My Little Pony: Cyberpunk is Magic

[Serris]

Silver Bolt sighed as he trudged through the stainless steel hallways of the mine entrance. It was his seventh year working as a hard rock blaster with Platina Mining Corporation.

It was difficult and dangerous work but the owner of the company, Rarity, paid him handsomely for his work.

Today, he would be working with Sweetie Belle and Ann Foe to open a new tunnel.

He finally arrived in the staging area and looked at himself in the mirror. A black Unicorn stallion with mismatched eyes stared back at him. His glowing white eye blinked with a clicking noise. He winced as he recalled how he had lost his natural eye.

--------------------

It was his sixth month on the job and he was assigned to work in the then newly excavated tunnel six with Saxifrage and Sledge.

"So how's Rarity treatin' ya?" Sledge asked in an attempt to make idle conversation as the elevator descended into the depths. All he got in reply was the whirring of the elevator's powerful motors.

He turned to Saxifrage, a wiry Unicorn clad head to toe in heavy dull grey armor. Saxifrage's expression was unreadable underneath the helmet that covered her head. Even her horn was protected by a sheath of metal. Attached to her back was a set of saddlebags that contained an emergency air supply and magic transponder in case she got trapped or the life support. On her haunch where her cutie mark would be located was a  

The elevator jolted to a stop as a sign above the door lit up with "Tunnel Six - Level nine".

The whir and clank of the heavy Core-II mining exoskeletons the three ponies wore echoed through the tunnels as they stepped out into the mine.

The rest of the journey was in silence as they approached the rock face.

"Let's do this," Silver Bolt said. Luckily, the Core-II exoskeletons had radios so they could communicate easily.
   

--------------------

Silver Bolt shuddered as the rest of the memory came flooding back. All he could remember was a powerful explosion as he was using his magic to bore holes so Sledge could place the charges and then waking up in the hospital.

He shook his mane out of the way and moved forward towards the sliding metal door labeled "Mine Entrance - Authorized Personnel Only".

"Welcome Silver Bolt," a feminine voice said. The voice was a synthesized rendition of Rarity's voice.

"Greetings, Elusive," Silver Bolt replied.

As soon as he said that, a section of the floor slid back, revealing four metallic hoof boots. He stepped into them and the boots gently clamped around his hooves as multitude of metal arms came out from behind various ports with pieces of his exoskeleton in hand.

He stood still as the exoskeleton was assembled around him. The last part was the helmet, custom made to fit him. As the helmet was lowered onto his head, the ring on his horn was connected to the suit. The ring in question augmented his magic powers.

The second to last piece to be installed was the high energy magi-gem battery that was slid into a port on the suit's back. As soon as that was installed and connected, the whir of the suit's powerful motors coming to life could be heard.

A set of armored saddlebags containing an emergency air supply, clean drinking water and and emergency transponder was lowered on his back. There was no need for a girth as the saddlebags were actually bolted onto the armor.

Silver Bolt was soon able to look at himself in the mirror. He saw a hulking Unicorn clad in a heavy dull grey exoskeleton. Two glowing patches (in the shape of Rarity's tripe diamond cutie mark) on his croupiere replaced his cutie mark and his exoskeleton had his cutie mark engraved on the peytral.

He then stepped through the door and headed down the hallway to the staging area where the elevators were located.

[MrDrake]

Not all that far from the mining company, Dawn was on her daily patrols as she yawned to herself.  The day was rather dull at the moment as she soon landed upon the ground with a slight groan to boot.  Her eyes gazed around, her mechanical eye in particular, just scanning the area with nothing of interest happening.

"No crimes, nothing...." Dawn muttered to herself before her ears flickered at the sound of a scream.  Her head snapped around at the direction of the screaming as her mechanical eye turned red, her mechanical wings activating as she took off.

Soon though, she landed at the scene of the crime, a mugging seemed to be in order of happening.  Her eyes fell upon the mugger "Cease and desist, you have five seconds to comply"

"Five seconds?" the mugger asked back, but in that small time, his time was already up as Dawn tackled him, slamming him into the side of a building, slamming his head against the wall with a mechanical hoof, knocking the mugger out.

