Neo Somnambula: Guns and Lotuses

Chapters

Welcome to Neo Somnambula...
Investigation
Strike like a Serpent
Fatal Negations
Accursed Secret

Welcome to Neo Somnambula...

The sand was disturbed as a mare ran through the desert, a gray, cloudy sky above, thunder echoing across the land. She was a unicorn with a grayish blue coat, her mane an even darker shade of blue, the right half of her body covered in hieroglyphic tattoos telling of ancient cities and forgotten truths. Her cutie mark was that of an upside down pyramid with a Somnambulian symbol known as the Ankh in the center. Adorning her neck were three golden rings and her left ear possessed a series of gold rings along the side. Her yellow eyes were filled with determination even as she fled, the flapping of wings drawing closer and closer.

With a quick motion of her horn, the unicorn formed magical hieroglyphs and with a shake of her head, cast a spell behind her, causing shards of obsidian to erupt from the ground behind her. If she could cross the desert then she would be free of their clutches without fear of any repercussions.

For a moment, the mare smiled, thinking that she might have bought herself some time, only to be caught by surprise as the ground before her gave way, as the great desert shifted underneath her. Without time to react, the mare tumbled, the sand biting into her flesh as she fell. Once she reached a stop, the mare painfully pulled herself up. Though judging from the sharp pain in her left forehoof and the cliff that she was now on the edge of, this was the end of the line.

“There is nowhere to run Taabka!”

Defiantly, Taabka turned and faced her pursuer. Landing before her was a pegasus mare with a peach colored coat and dark turquoise mane. The garments that adorned her were that of a temple priestess with a white gown and headdress. Her purple eyes looked at Taabka not with anger or hatred, but pity; and Taabka found it very irritating.

“So… you caught me… Somnambula,” Taabka wheezed, “so… what are you going… to do to me?”

The dark clouds circled both of them, like a formidable barrier of judgment.

“You need to face the consequences for your crimes,” Somnambula answered, “many have suffered because of your magic.”

Taabka coughed. “So, are you going to kill me? Banish me to Tartarus?”

Somnambula shook her head. “No, I really hoped it wouldn’t come to this. I had hoped that you would have come to your senses, my old frie-”

“We’re NOT friends!” Taabka barked. “Now out with it! How am I to be executed?!”

“You’re not going to be executed,” Somnambula answered, a twinge of sorrow mingling her words. “For exploring the forbidden crypts, stealing the ancient scrolls of Nehehal Mawt and unraveling the magics imprisoned within, the pharaoh has deemed you worthy… of a far worse fate.”

Suddenly Taabka’s mind was wracked with terrible pain as riddles upon riddles upon riddles flooded her mind, causing her to collapse to the ground. Breathing heavily from the pain, Taabka barely noticed the shadow that was now looming over her.

“The dead shall stay buried…” A menacing feminine voice spoke. Even as Taabka heard it, she could have sworn that it was echoing in her mind.

Looking up, Taabka saw the great sphinx looking down at her, a large grin on her face. The large, maroon creature gazing upon her with sinister intent.

“That which is condemned will never truly die…”

Paralyzed by either fear or some other magical means, Taabka wasn’t certain. All she knew was that she was powerless as the Sphinx reached out and placed a paw on her chest.

“May you wonder and linger, forever more…”

Pain rippled throughout Taabka’s body from where the Sphinx touched. It felt as if her heart was somehow being pulled from her chest, it felt like there were scarabs crawling beneath her flesh. The color of the world seemed to be fading from Taabka’s sight as she let out an agonized scream.

“So it shall be… Tansha!”

Tansha lurched in her bed, her body drenched in sweat. Her breathing was heavy as she remembered those memories from centuries ago, from when she was Taabka. As the realization of where she was came back to her, Tansha's breathing slowed and she fell back onto the bed, the black satin fabric welcoming her. While it was damp with her sweat, the unicorn didn't mind at the moment, just happy that she wasn't experiencing that painful memory again.

The room was completely dark, almost like an old tomb, save for a few of the lights from some of the electronic equipment within.

Holding out her right hoof, a golden, holographic HUD appeared before her, showing her messages as well as the time which said that it was three minutes til seven in the morning.

"Guess it's time to wake up," Tansha grumbled.

Sitting up in her bed, Tansha closed her eyes and clapped her hooves together.

"Maat, curtains please."

There was a squeaking sound as the machines within the room came to life and the curtains to her right opened, letting the light of the world outside in. Gradually Tansha opened her eyes, letting them adjust to the light.

"Good morning madam," the electronic, masculine voice of Maat said in Tansha's ear, "what would you like for me to do for you this morning."

"Please, change my sheets and have my coffee ready while I take a shower," Tansha said as she pulled herself out of bed.

"Of course, my dear. I shall proceed at once."

The apartment was small and cramped, designed for one maybe two ponies at most.

Even as she wandered toward the bathroom, Tansha could hear the machines in the walls opening up, robotic arms emerging to change her sheets. Stepping into the yellow tiled bathroom, Tansha went into the shower stall, the glass panels closing behind her. Immediately lukewarm water came down from numerous openings in the ceiling above. Like a ritual, Tansha placed a hoof on her chest, where the Sphinx had touched her, counting to ten and feeling for any sign of a heartbeat. Nothing.

"Business as usual, I guess."

After letting the water cascade over her body for a moment, Tansha picked up her shampoo with her magic, a turquoise aura holding the shampoo bottle. Once she finished shampooing and rinsing her mane, Tansha tapped the wall three times, resulting in the water shutting off and jets of air, blowing down from above and drying her.

Once she was reasonably dry, Tansha waved a hoof, causing the glass panels to slide open, so that she could step out and examine herself in the mirror. The left half of her mane was shaved down to fur length, while the rest of her mane was short and completely covered the right side of her face. The sclera of her eyes weren't white like most ponies but gray. While many might think this was the result of cybernetic augmentation, Tansha knew that it was in fact a symptom of her curse. A golden, vertical eyebrow piercing rested in her left eyebrow.

After combing her mane, Tansha began applying her makeup, adding some black eyeshadow and lipstick. Tansha wasn’t too sure when she had discovered the goth style but she had to admit that she liked it, or at least some aspects of it. Once she was pleased with her lipstick, Tansha picked up a lip piercing that she had in a bowl on the sink and placed the ring on her lip in the designated spot on the left side of her mouth.

A smile crossed Tansha’s lips as she examined herself. “Looking good like always.”

Upon leaving the bathroom, Tansha was pleased to see that Maat had finished changing her bed. Walking over to the closet, Tansha picked out some clothing for the day. First was a studded black choker followed by some black stockings. While they appeared to be made of black leather, in actuality they were some synthetic knockoff, not that Tansha minded. The stockings covered both her forelegs and hindlegs that somehow made her look more exotic despite covering up her slender legs.

Once she was pleased with her clothing decision for the day, Tansha closed the closet doors, mindful of the large, ancient jar at the bottom. The surface of the urn was covered with markings, showing a crocodile like creature with a bifurcated mouth, that seemed to be smiling greedily.

The scent of warm coffee filled the air as Tansha left her bedroom and entered the main living space. While Tansha's home didn't have much in the way of a kitchen it did have a room that consisted of a circular table with cushioned seating around it, along with a flat, glass screen that hung from the ceiling, that was positioned to the left of the bedroom door. In the center of the table was a white ceramic cup filled with coffee.

"Your coffee is ready madam," Maat said in her ear.

"Thank you Maat," Tansha said as she sat down across from the glass screen and held her coffee in her hooves.

When Tansha had applied for this apartment it had been a literal steal as none of the automated systems worked due to the many viruses that it had been infected with. After cleansing the system, as well as the previous resident's search history, Tansha had uploaded Maat into it. Now the AI aided her with maintaining her living quarters as well as securing the location. Aside from her magical knowledge and hacking skills, Maat was probably the most valuable possession that Tansha had.

"I made sure to apply two cubes of sugar and some cream to your coffee as requested," Maat informed her.

"Thank you."

After taking a sip of her coffee, Tansha held up her right hoof, her HUD appearing once more in her vision as she began to scroll through her messages. Quickly she deleted those that consisted of corporate spam, Love Nest ads and propaganda from the followers of Sunset. Tansha hadn't been particularly religious before the Daybreak, so why should that change now?

As Tansha glanced through the messages, a new one popped up.

SpikeNSweets: Hey Tansha, are you busy today?

Quickly Tansha replied.

Tansha: Not with anything in particular. You have a job?

SpikeNSweets: Yup, I've got a thing alright. Perhaps you should come by the shop and we'll talk. Oh and don't get distracted by the uh… "Love Nest" again.

Tansha rolled her eyes at the comment. It was one time for crying out loud.

Tansha: Don't worry, I'm on my way.

"Well, it's time to go to work," Tansha said as she closed her HUD and finished her coffee.

"Understood madam," Maat said as his program was immediately uploaded into Tansha's Ba-Link implant.

Once the upload was complete, Tansha left her apartment and locked the door behind her. The hallway hummed with the sound of ventilation systems, electronic wiring and the occasional hiss of a pressurized pipe. The walls were made of gray concrete and the floor consisted of chipped tiles and a few grains of sand here and there.

Since it was still relatively early in the morning, most of her fellow residents were either sleeping or waking up. Walking to the end of the hall, Tansha hit the button calling up the elevator.

After about a minute or so, the elevator let out a ding as the metal doors opened. Stepping inside, Tansha pushed the button for the main floor. The song, Burnt World by Vinyl Scratch played over the elevator speakers. The song was starting to get good when tragically the elevator dinged and the doors parted once more.

'Well, that's a little disappointing,' Tansha thought to herself.

The doors opened revealing the lobby beyond. Like above, the walls were made of concrete with tiled flooring, though down here there were a few old paintings hanging on the walls, some old furniture in the waiting area and a few more areas where sand had made it in. There were large windows in the front, though the large shutters veiled the world outside. The room was mostly empty due to it being early in the morning.

Stepping outside, Tansha admired her surroundings. High above were the golden tipped obelisks where all the rich and noble ponies resided, high above and secluded from the ponies below. However here in the lower city, most of the structures were made of concrete, limestone, pink granite, basalt and metal. Homes, stores and other buildings stacked on top of one another, side by side, like crates connected by pipes and wires. Large screens and signs bearing neon hieroglyphs advertised the wares of local businesses as well as the major corporations that all but owned the city. The sound of street vendors and the music of nearby clubs echoed through the streets. All surrounded by a great wall that protected Neo Somnambula from the Everbarren Desert outside along with the Tatzlwurms and other threats that wandered those wastes.

After letting out a stretch and a yawn, Tansha smiled. "Well, time to get to work."

“Good morning Neo Somnambula. This DJ Pon-3 bringing you all, music and the news all week long on the D-Nile network.Today marks the thirteenth year anniversary since the Daybreak and things are as crazy as ever.

“Apparently one of the street gangs decided to [Bleep]ing rob a Rich-Corp shipment. So if you’re wondering why your packages are late, now you know. Good luck getting any of them back.

“On another note, Flim Flam Industries has officially announced the release of their new line of cybernetic wings. I wonder how long these will last before they spontaneously combust. My bet’s two days.

"Also Cherry Berry was found dead this morning in her pool. Her death is currently under investigation. Oh, well…

“Now our next song is, ‘We Won’t Comply,’ by Unsmashable.”

Midnight Blitzer stood at attention in front of the knight chief, Spitfire's desk, as he awaited his commanding officer. It had been three weeks since Midnight had officially joined the Horizon Knights and now that he had been outfitted with his protection harness and power armor, Midnight was ready for duty.

So it had been a pleasant, yet also slightly nerve wracking turn of events when Commander Spitfire had called for him to meet in her office. Now that he was waiting for her Midnight felt a little uneasy, his blue feathers fidgeting. Taking a deep breath, Midnight relaxed just a little, attempting to adjust his blue mane in an effort to look professional.

It was at that moment that the door opened. Instantly Midnight shot to attention and saluted as Spitfire entered. "Commander."

Spitfire stepped behind her desk.

"At ease," Spitfire instructed, "please have a seat."

Following his commanding officer's orders, Midnight sat down in a chair across from Spitfire. Once Midnight was seated, Spitfire pulled out a folder and examined its contents, before closing it and setting it down on the desk.

"I am pleased to present you with your first assignment," Spitfire said, "however there are some details that need to be discussed."

"Understood ma'am."

"Have you ever heard of a Lunar Core Module before?"

Midnight quickly pondered the subject. "A little. Weren't they supposed to be used on some sort of space satellite?"

Spitfire nodded. "Sort of. Back when the cities were constructed and the Equestrian government was on its last legs, we were attempting to find ways to make travel to the moon possible, in the hopes that it might be terraformed into a more habitable environment. These modules were meant to be used by special drones created for the task."

"But it never happened..."

"Unfortunately the first rocket exploded upon departure and the corporations scrapped it, however it would seem that not everything was discarded."

Spitfire motioned to the folder with a hoof. Opening the folder, Midnight saw the schematics for a Lunar Core Module along with a few digital photographs of some ponies robbing a delivery truck.

"So, apparently there was a Lunar Core Module that was uncovered in Neo Somnambula that was being delivered to Rich-Corp so that it might be reengineered for another task," Spitfire continued, "unfortunately it was ambushed by one of the local street gangs known as the Joy-ripper gang, who stole the module along with numerous other goods."

"I see," Midnight said, "and you wish for me to retrieve it."

"Correct," Spitfire nodded.

Quickly looking through the folder, Midnight noticed that something was missing. "Where's the coordinates to the gang's base?"

"There aren't any," Spitfire answered, "at this point in time we don't have any known coordinates for where the Joy-ripper gang is hanging out at. Because of that, we need you to uncover the location and retrieve the Lunar Core Module. However, you will need to blend in if you want any information out of the citizens in the lower city."

That certainly would make the mission a bit more difficult, yet it wasn't something that Midnight couldn't handle.

After looking over the folder once more, Midnight nodded. "I understand. I accept this mission."

Spitfire then stood and gave a solute. "Then long live the pharaoh."

Midnight mirrored his commander's actions. "Long live the pharaoh."

Walking through the streets of the lower city, Tansha couldn't help but feel a little bit nostalgic. It was hot as most days were, with ponies taking refuge inside of buildings and under the shades of canopies and tents. While it reminded her of the Somnambula she grew up in, it was so new and brimming with culture.

Unlike the upper city, the lower city of Neo Somnambula possessed many other races aside from just ponies, including diamond dogs, changelings, griffins, buffalo and other such races. Back before the Daybreak such an occurrence would be extremely rare, but when a sun goddess nearly vaporizes an entire country, everypony does what they have to in order to survive. Thus various cultures mingled down here in the lower city, mixing in with the Somnambulian architecture. Intermingled among the various neon signs, hieroglyphs and displays was the iconography of the papyrus flower.

Soaring above were many mechanical drones, like scarabs held aloft by four circular propellers, flying from one place to another, performing their various tasks.

Walking through the streets, Tansha was pleased when she found the place she was looking for. Much like many of the other buildings in the area, it was essentially a box with other boxes stacked on top of it with tubes and wires attached, however this one just so happened to be a quant little shop of sorts, with glass windows providing a view of the street for its customers.

A neon green sign hanging from the front read, ByteNBrew, with the letter 'N' flickering every once and a while.

There was a digital bell that rang once Tansha pushed open the door and stepped inside. The establishment was split into two areas, the cafe and the VR shop, with a wide archway connecting the two. Entering through the front door, Tansha found herself in the cafe.

The cafe’s interior had black and white checkered flooring tiles with walls covered in pale blue wallpaper. In the center of the room was an oval shaped counter space where the drinks were made and snacks were served, surrounded by stools.

Standing behind the counter was a beautiful mare who served as one of the store’s proprietors. Hearing the doorbell, Sweetie Belle looked up and smiled, her green eyes glistening with delight.

“Good morning Tansha,” Sweetie Belle greeted, “are you here to see Spike?”

“Yeah, he’s got another job for me,” Tansha answered, as she walked up to the counter and sat on one of the cushioned stools.

“Unfortunately he’s busy with a client at the moment, however if you want I can offer you a snack and a drink.”

Tansha shrugged. “Sure. I’ll have a caramel coffee and a locust bar.”

After fetching Tansha the locust bar, Sweetie Belle started brewing the coffee. As the fragrant aroma filled the air, Tansha looked at the bar’s wrapper, which showed a happy grasshopper with a top hat, with text saying that the bar was produced by Flim Flam Industries and that it was made with one hundred percent real locusts, supposedly with some honey mixed in.

Pulling back the wrapper, Tansha frowned as she examined the pale yellow bar.

“Well, here goes nothing,” Tansha grumbled, before biting down on the bar.

It was dry, crunchy, acidic and like always not a single trace of honey could be tasted.

“Figures…” Tansha mumbled. Fortunately, it was about that time that Sweetie Belle brought Tansha her coffee.

“Here’s your drink,” Sweetie said in her sweet, singsong voice as she placed the white ceramic cup in front of Tansha.

“Thank you,” Tansha said, as she picked up the cup with her magic and took a sip.

Tansha’s taste buds lit up as the liquid touched her tongue, the bitter taste of the coffee mingling with the sweetness of the caramel, a welcome contrast compared to the locust bar she had bit into prior.

Satisfied with her beverage, Tansha began dipping the bar into her coffee, hoping that the bar might absorb some of its flavor.

“So, how is life treating you?” Sweetie Belle asked.

“Trying to keep busy, doing the occasional job and tending to that pet project that Spike has me working on.” Tansha took a bite out of her locust bar, pleased that it tasted less dry and slightly better. “Now how are you and your handsome dragon stud doing?”

