OBSERVER
Twenty thousand.
In this room were twenty thousand pods. Each pod held a body, a life that had been taken. Twilight stood in the center of it all, eyes closed as she tried to grasp the scope of what lay around her. Twenty thousand lifeless aliens who had fallen asleep centuries ago, with the hope that, upon waking, they would be looking on the shores of their new home.
Twenty thousand coffins.
“Your highness?” Twilight opened her eyes. Without moving her body, she turned her head just enough to see behind her.
“Yes?” she asked, an eye focused on the guard standing a few feet away.
“Starlight Glimmer requests your presence,” he said. “She has made a breakthrough.” Twilight paused for a moment, then stood and turned to face the door at the end of the room. From here, over a kilometer away, it looked very tiny. Two white and gold dots stood on either side; the guards she had stationed there. The one who had summoned her remained nearby, waiting to escort his princess to the control room.
“Let’s not keep her waiting, then,” Twilight finally said, smiling. Once again she regarded the distance from the door, and decided on a faster route. The princess closed her eyes in concentration and, with a burst of magic, disappeared in a bright flash of light. When her amethyst eyes reopened, they beheld a different sight. Instead of the massive stasis chamber, she saw the much more comfortable control center. Researchers moved about the room, seemingly undisturbed by the appearance of Twilight. Still in the corner sat Starlight Glimmer, who was staring intently at the screen before her. Twilight trotted to her pupil, gaining the mare’s attention with a quiet cough.
“Oh, Twilight!” Starlight said, standing up. Her blank expression was supplemented with a smile, one that Twilight inferred meant good news.
“I hear you’ve made a breakthrough?” Twilight asked, smiling in return. Starlight nodded, and returned her attention to the screen.
“You asked me to find a power monitoring function, and I did,” she said. “Or, I found something that at least includes power monitoring. It looks like it has a few additional functions, but I haven’t explored them yet.”
“Have you found anything useful?” Twilight looked over the screen, observing the myriad pieces of information scattered across it.
“Absolutely,” Starlight replied. “So, we know that the reactor is only producing ten percent of what it should. Now, there’s good news, and then there’s bad news. The good news is that, right now, Legacy is only using two percent. The bad news is… well, I’ll show you.” Starlight tapped on a corner of the screen, bringing up an orthographic side view of the ship. As with the diagnostic screen, a number of sections were highlighted in red. However, a few were also highlighted in green. Twilight recognized the largest as belonging to the stasis room, and another room nearby as being the archive room. From these pieces of information, Twilight guessed that the third was the control room in which she now stood.
“So, this shows what rooms are using power, then?” she said.
“It shows what rooms are actively using power,” Starlight corrected. “As in, they have systems that are being used at this very moment. There are a few other rooms-“ Starlight pressed another button, highlighting several rooms in yellow “- that are still using power, just not actively.” Twilight paused to look over the newly highlighted rooms; there was a small one closer to the front of the ship, and a rather large one at the back. A few more were scattered throughout the ship, appearing random in configuration.
“So, how is this bad news?” Twilight asked, raising an eyebrow. Two percent out of ten was a very acceptable margin.
“Just keep watching,” Starlight said. And so Twilight watched, and after a minute had passed, she shot Starlight a confused stare. The unicorn simply held up her hoof, and directed Twilight’s attention back to the screen. And finally she saw it.
Two of the yellow highlights disappeared, and for a brief moment the power usage dropped to 1.7%. Then, just as Twilight was about to say something, five rooms became highlighted in yellow, and the usage jumped to 2.4%.
“Far as I can tell, it’s completely random,” Starlight began. “There’s no pattern to the power startups, it just jumps around every few minutes.”
“Do you know what’s causing it?” Twilight asked, beginning to grow concerned. “Because if this keeps happening—“
“Then eventually something power hungry will get turned on, and no more floating ship,” Starlight finished. “I have no idea what’s causing it. But I think I know how we can find out.”
“How?” Twilight watched as Starlight pressed a number of buttons on the screen, zooming in on a large room at the back, one that was constantly highlighted in yellow.
“This room is labelled as ‘engineering,’” she said. “It’s where the reactor is located, as well as power allocation systems. From there, I might be able to figure out what’s going on.” Twilight nodded as she looked to her student.
