//------------------------------// // CHAPTER 17 // Story: A Thousand Voices // by SpartanD014 //------------------------------// CHAPTER 17 "We oppose the Heretics. We oppose the Old Machines." Twilight Sparkle stood next to Princess Cadance on the edge of the loading docks, watching as four chariots drew ever closer to the mountain castle. They had been spotted by scouts not too long before, and the two princesses had been informed immediately. Standing behind Twilight were several medical teams, all of them ready to provide relief to the ponies in the chariots. There were few available, however, as most were still focused on repairing the damage to Princess Luna. Twilight was worried. Luna had been in surgery for almost eight hours, and still the doctors were having trouble fixing her completely. The hypothermia had been easy enough to tackle, and the smaller fragments of debris were all removed, but the large piece had caused more damage than they had initially seen. The original scans of Luna’s body had revealed that the debris had punctured her right lung and was causing severe breathing issues. To counter this, she had been hooked up to an external oxygen supply while the surgeons did their work. They had believed that that would be the end of the difficulties, and the debris could be extracted with little to no further damage. However, this had been proven wrong when a second scan revealed that several large fragments from a broken rib had fallen and caused further internal bleeding away from the large debris. Because nothing was restricting the flow of blood in the new wounded area, the surgeons had to postpone removing the debris to deal with it. Twilight gulped nervously as the chariots grew ever closer. Everything was falling apart; the collector ship, the one place where they could hope to gain more information on the virus, was destroyed. Princess Luna, the one princess they had with the power to raise the sun and moon easily, was incapacitated. The sun was due to rise in under two hours, and Twilight didn’t know if she had it in her. If she had to keep it up for much longer, she would kill herself from magical exhaustion. That was not something she wanted to risk. As the chariots landed in the docks of the castle, Twilight pushed her current concerns out of her mind to focus on the new arrivals. Out of two of the chariots jumped the doctors who remained behind. They immediately moved to the other two, which were filled with the motionless bodies of ponies. Twilight, Cadance, and the doctors with them trotted up to the chariots to provide assistance. As they drew near, one doctor broke from the rest and approached the princesses. “Princess Twilight, Princess Cadance,” she greeted, bowing. “I thank you for meeting us here.” “Think nothing of it,” Twilight said, smiling. “How many survived?” The doctor sighed and looked at the ground. “… Eight,” she said sadly. “All we could find were eight. Of those eight, three are in critical condition. We need to get them medical attention immediately.” “Understood,” Twilight said, nodding. “And Healthy Heart? Did she… make it?” The doctor shook her head. “I’m sorry, your highness,” she said. “We could not find her. We think she was among those ponies who were… who were too badly burnt to recognize.” At this news, Twilight’s face fell. She did not know Healthy Heart well, but her expertise in dealing with the disease would have come in handy. That, and Twilight never liked hearing about deaths. “I understand,” the princess said. “Take these ponies to the royal hospital immediately, get them treatment. We need to find out exactly what happened before the explosion.” “Yes, highness,” the doctor said. She stepped away from Twilight and barked orders to the other doctors, directing them to take the injured inside. Twilight fell to her flank and sighed, feeling nothing but defeat. Cadance walked up behind her and put a comforting hoof on her shoulder. “It’ll be alright, Twilight,” she said. “You’re not alone in this. I’m here, your friends are here, and Auntie Luna will be better in no time, I just know it.” Twilight forced a smile and stood up, turning to face Cadance. “Thanks, Cadance,” she said quietly. “We should probably go inside. There’s a lot of work to do, and we need to start saving up energy for the sun…” Nodding, Twilight followed Cadance back into the castle, shutting the door behind her. Chrysalis entered the main laboratory of the collectors and sat down on the cold stone floor, gulping with anxiety. Before she even had a chance to think about what the collectors could want from her, the captain himself entered and stood across from her. Nervously, Chrysalis tilted her gaze upwards and looked the captain in his eyes, waiting for him to speak. “It is time to continue with the plan,” he said. “All of the smaller towns of Equestria have been infected. All that remains are Fillydelphia, Manehattan, the Crystal Empire, and Canterlot.” “They are much larger than the previous towns we have infected,” Chrysalis said. “Manehattan is home to over one million ponies, and Canterlot is incredibly well defended. We must be careful.” “I agree,” the captain said. “That is why you are going to send out several scouting teams. They will operate covertly in each target city for a week, finding any sort of weakness that we can use to introduce the nanovirus to the populations. While they are working, I will continue to refine the virus and see if I can increase the rate at which it spreads. Time is not on our side, Chrysalis. We must move quickly.” “Very well,” the queen said. “I will prepare the teams personally.” “One more thing,” the captain said before Chrysalis could turn and leave. “Send a small team to the crash site to examine the aftermath of the explosion. Make sure that nobody survived.” “Are you sure that is worth it?” Chrysalis asked. “From what you tell me the explosion was massive. I highly doubt anypony survived.” “We must be certain,” the collector replied. “Now go. I will work here.” Nodding, Chrysalis backed away and exited the laboratory, re-entering the tunnel beyond. The infiltration teams would be composed of her best changelings, ones who had never failed her before. Unfortunately, there were very few who remained alive. The team going to the remains of the crash site would not have to be too important. In fact, she knew just who to send… Erebus sighed as he trudged through the snowy wastes that were the arctic north of Equis. The two changelings following behind him shared in his annoyance at being sent up here to make sure that something exploded properly. Of course, Erebus was not surprised that he had been chosen to do such a boring and menial task. Ever since he had disappointed the queen, it had seemed that she was searching for some pointless job to send him on. “Curse you, Erebus,” one of the changelings behind him said. “If you hadn’t overfed on those prisoners then we wouldn’t have been sent up here!” Erebus sighed and turned his head to face the offending changeling, while continuing to walk forward. “You had just as large a part in that as I, Nyx,” he said. “And let’s not forget whose bright idea it was to go feed without permission. You’re lucky you didn’t get us killed!” “Shut up!” the third, whose name was Dolos, shouted. “This job is going to take twice as long if you two keep bickering! Now quiet down, we’re almost there…” Erebus and Nyx did not respond, though they did shoot angry stares at one another. The crash site was still at least an hour away, and the temperature outside was still dropping. The sun wouldn’t be up until they reached the crash site, and that would do little to warm the arctic environment. It was a good thing that changelings did not require warmth to stay alive, or they would have frozen to death long ago. As Erebus walked along, his chitinous hoof stepped on something that was definitely not snow. It lacked the crunchy quality that they had become accustomed to on their walk, and felt almost warm. Erebus paused, causing his two companions to stare at him quizzically. “Erebus, what are you doing?” Dolos asked. “Let’s get a move on.” “Hold one…” Erebus said slowly, squinting his eyes to see. He moved his hoof away from where he had stepped, and sure enough, the surface was not white. Instead it was a light blue color, and Erebus swore he could see fur on it. His eyes widening in surprise, Erebus fell to the ground and began digging around the spot where he had stepped. A few moments