal and keep her alive. Twilight informed him that she'd already administered some meds, then turned to face the Appleloosan-sounding Lancer she'd spoken to when she'd arrived into the fight.

"We should head on. Keep a few of your guys here to hold the area like your Captain said, but pick two of them to come with." Twilight told her, while the officer's shocked pale-grey eyes surveyed the forlorn area with a sick expression. She wasn't listening, too stunned by the grisly scene before her. Twilight's horn flared again as she summoned a perfect replica of a Minotaur's hand and snapped the construct's fingers in the officer's face, immediately bringing her out of the daze, the magic winking out as she looked back at Twilight with slight bewilderment in her vision. It was an excellent spell nopony ever expected and it always got their attention, it was far better than stamping a hoof on the ground a few times.

Twilight looked into her shocked grey eyes and decided on a nickname for her while the mare was brining herself back to reality. "You hear me?"

"I... y-yes Ma'am." Grey nodded, her vision drawn back over the disturbing scene from morbid fascination, before she managed to look away again. "Why exactly am I picking folk?"

"Because I'm briefly deputising you." Twilight grinned jokingly, her duster slightly billowing as she turned about to face down the alley and started to trot on past her victims. "Until the Captain shows up, you're my second in command. Guess that makes you, what, a Lance-Captain at least? Congrats on your promotion."

Seeing that Twilight wasn't going to wait for her, Grey quickly sorted herself out and did as she was asked, coming up next to Twilight a short distance along the wide alleyway with a nimbus-coloured Gryphon with nice tits and a fit sable Unicorn stallion, both decked out in their police gear. Although, the Gryphon's plate armour was shaped differently for her bipedal form, so Twilight couldn't actually see the hen's tits but the cuirass was pretty big around them, and she had an excellent imagination.

She focused on their weapons to keep her ever-increasingly horny mind off of trying to think of the Gryphon officer naked, or how well and skilled a Gryphon's tongue generally managed to be. Her heavily modified system was doing a number on her state of mind with all the chemicals flooding about. Grey sported her bolt-action rifle with an integrated magitech scope; a Stryke sniper rifle, ten rounds as standard, sturdy and could be beaten around through a number of conditions, and could easily take the horn off a Unicorn at about three-thousand metres given adequate conditions and a skilled sharpshooter. Nimbus and Sable both carried the CPS's standard-issue assault rifle; the Hammerburst, a streamlined modular bullpup affair that held forty rounds in the mag, good range with multiple firing modes, and just as tough as the Stryke. Both were manufactured by Hammerforged Industries, the assault rifles being the same ones a couple of the Jackals had used, which had probably been stolen from a shipment.

Both were simple and efficient to use, and very easy to maintain. Just good all-purpose weaponry, and Hammerforged made a selling point of their weapons being able to be configured in different ways for any race's usage, by hoof, claw, hand, or magic. They made plenty of good pistols and knives, too. Although, they didn't venture into laser, plasma, or anything more, simply stuck with conventional gunpowder weaponry. It may have limited them to a degree, but it was something of a point of pride for them, which she thought was a shame because an extremely study plasma rifle made by Hammerforged would be amazing.

The two new officers she'd call Nimbus and Sable smartly fell in behind Grey as they had clearly been told about the situation, and deferred to Grey with ease with a good level of professionalism. Twilight smiled, always nice to see competency in the force amongst the lower ranks, if they were part of Sapling Green's lot then Rainbow Dash would have been proud.

"Um, Ma'am?" Grey spoke up, looking at Twilight as they went along the alley's confines.

"Yeah?" Twilight flashed a winning smile at her.

"A-are you high?" She wondered, her accent making the word high come out as 'haah', and Twilight had to pause for a moment at the oddity of the question, stopping their little squad for a second as she halted.

"Wha... huh, cool." Twilight laughed as she brought the diagnostic 3D image of her eyes onto her HUD, seeing the pupils were showing some dilation even after the Neurellix had worn off, her system must not have gotten it all out yet, which did make sense as she still had a ghost of a chill tingling down her back. But even so, Grey couldn't have known, the Aeon eyes must be fully-simulating, even showing the side effects of drug usage. She hadn't known they could do that. Most civvie eye augments were made specifically to be realistic and as close to the original thing as possible, but military ones were normally just purely function over form, very few bothered with ensuring things like the ability to cry or simulating reaction to light. Apparently the Aeon variants Velvet had given her included a few basic things along those lines.

She grinned at Grey. "I guess I am, deputy."

"O-kay then..." Grey drawled, looking back at her companions who just shrugged with a certain look that Twilight felt could best be summed up as 'Well what the fuck are we gonna do about it?' as they kept on with her moving ahead. After a few more seconds of muted silence, Grey resumed speaking. "Also, could uh, could you possibly... not cause a bloodbath again, Ma'am?"

She was a chatty mare.

Pretty too, nice eyes, nice supple flank and haunches, curvy arse. Twilight loved that the modern police plate armour didn't fully cover their backsides; croupiere's had been considered too restricting even back when the Royal Guard had used basic plate. Police armour of today had been designed with both protection and flexibility in equal measure, so their main parts were armoured with enchanted modern plate, but their bodies were covered with an enhanced leather undersuit which cut off at mid-shoulder and the thighs for ease of movement, the underleather being a little different from her duster in that theirs wasn't as sophisticated in the spellwork or inner-lining.

The enhanced leather of her duster had a crystal-weave lining, not dissimilar to what was fused into her skeleton, and was stupidly expensive to make and repair. Their underleathers contained a kevlar-lining, for their daily slog it was far more affordable and much easier to repair. Their entire ensemble was made to defend against projectiles, while still being light and bendable enough so they could move around quickly, but primarily the leather and plate were both geared to be resistant to magic spells like energy bolts and electricity, fire and such else, with a shielding unit for small-arms fire mounted under the chestplate. It was far more common for them to come across an irate pony using their innate magic to cause trouble, rather than someone using a gun. At least, that had been the case when their armour was designed years back, now the armour and shielding unit were upgraded for higher calibres.

"No promises, my augments can be a little... devastating." Twilight tried for a more pleasant demeanour, cooling her intensity and being chummy, but Grey was already rapidly building an idea in her mind of how Twilight was from the destruction she'd wrought. She shrugged mentally as not everyone was going to like her, and sometimes there wasn't any use or benefit to trying to win them over. She was still going to be friendly even if it didn't stop the defensive walls going up anyway.

A shame, Twilight would bet she'd be able to make Grey sing her praises with a few seconds between her legs.

She smiled. "I have ones for crowd control, but just about everything in me is made to be decisive for a reason. If I don't have to get in close then I suppose I can try and let you do most of the shooting, if you like, Grey."

"My name's Dusky Copper, Ma'am." Dusky told her.

"Dusky... hm. Better than Grey."

She came to the end of the broad alley with a level of precaution as it turned off, her hooves automatically setting to move without sound as she approached the corner and peeked around it, with Dusky and the other two coming up behind and neatly moving into a stacked formation. The network that connected to Vee wasn't showing much enemy movement with the chaos going on, there were blindspots in the grid where gangs could move and wouldn't appear on her local map. Vee could make estimations based on their last known location from where she'd spotted them of course, but she preferred not to as it could lead to troublesome situations, even if she was good at it.

"Grey?" Dusky wondered, as Twilight relaxed going around the corner, evidently seeing no enemies to be worried about, though she still went on attentively.

"Your eyes. They're a nice shade of it." Twilight returned with a quick charming grin, as much as one could be charming with shunts in their face, slowly leading on ahead down the only direction the alley led and travelling into a wide side-street, passing numerous bins of varying fullness along the way, the density of them only growing as she saw plenty of chutes poke from the surrounding walls of buildings.

Of course she'd land on a collection street. It was kind of funny how she preferred the scent of blood and gore to the scent of rotting rubbish, most would probably pick the bins. At least they'd make good cover if a quick spot to duck into was needed, and it seemed they might have need of them as her ears flicked, her eyes scanning down to the far end of the dirty road and at its junctions as it split at different points. The echoing sound was coming from further down, the turnoff nearest produced little if no noise; they were going to come into this long stretch from down the way, ahead of the next turn. They weren't being subtle.

She slowed her gait further, tilting her head back over her shoulder to the three behind her while keeping her ears forward. "I hear movement up ahead. You have a silencer?"

She directed the question to Dusky, who gave a back nod to a bandolier strapped securely around her waist. "In my pouch."

"Attach it quickly. Go there, now." Twilight ordered as she pointed a hoof at a lower wall that stuck out from a building, part of an area marker for placing specific apartment's bins within it. It had a gap between the short stone wall and its larger bin nearest that side, perfect for a sniper to hunker down and lean from. She had the slower weapon, and she needed to not be focused on. "You two, there, and there. All of you; only fire when I move, I'm the bait."

She pointed out two similar positions of serviceable defence in the street to Nimbus and Sable just ahead of Dusky, and they quickly obeyed, moving tightly into place and keeping their Hammerbursts at the ready. Nimbus crouched down beside another section marked for storage, using the low wall and an entire collection of the rubbish bins to hide herself, with Sable taking up the exact same position opposite, as the road's collection layout was fairly symmetrical.

Twilight, for her part, took point and dashed behind a gap between two bins just a little further along their path, her forelegs both internally shifting patterns as she crouched on her haunches, the augments altering as the matte panels lifted and the bodysuit reforming. They weren't hoofcannons, but were just as deadly, and also illegal. It was a perfect ambush in waiting, when she left cover and took the enemy by surprise the other three would no doubt follow suit and unload into them too. Twilight could hear the sounds up ahead growing in their intensity as she listened; their haughty steps, hoof and paw both, heavy and unhidden as they thundered along the alley; the smalltalk between the gang members, arguing about the food they'd had and its quality; one of them belittled another for his manestyle, one was complaining about his stolen weapon being shit, apparently he had slightly warped barrel; the puff out of smoke being blown from a cigarette, and the mumbled chatter as the smoker recovered from an idle deep cough brought on by excessive chain smoking. They were completely unaware of the lurking danger ahead of them.

She heard them approach from closer down the way as they turned the corner at the far end, still equally jovial and feeling secure in their power, even on the lookout for enemies they weren't really paying much attention to their surroundings. The Jackal Cartel never had been a gang that played things with wits as much as they did force. But that was going to prove to be something in their favour, as Twilight heard perhaps more than a dozen or so different pairs of steps being taken. They had quite a unit, which meant that Twilight might have to get a little creative again with just as much Neurellix if not more, and that meant overdosing hard and certainly endangering the police with her.

Not to mention that the three police officers, even with her being the main focus, would likely have heavy fire ranged on them by those she couldn't kill fast enough. She could cast a shield across the road for the officers while fighting, but that would take a lot of her focus away from the battle, and being high on combat drugs meant she might not remember to maintain the shield. Although even with the most basic of neurozyme it wasn't a safe option as she didn't want to overload her magic from being amped up in the middle of a firefight, that spelled disaster for anyone in the immediate vicinity. She pushed the thought from her mind as fast as it had come; it wasn't an option with allies or innocents around, not after the last time. She didn't need that blood on her hooves again.

Plans quickly formulated as the steps got closer and the banter grew louder, with a brisk contingency expeditiously set in place as a backup. She reasoned that with a small amount of Neurellix she might come to her senses quick enough with having to burn through so many enemies, however it was weighing the volatility of a heavy designer narcotic made to send someone into combat overdrive against her own ability to not want to do harm to strangers when the drug was coursing through her body, small inconsequential things like allies became a little fuzzy at times when chemically assisted to the gills, she had to see through the veil covering the painting and notice the full picture.

She'd been broken down little piece by piece, and built back up with a state of mind that told her she must kill to survive, much like any other military training, except a Crown Agent's involved a heavy conditioning for an extremely proactive will to do harm, in such that every possible threat was an immediate threat to be addressed, until firmly neutralised or killed. It did little to assist the notion of being just with the Crown's subjects, there wasn't as much room for it, and thus the reason why she and so many of the other Agents had to constantly be assessed and evaluated to make sure they didn't cause any incidents, or anymore incidents than they'd already caused, in her case.

The Crown had less than a hundred of them in their service for that reason alone; they were incredibly dangerous to everyday people in many instances, and had to work to not hurt those that didn't deserve it. It required a strong mental aptitude based in caring for those around them, as with the training it lessened that quality. It was like keeping two large pitchers of water precisely even, constantly pouring one into the other and trying not to overpour and unbalance the equality.

The insanity of the modern day necessitated their controversial existence, but that didn't make it without its sacrifices. Adding combat drugs to that already temperamental mix was asking for some nasty chaos that would make Discord proud.

She probably shouldn't risk the Neurellix, it seemed the better option though she'd be relying entirely on her shielding and her gear. She was decently charged up and the situation was a pleasant warrant for some of the additional parts of her mighty arsenal, but she always performed so superbly on...

Fuck, they were almost within spitting distance.

Well, nothing for it then.

Twilight leapt out from her cover with a snarl, skidding on her back hooves into the open space between the storage areas, making herself the obvious and visible target as the weapon augments of her forelegs sang.

Or they would if the weapons weren't geared for minimal silence.

The shard pistols used by the Crown's AMR teams were not, strictly speaking, true shard weaponry, not to Twilight. They were fairly loud with their amped-up spell matrix even with a lack of chemical propellant, fired specifically shaped pieces of crystal designed to deal minimal damage to flesh and organs that could easily be healed, and came with a certain amount of kickback from their extremely fast fire rate. They were built with the purpose of defensive quick reaction spray-fire and causing the least harm possible.

Now her shard weapons on the other hoof, they were the real deal, possessing near to angry wasp levels of zipping sound that barely registered to the senses, and zero recoil from the internal magitech framing that minimally left the end of her forehooves, meant that the two ponies up front of the group had simply seen a weird purple mare in a duster jump out and point her hooves at them for no reason, before the electromagic inner-coils of her shard augments shot out about a hundred micro shards of jagged fléchette directly at their heads with extreme speed.

All the two probably managed to register before their heads and necks were torn asunder into a red mist was mild surprise, or possibly; 'the fuck?'

As she'd expected, with those two dead she was still now facing down sixteen armed Jackals, quickly aiming their weapons at her and opening fire, only one of the Dogs had been slower as some of the fléchettes dug into an arm. She moved at great speed to get into the centre of them, accelerating all of her limbs as she jumped at the nearest Jackal, a blue Unicorn stallion, and squarely landed a rapidly-charged back hoof on his chest, rocking him through with a pulse-charge that saw him fly back into one of his fellows. She prioritised Jackals without headgear, her forelimbs thrumming as she fired another burst each at the greyish Gryphon to her left and the spinach-green pony to her right while she landed, they went down thrashing in a puff of crimson as she immediately barrelled herself into the jet-black Diamond Dog with a really weird side-flip hairdo already squeezing the trigger of his Hammerburst at her.

By now, Nimbus and Sable were precisely firing into the Jackals' numbers with the surprise attack Twilight had launched, Dusky snapping off a shot from her Stryke rifle that smacked into an armoured Dog's shoulder and knocked him back, but the enhanced leather had held. Before he could pay attention to where the shot had come from and return fire, Twilight had straightened her left foreleg at him and issued a burst in his direction. She didn't watch as the side of his face came apart like a balloon full of red paint, she was focusing on the jet-black Diamond Dog that was now slashing at her with his mighty clawed digits, she'd only just kept him off long enough to get onto her hindlegs and was blocking with her free foreleg, as she could also feel several rounds slamming into her shields from the Jackals around her.

She'd made things chaotic enough that they were torn between dealing with her, or the three police shooting at them from fortified positions, but many were deciding to seek refuge behind nearby bins too, and as she was occupied with Jet-Black here, shoot at her from the safety of their cover. Her shields held strong, the shimmering patterns dancing over her as several bullets hit near her face and chest, buzzing angrily like insects trying to breach a window pane before giving up and falling away. It wasn't as bad as it could have been, they weren't firing in anything more than single shot intervals so as not to hit her current opponent. Jet-Black was their lieutenant, as unlike them she could see that he had shielding, and she was close enough to hear the small unit giving a faint hum from inside the enhanced leather, mounted on the kevlar insert.

She confirmed the power of the shielding unit by backing off enough to raise her left foreleg and let the shard pistol have a go, but all it did was make a brief lightshow flash across his armoured upper leg, so it was a pretty decent shield. Jackal lieutenants were always fun partners to tango with.

Nimbus and Sable were properly in the fight now, the Jackals having taken up positions behind anything the road had to offer and firing at them like creatures possessed, giving them little time to react and return fire beyond Dusky sniping off a shot when they were the main target. In quick succession, Twilight managed to catch as a Gryphon attempted to take up high to flank the police from above in a quick launch earlier than they could react, before Nimbus cleanly stepped out and put a burst through his left wing, shredding the muscle of the appendage in a spray of blood, and as he careened downward Sable solidly hit him with a single shot to centre-mass that pierced his crimson leather armour though the metal chestplate. She then saw out of her peripherals as a pony that had been firing into her shields faster than the other Jackals went down from a well placed headshot that punched right through his helmet and blew his brains out in a spectacularly gory fashion from the exit hole. Both bastards should have kept themselves in cover properly. Very excellently done, officers.

Jet-Black was raining swipes at her left and right, which without any sort of neurozyme to assist her was only dodged purely by her pattern analysis of Dog fighting techniques and the powerful technology of her body keeping her fast enough. Diamond Dogs were deceptive in how fast they could be, even more so when angry or if they berserked. She was trained to deal with several species and Dogs fought very similarly, all generally fighting with nothing but pure beastly aggression and anger directing their strikes and overwhelming their opponents with pure strength and unpredictability. She blocked a swipe that clashed with her right foreleg, the shields holding, and returned a sharp left hook directed at his throat before his other forearm smacked it down in a counter, having to make her quickly drop down and back on her hindlegs. She brought her right foreleg back up to cover her face in time as he lunged forward and smashed his head into the prosthetic limb, the force of it driving her back even further and only giving her a second to recover as he came in to attack again.

Now this was exciting!

He swiped hard with both his hands, his claws arcing through the air and missing as she completely dropped down, her left foreleg rapidly reshifting back to its original form while her hoof struck out cleanly with a quick electro-pulse at his right knee as it just finished assembling itself. The electro-pulse did nothing against him as he had an implant that negated it beyond his shields, but it would bring them lower, and it knocked him off balance enough for Twilight to dive back and bring her forelegs up as his claws came down again, and they clashed again in a struggle for dominance for a bare moment until an extremely fast knee came up and collided with her face, the kinetic force impacting through the shield and crunching against her snout.

Barely feeling it through the Ghost and remnants of Neurellix, she went with it as he had released his grip on her forelegs, and it was better than trying to weather the blow and keep herself in place, in turn forcing her shields to compensate harder than they had to and allowing herself to be pummelled like a ragdoll. Of course it did mean she soared backwards into the open where she was hammered with more gunfire as she deftly flowed into a backflip off her forelegs, vaulting herself back onto her hindlegs and dashing back into position behind the bins she'd waited to ambush them from beforehand. A few bullets dinged into the metal as she wiped a hoof over her bleeding nose and felt annoyed at the sensation of displaced cartilage under her dermal, even so she was smiling. Jet-Black was forced to retreat into his own ranks as well, as Dusky hit him with a well placed shot to the chest that made his shields flare, alongside the general threat of Nimbus and Sable returning gunfire with the other Jackals, he didn't risk it and retreated. He scooped up his Hammerburst from the ground as he went and blind-fired in their direction before bounding into safety of his ranks.

Twilight counted the precious seconds as her shields recharged through her overall power while her healing matrix fixed her face, not consuming much but a dent was still a dent. Her forelegs reconfigured as she quickly formulated her next plan. The right foreleg shifted back into the hoofcannon, the left became a shard augment. She had a single remaining explosive round in the hoofcannon and she needed to distract the Jackals again, otherwise Dusky, Nimbus, and Sable's luck was going to run out, their shields would flat, and they'd get seriously hit or instantly killed. Their shields weren't able to withstand torrents of fire and it would only take a few concentrated bursts to break through, they also didn't have dermal armour like her. The hoofcannon was likely to blow their eardrums out in the shockwave of the road's limited space, though they'd get to live. If she had more time she'd tell them to cover their ears and open their mouths, but the Jackals would advance soon enough with their superior numbers in a full rush, still eleven to their four, and it would be hoof-to-hoof. She needed to stop that eventuality from occurring, so she was going to jump out and fire off the heavy ordinance, blowing away at least two or three covered behind their defences, then leap forward into their remaining line while they were still recovering from the blast.

But then the screams of shock and death began without her.

From the absolutely deafening explosions and ferocity of Vanguard Muskets, as she heard a telltale commanding voice shout aloud FIRE! from beyond her position.

Twilight grinned as a few balls missed their mark and heavily slammed into the flagstones in a spray of stone chips, one blowing out the side of the bin she was ducked behind so hard it jostled the thing, throwing stinking rubbish all over the road's centre as several bags burst amidst the tearing metal. It had been a gamble to call it in, but there was less of a chance of a trained soldier's Musket hitting the police than erratic Jackal fire, and she'd warned them ahead of time there were friendlies in the line of fire. She knew that the three officers with her weren't going to distinguish between the gangs here, but she certainly would. It ended as quickly as it had begun, and she jumped out on her hindlegs for more height and visibility when the single heavy volley finished, sharply turning back to the three as they all instantly leant out to shoot.

"Hold your fire!" Twilight shouted at them, her authoritative voice carrying through the wide street with ease and her left hoof raised in their direction. As she'd suspected, claw and magic had been pressed to triggers, and she'd likely just stopped a massive misunderstanding. They hadn't already been peppered by the next volley from the second line because she wasn't an enemy of the Blackguards, and neither were the police, usually.

She turned her head to face the rising ghost of red-tinged smoke clouds from the mess that was the Jackal's eviscerated line with a wicked smile at the carnage. Jet-Black shuffled awkwardly from his destroyed cover with massive bloody holes in his armour larger than her hoof, the larger exit wounds raw and open, before a roguish figure holding his cumbersome and still-smoking Vanguard Musket in one claw briskly strode through the clearing haze donned in light old-fashioned plate armour and a long leather coat, and roughly stabbed a vicious trench knife into the meat of the Dog's throat. He violently twisted the knife, punched forward, and dragged the blade out in quick succession. Jet-Black issued a death rattle as his corpse fell with a heavy thump against the bloodsoaked flagstones, joining the others around him.

She raised a hoof to her chest, offering the figure a neat bow. "Nice of you to join me, Garett."

The serious-faced golden Gryphon regarded her with a nod, the golden circlet atop his head engraved with Gryphish designs denoting his rank glinting in the partial sunlight. "Agent. The Major sends her fond regards."

"Yeah, good timing, I didn't know if that would work. Thought I might have to fight down to my dermal." Twilight smiled, returning the weapon augments back into hooves and rolling her aching shoulders and neck to loosen up a bit as she went to all fours. She hadn't known if Gwyndolin would accept her call for assistance, or that it would be Garett leading them. Calling the Blackguard for assistance as a backup plan hadn't been at the very top of her list of things to do, but it had likely been needed and they had come through valiantly to her aid. Now she just owed Gwyndolin one, and they all knew it.

Twilight glanced at the bloody corpses of the Jackals before looking at Garret again. "Are you having much trouble with the locals lately?"

"Of a sort." Garett returned, the crook of his beak raising slightly in amusement.

He crouched down and wiped the blade of his trench knife on Jet-Black's corpse, paying the three police officers no mind as they warily came forwards, and resheathed the weapon. The Blackguards under his command behind him were reloading their weapons or had done so already, their second line smartly staying in formation as they all held a short distance back, switched on and alert for danger, and all of them ready to drop into their firing line again at a second's notice. They were no ragtag militia like the Jackals. They'd quickly ambushed them from the side alley cutting into this street up ahead, and the Jackals had been completely blind to it, and likely would have been even without Twilight and her company distracting them.

Garret stood up, glancing at her while reaching into an ammunition pouch and starting to reload his heavy looking Vanguard Musket. "Do you still have need of our rifles?"

Rifle was an accurate term. Vanguard Muskets were the modern equivalent of the old smoothbore musket from long well before the Goddess Aeon, the name had simply stuck even with the advent of rifling added to their muskets, and the Gryphons, ever sticklers for their traditions, had kept the basic archaic design the same through the many years.

She had never gotten to use one as it was considered very poor form by Gryphons to let another species use their musket rifles as they were made for the wielder, but she absolutely adored the intricacies of it, having watched plenty of the Blackguards field-strip their precious weapons to clean them of residue she'd learned how it all went together pretty quickly, and probably either annoyed or amused several of them with just how much she asked about them.

