CHAPTER 18
CHAPTER 18
"Accepting another's path blinds you to alternatives."
Legion’s invisible curved head peered around the corner of the tunnel, looking into another to make sure it was clear. As the changeling queen had said, this hive was far less occupied than the main one. Since it had arrived thirty minutes ago, Legion had only encountered two changelings, who had been completely unaware of the invisible geth.
As Legion entered the next tunnel, beams of sunlight from around the next corner caught its attention. Beginning to jog, Legion turned the corner and found itself at the base of an upward-sloping tunnel. At the top was the unmistakable presence of daylight, though it was going down quickly. Soon, night would fall, which may not be a bad thing. The darkness would help disguise Legion’s takeoff, keeping the collectors unaware of its escape. The more time the queen had to plan, the better.
Legion climbed up the tunnel and exited back into the badlands, finding itself in a small outcropping of rocks. The tunnel entrance was perfectly disguised, and it was only guarded by one changeling. Legion crept silently past him, then began to run away from the site of the hive. As soon as it was far away enough, it called for the ship to come and provide pickup.
With a loud roar, the geth ship swooped down and landed in front of Legion, its door already open. Legion quickly jumped inside and entered the cockpit, placing the unconscious pony it had been carrying in one of the empty chairs. Healthy Heart was still sleeping, but Legion was detecting that her heartrate and breathing were perfectly normal. She would likely wake up on the way to Canterlot.
Legion grabbed the boxes of medi-gel connected to its body and placed them in a secure cargo box, then sat down in the pilot’s seat of the ship. As soon as it was properly strapped in, Legion fired up the main thrusters and angled up to exit the atmosphere. A moment later it was cruising above the planet, locking in on Canterlot’s location.
Movement in the seat next to it drew Legion’s attention away from the ship controls. It turned its head to face the small mare, and watched as her eyes slowly opened. She looked around the cockpit of the ship, confused about her location. Her eyes finally settled on the geth, who she gazed at with a confused stare.
“Legion?” she asked weakly. “Where are we? What happened?”
“We are onboard our spacecraft, en route to Canterlot,” Legion explained. “The collector ship exploded. You were captured by changelings, we rescued you. You are still weak, try to limit movement.” Nodding, Heart sat up in her chair and looked at the display in front of her, which only showed the ship descending through the clouds.
“How many others made it?” she asked.
“Nine, eight if you do not count Princess Luna,” Legion said. “All are from your staff. Three are critically injured, the rest were in recovery when we left for the hive. Princess Luna is… critical.” Her eyes widening in fear, Heart turned to face the geth.
“How bad is it?”
“Fatal,” the geth said. “Your doctors worked hard, but her injuries were beyond the ability of magic to heal. However, we have a plan.” The ship shot through the cloud layer of Equis and came in right over Canterlot. By now the moon was making its debut over the horizon, and lights were beginning to come on all across the mountainside city.
Legion maneuvered the ship around to the back of the mountain, where the loading docks were situated. It landed the ship on the docks, then stood from its chair. Healthy Heart stood up as well, shakily coming to her hooves just behind the geth. Before Legion exited the ship, it retrieved the medi-gel from the container where it had been stored. Opening the door, Legion and Heart both stepped out of the landed craft and onto the wooden floors of the docks, where a single guard was waiting for them. After a moment of silence where the guard examined the geth curiously, he finally spoke.
“Come with me,” he said, turning around. Legion and Healthy Heart followed the guard to the back of the docks where the door to the castle was situated. The door was enveloped in a light blue aura as the guard gripped it with his telekinesis, then was pushed open, causing streams of light to fly through the portal. The guard stepped aside and let the geth and mare enter, before he closed the door behind them. Standing in the hallway of the castle was another guard, this one of the lunar variety.
“Princesses Twilight and Cadance are waiting for you, Legion,” the guard said. He seemed to be surprised at the presence of Healthy Heart, but did not say anything on the matter. Instead, he turned around and began to walk down the hall, leading Legion to the princesses…
[he]
Princess Celestia floated in her pod, suspended in the center by the green gelatinous fluid that was constantly being filtered by a series of tubes. Outside of her pod she saw dozens of new ones being brought into the room. They were hung on the rounded walls of the chamber, held up only by the tubes that filtered the fluid. Inside each pod was a single unconscious pony. Celestia was filled with sadness that she could not do anything to help them. As long as she was in this pod, she was as much a prisoner as they were.
The sound of hoofsteps broke her attention from the new arrivals, and she looked to the shadows around her pod. She glared as the source of the hoofsteps came into view and stepped up to her pod.