later, the back half of a pony body had been uncovered. “Help me out, here!” he called to his companions. They both rushed over to him and started to help dig. In no time at all, the body of a pony had been uncovered. It was a female, with a pale blue coat and a very light mane. Her cutie mark was a heart monitor, which was just visible beneath a white lab coat. Printed on the front of the charred coat was ‘Healthy Heart, CMO’. “Is she dead?” Nyx asked. Erebus put a hoof to the pony’s throat and, surprisingly, felt a very weak heartbeat. “Almost,” he replied. “I think the fact that she was buried may have actually kept her a bit warmer in these temperatures.” “How did she get this far from the crash site?” Dolos asked. “Dunno…” Erebus said. “She’s a unicorn, she could’ve teleported. Huh… ‘CMO’.” “What’s that stand for?” Erebus cycled through the possible meanings of CMO in his head. He also tried thinking of the name ‘Healthy Heart’. Where had he heard that before? “… Wait…” he said. Suddenly his eyes shot open in realization. The surprise soon turned to excitement as he realized just who they had found. “Do you know who this is!?” Nyx and Dolos both shook their heads, and Erebus sighed as he prepared to explain. “Remember those doctors who were sent to Westrock to try and cure the nanovirus?” he asked. His two companions nodded this time. “She’s the one in charge! CMO is ‘Chief Medical Officer’!” “Oh…” Dolos said quietly in shock. “Wow…” Nyx whispered. “We need to get her back to the hive! Who knows what kinds of answers she has!” Dolos nodded in agreement, then picked up the mare and placed her on his back. They were about to start walking back when Erebus held up a hoof. “Wait, guys,” he said, confusing his companions. “I have an idea…” Twilight Sparkle collapsed down onto her bed, trying to ignore the headache that was getting worse with each passing moment. Only minutes ago she and Cadance had raised the sun, which had taken even more energy out of the two than the moon had. Sighing, Twilight knew that she was not going to be able to keep this up forever. Spike crossed the room, hopped up onto the bed, and placed a comforting hand on Twilight’s shoulder. “Nice job with the sun, Twilight,” he said. Twilight did not reply. “Is there anything I can do for you?” “Yes…” Twilight said weakly. “I need food that is high in sugar, or anything that can give me energy… And coffee. Lots of coffee.” “Right,” Spike said, hopping off of the bed. “I’ll go get something for you.” Suddenly, a knock sounded on the door. Twilight lifted her head to see who had come to visit while Spike approached the door and pulled it open, revealing a royal guard standing in the frame. “Your highness,” he said, bowing. “A message has come for you from Prince Armor in the Crystal Empire.” Now far more alert, Twilight hopped off of her bed and weakly approached the guard, who had a scroll floating in his telekinetic grasp. “Thank you,” she said. “Please give it to Spike here.” The guard did as he was told and lowered the scroll down to Spike, who plucked it out of the air once it was in reach. The guard bowed again, and began walking down the hallway. Spike closed the door after him, and unfurled the scroll. “Dear Twilight,” he started. “Cadance wrote to me about the situation with the collector ship. I understand that very few survived, though we are very lucky that Luna is among them. However, it would seem that one more survived who you did not find. Celestia’s Chief Medical Officer, Healthy Heart, arrived here only minutes ago. She was freezing and in bad shape, but we took her in and she explained everything to us. I’m just writing to let you know that she is on her way to Canterlot in a chariot being led by my fastest pegasi, and will arrive shortly. Your BBBFF, Shining Armor.” Spike lowered the scroll, and looked up to Twilight, who was now smiling happily. “That’s great news,” she said. “Now we finally have somepony who may be able to shed some light on what happened.” Twilight maneuvered back to her bed and crawled under the covers. “But for now, I need rest.” “I’ll go get you some energy food,” Spike said, opening the door. “Thank you, Spike. Don’t forget the coffee.” The door closed as Spike exited the room, leaving Twilight alone. She closed her exhausted eyes and only a few moments later, she was asleep. Erebus, or rather, Healthy Heart, sat in the back of a royal chariot on its way to Canterlot. Even though he was trying to play the part of an exhausted and injured mare, he was unable to contain all of his excitement at his plan. Healthy Heart was one of the most important ponies in the whole virus issue, so who knows what kind of information Erebus would be able to uncover? Erebus’s stomach dropped as the chariot began to descend beneath the clouds, and a few moments later the changeling found himself right over the grand city of Canterlot. He struggled to maintain a neutral expression, but inside he felt a slight amount of anger. The last time Erebus had been to Canterlot was their attempted invasion one year ago. He had been one of the few changelings who survived being thrown back beyond the border, and for that he still felt a bit of resentment. The chariot descended further before it came to a halt in the large courtyard just outside of the castle. Standing in the courtyard were a tired looking Princess Twilight and Cadance. Erebus briefly glared angrily at Cadance, before he remembered who he was supposed to be, and resumed his fatigued expression. Once the chariot was at a full stop, Erebus stood and weakly jumped out, doing his best to appear exhausted. The two princesses quickly trotted up to him, looking both concerned and relieved. “Ms. Heart!” Twilight said happily. “You do not know how glad we are that you survived. When the chariots got back and you were not with them…” “Thank you, your highness,” Erebus said, though the voice that came out was not his. It was softer, less raspy, and a much higher pitch. “I’m… still not quite sure what happened myself, but it is good to be back.” “Please,” Cadance began. “Come inside. You must be starving.” Nodding, Erebus followed the two princesses inside. They led him through the tall corridors of Canterlot castle to a small lounge room not far from the main entrance. Inside were several bowls of fruit, which Erebus looked at, feeling unimpressed. Regular pony food did not do much to satisfy the appetite of a changeling. It provided a moment’s satisfaction, but in the long run, if a changeling did not feed on emotion, he would die. “Please, sit,” Twilight said, directing Erebus to a chair. He did as he was told and sat down in the comfortable chair, while the two princesses sat next to one another on a couch across from him. “I’m sure you have a lot of questions,” Twilight said. “We do too. Would you like to go first?” “I’m not too sure how good I will be at answering your questions…” Erebus said, trying to come up with an excuse. “It’s all a bit foggy…” “That’s perfectly fine,” said Cadance. “You can go first, then.” Clearing his throat, Erebus began to think of questions to ask. He did not want to go all out and ask, “What are your long-term plans for dealing with the changelings?” To do so would give away his position rather obviously. No, he needed to start smaller… “… How many ponies survived?” he asked. “Nine,” Twilight answered. “None of the engineering team made it, they’re all from your staff. We’re very lucky that Princess Luna is among the survivors.” Luna? Erebus thought. She was there too? “The princess made it!?” Erebus yelled, feigning excitement. “Oh, thank Celestia…” “Yes, she was in very bad shape when Twilight and Legion found her,” Cadance began. “She’s been in surgery for nearly ten hours now, and it’s not looking like she’ll be out for at least another five. Then there’s the recovery period…” Erebus nodded, adding all of the new information to his mental list. Luna was critically injured, and he assumed that ‘Legion’ was the name of the machine they had been warned about. “Were you able to determine exactly what happened?” he asked, directed to Twilight. Twilight shook her head in response. “Not exactly, we were kind of hoping you could tell us,” she answered. “Legion detected the explosion from here, and when we went up there the ship was… gone. There was a huge hole in the ground, and debris everywhere. We have no idea what triggered the explosion. What’s the last thing you remember?” Gulping, Erebus struggled to come up