Garett's musket rifle, as with all of the Blackguard's rifles, were mostly fashioned from a single piece of expertly carved wingwood, a type of hardwood from a tree native to the Gryphon lands known for its high resilience. The rest of the weapon was made of an incredibly tough tungsten alloy the Gryphons called Galaedriun, after its creator. The design was almost completely devoid of magic, and thoughtfully created through pure technological ingenuity, consisting of a long rifled barrel and several smaller cast pieces that all perfectly fixed together with secure fittings to complete its firing mechanism. There was a neatly compact spring-latch compartment cut into one side of the upper barrel for the required ammunition to be pushed into, along with an insertion tube that fit snugly above the latch which stored a striking rod. A striking rod could be made of various gem powders, but was often primarily ruby mixed with a little fireflax gel, compressed into a cylindrical length. When the trigger of the rifle was pulled, it would strike a cocked hammer with a treated gem tip into the striking rod's tube, acting as an old musket flint and forming the spark that very quickly ignited the rod, at the same time barely opening the breech to the tube, and in turn setting off the propellant of the contained round and firing the shot.

The ball that it fired was essentially a shaped bullet with a simple skirting, which expanded from a conical base after the extremely powerful powder in its back was set off, obturating the barrel and engaging with the rifling. The cast bullets were about the width of a platinum moon and as long as a Thuddgun slug, making it roughly the same size as one. It seemed basic, but what made it scary was the hole it could make in a person; it didn't just hit and pierce through, it hit and blossomed.

Ponies had long since been done using black powder weapons, and moved onto bigger and better technologies, the Gryphons however had just kept going with it and improving the components that went into the weapon. A change from lead to copper had meant a faster shot, and combining that with a new fireflax-based propellent had meant even more force was put behind the bullet. Then the Gryphons had gone even further by making moulds that cast the bullets with a wicked five-pronged surround, while keeping its main body intact and its tip as a lead-copper alloy that both bloomed outward upon impact.

When the bullet hit a target, it sharply punched through and flattened into a wider shape, making a massive hole while the prongs separated and tumbled, absolutely shredding surrounding tissues. To get hit by one was to be marked for a very painful death without almost immediate treatment. A hit from an old musket had usually meant death with the medical ability of the time, and if a limb was hit it was guaranteed you were losing that limb near the point of impact, but the Vanguard Musket ensured that even in the modern day people had to worry about such things when they were faced down with one.

She might have been a little obsessed.

So yes, she wanted their rifles.

She wanted Garett too, but that wasn't happening.

"It would greatly help, if you can spare them." Twilight nodded politely, intently watching Garett open the hefty weapon's latch and push in another of those deadly clawed bullets into its breech, closing it and keeping the projectile securely in place.

The tip of the ruby hammer on his musket rifle still glowed with a pulsing red anger, ready to strike again once it was fully pulled back into position, and there was still a low reddish vapour issuing from the rod's compartment as it burned. It would stay like it until it died and needed to be replaced. It was an odd design choice as ponies had simply developed weapons that struck a hammer straight into the chamber against the ammunition itself, yet Gryphons had kept the bizarre middlemare arrangement of having the rod prime the shot; a hold-over from an older Gryphon model of musket that they hadn't abandoned for the sake of tradition.

She glanced back at her companions briefly. "I'm after some officers."

"Headhunting, are we?" Garett mused, lifting his musket rifle and neatly holding it into the crook of his arm with the barrel resting against his shoulder, just as he would have done in the military. The guy never let himself relax his discipline out in the field, he was as bad as Gwyndolin. "We've been encountering plenty of Jackals and putting them down, and the Children are keeping out of our way. The only law enforcement we have encountered were already dead."

Dusky's eyes went wide, and she surged forwards at the news with shock on her features. "Was one of them a pale-white mare?! Blonde mane, blue eyes! Was there a Diamond Dog in uniform?! There were six-"

"Calm, officer. No Dogs in with the dead. No pale-white mares." Garett gently raised a placating claw, but it didn't stop the three police officers behind Twilight from feeling bad about the loss of fellow police. She could see their grief as they tried to push it down. "If it is any consolation; I have marked numerous points on a private map for our movement strategies, including those of your fallen. I shall give Agent Sparkle a separate map of their locations."

Dusky nodded mutely with thanks in her eyes, both Nimbus and Sable regarding Garett with a respectful nod or look each. Garett returned a polite bow of his head, standing a little straighter as his eyes became slightly unfocused and danced briefly; the semi-glazed look of someone using their own HUD to transmit data. Twilight smiled as she must look like that all the time. She received his edited map as he came back, and she immediately forwarded the information to the Crown database. Vee would get it and send it to someone who could retrieve the bodies at the earliest opportunity.

"This is all very well to do, everyone getting along so nicely, but we've got some people to save." Twilight said with a confident smirk, gently trotting past Garett with his very nice arse and admittedly lovely long coat. Her duster was better, she could tell herself that even if hers didn't have that sexy golden trim or red velvet lining. Dusky, Nimbus, and Sable came along behind her as Garett commanded his own fellows to move forwards down the grimy road from where the Jackals had come from.

She nudged him with a smirk as she started to walk. "Do you want to take the lead or should I?"

"The Major has instructed that if you require, I am to take your orders." Garett intoned as she walked alongside him, ignoring her suggestive tone and surveying the area briefly as he went, before quickly snapping his head back to face her with such a jerk that his circlet wobbled. "Within reason however, of which I would expect of a commanding officer of my kin, and for the duration of your rescue mission, only."

"Relax, I'm not a Changeling, you'll have no sneaky shit from me." Twilight grinned with a chuckle at his quick additions. "Dealing with the Children a lot, are you?"

"Too much." He sighed with annoyance, stopping briefly as he bent down.

She watched with a moderate level of appreciation as he quietly took a few purple roses from within one of his long coat's pockets, the petals perfectly fine, and laid them across the bodies of the Gryphons that had been a part of the Jackals forces. He didn't say any words as he stood up again and followed her as she left the scene, falling in ahead of his soldiers as Twilight led on.

Author's Note

Once again I had to cut this chapter down. It was originally 27k in length.
So much exposition and world-building. :rainbowderp:
Added fixes and grammar changes, lore things.

7: RESCUE_PROTOCOL_ACTIVE

Princess Luna stood before her.

The beautiful ethereal Diarch she hadn't seen for a few years since reformation ─not since the Umbral Festival created to mark her return and the beginning of the Goddess Aeon─ stood tall and serious over her.

She was enrolling in the new Agent program, along with four other hopefuls who'd gone through the necessary training in the Guard to even get to where they were considered for the position. Agents were known as one of the top branches of the Crown, ensuring safety and peace wherever they went in the realm, they carried the word of the Princesses and worked to bring down corruption.

At least, that's what she'd thought. In truth, they were a little more sinister.

Princess Luna had asked if she thought a position in the Guard was worthwhile, she'd said yes, naturally it was, everything she'd done and forced herself through, struggling and bleeding, defying all odds and expectations against her to even join the Guard in the first place, it was the reason for her return from Canterlot. She'd moved back to finish her studies under Celestia after being in Ponyville for a few years as she soon realised that things were changing, and not for the better, so joining the Guard and helping to restore order was the only path forwards. She didn't want to be away from her friends but there was precedent for it, that the Elements were failing, that their last victory against the literal embodiment of Chaos known as Discord had been by the skin of their teeth, that things simply couldn't continue this way.

The Princess had agreed, though not without a clear suggestion.

So here she stood in the training room, overseen by Princess Luna, enrolled in a new scheme that would see her being far more proactive against the evil of the world. The Agent program was going to undergo a complete reformation, and incorporate several upcoming magitech advances to overcome any means of force that came against the Crown.

It hadn't taken them long to be thrown into Equestria's most brutal training regime that was several times more punishing than what she'd gone through in the Guard Initiate program either, and of the four hopefuls with her, one had already dropped out of the Agent training only a week in while the other three were going strong alongside her, one of them even being a Thestral.

There was little downtime, little rest between sessions, and after days of gruelling endurance training in forced conditions, endless hours of non-stop exercise and mental assault, they were thrown into bizarre CQC sparring that hadn't been taught in the Guard. It was far too specialised and specific, meant for extremely high manoeuvrability when surrounded on all sides during solo excursions where the odds were stacked against an Agent.

They quickly began in earnest again, weary but forcing themselves on, and she was eager to prove herself in front of the Princess, show Her that there had been progress and that she wasn't wasted potential, that she would do her utmost to do her part for Equestria. She was wild in her fervour for it, her current sparring partner was-

-the tawny Gryphon in the dark undersuit, she saw him as she blinked away the sudden static burst, he was somewhat near the door and away from the Wildbuck leaning against the nearest wall, a claw already moving as he surged towards her. Her hooves were configured into the shard augments, but she still brought her right hoof up and slammed it into his arm at the wrist immediately, hearing the crack of bone while her left came up and firmly smashed into his face, his beak crunching in a nice little red expulsion as blood spurted freely.

He collapsed backwards, anguishing to the floor clutching at his face and holding his broken wrist to his body as she then fired her shard augments at the other two stallions getting up from their couch. They went for their rifles and failed spectacularly as their armour-less bodies were ripped open in pained screams, her fléchettes drawing messy blossoms of crimson across their pastel torsos and spattering the room. The final Jackal sitting in the seat next to the HV in the corner was uninjured, the caramel-coloured Unicorn mare with a tied-back mane wearing only in a pair of panties almost shocked into torpor and making no attempt to grab her armour or weapon, yet Twilight's right foreleg still raised as the mare's hooves ascended in surrender.

Twilight's hoofblade extended from its housing on her left foreleg as she released a jettison of micro-shards the mare's way from her right hoof, not watching her slump over and gurgle blood through her destroyed muzzle and neck where the shards impacted, and instead Twilight focused her attention on the downed Gryphon that was dragging himself towards the wall to grab his weapon.

She raised her left foreleg and accelerated the blade through the meat of one of his thighs, halting his movement and effectively pinning him. His cry of pain was lost in the far higher cacophony of gunfire happening outside of the flatpack. She recalled the blade and waited a moment as he went for the Wildbuck again, and lunged forward with a growl to force the length through his back, cleanly piercing through his chest and out the other side. He wheezed out a throaty gasp as he managed to put a claw around the automatic shotgun resting against the wall, though didn't get much farther than that as she watched his head lower bit by bit with a sigh, the weapon falling to the bloodstained wooden floorboards.

She freed the blade and stood back up, noting with a little interest that the weapon next to the mare's corpse was another Tachyon Complex ADEE laser rifle like the one she'd seen out front with one of the Gryphons, this one holding an emerald battery instead. It was just as well not all Jackals were so well armed, it would have been far worse for the CPS were that the case. The ADEE was enveloped within her lavender magic as her horn glowed and she brought it over, inspecting and finding the weapon's condition was rather good. She decided to take it with her as she faced about and went to the door, barely hearing Garrett outside rally another combined volley rather than individually placed shots before screaming FIRE! once again, and the building vibrated through the resulting eruption.

The Blackguards had very much kicked the nest and she could hear the Jackals returning fire from their positions within the building, as well as a Minotaur's machine gun out the front loudly belching out rounds. She hoped that if there was anyone innocent in the rooms with the Jackals that they had the good sense to stay down until the smoke finally cleared. Twilight swiftly moved past the fresh corpses she'd made with the scent of their blood giving her a kick in her step. Their struggle hadn't made much noise to be heard but she had still heard hooves coming down the hall.

Magic use gave off a certain feel, so her signature had likely been detected by another Unicorn, and she could also feel the faint hum of magic casting from beyond the open doorway, raising her left foreleg the moment a Hammerburst levitated around the corner and expelling the hoofblade at the same time that the rifle barked. The shield over her glowed momentarily before the blade pierced the weapon, and it promptly malfunctioned in a small contained rupture as it attempted to keep firing. Retracting the blade and letting it fix back in place she sprinted on her back hooves at the door, just as the overly curious face of a sable Unicorn with a punky mane peered around the doorframe with her horn glowing, likely for a magic bolt.

The end of Twilight's hoof slammed hard into the Unicorn's face and immediately stopped her magic casting, although rather than from pain it was quite possibly just because her neck simply snapped as her face gave an audible crunch and she went flying into the wall opposite between two rooms on the other side. She cracked against the shoddy stone and slumped to the floor. Properly stepping out into the dingy hall over the Jackal's twitching corpse she immediately raised her right foreleg and put a burst from her shard augment through a green stallion's head as he ran from one room to another on the side the Blackguards were assaulting, his body falling in the doorway he was passing into as his head was torn open.

She was certainly kicking the nest herself.

The mare she'd sent crashing into the wall had created quite a stir, and the door on her left exploded into scatterings of wood-chips as gunfire spewed out from inside the room towards her. Her shield shimmered as she moved and kicked the splintering door inwards instead, sighting three Jackals inside, two Gryphons and a Zebra. Nopony else. Her horn was still casting, and she raised her left foreleg along with the ADEE, firing both simultaneously, and though by now the Jackals had gotten their armour on, the laser rifle still made very short work of the situation.

It was set to burst-fire, and the three shots it expelled absolutely devastated the Zebra who'd been standing bipedal with a Stryke rifle in his hooves, two shots thoroughly burning through his metal chestplate and the leather behind it, and the third cauterising a strip out of the side of his neck. It left him stumbling on his hindlegs for a moment with the reek of burning flesh and fur in the air before he collapsed along with his weapon. The two Gryphons had been a little faster and dove for cover behind the room's only couch, though one had caught some fléchettes along the way that evidently pierced his armour given his cry of pain, yet it didn't stop their Hammerbursts' from raising up.

While their rifles blindfired at her she was also quickly zeroed on from down the hall as well from one or two doorways. She watched the bullets slam into her shielding and angrily vibrate as they tried their best to pierce without any luck, the barrier over her only erupting into arcing patterns. The ADEE was flicked to full-auto and swiftly released a torrent of glowing green death at the two Gryphons to finish them off while she turned to face her new assailants.

Which was when things got far more interesting, as a door to her right just up ahead was flung open with such force it broke off the hinges, and the gunfire her way ceased as out stomped an enhanced Minotaur with very augmented arms bearing massive serrated blades, which were more like actual swords. She immediately detected the shielding unit under his armour, and rapidly scanned him seeing he had quite a few implants that boosted his reflexes, negated pulse-charges, and it seemed his arms allowed him to dish pulse charges out too. Jackal lieutenant. If they were out in the open their upcoming fight would have been rather simple but both their space to manoeuvre around was severely limited in this cramped hall, that was going to make things rather fun, though it didn't stop him from breaking into a charge at her with a ferocious howl.

Pushing her back hooves against the floorboards the internal mechanisms tensed and accelerated, and she launched herself backwards in the direction of the stairs as both her forelegs focused shard fire upon him, the laser rifle adding to the barrage and peppering him as a mighty left hook arced with electricity through the air where she'd been. His shield held as he threw another punch at her with the other fist, the serrated sword on that arm extending out and she swiftly ducked back under its arc as the edge sliced into the stonework of the left-side wall.

The shield over him flickered intensely with the outpour of her weapons fire, the ADEE blasting on full-auto into its target and soon halting as side panels shot out and vented the strong heat build-up, while he forcefully yanked the sword free in a smattering of stone fragments and rushed her again, his implants assisting his speed as the sword pushed out in another massive downward swipe. She dropped the laser rifle from her magic and quickly stopped firing her shard augments, bringing the left foreleg up and bringing her hoofblade to bear, being forced back as her hindlegs heavily dug against the floorboards and making the wood creak their blades clashed. The edges of their weapons grinded for a single moment before the monomolecular diamond-edge of her blade bit into his sword as he attempted to push her down harder.

The serrated sword was cleaved as she swiftly drove back in an upward strike, though he pulled away in an instant to avoid being struck and before she could fire her right shard augment he cleanly thrust his other arm forward, the sword mounted there extending out before she could back-step enough, and as she hadn't been chemically assisted his blade struck against her left foreleg as she tucked it down to block the strike.

She grunted in anger as she skirted back across the floor, her shield flaring and almost dissipating. A momentary flick over her HUD showed that his single heavy blow had almost depleted the remaining sixteen percent or so. She didn't feel pain in her prosthetics, but she could feel the kinetic feedback of general force from his sword managing to pierce through her foreleg's reinforced surface. A warning flashed across her HUD to show its integrity had been partially compromised, yet thankfully it seemed her shard augment hadn't been. Melee weapons were something of a counter to shields, as force heavily concentrated into a single point rather than being spread over the entire barrier often allowed them to cleave past if they were strong enough, so she decidedly let the remaining shield drop and be cycled into a quicker boost charge from her power cells.

She managed it just as the lieutenant's accelerated and electrically charged left fist came around and straight up again, while she only had time to bring her right foreleg up to brace behind her left, the hoofblade blocking the sword while his punch connected. She was swiftly sent barrelling backwards from the hall, smashing through the upper doorway and over the stairs leading up, and into the farthest wall with a resounding thunderclap as she weightily impacted into the stone. She gasped in a minute amount of pain as she felt the deep throb up her back along her still-recovering spine, and the twinging shock through her stock muscle and tissues. Her shield boost failed to absorb all of the kinetic force alongside her multiple dampeners from the pulse-charge lowering it, but it was better than if she'd allowed her shields to remain as they had without the instant charge-up.

She grit her teeth as she heard the Jackals cheer, wrenched herself free of the cracked and crumbling wall, and shot out at her opponent on accelerated hindlegs through the mineral dust, hoofblade flashing as the Minotaur punched toward her with his right fist, perhaps thinking his augments were tougher than his sword had been.

He was wrong.

Her shields weren't the only thing that could be pierced, and her blade's perfect edge shunted and sliced down into his fist mid-metacarpals, carving through to three-quarters down the wrist as she swung herself up and accelerated both back hooves into his chest with an ill-tempered shout, driving him back and making him focus on keeping his hoofing even while at the same time she fired her right shard augment without restraint into his face. With everything she'd piled into his shield already, her hoofblade depleting them down, and without ample time to recharge, it wavered, and he brought his other hand up just as the dazzling patterns across him fizzled and the shield broke, the prosthetic blocking her stream of shard fire slowly being chipped away as the fléchettes sliced into it.

With a mighty great shove he accelerated the damaged limb outward and she let herself fall back to avoid the strike, shearing the hoofblade through the arm it was lodged in. She kicked away and landed in a crouch upon her haunches, dashing back as he lunged forward throwing a hasty left hook with less power behind it while she raised both hooves and fired, the jagged shards tearing into his armour and slowly eating through it as he pulled back to protect his face, at which point he realised he wasn't going to win. He backed off and turned to retreat, and the gunfire her way from multiple Jackals leaning out of the rooms started up again.

Her shields were still low and almost down again, they'd only gotten a short burst of life from the quick boost, and her power cells had taken that valiantly as it wasn't meant to be done often, it effectively harmed their internals and the overall power they could store. It wouldn't be an issue when she got her check-up back at the Palace as they could repair the strain, but to keep doing it in a combat situation meant she'd have to take cover far more often as the power of her shielding lessened.

She moved and ducked herself into the room she'd already cleared on the left, the sounds of battle outside the flatpack increasing through the half-open windows as she threw herself behind the couch she'd ventilated with the laser rifle, being greeted by the two dead Gryphons with shocks of pain frozen across their faces from the holes burned through them.

"Hey guys." She said for no particular reason.

Twilight shifted about and waited for the Jackals to charge in as her systems soon began the process of recharging her shields, her horn flaring as instead a fun little number bounced off the doorframe into the room and landed just before the tattered couch. She wasn't about to allow an uncontrolled explosion in an area she was certain still held civilians, and that they'd tried it only angered her more than she already had been. She ensnared the frag grenade and chucked it out of a window down towards the Jackals still fighting the Blackguards, smiling a bit when she heard their cries from it touching down and promptly exploding within their ranks.

Her shields peaked to their maximum effectiveness of eighty-seven percent, her internal power now down to forty-four percent, and she jumped to her hooves, horn glowing as she took the Gryphon's Hammerburst rifles with her and strode out into the hallway with fury in her breast, holding down their triggers while her hooves raised and sang. Both bullet and fléchette took two or three Jackals down in sprays of gore before they all tucked themselves in to avoid danger, the Unicorns amongst them blindfiring at her instead. Her right foreleg reshifted into the hoofcannon momentarily and she brought forth a smoke grenade, priming it for immediate detonation as she fired it.

Her imaging sense flicked into action.

The hoofblade extended while her right foreleg's internals changed back to the shard augment, and she went to work as the Jackals confusion mounted from the obscuring heavy blast of billowing grey smoke that had instantly filled the hall and spread into the open rooms. She leapt forward and slashed her blade through the throat of a Gryphon that was stumbling blind, watching the spray of his blood spatter in a brilliant glow of lavender from the vision mode as the Hammerbursts fired into a lightly-armoured stallion that tried to quickly move further down the hall into a different room towards her in order to get a better vantage point.

The stallion went down in a vibrant haze from the rain of bullets and was left screaming, she let him die slowly while firing at two Jackals that thought utilising the smoke as cover to fire from their doorways was a good idea, and they slumped back and to the floor in messy bright splatters as her rifles put each of them down. The one Jackal within the building she saw actually wearing a helmet was outright killed as she raised and loosed her hoofblade directly through the mare's eye as she leant out to fire, her body thwacking back into the doorframe before the blade was retracted.

She focused on open doors and cleared rooms with ease, levitating the necessary mags from corpses to reload the Hammerbursts and keep them in use. The few Jackals with eye augments that possessed thermal sight or imaging sensors were her main targets as she then switched to those confused about dealing with the Blackguards outside or her wreaking havoc in here, and they were quite uncoordinated from it. She could see when she stepped into a room now home to some freshly perforated corpses that her allies were approaching little by little as their muskets devastated the enemy, the Blackguards having cleared a massive amount of Jackal strength from outside the building.

Twilight moved back into the hall and sighted the huge lavender glow of a Diamond Dog coming up the stairs from below, the bitch opening fire through the smoke with a Wildbuck, the automatic shotgun roaring through the hall's confines and sending vibrant pellets scattering through the air, partially smacking into her shield as she moved behind an opened door which was immediately chewed up by the rapid onslaught, Twilight leaning out and spraying some shard fire the Dog's way before letting her blade fly. The edge of it skirted the shotgun and sliced into the bitch's bicep as Twilight let Hammerburst fire rain down the passage in return.

In a sharp growl and a sudden fit of rage the Dog dropped the shotgun and charged at Twilight, forgetting about the blade that had flown past and maybe assumed was now out of Twilight's reach. It was pulled back towards its housing and quickly found a new home, sinking into the Dog's back and embedding. The bitch loosed a pained roar as she came in to swipe her deadly claws at Twilight, obliterating what remained of the door as Twilight very neatly shot herself under the bitch's legs, the rifles still firing until they clicked. She twisted about and recalled the blade, having it return after a moment of it tugging its way free of the Dog's thick hide, to then immediately accelerate it out again the moment the Dog turned around to take another swipe.

The hoofblade pierced deep into the bitch's throat and the claws that were mid-swipe suddenly faltered in their attack as she gave a surprised choked gasp. Twilight didn't relent as she deftly got her hooves underneath her and backed away while firing her shard augments into the Dog, who clutched at the bloody blade with one hand while slashing haphazardly with the other claw. The shard's tore into the bitch's face with smaller bursts of glowing blood, and her chest as her armour was partly stripped away enough for the shards to bite in there as well. With a deep whimper followed by a rattle in her throat, the Dog collapsed to her knees with numerous bullets and fléchettes embedded in her body, tearing and returning the blade from the bitch's throat in a flourish of lavender as the corpse fell face first into the floorboards with a heavy thump.

Taking a breath of air saturated with the scent of blood as she dropped the empty rifles, she accelerated her right hoof into the snout of a Zebra with a wonderful crack as he barged open the door behind her and rushed out the room trying to shank her with a longknife, putting a burst of fléchettes into his broken face for good measure as he hit the floor on his back and spraying lavender across the wood, raising her hoof to fire into the room and then pausing for a moment, her eyes narrowing in anger.

"You better stop this shit right now, you Shade whore!" The glowing silhouette of the Gryphon shouted out at her frettingly glancing around at the smoke, grasping a terrified Changeling in a claw and holding a Thuddgun to the sprite's head with the other. "I'll decorate the wall with this little fucks head if you don-"

Her horn flared and she sharply snapped the Gryphon's neck, while angling the pistol with her magic gripping his claw so it didn't shoot the hostage he'd taken. She quickly darted into the room and shoved the Changeling to one side as random gunfire followed her in, grabbing the Gryphon's body and throwing it forward through the doorway into the path of bullets as she put herself in front of the young sprite.