She turned around, but the victim had already gone as her eye returned to normal again, to which Dawn rubbed her forehead "I hate when that happens..." she muttered, looking at the knocked out mugger before shaking her head with a groan.

[StarfallRaptor]

Ponyville--Undercity

A lone pony raced through yet another maintenance tunnel, bursting out the other side onto another of the dark, crowded streets.  Pushing his way through the crowds, ignoring any angered outbursts, focusing only on getting away from...something. He ran into a side alleyway, leaning against the wall and hoping that he had eluded his pursuer.  After a few heart-pounding moments, he took a deep, gasping breath, confident he had eluded the mysterious pony that had followed him from the building he had just been sent to relieve of some...sensitive documents.  He looked back over his shoulder at the street he had just come from, sticking his tongue out at his pursuer, and turned to make his way deeper into the alley...until he ran squarely into the armored chest of the pony he had been running from.  His eyes went wide with fear, and he started backing away, finally turning and making a mad dash for the street, for some measure of safety...until he felt the magic clamp around his body like a vise.  He struggled fruitlessly against the power holding him as he felt his body being pulled back towards the mystery pony.  As he turned around, still suspended in mid-air, he finally got a good look at the pony who he had been running from.  Standing in front of him, hovering slightly off the ground, was a unicorn pony, clad in what appeared to be parts of an exosuit.  Reinforced fore- and rear- hoof guards covered all four limbs, while their body was wrapped in a black armored saddle and barding.  Their face was shrouded both by a large hood, which had somehow not moved at all, and by a black, mechanical mouthguard.  A moment later, the masked unicorn spoke, their voice masked heavily by the mouthguard.

"Who hired you to try to steal that data from Rarity and Pinkamena's storage banks?"

The masked unicorn asked, thinly-veiled menace obvious in its voice.  The struggling pony chuckled and grinned cockily.

"Why would I tell you, hm?  Tha' wouldn't make me a very good...professional, now would it?"

He chuckled, then almost immediately went silent as he was slammed against the wall of the alley, a knife levitating against his neck.

"I'd suggest you talk now.  Unless you don't value your life.  In that case, feel free to keep silent.  I'm sure whoever employed you will hire others.  And when he does...I'll simply repeat this process until one talks.  Your choice."

The armored one said, a flash of reddish light shining from under their hood.  Now realizing the full seriousness of their situation, the pony struggling against the wall dropped the tough-pony act, pressing against the wall in a vain attempt to get away from the knife.

"I-I don't know who it is!  All I know is that they dead-drop tasks and send couriers out to ponies they think can handle them!  I ain't lying!  P-please!  Don't kill me!"

They begged, thrashing in panic, their eyes never leaving the knife at their throat.  The masked unicorn stopped, then dropped them to the ground, looking down at them coldly.  

"Fine.  You'll live for now.  But if you're lying to me...then I will hunt you down, and I will kill you.  Just remember that."

The masked one said, turning and leaping off into the undercity's bowels again.  As they did so, the pony they had caught noticed something.  The unicorn had been carrying a long, wooden sword across their back the entire time...

[Serris]

(Celestia Institute)

The dull hum of fans circulating air inside Research Lab #2 of Celestia Institute, made Twilight Sparkle's head spin. She was part of a research team working on cybernetics.

"Spike!" she shouted, dropping her soldering iron on the table.

At her shout, a rather young looking purple and green dragon came through the door. "What is it?"

"Can you please finish soldering my latest project. I have a meeting to attend. The sup-"

Spike rolled his eyes. "Twi, I've been working here as long as you have! I know where everything is!"

------------------

(Ponyville - Nightmare City)

A brown Unicorn took his position in the stands set up near a deserted maintainence tunnel. He tried not to let trepidition creep into his features as he looked down on the concrete racetrack below him. This was his first foray into the seedy world of "tunnel-running" - a high stakes hybrid racing-vehicular combat motorsport. His friends had suggested that he bet on Scootaloo, one of Ponyville's best racers.

------------------

Scootaloo arrived at the staging area with the other racers. Most of them had some mechanical parts (a testament to how dangerous "tunnel-running" is) - mostly wings or horns but a few had artificial legs.