Sweetie Belle’s white cheeks turned a slight shade of pink as she blushed. Using a hoof, she pulled back a stray strand of her pink mane.

“W-well, it has been quite nice actually. Our business has been doing well and Spike and I have… well, been enjoying each other’s company.”

Tansha remembered when she had first met this couple, both of them had just finished having an argument about how Spike had once had feelings for Sweetie’s older sister. Fortunately the two of them had managed to work things out.

“So, has he shown you his secret VR-disk stash?” Tansha asked with a sly grin.

Sweetie Belle’s eyes went wide. “How did you know about that?”

“A little intuition,” Tansha replied with a shrug, “was there… anything you liked?”

Scratching her chin, Sweetie pondered the inquiry. “Well… Rock Farm Simulator is pretty fun.”

Oh, so they were just… normal VR-game disks. Nothing juicy whatsoever.

“I see.” Tansha said, her ears drooped slightly.

After tilting her head to the side Sweetie Belle nodded. “Spike will be able to speak with you now.”

“Thank you,” Tansha said as she finished her coffee and walked into the next room. As Tansha entered the VR section of the store she passed by a customer on their way out.

Unlike the previous room, this room was dark save for the neon blue light that illuminated it, along with a few neon signs and a few digital screens that were on. Looking around the room, Tansha noticed a VR-pod that was still spendy, despite selling at a discounted price.
Behind the counter, was a tall, lean dragon, his green eyes and green dorsal scales glowing in the lighting. Upon seeing Tansha enter, the dragon smiled.

"Well, there's the mare of the hour," Spike said, as he leaned on the counter, a cunning grin on his face.

"Good morning Spike," Tansha said, "so you have a job for me."

"Correct." Spike put a closed sign on the counter, before walking toward the backroom. "Follow me."

Tansha followed Spike into the backroom. Now that he was in reasonably normal lighting it was easier to see his purple scales as well as the grayish green button up shirt, which he wore unbuttoned and the silver chain necklace around his neck.

This room contained numerous monitors as well as some other gadgets that could be used to repair computers, VR-pods and other such devices. Walking over to a data terminal, Spike began typing, his dark purple cybernetic left arm typing swiftly.

“So how’s Maat doing?” Spike asked.

“He’s doing pretty good,” Tansha replied, “occasionally he glitches out a bit, but I’ve always been able to keep him on track.”

“Well, as long as it stays that way and doesn’t go haywire then we’ll be all good.”

Ever since the Viral War, when the Apophis Data Strand was leaked onto the net, causing thousands of computer viruses to turn into chaotic rogue AI, ponies tended to be suspicious of all AI, fearing what might happen if they were left unchecked.

The only AI that was publicly accepted were the Spell-checker AI installed on every unicorn's Ba-Link. Due to how annoying the dumb AI was, Tansha was very pleased that Spike had replaced it with Maat.

“Don’t worry, if he causes any trouble it’s because he was instructed to do so by me,” Tansha said, “but let’s get down to bit-tax, we both know that you didn’t call me here to talk about Maat.”

Spike nodded and a message appeared on Tansha’s HUD, showing that a foreign device was requesting access to her Ba-Link. Recognizing Spike’s identification code, Tansha waved a hoof and accepted the request, causing numerous images to appear on her HUD.

“Our client is a rich stallion from the upper city who purchased an extremely rare VR-program from me with a very generous offer. So naturally I accepted the payment and sent him the package post haste.”

“But something happened.”

“Yeah.” Images of a Rich-Corp transport truck appeared. The vehicle was on its side surrounded by many ponies wearing black jackets. “Unfortunately a gang known as the Joy-rippers ambushed the vehicle and all its contents were stolen.”

“Well, that sucks.”

“Initially I had intended to refund the client,” Spike continued, “however instead he said that if we were to retrieve the program that he not only honor the original agreement but double the amount and if the VR-program was shown to be completely intact that he’d provide a bonus as well.”

“That’s awfully generous of him.” If not a little suspicious. “So what’s the plan?”

A few more images flashed before Tansha’s eyes, one being the image of a crate and the other a map with a white question mark on it.

“Now we don’t know where the Joy-rippers reside but we do know some of their hangouts as well as the number of the crate that has the program. Your mission will be to find the base, retrieve the program for the client and come back here. Simple as that.”

Yeah, “simple.”

"Did you manage to fix my mask?" Tansha asked.

Spike shook his head. "Unfortunately, I'm still missing one of the replacement parts, but hopefully it will be here in a couple days."

So the direct route was off the table.

“This isn’t a lot to work with,” Tansha said, “but… I’m sure I can figure it out. So let’s talk about payment.”

“I think the standard sixty, forty percent works, with you getting forty and I sixty.”

Tansha scrunched her nose. “I don’t know, it seems like a lot of hard work. How about fifty five, forty five?”

“Sixty, forty.”

“Come on, how about fifty eight, forty two.”

Spike shook his head. “Nope. Sixty, forty.”

Well, this wasn’t going anywhere… unless.

A sly grin stretched across Tansha’s face. “How about this? You give me forty percent of the cut… as well as a special, unrated VR-program starring both you and your sweetheart.”

Spike’s cheeks flushed bright red. Looking away, Spike grumbled. “Fifty eight, forty two it is.”
"Any chance you'll throw that pod in?" Tansha asked.

Spike crossed his arms. "If you want it, you can buy it yourself with your earnings."

Well, it was worth a shot.

“Thank you.” Satisfied with negotiations, Tansha walked back into the store, her smile beaming.

“I take it everything went well,” Sweetie Belle said, seeing the smile on her friend’s face.

“Oh, it certainly did,” Tansha said happily as she walked toward the door.

Thunderlane surveyed the scene of the crime. The victim was face down in her swimming pool, the crystal clear water completely gone, replaced by a black inky substance. The dark slime tainted the victim’s coat. From up here, most of Neo Somnambula’s upper city could be seen.

“The victim is Cherry Berry,” another Horizon Knight said, “she had a meeting at Rich-Corp but never arrived. A Rich-Corp representative was sent to check on her and when she didn’t respond, the hotel manager came and unlocked the door.”

“Do we know how she died?” Thunderlane asked.

“It would seem that somepony held her under and she drowned,” the Horizon Knight answered.

Stooping down, Thunderlane looked closely at the black substance. “Do we know what this stuff is?”

“A sample has been sent to forensics.”

Standing up, Thunderlane looked over the scene again. All of this seemed both strange and all too familiar.

Investigation

“That was March of Tartarus, by Swirling Death Spiral.

“Now a few of you have sent me messages asking why I don’t play any AI generated music on this station, well I’ve got two good reasons…

“First, I’m not going to support those corporate [Bleep]ers by tearing away funds from good, hard working bands like Swirling Death Spiral. And I don’t care how advanced or sexy your [Bleep]ing AI looks.

“The other reason is because I remember what happened with those rogue AI years back and I’m not going to give these AI any chance to go [Bleep]ing crazy and make our eardrums bleed.”

The bazaar was astir with energy as ponies, griffins, changelings and other creatures wandered about examining the various wears. From fine silks and fragrant spices to pirated VR-disks and illegal weapons, all could be found in the Sunrise Bazaar. There was even a merchant trying to sell a VR-pod, which judging from the quality, was probably smuggled from the upper city.

In the center of the open space was the golden statue of the new god pharaoh and princess Sunset Shimmer, a few of her acolytes sitting before the statue, meditating and burning incense.

Tansha sat at the noodle stall, eating some locust noodles as she watched her quarry, across the street in a store called, Before Life Shopping. It hadn’t taken her long to find a few members of the Joy-ripper gang. Once she learned that their symbol was a heart being torn in half with a skull emerging from the halves, then it was easy to track down their members by the logos on their jackets. Now she was spying on two of the gangsters, who appeared to be harassing the shop owner. While one talked with the owner, Tansha could see the other through the window, occasionally knocking stuff over.

Meanwhile all the other surrounding creatures ignored what was going on, not wanting to invoke any further hardship upon themselves. Such was the way of things in the lower city.

As Tansha watched the two gangsters, she contemplated how she would be able to infiltrate their base.

‘I could probably follow these two back to their base,’ Tansha thought, ‘though once I’m there, then what?’

If she had her mask then it would be a fairly simple matter, but without it, Tansha had to be more careful.

While she contemplated the matter, Tansha slurped down more of her noodles. They tasted slightly better than the locust bar from earlier, that same acidic aftertaste still lingering on her tongue. At least the broth was good.

Once the two Joy-rippers had harassed the store owner enough to convince him to give them some money, they left and began walking down the street. Quickly Tansha ate the last of her noodles and slurped up the last of the broth, before she resumed following them, careful not to draw their attention.

Upon reaching their destination, Tansha watched as the gangsters entered the club and upon seeing it, Tansha’s heart jumped into her throat.

It was the Love Nest. Of course, it had to be the Love Nest. This was… going to be tricky.

Taking a deep breath, Tansha followed the gangsters into the Love Nest.

Midnight sat at the bar eating some peanuts and drinking a virgin beer as he sat patiently in the bar. He had heard that establishments like this one were great places to pick up gossip and acquire information. The problem was that nopony was talking to him. In fact, most of those inside the bar were giving him a wide berth.

It had been this way for the last three bars he had gone to and every time he tried to insert himself into a group’s conversation, they’d go silent and distance themselves. It was almost as if he had some sort of stench upon him.

He had known that things weren’t that great in the lower city, but Midnight had never realized that it was this bad. Crime and drugs were rampant and everypony seemed to be on alert at all times. As Midnight observed this, he had to wonder, just how out of touch were the Horizon Knights with the plight of the citizens in the lower city?

‘Well, this isn’t going anywhere.’

After slamming down the remainder of his drink, Midnight accessed his Ba-Link and paid for the drink.

“Come again,” the bartender said insincerely.

While Midnight did feel a bit irritated by the bartender’s mannerisms, he gave it no mind and left the bar. Making a scene would do nothing except antagonize the locals and jeopardize his mission.

Stepping outside, Midnight took a deep breath. Despite his efforts this day seemed to have been a waste.

He was about to call it a night and return to the hotel he was staying at, when Midnight heard a noise that caught his attention. Judging from the yelling and the sound of something making an impact with a trash bin, there was a fight going on in one of the nearby alleys. Out of a mixture of curiosity and a sense of duty as a Horizon Knight, Midnight decided to investigate.

Following the sounds, Midnight peered into an alleyway where he saw three ponies beating up a diamond dog that lay on the ground. The ponies wore black jackets and vests with the emblem of a heart broken in half with a skull emerging, emblazoned on the back. Seeing the symbol, Midnight recognized it as the emblem for the Joy-ripper gang, which Spitfire had shown him.

Here were three members of the gang he was searching for, beating up an innocent bystander. Anger welled up within him as Midnight watched the abuse.

If it weren’t for the fact that he was supposed to be acting undercover and couldn’t don his armor, Midnight would have leaped into action instantly. Instead he quickly analyzed the scene to determine how best to proceed.

From what he could tell aside from one of them having a baseball bat, they had no weapons and while there were three of them, outnumbering him, their attacks seemed sloppy and haphazard. With this information, Midnight knew what to do.

‘Follow the tenets,’ Midnight thought, ‘protect the innocent.’

Stepping forward, Midnight called out, “Hey! Knock it off!”

For a brief moment, the three gangsters stopped their beating and turned their attention to Midnight. The leader, an earth pony with a red, robotic eye sneered at Midnight. “Well, who do you think you are?”

Taking on a defensive stance, Midnight focused on the leading Joy-ripper, while remaining aware of the other two gangsters circling him.

“I’m just standing up for the weak,” Midnight growled.

The leader chuckled. “Then you can suffer like the rest of them!”

It was then that the gangster to Midnight’s right rushed at him, his wings flapping wildly as he prepared to smack Midnight in the head with a baseball bat. However, Midnight saw it coming and side stepped the attack, before slamming his hoof into the gangster’s wing socket.

‘If a conflict can’t be resolved peacefully, then aggressive force is authorized.’

The gangster screamed as bones cracked, his wing giving out causing him to slam full force into a dumpster, his baseball bat toppled to the ground.

The other gangster, a unicorn, picked up the fallen bat with her magic and attempted to swing it at Midnight. Seeing the incoming attack, Midnight side stepped it and planting his hoof was able to trip the unicorn mare, causing the gangster to fall on her face with a resounding crack.

“Ow!” The female gangster hissed.

Seeing his comrades fall, the Joy-ripper with the robotic eye pulled forth a brace blaster, however before he could fire the weapon, Midnight had dashed toward him and with a swift kick, Midnight struck the Joy-ripper in his robotic eye.

“Ah! Son of a b-”

Midnight then hit the gangster in the jaw with a left hook, then with a quick maneuver, Midnight successfully hit the release button on the underside of the brace blaster, causing it to come off. As the Joy-ripper groveled on the ground, Midnight took the brace blaster and put it on his right hoof.

“Have you had enough?” Midnight asked, aiming the brace blaster at the lead Joy-ripper.

Growling the Joy-ripper spat as he picked himself off the ground. “This isn’t over!”

Slowly the gangsters hobbled away, glaring daggers at Midnight. Once all the gangsters were gone, Midnight turned his attention to the injured diamond dog.

“Are you alright?” Midnight asked.

The diamond dog stuttered, clearly surprised by what he had observed. “T-thank you, kind pony. W-why did you stand up for me?”

“Because it was the right thing to do,” Midnight replied.

With some groaning the diamond dog pulled himself off the ground. He was twice as tall as Midnight, his rugged fur was brown with gray spots, his pale blue eyes looking at Midnight with deep respect. “My name is Aneyh.”

“I’m Midnight.”

“You have helped me, Midnight. How may I repay you?”

Well, this was certainly a fortunate turn of events. Midnight had gone from having nopony willing to talk to him, to having somepony who might have some insight on the Joy-ripper gang and the location of the Lunar Core Module. Pleased by the turn of events, Midnight smiled.

“Those gangsters stole something belonging to me,” Midnight said, “do you happen to know where their hideout might be.”

Aneyh scratched the back of his head as he pondered Midnight’s inquiry.

“I don’t,” Aneyh answered, “however I know someone who might.”

Well, at least that was something. Turning toward another alley, Aneyh motioned with a paw for Midnight to follow.

“Come, I will show you to him.”

Knick Knack sat patiently at his table as he attended his… date. While he put on a polite smile and nodded every once and while to her words, on the inside Knack felt, well… bored frankly. Much like many of the other mares that his parents had tried setting him up with, all she cared about was her status and fashion, as if that was all that mattered. No chemistry whatsoever.

At least the food here in the Eloquent Entree wasn't as bland as the meals he had eaten on his other dates, making this one slightly more bearable. Even the elegant decorations of yellow and pale blue glass lotuses aided in distracting him from his monotonous date.

"So then she tried telling me that her purple shawl was violet, like ppplease…"

Thankfully his training as a diplomat had aided Knack from letting out a yawn and revealing his boredom. Still that didn't keep this mare from trying his patience.

"Like uuunbelievable, who wears shawls to an art gallery annnyway…"

Looking up to the upper right hoofed side of his HUD, Knack's amber eyes observed the clock, seeing that it had been almost fifteen minutes since this mare had started talking, seemingly without stopping to take a breath. It was quite an amazing feat all things considered. Thankfully, he only needed to wait another minute.

"So guess what she told me after that!"

"What?" Knick Knack inquired, pretending that he had been listening to more than just fifty percent of her conversation. "What did she tell you?"

"Well… She then said to mmme that if I didn't like it, that I could just leave her store. Like can you bbbelieve that?"

"It is such a travesty," Knack said, struggling to make it feel authentic.

Fortunately, Sunset smiled upon Knick Knack as his Ba-Link, indicating that he had received an important message.

"I am terribly sorry," Knack said, standing up from the table, "it seems that I must go."

"You're leaving already," the mare said, with a sad tone.

Knick Knack gave her a kind smile, the gesture secretly paining his gray lips. "Unfortunately it can't be helped."

The mare let out a sigh. "Okay, well, puhlease call me later."

Even as she spoke it was clear that the mare was already pulling up her HUD and probably going to be posting pictures and commenting on the date with her friends online. Even if Knack never talked to her again, this one date would probably increase her views as well as her self worth.

After a polite wave, Knack turned and made his way to the door.

"Come again," the waiter said as Knack began to leave. Knack gave him a polite nod as he passed through the door.

Once outside, Knack was able to drop the facade, his expression transitioning from polite and proper to annoyance. Standing there, the gray unicorn adjusted his mane, allowing the black mane with golden highlights to relax a little as his limousine pulled up. Opening the door, Knack stepped inside and took a deep breath as he closed it.

"Well, that was an insipid endeavor," Knack said to the other pony that was in the back of the vehicle.

Slowly the mare approached Knick Knack, who couldn't help but smile as his friend, compatriot and lover, Whiskey Lullaby drew near.

"I'm sorry that you are displeased KK," Whiskey said, her pink eyes looking downward.

Knack chuckled kindly, resting a hoof gently under Lullaby's periwinkle blue chin. "You have no need to be sorry. You're not responsible for my parents' short sightedness."

"It's just… well…" Lullaby muttered, clearly not wanting to come between Knick Knack and his parents.

Despite Knack making his wishes known, it was clear that his parents didn't approve of his relationship with Whiskey Lullaby and as such tried on numerous occasions to find him a mare that fit their standards. While this displeased Knack he decided to play along… for now.

Gently Knack moved his hoof up the side of Lullaby's face and pushed her mane aside, his strong gray hoof contrasting with her white, purple and pink mane.

"There is no need to fret about the past," Knack said, "I wouldn't change a single thing about you."

He had told this many times, but sometimes she just needed a reminder.