"Are you hurt?" She quickly asked the Changeling while casting a barrier around him. He shakily shook his head and tucked himself in. "Good, stay down, I'll come back."

She kept the barrier cast for a couple more seconds as she charged out of the room towards the opposite one on her right where a trio of Jackals were firing their weapons blindly into the smoke, the shield flashing and bright bullets seizing in front of her as she impaled the nearest stallion on her hoofblade with a snarl. The other two pathetically scrambled back as he cried out, and she put a torrent of shard fire through both of their heads, painting the room's interior while she turned back into the hallway.

She switched her vision back to standard as the smoke slowly dissipated, lavender turning to red as she glanced around, gunfire and individually shot musket rifle blasts continuing beyond the flatpack's walls. Of all the rooms on this level only a few remained shut on the side facing out to the Blackguards, and she strode over and shattered a door in with a kick, finding the room only occupied by corpses at the smashed windows of Jackals that had clearly been eviscerated by musket shot from below. She gave an appraising nod at the precision she turned back and went back to the Changeling.

"I can't stay here, and neither should you. Go upstairs and you'll see the room with a faint barrier over it, you'll be able to get in. Stay there until I or the police come for you, you understand?" She tersely relayed the instructions as she stepped inside the room, her horn flashing momentarily to cast a quick spell over the Changeling, a simple brief magical signature that would allow him in with the others. She moved back out into the hall and saw it was still unoccupied, beckoning a hoof for him to go and waiting a little impatiently as he managed to trot out on slightly shaky hooves. "You'll be alright, the top floor is clear of danger, go now."

He moved a little faster at her intense glare, and she waited until he went through the broken door at the end and saw his legs disappear up the stairs before she relaxed a little. She slowly took a breath or two as her emotions ran rampant, casting an eye over her HUD and checking inventory amongst other things to try and calm down.

Her shard ammo was at just under sixty percent, she'd burned through a lot going as she had for just a single floor. It wouldn't be an issue if she utilised more weaponry around her, it was just a shame she couldn't use any Neurellix. She'd already been thrown into a wall because of that bullshit and the Ghost had fully filtered through as well, she really was starting to feel the twinges up her back where the hairline fractures to her spine were plaguing her. It was more a note in her mind if anything else just not to get thrown around so much, the pain was there as a background note but it was manageable, it was mostly just fucking annoying, and she'd had far worse.

She brought up the warning about her foreleg being breached, and it had changed slightly since before which didn't bode well. She didn't have much time to assess any additional information beyond that though as the floor then promptly exploded a few short hooves behind her, showering her in shrapnel and chunks of wood as she threw herself towards the doorway that led down to the next floor. She growled as another explosion sent more pieces of floorboard flying, and her horn glowed as she commandeered a few fallen weapons from around her, including the laser rifle she'd previously dropped.

Instead of taking the stairwell down she leapt straight through the huge gap in the middle of the hall floor, created by the grenade launcher she could see was being wielded one-handed by the Minotaur lieutenant she'd already kicked the arse of. She used the small cloud of dust and debris thrown up from the grenades as cover as she raised several of the firearms she'd liberated and unleashed them into him, while she landed directly onto another Jackal holding a pump-shotgun and forced her hoofblade through the Gryphoness' head in a flash.

The renewed shield around the Minotaur flashed while her weapons laid into him, and he fired the grenade launcher again, however this time she was ready and she caught the grenade that sped out of the tube in her purple corona as it zipped through the air at her. While its yield was limited to a certain area, there was no accounting for the trajectory of the shrapnel and there were still likely innocents on this floor, so she cast a quick spell to contain it within a suppression field as she fired her shard augments at the Jackals in the rooms flanking her, then quickly teleporting the grenade into the room on her right that held four of them, making sure the grenade reached the window before she released her hold on it.

The frag grenade detonated and ripped into them from one side while her fléchettes tore into them from the other, and she switched her focus as everyone in the room was bloodily decimated, bringing her right foreleg around to jettison a heavy burst of shard fire into a duo of Pegasi leaning out with rifles from another room in front. She watched them go down in the corner of her vision, sharply dipping to her right as she sensed movement behind her and dodging the longknife from the Zebra that attempted to stab her in the back, and brought her hoofblade up to slash up through his muzzle in a wonderful spray of blood. She never quite understood the Zebra and their fumbled attempts to get in close to an opponent that wholly outclassed them as it was always to their downfall, they did the exact same thing back in the Zebralands during her recent trip there.

If they were coordinated then it was quite dangerous to fight a zeal of them that possessed good military training without first possessing some form of military training, neurozyme, or reflex implant to counter their innate magic, but so many young Zebra tried to simply just imitate their military instead without learning to harness their magic and ended up being embarrassingly weak-hooved opportunists.

The ADEE stopped spewing green as it overheated again from full-auto firing while several of the commandeered Hammerbursts clicked empty, and she dropped them momentarily to retrieve other weapons instead, piling the rounds still remaining in their magazines into the Minotaur. He knew she'd just grab a fired grenade in her magic again so he dropped the launcher and reached behind himself, swinging around a Thuddgun and immediately blasted heavy slugs her way. A few impacted into her shields and brought the barrier down considerably more than other rounds might, and she charged at him while she kept the weapons chattering into the lieutenant, soon dropping the ones that ran out of ammo.

The magnolia wall next to her exploded in messes of fragments and powder as Thuddgun slugs tore through the flatpack's light inner structure, while she shot the hoofblade out directly at the lieutenant. He saw it through the chaos at the last second and jerked to one side in order to dodge, but even with his enhanced reflexes his profile was far too large and the blade pierced through into his ribs and brought the shields down, and he retreated again into a side room to escape the bullets now striking into his armour. She'd had quite fucking enough of that and gave chase, snarling as she smashed past other Jackals firing at her, breaking bones and necks with accelerated hoof punches as she barrelled into the room to confront him.

She ducked under the blow of his damaged fist swinging to greet her and headbutted it out the way while unloading her shard augments into him. He stumbled and dropped the Thuddgun under the punishment as she then wrenched the hoofblade from his torso with a gout of red and locked it back in place, and stopped firing as he fell back into a worn couch that gave way under his muscled frame. His breathing grew wet and raspy, multiple fléchettes and likely her blade having pierced into his lungs, and she made to turn away and leave him to die before he gingerly reached back and grabbed at something.

Twilight had fought enough criminals attempting a shitty last stand to know where this was going. She sharply levitated his own Thuddgun up from the ground and punched a couple shots into his chest, putting a stop to him as his arm partly raised a grenade belt belonging to the launcher he'd been firing, the limb faltering in the attempt to utilise a pulse charge that began to arc up it to detonate the grenades, and sagging back down as a final sigh issued from the lieutenant's throat.

Whipping around she dove back out into the hall with purpose and put the remaining slugs in the Thuddgun through those nearest to her, blowing gory chunks from torsos and making heads burst in showers of crimson and brain matter as the heavy pistol devastated through what it hit. She dropped it when it was empty and roared as she rushed forwards and viciously slit the throat of a Unicorn firing their battle rifle into her, the hoofblade cleaving so deeply it nearly decapitated the mare, blood spewing from the mare's neck as she swung her foreleg around to shoot the blade into a stallion across from her, punching into his chest through the armour.

Both bodies dropped in a second, her blade returning to its sheath while she streamed shards from her other leg at the last few rooms on this end with some Jackals hanging out of them trying to shoot her, and their armour did nothing to protect them as their heads were shredded apart by the deadly shards. They went down in gory messes to the floor as she faced about in a flash toward the other end of the hall, her mind racing as she seized their weapons into her magic to bear them upon the remaining Jackals.

She blew apart one stallion sitting on his haunches before her ears flicked, and she realised they were begging with her, their weapons fallen to the floor and their forelegs or arms raised in complete surrender as she took a step forward with a venomous growl that made those nearest to her flinch. She took deep breaths as her head swam, levitating all of their weapons to her so they couldn't be taken back up.

Her heart pounded in her ears as she felt herself shake with hatred.

Her thoughts still raced and tried to find any good reason to spare them, but found no inkling of mercy within her at the current moment. There was fear set into every Jackal's face and she couldn't bring herself to care, they tensed with the sudden quiet in the hall between her heavy breathing and the gunfire outside. She knew every last one of them was complicit, every one of them knew what happened on the top floors, and in her mind none of them deserved any ounce of forgiveness. They all deserved to die, they all needed to die. It would be completely justified and she knew it, fuck their surrender, she should just kill them all and be done with it.

A few of the weapons roared as she lost her composure, two of the Jackals going down and shouting in pain, though they didn't die yet. The others pleaded louder and she grunted as some started to move.

"Stay the fuck where you are!" She bellowed, clenching her teeth as she almost just pulled every last trigger to be done with it. "Don't fucking move!"

Luna would sanction it despite her recent infraction. Twilight knew when her actions were reviewed that if she explained the situation well enough she would be fine, she could kill them and write it off, she knew it. Her nostrils flared as magic kept squeezing the triggers tighter, it would be so easy. After what had been done to the Children, after they'd kidnapped a foal to do who knows what with, they'd taken hostages to save their pathetic hides, and there were officers still captive somewhere and she wasn't even sure now if this was the right fucking building for fucks sake... she should just gun them all down and move on, truly ensure the survivors upstairs were going to be safe.

She felt herself twinge... as much as she desperately wanted to, something tugged deep within her despite the blinding hatred telling her to perforate every last one of them, she was battling her wild fury while the logical part of her was slowly creeping up. A tiny inkling of cold truth came bubbling up from her enraged core into her mind... that of what Celestia might think of her at this very moment. She swallowed the lump in her throat as the sobering thought gave her immediate pause and settled heavily in her stomach, envisioning if her mentor was here watching her actions, and it was somewhat of a dousing bucket of water over the blazing inferno screaming within her.

Not enough to wipe out the burning fire, not at all, she was completely righteous in her anger, but it was quelled and quieted enough that she quickly realised that if she executed them all... fucking... if she did that... she wouldn't be helping Equestria heal though a better way, as Celestia herself saw it. Even Luna with all her silent fury would have told her she was going too far killing unarmed opponents. Celestia would give her that look, the heavy one that made her heart seize in hurt and sink down into a deep pit of shame, because Celestia in all her wisdom would dearly hope that despite the things these Jackals had done or had known was going on; they could still know regret.

The same as Twilight had.

They could still atone for their crimes. They weren't beyond saving.

She struggled with herself internally, with both what she personally believed and what she wanted to believe, and actively worked against her training, reasserting her mental barriers as one of the Jackals made a quick move, and dove into a room before she could think to not fire just one of the guns. She took in a sharp breath in panic as she shut down her magic, the weapons falling to the ground. She gasped in alarm as she'd almost slipped and done it, she'd almost pulled all triggers and wiped them all out.

She swallowed after a few shaky breaths and recovered, casting a spell to magically bind most the Jackals she could see that had surrendered, then levitating and placing all of the weapons behind her into a cleared room. The Jackals she'd shot in her rage were still bound, though she floated out some magical healing bandages and med-hypos to the single Jackal she'd decidedly not locked into binding. She put them in the sage-coloured Unicorn mare's hooves where she was sitting, seeming a little stunned as her short jet-black mane fell across her vision while she stared down at the rather choice medical supplies.

"Sort those two, jab them both with a hypo each, remove the bullets and wrap their wounds, you know what you're doing. The solution should help things along, the bandages are enchanted and they'll staunch the bleeding." She told the mare with a sharp edge to her voice, who swallowed and quietly nodded after a moment, moving to do as she was ordered. Twilight then took a steadying breath and addressed the whole floor. "Stay down, and don't try to escape, otherwise you will be hunted down." She said, walking with her shard augments at the ready and keeping it together. "Anyone still in the rooms, come out or stay there with your hands, claws, or hooves up."

She walked and raised her hooves, passing each room and making one or two of the secured Jackals tuck in fear for a moment, binding Jackals she came across that were yielding having thrown down their weapons, and making sure the guns were safety put away too before she came to the room halfway down the hall that the one Jackal had retreated into during her outburst. She kept her augment level as she paced across the open doorway, seeing with a great level of discontent and rising anger that he had taken a hostage. The Unicorn stallion was clearly deeply afraid, the semi-auto pistol in his magic grip was shaky against the Changeling's head, the young nymph had tears running down her face.

"Listen, I've killed a lot of Jackals today." Twilight sighed, keeping herself in check as she met the Unicorn's eyes. "Killing you and saving her would be just as easy."

He was too young, almost a colt, about as old as she was when she first moved to Ponyville if she guessed correctly. His green eyes were alive with fear, his light blue mane plastered against his face. Was he currently holding a gun to an innocent mare's head because he'd done something horrendous or was simply not wanting to die? She didn't want to think that this young stallion had raped any Changelings, and didn't want to think he was in the know about it going on, though she couldn't discount the idea out of hoof.

"I understand you must be afraid. Crown Agent waltzes in, blasts away all your friends like it's nothing, and I guess you think you're next so your only option is to try and get me to make a deal, something like that, right?" She said with a hint of venom, keeping her hoof perfectly still. She was too angry, she needed to calm down.

He didn't respond, she could see him trying to but he couldn't form the words.

That wasn't a good level of fear, his heart was racing a million miles a minute and his magic was erratic. She could simply snap his neck the same as she'd done with the Jackal earlier but it wouldn't be the better way. A part of her wanted to know what he chose here rather than her just suppressing the gun and tearing it out of his magic, whether he'd attempt to shoot the Changeling or fire at her instead or give up and surrender. Despite her anger she wasn't going to kill him, but if he chose to pull that trigger she'd simply block it and he'd be facing quite a while in jail, and she'd rather not be the one to consign somepony so young to that fate.

The basic leather undersuit he wore over his light-yellow coat was something she'd noticed coming in, the same for one or two others that had surrendered, it was a talking point if anything to calm him down, and herself for that matter. He was shaking about as much as the nymph he held, she could see his pale-green magic was flickering a little, and that trigger was tensing just a bit much for her liking.

"You haven't got proper armour." She stated, his eyes meeting hers again. "That means you're not long in the Cartel, maybe a few months at most. My guess is they stuck you here so you could get some hooves-on experience to some degree, hear the gang war going on so you don't flinch at every bit of gunfire, maybe shoot at some rival gangs if they came sniffing around looking for a fight... like my friends outside. Have you ever killed anyone?"

He swallowed, and slowly shook his head.

"It's very easy, especially with magic." She informed him, casting an eye at his pistol. "I don't think most ponies realise that despite our history and general status as herbivores that killing comes as easy to us as it does to a Gryphon or a Dragon, historically they both commonly hunted smaller animals as prey from near birth, most still do back in their own lands. Ponies are just as capable of killing others but most are ignorant about it, most think it's like in the movies where there's a certain tension to it, that a mental barrier presents itself and our own conscience steps in and stops us from stomping down on a neck..."

"It doesn't." She stated in a whisper, the young stallion looking at her with a little more worry in his eyes, yet he was listening. "Instinctively we will stomp and thrash and beat the ever-living fuck out of something or someone when we're afraid enough, and in the now when you bring technology into the question, especially so when a pony is so afraid that all they can focus on is survival and nothing else, it becomes very easy to do something as blindingly simple as squeeze a trigger on a weapon that does the killing for you."

His eyes flicked down at the pistol, and back to her.

"If you're wondering why I'm telling you that, it's because I want you to think about what you're going to do next." She said, keeping his gaze. "If you kill her, which yes, will be very easy to do; you're looking at most of your young life in prison, and I really have to wonder, for what? A future in the Cartel? I don't believe you want to hurt that girl, and I understand that you don't want me to kill you, however you have to understand that by threatening her you're putting me in the position where I'm forced to consider that choice."

"Think about what I said, about just how easy it is for a pony to kill another, and apply that to a Crown Agent. It's burned into me that you're a danger right now, there's a furious part of my mind telling me that you need to be put down immediately to stop you from being a threat to that girl or myself, and you're not even up there in terms of what I would rate a serious criminal, yet my spirit pushes me, wills me to take action." She paused, assessing his movements. He was still shaky though his magic was more stable. He was afraid but he was clearly listening and it was calming him to simply talk, and his eyes were absently staring through her and flicking back every now and then as he mulled over the situation. "You understand it, don't you? You release her, and I stop feeling that instinct so much. You drop the gun, and that part of me that sees you as a threat stops shouting in my ear altogether. I have to actively force myself to stand here and not act, it's not easy fighting it."

He seemingly found his voice. "Y-you won't kill me?"

"On the Crown's honour." She intoned back.

The young stallion swallowed again, breathing out in an odd release of tension. His horn stopped casting and the pistol fell towards the floor before she caught it in her own magic, bringing it over to the doorway as it broke apart into its components. She motioned her hoof to the side for him to back off as he let the Changeling go, and the nymph quickly ran towards her as all fours hit the ground. Twilight held her for a brief moment as the nymph bumped against her chest, though quietly whispered for the Changeling to move over to the corner. The young stallion was looking a bit lost as he thumped down to his haunches, and she cast the spell to bind his hooves while she fixed her attention on him.

He glanced up at her. "I don't know much about Agents... but... my dad once told me that you can always trust when they swear upon the Princesses."

"Always." She smiled with some pride, though her expression flattened again as she cleared her throat. "I have to ask you; did you do anything to the Changelings upstairs?"

His eyes went wide and the reply was instant. "N-no! Never! I... I just... all I could do was ignore it, but I would never..."

That was all she really needed to know. Once someone was in with the Jackals they couldn't often leave without penalty, and the longer they stayed the more likely they'd fall into darker things, or grow indifferent to the suffering that was caused.. Thankfully she could tell he wasn't lying about it and hadn't forced himself on anyone, it was written all over him.

It made her just a little less irate.

She turned to the Changeling and waved a hoof for her to follow, reshifting her shard augments back into hooves and going to all fours again with a relieved sigh, trotting out into the hallway and seeing the sage Unicorn mare she'd given the supplies to was sitting down waiting for Twilight to return rather than run away, though she looked a bit more perturbed than concerned. Twilight went over and saw that she had done as she was bid, the Jackals that had been shot weren't in any immediate danger of dying anymore, though they and the others in the hall were eyeing her with great concern.

"Nice work, knew you'd do fine." Twilight told her, stretching as she glanced over the messily painted patch on the Jackal's armour of a small red cross with a heart at its centre, a crude representation of Equestria's medical symbol, but it got the point across. "I've got another job for you if you're up for it."

The Unicorn mare's expression showed that she didn't seem thrilled at the prospect. "That is?"

Twilight nudged the nymph beside her. "Go with her upstairs, keep an eye on the Children still alive up there."

"W-what the fuck, but she's a Jackal!" The Changeling blanched, speaking up.

"I am well aware." Twilight said, her attention going to the nymph as her tone became very serious. "Though I'm curious if you saw the rest of your friends and their states."

"E-exactly! It's not right! Which is wh-"

"-Which is why-" Twilight cut her off. "-The few that are still with us need someone with medical experience, however little it is, to watch over them until help arrives. I would do it myself except I have an important mission to complete, and I'm fairly certain that-" She turned to the Unicorn mare. "What's your name?"

"...Foamy."

"-That Foamy here-" She emphasised by leaning over and slapping her hoof on Foamy's shoulder and making the mare jerk. "-Would absolutely love to help and get herself into my good graces before it comes time that the police get here. Isn't that right, Foamy?"

"Sure." Foamy quickly replied, her golden eyes now flicking over Twilight with a very healthy level of concern.

Twilight flashed her a wide smile, fairly sure that Foamy knew she would be absolutely fucked if she tried to run, then turned to the Changeling. "And your name?"

"Nimble."

"Well, Nimble; think of you two working together as fostering good relations between the Jackals and the Children, hm?" Twilight kept the smile up, until Nimble slowly nodded. "Wonderful! Right then, follow me, you two."

Sharing a muted glance of shared worry between themselves that probably did wonders for their rapport, they paced behind Twilight as she trotted further down the damaged hall to where the grenades had blown holes in the floor above, moving past and over the bodies of slain Jackals and spent casings as Nimble and Foamy did the same, Nimble looking a tad paler than Foamy at the dead as she tried to step around the blood pooling underneath the corpses.

"Upstairs there is a secure room with a barrier, enter it and stay there until I or the police come for you. Understand?" She recited, though she hadn't mentioned to Nimble that she'd put the living corpses out of their misery, so she added an additional. "Do not enter any of the other rooms."

They both quickly nodded, and her horn lit up as she cast the entry signature over them, then encompassing and lifting them in her magenta corona up through the broken floor with ease and depositing them towards the stairs. She cracked a small grin at their moderately surprised faces, being a powerful telekinetic had its amusing moments, and it certainly did wonders for her mental state to find some small joys in between the chaos.

"Go." She said, glancing over her shoulder as they left.

The hall was a mess of the dead and rubble at this end, with Jackals bound at the middle where the debris lessened and to the other end in various doorways and rooms. Their weapons were stashed, though she turned and moved forward, igniting her horn to grab them from where she was, pulling them out and promptly beginning to disassemble most of them within a few short seconds. She liberated the conventional weapons from their firing pins, putting them in a pocket while breaking essential components in other more advanced weapons.

"Just so no one's tempted." She announced with a thin smile, as they watched her pull the guns apart. "When I leave and go down to the next floor, I hope none of you will make any attempts to escape. I'll know if you do; your bindings have a signature, and as I said earlier, you will be hunted down."

The only weapons she hadn't taken to pieces were the panty-Unicorn's ADEE, the Minotaur lieutenant's Thuddgun, and the berserking Dog's Wildbuck. The laser rifle still had a decent amount of charge in it despite the reckless level of full-auto fire she'd been subjecting it to, a testament to how well Tachyon made their weaponry. She went over to the farthest part of the splintered hole in the floor above and retrieved a bandolier of shells the Dog had wrapped around her torso, discarding the ones that had been pierced by fléchettes as they'd be useless and putting the sling around herself, quickly returning to the room with the dead lieutenant to take his Thuddgun magazines as well.

Storing those in her duster, she kept the weapons at the ready within her corona as she walked over to the ajar door leading out into the next stairwell. She looked back once more after going back onto her hindlegs and shifting the shard augment setup back into place. "Remember; hunted down."

With that, she carefully went through and down each step, and listened, though she didn't hear anything much beyond slightly increased breathing from a few sources including the floor below, so she had to assume they were lying in wait to attempt an ambush, at which point there was a certain flick in her mind just as she happened to wonder why the firing had stopped outside, and let the connection go through.

"It is done, Kommandant." Garret's grave tone greeted her.

"Nice work, Garret, ease up." She returned as she moved. "I'm somewhat secure in here and working my way down, still no sign of the officers yet, but I think I scanned a small underground level for storage below the ground floor so that's where I'm headed. Knowing you, you've already got a perimeter set-up, so keep ready for enemy reinforcements."

"Of course, Agent."

"How many?" She asked.

There was a slight pause.

"...Three."

"I'm sorry, their deaths are on me." She reassured him, there'd likely be Tartarus to pay when she next saw Gwyndolin for having her soldiers directly attack a Jackal stronghold, and she'd bear it completely. "It's also on me that I told you to give no quarter, I shouldn't have done that."

Twilight heard Garret make an odd noise. "I decided to be lenient in giving it, however."

She genuinely smiled. "I'm glad, how many surrendered?"

"Fifteen. Mostly ponies, a few Gryphons. The wounded have been helped."

"I'm quite sure they weren't happy about it." She grinned. "How's our hostage?"

"She sleeps, the stimulant in the medicine wore off. Losing a limb is an ordeal."

"We would know." She said, her smile sobering a bit. "Be safe and keep alert, some Jackals I secured might try to make an exit, so kindly smack them over the head if they try."

"By your order, Agent." He replied, cutting the connection.

The door ahead was shut as she stepped down onto the landing, and she still couldn't hear anything beyond the door but breathing. She switched to the imaging sensors and found that she had to laugh a little, as the Jackals in the hall were waiting for her as she'd thought, however...

She opened the door with her magic, still wary and keeping bipedal as she eyed the Jackals either sitting or standing, though their weapons were laid on the floor, and their hands, hooves, or claws were partly lifted in surrender. What amused her all the more was the dead lieutenant she passed by having been shoved unceremoniously into an empty room, the Dog having been taken out from a good headshot it looked like. She doubted any of them would own up to being the one to do that. Maybe she could ensure that it was simply put down to some unfortunate crossfire if they kept cooperating.

