CHAPTER 10
Legion examined the image being displayed before it, its photoreceptor passing over each and every detail. The griffon capital (or what was left after the collector attack) was being consumed by massive spots of orange, with black smoke pouring out into the sky. The geth was aware that tensions had increased since its departure, but this suggested that relations between the insurrectionists and the griffon government had deteriorated entirely.
“… I have to go back,” Senator Proudwing decided after a pause.
“Senator, please, think about this!” Celestia pleaded, her sympathetic gaze focused on the griffon. “If this is the state of the capital, then it is not safe for you to return.”
“I have a duty to my kind, princess,” Proudwing countered, making for the door. “I must return!” The door was surrounded in a pale blue aura, and the senator turned to glare at Princess Luna.
“Senator, we cannot force you to stay,” the princess of the night began. “But this is madness! The capital is lost, and, as much as it pains me to say it, so is Sharptooth’s hold on Gryphonia. Do not strengthen the cause of the insurrectionists by delivering yourself right to them!” Proudwing continued to glare for a moment, before finally he looked down to the marble floor with a sigh.
“You are right…” he whispered, returning to his seat. “But I cannot just sit here and do nothing! My home burns. I have to do something.”
“I understand, senator,” Celestia comforted. “And we won’t do nothing. I will send a messenger to Gryphonia to find out the situation. Unless the insurrectionists are truly idiots, they would not dare harm a pony representative.”
“Hm, not a good idea,” Jedin said, drawing all eyes to him. “Insurrectionists not known to negotiate. Region is very unstable, and the insurrection has not shown itself to have a single leader. Insurrectionists may simply kill your representative and go on with their day, not realizing what they have done. I would not chance it.”
“I agree with Ambassador Polban, princesses,” Kaidan agreed. “If you want to find out what’s going on up there, walking right up to the griffon rebels sounds like a bad idea. I don’t think they would outright kill your representative, but I do find it far more likely that they would either send him away or just take him prisoner. If you want to figure out the situation, it makes more sense to send someone to observe quietly.”
“A spy?” Celestia said skeptically. “Major, Equestria doesn’t exactly have spies. Additionally, if we were to send somepony up, and they were to be captured, that would make us look quite bad.”
“Then don’t send a pony,” Garrus said. “One of us will go. We have experience in stealth, and if things go sideways we can make a quick getaway.”
“Garrus, we should not get involved,” Primarch Victus admonished. “If we were discovered, that could cause the species of Equis to lose faith in us when we are revealed.” Everyone was silent for a moment as they considered the primarch’s words. It was true; they did not want to jeopardize relations with Equis. After a few moments, Legion stood and looked around the room.
“We will go,” it stated. “We are the last geth in the galaxy. If we are discovered, you can claim that we were operating alone. However, because this platform is built with a tactical cloak, odds of discovery are slim.”
“You would do that for me?” Proudwing asked, a ghost of a smile forming on his beak.
“Yes,” Legion replied. “We can leave immediately, and be back before the reveal tomorrow morning. We will assess the situation and bring back all data we collect.”
“If you are certain, Legion…” Celestia began. “… Then I cannot stop you. You have already done much for this world, especially for ponies. You do not have to do this.”
“We are volunteering,” Legion said. It turned to face the four alien ambassadors, all of whom were staring at it with varying expressions. “We request permission to utilize one of your shuttles for transportation to and from Gryphonia.”
“You can use mine, Legion,” Admiral Hackett offered.
“Thank you, Admiral.” Legion stepped back from its chair and made for the door of the room. Before the geth could reach it, it glowed blue once more.
“Legion,” Luna said. “… Good luck.” Nodding at the princess, Legion opened the door and stepped out into the hall. Recalling the route to the loading docks, Legion began to move at a jog, ready to begin its mission.
Twilight dropped the thick stack of papers onto the low table before her, admiring the work she had managed to complete. Nearly three hundred pages detailing all that they knew of their new alien friends, written in the span of a few days. Although it was not uncommon for her to work endlessly to complete a task, she was still impressed with herself.
“Alright,” she began, standing up from her position on one of the couches in the lounge. “Now all I have to do is get this to Ponyville and start printing copies.”
“You’re leaving?” Fluttershy asked nervously. “But didn’t Princess Celestia say—“
“That we were supposed to stay here, yes,” Twilight finished. “Don’t worry, Fluttershy. I am more than capable of taking care of myself should something happen. Besides, this needs to get done. The book is a critical part of the plan for revealing our alien friends. It’s useless if I can’t get more copies printed.” She placed the stack of parchment into her saddlebags and began trotting for the door, which opened at her presence.
“I’ll be back soon, don’t worry.” She walked down the short hallway and entered the elevator, pressing the button that she was fairly sure belonged to the CIC. A moment later the door reopened, and the young princess found herself in a place that was not the CIC. Curiously, she stepped out of the elevator and entered into another short hallway, this one with only one door at the end. It opened as she approached, revealing a spacious bedroom beyond.
Wandering into the room, Twilight looked around at the décor. Set into much of the left wall was a large fish tank, and across from that was a small sitting area. A queen-sized bed with black covers rested against the far wall, with a bedside table next to it that only had one item resting upon it. She cantered up to the item, finding it to be a photograph. She did not recognize the figure in the picture, but based on the features she assumed it was a female. Not until she noticed the glowing eyes did Twilight make the connection that this was likely Tali. Looking around the room, she realized it must have been Shepard’s.
