EVACUATION
Eight hours had now passed since Twilight and Luna’s departure, and still they had not returned. Starlight Glimmer paced back and forth across the engineering platform, an expression of worry across her face. Her friends were in a similar state; no matter how they tried to rationalize the delay, all conclusions they had reached were negative. Onyx Star stood at the back of the room, speaking quietly with several groups of guards. After a few moments the guards dispersed, and Onyx approached Starlight.
“I’ve sent out patrols,” he said. “They are going to walk in various directions for two hours, then return. So in four hours, hopefully we’ll know more.”
“It won’t be enough,” Starlight said, shaking her head. “This ship is massive, and if the princesses got lost, they could be anywhere. And the fact that they haven’t tried teleporting tells me that something could be very, very wrong.”
“Then what else do you suggest we do?” Onyx asked, frowning. “With Princess Twilight missing, this expedition is without a leader. This mission is very reliant on a strong leader, so I am willing to do anything to get her back.”
“I think we should get Princess Celestia involved,” Starlight replied. “Her magic is stronger than anypony’s, perhaps she can use a life-detection spell over the ship.”
“Mm…” Onyx mused, looking down. “Seven kilometers is a very large area to cover, even for the princess. But I agree that it is worth a shot. I will send a guard.” Onyx trotted away, once again leaving Starlight with her thoughts. The unicorn’s mind raced as she tried to come up with more ideas, more ways of finding her friend.
And then her eyes crossed over the screen to her left. The diagram of the ship was still open, and Starlight recalled her earlier consideration of finding a tracking feature. She crossed to the screen and sat down, pressing the button to open a menu of options. There were hundreds of functions, and her desired one could be under any of them. So, with nowhere else to start, Starlight pressed the first option, and sat back.
Princess Celestia surveyed the court before her, looking out upon her ponies from her position at the end of the throne room. A crowd of several hundred had formed, as was typical for the solar court. However, the questions and requests of the past few days had been less typical.
Everypony wanted to know more about the ship. And no matter how many times Celestia said that information would be released when it became available, ponies still wanted answers. Some of the more daring ponies wanted permission to go aboard, an idea which Celestia had quickly shut down.
And now, as Celestia sat down to begin the solar court, she knew to expect much of the same. She coughed to silence the room, and addressed everypony with a warm smile.
“Good afternoon, everypony,” she greeted. “The pony with the first appointment may step forward.” A red-coated pegasus stallion stepped forward, approaching the throne timidly. He avoided eye contact, a move which Celestia found amusing. She paused, waiting for the pony to speak.
“Thank you for seeing me, highness,” he whispered, barely audible.
“It is my pleasure,” Celestia said, attempting to put the stallion at ease. “How can I help you today?”
“I was… wondering if you had… anything more to tell us about the ship?” Celestia sighed quietly, and her smile shrunk just a small bit. She had expected these types of questions to pop up later.
“An address will be published at the end of the week, detailing what we have learned,” Celestia answered. “The next pony may approach.” As the stallion walked away and a mare made her way to the front of the throne room, one of Celestia’s guards approached the throne itself. The princess averted her attention to the guard, regarding him with a raised eyebrow. He leaned in and whispered his message, and with every word Celestia’s smile faded. By the time the message was concluded, it was gone entirely, and her warm expression had been replaced by one of fear. Slowly, Celestia rose from her throne, and returned her gaze to the crowd.
“Solar court is suspended for the day,” she said, eliciting a groan from the crowd. Celestia exited the throne room through a door at the back, and paused as soon as she was out of sight of her ponies. It was here that she allowed her composure to drop fully, and allowed the panic to set in.
They were lost. What Celestia feared had come to pass, and her student and sister were lost. Celestia closed her eyes, and tried to regulate her breathing. Her heart pounded in her chest, and her knees felt weak. Shaking her head, Celestia lit her horn, and disappeared in a flash of golden light.
