Fourteen Months Later

In predawn hours, lower end of Manehattan was usually quiet compared to the rest of the city. While plenty of people worked in the towering buildings during said hours, most people were at home sleeping or out partying at the clubs. Moving with the little traffic was a cargo van with the words "APEX SYSTEMS" on the sides. It effortlessly pulled up to the service entrance to the Chrystaller Building. Two ponies, jumped out the back doors before the van drove away.

They walked through the door into a white, brightly lit hall, and up to the security gate. The first pony, a mare wearing a light blue coveralls, long sleeved shirt, and ball cap, walked through the detector with little effort. The second one, a stallion, wearing a drab, grey, standard security guard uniform walked close behind her, only to be stopped by the guard on duty.

"Sorry bud, I gotta check ya." He said before frisking the stallion, grumbling a little. "Stupid faulty fucking system. Couldn't tell a flashlight from a bazooka."

The stallion chuckled a bit while the guard finished up and let him go.

"You guys here for the server?" The guard at the gate asked. At Apex, it was protocol standard for IT workers to have a security escort.

The mare swiftly replied, "Yeah, we got the ticket a little while ago. You know where it is? The idiots didn't put it on the slip."

The guard grumbled, "Sadly you're not the first one's who've asked me that, and you'll sure as shit not be the last, I guarantee it." He then pointed to a nearby stairwell. "Down two levels, take a left and it'll be about three doors down on the right."

"Thanks." The two said, before walking off down the stairway. The two were silent as they followed the guard's instructions to a 'T'. They both smiled as they reached the server room door. The guard put his phone up to the keypad. He heard the door unlock with a low 'click'. As they passed through, he put his phone back up to the device again. The little machine beeped and blinked a few times before going completely dark as the door closed. The two sighed with relief. Now they were alone. The guard turned to the mare and smiled again.

"Well," Record said, "that was too easy."
Vinyl smiled as she took off her hat. "Nothing's ever too easy." She replied. "You remember the spot?"
"Yep. I just gotta take care of one thing first before we get started." He said as he walked down one of the rows of server racks.

Vinyl reached into her duffle bag and pulled out a change of clothes and a small speaker. After a quick wardrobe change, she made her way down another row of servers. She walked through it as though it were an art gallery. The cool, blue neon glow, which matched the cooled temperature of the room, gave Vinyl a bit of euphoria. As she made her way down the row, she opened up her phone, which had an app already opened. It was like a camera, but with a bit of a twist. It showed the main circuits, wires, connection points. She navigated through and saw the first circuit was positioned to where it was blocking the electricity to the target server. With a few taps on her screen, the circuit was realigned. The she realized something.

"Yo Rec!" She called out.
"Yeah!" He called back.
"You all set over there?"
"Yep. Just shutting down the cameras now." He said.

Over at one of the computer terminals, Record, having gone through his own wardrobe change, was finishing his work on disabling the cameras. Within a minute they were down and the whole building was blind and the footage was erased.

"All set." He said, "Let's hit it.

Vinyl then hit the play button on her phone, and the pre-set song began blasting.

"You would play that." Record said, snarkly.
"You expect anything less?" His sister shot back.
"Egotist." Was all he could mutter.

The two got to work realigning the circuits, and boy, there a lot of them. They went from row to row, picking of one circuit after another, dancing with the beat as they did so. And just when they thought they had them all, there was always, of course, one that they missed. Once the last of them were aligned, the mainframe computer at the far end of the room came on.

"That's it!" Record shouted. "Vault's open! Let's see what we got."

The two finally had access to Chrystaller's main computer. Looking through it the two siblings were amazed by the nearly endless number of files they had. Financial records, safety tests, accident reports, recalls, defects that were being covered up. That last one was what they were after, everything else was just a bonus. The two were ecstatic. They had been working on this little caper for the last month, and now they hit paydirt. A few more mouse clicks and keystrokes and the data was copied and being sent to an unknown server. Still dancing to her music, Vinyl turned on her hear piece.

"Crumpet," she said, "this is Thing 1 and Thing 2. We got what we need and were sending it over to you now. You're not gonna believe what the fuck we just found."
"Roger that." Neon replied. "We're getting your transmission now. The Grinch will be outside in 5 minutes to pick you guys up."
"Copy that." She replied. "On our way out." Shen then turned to her brother. "Time to split."

