Six months prior to the Fall Formal...

The teenager ran through the streets of Canterlot City. She couldn’t look back for fear of who she might find following. After what she’d done, someone would most certainly be following her. Maybe the worst part of it all was that she knew she deserved whatever fate would follow her.

One did not simply steal and erase a decade worth of research files and get away with it. The only things she hadn’t been able to get were the files on the lab’s internal servers, and even then, there was only so much they could do without what she took. Adding on the fact that she’d stolen the only working copy of a device that would revolutionise armed conflict, and she knew that death was the least of her concerns.

If she could just get to the dead drop, she could wash her hands of the entire affair and just disappear; it’d be so easy, too. Her contact had already scoured her existence from the internet and all governmental databases. Even now, there was a worm spreading across the local infrastructure seeking out any trace of her from CCTV systems. Once she got out of Canterlot and stayed clear of the organisation, she’d be in the clear. She’d be free.

The sound of armoured boots behind her chilled her blood. It was distant, but it was a sound she’d heard on the testing floor several times. Outside of the one she’d passed off to her contact, she was sure that she’d destroyed all the Transteam System production models. No, there was one I never got my hands on... That meant that he was closing in. I don’t even know what Fullbottle he chose though. All I know is which one it isn’t.

Although she knew where to go to get to the dead drop, it was starting to seem like she’d never get there in time. She should’ve had longer before they even noticed the sabotage, and yet she knew he was following her. I got careless somewhere along the line... or else, they were always watching... in which case... the drop-off point is likely a trap.

Pulling out her phone, she ducked down an alley. The teen opened the encrypted SMS app and immediately shot a message to the contact labelled Eraser. Hopefully, they were nowhere near the dead-drop, because while she had no doubt Eraser could handle themselves if the organisation deployed a few Guardian peace-keeper robots, leading him to them would not be good.

Am being followed. DD likely compromised. Plz advise. :girlGenius

Eraser: I heard. Even the police know something’s up.

Eraser: A network-wide kill-on-sight order’s been issued for you.

Eraser: Lucky for you, the worm’s doing its job, scrubbing your face from all DBs.

Eraser: Activate your phone’s GPS and I’ll come get you.

Negative. Edgelord in pursuit. Do not engage. :girlGenius

Project Re:Build data cannot fall into their hands. :girlGenius

It occurred to her what she’d have to do. The company couldn’t possibly know about this phone. She’d made sure to build it herself from a schematic, and never had it turned on near any company facilities. Just as much as the encrypted SMS app was to protect her contact’s identity, they could likely crack it with enough time. The phone couldn’t fall into their hands any more than the data and hardware she stole.

I’m gonna ditch the lockbox and my phone. :girlGenius

GPS is now on. :girlGenius

I don’t know what they’ll do to me... :girlGenius

But it’s possible they’ll use me as a test subject out of spite. :girlGenius

If I somehow get out of this... Can I count on your continued support? :girlGenius

Eraser: Naturally. I got you into this mess in the first place.

No, my dad did when he started this project and I got hired on to replace him. :girlGenius

Shutting off her phone’s screen, the young woman thrust her hand back into her messenger bag. She ran her thumb along the scanner for the lockbox within, and then quickly put her phone inside. Before closing the case, she withdrew a small bottle-shaped object, but kept her hand in the bag. Just by the feel of it, of the bird embossed, she knew exactly which one it was.

After dodging through several more alleys and running through traffic, she reached a dead end. Not that it was going to stop her; she knew exactly which part of town she was in, and exactly the sort of terrain that was on the rooftops. It’d be the perfect place to ditch the goods and lead Blood Hunter on a wild goose chase long enough for Eraser to retrieve it.

Finally, she withdrew her hand from the messenger bag and looked at the small translucent bottle full of a grey gas even darker than her skin. It was one of the Fullbottles she helped create and purify for the project. I wish I never got involved. This was meant to save lives, but they turned it all into a weapon of war.

On it was the image of a raven, marking it as the Raven Fullbottle. Although intended for use with the Rider System, initial research showed that specific bottles were capable of granting temporary superhuman power by agitating the gases inside by violently shaking it. Raven was a bottle tested for such properties, increasing the user’s agility and jump height. Flight would be too much for the human body unaided.

While she had managed to lose her pursuer momentarily, she knew he would be here before too long, so she shook the bottle and then gripped it tightly in her hand before jumping at the alley wall. The increased mobility allowed her to effortlessly rebound off the wall to the opposite side, rapidly gaining height. In no time at all, she ascended to the rooftops.

