CHAPTER 11
CHAPTER 11
“Organics do not know each other’s minds. Geth do.”
To the guard Captain of Appleloosa,
Due to the discovery of a yet-unnamed disease in your town, the Royal Equestrian Government sees fit to place the settlement of Appleloosa under quarantine, effective immediately. Said quarantine will last for an undetermined period of time, until either the disease has been eliminated, or is no longer seen as a threat to the ponies of Equestria. Twelve medical specialists and forty Lunar Nighthawks will be arriving by nightfall to secure the town and keep it quarantined. Upon their arrival, you and all other guards are relieved from active duty.
By order of the crown,
Princess Celestia
Celestia dropped the quill from her telekinetic grasp. It floated slowly to the table, coming to rest just a few inches from the completed letter. Sighing, Celestia rolled the letter up, closed it with her royal seal, and sent it on its way with a burst of magic from her horn. Her task done, the princess sat back in her chair, rubbing her eyes.
It was still difficult to accept. She had thought that the disease was quarantined in Westrock, but the fact that it had spread raised many questions. The most obvious was: how? Nopony from Westrock had had any contact with anypony from Appleloosa, that much they were positive about. The disease could have been airborn, but Appleloosa was in an arid biome, with very few winds. Westrock was much less arid, but the absence of winds was still evident. Even if there were strong enough winds, reports from pegasi showed that no air currents had been placed between the two settlements, so the disease could not have travelled there by air. And with no waterways connecting either settlement, that also eliminated travel by water.
To Celestia, the most likely conclusion was that the disease was placed in either town. Westrock was the closest pony settlement to the badlands, with Appleloosa being the second-closest, just a couple hundred miles further south. The real question that this conclusion raised was: who? No species on this planet had the technology to artificially create a disease, let alone spread one. The closest would be the zebra, who had a far stronger control over potions. But they were friendly with the ponies, and had no motive for an attack. The only species living in the badlands were the diamond dogs, who were technologically behind by hundreds of years, the dragons, who used no technology, and the changelings, who were far too weak. No, no species on this planet had the capability to conduct such an operation.
… On this planet. Her eyes widening, Celestia quickly shot up from her chair and sprinted out of her office, startling the two guards standing outside. A moment later they fell in behind the princess, not even letting her obvious alarm prevent them from doing their jobs. With as much speed as she could muster, the alicorn princess sprinted through the hallways, set on finding one individual: Legion.
Princess Luna eyed Legion cautiously, watching its every move. The geth itself had his single eye set on a chessboard placed between the two, calculating his possible moves. Even though he was a machine with an infinite capacity for knowledge, Luna had managed to capture a fair number of his pieces, though he still had far more of hers. Finally, after what seemed like years, Legion picked up a piece and moved it several spaces, coming alarmingly close to Luna’s side of the board.
“It is your turn,” Legion said, waiting for the princess to make her move. Luna eyed the board, looking at all of the possible routes she could take to capture at least one more of Legion’s pieces. When she found no obvious ones, she sighed, annoyed.
“’Organics’ are much more fun to play with…” she said as she picked up a piece in her telekinesis. Changing her mind, she put the piece back down and picked up another. A moment later she placed it on the board, then sat back and watched the geth.
“… That move is not legal,” he said. Luna sighed and rolled her eyes, moving the piece back to where it originated.
“All’s fair in war…” she muttered to herself.
“How long have you been getting away with cheating?”
“I do not cheat!” Legion did not change his stare, seeing right through the princess. Luna sighed, then spoke again.
“Twenty five hundred years…” she said as she slid the same piece across several tiles on the board. This, unfortunately, brought it right into a trap that the geth had devised. Legion theatrically knocked her piece over, then picked it up and added it to his pile. Luna sighed, exasperated. No matter what tactic she tried, Legion always had a counterattack prepared. The downside of playing with a machine, she thought.
Their game was interrupted as the door to Legion’s room burst open and Celestia ran in, her expression one of anxiety.
“Legion!” she yelled. Legion stood up and walked over to the solar princess.
“Yes, Princess Celestia?”
“The ‘collectors’ you mentioned yesterday, you said that they captured other species?” Legion nodded affirmative. “Did they ever experiment with diseases?”
“Numerous times,” he answered. “Most recently was a plague on space station Omega targeted at all species except for humans and vorcha. It was later discovered that the vorcha were planting the disease for the collectors.” Luna stood to join the two, then stared at her sister, concerned.
“Celestia, what is it?” she asked.
“I was just thinking,” Celestia began. “This disease is like nothing we have ever witnessed before. Its properties, we do not know. We don’t even know how it spreads. Now, what species on Equis has the capability to do something like this?”
“Well, no species, but--”
“Exactly. No species on Equis,” Celestia then looked at Legion. “I believe that the collectors that crashed here three years ago are responsible for the spread of the illness.”
“Please, elaborate,” Legion said. “What ‘illness’ do you speak of?” Luna looked to Celestia, waiting for permission, before she turned to Legion.
“Around a week ago, only a few days before we encountered you, an illness was discovered on one of our frontier settlements called Westrock,” she explained. “We ran dozens of tests, trying to find what it was. It was not viral, bacterial, or genetic. No foreign entities of any kind were detected by our specialists. This disease spread to infect the entire settlement, minus the specialists and soldiers we sent, who were given magical wards. But earlier today… We received word that the disease spread to another town called Appleloosa. We had Westrock entirely quarantined, it’s not possible that the disease could have spread. It seems that my sister believes that the disease was placed there.”
“Yes,” Celestia confirmed. “By the collectors.”
“Interesting hypothesis,” Legion said analytically. “What are the symptoms of this disease?”
“High fever, full body aches, nosebleeds, and eventually… death.”
“Disease does not match any known collector plagues,” Legion said, activating its omni-tool. It began scrolling through a screen of information, likely other diseases that it had encountered. “It is similar to the flu, though the effects seem far more severe.”
“They are,” said Luna. “Most of the afflicted have entered comas.”