"Good choice, people." She announced, casting the required binding magic as she walked down the hall with her three deadly weapons in tow, with a little extra input to really secure the two Diamond Dogs at the end as they still had powerful claws. "Not shooting at a Crown Agent and yielding to the authority of the Crown is going to go a long way in helping all of you out. There's no forgiving what's been done on the top floor, though I hope none of you are responsible. You can all realise the path you've taken in life isn't the right one and try to make amends."

It was a little cheesy really, but it was the sort of thing Celestia would have said. The Jackals that had subjected the Children to assault and rape would be found and punished accordingly, just the same for those that had essentially killed them by wrapping them in Winter-Iron, assuming of course she hadn't already blown half of them away when she'd entered. For all she knew, the members of the Jackal Cartel on this floor were only aware that the sex-slavery was going on rather than partaking, so when they were put into the system the truth would soon come out.

That and she was going to personally oversee every last case.

Sure that they were firmly trussed, she repeated the process of ensuring all of their weapons were non-functional, delivered the warning not to try and run just in case, and added a few magazines and shells to her stash before she continued onward. The next floor was the last, and she found the ground floor much the same, the Jackals had surrendered, either afraid of her extreme might from hearing her clear two floors, or that the Blackguard had taken out their main force outside. She bound them up and took their guns too, stopping as she walked down the ground hall to the middle where the symmetrical design differed, and in place of two rooms on one side instead opened out into a sort of entrance lobby where she saw a rather large Jackal waiting for her.

It seemed every floor had been assigned a lieutenant to rally the forces inside the flatpack, this one still alive, so having likely seen the writing on the wall and thereby ordering his Jackals to lay down their arms. The Diamond Dog was a strong looking sort, many were, but this one was a tad more muscular than most, his shaggy silvery-cream fur somewhat unevenly laid over the wider frame, and he was also a bit taller than most other Dogs she'd seen.

"Morning." She greeted, her guns and the guns being dismantled in her magic all lowering a bit as she trot over, he didn't try to resist as she bound his clawed hands in extra protections.

He grunted. "Afternoon."

Twilight gave him a shrug. "Sun's still pretty high, it's morning enough. Your name?"

"I am Snowbound." He said in his growling voice.

"Do you know if there are any police officers in the basement, Snowbound?"

"Yes."

"Yes, you know whether or not anyone's down there? Or yes, there is?"

"The second, little pony."

She nodded. "Excellent. Don't go anywhere."

"I yield to you." He intoned, bowing his head.

"Not to the Gryphons outside?" She raised an eyebrow as she dismantled the remaining weapons and chucked them into a corner.

"Blackguard are strong, yet you strike into us directly, no fear even from little pony. We hear you kill us above, we hear you kill us again, I know when pack is beaten."

Diamond Dogs could be very strange sometimes, they were nomads throughout Equestrian history and never really had a place to call home, always moving from spot to spot in splintered groupings and making burrows wherever possible, scavenging for anything they could eat or hoard. Many had ended up putting down roots in Canterlot and places like Solar City simply because such a lifestyle wasn't viable anymore, though they still hearkened back to their older ways and almost pack-like dynamics.

Dogs like Snowbound were almost like relics of a different age, he'd likely been roaming the land hunting and gathering around the time Twilight's parents had settled into their second home where she'd spent her formative years. Silvery fur was only sometimes an indicator of time for Dogs, often it was their stance and faces, and she could see Snowbound was at least sixty. He'd likely lived this long from constantly joining new packs that bested his previous packs, or it was simply down to him being more of a loner, so it was interesting that he was placed in charge of his own few units. It made her curious as to how he'd ended up a lieutenant in the Jackal Cartel, she thought it was somewhat general knowledge that older Dogs weren't as driven to needlessly fight as their younger peers. Perhaps Jöhtunn or his secondaries alongside him managing the forces hadn't thought this flatpack was going to be assailed by the Crown in the near future, and that this had been an easy posting for an old Dog like Snowbound to keep people in line.

"Have a good one, Snowbound." She mock-saluted.

Turning to face the stairs at the end of the hall she went down past the Jackals, equally amused and annoyed as some of them offered apologies as if it really helped, and slipped through the shabby door moving down, the stairwell on this side of the building being the one that led down to the basement. Given that the Jackals had surrendered she was a little more relaxed, though that didn't mean her little arsenal wasn't prepared, the ADEE tracked at the front as the stronger weapon while the Thuddgun and the Wildbuck hovered behind to cover side angles. It wasn't entirely necessary as there was no hallway when she reached the bottom level, simply a small gap from stairs to door, a small flickering light on the ceiling between them and some broken bottles on the floor.

When she pushed the door open she was partly expecting what she saw, a simple musty storage room, though she hadn't expected it to be absolutely packed and larger than most. When a flatpack had a storage level it was small and perhaps half filled at best, as the most common types of people that lived in them were usually single renters or students with the contents of a few bags or possibly a truck, most things which would fit within a studio room if one planned well enough. That this was so large didn't seem right, it was more akin to a warehouse and it had her curious, the place smelled strange.

Twilight flicked the lights on and was presented with a slightly better view as a fair number of bulbs lit up, though it was still obscured with rows of shelving and shipping crates, and switching to the imaging sensor created a mess of overlapping fuzzy lilac distortions. Something down here was messing with her scanning as she shouldn't be picking up this much interference from objects, she'd tailored the settings to only detect body heat, vibrations, and certain electrical signals, yet nearly everything was lighting up. Despite the interference though, she could see that all the crates and smaller boxes on their shelves nearest to her were completely empty, and when she placed a hoof against a box her system detected the slightest tremour throughout it, every single container was vibrating.

Now what was causing that?

Switching back to standard vision as her imaging sensor was mostly a detriment here, she still saw a clear path through the maze of storage, though something else felt amiss and she took a left along a branching path between the shelves when the opportunity presented itself, her hooves silent as she prowled. She saw before she reached the edge of the room that the basement had been artificially extended from the original finish, and where foundation walls had once been set, now the quartzcrete had been eked out and new walls that were decidedly not quartzcrete branched out in their place. It wasn't what had her feeling off, though the method was odd, the walls being stacked bricks consisting of clay and lesser aggregate, a rather simple building method in this time period. It worked well enough, the bricks were packed with mortar and everything was holding.

At least it didn't interfere with the flatpack's actual foundation, otherwise she'd worry the floor above might collapse into the basement. Quartzcrete was poured and pressed, consisting primarily of granite and quartz aggregate, ceramic substrate, and magically enchanted binding liquids that contained powdered lesser gemstone. When builders set it in, they would apply a particular heating spell to activate the magic, akin to firing bricks, and the gemstone component throughout the binding liquid would combine and make the entire pour virtually untouchable to all weather conditions once it hardened, said to be capable of standing for thousands of years without wear.

It had only been invented some years prior during the plateau's initial construction, so it had yet to make good on that claim, given that she never saw any wear on modern structures she was inclined to think it might though. These laid bricks on the other hoof... she wasn't certain they'd last even a year, they'd clearly been put into place rather quickly and she detected air bubbles throughout where moisture would be able to get in and help them crumble. How long ago had they been laid, she wondered? How long until they gave way? She saw that they slightly varied in colour so they'd lain for a little while, and added bit by bit as the quartzcrete had been taken down.

It hadn't been completed recently she'd wager, as she didn't see much in the way of quartz residue beyond traces. Quartzcrete also wasn't the easiest thing to drill through and yet she also didn't see any leftover tools or remnants of them. She did a quick analysis scan of the area and sent it to Vee, silently moving on once the little minimalist ruby on her HUD flashed in confirmation of receipt.

She crept through the basement following the implanted bricks, the scent of materials weakening and colour getting lighter as she neared the corner onto the other hastily made wall, the brick here as old as those initially laid. So then they'd started with the corner and worked outward and inward at the same time, likely leaving the foundation's original corner up until the supporting pillars she could see in the ceiling had been put into place. Here she found a tad more residue, and something else of interest that she forwarded to Vee; minor indents into the brickwork that lent to a different type of hoof, it was faint and somepony had definitely tried to fix it but it was there. Vee would be able to look through the database and hopefully pull a comparable signature if she could, with the damage it wasn't likely to turn up much.

Twilight thought it rather odd that the magic signature didn't feel quite like a pony, though it might be due to deterioration so she wondered if she could entertain the idea that it might have belonged to a Deer. They had an innate ability to shape the world around them and primarily worked with wood over anything else, though that didn't mean they wouldn't work with other materials and they could move stone in much a similar manner. It was a strange new puzzle piece to add to her stack if her gut feeling was correct.

Her interest kept mounting as she moved toward the basement's centre, finding more than a few boxes starting to contain items, namely small packets of illegal drugs that the Jackals were known for trading along with sachets of Availant, yet more importantly there were a multitude of parts from cannibalised weapons in pallet crates, Ironclad and Hammerforged chiefly amongst them, so that told her that it was likely a majority of these larger flat crates had once contained whole complements of firearms.

Had she been fortunate enough to come across a distribution site?

It was a certainty, this was a stronghold that had contained a significant Jackal presence which the CPS had so far been unable to move in on due to the sheer enemy numbers and their own lack thereof. This flatpack was also deep in Jackal territory in one of the Canterlot extranet's more extended blind spots, so Vee wouldn't have spotted it unless she looked closely, and given everything she was already doing it was no wonder it hadn't popped up through her general scans, especially if they'd been laying low before all this kicked off. The closest Twilight could find in the database as she had a quick look was a line of shops a few streets down that previously arrested Jackals or an informant in their ranks working for the CPS would frequent.

Though she felt a rush of excitement as her ears caught the barest sounds of breathing, flicking to her imaging sense briefly to sight the unmistakable lavender forms of a Diamond Dog and several ponies not far beyond her despite the heavy interference that was now making everything distort in multi-hued purple hazes. They were prone and not moving, however given the interference she couldn't tell much else right now.

But she'd found the wayward officers.

The fucked vision wasn't a good sign though, so she kept her commandeered weapons at the ready while her shard augments were tensed to sing as she turned back to standard sight, and she dialled up the intensity of her sensory implant. She only caught the hint of breathing again as she stepped forward, taking in the sight of four huge steel containers kept in the smallest of open sections, the area just large enough for maybe ten ponies to stand shoulder to shoulder. Her eyes carefully tracked around the area, but she wasn't sensing anything from her surroundings beyond the slight breathing from the makeshift jails.

Twilight's instincts were screaming at her as she approached the nearest container that held one of them. She felt coiled like a spring as she waited for an attack, yet nothing came and it was almost frustrating. To make things far stranger, the container wasn't locked shut with any heavy-duty padlock she'd expect of the Jackals, but instead a disturbingly high-level barrier spell not dissimilar to the one she'd cast upstairs to protect her quarry.

However... Its signature was mostly alien to her when she tried to feel it out, and continuing on to find a loophole in the spellwork made her head swim while she detected multiple countermeasures in place to ward off would-be jailbreakers. First the unknown gang with the powerful weaponry and impossible hex-core, now bizarre barrier spells on par with or greater than her own magic?

She stopped trying to tamper with the faint green barrier, some of those inlaid matrixes promised a lot of fiery explosions that would bring the house down if she fucked up breaking through it. This was too far above the Jackal Cartel's paygrade, Jöhtunn didn't have this kind of pull. Her mind immediately went to the only other magic users she knew of that had near this level of ability; the Princesses, the mages of the Royal Court, and possibly Changelings.

She immediately and quite obviously ruled out the Princesses, there was no entertaining any thought that they would be involved. The royal mages being somehow involved was an interesting thought though, it wasn't as if they couldn't be bought or coerced, they all had names, homes, and families, all of which despite being kept under wraps could be found with enough effort from a criminal organisation with the right contacts. They could be brought into the fold one way or another. Yet that didn't sit right either, royal mages were elite and loyal, only appointed to the position in the Royal Court by express allowance of either Princess, and their judgement wasn't usually wrong in making such decisions.

It was still something to consider however as it wasn't just gangs that could find out such information, and looking into the Royal Court was definitely worth doing every now and then anyway as all five of the high noble houses had their place within it too, and the lords and ladies were quite often playing sly games of political gain that pissed her off to no end. Just because it was highly unlikely that those personally chosen by the Princesses were corrupt, didn't mean it wasn't happening, and it was a Crown Agent's job to weed it out. If the nobles were involved in this... well, that certainly didn't bode well, but it also meant she'd have to start politicking with their games too, that was going to be a slog. At least Constantine's word games were infinitely more palatable because she was halfway honest about what she wanted in any given situation, nobles weren't bound by such ancient magic to be so.

Which left Changelings in the current bag. The only major group consisting of Changelings within Canterlot were Yly Ilkinsfáerinr, and between the mages and the gang, Constantine stood to gain more by working with other gangs like the Jackals. She didn't doubt for a single moment that Constantine would dare hurt her own intentionally, yet she was one to try and make deals, and one theory Twilight was building up was that she had bitten off more than she could chew in a new deal.

Before Twilight had left for the Zebralands she'd sat in on a meeting between Constantine, Jöhtunn, and Gwyndolin. As their unofficial troubleshooter she kept the peace and went to each of them for her usual rubbing of elbows, but sometimes she had to lay down ground rules when certain things happened. That particular meeting she had informed them that she was going away for a while, and if they ended up fighting and causing chaos then she'd come down hard on all of them. It likely explained why Gwyndolin had been so quick to assist with her best lieutenant at the helm, though that didn't mean Twilight would go any easier on her.

So what had Constantine been up to in that time? This barrier's spellwork did have a certain aspect to its signature that felt like it wanted to deceive, to twist and coerce, it lent toward Changeling magic in many degrees even if the rest of it was unknown to her. What if Constantine had ordered her kin work on these makeshift cells for Jöhtunn some time before the alliance had broken? Was it why the Jackals had held some of the Children upstairs? It begged the question as to the purpose and why she'd do it in the first place, as Twilight couldn't fathom why Constantine would assist the Jackals in their ability to capture others even if they were working together against the Crown, especially considering the history of Jackals making prostitutes of any race including Changelings before the duopoly of whoring had been established between Yly Ilkinsfáerinr and the Blackguards.

This flimsy theory only created more questions, and wasn't accounting for possible freelance Changelings in the mix unrelated to Yly Ilkinsfáerinr, there were still too many unknown variables and pieces of the puzzle missing to consider anything beyond what was in front of her. All she could do currently was continue to find the pieces, and she had a feeling that a few more would slot into place once this war had been settled and Jöhtunn's forces had been pacified. Of course even then she still didn't even know that Jöhtunn had been the one to start this war either, which even if he was the most suspect and was confirmed to have killed police, she still didn't actually have proof that he'd fired the first shot.

Twilight sighed, she was definitely going to have a talk with each gang leader before drawing up any concrete theories. It was the first step in any investigation to question everyone possible, which she had been planning on doing for her own case before this ward gang war shit-fest had kicked off, and now she was being further side-tracked with needing details regarding it instead.

Glancing at the pale green tinge over the front of the container, she thought for another moment before her ears flicked and a deep chill shot up her spine. She whipped around with her shard augments raised, all weapons in her magic tracking as her eyes darted around for movement. Her sensory implant was picking up something and her instincts were never usually wrong, and while she'd initially thought the breathing she could hear was from the captive officers, she could hear them as she stood beside the containers.

The sensory implant and eyes were dialled up, and she was listening.

"You haven't attacked me even with ample opportunity to do so." She spoke out as she carefully scanned the room, finding nothing. "Come on out and talk, or fight, but don't waste my time."

She was met with silence, the presence remained.

Her eyes widened as there was a sudden bright glow from between an aisle of the denser packed crates, and she quickly leaped out the path of a massive blast of energy that shot through the air in a high-pitched whine, her shields almost immediately depleting to half as the particles in the air beside her were heavily ionised and heated plasma spread from the beam. The ADEE in her magic rapidly responded and saturated the hidden enemy's location, her legs reshifting as she got to her hooves and quickly galloped into the cover of a packed shelving unit that was immediately burned through by the arcing beam.

She was getting really fucking irate with the unknowns, since when the fuck did Jackals have access to a fucking Fusion Lance?! That was prototype Crown tech! Getting a bunch of Availant from a black market supplier was something she could see, but cutting-edge plasma weaponry was on a whole other level!

The beam sharply cut off, the heat trailing her stopped, and she swiftly moved around the crates and peeked to its source to see nothing. All her eyes were scanning were disturbed particles that were settling down, and no signs of any life as she dialled the intensity of her eyes up and cast an expert detection spell. At this current juncture she wasn't seeing her enemy having a superior cloaking augment as unfeasible, she could always see ponies that were casting powerful invisibility spells with a detection spell and this one was a ghost even as she switched to the imaging sense, which even through all the heavy noise should still pick up enough body heat and respiratory activity to form even a minimal silhouette of her attacker.

The Lance burst into being again and she sharply reeled back, accelerating her limbs to leap through into another section of storage and crashing into a few crates as the beam burned away everything it touched. It quickly trailed her and she felt the hair of her tail being singed as she righted herself and sped on, letting all her stolen weapons fire in the direction of the Lance. It would hopefully hamper her sneaky attacker and keep them mobile enough that she could pick up some pattern of their movements.

Sneaky here was some kind of equine given their complete invisibility, as such spells required a direct magic caster bearing a horn. Unicorn, Changeling, or Kirin, and with a high-tech cloaking augment. It was as good as Tempest's own, so likely it was Crown tech. They had a Fusion Lance, also Crown tech, and stocks of Availant, which were Crown supplies. She really was going to have to entertain the possibility of betrayal from within, this was all getting a little too close to home for her liking...

There was a flicker in her mind as she ran, she let it through.

"Agent, do you require aid?"

"Little busy here, Garret!" She barked as she leaped over a cluster of metal barrels that were soon slagged by the Lance's heat. "Call back in ten!"

She threw herself to one side as the beam finally stopped again and blasted its location with another salvo from her guns, the storage in that area being decimated by laser, slug, and pellet alike, and her heart rate spiked, her mind screaming as an ethereal dagger shot out from nowhere. She barely dodged it as she tucked to one side, the dagger's sinister pale edge slicing through her shields and carving a chunk through both her duster and bodysuit, gritting her teeth as it bit into flesh along the way.

"Show yourself, you pussy!" She shouted, her heart beating faster. A part of her wanted to properly be able to enjoy this on some level, another very high-level magic user with powerful augments and weapons that eclipsed her own was an excellent opponent to go up against. It made her feel alive, the circumstances just weren't very good.

She realised Sneaky was quite a bit more as her mind was then assaulted with a heavy psychic attack, briefly spasming as she put up her mental barriers and immediately lashed out in kind with a blanket mental shout to deter the assault, while also letting the ADEE burst over the area opposite. The attack on her mind lessened as no doubt Sneaky was forced to move rather than concentrate on her, and she quickly pulled mags from her duster and shells from the bandolier around her torso to reload the Wildbuck and Thuddgun as she moved into new cover.

Sneaky hadn't opened with that attack, so maybe they weren't fond of being insulted.

Twilight grinned a little as she shouted. "Come on, don't you want me to at least see you in one piece before I put you in the ground in pieces?"

The Lance droned as its deadly energy fired out in an instant and she kept on dancing out of its arc while her weapons roared in its wake. Taunting her enemy wasn't the most impressive of strategies but it seemed to be working and was the only one she could utilise right now, she didn't have time to channel a dispelling aura to try and interrupt Sneaky's invisibility casting, and with her overall power now down to thirty-four percent she didn't want to simply discharge a massive magic beam of her own into the area and end up near to being a paperweight again.

She slightly yelped in alarm as a volley of the ethereal daggers flew to cut her off, and she ducked and accelerated, sliding across the floor and getting back to her hooves only for more to zip irregularly through the air as the beam nipped at her tail. She shot back under the beam's channel, feeling the intense heat and gritting her teeth as her shields rapidly plummeted before pushing off and twisting into a gallop the other way, gasping as she found one of the ethereal blades had sunk into her side. She tugged it out with her magic and let her healing matrix take care of the wound while the beam hunted her down, having instantly turned back with her.

Right, improvisation was needed.

Well, more of it.

Quickly shifting, she threw out her right foreleg as the beam cut off for the brief moment it needed to cool, the hoofcannon coming to bear as she loaded in her remaining firebomb and almost instantly fired off. She hoped Sneaky liked being warm.

The basement flashed as the firebomb smacked into one of the sturdy support pillars, exploding into a massive concentrated burst of intense flame that spread outward and covered everything it touched. She wouldn't have considered it at all had Sneaky not been so far from the jailed officers, but she'd been running towards one side of the room and Sneaky had followed. The fire quickly rose and the inferno spread, her bodysuit beginning to regulate her temperature as the heat sharply climbed, and she ducked out the way of the pale daggers that sped at her while switching the hoofcannon back, breaking into a sprint as the Lance flared back to life.

Her weapons sounded as she galloped, the flames hopefully keeping Sneaky just as mobile as her as the beam chased her tail, cutting off for a moment as it began again before her and she moved in a new direction. Between the firebomb and the Fusion Lance the basement was being consumed, and both she and Sneaky were going to be out of places to run to until they had to face one another properly.

It was going to be risky, but then again what wasn't?

She jumped into an open gap as the Lance suddenly faltered and its keening ceased, its core was likely overheating from the sheer usage, and perhaps her firebomb's heat was assisting in making it unable to cool down. She went upright switching her shard augments back into place as it was certainly out of the game now. The cooling issues were something that the R&D teams had been trying to fix for months to no avail, the systems weren't up to the task with everything going on inside it and the fusion core within the weapon basically melted through the internals and slagged the weapon.

Her shields recharged as she carefully stepped forward, reloading her weapons and keeping the ADEE ready. A trio of ethereal daggers shot out at her from between two massive crates the flames had yet to spread to, their faces glinting in the firelight as she dodged them, though she grinned as she realised they hadn't truly been aimed at her.

She dropped the ADEE as its gem battery fizzled out, a blade protruding from it.

Good move.

She raised her forelegs and jettisoned fléchettes over the area along with saturating other places she thought Sneaky might be lurking with the Wildbuck and Thuddgun, before she felt a chill up her spine, whipping around to see a strange glint and swiftly ducking just in time before the Wildbuck was cleaved in two as a massive sweeping wave of malevolent energy seethed through the air, carving a perfect slice through nearly all the storage behind her and the tips of her mane. Crates and shelving collapsed, her heart thundering as she shot back up and kept pouring her shard augments all around her wherever the sensory implant was picking up any kind of movement, while more of the ethereal daggers zipped at her.

Breathing a little harder she threw the useless Wildbuck in her enemy's direction, a dagger sinking into the shotgun as it travelled and hit the floor, and she grunted in pain as despite how deftly she was moving another dagger thunked into her chest, thankfully stopped short of piercing properly by her dermal armour. She rushed forward as the sensory implant picked up what she believed might be the sound of heavier breathing and loosed a burst from her shard augments down an aisle, and she grinned as she heard the tiniest emission of pain through the roar of the rising flames, stopping firing momentarily as she quickly switched vision modes and just caught sight through the heavy distortion of a plum-tinted wisp moving through the shelving units, letting the Thuddgun she still possessed crack a few shots off as she followed. She ducked into cover as a dagger flew her way, watching the distortion flicker and convulse as it disappeared around a corner, another painful cry whispering out before once again disappearing completely.

"Ready to talk?" She called out, her vision switching back.

Silence.

She waited tensely in an odd crouch before loudly swearing as the crate she was hunkered down behind was perforated by a huge scathing spear of energy, quickly jumping back, dodging, and sweeping her hoofblade up as another few screamed past her. The enchanted edge blocked one that almost skirted her head and would have taken a huge chunk from her scalp, the hoofblade glowing dangerously bright from taking the brunt of the magic. She retreated back as they still came flying at her, the cover around her useless as everything was seared through as if it didn't exist.

"Fucking-" Twilight exclaimed, as her already damaged foreleg was pierced by one of the ethereal spears of what she figured was lightning as it bypassed her shielding, and only managed to twist out the way enough that another spear run through her side rather than impaling her torso, definitely feeling like lightning as it ravaged away leather, chitinsilk, and flesh alike.

She was remaining rather calm throughout as her leg malfunctioned and her side was in absolute agony, and as an additional worry her HUD flashed an immediate warning that her left foreleg's power system had been heavily compromised, and one of its fall-back measures was about to rupture as well. Her heartbeat jumped again, dropping the Thuddgun as she ceased her magic casting and let a cold shiver of Neureliix shoot down her spine, running through countermeasures while now far more easily dodging the pale arcing spears, the neurozyme calming the unusual spike of fear she wasn't usually accustomed to feeling.

