EXPEDITION
The chariot pulled up next to the airlock, coming to a hover next to the door and giving Twilight Sparkle her first close-up look at the outside of the ship. The dark gray metal was matted, and was covered in tiny scratches and smudges. Twilight stretched her hoof out, feeling the metal and examining its texture. It was smooth, and cold to the touch. The princess withdrew her hoof, and switched her attention to the airlock door. The guard inside stepped out of the way, allowing the expedition team to enter. Twilight hopped out of the chariot first, and quickly moved off to the side. Onyx Star was the first to join her, and he was followed quickly by Starlight Glimmer and Rainbow Dash.
“We’re full!” the guard called out. He pressed a button on the wall, and the outer door slid shut. A moment later the inner door opened, and the guard ushered the ponies out of the airlock. Waiting in the next hall were two more soldiers, both of whom were using their horns as light sources. The rest of the hallway was pitch black, and Twilight could not see further than a few meters.
The airlock door closed again, allowing the remaining ponies on the chariot to enter. A moment later the door opened, and Fluttershy, Rarity, Pinkie Pie, and Applejack stepped into the hall. Twilight took a few steps further into the ship, lighting her horn and firing off a few spheres of glowing light. They moved slowly down the corridor, lighting the passage until coming to a door at the end.
“Awful dark in here,” Applejack observed, squinting her green eyes. “Does the ship not have lights?”
“We haven’t found a way to turn them on yet,” one of the guard answered. “We’ve really only figured out the doors…”
“We’ll get by with magic for now,” Twilight said, returning to the group. The airlock door opened once again, and four of Onyx’s staff entered. A few moments later the cycle repeated, and the remaining two scientists entered, followed by two guards. The three remaining guards were the last to enter, and finally everypony was aboard.
“If you’ll follow me, princess,” said a guard. “The control center is right this way.” He began walking down the hall, his horn lighting the way. The other guards lit their horns as well, and the corridor was cast in bright multi-colored light. At the end of the hall, the guard pressed a button by the door. The large metal door silently slid open, revealing an identical hall beyond.
The large group continued walking down corridors for several minutes before coming upon the control center. The door to the control center was guarded by two ponies, each of whom cautiously kept their weapons at the ready. They opened the door as the group approached, revealing the control center.
It was not a large room; when all of the ponies were inside, it provided barely enough space to move comfortably. Darkened screens lined the walls, and a number of control panels were set up in the center and around the perimeter of the room. Twilight circled the room, scrutinizing every single piece of technology. She stopped in the center, blowing some dust off of a control panel.
“These computers…” Onyx began, trotting in after Twilight. “They match the pod ones perfectly!”
“So, there is no doubt in your mind that your research is related?” Twilight asked.
“No doubt at all, princess.” Twilight nodded, satisfied.
“Alright,” she said, “let’s get started. Onyx, get your ponies on these panels and try to get them online. Starlight, I want to talk to you about creating a new translation spell. Everypony else, continue exploring. Report back here if you find anything interesting. Understood?” Everyone gave a nod, and went to perform their given tasks. Onyx and his staff spread around the room, looking at each panel and trying to figure out how they turned on. Twilight’s friends turned and exited the room, escorted by several guards, while Starlight joined the princess at the center of the room.
“So, what kind of new translation spell?” she asked. Twilight paused and removed her saddlebags. She opened them, and retrieved several spell tomes from inside.
“Onyx told me he has made little progress in translating the language of the pods,” she began. “It’s understandable, given the fairly small sample size. But I think there’s more to it than that… Most translation spells require at least some magical input from both languages. That’s how the various ancient Equestrian civilizations managed to communicate so easily. But for non-magic-sensitive species, like griffons, translation spells had to work a lot harder. They essentially had to probe the mind of the spell target to create translations. That won’t work in this case, because we’re not working with something that has a mind.
“Now, I think we can get around this. If we gather enough examples of text from the computers, we can use a spell on those to try and translate the written language. Then, if we combine that spell with some more traditional translation spells, we should gain a full understanding of the language.”
“The issue is figuring out exactly which spells to use…” Starlight said, beginning to understand. “They haven’t exactly been used in this way before.”
“Exactly, which is why I brought these books,” Twilight said, holding up the several volumes in her telekinesis. “While Onyx and his team work on the computers themselves, we can look through these and figure something out.”
“Sounds like a plan.” Starlight smiled and grabbed a few of the books. She opened the first one and began to look through the various spells, studying their applications and combinations and mentally piecing together a new spell to suit their purposes…
Rainbow Dash stretched her wings, beginning to feel restricted in the cramped hallways of the ship. She ached to fly, but she was willing to put up with the discomfort for now, for the sake of exploring the ship. As attractive as the open skies were to the pegasus, she could not deny her curiosity that grew with every step she took.