“But Legion…” Celestia began. “I was wondering… Since you are far more technologically advanced than us… Would you help us with finding the cure?” Legion paused for a moment, thinking the proposition through.
“Our ship is not equipped with any medical facilities,” it finally said, causing the faces of the two princesses to fall. “… However. The crashed collector vessel may. We will need to return there immediately.”
“Will you need anypony to accompany you?” Celestia asked.
“Yes,” Legion answered. “We will need a team of your best technicians to assist us in reactivating the collector ship’s power source. It is entirely depleted, both primary and emergency. No technology inside will function. We can siphon energy from our own ship, but we will need assistance in setting it up. Additionally, Twilight Sparkle has proven herself to be capable. She will be useful.”
“I will go prepare our technicians, as well as my lead medical officer, Healthy Heart,” Celestia said, stepping away from the geth. “Luna, please let Twilight know to head down to the loading docks. Also, clear them out. We wouldn’t want anypony seeing Legion’s ship…”
“At once, sister,” Luna replied, running out of the room and heading down the hall to find Twilight. Celestia remained for a moment, looking thoughtfully at the geth.
“Even if you don’t find anything…” she began. “Thank you for trying.” She then turned and exited the room, closing the door behind her. With nothing else to do, Legion tapped on its omni-tool, commanding the ship to return to the loading docks.
Queen Chrysalis observed the newcomers being carted into her hive with a satisfied smirk. The disease had spread even more quickly in Appleloosa than in Westrock, thanks to some alterations made by the collectors. This had made it incredibly easy for her changeling hunters to slip in and kidnap forty ponies from the settlement.
Appleloosa was considerably larger than Westrock, the previous census coming in with just under 850 residents. Each new kidnapped pony was being brought in in the standard cocoons, each one hovering a few inches off of the ground. A mixture of collectors and changelings escorted the pods, taking them to the main chamber of the hive where the Westrock ponies were being stored. Suddenly, a familiar shadow fell over the queen, giving her a moment of anxiety. Taking a deep breath, Chrysalis turned around to face the giant collector captain standing behind her.
“Status?” he asked, his golden eyes glowing brightly in the dark hive.
“The disease has spread and forty afflicted ponies have been kidnapped,” Chrysalis reported, satisfied. “I have already sent my hunters back out to retrieve more.”
“Very good,” the collector said. “But it is not yet enough. I will prepare more samples.” He then turned and began to walk away. Chrysalis began moving at a trot, keeping up with the massive strides of the collector.
“Please, I must advise against that,” she warned.
“And why is that?” the collector asked, continuing to walk despite her protests.
“My changelings are still weak, and if we spread ourselves too thin, it may give the ponies the edge that they need to discover a cure. And there is still the issue of the princesses sending reinforcements...” The collector stopped and turned to face the queen, looking down on her with his shining eyes.
“I thought I told you to find a way to stop the flow of reinforcements,” he said. Chrysalis nodded, averting her gaze.
“Yes, and… I have been thinking,” she began. “But it is not exactly an easy task. The Equestrians are stronger than us, and they have home field advantage. I cannot strike at Canterlot, not yet. If I really want to hit somepony important, like the princesses themselves, I will have to wait for them to leave the city.”
“Then do just that,” the captain said. “I will still make the samples, but we shall hold off on the distribution. Time is growing short, Chrysalis. Our plan must be completed, and soon. Find a way to weaken the Equestrians so that we may continue the kidnappings.” Without another word, he turned and continued walking down the tunnel of the hive. Chrysalis did not follow him; she was too busy thinking over her orders. Waiting to strike could take ages, especially if the princesses began to wise up to the collector plot.
Sighing, Chrysalis shook her head and began to walk in the opposite direction. She would send out scouts to keep watch on Canterlot; if the princesses left the security of the city, the queen would need to know. If she failed to fulfill the captain’s orders… she feared to imagine the consequences.
Twilight Sparkle trotted down the halls at the back of Canterlot castle, following behind several other ponies on their way to the loading docks. She still was not entirely sure why she was following them. Only a few minutes before, Luna had told her to go to the docks, as Legion was returning to the collector ship. Hopefully she would receive answers from the geth when she arrived.
On her way to the docks Twilight had been intercepted by a pony named Healthy Heart, a unicorn mare with a pale blue coat, and an even lighter mane. She introduced herself as the chief medical officer of the Equestrian government’s medical division, and joining her were several medical specialists, all of them loaded down with notebooks and equipment.
Along with Twilight and the doctors was a small team of technicians. They claimed that Legion needed help with something once they arrived at the crashed ship, and they were there to help. The procession moved quickly down the halls, and finally they came to the doors of the docks. To Twilight’s surprise, Princess Luna was waiting for them there.
“Your highness,” Healthy Heart said, bowing. “We are ready to depart.”
“Very well,” Luna said, looking over the group. “Legion’s ship just arrived. Go on in.” The door spread open and the ponies all trotted quickly inside. Twilight held back, instead deciding to speak with Luna about the situation.
“Luna, what’s happening?” she asked. “Why is everypony down here?”
“Celestia and I told Legion about the illness,” the princess of the night reported. “He has agreed to help us, but the only medical technology on the planet that is equipped to deal with the disease is on the crashed collector ship. He has requested that you accompany us to help in curing the disease.”
“It – er, he – wanted me to help?” Twilight asked, surprised. “But I don’t know that much about healing magic or diseases! Why would he want me?”
“He claims that you are a capable pony and can be of assistance,” Luna explained. “Now come, it appears that they are boarding.” Twilight looked beyond the door into the loading docks and, as Luna had said, the others were already boarding Legion’s ship. Legion himself stood next to the entrance, watching each pony as they entered. Twilight and Luna trotted into the docks to join the group, and hopped on to the ship. Legion jumped on last, then began to address the group.