The foreleg was going critical, and she quickly issued several commands, feeling her left-shoulder docking port whir as it expeditiously released its secure locking mechanisms, and she had no choice but to risk magic usage as her horn blazed again, enveloping the volatile leg as it then ejected from the port and hastily teleporting it far away to the front of the basement.

Two explosions promptly occurred.

The heavy detonation of her disconnected limb shook the lower level and spread an intense wave of uncontained fiery energy outward from the blast site, at the same time as she was instantly rocketed back into a shelving unit from her horn's shockwave of rapidly overloaded energy, wood and metal crunching and bending down on her as she smashed through the storage and indented into the ground. Teleportation was one of the most demanding spells that could be cast, and with her emotions running so rampant under the surface along with a powerful designer combat drug empowering her it was no wonder she'd launched herself into the floor. There was a good reason she didn't mix magic and neurozymes.

Neurellix took the edge off, but she felt like she'd just pounded her head into a wall going at a hundred miles per hour, while dunking her head into the fire she'd lit up and letting her face cook for a while. The searing hole in her side didn't help matters, and her spine was starting to ache harder. The flames' orange hues washed over her as she stumbled up onto her hooves and forced herself upright, slightly shaky as the Neurellix then wore off, gone almost as quickly as it had come thanks to compensating for the heavy shock to her system, and she quickly retrieved a med-hypo from within her duster to jab it against her neck, groaning as the pain in her body left completely. Her left foreleg tingled despite the limb not being there anymore, the docking port felt cold, almost itchy. She knew it was in her head, glancing for a moment at the duster's limp sleeve on her left side with nothing to fill it. It was her own reckless fault, she'd slotted in the hoofblade and shard augment systems together and she really wasn't supposed to do that. Angle and Rize were going to be a bit pissed off when she got back.

She eyed the flashing alerts on her HUD and dismissed them through the mounting headache that built despite the potent painkiller, keeping her remaining foreleg raised and the shard augment ready. It seemed Sneaky hadn't taken the opportunity to simply gut her while she was down, and she figured that maybe it was clemency to a downed foe. A certain sense of honour to not kill a disarmed opponent, perhaps? Well, she didn't have arms, but whatever, it worked with other species.

There was a wisp in the corner of her vision from within a destroyed section of the storage away from the roaring fire, she snapped her foreleg to it as something shadowy appeared for a scant second between the aisles, though she didn't shoot and just kept watch for the moment. Quarter given for quarter received, that and she needed answers. Whatever Sneaky was, she still couldn't see much of them, the air was gently displaced from their breathing, their cloaking augment probably taxed to where the intensity she'd dialled her eyes up to could detect the fluctuations.

They both stood for a few seconds in a silent truce.

"We will meet again."

The voice was an utter whisper, distant and echoed and altogether odd in its tone, and then suddenly the distortions ceased as what she believed must have been Sneaky's fierce presence she'd felt pressing down abruptly vanished as if a dense fog had been lifted from the room, one that she hadn't realised had been oppressing her senses. She waited a few moments for the other boot to drop, but it didn't feel like she was in any immediate danger anymore so dialled the eyes and sensory implant back to standard levels and sighed in relief as her severe headache and warmth at the back of her neck also receded somewhat.

She probably shouldn't push the augments so high again until she fine-tuned them. She switched her right foreleg to the hoofcannon and loaded in her last smoke grenade as she watched the rising smoke of the fire become thicker, priming it with a delay and shooting it out over the centre of the blaze. The lighter grey smoke burst out in a wide arc spreading into the dark cloud and blanketing a majority of the roaring inferno, and thankfully she could use magic to corral the rest of the flames licking along and disperse the smoke that was building up against the ceiling, though it didn't help her headache much. Yet even with the overload, the spells weren't too difficult to cast and it took her little time to reduce everything to nothing, though when she saw the magnitude of the damage caused she was thankful that the support pillars weren't made of a lesser material than stone.

All that remained of a majority of the basement's storage at the epicentre of where the firebomb had landed were blackened remnants of the once huge crates and boxes, metal shelving reduced to slag and the weapon parts in the pallets burned into ash and lumps of cooling iron and steel. The damage lessened as it went on, though everything was still quite charred and smoking, and whatever drugs the Jackals had left to be distributed had been completely consumed by the fire too, but it wasn't an issue as she had recorded that it had all been here in the first place. As she'd hoped, even with the fire spreading out it hadn't been able to get to the officers in their metal prisons.

Another flicker in her mind. She chuckled a little with a few steadying breaths as the connection was quickly made. "Garret, hey, it's all clear down here. How's everything on your end?"

"The perimeter is secure, Agent, there are two sentries holding the ground floor ready to assist should you have need of them." Garret answered, she heard his beak click. "There was a heavy explosion that was felt from out here, and the sentries reported the smell of smoke, though given your nonchalance I assume there is no issue?"

"It was contained enough." She shrugged to herself. "There was a fire but it's gone now, I'll be up soon."

"Agent."

He cut the call as she switched the hoofcannon back and went to her hooves, feeling a little more weary as she did her usual stretch. Still moving well enough on three legs, she went over to the large containers to see that the complex magical barriers in place had now disappeared, and casting a brief spell she found no trace of anything remaining, so they'd been dispelled when Sneaky had left the scene.

A good kick from her back hooves busted open the first metal container, though as she rushed to assess the officer she realised they weren't breathing, the interference in her imaging sense had given her the impression they had been. She held the discontent in her chest at the blatant puncture through the stallion's armour and his heart, his pale-green eyes unfocused and staring into the ceiling. There was nothing she could do for him at this juncture, so she closed his eyes and silently moved on. Sadly, even a nice little Tetra wonder-drug wouldn't save him now, he was too far gone for anything to work. The adjacent container kicked open had another dead officer, the mare killed in exactly the same manner, an angered growl escaping Twilight.

She broke the doors in on the next and Twilight quickly moved to the prone and unarmoured Captain that thankfully still had a heartbeat, scanning many lacerations and multiple fractures in the mare's legs and ribs. She immediately took a small amount of time to cast a proper healing spell, watching her power cells tick down as the magic fixed the broken bones into perfect condition, bruises and angry wounds across her pale-white coat knitting over from where she'd been clearly cut and beaten. The Captain's breathing was shallow but her heart rate was becoming steady, though she sensed a magic signature lingering that was the same as the complex barriers which had locked the containers.

It became readily apparent that something was amiss as the cuts she'd healed over started to open back up, and she cursed at the foul play. The wounds weren't bleeding, but the flesh surrounding the rents in the Captain's coat were slowly webbing out. More dark magic. She glanced down at her own side and saw the heavy wound the summoned spear had created was almost closed up completely now, and the two punctures in her other side and chest made by the daggers had already healed over, the spellwork in her sophisticated healing matrix being well attuned to deal with many types of harmful attack.

It wasn't detectable by her magic, and there had been no warnings to the type of magic the ethereal weapons had been created from on her HUD, which meant if this was the kind of dark magic she thought it was then it would slowly corrupt from the inside out at the site of injury. The Captain wasn't going to die anytime soon, though she needed aid Twilight couldn't provide in the field. She pulled out some medical supplies and performed the same basic first aid she'd had Foamy render earlier as it was all she could do for the Captain at the moment, hopefully the magical bandages might stave off the webbing somewhat.

Twilight pinged the flatpack as all clear for cargo extraction as she worked, relaying various important details to Vee, such as the Jackals' complete surrender, the safe room and its innocents that might need medical attention, and of course the police officers in immediate need of special medical attention, as Twilight moved into the last container she broke open and saw the Sergeant was in a similar condition, though with far deeper lacerations across her snowy pelt rather than bone fractures as Diamond Dogs were a lot tougher on that front. Most hospitals weren't equipped or the staff trained to deal with dark magic as it was so rare to see, so they'd be taken to the Royal Palace instead.

She took care of the Sergeant's injuries in the same manner and ensnared all the bodies in her corona, lifting their forms up and gently bringing them along, and grabbing the Thuddgun for good measure too, placing it inside her duster for the time being. Trotting along to the front of the basement, she stepped through the wide blast area and now non-existent doorway, the area massively decimated by her limb's detonation, and up the partly destroyed stairs, successfully patching through to the police's network as she reached the landing. The network's activity had increased and the police were able to access it again judging by the massive flow of data being rapidly transmitted. While there were multiple locations across her map of places in Black Crow they were now concentrating themselves in an effort to route the Jackal Cartel, there were a few units not far from the flatpack that could be diverted, and she put across a command to get two of them to properly take care of the situation here.

She wasn't feeling like it was coincidental that the police communications had come back up soon after Sneaky had disappeared. She smiled a little flatly that she had a lot more work on her plate, adding a few notes to her ever growing checklist.

One of Garret's sentries nodded to her as she entered back onto the ground floor, seeing the officers in her corona and moving out the way so she could bring them through, the Jackals a little alarmed as she repositioned them for space as well. Moving over to the entrance she pushed the double doors open to barest sound of a Stormchaser thrumming far off in the distance alongside the echo of police sirens, the AMR cruiser might have roughly been a few thousand hooves out but was audible as Black Crow would have received a no-fly warning due to the gang war, any that were still chancing the pass through were flying quite high so they didn't get shot at.

Garret marched from his position towards her where she saw the Blackguards spread out in double postings, utilising the concrete barricades that the Jackals had set up around the base as cover, and quite a bit of the debris too that had also been barricades before Vanguard Muskets had decimated them. The carnage and bloodshed around the courtyard was quite impressive and the old fountain she'd seen on the way in had been utterly blown apart, the Jackals that the Blackguard's had spared sitting in or around its remnants. A few were laid on the floor missing limbs while others simply appeared shell-shocked, the police would have little issue dealing with them. There was a sombre note to her thoughts when she saw the platoon medic standing further off with a few other of his fellow Blackguards, beside their fallen members lying on cloth stretchers, Vanguard Muskets held in their claws upon their chests.

"They died well, if their King were still alive he'd be proud." Garret said with a hint of pride coming to a stop as he saw where her eyes were looking, and then to the quarry she held before they met one another's solemn gazes. "We have both lost kin this day, it is regrettable and you have my sympathies. You seem to have also lost a leg, Agent. The explosion removed it?"

"My leg was the explosion." She said humourlessly at him with a smile that didn't quite reach her face at the current moment. "It had a lot going on inside it."

Garret inclined his head, glancing at the police officers held in her corona. "At least your mission is done, even if only a few live. Limbs can be replaced, lives cannot."

"You're right about that..." She agreed, glancing behind her. "The Guard and police will arrive soon to help the lives that we have saved here though."

"Then it's likely best that this is where we part ways."

"Agreed. My lot coming in aren't going to take shots at you, but I'm not sure how the police are going to feel after the morning they've been having." She nodded gently, glancing up at the sound of the Stormchaser growing heavier as it approached the area before looking back at him. "Nice working with you, Garret, I appreciate it. Give Gwyndolin my regards."

He gently bowed to her. "I wish you well. Until next time, Agent."

She watched him swiftly move back to his platoon and ready his soldiers to clear the area while she carefully set the officers down to the floor, the Sergeant and Captain remaining unconscious but stable. She placed the two dead officers apart from them, casting a spell and creating a simple magic sheet over each of them that shimmered in the partial sunlight coming through the smog above.

She inhaled and exhaled, taking a moment.

Twilight designated a good landing zone for the Stormchaser as she then glanced towards the destroyed fountain, shooting a look at the Jackals that were left near it and figured they got the message to stay put with her stare alone now that the Blackguards were clearing out, not that many of them were in much of a condition to run, musket rifles didn't make small wounds. She stepped a few hooves back from the landing zone to avoid wake as the Stormchaser came into the vicinity of the flatpack, the under-thrusters steady thrum echoing off the stonework of the surrounding buildings as the propulsive sharply lowered into the courtyard.

Before it had fully touched down her allies swiftly filed out of the vehicle and dashed to meet her. Four stallions and two mares soon including the pilot, all fitted in hardy gear and bearing impressive weaponry, the one Earthen amongst them supplied a huge machine gun mounted upon his back, a shame that it wasn't really required at this point.

"Ma'am." The Lance Captain leading them said, bowing his head.

She greeted him and started directing, one of them moving to secure the officers in need of the Crown's special facilities while she had the Lance Captain and one other go to secure the safe room and its occupants, hearing the sounds of police cruisers approaching from far off. They had their orders too so she waited for them to arrive as a Warrant Officer of the Guard squad started to administer additional drugs to help the surviving police, and the remaining member, a Lance Corporal, respectfully took the deceased officers to the back of the Stormchaser.

Usually officers killed in action would be picked up by a police coroner, which was likely happening throughout Black Crow where possible as the police rallied their positions to recover lost ground, but these two officers had been slain by dark magic and the Crown was going to need to examine the bodies with their own forensics teams in special facilities before releasing them to the CPS and their families.

Twilight took the moment to pull up the extranet to get some bearing on the passing day while she'd been running this small op, finding herself just as concerned as when she'd initially left the Palace as she pulled up the Agent database again. Dizzy was surprisingly still there, now holding Sapling's main police precinct rather than outside the area, the situation was also still marked critical despite the issues in Black Crow beginning to clear up, likely as a majority of trouble was moving that way while the police regained control and the Jackals rerouted. As much as Twilight would have liked to stay and sort things out with the Children she'd saved, the few Jackals she'd interacted with, the small Kirin foal, seeing the Captain and Sergeant back to the Palace, and even finding out how well Dusky's team did, she needed to move and assist.

The Lance Captain had gone into the flatpack to secure the safe room, and she shot him a quick alert to inform him of her imminent departure. She waited for a few moments more as the police finally came speeding into the area with their sirens alight and alive, the noticeable tempo of the klaxons quieting as the vehicles came to a stop and the officers started to pour out. She counted two cruisers and two transports as their lead came rushing over to her, others moving to secure the Jackals in the courtyard and within the flatpack.

"Here as ordered, I'll take things over." The gruff Sergeant Tungsten stated, and he sighed as he appraised the area and the absolute state of the building behind her. "Sparkle, why'd you drag me and mine into this?"

"You're no-nonsense about things, and I need that here." Twilight replied honestly. "I trust that you'll follow my word to the letter?"

"Wouldn't dream of doing otherwise." He huffed.

She gave him a nod as she turned away. "Excellent, I'll leave it with you."

"I've still got your suspects from the other night in holding too, Sparkle." Tungsten grumbled as she looked back at him over her shoulder. "At this rate the precinct isn't going to have any room left."

"Big place like that? You'll manage a couple more." She shrugged.

Almost immediately she faced forward and bolted from the courtyard knowing things were going to be well handled here. The police had orders from her regarding the Jackals so that they could be put in for assessment and rehabilitation if they were found to have done little wrong, all of them still remaining here would have some notice placed on their police files in that regard.

Twilight had gone in there and tore the place apart, likely killing a majority of ponies and creatures that might otherwise have been saved in the long run if she'd not been so deep in her anger, even if they'd done or participated in the torture and rape of the Changelings. There was a good chance that all who remained aside from that could be put back into society quite easily once they'd done their time, jail was likely unavoidable, and for some though there would be a higher sentence as it was more than likely they had records in the police and Crown databases already.

The remaining Children would likely be released from the Guard's custody once they were considered medically well, pending no records of their own, and then given the chance to receive counselling though she knew they'd probably turn it down to return to Constantine quicker and heal with their own. The Kirin foal would also be cared for and returned home safely, and that made her feel a little better. Everything was mostly in order as much as it could be and for her that worked, she knew these days that nothing could be done perfectly.

She activated the thrusters in her back hooves and was soon atop another building, being forced to gallop on three legs not slowing her much at all. She accelerated with her prosthetics as well as a little encouragement from her Neurellix to give her a boost, and kept even on her hooves as she went moving from rooftop to rooftop where the buildings were somewhat even in height, crossing a great distance in very little time at all. She could have opted for pick-up to drop her directly at the precinct but it would take longer and she didn't want to stand around while Sapling Green was still a critical area. She slowed as she jumped to the next building ahead, her duster sleeve flapping as she zoomed in on the Bulwark up ahead that usually blocked Black Crow from Sapling Green, she wasn't far now and she could see the massive hole blown through it, police cordons and flashing lights set all around the area.

Bulwarks were extremely tough and made to resist a lot of punishment, though Sapling Green's Bulwark had been erected later on after the inner plateau and its surrounding Bulwarks had already been put into place. It wasn't as large or thickly plated as the others, it was the same deal with the one that closed off Draconis. Due to that she could see why the Jackals had succeeded in punching through. While it was surprising they'd gotten their hooves on Crown tech, getting ahold of multiple explosives or making them from scratch was very much within their ability.

The police presence was heavy when she soon arrived on scene, the numerous CPS cruisers were layered carefully for the officers standing by to make use of as cover beyond the initial cordon she walked up to, being let through immediately as the officer that came to stop her saw the emblem on her duster. She trotted past him with a nod and went straight for the massive hole blown through the Bulwark through the forensics teams that were still scanning and collecting samples through the chaos from the Jackals that had been holding the area previously. She watched as a few body bags were loaded into an ambulance before its doors shut and it sped off, the Jackals had been taken out and the police had moved in, the situation being brought under control.

The Captain present saluted her as she stopped before the blast site to assess the damage, they'd even destroyed the turret at this section of the wall beforehand. The Bulwark stretched on for a while in both directions, ending on the northern side as it bordered the Pale Edge ward, and on the southern side where it bordered the Ardent Cascade ward. Black Crow was ultimately locked in, surrounded by the three wards on its outer edges while it had Crystal Sky and Hydra at its back.

That created a level of resentment for some, she'd always felt that Jöhtunn had essentially been birthed from Black Crow, mired in the attempt to perhaps make a living and failing at it with enough disdain to become what he was. The surrounding wards around Black Crow were far better off and built up, and with Hydra being an inner ward that also possessed a powerful Bulwark it wasn't hard to imagine that many living in Black Crow felt shut off or maybe even stigmatised by it, buried beneath the limelight that shone on other wards.

She scanned heavy traces of residue in the twisted shrapnel of the Bulwarks inners, they hadn't been subtle about it at all. The shape that spread through the wall and then the markings outward from the exiting burst suggested it had been a barely controlled explosion from a large shaped charge, or several packed together ones. No common mining explosive or even something military-grade would punch through a Bulwark by itself, though while she suspected that this had been built from multiple components and chemicals bought over the counter, she wouldn't discount the idea they'd simply gotten their hooves on a whole bunch of C4, and it would have needed to be a lot. Beyond a Bulwark's heavily layered composition they were enchanted to resist such things, even the less fancy ones had that much going on, the only difference was thickness and height.

Moving through she passed the opposite cordon past the police and scoffed. The difference between Sapling Green and Black Crow was almost night and day with how much nicer things looked despite the damage, it even smelt nicer, though maybe that was just because she'd come from one of Black Crow's more rundown areas. She broke into a gallop again past numerous expensive looking shops boasting large holofronts and a few prime bordellos along the way, their security plating gone up under the smashed in crystal windows and barred doorways. No doubt the second the Jackals had blasted their way through that the security measures had activated, there were a few markers of bodies that had previously been laying, whether they had been Jackals or innocent subjects going about their day she didn't know. Given that she saw the remnants of a few sentry-droids littered around the ground and dozens of pockmarks from gunfire alongside fragments of stonework she wager it was the former.

The lieutenants leading the Jackals wouldn't have wanted to stick around, if this was done as a distraction or signal to start the gang war then it was a pretty big one, and they must have had a clear objective in mind to do it. Given their encroachment upon Sapling Green's precinct she had a pretty good idea of their goal. She didn't follow the path of destruction that had been made, she took a side route quickly mapped out that would bring her out just beyond the police precinct's main entrance. While it would no doubt be watched, or contested by Jackal forces warring with the police, the Jackals inside would most likely be focused on Dizzy as she fought with them.

Twilight would lock them in, with two Agents and police forces either side gunning for them they'd be curtailed within a very short space of time, and after that she could finally start sorting out her own mess, though as she went on through the spacious streets all locked down with their fancy gadgets and a smattering of officers to keep order and reassure the people, there was a subtle worry building within her heart. She'd been burying it this entire time along with her normal worries, keeping it under the weight of her other objectives she'd been saddled with, but with the rescues done and only one thing to focus on it was rapidly asserting itself in a way that even the Neurellix wasn't able to control it.

She hoped that Rainbow Dash was still alive.

Author's Note

I think this is the first chapter to break 20k. I couldn't cut it down.
They're getting bigger, help. :rainbowderp:

8: SEARCH_AND_RESCUE_ENGAGE

Something has gone wrong. We don't seem to have an archived copy of that chapter.

6: PARAMATER_INCREASE_PARSE

Twilight breathed out in a gentle shudder.

She was still feeling the creeping chill of Neurellix from her initial Jackal encounter with the police tickling at the base of her neck, even when they finished dealing with the next group as they moved deeper into gang-controlled territory and away from where most of the peaceable subjects generally lived in Black Crow. Surveying the skirmish now done, she let her forelimbs return to being hooves and lowered back to all fours as the bodysuit finished forming, silently walking down the bloodied street.

It was the third grouping of enemies they'd encountered after joining forces, and the criminals had fallen to a heavy onslaught from their combined might. Although, Garett's disciplined platoon and the Vanguard Muskets made incredibly short work of the Jackal contenders likely more, even with them having already been waiting in decent cover and bearing some excellent firepower. Twilight's vision caught wind of a glint on one of the bodies and picked up a very interesting silver trinket, stowing it away as she slowly trotted between the corpses and found herself briefly examining a large piece of shrapnel. It looked to have formerly belonged to the body of a heavy grenade launcher that had been violently ruptured by musket shot and killed both its wielder and two others besides them, that was some pretty good value. Glancing back, she saw Garett take another purple rose from within his coat and gently lay it atop the gored wreck that had been the Jackal unit's only Gryphon member.

He had an awful lot of those to go around.

It held them up only slightly, but she understood it though; amongst Gryphons it signified a certain respect to fallen enemy soldiers who had chosen to die for their causes. Gwyndolin had spoken to her a few times on the subject of final respect for kin regardless of the path they took in life. She couldn't help but feel it might be slightly tongue-in-cheek like a calling card of some sort, yet Garett's expression was completely sombre and devoid of any humour. Twilight decided not to displease him by making any silly cracks about it, as much as she might want to. Like with the Thestrals and their Mausoleum in the Royal Palace, the Astralists and their shrines to the Diarchy, Gryphons and their revered Drossels, Changelings and their bizarre worship to Death personified, or really any other race; all races had their unique rituals and odd beliefs, and as they weren't harming others with them she was content to let them have such things unmolested by her own jaded personality.

Even though Astralists especially ticked at her.

She still didn't try to dissuade them of the notion that Celestia and Luna weren't deities, even if they might seem it at times with all the good will and noble intentions they spread around. As technology had advanced that belief had only deepend among a number of the populace as well, she still wasn't too sure as to the why of it. Maybe it was due to how little the Sisters appeared in public anymore beyond special events and functions, and how much they worked behind the scenes to keep everything propped up out of sight, giving people everything they could while happening to be elusive. There had to be a link between the belief and modern tech.

She didn't have a proper telecommunication device herself, but just as with the various displays around Canterlot or the equipped AMR billets, ones used for visual imagery and entertainment were the most popular for the public in the modern day. Holovision had long surpassed radios like she or her friends used to have, or a TV like Rainbow Dash had once owned when they were the newest thing on the market, as she'd just had to have the latest gadgets. Dash did actually own a sixty-inch holoscreen now, or she at least did when Twilight had last dropped by to check on her at home however long ago. Personally, she didn't need any of it. HV's might have been very sleek, flat, and fancy, projected with something that skirted the boundaries of the most basic magitech in an impressive display of utilised technology, yet she had access to the Canterlot's extranet and the Farscape Web directly built into her system; a CINI was really all that she needed.

Across the Farscape Web were always dozens of theories as to the Sisters origins, and despite the history she'd been a part of growing up being enshrined in multiple books, museums, and information kiosks completely open to the public, including the Canterlot History Museum itself, it seemed that ponies were content to forget things taught in school and only go looking into online articles and websites that espoused their own ideas of history. She personally took it upon herself to change or remove a number of blatantly false claims and bullshit she knew wasn't true beyond the idea of the Sisters being deities, even if Celestia or Luna didn't care a bit about the things that were believed. Maybe it was a fruitless gesture anyway, but it certainly killed some time when she didn't have much else to do.

