“I woke up three weeks later in a little back-alley clinic,” I said as I leaned over the terrace’s railing, staring out at Light City. “It was run by one of Rouge’s associates. Same kirin that did the…um, ‘work’ on Jenny before the Anzû op.” I felt my lips curl into a sneer at that thought. Both at the donkey for doing something so reckless, and the ‘doctor’ who’d actually performed the procedure. I’d been under the―apparently erroneous―understanding that doctors abided by a moral code not to harm their patients. Showed what I knew about medicine…

My attention wandered―as it inevitably did whenever I was near the downtown area these days―towards the nearby construction site. Reckless though she may have been, nocreature could fault Jenny’s planning acumen. Just as she’d intended, her bomb had detonated atop the griffon flagship just as it had come to hover over Aeriesaka Tower. The blast had taken out the airship’s engines and main reactors, cleaving it from the sky and sending it crashing through the skyscraper below.

Since it had still been the middle of the night, collateral damage had actually been pretty minimal. All hooves aboard the ship itself had been lost, obviously. But only night shift Aeriesaka Security, private security attached to their client tenants, and some night janitors had been lost in the building itself. A few hundred dead, compared to the tens of thousands that worked in the building during peak business hours. After all, Jenny had wanted this to be a statement, not a massacre. At least, not of civilians.

Whether or not that statement would fall on deaf ears remained to be seen though. However, the prospect wasn’t looking good at the moment. Aeriesaka was already in the process of rebuilding their headquarters, intending to make it ‘bigger and better than ever’, promising all manner of technological and architectural improvements over its predecessor. Their stock price had already rebounded back to a level above where it had been before Jenny’s strike.

She’d made a statement though, and gotten the attention of a lot of important creatures. For better or for worse.

Case in point…

I looked over my shoulder to the other side of the terrace, and the mare seated at the table there. She was doing a fine job of looking politely interested in my story, as long as it had been. She’d told me that she’d wanted to know ‘everything’ though, so if at any point she’d felt like I’d been too long-winded about something, that was on her.

I stepped away from the railing and started making my own way back to the table, eyeing my host as I approached. “I spent the next few months helping build a new crew―and a new band,” I added with an off-hoof nod in the direction of a billboard which bore my likeness plastered upon it, advertising a concert which would feature our group’s―Harmony―first album. “And since then we’ve been keeping busy doing…stuff.” I said with a shrug and smirk.

The tall mare with the faded lavender coat and graying purple mane returned the smile with an upturned lip of her own. The opal embedded in her forehead started to glow as she picked up a newspaper laying on the table. She made a show of regarding the headline with great interest, which mentioned the recent release of confidential documents to the net which brought to light the scandalous revelation that a food distributor had been spiking their products with ‘appetite stimulants’ that would induce creatures to eat more of their products. The full extent of the fallout remained to be seen, but of course there was already the usual talk about ‘leadership reorganization’ at the company and such.

In my opinion, the bigger news was the petition going around to set up a regulatory body that would inspect and control the additives that could be used in food sold in Light City. It was just talk at this point, sure; but it was a good first step. If enough scandals of a similar nature came to light in the future, maybe the movement would even manage to grow beyond talk and petitions into genuine action and legislation.

We’d have to see.

“Funny you should bring that up,” I said, nodding in the direction of the paper the other mare was holding. “Because we still haven’t been able to trace the source of the ‘anonymous tip’ we got that pointed us in YumYum Inc.’s direction in the first place.” My eyes lingered knowingly on my host, who was herself doing a good job of continuing to look politely interested in what I was saying. “Every attempt to backtrace it hits a wall. A big wall.

“Like, a ‘whoever this is has beyond top-tier net access’ kind of wall.” Still she said nothing in response to my not-so-thinly-veiled insinuations. So I pressed just a little bit further. “A ‘can access systems on a griffon military airship remotely’ level of net access, maybe?”

The pink alicorn’s lip tugged at the corner of her muzzle into a slightly larger smile for a brief moment before quickly reverting to its earlier more neutral expression. It was all the confirmation I needed though. Likely the only confirmation that I was going to get too. Unlike my host, however, I wasn’t nearly as amused, and I made that plain to the mare with a thin scowl in her direction.

“A ‘can make all the changes we’re fighting―and dying―for with a single word’ level of access.”

This time the other mare’s smile waned. Her posture visibly wilted. Not because I’d managed to make her feel ashamed though. I hadn’t cut her that deep. It was more akin to emotional exhaustion. An understanding that she’d reached with herself where she had long ago justified her hooves-off approach and resigned herself to the fact that creatures were going to suffer while she sat up here in her crystal tower and did nothing. I wanted to hate her for that. Part of me even did. But there was some small, visceral, part of me buried deep in my gut that wanted to believe there was a good reason why the alicorn was taking the approach that she was.

After all, she was an alicorn. Older than Light City itself. The product of wisdom I could only fathom. She had to know what she was doing, and the best way to approach things.