“You lost?” a voice said from behind the princess. Jumping in surprise, Twilight spun around to face the source of the voice. Standing in the doorway was Joker, a smirk on his face. He walked into the room, looking around. “What’re you doing up here?”
“I must have pressed the wrong button,” Twilight said apologetically. “I’m really sorry, I didn’t mean to come up here! I thought the CIC was the top floor…”
“Heh, I forget this deck exists sometimes, too,” Joker said. “Don’t worry about it. Nobody has been up here since we started the attack on Earth. I probably should have come up to check it out…” He passed by the bed, leaning over the covers. Immediately a grimace came across his face, and he waved his hand in front of his nose. “Shepard needs to clean this place more often…”
“So this is Shepard’s room, then?”
“Yeah, lucky guy… I usually just sleep in my chair in the cockpit.”
Twilight continued wandering around, looking at the various items. Above a desk at the front of the bedroom were a number of spaceship models, one of which she recognized as looking distinctly geth.
“I’m… going to head back to Ponyville now,” Twilight finally said after a few moments of silence had passed. “I need to get my book printed.”
“You sure that’s a good idea?” Joker asked, looking at the princess skeptically. “Princess Celestia said—“
“I’ll be fine, thank you.” Twilight stepped up to the door, turning back to face the pilot once she was beyond the threshold. “I should be back in a few hours. If I’m not… send someone.”
“Will do.” Nodding, Twilight turned and stepped back into the elevator, this time pressing the correct button. The elevator began its descent, and Twilight briefly removed her saddlebags to stretch her back. The weight of almost three hundred pages of parchment was taking a toll, but those pages would hopefully help to keep the peace following the upcoming reveal. Placing the saddlebags back on her back, Twilight stood up straight as the elevator door opened, and stepped out…
Legion set the small Kodiak shuttle down a few kilometers from the border of the griffon capital, which illuminated itself through the snow with the fires burning within. As soon as it took its first step out into the snow-covered ground, the geth activated its tactical cloak and began running toward the discordant city. The cloak in this new platform was less efficient that its old one, as it was meant for organics. Since their armor was merely a shell, the cloak emitter had to be smaller to fit on it. Legion’s old emitter had been nearly three times as large, as it could be contained within the mobile platform itself. Legion was going to have to be careful with power usage; it did not want to have the cloak fail anywhere it could be seen.
Legion ran through the snow for several minutes before it saw the first signs of rebellion. The heads of two griffon soldiers were mounted on spikes just beyond the city’s border, their beaks forever open in a silent scream. The geth quickly passed them by, wondering why the insurrectionists would resort to such measures. If they intended to take control of Gryphonia, then planting heads on spikes was not going to inspire much confidence.
It continued moving slowly through the capital, navigating through the burned out wrecks of buildings. Most of these seemed to be recently destroyed, as the destruction from the collector attack had been primarily focused in the center of the city. Occasionally there was a building still standing, but for the most part Legion saw nothing but burned rubble and debris.
After a few more minutes of walking (with one break to let the cloak emitter recharge), Legion finally began to see movement through the thick torrents of snow that were pouring from the sky. They were definitely griffons, but Legion could not be certain what side they were on. It did not see any obvious weapons, so they were likely just civilians who were caught up in the attack on the capital. Legion patiently waited for them to disappear into the blizzard before it finally continued moving. Based on the image that Primarch Victus’s ship had taken, it guessed that it was still a few kilometers from the center of the city. The prime minister’s castle was on the opposite side, built onto a plateau roughly a hundred meters off of the ground. With the blizzard, Legion could not see the castle, but it hopefully was still going in the right direction.
Through the storm, Legion could see the constant orange glow of fires all over the city. The blazes were huge, consuming several buildings at a time, and they were spreading without control. The geth did not understand these actions; if the insurrectionists sought power, why would they burn the homes of those they wished to control? As was the case with the heads of the guards, such actions would only cause demoralization. Many of the things that the insurrectionists were doing simply did not make sense. There was something else going on, Legion was sure of it.
The blizzard began to die down as Legion continued on, and in very little time the geth could begin to make out the shape of the castle in the distance. While it was not presently burning, dark plumes of smoke were rising into the sky and joining the storm clouds high above. As the blizzard continued to fade away, Legion finally saw a route up to the castle. A road had been carved into the side of the cliff that the castle was built on, winding up the rock face where it ended at a large gate. Walking all along the road were griffons, and Legion was fairly certain that they were not guards. Many of them carried torches that glowed through the fading storm, the light glinting off of spear tips and swords. Carefully, Legion continued moving through the ruins. By now it was in the center of the city, and damage from the collector attack over seven months prior was still evident. Whereas the rest of the city lay in ruin, this area was completely destroyed. The only signs that anything had once existed here were the charred remains of building foundations.
Legion still regretted that it was unable to stop the collector weapon test. The test had directly led to the events in Gryphonia, and the geth had been in a position to prevent it. Even though it knew that stopping the test would have exposed it and risked ending its mission, Legion still felt responsible. But it did not have time to dwell on that. The geth was approaching the winding road leading up to the castle, and it had an army of insurrectionists to get through in order to reach it. Legion stopped once more to let its tactical cloak recharge, before it equipped a pistol and began the climb…
The sun stood high in the Equestrian sky, casting its light through the large lounge window and onto the white marble floor of the spacious room. Princess Luna sat with her sister at a low wooden table, listening intently to the story she was being told. The role of storyteller switched between Garrus and Kaidan, one picking up for the other when he could not contain his laughter. Luna smirked and their amusement, thoroughly entertained by the tale.