"Hey, Scoots! You made it, eh?" Rainbow Dash said with a smile.

Scootaloo nodded. "Yep, gonna win this one!"

The blue Pegasus slapped her on the shoulder. "Go get 'em!"

Scootaloo then shucked her saddlebags and carefully laid out the pieces of her kinetic suit.

As soon as she stepped into the hoof boots, the suit magically assembled around her (thanks to an implant that simulated a Unicorn's horn but was hidden beneath the skin on her head).

Soon, she was clad in light orange armor - save for her tail - with two small but very powerful engines mounted on her flanks. A saddle completed the assembly.

She then trotted over to the starting line along with her other competitors.

"Everypony, get ready-" the air was perforated by the sound of the kinetic suit engines spooling up. "Go!"

Scootaloo leapt into the air, boosted by repulsorpods on all four of her hooves. She then lit both engines and sped forward, unfurling her  cybernetic wings for extra agility (she elected to have her natural wings amputated and replaced with the cybernetic model).

(OOC - Anyone can take the Mane Six not already taken <Twilight - Serris, Pinkie Pie - MrDrake>)

[StarfallRaptor]

(Celestia Institute)

Hikari threaded his way through the halls, levitating a clipboard of notes in front of himself, taking notes on the latest research with Magitech augmentations to allow "created" alicorns.  He was on his way towards a meeting with several of the higher-ups of the Institute, including, he hoped, Twilight Sparkle.
_______________________________________________________________________

(Undercity)

The masked and armored Unicorn raced down the side of another building, the wind racing over his armor as he fell.  Throwing out a grapple line to another maintenance strut, he caught himself, swinging up and onto a ledge hidden from view.  Looking out over the Undercity, his eyes scanned the skyline, until at last he seemed to settle on a direction and leap off of the spire he was on, once again freefalling deeper into the undercity...

[Serris]

Scootaloo flared her wings, slowing her down and letting her avoid several floating mines that a competitor had dropped.

Several explosions behind her told her that the competitors behind her were not so lucky.

She sent a command to her suit and a small cannon deployed from her saddle. With a sizzling crack, blue bolts of energy lanced from the cannon. The first shot missed and scorched some concrete, while some other bolts struck one of her competitors, sending the unlucky pony spiraling to the ground. Luckily, the kinetic suits were designed to take that kind of punishment.

[StarfallRaptor]

The armored unicorn flipped over, a localized anti-gravity pulse firing off around him and creating a large shockwave as he landed next to a large, ominous building.  Shrugging his hood off, he stepped up to the door, pushing a few buttons and watching as the door slid open silently.  Once inside, the unicorn tossed his short-cropped mane, nodding to a female unicorn sitting behind a desk.  She nodded back, and he stepped past her, entering into an elevator behind her desk, riding it down into a chamber underneath the building.  As he stepped out of the elevator, he saw the silhouette of a figure sitting in front of a large monitor, which was displaying the race currently going on under the city.  He chuckled.

"Still betting on those races, huh?  Have you actually won anything yet?"

He said, his voice still distorted by the mask he was wearing, but his merriment apparent.  The figure in front of the monitors laughed harshly, then turned around.  

"Not yet, but I think this time'll be different.  Put my money on Scootaloo this time.  Dash's protege.  So there's no way she'll lose."

The masked unicorn laughed.  

"Still on about Dash, huh?  You've never stopped thinking about her, have you...Gilda?"

He asked, smirking under his mask.  Gilda just laughed.

"Relax.  How'd the last mission go...Haru?"

[MrDrake]

Dawn paced around for a few moments, trying to decide something in her mind before she came to a desicion and took off, heading back to the mining company, landing at the entrance and entered, taking a look around, wondering where Sweetie Belle was at the moment, unaware that she was busy working right now.

It was rather empty at the moment as Dawn looked around, trying to see if either Rarity or Sweetie Belle were around, well, mainly Sweetie Belle, after all, she did want to speak to her about something.

And that's when the unicorn arrived.  She was late to work this time, yet, she did skid to a hault when she saw Dawn just standing there "Dawn? What....what are you doing here? Aren't you suppose to be working?" she asked her.

