//------------------------------// // The End // Story: Heat Death // by ScottTrek //------------------------------// For the first time in a few years Twilight woke up. She tried opening her eyes a few times before remembering, “Oh yeah.” She thought, blearily stretching her cramped limbs. “No light anymore.” She debated going back to sleep, but decided that since she was awake might was well find out what had woken her up. Twilight reflexively made the motion of breathing out as she concentrated and pulled into her immense magic well. Outwardly it didn’t look like Twilight was doing anything, but in sub-space waves of psi energy radiated out from her body like a great cosmic flower. It would have looked beautiful if anyone was around to see it, and Twilight was concentrating too hard to notice. Sub-space, which lay 'bellow' normal space, was a difficult medium to work with, but it was one of the few things left in the universe that was still in one piece. A quick spatial check reassured her that the long term gravity-manipulation spells she had in place were still working, her orbit hadn’t decayed significantly. She peered down at the cluster of singularities below her quietly whirling around in the final cosmic dance of a dead super-cluster. Twilight sighed internally and tried to block out the waves of sadness now welling up inside her. “I knew there was a reason I’d gone to sleep.” She thought to herself, pushing her probing psi-waves out further. Looking at singularities always made her sad, she couldn't stand that all the matter in the universe that had made up all the things she’d loved most now lay boiling away in those infinite pools of gravitation. Oh Not all the matter it seems. A few million kilometers out something massive was hurtling towards her. A shock-wave rippled out through sub-space from the object and its course wobbled slightly. Twilight rotated in the void to look towards the encroaching object and noticed wisps of smoke particles brushing past her face as they fell into the gravity well. It was a machine god, a colossal Robot being pulled into the gravity well. Its insectoid limbs were flailing wildly and its single red eye rolled as retro jets fired and impulse drives sent out another shock-wave. Twilight didn't know much about machines of his type but she could clearly tell it was damaged, the erratic shock-waves indicated its main engines were dying out and on the ethereal plane Twilight could see that energy was leaking from several burning patches on the hull. She briefly thought about doing something, but why bother helping? The universe was in its death throes. The Robot and herself were just the last embers petering out before the night eternal. She almost considered letting herself fall with it, but no, if she was going to kill herself it would have been a long time ago. Twilight curled up and tried to go back to sleep, trying to block out the radio signals as the robot wailed, battery giving out their last few bursts of energy as it fell. Twilight how could you? Seriously sugarcube? At the last moment Twilight whipped out a tractor beam as the Robot came speeding past. Unfortunately the Robot had picked up way to much momentum and Twilight yelped has her horn was nearly torn out of its socket. Thankfully her reinforced bones held. Unfortunately it did mean she was now being dragged along with the robot, her spatial anchoring snapped. Whirling around on the end of her tether Twilight chose a few choice curses before reeling herself in. She landed with a painful ‘clang’ on the Robots surface and immediately had to roll away as a metal arm scythed round and tried to squish her. Twilight magnetized her hooves and clung desperately to the Robots skin as its flight path grew more and more erratic. “Hold still!” Twilight beamed across, “I’m trying to help you!” The Robot immediately stopped moving and beamed back, “QUERY?” “Drop your shields and I’ll use your shield emitters to deflect the worst of the shear. You need to plot us a course through the black holes.” “THIS UNIT'S ENGINES ARE AT 10% AND DO NOT HAVE THRUST FOR ATTEMPTED MANEUVER. YOU ARE TRYING TO DECEIVE THIS UNIT” Twilight grunted, the gravity shear was starting to intensify. They didn't have much time left. “Please believe me!” Twilight pleaded, “I can save us both! You just need to trust me!” Ten painful seconds eked past, Twilight groaning as the edges of her being began to spaghettify. Then suddenly the Robot dropped his deflectors and beamed, “SLINGSHOT CALCULATIONS UNDERWAY.” Twilight grimaced and began to pour power into the Robot's exposed circuitry. She immediately patched up his hull breaches and pulled his impulse coils back into alignment. The thunderous roar from the Robots engines was so loud Twilight swore she could hear it through the vacuum. Continuing to pour energy it the Robot, Twilight turned her attention to its shielding systems, they were surprisingly un-complex for such an advance being, but she was going to make it work. Twilight’s vision blurred as she fought against the gravity shear. Using