CHAPTER 1
“Before it sacrificed itself, Legion referred to itself as ‘I’ instead of ‘we’.”
“Yeah, so?”
“The singular pronoun indicates Legion’s independent personality had fully actualized. In its last moments, it was not an avatar of the geth consensus. It was a person.”
“That’s what I figured…”
“Well, when the geth fleet helps us retake Earth, I guess we’ll owe that to… him…”
Twilight Sparkle’s eyes flickered open at the time they did every morning: 7:00am. Over the past few weeks, it had become almost methodical for her, to the point where she no longer felt annoyed dragging herself out of bed. Her hooves hit the hard crystal floor of her bedroom, and she was once again reminded of her new surroundings. Part of her felt honored and proud to have earned this majestic castle, but most of her still felt upset. Despite how large it was, and its resemblance to her previous dwelling, it did not feel like home.
Shaking her head to clear it of the memories, she levitated a comb over to her and quickly ran it through her mane. As she trotted out of the bedroom, she could smell the scent of pancakes wafting up from the kitchen below her. This immediately evaporated all of her negative thoughts, and she trotted down the large crystal stairs of her castle with a smile on her face. Her hoofsteps echoed through the crystalline structure, more than likely alerting the cooking dragon that she was coming. Pushing open the door to the kitchen, she was immediately met by a floating plate of pancakes. It was being held aloft by a piece of string held within the talons of her loyal pet, Owlowiscious.
“Thanks, Owlowiscious,” she said, smiling, as she took the plate in her telekinetic grasp. He hooted at her and flapped away, disappearing through a side passage. Still carrying her plate, Twilight navigated through the much larger kitchen in search of her number one assistant. The kitchens were much larger than her old one, easily capable of housing dozens of ponies. When the castle had first sprouted from the ground it had been empty, but Pinkie Pie had been incredibly helpful in picking out appliances and filling the pantry. There was a bit more sugar than Twilight would ever need, but she wasn’t going to complain.
“Spike?” she called, unable to find the dragon. “Where are you?”
“Back here, Twi’!” the dragon responded from somewhere behind her. Circling around, Twilight finally came to the back of the kitchen where Spike was standing on a stool working over one of the counters. In front of him was a griddle with several unfinished pancakes cooking on its surface. He turned his head to face the alicorn, while continuing to work on the breakfast.
“Morning!” he said happily, throwing a gemstone into his mouth and crunching down on it.
“Good morning, Spike,” Twilight answered, trotting over to him. She took a position next to him and placed her plate on the counter, occasionally taking bites of the pancakes.
“You went to bed pretty late last night,” the dragon observed. “Still working on that thing?”
“You mean Legion’s ‘contingency’?” she correctly guessed, receiving a nod from her assistant. “Yes. It’s been seven months since we last saw him, and still I can’t figure out what that thing does! I don’t understand it! Why would he give me something if I couldn’t use it?”
“Who knows?” Spike asked, hopping down off of his stool as the last few pancakes finished. “Maybe he just gave it to you for safe keeping, and when he returns he’ll take it back.” Twilight entertained the idea, thinking that it could make sense. If the Reapers were as large a threat as she had been led to believe, it would make sense to leave something behind, just in case. Still, she was not going to give up. Whatever was on there, it had to be important.
She was glad that the device was still in her possession. With the destruction of the library at Tirek’s hands, not many of her personal belongings were left. Fortunately she had had the foresight to put it somewhere safe, so it was stored in the basement, which remained largely intact. Now when she was not tending to her newfound duties, she spent every second of her spare time working on figuring out what the device did. So far, she had had no luck at all.
Standing up from her now empty plate, Twilight wiped her mouth with a napkin and turned to leave. Just as she took her first steps away from the counter, she heard a loud belch from behind her. Turning around, Twilight found Spike laying on his back with a scroll on the ground in front of him. Smiling, Twilight grasped the message in her magic and brought it over to her. Over the past few months, correspondence between herself and Celestia had been frequent. Most of it was helping Twilight adapt to living in her own castle, but quite a bit was so heavily classified that nopony outside of the princesses would ever see them. They dealt primarily with the changelings, and with preparations for Legion’s eventual return.