"I should really be asking you the same thing" Dawn joked back, yet, smiled to her "I did want to talk to you before you were to head to work, but first-" she then stepped towards Sweetie Belle, giving her a kiss upon the lips "That's before you're to head off for work for the day"

Sweetie Belle just smiled back, blushing a little bit "You're lips....they're kinda cold...."

"Yeah, I know, still gotta get that fixed" Dawn again, smiled to Sweetie Belle "But anyway, what I did want to talk to you about, is well....we hadn't really gone out anywhere lately, with you being busy, and me being busy and all, but I was still wondering that when we get the time....if you'd still join me for dinner at some point"

"Yeah, about that, sorry I've been busy lately, it's just that getting these tunnels open does take some time, but that still,a dinner date does sound nice....I'd love to do that, that is, dinner and all" Sweetie Belle smiled to Dawn sweetly, already loosing track of time at the moment.

"Hehe, awesome" Dawn spoke, nuzzling Sweetie Belle rather lovingly, as Sweetie Belle returned the same affection back to Dawn, though, a look of concern did appear upon Dawn's face "But just...be careful alright? In the tunnels I mean, it's all dangerous work in there"

"And what you do isn't any different?" Sweetie Belle did pause for a second "I do worry about you, you do know that right? Especially after whathad happened since....what did happen that time anyway? I thought that you were killed"

Dawn didn't answer Sweetie Belle's question in regards to it, well, not entirely anyway "I'd...rather not talk about it still...it's just that, I try not think about that day" she sighed a bit, looking to the side a little as well.

Again, Sweetie Belle smiled to Dawn a little, giving her another little nuzzle "Hey, I didn't mean it like that, I just thought that you'd want to talk about it at some point, cause well, it's just that when it did happen...."

Dawn sighed again as Sweetie Belle nuzzled her "You should get to work, before your sister gets annoyed at you" she told her, trying to divert the subject away from that particular subject "I'll see you after work okay?" she spoke as she again, kissed Sweetie Belle upon the lips before turning away and starting to head for the exit.

"Dawn...." Sweetie Belle sighed as she watched Dawn leave "I just wish you would tell me...." she added in to herself before turning and heading for the mining area herself.

[Serris]

(Rarity Mining Industries - Mine #2)

Silver Bolt looked around the circular staging area. The low hum of fans circulating millions of cubic feet of air pervaded the area as did the low clanking of elevators ascending and descending into the depths of the land.

"Hey Silver! You gonna be mining or not?" a voice said from behind him.

Silver Bolt turned around and spotted his one of coworkers - Anne Foe, a "Cylacorn" (cybernetic alicorn) mare.

"Where's Sweetie Belle?" Anne asked, her voice muffled by the exoskeleton she was wearing. Her metallic wings protruded through two ports in the suit.

Silver said nothing but looked at one of the many entrances.

[MrDrake]

Sweetie Belle soon, arrived at where Silver Bolt and Ann Foe were, wearing her own suit as well as she looked at her co-workers.  Though, upon her face, she did seem a bit distracted in regards to Dawn's visit, that still didn't exactly divert her attention too much, yet, she still would seem distratced regardless.

"I'm here, sorry I'm late, just had....other matters to attend to was all" Sweetie Belle told them, feigning a smile herself as she stepped forward, past the two of them herself.

(ooc: If you want for Silver and Ann to know about Sweetie Belle and Dawn dating and all, it's fine by me ^^)

[StarfallRaptor]

Gilda smirked and kicked her hind paws back, resting them on the desk.  

"Glad to hear that you stopped that thief, Haru.  Sucks that we still don't know anything about who..."

She stopped, looking down at something as one of her communication systems beeped.  She stared at it for a moment, then swung her paws off the desk, grabbing her armor and heading towards the elevator.

"Bad news, Haru.  Normally, I know that I wouldn't stick you right back to assignment, but we got an  alert that someone's planning on trying to kidnap Sweetie Belle.  C'mon, we gotta haul tail.  I'm coming with, so don't screw up, alright?"

She said, throwing her armor on as she and Haru rushed into the elevator and started to ascend towards the uppermost levels of the Undercity...

