CHAPTER 8
“All organic data sent out is received. We watch you.”
THREE DAYS LATER
Princess Celestia moved down the hallways of Canterlot castle at a steady pace, in no particular rush to reach her destination. Despite the fact that a sentient robotic alien was being housed in one of the castle’s many guest chambers, everything was being handled rather well. It cooperated with the ponies, though whenever Celestia spoke to it she did sense a hint of a condescending attitude. Celestia did not deny that the geth was smarter than her, and she most certainly did not deny that it was far more advanced. But that did not change the fact that it was a guest in her country, and Celestia thought that it should at least show some gratitude.
While the situation with Legion had gone surprisingly well, the situation at Westrock had only continued to deteriorate. More ponies had been taken, including medical staff, and more Nighthawks were turning up dead. Even though Celestia hoped that these events were not the precursor to something far worse, she knew at the back of her mind that it was not going to get better anytime soon. The princess had considered asking Legion for help with stopping the changelings, but she was still not entirely sure if she could fully trust it with something like that. For all she knew, the geth would go and join the changelings.
There had also been no luck yet in finding the source of the disease. Accurate magical body scans had been performed of the afflicted, yet nothing was coming up. No bacteria, no virus, no foreign entities of any kind were registering. The scans had also revealed that the sick were only getting worse. Nopony had died yet, but Healthy Heart had reported that it was a certain possibility. As Celestia walked, she knew that the chief medical officer was compiling a detailed report for her, describing the details of the disease.
Celestia turned a corner and came into the hallway which housed the guest quarters. The hall was well over a hundred meters long, and every few meters a featureless wooden door was set into the wall. Above each door was a small golden number, with even numbers on the right of the hallway and odd numbers on the left. One of the doors was guarded by two heavily armed soldiers from Celestia’s elite unit. They each held long spears across the door, barring entrance to anypony except those who were specifically given permission to enter. One such pony was, of course, the princess.
As she approached, the door guards parted their spears and bowed reverently. Celestia gave a polite smile in response and came to a stop at the door, beginning to hear voices beyond. One she instantly recognized as belonging to Legion, as it was fairly difficult to mistake the emotionless voice as belonging to anypony else. The other she soon realized as being the voice of her student, Twilight Sparkle. From what little sound was making it through the door, the young princess sounded angry.
Cautiously, Celestia unlocked the door with her magic and pushed it open, revealing her student standing challengingly in front of the geth. The machine itself was in the center of the room, staring back at Twilight, unamused. At the sound of the door opening, both individuals turned their heads to face the princess. When Twilight caught sight of her mentor, her aggressive expression softened.
“Oh thank goodness you’re here,” Twilight said, turning to Legion with a snarl. “I think our machine guest might be malfunctioning…”
“As we have stated several times now, Twilight Sparkle,” Legion spoke up. “All diagnostics report that this unit is operating at peak efficiency. No malfunctions are detected.”
“But you’re not making any sense!” Twilight yelled back, throwing a hoof up into the air.
“You are limiting your ability to assimilate knowledge by using preconceived notions to distrust anything we say,” Legion stated. “We are correct.” Twilight looked ready to pounce on the geth, so Celestia decided that it was a good time to intervene. She stepped between the two and held up a hoof, patiently waiting for Twilight to step back. Her student did so after a few moments, and angrily planted her flank on the ground.
“Now Twilight,” Celestia said calmly. “What happened?” Twilight paused to catch her breath, still somewhat tired out from her previous argument with Legion. When she was finished, she stood back up and approached the princess.
“Legion says that there’s something wrong with our sun,” Twilight said, peering around the tall form of the princess to glare at the geth. “It says that it’s not supposed to revolve around us.” Celestia allowed a chuckle to escape her lips, glad the offense that Legion apparently made was not much worse. When she regained her composure, Celestia extended a hoof and put it on Twilight’s shoulder.
“My faithful student,” she began. “Legion is correct.”
“What!?” Twilight shouted, surprised.
“Our sun is not supposed to orbit around Equis, Twilight,” Celestia continued. “It is supposed to be the other way around. Ours is different. I do not know why, but ever since I can remember, I have had to raise and lower the sun every day.” Legion stepped around the princess to face Twilight.