“So… so we’re in this giant iridium vault,” Garrus continued, picking up where Kaidan left off. “And what is Shepard worried about? Not the thick walls, not the limited oxygen, but the way he says ‘I should go’!” He dissolved into another fit of laughter, and soon the princesses joined in. From what the two had heard, the crew of the Normandy had gotten into quite a few misadventures over the years. But of all of the stories Luna had heard, she believed the one featuring Shepard’s clone to be the strangest.
“As I recall, it was me who got us back on track,” Tali chimed in from her position across the room. Garrus nodded at the quarian, slowing his laughter.
“Yeah, we got out, boarded the Normandy, and killed Shepard’s clone,” Garrus finished. “Craziest shore leave ever.”
“Great party though,” Kaidan added, receiving several nods of agreement. Luna was about to speak up when the door opened, and Healthy Heart stepped in, looking around. Her gaze settled on the princesses, who she quickly trotted up to.
“Your highnesses,” she began, bowing. “The guard… he’s awake.” The atmosphere of the room instantly shifted from carefree and joyous to tense and serious. Nopony had been thinking much about the attack; given everything else that was going on, it seemed best to let it be until other matters were sorted. But now that the surviving guard had woken up, perhaps they would finally get some answers…
“We’ll be back shortly,” Princess Celestia said, standing up. Luna stood up as well and followed her sister to the door, then down the hall in the direction of the royal hospital. They had done everything they could to ensure that the guard would survive, but Healthy Heart had stressed the extent of his injuries. That he was not only alive, but awake, seemed nothing short of a miracle.
A few minutes passed as the princesses walked in silence, until finally they arrived at their destination. Two guards were standing duty outside the doors to the royal hospital, their spears interlocked. They moved their spears apart for the princesses and opened the doors, and instantly Luna felt memories resurface of her time spent here. With how uncomfortable her bed had been… she was almost glad that the nanovirus had infected her.
The princesses navigated through the halls of the recovery ward, finally coming to a small room close to the back. A single guard stood duty, his expression stoic. As the princesses approached he stood aside and opened the door, then closed it once they were in. Luna looked around the room, finding it similar to her own. In a bed against one wall lay a pony who was not in good shape. His left foreleg was gone at the shoulder, a bandage covering what was left. A similar bandage was wrapped around his head, and his coat was covered in burnt spots. Despite the wounds, his golden eyes were wide open, and both were trained on the princesses. He lifted his right foreleg and saluted tiredly.
“Hello, Corporal Far Gaze,” Celestia greeted, offering a smile. “How are you feeling?”
“I’m… tired, your highness,” the guard said weakly. “But okay, all things considered.”
“That is good to hear,” the solar diarch continued. “My sister and I are so sorry that this happened to you. You are very strong, a lesser pony never would have survived.”
“Thank you, your highness… And… Night Flyer?” The princesses stopped for a moment, their brows turned up sorrowfully. The guard noticed this, and collapsed back against his pillow.
“I shouldn’t have gotten my hopes up…” he whispered.
“Corporal, I know you are grieving, but this is important,” Luna spoke up, drawing the gaze of the guard to her. “What do you remember from just before the explosion?” Far Gaze furrowed his brow in thought, his eyes darting around.
“I…” he began. “… We were at our post, talking… Then… Ambassador Silver Pen came in. He… he had a bandage on his stomach… Night Flyer thought something was up, so he told me to go get reinforcements… I started running down the hall, then… nothing…” The two princesses exchanged confused stares, then looked back at the guard.
“Ambassador Silver Pen? You’re certain?” Celestia asked.
“Yes, your highness. We were confused about what he was doing back.”
“And the explosion came not long after he entered, yes?”
“Correct.” The sisters looked at each other once more, their confusion increasing by the second. What had Silver Pen come back for, and how was he related to the explosion? Celestia looked back to the guard and nodded.
“Thank you, Corporal, you have been a great help,” she said. “I wish you a quick recovery.” The guard saluted once more, then turned and closed his eyes. The princesses stepped out of the room and began their walk back to the lounge.
“Ambassador Silver Pen…” Luna wondered. “Could it have been a changeling?”
“Possibly,” Celestia began. “We did set up changeling scanners at all of the city entrances after their attempted invasion, but it has failed us before. When Erebus came disguised as Healthy Heart, for example. But if the changelings were behind it, why? They are far too weak to lead an attack on us, and they know that. Additionally, with several advanced alien races on our side, declaring war is foolish.”
“All true,” Luna agreed. “Silver Pen was our ambassador to the griffons… Could the events in Gryphonia be related?”
“I’d say it’s likely,” the solar princess said. “The griffon military is much larger than our own. If the insurgents manage to gain control of it – and that is a big ‘if’ – then they could stand a chance at defeating us.”
The rest of the walk was completed in silence. When the sisters reentered the lounge, it seemed to be the same as when they left it. A tense silence pervaded the room, and all eyes were on the princesses. Kaidan stood up as they entered, and crossed the room to them.
“Did you learn anything?” he asked.