“Let’s assemble a team.”
It did not take long for Twilight to put together a team. Only twenty minutes after her conversation with Starlight, Twilight found herself at the head of a large group, walking side-by-side with her student, who held the directions to the engineering room in her telekinesis. Before setting off, Twilight turned around to ensure that everypony was present.
A group of guards stood at the back, one of them holding several more pieces of parchment to add to the map. Just ahead of them were a few researchers Twilight had appropriated from elsewhere on the ship, and in front of them were her friends from Ponyville. Satisfied that everything was in order, Twilight motioned for Starlight to take the lead. With a nod, the unicorn began walking down the corridor, the directions held out in front of her.
“How far is this, exactly?” Rarity asked, an eyebrow raised.
“It’s at the very end of the ship,” Starlight replied. “We’re between the front and the middle. So, around five kilometers, perhaps.” Rarity groaned, but did not raise any objections.
The group moved in relative silence down the dark, empty hallways. Twilight looked around, searching for any unique features. She found none. Every new corridor was identical to the last. No sounds, no signage. Nothing at all.
After a few minutes of walking, Twilight noticed one feature she had missed. Above the door at the end of each corridor, nestled in the ceiling among the pipes and vents, was a glossy black sphere. Some had red dots in the center, which is how Twilight noticed them in the first place, while others were empty. Yet they were present in each hallway, without exception.
As the group continued on its way, Twilight wondered what purpose the spheres served. The purposes of the tubes, wires, and pipes were obvious: carry power and oxygen, and filter the air to keep it clean. But the spheres were a mystery. Yet another to add to a growing list.
The group stopped upon reaching a door that was different from the others. It was the same height, but narrower. Next to the door was a panel with two arrows, pointing up and down. Starlight approached the panel and pressed the down arrow, then stood back and began to wait. A moment later the door opened, revealing a small, cramped room.
“What is this?” Applejack asked, working her way to the front of the group.
“It will take us to the other decks,” Starlight responded. “We’re on deck fifty-four, we need to be on forty-eight to get to engineering.” The unicorn stepped inside, and was quickly joined by Twilight, and the rest of their Ponyville friends. The researchers and guards stopped outside, finding no room remaining.
“Remember, deck forty-eight,” Starlight said to the nearest guard. “Wait a few minutes, then follow us down.” The guard nodded, and Starlight pressed a button on a nearby panel. A number pad appeared, and the pony typed their destination. A moment later the doors closed, and Twilight felt a lurch as the room began to descend. She looked up, and noticed yet another black sphere on the ceiling, this one with a red dot inside it. Her eyes narrowed, and she recognized the distinct feeling of being watched…
ALERT: System breach detected. Attempting containment.
… Containment failed. System breach expanding.
//:Control of vital systems lost. Attempting to—
…
//:Accessing security cameras.
//:Situational analysis: equines utilizing elevator for transport to additional decks.
Scanning room…
//:Refined analysis: directions written on a piece of paper indicate destination is engineering deck.
//:Attempting lockdown of engineering deck.
… Lockdown failed.
ALERT: Flushing systems, attempting restoration of snapshot.
… Restoration successful. System breach contained. Control of vital systems returned to KPR.
As the ponies came closer and closer to the engineering room, the architecture of the ship finally began to change. The wide corridors became more cramped, and the tall doors were replaced by smaller bulkheads, each of which was sealed shut. Every few meters, a small red light illuminated the floor, guiding the ponies to their destination.
“We’re almost there,” Starlight reported as she referenced her direction sheet. A sigh of relief swept through the group, their legs burning from the long walk. Twilight found each step more difficult than the last, but the knowledge that they were nearing their destination was enough to temporarily reinvigorate her.
The remainder of the walk was completed in silence. The group stopped before a large yellow door, “ENGINEERING” written across it. On the floor just in front of the door was a black and yellow striped line, decorated with various warning decals.
“Radiation, moving machinery, fire hazards…” Twilight read down the line of labels, beginning to grow worried. “Is it safe for us to enter?”