“As we stated previously,” it said. “All recorded star systems in this galaxy operate on a heliocentric model. Yours is abnormal.”
“Oh…” Twilight said, her ears falling down on her head. “I see…”
“Do not be upset, Twilight,” Celestia said, removing her hoof from the alicorn’s shoulder. “You didn’t know.” This did not seem to cheer Twilight up any, but she did turn her gaze back to Legion.
“I’m… sorry, Legion,” she said. “I shouldn’t have yelled at you.”
“You are forgiven,” Legion replied. “Shall the exchange of data continue?”
“Not quite, Legion,” Celestia said, turning to face the geth. “I need Twilight for a few moments.”
“Understood,” it said, stepping back. “We will wait here.” Celestia turned to Twilight, and motioned for her to follow. She turned to face the door, unlocked it with her magic, and stepped out, waiting for Twilight to join her before closing it again. She locked the door with a click and cast a spell preventing sound from passing through. While she did not think Legion would try spying, Celestia was nothing if not careful.
“What is it, princess?” Twilight asked curiously.
“It is about Westrock…” Celestia whispered, remaining cautious despite the spell. “The situation is getting worse very quickly, and you and your friends are going to need to stay here for quite a while.”
“I see…” Twilight replied morosely.
“Please send a letter to Spike, let him know that he is to come here on the next available train,” the princess continued. “Then you may continue questioning Legion.” Twilight nodded and turned down the hallway. She did not have to walk far to reach her room, stopping only a few doors down and disappearing into the quarters beyond. Celestia turned in the opposite direction and began to walk down the hall, heading for her private meeting room. By now, Healthy Heart would have completed her report on the disease, and Celestia was eager to learn more about it.
Silent Dart, captain of the Nighthawks and the pony in charge of the defense operation at Westrock, was not happy. He angrily barged into the quarantine zone that had been established, a simple white tent that could accommodate dozens of sick ponies. Already present were eight more Nighthawks and four medical staff, all of them no doubt waiting for the captain. The medical specialists visibly gulped at the sight of the fuming stallion, while the soldiers under his command maintained their stoic expressions.
“What happened!?” he shouted angrily, disturbing the quiet that had taken hold over the quarantine tent. When nopony responded, he simply raised his volume. “Well!?”
“Sir, we just found out,” one of the guards said quickly. “Two more ponies were kidnapped.”
“And how did the changelings get past you this time!?” the captain shouted, maintaining his anger. To the soldiers and medical staff, he still appeared as angry as ever. But in reality, he was worried. Combined with the six other ponies taken over the past three days, the two from today made eight, for a total of thirty kidnapped. Not only that, but this was the first time where the changelings had chosen to attack during the day. They were getting more confident, and that did not bode well for the Nighthawks.
“We don’t know, sir,” another guard responded. “It happened during the shift change.”
“It happened during the shift change, did it?” Silent Dart growled. “So, what? While you unobservant fools were taking your sweet time getting to your posts, the changelings just moseyed on in and kidnapped two more sick ponies?” As Dart had expected, nopony responded. The guards continued staring forward, unblinking. He was about to continue to berate the soldiers for their mistake, when an alarmed scream interrupted him.
“Hey!” a voice from the other side of the tent shouted. “I need assistance over here!” Silent Dart looked up to find that the owner of the voice was another one of the specialists. Dart and the four medical staff he had been yelling at all rushed over to the pony, who was crouched next to one of the sick. The sick pony was convulsing on his supplied bed, eyes wide in fear.
One of the medical staff, a unicorn, used her telekinesis to lower a breathing mask over the pony’s muzzle, then began squeezing fresh air into it. It had no effect as the convulsions only got worse, before the sick pony cried out with a bloodcurdling scream. His eyes went wide in pain as his chest heaved upward, and then he fell back onto the bed, motionless. As one of the medics placed a hoof on the pony’s neck, a thin bead of blood began to drip out of his nose. The medic retracted his hoof and looked on with horror at the pony.
“He’s…” he started. “He’s dead…”
Celestia strolled into her private meeting room and, as she expected, Healthy Heart was already there, sitting in a chair and reading over a file. At the sight of the princess, the pale blue mare stood from her chair and bowed politely, then stood back up, pushing stray locks of her white mane out of her eyes.