Right?

Maybe deferring to alicorns was just some deep-rooted pony instinct or something…

“I could change the laws.”

She’d surprised me with the frank admission for sure. Of course, I could hear a ‘but’ coming from a mile away.

“But―” There it is. “―that’s not the same thing as changing a society. Laws only matter if they’re enforced; and they would only be enforced if they’re respected―not just by those in power, but by the whole of the citizenry.

“Tell me with a straight face that you’d trust any regulatory body that the mayor created to police the corporations.”

Now it was my turn for my posture to sag with the weight of resignation. She wasn’t wrong. “Well not this mayor,” I was forced to admit ruefully. Even if a regulatory board was appointed to monitor foodstuffs for adulteration, I would fully expect it to be staffed by the mayor’s cronies, or former executives, or corporate consultants―or just other creatures on the payroll of companies like YumYum. Because that was the way things worked in Light City.

Another sad smile from the alicorn as she nodded. “Real change can’t be imposed. It has to come from within―from the bottom-up. Creatures have to want to do the right thing because it’s the right thing; not because they’re being threatened with government action or sanctions or whatever,” she said, offering a flick of her wing. Another sad smile flickered in my direction. “Even an alicorn can’t do that.”

A frustrated sigh escaped my lips as I crossed the rest of the way to the table and took a seat across from the pink mare. I understood the truth of what she was saying, but that didn’t mean that I liked it. Or that I was going to let her entirely off the hook. “How’d it even get this bad?” I asked. “You can’t tell me that Equestria is like this,” I gestured to the downtown area.

This time the alicorn did look guilty. She took a deep breath, obviously anticipating that what she was going to say was something I’d find upsetting. “Equestria wasn’t like this, no.” My ear flicked at the use of past tense, but she continued on before I could remark on it. “It pains me to say, but Light City is the way it is…on purpose. Sort of.”

My eyes immediately narrowed at the other mare. Alicorn or no, I felt that I might overcome those deferential instincts of mine and clock her upside the head depending on what she said next. “Light City isn’t known as ‘The Grand Experiment’ because it’s a catchy PR phrase,” she went on. “That’s literally what it is.” She flinched and sighed. “Well…was, at any rate.

“Safe to say the ‘experiment’ has run its course…” She looked out across the terrace towards the Aeriesaka construction site.

She had the good grace to jerk in shock when my hoof hit the table hard enough to bounce the whole of the tea set that was sitting on it, even jostling the spoon right out of the sugar bowl. Her ears pinned back as I glared at her, a low growl bubbling up from deep down in my throat. “An experiment?” I seethed at the mare. “You put me―my friends―all of us, through this fucking tartarus, as an experiment?!”

I lunged at her. I couldn’t stop myself. The very notion that we were being toyed with by this mare was infuriating. Creatures had died. Hash Stack had died, bleeding out in my own hooves. And now I was being told that she was just some sort of data point in a lab report somewhere? Fuck her! A hoof across her muzzle wasn’t going to come anywhere close to making things even, obviously, but it would be a start; and it would certainly make me feel just a tiny bit better.

Not that I got anywhere close to landing a hit on the alicorn though. I’d barely made it out of my seat before the alicorn’s opal flashed with magical light. Then I saw several alerts pop up in front of my eyes a heartbeat before I fell flat on my face across the table. I tried to get back up, but none of my limbs would respond. My arcanetics had been taken completely offline. I couldn’t move. Thanks to most of my jaw having been replaced after my confrontation with Grinder, I couldn’t even coherently curse her out either. I could still glare at her though.

“Calm down, Appellate.”

It sounded very odd to my ears to hear a name which, to the best of my knowledge, existed only on my birth certificate. It was enough of a shock to prompt me to stop struggling in futility though; which was likely what the alicorn had intended.

The fact that the alicorn’s tone sounded so calm and understanding only served to infuriate me more. While I doubted she intended it this way, it felt like she was mocking me. She knew I was helpless to do anything to her. She’d probably always known. Which helped to explain why the nominal ‘head’ of GlimTech had invited an ‘alleged’ criminal-rockerfilly into her penthouse suite while telling her security personnel to wait outside. There probably wasn’t a single creature in the city who could make a move to harm her, because she could just cut their strings like a fucking puppet the moment they tried.

“First, I need you to understand―and I swear to you this is true―no creature ‘put’ you, or your friends, through anything,” she insisted, still speaking in a calm, yet firm, tone. Almost like a parent talking to her child. Which I wasn’t very appreciative of either. “It wasn’t that kind of experiment.

“In fact, at the core of it was that I and the others specifically wouldn’t do anything to affect things. What happened to you and your friends wasn’t the result of anything that I did,” the alicorn affirmed in that same authoritative tone before it softened. “...and it certainly wasn’t anything I wanted for you. Any of you.”