Lullaby smiled softly to Knack's comforting words, reaching up and holding his hoof against her cheek. Her eyes gradually closed as she nestled his hoof, kind of like a cat.

"I just… don't want my master to be upset is all," Lullaby purred.

Knack had once heard his parents refer to Whiskey Lullaby as his little "pet project," and while Lullaby had insisted on acting in such a manner, to him she was so much more.

Tracing his hoof back down her cheek to her chin, Knick Knack leaned into Whiskey Lullaby and kissed her. Her soft, silken lips embracing his own. After a few seconds, Knack pulled away, leaving Lullaby with blushing cheeks.

"You have no need to fear."

After his reassurance, Lullaby smiled. "So, would my master like for me to tend to his desires."

Knack chuckled, as he used his Ba-Link to signal the driver to start moving. "I'm looking forward to it, but right now I want to check on the mare that Spike hired to retrieve the VR-program I purchased."

Pulling up the program for one of his drones, Knack synced up his Ba-Link to the projector, so Lullaby could observe as well. A large holographic image appeared, unveiling what appeared to be a nightclub.

The interior of the Love Nest club pulsed with light that shifted between shades of blue, green and pink, the pulsing lights illuminated the area as well as the dancers on the stage, which consisted largely of changelings. The lights transitioned to the rhythm of the pulsating music. The club’s architecture resembled an ancient Somnaumbulian ruin that had been merged with a changeling hive, stone pillars covered in neon hieroglyphs reach up into the ceiling, some of which were grasped by black, porous rock.

Surrounding the central stage, was a circular dancing area for the clubbers and beyond that were numerous tables and booths where the various club goers sat, talking and had drinks. Weaving their way in and out among the tables were the changeling staff as they delivered drinks to their clients.

While most of the customers were either focused on the dancers or their conversations, Tansha sat at a table, her attention on the two Joy-rippers she had been following. As she attempted to observe her targets while blending in, Tansha barely noticed the familiar changeling that was walking up to her table.

“Oh, it seems that the mistress has graced us with her presence,” the changeling chuckled charmingly, “so what brings you here? Business or… pleasure?”

Turning to the changeling, Tansha already knew that it was Pristine Pupa that was talking to her. While most ponies had difficulty distinguishing changelings from one another, Tansha had learned how to recognize the differences between their facial structures, ears, eyes, carapace colors and even wings. In the case of both Pristine Pupa and his twin brother, Prosperous Pupa, their narrow faces as well as the faint hint of lime green in their turquoise eyes that Tansha recognized.

“Unfortunately, it’s business,” Tansha answered with a sullen smile.

Pristine nodded. “In that case, would you like for me to bring a non-alcoholic version of your usual?”

The usual in question being a Nectar, an orange drink consisting of changeling honey, apple cider and usually vodka. Tragically this time around, there would be no vodka.

“Yes, please.”

As Pristine went to fetch her drink, Tansha continued to observe the Joy-rippers. While both of them were stallions, one was a unicorn while the other was an earth pony. The unicorn chatted up any mare that drew near to him while the other gangster seemed more wary.

In an effort to blend in, Tansha looked back to the dancers, contemplating why in particular, a street gang would want to steal a VR-program. What sort of digital program would warrant their attention? Furthermore, how had they learned of its existence? Something just didn’t make sense.

While Tansha considered the matter, Pristine walked up and placed a drink before her… that wasn’t her nectar. Instead it was a fluorescent blue drink with a layer of pink dust icing on top.

“I’m sorry Pristine,” Tansha said, “but this isn't my order.”

“I know,” Pristine answered, “this drink is from the stallion over there.”

Looking in the direction that Pristine was pointing, Tansha saw that it was the unicorn Joy-ripper that she had been spying on.

‘Oh… buck!’

Well, so much for the stealthy approach, however Tansha wasn’t out of the game yet. She still had a few cards hidden away.

“Just so you’re aware,” Pristine spoke, “since you said you were here on business I made sure that this drink was non-alcoholic, though feel free to pretend if that’s what you wish.”

“Thank you,” Tansha said as she took her drink and walked over to the two gangsters, making a mental note to… reward Pristine when she had the chance.

The unicorn smiled, a sparkle in his blue eyes, while the other gangster’s purple orbs watched Tansha with suspicion.

“Why hello there,” the unicorn said with a charming smile.

Despite having a short, disheveled blue mane, that didn’t make the lavender unicorn any less of a looker. On his flank was the cutie mark of a sapphire scarab.

“Hello,” Tansha said, putting on her own smile as she sat down across from the two gangsters.

While the unicorn continued to grin, his comrade continued to glare at Tansha. At this distance, Tansha could see the scars on the earth pony’s orange body, the fuchsia pink mane with a turquoise steak, barely concealing the few scars on his face.

“My buddy and I had noticed you following us,” the unicorn said, “so we were wondering why?”

Now while stealth was out of the question, flattery wasn’t.

“You see I was wondering,” Tansha changed her voice to a hushed tone. “You wouldn’t happen to be part of that new gang, the Joy-rippers, would you?”

While the earth pony’s eyes turned to slits, the unicorn beamed with pride. “We are indeed.”

“I’ve been looking for a gang to join,” Tansha bit her lower lip. “Though if I had known that the Joy-ripper gang had a pair of hunks like you two, I would have sought you guys out sooner.”

The unicorn nudged his earth pony buddy and whispered in a barely audible tone. “You hear that Stone Splitter, she thinks we’re hot!”

Stone Splitter’s mood softened, just slightly. Clearly he’d be the hard one to sell out of the two.

“My name’s Bright Beam,” the unicorn introduced himself, “and this is my friend and compatriot, Stone Splitter.”

Stone Splitter simply grumbled in response.

“I’m Cryptic, though you can just call me Crypt.” Tansha said, giving them a fake name, before donning a silken smile. “So how does a filly become a member of the Joy-rippers.”

“Well, you’d need to go through a sort of initiation,” Beam answered.

“What sort of skills do you have to provide?” Splitter asked, his voice both gruff and strong.

Tansha gave a sly grin. “Oh, I have all sorts of talents. I’m great at magic, and I know my way around a computer… among other things.”

Reaching under the table with her right hindleg, Tansha stroked the inside of Bright Beam’s thigh, eliciting a shiver from the stallion.

"I-I-I can see that," Beam stuttered.

Yep, Tansha had played him like a fiddle and now it sure seemed like she might have just found her way in. As she conversed with the two gangsters, Tansha was completely oblivious of the small, spherical drone that was watching her.

Knick Knack stroked his chin as he watched the mare on the holographic image.

"What do you suppose is happening?" Whiskey Lullaby asked.

"It's difficult to say," Knack answered, "on one hoof it does seem like she is colluding with the gang that stole my program."

"You mean, she betrayed us." There was a slight twinge of anger in Lullaby's words, something that was extraordinarily rare for her to express.

"Not necessarily," Knack replied, "according to Spike, her name is Tansha, however she told them that her name was Cryptic. So perhaps she is trying to lull them into a false sense of security in an effort to get closer to the program."

Lullaby nestled closer to Knack. "So what are you going to do, master?"

It was then that the limousine pulled into Knick Knack's private garage. With a swipe of his hoof, Knack turned off the holographic projection.

"For now I'm just going to continue to keep an eye on her," Knack said, "if anything comes of it, I know a few favors that I can pull to ensure that my property is returned to me."

Stepping out of the limo, Knack took Lullaby by the hoof and walked her to the other end of the garage, where an elevator was waiting for them. As the two of them approached the door, Knack waved his hoof and the door automatically opened. Once they had entered the elevator, the doors closed and immediately it began moving to level ninety, where Knick Knack's personal quarters were.

"I hope you weren't too bored while I was on that… date," Knack said.

"Maybe a little," Lullaby replied, "but I was able to make some notes for that VR simulation we were talking about last night. I hope that you'll find it to be a blast, master."

"I'm sure I will."

It was then that the elevator doors opened directly into Knick Knack's quarters.

The main living space was a large room which consisted of dark, wooden floors with matching walls. On the opposite side of the room was one large window that overlooked a decent amount of Neo Somnambula, with automatic blinds that could be closed with a wave of a hoof. Off to the left was a space that served as a small kitchen with a counter with a couple stools positioned around it, while on the right was a door that led to the bedroom and bathroom.

In the center of the room was a large aquarium that was about the size of a small bathroom. Inside were rocks and a few different forms of tropical seaweed with numerous mandrinfish swimming around inside. The tank's interior lighting emitted a constant greenish blue glow. Set around the aquarium were various dark cushions where guests could sit and relax, something which Knack planned to do with his little pet.

Once the elevator closed behind them, Knack waved a hoof, causing the blinds to slowly close. With another gesture from his hoof, Knack's Ba-Link adjusted the lighting so that the only light in the room was coming from the tank.

Letting out a deep happy sigh, Whiskey Lullaby smiled, knowing what plans her master had for her, as she looked at the aquarium. The only other sounds being the low hum of the room and the robotic arms in the ceiling that had proceeded to remove Knick Knack's suit.

The stallion took a deep breath as the last article of clothing was removed and taken into the walls where it would be cleaned and folded for future use. While Knack didn't hate wearing a suit, he loved the freeing feeling he had when such garments were removed.

"Hmm… now be honest with me, my little pet, how bored were you when I was away?" Knack asked in a low voice as he leaned in from behind and spoke into her ear.

Lullaby bit her lower lip. "Oh, it was truly… unbearable. Even as I tried focusing on my other projects, I couldn't help but think about you, master."

Knick Knack traced a hoof along her spine. "I see. That must have been quite excruciating."

The mare's breathing grew heavy as she felt her body growing hot in response to his touch. "Y-yes, master."

"In that case, take a seat, my pet."

Following her master's orders, Lullaby walked over to the cushions and laid down, turning to face her master. Looming above, Knack smiled as he admired his pet's alluring body.

"Please sit back and relax," Knick Knack said, "allow your master to tend to your needs."

Following Aneyh, Midnight found himself deeper in the lower city, where there was more grime, grit and sand. Neon graffiti decorated the stone and concrete structures. As Midnight continued to follow Aneyh, he could see more diamond dogs watching from the shadows.

“Stay close,” Aneyh whispered.

Judging from the hounds that were watching, it was clear that ponies didn’t come to this part of the lower city.

Eventually Aneyh led Midnight to a warehouse, the neon imagery changing to a golden color with numerous depictions of a jackal. Surrounding the gate to the warehouse were metal poles, each possessing pieces of scrap metal welded together to resemble the head of a jackal.

Approaching the gate, Midnight could see a metal door with an eye slot shutter at a couple different heights. Stepping up to the door, Aneyh knocked on it.

Shortly after the slot that was at eye level for Aneyh opened, a high pitched voice spoke from within. “Who are ya and what’cha want?”

“I’m Aneyh,” Aneyh introduced himself, “my companion here needs to speak with Nubis.”

As Aneyh stated that name, Midnight could have sworn that it sounded vaguely familiar.

The slot closed and another one closer to Midnight’s eye level opened. The lupine eyes that peered through looked at Midnight with distrust before the shutter closed again and the slot for Aneyh opened back up. “Why’dya bring this pony here?”

“He saved my life,” Aneyh answered, “in order to repay him I had to bring him to Nubis. For honor.”

The hound on the other side let out an annoyed sigh, clearly not fond of this turn of events. “For honor.”

Closing the shutter, the door opened and much to Midnight’s surprise, a short diamond dog that barely came up to his knee, greeted them. “Enter!”

Obeying the gatekeeper’s instructions, Aneyh entered and Midnight followed. Passing the threshold, Midnight found himself in a “hallway” of sorts. In a sense, it was really a long cage, with numerous diamond dogs peeking through, making it clear to Midnight that they weren’t the ones behind bars.

Reaching the end of the hallway, a couple of metal doors open, revealing a chamber beyond. It was an amphitheater with more diamond dogs peering down at Midnight with suspicion, some barked and growled. While half of the room consisted of benches above, the other half had a wall with more jackal iconography and neon hieroglyphs written upon it. In the center of the room was a throne-like chair, built upon what appeared to be numerous pieces of power armor, all bearing savage claw marks.

Looking up at the throne, Midnight saw that sitting upon the throne, the seat of which was three times Midnight’s size, were three small diamond dogs, their hide was jet back and they had pointed ears. After a quick examination, Midnight realized that they were diamond dog pups.

As both Aneyh and Midnight drew near to the throne, the surrounding hounds began to chant loudly. “Nubis! Nubis! Nubis! Nubis!...”

Observing the scene, Midnight was surprised when another larger diamond dog stepped past him and approached the throne. Reaching out the diamond dog swept up the puppies with a jet black paw, before sitting upon the throne. His muscles rippled beneath his black tank top as he moved. Watching this unfold, Midnight knew that this figure had to be Nubis and it suddenly dawned on him that he was in the territory of the Sons of Nubis.

With golden eyes, Nubis looked upon Midnight and Aneyh, his pointed snout twitching slightly as he smelled the air. This Nubis would have been intimidating if it weren’t for the three pups crawling over him. Judging from the resemblance and the familiarity that these puppies had with Nubis, that he must be their father.

“Why have you come here?” Nubis asked, his voice low and gruff.

Aneyh stepped forward, raising his head. Midnight recognized the gesture as it was customary for diamond dogs to bear their neck to those of their kind with authority. “My lord, this pony saved my life today from the grasp of the Joy-rippers and he has come here seeking information on where to find them.”

The crowd of hounds mumbled among themselves.

Once more Nubis sniffed the air and focused his attention on Midnight, his eyes seeming to pierce his soul. “Is that truly why you’re here… Horizon Knight.”

Immediately, the crowd roared in shock and anger, their growls and barking echoed throughout the chamber. Aneyh fell to the floor and cowered, mumbling that he didn’t know. Looking around, Midnight could tell that he was in a bad spot. Even if he were to don his armor and brandish his weapons, chances were that Midnight wouldn’t be able to make it out of here alive.

Nubis raised a paw and instantly the crowd went silent. “Speak.”

Midnight stepped forward. “It is as Aneyh says. I’m here seeking to know the location of the Joy-rippers’ base.”

As Midnight spoke, one of the pups that had been sitting on Nubis’s head toppled over and would have fallen to the floor if it weren’t for their father quickly reaching out with a paw and catching them. Upon seeing how gently Nubis tended to his children, Midnight realized that while Nubis was strong, he wasn’t a creature of brute strength, but restraint and self control.

“The Joy-rippers have harmed many of my people,” Nubis said, “and you have protected one of my own. Therefore, I will look past your intrusion and repay your honor with the information you seek.”

Standing up from his throne and taking up his pups in his left arm, Nubis walked to the wall behind the throne. Snapping his fingers, a holographic map of Neo Somnambula flickered onto the wall.

“You will find the Joy-rippers’ base here.” Nubis pointed to a section of the map, marked Grease-Town. “It’s heavily fortified, so if you’re going to go there then be prepared for battle.”

Listening to Nubis’s statement, Midnight nodded. “I understand.”

Turning back to Midnight, Nubis placed a paw over his heart. “For honor.”

Midnight returned the gesture. “For honor.”

Smiling, Tansha stepped back into the ByteNBrew, very pleased with herself and how the job had gone.

“Good evening,” Tansha said, as she took a seat at the front counter, “I’ll have my usual.”

“Right away,” Sweetie Belle said as she began to prepare Tansha’s coffee.

As Tansha looked around, she spied an unfamiliar stallion sitting at one of the booths.

“Here you go,” Sweetie placed the coffee and locust bar before Tansha.

“Who’s that over there?” Tansha asked, nodding her head toward the stallion.

“I’m not sure,” Sweetie replied, “but he’s certainly a welcome customer. He bought some Gooey Cheesy Sticks, a Ultra Ginger Soda and an Instant Cupcake.”

“Really?” Looking the stallion over, Tansha considered if perhaps he might be her meal ticket for the evening or at the very least an interesting pony to talk to before somepony took advantage of them.

After taking a sip of her coffee, Tansha picked up her drink and snack and walked over to the stallion’s booth.

“What’s up, moneybags?” Tansha said as she sat down across from the newcomer. “What brings you down here with the rest of us mortals?”

Midnight looked up at the mare that had just sat down, a little confused by the introduction. “Excuse me?”

Tansha gave the pegasus a sly grin. “Look, I have a way of sniffing out ponies from the upper city and pardon me, but you reek.”

While Midnight wasn’t necessarily pleased by this statement, it did coincide with what he had experienced up to this point. Perhaps this mare could help him figure out how to resolve this issue in order to maintain his cover.

Crossing his hooves, Midnight gave the mare a stern look. “Alright, what gave it away?”

“Let’s start with what you’re eating,” Tansha said.

“What’s wrong with what I’m eating?” Midnight asked, “this food’s pretty cheap.”

“Yes, in the upper city an Instant Cupcake, Ultra Ginger Soda and some Gooey Cheesy Sticks are cheap, but down here most ponies can maybe afford to eat one of those for like an anniversary or a birthday party.” The analogy might be a bit of an exaggeration but it would hopefully get the point across. “Instead most down here eat something like this.”

Tansha brandished her locust bar.

“What’s that?” Midnight asked.

“How about this?” Tansha gave him another sly grin. “I trade you this bar in exchange for your Instant Cupcake.”

Midnight eyed the mare suspiciously. No doubt the bar was of lesser value than the cupcake and yet this would open up his eyes to life in the lower city and help him blend in.

“Deal,” Midnight said as he pushed over the Instant Cupcake.

Smiling Tansha took the cupcake and passed over the locust bar.

Taking the bar, Midnight pulled open the wrapper and took a bite. Immediately it felt as if every drop of moisture had been sucked from his mouth. He coughed. “What is this?”

“It’s a locust bar,” Tansha answered.