“Your highness,” she said. “You’re just in time. I just finished writing the report.”
“Excellent,” Celestia said with a smile as she took her seat. “I am eager to see it.” Heart sat back down in her seat and reopened the file, producing several documents from it. She spread the documents out on the table, starting with the one closest to her.
“This is the initial report written by Westrock’s resident doctor, who had since become ill himself,” she said, turning the document around so that Celestia could see it. “It details the appointment he had with our patient zero.” On the document was an image of this ‘patient zero’. He was an average earth pony stallion, with a brown coat and a dark gray mane. From the image, Celestia thought he looked like any flu patient would. His coat appeared pale and his eyes were drooping with heavy bags underneath them.
“A list of symptoms was provided by the patient to the doctor,” Heart continued. “He says it hit very quickly. He went to sleep feeling perfectly fine, and when he woke up he had a very painful headache. Along with that were intense stomach pains, aching bones, a mild nosebleed, dry throat, and numbness. The doctor diagnosed him as simply having the flu, gave him a quick magic treatment and some medication, then sent him home.” The mare withdrew the first document, put it back into the file, and placed the second document in front of Celestia.
“The next morning, fourteen more ponies came in with the exact same symptoms as patient zero,” she said. “By the end of the day, seventy-two of the one-hundred ponies in Westrock had come to the clinic. The next day, when the number was even higher, was when I contacted you and we had our initial meeting.” In the document that she had been handed, Celestia saw the personal reports given by each patient about what they were feeling. Each one was almost entirely identical.
“Symptoms only got worse from there,” Heart said, passing a third document to Celestia. “Ponies had shortness of breath, more frequent nosebleeds, even worse headaches, and some of the worst cases actually slipped into comas. By the time the quarantine tent was set up, over two thirds of the afflicted were unconscious.” Celestia lowered the document, staring sadly at the table below her.
“Princess…” Heart began to say. “I--”
There was a knock at the door which interrupted the chief medical officer and caused the two ponies to look to the entrance. It cracked open and a guard poked his head inside.
“Forgive me,” he said. “Ms. Heart? I have an urgent message from Westrock.” Heart nodded and stood up, then walked out the door, closing it behind her. A moment later she walked back in, looking like she had seen a ghost. Her eyes stared unblinking at the floor as she slowly moved back to her chair and took a seat.
“What is it, Ms. Heart?” Celestia asked, beginning to grow concerned. “What has happened in Westrock?”
“I…” she started. “… Two more ponies were kidnapped, and… and one pony has died from the illness…” At this, Celestia froze. She simply stared for a moment, before nodding grimly. She had hoped that a cure would be found before somepony died, but she knew that she was going to have to face the possibility.
“I see,” the princess said. “Have your specialists perform an autopsy as soon as possible. Perhaps we can find something…”
“Understood, your highness,” Healthy Heart replied, slowly standing and gathering the documents. She stuffed them back into the file, carrying it with her as she exited the room. As the door closed shut, Celestia sat back in her chair and let out a long sigh. This illness had taken a turn for the worst, and it was likely that many more were going to die.
Perhaps I should ask Legion for help, Celestia thought, briefly entertaining the idea. It most likely had superior medical knowledge, and even though the Equestrians were efficient at healing diseases, they did not yet fully understand them. The geth could have valuable knowledge that could lead to a cure…
Celestia decided to wait on the decision, and instead run it by her sister first when she saw her later that day. Luna already had a lot to do, waking her up and adding this to her plate would do more harm than good. Slowly, Celestia rose from her chair and walked to the door, then opened it and stepped out into the hallway beyond. The guard who had delivered the news was still outside, vigilantly watching the hall for any threats. As Celestia began to walk down the hall, she felt the familiar presence of the guard following closely behind her. Numerous times over the years she had tried to stop the guards from shadowing her every step, but they always insisted that it was for her protection.
Celestia sighed, choosing to simply light her horn and teleport away. When she rematerialized, she found herself in her private quarters. She walked through the spacious room, noting how it was the exact antithesis of Luna’s room. Where Luna’s room was an outright mess of various books, papers, and trinkets, Celestia kept everything neat and orderly. This made it rather easy for her to find a blank piece of parchment and a full inkwell. Using her telekinesis, Celestia began to draft a letter.