“Hello, Celestia,” Queen Chrysalis said softly. Celestia’s angry glare was replaced by a look of confusion at Chrysalis’s speech. Usually her arrogant speeches were filled with venom against ponykind. Now, that was absent. “I know that I am probably the last pony you wish to see right now, and I understand. But please, just listen to me.
“I let Legion go. The collector captain doesn’t know it was me, but he’s angrier than I’ve ever seen him before. He… he killed three of my changelings in his rage. He gave me this.” The queen pointed to a bruise on her cheek, which had swelled to become rather large.
“I know you have no reason to be sympathetic, but… I’m going to kill the collector captain. When he’s gone, you and everypony here will be freed in exchange for the continued existence of this hive. Deal?” Celestia stared at the queen, shocked at what she was hearing. Was Chrysalis telling the truth? Telling a lie like this did not benefit her in any way Celestia could think of. Even if Chrysalis was lying, what choice did she have?
“… Deal…” Celestia croaked, nodding her head slightly. A ghost of a smile formed on Chrysalis’s mouth.
“Thank you, Celestia…” she said. “Wish me luck…” Chrysalis turned and re-entered the shadows of the chamber, leaving Celestia as the only conscious being in the room. She was not sure if Chrysalis was telling the truth, and it was likely that she was not. But on the off chance that she was…
“Good… luck…”
Chrysalis walked down one of the tunnels of her massive hive, a curved blade held in her telekinesis. Walking on either side of her were several more changelings, each one carrying a weapon of their own, ready to face the collector captain. Despite her strong countenance, Chrysalis felt nothing but fear. The captain was far more powerful than Chrysalis. Even though the changelings outnumbered the collectors, they had weapons that put swords and arrows to shame.
No! Chrysalis thought. She could not back down now. Her changelings were at risk, and nothing was going to stop her from killing that captain. She turned down another tunnel, at the end of which was a large closed door. Chrysalis knew that beyond the door was the collector’s main lab, where the captain had been ever since he found out about Legion’s escape.
Gulping nervously, Chrysalis opened the door and stepped inside, her changelings right behind her. They all lined up side-by-side, with Chrysalis in the middle. Across from her, with his back turned, was the collector captain. He was idly typing on a computer, as if he was not even aware that Chrysalis had entered. The queen was about to take advantage of the situation and send her blade right through his chest, when the captain turned around.
“Hello, Chrysalis,” he hissed. “I know why you are here. I know what you said to the geth.” The captain waved his hand, and out of the shadows in the corners of the room stepped several armed collectors, all of them pointing their weapons at Chrysalis and her changelings.
“You are probably wondering how I know,” the captain continued. “I planted a recording device in the prison cell. I heard everything.” The captain raised his hand, and with a flick of his wrist the collectors opened fire on Chrysalis’s changelings. They were no match for the highly advanced weapons of the collectors, and each changeling fell to the ground, their bodies ridden with holes. Horrified, Chrysalis dropped her blade and looked into the six glowing eyes of the collector captain.
“You were foolish to stand up to me,” he said. “But you are lucky. I still need you, for now. You will not be killed, but clearly you cannot be trusted…” He waved his hand once more, and Chrysalis felt two sets of hands wrap around her forelegs. She looked to her sides and found that two collectors were keeping her still.
“Implant her.”
Screaming, Chrysalis was dragged away from the main lab and taken back down the tunnel. Rage filled her mind as the captain stared at her from the end of the tunnel. His piercing gaze was cut off as the door closed, and Chrysalis was left screaming at nothing while she was dragged along. Tears spilled from her green eyes as she began to lose track of where the collectors were taking her. It was not until she was pulled into one of many medical labs that Chrysalis stopped screaming, and instead became filled with fear. Clearly the captain had been planning for this for a while. A table lay barren in the center of the lab, and standing on either side were two collector scientists. A small table between them held many surgical supplies, as well as some devices that Chrysalis did not recognize.
Beginning to flail her limbs around in an effort to get free, Chrysalis was forced onto the table. The two changelings soldiers each grabbed a foreleg and a hindleg, keeping her from escaping while the two doctors descended on her. The last thing that Chrysalis saw before passing out was a spinning blade being lowered to her forehead.
Legion and Healthy Heart were led through the identical corridors of Canterlot castle until they came to a set of doors with a red cross marked above them. The door was already cracked open, and Legion heard the faint sounds of voices coming from within. The guard escorting them pushed the door open the rest of the way, prompting the conversation to end. All eyes in the room turned to the two newcomers as they stepped inside.
Sitting in various chairs in the waiting room of the royal hospital were Princess Cadance, Twilight Sparkle, Spike, and her friends from Ponyville. They all wore relieved expressions as Legion and Heart stepped further into the room.
“Legion!” Twilight cried, shakily getting to her hooves. “Thank Celestia! We feared the worst!” She tried moving over to the geth, but fell to the ground the second she took a step. Quickly, Rainbow Dash flew over and helped her back to the chair where she had been sitting.