with something to say. To buy himself time, he scrunched his brow to make it appear as if he was having trouble recalling the memory. While the princesses waited, Erebus mentally put together all of the information he had gotten so far. If there were survivors, then that meant they would have had to have been outside when the ship exploded. The only reason that they would have been outside is if they had some sort of indicator that something bad was going to happen. “We…” Erebus began. “We were in the ship, talking about the virus, when suddenly Princess Luna just… tensed up. She said that she had a bad feeling, and that we should leave. She seemed urgent, so I didn’t argue anything. When we had gotten a few hundred meters away from the ship, it just… blew up. I didn’t know what to do, so I just teleported away. When I woke up, I was miles away, so I started walking and ended up in the Crystal Empire.” The story seemed to satisfy the two princesses, who nodded as he finished it. “Well, you’re probably exhausted, so we’ll let you get some sleep,” Cadance said. “But we want to keep you here for the next couple of days, just in case something comes up. By now there should be a guard outside. Follow him, he’ll take you to your guest room.” “Yes, your highness,” Erebus said, standing up from his chair. He turned and began to exit the room, smiling deviously as he did. He dropped the smile when he opened the door and was met with a guard waiting patiently outside. “Follow me, ma’am,” he said. “I’ll take you to your guest quarters immediately.” Erebus nodded and followed the guard down several more hallways until they came to an exceptionally long corridor lined with doors. Above each door was a golden number, with even numbers on the right and odd numbers on the left. Erebus was led to one of the odd-numbered doors, which was opened for him, revealing a lush bedroom beyond. “If you need anything, there are usually guards patrolling this section, ma’am,” his escort said. “Just let one of us know.” “Thank you,” Erebus said, stepping into the room. As soon as the door closed behind him, Erebus dropped the disguise and lit his bent horn, mentally contacting Queen Chrysalis. Erebus! Where are you!? Your excellency, I’m in Canterlot. What!? How did you get there? On the way to the crash site we found the body of Healthy Heart, Celestia’s chief medical officer. Dolos is bringing her back to the hive as we speak, while Nyx continued on to the crash site. I took her form and came here. … Do they suspect you? No, excellency. They do not suspect a thing. And I have discovered something of great value. Well, out with it! Princess Luna was at the crash site when it exploded. She is in critical condition, and is undergoing surgery as we speak. … Your excellency? That is excellent news, Erebus. Well done. Thank you, excellency. Keep it up, but do not linger for long. Find what you can, and come back to the hive. Yes, excellency. Erebus cut off the flow of magic from his horn and disconnected from the mind of Chrysalis. He was still alone in his room, but he wasted no time in returning to the form of Healthy Heart. Now all he had to do was retrieve information without appearing too conspicuous. To Erebus, the best way to do that would simply be to act natural and not try to rush anything. Right now the princesses were expecting him to be resting, so that is just what he was going to do. He had been doing a fair bit of walking, and exhaustion was something that he felt. Yawning, Erebus crawled into the luxurious bed and pulled the sheets over him, then closed his eyes to rest. The spell that made him look and sound like Healthy Heart would persist even while he was not conscious, so Erebus had no fears about sleeping in the presence of the ponies. Setting a quick spell to wake him up in a few hours, Erebus allowed the comforting sensation of sleep to wash over him… Legion stood in the observation room of the Canterlot royal hospital, looking down upon the still form of Princess Luna. The only part of her that was visible was her head; the rest of her body had been covered by several sheets, with a small square over her chest so that the doctors could operate. They were busily working on extracting the large piece of debris now that the internal bleeding caused by her rib fragments had been patched up, but it was slow work. There was still no guarantee that the princess would even survive, given how much trauma her body had endured. Legion was remaining nearby in case any of the doctors decided to come to it for advice. So far none had, but Legion did have knowledge that, should the need arise, could be very useful. As it watched the operation take place, Legion occasionally glanced to a small heart monitor set against the far wall. It was not a traditional heart monitor like the ones used by organics on the Citadel, as it did not rely on any sort of electricity. Rather, the heart monitor was quite literally an apparition of Luna’s heart, conjured up by one of the doctors. It showed a real-time feed of the beat patterns of the heart, while a small number beneath it displayed the beats per minute. Occasionally the apparition would slow to a crawl as Luna’s heart threatened to fail, and sometimes it would begin beating rapidly. Whenever one of the two events happened, the doctors would step back and allow the beating to return to normal before continuing the procedure. Overall, Legion found itself surprised at the medical knowledge that the ponies possessed. Given their technology level, Legion expected them to be careless, and rely more on home remedies rather than proper medical procedures. They had proven to be anything but, as the procedures that the doctors followed were quite similar to those of doctors on the Citadel. Still, they were not without their shortcomings. They relied far too much on magic to heal wounds, and Twilight Sparkle had already told it that magic could not fix everything. In almost all cases, wounds had to heal naturally, magic could only aid in the process. It was for this reason that Legion found itself almost worried that Luna would not survive. As it continued to watch the procedure, the door to the observation room opened and Twilight Sparkle stepped in. She maneuvered over to the geth and stood next to it, silently watching as the doctors continued their work. “… I just spoke with one of the doctors,” she finally said after a long silence. “They’ve done what they can with the debris still inside her. They’re going to try removing it now, then they’ll see what the damage looks like.” “Acknowledged,” Legion said. Just as Twilight had said, Legion saw the large piece of debris become encompassed in a pale orange glow as one of the unicorn doctors gripped it in his telekinesis, then slowly it began to wiggle free of Luna’s chest. Several more doctors were standing by to immediately deal with the bleeding that was more than likely going to occur. To an organic, the process of removing the debris would have been painful to watch. It was slow and methodical, and Legion could detect the anxiety emanating from Twilight standing next to it. Finally, after several minutes of pulling, the doctor fully extracted the debris from Luna’s chest. Immediately after, a large amount of blood began to leak out, which the other doctors got to work on stopping. Twilight let out a sigh of relief as Luna’s heart monitor remained normal. Once the bleeding was stopped, the doctors approached Luna’s still form and peered into the large hole dominating her chest, some of them lighting their horns to illuminate her dark chest cavity. A moment later they all stepped back, and the small square that left Luna’s chest exposed was covered with a piece of paper. Confused, Twilight squinted her eyes and watched as one doctor left the operating room. “What are they doing?” she asked. “Why aren’t they getting to work?” A second later the door to the observation room opened, and the doctor who had left the operating room stepped inside. Twilight and Legion turned around to face him as he approached the two viewers. “Princess Twilight,” he said, bowing his head. “It’s… good to see you here.” “What’s the situation?” Twilight asked nervously. “Why aren’t you healing her?” “… We can’t,” the doctor said. “The damage… it’s just too extensive. The fact that she’s even still alive now is baffling to me.” “Is there no hope?” Twilight asked, tears beginning to appear beneath her eyes. The doctor put a comforting hoof on her