the robots deflector dishes to amplify her own force field spells she looped the magic round and around the robot, cocooning it in magic. The strain grew and grew, Twilight's nose began bleeding from the strain of the magic, an occurrence that had last happened 5000 million years ago. Twilight gasped and set her spells to keep running as darkness swept over her vision and blacked out. Twilight! It’s a real pity you were asleep for that, your new friend has got MOVES! It was rather elegant. And you weren’t going to help him you big silly-billy. Now stop being so dozy, wake up and say hello! Twilight woke to find herself sitting atop the Robots aft hull. She quickly checked their spatial position and blew a sigh of relief, they were indeed headed away from the black hole cluster. It was rather impressive really, even Twilight with all her magic had only managed an orbit when she had been caught all those years ago. It was a testament to his builder’s ingenuity even if she’d been powering him...hang on! “Hey!” Twilight beamed angrily, thumping her hoof against the hull, “Are you still siphoning power from me?” “APOLOGIES,” The robot beamed back, closing the power transfer “ASSUMPTION: YOU ASSISTED THIS UNIT, THEREFORE LOGICALLY YOU WOULD WANT TO CONTINUE ASSISTANCE. THIS UNIT HAD 0.000001% TOTAL POWER CAPACITY REMAINING AT TIME OF DECENT, POWER RECHARGE WAS NECESSARY.” “Ok what’s your power level now?” Twilight said, dipping into the magic well to assess the damage. “ADDITIONAL INFORMATION: THIS UNIT MONITORED EQUINE UNITS POWER READINGS AND DISCERNED NO PERCEIVABLE DROP IN TOTAL POWER STORAGE, WHEREAS THIS UNIT HAS BEEN CHARGED TO 700% THEORETICAL UPPER BATTERY LIMIT. EQUINE UNIT IS HIGHLY ANOMALOUS.” “Oh…..” Twilight said, brow furrowing, “One second.” Twilight checked, double checked and triple checked but the Robot appeared to be correct, and his kind were largely incapable of lying. “OK…that was still not a polite thing to do.” Twilight chided, “Please ask if you need a recharge. And please can you not telepathize so loudly in my head?” “STA……Statement saved to file. Behavioral algorithms altered.” Twilight couldn't help but smile, AI’s could be a faff to deal with but she was really pleased she’s saved him. It was the first conversation she’d in ages. It was also very curious about the power transfer, just how deep did her magic pool go? Also magic and tech usually didn't agree very well, so a 700% overcharge seemed very improbable. Eons of practice and magic was still finding ways to surprise her. “Information request;” The robot beamed to Twilight. Its body began to shift and the section of hull she was magnetized to shifted round so she was sitting in front of its large red eye. “Behavioral data suggests exchange of designations upon first contact among organics. Request designation?” “My name is Twilight Sparkle. Former princess of the Equestrian People.” “Sparkle, Princess.” “Um… no…” Twilight will be fine.” Twilight said, suppressing a giggle at the robot's incredibly awkward mannerisms. It wasn't really that funny but again, long time since last interaction with another living creature. “And your ‘designation’?” “This units official designation was: ‘FRGE-110972 Lambda Series Starlord’ at time of creation. Note: 74% of all encountered organics have used starting letters of designation to invent the name ‘Forge’. Twilight unit may do so if it wishes.” “Well I’m very pleased to meet you Forge.” Twilight smiled, bowing to his large mono-eye. “Query. If you are leader of your people why did they not make any attempt to rescue from the gravity well?” “Oh no, my people died a long time ago, they’re weren't like me.” Twilight whispered eyes downcast, “They’re weren't…immortal. The last of my kind perished half way through the Age of Descent, right when the death of the Universe began to speed up.” Forge may not have understood the minds and emotions of organics on a fundamental level, but after eons of life could still recognize heartbreak when he saw it. “I apologize.” Twilight sniffed back tears and waved a hoof at Forge. “No, it’s OK. Huh, it's weird to think that the Age of Descent was so long ago now. It was meant to be the death of everything, but, here we are.” A thin metallic tendril extruded from the hull and wrapped itself around Twilight’s shoulders, it was actually far too tight a grip to be comforting but Twilight appreciated the gesture. “Your people…” Forge said slowly trying to pick the right words. “Your people must have had superior programming to last up until the 41st age.” “They were a creative lot, still managing to adventure through space on the last ship of our civilization. We called it ‘The Valkyrie’,” Twilight sighed melancholicly, beaming across the memorized schematics; robots appreciated that sort of thing. “Hundreds of ponies of every type and sub-species living in a last ditch ark among the dying stars. We held on for so long you know…” Tears began to form in Twilight's eyes. She’d seen countless people close to her die in her lifetime, but it never stopped pulling at her