“This craft is fit with stabilizers to help you remain standing during flight,” he began. “But please, remain careful during the journey. Twilight Sparkle, Princess Luna, please join me in the cockpit.” He turned and entered the cockpit, followed by the two ponies he had requested. Legion took a seat in the middle chair of the cockpit, and Twilight and Luna took seats in the two chairs flanking him. The doors all closed, and Twilight heard the sound of the engines coming online through the thick hull of the ship. They slowly hovered off the ground, and the landing gear deployed into the bottom of the ship. A moment later the engines fired, and in only a few seconds the capital was behind them.
“Laying in course for collector vessel,” Legion said, tapping on several controls. “Estimated time to arrival: two hours, thirty-six minutes, fourteen seconds.” Twilight watched an apparition of a map that had appeared in front of her as the small dot that represented their ship slowly drew nearer to the flashing dot in the northern polar region: the collector ship.
Legion navigated the ship through the Equestrian countryside, careful to take a path which would not reveal them to the pony population. They had not been flying for long, but Twilight Sparkle had already fallen asleep in her chair next to Legion’s. Internal cameras also showed that several of the other ponies that had accompanied them had fallen asleep as well. Princess Luna remained awake, though she did not speak. Instead she simply stared forward, her brow furrowed in worry.
“What has you troubled?” Legion asked, turning to look at the princess.
“It’s just…” she started. “The collectors are creating this disease and the changelings are distributing it. Why? I understand the motive of the changelings, but we have never met the collectors. Why do they poison us, why do they kidnap us?”
“In most recorded occurrences involving collector kidnappings, the purpose remains unknown,” Legion said. “The most likely reason is that they intend to study your kind. However, why they have specifically chosen your species is unknown.”
“Well, whatever the reason, I doubt that they anticipated a geth coming here,” Luna said. “Legion… If you can find a cure… We will forever be in your debt.” Legion paused for a moment before making its response.
“… If.”
Luna gulped nervously and nodded before continuing to stare forward, her brow furrowed. Legion turned and once again focused on piloting the ship, though it was easily capable of holding a conversation and flying at the same time. Most of the flight functions were automated anyway. But it was clear that Luna was not interested in conversation right now, so for the time being, Legion decided to maintain a respectful silence for the princess. Checking the timer, Legion found that only an hour remained in their flight. Beginning to prepare the landing processes, Legion continued flying to their destination.
A thump shook the small ship as it landed, sending vibrations throughout the structure and waking the sleeping Twilight Sparkle. Her eyes shot open as the shock passed through her body and her head rapidly looked side to side, trying to discern where she was. She settled down when she recognized the familiar cockpit of Legion’s ship, and her eyes passed over the geth sitting in the chair next to hers.
“There already?” she asked, yawning.
“Yes,” Legion responded, standing up. “We have much to do. Haste is recommended.” The geth stepped away from his chair, revealing Princess Luna sitting in the next chair. She stood up as well and followed Legion out into the main room of the ship. Twilight hopped out of her chair and followed them both into the room filled with medical specialists and technicians.
“We have arrived,” Legion reported. “The hole to the collector vessel access point is just outside. Please exit in an orderly fashion.” The ponies did as they were instructed and jumped out into the freezing snow one by one. Luna kindly lit her horn and expanded a field of warmth over all of them, as she was the only pony with enough magical power to perform such a task. Legion exited last and closed the door to the ship, then walked over to the hole that he and Twilight had dug only a couple of days ago. Twilight noticed that, while the hole was still there, it was significantly shallower than she had remembered. Fortunately the hatch was still visible. Legion turned to face the technicians, and began to speak.
“You will assist us in establishing a link between our transport and the collector vessel,” he said. “Until that is done, everyone else please remain here.” Legion motioned for the technicians to follow him, before he jumped down into the hatch of the ship.
Legion landed in the airlock of the collector vessel with a loud thud, and turned up the brightness on its photoreceptor for use as a flashlight. Not long after Legion landed, several of the technicians entered behind it and began looking around the small airlock. Legion’s eye settled on a panel on the wall, and it quickly walked over to it. The geth ripped the panel off of the wall, revealing a circular hole and a small control panel. The technicians all crowded around it, observing the technology.
“This is a standardized power transfer port,” Legion explained. “We have a matching one on our ship. We will accompany two of you back to the surface, then assist you in preparing our end. The rest of you remain down here, and await further orders.” Legion turned back around and, followed by two technicians, began to climb up the ladder. It did not take long to reach the surface, and in no time at all it was back standing next to its ship. The two technicians were already beginning to pant from the climbing, but they stood next to the geth, waiting for their task.
Legion opened a similar panel on the outside of its ship, revealing the same circular hole and control panel. The only difference was that the control panel was lit up, whereas the one on the collector vessel had been offline. Grabbing a cable, Legion plugged one end into the circular hole, then passed the other to one of the ponies.
“Please transport this to one of the technicians inside,” it said. “We will tell you the proper command sequence required to activate the power transfer.” With a nod, the technician gripped the cable in its mouth and ran back to the hatch, disappearing inside shortly after. A moment later, the control panel flashed, informing the geth that the cable had been plugged into the collector vessel. Legion pressed several buttons to engage the power flow from its side, then turned to face the one remaining technician.
“On the panel in the collector vessel, there should be a flashing green indicator,” it began. “Please inform your colleague that he is required to press it for the transfer to begin.” Nodding, the technician ran back into the hatch and disappeared inside. Several seconds passed before Legion’s panel began pulsing green, and indicator that the power flow was ready. Legion pressed several more buttons to confirm the transfer before stepping away to rejoin the medical ponies at the entrance to the ship.
“Power transfer has been initiated,” it reported. “We will now have access to the rest of the collector vessel. However, the power supply used by our ship is insufficient to power the entire collector ship. Please do not reactivate anything without our permission. You may enter.” The specialists all eagerly entered the ship, quickly climbing down the ladder to join the technicians in the airlock. Twilight Sparkle and Princess Luna entered last, and Legion climbed down after them.