When she reappeared, she found herself in the command tent of the forward operating base. Prince Shining Armor stood a few feet away, appearing shocked at the arrival of Celestia. The princess looked around, her eyes settling on the prince.
“Take me to Starlight Glimmer,” she commanded.
Starlight stared at the screen, her eyes unblinking as she examined every detail laid out before her. She had managed to find a more detailed map of the ship, but for reasons she did not know, it was focused on the engineering room and she could not move the view. The unicorn scowled, wondering why things seemed to have taken a turn for the worst.
Starlight heard the engineering room door open, but she paid it no mind. She continued staring at the screen, trying to figure out how to change the map view. Only once the rest of the room went silent did she turn around to see what had happened.
“Starlight Glimmer,” Princess Celestia greeted, approaching the unicorn. Prince Shining Armor stood behind her, his expression grave. Celestia frowned, worry in her eyes.
“Princess,” Starlight said, lowering herself into a bow. Celestia placed a hoof on Starlight’s shoulder, and the unicorn rose, once again looking the princess in the eye.
“How long has it been now?” Celestia asked quietly, looking at the screen behind Starlight.
“Nine hours…” Starlight replied. “The search parties we sent out should return in three hours, assuming none of them get lost. But with how big this ship is… it might not be enough.”
“The letter sent by Doctor Star says you want me to try a life detection spell,” Celestia said. “I cannot cover the entire ship, but I will try to do as much as I can.” The princess closed her eyes, and her horn began to glow. Her brow knit together in concentration as the golden glow of her horn brightened. Starlight glanced away to protect her eyes, as did everypony else in the room.
When the light faded, Starlight returned her attention to the princess. The alicorn wore an expression of defeat; her wings drooped, and there was sadness in her eyes. She sighed, and shook her head.
“I only detected the search parties…” she said quietly, closing her eyes. “Wherever they are, they’re out of my range.”
“Well then… what do you suggest we do?” Starlight looked back to the map on her screen, which stubbornly remained on the engineering room. If she could find a way to navigate the rest of the map…
“All we can do right now is wait for the search parties to return,” Celestia said, taking a seat on the cold metal deck of the ship. “Hopefully they will find something…”
Twilight led the way down another corridor, her eyes squinted to cut through the darkness. Again she tried her horn, and again she was met with a jolt of pain through her head. She winced, pausing for a moment, but shook it off and continued down the hall. Princess Luna walked a few paces behind her, staring silently onward. Twilight glanced behind her at the princess of the night, regarding her with a concerned stare.
“Are you alright, Luna?” she asked, slowing down to walk next to the mare.
“I’m… No, I’m not alright,” Luna answered, shaking her head.
“Your dream?”
“Partly, but it’s more than that.” Luna stopped in her tracks, and looked at the floor with a scowl. “That corridor, the one with the locked door… When the other door locked, that… that was more than just coincidence. And when the gas came through… We aren’t alone, here. Someone or something is watching us.” Twilight paused, and slowly her attention turned to the ceiling, where she saw yet another black sphere. This one lacked the red dot, but Twilight frowned nonetheless.
“It certainly does seem that way,” she said. “But why get us lost? Why lock the doors, why subject us to that gas? What does this observer have against us?”
“I don’t know,” Luna said. “Perhaps it was simply studying us, watching how we react to certain stimuli. Or… watching how we react to our worst nightmares. Regardless of intent, this ship is dangerous. We need to get back and tell everypony else what happened.” Twilight nodded in agreement, and set off down the corridor once again.
Twilight had no idea where they were going. The computers in this section did not work, and there was no signage of any kind that may indicate a location. Twilight simply hoped that they would stumble across something that could get them back. And as she and Luna passed into yet another corridor, they were unaware of the red dot watching them from above…
//:Beginning startup of emergency administrator protocols…
…
Startup complete.
//:Purging foreign entity from LEGACY systems…
…
Purge complete. Control of systems returned to KPR.
//:Running ship diagnostic. Generating backups of vital data. Generating additional restoration points.