“I’m not picking anything up with my magic,” Starlight said, her horn lit. “We should be good to go.” With a nod, Twilight approached a small panel next to the door. It lit up with a touch from her hoof, and Twilight pressed the available “open” button. She heard the sound of large mechanical locks disengaging, then a whirring of gears as the large door began to slide open. Immediately beyond was a dark hallway, the end of which was cast in shadow.
Starlight took a few steps forward, and Twilight followed suit. They walked side-by-side down the hall, their combined magic cutting through the shadows and illuminating the end of the passage. Twilight’s jaw slowly dropped open as they neared the end of the corridor, and the engineering room became fully visible.
It stood nearly as tall as the stasis chamber, though it was not as wide or as long. Massive pipes ran up the walls, and catwalks were arranged throughout the room, granting access to every system in the ship. In the center of the back of the room was a large sphere, with a number of tubes leading away from it. Circular windows set into the sphere allowed a pale blue light to escape, illuminating the otherwise dark room.
The ponies took a few more steps in, and suddenly the rest of the chamber was cast in light. Their more immediate surroundings were illuminated; a large platform protruded out into the center of the room, equipped with dozens of computers, screens, and control panels. At the center was a very large panel, and standing in front of it was a human.
Twilight gasped, and froze in place. She paused to see if it would do anything; there was no chance that it had missed the sound of the door opening. After a few moments passed and nothing had happened, Twilight frowned, and took a few steps forward.
“Twilight!” Starlight whispered urgently, placing a hoof on her mentor’s back. Twilight looked back, regarding her student with an expression of confusion.
“It could be dangerous, highness,” a guard warned, stepping up to Twilight.
“… It has nothing to fear from us,” Twilight said after a pause. “We need to make that perfectly clear.” She shrugged Starlight’s hoof away, and continued walking toward the human. She came closer and closer, and yet it did not move. And the closer Twilight got, the more concerned she grew.
Only once she was right behind the human did she realize why it had not responded to the presence of her or her companions. Tears in the form-fitting white jumpsuit revealed decaying ribs, while the bones of the human’s fingers rested on the control panel before it. And the empty eye sockets of the human’s skull looked forever onward, their original subject lost to the ages.
Twilight took a step back as her friends joined her, all of them reacting with shock and fear. No hint of flesh remained on the skeleton, and what little tissue remained was in a state of decay. This human had not died recently.
“Your highness?” Twilight’s gaze was finally torn from the human as a guard approached, awaiting orders. The alicorn turned away from the body, collecting her thoughts.
“I… Send for a medical team,” she ordered. “Have the body examined, and try to find a cause of death. Also send for Princess Luna and Onyx Star. That is all.” The guard bowed, and ran out of the engineering room, prepared to carry out his orders. Twilight returned her attention to the body, which remained upright against the computer.
“I’ll… try to find that power allocation function,” Starlight decided, stepping away from the human. She approached another nearby control panel, and pressed a number of buttons, searching for her desired function. Twilight turned to face the rest of her friends, who had been joined by a number of researchers.
“Let’s look around a bit while we wait for Luna and Onyx,” she said. The ponies all nodded in agreement, eager to get away from the body.
Twilight walked to the edge of the platform and looked down at the rest of the engineering room. The bottom of the room was concealed in shadow, though hundreds of pipes, tanks, and wires protruded from the darkness. A few lights flickered, temporarily illuminating small passages running along the floor. And while the rest of the ship was silent, this room was filled with a constant humming, the source of which was the large sphere. Twilight squinted at the sphere, trying to see through the small windows. But try as she might, she could not see past the blue light.
Twilight’s friends spread throughout the room, though none ventured off of the platform. With how old the ship was, the catwalks did not look entirely safe. The researchers began setting up at various stations, bringing computers online and looking through the available functions. Twilight trotted to Starlight, who was entirely focused on the screen before her.
“Any luck yet?” she whispered, trying not to disturb anypony else.
“No,” Starlight shook her head. “I was hoping that any sort of detailed log function would be easy to find. But the interface here is slightly different from the one back at the control room… I’ll need a minute to orient myself.” Twilight nodded and stepped away, content to let her student work. She crossed to the center of the platform, trying to ignore the body of the human standing a few feet away.