By the time it reached the bottom, the airlock room had become quite crowded. It was not a large room and, not including the geth, there were fifteen ponies present. The room had never been intended to host this many organics. Legion pushed its way through the crowd, heading for the door that it had not entered during its last visit. The emergency power had almost been depleted, and it was finally used up during the geth’s data download from the computer in the pod room.
Legion waved its omni-tool over the featureless metal door, prompting a simple door control to flicker into existence. It pressed the center of the control, causing it to pulse and commanding the door to split apart. The mechanisms controlling the door whirred behind the walls as they pulled the door apart, allowing a glimpse into a hallway quite similar to the other one that Legion had seen. The only differences were that this one stretched on much further than the previous hall, and the walls had several doors lining them on either side. Deploying its sniper rifle, Legion cautiously stepped into the hallway and approached the closest door. It repeated the process of waving its omni-tool, and when the door opened it revealed a simple storage room.
“What is it?” Princess Luna asked, coming to stand next to the geth.
“Storage,” Legion answered. “Unimportant to our task. We must move on.”
“But think about what could be in there!” Twilight Sparkle protested, appearing on the other side of Legion. “It could help pony society become more advanced!”
“We do not have the power to reactivate every single room aboard this ship, Twilight Sparkle,” Legion explained. “And even if we did, you should not wish to use alien technology to advance yourself. There are multiple paths to the same end. Do not take a shortcut and risk sacrificing the journey.” Twilight stared at the geth quizzically, clearly not fully understanding what it was referencing. Legion did not bother to explain, instead it closed the door and moved down the hall to try another one. When the door opened, it yielded much more promising results. Legion stepped into the room and moved its eye around, scanning the contents.
The room was quite large, though not nearly as large as the pod room. Along one wall were several empty pods, all of which were closed. On the adjacent wall were terminals and tables with various pieces of machinery, some of which Legion recognized as being similar to organic medical devices. Others were totally foreign even to the geth, their purpose likely buried away somewhere in the ship archives.
Curiously, there were several spots on the tables that were completely empty. It was an inefficient use of space, which the collectors were quite guilty of with many of their constructs. However, on these blank spaces were marks that made it look like machinery had once occupied them. Legion stepped up to the tables and scanned over them with its omni-tool and, sure enough, it was detecting residue left over from pieces of absent machinery. It turned to face the crowd of ponies that had followed it inside, then spoke.
“There are several pieces of missing machinery,” it said.
“Do you think that the collectors took them to create the disease?” Luna asked, trotting up to the geth.
“That is a likely hypothesis,” Legion said, nodding. “However, most of the machinery remains. If we can get it online, we will try to cure your disease.” A unicorn mare walked up to Legion, observing the machinery as she walked. Legion remembered Princess Luna informing it that her name was Healthy Heart.
“Then should I call for a sample to be brought?” she asked.
“Yes,” Legion answered. “Preferably one living and one deceased target of the disease.”
“Very well,” Heart said, turning around. “I’ll have two ponies brought up from Westrock, one living and one dead. They should be here before nightfall.” She trotted out of the room and disappeared into the hallway. Twilight Sparkle watched as she left, then turned her head to Princess Luna, worried.
“What about us?” she asked. “If we bring that disease here, aren’t we all at risk?”
“There is always a risk,” Luna said. “But the magical wards used by Ms. Heart’s staff have proven to be effective at keeping the disease away from them, at least for now. We will all use the same wards as long as we are here.” Twilight nodded, but did not seem any less worried than before.
Legion stepped up to one of the many pieces of machinery and waved its omni-tool across, attempting to make a scan. A moment later the results came up, indicating that the device was a simple centrifuge, likely for blood. For now it would leave it offline, as there was no sense in activating something that may not even help with finding the disease.
The next machine was a fair bit smaller than the centrifuge, and a simple visual scan confirmed that it was nothing more than an electron microscope. Fairly basic, but it would come in handy for observing small samples. Legion pressed several buttons on it, reactivating the device, before it then moved down to the third piece of equipment. Legion was just about to scan it when its eye passed over the three pods on the other side of the room. Crossing over to the closest one, Legion waved its omni-tool and made a scan.
Curiously, this pod did not have the same purpose as the ones on the collector base, beyond the Omega Four relay. While those were intended to siphon genetic material from the host, this pod had no such mechanisms within it. Instead it appeared to be only for scanning. This would be useful for running scans of the afflicted, to better narrow down the possible types of disease. Legion reactivating the pod, but decided not to touch the other two. Activating one would likely draw a large amount of power from the transport outside, activating two or three would without a doubt deplete it. Stepping away from the pods, Legion returned to the machinery and, with nothing else to do until the sick ponies arrived, continued its scans.
Queen Chrysalis sat alone in the main chamber of her massive hive, staring out over the dozens of filled cocoons that had just recently arrived. Over a hundred now filled the chamber, and the walls were starting to become a new storage place for them. Several of the pods that could not fit on the floor were stuck to the walls with a resilient green paste, still hooked up to the liquid-bearing tubes that entered through the bottom and exited through the top.
However, it was not on the pods that Chrysalis held her attention. Instead, she focused on a single point on the floor, trying endlessly to come up with a plan to weaken the ponies, just in case the plan of waiting did not work. A full-on assault was out of the questions; even with collector support, they were vastly outnumbered and wouldn’t make it a mile into Equestria before being discovered. However, there were few options other than a full on attack. Clandestine operations to weaken pony government could work, but it would be incredibly risky and would be a process to spread out over months. According to the collectors, months were all that they had.
Sighing, Chrysalis closed her eyes and wished that the changelings still held their strength from thousands of years ago. Before the unification of the three pony tribes, changelings had no fear of going out whenever they pleased. The ponies were decentralized and were easy targets for the collective might of the changelings. But then the three tribes had united under one single banner, with Princesses Celestia and Luna in charge. One of their first royal operations had been the weakening of the changelings through battles of attrition. The ponies were stronger and more resilient than the changelings, they were able to outlast any engagement that was fought between the two. Eventually, Chrysalis, who at the time was no more than a young queen, had ordered a full retreat to the furthest reaches of the badlands, where no ponies had yet dared to go.