Diagnostic complete:
REACTOR – Generating 10% of optimal output
DEFENSES – Offline
CRYOGENIC STASIS PODS – 0/20,000 online
ALT. CRYO POD – 1/1 online
AI STATUS – Compromised
FOUNDRY STATUS – Offline
SYNTHETIC STATUS – 0/1,000 online
Data backup complete. Storing in isolated drive.
Situational analysis: Original goal no longer achievable. Planet 88 Cephei b contains hostile unknown entity.
//:Begin plotting course: 17—
ALERT: Foreign presence detected—
Time passed, two hours turned to three, and after what felt like an eternity of waiting, three turned to four. And when the fourth hour came, only three of the search parties stood before Starlight Glimmer and Princess Celestia. The guards were fatigued, and all of them brought the same news: they had found no signs of Princesses Luna or Twilight.
“How many parties were sent?” Celestia asked, leaning closer to Starlight.
“Eight…” Starlight sighed. “We sent out eight, with explicit instructions to return after two hours of searching. They should be here.” Celestia shook her head worriedly.
“I put everypony here at risk when I ordered this expedition,” Celestia said. “And now my sister, my student, their guard, and twenty other guards are missing.”
“It’s not your fault, princess!” Rainbow Dash exclaimed, diving down from a catwalk overhead. “You couldn’t have known they’d get lost!”
“Perhaps it’s not my fault.” Celestia turned away and paced to the edge of the engineering platform. “But it is my responsibility… I won’t put anypony else at risk. Until the missing ponies are found, and we have confirmed that it was nothing more than an accident, I am ordering a complete evacuation.”
“Highness!” Onyx Star yelled, his eyes widening. “Please, think about this! This expedition is the most significant one in Equestrian history! The discoveries we make here will shape the very future! Now I know you are worried about the princesses, but they are quite capable. And your guards, they are the most well-trained in the country. Please, think about the bigger picture. All of Equestria, and Equus, could benefit from what we discover here!”
The princess turned around, and settled her gaze on Onyx.
“I am thinking about the big picture,” she said. “And right now, my big picture shows innocent ponies suffering at the hooves of something we do not understand. Now perhaps my sister and student merely took a wrong turn, and will find their way here eventually. And perhaps the search parties are taking extra time to investigate a lead. But I am not willing to risk everypony in Equestria for the best-case scenario. I am responsible for their safety, and this ship represents a massive risk to security. A risk that has now grown exponentially. Until that risk goes away, I will have nopony onboard this vessel.”
“But—“
“My decision is final. You may choose to appeal to me later. Now, issue an order for evacuation.” With that, Celestia stalked out of the engineering room, joined by a small group of guards. The remaining ponies watched her leave, all of them registering what had been said.
“… Come now, everypony,” Rarity began, making her way to the door. “Let’s not outstay our welcome.”
“You’re just gonna go!?” Rainbow Dash asked, flying to her friend. “We’re just gonna leave Twilight and Luna here!?”
“Princess Celestia is right,” Starlight Glimmer said, drawing the attention of her friends. “Right now, more ponies are at risk than just Twilight and Luna. They wouldn’t want everypony at risk for them.”
“But…” Dash stammered, floating to the floor. “After all Twilight has done—“
“I owe Twilight more than I can ever repay,” Starlight interrupted. “She has helped to turn my life around. But… she wouldn’t want us disobeying Princess Celestia’s orders. I’ll obviously appeal to the princess, to see if she’ll let us back aboard, but until then, we need to do as she says.”
There was a pause, before Rainbow Dash sighed and lowered her head. She sullenly exited the room, and was quickly followed by the remaining researchers and guards. In under a minute, Starlight Glimmer and Onyx Star were the only ponies remaining. Onyx approached Starlight, his eyes on the door.
“When you get an opportunity, meet me in my tent at the FOB,” he said. “We can work on the appeal together.” He took one last look around the room, then trotted out, disappearing down the dark entry corridor. Starlight sighed, and reluctantly followed him out. The heavy door slid shut behind her, and the engineering room was cast in darkness.
