"Time to go in!" Galah announced.
He tested out the inclining dirt with his feet, poking and prodding at it to ensure its stability. When he was finally satisfied, he started to take small, careful steps down, but the dirt wasn't as stable as he first thought. It immediately started crumbling, and he began sliding down, gradually increasing in speed as the two sisters watched apathetically. The rolling bits of solidified dirt and stone pulled more with them, eventually bringing about something deep below the ground. The little grass that was present was quickly torn away and a mound started growing outwards. Two thick, long legs ending in sharp claws broke out and used the surface of the ground to push their owner out. The creature had a conical head with an eye on both sides of its face and one above and below.
It darted around angrily, trying to find the source of its annoyance. Instead it found a metallic being sliding towards it. Its four mandibles opened up, covering its face as it chomped onto the ground and burrowed itself back down without having to get out of the soil completely. Galah tripped over the mound, his systems focused on reaching the dock and reaching the bottom in one peace. The steps were still being reached, but now the prototype was sliding down the inclination face first. He bumped several times against more of the strange creatures and other, smaller animals and insects as he went down. The two sisters watched him slide down, and with every bump they could see his 'eyes' fixated on the dock until he eventually slid onto the solid, heat resistant black pavement. Galah slammed his hands into it and pushed with such force that he flew up and landed on his feet. The pavement of the dock was damaged, but at least the group had reached it without much difficulty.
"Now all that's left is to figure out which craft to take to go where we want to," Galah said proudly.
"Are your systems undamaged?" Celestia asked.
"They are," the prototype said. "Why do you ask?"
"You slid down the hill, colliding with many solid objects," Luna added.
The prototype's eyes dimmed, then he looked behind himself. "Hmmm. I do see a trail." He shrugged. "Probably your hover feet that did that," he stated dismissively.
Luna looked at her legs. "We don't produce enough motive force to push material away from our bases," she said.
The prototype looked left and right. "Really? Strange."
The three hurried behind an elevated depot actively being service by a great many robots and makers. It was five stories tall, and wide enough that it would likely take a maker five minutes to reach the other end if they ran. The two's calls for the service stations were met with silence, so they waited patiently to Galah to process whatever was going through his processor. The prototype poked around the corner while clinging onto it, 'sneakily' eyeing everything he could. A craft had just come in from above and was landing with relative ease, although its engines were deafening. It was a beast of a machine. Its white body was lozenge shaped, with three fins on its back. A fourth one underneath was still retracting back into the two on the sides. The main wings had an inverted design to them, created a 'v' shape. It possessed no windows, not even on the front, making Luna question as to how exactly anyone could see anything with such a strange design.
"That's a craft that uses the ramps," Galah said. He grabbed the end of his muzzle and looked around. "That's one we need rather than one that goes directly into orbit."
Luna, however, was fixated on the incoming craft. All across its body were specks and splotches of black, disrupting the constant of white, and from these she could see an angry, cloudy trail. The black energy. Billowing off the craft like hungry flames, she saw a few piloted machines rushing over to it on treads. When they had finally reached the stopped vehicle, their bodies elevated while the cockpit rotated to keep the pilot in the same position. Four arms came out from the armed body. Two would blast the smudges with a pink and blue substance while the other beneath it would suck up anything left and move on to the next spot.
Galah ignored them, looking towards the ramps much further away. "We should be able to find the one we want over there. I see five ramps occupied. One of them must be going to the sources of black energy."
He readied himself to cross the whole runway when the sisters grabbed him and pulled him back.
"It is too dangerous to go all the way across," Luna warned. "We must find an alternate route."
"We could try the main building." She 'slid' her arm forward. "Follow the side of the building to better access the space ramps without being put into harm's way. Through analysis, I've n-noticed that the makers tend to ignore us."
Galah shook his head. "Yeah, but we're not wandering around the city. Unless we have a specific reason to be there we shouldn't try to cross through the back." He tapped the wall of the depot. "We might have to go around fully then, if there's a risk of damage."
"Then why didn't we just do that?" Luna asked.
"I wanted to go straight across," Galah complained.
Luna felt her internals overheating again. Since that was their best best, the three walked along the outer perimeter of the runway, ignoring any regular-sized machines or makers wandering around. It took almost an hour to get around. Instead of going up the hill, Galah had gone back around the back where all the cargo was being loaded and unloaded. Various gigantic machines with adjustable baggage carousels. The robots were almost as tall as the port itself, and their frames were a mishmash of so many twists and bends and separate metal frames that the sisters couldn't comprehend how it was even functioning properly.
Even though they hurried towards Galah as fast as possible to pull him back, he had already rounded the corner. Wanting to remain inconspicuous, he messed with one of the carousel bots' actuators, causing the treadmills to started flinging around wildly, throwing everything around and scaring the workers. The prototype gestured the two to follow him while he snuck around the boxes, containers, and so forth.
"Why did you do that?" Luna asked.
"Because they would have stopped us and tried to escort us out of here, then we would be under watch and they would never let us in again," the prototype explained.