The road had been harsh to the changelings. Frequent assaults from diamond dogs and dragons along the way had weakened them even further, and by the time they had reached the western coast of the continent, the furthest away from Equestria that any living being had gone, there were no more than two thousand changelings left alive. It had taken thousands of years for them to reach the might required to attack Canterlot, and even that had failed. If they could not win then, how could they win now?
No, Chrysalis thought. She could not afford those kinds of thoughts. The collectors had offered her revenge, but their alliance was a shaky one at best. Apprehension would do nothing but shatter all that had been accomplished, and if the collectors turned against her, then Chrysalis was not confident that she could escape. If she sacrificed their alliance, the changelings would be no more.
Sighing once again, Chrysalis reopened her eyes and looked back out over the large number of cocoons that had been collected. There were well over a hundred, and yet the collectors needed more. To get more, Chrysalis needed a plan. With no other choice presented to her, Chrysalis simply closed her eyes, and thought.
Princess Luna stood in the snow outside of the crashed collector ship, holding up a hoof to keep the blowing snow out of her eyes. The only thing protecting her from the howling sub-zero winds was a simple heating spell, and even that was becoming difficult to maintain in this weather. Visibility was reduced greatly by the blizzard that had suddenly blown in, and snow was beginning to pile up rapidly. If the storm did not stop soon, Legion’s ship would join the collector one in being buried.
Suddenly, Luna caught a glimpse of movement through the wall of white snow that fell all around her. A shadow in the sky, roughly resembling the shape of several pegasi. As they neared the princess, a large chariot became visible behind them, and it soon became clear that the pegasi were pulling it through the sky. They soared down to the ground and landed just a few feet from the princess, skidding to a stop in the thick, powdery snow.
Standing in the chariot was a unicorn stallion, his horn alight with a heating spell to keep him and the pegasi warm. Along with the unicorn were two caskets marked with biohazard symbols, within which Luna knew were two victims of the disease. One casket was slightly different from the other, however, as it had several holes in it to allow for breathing. No doubt this was the one containing the living pony. The other had no such holes, as the occupant no longer had a need for any oxygen. Luna stared grimly at the two caskets as the unicorn gripped them in his telekinesis, then hopped out of the chariot and struggled to walk to the princess through the raging storm.
“Your highness!” he yelled, struggling to be heard over the winds. “Is everypony protected by the wards!?”
“Yes, doctor!” Luna called back. “We are ready for you! Follow me!” She turned and trudged back to the hatch, which was just barely visible thanks to the new layer of snow that had fallen. She jumped down into it and landed in the airlock, before turning and looking back up at the hatch. Slowly, one casket was lowered down into the ship. Luna grabbed it from the unicorn’s grasp and placed it on the floor, then did the same as the second casket was lowered down. Finally, the unicorn himself climbed down the ladder, panting the whole time. His horn dimmed as he dropped the heating spell, and he picked up the two caskets once more as he turned to the princess.
“Where do they go, your highness?” he asked. Luna motioned for him to follow, then led the stallion into the open doorway of the medical laboratory, where the geth and several other specialists, Healthy Heart included, were waiting. She pointed a hoof to the three pods on one wall of the room, and the two caskets floated over to them. They were carefully placed down by the only open pod, landing quietly on the metallic floor. Legion, who was at one of the pieces of machinery, turned around and examined the two boxes.
“These are the subjects?” he asked.
“Yes, Legion,” Luna answered, nodding. “One living, one deceased.”
“Understood. We will begin work immediately.” Legion crossed the room, approaching the casket with airholes, and opened it, revealing the sick pony within. He was a pegasus of a rather lean build, though the disease was having a toll. His coat was pale, and several veins were visible beneath his flesh. Deep bags were under his eyes, and a dried river of blood streaked from his nose down his neck. His once powerful wings hung limp against his sides, and his breathing was shallow. Legion gingerly picked up the sick pegasus in his strong arms and carefully lowered him into the open pod. Legion withdrew his hands and the pod began to close as several lights within lit up.
“Beginning scan of subject,” Legion reported, walking over to a panel on one of the walls. Lines of text began scrolling past on it, and the geth watched each line carefully, taking in all of the information. A moment later the text stopped scrolling, and it was replaced by an image of the pegasus, with his bone structure, musculature, and internal organs all mapped out. Luna curiously walked over to the panel and looked over the diagram of her subject.
“Interesting…” she said. “Did the scan find anything?”
“One moment,” Legion replied, pressing a finger to the heart of the pony pictured on the diagram. The diagram zoomed in until the heart filled up most of the panel. Legion observed the weak pumping of blood curiously. “We may have discovered something.”
“What is it?” Healthy Heart asked, coming to stand next to Legion.
“We require a sample of tissue,” he said. Healthy Heart nodded, then directed her specialists to do as the geth ordered. The pod containing the pegasus cracked open and several specialists approached the motionless body, one of whom had a scalpel in his telekinetic grasp. The others were holding items like syringes filled with anesthetic and other supplies to retrieve the sample.
The pony with the syringe injected the pegasus with it, then stepped back to allow the scalpel-wielding doctor to step up. He made a very small incision just above the heart, then put the scalpel down. Another pony with spreaders stepped forth and placed the spreaders into the incision, opening it wide. Two more doctors stepped up, one with a pair of small surgical scissors and the other with a glass dish. The pony with the scissors placed his hoof down into the incision, the tip disappearing within. Luna recoiled, slightly disturbed, but forced herself to keep watching.
A moment later, the pony withdrew his hoof and brought with him a small sample of heart tissue, held between the scissor blades. He quickly dropped it into the glass dish, which was closed tightly by the pony holding it. The pony brought the dish over to Legion while the doctors set to work on closing the pegasus’s incision. Legion took the dish from the pony, then brought it to the electron microscope, placing the sample within onto a slide beneath the lenses.