heartstrings when they passed on, maybe that was a good thing. “Those bastard Hrath! Then again maybe it’s kinder they went out quickly with a bang instead of a whimper.” Twilight shut her eyes. She decided it was a good thing that their deaths still hurt; it had always worried her that she’d end up aloof and uncaring like so many other god level beings. Of course that did little comfort the pain in her chest. “This unit has seen this ship before.” Forge intoned projecting an image of a smaller but incredibly similar looking ship in front of Twilight. “Oh yeah… it’s been around for millennia. It was actually the first interstellar star-ship the Equestrian people made. We just kept cobbling new bits on over the years, you know…” “NEGATIVE.” Forge cut in harshly, pupil widening. “THIS UNIT HAS SEEN THIS SHIP RECENTLY.” Without waiting to be asked Forge began to beam his recorded memory into Twilight's head. Twilight watched breathlessly (figuratively) as Forge’s vision swept across a seemingly empty stretch of space, unremarkable compared to any other. Then, impossibly, the flickering image of the Valkyrie began to flicker and warp in the area front of Forge. “But…but…no…but that’s impossible! The Valkyrie was pulled into a Chaos Star when the Hrath attacked! There no way the ship could have survived!” Twilight was pacing in wild circles, an electrostatic charge building as she walked and raising her hair into a crazy swirl. Suddenly she cried “Oh!...OHHHHHHHH!….but what if…” and teleported, reappearing flattened against Forge’s eye. “Send me your sensor data!” Twilight barked, thumping a hoof down hard. “All of it! “Compiling into appropriate format.” Forge replied, “This may take some time. I suggest…” “JUST SEND IT TO ME DIRECTLY!” Twilight screamed. Forge started to argue that such a huge data transfer would be highly inadvisable, but conceded under Twilight’s manic stare. He decided it would be highly illogical to piss off the Alicorn. “Affirmative.” Twilight clenched her eyes shut and gritted her teeth. She frantically sifted through the masses of data even as it threatened to burn out her neurons, there was just one simple magical signature, one pattern among thousands to look for. “Yes…….” Twilight's eyes snapped open. “Yes?” “YES YES OH BY ALL THE GODS YES!” Twilight cried, thousands of years of regret peeling away from her features in an instant. She leapt from Forge’s hull and began flying into mad loops and dives around the confused droid. “Ember Glow you are the greatest genius that ever lived!” “Please extrapolate.” Forge asked, his body clumsily swiveling as he tried to track the manic pony. “Ember Glow was a friend of mine who lived…lives! She lives on the Valkyrie!” Twilight said, laughter bubbling uncontrollably, “Before the Hrath attacked she was telling me about a theory she was working on. It was a time phasing spell that would allow the Valkyrie to be frozen in a pocket dimension outside normal space-time. But I thought it could never work.” “Space-time of all types has been degrading steadily since the beginning of the 41st Age.” Forge agreed, “Your colleague’s theorem is fundamentally flawed.” “But she must have made it work. I don’t know how but she must have made it work. All the patterns and energy signatures are there! Just like she explained to me! They’re alive Forge! They’re still alive! She must have gotten the mages to cast it right before they hit the Chaos Star” “Conclusion is premature.” Forge replied, “There is no evidence to suggest that your race is still alive. Even if the spell worked (which is highly improbable) this Unit was in the Nightmare Zone five thousand years ago at time of recording.” “I don’t care.” Twilight said, voice steeled, “I’m going in there. Thank you Forge, maybe I’ll see you again sometime.” Twilight's wings exploded into a calypso of light and she prepared to warp through space. “Negative.” Forge said moving in front of Twilight. “This unit barely escaped from the Nightmare Zone alive. Twilight unit has minuscule chance of success…” “I don’t care Forge.” Twilight growled, “Get out of the way.” “It is logical that….” “I don’t care what your logic dictates!” Twilight screamed, cutting Forge off again. “I swear I will blast my way through you unless you move right this very instant! I will….” Forge shot out a tractor beam to shut Twilight up. All over his body long dormant systems began to power up as he boomed into Twilight's head. “TWILIGHT UNIT HAS MINIMAL CHANCE OF SUCCESS ACTING ALONE. THAT IS WHY THIS UNIT WILL ACCOMPANY YOU TO INTO NIGHTMARE ZONE TO INVESTIGATE.” Twilight began to cry again. She gently drifted over and hugged one of Forge's gigantic limbs. “Thank you, ha, ahahah, I didn't think you would find it logical to help me, that’s how you machines work isn't it?” “To quote my long dead…..friend….. Markus Arathos of the 12th Age: Well buddy, we've got nothing left to lose. We may as well go out fighting for something worthwhile.” Forge paused for a second before adding, “It may be worth noting that Markus did not survive the following events.”