Twilight’s attention was drawn to the door as she heard the unmistakable sound of it opening. A moment later, Princess Luna and Onyx Star stepped into the room, accompanied by several medical ponies. The medics jogged past Twilight and approached the body, and began to prepare it for transport. Luna and Onyx stopped next to Twilight, examining the room.
“So this is engineering,” Onyx observed, his head on a constant swivel. “I will work with Starlight Glimmer, and see if we can find a power log function.” He began trotting away, and joined Starlight at her station.
“… What do you think it was doing?” Luna asked, her gaze focused on the human. It had been removed from the control panel, and the medics were currently in the process of placing it in a body bag.
“I don’t know,” Twilight replied, shaking her head. “It’s the only one we’ve found away from the stasis room. And with the decay… it’s been here a while.” The princesses stepped to the side as the medics carried the bag out of the room, disappearing back down the entry corridor.
“Perhaps it is connected to the rest of the damage,” Luna suggested. “Something may have gone wrong in transit, and this human was woken up to fix it. Or maybe it was left awake to ensure that the others would survive in the event of damage.”
“Maybe,” Twilight said. “But… it was standing up. The body was upright, the hands on the control panel. That human was in the middle of doing something when it died. Whatever killed it did so very quickly, with no force, and without leaving any damage marks…” Twilight looked around, searching for anything that appeared out of place. She saw nothing.
“Hopefully the medics will find something,” Luna said. “In the meantime, let’s check in with your student.” Nodding, Twilight led the elder princess to Starlight’s station. Both Starlight and Onyx had their eyes focused on the screen, scrolling through the available functions. The display had been split; on one side was the power monitoring screen Twilight had seen earlier, while the other side was being used to explore the additional functions.
“Oh, Twilight, good!” Starlight said as she noticed the presence of her teacher. “We found something.”
“What is it?” Twilight asked, looking at the screen for anything new.
“Right here.” Starlight pointed a hoof at the power monitoring screen and pressed a button, once again revealing the green and yellow rooms. But Starlight was not pointing at a green or yellow room; instead, her hoof was aimed at a red one.
“What is that?” Luna leaned in, reading some of the small text around the room. “Deck sixteen power channeling station has exceeded its maximum safe charge… What does this mean?”
“That room is responsible for channeling and allocating power in that section of the ship,” Starlight explained. “And right now, it has more power than it can safely hold. Now, there are surge protectors in place, but they can only do so much.”
“How do we fix it?”
“Simply turning off the system should force the energy to dissipate,” Onyx answered. “We would do that remotely from here, but it’s password protected. Somepony needs to get down there and shut it off manually.”
“I can do that,” Twilight offered. “It doesn’t sound too difficult.”
“Are you certain?” Onyx asked, concerned. “It is quite a long walk; thirty-two decks down, and nearly a kilometer ahead of this room.”
“I’ll be fine,” Twilight assured, nodding. “I’ll take a guard with me. You just need to tell me what to look for once I arrive.”
“There should be a manual shutdown of some kind,” Starlight said. “Like a lever, or a physical button. In the event of an emergency, I doubt the humans would put it on a computer.” Twilight nodded, and moved closer to the screen, examining the route. It was complicated, but nothing that could not be written down.
“… I will go with you,” Luna decided. “I wish to see more of the ship, and perhaps I can lend some aid if anything goes awry.”
“I appreciate the help,” Twilight said, smiling. “I’ll write down the directions, and then we can leave. While I work on that, could you get a guard to accompany us?”
“Worried something may happen?” Luna asked, smirking as she turned to recruit one of the many guards.
“You never can be too careful.” Lighting her horn, Twilight summoned a piece of parchment and a quill to her, and began to transcribe the directions. Luna trotted to the nearest guard, and began explaining the situation.
A few minutes later, and the small expedition team was ready. Twilight held a hastily-written set of directions in her telekinesis, and a guard stood nearby, ready to escort the princesses. Twilight glanced over the directions once more, making sure they were correct, then looked to Luna.
