Cyberpony Y2K

Diamond Duster was not fast like an android would be. If anything, she was slow like an unaugmented pony. No...Class 2 reflex chip, or Class, 3, tops.

Indigo leapt to the side, firing as Diamond Duster moved to train her gun on her. She seemed to be more or less ignoring Fleetfoot, which was good. Fleetfoot was big and heavy, more used to relying on her armor to block than on her ability to dodge. And her armor wouldn't really hold up to Diamond Duster's gun.

Indigo caught the tension along Diamond Duster's arm before she saw her squeeze the trigger. But Indigo had already dodged, the bullets zipping past with glowing white trails. Indigo emptied the last rounds from each of her pistols, then threw them to the sides as she fell into a shooter's crouch. She quickly drew Lyra's pistol, then fired.

The pistol did jerk, but she kept her grip. More importantly, the bullet hit dead on, embedding itself lightly into the front of Diamond's armor.

Diamond grunted, a distinctly flesh-and-blood noise, starting to jump to the side as her gun pointed directly at Indigo.

Indigo shot to the side, but Diamond didn't prematurely fire this time. instead continuing to swivel to face Indigo. Indigo cursed as she put a little speed into her dodge, her shot missing. Diamond fired again, the bullets only narrowly missing Indigo this time. Indigo refocused her gun, aiming at Diamond, and fired again.

The bullet hit Diamond right in the mask, sending a crack across it as she stumbled back. The mask didn't break, like it looked like it should, instead chipping slightly as the bullet fell to the ground.

Diamond cursed foully, ducking around a stack of boxes as more bullets from Fleetfoot clipped off her shoulder.

Indigo's next shot went through the boxes, but she didn't hear it hit Diamond afterwards.

"You know, you could save yourself a good deal of pain and surrender," Indigo said.

That stupid phantom heartbeat was still pounding, but Indigo couldn't place the source. Diamond didn't reply, staying behind the boxes.

Indigo motioned Fleetfoot around the left side, while she started moving to the right. "Come on, buddy. What do you really hope to accomplish?"

"Vengeance."

Indigo hesitated. "Are you with Chrysalis?" she asked.

Diamond didn't answer. Indigo took a moment to pick up a shard of the mask that had fallen. It didn't have topaz dust, like she'd expected. It just looked...like a regular, cheap Nightmare Night mask.

But the bullet had even punched a hole in the armor...

The heartbeat began to pick up, so Indigo fired into the boxes again. The Diamond Duster reappeared, coming out on Indigo's side of the boxes, two shotguns held out and pointing at Indigo. Cursing, Indigo ducked back, just barely quicker than Diamond.

The wall that the bullets hit exploded outwards, enough holes punched through it to bring it down. Indigo sincerly hoped nopony was on the other side of that, but refocused her mind onto Diamond. Indigo rolled away just before Diamond fired again, the floor exploding in chips of plaster, Indigo's wings buzzing as she came back to her feet, leveling her gun at Diamond.

A shimmering green forcefield appeared in the air, catching the bullet. The bullet still punched through the field, but then was stopped by Diamond's armor, without doing any further damage.

Diamond leveled both her guns, but hesitated, for just a moment. And in that singular moment of hesitation, Fleetfoot jumped in front of Indigo, wings spread out to block bullets.

Diamond didn't fire.

"Not gonna shoot?" Indigo asked.

"I'm not killing your slave, sweetheart," Diamond rasped. "She doesn't have any choice."

"That doesn't matter," Fleetfoot snapped. "I'd stick by her if I did have a choice."

"Would you, now?" Diamond cocked her head sideways. "What...are you? You're not normal."

"I'm her friend and servant," Fleetfoot answered. "I'm a soldier of this country. I will give...well, however much of a life I have to my commander."

Indigo lifted her gun past Fleetfoot's head, aiming for Diamond's face, but a gunshot rang out before she could fire. A shimmering trail of blue pierced through her hand, sending Lyra's gun flying as it punched into Indigo's hand. Pain flared up, and she screamed, ducking back as Fleetfoot turned to the doorway.

"Diamond, time to go!" a voice shouted. "We got a flight of Wonderbolts coming in hot!"

"Until next time, my little soldier," Diamond said, then charged for the door.

"After her!" Indigo shouted.