The data packet had just finished sending when Record pulled the circuits out from the computer, sending sparks flying. The two then made a break for the door. Just as they reached it Vinyl took out a pair of bandanas and ball caps. As they put on their new attire, they could hear the sounds of someone banging on the door.

"OPEN UP IN THERE!!!" The voice angrily shouted. The two looked and grinned at each other through their bandanas as Record pulled a smoke grenade out of his white jacket. He pulled the pin and dropped it to the floor, going off almost instantly. The two backed away as the smoke encompassed them, Vinyl then tossing her brother a few "surprises" to him for the security team who were about to burst through the door. The smoke cloud grew bigger as the banging on the door got stronger. By now half the room was filled with a dense, fog-like, cloud, and the two occupants seemingly to vanish into it. Finally...

BANG!!!

The knob and locks to the door were blown off by a breacher charge. The security team, six stallions, all armed with MP-5's and dressed like they were ready to raid a terrorist's villa, stormed into the room, all calling out their usual tactical gibberish. Within seconds, however, the were hit with a blinding flash followed by and even louder BANG.

"What the fuck was that?!" One shouted.
"My eyes!!" Another screamed.
"Flashbang!!!" The leader yelled. Just then, the was a THUMP and an "Ugh" as the team leader was hit by an unseen object before being dragged into the cloud.

"Sir?" The second-in-command called. Just then, there was a loud 'BZZZZ' before he dropped to the floor himself.

"WHAT THE FUCK IS HAPPENING?!?!" A third cried, looking around the room.
"I have no----'BZZZZ'----AHHH!!!" The fourth member could only mutter as he dropped to the floor. The third squad mate only briefly caught a glimpse of his fallen colleague before he was hit over the head with a blunt instrument. He was knocked out instantly. The last two saw the event unfold. It was unreal, like a horror film come to life.

The rear guard yelled out, "Let's get the hell out of here!"
"Works for me." The fifth guard said. But as they made their way out the door, they were suddenly hit by a powerful blast of electricity. They both dropped to the floor, writhing in pain as two figures bolted past them out the doorway. Then there was the sound of something hitting the floor somewhere down the main row of servers. The was a brief buzzing sound before the room and the hallway went dark. Then there was the sounds of popping and more buzzing as the server farm seemed to self-destruct. Getting their bearings, and with the smoke now clearing the room, the two remaining guards located and grabbed their teammates and dragged them out the door as the servers began bursting into flames. Further down the main row, one of the guards, pulling the last of his team out, could see what looked like a simple ball, only it was blinking and sputtering out sparks before suddenly exploding. Then the whole room seemed to erupt into a never-ending shower of sparks, as if someone set of a crate of fireworks inside the room.

Vinyl and Record quickly bolted back up the stairs, past the confused and blinded security personnel who were waiting on standby outside the server room. The guard was still at his station as they jumped over his desk.

"Sorry dude!" Vinyl shouted sarcastically, "That shit's above our pay grade!"
"HEY!!!" The guard shouted, but they were already back out the door, getting into the awaiting black Charger. Before the doors were even shut, the car took off. Guards were rushing out the door, a few firing their pistols, in a vain attempt to stop them. The car zipped around the corner and the driver gunned it, pushing the engine to its max. Suddenly, the lights began to flicker. But not just on the tower, but every building for blocks around. And just like that, the whole lower half of Manehattan was plunged into darkness, save for the lights of cars, who were now coming to a stop. Several of the guards then noticed two, light blue, flames coming from the direction of where the car went, before disappearing into the darkness like a ghost.

For a few minutes, there was nothing but silence, and near total darkness as everyone tried to figure out what was happening. Then, just as quick as they went out, the lights came back on again. While everyone's eyes readjusted to the light, they all had one thing on their mind: who were those ponies?

Author's Note

I meant to get this out sooner, actually I meant to finish this chapter and publish it yesterday but got bogged down by life stuff. But finally, I got this one out. Anyways I should be starting on Chapter 3 real soon.

And yeah, I included Vinyl's brother in this. He's actually going to be one of the leading characters in this story. Also, yeah, I know the fans call him Long Play, but I feel Record was much more fitting of a name for him. And I know I'm not the first one.

Anyways, hope you enjoyed this so far.