shoulder. “I’m sorry,” he said. “It’s just beyond the ability to magic to heal. We can make her comfortable, but as for the wound itself… There’s nothing we can do.” “Wait,” Legion said, drawing the attention of the doctor and Twilight. “We would like to examine the wound.” Confused, the doctor turned to look at Twilight. “It’s your call, princess,” he said. “… Y-yes, of course,” Twilight said weakly. “Go right ahead, Legion.” Nodding, the geth quickly exited the observation room, turned down the hallway, and entered the operating room. The other doctors seemed a bit surprised to see the geth, but did nothing to keep it from approaching the princess. Legion stood over her still form, then removed the paper covering her chest and looked inside. As their scans had shown, the damage was quite extensive. Her right lung had been totally punctured by the debris, and Legion still saw a few fragments of the metal present inside of her. Many of her ribs had been broken, but that seemed not to be that big of a problem compared to the main source of damage. From where it was standing, Legion could barely see parts of Luna’s spine through other damaged areas. What it did see, however, was not promising. The few visible vertebrae were chipped, bent, and twisted in several different directions. Legion was a bit surprised that it had not been picked up by the first few magic scans, but they had been focused more on Luna’s front side, rather than her back. Even without the scans, Legion could tell it was bad. Her spinal cord would no doubt have taken extensive damage, both from the debris and the force of the explosion itself. Legion now understood why the pony’s magic would be ineffective. Stepping away, Legion placed the paper back over the wound and exited the room, heading back to the observation room. As it made the short walk, the programs within the platform began to cycle through the possible procedures it could use to help Luna. There were numerous methods, but all of the ones that were guaranteed to work required medical technology that Legion did not have access to. As soon as Legion re-entered the observation room, Twilight Sparkle ran up to it, looking the geth eagerly in the eye. “The doctor filled me in while you were down there,” she said. “Is there anything you can do?” “… Perhaps,” Legion answered. “Most techniques require specific pieces of medical technology. We have eliminated those options, and are currently cycling through the few in existence that do not require advanced pieces of medical technology.” “If there is anything at all you can do, please let me know,” the doctor said. He stepped past the geth and exited the room, reappearing a moment later in the operating room, and began speaking to the other doctors. “Any ideas?” Twilight asked. “Please… Any ideas you have, I’ll make happen.” Legion did not respond. Instead it continued cycling through the list of possible solutions, eliminating them as they were determined impossible given the circumstances. The list quickly got shorter and shorter until Legion was down to one single option. “There is but one thing we can do,” it said. “But it will not be easy.” Twilight nodded, urging the geth to go on. “The organics have a substance known as medi-gel,” Legion began. “It is an incredibly versatile medicinal salve that can be used to heal all wounds, no matter how large.” “And you have some!?” Twilight asked urgently. Her moment of excitement was shattered as Legion shook its head. “No,” it said. “Medi-gel only functions on organics. Geth do not use it. However, we believe that the collectors may have some in their possession.” “How do you know that?” the lavender alicorn asked curiously. “While speaking with Princess Celestia, we noticed that the wound across her throat had been healed by it,” Legion replied. “If we can obtain enough, we should be able to heal Princess Luna’s wounds.” “Then all you have to do is go back to the hive and find some!” Twilight said excitedly. “Shouldn’t be too difficult, given your invisibility.” Legion patiently held up a hand and drew the attention of the excited mare. “That is not all,” it began. “While medi-gel is very versatile, much like your magic, it does have its limitations. While we can effectively seal her wounds and use the medi-gel to heal them, it cannot fix everything that is wrong with her. For this, we require omni-gel. “Omni-gel is a material obtained by the breaking down of pre-existing items to a semi-molten state. Once in this state, it can be reshaped for a number of purposes, including hacking of electronics and production of items. If we convert some of the unneeded tools in our ship to omni-gel, we can use it to fashion some medical devices such as a spinal brace, and even basic cybernetics to keep Luna operational.” “So the omni-gel, combined with the medi-gel, can bring Luna back to health?” Twilight asked, hopeful. “We believe so,” Legion said. “But, as we stated previously, it will not be easy, and Princess Luna is running out of time. We will give you a basic run-down of how to use omni-gel to create the components required. Once you have gotten to work, we will return to the changeling hive to procure medi-gel.” “How long will this take?” Twilight inquired, stepping to the observation room window to look at the unconscious Luna. “The omni-gel works quickly. You will simply require a knowledge of how to use it,” Legion replied. “The hive will be different. We will take an orbital route once again to get to the hives quicker, but once inside, we do not know how long it will take to find medi-gel. There are no scanners we possess that can find sources of it, and even if we did, the collectors may have used the last of theirs on Princess Celestia. There are many unknowns.” Legion turned and began to leave the observation room. Twilight quickly turned around and followed it out into the hallway beneath them. “We will search for twelve hours in the hive,” it continued. “If we do not find any by then, we likely are not going to. If we do not return after eighteen hours… Assume our capture or destruction.” Gulping, Twilight nodded and followed the geth out of the royal hospital and back into the castle. “We will quickly teach you how to use the omni-gel. This way, please.” Legion turned down one of the many corridors and began heading back to the loading docks where its ship was still landed. Twilight trotted behind him, staying silent the whole way there… Erebus awoke from his nap with a renewed vigor that he would need to complete his mission. Quickly checking to make sure his disguise was still in place, Erebus hopped out of his bed and walked over to the door, then stepped outside. The immediate hallway was barren, though there were a few pony guards on patrol near the end. Erebus decided to avoid taking that route, and instead turned in the other direction and began walking. Healthy Heart had a fairly high-up position in the Equestrian government, and as chief medical officer she would have access to a fair number of documents that the common pony would never see. His excitement growing, Erebus began moving at a quickened pace down the hallway, looking for any sort of signage that could direct him to the medical wing of the palace. After several minutes of walking, however, it became evident that no such signage existed. The hallways were lacking in any sort of directions or maps, but Erebus couldn’t complain. It wasn’t nearly as bad as the labyrinthine tunnels of the changeling hive. For now he was simply going to have to wander until he found it. The palace was huge, but its size paled in comparison to the hive. How long could it take? Very long, apparently. After an hour of walking with no luck in finding the medical wing, Erebus was resigned to simply give up and ask a guard. But he knew at the back of his mind that he could never do that, as asking a guard where his own office was would send up dozens of red flags. Erebus sighed, exasperated, and continued plodding down the long, grandiose corridors of the castle, hoping that luck would come and visit him. His wishes were heard as he turned down a smaller hallway and came right to a door with a sign labelled ‘Canterlot Castle Medical Wing – Staff Only’. Smiling at his luck, Erebus pushed the door open and stepped through, finding himself in a long hallway. Compared to the hallways of the castle, this one felt quite restricting. It maintained the bright coloration and kept the plush carpeted floor, but the ceiling and