He pressed several buttons and stepped back, approaching the panel that had once shown the diagram of the pegasus. Now it simply showed an incredibly high-resolution image of the heart tissue. At first, Luna did not notice anything wrong. But as she continued staring at the image, she began to notice small traces of movement on the tissue.
“What is that?” she asked, pointing to a spot of movement.
“It is a virus,” Legion answered. Healthy Heart stepped up to the image, her mouth agape.
“Impossible!” she exclaimed, surprised. “Our magical scans completely ruled out the possibility of a virus! They have never been wrong before!”
“It is not a virus with which you would be familiar,” the geth explained. “To organics, this is known as a ‘nanovirus’. Millions of microscopic self-replicating machines are entered into the subject through any means, whether by air, water, food, or direct transfusion into the bloodstream. Once inside, the machines can do anything they please. They are incredibly difficult to detect, and even more difficult to cure.”
“What kinds of things can they do?” Twilight Sparkle asked, never taking her eyes off of the image on the panel.
“Anything,” Legion said. “They can do something as simple as block off major arteries, to something as complex as rewriting DNA. The purpose of this specific nanovirus is still unknown. However, based on the symptoms told to us by Princess Celestia, the use of a nanovirus seems… wasteful. Forcing subjects into a comatose state can be achieved in several other less-complicated ways… The nanovirus must be doing more, we just cannot see it right now.”
“Perhaps once the changelings capture the sick, they unlock another function of the nanovirus?” Luna suggested.
“Changelings?” Legion asked, confused. “We have not been informed of any changelings.”
“Forgot that little detail, did you?” Twilight whispered to Luna. Luna sighed and nodded.
“In addition to there being a disease in Westrock and Appleloosa…” Luna began. “… There have been mass kidnappings by another species on Equis called changelings. They can take the shape of anypony they want, which makes it quite easy for them to sneak in without being stopped.”
“This is alarming,” Legion observed. “The collectors often hire other species to perform kidnappings. However, a disease is never involved. They must be planning for something.”
“But what?” Twilight asked.
“Unknown…” Legion answered, turning to Princess Luna. “We have an idea. Please send for Princess Celestia to come here immediately.” Luna nodded, then turned and ran out of the medical lab. She did not know why Legion wanted her sister there, but if it would help cure her subjects, she was willing to do anything.
Princess Celestia took a sip of her fresh tea, allowing the invigorating liquid to warm her cold body and soothe her after the events of the past few days. Celestia was used to stress, it was something that came with being the ruler of a nation. But the past few days had taken far more out of her than she would care to admit.
Her ponies were getting sick and were being kidnapped all at the hooves of the changelings. To her, this was no more than the continuation of a war that had persisted throughout the ages. She remembered first issuing the orders to being the weakening of the changeling population, thousands of years ago. She had not wanted to do it, but the changelings left her little choice.
Even now, wiping the changelings out once and for all would not be difficult. Lives would be lost, yes, but it would be nothing compared to the future lives saved by not having to live with the changelings anymore. But no matter how she rationalized it, Celestia could not bring herself to issue the order. Celestia was known for many things, she did not want genocide to be one of them.
Taking another sip of her tea, the princess turned her attention to a stack of papers on her desk. They were not financial reports, nor were they more reports drafted by her defense council on the changeling incursions. Rather, the papers were a series of documents written by Celestia herself. Among them were documents that she had not written, but for the most part, it was an analysis all conducted by her. Celestia grabbed the stack in her telekinesis and looked upon the first piece of parchment. Written in very clear hoofwriting was a simple three sentence letter, sent to her many years ago.
Dear Princess Celestia,
I've learned that one of the joys of friendship is sharing your blessings. But when there's not enough blessings to go around, having more than your friends can make you feel pretty awful. So, though I appreciate the invitation, I will be returning both tickets to the Grand Galloping Gala.
It was the first friendship letter ever sent to Princess Celestia by Twilight Sparkle. Celestia smiled at the memory. To her, it seemed like just yesterday Twilight had still been a recluse who did not understand the magic of friendship, nor did she even want to. The next several pages were part of the analysis that Celestia had been working on, going over everything that her student had learned. To see her grow over the years had been a true experience, one that Celestia would not have missed for anything.
Taking out a quill and a piece of parchment, Celestia began to write a new page for her analysis. The timing seemed right, and Twilight had proven herself to be the most capable mare Celestia knew. She was almost ready.
“Your highness?” a voice said. Celestia whipped her head up to locate the source of a voice, only to find a guard poking his head through the door. “Forgive me, but we have an urgent message for you from Princess Luna. She says that you are needed with her at once.” Celestia nodded, and stood up.
“Prepare my chariot,” she commanded. The guard saluted, then ducked his head out and closed the door behind him. Celestia simply stood in place for a moment, wondering what was so urgent that she was needed there at once. Perhaps Legion had found a cure? Not likely, as the message would not have kept that from her. Shaking her head, Celestia opened the door and stepped out, beginning to make her way to the courtyard where her chariot was waiting.
Princess Luna once again stood out in the cold snow just outside of the hatch to the collector ship, waiting for her sister’s chariot to arrive. Thankfully the blizzard had passed and the winds had died down, increasing visibility and making her heating spell far easier to maintain. Her message had been sent nearly five hours ago, and with their fastest pegasi transporting Celestia, she would arrive in only a few minutes.
Luna’s guess seemed to be correct, as only a few moments later the shape of a chariot crested the horizon and came into view, moving towards the crash site very quickly. Only a few minutes after the initial sighting, Luna stepped back as the chariot landed next to her and came to a stop just a few feet away. Princess Celestia stepped out and jumped into the snow, her hoofsteps crunching as she approached her sister.
“Hello, Luna,” Celestia said, nodding her greeting. “What am I needed for? You said it was urgent?”
“Yes, sister,” Luna replied. “Legion says he has an idea. He would not tell me what it was, he kept on insisting that you be here for it as well.”
“Very well, let us go inside.” Celestia made to enter the ship, but Luna held out a hoof, blocking her path. She quickly lit her horn and Celestia briefly glowed a soft green.