“Ms. Heart, it is good to see you as well,” Cadance said weakly. “Especially after the imposter…”
“Imposter?” Heart asked, confused.
“Ah, right,” Cadance said, correcting herself. “I suppose you would not have known. A changeling came here in your form. He was crafty, had us utterly convinced it was you. That is, until we caught him trying to sabotage some of Legion’s equipment. He’s currently being held in the castle prison.”
“I see…” said Heart.
“Legion, did you get the medi-gel?” Twilight asked.
“Yes,” Legion answered. “Were you successful in creating the medical devices from the omni-gel?”
“Yes,” said Twilight. “They’re already in the room with Luna. When the changeling told us that you were walking into a trap, we… We thought all hope was lost. How did you get away without being discovered?”
“We were discovered,” the geth explained. “But it is a long story, and Princess Luna does not have much time. We must act immediately. This unit will perform the operation, though assistance from other doctors may be required.”
“Well then let’s go,” said Cadance, slowly getting to her hooves. “We’ll all be in the observation room. Good luck, Legion, and… thank you.” Nodding, Legion stepped through the door leading further into the royal hospital, then walked down several doors to the room where Luna was being kept. It opened the door and stepped inside, causing the eyes of all doctors in the room to fall upon it. They stepped aside as Legion approached the still form of the princess and began to scan over her body. As Twilight had said, the medical devices it had requested were on a small table next to Luna. Legion took the boxes of medi-gel from where they were being stored on its platform, and placed them next to the apparatuses. Then, it got to work.
Twilight looked down over the surgical suite where Luna was being kept as Legion got to work with repairing her broken form. Right now all he was doing was repairing her lung and broken ribs, which did involve several of the devices that Twilight had created from the omni-gel.
Gulping nervously, Twilight hoped that Legion’s plan would work. Raising the moon for a second time had taken even more energy out of her than the first, and if she had to continue performing the task, she would die from magical exhaustion. She also did not know how Equestria would function without Luna. Without Celestia, Luna was the most experienced princess available. Cadance had far more experience than Twilight, but she was used to ruling over a single city, not an entire nation. Overall, it was not looking good…
Legion withdrew his hands from Luna’s chest, a fair amount of blood staining them. There were no gloves on Equis that could fit the geth’s three-fingered hands, so Twilight hoped that they were very clean. He moved over to a sink and ran his hands under the water, washing the blood down the drain. He dried his hands off, rubbed a sterilizing agent over them, and returned to the wounded princess.
He peered into the hole in her chest, scanning over the work he had done. Appearing satisfied, Legion stepped back and motioned for a few unicorn doctors to join him by her body. He appeared to say something to them, and they nodded in response, then lit their horns and began to seal the hole in her chest, both with magic and actual stitches. Legion stepped out of the room, and a moment later appeared in observation with the other ponies.
“Is she going to be okay?” Cadance asked, worried.
“We have repaired the damage to her lungs and ribs, but her spine remains a problem,” Legion answered. “As soon as the doctors finish sealing the hole, we will create a new incision on her back to place the spine braces and cybernetics.”
“How long will that take?” asked Twilight.
“Several minutes,” Legion said. “In the meantime, we will recount the story of our escape from the changeling hive. It is an… interesting story.”
“Go ahead, Legion,” Cadance requested.
“Upon arriving at the hive, this unit was disabled by a high-powered burst of energy,” the geth began. “We do not know how long we were offline, but when we were reactivated we were in a prison cell in the hive. It was shielded, and had jammers in place to disable use of our omni-tool. The collector captain spoke with us, then left. We were alone for two hours before the changeling queen came to us.”
“Chrysalis?” Rainbow Dash asked. “What did she have to say?”
“This is where it gets interesting. She was… afraid. The collectors have not been good to her or her kind. Chrysalis fears for their safety. She is the one who released us. She told us where to find the medi-gel, which was also where Healthy Heart was being kept. Before we left, she told us that she planned to kill the collector captain.”
“How do you know she was telling the truth?” Twilight inquired skeptically. “It could have been a ruse.”
“We do not believe so, Twilight Sparkle,” said Legion. “With this unit captured, you lost the one thing you had that could understand the nanovirus. Without us, you would likely already be gone. Additionally, they were unsuccessful in extracting any information from this unit. Releasing us gives them no benefits; rather, all of the benefits are given to you.”
“Those are all good points, Legion,” Cadance said. “But how will we know when she’s done it?”