walls were much closer together. Whereas in the hallway outside a dozen ponies could walk abreast, Erebus doubted that more than two ponies could walk side-by-side here. Along the walls were several doors, each of them labelled with a name. Erebus slowly walked down the hall, reading each name while trying to find the office belonging to the owner of his visage. At the very end of the hallway he found it, where on the faded glass of the door was written ‘Healthy Heart – Chief Medical Officer’. Smiling yet again, Erebus pushed the door opened and stepped into the cramped office, taking in the room. It was smaller than he had expected, given Heart’s position, and she clearly took advantage of every square inch of space. Along the two walls adjacent to the door were sets of filing cabinets, some of the drawers overflowing with documents. Pushed to the back of the room was a rich oak desk with a comfortable looking chair behind it, and on the desk were even more haphazardly-stacked documents. On the back wall were several framed certificates and diplomas which no doubt had some influence in Heart getting her job here. Erebus trotted to the desk and took a seat in the thick, padded chair, then immediately started searching the desk drawers. The top few drawers had nothing more than blank pieces of parchment, quills, and inkwells in them, but in the very bottom drawer Erebus found something interesting. It was a metal safe, quite thick by the look of it. On the front was a three-digit combination lock, which caused Erebus’s face to fall. There were three dials, and each dial had ten numbers. That gave him 1000 possible combinations to try. In other words, way too many to actually try, unless Heart had set it to something as simple as 123… Curiously, Erebus entered ‘123’ into the combination lock, and was surprised when he heard a click as the lock disengaged. “Wow…” he muttered under his breath. “Good to know that Equestria’s medical secrets are in such capable hooves…” Erebus pulled the safe door open and looked inside, finding several manila folders, each of which was marked with a stamp labelled ‘TOP SECRET’. Quickly, Erebus pulled out the folder on top and opened it, immediately finding what he was looking for. Inside the folder were dozens of documents, each one dealing with the nanovirus that the collectors had developed and the changelings had distributed. The documents detailed what little they knew about the nanovirus, and the failed plans that they had enacted to eradicate it. All in all, the documents were not very revealing. They simply confirmed what the changelings had already expected: the ponies were at a loss on how to cure the disease. “Ahem.” Alarmed, Erebus quickly closed the manila folder and covered it with his hooves, then looked up to address the intruder. Standing in the doorway of Healthy Heart’s office was Princess Cadance, staring curiously at the disguised changeling. Acting natural, Erebus uncovered the folder and looked up to the princess. “Yes, your highness?” he said, forcing himself not to cringe at the flattery he was using. “I was just coming by to check up on you,” Cadance explained, stepping into the office. “I went to your guest room but you were not there, so I assumed that you had come here to get back to work.” “Yes,” Erebus replied. “My nap was nice and all, but I could hardly sleep knowing how much work there was to do. Please, sit!” He pointed to a chair sitting across from him, and Princess Cadance graciously took it. “So, Ms. Heart, what plans do you have for this disease?” she asked. Erebus quickly began to think of something to say to cover up the fact that he had no medical experience whatsoever. “Well…” he began. “Since everything else we have tried has failed, I was going to bounce some ideas off of the geth. Do you know where it is?” “Legion?” Cadance said. “You just missed him, he’s… He’s going back to the changeling hives. Princess Luna is in bad shape. Really bad shape. She’s dying. The surgeons have done all they can, but her injuries were beyond what magic can heal, so Legion is heading to the hives to see if he can find something called ‘medi-gel’.” “I… I see…” Erebus said, trying his best to sound upset. “Is there anything I can do to help?” “I believe that your talents are better put to use thinking up a cure for the nanovirus, Ms. Heart,” Cadance explained. “Twilight is helping Legion by creating some medical components while he’s at the hive. For now, it’s up to them.” “I understand,” said Erebus. “If that’s the case, then I should return to work. There’s a lot to do.” Nodding, Cadance stood and left the small office, closing the door behind her. As soon as the sound of her hoofsteps were gone, Erebus breathed out a sigh of relief. Confident that the coast was clear, Erebus lit his horn and mentally contacted Queen Chrysalis. Erebus. Report. Your excellency, I have more news. Do not tell me when you have news, just tell me the news! Yes, your excellency. First, it is as we expected: the ponies know very little about the nanovirus. Second, Princess Luna is dying. The pony surgeons are unable to cure her of her injuries. That is excellent! You have-- Excellency, that is not all. The geth, Legion, is on its way to return to the hive. It is searching for something called ‘medi-gel’. Thank you. I will inform the captain. You have done quite well, Erebus. But you must do more. Do anything you can to prevent this geth from saving Luna. Should we be unable to stop it from here, it will be up to you. Good luck. The connection was severed and Erebus was once again in the office, the manila folder still in his hooves. Sighing, he leaned back in the chair and began to think of ideas to sabotage Luna’s cure. Princess Cadance had said something about Twilight working on medical components, perhaps disrupting those would yield interesting results. Twilight Sparkle sat in her bedroom, an array of random objects assorted in front of her. She did not know the purpose of most of them, as they had all come from Legion’s ship, but she did know that they could potentially save Princess Luna. To her right was a small rectangular object, the top half of which was made of a semi-translucent orange screen. Legion had called it a ‘tablet’, and through it she could control the omni-gel program. Because Legion had yet to translate the Equestrian written language, he had simply converted the names of all of the functions to pictures. He had then explained how to convert a solid object into omni-gel, and how to instruct the gel to form a new object. It was fairly straightforward, and already a few of the components that she required had been completed. The first component was part of a brace that would be placed along Luna’s bent and twisted spine. It was composed of a small circular piece with two claws on it that were intended to wrap around a damaged vertebrae. She would be creating several of these for each of the damaged vertebrae along Luna’s spine. The second component was an incredibly small computer microchip that would be planted on the base of Luna’s spine. It would control the various functions of the spine braces to make sure that they properly fixed Luna’s spinal cord. There were several other components to help fix her ribs, her lung, and a few other damaged spots, but they were a second priority to the spine braces. Selecting another object from the ones Legion had provided, Twilight pulled it next to the tablet and pressed a button. The object seemed to liquefy as it broke down into a semi-molten state, then reshaped itself into yet another spinal brace as Twilight pressed another button. She continued this process several more times until she had the required amount of spine braces. Finally, just as she was about to move on to the next apparatus, there was a knock at the door. “Come in!” she called to the guest. The door swung open and in the frame stood Princess Cadance. She trotted into Twilight’s room, and the young lavender alicorn stood to greet her sister-in-law. “Hello, Cadance! What brings you here?” “I have news,” Cadance began. “One of the injured ponies from the crash site has just woken up, and I figured that you may want to be there to talk to him.” “Of course!” Twilight said excitedly. “Let’s go!” She followed Cadance out of the room, making sure to close her door tightly behind her. She did not want to risk the safety of the valuable objects within. Once she was certain the door was secure, Twilight began trotting after the