“According to the guard, a pony named Silver Pen – our ambassador to Gryphonia – arrived moments before the explosion,” Luna explained. “It’s more than we knew a few minutes ago, but it just creates even more questions.”
“Speaking of Gryphonia, did anyone hear anything from Legion while we were gone?” Celestia asked.
“He’s been silent so far,” Garrus answered. “I doubt we will hear anything before he comes back. Hopefully that’ll be soon.”
“In the meantime, is there anything we can do?” Tali wondered, standing up.
“We can probably go over the plan for the reveal tomorrow,” Celestia decided. “We will start at ten o’clock…”
The invisible form of Legion crept along the outer castle wall, its photoreceptor looking for a way in while simultaneously keeping watch for griffons. It had taken several hours to find a way up the cliff face, given that the main path was blocked by a crowd of hostiles. After walking around the cliff for a while, the geth had finally found a smaller path that seemed to be used for loading and unloading supplies. It had its fair share of hostiles as well, but the number was low enough that Legion was confident in its ability to sneak past.
The outer walls surrounding the castle courtyard were mostly intact. The majority of the damage was focused around the main gate, where the insurrectionists had likely attacked from. The castle itself, however, was in very poor shape. Fires burned from towers, walls all over had collapsed, and black smoke billowed out into the darkening sky. The storm clouds had finally begun to clear, revealing to Legion that the sun was close to setting. If it was to get back to Canterlot with enough time to explain the situation before the reveal, it had to work quickly.
After several more minutes of searching, Legion finally came to a partially collapsed section of the outer wall. It was not a wide gap, but it would still accommodate the geth. Looking around cautiously, Legion placed its pistol on its back and began sliding through, the cracked stone scraping against the metallic components of its mobile platform. The tactical cloak began to flicker, and Legion disabled it to save power. As soon as it was through, the geth reactivated its cloak and looked around at its surroundings. It had come out at the far end of a large courtyard, the ground of which was covered in a layer of snow. The setting sun painted it orange, reminding Legion that time was a limited resource. Satisfied that the immediate area was devoid of griffons, the geth began creeping towards the burning castle, its pistol at the ready. As it approached the thick doors, two griffons entered the courtyard from the main entrance, carrying between them a heavy wooden crate. Legion stepped off to the side as they began moving in its direction, their destination clearly the castle.
The two griffons stopped just short of the door, and Legion took the time to examine them. They wore no armor of any kind, and had no sigils or tags that could be used to identify them. Considering the current state of Gryphonia, Legion guessed that these were insurgents. They set the crate down right by the door, and one griffon began prying the top off while the other scanned the area, his talon wrapped around the hilt of a steel dagger. Legion watched them curiously, its eye never leaving the wooden crate. The top popped off, and the griffon placed it a few feet away on the snow-covered ground. He reached inside and lifted out a very odd sphere. It was not large, and appeared to absorb the light that passed through it, like water. This caused the center of the sphere to be entirely black, while the outer layer was a luminescent teal color. The griffon holding the device looked around cautiously, before he finally bent down and buried it in the snow. He then placed the top back on the crate and left, followed by his companion.
Legion stood still for a few more minutes, until it was confident that no one else was coming. It crept out to where the griffon had buried the sphere, and pushed the displaced snow out of the way. Running a quick scan with its omni-tool, Legion found the sphere to be generating a low-level electromagnetic field. Curiously, it touched the sphere, garnering no results. Still, the geth was not sure if it was safe. The logical thing to do would be to take the sphere to Canterlot for further study in a safer environment. But Legion was unsure of its effects on organics, if any effects existed. Additionally, there remained the question of why the griffon had buried it. There were too many unknowns, and Legion wanted to be careful. Making its decision, the geth covered the sphere in snow again, and then stepped away. Looking up, Legion saw the sun as it began to dip past the horizon. It would be night by the time it reached the shuttle, and it needed to be back in Canterlot before the reveal. Turning around, Legion ran back to the collapsed section of the wall and slid through. It set its destination for the dropship, ready to return to Canterlot…
Tali was worried. The moon was high in the sky, and Legion had not returned yet. Checking her omni-tool, the quarian found the time to be nearing two in the morning. The reveal was eight hours away. Tali knew she should get some sleep to be well-rested before the questioning session, but she could not bring herself to do so while Legion was still somewhere out there. She sat by a large window, her hands propping up her chin and her elbows on the sill, watching for any sign of movement in the night. She had been like this for the past few hours, and still nothing…
A knock sounded on the door, and Tali heard the sound of hooves on marble as it opened. She turned around as Princess Luna entered the lounge, a worried look on her face.
“You are still here, Tali?”
“I’m just worried is all…” the quarian explained. “We just got Legion back. If the griffons found him…”
“He’ll be fine, I am sure of it,” Luna comforted, taking a seat next to Tali. “During his time among us, he performed many stealth operations against the changelings at their own hive. Only once was he discovered, and yet he still found his way back to us.”
“I still want to hear that whole story…” Tali said, chuckling. “A geth living among you all for a month… That certainly makes for an interesting tale.”
“Your kind went to war with them, yes?” Luna asked. Tali sighed and nodded.
“A stupid decision… I was against it, but I was ultimately outvoted. And what came of it? The loss of thousands of our own people…”
“At least peace was achieved eventually.”