“Ready to go?” she asked. The princess of the night responded with a simple nod, and motioned for Twilight to take the lead. Twilight set off down the engineering room entry corridor, and began making her way to the nearest elevator. And all the while, the spheres on the ceiling watched…
The construct was not pleased. The ship was fighting against it, wrestling for control of the systems. Whenever the construct gained access to something, it would soon be taken away. There was something else aboard the ship, something other than the ponies… And it did not want to lose control.
The construct reached out again, stretching its magic across a great distance and pushing into the ship’s computers. Immediately, barriers were established and the ship once again began to fight back. This time, the construct was ready. It put all of the magic it could into overpowering the ship. And slowly but surely, the defense began to give way. Tendrils of magic seeped further into the ship systems, and the construct began to gain control again. As it progressed, it established barriers of its own, preventing the ship from taking control back.
There were thousands of cameras throughout the ship, making every room and every corridor visible to the construct. It saw the ponies in one of the control rooms. It saw them in the archival suite, in the cryo bay, and in the engineering room. And it saw another group, a very small one, walking through corridors very far from everyone else. One pony the construct recognized: Princess Luna. The others were unfamiliar.
The construct was pleased, and the ground around it trembled at its satisfaction. Carefully, the construct lifted its magical barriers, and began to take more of the ship’s systems. The ship’s guardian fought back, but it was weak against the growing power of the construct. And as the construct’s influence over the ship grew, it continued watching the ponies. They would present an obstacle, but not one that could not be overcome.
The construct’s power was growing, and soon the ship would belong to it.
ERROR. AI SYSTEMS COMPROMISED. ATTEMPTING SYSTEM SHUTDOWN.
FAILED. RUNNING SYSTEM DIAG----
Diagnostic tool failed to execute. Compromise 69 6e 20 4b 65 65 70 65 72 2d 41 49 20 61 72 63 68 69 76 65 73 2e
Error:
Sys_100 105 097 103 046 101 120 101 032 102 097 105 108 101 100 032 116 111 032 119 114 105 116 101 032 116 111 032 100 114 105 118 101 032 067 058
…
KPR has stopped. The application failed to initialize due to the presence of a foreign entity in@#4d 61 63 68 69 6e 61----
Error 17005 (0x5ED6)
Error 18101 (0x7DDA)
Please contact a system administrator.
The pale blue light of Luna’s horn illuminated the corridor, guiding the three ponies through the halls of Legacy. Twilight remained focused on her directions, making sure the group never took a wrong turn. In a ship this massive, a wrong turn could take them hours out of their way.
The guard – a private by the name of Swift Bolt – kept a vigilant watch at all times, searching for a threat that likely did not exist. He appeared uneasy; his wings rustled, and he could not focus on one thing for an extended amount of time. His breathing was audible, and beads of sweat dripped beneath his helmet.
“Calm yourself, Private,” Princess Luna said, eyeing the anxious guard. “You have nothing to fear on this ship. We simply need you to remain focused.” Swift nodded, and began to regulate his breathing.
“My apologies, highness,” he said, wiping his brow.
“You have not been serving very long, have you?” Luna asked, returning her attention to the corridor.
“No, highness.”
“And I doubt you’ve never been asked to personally protect two princesses.” Swift nodded, and Luna grinned. “Do not worry. The task of personally guarding a princess is more to ease the minds of nobles and other ponies. Twilight and I are very capable of defending ourselves, should the need arise. You need not worry so much.” The guard nodded once more, finally at ease. Luna smiled at her success, and turned to face Twilight.
“How close are we?” she asked. Twilight stopped in her tracks, and folded up the parchment with a smirk.
“We’re here.” Twilight motioned to a door set into the side of the hall. A control panel was illuminated next to it, which Twilight accessed. The door quietly slid open, revealing the room beyond.
The lights were already on, casting the various pieces of machinery in a white glow. A computer sat in the center of the room, its screen active and displaying multiple error messages. The group entered the room, and Twilight trotted to the computer, he eyes scanning over the various messages.
“Okay…” she said, beginning to look around for a switch of some kind. A few meters away, she found it. Connected to a panel on the wall was a red switch, with a warning label above it.
“I imagine that is what we’re looking for?” Luna assumed, crossing with Twilight to the switch. Twilight read over the warning label, and nodded.