The warnings vanished from my field of view, and sensation returned to my arcanetics once more. Slowly, cautiously, I lifted myself off the table and slipped back into my seat, not taking my glowering gaze off the alicorn. I still wanted to sock her in the muzzle, but I understood how futile a gesture that would be. “So what kind of experiment were you running then?”

Gauging that I was going to behave for the moment, the pink mare allowed herself to relax slightly. She turned her attention, and her talisman, to cleaning up the mess my collapse across the table had caused while she answered my question. “We were studying Greed,” she replied simply. “It’s causes, it’s manifestations,” her gaze flickered towards the nearby plaza once more, “it’s ultimate result.

“We needed to understand it,” she finished tidying up the table. Her telekinesis then poured and prepared me a fresh cup of tea, sliding the bright fuchsia saucer and cup towards me. I didn’t take it. “So we could better defend against it in the future.” This time her eyes darted westward, but not at anything particular within the city. It was more like she was looking past the buildings themselves, towards something far off in the distance. Equestria, I presumed.

“But that’s over with now,” the alicorn insisted with a definitive nod of her head. “I’m calling the experiment a ‘dismal success’ and pulling the plug.” The smile that crept across her lips this time was a bitter thing. Though it warmed slightly when she locked her attention back on me again. “Now it’s time to clean up the mess. To that end, I’d very much like to enlist your help.”

“You want my help?” I cocked a dubious brow in the alicorn’s direction, before letting my gaze wander slowly around the terrace and the rest of the building, not-so-subtly drawing attention to the stupendous resources that the other mare commanded…and yet I―a small-time crook and rockerfilly―was going to help her? Right.

Taking my meaning, she had the good grace to roll her eyes and let out a chortle as she nodded. “Fair enough. Allow me to rephrase: I’d like to help you.”

“Cool. Tell city hall to pass laws to rein in the corps. Then use your influence to get the CEOs to fall in line,” I quipped without hesitation.

The alicorn was already shaking her head though, still smiling wanly. “I already told you―”

“Yeah, yeah; change society first,” I spat, sounding unconvinced because I still was. “And how am I―one mare―supposed to do that?”

“You’d be surprised what one mare in the right place, at the right time, can accomplish,” she said with a knowing look that felt like it was more for her own benefit than mine. I certainly didn’t get whatever higher meaning might have been behind it, if there really had been one. “But I believe you’re already on the right track.” She inclined her head behind me, in the direction of the digital billboard advertising the album releasing soon. “I’ve already listened to it, and I like the message. I think it’ll resonate with creatures.”

Again I narrowed my eyes at the alicorn. How could she have heard the album already? Those songs only existed with our band and―

I let out an annoyed grunt. Our distributor obviously had them on their servers too, I realized; and I was sitting with a mare to whom ‘network security’ meant nothing if she didn’t want it to. “I’d say I was surprised that a mare with all the resources you have would stoop to pirating music…but rich elites stealing from the little pony is the status quo in Light City.” I arched a brow in her direction.

The alicorn cast me a sly look. A second later I received notification of a funds transfer into the band’s account for the sale price of the album. “Well I could have pointed out that a free copy was the least I was owed, considering what I’ve done to help you.” Another raised brow in her direction from me, which only served to broaden her smile. “The Anzû aside,” she began with a flick of her wing. I was already grimacing. “You didn’t actually think you got away clean with the YumYum job?” My scowl deepened as I tried to recall when during that job I’d seen a sign of her meddling.

“Your team’s skilled, but green. And Light City has a lot of cameras,” she shared a knowing look with me. “Don’t get tunnel vision on the next operation. I can’t promise I’ll always be able to get to residual footage before the NCPD or corporate security does.”

I filed away the critique, and made a note to talk with Shell Code, our drummer, about blacking out security feeds along our approach and withdrawal routes during the upcoming job. The alicorn wasn’t entirely wrong: the crew was still finding their footing where engaging in these sorts of clandestine missions was concerned.

“So is that the new deal? We keep on doing what we’re doing, and you’ll be our―literal―Guardian Alicorn watching over our shoulder?” I asked. “And eventually, some day, Light City will just be fixed? Just like that?” I clopped my hooves together lightly as I regarded the other mare with a dubious expression.

She let out a tired laugh in reply. “Changing hearts and minds never happens ‘just like that’,” she informed me with a sardonic smile. “There’s no magic spell for that.” The mare thought for a brief moment and then frowned. “Well, I mean there is, but…” Her eyes rose up and at first I thought she was looking at the arcanetic jewel mounted in her forehead, but then I realized she was looking past it, to the tip of her horn. Then she let out a defeated sigh and shook her head, muttering under her breath, “Someday there’ll be real magic again.”

The alicorn cleared her throat and returned her focus to me. “But, yes, essentially that’s what I’m saying: keep getting the message out. Encourage others to spread that message too. I know you have Twilight’s journal,” she said, flashing me another knowing look. I tensed slightly again as the mare revealed one more thing she appeared to know about that I hadn’t expected her to. Though, given our prior topics of discussion, I found myself idly wondering if, just maybe, Hash Stack hadn’t had more than ‘luck’ on her side when she’d recovered those files initially…

I wasn’t sure how I felt about this mare having a hoof in things from the shadows like that, and apparently for that long.