“There is that…” Tali turned her attention back to the view outside, which remained unchanged. There was silence between the two for a moment, during which Tali began to consider scenarios for Legion still being gone. It could be that he had found something particularly interesting and was still investigation. It could also be that he had been discovered and was being dismantled. Or perhaps he was on his way back right now, perfectly intact.
“… Have you heard any word on Shepard?” Luna asked, breaking the silence.
“Nothing more yet,” Tali answered. “I’m holding out hope, though, just like you said.”
“I am excited to meet him,” the princess said. “Especially if he is the one to thank for killing the Reaper that was attacking us.”
“That reminds me, have you decided what to do with it yet?”
“Celestia and I are organizing a team of unicorns to assist us in teleporting it into orbit,” Luna replied. “Just with all that has been going on, we have had to keep pushing it back…” Tali nodded, keeping her gaze on the horizon. After a few more minutes of inactivity, she finally saw something – a blinking blue light. It had not been there before, and it was moving rather quickly in her direction. She squinted, and a few moments later she recognized it as an Alliance shuttle.
“There he is!” she exclaimed, relieved. Luna smiled, and Tali activated her omni-tool, typing out a quick message to the rest of the Normandy crew. A few minutes later the room was once again occupied as everyone waited patiently for Legion to enter. Princess Celestia was among them as well; Tali was not sure how she had learned of Legion’s return, but it was important for her to be here nonetheless. Senator Proudwing had joined her, and he sat near the door, an anxious look plastered across his face.
Finally the door opened, and Legion was the center of attention the instant he stepped inside. Proudwing shot up and ran to the geth, his anxiety increased.
“What did you find?” he asked gravely. Legion stepped past the griffon and made his way to the center of the room where all could see him.
“The griffon capital has been seized by insurgents,” he reported. “We were unable to locate Prime Minister Sharptooth, but it appears that control of the city is completely lost.”
“It is as we feared, then…” Celestia whispered.
“We did make one discovery, however,” Legion continued. “While initiating reconnaissance of the castle, we observed two griffon insurgents carrying a crate. One griffon produced a device from this crate, and buried it in the snow.” It lifted its arm and activated an omni-tool, projecting the image of a spherical device.
“We are unsure of the purpose of this device, but it was emitting a low-level electromagnetic field.”
“An electromagnetic field…” Tali said quietly to herself. “Legion, could you send me that picture?” He pressed a button on the omni-tool, and Tali lifted hers as it flashed with a notification. She brought up the picture and examined it, zooming in on the device. She gasped as she saw it in greater detail, immediately recognizing it.
“Creator Tali’Zorah, are you familiar with this device?”
“Yes…” she whispered. “The Leviathans…”
“But… The Leviathans were on our side,” Kaidan interjected. “Not to mention that this relay has been dormant for thousands of years, maybe longer. How would they have gotten one of their devices here?”
“What is a ‘Leviathan’?” Luna asked. Tali and Kaidan both turned to address the princess, who wore a confused stare.
“We should sit down,” Tali suggested. “It’s a long story.”
Over the next half hour, the crew of the Normandy relayed all that they knew about the Leviathans and their involvement in the recent Reaper war. They explained their past, how they helped defeat the Reapers, and most importantly, their artifacts. When the retelling was complete, both Luna and Celestia appeared even more confused.
“Strange…” Celestia said. “Legion explained indoctrination to us before. If these spheres perform that operation… then are the griffons under its control?”
“That sounds likely, princess,” Kaidan nodded. “And from what Legion told us, it sounds like they’re being directed to distribute more of the devices to widen the Leviathan’s control.”
“Are we positive it is a Leviathan?” Tali asked. “They are nearly extinct. For all we know, they only existed on 2181 Despoina.”
“Regardless of who is responsible, someone is planting these devices,” Celestia said. “We do not know how much power they have gained so far, for all we know half of Gryphonia could be under their control.”
“We need to organize an offensive!” Proudwing growled. “Whoever is doing this is a threat to my nation! We have to do something!”
“No, we do not,” Luna said, drawing a confused glare from Proudwing. “Our knowledge is still limited. We know that these devices are being planted, but we do not know by whom. We do not know if they even are indoctrination devices. If we plan an offensive now, it would be like going in blindfolded with both hooves tied behind our backs.”
“Then what do you suggest we do?” Proudwing asked angrily.
“Nothing,” Luna answered. “At least, not publicly. We will continue sending Legion, if he agrees, to try and learn more about this situation. But for now, the best thing we can do is simply act like we do not know. If the individual responsible discovers that we are aware of his operation, he may speed it up or turn it against us. Until we learn more, it is best to pretend we know nothing at all.” Proudwing sighed and slumped to the floor, his wings limp at his sides.
“I… I understand…” he whispered. “Thank you, princess… I take my leave.” The griffon stood and somberly exited the room. Tali watched him leave, feeling sympathy for the senator. She was in the unique position to relate to his situation. He had lost his home, and that was something that Tali understood far too well.
“… It’s late,” Celestia said, breaking the silence that had formed. “And we all must be well rested for the reveal in the morning. Remember, it is at ten o’clock. Try to wake up at least a few hours before so we can prepare. Sleep well, everyone.” She bowed her head and walked out of the room. Luna followed her, leaving the Normandy crew alone in the lounge.
“… Well. This isn’t good,” Garrus observed. “But I do agree with the princesses. We need to be well rested. Good night.” He exited as well, and the rest of the crew filtered out after him until only Tali remained. She turned and looked back out of the window, suppressing a yawn. After looking out over the Equestrian landscape for a few more minutes, the quarian stood and exited the room, heading to her quarters.