To whom it may concern,
Upon receiving this letter, four more Nighthawk squadrons are to be prepared for duty and sent out by way of chariot to the settlement of Westrock. They are to take weapons suitable for quick, quiet combat, and darker armor for stealth purposes. More orders will be issued upon arrival.
By order of the crown,
Princess Celestia
Capping the inkwell, Celestia rolled up the letter and stamped it shut with her seal, then sent it to the barracks with a simple spell from her horn. If the changeling incursions were to stop for long enough so that the medical specialists could find a cure, then some smarter operations were going to have to take place…
“And that’s when I broke the sound barrier and performed my second ever sonic rainboom!” Rainbow Dash yelled triumphantly, launching herself into the air and closing her eyes. Legion stared at the pegasus for several more moments, seemingly unamused. When it did not immediately reply, Dash slightly opened one eye to see what the delay was.
“… Analysis complete,” Legion finally said. “The action described is not possible.” Twilight sighed as soon as the words left Legion, knowing that she really should have waited before bringing her friends in to see the geth.
“What do you mean!?” Dash exploded angrily, rushing right in front of Legion’s eye. “Are you calling me a liar, tough guy!?”
“Yes,” Legion stated, much to the displeasure of the brash pegasus. “No organic can break the sound barrier without aid from any sort of super-sonic vehicle. Doing so naturally would exert gravitational forces on the individual sufficient enough to pulverize them. Additionally, a sonic boom does not result in an emission of light. That is not logical.” Dash opened her mouth to reply, but found that she had no response to the geth’s analysis. She slowly turned around and flapped over to a corner of the room, dropping to the ground in a sulking manner.
“Legion,” Twilight began, stepping forward. “I know that you have had some different experiences, not being from this world and all, but we can all vouch for Dash’s story. She has performed a sonic rainboom.”
“How?” the geth asked, extending the facial flaps outward, almost giving the illusion of it raising an eyebrow.
“Magic,” Twilight answered. “I know that you hate me using that as an answer, but it’s true. Because of our magic, we can do many things that normally wouldn’t be possible. Remember how Celestia controls the sun?” Legion paused for a second, going over what Twilight had just said. A moment later, it turned to face Rainbow Dash, who was still sulking in the corner.
“Rainbow Dash,” it said. “We apologize for our earlier judgment. Not all possibilities were considered. We will add new data to archives.” Dash turned her head just enough to expose one eye, which was glaring angrily at the geth.
“… Fine,” she said, turning around and rejoining the rest of the ponies around Legion.
“So, Legion,” Applejack said, speaking up for the first time since introducing herself. Until now, she had simply been eyeing the machine cautiously, judging to see if it really was safe. “Ya like apples?”
“This unit does not consume any organic sustenance, as you do,” it said. “All of our energy is provided by a miniature nuclear fusion reactor housed in our torso.”
“Oh…” Applejack said, stepping back.
“Well that doesn’t mean he doesn’t like parties!” Pinkie Pie shouted, bouncing up to Legion. “Well? Do you?”
“We have never attended one,” Legion answered, causing Pinkie to pause her bounces in mid-air. She gasped loudly as she dropped back down to the floor.
“WHAT!?” she screamed, her expression one of genuine surprise. “How have you never been to a party before!? Do geth not like parties?”
“The purpose of parties is to supply amusement to a group of individuals,” Legion explained. “Amusement is an organic trait. We do not experience it.” Pinkie’s only response was a twitching of her right eyelid. To her, parties were as natural as breathing. Not wanting anything bad to happen, Twilight walked up behind the pink pony and reached beneath her forelegs, then slowly dragged her away.
“Um, Legion…?” Fluttershy whispered, inching forward to fill the gap left by Pinkie. Legion turned to address the shy pegasus.
“Yes, Fluttershy?” it asked.
“What is… that?” she asked, pointing to the strange device resting on the geth’s back. Legion reached an arm back and grabbed the device, which folded out to nearly twice its original length. The middle section of the device was rectangular, with a smaller rectangle resting on top of it and a handle jutting out beneath it. The front was a long tube which ended in another small box with a hole in it. Twilight didn’t know why, but it made her uneasy just looking at it.
