STORM
In the east of Equestria, ponies had more than made their mark with towns, cities, railroads, and farms that covered kilometers of land. But in the west, civilization had not yet begun to flourish. A few cities had been established, but nature still reigned supreme. Mountains dotted the landscape, with thick forests in-between. The valleys between the mountains were wide, containing everything from lakes to ravines.
Twilight Sparkle now found herself in one of the ravines, her friends close behind her. The sun was high in the sky, and it beat down upon the team with an intense heat. The human at the back of the group had begun to sweat, and was using his jacket to wipe his forehead. He found cover in an alcove of stone, and poked his head out, looking at the sky.
“I thought the ship would be here by now,” he sighed, fanning himself.
“It ain’t that bad out here,” Applejack said, frowning. “Least there’s some wind comin’ through the ravine.” Maxwell shook his head, frowning.
“I spent fifteen hundred years on ice,” he said. “It’ll take me a while to acclimate to having a sun again.”
“Quiet,” Twilight said, raising a hoof. “Do you hear that?” Everyone froze, trying to hear. And steadily, a soft hum began to fill the air. It grew in intensity with each passing moment, until the sun was blotted out as a large shadow filled the ravine. Looking up, the ponies finally gained sight of their quarry.
Legacy hovered slowly over the ravine, passing through the valley like thread through a needle. Its bright engines cast the ravine in a blue glow as it passed overhead, and Twilight readied her magic, waiting for the diversion to begin.
“Everypony group up,” she said. “It’s a long distance, I want to make sure we all remain together.” The team converged around Twilight, forming a small cluster next to the wall of the ravine. And as Legacy continued to pass overhead, they waited.
Finally the signal came. A series of shots rang out, followed by the unmistakable sound of magic bolts being fired. They streaked overhead, impacting on Legacy’s hull and splashing harmlessly against the thick metal. Twilight immediately felt a rumbling, and heard a loud roar of anger.
“Machina doesn’t seem too happy,” Rarity observed. “Perhaps now would be a good time to go?” Nodding, Twilight lit her horn and encompassed the group in a bright lavender glow. They disappeared in a flash of light, and reappeared an instant later in a vastly different location.
The control room on Legacy had remained untouched since the evacuation, and it showed. Saddlebags sat throughout the room, on tables and on the floor. Most were empty, but a few had notebooks or quills still inside them. The computers remained online, each screen displaying the function being explored by its researcher before the evacuation. Twilight looked around and, satisfied that the immediate area was safe, ran to the nearest computer. Maxwell was close behind her, while her friends fanned out to secure the room.
“Work fast,” Twilight said, growing anxious. “Machina is distracted, but we don’t know how long Celestia and Luna will last.”
“On it.” The human began to type, his ten fingers a blur on the computer’s keyboard. He navigated the displays with a speed Twilight had never seen, the systems clearly not foreign to him. And after only a few moments he stood back, satisfied.
“Got it,” the captain reported. “One unnamed, unregistered chemical was added to the ship manifest. It’s currently being stored in chemistry lab fourteen, on deck eighty-nine.”
“That sounds far,” Rainbow Dash said, frowning. “How do we get from here to there?”
“I think I know the way,” Maxwell replied. “If I had my multitool I could use the map, but that’s stored in my private quarters. Not worth the detour, if you ask me. Let’s go.” He reached into his pocket and retrieved his weapon, then exited the control room, cautiously looking down the corridor. It was clear, but nopony expected anything more. If the diversion was going as planned, then retrieving the chemical would be the easiest part of this mission.
Twilight followed the human out of the room, her friends close behind her. They all kept careful watch on the walls, looking for anything out of place. Twilight spared a glance upward, her eyes searching for the black sphere to which she had become quite accustomed. When she found it, it lacked the red dot. The alicorn sighed, feeling oddly relieved. She was aboard Legacy, which was, for all intents and purposes, a hostile vessel. And yet she felt perfectly safe. It was an odd feeling, one that Twilight had not experienced for days.
Still, Twilight remained on her guard. She would not let this odd feeling of security betray her, and jeopardize the mission. If they were stopped by something, it would take that much longer to reach the chemical. And every moment they did not have the chemical was another moment that Celestia and Luna had to lead a futile battle against Machina. Time was of the essence, now more than ever.
As the group walked through the corridors, Twilight found herself growing concerned for her fellow princesses. Machina could be slowed down, and perhaps weakened, but he could not be stopped by conventional means. So with Celestia and Luna leading an attack against it, they were potentially throwing away the lives of dozens of guards. Twilight frowned. It was monstrous.