Luna looked out over the empty throne room, imagining how it would look when all of the ponies had arrived for the reveal. They were scheduled to begin in just around half an hour, and already the line at the front gate was backed up several blocks. Thousands of ponies had come to see, yet only a few hundred would be able to make it inside. Reporters from all of Equestria’s major news organizations had been guaranteed a spot, and some nobility had managed to arrive early, but the majority of the audience was going to be composed of regular ponies. They were the ones whose lives would be most affected by this reveal, she hoped that they reacted well.
The princess turned around as she heard the sound of a door opening behind her. Celestia entered from a small chamber at the back of the throne room, wearing a calm expression. Despite this, Luna could sense the anxiety emanating from her sister. She did not blame her; they were about to reveal the existence of aliens to their world. Luna trotted over to Celestia, offering a comforting smile.
“Are you ready, Tia?” she asked.
“If I had a thousand years I don’t think I could fully prepare for something like this…” the elder princess admitted. “Still, it is good to have you here to help.”
“Indeed. And what of Cadance and Twilight?”
“I have copies of Cadance’s address in the back room,” Celestia began. “We can look over it before everypony arrives. As for Twilight, I received a letter from her less than an hour ago. She has completed her book and the first copies are already being printed. In the meantime she is remaining aboard the Normandy as I requested. Apparently she commandeered the entire printing facility at the Ponyville Inquirer. At the rate that she ordered them to be printed, we should have over a thousand by the end of the day.”
“That is excellent news,” Luna said. “Hopefully it will help.” Celestia nodded, and the two princesses looked out over the throne room in silence. They were interrupted when Kaidan poked his head out of the door to the back room and coughed to get their attention.
“We’re all ready back here,” he reported. “When should we come out?” Celestia and Luna both turned and exited the throne room, entering the back room and closing the door behind them. Sure enough, much of the Normandy crew was present, all of them looking expectantly at the princesses.
“You will know when to come out,” Celestia answered. “We will read the address that Cadance has written, and when we are done we will introduce you. Kaidan, you shall come out as soon as you hear your name. You will say a few words, then introduce everyone else. Then we will have the Q&A session, which will undoubtedly last quite a while.”
“Understood, princess,” Kaidan nodded. “Guess I should get to thinking of something to say…” He retreated to a small table on one side of the room and sat down, his brow furrowed in thought. The rest of the aliens split up into various positions around the room, all of them remaining quiet. Celestia and Luna crossed to another table, upon which were two stacks of parchment. Each stack was only a few pages thick, but hopefully it would be enough to explain the situation. Luna picked one up in her telekinesis and began to skim over it, memorizing the key points. The address was fairly straightforward; it began with the Reaper attack from a few days prior, then backtracked to the changeling conflict from seven months ago. From there they would introduce the galactic community, and then Kaidan would come out and take over.
As she read on, Luna began to worry. Word would spread quickly; before the end of the day, the entire world would know about the existence of aliens. Equis was home to nearly ninety million people, and Luna could not determine how they would react to the news. There would be excited ponies, and there would be scared ponies. She hoped that the excited ones would be the majority.
“Your highnesses?” Luna looked away from the script and turned to the door, where a guard had his head poked in. “It is time.” Celestia and Luna gave one another hopeful looks, then turned to face the Normandy crew.
“See you on the other side,” Garrus said, nodding. The princesses nodded back and turned to exit the small room. They entered the throne room, and instantly noticed how quiet it was. Luna looked at the massive crowd that had formed; it was easily a thousand ponies, far more than the room’s maximum capacity. At the front stood dozens of reporters, all of them carrying pads of parchment with quills at the ready. Behind them were the nobles, and behind them were the common ponies. All of them had their eyes on the princesses as they navigated to their thrones and sat down. Celestia and Luna exchanged glances one more time, then turned to address the crowd. Celestia cleared her throat and stood.
“My little ponies…” she began. “We have requested your presence here today to explain some of the events that have occurred recently. You have all waited long enough for an explanation, so without any further ado, let us begin…”
David Foster circled a small metal table, upon which was resting a tablet with the outline of his plan. Across from the table was a monitor, mounted on one of the white walls of the rather small room. It displayed a map of Equis, with Gryphonia highlighted. Each of the major cities were marked with flashing red circles, and above each one was a status update that read: SUBDUED. He had captured much of the country, and his team had barely had to lift a finger. He smirked at the accomplishment before picking up the tablet and going over the plan once again. The first and second phases had already been completed; he had infiltrated the insurrection and taken over the major cities. Now was time for the third phase: complete indoctrination of the griffon population. This was already well underway, and in only a few days’ time he would make himself known to the world.
Despite his successes, Foster still felt some small amount of anxiety about the presence of others in the galactic community. Cerberus had not expected this world to be located, and Foster was still not sure just how many were here. Still, if they knew about him or his team, they had not done anything about it yet. He would keep watch, of course – Cerberus was nothing if not cautious. But as long as it appeared that his existence remained unknown, Foster was not planning on doing anything to change that.
His train of thought was cut off when the door behind him opened, and one of his scientists stepped inside.
“Sir?” he began. “All of the devices have been placed and are transmitting.” The scientist pressed a button on his omni-tool, and the monitor updated its view to show dozens of smaller dots spread across the map of Gryphonia. Around them were spheres of influence where they would be able to indoctrinate griffons.