“This is an M-98 Widow Anti-Material Rifle,” Legion said, not seeming to care that the ponies had no idea what that meant. Rather, it continued with its description. “Using mass-effect fields, the rifle drastically lowers the mass of a miniature slug, which is then propelled out of the barrel at lethal speeds.”
“L-lethal?” Fluttershy said, her pupils growing wide. “So, it’s--”
“A weapon, yes,” Legion answered. “However, we have no intention of using it except to defend this unit.” The weapon folded back up and the geth replaced it on its back.
“Why anypony would need something like that I haven’t the slightest idea!” Rarity said, clearly opposed to the weapon.
“It is for personal defense,” Legion repeated. “Geth are not trusted in Citadel space. We must protect ourselves.” Rarity made to respond to the geth, when suddenly a flashing orange sphere on Legion’s left forearm drew all of their attention. Legion lifted its arm and the sphere expanded out into the omni-tool that Twilight had been shown a few days before.
“What is it?” Twilight asked, taking a few steps forward.
“Our ship,” it began, “it has found something.” Legion tapped on the orange cylinder a few times, before it collapsed back into its arm. “We must speak with Princess Celestia.”
Princess Celestia hurried down one of her castle’s many hallways, quickly trotting after a guard leading her to Legion’s room. According to Twilight, Legion wanted to speak with her, and it was urgent. As soon as the geth’s door was in sight, Celestia wasted no time in unlocking it and rushing inside, slamming it shut behind her.
“What is it?” she asked anxiously. All eyes in the room turned to her as Legion took several steps forward.
“Our ship has made a discovery,” it said. “We do not know if it is element zero or something else, but we believe that it could be important.”
“Very well,” Celestia said. “What do you need of me?”
“We are requesting permission to land the ship nearby, so that we may interface and download the data it has collected,” Legion explained. “Please recommend suitable landing locations.” Celestia did not immediately reply, instead cycling through her head ideas of spots where the geth’s ship could land without drawing any attention. A moment later, an idea came to her.
“The loading docks will do,” she said with a grin, pleased that the ‘urgent news’ was nothing negative. “They are quite large, and are only used by pegasi to offload cargo from chariots. At this hour, there will be very few ponies there. I will send some guards ahead of us to send them home.”
“Understood,” the geth said. “We will put the craft on standby to re-enter the atmosphere.”
“Then come,” Celestia said, turning to face the door. “Let us go.”
The walk to the loading docks was a fairly lengthy one. While the guest quarters were towards the front of the castle, the docks were all the way at the back, and further down the mountain that the city called home. Fortunately, the longer walk gave the pony guards more time to clear out the docks, and for the programs within Legion to deliberate over what the small craft may have found.
The ship had been scanning the surface of the continent for less than a week, and with a fairly average scanning system, that was not much time to make significant progress. At this point it would be fairly close to finishing scans of the northern polar region, but would not quite be within the confines of Equestria. Still, if element zero was located in the frozen north, then Legion was going to collect it. It did not matter how small or large the sample was, even finding trace amounts of the element served as confirmation that it did indeed exist on this world.
“We are nearing the docks,” Celestia said from the front of the group. As they all rounded yet another hallway, a large door came into view, flanked by two golden-armored guards. They both bowed at the presence of the princess, before standing and opening the door for the party. Celestia and the other ponies were the first to step out onto the loading docks, and Legion walked out immediately after, noticing that the two guards were eyeing the unit cautiously.
The door slowly closed shut as Legion cleared the threshold, and the unit began to scan its surroundings. The loading docks were clearly massive, they would easily accommodate for the geth’s small craft. From what Legion could tell, the docks were built right into a large alcove of the mountain, the rocky walls of which extended up for dozens of meters. Several long piers jutted out of the alcove, serving as landing spots for cargo chariots.
The main body of the loading dock was overrun with crates, all of them stacked and labelled into groups. The crates created a maze in the docks, the end of which led to a large open area that would easily fit Legion’s ship. As the ponies began to lead the geth through the crates and into the open area, Legion activated its omni-tool and called for the ship to begin its descent. A moment later they all were standing in the clearing, and the ponies began to eagerly watch the sky.