“It’s so dry and bland.” Midnight coughed.

“Would you believe me if I told you there’s supposed to be honey in it?”

“What honey?”

Giggling Tansha pushed over her cup of coffee. “The name’s Tansha.”

“Midnight,” Midnight coughed as he accepted Tansha’s coffee and drank. Surprisingly the coffee actually added moisture back to his throat.

“I take it you’ve never had bugs before,” Tansha said, as she peeled the lid off of the Instant Cupcake, causing the puffy top of the pastry to pop up.

“Nope.” Midnight shook his head.

“Well, that’s what most of us eat down here. If you want to blend in, you’ll have to learn how to eat this stuff.” Tansha said, as she took a bite of the cupcake. The flavor of dark chocolate and cherries permeated her taste buds. “Mm… this is pretty good.”

Scowling Midnight watched as Tansha ate his cupcake. While it wasn’t exactly a fair trade, Midnight had accepted it and he had no intention in going back on his word.

“So, what brings you here,” Tansha asked, “business, pleasure or exile.”

“Business,” Midnight replied, wanting to keep his answer vague, in an effort not to spoil his cover.

“Then it’s a good thing you found me and not some charlatan trying to milk you for every Bit-Cheque you have.” Tansha said as she took another bite of the cupcake.

“Yeah…”

“So, buy cheap, eat bugs, oh and your mannerisms need to be less professional and more that you’re suspicious of any and everypony around you.”

That certainly made some sense. Midnight found this information to be very insightful, even if it was at the expense of his Instant Cupcake.

“So are the bugs an acquired taste?” Midnight asked.

After pondering the question, Tansha shrugged. “I wouldn’t say it’s so much an acquired taste as you just learn to live with it.”

Well, that was just great. Though aside from food there was something else that Tansha had said that stuck out to him.

“Now you almost make it sound like the lower city can be pretty dangerous and rundown.” Admittedly that wasn’t too different from what Midnight had heard his fellow Horizon Knights say.

“Perhaps,” Tansha said, “but it does have some hidden beauty to it too.”

Finishing the cupcake, Tansha suddenly had an idea.

Tansha smiled as she stood up from the table. "Come with me. I have something to show you."

While he felt a little bit suspicious, considering how Tansha had conned him out of some of his food, Midnight decided to see what she had to offer.

Thus Midnight followed Tansha out of the ByteNBrew and into the night.

"Now do you have a Shallow Drift app on your link?" Tansha asked.

While Midnight was familiar with VR, due to his work, he didn't really have the time to partake in the pleasures of either Deep Diving or Shallow Drifting. "No, I don't."

Tansha raised an eyebrow. "Oh… I see. You prefer deep diving, don't ya?"

Judging from the way her eyebrows moved and that sly smirk, Midnight guessed that Tansha was indicating something rather suggestive.

"I actually haven't done much of that either."

“Well, I have a friend who made a special Shallow Drift program so you don’t have to buy one to see what I’m going to show you.”

An alert appeared on Midnight’s HUD, warning him that somepony was trying to link up to his Ba-Link. Midnight eyed the alert and Tansha suspiciously.

“This isn’t going to give me a virus is it?” Midnight asked.

Tansha raised an eyebrow and gave him a mischievous grin. “You’re catching on, but no, there’s no viruses or malware.”

Midnight gave her a skeptical look, still not feeling too assured by her claims.

Rolling her eyes, Tansha sighed. “How about this? If you’re not impressed by what you see then I’ll buy you an Instant Cupcake.”

Well, it might still be suspicious but at least she was trying.

“Fine,” Midnight said as he accepted the download. As the bar filled up, the icon of a musical note covered with purple scales appeared on his HUD. The title of the app was ScaleNotes. Once the program was finished downloading it appeared on Midnight’s menu bar.

“Alright it’s downloaded,” Midnight said, “now what?”

“Follow me.” Tansha motioned for Midnight to follow.

After walking through the streets for maybe five minutes, Tansha led him through a narrow dark alley. Naturally Midnight assumed that Tansha might have been setting him up to be jumped by some other goons, so it was a pleasant surprise when both of them popped out of the other end without harm or hassle. Stepping out, Midnight saw that they were on an elevated street that overlooked some of the lower sections of the city.

“Come over here,” Tansha motioned for Midnight to follow her as she walked over to the other side of the street.

Once they were on the other side, Tansha leaned on the railing and began motioning at a few of the areas below.

"That's Grease-town," Tansha said, "and over there is the scrapyard."

"I see…" Well, this certainly was helpful.

"We'll be heading down there." Tansha pointed to the scrapyard.

"Okay, are we walking there?"

A mischievous grin emerged on Tansha's face as she observed a few drones flying up from below.

"Actually, you're going to fly down there, while I catch a ride." With ease, Tansha pulled herself up and stood on the railing.

"Wait, what are you doing?"

With a smile and a wink, Tansha stepped off the railing. Panic filled Midnight as he lurched to look over the railing and if need be hoop over to catch her, only to see Tansha standing on top of a large, carrier drone, the orange painted robot holding the unicorn mare's weight with ease.

"Well, what'cha standing there for," Tansha giggled, as she steered the drone she had hacked toward the scrapyard.

Shaking his head, Midnight stretched his wings and took to the air, following after Tansha. Both of them flew through the sky until they reached their destination.

Reaching the scrapyard, Tansha dismounted the drone and let it fly away as Midnight touched down next to her. Looking around, Midnight didn't find the place all that appealing considering the mountains of broken and twisted metal.

"So, what is it you wanted to show me?" Midnight asked, still skeptical that she might be trying to scam him.

"Did the app finish downloading?"

"Yes."

"Then turn it on," Tansha said, "and input this code."

As Midnight turned on the Shallow Drift application, a message appeared on his HUD.

Tansha: 0-4515-R66

Copying the code, Midnight inserted it into the program. Once the code was inputted, Midnight watched as the world around him changed slightly.

Between the mountain of garbage and scrap metal, pools of water appeared, the liquid glowing in contrast to the dark sky, illuminating their surroundings. Palm trees sprouted all around, the digital trees waving in a non-existant wind. Along the beaches, where the metal met the digital water, papyrus flowers appeared. Among the plants a few small birds could be seen.

"What do you think?" Tansha asked.

Viewing the scene around him, Midnight was astounded by how the digital overlay had seamlessly blended into their natural surroundings. The cry of the Bennu briefly resonating through the air.

"It's pretty amazing," Midnight answered, "who made this?"

Tansha sat down on the discarded cabin of a vehicle, overlooking the waters.

"I believe it was a pony who wished to remember the oasis he had grown up in, before moving to the city."

"What happened to him?" Midnight asked as he sat down next to her.

"He died," Tansha answered, "doing what he loved."

"That's... unfortunate."

"Perhaps."

Looking across the oasis of scrap and junk, another question emerged from Midnight's lips. "Why did you want to show me this?"

"Because I felt that it was important to show you that even though this place isn't as fancy or as clean as the upper city," Tansha explained, "that even here in the lower city, there is beauty if you know where to look."

As Tansha stretched out her hooves, Midnight watched as three gray heron emerged for the reeds along the scrappy beach, taking flight before vanishing away into digital particles.

“Well, I’m incredibly glad you showed me this,” Midnight said.

Tansha smiled. “Just try not to forget this when you’re done with your business, okay.”

“After seeing this, I don't know if I could even if I tried.”

After a long day of work, Midnight was just happy to be home.

The apartment that his sister and he had, was split into two sections. An upper level that functioned like a loft and the lower main level that served as both the living room and kitchen, with a room off to the side where Midnight's sister, Lightning Spark slept.

Extending from the left side of the room was a long table where a couple plates of instant cooked meals were sitting, along with a blue pegasus mare.

"Welcome home, Midnight." Lightning greeted her cyan blue eyes, lighting up with his arrival. "How was work?"

"It's been an unusual day."

“Well, how about you have some dinner and talk about it,” Lightning said.

Lightning had once been a very beautiful and active mare, until after the Daybreak when their lives had been taken on a rollercoaster of horrible twists and turns. Unfortunately, after a tragic incident, Lightning had been horribly burnt, a massive scar that traveled halfway done the left side of her body, disfiguring her left foreleg and reducing her left wing to a withered stump.

Following his sister’s instructions, Midnight sat down at the table. Perhaps it was fortunate that Tansha had scammed him out of his Instant Cupcake, so that he could enjoy a meal with his sister.

Before him sat a bowl of Instant Tomato Soup and a homemade grilled cheese sandwich.

“So, you said you had an unusual day,” Lightning said as she sipped some of her soup.

Midnight nodded as he dipped his sandwich into his soup. “Well, I was assigned undercover work and while I can’t go into too much detail about that, afterwards I was in this cafe in the lower city and came across this bizarre mare.”

“Hmm… a bizarre mare you say,” Lightning gave her brother a sly grin.

Swallowing a bite of his tasty sandwich, Midnight shook his head. “Not like that. She had a tattoo covering half her body. Apparently she was able to deduce that I wasn’t native to the lower city and started offering advice…”

“That doesn’t sound so strange.”

“Then she scammed me out of my cupcake.”

That elicited laughter from Lightning’s lungs.

“It’s not very funny,” Midnight grumbled.

After recollecting herself, Lightning resumed eating her meal. “So was that the only reason you had an unusual day? Because a mare with tattoos stole your cupcake?”

“Maybe unusual wasn’t the right word for it,” Midnight said, “I guess the whole day was eye opening, just done in a really odd manner. The lower city isn’t just anarchy but weirdly intricate.”

In addition to Tansha’s antics it had also been, Aneyh and the Sons of Nubis that had offered him insight on the nature of the lower city. The idea of a gang of diamond dogs with a code of honor and a dedication to family was quite surprising.

It was actually kind of nice. Sure Tansha had stolen his cupcake, but then she had shown him kindness and gave him a brief tour of the area, despite knowing that he was from the upper city.

“Well, I’m glad you’re enjoying your job,” Lightning said.

“Yes… and how about you? Were you able to find some work?”

Lightning’s mood soured and she shook her head. While Midnight’s job as a knight provided enough money to support them both, Lightning had been adamant in finding work. However due to her appearance it had been more than difficult.

“I’m sorry to hear that,” Midnight said.

“Yeah, it’s just so frustrating,” Lightning exclaimed and in her annoyance she lost a hold of her spoon, causing the utensil to clatter to the floor.

“Here, let me h-”

Before Midnight could reach for the fallen utensil, Lightning aggressively raised a hoof.

“Don’t!” Lightning growled, “...I’ll get it myself.”

As startling as Lightning’s outburst was, Midnight could understand what his sister was feeling. The fact was, it had been her dream to be a Horizon Knight and while Midnight was able to achieve it, due to her infirmity, Lightning wasn’t. So the last thing that Lightning wanted was for her brother to pity her. Her pride wouldn’t allow her to show weakness, in spite of the pain it caused her.

A part of Midnight couldn’t help but wonder if perhaps Lightning Spark resented him in some way. While he wasn’t the one who gave her those dreadful scars, he had had a hoof in the event leading up to it.

After some struggling, Lightning managed to pick the spoon off the floor and deposited it in the sink before retrieving a new one.

The two of them were silent for the remainder of the meal.

Author's Note

So, I will probably be releasing these chapters on a monthly basis, however I felt that chapter 1 was a bit short and thought that today might be a good day to release the next chapter.

I've enjoyed your feedback on the first chapter and I hope that you will enjoy this first one as well. :twilightsmile:

Strike like a Serpent

Tansha’s entry into the Joy-ripper’s base was going very well. While most of the gangsters had given her suspicious glances, once they saw her with Bright Beam, they simply rolled their eyes and went about their business. Judging from that Tansha guessed that it was common for Beam to bring mares back to his quarters.

Carefully Tansha observed her surroundings. It would seem that the base was heavily fortified both by armed gangsters and active sentry turrets.

‘Well, as long as I can find a terminal, then everything will work out fine,’ Tansha thought to herself.

"Hey, Bright Beam, whose this?" Another one of the gangsters barked.

Any other mare might have flinched at the outburst, but Tansha held her cool as she and her escort turned to the gangster.

He was a fearsome looking stallion, and judging from the flickering mechanical eye, he had been in a scuffle recently. Behind the stallion was a small, yet intimidating pegasus mare. A mechanic’s harness covered her orange coat, with numerous explosives attached. Her face was obscured by her short purple mane as well as a face mask with neon pink shark fangs etched into the fabric.

"Oh, she's just another recruit, boss!" Bright Beam said, swallowing nervously.

The boss looked Tansha up and down suspiciously. It was then that Tansha realized that it might be wise for her to take the lead. Quickly she adjusted her stance, standing tall while also holding herself in a way that was a bit provocative.

"The name's Cryptic," Tansha said, "I look forward to working with you, sir."

"Uh, thank you. I'm Seeker." Seeker blushed slightly.

The intimidating mare rolled her purple eyes and walked away.

"I was just going to begin initiating her boss," Beam said.

"Yes… you do that," Seeker mumbled as he walked off.

With the boss no longer breathing down his neck, Bright Beam continued escorting Tansha.

The mechanical door hissed as Beam led Tansha into his quarters. Quickly Tansha looked over the room. It was a small room, which contained an alcove with a small bed inside, a few lockers, a pin-up poster of Ocellus along with a small table with a data terminal resting on it.

“Wow, you have some fancy digs here,” Tansha said flatteringly.

‘The terminal isn’t the fanciest,’ Tansha thought, ‘but it’ll work.’

“I’m glad you think so,” Beam said, as he closed the door to his room.

Reaching into her satchel, Tansha pulled out some lipstick and as she began applying it to her lips, she cast a quick spell.

“I’m really excited to be working in your gang,” Tansha said, “although there is something else that I’m excited for.”

“Oh, what’s that?”

Putting away her lipstick, Tansha walked over to the bed, before turning around to face Beam, while leaning up against the bed seductively. “Why, you of course.”

This elicited a chuckle from Bright Beam as he walked over, a sly grin on his face. “Oh, you’re a naughty little filly, aren’t you.”

“Only when I find a bad colt who’s worth my time.”

Beam purred, his lips mere inches from hers. “Oh, I’m worth every minute.”

“Then show me.”

With a chuckle, Beam closed the distance, his lips locking with Tansha’s, their tongues dancing together. In a matter of seconds, they were on the bed and with a few quick motions, Tansha managed to wrestle her way on top, her forelegs holding Beam to the bed.

“You’re… a wild one… aren’t you,” Beam said, breathing heavily.

Tansha gave him a sultry grin. “Absolutely.”

“That’s… so ho…” Before Beam could finish his words, he drifted off to sleep. His snoring, signaling that Tansha’s spell had worked.

After quickly looking at her HUD, Tansha noted the time. “Wow, you managed to resist my spell for twelve seconds. That’s a new record.”

Smiling, Tansha pulled herself off the bed and walked over to the terminal. Turning it on, Tansha saw that it was password protected. While she could bypass it with some coding, it could take some time. Quickly looking around the room for a clue, Tansha saw something written on the pinup poster, KnottyDDog69. Typing it in, Tansha was pleased to see the terminal unlock.

‘At least it wasn’t on a posted note.’ You’d be surprised how many ponies do that.

Touching the device, Tansha activated her Ba-Link and began uploading Maat into it. After maybe half a minute, Maat appeared on the screen.

“I have made it in ma’am,” Maat said in her ear.

“Infest their systems while I try to find the cargo.”

“Understood ma’am.”

After quickly hacking the terminal, Tansha began looking through the Joy-rippers data banks.

Scrolling through the information, it didn’t take Tansha long to find out where the stolen container was being held. With a few more swipes, she was able to download a map of the entire complex. Unfortunately, while she was able to find the container, it was on the other side of the base.

“Maat, how much progress have you made?”

“I have integrated myself into twenty one percent of the base’s digital network ma’am,” Maat answered.

“Keep working on it,” Tansha said, “I’m going to find that crate.”

Standing up, Tansha walked over to the door and opened it. The door hissed once more as she stepped outside. Pulling up the map on her HUD, Tansha made her way to the storage area.

Midnight stood a distance away from the Joy-ripper gang base. Now it was time to retrieve the Lunar Core Module and either these gangsters would give it over or Midnight would have to extract it himself.

After quickly pulling off his cloak, Midnight reached up and tapped the centerpiece of his power harness. Immediately, his body was wrapped in golden energy before he was completely encapsulated in his knightly power armor. The armor was mostly made of blue metal, with golden trim, symbolizing the authority given to him by Pharaoh Sunset Shimmer herself.

Having the dual function as a battle saddle, his armor had two automatic ballistic weapons attached to his sides.

Now that he was armored and ready, Midnight approached the Joy-ripper base. The entrance consisted of two metal doors, the image of a grinning skull munching of a heart, painted onto the gate. A pale blue skull with red eyes and a pink heart in its jaws. Above the door was what appeared to be a large mechanical eye.

"Hey, what'cha want!" A harsh sounding voice came over the speakers.

"I've come here to retrieve the Lunar Core Module you stole," Midnight answered.

The sound of somepony could be heard snickering over the coms. "Well, good luck with that!"

"If you don't turn it over, I'll have to retrieve it myself."

The snickering turned into laughter. "Oh, really! You and what army!"

That wasn't the right answer.

Stretching out his armored wings, Midnight flew toward the door, slamming his shoulder against it, causing the metal to buckle. Seeing the damage he had done, Midnight pulled back.

“Ah! Crap! He might actually do it!”

Once more Midnight charged at the door, which gave way in response to the impact. Folding his wings, Midnight landed beyond the threshold. On this side there were many Joy-ripper gang members waiting, brandishing fearsome weapons in the knight’s direction.