“The ward to protect you,” Luna explained. Celestia nodded and Luna lowered her hoof, allowing her older sister entry into the vessel. Celestia hopped down into the hatch, landing with a thud on the metal floor. Luna followed her down, directing her sister to the medical lab just a few doors away. As soon as they entered, all eyes were on the princesses. Legion stepped up to the two, and spoke.
“Good, you have arrived,” he said. “We have an idea.”
“A cure?” Celestia asked.
“Not at this time, no,” Legion continued. “But something to buy time. We believe that we have a way to temporarily disable the nanovirus within the subjects affected.”
“Nanovirus?” Celestia asked, confused. “What is a ‘nanovirus’?”
“It’s what is infecting our ponies,” Luna explained. “Millions of little machines affecting their cells and forcing them into a coma.”
“I see…” Celestia said. “Please continue, Legion.”
“As stated by Princess Luna, a nanovirus is comprised of millions of microscopic machines introduced into a subject’s body,” Legion began. “However, because they are machines, they can be affected by electromagnetic pulses.”
“What’s an electromagnetic pulse?” Twilight asked, stepping forward.
“It is a burst of electromagnetic energy that can interfere with all electronic devices operating within a certain radius. At low levels, it is harmless to organics, and can disable electronics.”
“So by using one of these ‘electromagnetic pulses’, we can eliminate the nanovirus?” Luna asked, hopeful.
“Negative,” Legion answered. “In order to permanently disable the machines, an incredibly high burst of energy is required. A burst of energy at such levels can also be harmful to organics, including the possibility of death. However, a less-powerful burst would disable the nanovirus for a few days, and would halt everything that the machines were doing to the ponies. This would bring them out of their comas, and would not allow the changelings to continue kidnappings."
“That could buy us some valuable time…” Celestia pondered to herself. “But I sense that there is a catch. What is it?”
“There are two,” the geth said. “One is that the device must be activated in close proximity to the afflicted. This means that we would need to go to one of the two settlements that has been affected.”
“That’s risky, Legion,” Luna said, shaking her head. “With the changeling attacks you’d be putting yourself at great risk.”
“We understand, but that is not all,” Legion continued. “While we can provide the machine used to generate the pulse, at the levels required to make it safe for organics, the radius is incredibly small. We were hoping that a sufficient supply of magic could multiply the radius by several times, enough to encompass an entire settlement. However, the magic required to do so would be incredibly high. Only those very skilled should attempt it.”
“… We’ll do it,” Celestia said, sighing. All of the ponies in the room looked at the princess, shocked.
“’Tia!” Luna shouted. “It is far too risky!”
“I understand the risk, Luna,” Celestia said, looking to her little sister. “But for now, I do not see another option.”
“Celestia, please!” Twilight said, approaching her mentor. “There has to be another way! With the changelings attacking, it’s not safe!”
“Twilight, my sister and I will be fine,” the solar princess said comfortingly. “There are forty Nighthawks on their way there. The changelings will not risk an all-out attack against those numbers.”
“Celestia, I do not think that this is a good idea,” Luna repeated. “Not at all.”
“We have little choice, sister,” Celestia said.
“… Then I’m coming too,” Twilight said, holding her head up. Celestia sighed, then turned to face her student.
“Twilight, please--”
“No, Celestia,” the young alicorn said, standing up straight. “I am an alicorn too, and I am very skilled with my magic. I can help.”
“… Very well,” Celestia conceded, turning to face Legion. “When would we be leaving?”
“We can leave immediately,” he said. “We will fashion the electromagnetic pulse device while en route to one of the settlements. Which settlement would you prefer?”
“Appleloosa has a higher population,” Celestia replied. “We should go there first.”
“Understood,” Legion said, turning to face the door to the medical lab. “Come. We will go at once.” He began walking out of the room, the three princesses not far behind him. No matter what she was told, Luna did not like this plan. The changelings were still conducting their kidnapping operations, going to Appleloosa while they were taking place was very risky. However, her sister was right that they had no other choice. Unless somepony else came up with something now, then they were committed.
The room remained silent. Sighing, Luna followed the geth out into the freezing snow, activating her heating spell as she flew through the hatch. The small ship still waited several meters away, a thin layer of snow sitting atop it. The door opened as they neared the ship, and the geth climbed inside. Before Luna could step in, Celestia held out a hoof.
“We will take the chariot,” she said. “There is less risk involved if we split up.”
“Understood,” Legion said, nodding. “We will meet you at Appleloosa.” Celestia nodded and stepped away as the hatch closed. A moment later the ship took off into the sky. The engines engaged and it rocketed away, disappearing in only a few seconds. The three alicorns turned to the chariot that was still parked not far from the hatch, and each one stepped inside, sitting down on the comfortable leather seats. The pegasi leading the chariot all began sprinting ahead, then flared their wings and steadily rose into the sky, turning to go in the same direction as the geth ship. Luna sighed once more, and sat back as they began their journey to Appleloosa.
Queen Chrysalis opened her eyes at the sound of hooves approaching her, and turned around to see a young changeling bowing before his queen. He looked up, his pale blue eyes filled with excitement.
“Your excellency,” he began. “A chariot has been spotted by our scouts approaching Appleloosa. Princesses Celestia, Luna, and Twilight are in it.” Chrysalis’s eyes went wide in surprise as the news.
“All three of them are going there?” she said to herself. “Interesting…” Suddenly, the reality of what was occurring hit her. Her eyes widened, and she grinned evilly.
“Summon the collector captain,” Chrysalis ordered. “Tell him that I have his plan…”
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happy new years thanks for the new chapter
Legion, you may need to be prepare for a firefight.
inb4 kidnapping
I'm hoping Legions widow gets some action soon.
I haven't been able to get my death fix recently.
They arrive at Appleoosa:
"Wh- how would you know?"
Legion: "Prepare for an ambush."
Legion: *points at the assembled sources of cover* "Shepard-Commander would call this a... hunch."
i49.photobucket.com/albums/f278/katietiedrich/comic245.png
5450647 false terminology. Editing. Legion, you may need to be prepare for a slaughter.