“We are trying to bring it in low, so that no ponies in the city above will see it,” Legion explained. Nodding, all of the ponies lowered their gazes to the ground, and soon they saw a long gray object racing across the grass. As it neared the mountain it began to angle up, and a moment later it shot into the loading docks, coming to a hover just above the clear area where the ponies were standing.
They all stared at the ship in awe as it hovered over them, then took a few steps back as it lowered to the ground. The landing gears deployed and touched the ground with a thump, and the engines cut off a moment later. A small door opened in the side, and Legion stepped forward, making for the door. It hoisted itself up into the opening and disappeared into the cockpit, hearing the sounds of hooves climbing up into the ship.
“Do not touch anything,” Legion warned as it activated the ship’s main computer. Once it was online, Legion disconnected from the mobile platform and integrated into the ship.
“Do not touch anything,” Twilight heard Legion say from another room in the ship. She mostly ignored the words, however, as she was far too focused on simply digesting the fact that she was in a spaceship. Wandering into the room she had seen Legion disappear into, Twilight found herself in what appeared to be the control room. There were no windows to speak of, but several flat surfaces displayed the view outside from several different angles.
In the center of the flat surfaces was a simple chair, with two more chairs flanking it, and several panels emitting light were positioned on the walls. Legion was standing in front of one of these panels, tapping its three-fingered hands on a surface similar to the omni-tool. A moment later there was a low humming, and the blue light of Legion’s eye went out. The body went rigid and the head lowered down, and all lights on the machine went out.
“Legion?” Twilight asked, concerned.
“We are within the ship,” Legion’s voice said, coming from all around Twilight. “One moment. Downloading data…. Data downloaded. Re-integrating into mobile platform.” There was another low hum, then the lights on the geth’s body came back online. The single blue eye lit up brightly, and the head looked around at its surroundings.
“What did you find?” Princess Celestia asked, coming to stand behind Twilight. The lavender alicorn jumped in surprise, not having heard her mentor enter the ship.
“One moment…” Legion said. “… Scan complete. The ship did not locate any deposits of element zero.”
“I’m sorry, Legion,” Twilight said sorrowfully. “Maybe it will find it somewhere else.”
“Maybe,” Legion agreed. “But it did find something. A signal, a coded IFF tag. We do not recognize it. This prompts further investigation.”
“What is an ‘IFF’?” Celestia asked, confused. Twilight nodded, wanting to know was well.
“It is an acronym, standing for ‘identify friend/foe’,” the geth explained. “They are used to identify ships, so that allies know when they have come across one another.”
“And there is one here?” Twilight asked. “On Equis?”
“Yes,” Legion confirmed. “We must investigate.”
“Very well,” Celestia said. “But take Twilight with you. If it is something that affects this world, I need to know.”
“Understood,” Legion said, nodding. “Twilight Sparkle, please take a seat over there.” It pointed to a chair next to the center one, positioned slightly further back from what Twilight assumed was the pilot’s seat. She quickly moved over to it and awkwardly sat down in the chair, quickly finding that was much too large for her. It was clearly meant to seat a geth, and they were nearly twice her height. Still, she managed to get into a comfortable enough position. Legion took a seat in the center chair, next to hers, and began tapping on several panels.
“Princess Celestia,” it began. “We will return to this same location tomorrow night, once the docks have been cleared.”
“Very well, Legion,” the princess said as she turned to leave. “Good luck.” Twilight heard the sound of the princess’s hooves hitting the ground as she jumped out of the ship, and the door closed a moment after. From the surfaces displaying what was happening outside, Twilight saw the ship lift itself into the air, her friends and mentor soon disappearing below her. The ship then spun around and rocketed out of the docks, soon leaving Canterlot far behind.
“Please update the map with locations of other cities in Equestria,” Legion said to Twilight. “We must calculate the safest path to this location.” Before Twilight could reply, a map of the entire continent appeared in front of Twilight. On it were three dots: one for Canterlot, where they had just left, one for Ponyville, and another blinking dot that the alicorn assumed was the location of the IFF, very near the northwestern border to the badlands. Somewhat confused, Twilight tapped a hoof on the map around where Manehattan was, and, to her surprise, another dot appeared there. Beginning to understand how it worked, Twilight pressed several more times on the map, each time bringing into existence a new dot.