Fleetfoot bolted, heading off Diamond, but hesitated, and turned back

Indigo slumped against a crate, cradling her hand as unwanted flashbacks shot through her mind.

"Uh, ma'am?" Fleetfoot asked.

"Just...go after her," Indigo croaked.

Fleetfoot took up a position by the door, but didn't move, even as Indigo heard the sound of a car driving off, tires squealing against the road.

Fleetfoot stepped over to Indigo then, kneeling besides her. "Ma'am? Are...you okay?"

Indigo shook her head.

"Go...get them," Indigo ordered again.

Fleetfoot stepped closer, staring at her. "What happened to you? It just hit your hand, right?"

Indigo struggled to her feet, pushing past Fleetfoot and heading for the door. She pulled out her phone with her functional hand, falling against the doorframe. "Direct Line: Minuette, authorized: Thunderbolt."

Minuette answered. "Just entered Ponyville."

"Diamond Duster and at least one other member of Discord are escaping. Nondescript black van, over by the two story building with the Everfree logo on the side. Heading...fuck, where is...east. They're heading east."

"Got it. You injured?"

"I'm fine."

"Roger. Moving to follow."

Indigo cut off the line, then stepped out the door.

Fleetfoot grabbed her by her coat, pulled her back, and dropped her on the ground.

Indigo stared up at her.

"What's wrong?" Fleetfoot asked. "You're stumbling and clearly can't stand up properly and you only have a bullet hole in prosthetic hand, and you keep snapping at ponies. Including your superior officer. Are you...okay?"

"I...it hurts...so much, Fleetfoot."

"You...you told Princess Trixie you couldn't feel through them, though?" Fleetfoot ran a hand through her mane. "What's going on?"

"It...doesn't hurt in the hands. It hurts up here." Indigo pointed at her head. "I lost...lost my real hand to a ruby bullet. Punched right through. I replaced both my hands then, but..." She curled into a ball, resting her chin on her knees. "When...I got shot in the hand recently, I started getting...flashbacks. To that time."

"Phantom limb pain and PTSD, followed up by a cybernetic procedure," a calm, collected voice stated from the staircase.

Indigo was up in more time than she particularly liked, two pistols out and pointed at the figure. She was rather tall, with a big cloak bundled around herself, two unusually large wings behind her. And over her face was a wooden Olden Pony mask, looking exactly as cheap as the Diamond Duster's.

"Hands in the air," Indigo snapped.

The figure raised one hand, giving a little wave, then proceeded to limp down the staircase. "What most ponies don't realize is that if you replace a limb following an injury to the same limb, it almost always results in post-traumatic stress disorder," she explained. She gestured outwards with one hand, saying, "Your brain remembers the injury. And it knows that something was wrong with that limb. But when you stick on a lump of metal and tell the brain that it's the same thing, your brain doesn't quite understand. Deep, deep down." She touched the side of her head with one finger, looking to Indigo. Two green eyes looked at her with something akin to pity. "It's well recorded, actually. Pity that they don't think to explain that beforehand."

"You...are you with Discord?"

"Yes."

"Hands in the air, and take off the mask," Indigo said. "I will shoot."

Fleetfoot aimed her gun at the terrorist, too, but somehow, the mare didn't look in the least bit frightened. "Are you satisfied?" she asked. "With what you do?"

"I said, hands in the air," Indigo snapped.

The figure stared at her. "I don't know why I bother," she muttered to herself. "You'll see it one day. And then, you'll realize what I did."

"And that is?"

"That that thing is no god," she whispered.

"Who in Tartarus do you think you are?" Indigo demanded.

"I am Discord."

Indigo fired. It was meant as a warning shot. But faster than Indigo could see, her hand shot out, clenched in the middle of the air. She held it out, opening the fist, showing the bullet sitting on her palm over a fresh hole in her glove, slightly chipped from the collision.

"Nice try," she commented casually.

"What...what are you?" Indigo asked.

"I am the oncoming vengeance," 'Discord' said. "We will have our demands met."

"What demands?"

Discord reached into her coat, slowing down slightly as Indigo pointed her pistol at her head, then pulled out a document. She tossed it to Indigo, saying, "Pass that on to your superiors. Let them know that we do not want this to get bloody. But we are willing to get our hands dirty, if the need arises." She turned, and started walking towards the door.