Following the death of Chrysalis, the changelings had been even worse off than before the collector’s arrived. Changeling reproduction relied heavily on the presence of a queen, and with the only living one dead, the changelings were in a bad spot. Regardless, Equestria had sent messages to the hive in the hopes of opening peaceful relations. When they finally got a reply, it had been from a changeling calling himself Erebus. After a few more messages, it became clear that this was the very same changeling who had impersonated Healthy Heart many months ago. According to the messages he had sent them, he was trying to reorganize the changelings so that they could create a new queen. This apparently was a very involved process, and could not be done without the support of all changelings in the hive. That had been two months ago, and since then not a single word had come from the badlands.
As for the return of Legion, the four princesses had been busily working to prepare for the day he came back. It had been seven months, and most of the preparations were complete. A number of diplomats had been chosen – though none of them knew – to accompany one of the princesses with the geth back beyond the Relay, once it returned to Equis. In addition, a single book had been written giving an incredibly quick rundown of Equis’s history, and how the government of Equestria operated. With the help of Legion, they intended to translate it and give it to the leaders of other alien governments. But so far, the day of his return had not yet come to pass. The Relay remained dormant, a cold object sitting in space far from Equis. Thanks to Luna’s natural ability to survive in the conditions of space, she had been able to get close enough to the Relay to cast a spell on it. It was designed to alert her whenever something happened to the Relay, no matter how small. It would measure the size of anything coming through it, and they could use that to determine if it was the same ship Legion had used several months before. So far, nothing had happened at all. With every passing day, Twilight grew more and more worried that he would never return. Legion had stressed the threat posed by the Reapers, if they had failed…
Her mind dared not go to such places. She shook away the thoughts and unfurled the scroll, her amethyst eyes immediately moving to the first word.
Twilight,
Come to Canterlot immediately. Possible activity around the Relay. Likely not Legion.
Immediately, Twilight’s good mood disappeared. Confused, she furrowed her brow and began to consider who else could have come through the Relay. Legion was the only one who knew its exact coordinates, and he had decided to keep them a secret. And if Luna’s spell had been triggered, what about it would make them conclude it was not Legion? There were too many unknowns. Beginning to grow nervous, Twilight looked to her assistant.
“I’m going to Canterlot,” she said quickly, lighting her horn. “Be back… whenever.” Without even letting the dragon speak, her horn flared and the princess disappeared in a flash of lavender light. When she reappeared, she was far away from Ponyville. She stood right in Celestia’s office, where she figured the princesses would be at this hour. It appeared that she was right, and Twilight found herself the center of attention from three other alicorns.
“Twilight, it is good you are here,” Celestia said warmly, sitting behind her large wooden desk.
“Your letter sounded urgent. What is it?” Twilight’s nervousness had increased the moment she laid eyes on Celestia’s face. It was not the normal calm, collected expression that everypony was used to. Instead she stared gravely forward, her brow furrowed in thought.
“My spell detected a Relay activation,” Luna explained, stepping up to the young alicorn. “I do not believe it was Legion’s ship. Whereas his ship was around fifteen meters long, this object… is two kilometers.”
“Two… kilometers?” Twilight repeated, not believing her ears. “That’s massive! How can a ship be that big?”
“If it’s a ship,” Cadance interjected. “We still have no idea what it is. But we do not think it’s Legion.”
“Regardless, we need to prepare,” Celestia concluded. “If it’s not Legion, it could still be another one of the species he told us about. If that’s the case, our plan still applies, just there is the issue of a language barrier… I—“
The princess never got to finish her thought before a guard burst in, carrying a note in his mouth. He looked around wildly, his terror-stricken eyes finally settling on Princess Celestia.
“What is the meaning of this?” Luna cried, annoyed. The guard paid her no mind, and instead stopped before Celestia, dropping the note onto her desk. Only now did he take the opportunity to bow, his chest heaving as he gulped down oxygen. Celestia picked the note up in her telekinesis and scanned over the document, her expression grave. Her expression turned to fear as she finished the note, and by the time she put it down her pupils were small dots in a sea of white.
“What is it, Celestia?” Twilight asked, curious. Celestia looked her way, and stood up.
“We must go. Immediately.” She ran out of the office, followed quickly by the remaining three princesses. They struggled to keep up, as Celestia was clearly in a hurry. Only when she finally stopped in the castle courtyard did they catch up with her.
“Sister, what has happened?” Luna asked, concerned. Celestia snapped her head around to address her sister, her expression one of fear and worry.