Dash knew that the ship was large, but from the inside it seemed infinitely larger. A lack of windows made it difficult for her to get her bearings, and by now she had no idea where she and her friends were relative to the outside. No maps had yet been located either, and Dash silently hoped that their escort of guards had been keeping track of where they were going. This ship seemed awfully easy to get lost in.
The walk through the corridors was interrupted as the group came upon another closed door. It was identical in size to other doors that had been located, but much smaller than the control room door. While the control room door could easily fit five ponies walking abreast, these smaller doors could comfortably fit only two. However, all of the smaller doors so far had been sealed shut. The guards had not wanted to risk causing damage to the ship, so the doors were left alone, the rooms beyond a mystery. Two of the guards stacked up on either side of the latest door, while the third stood directly in front of it.
“Get against the walls,” the third commanded. The ponies complied and stacked up as well, getting out of view of the door. One of the guards pressed a button on the wall, and, surprisingly, the door slid open. The third guard fired several spheres of light into the darkened room beyond, illuminating every corner and leaving no shadows for anything to hide.
“… We’re clear.” The guards entered, and looked around for anything potentially dangerous. Rainbow Dash wasted no time in following them in, and was joined a few moments later by her friends.
“Are we gonna have to do that every time we find a new room?” she asked, looking around. “This ship has to have thousands of them. It’ll get old after a while.”
“Prince Shining Armor’s orders, miss,” a guard explained. “He doesn’t want us taking any unnecessary risks. Sorry for the inconvenience.” Dash sighed and continued looking around, trying to guess the purpose of the room. It had no features that she recognized, with the exception of a control panel similar to one back at the control center. It was offline, and nopony seemed intent on turning it on.
One guard withdrew a piece of parchment and a quill from the plates of his armor, and unfolded it to reveal a hastily-drawn map. He added the room to the map before placing it back in his armor, and continued to look around.
“Alright, let’s head out,” he said after a few moments. “Nothing out of the ordinary in here.” The group exited the room, its small metal door sliding shut behind them. The light of the guards’ horns continued to light the way through the darkened corridors, which formed a never-ending maze through the ship. Rainbow Dash looked down as she walked, peering through the grated floor at the pipes running beneath.
With her attention focused on the floor, she nearly ran into Applejack, who had stopped not much further down the corridor. Dash barely managed to avoid ramming her friend, and looked around to determine why they had stopped.
“Another door,” a guard reported. “Same drill as before.” The ponies stacked up on either side of the door, while the third guard stood in front, ready to fire off his spheres of light. The door opened and the guard prepared his spell, only to stop halfway through charging his horn. His jaw dropped and his eyes widened, and he slowly wandered into the room, his vigilant eyes scanning over it.
Curious to see what the disturbance was, Rainbow Dash followed the guard inside, and immediately realized what was wrong. The room was in shambles; wall panels had become displaced, ceiling tiles had fallen and exposed wiring hung from the gaps. Scorch marks decorated the walls and floor, while the room’s furniture was strewn about, smashed and broken.
“What the hay happened in here?” Applejack asked, trotting around the room and inspecting the damage.
“It looks like a tornado came through…” Rarity observed, pushing some debris out of the way with her horn. A guard rushed over and scolded her with a glare, then withdrew a piece of parchment and began drawing the layout of the damage.
“Of the eight rooms we’ve explored so far, this is the only one to show signs of damage,” he said. “We should report back to Princess Twilight. She’ll want to know about this.” Nodding in agreement, the ponies filed out of the destroyed room. The guards took the lead, referencing the map to get them back to the control center. Rainbow Dash once again found her eyes wandering, examining every detail of the corridor; the pipes running on the floor and ceiling, the dust-covered wall panels, and the darkened light sconces. It was quiet, all of it. The whole ship was quiet, and dead.
Twilight had been correct; with a larger sample space, the modified translation spell was able to work much faster than previous attempts. Hours still remained before a full translation would be available, but it was progress nonetheless. Now, Twilight found herself gazing upon a screen, trying to guess what the diagram on it meant.
Pieces of alien text flashed around an image of the ship. A small section at the back was highlighted in red, but the translation spell was not yet advanced enough to determine why. Whatever it meant, Twilight was able to infer that it likely was not positive. Onyx Star sat in front of the screen, scrutinizing every detail of it and the control panel below.
In the few hours that they had spent in this control room, Twilight already had learned a considerable amount. Whoever had designed the computers had made them rather user friendly, and Onyx was able to navigate between different screens with ease. They could not read the contents of the screen, of course, but it was progress nonetheless.
“I don’t think there’s anything more to this computer, princess,” Onyx Star observed, looking back at the alicorn. “Until the translator is complete, my staff and I can’t do anything else with them. At least, not safely.” Twilight nodded, humming satisfactorily. She looked over the room, observing all of the other ponies at their posts. Starlight Glimmer was still busying herself with the spell tomes, trying to find something that could expedite the translation process. Onyx’s staff were familiarizing themselves with the computers, trying to determine what each button did, while still being careful not to break anything.