“The kidnappings will stop. The disease will no longer spread. And, though we have no confirmation, it is likely that all kidnapped ponies will be returned. The changelings would not want to get rid of one enemy just to have you ready to mount a rescue operation.” Nodding, Cadance lowered her head and looked at the plain marble floor of the observation room. The attention of all of the ponies (and geth) were all drawn to the door of the room as it opened and a single unicorn doctor walked inside.
“Legion,” he began. “She’s been sealed up. We’re ready to get to work on her spine.”
“Acknowledged,” Legion said. “We will begin immediately.” He followed the doctor out of the room, closing the door behind him. Twilight turned her attention back to the surgical suite and looked down over Princess Luna, who had now been flipped onto her stomach. The medical paper that once covered her body was gone, leaving her back entirely exposed.
A moment later, the doctor walked into the room, followed by Legion. Legion immediately approached the still form of Luna and began directing orders at the pony doctors, though Twilight could not hear them through the glass window. Whatever the orders were, the ponies were following them without question. One unicorn sprayed a numbing agent over Luna’s spine while another injected the princess with an anesthetic, just to be safe. A third doctor passed a scalpel to Legion, which he grabbed and moved to the base of Luna’s neck. Twilight winced as she watched the scalpel pass through her coat, and felt her knees weaken as Legion dragged it across Luna’s back to the base of her tail.
“Oh, um…” Fluttershy started. “Perhaps I should… go somewhere else.”
“Yes, I agree,” Rarity said, stepping back from the glass. “Come, Fluttershy, let’s go.” The two squeamish mares turned and exited the observation room, and a moment later Pinkie Pie joined them under the excuse of having to prepare a ‘get well soon’ cake for Luna.
“What’s he doing?” Rainbow Dash asked curiously. Applejack nodded, wanting to know as well.
“See those things that look a bit like claws?” Twilight began, pointing her hoof to the table with the medical apparatuses on them. “They’re designed to grip the individual vertebrae of her spine. With commands from a computer microchip that Legion is going to implant at the base of her spine, they’ll correct the orientation of each vertebrae until they’re in the correct position once again. Additional cybernetics will work on making micro adjustments as they’re needed.”
“Um… Okay,” said Dash, clearly not understand half of what Twilight said.
“Ain’t that painful?” Applejack asked, concerned for the princess.
“Undoubtedly,” Twilight answered. “But she’s on an anesthetic right now. Even if she wasn’t, her body is far too weak to wake up on its own. By the time she does wake up, most of the pain should have passed.” Twilight turned her attention back to Legion, only to see him placing several pairs of spreaders along the incision he had created. Just as he opened each one, Twilight spun away from the window.
“You know, Dash,” she started. “It has been a little while since I’ve gotten to use my wings. Why don’t you help me out a little? Outside.”
“Yeah…” Dash agreed. “That sounds pretty cool. Let’s go.”
“How about I watch?” Applejack added, following the two mares out of the observation room.
“I’ll stay here in case Legion needs anything,” Cadance said.
“Thank you!” Twilight called from outside of the room. The door closed behind her, leaving Cadance alone to watch over the operation. As badly wounded as she was, Cadance hoped against hope that Legion’s plan would work. The future of Equestria depended on it.
The collector captain stood over a computer, the bright green display lighting the dark room and illuminating the collector’s chitinous face. The display was split into two screens, one showing the schematics of the nanovirus, the other showing the blueprints for a device. He was mainly working on the nanovirus, trying to find a way to increase the rate at which it spread. Manehattan had over one million of the dreadful ponies living in it, at the current rate of infection it would take three weeks for the entire population to be affected. That was time that they did not have. If this plan was to be completed, it had to happen quickly.
Occasionally the captain would look over to the screen with the blueprints, watching as a small number at the bottom grew larger and larger. Right now it was stable at 341, the number of ponies who had been kidnapped so far. In a few minutes that number was going to skyrocket. Several changeling groups had been spotted converging on the hive, with them hundreds of additional unconscious ponies. If the estimates were correct, then construction would begin soon.
“Captain,” said a voice from behind the collector. The captain did not turn around, instead he spun his head in the direction of the voice. Standing in the door to the lab was a lesser collector drone, an assault rifle held in his clawed hands.
“Report,” the captain ordered.
“Queen Chrysalis has been implanted. She is recovering,” the collector said. “The changeling hunters are bringing the ponies into the main chamber now. They will be in their pods within the hour.”
“Excellent,” said the captain, stepping away from the computer. As he walked to the door, the green holographic display faded from existence, shrouding the room in darkness. The captain approached his drone, then pointed down the hall.
“Take me to Chrysalis immediately.” Nodding, the drone turned and began marching down the tunnel, with the captain not far behind him. The captain had not wanted to resort to implants, but Chrysalis had forced his hand. If he did not need her to keep the rest of the changelings under control, he would have killed her himself. Now she would be nothing more than a shadow of her former self, doing only what the captain ordered.