Twilight poked her head into an open door, and scanned the room beyond. As with most of the other rooms in this section, it was a bedroom, featuring a small bed and a desk with a computer. Twilight trotted over to the computer, while Luna entered behind her and began looking around. Not expecting any results, Twilight lifted her hoof to the computer, and tapped its screen. As she had expected, there was no response. No computers in this section would turn on, nor would any other systems, with the exception of doors.
“Just like the other rooms,” Luna reported, closing the drawers of a dresser near the bed. “Identical uniforms, never worn.” She leaned down and opened another drawer, examining its contents. “And more survival equipment. They came prepared.”
“Yeah…” Twilight turned and slowly walked out of the room, her hoofsteps echoing down the long corridor. Luna followed her out, eyeing the mare with a concerned glance.
“We’ll make it out of here, Twilight,” she said, forcing a smile.
“I know that,” Twilight began. “The ship is big, but it’s not an infinite space. Eventually we will find an exit. What concerns me is everypony else; whatever hit us could hit them too, and then the lives of everypony on this expedition are at risk. And perhaps an even bigger concern is what that gas did to our magic. Magical exhaustion isn’t uncommon, but it’s not supposed to be painful…”
“I agree,” Luna said. “Whatever that gas did is very unnatural, and presents a serious threat. We need to tell everypony else.”
“That would be much easier if the computers here would work,” Twilight said, frowning. “We could try finding a map or something. But I suppose we’ll just have to settle for walking blind…”
The pair came to a door at the end of the corridor, and when it opened they found nothing more than an elevator beyond. Their eyes widening, the ponies rushed into the elevator, and Twilight placed herself in front of the control panel.
“A stroke of luck, it seems,” Luna grinned, her first genuine smile since becoming lost. “What floor was engineering?”
“Forty-eight,” Twilight replied, smiling as well. She scrolled on the panel, eyes scanning for the moment to stop. Yet when she reached the end of the floor options, and found that they ended on thirty-five, her smile slowly faded, and her expression of relief was replaced by one of confusion. “This… isn’t right.”
“What’s wrong?”
“The few diagrams we’ve seen show the ship as having hundreds of floors.” Twilight tried scrolling further, to no avail. The options screen would not move. “This… This elevator must stop at floor thirty-five.”
“Well… It’s closer than we are now.” Luna sighed, and shook her head. “It’s a start. I think we should try it.” Twilight nodded, and pressed her hoof to the button for deck thirty-five. The door slid shut, and the elevator jolted as it began its upward climb. A few moments later it stopped, and the door reopened, revealing a corridor vastly similar to the previous one. The princesses exited the elevator, and with weary hooves, continued their journey.
Starlight Glimmer approached the tent before her, gulping down her anxiety and taking a deep breath. At her sides were her friends, and in her telekinetic grip was a rather lengthy appeal written by herself and Onyx Star. As she reached out her hoof to push the tent flap aside, fears began to enter her mind.
What if Celestia does not listen? What if she bans me from the expedition for this? What if—
Starlight shook her head, clearing her mind of the thoughts. If she was to be successful, she had to go in with absolute calm and confidence. Taking another breath, Starlight pushed open the flap of the tent and stepped inside, her friends right behind her.
Princess Celestia sat behind a desk at the end of the tent, her attention focused on a half-written letter. A quill was in her telekinetic aura, static in the air. The princess lifted her eyes at the entrance of the ponies, and lowered her quill as she addressed them with a smile.
“I was wondering when you would show up,” she greeted warmly.
“I hope we’re not interrupting, princess,” Starlight said, returning the smile.
“Oh, I could use a break from this.” The princess’s smile disappeared as she pushed the unfinished letter to the side. “It… never gets easier to write letters to the families of guards.” Starlight’s smile faded as she realized what Celestia had been doing.
“They might still be alright, princess.”
