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.