As they neared the Central Sector the state of the ship began to rapidly improve. Working lights became more common and sparking, damaged equipment less so.
The moment the tram pulled into the station Twilight bolted from the carriage, spreading her wings jumped through the air. She flew up and quickly surveyed the area; nothing unusual… but no one around either. In all honesty she hadn’t been realistically expecting any of her ponies to have been outside the central sector but it was still very much nagging her that she’d not had any indication the crew was still alive.
Twilight glided down ahead of Forge and set to work opening the door. Unlike the one in the transit tunnel the sector still had power and all it took was a wave of her hoof to trigger the unlocking sequence. Forge arrived just as the doors slid open and containment fields dropped, opening up the bay beyond.
“Why is there an antiquated airship parked up ahead?” Forge asked, pointing at the old hot air balloon sitting in the middle room ahead.
“This area used to be a hangar bay.” Twilight replied, “In fact the entire central sector is one of the older incarnations of the Valkyrie. It actually used to be able to detach from the rest of the ship but when the Crystal Heart failed we had reconfigure the entire power grid to keep all the magical systems working. Still, because it’s so reinforced makes a good area for all the ships vital command functions, plus heritage and stuff.” Twilight indicated the air-balloon again. “Same thing with that really, I’ve had that balloon since before I was an Alicorn. Kept it around for flying with friends.”
The two set off into the interior of the ship and after a few minutes the sound of their conversation and the clumping of Forges footsteps faded to silence. Soundlessly a dark shape dropped from the ceiling of the tunnel. It landed lightly and started probing the air and surfaces around it. It had just missed the interlopers, but it was close. It paused for a moment as a tendril waved through the traces of magic present before it raced away. It folded itself into a ventilation shaft and began slithering as fast as it could.
****************************************** ***********************
Twilight felt a wave of calm breaking over her, the familiar surroundings leeching the stress for her body. The corridors were highlighted with stripes of white and burnished gold, giving it at warm and welcoming atmosphere, like stepping into a cosy house after a cold winter’s day.
With minimal effort she telekinetically pulled the bridges blast doors open and walked inside. There was no-one around. Twilight snorted in irritation but it wasn’t too big a deal. The fact that she’d been yet to see any of her ponies probably meant that they were locked up somewhere safe and out of danger.
Right?
“Ahh.” Twilight hissed, as a sudden jolt of pain ran through her forehead. Her head had been feeling achy on-and-off forma while now. It especially seemed to flare up when she used magic but not enough to really bother her until now. It passed quickly however, and twilight got quickly got back to work.
Twilight gave the bridge a quick visual check but it seemed to be relatively untouched. She could remember the days when bridge consoles had a nasty habit of exploding in ponies faces. Twilight wandered past several consoles reminding herself what each station did and as she neared them they would light up, screen displaying its relevant data. Sometimes it was almost funny how little the commend deck had changed over the years. The pony race, though inventive had always stuck to reliable technologies whenever possible. Applejack would be proud.
Darn tooting I am.
Oh great, the voices are back.
We never went anywhere silly!
Twilights attention was caught as a console in the Tactical section of the bridge began blinking. She quickly jumped over to it and let out a little sigh of relaxation. She’d sent Forge down to the primary engineering core to shut down the defence scramblers. As she see watched the systems shut off one by one she could feel the disruptions of the magical planes diminish, but they did not go entirely, her magic did feel off still. “That’s weird.” She thought, “Is it something else on the ship messing me up?”
Twilight tried to reach out with her magic and scan the ship for her Ponies but after about 12 meters her perception crumbled to static. Twilight bit her lip, this was becoming quite concerning. Sure she could just still be tired and stressed, it had been less than a day since they’d defeated the WCS, but twilight couldn’t help but feel uneasy. “Best add that to the list of things to be worried about.”
Further ruminations were cut off as the brides comm-link crackled into life. “Forge to Twilight, Do you read me Twilight?”
“I’m here Forge. How are you…?”
“You should come down here right now.” Forge said cutting her off. His grim tone cut through her like knife, “I’ve just found a pony but… ….she’s dead.”