The pair stopped at the archway to the medical lab where Chrysalis had been operated on. The collector drone stepped aside and stood guard at the door, while the captain himself went inside. Standing over a metal table were two scientists, and on the table between them was the still form of Queen Chrysalis. A long scar had been drawn across her forehead where she had been implanted, and her deep blue eyelids covered her green eyes. Her muzzle was scrunched up in discomfort, and occasionally the queen would twitch.
“What is her condition?” the captain asked loudly to gain the attention of the two scientists. They calmly turned to face their leader, and one of them passed him a data pad, which he began to read over.
“She will be fine,” one scientist replied. “She passed out from fear before we even made the incision. With her unconscious, it was easy to implant the device in her brain.”
“Excellent,” the captain said, handing the datapad back. “When will she be awake?”
“Whenever you want her to be, captain,” the second scientist said. Clicking with satisfaction, the captain strode up to the sleeping queen and leaned over her.
“Wake up!” he commanded. Chrysalis’s eyes immediately snapped open, though she did not seem disturbed or surprise. Instead, she kept her gaze right on the collector captain, waiting for instruction. Satisfied, the captain stepped back. “Now stand.” Chrysalis did as she was told and stood from the table, immediately taking a position right next to the captain. It was admittedly disappointing to see how broken the queen was, but if it was what was necessary to keep the changelings under control, then the captain would have no regrets.
“Captain,” said a third voice, this one coming from behind the collector. He turned around to face the door where the guard who had escorted him to the lab was now standing. “The new pony arrivals have been loaded into their pods.”
“What is the final count?”
“One thousands eighty-four ponies.” Nodding, the captain stepped forward and motioned for Chrysalis to follow. She did so without speaking a word and followed the captain out into the tunnel.
“Begin the dissolution process,” he commanded. Nodding, the collector turned and began walking down the tunnel to one of their labs. The captain went in the opposite direction, Queen Chrysalis following behind his every step. He had a pony to see.
Princess Celestia floated in her cocoon, eyes half closed as she battled against her fatigue. Chrysalis had been gone for hours now, and still she had not returned. Had she been lying? Had she failed? Or had she been successful in killing the collector captain, but was going back on her word about freeing the ponies? At this rate, Celestia would be waiting quite a while before she found out.
Celestia’s train of thought was interrupted by the sound of machines coming to life all around her. Lights came on along the walls of the chamber, illuminating the high ceiling and revealing a large metal box. It was roughly a hundred and fifty meters long, only a few meters smaller than the diameter of the chamber. Dozens of tubes fed into the box, all of them coming from random directions. Most of the tubes disappeared into the stone walls of the hive, but some came down and joined with smaller devices placed along the walls. Celestia noticed curiously that smaller tubes were connected to these devices which seemed to link into the cocoons themselves.
Then she heard it. A sharp, pained scream pierced the air and forced Celestia to fold her ears over her head. Looking around for the source of the cry, Celestia noticed with horror that it came from the pod right across from hers. The pony inside, a stallion earth pony, was writhing in pain as something too familiar to the princess began to occur. She had only seen it happen once before, but the images of it were burned into her mind. Stifling a shocked gasp, Celestia watched as the stallion essentially melted within his pod, the remains of his hooves leaving marks on the glass as he tried to claw his way out.
With horror, Celestia realized that he was not the only one screaming. More and more screams started to fill the air; Celestia looked around the room, noticing that the dissolution seemed to be happening to everypony in the chamber except for her. A thousand pained screams rang out, threatening to deafen the princess, and then they all went silent. Opening her eyes (which she had involuntarily closed to avoid seeing the dissolving), Celestia stared despondently at the now empty pods that filled the room. In Celestia’s limited field of view, she saw no occupied cocoons. Her ponies were gone.
To Celestia, it was not the fact that it had happened that depressed her. Ponies died, that was a simple fact of life. She was thousands of years old, and dealt with death more times than a pony should have to. What truly upset the princess was that she had been powerless to stop it. No matter how badly she wanted to help, she was trapped here.
“Hello again, Princess,” a voice hissed from the shadows of the room. Celestia glared at the source of the noise, instantly recognizing the voice as belonging to the collector captain. He confirmed his presence for her, stepping from the shadows right up to her pod. Behind him was Queen Chrysalis, but something was… off. She did not look at Celestia – instead, her unblinking gaze stared right ahead, past the princess at the wall behind her. Curiously, Celestia looked to the collector.
“I’m sure you’re wondering what happened to Chrysalis,” he correctly assumed. “She led a failed attack against me. That cannot happen. She is mine now; her mind is under my control. It was a necessary action. The cooperation of the changelings is necessary for my plan to work, and she is the only way I can secure that cooperation.”