She suspected that it was a similar situation with most people that had HVs just being happy to go along and accept what narrow views were shown to them on their screens by curated news stations; because it was easier. It wasn't like the Crown had its own news station dedicated to putting its views out there as it was to be completely impartial in regards to all of the political turmoil pervading the landscape. The partial idea of abolishing the Monarchy and establishing a democracy was a small one constantly touched upon by networks owned by a number of megacorps and even certain nobles, and the only reason she could fathom as to why such a notion had any traction at all amongst the public was because those stations might have been all a number of subjects bothered to watch. She just wished people weren't so quick to jump on a single idea and stick with it so vehemently, if one only subjected themselves to a narrow field of vision they would only see very select information and ignore the bigger picture, and it didn't help that some more influential stations were capable of suppressing smaller ones that didn't hold certain views of whichever megacorp or noble house.

The Crown did have one official channel though. It was used sparingly, but the Sisters did make appearances on HV, primarily with the few yearly celebrations that Equestria held, though only ever speaking evenly on current and past events that they felt may need addressing neutrally or informing the populace of major shifts in the landscape whatever the origin might be. During Celestia's Summer Sun Celebration, Luna's Umbral Festival, Hearth's Warming Eve, or even Nightmare Night on occasion, Celestia would commonly deliver a kind-hearted message to her little ponies and all creatures that would reassure and calm to balance things out, and in all situations Luna just sort of stood there awkwardly, willfully stayed quiet, and did her best impression of a statue while trying to pretend the camera didn't exist. When Celestia finished talking by giving the Crown's hopes of what was to come, Luna would then briefly recite an ancient-Equish passage, they'd both wish Equestria their best, and that would be all anyone would hear for a while until the next major celebration, or if there was a crisis or state of emergency to be spoken on.

Regardless of all the reasons as to the Diarchy's supposed divinity she supposed it all played into one another, really. It was just that Astralists were more fervent about it and it gnawed a little more, so maybe that was what made her uncomfortable with them, though she couldn't be too upset as it was still a form of care and love for their rule, and in the end that was what mattered most.

Even now as they passed through the war-torn streets she spotted a rather well done mural painted onto a side alley wall that they moved past, that depicted the ancient sigil of the Two Sisters circling one another with their celestial bodies. The sigil was mainly used in a more spiritual context these days by Astralists since the symbol of the Crown now was the same as on her duster; the graceful glowing form of an Alicorn. The new emblem was instantly recognisable at a glance and brought the thought of safety and peace to the realm, and fear to criminals.

Twilight didn't deny that it struck differently when a Crown Agent personally bore it, though.

She did prefer the old sigil for its tranquil look, it reminded her of the better days. Those that worshipped the Sisters likely felt the same, and she would guess that the newer generations raised on such beliefs would see it as something wholly different and to aspire to from the modern dystopia they were growing up in. She really hoped more creatures would put their general faith in returning to harmony, but all the Crown could do was provide the basics and hope for the best, they'd never force the issue and that's what set them apart...

Another shiver down her spine. Her system was trying to purge the remnants of the drugs in her bloodstream, and her body was stubbornly clinging onto them along with everything else.

The floating red-tinged smoke from the Blackguard's musket rifles was still clearing as she stepped over the gored body of an Earthen stallion whose enhanced leather jacket was completely in bloody tatters, Nimbus and Sable following Dusky as she came up next to Twilight and tried her best not to breathe too deeply or look ill at the death around her.

"I think these gangers did a lot more harm than you would have, Ma'am." Dusky commented in a hush, moving past the remains of the Jackals. "Those muskets are nasty things, hardly equine."

Twilight grinned a little.

"Don't let the Blackguards hear you calling them gangers, it reminds them of what they've lost." She glanced over her shoulder to Garett as he was checking one of his members wounds, patched up by the dedicated medic of their platoon. She looked back at Dusty with the same grin. "Besides that, look at me; I'd say I'm hardly equine about my methods either."

Dusty's eyes flicked away. "That's... different. You fight for the Princesses."

"Oh? So the end justifies the means if you're on the 'right' side of the equation?" Twilight teased her, smiling wider at Dusty's sudden glare. "Rather Draconian of you, maybe you'd do well in the Dragon Lord's army."

"I'm willing to bet you weren't like you are now, once upon a time. You're a horrendous weapon, a necessary evil to bring harmony back to Equestria, borne of desperation from good-hearted ponies, and I'd hope you chose this out of a desire to see peace." Dusty growled, rather suddenly intense. "Those Gryphons revel in violence, their barbaric traditions dictate their actions. The shard weaponry in your augments are the highly illegal variants, and were you a criminal you'd be getting two to six years for their possession and usage, minimum, but they're weapons made to kill quick and instant, quiet for assassins and the like. They're nasty, but still equine. You said it earlier yourself; everything inside you is made to be decisive, the Princesses wanted you that way. Those Gryphons though? They don't need clawed bullets, and they don't need muskets, they just cause completely unnecessary suffering to their victims."

Well, that was certainly an insight, even if it wasn't entirely accurate.

Twilight chuckled, keeping on down the open street. A horrendous weapon, eh? She'd heard a lot worse, though she couldn't fault Dusty for her opinions. It was young ponies like her that were going to do their part to bring Equestria back to a fair and just society long after Twilight had been killed or passed on.

"You're a good mare, Dusty, just don't let idealism get too much in the way of pragmatism. Sometimes the ends really do justify the means." She paused walking and talking, leaning her head back. "Garett!"

"Agent?" He answered in kind from where he was and quickly trudged over, his older plate armour clinking slightly as his coat billowed behind him. "Have you any concerns?" He asked, clicking his beak as he surveyed the open street up ahead and shifted his Vanguard Musket into both claws, immediately scanning the area for danger.

She shook her head. "Nope. We've been doing just dandy so far." She flashed him a grim smile, and roughly tapped a hoof on top of a corpse. "One for you to sort."

"Ah, a survivor. I shall be quick." Garett noted as the 'corpse' coughed violently, a dark-cherry Earthen mare with an indigo ponytail that was suffering from a number of bleeding shrapnel wounds through her leather armour, and missing a back leg at the gaskin from a musket shot having blown it off.

"Good, I need to speak with my lot." Twilight inclined her head to the three police that looked on with shock as Garett quickly placed down his musket rifle and began to roughly pick the fallen mare up with a claw despite her daunting condition. "You three, come with me."

Dusky blanched at Twilight, taking a step towards the Gryphon as he reached into his coat and fretted back at her. "W-wait, Ma'am! That mare needs medical attention! Just because she's a criminal doesn't mean you can exec-"

"Calm, officer." Garett stated as he pulled free a medical syringe from his coat, carefully injecting it into the mare's neck as she stayed deathly limp, and clicked an order at his medic who promptly rushed over, taking both her and the used needle from Garett's hold and immediately administering life-saving measures. "Generally our rifles don't leave survivors, shock and blood loss kills an enemy more oft than not, however anyone able to survive such a barrage is commonly quite worthy of living."

Twilight nudged Dusky, walking away. "Come on, the Blackguards fix the injuries of those they hit personally, let them work."

"I... yes, Ma'am." Dusky conceded reluctantly. "A-are we moving without the Gryphons?"

Dusty quickly looked away from the medic as he worked to stop the mare's stump from bleeding using a cauterising implement that was rapidly heating up. Looking a little disturbed, she trotted away as the Jackal's whimper turned into a low groan of pain with its application, moving past Nimbus and Sable as they followed Twilight to get beside her.

"Garet'll catch up with me soon." Twilight said, continuing on and taking a serious tone. "You three need to link up with another police unit now a couple of streets down, they're in trouble and requesting backup but I'm guessing the message isn't getting through the network, and there's no way for AMR teams to arrive in time to assist, they'll be overrun by the time one gets there."

"So how do we get there then?" Dusky wondered, glancing down as her eyes slightly unfocusing while she checked her HUD, though came back out looking annoyed as she likely still had no connection through her CINI. Her ears flicked to gunfire in the distance as she looked at Twilight with concern. "And what about the Captain and the others?"

Twilight's horn glowed as she floated out the silver trinket she'd picked up from one of the corpses a few moments ago and placed it in Dusky's hoof, her annoyance at her leg being hoisted up with magic immediately disappearing as she saw it.

"A Captain's badge!" She cried out in shock.

"Jackals like their souvenirs." Twilight said darkly. "If it's your Captain's then it's likely she's still alive; Garret's map doesn't indicate any police deaths around this area. I'm going to go rescue her and your other officers if I can, Garett's going to back me up."

Dusky stowed the badge away in her armour with an annoyed huff. "Damn it. Yes, Ma'am... We're not gonna ignore other units that need assistance."

"What's the plan?" Nimbus spoke up, her voice coarse as a lot of Gryphons' tended to be, she looked between Dusky and Twilight. "Am I flying over a building or something? I can draw fire from up high."

"No, I've plotted the three of you a route that should be clear." Twilight explained, holding up a hoof and projecting her purple-tinted map between the four of them, being sure to look at Sable and include him as he seemed to be quite reserved, even his hoofsteps barely made a sound. The path she'd set out between the gently pulsing buildings and streets glowed gold amidst an immense amount of coloured groupings, a few clustered pockets of pale-silver and charcoal within specific areas were visible amidst an overwhelming amount of cherry-red and baby-blue practically all over the place. "There are a lot of individual battles going on between the gangs, though it's mostly the police in Black Crow who are getting a shitty deal. The Blackguard and the Children are mostly just defending their territory, but the Jackals with their superior numbers are going full out and they're focusing a brunt of their forces against the CPS while they can't raise the horn." She circled in on a cluster of cherry-red encroaching upon a smaller amount of baby-blue, where the golden line was leading to. "This route lets you come out on the Jackal's left flank. If you're careful you can punch a heavy hole and distract them, then the police unit can move in and mop up with you, you got it?"

"I can remember this route, Ma'am." Sable said softly, his eyes glancing up.

"Good stuff." Twilight smiled at him as her eyes travelled over his fit body, he didn't seem too perturbed at her ogling. Letting the map disperse as her foreleg's inner-pattern began to reconfigure itself. It took a second, but then a side panel moved back, and a compact enclosed compartment opened up. She insistently tugged with her magic and with a little effort, lifted out something small and rounded, extremely magically potent, encased in enchanted steel, and glowing orange from its core, and she quickly held it out to Dusky. "You'll need this."

Dusky's eyes widened. "M-ma'am?! That's Class-A illegal ordinance!"

"I know. Told you I had crowd control, didn't I?" Twilight smirked for a second, her face becoming serious in an instant. "Do you want to have a chance of saving your fellow officers? You can't flank a force of twenty with just your two officers here, Dusky. This evens the playing field."

"But... that's a cluster firebomb." She barely whispered, almost sounding as if saying what the dangerous weapon was would mean it would explode in front of her. "I can't carry that."

"I don't care if you or one of these two does, but you're going to need it." Twilight frowned at her, getting slightly irate. "Time isn't a luxury we have. I've already been sidetracked from what I should be doing, and if I'm being honest I'd much rather be checking on my own friend over in Sapling Green instead of doing the CPS's job, but I don't abandon people, and in order to fully succeed in that I need people to work with me, without fucking me around."

She growled in annoyance and quickly shut up as she hadn't meant to raise her voice, it was the myriad of chemicals and oestrogen flowing through her body making her less tolerant the more it all built up, to the point where she was going to snap at the drop of a hat. She really wanted to work out her frustrations with a hot piece of tail, or several.

"Sorry, didn't mean to bite your head off. I know everyone's trying their best and it's not easy, I'm just worried for my friend." Twilight frowned, glancing away from Dusky for a second, looking back quickly enough and fixing her with a stern look. "But for fucks sake, take the fucking grenade."

"I'll take it. I'll fly up high, throw it into them, and snipe it." Nimbus swiftly cut in, nodding at Twilight and outstretching a claw. Twilight sharply appraised her, returning the gesture and levitating it into her grasp, and she carefully placed it inside a spare ammo pouch.

"That'd do it." Twilight nodded with a smirk, liking the simple plan. Sometimes simple was all that was needed, and all the grenade needed was some applied force. Noting Dusky's uncomfortable expression, she turned towards her again. "These days it's often the case that in order to do good in the world, you have to resort to underhoofed tactics."

"It's just so... cruel, and it's illegal. Even criminals don't deserve that." Dusky sighed, glancing between the three, quite displeased no one was raising a fuss, and perhaps thinking she might have picked the wrong officers to tag along with her.

"It is cruel, and very illegal, yet no one that matters gets hurt." Twilight shrugged, the discussion now greatly trying her patience, though mostly keeping her tongue. The Jackals did matter, and on any other day she'd probably go along and speak with Jöhtunn as best she could, then shoot the shit with his followers and offer them better choices if she could help them, but right now they were choosing violence, so violence would be given back wholeheartedly in kind. "Now you have to move quickly, the Jackals are advancing. My system is tied into the network directly so I can monitor the situation in real time, and they don't have long. I've let them know backup is coming for them whenever they get back into the system, so you need to go ASAP."

Dusky sighed heavily, taking her Stryke rifle into her magic field from across her back and keeping it by her side. "Alright... Let's go, you two. I hope I don't lose my job after this, or worse."

"Crown Agent directive. You're acting under my orders. You could kill a noble if I commanded it and nobody could even remotely threaten action against you, the Crown would step in on your behalf and I'd be the one held to account." Twilight informed her with only a little bit of satisfaction.

"I-I don't want to..." Dusky began, but Twilight cut her off.

"Of course, anything that I order you to do has to be within the limits of the Princesses' orders for me to carry out their will." Twilight bumped Dusty's flank with her own. "So I can't exactly ask you to do that, relax."

"Oh, right. Good." Dusty nodded with very little assurance, trying not to glare at Nimbus and Sable's amusement.

"Go on. I'll link up with you later." Twilight tilted her head in the direction she'd laid the path for them to move. "Follow the route, move fast, and don't die."

With a confused frown at the comment, Dusky quickly nodded and set off, motioning Sable forwards to lead them as he'd memorised the route they needed to take. Twilight watched them go before turning back to the Blackguards, going over to where Garett's medic was still tending the fallen Jackal mare, with Garett smartly walking to join her as she approached. The Jackal was partly conscious and wary, in pain, and seeming confused that she'd been saved ─albeit archaically─ by enemy gang members, though didn't deign to question it.

Twilight glanced over the groggy Jackal mare, seeing the numerous wounds from shrapnel had been cleaned out and wrapped up in gauze and bandages. Her leg had likewise been tended to and the bleeding staunched, even if the bandages were slightly discoloured through with pink. It was all rather a bit slapdash and hasty but she seemed like quite a tough mare, she hadn't even passed out from having her stump cauterised, a good show of just how tough Earthen could be.

"Get anything from her, Garett?" She asked the Gryphon, as she then turned and met the Jackal's eye, smiling nonchalantly with the tinge of burning flesh still in the air. "Sorry about your leg, but opposing sides and all that."

"Piss off, Shade." The Jackal grumbled through gritted teeth.

"I did not speak with her, no; I was waiting for you to join me." Garett then replied with a raise of his beak as the Jackal fumed. Switching his musket rifle to the other claw, he unsheathed his trench knife with the other, flipping the blade upward as he pointedly met the Jackal's gaze as it then automatically fixed on the deadly weapon. "Now, miss, I'm not usually in the habit of torturing an unarmed enemy, it goes against what I have been taught with respect to captured combatants, however you are in a unique position to assist my superior in her endeavours and time is limited."

Always so long-winded.

Twilight grinned wickedly at the Jackal's expression, her glazed look having turned to fear as her cherry coat paled considerably more. "We just want to know where the cops are, the ones you or another group of Jackals took hostage."

"I-I don't know that! The boss foisted 'em off to another group!" She insisted, perking up a bit more as Garett brought the blade closer to her chest.

"Well we haven't come across them. No possible ideas? I'd hate for you to get more injured than you already are." Twilight commented, tapping her stump and making her writhe a little, as the medicine the Blackguard's used wasn't nearly as potent as the magical mixtures in Crown or CPS med-hypos.

"Look... listen, alright?" The Jackal stammered after sharply inhaling, focusing intently on Garett's knife as the tip gently pressed against her breast, not breaking the skin of her coat but indenting, likely enough to cause discomfort. "J-just bloody well listen, ya wankers!"

Garett relented the pressure of his knife slightly. "We are listening with great interest."

"The filth might 'ave been taken to one of the, uh... bases, hideouts, w-whatever." She said quickly, eyeing the knife. "There's one just up the road, we met up with a group from that way earlier or thereabouts, ya coppers'll be there, maybe..."

Garett side-glanced at Twilight as he kept his blade steady. "Agent?"

"Yep, I see a flatpack that has a cluster of red on two sides, third side's in a blindspot." Twilight confirmed the information as she looked over the map on her HUD. "It could be our officers are inside."

Twilight was already going to check that tenancy block first anyway, as it was one of four closer areas nearby to where she had landed and that the police had gone on from bearing similar Jackal presences, and it had the greater amount of them. With one of the police being a Diamond Dog it was a certainty they'd not gone willingly or easily, so they couldn't have gone too far. It was the nearest site to their current location, and confirmation that it was a viable target was valuable information.

"Alright, she's been of use. Could always just open up an artery anyway, save the trouble of lugging her around, and I'll reimburse you the coin for the treatment you've done." Twilight gave a slight shrug, smiling impishly.

"W-what?! But I told ya what I know, didn't I!? Please!" The Jackal shrank back. She was rather fearful until Twilight's face broke out into a wider grin as Garret coughed to cover his amusement through the serious demeanour, shaking his head at seeing the usual dark humour Twilight employed to get by in life.

The Jackal was slightly lost. "Wha-"

"I'm just fucking with you, you've been a great help." Twilight smiled and chuckled to herself as the Jackal just scowled back at her with fury. "You're not getting far with that leg anyway, so you're coming with us." Though as she leant in a little closer, her smile disappeared as her tone became serious. "But, when we near our target, if you try to alert any other Jackals to our presence or make any loud noises, any sudden moves at all that might be you going for any kind of weapon; Garett will slit your throat, or shoot off your other leg and let you bleed to death. And if he doesn't, then I will, do you understand?"

The Jackal shrank back even further while fiercely nodding. "Y-yes, of course."

"Good!" Twilight smiled sweetly, straightening up, flicking the Jackal's dark ponytail out the way and patting her on the shoulder. She hadn't been serious, but it never hurt to use a good threat when necessary, and she needed to amuse herself. She quickly slinked past the mare, facing the direction of another side-alley in the street as she glanced at Garett sheathing his knife and readying his musket rifle for action. "Garett, I'm going to head on and find a quiet way inside. I need you standing by ready to make an extremely loud entrance, I've given you the location."

"Understood, Agent. It will be done." He gave her a curt nod, followed with a brief salute as he received the data for his personal map. "Good hunting. Call, and we shall answer in fire."

He swiftly turned about face towards his unit, and with that she took off in a sprint, not bothering to dampen her hooves into silence as she sped down the alleyway. After she built enough speed, the inner configuration of her hindleg prosthetics cycled forth, the bodysuit morphing and the thrusters in her back hooves igniting as she forced herself upright and launched up into the air in a blast of heat. Everything quickly reshifted back into form in the space of a second as she hit the wall of the building in front of her on all fours, in between a pair of windows, and hopefully not surprising the tenants inside too badly as she kept the momentum going and ran up the side of the stonework.

After a brief gallop upward that didn't take much time on enhanced limbs despite the height of the structure, she deftly slipped over the top and took a second to assess, a parting glance to her map telling her she'd picked the right block to get onto. She was overlooking a series of buildings that were mostly equal in height to the one she stood on, surrounded by a number of actual high-rises and a few skyscrapers further out. The location she wanted was a tenant block called a flatpack behind one of the taller ones ahead, called such for how small and contained all the rooms tended to be just like in general studio flats, but far more packed in, hence the name. There was no need to go along in the streets when she could just drop in from above, or at least get a decent overview before dropping nearby.

Black Crow had one of the highest numbers of high-rises and flats for dense housing across Canterlot, which to many in the higher-class wards like Eclipse or indeed the Sanctuary ward might have said contributed to a greater level of crime and disorder with so many people crammed into a small area. While not entirely wrong, it was far more to do with the type of person that inhabited an area, and unfortunately for Black Crow; it was heavily populated by numerous gangs. The result was a constant hive of activity run through with chaos, and a number of buildings had their residents evicted, having simply been taken over and turned into strongholds for use by whoever had seized it.

After she'd launched herself from this rooftop onto the next, she spied the place she was after between the two blocks of taller flatpacks across from her. From here she could see plenty of windows were varying in states of damage, some intact but grimy in a way a normal person living in an actual home would never allow it to get to. There were a number that were fine but simply boarded up for protection from gunfire, which was probably one of the more telling aspects that it wasn't a nice location. If the slapdash graffiti sprayed over graffiti of gang signs and allegiances wasn't already telling enough anyway, then indeed the people wearing specific armour standing around cobbled together fortifications certainly lent a clue to the fact that it wasn't a place for everyday subjects to hang around.

Even with the current onset of gang war she'd have thought the Jackals might have been a little more discreet about it, but she supposed that with the CPS being spread so thin and the other two major gangs similarly occupied with defence, with small-time gangs likely holing up and waiting for everything to blow over to see what power plays could be made, it was no wonder they were being so brazen and obvious. They wanted to show off their power, perhaps even inviting an attack to be made against them just to have a little action.

How Black Crow had gotten to this point was rather disheartening, and due to an endless number of factors, though it primarily remained a question of the people living in it. Crystal Sky was one such ward where regardless of the higher density of people within its confines, and despite the fact that it bordered Black Crow with nothing but a single Runegate, very little trouble generally ever crossed the throughway itself. Crystal Sky had one of the lowest rates of incidents of any ward within Canterlot City, which was true for Sapling Green as well.

Some might say those in Crystal Sky were more privileged though, as the ward didn't stretch onto the extended plateau too far so it had more going for it, that Black Crow had a lower average rent because of it's distance from the uptown areas so it was easier for the more downtrodden to gather en masse; a perfectly sound argument if not for the fact that Sapling Green or even the Spider-Silk ward on the west side of the extended plateau were even further out, and had a lower rate of incidents per year. It all came down to the people. Black Crow had been just fine until Jöhtunn established the Jackal Cartel, and then everything had massively gone to shit. With too much to deal with across Canterlot and the rest of Equestria, policing the already unstable ward had slipped enough that the Jackals had gained a major hoofhold next to the Blackguards and Yly Ilkinsfáerinr, and they were stubbornly stuck in like a tick.

Both the Blackguards and Yly Ilkinsfáerinr had needed to step up their illicit endeavours and expand in order to not let the Jackals push them around. Constantine, for one, hadn't always done smuggling on such a massive scale, nor did she have a legion of whorehouses beyond the few she'd started out with in Black Crow. Her business now reached slightly into other wards, and she had ramped up her efforts at least on the whoring in order to keep desperate people from being taken in or off the streets by the Jackals' pimps. If there was one thing Twilight liked about Constantine it was that she did somewhat care for those abused by society having been there herself, providing a small safety net in the form of shelter and non-sexual work in her whorehouses to those that fell through the cracks which the Crown had sadly failed to catch, and lately that was quite often regardless of its best efforts to combat the issue.

A certainty as to why the Crown didn't muscle in too hard on her. Twilight had heard and seen the general reports of homeless people eventually moving into housing the Crown had set up for them, with a number from Black Crow to elsewhere in the city amongst them having cited that they'd been cared for by Yly Ilkinsfáerinr, in more or less so many words; the reports had mostly been confused about Changelings being helpful and not consuming them. If only they weren't such a small group, they might actually manage to go from a shady gang into a professional business one day equivalent in scale to the grandeur of some of Hibiscus' finest establishments, although they'd need to drop all the extra shit they did on the side.

Twilight was working on it.

One day she'd get Constantine and Gwyndolin to play it straight. They'd both do amazingly joining Equestria under the Diarchy in the pursuit of harmony, they both just went about attaining their own sort of harmony in the entirely wrong way.

Now as for Jöhtunn and his Jackals... They required a much harsher approach in some regards. She had hope for a lot of the fresher Jackals, as they were just misguided into crime and could be saved. There was even a slim hope for those that had killed others, that if they could be rehabilitated and made to regret what they'd done, pay their dues to society and those that they wronged, they might be able to rejoin Equestria and become a part of harmony again. It was slim, but it was there, and she had to try to push for it for the Princesses sake if nothing else. She only had a bare sliver of hope for Jöhtunn, though. She was fairly certain for him to want the Princesses' harmony that she would need to break him so harshly he ended up a simple broken dog at their heel in order to get him to see the bigger picture, and that would kill whatever fiery spirit that he possessed. She didn't want to extinguish that fervourous fire, she wanted to redirect it for good, and if she couldn't...