“Preach the Elements,” she went on, “in song and in deed.” Her eyes darted back to the billboard and a fresh smile tugged at her lips. “Spread Harmony.

“I can’t promise things will change soon, but they will change. Light City didn’t get this bad in a day, and it won’t be healed in one either. It’ll take work,” there was a slight pause now, “...maybe even more sacrifices.” Both of us shared a knowing look, though I knew mine was harsher. One of us would be feeling those ‘sacrifices’ more than the other, I suspected. “I’ve seen the kind of world we’re working towards, Appellate. I promise it’ll all be worth it in the end.”

The two of us sat in silence for a good while once the alicorn was done with her pitch. We both knew I’d been hoping for a bolder commitment from the alicorn. I wasn’t going to be walking away empty-hooved, but that didn’t mean that this deal still didn’t leave a bitter taste in my mouth. It wasn’t like I could force her hoof though. If this was all we were going to get, then…that was that.

I stood up from the table. “I’ll remember to use that line the next time I’m holding some dying filly or colt in my hooves,” I didn’t quite snarl at the alicorn before turning away and heading for the exit. There wasn’t anything more I was going to gain from being here. I’d fulfilled my part of the deal by telling her what had happened on board and leading up to the incident on the Anzû. She’d either keep her word and help or she wouldn’t.

It wouldn’t change what needed to be done to help Light City.

“And it’s ‘Pel’,” I said over my shoulder as I retreated from the terrace.

“Okay, Pel,” the alicorn smiled after me. “My friends call me ‘Starlight’!”

I paused at the door, letting out a derisive huff. “I’m sure they do, Miss Glimmer.” I didn’t have to see the pink alicorn to feel her smile fade from her lips as I slipped out the door and joined her waiting security detail. She was no ‘friend’ to me, secret benefactor or no. I’d watched most of my friends die a year ago.

Her security detail escorted me, firmly but politely, to the elevator and down to the lobby. While they didn’t precisely kick me out of the building altogether, it was none-to-subtly hinted that I shouldn’t loiter. Presumably the ‘shabby’ attire in the form of my worn vest clashed with the aesthetic that the company was going for. Whatever. I had places to be anyway.

A sedan was parked just off the street. I did a poor job of hiding a smile as a yellow earth pony mare dressed in a flatteringly-cut suit jacket opened a door and gestured for me to enter. I hadn’t called down to let Daisy know that I was coming, but somehow she’d timed things perfectly. She winked at me as I slipped inside before she closed the door. A short while later, the little mare was climbing into the driver’s seat and starting the car.

“Where to, boss?” I saw her beaming in the rearview mirror.

“Back to The Loft, duh. I have a concert in, like,” my gaze darted to the illusionary chronometer in the corner of my vision, “an hour.”

“I know,” Daisy rolled her eyes as she guided the vehicle away from the curb and started directing us back home, “but I couldn’t not say the line!” She giggled. “We’re downtown; there are certain ‘expectations’ of classiness!”

“Is that why you’re wearing the jacket?”

“...Maybe.” She poked her tongue out at me through the mirror. As the car drifted onto the highway out of the heart of the city, she settled onto another topic of conversation. “So…how was the meeting? Was it one of those ‘do we have an understanding?’ deals, or more of a ‘I will bury you under this city if you get in my way again’ thing?”

“Nah, nothing like that,” I said to the mare, waving a hoof. Admittedly, I hadn’t been thinking far off of those lines myself on the way up to the alicorn’s suite. When the nominal founder of Light City summons a trouble-making radical to ‘come alone’ to their apartment in the heart of the city, you kind of assume it isn’t for an autograph. Not that I’d had any sort of plan if that had been the case. What was I going to do to an alicorn?

“Believe it or not,” and my tone made it clear which way I was leaning, “she says she wants to help us.”

“Okay, so what was the punchline?” Daisy snorted.

“Hoof to Celestia,” I replied, “that’s what she said. Basically. I don’t expect a line of credit brimming with gibbies, or a horde of GlimTech security goons ready to swoop in and save us when things go tits-up,” I warned her, “but I think she’ll be working to keep the fallout to a minimum when we nick some corporate secrets, like with YumYum.” I decided to leave out Starlight Glimmer’s claim that she’d already kept us from getting found out on that front. The whole crew had felt pretty good about getting away ‘clean’ after a ‘flawless’ op. I didn’t want to dampen their spirits now that I knew better. They needed the confidence boost.

“Hmm,” was Daisy’s reply, clearly no more convinced than I was about the extent of our ‘benefactor’s’ commitment. “I guess that’s better than making an enemy for life,” she pointed out.