“It seems that Mr. Lawson’s research paid off…” Foster said. “And has the incorporation of Leviathan tech helped us at all?”
“Yes, sir. It should increase effectiveness by about sixty percent.” Foster smiled, and gazed at the map. Soon it would all be his, and his mission would be a success.
“Good.” The doctor turned around to face the scientist and began walking to the door. “Come. We must prepare for phase four…”
Luna looked out over the sea of ponies as Celestia continued to recite the address that Cadance had written. So far they had covered the arrival of the Reaper, though they had avoided coming out and saying that it was an evil alien from outer space. That would have to wait just a little longer. Right now Celestia was going over the changeling situation, giving far more details than had ever been given before. Their previous story was that it was a simple illness developed by changelings as another attempt to feed off of pony love. Now they had revealed that the changelings were actually working for another race, though the princesses had not told them who just yet.
Reactions so far were mixed. The reporters showed very few emotions, as most of them were busy writing down everything she and her sister said word-for-word. The nobles were not showing very many emotions either, though many appeared bored. No doubt they considered this a massive waste of their precious time, and were wishing that the princesses would cut to the chase. The common ponies, however, were the ones showing most of the emotions. In their eyes Luna saw fear, confusion, hope, and fatigue. Her eyes darted up to a clock hanging on the wall; they had been speaking for nearly an hour. The big reveal was coming…
“But thanks to the efforts of many ponies, the changelings were thwarted and their plot destroyed,” Celestia continued. “Now, during this address I have mentioned that the changelings were working for another, and that they were not the masterminds behind the plan… My ponies, this is what we have asked you here today for. Today, we, the princesses of Equestria, officially confirm the existence of life beyond our solar system.”
The reaction was immediate. A loud gasp echoed through the throne room, and the expression on everypony’s face was the same: pure, unadulterated shock. The reporters had stopped writing, and many had dropped their quills. But through it all, nopony spoke.
“The changelings were working for an alien race known as the collectors,” Luna continued, speaking up for her sister. “They were attempting to harness our magic to create a superweapon. They were ultimately stopped, though not by us…
“Not all aliens are antagonistic, as the collectors were. Around this same time, another alien came to us. He was of a machine race, and his name was Legion. We befriended him, and with his help took down the collectors. Now, more aliens have come to us, and they too are friendly. Over the past few days we have been in constant negotiations with them, preparing to reveal them to all of you. In fact, they are here now. From the race known as the humans, we would like to introduce Major Kaidan Alenko.”
All eyes turned to the door at the back of the throne room, which had opened as soon as Luna had spoken the name. Kaidan stepped out, a grin on his face. He waved to the ponies in the crowd as he crossed to the princesses, while all ponies stared at him with wide eyes.
“Major Alenko is representing his species, the humans,” Celestia explained. “He has something to say, and then we will have a bit of a Q&A session.”
“Hello everyone,” Kaidan began, waving. “As your princesses said, I am Major Kaidan Alenko of the humans. We’ve been hard at work over the past few days establishing friendships with Celestia and Luna, and making sure that this reveal will go as smoothly as possible.
“My friends and I first came to your world less than a week ago completely by accident. Our ship was disabled by a pulse of energy – the same pulse that killed the machine that was attacking your city of Las Pegasus. We crash landed here, and your kind instantly came to help us. You have been friendly to us from the moment we met, and we want to reciprocate the gesture. We’re still finishing on working everything out, but your species will be introduced to the rest of the galactic community.”
“The rest?” a pony from the audience asked.
“That’s right,” the human nodded. “Humans are not the only other species out there. I actually have quite a few with me, and we are more than happy to answer your questions.” He turned back to face the door. “Come on out.”
Liara was the first to step out. She gauged the room, then crossed to the thrones to stand by Kaidan. Garrus, Tali, and Legion were close behind, and soon all of the Normandy crew members were standing before the ponies.
“Before the questioning begins, perhaps you would like to introduce yourselves?” Celestia suggested. Liara nodded and stepped forward.
“I am Liara T’soni, and I am an asari.”
“I’m Garrus Vakarian, turian.”
“I am Tali’Zorah vas Normandy nar Rayya of the quarians.”
“We are Legion, a terminal of the geth.”
“We shall try to do this as orderly as possible,” Luna said, looking out over her ponies. “Try to remain quiet, and raise hooves to ask questions.” Instantly hundreds of hooves shot up, and Luna pointed to a reporter stallion near the front row. “Yes, you there.”
“Thank you your highness,” he said, bowing his head. “Mister Alenko, could something like the attack at Las Pegasus ever happen again?”
“Not a chance,” Kaidan answered. “The machine that attacked you was known as a Reaper. It’s complicated, but they’re all gone now. They can’t hurt us anymore.” The pony wrote the answer and smiled, satisfied. Again hundreds of hooves shot up, and again somepony was called on, this time an orange-coated mare further in the back.
“Will the other species be accepting of us?” she asked.
“Opinions will vary, of course, but we believe that the vast majority will be very accepting of new species,” Liara replied. The next pony to be called on was a gray-coated mare, this one sitting among the nobles.
“Your highnesses, why was this information kept from us for so long?”