Ok, great chapter and all. However, you made several HUGE mistakes tat almost ruined the chapter for me and anyone that's paying attention.
The fist biggie, The Doctor, her staff, and the mechanics have no response to Legion nor his ship; like literally none. No one questions who or what 'he' is nor the inner-workings of his ship. They simply just go with it and not say anything. Given that the geth is a radically advanced piece of machinery and it NOT OF THERE WORLD. They's probably have more than a few questions for it and the details of the mission. But no, we get nothing....like at all.
The second one, no one is sworn to any sort of secrecy. Granted, no one will probably believe them, till they actually see Legion, but still. Plus it doesn't help that he's been given free reign to rome about the castle with out any sort of hindrance. Why go through all the trouble of hiding the geth if you're just going to be aloof with the procedure later. Yeah, I know it's suppose to be 'all about trust,' but this is ridiculous.
The third one, is that no one has any sort of input on the way over there. you'd think that someone would make a comment on how something that usually too (x amount of hours or days) was done in less than a few hours. Nor do any of them have any sort of input on the interior of the ship. They just hope in and twiddle there hooves. I was expecting to have Luna have some sort of thoughts on the matter, but she just sits back and does nothing. Twilight or Legion could have briefed them on what they might find, in hopes that they wouldn't panic or refuse to help him once there.
-Which brings me to the next issue.
The fourth one, no one and I mean no one has any sort of statement regarding the derelict Collectors ship. A vessel able to travel across the stars and beyond. And not a single one of them asks asks about it. They just hope out of the space ship that just got them there in a few hours and go to work. On something that they literally HAVE NO IDEA HOW IT WORKS. Granted, Legion walks them through the steps, but still. No comments or concerns are given regarding the giant space ship that's been burred in the snow for the last 3 years. Not even Celestia or Luna have any sort of statements on this. You'd think the RULERS of an nation would want to know more about the mysterious craft.
And now we're on to number five.
The fifth one, Upon exploring of the Collector ship (that no one has said anything about.) They discover a storage area, will with what you can only assume is full of Collector/ Reaper tech. Which Twilight wants to use to advance Equestria into a new technological age. Only to be outright denied by Legion. If would have been left at that, it wouldn't have been a problem. What's irksome is that the way that Legion explains it. He states that it's better to advance upon your own strive to your own future. But, what he fails to mention is that a lot of species before have done just that to some extend. (You know the reverse engineering Protethian tech for use in space travel and such.) The statement would have carried much or weight, if Legion explained why it was a bad idea to use the tech in the ship and not come up with there own. Like how some of his own 'race' did that and were wiped out. Or how it would only lead to more problems down the road. (The reapers). Or I dunno, explain that thanks to there own feats with magic and such. Will bring them a future that may can only dream about.
The sixth one, even with everything going on. The medical staff have no quorums on removing a piece of vital tissue from a still living being. They that had been deceased than it would have been no issue, but this one was ALIVE and then are able to patch the individual back up. Read a medical book if your going to use procedures like this in the story. Because, even Star Trek doesn't have this sort of advanced medical procedures. So, having a group of doctors in the equivalent of the dark ages be able to perform the procedure is just utter BS.
The seventh one, despite now knowing anything of all of the above that i've already stated. Everyone understands what a nanovirus, after a just brief explanation. Legion could have used some sort of similar thing to compare it or maybe just simplified it to that a civilization that has NO KNOWLEDGE OF TECHNOLOGY can understand it.
The eighth one, (Were almost done here) Despite even Legion and Luna advising against it. Celestia (self proclaimed all knowing Ruler of her nation.) Pulls one of the most asinine stuns in the shows history, next to Chrysalis revealing her true form to Twilight in 'A Canterlot Wedding.' (seriously, all she had was keep up her charade till after it was too late to stop her.) And issue and lead a full on assault to Appleousa ( a town fairing bare better in the 'plague' than Westrock.) So not only is an idiot, but almost an uncaring ruler. *slow clap*
Anyone with even a shred of commonsense, would know not to put all there eggs in one basket. It's bad planning no matter how 'pure your intentions were.' Meaning that when her plan crashes and burns. (Which we all know will happen.) The only one let to rule is Cadance..or maybe Twilight is she survives this.
Sorry for the long rant, but it really drives me nuts when a good story starts going to shit, do to poor planning or lack of proper foresight. If it would have been one or two of the mentioned things, I probably wouldn't have said anything. Since it wold have most likely just been an oversight.
I've seen this happen a lot with fics i've been reading. (more so an ever is seems.) And would hate to see this go the same route as so many others.
Hopefully, this help in future chapters.
Hey, I know I'm WAY late to the party here, but I felt this was needed to be said.
First, I saw the same stuff as 5504611 and was bothered by it too, but that really isn't even my main concern.
No, the main thing going through my head non-stop at this point is how the collectors use REAPER-TECH! You know, the stuff that indoctrinates organics?! Seriously, Legion should know about this risk and at least tell somepony about it. They need to be avoiding the dead ship as much as possible, as even broken Reaper-tech has been shown to still indoctrinate beings, as seen on the ship Shepard picked up Legion on!
My God, I may be being paranoid here but I feel like this is a serious concern that is probably going to bite the ponies in the ass soon, and HARD.
Just another reason upon the plethora of reasons why Equestria will fall in one day.
Lmao, I love how reality ensues.
Ah man, I hate when the villain says that!
Aww, i was so sure for a second there that Legion was about to ask Celestia for a Solar Storm to disrupt the nanomachines and all other related tech.
Oh no.
Ain't no victory for Chrysalis with Sol Invictus this new year!
Isn't Equis fucked without Alicorns to guide the Sun and Moon?
Chrysalis isn't even the bad guys here. Just a victim.
To bad the friendship of magic is only for Pony approved races in this story...
This seems WAY too risky and rash, they are putting all of their eggs in one chariot.