"Do you really think I'm about to let you walk out?" Indigo asked.

"If you could have stopped me, then I wouldn't have shown up," Discord replied flippantly. "Have a good day."

"Uh, ma'am?" Fleetfoot looked after Discord, then looked back to Indigo. "Do you want me to..."

"No," Indigo said. "She has a trick up her sleeve. That wouldn't end well. Besides, she fucking caught a bullet with her hand. Nobody does that. Nobody!" Indigo shook her head. "Discord's full of nutjobs. We've always known that. I'll pass the message on to Princess Midnight. In the meantime, let's hope Minuette can catch those other two, and let's go see what they were doing upstairs."

"That's the car," Minuette said.

Soarin chuckled. "Not exactly laying low, are they?" He picked up the speaker, saying, "Wonderbolt flight captain Soarin speaking. Pull over the car at once and submit yourself to judgement. Comply immediately or you will be met with lethal force."

The car continued to swerve down the side of the road. Ponyville had already been left miles behind, which meant that there was nothing in the way of collateral damage.

"Try and get them to stop," Minuette said. "I want to interrogate them after this."

"Port gun, ready and aim!" Soarin called out. "Disabling shot, fire."

The sound of a machine gun blasting drummed in Minuette's ears as she watched the glowing red trails blast the roadside. The car rattled, swerved, and then crashed into a tree. The wood cracked and splintered, the tree shaking, but it did not break.

Minuette let out a sigh of relief. "Weapons out. Suspect is highly armed and dangers, equipped with diamond bullets." The hatch on the back of the jet opened up, and the seven Wonderbolts leapt out. Minuette landed right behind them, the Wonderbolt jet rumbling over her head.

Soarin hovered on her right, gun leveled, and the two advanced slowly towards the truck.

"No sudden movements!" Minuette called out. "Come out with your hands up. Any hostile action will be met with lethal force."

"Could they be unconscious?" Soarin asked.

"Not likely. This car's been modified illegally...see? No license plate, and the wheels are above the size set for standard design."

"Four-wheeled drive," Soarin muttered. "An off-road vehicle. I busted up some people just last week for producing cars like this."

Minuette stepped up to the front of the car, slowly. "Alright, hands up where I can see them," she said. "You might just make it out of this alive, if you're smart. So be smart."

No one moved from inside the car. Minuette jumped to the front, leveling and firing her revolver into the car. It hit no one, because the car was empty.

Completely empty. There were seats, but nopony sat inside any of them. Not even a driver.

"It's empty?" she said, her confusion breaking through her professional facade. "It...was driving, right?"

"Yeah? It was most definitely moving." Soarin frowned, then said, "Pretty clean driving for somepony being chased by a Stormfront." He looked up at the jet, hovering just over their heads, then back to the truck.

"It's got to be...remote controlled," Minuette said, grabbing the door. She pulled out the skeleton key, fiddling with the car's lock. "I can trace that. Be ready to move out as soon as I can pinpoint the location."

"And...Diamond Duster?"

"Probably long gone at this point."

"Hold—hold up, Duster...I got stitches...all the way up my side...hol' up..."

Diamond slowed, turning back to Sky. "Well, Sweetheart? We're not so far into the Forest that they won't chase us."

"I don't got bionic muscles," Sky pointed out. "Just a second. I need...to breathe." She put a hand to her forehead, looking out into the Everfree. "We're fine, anyway. They'll still be scratching their heads over that car."

A shadow passed over their heads. Diamond looked up, watching one of the Everfree's stormclouds slowly rolling overhead. "Perfect," she said. "The rain will cover our tracks."

"Inquisitors ain't never tracked ponies through underbrush, anyway," Sky muttered. "Okay...I'm ready." She stretched, shoulders popping, and then straightened her rifle across her back. "Why do you think Indigo stayed behind instead of chasing?"

"Lack of firepower, most likely," Diamond replied.

"Yeah, but that other pistol she had did put a hole in your armor," Sky said. "That should have been stopped by the plates."

Diamond rubbed her shoulder. "Well, sweetheart, it wasn't." She paused, then looked at her hand. A few drops of red, sticky blood were on her fingers. She stared at it for a moment, then said, "Come on. Let's get to the castle."