The girl wasted no time at all returning the bottle to the case with the others, and then ditching the case behind an air exchanger unit. Just as she readied herself to start running, an armoured figure hauled itself up over the edge. The armour was bulky, and looked as though it were constructed of metal pipes and wires, overlaid over a blood-red bodysuit. As he glared at her, the golden ‘eyes’ of the visor glowed slightly in the evening dimness.

“Oh, hey there, Edgelord-kun,” she said in a sing-song voice. Honestly, she hated the man’s guts, and knew that antagonising the sadist was normally a bad idea, but she needed him mad. If he was mad, he didn’t think, and that meant he wouldn’t think to check if she ditched the goods. “Fancy seeing you here! Did Mommy let you off your leash to play corporate enforcer tonight?”

“Miss Satonaka,” he growled in a modulated voice. “For the last time, it is Blood Hunter.” He grabbed a pistol-shaped device from his hip. Brandishing it, she could see the dark metal pipes and external wiring glisten in the gloom. “Hand over the Rider System research data now, and I promise not to make what happens next too unpleasant.”

Satonaka pretended to consider this for a moment as she raised her hands. Then her left hand drifted to her face, and she pulled her lower eyelid down to expose the red part with her middle finger. “You and Hag-san can both sit on it and spin,” she replied, sticking her tongue out. “It’s long gone by now anyway! I ditched it a kilometre back!”

With a growl, Blood Hunter pulled the trigger on his device. From the muzzle shot a bullet of concentrated steam. Normally, it would hardly be a threat, and dissipate harmlessly. Unfortunately, the steam was charged with the same sort of energy emitted by the gases found in the Fullbottle attached to the gun, just in front of the trigger guard.

Naturally, she threw herself into a roll. When the projectile slammed into the air exchanger and dented the metal, she started sprinting across the rooftops. It was hard splitting her attention between dodging over and under obstacles whilst simultaneously keeping her movement too unpredictable to hit. Good thing his aim is balls without the Steam Blade converting the Transteam Gun into the Steam Rifle. Firing while chasing only makes it worse!

Unfortunately, she’d been on the run for almost two hours at this point, and hadn’t had much opportunity to rest, so her muscles were starting to ache. It didn’t help that a black transport helicopter had somehow joined the pursuit without her notice. She watched as it pulled ahead of her on the line of rooftops she’d been following. Wonder how they got clearance to fly this low.

When the side door of the chopper opened up, several bipedal figures dropped down to the rooftop ahead of her. Guardians, then, since the edgelord back there is the only one with access to equipment that’d let a person take a fall like that. Sure enough, as she drew closer, she could see the armoured components and the bulky assault carbines and knew that she was screwed. Especially once there were several guns pointed at her.

Sliding to a stop, Satonaka raised her hands slowly and slowly sank to her knees. Even before the self-styled Blood Hunter caught up, one of the combat robots had her in zip-cuffs and was in the process of loading her onto the helicopter. Despite all the noise from the vehicle, she heard him clear as day. He was clapping his hands and laughing. “Oh, we are going to have so much fun, you and I. What will it take to make you turn into a Smash?”

Author's Note

A lot of the rider concepts will be explained either through story exposition or through research notes interspersed throughout future chapters. That said, here are some informational tidbits.

Guardians: In the World of Build, these robots were manufactured by Nanba Heavy Industries Ltd., and used as peace-keepers and to supplement police forces. In this Equestria Girls universe, they are manufactured by Canterlogic Securities, a government-contracted robotics and weapons firm, which received the design from a presently undisclosed third-party research firm.

Ms. Satonaka is, or was, the young head researcher for this third-party firm, having taken over for her father after his death. She held the main responsibility for his brainchild, Project Re:Build, which was a reconstruction of research data retrieved from a source her father never revealed to her. After her employer hijacked the project and started turning it towards dark purposes, her conscience got the better of her.

The Transteam Gun, or Transteam System, is a byproduct of Project Re:Build. It serves as both a transformation device and a weapon. It utilises a proprietary and highly classified energised gas, known to have metaphysical and transformative properties bordering on magical, to power its systems. With a specific bayonet-like attachment, the gun can become a rifle.

Smash will be explained in the next chapter as they are introduced. Basically, though, an interdimensional data-source is gonna cause the city of Canterlot a lot of grief. Thankfully, we don't have to worry about Pandora's Box or some sort of repeat of the Sky Wall Disaster.