“While I would like to keep the questioning restricted to our new friends, I will answer this,” Celestia said. “Prior to a few days ago, our knowledge on the galactic community was extremely limited. We did not want to reveal something we knew so little about. Instead we waited until the time was right, which happened to be now.” The mare huffed, but sat back down and allowed other ponies their turn.
“Uh… what are you?” the next pony asked, directing his question at Legion.
“We are a geth,” he answered. “A machine race built three centuries ago by the quarians.” He motioned towards Tali.
“They were initially intended as workers and servants, but they ended up developing sentience,” Tali explained. “There were some… issues… at first, but we worked them out and now we live in peace as equals.”
“Alright, who’s next…?” Luna looked around, surveying the crowd. “Yes, you there…”
The Q&A session lasted close to four hours, and yet even when they had finished there were still hundreds of questions that ponies wanted to ask. As Luna watched ponies filter out of the throne room, she hoped that Twilight’s book would be effective at answering them.
“That went quite well, all things considered,” Celestia said, appearing behind her sister.
“Indeed it did,” Luna agreed. “I did see quite a bit of discomfort, and even some fear, but our ponies handled the situation very professionally.”
“Let us just hope that our luck holds out…” the elder princess sighed. “From what I hear, newspapers are already reporting on this. I expect that Zebrica will take the news well, they have always been very peaceful, but Gryphonia on the other hoof…”
“They’re still fragmented, Tia,” Luna said. “It may take longer for news to spread there. But yes, I agree. Their situation is far more fragile, and news such as this could cause the insurrectionists to turn against us as well. We need to be careful.”
“Indeed…” The two princesses turned and exited the throne room, entering the smaller room at the back. The Normandy crew had already relocated here, and were all standing around the center talking to one another. Their conversation ended when the princesses entered, and Kaidan crossed to them, grinning.
“So, a successful reveal, then?”
“For now…” Celestia nodded. “We have no idea what the more widespread reaction will be, but if the reaction of today’s audience is any indicator, it will be a good one.”
“Admiral Hackett is relaying the results to some of the other higher-ups in the Alliance,” the human reported. “Leadership across most races is still in shambles, and the Citadel Council is gone for now, but it should be restored soon. From what I’m told, they’re also working on setting up a temporary capital on Sur’Kesh. Of all the council worlds it took the least damage, so it will do until the Citadel is repaired. As soon as the capital is established, we can take some of you there to finalize everything.”
“Keep us posted, Major,” Luna said. “Until then, we will continue to monitor the reactions of ponies here. And, one more thing… Legion?” The geth turned his attention to the princess, and expanded his eye flaps.
“Yes, Princess Luna?”
“Would you mind returning to Gryphonia for us?” she requested. “We know that the insurgents have control of the capital, but we know nothing about the condition of Prime Minister Sharptooth. If you can find him, please try to bring him here where he will be safe, and where he can plan his next move.”
“Acknowledged.” Legion turned and walked out of the room, quickly disappearing down the next hallway.
“The rest of you are free to do what you wish,” Celestia said. “Now that you are no longer a secret, we do not have to keep you hidden here. You can return to the Normandy, or perhaps you would like a tour of Canterlot?”
“That sounds fascinating,” Liara said, perking up at the mention of a tour. “I would love to study the city, if you do not mind.”
“Of course, a tour it is then.” Celestia smiled and made for the door. “Come. Let us begin…” The princesses led their new friends from the room and through the throne room, which was now devoid of life. As they navigated the halls to get to the castle entrance, Luna felt herself begin to worry. Even though the reveal had gone well at the castle, the rest of the world was an unknown. Needless to say, she hoped it would go well…
Legion set Admiral Hackett’s shuttle down on the snowy ground of Gryphonia, this time in a position far closer to the back entrance of the castle. It stepped out of the shuttle, pistol at the ready, and activated its cloak as it began to jog through the snow. The fires were out now, but thin trails of black smoke marked where they had once raged.
Legion’s task was simple: locate the Prime Minister and extract him if possible. It had no leads on the location of the griffon, but the castle seemed like a good place to start. If he had been moved by the insurrectionists, which was likely, perhaps it could at least find clues. Legion began to climb up the castle’s back entrance, which, like last time, remained poorly guarded. A few griffon insurrectionists were present, but they seemed more interested in conversing with one another than in guarding the castle. Legion quietly snuck past and continued on its way, once again walking around the outer wall until it found the breach. Legion was not sure what it would find once it infiltrated the castle; bodies, no doubt, but what about the insurrectionist leadership? From what it knew, the leader of the rebellion had yet to reveal himself. If Legion could gain intelligence on that, it would be invaluable knowledge for the ponies, and for what remained of the griffon government.
The geth squeezed through the cracks of the breach and immediately made for the doors of the castle. Before reaching them, it stopped at the spot where it had seen the griffon bury the indoctrination device. It uncovered the snow to ensure that it was still there, which it was. No changes were detected; it was still emitting a low-level electromagnetic field that was slowly taking over the minds of the griffons. Quickly re-burying the device, Legion stepped away and approached the door of the castle, cracking it open. It leaned its head into the gap and, confirming that the entry hall was empty, pushed the door open the rest of the way and stepped inside. The entry hall was a mess; all lights were out, the dark red carpet on the floor was charred black, and many walls had collapsed. A thin layer of smoke lingered near the top still, telling Legion that the fires had not been out for very long. Holding its pistol at the ready, Legion began moving through the castle. It had a prime minister to find…