princess of love, following her to the hospital… Erebus watched Twilight Sparkle and Cadance leave the bedroom from the bend of another hallway, waiting until they were out of sight before he stepped fully into the corridor. As soon as they were gone he emerged from his hiding spot and quickly trotted to the door of the room they had exited from, then turned the knob and pushed it open, finding the room beyond to be empty. In the middle sat several alien devices, none of which Erebus recognized. It was clear that Princess Twilight was doing something with them, however, and if it was to help Luna, then Erebus had to sabotage it. There was the question of how, of course, but he would figure that out along the way… Cracking the door behind him, Erebus sat down in front of the alien devices, and got to work… Twilight followed Cadance into the quiet infirmary of the royal hospital. It was much larger than the room Luna had been sent to, but this one had several beds, each of which was occupied by an injured doctor from the crash site. All of the occupants were asleep, the steady rise and fall of their chests being the only indicator of life. That is, all but one. One patient was awake, and was tiredly sitting up in his bed. He would occasionally sip from a glass of water, though his focus was mainly on the two princesses approaching him. As they stepped up to his bed, the unicorn stallion tried his best to bow, though that was difficult given his position. “Please, do not worry about any pleasantries,” Cadance said, putting up a hoof. “You’ve had a long enough day.” “Yes, your highness,” he said weakly. “How can I help?” “We need to get an idea of what exactly happened,” Twilight said, summoning a piece of parchment and a quill. “Healthy Heart already gave us a basic rundown, but we need to see if you have any missing pieces.” “Ms. Heart’s alive?” the medical specialist said, surprised. “Oh, thank Celestia… Anyways, what would you like to know?” “Start with your name,” Cadance instructed. “Then tell us what happened just before the explosion.” “Doctor Starchaser, princess,” the doctor said. “As for what was happening, well… We were in the medical lab of that ship. Princess Luna arrived and started talking to Ms. Heart. Heart went to go show the princess something that we found, and a few minutes later there was this loud noise, like an alarm. We had no idea what it was or what to do. Princess Luna ran in a minute later and told us all to get out, and to hurry. We listened and followed her out, then it blew up…” Curiously, Cadance and Twilight exchanged glances. “Are you sure that’s what happened, Doctor Starchaser?” Twilight asked. “Ms. Heart’s report is different. She said that you were all in the ship, then Luna got a bad feeling and told you all to leave.” “I… I’m sorry, your highness,” Starchaser said, shaking his head. “But that’s not what happened.” “I don’t understand,” Cadance said, directed to Twilight. “Why would Healthy Heart give us false information? Unless…” The realization seemed to hit both princesses as exactly the same time. “Oh…” Twilight gasped. They both shot up off of the floor and sprinted out of the royal hospital, back into the main castle. They immediately waved down several guards to follow them, who did so without hesitation. “I’ll check her office!” Cadance shouted as they ran. “You check the guest room that we gave it!” Nodding, the two split up, each of them taking two guards. Twilight sprinted through the corridors of the castle, glad that her alicorn magic gave her a little bit more endurance than she had as a unicorn. Only a few moments later, she turned into the hallway of the guest rooms. She was about to run right up to the door of the room that they had given to Healthy Heart (or the pony appearing to be Healthy Heart), when she noticed that hers was already cracked open slightly. Cautiously, Twilight approached her door and peered inside. Her eyes widened when she saw Healthy Heart attempting to destroy one of the devices that Legion had given her. “STOP!” she shouted as she pulled the door open with her magic. The two guards brandished their spears at Healthy Heart, and backed up their princess as she stepped inside. “Princess Twilight!” the mare said, dropping the device. “This… I…” Twilight never allowed her to finish. Instead she lit her horn and fired a spell right at the mare. It engulfed her, and with a pained scream the false flesh was torn from the pony, revealing the true being beneath: a changeling. Slowly, it stood from where it had fallen to the ground, and looked up to Princess Twilight with its bottomless blue eyes. “… Hello,” it said. Princess Twilight and Princess Cadance stood in the observation room joined to the interrogation room of the castle prison, looking through the one-way window at the prisoner beyond. Magic cuffs kept his hooves locked together, and a small ring around the base of his twisted horn kept him from using magic. So far he had not said anything since Twilight and the guards had apprehended him. Instead he simply sat in silence, no doubt waiting to be executed or suffer some other punishment that his changeling mind dreamt up. “… I think it’s been long enough,” Cadance said after a pause, looking up at a clock on the wall. “Shall we go in?” “… Yes,” Twilight replied. “Let’s go.” They turned from the one-way window and exited the observation room, then turned down the hall and approached the interrogation room itself, the outside of which was protected by two soldiers. Two golden spears were interlocked across the door, but they parted to grant the princesses access. Cadance lit her horn and opened the reinforced iron door, stepping inside with an air of authority. Twilight did her best to mirror Cadance’s movements, but she was still a bit uncomfortable exerting her new power, even against a changeling. “Changeling,” Cadance began, stalking up to the table. “You realize that by coming here you have put yourself at great risk. Why? What purpose did you think you could fulfill by embarking on this… this suicide mission?” The changeling stubbornly remained silent, and Cadance frowned at being ignored. “You realize that you cannot win, right?” Twilight said, stepping forward. “Our geth ally is at your hive right now, doing unimaginable amounts of damage to your fellow changelings!” It was a lie of course, as Legion was only there to find medi-gel, but if it got the changeling to crack, it was a good lie. It seemed not to have the right effect, however, as the changeling started laughing to itself. “You foolish ponies…” he said, pretending to wipe away a tear. “The geth is not coming back. Even if I didn’t send a message to the queen warning her about it, the collectors have already prepared traps. As we speak, that infernal machine is probably being broken to pieces!” Their eyes shooting wide open, the two princesses exchanged worried glances. Clearly aware of their shock, the changeling began laughing even harder until actual tears of amusement were flying from its blue eyes. Twilight and Cadance rushed out of the room as quickly as they could, immediately beginning to head for the armory. Legion was in trouble, and was going to need help. Help that the ponies were more than willing to provide. Legion set its ship down several miles from the entrance to the changeling hive, where no one would bother to look. The dull grayish coloration of the ship blended in almost perfectly with the barren landscape surrounding it, effectively making it invisible from the air. Legion would stand out much more in the desolate terrain, but that was what the tactical cloak was for. Stepping out of its ship, Legion activated the cloak and set off at a sprint for the entrance to the hive. Moving at top speeds, Legion made the journey in just under ten minutes. Once it approached the sinkhole-like entrance, it slowed to a simple walk and began to scan for any changes, anything that could indicate the changelings knew about its presence. From its current view, Legion could not see anything different compared to its first visit to the hive. There were still several guards hidden amongst the shadows of the hole, but they were no more aware of the geth than they were of the changelings in the tunnels beneath them. Quietly, Legion crept onto the stone stairs leading down into the hive, and began to approach the door to the main tunnel. Just as it passed the threshold of the door, Legion felt a massive energy spike surging throughout its