All I could offer to that was a grunt of agreement as the car left downtown Light City and entered the Haywood borough. My lips creased into a slightly deeper frown as I once more took note of the noticeable downtown in the quality of the buildings and the general level of cleanliness of the streets and structures alike. It was evident which parts of the city its leaders cared more about maintaining. In the back of my mind, I made a note to look into how feasible it would be for us to fund a ‘beautification’ effort on the side. Something to help the creatures living in the area take a bit more pride in the neighborhood and hopefully, by extension, themselves.

I’d bring the matter up with Daisy during our next budget discussion.

The earth pony mare pulled the car up outside the converted warehouse that served as our base of operations and concert hall. Though my attention was initially focused on the more recently repurposed buildings across the street. There was a line of creatures waiting to be served at one of the soup kitchens that we’d established. Next door was a clinic with a full-ish waiting room visible through the window. I made another mental note to look into hiring an additional doctor. Another budgetary consideration to bring up with Daisy.

Maybe it was time to look into widening our pool of blackmail and extortion victims, I thought to myself, a vicious smile creeping across my muzzle. We’d released the files that we’d pulled from YumYum’s servers which detailed how they’d been effectively ‘poisoning’ their customers in an effort to boost profits, but that hadn’t been the entirety of what Shell Code had managed to recover. I’d only skimmed through some of the other stuff that hadn’t been directly company related, but I suspected that there was a good deal of ‘dirty little secrets’ of a more personal nature to the executives and board of directors that we could use as leverage against them to secure some additional ‘hush money’ payments.

Somecreature always had some side-mares or stallions or whatever that they didn’t want their spouse knowing about. As long as we weren’t too ambitious with the amount, paying us off to keep quiet was usually more cost effective than losing half their assets in a messy and public divorce. And that was assuming that none of what we found was genuinely illegal.

“Thanks for the lift, DC,” I said to the mare as I finally got out of the car and made my way to the Loft’s rear entrance. I nodded at the pair of bouncers keeping watch as they opened the door for me. The moment my hoof set foot inside, I found myself all but accosted by a young cyan pegasus colt.

“Boss! I have an update on Operation Flotsam, and new intelligence for Anzio just came in! Also, Team Saddle says they need―” the young pony’s words ceased tumbling out of their mouth as I pushed a hoof to the end of his muzzle.

“Woah there, Blip,” I said, stemming the flood of information being effectively thrust upon me by my new ‘secretary’. My brow creased in mild confusion. “Flotsam? Anzio? Saddle? What are you talking about?”

The younger stallion briskly moved my hoof aside and proceeded to explain. “Flotsam is the codename for the Wayfare Pier break-in happening night after next,” his tone suggested that this should have been rather obvious, yet I was quite confident that our planning meetings had never contained anything like ‘codenames’ up to this point. “And Anzio is the griffon mob thing we’re doing.

“Team Saddle is Lumen’s crew.”

I was rolling my eyes initially, but then drew up short and cocked my head, peering curiously at the little pegasus. “...Did you name them Team Saddle because Lumen is a Saddle Arabian?” I knew we weren’t managing so many crews that it justified using phonetic alphabet monikers which extended that far down the list.

Blip’s lips pressed themselves together tightly for several seconds as the uncomfortable-looking colt considered his response. “...Maybe?”

I massaged the bridge of my muzzle and let out a tired sigh. “I love your enthusiasm, Blip―I really do―but let’s pump the brakes on the ‘codename’ stuff for now, okay?” The pegasus frowned in annoyance, but nodded all the same. “Leave the update on the Wayfare thing on my desk, along with the mafia stuff. Whatever Lumen says they need, get it for them. Also, I need you to comb through the YumYum take and look for anything juicy that their higher-ups there wouldn’t want to read about in the headlines.

“Affairs, bastards, double-dealings, embezzling―you know the drill,” I waved a hoof in the direction of my ‘secretary’ as I started heading for the concert hall. I could already hear the sounds of instruments being tuned and the sound system being tested for the upcoming performance that was going to start in…ten minutes. Oh, shit! My pace hurried into a trot, the colt activating his flight talismans to glide beside me. “Prioritize the things we’re likely to be able to secure recurring payments over, but anything that they’d pay six figures to keep under wraps is worth marking too.”

“On it, boss!” they assured me before flitting off to go and carry out my orders. He was a good colt, I reminded myself. A little overeager sometimes, but his heart was definitely in the right place. I’d definitely rather have him pestering me about adopting codenames than slinging glitter on the streets like he’d been doing when I found him.

I trotted the rest of the way to the stage where the band was finishing up their preparations. Beyond the stage, most of the crowd seemed to have already gathered, and there was a smattering of cheers and stomps as they caught sight of Harmony’s lead singer stepping on stage.

I smiled and waved, but most of my attention was focused on the other band members. It took some effort, but I managed to not wince too hard seeing all of the new faces that hadn’t been there a year ago. Having Gerry there made things a little easier. The griffon tiercel was a singular constant that I could lash myself to, and it really helped having him here.