"We were supposed to go by the front," Celestia explained.
"I calculated that this way would be quicker, and we would've attracted everyone's attention regardless." He hopped over another group of containers filled with baggage to be loaded up into the port itself. "Besides, it's more fun this way," he mused. He stopped next to one of the recharging stations for the active robots and connected the large tubing to his chest.
"Fun?" Luna asked with confusion.
"Yes." He took a moment to figure out a way to explain it. "Things that are entertaining. That bring you joy and pleasure."
"Pleasure?" Luna repeated.
The image of the city covered in colors and bright lights came to mind. Celestia, on her end, looked up to the sun. The first thing she truly took in when she was finally out of the data center after being in there for so long. She might have enjoyed all the information she could read in there, if she was understanding everything right, but it was not a life she wanted. She wanted to physically see everything, and looking at her sister, she knew who to thank for that.
"Should've used the stations, but this is much faster and more fun," he mused with an invisible grin.
"So even back then you two loved each other?" Twilight squee'd. "That's adorable!"
"Of course!" Celestia shouted cheerfully. "My sister is the one that showed me that there was a world outside the walls, and I never would have seen that had she not come to that data center."
Twilight paused a moment. "Weren't you from a set of thirty?" she asked.
"About six," Celestia corrected. "I don't think we were all in that city. I think the others were sent elsewhere."
Twilight let her imagination run wild and shivered.
"What's wrong?" Celestia asked. Worried.
"I just thought of a world with six Princess Celestias," Twilight whimpered.
Luna broke out in laughter. "I agree, Twilight. That is a horrifying prospect. There wouldn't be enough cake in the world to sate her appetite. We would need a whole world for each of them!"
Celestia pouted and glared at the two. "Well, what if we had two of you, Luna?"
The lunar princess took an elegant poise and placed an arm on her chest. "There were only one of me made, Celestia. There were many of you, however." She pretended to snort in her laugh, causing Celestia to grab her head then turn around, trying to stifle her laughter.
"That isn't fair!" she complained. "You know that I can't resist the snort laughing."
Luna leaned next to Twilight. "Almost caused a war way back when because she couldn't control herself."
"A what."
The three had finally reached the ramps. They only had to cross past several running vehicles and moving aircraft. One maker noticed them but seemed too distracted by her job to care enough. It was a lucky break to Galah who watched for any dangers around the trio. A thing that was odd considering he kept crashing into lamp posts and other paraphernalia on the runway that had yet to be cleaned.
"Over there. There's makers loading up," he said on a patch of grass.
There were several long lines of grass still left on the runway for reasons that eluded the machines. Regardless, the craft and vehicles did not approach them, so they were relatively safe from harm's way.
"Yes, but which one is the correct craft?" Luna asked.
Celestia hovered in front of the two and looked more closely at the craft. She pointed to the third. "That one still possesses traces of black substance on its hull. Logic dictates that it is a regular contender for the black energy by taking the cleaning of the previous craft into account."
The prototype stomped forward a pointed a long finger. "Then let us go forward! To unexplored anomalies."
They hurried across, passing underneath the first two space ramps. Nobody was using them, but the third had a few dozen people boarding from the ground. An escalator was made to accommodate the more mobile passengers while robots were used to accommodate those with more mobile difficulties. Galah saw an opening behind them where cargo was being loaded onto the craft. One maker was there, checking everything on an electronic notepad the robots were currently updating with every pass of cargo.
"There," the prototype said. "We'll go in through there. If we're in the cargo there shouldn't be any trouble afterwards."
"Wouldn't we be crushed by the force of take off?" Celestia asked.
Galah looked to her. "Not if we strap ourselves in against the cargo," he stated enthusiastically.
He rushed off to the rising ramp and hid behind the maker. He did a poor job however, as said worker turned around, looking at the prototype angrily.
"What are you doing here, robot? You're not meant to be in this area!"
Galah hit the man on the head with his arm, knocking him out. "Bonk," the prototype said.
He rushed towards the storage compartment while the sisters followed. The maker was groaning, so they determined he wasn't in any real danger. Still, the two felt an uncomfortable nagging sensation in their circuitry after witnessing that and decided to keep the prototype under close watch. The cargo hold was a dark place. Only a few lights lining a single pathway above. The varying large boxes were kept locked in by size-adapting clamps rising from the ground on painted sections of the ground and walls. Galah had already found a spot against the wall and gave the two an enthusiastic thumbs up.
"Didn't know they had these in modern craft," he said. "Very convenient."
Celestia analyzed the surface of the painted spot and retreated when pressure against it caused the triangular heads of the latches to fly out. They retracted just as quickly, intriguing her. She started to push and retract herself several times in a row, irritating the prototype.
"Would you just take a spot already?" he yelled angrily. "The other one is already in the hold."
Celestia looked to her sister then shrugged. The clamps wrapped around her torso, legs, and arms, then held them against the wall, preventing any use of her limbs. The sisters stared at Galah in calm silence. He was giggling non-stop.
"Now we wait impatiently for take-off."