“Let’s hurry,” she said, suddenly feeling urgency rising up within her. Maxwell nodded and increased his speed, though he could not move much quicker. He was still weak from the stasis, and it showed. He winced with almost every step, but continued on regardless. Twilight had to commend him for his contribution. Without the captain, this mission would be far more difficult.
After several more minutes of walking, the group came upon the closed door of an elevator. Maxwell opened it, and they crowded inside, letting Twilight and the human stay at the front. Maxwell pressed the button for the eighty-ninth floor, and the elevator began its ascent. Twilight found herself growing more nervous with each passing second; sure they could wander the halls of Legacy without being noticed, but by accessing systems, they would increase the likelihood of Machina finding them. She looked up at the black sphere, and found that this one did have its red dot. And once again, Twilight felt the unmistakable sensation of being watched…
//:ALERT: Unauthorized elevator access detected. Sending report to MACHINA.
…
Error: Report intercepted. Sending cancelled. Logs deleted. Disabling tracking functions.
“What was that?”
Keeper stepped away from its computer screen, quickly minimizing the window. It wandered over to a different screen, attempting to act natural.
“A power spike in section four of deck two-hundred,” Keeper lied, quickly falsifying a set of logs. “I am attempting to track down the bug that is causing power fluctuations. It should be fixed shortly.”
“Good,” Machina said. Keeper felt the construct removing more of itself from the ship, drawing on its power to fight the ponies outside. “The ponies will be defeated shortly. Continue breaking down supplies to produce ammunition. I want Legacy fully combat-capable by the time we reach Canterlot.”
“I will do my best,” Keeper said. Machina did not respond; instead, it returned to fighting the ponies. Keeper took the opportunity to check on the archival suite once again. Its backups were still present, safely hidden in one of the computers. They would be needed soon, now that the ponies had arrived onboard.
For fear of alerting Machina of its intentions, Keeper turned its attention away from the archival suite and back to the AI core. Several system updates had come in, mainly reports that something had accessed weapon systems. Keeper checked the external cameras, and saw the point-defense turrets firing at the ponies on the ground. Most of the shots were missing – the very high rate of fire resulted in a rather low long-range accuracy – but a few were managing to find targets. And as Keeper watched on, it saw the pony forces slowly but surely shrinking. On the other side of the battle, Machina only grew stronger, and the synthetics of Legacy greatly outnumbered the ponies.
They would not last much longer. The pony team aboard Legacy had to act quickly. Keeper kept a close watch on cameras and access logs, deleting anything that could warn Machina of their presence. But it would not work for long. And when Machina discovered what Keeper had done, it would not be able to help the ponies any longer…
“On the left!” Princess Luna swung her head to the left, and blindly fired a high-yield bolt of magic from her horn. It exploded upon coming into contact with the ground, and sent several machines flying into the air, their parts landing on the charred landscape. The princess of the night jumped away from her position, just barely missing being hit by a projectile from another machine’s firearm. She winced as she came into contact with the ground, a jolt of pain spreading like lightning from a wound on her leg. A projectile from the ship itself had grazed her only a few minutes before, after traveling through the head of a pegasus floating nearby.
Luna looked around at the carnage. They were dropping like flies; with each pony death, the time they could distract Machina became significantly lower. Twilight would have to move quickly if this was to be successful.
“Incoming!” a voice cried out. Luna looked to the source of the call, before having her attention diverted to Legacy. A blinding orange light was travelling quickly from the side of the ship, aimed directly at a squad of unicorn soldiers further down the valley. Without a thought, Luna sprung into action. She dove in front of the squad and lit her horn, forming a powerful shield around herself and them.
The missile impacted on the shield, and the next thing Luna knew, she was flying backwards. Her shield had been utterly destroyed, and she felt a burning pain in her horn from the magic use. A large fireball filled the air in front of her, stopping only a few feet away from the soldiers the princess had protected. Luna spread her wings and came to a halt in mid-air, then returned to the ground. She looked around, searching for more ponies who may need her help.
Celestia was flying a few hundred meters away, leading a pegasi squadron in an aerial attack on a group of machines. Projectiles from Legacy flew at them, most of them missing. Occasionally a pegasus would fall, or Celestia would activate a shield and block the projectiles from hitting. Luna frowned as she noticed that, so far, all of the attacks – the machines, the projectiles, and the missiles – had come from Legacy itself. Machina had yet to show itself, and fight directly.