The chamber beyond the broken door consisted of a medium sized room with the Joy-ripper’s logo painted crudely on the far wall. On both the right and left side of the room were doorways leading deeper into the base.

“I will not warn you again,” Midnight said, “give over the-”

“OPEN FIRE!” One of the Joy-ripper commanders bellowed and immediately the gangsters began shooting at Midnight.

Instinctively, Midnight lunged into the air, the few bullets that did hit him, reflected off his armor. Seeing that these gangsters wouldn’t listen to reason, Midnight aimed the two guns that were attached to his armor at the Joy-rippers and returned fire.

As many of their comrades were cut down, the remaining Joy-rippers fled the entrance room and went deeper into their base. No doubt there would be sentry turrets and traps beyond this point with many gangsters lying in wait.

Taking a deep breath, Midnight pursued the gangsters into their lair, in search of the Lunar Core Module.

Stepping through the doorway on the right, Midnight found himself in a hallway with a few barricades set up. Poking out from the barricades some Joy-rippers fired upon Midnight.

Quickly Midnight pulled an armored wing in front of himself deflecting some of the bullets.

“Die knight! Die!” A gangster barked as he fired his weapon.

Pulling back his wing, Midnight fired upon the gangster as well as his comrade who was behind the barricade. While his comrade was able to duck under the barrier the gangster that had been yelling wasn’t and took a bullet to the brain. As the gangster crumpled to the ground, his rifle, which was undoubtedly manufactured by Flim Flam Industries, began to overheat as it toppled to the ground.

“Oh, sh-” the other Joy-ripper yelled as he tried to jump away, only to be caught up in the explosion caused by the overheated firearm. The base rumbled from the explosion.

Well, if these gangsters were going to use cheap weaponry and potentially vaporize themselves and their comrades Midnight certainly wasn’t going to complain, so long as innocents weren’t harmed in the process.

Slowly and methodically, Midnight pursued his goal.

Following the map, Tansha was very pleased when she found the door to the storage area. While it had been tricky sneaking her way here, she had managed to remain out of sight.

Stepping up to the door, Tansha saw that it was locked with a digital keypad. Tansha just rolled her eyes. “This should be easy.”

Pulling up her HackPro6.91 application, Tansha played a quick game of tic-tac-toe, causing the keypad’s password to pop up on her HUD.

“Figures,” Tansha said as she typed in the passcode: 1, 1, 1 and 1. With a click the door unlocked. Smiling, Tansha pushed open the door and walked inside.

Passing through the door, Tansha found herself on a railed catwalk in a large room filled with crates and boxes. Looking around, Tansha saw a few carrier drones off to the side, three times larger than the standard drone, all of which appeared to be powered down. Upon recognizing the transportation drones, Tansha instinctively looked up to see that the ceiling consisted of two large, metal doors. Already a plan was being formulated inside her head.

“Alright, let’s go find that container…”

The building rumbled as some sort of explosion happened in the distance.

“Maat, what was that?”

“Well ma’am, it would seem that a Horizon Knight has infiltrated the building,” Maat answered, a few scenes of security footage showing the knight inside the base.

“Shoot!” If there was a Horizon Knight here, then Tansha’s time was short.

Finding some stairs down to the bottom of the room, Tansha began looking among the crates for the one with the designation of B-7331.

“Ma’am, I thought you might like to know that my infestation progress is at ninety six percent.”

“Very good,” Tansha replied, still looking among the containers.

After maybe a minute or two, Tansha found the crate. Fortunately there weren’t any boxes on top of it, though if there had been she could probably have hacked a drone to move it out of the way.

“Alright, now I just need to find a way to open those doors.”

Looking around, Tansha spotted a control room attached to the catwalk above. Smiling Tansha ran back up to the platform and went over to the control room. Opening the door she stepped inside, the room had large windows that looked over the storage room, with massive terminals that were used to control the carrier drones as well as the massive doors above.

Stepping up to the terminal, Tansha examined the controls as she began to link her Ba-Link to it. “Alright, let’s hijack this bad colt and-”

Suddenly Tansha was slammed into the wall, the impact knocking the breath out of her. Tansha barely had time to recover when she felt herself being pushed against the wall with two strong hooves wrapped around her neck.

Wide eyed, Tansha looked as Stone Splitter strangled her, anger burning in his eyes.

“I knew you were trouble,” Stone Splitter growled, “you brought that knight here didn’t you?”

No, but it wasn’t like Stone Splitter was going to let her answer. All Tansha could do was cough, her lungs burning for oxygen.

“Well, if we’re going down, then I’m going to make sure that you never trouble us again!” The gangster’s grip grew tighter.

As Tansha’ vision began to grow dark, images of the past began to flood her mind, images of a similar, traumatic situation from a while back, and it was those memories that filled her with anger and hatred, that rage giving her the strength to resist the foreboding embrace of death.

Pumping magic into her horn, Tansha formed the hieroglyphs and cast a spell, causing an obsidian shard to materialize and fire forth, piercing Stone Splitter’s shoulder and impaling him on the opposite wall.

With her airway no longer obstructed, Tansha coughed as air filled her lungs. Once her lungs were satisfied, Tansha looked over to Stone Splitter, her insides boiling with rage. Her horn glowed with turquoise magic. As Tansha drew closer to the gangster, the anger in Stone Splitter’s eyes gave way to fear.

"Oh, you just had to do that!" Tansha growled.

The gangster grunted, trying fruitlessly to pry the shard from his shoulder.

As Tansha stepped closer she was briefly interrupted as Maat's icon appeared on her HUD. "Great news ma'am, I have successfully infested their entire network as commanded."

"Now's not the time," Tansha growled.

"I'm terribly sorry ma'am."

Tansha took in a deep breath. "Just proceed with aggressive takeover protocols."

As Tansha finished her command, Maat's icon changed from a golden feather to what appeared to be the black silhouette of a pony on a red background, with the icons of numerous white eyes scrolling downward on the pony's darkened form.

"Understood, ma'am," Maat spoke, only this time his voice was much deeper and more robotic.

Once Maat's icon disappeared, Tansha turned her attention back to the stallion that had tried strangling her to death.

"L-look I'm sorry… it won't happen again," Stone Splitter pleaded.

"Yeah, that's what he said too," Tansha growled, her horn crackling with magic.

"I-I just needed the money… That's all! I have to pay the bills, y-you know! P-please, I-I don't want to die!"

As much as Stone Splitter pleaded, Tansha wasn't listening. Maybe if he had just tried shooting her or punching her lights out things would have been different. Instead he just had to strangle her. Had to bring those painful memories to the forefront of her mind and now he had to pay.

A sphere of black energy surrounded by a flaming turquoise aura, forming above Tansha's horn. “I guess it sucks to be you… doesn’t it!”

Despite Midnight's efforts, it was clear that the Joy-rippers had no intention of complying to his demands. How unfortunate.

As he moved through the facility, Midnight came to two conclusions. Either the Joy-rippers would have a designated room for the Lunar Core Module or it might be in storage. Using deductive reasoning, Midnight made his way toward storage.

Midnight was about to enter the storage room, he caught movement out of the corner of his eye. Using an armored wing, Midnight deflected a trash canister that was tossed at him.

"Well, well, well look what we have here!" A familiar, masculine voice spoke.

Turning, Midnight saw the Joy-ripper who had been beating up on Aneyh, only now his robotic eye was covered with a black eyepatch. He wore a battle saddle, which had a robotic arm attached, bearing a sinister chainsword.

"Guess I'm cutting a knight down to size!" The gangster bellowed as he charged forward, the sharp teeth of the deadly weapon running furiously.

The weapon roared as the Joy-ripper performed an overhead strike, bringing the chainsword down on Midnight. Instinctively, Midnight raised his hoof, materializing his khopesh and blocking the attacker's strike. As the chainsword and khopesh clashed, Midnight was able to muster up enough strength to push the aggressive gangster away. Admittedly, Midnight was impressed that this Joy-ripper was strong enough to give a Horizon Knight in full power armor a run for their money.

Charging forward once more, the Joy-ripper continued to slash violently at Midnight, the automatic blade cutting through the air. The gangster struck with such force that the only reason Midnight didn't lose his khopesh as he deflected the blows, was due to the magic in the weapon's hilt that held it fast to the knight's hoof.

Even when the gangster let up on their attacks, Midnight was unable to score a hit of his own as the chainsword deflected his blade.

Growling the Joy-ripper pointed his hoof at Midnight, a brand new brace blaster attached. Midnight was able to dodge to the side as the weapon fired. Oh course, it shouldn't have been a surprise that a gangster might play dirty.

There was a slight blast of wind as the gates above opened, the air buffeting both Midnight and the gangster as something large began to float up from the storage area below. It was then that Midnight saw a familiar mare riding on top of a carrier drone.

‘Tansha?’

What was she doing here? Was she a Joy-ripper too?

As her carrier drone rose through the air with her ill gotten booty, Tansha saw on the platform, the gang boss Seeker and the Horizon Knight.

“Oh, crap! Crap! Crap!” Tansha mumbled as she tried to compel the drone to fly faster.

While Tansha was trying to escape, Midnight saw the Joy-ripper he was fighting let out an angry growl, as he raised his hoof and aimed his brace blaster at Tansha. Judging from this response, it was clear that the gangster didn't view Tansha as an ally.

‘Protect the innocent.’

Swinging his khopesh, Midnight cut off the gangster’s foreleg, causing the severed limb and brace blaster to fall over the railing.

“Ow! You little-” Before the Joy-ripper could finish his outburst, Midnight was able to cleave the mechanical arm holding the chainsword from the battle saddle and held his khopesh to the gangster’s neck. While the Joy-ripper was clearly angry, he stood completely still.

While keeping the khopesh on the gangster, Midnight watched Tansha as she escaped. Some questions were in order.

"How do you suppose she is doing?" Sweetie Belle asked Spike as he tinkered around with an old circuit board.

Using the soldering tool in his mechanical arm, Spike made a few adjustments before examining it more closely. "Tansha's been pretty capable so far. I'm sure that she'll be-"

Spike's statement was interrupted as the sound of metal scraping against brick and concrete resonated from the alley behind the shop. Hearing this both Sweetie Belle and Spike's eyes went wide as the dragon put down the circuit board and made his way to the back. Not sure what to expect, Spike aired on the side of caution and immediately swapped out his soldering gun, for a built in blaster with far more firepower.

Opening the garage door to the back, both Spike and Sweetie Belle were pleased to see a disheveled Tansha leaning up against a scraped up carrier drone, with a crate attached to the bottom.

Seeing Spike and Sweetie, Tansha gave them a smile. "Got it!"

Tansha managed to stumble three steps away from the crashed drone before her face turned green and she found a trash can, there she held onto the rim for dear life in the case that her stomach decided to betray her.

As Sweetie went to tend to Tansha, Spike walked over to the crate. Flexing his muscles and robotic arm, Spike prepared to open it.

After about an hour, Spike was able to uncover the VR-program that he had hired Tansha to retrieve.

During this time, Tansha had recovered and was enjoying a cup of coffee with Sweetie Belle in the backroom.

“So, there was actually a knight there?” Sweetie asked as Tansha recounted her tale.

“Yeah, thankfully I managed to fly the drone away before things became too crazy,” Tansha answered, “but that’s why I was in a hurry to get back here.”

Stepping into the room, Spike walked over to a computer terminal and inserted the drive that had the VR-program and began running diagnostics.

“Let’s just hope your little stunt didn’t jeopardize the integrity of the program.” Spike grumbled.

“It’s not like I wanted to rush out of there,” Tansha retorted, “If I had my way, I would have gone in, searched the crate, grabbed the program and snuck out. Stupid knight!”

Spike watched as strings of data sped across his screen. “Did the knight see you?”

“They might have,” Tansha replied, “so I’ll hang low for a few days until things cool back down.”

After another minute, the terminal beeped as a message appeared on the screen showing that the VR-program hadn’t been damaged. Spike let out a sigh of relief.

“Well, we’re in the clear,” Spike said, as he pulled the drive free. “I’ll contact the client and let them know we have their program.”

Hearing this a wide grin stretched across Tansha’s lips. “Yeah, money, money, money.”

“So, what are you going to do with your share?” Sweetie Belle asked.

“Oh… I have a few ideas,” Tansha said with a sly grin.

Knick Knack relaxed as he sat in the calm waters of the bath. This room had been specially designed to resemble an ancient Somnambulian bathhouse, the stone walls giving off a warm vibe as the sunlight peered through the skylight above, illuminating the water as well as the murals of reeds and lotus blossoms painted onto the walls. Just judging by how the Shallow Drift VR-program looked, Knack could have sworn that he was back in those ancient days.

The sounds of a sistrum, lyre and flute resonated through the air, playing a slowly relaxing tune.

'To think that there was a time that something like this was a royal luxury,' Knack pondered.

While this room was luxurious, it wasn't by far the most expensive thing he had purchased. Of course, the fact that the program had been created by Lullaby helped. Still as great as it was, there were things far more valuable that came at an even greater cost.

His ears twitched as Knack heard the sound of the door opening. Turning, Knack watched as his pet drew closer to the bath, her movements portraying a beauty and an innocence that very few ponies even among the nobility possessed.

'To think that I'd been blessed with a gift like this.' Knack marveled as Lullaby stepped into the pool. 'If only my parents could understand.'

"You look lovely," Knack greeted.

Lullaby blushed as she drew closer to him in the bath. "Thank you, KK."

Knack admired how the crystal clear water embraced Lullaby’s sleek curves. She was so beautiful and enticing as she nestled up next to him.

"You did a wonderful job," Knack said, admiring the great detail Lullaby had made with the hieroglyphs on the wall, depicting stories of when Somnambula, the priestess who had once been a member of the Pillars of Equestria, was alive.

Lullaby's blush grew hotter. "You flatter me, master."

Leaning down, Knack gently kissed Lullaby's lips, eliciting a soft moan from his pet.

After a short kiss, Knack pulled away and gazed longingly into Lullaby's eyes. "I love you."

"I love you too, master."

Snuggling closely to one another, the two of them began to share a passionate kissing, their lips locking and their tongues dancing together. Knack was about to take the next step when his HUD started ringing, signaling that somepony was trying to contact him.

With a slightly frustrated sigh, Knick Knack pulled himself away from a surprised Lullaby.

"One moment." Knack said as he answered the call and put it on speaker. "Hello?"

Spike's gruff voice came over the speaker. "Hello sir. I just wanted to inform you that we have your program."

"Thank you," Knack said, "I will be seeing you later."

As Knick Knack ended the call, Lullaby pulled away, moving toward the edge of the bath.

"Where are you going?" Knack asked.

Turning around, Lullaby gave him a confused look. "I thought you wanted to leave."

"Oh, we will." Knack waved for Lullaby to come back, an impish look on his lips. "But first we are going to relax and enjoy each other's company."

Understanding what her master was saying, Lullaby returned, only this time instead of nestling up against him, Lullaby positioned herself seductively in front of him, resting herself on his lower stomach, looking up at him provocatively.

"If that is what you wish, my master."

It hadn’t taken long for Horizon Knights to swarm the Joy-ripper base, incarcerating the gangsters that surrendered and bringing a swift end to those that resisted violently. Midnight was observing some Joy-rippers being rounded up into the back of a truck when he saw commander Spitfire walking toward him, with two other knights accompanying her.

“Commander!” Midnight stood at attention and gave a salute.

“At ease,” Spitfire replied, “you’ve done a great job.”

“Thank you, commander.”

Spitfire signed. “Unfortunately, we haven’t been able to find the Lunar Core Module.”

As Spitfire mentioned this, Midnight remembered seeing Tansha escaping with a crate. Had she been after the module or something else?

“I think I may know who has it,” Midnight said, “I observed a mare that I had met while undercover escaping earlier.”

“Then let’s go after her!” One of the knights escorting Spitfire, who Midnight recognized as Thunderlane said, his voice very stern.

“That won’t be necessary,” Midnight replied, “let me talk to her, I’m sure I can reason with her.”

It looked like Thunderlane was about to protest, but Spitfire raised a hoof.

“Very well,” Spitfire said, “I’ll trust your judgment on this matter.”

That was good. The last thing Midnight wanted to do was cause Tansha trouble, at least until he had more information on what she had been doing here. It was about that time that another knight ran up and gave a salute.

"Commander we found something you need to see,” the knight said.

“Is it the module?” Spitfire asked.

The knight shook his head. “Please come this way.”

Spitfire motioned for Midnight to follow as the other knight led them away. Following the knight they entered a room overlooking the storage area. Upon entering the room, Midnight realized the urgency of the knight’s statement. Pinned up against the wall was the body of a pony, most of their features obscured by numerous obsidian shards.

“What happened here?” Spitfire asked, her jaw tense at the sight.

A forensic officer, an earth pony mare who had been examining the body, walked over to Spitfire and Midnight. Midnight recognized the scientist as Nano Scope. “Commander, while I have more information in my report, it seems that this stallion here met an unfortunate end.”

“I can see that,” Spitfire said, “what happened?”

“From what I’ve gathered so far,” Nano continued, “he was eviscerated down the center by some sort of magical blast, after which the magical residue cause these shards to grow from the victim’s remains as well as a part of the wall that was caught in the blast.”

“Did one of the Joy-rippers do this?” Spitfire asked.

Nano Scope adjusted her glasses. “It’s difficult to say, it isn’t uncommon for gangsters to fight among themselves.”

So this was a Joy-ripper. As Midnight looked at the body and how horrifically mangled it was, he couldn’t help but feel very uneasy. A dark foreboding question lingered in the recesses of his mind.

“Was he killed during the infighting?” Thunderlane asked.

“It is possible,” Nano Scope replied, “however I haven’t seen magic like this used by the Joy-rippers before, or any other gangs for that matter. These crystals possess the aura of a unicorn’s magic and yet it seems… darker somehow.”