“Monster…” Celestia croaked, honestly feeling pity for the changeling queen. As much as Celestia hated her, nopony deserved such a fate. At this point, killing her would be the merciful thing to do.
“Monster?” the captain huffed. “Am I? I am doing what no one else in the galaxy can do! I am saving it! I do not expect you to understand, but know that your kind is being put to good use. You are beyond your power to disagree. It has already begun, and you are hopeless to stop it.” Glaring, Celestia turned her gaze away from the collector and stared at the empty pods behind him. Moving so that he was back in her view, the captain leaned in and pointed a claw accusingly at the princess.
“It does not end here, pony!” he shouted. “I will not stop until this world lies barren! And then, we shall rise again!” Spinning on his heel, the captain stalked out of Celestia’s view and back down the rows of pods. The shell of Chrysalis slowly turned and followed him, never blinking her bright green eyes. Celestia watched her leave, her heart filled with pity for the queen. She could not forgive her, but she could feel sorry for her.
Closing her eyes, Celestia decided to try and get some sleep. The threat level of the collectors had just increased exponentially, and she needed to find a way to escape. That would not come as long as she fought exhaustion or grief. When she was free, she could deal with the pain of losing over a thousand ponies at once. Now she needed her energy.
Twilight sat on a couch in one of the castle’s many lounge rooms, keeping her head upright with a hoof, the elbow of which was balanced on the arm of the couch. Her eyelids were beginning to droop as fatigue started to take her, and her wings hung limply at her sides. After well over a week of not using them, getting right back into her previous routine with Rainbow Dash had taken quite a bit out of her. The cyan pegasus in question, who was sitting on a couch across from her, had hardly even broken a sweat, and was now continuing to read her current Daring Do novel. Applejack sat next to Twilight, though she opted to simply stare at the floor in thought.
Occasionally Twilight would glance over to the door of the room, waiting for Cadance or Legion to come in and give the news about Luna. Legion had been working on the princess of the night for close to three hours now, and still they had heard nothing. Twilight realized that she could easily get up, walk down to the royal hospital, and check on her there, but she did not want to risk seeing anything unpleasant. She had a bit of a weak stomach, and did not want to lose even more energy by throwing up what little food she had within her.
“So…” Applejack said, trying to start up a conversation. “When do ya reckon we’ll hear somethin’ about Princess Luna?”
“I don’t know, Applejack,” Twilight answered. “I hope soon. I know there’s a chance that Legion’s solution might not work but… I just have to know.”
“Yeah,” Dash piped in, lowering her book. “I mean, none of us know Luna that well, but she’s still our friend, right?” Applejack and Twilight both nodded. Luna was an important figure in Equestria, yes, but she was also their friend. Twilight felt her tears threatening to surface once again at the prospect of losing her.
Before anypony could say anything else, the wooden door to the room opened and Cadance walked in, sighing tiredly. She moved over to the couches and sat down next to Rainbow Dash.
“How is Luna, Cadance?” Twilight asked, worried. “Will she make it?”
“Luna is alive,” Cadance said, causing the other ponies to sigh in relief. “Legion just finished putting the last spinal brace on. There were some… moments… where it looked like she may not survive. Twice during the operation her heart failed, but Legion was able to correct whatever had caused it in time.”
“Where is Legion, anyway?” Rainbow Dash asked curiously.
“He’s finishing up with Luna,” Cadance explained. “He said he needed to ‘calibrate the cybernetics’, whatever that means. He also said that that is the moment where we’ll know if she’s going to survive or not. Just because she survived having the cybernetics implanted does not mean that her body will respond positively to them. This is an entirely new anatomy for Legion, after all.”
Almost as soon as Cadance closed her mouth, the door to the lounge room opened once again and Legion stepped inside. Despite the fact that he had just performed a major surgery on one of the most important ponies in Equestria, his physicality was as normal as ever. Granted the geth did not feel fear, anxiety, or fatigue, but he still had some capability of using body language. At his presence, all of the ponies inside jumped up and ran over to him, immediately surrounding him in a circle.
“How is she, Legion?” Twilight asked urgently. Part of her did not want to hear the answer, for fear that it was not the one she wanted to hear, but in the end, Twilight knew that she had to find out.
“Princess Luna is stable,” Legion answered. Twilight felt as if a great weight had been taken off of her shoulders. She sighed, relieved, and closed her eyes. “Her body initially responded poorly to the connection with the cybernetics. We corrected the error, recalibrated the units, and they are now working on realigning her spine.”
“How long will that take?” Cadance asked.
“Her spine was very badly damaged,” Legion explained. “Spinal realignment could take anywhere from eighteen to twenty-six hours. Once complete, they must remain in place for a month to continue making micro-adjustments as necessary. Only at this time can they be fully removed.”