Well, it was better that he died in a blaze of glory and be a minor footnote in the history books than be relegated to a pitiful footstool. She knew at the very least that Luna would send her on a special mission if he didn't hoof the line soon.

Up until this day, Jöhtunn hadn't actually killed any police or other innocents with his orders, only other gangsters, and she or other Agents dealt with him when he started to muscle in on everyday subjects, his drug trade was constantly being screwed with. The Crown kept close tabs on such things amidst everything else. With this little war he was making though, he'd certainly just placed himself within Luna's little black book; she would have access to all this information soon enough through her Lunaris Agents working tirelessly from the shadows, rather than consulting Vee.

A brief thought flashed in her mind of the Pegasus she'd killed the other night, and what he'd done to deserve the black book. She'd not even really looked at the file as she'd essentially just come back from her previous mission in the Zebralands, simply scanning for his species and the last known location. She always knew when Luna gave the order that it was wholly deserved, but still; what had such an unassuming pony done, she wondered? She'd look over it later, right now she was needing to deal with Jöhtunn's bullshit. If she couldn't sort this out soon and get him to stand down to actually come in for his crimes, he was going to find himself punished in a rather disturbingly creative manner.

Luna may have lightly ribbed on law enforcement when Twilight had paid her a visit after the assassination, yet she had nothing but respect for those everyday officers that selflessly threw themselves into the fire to protect her subjects, and of course woe be upon anyone that hurt her little ponies and other innocents. Twilight would likely receive a very specific set of instructions as to how Jöhtunn met his end. Now, she hated when others got innocents killed, even more so when it was done with purposeful intent, but her own ways of dealing with a target of such calibre were quick and clean in comparison to when Luna deigned to step into the equation and hoof-craft the perfect torture. Just like Celestia, she was a truly ancient power, both terrible and wonderful in strength, and in her case had been given countless years in exile to concoct specifically vengeful ways to poetically deal with her worst enemies.

With any luck she wouldn't have to weld him by his augments to a block of metal and electrocute him for weeks on end after pumping him full of hyper-awareness drugs, and letting a bunch of angry whores run a train on him afterwards before finally dumping him off a bridge into a deep lake... or something like that. Luna would certainly come up with far worse than what she could on the spot.

With another run, jump, and fiery burst, she soared across to the next block of flats over the road and made sure to brace herself. Landing hard, she hit the rooftop in a roll onto her side before neatly sliding back up onto her hooves and to a full stop, keeping crouched low as she approached the edge of the roof. She was lucky the building had a surrounding half-wall to it that bore gaps as she could sneak closer without being spotted, and with the arrhythmic backdrop of gunfire and the occasional explosion any sound she'd made coming across to the roof had gone utterly unnoticed, just a singular drop of rain splashing alongside hundreds of others during a storm. She'd be far better off were it night time, though she would be fine with the overarching smog of the day as a form of cover. The sun wasn't currently bearing down so it must have been hiding behind some clouds that lie beyond the cloying grey haze that blanketed Canterlot.

She focused her eyes and zoomed in on several clusters of Jackals dotted about just a few hooves from the reinforced main entrance, a number sitting around an old fountain that no longer worked in the flatpack's rather spacious community courtyard, though most were idly milling about some chipped concrete barricades placed here and there in the area. Every barricade was fitted haphazardly with makeshift embrasures, which only a few of them were bothering to utilise while they were smoking and chatting amongst themselves, a few carelessly resting in circles around a game of dice or cards. They weren't really bothering to pay much attention to their immediate surroundings despite the gang war going on, not even the lieutenants that she could see, so this must have been a somewhat secure location within the territory. These Jackals mostly consisted of ponies, Dogs, and Gryphons, but she also saw a few Zebras and Minotaurs in there, even a Changeling or two in the form of Unicorns, their auras being a little easy for her to distinguish.

It made sense as to why they were more relaxed than usual though as she scanned through; a majority of the Minotaurs were decently enhanced with a whole mess of combat augments, armed with heavy machine guns that would have had the CPS having a tough go of it alone against them. She saw the usual implants or prosthetic limbs on some of the ponies and Gryphons, and one of the Zebras, though didn't detect anything on the Dogs, as they rarely went for enhancement anyway. It must be why her little group she'd formed had a much easier time getting here as she'd not picked up much else but basic implants on most of the Jackals they'd burned through, keeping their more enhanced members on defence around their bases like this one.

The flatpack was beset on two sides by a mostly empty road and a side-street, and she could see a path from here that suited her purposes for getting inside. The group nearest to a set of parked cars, smashed into and looted and looted again for parts, consisted of a trio of Dogs and the one enhanced Zebra who possessed a single mid-range eye augment. She pinged them and scanned for more possible annoyances that could spot her sneaking her way in. Further to the left of the main entrance nearer the side-street she saw a fervour of Gryphons milling against the stone of the building, one's Stryke rifle resting against the wall next to them as they spoke amongst themselves, another with a snazzy-looking streamlined and scoped ADEE laser rifle made by Tachyon Complex resting in his claws, its small sapphire battery glinting in the daylight. Not a bad piece of kit for a Jackal at all, but then again they did come from all walks of life, so while most of the Jackals here possessed armaments from Hammerforged or Ironclad, something from Tachyon or perhaps even Gornwerks wasn't off the table. Pinging all of them too, she moved back and crawled to the adjacent side of the roof.

A fast peek into the alley below to check it was clear and she swiftly swung herself over the half-wall with a hoof, dropping down and landing on her back hooves against the flagstones in a bit of a heavy crouch, the fall from quite a fair height being evenly compensated for and absorbed through her myriad of dampeners alongside her system automatically generating an inertial-resistance field from the long distance, though it still sent a fleeting tremour through the stock parts of her body and up her back that bordered on an ache. She moved behind a large stack of thrown out appliances that were rusting through, the magical components that hadn't been cannibalised giving off gentle flickers of energy as she peeked out, quickly spotting her target destination and the way she was going to take. A gentle push in the mind allowed only the barest trickle of ice to spread down her spine, and her pupils dilated again. Neurellix was an excellent addition for stealth in that every single movement she made could be incredibly precise, down to a hair of motion, but with the vestiges of Ghost also still in her system that just yet refused to leave her, the two combined into a decently potent mix when she wasn't accidentally overdosing herself.

While not as powerful as some other designer narcotics specifically geared for it, a low yield of both drugs meant that if she willed it she could stay as perfectly still as a sculpture, not even have to breathe for slightly longer as her instinctual panic at holding her breath for an extended period was suppressed, and not that she needed it but it would dampen her fear response too. She hadn't planned on the small boon, however it was something to utilise to her advantage now. She waited for the Jackals' attention to glance in a direction that wasn't vaguely her own, paying an eye to the Gryphons she'd pinged nearby as they'd be more likely to properly spot her with their naturally powerful vision, before tensing her back hooves and accelerating forward in an upright dash to reduce her profile.

She was faster than they could comprehend and she knew it, her perception of time may have been altered, but the custom neurozyme she boasted allowed her to push to the speed she needed. With her augments already dampening sound she was a silent blur. The most they might see was a flicker in their peripheral vision, and by the time they looked she would be hidden or gone. A definite reason for why some used the name of Shade that was credited to Crown Agents. She saw the Zebra out the corner of her eye just start to take notice as she'd crossed the distance and crouched down between the two wrecked cars in the street, having seen something in his eye augment's peripherals, but he'd just attribute it to his mind playing tricks, a simple glitch in the signal. She could hear his breathing, almost feel his heartbeat; it hadn't changed its rhythm and there was no intake of breath or exhale of surprise. No alarm.

Twilight waited for a few seconds to let any curiosity lingering in his thoughts to fade. When his breath changed pitch as he turned his head in the direction of his fellows, she made sure the Gryphons were still talking to one another before moving again, and burst forth from her position, making for the side of the Jackals' hideout.

The building next to their rundown base was an old two-storey shop of some kind, from a glance she'd guessed an augment parts shop, likely shut down a while ago as this particular neighbourhood turned sour. She'd hazard a guess that it was a contributing factor as to why the Jackals had initially situated themselves here, seeing as the place looked completely gutted. She smartly slipped into position behind the corner of the building as she swept along, with a cursory glance to the Jackals she'd pinged informing her they were none the wiser, and she looked to the roof.

She hadn't spied anyone up above, but there was no sense in not taking the possibility that someone might be up there now, she also didn't know how many she'd be fighting once she was inside. Her eye augments were of the highest quality she knew, yet even with Neurellix going through her system they couldn't see through two-and-a-half hooves of dense stone wall even as she switched her vision mode to imaging sense, something that all Aeon eyes came with as standard military gear. Ideally, the sensors needed multiple surfaces to bounce the emitted frequency off of, detecting movement and heat to construct a basic silhouette of a being.

All she could see with a single thick wall in her way were the closest scatterings of faint plum-tinted wisps within, like seeing minor distortions within a veil of midnight smoke. That indicated that there certainly was an enemy presence, just not how many, and she also had no way of knowing or had time to figure out who the hostages were. She switched her eyes back to their standard vision setting. If the building was devoid of non-combatants she'd have just burned it out with a firebomb through a bottom floor window and called it a day as it consumed the structure, and shot anyone that came charging out of the roof or windows until everypony surrendered.

Inner-systems shifted, and another one of her more silent weapons came to bear, the left foreleg restructuring at the side as panels sleekly lifted and her bodysuit reformed, and out pushed compact housing that was almost still flush with the limb in its sleek contour, the weapon held until it was needed. She didn't need the thrusters right now though, she kept upright and securely purchased grip onto both the wall beside her and the ground beneath her with the padded soles of her left side hooves, springing inward before instantly launching herself up off from the ground towards the parts shop wall, gripping against the lighter stone and tucking in for additional momentum before pushing off again, deftly alternating between buildings as she made her way up to the roof.

She didn't take her eyes off the lip as she wall-jumped, and her ears sharply flicked as she heard movement atop the building of a door moving with her highly heightened senses. Her own manoeuvring wasn't making much in the way of noise but it was likely enough to draw attention from the roof, at least with the trembling echo it made through the side-street she was bounding between, though she couldn't tell if that was actually happening or a result of the Neurellix enhancing the sound. Either way, as she neared the top she braced herself for action, seeing the hint of feathers of a Gryphon as she made the final jump and forcing herself a little more for that extra burst of height.

Magical niobium-crystal alloy sharply slid forth from the angled sheath on her left foreleg, its dark polished form barely catching the glare of the day and her own chemically-alert eyes in its slightly mirrored face. Two hooves in length, precisely sharp to a perfect monomolecular diamond edge, and tapered to a single deadly point at its centre. It smartly came into play as the Gryphon's vision turned to her at a snail's pace, eyes going wide in alarm as he both started to raise his Hammerburst up and began to open his beak to shout out to his fellow Jackals.

Before he could even utter a sound beyond the initial vibrations of his vocal chords she'd levelled her hoof and forcibly ejected the blade, accelerating it along its electromagic inners and firing it out at high speed with a nothing but a near-silent gentle breeze from the mechanism, the blade lazily crawling from her perspective directly at his face.

The dark part of herself she often acknowledged marvelled at the way it neatly pierced into the flesh and feather, cutting an almost minimal hole like a shard weapon as it sliced through the centre of his head, travelling through at a languid pace that saw the expression on his beak and in his eyes steadily morph into that of pain and confusion as the blade passed through the back of his skull and beyond. He gasped from down in the throat in a way that wouldn't alert anyone as he fell backwards. She'd fired true and severed his brain from its spinal column, watching the light in his eyes fade in slow motion and his body lazily descend to the rooftop while the blade cleanly buried into the topmost layer of stone beneath them. She landed tensed like a spring, and shot forwards in a blink, catching his corpse and lowering it gently so nothing made any more noise than she wanted, and thankfully his body had instinctively locked up so his assault rifle was clenched tightly in his claws.

She raised a hoof and activated the retraction field on her augment, the weapon surging back from where it had cut into the stone and neatly back into its sheath as quickly as she'd ejected it, fixing back into place as she let it slide away into the housing for the time being. Hoofblades were something she generally only employed when she might go up against a dozen enemies in close quarters, however their versatility and function as both a melee and ranged weapon for swift and silent takedowns was incredibly invaluable for her clandestine operations.

She quickly dragged the Gryphon's corpse behind the rooftop access just in case another flight-capable Jackal came up top from the outside, although she didn't bother to clean the slight blood stain as once she got inside things were likely going to get hectic once she got her bearings. Her right foreleg shifted into a shard augment as she carefully approached the rooftop access as the door was slightly ajar, and being held open with a rolled up magazine of all things so it didn't get locked shut. She attentively pulled the door open enough to slip inside, feeling a measure of amusement watching the magazine fold out to see it was a bisexual edition of Wingboner Unfurled, the hardcore variant of the standard nudie-mag with full-spread centrefolds, toy usage, and a lot of large cocks going into different holes. Dash's guilty pleasure, she kept a few in the bottom right drawer of her desk at the station, the key to it hidden behind her team picture of the Wonderbolts back when she was a member. It wasn't contaminated, so she picked it up and stored it in a coat pocket on a whim; a gift, why not. She let the door close itself and lock shut for some extra security, assuming that if any Jackals got onto the roof they probably wouldn't have a key, she'd hear them banging at the door if they did. Right now she was going quiet, and until she went loud she didn't want anypony sneaking up on her.

Silently padding down the dim L-shaped stairway with careful steps, she pushed upright against the dirty wall's corner and kept herself at the ready, peeking out and seeing the rest of the way down led into a dingy hall painted in a mute magnolia. There were numerous rooms staggered along either side, twelve in total, with several doors missing from them while a few were simply covered over with a curtain or tarp, and many piles of collected rubbish and debris were gathered around along its length besides the doorways. Despite the general attempt at keeping things tidy, cracks ran up the chipped stone walls and small patches of mould grew where water dripped down freely, while light levels of wind whistled through from the boarded up broken windows she'd seen on the way in. She spied what looked like a few separate groupings of used needles and hypos along with the rubbish piles too, how lovely, a good thing she had prosthetics. Completing the oh-so-delightful décor of the drug den was the semi-broken fluorescent lighting along the ceiling that left dark patches along the way, since the rooms apparently lacked their own lights.

Concentrating as she felt the gentle shiver of the Neurellix wearing off, she dialled up the sensory implant and listened, but didn't hear anything from the first couple of rooms along her path beyond light breathing, a little movement, and sleep talking from one. A room on the right that had a curtain for a privacy measure had a Jackal going nuts and thrashing around from a likely drug-induced seizure, she'd need to deal with that soon. On the lower floor she could hear voices and laughter, though that didn't matter too much right now.

Slinking along and checking on the first room she found herself stopping with a shocked intake of breath that tasted foul, as she'd immediately turned into the enclosed space with her shard augment pointed up ready to possibly kill, but instead saw a barely conscious Changeling tightly bound around his neck and hooves by cruel thin Winter-Iron chains, lying on a jizz-stained mattress and twitching violently within a threadbare sheet.

She'd thought it might just have been a junkie house, not a fucking torture den...

The poor sprite mumbled incoherently in what was likely unfathomable pain as he shook through the throes of an intense overdose alongside the malefic metal digging into his lithe body. Twilight instantly crossed the distance with a light curse of anger, scattering used hypos as she pulled a specialised med-hypo from one of her back inner pockets with her magic. She quickly peeled away the horrendous Winter-Iron that was burning into his skin and chitin around the neck and forelegs before pushing the hypo against the sprite's neck and depressing the nub, tossing the cursed metal into a corner as she counted the long seconds waiting for the Changeling's system to normalise. The extremely effective drug would very quickly attack whatever harmful narcotic he had running through his blood in the blink of an eye.

Tetraethylnaxalone, another of the Institute's tetra wonder-creations, known on the street as Brink, because that's what it pulled you back from. It was a blanket solution to harsh poisons or fatal overdoses of the powerful neurozymes that she or other Agents used amongst other substances, that which was too much to be purged from their systems. It was absolutely life-saving, however the problem with it being a 'cure-all' meant it really fucking sucked to use.

It quite literally barrelled its way through the body in fast pursuit of outright neutralising any and all other unwanted matter in the bloodstream, and would target certain natural chemicals in the purge as well that were part of common over-the-counter drugs too. It made a person feel like they were being subjected to a combination between intense electro-shock therapy and complete body enema as their system was thrown into a tailspin of chemical imbalance alongside the resulting clustered muscle cramps.

An incredibly fast withdrawal, but it was felt all over and all in an instant. The body generally recovered from the imbalances soon enough after plenty of water, fruit, protein, and a long piss to get the residue out. For her the effects were lessened as her augments streamlined it a little better, however the young sprite here was getting the full brunt of the effect. It was certainly better than dying, and this lucky son of a whore had just been found in time. She breathed out slowly as his minute spasms began to subside, and waited for him to settle.

Given the sprite's possible state of mind, maybe dying from an overdose would have been better for him. It had been a toss-up between whether to remove the Winter-Iron first and risk letting him overdose, or injecting him to stop the overdose while the Winter-Iron had still dug into his body and thus highly increasing his trauma. She'd chosen the former option as resuscitating someone from an overdose was actually possible, the latter was far more of a guarantee of death, and yet she still wasn't sure of his mental well-being.

Normal iron did nothing special magically unlike some other natural metals ─except maybe make Changelings uncomfortable─ and forged into steel or naturally smelted, it lost all known dangerous properties it could hope to possess as its magical structure was irreparably altered. However, taking iron ore and enchanting it during the forging process, as with any ore, would allow new creations. Through dark magic with a purposely corrupted true-ice spell, and thus turning the spell into a curse, iron could be permanently turned into Winter-Iron. True-ice never melted without specialised magic, and when deeply twisted into the magic of iron it formed a never-ending feedback of purely hateful unforgiving cold that attempted to compete with Luna's most violently enraged blizzards or avalanches, piercing without restraint into the very core of a Changeling's soul.

Winter-Iron forging was an extremely fringe piece of dark magic, unfathomably illegal to perform, and quite unfortunately for them; only affected Changelings, the poor bastards.

Used during the Third Age of the Grogarian Aeon, the most brutal of any age that Equus had ever known, ancient Royals of old Unicorn bloodlines had created Winter-Iron to combat the hordes of rogue Changeling hives that had sought to enslave Ponykind as cattle for their food sources, constantly infiltrating small towns and cities and seeking to ensnare ponies for what meagre love had been available. It hadn't mattered if some hives were tucked away and kept to themselves, they had been hunted down relentlessly and put to the sword, the weapons used to slay them being made of the cursed metal. It burned on contact with their skin and chitin, and parted the tough plates with the ease of a hot poker against a plastic sheet, utterly defeating them in every open battle they'd charged into.

Until the beginning of the Fifth Age of the Alicorn Aeon when the Two Sisters had defeated Discord and established Equestria, Changelings had been thought to have been hunted almost to the point of extinction, which was one of the reasons why there was so little concrete information on them to this day within standard Equestrian history books, because until relatively recent years they'd simply ceased to be around in large enough numbers to be studied or be a part of everyday pony society.

Such dark magic as the creation of Winter-Iron was wholly outlawed along with all other forms of dark and chaos magic when the Diarchy had come into being, yet it didn't mean the magic didn't exist anymore, or that it couldn't be researched, found, or used again, and she knew from the Venrum Disaster that old magic never stayed buried forever.

Coming into the room and seeing a captured sex-slave of the Jackal Cartel was one thing that was horrible, she'd dealt with such incidents before as it was something not unknown to happen. It was jarring to put the barest point on it; damaged people with their lives immutably tainted being led out into medical vehicles as they shook and wept never really got much easier for most, though it was something that didn't faze her anymore, but, coming into a room and then seeing a Changeling subjected to an evil torture like Winter-Iron was on quite another level of disturbing that left her feeling even more disgusted and angry.

In the modern day such things had been rediscovered, and there were all sorts of creatures out there in the world willing to use even the most horrendous of weapons to achieve a specific purpose. The irony of it was not lost on her.

The slightest threat of Winter-Iron against Changelings was seen in extremely poor taste and rather cruel, and it was one of those things that was a common insult between gangs, but its usage as she was currently witnessing was a rarity in the modern day that went against all natural rights of basic decency, and even though it was also illegal it went far beyond purposely taking off a Unicorn's horn or a Pegasus' wing.

While agonising, distressing, and certainly feeling like a loss of one's self; losing a wing or horn didn't quite literally destroy a part of a pony's soul even if it felt like it, yet Winter-Iron tormented and deranged a Changeling the longer the cursed metal was fused into them. There was an incident from a few years back wherein a shipment of Winter-Iron had collapsed and spilled over some Changeling workers ─as while the cursed metal was illegal to forge, it was not technically illegal to import or buy─ and even with such a small shipment it was enough to bury and burn into them, and hadn't been possible to safely remove in due time to which they had been driven utterly insane and soon catatonic, their psyche's damaged beyond repair. As far as she knew they were still kept in Royal Canterlot Asylum and Medical in the Sanctuary ward at the Crown's expense.

They couldn't eat anything without assistance, couldn't use the toilet without any assistance unless they simply made a mess of themselves... they just completely lacked even the most basest elements of self-maintenance or personal care. All they could do was sleep when tired, and that was usually from passing out from exhaustion unless they were lulled into it. Left alone without any stimulus to guide them they would just stand still and stare into a wall until they finally collapsed from weakness, before waking and lying there, going in and out of sleep until they expired from starvation. They had been violated completely beyond saving and made into little more than living corpses just going through the most basic of motions.

She growled in abject anger as that was exactly the abhorrent purpose here; the Jackals had just wanted mindless easy-to-use fuckholes of warm flesh for their personal usage whenever they pleased, the sprite before her even had a drip that was feeding him the required nutrients to keep him alive. She quickly removed the IV from his leg, he didn't need this Availant shit in him. She could smell the strawberry fluid within the bag, the same type of fluid in packets from Crown MRE's commonly used in special assassination missions, wherein an Agent had to keep in a single place almost indefinitely as they waited for a target.

It both kept an Agent going with all the energy that they needed, and also magically altered the kidneys and digestive tract so it suppressed the usual calls of nature, instead taking everything usually thrown out by the body as waste and forcibly converting it into something the body could supplement itself with as fuel, breaking most matter down into what was essentially just water and keeping the bladder nearly empty and the digestive tract almost perfectly clear. It was only used during those missions sparingly in extremely small sachets, because despite its usefulness it irreversibly destroyed a stock body's ability to eat normal foodstuffs if used in excess, the body becoming greatly more dependent on the liquid the more it was absorbed into the system, until the body rejected normal food and drink completely.

Twilight then sharply gasped in alarm as she rushed out of the squalid room, knowing the sprite was mostly safe now, and dashing to the one she'd thought contained an overdosing Jackal.

Another Changeling. More Winter-Iron. An intravenous drip. A scattering of used hypos.

Yet the nymph wasn't moving beyond a tremour, and her mouth was caked in vomit.

"Luna's shapely teats." Twilight swore as she moved over, promising extreme pain and death upon every Jackal within the building she came across as she removed the searing Winter-Iron from the nymph's body, the metal leaving angry blisters as she peeled it away and threw it to one side.

Reshifting her right foreleg back to normal and turning the Changeling on her side ─ignoring the smell of fresh semen that dripped out of the poor nymph and feeling annoyed she'd killed the Gryphon on the roof far too quickly─ she tried as gently as possible to hit the nymph on the back with the padded frog of her hoof without breaking anything, and was relieved that she soon choked up what she'd almost drowned in. Withdrawing another med-hypo of Brink and jabbing the shunts against the nymph's neck with a quick depression, Twilight let the magic do its work as she removed the IV of Availant with a scowl, moving the nymph's murky-green mane out of her face as she vomited again, coughing and lightly spasming as the Brink made her go through all the withdrawal symptoms in the space of a few minutes.

The nymph started to whimper and cry, and Twilight's horn glowed as she cast a light healing spell to fix the worst of the burns, gently shushing her. "It's alright I'm here, I'm here to save you."

It wasn't entirely wrong. It was her oath-bound duty to help anyone that needed her, she served the Crown and the Crown served the realm. She might not have actually been here for this situation initially, but she wouldn't dream of abandoning them all to such a ghastly fate, of which she was certain that all the rooms of this floor held more sex-slaves.

"C-constantine... home..." The nymph moaned out pitifully, Twilight sighing at the name. She'd had suspicions that these Changelings might be with the Children as it was highly likely, though that was her confirmation. This was gang-on-gang violence through and through, so the Jackals were subjecting their rivals to extreme torture because of the power play.