“Could this have been caused by a member of the Gleaming Eye?” Midnight asked.

The Gleaming Eye was an insidious organization of magic users that would seemingly appear out of nowhere, perform terrifying experiments on the citizens of Princess Sunset’s sacred cities and then vanish, leaving only chaos in their wake.

“It’s difficult to say,” Nano answered, “I haven’t seen any magical spells like this before, so there is no way for me to distinguish whether this was caused by the Gleaming Eye, another unicorn or perhaps something else entirely. At least, not at this time.”

This was very disconcerting. The Gleaming Eye had been gone for a long time, but if this was indeed their work then it was only the beginning.

"Was there any security footage?" Spitfire asked.

Nano shook her head. "Unfortunately, all the security footage was corrupted, however we were able to uncover that the Joy-rippers had stolen the Lunar Core Module for a third party."

"Were you able to discern who?"

"All we know is that they went by the username of PigmentCardioInc," Nano answered.

While Spitfire and Nano discussed this, Midnight's attention remained on the corpse. Looking at the body, Midnight recalled seeing Tansha here. Could she be responsible for this?

A smile stretched across Knick Knack’s face as he stepped out of the limo. Sure the air down here wasn’t as clean as it was in the upper city, but it didn’t bother him. Soon he would have his prize.

As Knack and Lullaby stepped into the ByteNBrew, they were greeted by a beautiful mare.

“Oh, hello,” Sweetie Belle greeted, “what might I get you today?”

Knack gave a polite nod. “Hello, I’m here to speak with Spike.”

“Of course,” Sweetie said, “please come this way.”

Following Sweetie Belle into the back, they found both Spike and Tansha. While Tansha lounged on an old couch reading a magazine, Spike was organizing the other items that had been in the crate.

Spike was looking at a black, metal briefcase, when he saw Knick Knack enter.

“Greetings.” Spike said, standing up. “I’m glad you were able to make it.”

“I’m glad to hear that you were able to retrieve my program.” Knack looked over at Tansha. “And this must be the pony you hired to retrieve it.”

“Yes, this is Tansha,” Spike said.

Setting her magazine down, Tansha stood up. “It’s a pleasure to meet you, mister…”

“Knick Knack,” Knack answered, “and this is my assistant, Lullaby.”

Feeling a little shy, Lullaby simply gave a curtsy.

“Now, may we see this program?” Knack asked.

Brandishing the cartridge, Spike presented it to Knick Knack, who gave it to Lullaby. Pulling forth a small gadget from her saddlebags, Lullaby attached it to the cartridge. Seconds later the device beeped and flashed a green light.

“It's intact, master,” Lullaby said.

“Very good.” Knack tapped his Ba-Link as he sent the funds to Spike.

Seeing the promised amount appeared on his HUD, Spike smiled as he sent Tansha her forty two percent. “Thank you.”

As her payment showed up on her HUD, Tansha grinned. That VR-pod was as good as hers.

Smiling Knack turned to Lullaby. “Then I guess we must be off.”

“Before you go, may I ask you about something?” Spike asked.

While Knick Knack was eager to return home with his prize, he was also curious about Spike’s question. “By all means.”

Spike walked back over to the briefcase he had been inspecting. “After we retrieved your program from the Joy-rippers, we found this in the crate as well.”

Opening the briefcase, Spike presented its contents. Resting in a hollow space of black fabric was a white mechanical sphere about the size of a pony’s hoof. On the orb’s surface were numerous ports where wires and cables could be inserted. In fact, as Tansha looked at the device, it kind of reminded her of a small moon.

Examining the item, Knack recognized it for what it was. “It would seem that you’ve come into possession of a Lunar Core Module.”

Spike nodded. “I thought so, but I wanted to make sure.”

“What’s a Lunar Core Module?” Tansha asked.

“A cornerstone in lunar travel,” Spike explained.

“Is it worth anything?”

“Depends,” Knick Knack answered, “unless you’re trying to create a rocket and travel to the moon or plan on repurposing it, it might serve as a crown gem in somepony’s collection.”

“What should we do with it?” Spike asked.

Knack shrugged. “I don’t know of anypony who would be all that interested in it, but I’m certain that if you were clever about it, that you could make a hefty profit off of it.”

Upon hearing this, Tansha’s eyes lit up. “So it’s worth a lot of money.”

“Certainly,” Knack nodded.

“You wouldn’t happen to be in need of a Lunar Core Module would you?” Tansha asked with a clever rin.

Knick Knack shook his head. “I do not.”

Now while Knack had no use for the module, he knew plenty of ponies that for better or worse would love to get their hooves on such a relic.

‘Best keep an eye on them for now,’ Knack thought. While he didn't need the module, it wouldn't hurt knowing who ended up with it later. Information was power after all, and the knowledge of a Lunar Core Module could be an excellent bargaining chip.

Midnight took a deep breath as he entered the ByteNBrew. Out of all the places he had seen her, Midnight figured this was most likely the best place to find Tansha. Fortunately for Midnight as he looked through the booths he spotted Tansha at the far end.

Tansha was reading a menu when Midnight sat down across from her. Looking up from her menu, Tansha smiled.

“Hello moneybags,” Tansha teased, “fancy seeing you here.”

“That’s not my name,” Midnight growled.

Tansha giggled. “Don’t be so sour. Let me buy you something to eat. My treat.”

Well, Midnight certainly wasn’t going to complain about free food, especially after Tansha scammed him out of his Instant Cupcake.

“Alright. I’ll have a bite.”

It was about that time that Sweetie Belle walked up, her magic holding a notepad and pen.

“What can I get you two today?” Sweetie asked.

“My friend and I will have two cups of coffee,” Tansha said, “and two Cheesy Scarab Bowls.”

Then again, maybe it wasn’t such a good idea accepting free food from Tansha. Before Midnight could protest, Sweetie had already taken their order and was off to the kitchen.

‘Better just go with it,’ Midnight thought, ‘It’s not like I’m here just to eat.’

“So what’s the special occasion?” Midnight asked.

“Well, I just so happened to have finished a job with flying colors and with a hefty bonus too,” Tansha said, as she reclined back into her booth, a bright smile on her lips.

That would certainly explain why she was at the Joy-ripper gang’s base. The questions were, did she take the Lunar Core Module and did she still have it? Midnight would have to be cautious when trying to probe Tansha for clues.

“I’m glad to hear that.”

It was about that time that Sweetie Belle returned. “Here you go. Two cups of coffee and two Cheesy Scarab Bowls.”

Midnight scrunched his nostrils at what was a large, blue beetle the size of a foal’s head, lying belly up in a bowl, it’s legs and head missing.

‘I forgot they ate bugs down here,’ Midnight thought to himself.

“Well, let’s dig in,” Tansha said, as she used her magic to hold a knife and sliced the scarab down the middle. Steam emerged from the opening and the scent of melted cheese wafted into the air.

Not wanting to appear rude, Midnight whispered a quick prayer to the Pharaoh, before copying Tansha’s movements and cutting a slit in the scarab’s belly. Like before a gooey, cheesy aroma filled the air, something that might have been appetizing for Midnight if not for its source. With its insides exposed, Midnight could see the contents within. Inside was a white, creamy cheese sauce that had a slightly greenish tinge to it and inside the sauce were numerous white clumps.

Ignoring his stomach’s apprehension, Midnight took a deep breath and using a spoon he scooped up the cheesy contents and after closing his eyes, placed it in his mouth.

Much to his surprise it didn’t taste horrible. It was savory and cheesy and while the white clumps were a little rubbery it wasn’t too bad. In fact, it tasted almost like mac and cheese.

Opening his eyes, Midnight saw that Tansha had been watching him.

“So, what did you think?” Tansha asked.

Midnight chewed his food. “It’s actually not as bad as I thought it would be.”

“Well, that’s good,” Tansha said, “since all the nutritional value of the insect is in its insides.”

“Really?”

Tansha nodded. “An insect’s carapace consists of chitin, which provides a small amount of protein, assuming you have the necessary enzymes to digest it. However, for the most part it functions more like fiber.”

“So then why are there so many insect based products?”

“Because they’re easy to farm,” Tansha replied, “also it doesn’t take much skill to take a rock, put glitter on it and sell it as a gem. Especially if nopony questions it.”

“I suppose that’s true.”

As Tansha watched Midnight eat his food, she had to admit that he seemed like a smart guy. He’d managed to acclimate to living in the lower city so far.

Looking around Tansha checked to see if anypony else was around who could listen. Seeing that there was nopony else within earshot, Tansha leaned in close.

“Hey, do you think you can keep a secret?” Tansha asked with a sly grin.

“Uh, sure,” Midnight replied.

After another glance around Tansha continued. “During my last job my friends and I came across something pretty spendy.”

“Oh, what is it?”

“A Lunar Core Module.”

So, she did have it. Still Midnight was sure to maintain ignorance for now. “What’s that?”

“Some sort of device to help with space travel,” Tansha answered, “but that doesn’t really matter, because we’re going to sell it to the highest bidder.”

Now that could be a bit problematic.

Midnight furrowed his brow. “Are you sure you shouldn’t just give that to the authorities? I’m sure somepony would appreciate it.”

Tansha crossed her hooves. “Midnight how many Horizon Knights have you seen down here?”

“Well…” Now that he thought about it, it wasn’t until the bust yesterday that Midnight had seen any of his fellow colleagues in the lower city. In fact, as far as he could tell he may have been the only knight in the lower city at this time. Reluctantly Midnight sighed. “None.”

“In all my years down here, I’ve only met five knights,” Tansha said, “three were corrupt scoundrels working with the gangs, one I met in passing yesterday and one had retired early, lived and ultimately died here in the lower city. You see Midnight, the authorities don’t care what happens down here so long as it doesn’t affect them, so why should I care about their property when it helps my friends and I pay the bills?”

While he hated to admit it, Midnight could understand how Tansha felt. Perhaps if his sister and he had been abandoned to the streets then maybe he would have shared her viewpoint.

But he also knew that she wasn’t entirely right. After all, he cared. Plus there must have been other undercover knights in the lower city, right?

“I’m sure somepony cares,” Midnight said.

“If that helps you sleep at night,” Tansha said, “just don’t be surprised if you find yourself being stabbed in a back alley and no knights in shining armor come to save you. My advice, make as many friends as you can down here. Cuz they’re the ones who’ll stitch you back up after you’ve been shanked.”

As Midnight watched Tansha eat more of the contents of her scarab bowl, another question came to mind. “We’re friends, right?”

Chewing her food, Tansha pondered the inquiry. So far Midnight hadn’t betrayed her, drugged her or attempted to strangle her in her sleep, so that was a point in the friendship category. He also hadn’t done anything to hurt her friends, so there was another point. Sure he was still a little green but he was starting to understand what it was really like in the lower city.

Tansha nodded. “Yeah, I’d say so.”

Hearing this, Midnight smiled. It was nice having a friend down here.

Even if he couldn’t convince her to give up the Lunar Core Module, perhaps there was another way to retrieve it.

As Midnight mulled this over, he noticed a series of red beads inside his bowl. Scooping up one of the odd orbs, Midnight bit down on it. It popped like a grape and had a citrusy, nutty flavor.

“This is pretty good. What is this?” Midnight asked, showing Tansha one of the beads.

“Aww. You had a female,” Tansha pouted, “so lucky.”

Upon realizing that they were scarab eggs, Midnight slowly pushed the bowl away. “I think I’m good for now.”

Tansha gave him a confused look. “Are you sure?”

“Yes, you go ahead and have it.”

Looking out the window, Midnight saw three black crows perched up on a nearby building, starring down at them. Midnight shivered under their alien gaze.

“Is there something wrong?” Tansha asked.

Midnight shook his head. “No, it’s nothing.”

It was about this time that Midnight’s HUD started beeping and an icon appeared, signaling that Spitfire wished to speak with him.

“I’ll be right back,” Midnight said, “there’s something I need to tend to in the colt’s room.”

“Alright, but it’s your loss,” Tansha said as she began scooping the contents of Midnight’s scarab bowl into her own.

Quickly Midnight went to the restroom and entered an empty stall. As he closed and locked the door, Midnight activated Spitfire’s message. Upon opening it, he noticed that Thunderlane was also present.

Midnight: Alright I’m here.

Spitfire: Good, how is your mission going?

Midnight: The mare I thought it was, did indeed have it, though it seems that it wasn’t her goal when she was in the Joy-ripper base.

Thunderlane: So, do you have the Lunar Core Module?

Midnight: Unfortunately, I don’t. She has since learned of its value and now seeks to sell it.

Thunderlane: You should just take it so we can be done with this mess.

Midnight: I can’t do that.

Thunderlane: Why not?

Midnight: If I do I’ll lose my cover.

Spitfire: True, but we do need to retrieve that module.

While Midnight knew that Spitfire was right, he had worked hard to earn Tansha’s trust and he would prefer not to lose it, especially if there might be another way to retrieve the Lunar Core Module.

Midnight: Please allow me to make a proposition. What if instead of taking it from her, we take it from the pony she’s selling it to?

Thunderlane: I don’t see the point in delaying it.

Midnight: We still don’t know who hired the Joy-rippers to steal the module. Chances are that the pony responsible will be there for the purchase either as the buyer or will attempt to intercept the buyer shortly after.

Spitfire: That does seem risky.

Midnight: I know but this way I feel that we can capture two birds in one cage.

Fatal Negations

"That was Blown Motherboard by Neonfall.

"That's the first song they wrote since its lead singer was proven innocent of those harassment charges. It's funny how if an upper city [Bleep] cries wolf that a band from the lower city [Bleep]ed her, that immediately the media assumes she's telling the truth, but when one of those upper city [Bleep] [Bleep]ing [BLEEEEP] do the exact thing, they just ignore it.

"Well enough of that [Bleep].

"Today Ardorhunie Inc announced that they had finished working on their new cybernetic tentacles, which are strong, soft, flexible and inflatable. If you or your special somepony had some tentacle fantasies and are tired of just using a VR-pod, then this might be what you're waiting for.

"Won't lie, I'm a bit curious about it myself.

"Let me just add that to my list…

"Now as a request from 44Tr33Slug3r44, Roadblock Rhythm by the Punk Hazards.”

Opening her eyes, Whiskey Lullaby found herself in an old wooden cabin. It was dark save for the moonlight peering through the windows. In the center was a wooden pedestal, holding something concealed by a black cloth.

“What do you think?” Knick Knack asked, as he spawned into the room.

“P-pardon me, master,” Lullaby replied, “but this doesn’t seem like much.”

Knack chuckled as he walked up to the pedestal. “As odd as it might seem, this program is actually very valuable for numerous reasons. For one, when it was initially released, most of the VR-disks containing it were corrupted, making them unplayable.”

“Okay…”

“But there is another, grander reason why it is so valuable.” Using his magic, Knick Knack pulled off the cloth, before picking up the revealed item and presenting it to Lullaby.

It was a snowglobe, with a city within, resting on the side of a mountain. White buildings and spires reached up from the city, decorated with gold and other precious gems. Hovering above the city was a small, circular piece of glowpaz.

Whiskey Lullaby’s eyes lit up as she examined the snow globe. “It’s really pretty.”

“It’s a replica of the city of Canterlot, before the Daybreak, down to the very last detail.”

Reaching out with a hoof, Knick Knack taped the glass. In response, the glass sphere shimmered and rippled. After blinking, Lullaby suddenly realized that they were no longer in the cabin.

Looking around Lullaby found herself in the city streets of Canterlot as snowflakes drifted down from the sky. Although Lullaby had only ever seen images of Canterlot and had never been there in her lifetime, what she saw looked and felt so real. A bright green moon in the night sky above. While there were other ponies walking the streets, all of them seemed to be holographic specters with the exception of one.

“So now what do you think?” Knick Knack asked.

“I-it looks incredible!” Lullaby said, complete in awe of her surroundings.

Knack chuckled as he walked over to her. “I’m glad you enjoy my little gift.”

“Gift?” Lullaby was a little bit confused.

“Yes,” Knack answered, “just a little present for you.”

“Y-you really shouldn’t have, master,” Lullaby stuttered.

Drawing close, Knack pulled Lullaby into a warm embrace. “Perhaps not, but it is mine and I give it to you.”

Despite her words, Lullaby knew that Knick Knack wouldn’t take no for an answer. “Thank you, KK.”

“So, where would you like to go?” Knack asked.

Looking around, Lullaby saw a store with a sign saying, Donut Joe’s Donutz. Raising a hoof, Lullaby pointed at the store.

Knick Knack chuckled. “That sounds good to me.”

Thus the two ponies wandered through the virtual city.

Sweetie Belle felt the warmth of the sheets as she awoke from her slumber. Before she even opened her eyes, she could both feel and smell Spike laying next to her.

"Hello," Spike said as he looked down at his mate.

Smiling, Sweetie Belle stretched. “Hello… is it morning?”

“No, it’s still evening,” Spike answered, “you fell asleep after your third crescendo.”

“Sorry, about that,” Sweetie replied, “works been keeping me busy and must have worn me out… I hope I didn’t leave you hanging.”

Spike gave a slight chuckle. “Don’t worry, I managed to reach the peak the same time as you did.”

Grimacing, Spike reached over to his cybernetic arm. Looking over, Sweetie could see the brown splotches of scales where the mechanical appendage was attached to his flesh. The clear signs of rust bite manifested there.

“You, okay?” Sweetie asked.

“I’ll be fine,” Spike grumbled, “just need to tend to this for a moment.”

As Spike pulled himself out of bed, Sweetie Belle waved a hoof and used his Ba-Link to turn the television on. Not looking for anything in particular, Sweetie just flipped through the channels.