mobile platform. Looking to its left side, Legion saw a long arc of electricity shooting out of a collection of small rocks. The arc was moving across the unit, causing its tactical cloak to flicker until it failed entirely. Legion tried to run, but found that access to its legs was restricted. It fell to its knees, and just before its photoreceptor shut down and the programs went offline, Legion saw the shape of several collectors moving towards it. Queen Chrysalis walked gleefully into the main chamber of her hive, which was now filled with hundreds of occupied cocoons. The ponies kidnapped from Ponyville and Trottingham had greatly furthered the cause of the collectors, and their plan was much closer to completion. The final stage was the infection of Equestria’s major cities. Once this was complete, the collectors would be successful, and Equestria would belong to Chrysalis. She stepped up to the pod belonging to her favorite little pony in Equestria, then beat on it to wake the occupant up. Princess Celestia’s eyes shot open as she jolted in her pod. Her stare of confusion quickly turned to an angry glare as her eyes locked onto Chrysalis, who was smiling smugly at the princess from outside. “Hello, Celestia!” she said, waving a hoof. “Sorry to bother you, but I just could not pass this up. I understand that you had allied yourself with a geth. Foolish decision, from what I’m told, but I’m not here to judge. I’m here to tell you that we have captured your geth friend!” She waved her hoof, ushering two collectors forward. Between them was a long slate of metal, and resting on the slate was the motionless form of the incapacitated machine. Chrysalis was assured that the machine was still ‘alive’, but for now it would not be a problem for them at all. Celestia’s reaction was everything that Chrysalis had been hoping for: surprise, anger… sadness. Chrysalis was admittedly not expecting Celestia to be sad, but she was not complaining. “I just thought you may wish to see it before we start questioning it,” Chrysalis said, jerking her head back. The two collectors exited the room with their quarry, leaving Chrysalis all alone with Celestia. “I am eager to see what secrets it will reveal. Also, my scouts in Equestria’s major cities are already starting to report ways that we might infect their populations. It’s only a matter of time now, ‘Tia. Farewell.” Chrysalis turned and left the fuming alicorn by herself, then exited the chamber, moving up the tunnels to the main collector lab. The geth was going to be kept in a specialized prison, where she had been instructed not to allow any of her changelings, but first the collector captain wished to speak with her. Chrysalis stepped into the collector captain’s lab, eyeing all of the various pieces of machinery stacked against the walls. They all ran silently, and were it not for the occasional flicker of light, Chrysalis would have assumed they were not even on. In the center of the room was the captain himself, an orange cylinder covering his left forearm. He called the device an ‘omni-tool’, though he had not bothered to explain to Chrysalis exactly what it did. The captain’s attention switched from the omni-tool to the queen as she stepped inside, and the orange apparition faded away as he lowered his arm. “Good, you are here,” he said. “What did you need me for?” Chrysalis asked, her authority almost completely disappearing under the shadow of the captain. “With the geth in our custody, and the two princesses out of commission, it is time to expand our operations,” he said, surprising Chrysalis. “I thought we were going to wait a week before deploying the disease in the major cities,” she defended. “Is it not a better idea to take some time to prepare?” “No!” the captain yelled, causing Chrysalis to recoil back. “Too much can go wrong. After we speak with the geth, contact your agents. Have them send their most up-to-date plans of the cities, and then prepare the disease for deployment. Am I understood?” “… Y-yes,” Chrysalis stammered. The collector clicked with satisfaction, before it turned and exited the room. Chrysalis followed, mentally kicking herself for allowing the captain to exert his authority over her. She was a queen! Why was she letting this alien control her? Because he is more powerful than you, Chrysalis thought to herself. Because, at a moment’s notice, he could crush what is left of the changelings. Chrysalis followed the collector captain down several tunnels to another section of the hive, where a prison for the geth had been prepared. The captain had been careful to make sure that the geth would never have any hope at escape. Several devices called ‘jammers’ had been set up that would disable its personal omni-tool, as well as its connection with its ship. A shield generator had also been set up to keep it in one place. As the two approached the room where the geth was being held, Chrysalis began to hear the faint sounds of voices. They were no more than hushed whispers, but her finely-tuned ears easily caught the sounds. The collector seemed to hear them as well, and quickened his pace. Chrysalis did the same, and a moment later they stepped into the prison. On the far wall of the room was a metal table, upon which was the motionless geth. Across from it were two young changelings, who were poking at the still form of the machine. The queen and the captain exchanged quick glances, before the captain leapt forward and grabbed one of the changelings from behind. “Wait!” Chrysalis cried, though her pleas fell on deaf ears. The captain ignored her and threw the changeling across the room, where he impacted against the wall with a sickening crack. His body slumped to the floor, motionless. By now the second changeling was well aware that he was not alone in the room, and he craned his neck to look the collector captain in the eyes. The captain extended his hand, which glowed with a blue energy that Chrysalis had not seen used before. In the palm of his hand formed a small blue sphere, which shot towards her changeling and impacted on his chest. The sphere threw the changeling across the room, where he disintegrated into a pile of ashes. The blue energy fading from his hand, the collector turned on Chrysalis and stalked up to her. “Was I not clear when I said that none of your changelings were to interact with the geth!?” he screamed, furious. Chrysalis shook with fear, but still managed to nod. “Then what were these two doing here!?” Chrysalis opened her mouth to reply, but no sound came out. All she could do was replay in her mind the merciless killing of her kin by the captain, her ally. “WELL!?” the collector shouted again. “I… I… I do not k-know,” she said, her voice shaking. “I told… I told them that n-nopony was a-allowed down here.” “Will it happen again?” “… No.” “Good,” the captain said, turning to face the geth. “Then let us begin.” He stretched out his left forearm and activated the omni-tool, pressing several buttons on it. A soft hum filled the room as two shield generators came online, and a blue shield materialized between them. Next, he activated the jammers, which added to the humming of the shields. With all precautions set, the captain pressed several more buttons on his omni-tool. A soft zap sounded through the room as a short burst of electricity spread throughout the motionless geth. When several seconds passed and nothing happened, the captain pressed the same set of buttons once again. A second burst of electricity covered the geth, this time bringing results with it. Its fingers twitched, and the flaps around its eye started to move. The iris covering its eye opened, and a blue light was emitted from it as the geth came back online. It stood up from the metal table, revealing it to be slightly shorter than the collector captain. Its eye passed between the two, before it settled on the captain. “Geth,” the collector said. “You were foolish to come here. You cannot save the ponies; even as we speak, hundreds of them are being brought here by the changelings. Theirs is a doomed race, just like yours.” “You are the collector captain,” the geth observed. “Your judgment of the ponies is incomplete. You base your opinions of them only on what you have been told, not what you have experienced. Were you in our position, you would know that the ponies stand a good chance at defeating you. They have already defeated the changelings once, who you now seem to have under your thrall.” “Maybe with your help, they