“There has been an attack on Las Pegasus. Unknown enemy. We are going immediately.” Waving a hoof, several pegasus guards began attaching themselves to a chariot. Once they had completed this task, they wheeled the chariot over to the four princesses, waiting for them to board. Celestia was the first to do so, and she took a seat in the front. Without questioning her mentor, Twilight took a seat next, and Cadance and Luna followed shortly after.
“Las Pegasus, as quickly as you can get us there,” Celestia commanded. Nodding, the pegasi began running forward, flapping their wings. A moment later and they were in the air, en route to Las Pegasus…
The flight to the southern city of Las Pegasus was taking longer than Twilight had hoped it would. It was a large city – it would take nothing less than a full army to attack it. But if it was under attack, and from an unknown enemy? Perhaps this had a connection with the Mass Relay activation…
Flying not far behind their chariot were ten more, each one holding the best soldiers Celestia could get on such short notice. They maintained pace with the leading one, flying through the thick clouds to mask their approach as they neared the city.
“What do you think it is, Celestia?” Twilight asked, struggling to be heard over the rushing winds.
“I do not know, Twilight,” the solar princess replied, worry in her voice. “But be ready for anything. I do not care if the attackers are a herd of angry buffalo, nopony attacks an Equestrian city. Come, we are approaching—“
She was cut off as a sound permeated the air. It was a deep sound that vibrated in Twilight’s chest and filled her head, causing her to fold her ears down. Even doing this did not eliminate her ability to hear it. It wormed its way through the air, growing in intensity with every passing moment. As quickly as it had appeared, it went away. Confused, the princesses looked around for the source of the noise. They did not have to look far. Several explosions followed a moment later, and the four princesses stood and leapt out of the chariot, supporting themselves with their own wings. They dove beneath the clouds and a moment later they were flying above the desert that supported Las Pegasus. What they saw attacking the city shocked them.
Twilight simply stared in horror at the behemoth towering over the city. It stood easily over two kilometers tall, walking through the streets of the large city on five legs. Occasionally a red beam of destruction would fire from its undercarriage, drawing a line of explosions across the city. Las Pegasus was host to thousands of buildings, and it was laying waste to all of them.
“What is that!?” Cadance cried as the four princesses neared it.
“I do not know,” Celestia answered, her horn glowing with golden energy. “But it is not our friend. Destroy it!” Nodding, the other three princesses lit their horns, filling them with as much energy as they could. All at once they fired, the power of their blasts combining mid-air before continuing on to hit the massive leviathan. It hit the dark metal hull of the enemy, creating a large, multi-colored explosion. When it cleared, Twilight was dismayed to see no visible damage. Their attack did have the effect of drawing the attention of the attacker. Slowly, it rotated around with its five claw-like legs, the beam weapon glowing red as it gained energy. Once it was facing the four princesses, who by now were on the outskirts of the city, it let loose with its attack, firing its devastating beam right for them. They split into two groups, with Twilight and Cadance going left and Celestia and Luna banking right. The beam sliced in between them, and though none were hit, Twilight felt its heat on her coat.
“Bring it down!” Celestia ordered, firing more blasts from her horn. Cadance and Luna joined her shortly after, and though Twilight did not know what use it would be, she began firing as well. The damage caused by their attacks was utterly nonexistent. The enemy continued making its low mechanical noises, occasionally bothering to fire one of its beams at the attacking princesses. But for the most part it focused on the city, destroying everything in its path. What it was and why it was doing this, Twilight Sparkle did not know. All she knew was that they had to bring it down, or it would continue far past Las Pegasus…
Flight Lieutenant Jeff Moreau (better known as ‘Joker’ to the crew) navigated the Normandy-SR2 through the burning hulks of destroyed ships – both organic and Reaper – all the while dodging blasts from massive Sovereign-class Reapers that had yet to be destroyed. It had only been a few hours since the combined forces of the galaxy had brought their might to bear against the Reapers, and so far it was not looking good. Thousands of ships had been destroyed, and Joker had just received word that almost all of the ground force sent to attack the Reapers on Earth itself had been destroyed. Only two had made it to their target: a transportation beam leading to the Citadel, which was stationed in geosynchronous orbit above the planet. No less than ten minutes ago the arms of the massive station had opened, and the Crucible – their superweapon and only hope at defeating the Reapers – had docked. Now it was up to Shepard to activate it and finish this war once and for all.