“There,” she said as she tapped where the last town was. “All done.”
“Understood. Calculating path,” Legion said. “At current speeds, we will reach the location in two hours, fourteen minutes, and eight seconds.” Twilight nodded, yawning. Her day had already been a very long one, and it was beginning to look like it was going to be a bit longer. Turning over into a more comfortable position, Twilight closed her eyes and got ready for a two hour, fourteen minute long nap.
Far away from Equestria, a tall, slender figure moved leisurely through winding, stony tunnels. Despite the fact that the tunnels were hundreds of meters underground, a cool breeze moved through them, prompting the insect wings of the figure to flutter. The figure continued to walk peacefully through the tunnels, meeting none of her kin on the way to her destination.
Mere months ago, the tunnels had been barren passages of beige stone, formed over the course of a millennia by an ancient magic. Now, reflective brown metallic structures jutted up the walls, some of them with green tubes running along them, and some with no visible details at all. Slowly, as the figure began to descend further down the tunnels, the air warmed up. The amount of green tubes began to increase as they all broke through the ancient rock and conformed to the shape of the cavern walls. At the end of the passage, which appeared after a very long descent, there was a simple door. It was separated into four unequal sections, the seams of which were leaking a warm gas.
The door opened as the figure drew near, releasing a thick cloud of the gas which settled on the floor of the tunnel. The figure carved a path through it, ignoring the tingling it brought to her thin legs. The room beyond was quite a sight to see: the ceiling shot up hundreds of meters, and the chamber was wide enough to accommodate for hundreds of living creatures. With the expansions that were taking place, the chamber would soon be host to thousands. But for now, aside from the figure, only thirty individuals shared the room with her. The figure cantered over to them, watching them in their deep sleep.
Each individual was suspended in a not-so-spacious cocoon, the liquid within which was preserving their fragile lives. Two smaller green tubes linked to each cocoon, one at the top, and one at the base. The one at the top pumped more liquid into the cocoon, while the one at the bottom filtered old liquid out. Along with the used liquid was genetic material taken from the subject within the cocoon, which was then fed into a large piece of machinery completely alien to the lone figure.
She paced around each cocoon, observing each innocent subject within. To any outside observer, she would have appeared a monster, keeping these subjects for her own wicked experiments. But in reality, she was keeping them alive. Were it not for the liquid in the cocoons, they would have succumb to illness long ago.
Her pacing was interrupted as the sound of an opening door filled the room. She froze in her tracks, and focused her ears on the thumping of a new individual joining her. A shadow fell over her, and she turned to face the newcomer. He stood nearly two and a half meters high, with six ember eyes that shined brightly in the darkened chamber. His rough, chitinous exoskeleton was much thicker than the natural armor of the smaller figure, and protected him much more effectively from the invasive warm mist that festered over the floor. There was a moment of silence between the two, before the larger figure averted his gaze to the cocoons.
“How are they?” he asked her.
“Stable, for now,” she answered. “The disease is effective. It renders the subjects totally helpless, and the ponies have no idea how to cure it.”
“Good…” he said, a hint of satisfaction seeping into his otherwise emotionless voice. “How many are left to capture?”
“Seventy still remain,” she said. “But the ponies have begun to send more reinforcements. I fear that continuing to attack will only compromise the operation.”
“No!” he shouted angrily. “It must continue!” The smaller figure withdrew in fear of the larger one, hoping to spare herself from his rage.
“H-how m-many more are n-needed?” she asked fearfully.
“… More than seventy,” he responded. “I will create more samples of the disease. Prepare your agents. We are moving further inland.” She gulped down her fear, and nodded to the figure towering over her. She took a few steps back, turning to leave. Right as she was about to exit the room, she was interrupted.
“And Queen Chrysalis?” he began. She turned to face him. “Do not get caught.” The changeling queen gulped again, but nodded, then turned and quickly began her ascent back up to the main hive. The door slid shut behind her, blocking the piercing gaze of the collector with whom she had allied herself. As Chrysalis slowly trudged up the tunnel, a single thought echoed in her mind: What have I gotten myself into?