The band’s lead guitarist extended one of his lavender arcanetic limbs, which was holding a purple and gold leather vest out to me. My hesitation was brief enough that I doubted any of the creatures in the audience would have noticed it, but I could tell that Gerry had, along with catching my gaze lingering on the synthetic replacements of his limbs which were a relatively new feature for the griffon. ‘Souvenirs’ of the airwagon crash. It was probable that the only reason I was even alive was because he’d been holding onto me as tightly as he had been; and he’d paid a price for it.

I took the offered vest and swapped mine out for it, levitating my own blue jacket off to the side and out of the way. My gaze lingered briefly on the golden six-pointed star on the back of the lavender leather vest. Harmony’s new logo, pulled from the cover of the Friendship Journal that was required reading for any of our organization’s new inductees.

There’s been talk, in the aftermath of the Anzû bombing, of trying to simply reconstitute Hussar. However, with basically only the one member of it remaining, Gerry, that seemed like an endeavor that was doomed to fail. Jenny had been the voice and the driving force behind the old band, not the griffon. Any attempt to carry on with its legacy was doomed to fall flat, as there would be no way to keep the sound of future music resonating with the old fans.

In the end, the two of us had decided that a fresh start, as well as a fresh message, was in order. And so Hussar and its wendigo-faced label had been retired, and Harmony formed in its place. We’d reached out and filled out the open positions with dual-talented musicians much like Jenny had―creatures who could not only play instruments decently enough, but who could undertake missions against the city’s more malicious corporate actors.

Shell Code, our new hippogriff drummer―and ‘nettrotter extraordinaire’ as he’d described himself―had been the first. Soon after we’d managed to grab up a minotaur keyboard player, Smokey. There’d been a little pushback on his inclusion in our ranks, as he was an actively serving member of the LCPD. However, I’d managed to convince the others that the ‘in’ he gave us where the activities of the police were concerned far outweighed any risks his affiliation imposed. A conclusion that I’d come to after he and I had shared a very long heart-to-heart talk.

The minotaur had told me about how frustrated he’d become seeing the city’s more ‘privileged’ creatures get slaps on the limb―if even that much―for things that landed the average Haywood or Trotson resident in prison for years. His breaking point had come when he’d been in the process of arresting a griffon for the murder of a ‘working mare’ in a Clawcifica motel, only for his sergeant to tell him to let the tiercel go. Smokey had starred in utter bewilderment as an expensive looking limousine pulled up, collected the murderer, and drove away. All while three other prostitutes―the victim’s friends―watched it happen. The betrayal he’d seen in their eyes as he uncuffed the monster who’d all but butchered their friend…it had broken the rookie officer.

Smokey had learned later that the tiercel was the son of a well-to-do politician in the city’s government. Daddy had apparently put in a call to the chief and the DA before police had even arrived on the scene. Just like that, the order to release him had been given and the death was officially ruled an ‘accident’. Nothing would ever happen to that griffon.

The next day he heard that a pony he’d nabbed for snatching a purse in City Central was given ten years. It had been their third offense, and the laws of Light City mandated an enhanced sentence for repeat offenders. Ten years for stealing a hundred gibbies, but nothing for a murderer. The minotaur almost handed his badge in right then and there. But then he’d overheard a perp in the station’s jail mention that a mare in Haywood was recruiting creatures for ‘work’ on the down-low. He’d started trying to subtly ask questions to find me. Baton Rouge told me about him, and I was intrigued enough to arrange a meeting.

Now he worked for us. The future would bear out whether my trust was well-placed or not. But Harmony was about giving creatures a chance, and I intended to live up to that expectation.

The last of our crew was a pegasus mare who went by the name ‘Ghost’ who played bass. This was not her real name, and she had admitted as much. Curiously enough, any and all attempts to learn what her name actually was through research on the net had all hit dead ends. As far as any of us could tell, the mare didn’t exist. No history, no records, no nothing.

Which, in a place like Light City, should have been effectively impossible. On the other hoof, she appeared to not possess arcanetics, much like Jenny; which meant that it would have been difficult for the city’s networks to maintain any sort of database on her anyway. And while the lack of any way to look into her past had been something of a red flag during her recruitment, the soot-black mare’s performance on her probationary operations had been nothing short of extraordinary.

The mare was a breaking and entering savant. While she never shared any of her secrets on how she accomplished her tricks without the benefit of net access―much to my eye-twitch-inducing annoyance―it seemed like the mare was always able to basically just walk into any place we pointed her at. She might as well have actually been a ghost, as far as I could tell. We’d be debating how to get past the physical security guarding some building or other, and then Ghost would walk off out of sight for fifteen minutes or so without explanation, only to show back up with some critical piece of data or security passes that she alleged to have ‘found’ laying around on the premises. It was like she’d somehow convinced the ponies in the building to just give her whatever we needed for our missions sometimes…

I didn’t even question it anymore. It wasn’t like she was the only pony I’d even met with a mysterious past. She got results; and if she was some plant meant to undermine us from the inside, she’d have been able to sabotage us a dozen times over already. But she never had. She got a little too ‘friendly’ with Gerry for my tastes on occasion; but she’d made more than a few passes at me too, so I figured she was just a bit rakish as a rule. Kind of like Dandy had been.