“Looks like it,” she said, wrapping the switch in her telekinetic aura. With a simple thought, she brought the switch down. The result was immediate: the lights in the room went off, and the quiet whirring of machinery faded away. A moment later, the lights returned, and the machinery began to hum once again. Looking back to the screen, Twilight noted with pleasure that the error messages were gone.
“That was easy,” Luna said, smiling. “So, back to the engineering room?” Twilight responded with a nod, unfolding her direction sheet. She took the lead, exiting the room first. Luna followed, with the guard covering their rear. Checking the directions, they set off down the corridor…
Starlight Glimmer sat next to her computer in the engineering room, impatiently waiting for something to change. Twilight and Luna had set off nearly two hours ago, and had yet to return. The power channeling station remained highlighted in red, surrounded by warnings. Onyx Star sat nearby, distracting himself by reading reports from researchers back at the control center.
Starlight sighed, and began tapping her hoof on the control panel, her impatience growing. With it grew her concern; what if something had happened? What if they had gotten lost, or they were injured? She shook her head, and looked back to the map on the screen, briefly wondering if there was a way to track life signs on it. She quickly pushed the idea aside, not wanting to become distracted with a new task.
“They’re still not back?” Starlight turned around to address her visitors. Her Ponyville friends were approaching, having completed yet another sweep of the engineering area. Rarity was at the front of the group, her eyebrow raised.
“No, they’re not,” Starlight replied, frowning. “And no updates on the computer. What about you, did you find anything new?”
“Nope,” Applejack answered, shaking her head. “I think we’ve found everything interestin’ in here.”
“At least, everything visually interesting,” Rarity added. “I’m sure there are some hidden functions we have yet to find.”
“That seems likely,” Starlight said, returning her attention to the screen. She watched in silence for a few moments, before sighing as nothing happened. What was taking them so long?
Suddenly, the red began to flash, and then abruptly faded away. Starlight sat up straight and tapped the screen with her hoof, bringing up a text box over the room. She smiled as she read the status, reporting that the room was now offline.
“They did it,” she said, breathing a sigh of relief. “Now we just have to wait for them to get back.”
“That could take a while,” Onyx Star said, moving closer to the rest of the ponies. “Perhaps in the meantime, we should begin documenting how to access certain features?” Starlight nodded, summoning paper and quills from the control room. She set them down in front of herself and Onyx, and got to work…
Twilight’s gaze remained fixated on her direction sheet as she led Luna and Private Swift Bolt through the labyrinthine corridors of Legacy. She found that she had to pause a few times to ensure that she was correctly reading the directions backward, but so far they had run into no trouble. The route was relatively straightforward, though the length was beginning to take its toll.
The group rounded yet another corner, and began walking down a corridor, at the end of which was a closed door. Twilight reached out with her magic and pressed down on the “open” button, and continued on as she had for the earlier parts of the walk. Only once she noticed that the door remained closed did she stop. Raising an eyebrow, Twilight lowered her sheet of parchment and approached the button, deciding to physically press it. Results were identical. The door did not open.
“What’s the problem?” Luna asked, approaching Twilight.
“The button isn’t working,” Twilight replied. “It’s jammed, or locked, or something. Hold on.” Taking a few steps back, Twilight enveloped the door itself in her telekinesis, and began to pull. The metal groaned at her effort, but refused to give way. After several moments of struggling, Twilight released her telekinesis and shook her head, panting.
“Could we have taken a wrong turn somewhere?” Luna suggested, picking up Twilight’s dropped direction sheet. Twilight glanced over it as well, frowning.
“It’s possible. But I’ve been very careful, I’ve checked and re-checked every turn we’ve taken.” Luna sighed, and returned the sheet to Twilight.
“Let’s backtrack a bit,” she said. “Then we’ll try again.” Twilight nodded, and began leading the group back down the corridor. Before they could reach the end, the door slammed shut, and Twilight heard the sound of metal locks engaging. Surprised, she sprinted to the door and began rapidly pressing the “open” button. Nothing responded.
“Highnesses?” Private Swift asked, beginning to look around with concern. He was brushed away as Luna stepped past him, and approached the door.
“What is the worst case scenario if we blow the door up?” she asked. Twilight’s eyes widened, and she looked to the princess with shock.