“Look out!” EDI called from her seat next to Joker. The pilot expertly maneuvered the ship past a recently destroyed dreadnaught, the wreck of which had been careening towards them. With that threat out of the way, Joker continued flying through the space, occasionally firing a few shots from their highly calibrated Thanix cannon at Reaper Oculi.
“Good call, EDI,” Joker complimented, sparing a glance at his copilot. Even though EDI existed primarily within Normandy itself, Joker was glad that she had decided to keep her mobile platform on the bridge with him. He knew that most of it had to do with their newfound relationship, but there were likely some other reasons that the AI was keeping from him…
Dodging a few more shots from Reapers attempting to attack the Crucible, Joker found himself beginning to grow worried. What’s taking Shepard so long? He thought, staring out the cockpit windows at the superweapon. He had gone silent not long after opening the Citadel arms, which was never a good sign. He could be hurt, or worse…
“Shepard, do you read, over?” he said into the radio, trying to contact the commander once again. And once again, there was nothing but static.
“Jeff, please relax,” EDI urged as she operated the ship’s cyberwarfare suite. “There are any number of reasons as to why Shepard may not be responding. We must stay focused, for him.” Joker shook his head, but he knew the AI was right. The lives of the crew aboard Normandy were riding on him, and he had to stay focused to keep them safe. Shepard had told him to stay focused before he left, and that’s exactly what Joker intended to do.
He did not have to remain focused for long. After a few more minutes of flying around, dodging Reaper beams and destroying Oculi, something finally happened. Like the petals of a flower, the great arms of the Citadel spread open, forming the shape of a five-point star. Suddenly, starting from the tips of the arms, the lights of the station turned a deep red. The color change rushed inward to the center of the station, finally ending at the Presidium. The red lights pulsed brightly, and a bubble of energy began expanding from the Citadel tower. Along with it appeared several explosions, right on the docking point of the Crucible. Beginning to fear for the worst, Joker maneuvered the ship closer to the station, ready to mount a rescue operation.
“All fleets, the Crucible is armed!” Admiral Hackett said triumphantly through the comm. “Disengage and head to the rendezvous point! I repeat: disengage and get the hell out of here!” His orders fell on deaf ears as Joker continued bringing the Normandy in closer to the Crucible, and closer to the expanding sphere of energy. He felt a metallic hand on his shoulder, but he shook it off. Feeling sadness and fear welling up inside him, Joker was determined to save his commander.
“Jeff!” EDI cried, putting her hand on his shoulder again. “We have to go!” Finally pausing to drop his hands from the controls, Joker looked down sadly.
“Damn it…” He paused for a moment, before swiping away on his current navigational data. He input a new set of coordinates, taking him to the edge of the Sol System where the Mass Relay was stationed. As the sphere of energy grew to engulf the planet, Joker activated the FTL drive and sent Normandy rocketing away from Earth. He held a fist up to his mouth as a single thought echoed in his mind: Forgive me, Shepard…
“Joker, this is Traynor!” the comm specialist yelled over the intercom. “We have a problem! Check the scanners!” He did not listen. All he could do was stare forward at the rapidly moving stars in front of him.
“Jeff, Specialist Traynor is correct,” EDI added. “We have a problem.” Finally deciding to see what was wrong, Joker looked down at the scanners. Immediately his heart leapt into his throat. Oh, crap…
Whatever that sphere of energy was that had hit Earth, it was moving at FTL speeds. Very fast FTL speeds. However fast it was moving, it was going faster than Normandy, and it was gaining on them. Diverting power from non-critical systems to the engines, Joker tried his best to get everything he could out of their FTL drive. But it wasn’t enough. All he could do was quickly put on his safety harness before the field overtook them. When it did, Joker heard an explosion, felt himself being rocked around in his chair, and then… blackness.
Princess Celestia dove down towards the giant attacker for another run, firing powerful beams of magic from her horn as she did. It had been close to an hour, and still no damage had been done against the towering attacker. Instead, it stubbornly continued ravaging the city with its destructive beams, bringing down buildings with every strike. If this went on for too much longer, there wouldn’t be a Las Pegasus left to save. Deciding that she had to try something else, Celestia angled for the ground and landed on it, shaking the sand beneath her. Her shake was immediately one-upped by the massive enemy, who took yet another step that echoed through the city.