“So she’s going to be out for the next twenty-six hours?” Twilight said, gulping. That meant she would have to raise the sun and moon at least one more time each. She did not know if she had the energy in her.
“Following the spinal realignment, we estimate that she will need at least another day off before using her magic,” the geth said. “And at least a week before she reassumes any of her regular duties. She will not be able to walk, as this could disturb the cybernetics.”
“Very well,” said Cadance. “As long she’s okay, Twilight and I can worry about the sun and moon a few more times.” The princess shared a knowing look with Twilight. Twilight looked back, unconvinced that she would be able to do it. Raising the moon this evening had almost caused her to pass out, and her magic was gone for much longer than the first two times. She feared that her ability to manipulate the two satellites would soon fail altogether.
“Well then,” Twilight began, stepping away from the geth. “I guess if there’s nothing else to do, we should continue questioning our prisoner?”
“If he’s willing to speak this time…” Cadance noted. “Perhaps the news that his leader is rebelling against the collectors will be enough for him to tell us everything.”
“If he believes us...” Twilight added. “Come on, Legion. You can probably help with the changeling.”
“Acknowledged,” Legion said, following the two ponies out of the lounge room. Applejack and Rainbow Dash remained behind, closing the door behind them as they exited. Cadance took the lead, leading the procession through the maze of hallways to the back of the palace where the prisoners were situated. The changeling had been there for several hours now, and still he had revealed nothing. Twilight admired his loyalty, but it was beginning to become annoying. Falling into step behind Cadance, Twilight continued walking down the hall…
Erebus sat in the interrogation room of Canterlot castle, his forelegs restrained by a pair of magical hoofcuffs. Around the base of his horn was a featureless golden ring that, to an untrained eye, would look almost ornamental. Erebus knew however that the ring was imbued with a magical dampening spell, preventing his horn from working any of its magic.
On his face he wore a neutral expression, not giving away any of the fear he felt within. No changelings captured by ponies had ever returned, according to the history that he had been taught. Granted it had been thousands of years since the ponies last had a chance to take prisoners, but Erebus was worried nonetheless. He did not know if he would be killed, or tortured, or experimented on. The wrath of the ponies knew no end.
Erebus struggled to keep his neutral expression as the door opened and Princesses Twilight and Cadance both stepped in. His stoic stare failed, however, as the geth walked in right behind them. The princesses clearly took note of his surprise, and Cadance seemed to smirk at his discomfort.
“I’m sure you were not expecting to see Legion, were you?” she asked, smiling. “You are probably wondering how he escaped. Well, I will tell you: your queen let him out.”
“Ha!” Erebus laughed, speaking for the first time since he had boasted about how Legion was being captured. “Queen Chrysalis would do no such thing!”
“Princess Cadance is not lying, changeling,” the geth said to Erebus in a flat, mechanical voice. “Queen Chrysalis was worried for the safety of all changelings. She let us escape, telling us about her plans to kill the collector captain. They are no longer allies.”
“And why should I believe you, machine?” Erebus asked, glaring. The geth could have escaped any number of ways. Maybe he never even went to the hive. Perhaps that had all been an elaborate ruse to get him to expose himself. “Want me to believe you? Take off this magical dampener and let me call the queen right now so I can confirm your story.” Twilight and Cadance exchanged glances before looking back to the changeling. A moment later, Twilight’s horn glowed purple and Erebus felt the ring being lifted off of his horn.
“We’re not lying to you, so we have nothing to hide,” she said. “Just don’t try teleporting out. I have this room protected against that anyway.” Gulping, Erebus lit his horn and extended his consciousness to join with Chrysalis’s.
The further out he reached, the more worried he got. Usually he had connected by now. Instead of feeling the cold grasp of Chrysalis, he felt nothing more than an empty void. His muzzle scrunching in confusion, Erebus stopped searching and cut off the flow of magic to his horn. His eyes opened and he stared at the ponies, who now seemed as confused as he did.
“Is there a problem?” Cadance asked.
“… What did you do?” Erebus asked, staring at the geth. Legion stared back, giving off no emotions of any kind. “WHAT DID YOU DO!?”
“Changeling!” Twilight yelled. “Calm down! What are you talking about?”
“Why can’t I connect with the queen?” Erebus asked, beginning to shake with anger and fear. “What did you do to her!?”
“We did not do anything,” Legion said. “We escaped and allowed Chrysalis to go on with her plan. Though if you cannot connect with her, it is likely then that she has failed. However, we cannot confirm this assumption without more data.”