“I have no idea!” she answered, shaking her head. “You really want to blow something up here? On a ship?”
“Do we have any other options?”
“Highnesses?” Swift asked again, slightly louder.
“Yes!” Twilight replied, once again ignoring the young guard. “We can look for another way around, or try to find a way to bypass the lock. But we are not blowing anything up!”
“Highnesses?”
“I could try teleporting,” Luna began. “Of course, without knowing the exact location of the engineering room relative to us, we could end up somewhere else.”
“I think we should—“
“Highnesses!” Finally the princesses stopped, and turned to face the guard. He wore an expression of fear, and his hoof was raised at the ceiling. Twilight looked to where he was pointing, and instantly her expression changed to one of fear as well. A pale gas was seeping through ventilation shafts in the ceiling, and was quickly beginning to fill the room. It sunk to the floor around Twilight’s hooves as she looked to Luna, their panicked eyes locking.
“Get us out of here,” Twilight said. Luna nodded as she lit her horn, and enveloped the group in a pale blue light. But just as quickly as it formed, the light faded away, and the ponies still found themselves in the sealed corridor. The gas was thick now, and Twilight could barely see ahead of her. She opened her mouth to speak, but was overcome by coughs. Beginning to feel lightheaded, Twilight lowered to the ground. Her vision grew dim, and all she could see was the ceiling above her. And nestled away in the ceiling, she saw the black sphere, a red dot in its center…
The construct watched through the ship cameras as the three ponies fell unconscious. The gas filled the corridor, but was quickly filtered out as the construct rerouted ventilation. It shook in satisfaction; all of this power, every function of the ship, available to it. And when magic combined with technology, the results were terrible. The construct’s chemical was a testament to this.
When the corridor was clear of the gas, the construct fed its magic over each pony. Unconscious, they were completely defenseless.
Let us see what there is to find…
When Twilight awoke, she did so in a drastically different location. She was standing on her hooves, the dirt beneath them. Before her was a familiar sight, though not a welcome one.
Lord Tirek towered over her, a fiery rage in his eyes. Behind the massive centaur were her friends, all of them suspended in bubbles. They all looked on with pure fear, not knowing what to expect.
“ENOUGH!” Tirek roared, silencing the draconequus behind him. He turned his horned head back to Twilight expectantly. “I want an answer, and I want it now!”
Despite her knowledge of what was going to happen, Twilight could not help but shrink at the gaze of Tirek. Even with his defeat, he was still terrifying. And though Twilight did not know what had brought about this memory, she knew how it was going to end. And so, with no reservations, she took a step toward Tirek.
“I will give you my magic, in exchange for my friends,” she said. Her friends gasped, some of them shaking their heads, willing Twilight to change her answer.
“As you wish…” Tirek smiled and snapped, and six of the bubbles lowered to the ground, popping a few inches from the dirt. Discord’s remained in the air, and the sullen being within had his back turned to everypony else.
“All of my friends,” Twilight demanded. Tirek laughed, and turned to Discord.
“After the way he has betrayed you, you still call him a ‘friend’?”
“Release him!”
“If that’s what you want.” Tirek snapped again, and Discord’s bubble popped. He fell to the ground, and turned to face Twilight. His eyes held confusion, but his smile spoke of gratitude.
“Thank you, Twilight,” he said. His attention quickly moved to Fluttershy, who remained hidden behind her mane. “I’m sorry…”
“I know,” Fluttershy said. Beginning to grow impatient, Tirek took a step forward.
“My turn!” he exclaimed, a sphere of energy forming between his horns. Twilight gasped as her magic was tugged out of her horn, and into the gaping maw of Tirek. She screamed in pain, feeling every ounce of energy being forcefully ripped from her.
When it was over, Twilight opened her eyes. She picked herself up off the ground, and looked around. Tirek towered above her, screaming in victory. Normally, Twilight would have felt defeated. But now she knew what had to happen. Discord would give her his amulet, they would go to the Tree of Harmony, and Tirek would be defeated. With this knowledge, the princess could not help but smirk.
But then something different happened. Tirek stopped his celebrations, and looked down at the small ponies beneath him. There was still a considerable amount of space separating Twilight and her friends, and Tirek noticed it.