At least she didn’t collect cutie-mark patches…

“How was the meeting?” Gerry asked as he made some final adjustments to his guitar.

“We’re not on GlimTech’s shitlist,” I informed the griffon. “The big mare says she wants to support us from the sidelines. Says,” I repeated with some emphasis, sharing a knowing look with the tiercel. In response, he flashed me a smile and chuckled.

“I guess that’s better than making an enemy for life,” he offered.

“Yeah, I―” I drew up short, frowning at the griffon. “Daisy literally said the exact same thing.”

“I knew she was smart,” Gerry quipped.

“Uh huh.”

The griffon flashed me another broad smile. “Oh, you doubt her? Does that mean you’re bowing out of dinner at The Grotto tomorrow?”

I opened my mouth, but then hesitated and closed it again. I cleared my throat and hid a small blush that I could feel coloring my cheeks. I had very much not forgotten that Gerry and I would be ‘revisiting’ the issue of whether or not the two of us were going to pursue a more…intimate relationship on top of our professional one. Granted, over the last twelve months the both of us had very much already tacitly decided that we would in fact start officially dating. We’d simply decided to wait this long because the agreement to table the decision until a year had passed had felt like something of an unofficial anniversary of sorts and amused us both too much not to adhere to it.

That all being said, it still gave me butterflies to think about actually taking our friendship to a new level. I definitely wasn’t going to be back out though. I also wasn’t going to give Daisy credit for any of this. On principle. “Are you going to order the rat for me again?” I eyed the griffon, doing a deliberately poor job of hiding a smile.

“Actually, I was thinking of letting you try the penis this time,” Gerry replied with an indifferent shrug of his shoulders.

My jaw dropped, and I knew there was no hiding the furious blush that flushed through my cheeks. “WHAT?!” I mean, was he really just going to come right out and say it like that?!

“What? That’s how you say ‘parsnip’ in Fancy,” the griffon said, somehow managing to maintain a completely innocent-looking expression as he did so. “They have this large steamed penis drizzled with this tangy white sauce. You have to be careful putting it in your mouth though, otherwise the sauce’ll get all in your―”

There was the sound of somepony clearing their throat nearby, drawing our attention to the dark-coated pegasus mare, cradling her bass in her forehooves. Once she was sure she had our attention, she offered up, “A minor correction: it’s pronounced ‘pah-nay’.” Her eyes darted between my still quite flustered face and the very much amused griffon standing next to me, who quite obviously had been aware of his mispronunciation, judging by the board grin plastered on his beak.

It was a smile that vanished with the mare’s next words directed at me though. “But he is very much hoping that the two of you will be fucking by the end of the night.”

Gerry started choking, his eyes wide with shock as he turned to glare at the bassist. I likewise was stunned to silence as I looked between the two of them. Though seeing the griffon lose his composure as his joke at my expense was undone by the pegasus helped to clear up my own shock somewhat. Suddenly the shoe was on the other hoof―er, paw, I guess.

“H-how could you possibly have known―” Gerry was beginning to stammer, but I jumped in and cut him off.

“Well,” I chimed in, drawing the griffon’s attention back to myself, “while I’ve never had ‘parsnip’ before,” I flashed a look at the tiercel, holding his gaze as I kept careful control of my own features, “I am not opposed to…trying new things. Eventually.

“But maybe we’ll start with something a little…uh, ‘less filling’?” The griffon had the good grace to flush at my own double-entendre. “Like…” I thought for a moment before rolling my eyes and looking back at Gerry. “I don’t know any Fancy words for foods; so whatever one sounds like: ‘making out all night’.”

Gerry’s eyes widened with mild surprise. He too then appeared to think for a brief moment before looking back over at Ghost. The mare merely shrugged and turned her attention back to tuning her bass. The griffon looked back to me and smiled. “I think that can be arranged.”

“Good. Now let’s get your mind off of ‘parsnips’ and onto the gig, hmm?” I stuck my tongue out at the tiercel and directed him towards the crowd which looked to be expectantly awaiting our first song of the evening. I received a widened grin in response, followed promptly by the griffon’s violet arcanetic talons strumming themselves across his guitar and sending a loud chord through the amplifiers. The crowd’s response was immediate as the cheering and stomping redoubled in volume.

I stepped forward and took hold of the mic with my telekinesis. “Hellloooo, Haywood~!” Around me, the rest of the band readied their instruments for my signal to begin the first song on our playlist for the evening. “Are you ready to rock?!” A wordless cheer rose up, prompting a grin to appear on my muzzle. I glanced at the griffon standing beside me and slammed my hoof down. Gerry immediately launched into the song’s opening chord progression.

