//------------------------------// // The Outbreak // Story: Mega Mare // by DrakeyC //------------------------------// Mega Mare Chapter 1 – The Outbreak "Twilight Sparkle, thank goodness you've come." Celestia, Princess of the Equine Republic, stepped down from the control pedestal below a sea of monitors and servers lining the wall and walked towards the pony that had just entered her lab. Twilight Sparkle was a young unicorn, Celestia's personal student and adviser. She wore a shining steel saddle on her back, the latest in neural interface peripherals with on-board computer systems. Her left hoof was a stainless steel cybernetic prosthetic. The prosthetic had a technical name, something with four words that most ponies agreed each had too many letters. Colloquially ponies referred to them as Multitools. A strip of magic-focusing metal circled around her horn along the spiral markings, two lights near the base blinking pink where the metal ran under her skin. "Of course, Princess." Twilight stopped before her and kneeled. "As always I am happy to aid you however I can." "I thank you, my student." Celestia looked up at the two guard ponies standing vigilant inside her door, golden armor with the glowing emblem of Celestia's cutie mark over their bodies. "Please, leave us." The guards bowed and left the room, the pristine white doors sliding shut behind them. "Twilight, I must ask first that we keep this private," the Princess said. Twilight slowly nodded. "We have a mystery on our hooves and I think you're the pony to investigate it." Celestia turned back to the computer controls and raised a hoof to press a button. The feed for one of the smaller monitors blinked to the large central monitor, showing a map of Equestria with a glowing red dot marking a site. Twilight approached behind her and looked up. "Ponyville?" More data about the town began to stream over the screen as Twilight read. "What's going on there?" "I'm not sure. That's the problem," Celestia replied. "According to witness reports, ponies are acting in a very peculiar fashion. So far it hasn't been anything too serious, minor acts of mischief mostly. The weather patrol team made it rain chocolate milk, the veterinary clinic let loose their stock of cyber-rabbits in the streets, and so forth." "How long has this been going on?" Twilight asked, fidgeting slightly at the expression on her face. She wasn't used to seeing her mentor worried like this. "Since last night, and it seems it has gotten worse. This morning half of the police have not reported in for their duties today. Attempts to contact the mayor of the town have not been returned." Celestia looked back to Twilight. "I don't know what's going on there, and I don't want to raise a panic without just cause, so we need to learn more and quickly." "What do you need done?" Celestia nodded at the monitors. "I'm sending you there. I want you to visit the town and find out what the cause of these oddities could be. My hope is that it is nothing serious, but I need to make sure. And there's another problem that concerns me as well. Five of my research aides live in Ponyville doing field research. I've tried to contact them but they haven't responded to my transmissions either. Their safety is of particular importance to me if there is something amiss there." Celestia looked back at Twilight. "I'm not quite sure what could be causing this, so I need somepony with expertise in magic and technological matters to investigate. I need you, Twilight. Locate my aides and find out what is happening at Ponyville." Twilight smiled proudly. "No problem, Celestia! I'm the mare for the job!" "Excellent." Celestia returned Twilight's smile with one of her own. "Given that we do not know what you'll be dealing with I want you to go in prepared. Transmissions from the town are often scrambled and fragmented, so communications will be difficult if not impossible. Once you get there, unless you can find the source of the interference and take care of it you'll be on your own. Since I can't help you directly I've prepared an AI program for your on-board systems. He's programmed with all the knowledge I have of my assistants and the town, so he'll be able to help you with anything." "Ooooo, I've always wanted an AI assist program!" Twilight turned her saddle towards the Princess. "Download away." Celestia's horn glowed yellow. A computer chip surrounded in a like-colored aura floated from the computer console and slotted itself into the saddle. Twilight felt the tingle in her head of her on-board systems being updated, and after a few seconds, the sensation faded. "He's ready to go, execute the program," Celestia instructed. "Right." Twilight searched her databanks for the new software. "It's… um… the Software, Programming, and Intelligence Kinetic Engineer?" "SPIKE," Celestia replied. Twilight executed the file and waited, a low drum filling her head from her neural connection to the saddle. After a few seconds, the holographic interface on the saddle came to life and projected an image beside