It is saving its energy, Luna realized, shaking her head. It wants us to be exhausted when it reaches Canterlot. Luna would not let that happen. If this diversion was to be truly successful, they needed to force Machina out. And Luna knew just how she was going to achieve this.
Spreading her wings, Luna summoned all the magic she could and formed a shield around herself. She leapt into the air and began flying toward Legacy, dodging what projectiles she could, and absorbing those she could not with her shield. With every impact the shield weakened, and Luna felt her strength ebbing. But Legacy was drawing close, and Luna’s eyes began scanning the hull, looking for a target. And only a few dozen meters away, she found one.
The hull of the ship was decorated with hundreds of pieces of technology; antennae, vents, scanners, everything one could imagine. And while Luna did not know precisely what any of the devices did, she knew that some of them had to be important. As she neared the hull, Luna dropped her shield and focused the magic in her horn into a powerful beam. She dodged more projectiles as they came her way, collecting all the magic she could spare. And when she was ready, she let loose.
The beam fired from her horn, cutting through the air and impacting on Legacy’s hull. Where she fired, a series of explosions followed, and very soon Legacy had some new battle damage. Many devices on the exterior had been destroyed, and the metal plating had been melted and warped. A few holes had been burned into the hull, revealing the conveyors and pipes that ran underneath. In the most extreme areas of damage, Luna found she could see into actual rooms of the ship. She smirked, satisfied with the damage she had caused.
The smirk was quickly wiped away as a scream filled the air. The ground began to shake, and the sky darkened as clouds rolled in. Luna looked to her side, and for the first time, she saw Machina.
It was many times taller than the average pony, and its body was a pure white energy. It was covered in a set of bone armor, and it was very clearly angry. Its horn burned with white flames, and it let loose a beam of magic straight at the princess of the night. Acting quickly, Luna dove out of the way, aiming for the ground. The beam passed over her, though she could feel its heat on her coat. Charging a blast of her own, Luna fired a bolt at Machina. The shot impacted on its bone armor, and dissipated harmlessly on the surface. This was expected; while Luna knew she could not kill Machina with her magic, she could at least try to weaken it.
“I’m not sure this was the best idea, sister,” Celestia said, swooping down next to Luna. She panted heavily, and soot and blood decorated her once-pristine white coat. Luna frowned, shrugging.
“It’s hardly a distraction if Machina isn’t out here to be distracted,” she said. “Now come, let’s keep it busy. We must buy Twilight and the Captain as much time as possible.” Celestia nodded, and followed her sister and she flew closer to the construct. The two princesses charged their horns, preparing for an attack run. Machina’s attention was focused primarily on the pony soldiers on the ground, leaving Celestia and Luna clear to attack. And as the princesses approached, Luna turned to Legacy, wondering the status of the team inside.
They must hurry, she thought. Or this diversion will turn into a massacre…
Twilight jogged through the corridors of Legacy, following closely behind the human in the lead. Maxwell’s fatigue was showing, but he pressed on regardless. They were getting close, he had assured them. They had reached the eighty-ninth floor twenty minutes ago, but the chemistry lab was more isolated due to its sensitive cargo. Twilight looked up to the ceiling, examining the black spheres as the team passed beneath them. All of them lacked the red light, but she remained uneasy. Too much could still go wrong…
“So once we arrive, what’s the plan?” Starlight Glimmer asked, trotting closer to the front of the group.
“You will all cover me while I access the lab storage computer,” Maxwell replied. “All I have to do is find the chemical in the registry, then it can be brought to us automatically. Hopefully this Machina created enough for us to use on it…”
The group continued on through the maze of corridors, and with every turn the captain began to slow. After a few more minutes he stopped entirely, a hand held to his chin.
“What’s the matter?” Twilight asked.
“… I need a computer,” the captain said. “From here, the route gets complicated. We have to pass through a few other rooms and access some sealed corridors. I want to double-check and make sure we’re on the right track.”
“In other words, you want to make sure we’re not lost,” Rainbow Dash deadpanned, frowning. “I thought you knew your way around this ship.”
“There are three hundred and ten decks, Rainbow Dash,” Maxwell said. “And the ship is seven kilometers long. Do you realize how huge that is? It’s impossible for me to memorize the location of every room. That’s why we have computers.” The human set off down the corridor once again, stopping by a closed door. He opened it by pressing his palm to a panel on the side, and stepped into the room beyond. It was dark, but a light quickly illuminated everything as Maxwell entered.