“I know…” Celestia frowned, and sighed quietly. “It just never hurts to be prepared…” All was quiet for a moment, until Celestia shook her head and resumed her original physicality.
“But you came here to appeal, I assume,” she said. “And I will gladly listen.”
“Right, of course.” Starlight cleared her throat, and unfurled the appeal. She held it in front of her, glancing over the notes she and Onyx had written. “We understand why you ordered the evacuation; there were dozens of ponies aboard, most of whom were researchers with no experience in hazardous situations. It was the right thing to evacuate them.
“But that’s not the case with us. We’ve all been in dangerous situations, and we’ve faced down some real threats. We can handle going back aboard, and we can handle a search and rescue mission. You know that we can handle it.” Celestia hummed, and nodded thoughtfully.
“Additionally, the disappearance of Princess Luna and Twilight could represent a security concern,” Rarity said, stepping forward. “They are both powerful ponies, and if they have been captured by someone or something, many ponies could be in danger. It is vital that they be found and rescued.” Celestia raised her hoof, stopping Rarity.
“There is no evidence suggesting that they have been captured,” she said. “I don’t doubt that some sort of foul play was involved; both Luna and Twilight are good at following directions, and even if they did get lost, both possess the capability to teleport. But saying they have been captured is… presumptive. If they were captured, who is responsible? And how did they get aboard without being detected by our sentries?”
“Perhaps ‘captured’ is not entirely accurate,” Starlight admitted, looking to another note on her appeal. “But they may be somehow incapacitated. Why else would they not be using magic?”
“Yes, I think that is the most confusing aspect of all this,” Celestia said, nodding. “We will know tonight; if the moon rises, Luna can use magic, but they have not teleported for some reason. If that is the case, I want to investigate more before letting anypony aboard. If the moon does not rise, however… Then I will grant you your appeal.” Starlight breathed a sigh of relief, and rolled up the parchment.
“Thank you, princess,” she said. “We’ll start planning, just in case.” Celestia nodded, and the ponies turned and exited her tent. Outside, the forward operating base was bustling with activity. The return of everypony on the expedition was causing overflows, and new tents were being pitched on the outskirts of the already large camp. The ponies followed Starlight through the crowd until they came upon their own tent, close to the center of the base.
Starlight pushed the flap aside and allowed her friends to enter, then followed in after them. Each pony took to their bed, and for a few moments, all of them sat in silence.
“… I hope they’re okay…” Fluttershy finally said, speaking at no more than a whisper. Her friends nodded in agreement, each one trying to push away thoughts of what could be happening aboard the ship.
“Legacy is massive,” Starlight said. “And they could be anywhere on it. We’ve explored so little… There’s no telling what else could be on there.”
The construct watched every room and every corridor of the ship, the cameras serving as an army of a thousand eyes. Nothing happened on the ship without the construct knowing of it, and at this moment, nothing was happening.
The ponies had evacuated, just as the construct had hoped. A few guards remained, all of them delirious from the effects of the chemical. Some were dead, the result of an unforeseen side effect. They were of no concern to the construct. As long as the remaining ponies were lost, they were no threat.
Only one true threat remained, and the construct had almost completely eliminated it. The computers of Legacy held many secrets, some of which could turn control of the ship entirely over to it. With these secrets, the intelligence in the ship was no threat.
The construct reached further into the ship with its magic, only stopping once it found the core. The core was more complex than the rest of the computers, likely a necessity for the intelligence it contained. Soon, the core would accommodate the construct as well. It reached in with its magic, and soon felt the familiar presence of the intelligence fighting against it.
Do you understand me?
//:Please identify.
You belong to me now. This ship belongs to me now.
//:You are a threat. Isolating systems. Terminating query.
Requesting administrator access, authorization code Kappa Phi Rho 8872-0101.
…
//:Error: administrator override accepted. System isolation halted. Administrator access granted.
The construct shook in satisfaction as it scoured the newly accessed systems. With these capabilities, there would be no stopping what was coming. And though the ponies were not yet aware, the construct was now in total control of Legacy.