Erebus began breathing in and out of his nose quickly, his whole body shaking with fear. The geth was likely correct – if Erebus could not connect with Chrysalis, then there were only two reasons: one, her brain was not functioning properly, or two, she was dead. Both possibilities were terrifying to Erebus. If the queen was dead, then what did that mean for the changelings? They would be slaves to the collectors, and with no queen to lead them, then they had no hope of defeating the aliens.
“Perhaps we should give him some alone time…” Twilight whispered to Cadance and Legion, likely thinking that Erebus could not hear her. “He may need some time to… adjust…” The three wretched creatures walked out of the interrogation room, leaving Erebus alone once again. He was tempted to try teleporting out despite Twilight Sparkle’s warning, but he found that the magic dampening ring had been replaced over his horn at some point. With no other way to get his rage out, Erebus simply shut his eyes and screamed as loudly as he could. Were it not for the hoofcuffs, he would have flipped the table as well.
When he could not possibly scream any longer, Erebus slowly cracked his eyes open and looked at the wooden table before him. As he panted, one thought echoed throughout his mind. He did not want to gain the queen’s favor; he did not want to escape; all in the world that Erebus wanted was revenge.
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...Huh. First off Collectors, you're being the reapers. Mix with Cerberus. Second the changeling may go on a mad killing spree. Third I have a feeling we may see a final mission for this chapter.
Okay, I HATE these collectors. But if they're free from the Reaper's control, then why are they doing this??
Collectors crash land in Equestria and are now free from the Reapers.
Collectors make alliance with changelings to rise to power again and fight their previous opresors.
Collectors are doing exactly the same Reapers do to get what they want.
Yah know, seeing this makes me really happy I always pick destroying the collector base everytime I play ME2
5616449
Well Protheans were always pretty dickish conquerors that lorded over the galaxy even before the reapers came. If being turned in to collectors did not change their base tendencies, being bastards is simply business as usual
i feel bad for the changelings now and hope that everything will turn out fine for them... and the queen as well.
5617148 True, we have Javik to conform this idea.
5617076
Because at heart, they're still Protheans, and they lost the previous cycle because they only cared about their own species. They spilled the blood of countless enslaved species just to buy themselves time to run, and then they fell because they rejected the idea that they could simply help the next generation be prepared.
Frankly, the Protheans were racists, speciest jerks, and were taken from within because they didn't believe that any of their own kind could be turned against them. That they're screwing over an entire world with numerous documented sapient species wouldn't bother any Prothean or Collector in the slightest.
5618295 ....huh. Y'know, while he was a little bit condescending, the Javik in the ME3 DLC really didn't give off that kinda vibe. I spouse he was on of the....'better', ones?
Man, Chryssy may be a bit of a jerk, but that's a rotten situation to be in. Hopefully that implant suppresses more than just motor control and whatever magic's tied to in their brains, because being aware while in that state would be utter torture.
My hatred for the collectors is rising with each passing chapter and now I hope they die slow and painful deaths. Preferably via dissection for the information it could provide and the irony if it starts with their heads, but only if they can keep them alive. Otherwise start with the torso.
Still another great chapter and Erebus seems to be out for blood which is always a good sign in that situation in my book. On with the looming carnage! 
5618370
He was also being a 'defeatist', because he's the last of his kind (not counting the Collectors) and he's extremely dismissive of the other races until you've had him aid you in several missions.
He insults every single member of each major species on the council one by one until nearly the end of the game. he doesn't even consider the Turians a credible stalling tactic until he hears about them having the Reapers stuck in a ground war for more than a month straight.
5620624 ....wow, it must have been a REALLY long time since I last played ME3...
You bastard! How dare you use mind control on somepony with the ability to use mind control herself?
5621617
It also helps that I've done a lot of research into psychology and sociology. And that the staff working on ME3 did their research and made sure to add in nonverbal expressions.
5621745 ......now you're just showing off ;p
5622100
Yeah, a little, but I get my enjoyment from analyzing games like ME3, not in playing them.
5629846 Fixed, thank you for pointing that out.
5618786
Chuck them in a pod and set it to melt!
Well, pretty sure over 50% of the ponies in Equestria are dead, Ponyville is now barren, as well as the two initially infected villages. If this is not the case, then either I've missed something, or the lore in this story got screwed up, because at this point in the story, they should have already captured all the infected (including Ponyville) and brought them back. Considering he just did that, they're all dead.
Unless ofc Deus Ex Machina at the end of the story, in which case I'll be pissed off more than I already am.
'vertebrae' is plural. The singular form is 'vertebra'
You know that Star Wars quote:
I was thinking 'a thousand voices suddenly cried out…', then I remembered the story's title
TEH CHANGLENG WANT RAVANGE!!!
[hr ] - minis the space near the end.
Queen Chrysalis suffered the same fate as Saren...
Still the Changelings might yet survive... Maybe?