“Is your staff open to working overnight?” Twilight asked, stepping away from the screen and moving closer to the center of the room.
“They’re no strangers to the late shift, princess,” Onyx replied. Twilight winced slightly at the use of her title, and began looking over Onyx’s staff.
“Please, ‘Twilight’ is fine,” she said. “And that’s good to hear. Split your staff into two teams; have one take the night shift tonight, and the other take the day shift tomorrow.”
“Yes, prin- Twilight,” Onyx said. “Does this mean we’re heading back to base for the night?” Twilight nodded.
“You said it yourself: without the translator, there’s not much else we can do. Just make sure your night team takes very thorough notes of everything they discover.” Nodding, Onyx stepped away from the princess and went to consult his staff, leaving Twilight alone. Her solitude did not last long, however, as Starlight approached.
“We’re leaving?” she asked, raising an eyebrow.
“Go ahead and pack up the books, but leave them here for now,” Twilight said, nodding. “Onyx’s researchers may get some use out of them.” Starlight went to perform her task, and Twilight crossed to the door, approaching one of the guards.
“Get a chariot ready for us, please,” she ordered. The guard saluted and opened the door, then began trotting down to corridor to perform his task. Before the door could close, the expedition team rounded a corner, racing down the hallway.
“Twilight!” Pinkie Pie called out, keeping position at the head of the pack. She skidded to a halt in front of Twilight, and was quickly joined by the rest of the team, who had clearly been struggling to keep up.
“What is it?” Twilight asked, concerned. The researchers inside the command center moved away from their stations and toward the door, curious as to what had transpired. Before Pinkie could give an explanation, one of the guards stepped forward, holding a piece of parchment.
“Your highness,” he began, “we encountered a room, further into the ship. The inside, it…”
“It was destroyed!” Rainbow Dash interjected, ripping the parchment out of the guard’s telekinetic grip and practically shoving it in Twilight’s face. Twilight recoiled, her lavender eyes regarding the diagram with concern. It was not particularly detailed, but she could get the gist of what it was showing.
“… Are there any clues as to what caused this?”
“None, highness,” a second guard answered. “Based on the arrangement of the debris, it looks almost like an explosion went off. But right now, we just don’t have enough information.” Twilight frowned, nodding slowly.
“Do you think this could put us in danger?” As curious as she was, Twilight knew her priorities; if the ponies under her command were at risk, she would discontinue the expedition.
“Unknown,” the guard replied. “We have no way of knowing exactly when the damage was sustained. It could have been hours ago, or years.” Twilight sighed and looked away, trying to come to a conclusion. If there was something on this ship, and it was capable of causing damage, then simply avoiding the ship would not be a solution. And if the damage was an isolated incident, then the ponies were in no danger.
“… Alright,” Twilight finally said, her decision made. “In my report to Princess Celestia, I’ll request additional security. If there is danger here, hopefully more guards will be enough to stave it off. In the meantime, stay vigilant, and stay in the control center. We still know almost nothing about this ship, so don’t explore any further until we have more guards.”
“Understood, princess.” The guard bowed, and trotted to the door to consult the others.
“So,” Twilight began, turning to address her friends, “what else did you find? Anything worth noting?”
“Just some locked doors, really,” Rarity answered. “It’s… quiet. What about you? Did you make any progress?”
“A little,” Twilight nodded. “Starlight and I got a translation spell running, but it will be a while before it’s of any use. Onyx’s researchers have been working on navigating the computer systems, but without the translator, they’re not getting a whole lot done. Ideally, once the translator is complete, we can start accomplishing tasks.”
“Light getting the lights on…” Fluttershy whispered, staring longingly at one of the magic orbs of light that a guard had set up in the corner of the room.
“Hey, everypony,” Starlight greeted, trotting over to the group. Her saddlebags had been filled with some notes, though they were considerably lighter without the books. “Ready to go?”
“The chariot should have arrived by now,” Twilight said, entering the corridor. “Let’s go check.” A guard joined the group as they journeyed back down the set of corridors. And as they walked, hidden security cameras watched, taking note of their every move…
//:Unauthorized system startup detected.
Source: System control room, deck 54, section 3
//:Attempting to access security cameras…
ALERT: 7 of 10 security cameras not responding
//:Life forms detected…
ANALYSIS: Equine in appearance, average height: .986 meters
//:Attempting to bring additional security systems online…
… Attempt failed. Access blocked. System failure detected.
//:Run diagnostic…
… Failed.
ALERT: Foreign presence detected in AI core. Erecting firewalls, activating cyberwarfare, attempting to--
//:System shutting down.