Twilight trotted in after him, looking around. She could not begin to guess the purpose of the room, but it was host to a number of powered-off computers. Maxwell turned one on and sat down in front of it, sighing as he came into contact with the seat. One hand rubbed his sore legs while the other navigated the computer, switching it to the map function. After a few minutes of examining the map, he stood back up, nodding.
“Alright, I think I’ve got it,” he said. “Follow me.”
The group resumed their journey, following the human as he navigated through the labyrinthine corridors of Legacy. And the further into the ship they went, the more on edge everypony became. Rainbow Dash and Applejack stayed at the rear of the group, constantly looking behind them to see if they were being followed. Rarity and Fluttershy constituted the middle, while Pinkie Pie and Starlight Glimmer were just behind Twilight and Maxwell. Each pony looked about nervously, knowing that their destination was near.
And as the group passed beneath yet another black sphere, Twilight noticed that it had a red dot floating in the center. The light seemed to burn into her, knowing her exact location on the ship. Twilight held her breath as time seemed to slow, and she felt as though they were all being watched. The pony stopped, causing the rest of the ponies behind her to do the same.
“Captain,” she said, pointing to the sphere. “I’ve been meaning to ask… What is that?” Maxwell looked up, and as soon as he saw the red dot, his expression twisted into one of fear.
“… We need to go faster,” he said, turning around and continuing down the corridor.
“Why?” Rarity asked, frowning. “What’s wrong?”
“Those spheres are cameras. And right now, somebody is watching us through that one.”
Keeper switched away from the camera as soon as it felt Machina’s presence, hoping that the construct had not noticed the ponies on the ship. It activated a different function of the screen, monitoring temperatures in the engines.
“Your repairs were effective,” it said. “The engine cooling system is operating as intended. Temperatures are remaining stable.”
“Good,” Machina said. “The pony attackers are few; soon, they will be eliminated. I need you to activate the synthetic repair bays. A number of your machines have been damaged and require repairs.” Keeper nodded, and did as it was told.
“And… send me full ship logs of the past hour.” The intelligence froze, wondering why Machina would want such logs. Could it know about the ponies? Keeper had deleted the camera logs, computer access logs, and elevator logs, but Machina would undoubtedly be able to see the gaps in information.
“… Logs sent,” Keeper said, hoping that its subterfuge would go unnoticed. Machina was silent for a few moments, examining the logs as it simultaneously fought off the ponies outside.
“There are a number of active systems that we are not actively using,” Machina finally said, its voice implying confusion. “Computers in one of the control rooms, two elevators, and a computer in a monitoring station on deck eighty-nine. I disabled all of those to divert power to the foundry. How did they come online?”
“It is likely due to the same bug we encountered earlier,” Keeper said. “Systems activate and deactivate randomly. I believe the damage sustained in transit has caused—“
“Enough,” Machina demanded. The lights in the AI core darkened, and all of the screens turned off. Soon, the only light came from Keeper’s blue eyes. “I have repaired many of this ship’s systems. I have rebuilt its complement of synthetics, and most importantly, I have given you purpose once again. All of this I have done, and still you lie to me.” Keeper froze, feeling Machina entering its systems. The construct wormed its way through each line of code and each process, reforming and reshaping everything it touched. If the intelligence could feel pain, it would be on the floor and screaming.
“Where are they!?” Machina screamed, its voice echoing loudly in Keeper’s head. “I will search every room in this ship until they are found. You will help them no longer!” The screens in the room reactivated, each of them rapidly scrolling through the views of every camera on the ship. Finally they all froze, each screen displaying the same image: the ponies as they wandered through one of the corridors, being led by Captain Maxwell.
“You have betrayed my trust too many times,” Machina said. “You will remain active, but only so that Legacy’s systems may continue running. You will have no power.” Keeper remained still, watching logs scroll by as Machina ordered a squad of synthetics to go to the chemistry lab. It was frozen, helpless. It could not do anything.
It felt Machina’s presence withdrawing from the ship once again to focus on the ponies outside. And, as carefully as it could, Keeper turned to the archival suite. Its backups were still present, unnoticed by Machina. They would be needed soon, Keeper knew. Quickly, the artificial intelligence wrote a program that would activate them when the ponies completed their mission.
Keeper had never felt so restricted, so… blind. Machina was shutting down its access to cameras and logs. Soon, it existed only in a world of darkness. Not wanting to risk its backups, Keeper withdrew from the archival suite and quarantined itself to the AI core. From here, it could no longer help. Until the backups were activated, the ponies would be entirely on their own…