Walking over to his desk, Spike opened a metal case that was sitting there. Inside were three vials containing a fluorescent pink liquid. Carefully Spike took out one of the vials and began loading it into a syringe. With the number of vials he had left, he’d need to order some more medicine soon.

Flipping through the channels, Sweetie stopped when she spotted a familiar mare on the screen. It was an interview and while the main person involved was a stallion, behind him was an alabaster unicorn mare with a purple mane, her features elegant and beautiful. Upon seeing this mare, Sweetie’s blood went on fire.

Looking over, Spike could see the large scowl on his wife’s face. Upon seeing the mare on the screen, he understood why.

“Is everything alright?” Spike asked, while he knew the truth, he also knew that it was easier if Sweetie brought it up herself.

“I just can’t believe she moved on without me,” Sweetie mumbled.

Spike sighed. “It probably wasn’t easy on her. Everypony got lost in the chaos of the Daybreak.”

“Yeah, well she still could have tried,” Sweetie retorted.

For a moment, Sweetie glared at Spike, only to watch him grimace as he stabbed the syringe into the flesh above his cybernetic arm. Wincing Spike injected his medicine into his arm. Watching her husband’s discomfort, shame and sorrow filled her.

“You… never told me how you lost your arm…” Sweetie said.

Looking back at his mechanical talons, Spike clenched and unclenched them. “Sometimes you give up a few things, searching for those you love.”

“Was it worth it?”

With a smile, Spike gave a nod. “Yeah, I’d say it was.”

Walking back to the bed, Spike sat down before he crawled over Sweetie so that he was looming over her, his body blocking her view of the screen.

"Now how about I help you… forget your sister." Spike said with a suggestive growl.

Blushing, Sweetie smiled. “I suppose we can try to break the record again this evening.”

Tansha walked through the alleyway to the coordinates that the customer had assigned. While it did seem that they were leading her to a dark, secluded place, that wasn't too out of the ordinary considering shady dealings like this.

The alley led to a storage facility with numerous units. Once she was inside Tansha checked the time on her HUD to see that she was a few minutes early.

'The early bird sells the worm,' Tansha thought to herself, as she saw a pony approaching her. They wore a purple hoodie and a black respirator. Admittedly, they didn't look like the kind of pony that would have the cash for this, but Tansha wasn't going to judge.

"You have the package?" the stallion asked, his voice muffled by the respirator.

"Maybe." Tansha tapped the black briefcase. "So long as you have my payment."

"I have it," the stallion answered, "but I want to see it first. Ensure it's intact."

Tansha nodded. It certainly wasn't a bad idea for a client to make sure that they weren't receiving a dud. Observing the stallion, Tansha noticed that he didn't have anypony accompanying him.

'Must be some rich colt trying to buy this privately.'

"Of course," Tansha said, "come see for yourself."

As the stallion approached, Tansha could have sworn that there was something familiar about this pony. Tansha shrugged it off and opened the briefcase, presenting the Lunar Core Module.

“Alright, here it is,” Tansha said.

The glint of metal drew Tansha's attention back to the stallion who was suddenly right next to her. By the time Tansha realized who this pony was, it was already too late.

"This is for Stone Splitter," Bright Beam whispered in her ear.

A sharp pain ripped through her, as Tansha felt the jagged blade cut deep into her chest. Suddenly her body felt very heavy and Tansha tumbled to the ground, the edges of her vision growing hazy and the sounds around her began to muffle.

'Well, this is just great!'

There was a dull outburst and Tansha watched as Bright Beam fled as two Horizon Knights chased after him. Tansha's vision was shaken as another Horizon Knight in blue and gold armor picked her up.

"Tansha! Stay with me okay!" The knight spoke in a muffled voice as their helmet retracted revealing them to be none other than Midnight.

"Y-you're a knight!" For a moment Tansha's eyes went wide at the revelation, before she coughed and her expression became weary. "Of course, you're a horizon knight… *cough* the signs were all there…"

Her eyes felt heavy even as Tansha's life began trickling away.

"No, don't close your eyes Tansha," Midnight barked, "we can fix this!"

Tansha chuckled, eliciting a pained cough. "O-oh, it's no use. It won't be long now…"

Already Tansha's vision was fading and she could feel the jaws of death around her, its iron maw seeking to engulf her soul. The world around her, growing cold and dim.

"No! No! Stay with me!" Even as he held her, Midnight could feel Tansha slipping away.

If Tansha could chuckle, she would but at that moment, she lacked the strength to do so. It was sweet that he cared so much for her, even if it was all in vain.

"T-thank you… for your… kindness… Midnight."

As Tansha said those words, she closed her eyes and breathed her last.

Even as Tansha's body seemed to fade in color, Midnight tried feeling for a pulse, and found none. His heart sank, Midnight had sworn to protect the innocent and he had failed. If only Midnight had interceded sooner, then maybe Tansha would still be alive.

Smelling the scent of burnt hair, it took Midnight a moment to realize that it was coming from Tansha's body, as turquoise flames began consuming her corpse. Startled, Midnight dropped Tansha's body, not wanting to be burnt himself. As the corpse lay upon the ground, the fire completely consumed it until only ash remained.

Sitting high above the scene, resting on their perch, the black crows watched.

Whiskey Lullaby looked wide eyed as she observed the drone's footage. Her heart felt heavy as she watched Tansha die. While Lullaby had initially been suspicious of Tansha after seeing her interaction with the gangsters at the Love Nest, those feelings had softened once Tansha had completed her mission.

While the snowglobe VR-program had been a gift from Knick Knack, it wouldn't have happened if it weren't for Tansha retrieving it.

And now she was gone.

The door to the limousine opened and Knack stepped inside, another unsatisfying date fulfilled.

"Well, that was excruciating." Knick Knack grumbled, before noticing how downcast Lullaby was. "Is something wrong?"

Lullaby's lip quivered. "Tansha's dead…"

Hearing this, Knack blinked a couple times as he processed what Lullaby was saying as she showed him the drone footage.

"This is unfortunate," Knick Knack said, "order some flowers. We will send her friends our condolences in the morning."

Midnight sat in the cafeteria, a cup of coffee in front of him.

While he had picked up the cup earlier, before adding milk and sugar, it remained untouched as well as the Instant Cupcake he had bought out of habit, as his mind continued to replay the scene from a couple hours ago. That feeling of having somepony's life leave them within his grasp.

This hadn't been the first time that Midnight had experienced somepony else die and as a Horizon Knight he had been conditioned not to feel any guilt for the deaths of those who defied the society that the pharaoh had established, and while Tansha certainly wasn't a purely innocent pony, there was something about her death that stuck with him. It reminded him of long ago, when Lightning Spark and he had lost their parents during the Daybreak.

While Midnight had initially thought he had been on the losing end when he had traded his Instant Cupcake to Tansha for her locust bar. Now he felt very different about it. In that moment, Tansha had given him a new perspective on what the lower city was like and she had shown him both its flaws and its beauty. In that trade, whether she realized it or not, Tansha had given him so much, all in exchange for what… a cupcake, and in the end how had he repaid her?

Feeling disgust at the sight of the Instant Cupcake, he had to look away, guilt and bile rising in his stomach.

As he sat transfixed on his coffee, Midnight barely noticed his commander standing across from him. Immediately, Midnight jumped to attention. "Commander!"

"At ease," Spitfire replied, "there is no need for that right now."

"Yes, ma'am," Midnight said, returning to his seat.

Spitfire sat down across from Midnight, placing her coffee cup on the table before looking deep into his eyes. "How are you feeling Midnight?"

"... Not great." Midnight's gaze drifted back to his coffee.

"Why's that?"

"I failed the mission and because of that a civilian died tonight."

Stirring her coffee, Spitfire shook her head. "No, while your methods weren't completely orthodox, you did the right thing. You maintained your cover for as long as possible and when an innocent was hurt you stepped in and did everything in your power to save her."

"But I failed to retrieve the Lunar Core Module."

"Maybe…"

"And I failed to save her."

"But that doesn't change the fact that you have more compassion than anypony else in this department and that's what we need."

Spitfire took a sip of her coffee.

"There are too many blooks in this job that hold duty above the lives of those they serve." Spitfire said, "Furthermore most of them wouldn't bat an eye at the death of somepony in the lower city. We need more ponies that care. We need you."

Midnight took a deep, heavy breath, his attention turning back to his commander. "What happened to her killer?"

"We haven't found him yet," Spitfire answered, "I'm organizing a team to find him."

"Ma'am, I'd like to-"

"Negative." Spitfire cut him off. "You're too emotionally tied to this case… there's something else I need you to do.

As much as Midnight hated to admit it, he knew that she was right. If he charged in hotheaded, it wouldn't be only his life that would be at jeopardy.

"What would you have me do?" Midnight asked.

Spitfire stretched her wings in a tired manner. "Unfortunately we couldn't find anything on miss Tansha. Not even a screenshot. Aside from what we gathered this evening, there's nothing. It's like she never existed."

'What?' Midnight was puzzled by this information. How could there be no evidence of a pony's existence in Neo Somnambula? Your face had to be caught on camera at some point.

"Because of this, we have no idea how to contact her next of kin," Spitfire continued, "do you have any idea where to look?"

"She had a couple friends who owned a shop in the lower city," Midnight replied.

"Then your next assignment is to talk to them and report Tansha's death to her next of kin or to her friends," Spitfire said as she gulped down her cup of coffee.

Midnight gave a salute. "Very well."

"Alright then that's it." Spitfire stood up from her seat. "Make sure to get some rest."

After a few more futile minutes of watching his coffee, Midnight stood up and prepared to leave the cafeteria. As he was about to leave, he considered throwing his Instant Cupcake into the trash, but as he recalled what Tansha had said about ponies in the lower city eating bugs, he thought better of it. If he couldn't enjoy it, he could at the very least give it to somepony else.

Author's Note

Sorry that this is a bit of a short chapter, but I felt like it was a good stopping point for now. Obviously, there is more going on and there will be more chapters, so stay tuned.

In the meantime, I've been thinking about what songs would be the best theme songs for the characters like Tansha, Midnight Blitzer, Knick Knack and Whiskey Lullaby. If you have any ideas/suggestions, please let me know.

Also, if you are an artist who has been reading this and you're open to commissions let me know. A part of me wants to do an art piece for each chapter and if you're interested, maybe we can work some something out. :raritywink:

Accursed Secret

"And that was Burn the Body, by the Hierogliffins. It's the first song they've released since their lead guitarist, Feather Cord was killed in that bombing at the Zip-Trot. Feather Cord, you will be sorely missed.

"Now I also bring news that apparently another one of those [Bleep]ing Tatzlwurm riders robbed an UmbralRock train passing between Neo Crystalla and Neo Somnambula. While information is scarce, rumors have it that the rider had the old Outrider logo emblazoned on their jacket and was wearing an old stetson.

"Unfortunately, it would seem that the train was pulled under by the Tatzlwurm as well as some of the track, so it will be some time before another train comes here from Neo Crystalla.

"In other news, it has been confirmed that the Diamond Pyramid in the upper city is nearing completion and should be finished in a month or so.

"Talk about ponies in glass houses. [Bleep]ing snobs!

"Now how about we cheer things with this little tune, Running on Razor Blades by Cyber-Rainbooms."

Pain rippled through Tansha's body as she moved through the pitch black darkness. It was as if there were bugs crawling under her skin or she was being pushed through the jaws of a crocodile, its teeth grating her mind, body and soul. Tansha would be screaming through the agony if she had vocal cords that would allow her to do so, or if she had lungs to expel air.

Right as it seemed that Tansha's mind could bear no more, there was a pop and suddenly Tansha found herself in a cramped space, surrounded by thick, viscous fluid. Struggling to breath, by instinct, Tansha reached up, pushing the lid off the jar.

Tansha gasped as her head breached the surface, coughing as she expelled the foul, pale yellow fluid that had filled her lungs. She barely had any energy to pull herself from the urn, open the closet doors and crawl out into the center of the room. As Tansha lay there, allowing her energy to build up, she could feel her insides aflame within her, a longing desire burning throughout her body.

"Buck!" Tansha wheezed as she pulled herself upward.

For some reason, whether it was due to the pain of her rebirth or some other side effect given by that accursed sphinx, whenever Tansha was reborn her nerves became hypersensitive and her body yearned for companionship. It felt almost as if somepony had turned her womb into a furnace and Tansha hated it.

Mustering what strength she could, Tansha made her way to the bathroom.

"Welcome back ma'am," Maat spoke over the room's speakers. "It would seem that you've met an unfortunate demise. I have prepared the shower according to your specifications."

"Thank you," Tansha groaned.

Stumbling into the shower, Tansha braced herself against a wall as cold water began pouring down upon her. She could feel every droplet as it landed on her body, eliciting the feeling of both pain and pleasure through every fiber of her being. Despite this, Tansha endured and gradually her body adjusted as the shower went on. Eventually even the quivering organs within her calmed, though Tansha knew that she would need to do something about it.

"Maat…" Tansha spoke as she sat down in the shower, resting her body against the wall.

"Yes, ma'am?" The AI inquired.

Tansha breathed heavily. "I need you to schedule my usual appointment."

"Certainly ma'am, I will make the arrangements immediately."

As Maat disappeared from her HUD, Tansha closed her eyes, taking a small nap, as the water rained down from above.

Stepping inside the ByteNBrew, Tansha slowly made her way to the counter, still feeling a little sore and sensitive from her rebirth. Not wanting a breeze or a stray touch to set her nerves ablaze, Tansha wore a comfortable black hoodie.

“Good morning Tansha,” Sweetie Belle greeted.

“Morning…”

“My, you’re not looking so good,” Sweetie said, “did you have a rough night?”

That was an understatement. “Something like that.”

“Were you able to sell that module?”

Tansha shook her head and she sat down and leaned on the counter. “No, I tried selling it but unfortunately I was robbed of it. On top of that, my Ba-Link was broken in the struggle, so I'll need to get a new one from Spike.”

"Oh, no," Sweetie gasped, "are you okay?"

As much as Tansha kind of wanted to tease Sweetie, saying that perhaps a three way with Spike and her might make her feel better, considering the state of her body at this moment, now just wasn’t the time.

“Maybe after a cup of coffee,” Tansha moaned.

Tansha continued to rest her head on the counter even as the bell rang.

“Good morning,” Sweetie Belle greeted, “what can I get you this morning?”

Taking a deep breath, Midnight sat down at the front counter. “I’ll have coffee.”

Hearing that it was Midnight who had sat down next to her, Tansha slowly reached up and pulled her hood further over her head.

‘Crap! What’s he doing here?’ Tansha panicked internally.

“Here you go,” Sweetie Belle said as she set a couple cups of coffee before Tansha and Midnight.

Midnight let out a sigh. “Sweetie… I have some bad news.”

Seeing Midnight’s sullen expression, Sweetie gave him her full attention. “I’m listening.”

“It’s Tansha,” Midnight said, “I’m sorry to inform you that she’s… dead.”

Slowly Tansha pulled on the draw strings of her hoodie, making it so that there was only a small peephole, through which her face could be seen. Secretly Tansha hoped that Sweetie Belle would see this and maybe play along.

Sweetie looked over at her hooded friend and with a confused expression turned back to Midnight. “I’m sorry, but I think you’re mistaken.”

“I know it’s hard,” Midnight continued, “but it’s true. I saw it with my eyes.”

While Midnight was clearly serious, seeing Tansha squirming in her seat, Sweetie couldn’t help but giggle.

“I’ll admit that this is a pretty funny joke,” Sweetie giggled.

Midnight furrowed his brow, unaware of what was going on. “It’s the truth!”

Collecting herself, Sweetie motioned to Tansha. “I will admit that you’re very convincing. Just maybe the next time you want to pull a prank like this, you should have Tansha come in later.”

As Sweetie stepped away to clean some cups. Midnight looked over at the pony that Sweetie had pointed at. At first, he wasn’t sure what to make of them, aside from the fact that they were wearing a hoodie with the drawstrings pulled so tight that they were at risk of breaking, until he noticed the hieroglyphic tattoos on her hoof.

“Tansha?” Midnight asked in disbelief.

‘BBUUUCCCKKKK!!!!!’ Tansha’s inner voice screamed.

Well, the gig was up, time to face the music.

After loosening her drawstrings, Tansha pulled off her hood and gave Midnight the warmest smile she could muster. “H-hello.”

Midnight looked at Tansha, hardly believing his eyes. While she did look a little bit younger, there was no doubt about it. “You’re… you’re alive.”

“Y-yeah.”

“B-but how?” Midnight asked, “I saw you die.”

Tansha’s mind went into overdrive in spite of the pain she was in, trying to come up with a clever lie that could get this Horizon Knight off her trail.

Putting on her best smile, Tansha let out a slight chuckle. “Oh, that was just an elaborate teleportation spell. I casted it in an effort to throw off my assailant.”

Midnight looked at Tansha skeptically. “Uh-huh…”

That seemed… pretty farfetched. Midnight’s eyes narrowed. What was Tansha hiding?

The change in Midnight’s mood didn't go unnoticed by Tansha. Clearly he wasn’t buying her story.

It was about that time that the bell to the ByteNBrew rang once more. Looking up from her cleaning, Sweetie Belle smiled as she greeted the new arrivals. “Welcome back mister K. What can I get you this morning?”

Knick Knack entered the store with Whiskey Lullaby in tow, carrying a bundle of white lilies.

“Actually we’re here to pay our-” As Knack was speaking, he noticed Tansha sitting at the counter. While shocked that Tansha appeared to still be alive, Knack quickly regained his composure.

With a cough, Knack continued. “What I meant to say is that Lullaby thought that some flowers might spruce up your lovely establishment and since the program was beyond satisfactory we decided to bring you some.”