did have a chance,” replied the captain. “But now, the only thing separating them from their doom is time. And they are running dangerously low on that resource. Now, you will give me all of the data you have collected since coming here, or I will take it by force.” “You cannot take it by force,” said the geth. “You should know that once a geth is either terminated, or its memory unit is removed, all stored data is wiped. Your only hope is if we willingly give you the information, which we will not.” “We shall see, geth,” the collector hissed. “All in good time.” He spun around and exited the room without saying another word. Curiously, Chrysalis followed him, leaving the geth alone in its prison. “It is smart,” the captain said. “But it is no position to actually put to use any of its knowledge. I will work on finding a way to recover the geth’s data. For now, keep your changelings away. If I find out that any more have come to see the machine, I will kill them too. Understood?” “Yes,” Chrysalis said, gulping. “I understand.” Nodding, the collector turned down the tunnel and walked away, leaving Chrysalis alone. Doubt began to creep into her mind as she went over what the captain had said, as well as the words of the geth. The machine was right; she was the collector’s thrall. And with the way that the captain had treated her changelings so far, she was truly beginning to fear for the safety not only of herself, but of her kin as well. Making up her mind, Chrysalis turned and walked down the tunnel in the opposite direction of the captain. She had plans to make. Legion stood motionless in its prison cell, simply staring out into the room beyond. If its internal clock had adjusted properly after being offline, then it had been in this shielded cell for two hours now. Aside from the brief encounter with the collector captain and the changeling queen, it had seen no visitors. Additionally, its omni-tool was offline, so going over any data or calling for help was an impossible task. Legion had briefly looked for escape routes, but it quickly became obvious that there was no way out. Even if it was able to disable the shield generators, the geth had no idea where it was in the hive in relation to the entrance. Even with a tactical cloak, Legion’s odds of escape would not be in its favor. Suddenly, Legion caught movement from outside of the prison room. Its head turning to face the door, Legion watched as the changeling queen entered the prison, though this time she was alone. She sat down in front of the shield and looked at the geth, forlorn. “We will not reveal any information,” Legion said. Sighing, the queen stood and looked the geth right in its eye. In her eyes, Legion was not sure what it saw. There was pain, but it also looked like there was something else… “I’m not here to question you, Legion,” the queen said. “I… I think I’ve made a huge mistake.” “… Please elaborate.” “You must understand, I was not given much of a choice when the collectors asked for an alliance!” the queen cried. “We were weak, and on the brink of death! If they had not shown up when they did, we would have gone extinct. When the collectors offered their alliance, I had to accept, for my changelings. You understand that, don’t you?” “You made a risky alliance with an incredibly advanced alien species to save your own,” Legion said. “Understandable, but foolish. Please, continue.” “I knew from the start that the alliance was something I would come to regret,” the queen continued. “But I didn’t care. I just repressed the feelings by thinking about my reward for helping the collectors: the kingdom of Equestria. I’ve had this… feeling. This feeling at the back of my mind that the collectors wouldn’t honor our agreement. That the moment their plan was completed, we would be thrown on the wayside and left to die once again. But I just couldn’t risk telling them to leave. Even when the captain hurt me because of a mistake one of his collectors had made, I just took it. But today he killed two of my changelings. I don’t care how powerful he is, nobody hurts my changelings.” “Why are you telling us this?” Legion asked, confused. Was the queen asking for its help, or was she just here to vent? “Because I’m not going to let that captain push me around anymore,” the changeling said with purpose. “I am a queen, and this is my hive. He will not last through the night. As for you, I know why you are here. The collectors keep this ‘medi-gel’ substance in one of their labs. Coincidentally, this lab is also the location where Healthy Heart, one of Celestia’s staff, is being held.” “Healthy Heart is here?” the geth asked, surprised. “Yes, she’s recovering,” the queen explained. “When she was brought here she was in fairly bad shape. The lab is guarded by two collectors, but there is nobody inside.” The queen moved to one of the shield generators, then pressed a button on it. The humming that had previously filled the room died down, and the blue barrier keeping Legion from escaping faded away. Legion quickly stepped out of its prison cell, then looked to the changeling. “And Princess Celestia?” it asked. The queen shook her head. “I’m sorry, Legion,” she said. “The captain will be angry when he finds out you escaped, and even angrier when he finds out that you took Healthy Heart with you. But it is very likely that he will not expect that it was an inside job. If Celestia is freed as well, however, he will suspect me immediately. I’ll be killed, and then nopony will stand in his way.” “We understand, but how do we escape?” “You can follow me to the medical lab where Heart is being kept,” the queen said, turning to the door of the room. “After you get the medi-gel and rescue Heart, there is another tunnel. It is very long, but it links to one of our other hives in the badlands. It’s scarcely populated, so you should be able to escape perfectly fine.” “Understood,” Legion said, following the queen out. As soon as they were in the tunnel outside of the cell, Legion activated its tactical cloak and began to follow the queen to the medical lab. Legion was still unsure if the queen could be trusted, but now that it was free from its cell it could easily escape at any time. The walk to the medical lab did not take long. Even though the queen moved at a slower pace than the geth would have liked, it still only took them around five minutes to get there. Once they arrived, as Chrysalis had said, Legion saw two collectors guarding the outside of the room. They each wielded assault rifles in their arms, the barrels of which were pointed to the ceiling. Legion placed an invisible hand on Chrysalis to stop her in her path, then stepped past her. As soon as it was in front of the two collectors, it dropped its camouflage, startling the two drones. As they quickly tried to aim their assault rifles for the geth, Legion activated the blade function on its omni-tool and cut the throats of the two collectors. They fell to the ground in a quickly-growing pool of blood, and Legion stepped over their lifeless bodies into the medical lab. The queen moved in behind it, careful not to step in any of the blood. As she had promised, Legion saw Healthy Heart lying down on a flat stone table on the far side of the lab. On the opposite end was a shelf with several pieces of medical supplies, including a large amount of medi-gel. It was more than Legion could carry, but it would be more than enough to cure Luna. Quickly, the geth grabbed several boxes of the gel and strapped them to its body, before it then moved to Healthy Heart and hefted her unconscious form over its shoulder. Its task complete, Legion moved back to the door where the queen was waiting. “… Thank you,” Legion said. “We will be sure to let Princess Luna know that her healing was made possible by you. Perhaps she will choose to be merciful on you when the collector captain is dead.” “And he will be dead, I promise you that,” the queen said, smiling. “Now go, hurry, before anyone else arrives. Go!” Nodding, Legion activated its camouflage, expanding the field to also cover the unconscious pony on its back. It sprinted out of the room and began to run down the tunnel, taking several turns until it came to the tunnel described to it by the queen. As she had said, it was very long, at least two miles. Fortunately it was totally devoid of life, so Legion would have no trouble reaching the other side. Taking one last look behind it, Legion set off down the tunnel. It had a princess to save.