______________________________________________________________________

Inside the mine, a solitary Pony crouched out of sight, his cloak blending him into the surrounding rock as he waited for Sweetie Belle...

_____________________________________________________________________

Inside a bar in one of the shadier parts of the undercity, Jin, fomer captain of Luna's guards, sat in the corner, looking over the other patrons as he took another long drink...

[Serris]

(Rarity Mining Industries - Mine #2)

"Fine," Silver said. A silver aura climbed up his horn as he telekinetically summoned an elevator to take him to the excavation area, which incidentially also happened to be a cave, thus necessitating Anne's flight capabilities.

"So Anne, where'd you get your wings?" Silver asked as he waited for the elevator to appear.

The only response he got was the ice blue gaze of Anne's helmet. She was originally an Earth Pony miner who lost all four of her limbs in a brutal assault just outside Pinkamena's nightclub in the so called "Undercity" of Ponyville . Even though she had her limbs replaced, she wanted more, which drove her into the lawless Undercity for illegal augmentations - including her wings and horn. In fact, her artificial forelegs contained razor sharp blades that slid out on command - such weaponized augmentations were highly illegal. Luckily, she had a set of "normal" replacement forelegs for work.  

Silver wisely decided to drop the conversation and wait for the elevator to arrive.

Several minutes later, a chime sounded and the three miners filed into the elevator that would take them to their excavation site.

"Equipment check," Silver said.

"Blasting supplies ready," Anne said, as she scanned the contents of the metal box bolted to her armor. Since she was the strongest, she wore the heaviest armor and was relegated to carrying the explosive charges.

-----------------------

(Nightmare City)

Scootaloo was in second place, just ahead of her was the finish line and her only competitor. Her suit was running very hot and the engines were She juked to avoid some blasts from her competitor's rear firing cannon.

The orange Pegasus dropped in altitude and aimed her cannon upwards. She locked onto her opponent and fired off several shots. Those shots struck home, destroying the suit's control vanes and causing him to spin out of control and crash against the wall.

Scootaloo then shunted all the power to her engines, thundering across the finish line at near supersonic velocity. She flared her cybernetic wings and engaged her repulsorbrakes, slowing her down enough that she could land.

"And the winner is Scootaloo!" the announcer bellowed.

Scootaloo waved an armored hoof at her adoring fans before she trotted off to the staging area to take off her armor and collect her payment.

[MrDrake]

(Mining Industry)

Sweetie Belle in turn, just stayed silent as the other two spoke among themselves.  But the moment they stopped talking, she spoke up "Now, I understand that we're to open up a tunnel today, at least,that's what Rarity told me"she turned to the two ofthem as the elevator reached their level "So, who's job is which again? Cause I did kinda miss out on that part" she added in, witha slight nervous little laugh as well.

Though afterwards, she just sighed a little bit and shook her head a bit "Let's just get to work though, I mean, I do kinda want to get this done kinda quickly....as I have a date afterwards and don't really want to have to put it off....again...." again, Sweetie Belle shook her head as she stepped ontothe elevator first, waiting for the other two to get on.

***

(Outside somewhere)

Dawn in turn, had left the mining industry and instead, was just standing on a cloud.  The thought of what Sweetie Belle had bought up, in regards to what had happened that day, now lingering in her mind somewhat "I wont bring it up with you....cause I don't want to worry you about it...." she spoke to herself "I hate seeing you so worried all the time...."

She then paused in what she was saying to herself "Then again, what you do in that mine....that's dangerous enough as it is....I just wish you didn't have to work in there....if you got injured....." she closed her eyes at that point.

"I'll always love you though Sweetie Belle....always...." Dawn then added in, smiling to herself softly.

[StarfallRaptor]

Haru and Gilda stood in the elevator side by side, looking at the door for a moment, then, without any warning, Gilda simply turned and pinned Haru to the wall, kissing him fiercely and slipping a claw along his chest.  She slowly trailed her claw lower, then, just as abruptly, stopped, and sat back, slowly holding a footpaw up, slowly pressing it against Haru's chest, smirking as she flexed her toes languidly.