Lullaby blinked a couple times, before she recovered from her surprise. “Uh, yes… here.”

Meekly, Lullaby stepped forward and placed the bundle of flowers on the counter.

“Oh, that’s so sweet,” Sweetie Belle said, “thank you.”

As Sweetie admired her new flowers, Knick Knack put on a charming smile and walked over to Tansha.

“I also wanted to thank you for your hard work also,” Knack said as he reached out a hoof to shake.

“Oh, uh, you’re welcome, I guess,” Tansha said as she shook Knack’s hoof. Even as their hooves touched, Tansha could feel her insides light up due to her sensitive nerves.

‘Stupid curse!’

“Is there anything the two of you would like to order?” Sweetie Belle asked.

“My assistant will have some coffee with sugar and cream,” Knick Knack replied, “though if you have any, I would like some black tea.”

“One cup of coffee and one cup of tea coming up,” Sweetie said.

As Sweetie Belle took Knick Knack and Whiskey Lullaby’s orders, Midnight leaned in close to Tansha.

“Tansha I need to talk to you.”

“What is it, Moneybags?”

Midnight growled, coming across as a bit more aggressive than he had intended. "I'm not Moneybags."

Seeing Midnight’s stern reaction, Tansha knew that this wasn’t time for jokes. This wasn’t the ignorant stallion that she had met days ago. This was the knight that had watched her die hours ago. Now he was dangerous.

“No, I suppose you’re not,” Tansha said, “so, what do you want to talk about?”

"I know that it wasn't some weird teleportation magic," Midnight said, "I literally felt you die in my hooves and turn to ash! You owe me an explanation for what happened."

For a moment, Tansha was quiet as she pondered what to do with Midnight. He knew her secret or at least part of it and that made him dangerous, not just to her, but to everypony around her.

After a few seconds, Tansha came up with a solution. As much as she hated it, Tansha knew what she must do.

"Very well," Tansha said, "meet me down in the scrapyard in an hour and I'll tell you everything."

After considering her words, Midnight nodded. "Agreed!"

As both of them stepped back into the limousine, Lullaby took on a submissive, shameful posture. Once the doors had closed and the vehicle started moving, Lullaby began to apologize. “I’m sorry master. I was certain that she was dead.”

Knick Knack waved a hoof. “Don’t be sorry, I was convinced as well.”

“Still, I feel that I’ve failed you.”

Looking out the window, Knack stroked his chin. “There is nothing to be ashamed of. Clearly there is more going on here than meets the eye, but we do know that despite what happened, that Tansha is in fact alive.”

There was a moment of silence as Lullaby contemplated what Knack had said, before her eyes lit up with a realization.

“That’s why you went to shake her hoof,” Lullaby said, “to make sure that she wasn’t a hologram or a magical illusion.”

“Correct.”

“So then, is it possible that Tansha faked her death using a hologram?”

Knick Knack shook his head. “No. If it was an illusion spell that it wouldn’t have shown up on the footage and if she was a hologram, both her killer and the knight would have noticed that something was off. Furthermore, we are the only ones with the footage, so we know it wasn’t altered. In conclusion, we can determine that last night, Tansha died and this morning she is both alive and well.”

“What do you suppose this means?” Lullaby asked.

“I’m not sure.” Knack looked back out the window, watching as the buildings moved by and the rain started to pour. “But I have a new assignment for you.”

“What is it KK?”

“I want you to dig up everything you can on Tansha,” Knack said, “I feel that the more we know about her, the better we’ll understand what really happened.”

“Yes, master.”

Looking back at Lullaby, Knack could see that there was still a sullen demeanor to her. No doubt she still felt that she had embarrassed her master, despite his claims to the contrary. Like any good pet, Lullaby wouldn’t feel satisfied until she had received the proper discipline.

“But that can wait until tomorrow,” Knack said, “tonight I will have to… punish you.”

It wasn’t truly necessary, but it would make Lullaby happy.

“What kind of punishment, master?” Lullaby asked.

Judging from the subtle change of Lullaby’s voice as well as the occasional swish of her tail, Knack could tell that she was excited.

Knack looked back out the window. “You’ll have to wait and see. Now when is my next appointment?”

“Your parents have scheduled another date with a prospective bride.”

“Ah, of course.”

Needless to say, Knick Knack had a smile on his lips during his appointment. Not because of anything the droll, rich mare said or did, but because of all the salacious plans he had for Lullaby’s “punishment.”

"Here's your new Ba-link," Spike said as he placed the small device down on the counter.

"Thank you," Tansha picked up the Ba-link and carefully attached it to her right temple.

"I also finished this." Spike reached under the counter before placing Tansha's old mask on the counter.

The mask was made of black metal, designed to cover a pony's muzzle. It had a long round snout and sharp, golden teeth like those of a jackal, the entire mask carrying a foreboding presence.

"You fixed it," Tansha said as she examined it.

Spike nodded. "Of course."

Picking up the mask, Tansha placed it into her satchel. "Thank you."

"Is everything alright?" Spike asked. Perhaps it was the apprehensive manner that Tansha talked, but Spike could tell that something was off.

"Yeah." Tansha took a deep breath. "I just have something really difficult that I must do."

“Good evening everypony and welcome back to the D-Nile network. It is I, DJ Pon-3, bringing you some breaking news. A crazed Altered was seen rampaging through the east side of the lower city. If I was you, ladies and studs, I’d lock up everything and stay inside until the knights deal with it.

"Lock up your daughters. Lock up your wives. Lock up your back doors and pray that thing doesn't [Bleep]ing try to break in.

“On a side note, do you guys remember those cybernetic wings I was talking about the other day. Well, guess what, one of them went up in flames today, so guess who’s now fifty five Bit-Cheques richer?

“Now’s time for the new hot single by Markless, ‘Welcome to the Friendship Zone.’”

Midnight stood at the scrapyard, waiting for Tansha's arrival. The rain was coming down harder now, creating large puddles in the numerous pits littered around the various scrap heaps.

He felt a little bit anxious as he pondered what was about to happen. What words would Tansha provide him in regards to her death and would they be the truth? Or could this be some sort of trick? Admittedly a place like this, wasn't the safest place to meet, and while his trust in Tansha was questionable at the moment, if he didn't go along with her demands then she might do something drastic. So, it was best to play it by ear for now.

As he pondered the matter, the sound of hoofsteps grabbed his attention. Turning around Midnight saw Tansha standing there, looking back at him. For a moment she seemed a little shocked before her expression became that of determination.

"You came," Midnight said.

Tansha nodded slowly. "So did you."

"You said you were going to explain everything."

Another nod. "Yes, I did…"

A pregnant pause filled the air, the only sound being the pitter patter of the pouring rain.

"Follow me," Tansha said, walking past Midnight further into the scrapyard. Without hesitation, Midnight followed.

They had been walking for maybe about five minutes, weaving through the monuments of metal and rust, when Tansha stopped at a yellow shipping container that was covered with graffiti and mud.

Tansha motioned with her horn toward the container. "Inside you will find the answer you seek."

"What's inside?"

"I'm not telling you," Tansha replied, "you'll have to see for yourself."

The hairs on the back of Midnight's neck stood on end. He didn't like this, yet it was clear that Tansha had no intention of telling him the truth unless he opened the shipping crate.

Walking over to the container, Midnight reached out with his wings and pulled open the two metal doors, his lips turning into a frown as he beheld what was inside.

"It's empty," As he said this, Midnight noticed a turquoise glow on the doors. Turning around he saw Tansha looking at him, her eyes filled with ill intent, a black sphere surrounded by turquoise energy held above her horn. Apparently she must have somehow managed to illegally uninstall or bypassed her Spell-checker.

"Why did you have to pry?" Tansha asked, "you could have just played along and I wouldn't have had to do this!"

"I-I don't understand."

Tansha chuckled and while it sounded cruel, Midnight could catch a bit of sadness intermingled into its tone. "Nopony does. But they want to know. They always want to know why I can't die and they pick! They prod! They bite! They rip! They tear! They do EVERYTHING they can to find out what makes me tick, because THEY want it!!!"

While Midnight wasn't too sure what was going on, he knew that if he didn't defuse this situation he'd be just like the corpse of that Joy-ripper that his comrades had found. He needed to keep her talking.

"What are you saying?" Midnight said, keeping his voice as calm as possible. If he died here, Lightning Spark would have to fend for herself without her brother and Midnight wasn't ready to let that happen.

"I'm saying I can't give you what you want!" Tansha barked.

Maintaining his calm demeanor, Midnight stretched out his wings. "I'm just trying to understand what happened. Ponies don't just turn to ash and pop up again out of nowhere."

A part of Tansha just wanted to let loose her magic, to put Midnight down and to go about her life as usual. Yet could she really do that? Would killing this Horizon Knight really solve anything? Then there was another part of her that wanted to trust Midnight, a part of her that wanted to end the cycle of killing and running.

Squinting her eyes, Tansha peered at Midnight suspiciously, the aura of her magical death sphere glowing slightly brighter. "How do I know that I can trust you?"

Midnight smiled and shrugged. "Well, for starters I could have reported to my colleagues that you and your friends had the Lunar Core Module and had them confiscate it, but I didn't. On top of that I followed your instructions and came out here to this secluded place without any reinforcements. Furthermore, I did try to save you, so I think that's a start."

Tears welled in Tansha's eyes. She wanted to trust him. She had bore this secret for SO long, she wished she could share it with somepony, anypony. Maybe, just maybe, Midnight was that pony. Still he would need to prove himself to her.

After pondering this, Tansha relented. The magical sphere she was concentrating on flickering before completely vanishing.

"Fine, I will give you a chance to prove yourself," Tansha said, "disable the firewall on your Ba-Link."

Hearing Tansha's demand, Midnight gulped. By disabling his Ba-Link's firewall, it would be completely vulnerable to hacking and viruses. However if he didn't follow her instructions, chances were that it wouldn't matter. Taking a deep breath, Midnight quickly activated his HUD and after hitting the confirmation key, disabled the firewall.

With Midnight's firewall down, Tansha was quick to start uploading a special file into Midnight's Ba-Link. While she had initially intended to give the file to Spike and Sweetie Belle in the situation that they found out, Tansha was sure that it could work in this situation as well.

"I am uploading a treasure map into your Ba-Link," Tansha explained, "you must not open it until the next time you see me die. After that you will have until midnight of that day to find the treasure."

"What happens if I can't find it?"

"Then one of us is going to disappear. Understand?"

Midnight watched as the bar on his HUD filled up, showing the progression of the files download. "And until then both of us are to remain silent on the matter, correct?"

"That would be correct," Tansha answered. More of the bar filled up.

With a sigh, Midnight nodded. "I understand."

The bar finished filling as the file finished downloading.

An alabaster unicorn mare lay in bed, city lights bleeding through the massive windows, illuminating her form. Rain tapped against the glass.

Next to her beneath the silken sheets was a stallion who had long since finished using her to his heart’s content and had fallen fast asleep. While he was satisfied, she simply felt like a doll, used for the pleasure of her customer.

As she rested there, the mare pondered what was to become of her. Tonight was the last night she would be serving this client and soon she would be serving another. Judging from the information her handler had given her, the next client was a young stallion who was serving as an ambassador. Apparently his parents had thought she could solve a little… problem for them.

While she wasn’t too fond of the idea, the fact was that she was in debt and while it was gradually diminishing, she could use all the funds she could muster. So, she would go along with it or at least make it appear as she was.

Perhaps things would be different with this new patron, or perhaps it would be the same repetitive cycle of entertaining him at the expense of her own desires.

‘That’s the way it is I suppose,’ the mare thought, ‘no rest for the wicked.’

"Is everything alright?" Lightning asked, pulling Midnight from his thoughts as he gazed out the window.

“Oh, yeah I was just thinking about something,” Midnight answered.

Lightning was standing by the table. “Well, It's almost dinner, so come over when you’re ready.”

“Okay.”

Looking back out the window into the rainy city, Midnight considered what had happened with Tansha in the scrapyard. Not only had his life nearly come to a tragic end, but he had learned something about Tansha. Whatever it was that had allowed Tansha to cheat death, it was something that must have caused her so much pain in the past that she was willing to kill to keep it a secret.

Peering through his messages, Midnight saw the one that Tansha had left him with, it simultaneously held hints to that secret while serving as a looming cloud of a delayed demise.

Seeing the image of commander Spitfire appear on the corner of his HUD, Midnight patched in the call.

"This is Midnight speaking," Midnight said, answering the call.

"Midnight, this is Spitfire. I have some details I must go over with you pertaining to your last mission, do you have a moment?"

"Yes, I'm available for the moment," Midnight replied, "what would you like to discuss?"

"I thought you might want to know what happened to the stallion that killed Tansha."

It was then that Midnight recalled that he hadn't shared with his commander that Tansha was still alive. However, considering what had happened at the scrapyard, Midnight decided to keep that little detail close to the chest for now.

"Were you able to find her assailant?"

"We found him," Spitfire answered, "however he managed to escape."

That was unfortunate.

There was a brief pause before Spitfire answered. "He was… magically altered."

Hearing this, Midnight's blood ran cold. It had been nearly four years since somepony had been magically altered. For a brief moment, Midnight glanced over to his sister who was still preparing the table. A twinge of anger boiled in his blood as Midnight turned back to the window.

"I take it that I don't need to tell you what that means," Spitfire said in Midnight's ear.

Midnight nodded, even though Spitfire couldn't see him. "The Gleaming Eye is back in town."

"Correct, which means that I'll be needing you to maintain your status in the lower city for now."

That might be a bit difficult as Tansha was aware that Midnight was a Horizon Knight, however seeing as he was keeping her secret, whatever it was, hopefully she would do the same.

"Understood."

As the elevator ascended, Tansha contemplated her interaction with Midnight. Had she been too harsh with him? Should she have tried taking a gentler approach? Or was she being too trusting and should she have just blasted his remains to the farthest reaches of the scrapyard while she still had a chance?

Trust was a difficult thing with Tansha, after all it was somepony breaking her trust that had ultimately led her down the path that resulted in her cruel immortality.

As Tansha pondered these things, the elevator's bell rang, signaling that she had reached her assigned floor. As the doors pulled back, it unveiled a hallway that appeared to be that of an old rundown apartment complex or at least it would have if it weren't for the neon hexagonal signs above each door with a glowing green number inside. The scent of various spices and honey filled the air.

Stepping out of the elevator, Tansha pulled a card from her satchel and looked at the room number on it. Room 79. After putting the card away, Tansha began looking for her room.

'If he's really somepony you trust, you can apologize to him later,' Tansha thought, ‘tonight, you're just going to enjoy yourself and blow off some steam.'

Upon finding room seventy nine, Tansha used the keycard on the door lock, which opened without issue, and stepped inside.

While most rooms were box shaped, in the Love Nest, they were instead sideways hexagons, kind of like a honeycomb. The room was itself split in half, with the side closest to the door having a couple lockers for the customer’s belongings as well as a small walkin bathroom and shower. On the ceiling there were a couple panels that gave off light that fluctuated between green and a pale blue, the colors shifting like water. The walls were made of a dark, porous rock.

The other half of the room was separated by a magical field as the opposing wall transitioned into a “floor” due to some gravitational magic runes built into the wall. The “floor” was completely covered with bedsheets with pillows and cushions along the perimeter. In one of the corners was a chest which had some special… "toys" inside.

Peering past the magical barrier, Tansha couldn't help but smile as she saw the Pupa twins sitting, patiently waiting for her arrival. As Tansha walked over to the locker, to store her satchel and stockings, she could feel the two changelings gazing upon her with lascivious eyes.

"Welcome mistress," Pristine greeted.

"We are honored by your presence," Prosperous said.

Tansha couldn't help but smile as she pulled her stockings off, deliberately moving in a slow, sensual manner.

"And I appreciate you having me," Tansha said, "It has been a stressful few days and I am looking forward to your attention."

Quickly Tansha pulled up the Love Nest Peal app and turned it on. While she doubted that it would be needed, it was required by Love Nest staff for the application to be active for the safety of anypony using their services.

"And we appreciate your love, mistress," Pristine replied.

This was a simple exchange, they helped her relieve her tension, she gave them her love, plain and simple. For the next few hours, there was to be no stress, no fear, no worries and no Midnight. Just a simple, blissful transaction.

Once she finished storing away her belongings, Tansha closed the locker and walked to the barrier. Now all that she was wearing was her collar and piercings. Walking through the magical energy field felt almost like walking into a wall of water. Upon passing through, Tansha's body drifted so that she was now sitting on the "floor." The silken sheets felt soft against her flesh.

Now that she was fully "submerged," Tansha walked to the center and lay down between the twins. Pristine reached out and gently caressed her right shoulder, while Prosperous massaged her left thigh.

“Now for this evening,” Prosperous spoke, “would you like for us to mirror somepony else?”

Immediately, Prosperous’s body changed to that of a unicorn stallion, his blue mane cascading down his white neck in a regal fashion. Those blue eyes matching the changeling’s hunger.

“Or…” Pristine leaned in close, his mouth maybe an inch away from Tansha’s ear. “Would you like for us to remain as is?”

With a smile, Tansha turned and kissed Pristine on the forehead, just below his porous horn. "This evening, your mistress would like for you both to be yourselves, your wonderful…"

Turning Tansha then kissed Prosperous on the head as well. "...Virile selves."

Author's Note

So what do you think of Tansha's secret? Immortality at the cost of still having to experience both death and a painful, soul rending rebirth.

Even with those stipulations, I had still felt weary of Tansha and had like I've said in the past and had considered restarting with a different character. If you've ready my other Neo Somnambula story, Desert Lotus, you could probably guess who?