Birth of the Data-Knights

by Arguyus

Chapter 3: Plan in Motion

(Disclaimer: I do not own any copyrighted material you will encounter in this or any other story.)

(AN: And now they are starting to plan the space ship.)

Canterlot Castle: A building made of tall, white marble towers. This normally busy locale was alive with more activity than normal. The reason for all this activity? The arrival of the two Keyblade wielders, and the planning of a space faring ship to evacuate the planet.

Speaking of the Keybladers, one of them was just coming out of his room.

"What took you so long, Steve?" David asked his friend.

Stephen looked at his friend, "I just want to look presentable. Besides, we will still get there before the planning session starts."

David just shook his head, "Barely."

"Let's get going." Stephen said as he rolled his eyes.

Celestia and Luna were in what would normally be the War Room, which would normally be empty. Now however, it was filled with many of the greatest scientific minds and most successful air-ship builders in Equestria, including Twilight Sparkle. Most of them were conversing quietly with one another; all of them were awaiting the arrival of the two 'humans', as they called themselves.
The doors to the room opened with a flourish to reveal two bipedal beings that looked like hairless apes.

"I see you like to make 'dramatic entrances.'" Luna stated with a flat expression.

Stephen just shrugged, "A little, but I think it's best if we get onto the topic that we're all here for."

This statement was met with a chorus of agreement from the assembled ponies.

"So, to begin with, we need to determine just how many passengers each one of these ships will carry. Personally, I think we should try for at least ten thousand per ship." The boy said, thereby commencing the planning session.

"How can we possibly make an aerodynamic ship that big?" One of the air-ship builders asked.

Stephen just looked blankly at the pony for a moment before answering, "There isn't any air in space, it's a complete vacuum."

Luna facehooved, "Do most ponies not know that basic fact?"

The meeting had gone on for a few hours before they decided to break for lunch. They had decided on the basic shape of the ship: a rectangular ship with one large main engine on each side and a large bridge structure with a design similar to that of the engines. The next step was to plan out the internal systems.

Celestia, Luna, Twilight, David, and Stephen were sitting at the table in the main banquet hall of the palace. There wasn't any conversation at the table.

"Is something wrong, Stephen?" Twilight inquired, breaking the silence.

The human in question looked up from his plate and turned toward the mare, "Huh? Oh… nothing is wrong, just thinking."

"May we inquire what you are thinking about?" Luna asked from her place at the table.

"Well, the generator is the most important internal component of the ship. I have a basic idea of what it should look like and how it would work, but we need to think about how exactly it is going to work." He told them as he took out a pen, and began to doodle on a napkin.

"The basic idea I have is a motor that spins independently rotating arms at high speeds inside of a track that collects the energy and sends it to all of the ship's systems, but I don't know how exactly to make this generate energy."

The others at the table thought about this. He had a point about the generator being the most important part.

Twilight suddenly perked up, "How about crystals with a 'kinetic energy to electric energy field' enchantment on them?"

"Say what now?"

"It is most commonly known as a 'speedometer enchantment', as that is what it is most commonly used for, speedometers. The spell makes it so that when the object it is used on is exposed to kinetic energy, it generates a field of electric energy. The more kinetic energy, the more powerful the energy field." The lavender mare explained.

"That's exactly what we need! That's just brilliant, Twilight!" Stephen exclaimed, with a big smile on his face.

Twilight smiled modestly as a light blush came to her cheeks.

"It is good to see that we have solved what could have been a major problem. Now, let us finish our lunch." Celestia said with a soft smile on her face.

The planning went on for few hours more. The team had almost finished the blueprints when…

"Your majesties! Strange black creatures are attacking the town square!" A guard yelled as he burst through the door.

David looked up from the table with a start, "Did they have a heart shaped emblem on their body?"

"Y-Yes, they did!" The guard confirmed.

"We need to get down there, now!" Stephen yelled, rising from his place.

Twilight trotted over to the boys, "I can teleport both of you there. Just hold on to me!"

Both boys put a hand on her shoulder. Then, with a flash of bright purple light, the three of them found themselves in town square. The screams of the town's ponies turned their attention to where the trouble was.

And there they were, Heartless. Shadows, and Heartless that were more humanoid in appearance with sharp red claws, a blue body, a Heartless emblem on their chest, and a silver, jaw-like helmet.

Stephen took command of the situation, summoning his Keyblade as he did so, "We've got Shadows and Soldiers! David, press the attack; Twilight, you organize the civilians; I'll try to keep them from getting to close to them!"

David nodded and called upon his own Keyblade and shield, then he ran towards the group of dark beings. Stephen was about to take up a guard position, but he stopped when he saw the Heartless split into two groups, one attacking David and the other running straight at him.

"Change of plans. They seem to want to fight just us, David!" Stephen shouted as he activated his shield, and readied himself for battle.

He thrust his blade forward and impaled a Soldier through its emblem, causing it to disintegrate into black smoke and a glowing heart. Leaping forward, another Soldier succeeded in clawing his left shoulder. He jumped back, hissing in pain, and looked over to see how David was faring.

David was doing much better, his large Keyblade giving him an advantage. Not to mention the fact that he had a more normal Keyblade as compared to Stephen's car key shaped one. Stephen swung his blade and took out two Shadows before he was forced to block a claw swipe from a Soldier.

"David! I could use an assist!" He yelled to his friend, as the Heartless began forcing him back.

Hearing his cry, David began bashing through the Heartless, using his shield as a battering ram. 'This is taking too long', he thought to himself. Suddenly an idea struck him, and, changing his grip on his Keyblade, he sent in flying horizontally in a Strike Raid attack. He was met with partial success; whereas it did destroy a large amount of Heartless, his blade didn't come flying back to him, as he expected it would.

Stephen dispatched the last two Soldiers with a slash, leaving just five Shadows. Summoning his Keyblade, David destroyed four of them with two swift strokes. The last one made a portal of darkness and escaped.

"I take it that those are the Heartless which you told us about?" Celestia asked as she walked into the square.

"Those were just a scouting party, and it only consisted of two of the weakest varieties of Heartless." Stephen told her as he put a hand over his injury.

"They didn't seem that strong to me." Luna stated with a flat look.

David turned to face her, "It's not strength that is on their side, it's numbers. Not to mention that they can reform if they are dispersed by any weapon other than a Keyblade."

"But the fact that they were here can only mean one thing: we're running out of time." Stephen said, an ominous tone in his voice.

The room was filled with near-complete darkness, the only light being a small shaft that came in through a hole in the ceiling. A dark throne rested just out of the illumination of the light, allowing one to just barely see the silhouette of the one that sat there. The being's glowing yellow irises were the only thing that allowed one to know where its eyes were.

A dark portal opened to let a Shadow enter the room, speaking to the dark being by telepathy upon doing so, "My lord, we have found that the world you sent us to is one of the kind of worlds you seek."

The figure leaned forward slightly, "Well done, little one. We are now one world closer to my goal."

"But master, there are Keyblade wielders there, the ones from Earth Delta." The Shadow informed the figure.

"Is that so... I was hoping that I wouldn't have to deal with any for at least two more months. Oh well." The figure said, in a uncaring voice.

The Shadow hobbled a little closer, "But what if they find the Keyhole?"

The being laughed, "I already know where that world's Keyhole is. I'll assemble the troops. Wait for my order to attack."

The Shadow bowed and left the room via a dark portal. The being then took out a painting of a woman. He looked at it as he stroked the image's hair with his thumb.

"Don't worry, my love, we shall be together again soon, so very soon."