The rest of the band followed suit and began to play out the song’s intro as I waited for my cue to jump in. When it finally arrived, I leaned forward and began to scream into the hovering microphone.

“In this city, of light on the sea;

“Living our lives, with our plights unseen.”

I quickly found myself lost in the energy of the crowd. A year ago, if somepony had told me that I’d be performing on a stage, singing my own music, I’d have either told them to lay off the glitterdust, or give me a hookup with their dealer so I could experience whatever fantasy land they were living in. Yet, here I was…

“It’s so easy, to feel despair;

“To convince yourself, that nocreature cares.”

Maybe it seemed a little silly to even be bothering with these performances, or the whole band altogether. After all, what was a little music going to do to change things, right? Especially when compared to the band’s…other endeavors. And I wasn’t just talking about the corporate break-ins and sabotage either. Under my leadership, I was getting us to have a more involved hoof in the community.

“Pushed to the ground, a hoof on you neck;

“Your happiness, tied to a check!”

Some of that involved a softer approach, like the soup kitchens and free clinics. But there was no shortage of ‘strong-hoofing’ going on too. With the exception of a few more small-time groups we hadn’t gotten around to clearing out yet, we’d pushed nearly all of the boosterherds out of Heywood, and were presently making moves into Trotson. There were some semantic arguments that all we were doing was muscling out other herds to make room for our own, and that wasn’t an argument that was entirely without merit.

“Pay to escape, pay to unwind;

“Paying to live; you’ll pay to die!”

The key difference was that we were ‘dealing’ in food and medicine instead of drugs and guns. I liked to think of us as more akin to a militia or security force than anything like a boosterherd. Because, I mean, if the LCPD wasn’t going to keep the ‘peace’ in Haywood, then somepony might as well. Smokey had very much approved of the notion, and had even volunteered to train up a few of our club’s bouncers so that they’d be better able to handle themselves while doing patrols of the neighborhood.

Money was going to start becoming more of an issue the larger we got though, I knew. Extorting money from the city’s sleezier executives and politicians was working for now, but that wasn’t anything I’d consider to be a ‘reliable’ source of funding. We could branch out into outright robbing corporations, I supposed; but I felt like that would bring more heat down on us. Blackmail was something that the targets wouldn’t/couldn’t turn to the LCPD for help with. Actual robberies on the other hoof…

Maybe I had something I wanted to pressure Starlight into helping us with after all. She had the connections. If she was serious about helping, then maybe she could pressure the city’s politicians in funding ‘outreach’ programs and such.

I’d look into it.

“Don’t believe the corporate machine,

“Designed only to make you bleed!”

For now though, we’d continue to focus on doing what we could. We’d curtail what corporate operations we could that were threatening the citizens of the city. We’d keep reaching out to creatures and helping who we could to keep them from falling into the grips of predatory boosterherds, like I had. We’d keep spreading the message of Twilight’s journal to the masses.

Things wouldn’t get fixed overnight. Maybe not even in another year. Might even take more than a decade or two. But, there was certainly light at the end of the tunnel. At least, I felt like there was. I’d seen the difference that we could make with just this one year, and our movement was gaining steam. More creatures were reaching out or stepping up every month.

“Don’t believe the corporate machine!”

So while it might have seemed silly to some that we were hosting these performances, I knew better. I’d seen the evidence with my own eyes, after all. We weren’t going to change things by blowing up buildings and killing creatures. That hadn’t improved conditions in the city. No. We weren’t going to ‘win’ by playing the game the way the corporations were. It was their game, which meant that they got to write the rules for it; and we’d never be able to confront them on a level playing field because of that.

We needed to confront them on different terms, using different tactics. Ones that we knew had worked once upon a time, in a more magical land than this one…

“What you need is: A FRIENDSHIP SUPREME~!”

Author's Note

And thus concludes this story; but clearly not Pel's or her friends! I'm sure we all wish them luck on their future endeavors, and while there are no follow-up stories for her and the gang in the works as of yet, I won't definitively rule out a sequel. However, as with so many other possible follow-ups, it would have to wait in line behind the works already in the pipe. And it's a looooooong pipe :P

I want to again thank everyone who came along on this little ride, and I hope you stick around for other things I write in the future! Or maybe check out things I wrote in the past? Maybe? The likes let me feel the validation I never got from my parents!

If you're in the mood for more things cyberpunk, and don't already know, there's a nice collection of similarly-themed works over at Cyberpunk Equestria! Give them a look! Hey, if we garner enough interest, maybe sempai will notice us and the FiMFiction admins to give us a "Cyberpunk" tag :P They gave BattleTech one finally!

Thank you so much for reading! As always, a thumbs up and comment are always greatly appreciated

I've set up a Cover Art Fund if you're interested and have any bits lying around!