"Mmm...Hey, Haru...while we're riding up to where we gotta go...I think my footpaws could use a good cleaning...If you know what I mean..."

She chuckled, trailing her footpaw up to his muzzle slowly...
________________________________________________________________________

Before the elevator could move, or even before the other two ponies could get on board the cloaked pony darted in, grabbing Sweetie Belle in a sleeper hold and slapping a cuff on her horn to prevent her from using magic.  Extending a dagger from his wrist guard, he held it to her throat, staring the other two ponies down.  

"Move.  Or else, she dies.  I'd hate to see you two try to explain that to her sister Rarity..."

He said, slipping past them and making his way down the tunnel towards the exit...

[Serris]

Silver moved aside but Anne flared her metal wings and lowered her head in an aggressive posture.

"Put Sweetie Belle down!" Anne growled. Her voice came through the helmet as a deep growl. Two panels on the side of her armor slid back, revealing two powerful laser borers aimed right at the mysterious pony.

"Anne! It's not worth it!" Silver shouted.

[MrDrake]

(Mining Industry)

"Once....once Dawn finds out what has happened to me....you better pray to Celestia that she doesn't harm you in anyway....cause she will...." Sweetie Belle managed to speak up before feeling herself slipping into unconciousness "She'll...save me...." and with that, she had indeed, fallen into unconciousness.

***

(Outside)

Dawn in turn, turned around from the cloud she was standing on, her metalic wings extending, ready to take off in search of more crimes to stop, unaware of what was now happening within the mines right now, and unaware that Sweetie Belle was in danger at the moment as the pegasus took off, flying over the city, silent all the while.

[StarfallRaptor]

The mysterious pony laughed.  
"She'll try.  She'll try."
He said softly, darting out of the tunnel and racing off...
________________________________________________________________________

The elevator Haru and Gilda were busy in raced to the Undercity's surface, it emerged from a building right in front of Dawn's flight path, the doors hissing open to reveal Gilda with one hindpaw rubbing against Haru's face, the other busily rubbing against his groin...

[Serris]

Anne flared her wings and sped after the mysterious pony. Once she reached the outside of the mine, her laser borers fired powerful pulses at the kidnapper.

---------------

Silver sighed and trudged back to the staging area where he took off his exoskeleton.

He then walked out into the clear day and headed to the office.

[MrDrake]

Dawn wasn't exactly paying attention, her mind still on Sweetie Belle at the moment before her thoughts were snapped out as she skidded to a hault in midflight as an elevator shot up in front of her, opening up to reveal a stranger and....her.

Dawn just floated there for a few seconds as she just looked at Gilda in particular, not really taking in what she and the stranger were doing before she shook her head as she flew upwards, as if she was trying to not let Gilda see her again.

Not after being gone for so long at least as the pegasus landed upon a nearby cloud again, not too far from where the elevator was.  Dawn just didn't really want Gilda to see her again, not in the state that she was in.

It already took her a bit of time to get Sweetie Belle to notice her again after that day.  And now, there was Gilda to deal with as she just stood there, back turned to the elevator, trying to ignore it in general...

[StarfallRaptor]

Gilda had glanced over when she heard the doors open, having seen somepony she thought she recognized.  She let out a sigh as Haru bucked his hips against her footpaw, covering it in his spunk, then looked at him.
"Haru, get cleaned up and head out.  By now, I'm guessing whoever was sent after Sweetie Belle has her.  Try to find her, and radio me when you do."
She said, getting up and stepping out of the elevator.  Haru looked at her, his mask and hood floating back up to cover his face.
"Understood.  Gilda...what're you going to do?"
He asked, his voice once again masked by his gear.  Gilda shook her head.  
"Just...I think I saw a ghost.  I gotta look into it.  I'll keep in contact.  Now go!"
She said, flaring her wings and taking off in the direction Dawn had gone.  Not too long after she took flight, she spotted the cloud where Dawn was, and landed on it.
"Hey.  Who the heck are you?  Because you look one hell of a lot like somepony...very important to me."
She asked...

____________________________________________________________________________________________________

The kidnapper Pony looked back, and, seeing Anne, tapped a device on his rear hoof, cloaking out and disappearing from view, Sweetie Belle in tow...