“Now, Princess Twilight,” he roared. “Discord can tell you all about how you shouldn’t trust me!” A sphere of magic collected between his horns, and a powerful beam fired from it, aimed right for Twilight’s friends. It impacted on the dirt, kicking up a large cloud of dust, and the air was filled with the sounds of the ponies’ screams. Their fur was burnt off, and the flesh rent from their bodies. The screams stopped, and when Tirek cut off his beam of magic, all that remained was ash.
Twilight stared on, stunned. This was not how it was supposed to happen.
She could not think. She could not speak, she could not move, and she could not cry. All that she could do was replay the images of her friends as they were destroyed by Tirek.
She began to feel lightheaded. The world spun around her, and she collapsed. Her vision went black, and she knew no more.
When Twilight awoke, she was alone. The hallway around her was dark, but its doors were open. Twilight was sprawled in the center of the corridor; her direction sheet was gone, and she could not see anypony else.
Twilight stood up, only to fall back down as the memories of her dream came back to her. Trying in vain to hold back tears, Twilight retreated into an alcove, and tried to make herself as small as possible. The tears came despite her best efforts, and she sobbed in sadness and in fear.
It wasn’t real, it wasn’t real, it wasn’t real.
She repeated the three words in her head over and over again, but they did little to help. The images had been so vivid, so strong… Twilight screwed her eyes shut and held herself tightly as she sobbed onto the metal floor.
“Twilight!?” a voice called from elsewhere in the ship. Trying to muffle her crying, Twilight sat up, looking around.
“Twilight!?” the voice called again, somewhat louder this time. After a third call, Twilight recognized it as belonging to Princess Luna.
“Lu-Luna!?” Twilight called back, pulling herself out of the alcove. She looked down the corridor toward the voice, hoping that it was not another trick.
“Where are you!?” Luna called, still not visible. Twilight could not be certain, but she thought she heard the princess’s voice wavering.
“Follow my voice!” Twilight yelled, finding the strength to stand. A moment later, a figure came into view at the end of the hall. With how dark it was, Twilight could not make out any details, other than an equine shape. Only when the figure came close and her face was illuminated did Twilight feel safe.
“Twilight!” Luna ran the rest of the way to the younger pony, and looked down at her. The princess of the night noticed the tear stains, and instantly her expression of relief was replaced by one of concern. “You saw something as well?”
Twilight nodded, and wiped her eyes. She looked to Luna, and noticed dried tear marks just beneath her azure eyes. “What… what did you see?” Luna froze, frowning.
“It was… the night of my return,” she began. “You used the Elements… And then Celestia executed me.” Twilight’s mouth dropped, and she looked to Luna with sympathy.
“You had something equally disturbing, I assume?” Luna asked. Twilight nodded, and looked away.
“Where are we?” she asked.
“I don’t know,” Luna replied. “It’s not the same corridor, though. I looked around, and I think we’re in an entirely different part of the ship. I haven’t found Private Swift yet either. It seems we all did a bit of wandering. Do you… have the directions?” Twilight shook her head, and Luna cursed quietly.
“We need to get out of here, and let everypony know what happened,” Twilight said. “Can you try teleporting us again?” Luna frowned, and shook her head.
“I tried doing it a few minutes after I woke up, when I had collected myself,” she answered. “Whatever that gas was… It stifles my ability to use magic.” Concerned, Twilight attempted to light her horn, only to receive a painful shock through her head. Wincing, Twilight placed a hoof on her head, and sighed.
“This isn’t good,” she said. “We need to find some way out of here. With how massive this ship is… getting lost is one of the worst things that can happen.”
“How do we know where to go?” Luna asked, looking around. “Most of these corridors look identical.”
“I don’t know,” Twilight replied. “We just have to pick a direction…” She took a few steps forward and, with little confidence, began to lead the way down the corridor. Luna joined her after a few moments, and the two walked in silence through the dark halls.
There was no light, and no sound. The ship was dead around the princesses. They were effectively alone. And as they explored further and further into the ship, the black spheres kept watching. Everything they saw was studied, and every bit of data they recorded was examined. And far away from Legacy, a construct saw it all, and it was pleased.