her. Slowly the transparent, blue-green image of a baby dragon appeared on the lab floor. "Program Spike, activated. Awaiting command." The dragon stood up straight and stared ahead blankly. "Oh, my apologies." Celestia levitated another chip off the console with her horn. "I programmed the personality files as an add-on." The chip in the saddle slid out and the new one slotted in. Twilight felt her saddle's components humming. Suddenly the holographic dragon shuddered and blinked. He looked around as if suddenly aware of his surroundings, and upon seeing Twilight smiled and waved a claw. "Wha… oh, hi Twilight!" The hologram's mouth moved in-time with the voice coming from her saddle. Twilight giggled and lifted a hoof to wave back. "He's been programmed to recognize you as a long-time friend," Celestia explained. "I've been using a much more advanced version of Spike for these computers the last year. I derived the version I've given you from an earlier version used for my personal files. He's still far more advanced than anything in consumer markets." "And he has databanks on everything I'll need to know about Ponyville?" Twilight asked, her eyes twinkling with anticipation. Celestia nodded, recognizing the signs of her student's excitement. "Ponyville and the surrounding environs. I'd been planning on surprising you for your birthday, but given the circumstances I think it safer to give you him now. He has the same standard on-board systems as commercial programs, and will serve you well as an assistant." Celestia had barely finished before Twilight was giving Spike her first command. "Spike, what's three-thousand, two hundred and ninety-four times four thousand, one hundred and eight?" "Thirteen million, five-hundred and thirty-one thousand, seven hundred and fifty-two," Spike said instantly. Twilight clapped her hooves together and grinned. "He's perfect! Can we put off the visit to Ponyville for five minutes while I run down to my study and have him alphabetize the bookshelves?" "I'm afraid not Twilight, we have little time to lose," Celestia replied, shaking her head. Twilight pouted slightly. "Yeah. That sounds kinda boring anyway," Spike agreed. The two ponies looked at the map showing Ponyville. Now that her excitement over Spike had worn off, Twilight remembered Celestia's concerns and began to worry again. "With our feeds disrupted I cannot locate my five aides here, but Spike has their biosignatures in his databanks. Once you get to the town you should easily be able to pinpoint their coordinates from the closer range. I'm sure they'll be able to explain the situation to you better than I can. Once we know what's going on I can decide what further actions to take." Celestia floated a quartet of small vials filled with a murky blue liquid off her console. "I've requisitioned these from the medical labs. If you get harmed or find somepony in need, these healing salves will cure flesh wounds and minor injuries. I hope you'll not encounter anything more demanding than that." "Thank you, me too," Twilight said. She took the vials in her own magic hold and floated them to her saddle. With a light hiss a metal plate slid down to reveal a small storage compartment. Twilight slipped the vials into it and the hatch clicked shut. "If things should come to violence or if you believe the situation is dire, we will return you to Canterlot if we are able. With the interference we don't have direct teleporter capabilities, so flee the town and try to get within our range," Celestia continued. "Above all else I need my aides returned safely here. They're working on an important project and it is of utmost importance they return to me in this time of crisis so we can retrieve the data they've collected." "Right. Anything else?" "No. Sadly with our limited knowledge there is nothing more I can do to prepare you. If your search proves fruitless return to me and we'll seek my aides another way. At the least we will have information on what is happening to the town. Do you understand?" "Perfectly. Ready Spike?" Twilight turned her attention to the hologram. With a blip, Spike vanished and reappeared on her saddle, the light blue image flickering. "Hi-ho Twilight, away!" He cheered. Twilight turned her head and glared. "What? Just trying it out." Twilight shook her head and looked back to Celestia. "When we get back maybe we can have a chat about those personality files." The Princess lowered her head to embrace Twilight with one hoof. "Be careful, my student. Remember, if you encounter any danger we will bring you home immediately." Twilight hugged her back. "Don't worry, Princess. I'll be fine." The two parted, and Twilight turned to gallop out of the lab, the doors sliding open at her approach. "Head down to the teleporters, they'll get you as close to the town as possible! Good luck!" Celestia called after her. The doors shut as Twilight's tail vanished down the hall, and Celestia looked back up at the monitor and inhaled deeply, her eyes clouded. "I only hope now that you will not need it."