Calling forth the power of the sun, Celestia collected it in her horn and focused it into a beam of devastation. She filled her horn with energy until it could not possibly hold any more, then aimed it right at the center of the machine. With a great effort, she released the energy in the form of a beam not dissimilar to the one used by her foe. It collided with the metal hull of the enemy, persisting for several seconds before she ran out of energy. Exhausted, the princess collapsed onto the sand, her eyes half closed. Forcing herself to look up to examine the damage, Celestia was filled with sadness as she found that her attack had done no more than stain the hull. It had also drawn the attention of the machine to herself, and Celestia found herself filled with terror as the beam emitter began to glow red. It fired from beneath the leviathan, cutting across the sand towards the princess at alarming speeds. Stricken with terror, Celestia found her legs rooted to the ground. An instant before the beam consumed her, she felt something hard impact her side. A moment later she was flying through the air, and a moment after that she landed on the ground, skidding for several feet before coming to a stop. Lying on her side was a sand-caked Luna, breathing heavily.
“Sister…” she began, panting. “Perhaps next time, don’t just sit there and let it shoot at you…” Nodding, the solar princess looked back to the machine, which had continued its assault on Las Pegasus. Her eyes filling with tears, Celestia magically amplified her voice. Nothing they had tried had worked. Not even the power of the sun was great enough to stop such a monster. There was only one thing they could do…
“Fall back!” she cried, her voice amplified several times so that everypony within several miles could hear. The unicorn soldiers who had joined the princesses in their assault all immediately stopped what they were doing and began to run away. Celestia and Luna each flared their wings and began flapping into the air, watching as their ponies made their escape. The few to escape would be lucky – many were left in the city who would not be getting out. At the sound of more flapping wings, Celestia turned around and found Twilight and Cadance hovering a few feet away.
“What do we do?” Twilight asked, panting heavily. “It’s too powerful!” Celestia’s mouth opened, though no words came out. For the first time in her life, she had no plan.
“I—“
She was interrupted as the air around her immediately heated up. The fur on her coat stood on end, and there was a crackling sound in the air. A moment later, a red wave of energy passed over the landscape, soon disappearing over the horizon. The only indicator that it had ever been here were the red bolts of lightning climbing around the metal hull of the monster attacking Las Pegasus. The lights on it flickered and died, and with a great groan, the behemoth toppled over, crushing hundreds of buildings beneath it. A large dust cloud was kicked up as it hit the ground, and when it cleared it revealed the attacker, unmoving in the sand. Immediately, the four princesses soared over to the fallen enemy, landing just a few feet away. Celestia cautiously approached the hull and touched it. It was cold. Cold, and lifeless.
“What is this thing, Auntie?” Cadance asked quietly, stepping forward. Celestia made to answer, but closed her mouth as a scream split the air. There was a rushing of wind, and another metal object flew overhead at incredible speeds. Unlike the dead machine now lying over what remained of Las Pegasus, it was quite small, and had a white and blue coloration. It continued flying ahead, smoke billowing from several fires at the back, until it disappeared beyond the horizon.
“I do not know,” Celestia finally answered. “But perhaps whoever is aboard that can explain it.” She stepped away from the lifeless machine, in the direction that the second object had fallen. “We must investigate. Twilight, gather your friends and find where it crashed. Cadance, Luna… we have some damage control to perform.”
“I’ll send you a letter as soon as I find something, princess,” Twilight said proudly, her head held high. Turning around, Twilight signaled a chariot and began trotting for it. Though she wore a smile of relief on her face from the defeat of the machine, inside she was worried beyond words. Whatever this thing had been, it came through the Mass Relay, and the new object likely followed behind it. There was no guarantee that the passengers of the new object would be friendly; for all Twilight knew, they were allied with the machine. There was also the same probability that they were friendly, and perhaps they even knew Legion. Only time would tell.
Stepping into the chariot, Twilight told the pegasi attached to the reins to take her back to Ponyville. By now word would be spreading about an attack – Celestia, Luna, and Cadance had their work cut out for them. Lurching backward as the chariot took off, Twilight began to mentally prepare herself for her new mission. With any luck, it would be far easier than Discord or Tirek or the collectors. Yet somehow, Twilight knew that it would not be. Sighing, the young princess sat back in her chair, ready to begin…