"Yes, it'll be fine, I'll get you back to her, I promise you." Twilight intoned, stroking the Changeling over her back across her elytra. "Please stay as quiet as you can, I need-"

"What the fuck is this?!"

Twilight snapped around in a flash, instantaneously firing her hoofblade from its sheath, straight through the throat of the lime-green Pegasus that was aiming his Hammerburst at them before he could blink. She'd thought she might have heard someone coming up the stairs, the bastard probably came up for a fun time. The Jackal stumbled back on his hindlegs as he touched a hoof to his rapidly rupturing neck, his silver eyes going wide and his wings erratically fluttering, dropping his rifle from the other hoof as he choked bloody spittle from his mouth. Twilight recalled the blade from where it had embedded into the doorframe of the opposite doorway with a growl, the sharp blade tearing an even bloodier hole through his neck on the return and bursting out in a spattering of scarlet webbing across her as it slotted back into place.

He fell backwards onto his haunches against the intact door across the way as he wheezed and sputtered through the ragged opening, blood trailing over his forelegs as he pushed them against the heavy wound, and Twilight watched as he tried in vain to utilise his innate magic, trying to shape any moisture in the air ─which was currently mostly his own blood─ and shape it into projectiles he could send at her, but in his panicked state all he managed was to make it all precariously wobble and drip around himself for a few pathetic seconds, only succeeding in staining himself further. She angrily accelerated the hoofblade out again straight into his belly for good measure, the Pegasus' hindlegs immediately ceasing their futile movements like a puppet having its strings cut as the perfect diamond edge cleanly severed his spine. He collapsed to one side in a gargling heap as she retracted the blade from his cleaved guts, sliding it away into its housing and letting the Jackal die in agony.

The nymph moaned lightly in distress as she noticed some of the blood from the Pegasus had hit her, and Twilight quickly calmed her again. Twilight knew a few procedures to check health and wellness from her knowledge on Changelings, and the nymph didn't seem too worse for wear currently beyond the vomit. There were no contusions across her body beyond a slight bruising on the foreleg that had bore the drip and no swelling in her limbs; no deep discolouration of the chitin plates of her body which meant no initial signs of them cracking or breaking, which was extremely painful for them; her carapace was fully intact as well, so she wasn't going to find herself unable to move or breathe; and her eyes weren't cloudy and tinged with red, which was often very bad for Changelings as it meant the likelihood of heavy thrombosis throughout the body.

Twilight was no AMR hotshot but she did pretty well for herself.

All things considered, other than the extreme mental trauma of being tortured with dark magic and being subjected to rape, the nymph was a pretty good picture of health. The Brink had fully flushed her system and she wasn't in any danger of death, and she was coherent too, able to form names of people she knew, which meant that the Winter-Iron hadn't destroyed her mind.

Twilight whispered and promised she'd be back later, and zotzed the nymph with a sleeping spell as she settled, watching as she drifted out of consciousness.

Quickly leaving the foetid room as quietly as she could to check on the sprite again, she listened out for anyone coming to check on the miniscule level of noise that had occurred, not sensing anyone walking up the stairs. She turned up her eyes a little as she switched to the imaging sensors and scanned to be sure, seeing actual distinct lilac silhouettes now in a light glow rather than darkly brief fuzzy distortions, their brighter colours being indicative of their closer proximity now there were plenty of surfaces to create noise from, and none were rushing upstairs to try and gun her down. Maybe these absolute cretins figured it was just their Jackal buddy hitting their captives or something. Moving into the other room, she was at the minimum a little bit heartened that the sprite was sitting upright, his teal mane a little plastered to his face as he groggily looked around. He'd used the sheet to cover his nudity and wasn't shaking, so at least he didn't seem too fucked up.

He slowly glanced at her through half-lidded eyes, trying to speak.

Twilight moved up to him and began checking him all over too, finding him much in a similar state as the nymph. Aside from the burns into his body from the Winter-Iron there was no other visible damage, and she couldn't detect anything wrong internally, though that obviously didn't show the mental damage of everything he'd been through at the mercy of the Jackals, of course. She raised her hoof to his cheek and looked into his eyes, and they almost as sharply fixed on her own. That was a very good sign that he hadn't been broken by dark magic. She smiled at him warmly after casting a quick healing spell on him for his seething welts, and looked into his lovely compound eyes that glowed a light green in the room's mustiness.

"Hey there, are you doing alright? Can you tell me your name?"

"Nn... name? S'... Name's Pitch." He slurred, falling into her a little. He caught himself and was fighting to stay upright. "S'go..."

"You can't leave right now, you're in no condition to move." Twilight told him, laying the sprite down onto the dirty mattress, to which he couldn't really fight her. "Stay here, and stay quiet, I'll be back for you, alright?"

He seemed to think that was also a good option, nodding as he nestled into the grubby pillow below his head. She had a better idea so that he wouldn't wander, and with a quick flash of her horn she zapped him with a sleeping spell too, stroking through his choppy mane as he dozed off, the sprite's pretty features softening as he went into a deep sleep.

Beyond the terrible circumstances they found themselves in, both Changelings were incredibly beautiful. They weren't like the utterly starved and desiccated Changelings of Chrysalis's old hive, they didn't have emaciated bodies or holes borne of degradation through their hooves from a lack of love, or scarred and cracked chitin brought on by a life of constant fighting. Their bodies were smooth all over and supple, somewhat the same as a pony but simply devoid of a coat, and perfectly soft and sleek where their bodies weren't covered with chitin plates or structurally supported in places with the springy carapace that almost seemed more like an odd permanent item of clothing. It was only semi-rigid, and rather quite flexible, connecting at their backs with their elytras of which was more like waxy pliable plastic than anything else. It was general anatomical knowledge that wasn't particularly well known about Changelings that she'd learned over the years, not just through her more... personal encounters, but from pouring over any books or information she could find, though she'd gained the majority of all of that from treating with Constantine and various members of Yly Ilkinsfáerinr.

She was happy that these two and no doubt the other Changelings trapped in here would have a place to go back to. With a quick dip into the other room and an eye to the nymph to see if she was fully stable as she'd been puking quite a bit, she then went along and checked the first room across from the sprite when it was ascertained that everything was alright, pushing the door open as gently as possible.

Fate had decreed to shovel shit in her face, and snuff out that small ember of happiness.

The Changeling lying on the soiled mattress was a living corpse, clear as day.

The Winter-Iron that was wrapped around the young nymph's neck and hooves had burned so aggressively into her body that it had almost severed the hooves, and dug so deeply into her neck it was a wonder she hadn't already died. The Changeling was heavily entangled in the virulent metal to the point that it had seared across her face and burned right across an eye, the ruined compound organ oozing a steady mess of blood and intraocular fluid, and she seemed utterly indifferent to the pain that it and everything else should have been causing her. The stink of bodily waste was everywhere as Twilight properly moved into the room with loathing at the nasty situation. The nymph's remaining eye simply stared into space, she didn't register that there was another in the room with her whatsoever. She'd likely been injected with multiple drug doses, suffered a particularly violent reaction, and ended up in her current sorrowful state because of it.

Pushing down the discomfort in her breast, Twilight took an unpleasant breath and braced herself, letting the hoofblade slide free from its sheath. It was questionable to some but she wasn't going to let this continue, the broken Changeling shouldn't have to live in such a condition as there was no quality of life to be had. She trotted over calmly and gently placed her other hoof on the nymph's face, carefully lifting her head up, and in a single swift motion Twilight struck her under the chin at an angle, perfectly through the brain stem to instantly cut all activity. She withdrew the blade and let the body down with utmost care, taking off the Winter-Iron that was desecrating the nymph's corpse and angrily discarding it to one side, disconnecting the nutrient drip as well that had fallen to the floor likely from the nymph's heavy seizure. Twilight's horn flared as she took some basic non-magical bandages from their small packs within her duster, and attentively wrapped them around the nymph's cleaved hooves, and then the face and ruined eye to hide the offending wounds from view, but not the final mark she'd left herself for specific purpose.

Constantine had touched upon the topic of death rites of her kin in general conversation about their beliefs once or twice, apparently something that a majority of Changelings shared regardless of Hive, enough that she understood the basics. Twilight respectfully performed the few parts of the Ritual of Renewal she remembered that were normally undertaken by the most senior ranking Acolyte, Yly Yldhain Spiorýn, translating to The Void Spirit in Ponish.

She laid the Changeling on her back properly, hindlegs tucked together and forelegs open at her sides in welcome, the remaining eye looking skyward with her final wound bared for her maker to see that it was not self-inflicted. The nymph looked on in death to await Lady Death Herself, who would take her into the Void and ferry her soul into the lifestream of endless souls awaiting rebirth at Lady Death's behest, until she was allowed to return to life once again. There was so much more to it, but Twilight hadn't given much mind to pay great attention to Constantine's talk when it had come to the more spiritual stuff because of her personal disdain of Astralists.

Now she regretted it and really wished she had, she was fuzzy on other details that she was thankfully certain didn't apply here, specifics to do with suicide and far more grisly wounds so at least she was safe enough on that front, however she knew there was something important she was missing. There was a certain offering that needed to be given in thanks to their deity, that they were being allowed to leave their suffering behind before one day having the privilege of returning to the world with a clean slate. She cursed and formed a black rose into being from pure magic with an intermediate creation spell, placing it on the Changeling's breast and hoping that would suffice, as magic had been part of what was needed to be offered.

Twilight then cast a cleansing spell to give the nymph some extra dignity of an unsoiled body, cleaning away blood and waste to make the skin and chitin shine, as her magic then tidied the entire room as neatly as possible within the space of a second as everything swirled around her, all the detritus being orderly deposited in stacks and mounds out of the way into the corners.

She took a breath to steady herself, observing the nymph's final solemn scene.

"Pro corona et patria, quid faciendum est."

Twilight felt a brief shiver and her brow furrowed, blinking with the burst of static that shot across her vision from the ancient words. Something else treasured, like her thoughts of her friends and sharing their company, not buried so far in the mind that she couldn't recall the memories of better times, and of far more innocent days. She hadn't said them in years, not since she'd completed her training as a Crown Agent, and not since swearing her oath of undying fealty to the Sisters to serve ad infinitum, until she fell in battle or was released from her bondage, honourably or otherwise.

It was a recital of faith passed down from the Honour Guard throughout the ages, said before the Sisters in a meaningful ceremony. The words were meant to give comfort and solace to lean on in desperate times, and she hadn't even realised just how much she missed saying them until now. She'd purposely not spoken the maxim from since when she'd caused untold pain and anguish in doing what she had to for the Diarchy, as those words she'd taken pride in had almost as rapidly turned to ash in her mouth, and it ached as deeply as it helped to say them again now. It was a beautiful litany though, borne of thousands of years of dedication from the Honour Guard being prepared to die to the last in order to save the realm, and to protect the ideas of the Monarchy and what it stood for.

She smiled with a small amount of humour, they really hated that Crown Agents used the same words in the modern day, being granted such by the Sisters. It used to be that an Agent was far closer to an Honour Guard and was actually respected and well-loved, before they'd been repurposed as a secret service for the Crown's more covert dealings. Must have been a much more relaxing job once upon a time. Shaking her head she breathed out again, this was no time to be lost in thought, the barriers had faltered for just a moment, but she reasserted them and locked down the melancholy.

Silently leaving the room and closing the door she moved onto the rest of the rooms, and each time her anger and sorrow grew deeper. Every one of them held a living corpse, all Changelings of both sexes not given dignity in their states, naked, addled with drugs and nutrients, and horribly constricted in Winter-Iron until their souls had been shattered. She gave all of them the same final respect as the first nymph she'd released from suffering, then caringly wrapping and cleaning them, performing the Ritual of Renewal and giving each a magical black rose upon their breast. She had delivered the Sister's Mercy, as the Astralists would have said in their own rites. If Noctis were here he'd be rather disturbed and quoting verses to soothe his mind until her ears started bleeding, she was glad he didn't have to see this absolute fucking shitshow.

Breathing deep as she briskly moved to the floor's last room and expecting another living corpse, she opened the door.

She found yet another victim, but this wasn't a Changeling.

Of all creatures she knew that were common to Equestria, when she pushed the door open she certainly hadn't been expecting a Kirin, nor had she been expecting a foal. An extreme need to protect surged within her heart and she went over quickly but carefully, removing the blindfold, gag, and bindings the poor young colt had been trussed up with. She saw his dark-amaranth coat was only lightly bruised, the soft maroon scales of his back that hadn't yet had time to mature also partly discoloured, but to her knowledge it thankfully wouldn't affect their development, and where they'd wrapped the rope around his growing crimson horn wasn't marked at all, so the bruises were the only harm from what she could see so far. The little Kirin's innocent scarlet eyes went wide as he jumped upon seeing her, but before he could yell out she quickly shushed him placatingly with a friendly smile ─at least she hoped her augmented face could appear friendly to him, a lot of children didn't like it and she was probably splattered in quite a bit of blood─ moving a little closer and putting a hoof around him as her deep maternal instincts welled up, and she stroked through his deep-rouge mane comfortingly.

"Shhhhh-hey, hey, it's alright buddy. I'm a Crown Agent, do you know what that is?" She spoke softly, pulling him a little closer into her breast after he gingerly nodded, pushing his head into the leather of her duster, his horn gently indenting the material as she felt him tremble. "It's okay, you're fine now, I'm here to help fight the bad guys." She whispered, rocking him gently while feeling a rising spike of dread rise in her throat as she worked a bit of discreet sensing magic, and after a horribly terse moment, completely drowned that fear in utter relief as she sharply breathed out and sent a silent thanks to the Sisters that the young colt was mercifully unviolated.

A grim piece of magic that was a necessity for her line of work, and she passionately hated whenever she had to use it. When children came into the line of fire and had been harmed in such a foul manner she truly wished the Diarchy was divine so the guilty could know agony. She held back a deep sniffle and let out a shaky breath as she looked up into the ceiling, aggressively suppressing the emotions that had so fast welled up as she leaned down and kissed his head.

"Don't worry, okay little guy? I'm going to get you out of there, I promise you. On the Crown's honour, you'll get out of here safe and sound." She whispered.

Celestia's massive alabaster arse, she was such a sappy mare when she had all this oestrogen in her system, and it wasn't doing her any favours. She was incredibly vehement about helping children and this kid needed her, though she couldn't be an emotional wreck at times like this, and the stringent training was fighting her motherly instinct and keeping everything sealed down.

"Listen, I need to go-" She began, hushing him reassuringly as he clung tighter to her duster in protest, his tail swishing in agitation as he made noises in his own tongue for her not to leave, it made her heart ache. "-I know, I know, but I need you to be brave, alright? I have to make the bad creatures go away."

She thought carefully for a second as he trembled. "I need you to do something for me, do you think you can help out the Princesses by helping me?"

Her mention of the Sisters perked his ears as those pretty scarlet eyes lit up and looked at her with slight wonder. Ah, she had a young fan of the Crown on her hooves, that was nice. She smiled down at his adorable little face with those soft maroon scales running down the bridge of his snout with as much parental affection as she could muster despite not having children of her own. One day, maybe. Kids like this always drove that primal need within her to have her own foals, to bring life into the world and cherish it absolutely rotten.

"I'm going to bring two Changelings, ones that were trapped here with you. You've seen them right?" She asked in a whisper, and he nodded with wide eyes. He'd likely heard a lot of stories about them and seen Changelings in passing, she fervently hoped he hadn't seen the living corpses though, no child should witness that. "They're hurt badly, I really need you to keep an eye on them while I'm kicking the bad guys' butts, alright? Can you do that for me? For the Princesses?"

The small Kirin looked a tad apprehensive, however it seemed the larger prospect of helping her ─if indeed just helping the Princesses─ overcame his initial worry, and his floofy mane bounced as he gently nodded. Good kid.

She left him there momentarily, telling him not to exit the room on account of the dead Pegasus in the hall, and quickly brought both of the sleeping Changelings into his room along with the mattresses once they'd been heavily cleansed. She placed them down, and with a brisk check over to see they were alright, leaned down and hugged the Kirin close again.

"Be brave for me, I'll come back or the police will. I'm going to lock the door now." She told him, and he gave another nod after glancing at both the Changelings. They should be fine with the Brink having cleaned out their systems, the most they'd have is a light headache and stomach cramps, and putting the colt up to watch duty would keep him feeling like he had to stay inside with them. "Whatever you do, do not try to leave this room unless it's an utmost necessity, alright? If I know you're here, you'll be safe. There may be more I have to help, so I'll tell them to come here too, they won't get in unless they have the right key."

He nodded once more and lay down, shuffling a little closer to one of the Changelings.

She left with a parting smile, firmly shutting the door and casting an intricate barrier spell that would secure it from the outside, her horn flaring as she swiftly laid in the magic. If anyone tried to access the door that didn't possess a CINI, have the specific magical enchantments made by the Crown in their armour as the CPS did, or didn't have the right magic signature granted by her, a huge concussive wave would blast outward and send the intruder flying back, and she'd instantly feel and know if the room had been touched upon. She needed to help the captive officers however they would all have agreed that with the Children being majority non-combative and held hostage, but especially an innocent foal being in danger, that both took precedence over them, and she'd drop what she was doing to tear it back up here and kill whoever tried to breach the magic defence.

Having put that in place, she still sent a gamma-critical alert to Vee for precious cargo extraction though, and within a second saw on her HUD when she pulled up her 3D map that the building, previously tinted purple, had been marked in a fiery gold with a symbol for priority pickup once the area was clear of hostiles.

When it came to Crown Agent alerts, with precious cargo extraction ─a general euphemism mostly for pulling people out of a hot zone─ alpha-critical would have had an AMR team barreling in at high speed regardless of the danger, as alpha-critical literally meant that loss of life would occur without immediate exfil. Beta-critical told the AMR teams that the cargo was currently under watch, but that exfil may be needed as hostiles were closing in, and/or the cargo still ran the risk of being lost, and to keep the engines revved and ready to fly on the Agent's word. However, gamma-critical was the standard go-to for a lot of Agents when they had a secure area, as it meant cargo was safe and stable, and extraction would possibly only be needed once the area was clear. Delta-critical was the lowest alert level, and more used for marking possible evac zones with the knowledge that it could turn into a hot zone at any moment.

As she moved through the door at the hall's end into the stairwell, she was pinged that a team had immediately picked up the request for aid, and it seemed given her sketchy location it'd be a six-strong team of the Guard kitted out with advanced gear, which meant they'd be coming in heavy with enhanced armour on par with her duster, assault rifles, and a support weapon. They were readying up and would standby for her in case she needed to move the alert up in scale.

Upright and slowly descending the stairwell that doubled back, she readied her shard augment on the right foreleg and kept the hoofblade ready to spring on the left. Going for a bit of a dangerous play that would see her doing more damage, with a flick of the mind the left foreleg reshifted, the hoofblade moving around for a moment as the inner-pattern changed formation, dismissing the warning that popped up on the left of her HUD as both the firing systems for the hoofblade and shard augment slotted against one another inside the forelimb. All weapons at the ready, she continued at a careful pace. She slowly stepped through the ajar door as she reached it, finding this hallway was in slightly better repair than the top floor. While still marginally messy along the passage itself and the chipped magnolia walls grimy and water damaged, all the lights and doors were intact.

That very likely meant that the top level was the main area where they held captives for their fun. These floors moving down would possibly only contain Jackals, but she couldn't be too reckless about it. They might have taken more people hostage like the officers or simply brought a captive down for ease of access and held them within these rooms, which meant that Neurellix was out of the equation. The flatpack layout at least meant everything was going to be as symmetrical as possible, and the studio flats would be small enough to clear out in a few bursts. Like above there were twelve rooms, all staggered in layout so they weren't looking into one another, so she'd take them one by one or as they rushed out into the hallway, being wary and starting with the room on her right as right above it was her precious cargo.

She'd stocked up before the last mission from Luna and hadn't needed to use anything but electro-pulses the night before, so she'd only expended ammo since landing in Black Crow, and no warnings had popped up on her HUD, though she took inventory anyway.

She smiled as she saw that her shard ammunition was only about a quarter down, and her power cells were at fifty-six percent, so all the scuffles earlier hadn't done too much there. She had a single explosive round left for her hoofcannon after her first fight in the alley, two smoke grenades for cover, a gas grenade for captures, and a single cluster firebomb after giving the other to the sexy Gryphoness officer with the big tits. She'd need to see which way Nimbus's barn door swung at some point. Other than the smoke grenades ─of which she'd certainly have liked to use them in earlier fights had it been advantageous─ all the other tricks up her sleeve weren't what she'd call practical in this situation, so for now it was the shard augments and the hoofblade that would be of the best use. Even so, her thoughts went to another few ideas that might come to fruition rather shortly if her current plan of action went in the wrong direction.

Her glowing eyes scanned again with the imaging sense, the lilac shapes throughout the floor still about the same between other objects, getting slightly fuzzier and darker the further up the hall and lower through the next floor down as they went, the ones nearest on this level that she could see still sitting and lounging within the rooms, and it appeared that a majority of Jackals were currently out of their armour.

It was a certainty they were resting in reserve until they were called to raise Tartarus or replace someone out front. Only some near her were enhanced to a small degree with implants, though even if they were greatly enhanced she could take them all with ease and take her time doing it usually. She wanted to, desired to make examples of them, make scenes that would strike fear into the hearts of other Jackals, and interrogate them until they spilled who it was that spouted the idea of Winter-Iron; but time was still of the essence, the whole process had to be expedited, and she couldn't play games while innocents were involved. Twelve rooms of Jackals. She'd cleared twelve rooms upstairs, and only found three survivors. The warm anger she'd kept down within as she'd laid eyes upon the Kirin colt, the revulsion at the living corpses, now freely began to rise up again and she welcomed it into her core like an old friend, letting it spread through her thoughts like sunshine. At least she could freely kill them. How many Jackals would survive this? None, she'd make sure of that. With a flick she opened a channel request to Garret, and it only took a second for him to answer.

"Agent." He stated simply.

"I can't confirm the officers' location right now, the topmost floor has numerous dead of the Children's members, two survive with a young colt that was hostage, there may well be more innocents in the rooms moving down, so mind your shots at the building and go for direct hits if you have to shoot at any windows." She laid out quickly, then slowly grinning with just a smidgen of pleasure in her voice as she continued, as Garret had asked that she give to him as would a Gryphon, and there was a certain intense edge to it. "Other than that, it's showtime Kapitän, carve a fucking path. By all means give no quarter, and go loud."

"By your order, Kommandant." He returned gravely, and cut the channel.

Twilight psyched herself for some action, her righteous anger bubbling venomously as nothing happened for a few seconds, before she heard, even in here, the muffled vitriol of FIRE! from Garret outside the building, followed by the deafening blasts of the Blackguard's Vanguard Muskets. Thankfully it wasn't ear splitting from where she was, yet the force of them impacting into stone vibrated through the flatpack even this high up, and she heard the screams of those taken in the volley as the chaos began outside. Already the Jackals within the rooms were starting to rouse in their alarm and surprise, having likely not expected a frontal attack, if at all even by the Blackguards.

She swiftly moved forward, and slammed an accelerated back hoof into the first door along the hall, the heavy kick splintering it inward as she surged inside and got to work with a vengeful snarl.

Author's Note

Apologies for the wait. IRL shite and fixing previous chapters abounded.
Lot of lore things added from my notes I'd forgotten to add and some paragraphs expanded upon or worded better, for previous readers I would suggest a quick skim, hopefully I've not forgotten anything else and it won't happen again. If anything confuses you that you haven't heard before, that'll be the reason.

Off the top of my head:
-The C.C.P.D are now the CPS. Canterlot Police Service. C.C.P.D was amusingly close to both CCCP (Союз Советских Социалистических Республик, yannow, the funny Soviets of the USSR), and CCP (Chinese Communist Party), in both cases, Commies. While no doubt Starlight would approve, it needed a change.
-Neurochem to Neurellix, sounds better.
-Crown Integrated Network implant, (CINI), was two different things but I standardised it into one thing for simplicities sake.
-Astralists got a bit of exposition, fairly certain I mentioned them, but Noctis was meant to be one, he's been updated now.
-Hex and Dizzy previously weren't mentioned beyond a cursory name each but I figured I'd include them a little more rather than them just be cardboard cut-outs.
-Chronicles, personal bank accounts in essence that have an income, it was something I was looking to add already but I found a way to integrate it early on so it's there for the later chapters.
-Bulwarks and Runegates, called them something else before, maybe just walls and barriers, but they needed to be properly detailed.

Other than that, plain sailing.
Thanks for sticking about, let me know your thoughts, and if you're confused about anything I'm happy to clear it up in the comments. :yay: