CHAPTER 14
CHAPTER 14
“The Old Machines offered to give us our future. The geth will achieve their own future.”
Twilight Sparkle slammed her book shut and tossed it up to the top of the rather large pile that had formed, and began to reach for another one. When her grasp found nothing on the table, she looked to where her ‘unread’ pile had been, and found it to be empty. Twilight stared at the empty spot, impressed that she had managed to do that. Nine books in one day, she thought to herself. A new record.
Each book had been a rather wordy medical textbook, covering everything from the first recorded diseases to how bacteria reproduced. Throughout her very long reading session, Twilight had been keeping a careful notes of anything she read that felt important. She had ended up filling up the entire notebook, and had to get a second one from the library’s ample supply. Her work finished, Twilight closed each notebook and picked them up in her telekinesis, quickly teleporting them back to her bedroom. She was about to teleport herself along with them, when her stomach growled at her, angry at not having been fed.
Twilight had pulled an all-nighter, which was certainly not a foreign experience for her. However, no matter how many times she pulled one, her body never fully got used to it. Even now, her eyes begged to be closed so that they might experience just a few minutes of precious sleep. Her stomach protested with another grumble, and Twilight decided that her appetite was going to win out over her exhaustion.
She trotted out of the library and turned down several corridors, soon coming to the dining room. It was still early if Twilight’s internal clock had adjusted properly, so she hoped breakfast was still being served. The young princess pushed the door open and stepped inside, soon finding herself to be the center of attention of the ponies already present. Fortunately it was nopony she did not know. Sitting in many of the available chairs were her five friends from Ponyville, along with Princess Luna, who sat at the head of the table.
“Twilight Sparkle,” the princess said warmly. “I am glad you have joined us. Please, sit. We were just about to order.” Twilight did as she was instructed and took an empty seat next to Applejack, immediately opening the menu and glancing over it. At this point looking at the menu was just going through the motions. She had eaten here so many times as a filly that she had the menu practically memorized, and she always ended up getting the same thing every time.
“Where’ve ya been, sugarcube?” Applejack asked, turning to face her friend.
“Just in the library,” Twilight responded, closing the menu and putting it back down. “Reading through some books about diseases to see what I can come up with.”
“And what did you find, dear?” Rarity asked, taking a delicate sip of water.
“Nothing at all about a nanovirus…” the lavender alicorn said, defeated. “Any progress towards curing the disease isn’t going to come from me. It’s either going to come from Healthy Heart or… Legion.” Luna glared when Twilight uttered the name of the machine, and lowered her head.
“Unfortunately, Ms. Heart has made very little progress with the machinery in the ship,” Luna reported. “She sent me a letter this morning.”
“Well maybe the machines just need some calibrations!” Pinkie suggested, smiling widely. All of the ponies stared at the pink mare, confused. They decided not to question her, and looked back to their own empty plates. Twilight was about to continue speaking when the kitchen door opened and a well-dressed stallion stepped out, a notepad hovering just a few inches in front of him. He systematically approached each mare and took down their order, then reentered the kitchen, leaving the ponies alone once again.
“Anyways, Luna, I don’t think that sending Legion away was a good idea,” Twilight said, causing the princess of the night to glare once again. “He’s the only one who truly understands how everything works! And he can’t leave our star system no matter how badly he wants to, so sending him away was… counterproductive.”
“We will not press the issue, Twilight,” Luna said quietly. “Even if I wanted it back, we have no way of contacting it. Legion is gone.” Twilight sighed, knowing that the princess was right. Unless Legion sought them out, they would likely never see the geth again.
Their conversation was interrupted once more as the waiter returned, this time joined by several more ponies all bearing several silver trays. The trays were placed in front of each pony, on them the breakfast that had been ordered. Twilight’s mouth immediately started to water as the familiar meal was placed down in front of her, and she stared longingly at the dish. It was nothing too fancy, just pancakes with scrambled eggs. She often tried to recreate it in Ponyville, but somehow the ones made by the Canterlot chefs always tasted better. I guess that’s why they’re chefs and I’m not, she thought as she grabbed a fork in her telekinesis and immediately dug in. Her friends were doing the same, though Rarity and Luna were a bit less ravenous about it.
About halfway through the breakfast, the conversation restarted itself. Twilight did not take notice of who had bothered to keep speaking, she was too focused on eating. It was only when she heard her name being incessantly called that she chose to look up and see what the commotion was.
“Twilight, dear?” Rarity asked, looking concerned. Everypony else was staring at her in much the same way. Twilight’s cheeks flushed with color at the attention, and she put down her fork for a moment.
“Sorry, what?” she asked.
“We were just asking if you thought Healthy Heart would be successful or not,” Luna explained. Twilight’s mouth formed an ‘O’ and she nodded.
“Princess Celestia appointed her with good reason, I’m sure,” Twilight said. “I have no doubts in her ability to find a cure in time.” The other ponies nodded, satisfied enough with the response. The conversation once again took a quick recess as everypony finished their breakfast. Once all of the plates were empty, the ponies pushed them away and sat back, satisfied.
“Well, as relaxing as that was, I’m afraid that duty calls, Twilight Sparkle,” Luna said, sitting up. “The day court opens shortly and I must attend to that, but you must take on some royal duties as well today.”
“You can count on me, princess!” Twilight said, smiling. “What is it?”
“Well, the new year is fast approaching, and…” Luna faltered, seeming to pick her words, which made Twilight frown curiously. “Okay, I’ll be honest, I’m just dumping this on you because I don’t want to do it. I need you to balance our budget for the next year.”
“Oh…” Twilight said, her eyes widening at the task. Balancing the royal budget was big, she hoped she was ready.
“I’m sure you’ll do fine,” Luna said, attempting to comfort the young princess with a forced smile. “I remember when Celestia first gave the task to me… Of course that was also the last time she gave me the task. That year there was a disproportionately high amount of funds dedicated to ice cream.” The ponies all chuckled at the story, and Luna seemed to smile nostalgically.
“You really did that, princess?” Rainbow Dash asked, laughing.
“In my own defense, it had just been invented,” the princess answered. “Well, I should be going to court now. If yesterday was any indication, then I’m going to want to get this out of the way as quickly as possible. I will have the necessary documents sent to your bedroom, Twilight. So long, I shall see you all at lunch.” The ponies all waved at the princess as she stood and left, closing the large doors to the dining room behind her. There was silence for a few moments, before Applejack finally spoke.
“Ah’m glad that Luna is doin’ alright, given the circumstances,” she said.
“It must be awful!” Fluttershy agreed quietly. “We’re all hurting very badly, but imagine how it must be for her…”
“Yes, and for you, Twilight,” Rarity said. “Celestia was like a second mother to you. I cannot begin to imagine how it must feel.” Twilight nodded grimly, and looked down at her empty plate.
“Yeah…” she whispered, trying to keep her voice from cracking.
“Well…” Dash began. “… If you, you know… Ever need anypony… We’re all here for you.” Twilight’s friends all nodded in agreement, and Twilight smiled gratefully.
“Thank you,” she said, looking back up. “It’s good to know. Right now I just need some time to myself to think about it all. For now though, I should probably get to balancing that budget.”
“Have fun,” Dash said sarcastically. Twilight stood from her chair and walked to the door of the dining room, then opened them and stepped out into the hallway. She began trotting back to her quarters where Luna had sent the documents. She had some work to do.
Legion walked across the bleak and desolate landscape that was the badlands, its single eye constantly searching for something, anything that could possibly be the entrance to the changeling hive. It had been walking for hours, and not only had it not found any clues pointing it to the whereabouts of the changelings, it had found nothing resembling any life at all. Occasionally there was a bush or shrub rooted into the rough ground, just barely clinging on to life, but other than that, the place was completely dead.
As it walked, Legion wished that it had more information on the area. It knew nothing about changeling numbers, how large the hive was, what kinds of defenses there were… In all likelihood, Legion was probably the only thing other than the changelings that had ventured this far west. But it was committed now. If Legion didn’t find the data it needed to create a cure, then it would do nothing more than sit in space for years, if not decades. Geth did not experience boredom, but Legion did understand that not doing something when the chance was presented was considered ‘lazy’.
Suddenly, Legion’s eye caught movement far in the distance. Three black dots shot up into the dreary, cloudy sky, levelling out a few hundred feet about the ground. From there, they began flying forward. Legion quickly brought up its M-98 Widow and zoomed in on the dots, revealing them to be changelings in flight. Legion replayed their takeoff from its archives, and roughly charted from where they had launched. Lowering its sniper rifle, Legion began sprinting in the direction. The changelings had potentially slipped up and given the geth an edge, and Legion intended to use it wisely.
With the speed at which the geth moved, Legion gained a visual of the changeling’s launch site only a few minutes after it had spotted the pegasi. Once it was within a hundred meters, the geth activated its tactical cloak and slowed to a jog, soon coming up on what Legion assumed was the entrance to the hive. From an aerial view, it would have appeared as nothing more than a sinkhole, formed by some ancient cave-in. But closer up, it became evident that the whole was definitely not natural. Rough stairs had been formed into the rock, leading down into a black doorway, beyond which Legion could not see.
Hiding in the shadows of the rocks, Legion spotted several changelings equipped with blades, all of them watching for intruders. Fortunately, the tactical cloak kept the geth hidden to all, so Legion had no trouble simply walking right down the stairs and into the entrance to the hive beyond. The door opened into a simple stone hallway, the walls of which were slightly concave. The floor was of a cracked stone that seemed incredibly thick, as the geth had its movements almost entirely muffled as it walked down the hall. True to the name of a hive, the hallway branched off into two more, which then branched off into even more. With no leads at all about where the collectors were keeping themselves in this hive, Legion settled on maintaining a mostly straight path.
The hive appeared far too big for its inhabitants. As it walked through the winding tunnels that formed the hive, Legion encountered very few changelings. It was not a surprise, as from what Twilight Sparkle had told it, they had suffered heavy losses during an attack on Canterlot one year prior. Whenever it did pass by a changeling, they never seemed aware of the presence of the invisible machine walking right by them.
As it walked, Legion began to grow aware that its path had taken it on quite the descent. Throughout its reconnaissance, Legion had been scanning the tunnels to generate a 3D map so that it could easily find the exit, and it showed that the geth was now several hundred meters beneath the ground. Despite this, Legion noticed that temperatures were dropping. Sensors also indicated that a cool breeze was flowing throughout the tunnels, even though it was far from any natural sources of wind. The programs within Legion guessed that it could be some form of ventilation, however there were no obvious vents or shafts by which air could circulate. By all logical conclusions, it should have been quite stuffy.
Legion exited its tunnel and found itself in a small junction. Connecting to it were several more tunnels, some of which had an upward slope and some of which descended even further into Equis. With no other ideas, Legion simply walked into one of the ones going down, and almost slammed right into a changeling. Utilizing its enhanced reflexes, Legion managed to jump back just in time. The changeling passed by, totally oblivious that it had almost blown the geth’s cover.
Legion watched the changeling continue down the tunnel, suddenly realizing that it had seen that particular changeling before. She was different from the rest, standing just slightly taller than Princess Celestia had stood. Her long horn was bent and twisted, and her dark cerulean mane fell straight past her shoulders. Legion quietly deployed its plasma shotgun as it realized that it had unintentionally found the changeling queen. Legion aimed down the sights of the weapon, but stopped just short of pulling the trigger.
Legion had no idea what would happen if it killed the queen. If the changelings truly were a hive species, then all changeling drones would have a mental connection to the queen. Her termination would be felt by all, and the geth’s presence would be discovered. Additionally, in these close-quarters spaces, the sound of a gunshot would echo through miles of the tunnels, alerting anyone walking in them of the intruder. Legion once again wished for more information, then lowered its weapon and decided instead to follow the queen. It stayed several feet behind her as she walked, never getting too close, lest it risk discovery.
The changeling queen led Legion through several more winding tunnels, each of which sent them deeper and deeper into the crust of the planet. Strangely, temperatures stayed relatively cool, and a constant breeze continued to blow through the hive. Their journey ended when the queen exited the tunnel into a massive chamber, the ceiling of which went up hundreds of meters.
The chamber was mostly empty, except for the ground floor, which was host to over a hundred cocoon-like pods, each of which looked similar to the pods used by the collectors at their base. It was different, however – more organic, and each one was filled with a green gelatinous liquid. Suspended in the liquid of each pod was a single pony, all of whom appeared to be unconscious. Legion followed the queen down a short flight of stairs, which deposited them onto the ground floor of the chamber. The queen casually wandered through the rows of pods, stopping at one in particular. Then, she spoke…
Queen Chrysalis walked through the rows of pods, idly observing the inhabitants of each one. They were all unconscious, so painfully unaware of what was being done to them. Since yesterday, two more of the ponies had dissolved and had their genetic material pumped to the collector’s lab. Chrysalis did not quite understand what they were doing with the material, just that when they were done, Equestria would be hers to rule.
As she walked, Chrysalis felt a strange sensation, almost as though somepony else was watching her. However, whenever she discreetly turned around to find the source of the feeling, there was nothing in sight. Chalking it up to her paranoia, Chrysalis decided to ignore it, and finally stopped at her favorite cocoon.
The inhabitant of it had fallen asleep, likely sometime during the night. Good, Chrysalis thought. She needs to keep her strength up. Deciding that she had had enough sleep, Chrysalis knocked loudly on the outside of the cocoon, waking the pony within.
“Hello, Celestia,” she said. “I’m back again! I have good news for you: the collectors have almost finished refining the disease, and will have it ready for deployment tomorrow! I also am assured that it will easily bypass any magical wards your Nighthawks are using! I still haven’t decided which town we’ll hit first… I’m thinking, hmm… Ponyville, perhaps? Then we can add the wretched inhabitants of that town to the growing numbers in this hive. Does that sound good to you?” The princess did not respond, deciding only to continue glaring at the changeling queen.
“Of course, the collectors do tell me that time is of the essence,” Chrysalis continued. “So I think I may try something different. I think I shall infect two towns at the same time! Trottingham is near Ponyville, right? I will have to double-check my map. Anyways, I just thought I should update you on the downfall of your species. Goodbye!” Chrysalis offered a little wave, then turned and left the princess to be with her thoughts. It was still another full day until the disease would be ready, so in the meantime, Chrysalis decided that it would be a good idea to prepare the hunter squadrons to deploy the samples...
Legion listened in on the taunting speech that Chrysalis was giving to Princess Celestia, its various programs divided over the amount of new data. First, and perhaps most importantly, Princess Celestia was alive. If Legion could break her out, it could return her to Canterlot and help restore order. This would give the ponies even more time to cure the disease.
While several programs went over how to free Celestia, the rest were analyzing what had been said about the disease. Legion had not anticipated that the collectors would find a way around the EMP so quickly. With this new information, it was imperative that Legion find a cure. The changeling queen waved goodbye to the princess, then turned and walked off, soon disappearing into the shadows. Legion waited until it could no longer hear her hoofsteps, before it quietly ran up to Celestia’s cocoon and disabled the tactical cloak. The princess's eyes widened upon seeing Legion, no doubt it was the last thing she expected to see.
“Princess Celestia, can you hear us?” Legion asked quietly. Celestia did not speak, but she nodded her head excitedly. “We will attempt to remove you from the pod. Please stand by.” Legion stepped back and examined the cocoon, trying to find some sort of release to open it. When no release made itself visible, Legion simply gripped the front of the pod and pulled, trying to rip it in half. Surprisingly, it was an incredibly durable material, and the geth was unable to tear the front from its frame.
“Princess, we are unable to find a release,” Legion explained, much to Celestia’s dismay. “It is unwise for us to remain. We will continue scouting the hive, and return when more information is collected. There may be schematics of the pods somewhere, as they use collector technology.” Celestia nodded, laying back. As Legion backed away, it noticed a long scar along her neck, which seemed to have been healed with medi-gel. No doubt the collectors were responsible for that.
Legion looked around the chamber, and decided to exit the same way the queen had gone. It reactivated the tactical cloak, disappearing into the shadows, and maneuvered through the maze of pods. The geth soon came to a round door separated into four unequal sections. As it detected the machine approaching it, it slid apart and revealed a long hallway beyond. A quick visual inspection showed it to be empty, so Legion stepped into the hall and the door closed behind it.
Unlike the others, this tunnel sloped upwards. Legion began slowly walking up the hall, careful not to blow its cover in any way. This hive had shown itself to be massive, it could very well go for miles in all directions. The probability of finding where the collectors had hidden themselves was incredibly small. However, Legion was not one to give up, so it continued walking up the gently sloping tunnel...
Twilight Sparkle placed her quill neatly on her desk, then capped the inkwell and placed the document she had been writing next to it. It had taken her a few hours, but balancing the royal budget was not as difficult as it had originally sounded. At least for her, going over charts and graphs of spending trends from the past few decades to find out how to allocate their budget was actually sort of fun. Still, she was upset that it had not taken her longer. It was only noon, and the task that had been given to her by Luna had renewed some of her energy, despite her all-nighter. Checking the clock, Twilight decided that lunch was in order. She could already feel her energy beginning to wane once again, so getting some food in her would be good.
Twilight stood up and pushed her chair beneath the desk, then stepped away and began to exit the room. Spike, who had been reading quietly throughout the whole ordeal, noticed the sudden movement and hopped up to join the lavender alicorn. They both stepped out into the hallway, and immediately saw the other five Elements already walking down the hall. It appeared that they heard the door open, as they turned around to see Twilight and Spike walking out.
“Well Twilight, Spike, y’all are just in time!” Applejack said excitedly. “We were just gonna go get some grub.” Twilight nodded in agreement as her stomach rumbled in hunger. She smiled and trotted to catch up with her friends, who began walking as soon as she was with them.
“How was the budget thingy?” Rainbow Dash asked from her position a few feet above the ground.
“Easy,” Twilight said. “It only took me a few hours. And it gave me some energy!”
“Really?” Dash asked. “That gave you energy? And speaking of energy, when is the last time you did some wing-ups? Those wings don’t look as strong as they did when we left Ponyville.” Twilight smiled sheepishly and shrugged, honestly not remembering the last time she had worked on her wings. She knew that she had done it at least once since coming to Canterlot, just not when.
“They’re fine, Rainbow,” Twilight said. “Besides, not much need for me to fly while we’re here.” Rainbow Dash grunted, clearly disagreeing with the alicorn. Twilight chose not to press the issue, and the rest of the walk to the dining hall was in complete silence. When they arrived, Twilight opened the door with her magic and stepped in, finding that Princess Luna was already there. She appeared tired, no doubt from the first half of the day court. The six ponies and dragon all took seats around the table, and quickly told the waiters what they wanted. When the room was clear, Twilight finally spoke.
“How was the court, Luna?” she asked. Luna looked up to her, and frowned.
“I do not like it,” she answered. “I used to complain about not having any ponies in my night court. Now I want that back.”
“Oh…” Twilight said, frowning. “I’m sorry to hear that.”
“Oh, I’m just complaining,” Luna said. “It isn’t horrible. How was the budget allocation?”
“Easy!” Twilight said happily. “It only took me a few hours. Is there anything else I need to do?” Luna stared at Twilight in surprise. For her, balancing the budget had taken all day, and she despised every moment of it.
“Excellent,” she complemented, much to Twilight’s pleasure. “Now, what else can you do…?” As Luna thought, her face fell and became far more serious.
“Twilight…” she began. “I need you to coordinate with Cadance… Figure out what to do with the ponies from Appleloosa until the nanovirus reactivates and… and work on reinforcing all towns and cities in Equestria. We do not know how long the effects of the pulse are going to last, but the least we can do is prepare in advance, like my sister said.”
“Oh…” Twilight said. “Alright, Luna. I’ll do that after lunch…” What followed was another awkward silence, this one lasting until the waiters returned to the room, each one bearing a tray with the meal that each pony had ordered. They made idle conversation as they ate, all of them steering it away from any mention of the geth, the disease, the changelings, or Celestia. This left few things to actually talk about, so the conversation ended up being more of a series of short dialogues given by everypony about something they were doing.
Rainbow Dash was working on a series of new moves that were “super awesome”, Applejack was hoping that her family was having no problems with preparing the farm for winter, Fluttershy was hoping that the animal sitter she had gotten was doing a good job, Pinkie Pie was working on new cake recipes, and Rarity was drawing new dress designs. Each dialogue did not last long, and soon enough each pony simply was satisfied to eat in silence. When they had all finished, Luna stood up and pushed her chair in.
“I’m afraid that I must return to the day court,” she said, not sounding excited about it at all. “I also won’t be able to make it to dinner, for which I apologize. I have a meeting with the my advisors again… We need to figure out… We need to figure out a long-term story for Celestia. We can’t hide what happened from our ponies forever.”
“I’ll be going now, too,” Twilight added, standing up as well. “Cadance and I have work to do.” The remaining ponies all nodded their farewells, then turned back to idle conversation as the two princesses exited. Once they had left the dining hall, Luna turned down one corridor to return to the throne room. Twilight began to walk in the opposite direction, when it suddenly occurred to her that she had no idea where Cadance was. Quickly, Twilight waved down a passing guard.
“Yes, your highness?” he said, bowing.
“I’m looking for Princess Cadance,” Twilight explained. “Do you know where she is?”
“I believe that she is in her quarters, on the second level of the guest wing,” the guard answered. “Do you need an escort?”
“No, that won’t be necessary,” Twilight said, turning and walking down the hall. “Thank you.” The guard bowed once more, then continued on his normal path. Twilight turned down several hallways, finally coming to a stairwell that led to the second level of the massive palace. Directly connected to the stairwell were the guest chambers, where several guards were patrolling. Two guards stayed rooted in place by a door, so Twilight assumed that that room belonged to Cadance. She trotted over to the door and knocked on it, taking a step back. A moment later the door opened, revealing the pink princess.
“Oh, hello Twilight!” Cadance said happily. “Please, come in!” She stepped aside and allowed Twilight to enter into her guestroom. Twilight accepted the invitation and entered, finding that the room looked identical to hers downstairs. Cadance ushered her over to a small chair, and sat down on her unmade bed.
“Sorry about the mess,” Cadance apologized, grabbing her sheets in her telekinesis and doing her best to tuck them in. “I just… didn’t really feel like cleaning up this morning. How have you been?”
“Busy,” Twilight answered, stifling a yawn. “I was up all night reading books about diseases, and this morning Luna had me balance Equestria’s budget…”
“Wow, busy indeed,” the princess of love observed. “I’ve just been getting myself all caught up on everything. I read all of the medical reports before bed last night, then read everything I could about Legion this morning. I really do wish that I had gotten to meet him… What was he like?”
“Not the best conversationalist, admittedly,” Twilight said, smirking. “But he was a great source of information. I learned so much. I wonder if… never mind.”
“What?” Cadance asked curiously.
“Oh, I was just wondering if any of your emotion spells would have worked on him,” Twilight explained, causing Cadance to raise an eyebrow.
“What do you mean?”
“Well, since Legion is a machine, he has no emotions,” Twilight said. “It was a bit sad, actually. All that has happened to his race, and all he can say about it is ‘it was unfortunate’.” Neither pony had anything to add, so what followed was a brief awkward silence. When Cadance did not speak, Twilight stood up and decided to explain why she was here.
“Anyways,” she began. “Luna sent me here to coordinate with you on reinforcing the towns and cities across Equestria. We have no idea how long the nanovirus will be offline, so it is best that we act quickly.”
“Right,” Cadance said. “I think that it goes without saying that Appleloosa is still at the greatest risk. Once that nanovirus is back online, the changelings will attack again.”
“They’ll want to move quickly, before the sick… die,” Twilight added. “But we need to consider defenses other than the Nighthawks. The collectors had no trouble at all tearing them apart, and in larger cities, the Nighthawks will be spread too thin…”
“Let’s be honest, the only thing making the Nighthawks truly useful is the magic wards that they have.” Twilight nodded in agreement.
“Huh… That gives me an idea…” she started. Cadance nodded, urging her to go on. “So far, the wards are the only defense that we have against the nanovirus. What if we had one pony cast the ward spell, then we had a few more ponies amplify it to engulf an entire town or city?”
“Similar to Legion’s electromagnetic pulse?” Cadance asked, receiving a nod from Twilight. “That could work… But it would require unbelievably high amounts of magic… We would have to do it.”
“As long as we cast the spell in places where the disease has not yet hit, we should be fine,” Twilight said. “And this time we can plan for emergency escapes if the changelings do attack us.”
“I think that should work,” Cadance said, nodding. “I will organize an escort for us. You should go inform Luna.” Nodding, Twilight opened Cadance’s door and stepped out into the hall, followed by the princess of love herself. The door closed behind them, and Cadance began walking down the long corridor to the barracks. Twilight went in the opposite direction, which would bring her to the throne room. Luna had only just resumed the day court, but hopefully she would understand why Twilight needed to interrupt her. Moving at a brisk trot, Twilight began to head for the throne room, ready to inform the princess.
Legion continued to stalk through the winding tunnels that made up the changeling hive, its eye constantly searching for anything that seemed out of place. Already it had discovered traces of collector technology, mostly around the pod room. However, that room had a complete lack of any type of terminal or computer, so the geth was forced to move its search elsewhere for data.
So far, it was having no luck. The hive was mostly comprised of tunnels, and what few rooms did exist were completely empty. Fortunately, these rooms were able to serve as spaces for Legion to recharge the tactical cloak emitters, which were beginning to see efficiency drops from prolonged usage.
Changelings were beginning to become a rare sight the further Legion went into the hive. It was not getting deeper, but it was getting further back from the entrance – which, according to Legion’s map generator, was now several miles behind it. There had still been no signs of the collectors at all, and Legion was about to simply turn around and try another tunnel, when suddenly a flash of green caught the geth’s attention.
It had come from the open doors of a large room, which Legion had not given much thought to, as its cloak emitters were well off on power. But once the green flash registered, Legion backtracked and poked its invisible head in through the doorway. As an organic would have said, Legion had ‘struck gold’. The room was filled, floor to ceiling, with pieces of collector technology. Computer terminals, medical machinery, and even some that Legion did not recognize right away. Immediately, Legion stepped into the room and began to scan over it.
It was completely devoid of life, that much Legion was sure about. Deciding not to waste any time, the geth ran up to a computer terminal and immediately began typing on it, attempting to gain access. When Legion was prompted with an encryption screen, it brought up its omni-tool and began creating a workaround to get past it. For the thousand programs inside of the platform, creating the bypass was not difficult. It only took a few minutes, though every minute that passed was one less that Legion had alone in the room.
The collectors clearly used this room, all of the active technology was a testament to that. The fact that Legion had managed to gain entry when no one else was present could be credited to nothing more than sheer luck. With the bypass complete, Legion quickly uploaded it to the computer and began downloading all of the data it could.
The amount of data that the computer held was massive. As every byte of information was copied to the geth’s omni-tool, Legion scanned over it, absorbing the new information. Most was irrelevant – simple research logs on early pony test subjects, dated well over a year ago. But as Legion went further in, it began to find far more interesting material. Most of it was too large for the geth to scan over as it was copied, instead Legion was going to have to read it later.
As the transfer continued, Legion suddenly heard footsteps from outside. They did not have the same pacing as a quadruped, and the sound of claws against the floor led the geth to believe that the culprits were collectors. Quickly pausing the transfer, Legion stepped away from the computer and sunk into the shadows, preparing its shotgun just in case. As it had expected, two changelings entered, one of them holding a metallic case. The pair walked over to a table, upon which were numerous pieces of medical equipment. Among the test tubes, scalpels, and handheld scanners was a tall, featureless cylinder. The collector with empty hands grabbed the cylinder and placed it carefully into the case, which the second collector then closed. Their task complete, the two stepped out of the room, and soon the sound of their footsteps disappeared entirely.
Legion stepped out of the shadows and approached the computer once more, where it continued the data transfer. The geth had a fairly good idea of what was in the cylinder, and what the collectors intended to do with it. It was unlikely that the ponies had properly implemented any plans to defend against the disease, which made it imperative for Legion to finish its mission and return to them. Fortunately, the transfer did not take too much longer to finish, and Legion stepped away from the console.
It did one more visual check over the room to confirm that nothing of interest remained, before it stepped out and began to backtrack to the pod room. With any luck, some of the information that it had downloaded would detail the inner workings of the cocoons, and would allow Legion to free Princess Celestia. Beginning to run a search for any relevant data, Legion transitioned into a jog. Time was of the essence, and Legion did not want to disappoint.
Queen Chrysalis moved at a trot down one of the myriad tunnels of her hive, feeling quite excited about reaching her destination. The pony she was going to visit wasn’t going to be excited, but that was sort of the point. Chrysalis knew that she should not let her numerous victories get in the way, lest she risk doing something rash, but this was an exciting moment. It would not be long now before the collector plan was finished.
After what seemed like ages of walking, Chrysalis finally came to her destination: the main chamber. Quickly navigating to the pod with the one conscious occupant, Chrysalis slowed to a walk and approached with an air of authority. Princess Celestia glared from within the cocoon, which only served to amuse the changeling queen even further. Chuckling to herself, Chrysalis stopped right in front of the pod, and peered inside.
“Hello, Celestia,” she said. “Remember this morning when I told you that the virus was almost ready? Well, I wasn’t lying! It is ready, and tomorrow morning I am sending out my hunters to deploy it! The only reason we are waiting is because a few more pods need to be manufactured. We’ve never done two towns at once before, after all. And with the sudden influx of ponies that we are expecting, well… we’re going to need them…” Celestia glared even more, clearly willing the queen’s death.
“What’s the matter, Celly?” Chrysalis asked mockingly. “Cat got your tongue? You know, according to the collectors, you should be able to speak again already. Are you only staying silent to bother me? Because it’s not working. I’m actually quite content when nopony is interrupting me.” Chrysalis inched forward until her nose was almost touching the glass of the pod. “Come on. Say something. You know you want to…” Celestia’s face contorted with displeasure, and she slowly craned her neck forward.
“Damn… you…” she croaked, her glaring gaze becoming even more penetrating. Chrysalis allowed her authoritative countenance to fall for a brief moment, before regaining it.
“Well, I wasn’t expecting that,” Chrysalis said, smirking. “But it’ll work. So long, Celestia. I will come see you tomorrow when the results are in…” Chuckling quietly, Chrysalis turned around and exited the chamber, unaware of the eye that had watched the whole exchange…
Legion stepped into the light, deactivating its tactical cloak and revealing itself once again to Princess Celestia. The princess’s depressed expression lit up for a moment at the sight of the geth, but fell again as it drew near. Although Legion was not expressing any emotions, Celestia seemed to know that it was the bearer of bad news. The geth approached the pod, and looked into it at the suspended princess.
“Princess Celestia,” it began. “We apologize. We were unable to find any data relating to the pods. Without proper knowledge of the release mechanism, we do not want to risk anything. Opening it could trigger an alarm, or possibly even kill you. We are sorry.” Celestia nodded, and sighed.
“We are… conflicted, Princess Celestia,” Legion continued, drawing a curious stare from the alicorn. “We are unsure of which action to take. We could remain here and continue the collection of information, and possibly find a way to rescue you.” Celestia seemed to brighten at this idea. “Or we could return to Canterlot and warn Princess Luna of the impending attacks.” Celestia’s face fell, but she nodded. “There are risks associated with both options. This is enemy territory – if we are discovered, we will be eliminated. However, the last time we saw Princess Luna, she… she was unhappy. She caused minimal damage to this unit, and requested that we leave and never return.” There was a pause as Celestia took a deep breath, building up the strength to speak.
“Go… help… Luna…” she said slowly, each syllable a painful mountain for her to climb. Legion lingered on for a moment before it nodded and stepped back into the shadows. It reactivated the tactical cloak and, as it began to exit, brought up the 3D map that it had generated of the hive. It was quite extensive, but the exit was clearly marked, and Legion knew the exact route to take. Breaking into a run, Legion began moving up the tunnels to the surface. Princess Celestia’s request had been clear, and Legion intended to follow it. She could be rescued later, once more information had been gathered. But for now, Legion’s priority was the ponies of Equestria.
The chariot landed in the center of Ponyville, slowing to a halt a few feet from the large statue of Princess Celestia. Princesses Twilight, Cadance, and Luna all hopped out of the chariot, while several Nighthawks began scanning the area for trouble. Nothing had been spotted from the air, and life detection spells were not picking anything up, but the princesses were taking no risks. After Appleloosa, they could not afford to…
“I think it’s clear,” Cadance said, receiving a nod of agreement from Twilight. Luna took a quick look around, before she nodded as well.
“Right, then,” Luna said. “Let us get this over with. Who shall cast the ward?”
“I will,” Cadance volunteered. “My amplification spell isn’t quite as powerful as yours, but I can easily cast a ward.”
“Alright, let’s hurry,” Twilight said, beginning to grow anxious. Even though there were no changelings or collectors that they could see, she wanted to return to Canterlot as soon as possible.
Quickly, Luna and Twilight got on either side of Cadance, and lit their horns, preparing the amplification spell. Cadance looked down and closed her eyes in concentration, before her horn began to glow a soft blue. Slowly, the brightness of her magical aura began to grow in intensity, until the two other princesses were forced to close their eyes.
Suddenly, they felt a magical surge rush through them as Cadance cast the spell, and quickly they latched onto it with the amplification. Putting all of the energy she could muster into the spell, Twilight fired off her horn at almost the same instant Luna did, and the magical aura spread throughout Ponyville, encompassing all of the ponies within. It was late, most of them were asleep, and it was likely that none of them knew that they had just had a ward cast on them. With any luck, they would never have to find out. Cadance’s eyes shot open and she began to wobble around, dizzy.
“Whoa…” she said, steadying herself by putting a hoof onto Twilight’s shoulder. “I… it worked…” Twilight nodded.
“Yes,” she agreed. “It worked.”
“Come,” Luna said, stepping back into the chariot. “Cadance, you can rest on the way to our next stop.”
“Where is our next stop, Luna?” Twilight asked, helping Cadance into the chariot.
“Trottingham is the second-closest town to Canterlot, after Ponyville,” Luna answered. “We will go there next. Though I am afraid that doing more than two towns tonight will over-exert dear Cadance, and will take quite a toll on us, Twilight Sparkle. We will have to continue tomorrow night.” Nodding, Twilight sat back as the Nighthawks re-attached themselves to the reins of the chariot and began flapping their wings, taking off into the air.
Corporal Night Flyer of the Royal Guard had had a very long day. In-between dealing with pesky nobles and escorting Princess Luna throughout the palace, his recent promotion from private had proven to be quite tiring. Fortunately, his shift was due to end in only ten minutes. Thinking over what to do to waste ten minutes, Night Flyer finally settled on going to check on the loading docks at the back of the palace. Ever since that machine had left, the docks had been as quiet as usual, and were a good spot for a guard to waste the last few minutes of his shift.
The walk to the docks had taken a full five minutes, so all Night was going to have to do was step in, take a quick peek, then walk back to the barracks to turn in for the night. Easy as pie.
… Or not.
As Night poked his head into the loading docks, he heard a very strange noise. It was a low whining, like nothing he had ever heard. Stepping fully into the docks, Night crept silently through the crates, trying to find the source of the noise. His search finally led him to the very edge of the docks, which looked out over the expansive Equestrian landscape. Any other night he would have taken a few moments to admire the beauty of the land, but tonight his eyes were drawn to one thing: a dot growing larger on the horizon. It was too small and too fast to be a dragon, yet too large to be a pegasus or a chariot… Night Flyer’s eyes widened as the realization of what it was dawned on him, and he instinctively took a few steps back.
The machine’s spaceship shot over Night and slowed to a hover just a few feet away, where it lowered to the ground and turned off. The low whining noise faded away, and a door on the side of the spaceship opened, revealing the machine standing in the portal. It jumped out onto the deck of the loading docks, and urgently approached Night Flyer.
“Retrieve Princess Luna,” it said. “We have an urgent message.”
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AWWWW YEAH!
I wonder if Luna might try to break Legion when he mention Celestia is alive, or possibly hug him when he tells he knows where she is...I'm hoping Legion survives.
Species mismatch
you got featured
As the transfer continued, Legion suddenly heard footsteps from outside. They did not have the same pacing as a quadruped, and the sound of claws against the floor led the geth to believe that the culprits were collectors. Quickly pausing the transfer, Legion stepped away from the computer and sunk into the shadows, preparing its shotgun just in case. As it had expected, two changelings entered, one of them holding a metallic case. The pair walked over to a table, upon which were numerous pieces of medical equipment. Among the test tubes, scalpels, and handheld scanners was a tall, featureless cylinder. The collector with empty hands grabbed the cylinder and placed it carefully into the case, which the second collector then closed. Their task complete, the two stepped out of the room, and soon the sound of their footsteps disappeared entirely.
Also, you changed your name.
And then the Avatar came and restore balance to the world.
The end.
there's......another Legion-in-Equestria fic? FAV'D. FAV'D SO HARD.
"As it had expected, two changelings entered, one of them holding a metallic case. The pair walked over to a table, upon which were numerous pieces of medical equipment."
Don't you mean "two collectors"?
5518739
Ah, the Reaper tech. I forgot about that since Shepard and his crew seemed fine when they were on the 'disabled' Collector ship. But yes, that is something else that was Legion forgot to mention.
I guess that's the ninth that got overlooked in this chapter.
5520258
Seriously? I was waiting for the author to comment before progressing, but if what you say is true. Then, I see no reason to continue reading this.
~reads next chapters~
*sigh*
Another story with so much promise added to the dropped list. This now makes six.
GEE
I WONDER WHY :V
LEGION TO THE RESCUE!! PLEASE let things go smoothly...!
...do you mean Changelings disguised as Pegasi? You know, since MLP Canon only has two types of Changelings, and one of them is Queen Cheese Legs herself. Otherwise, I am confused.
... Hmmm... she has a point... send in Garrus...
Since when did the Collector turn into a Changeling? (The mistake is pretty clear here, so hoping to point this out.)
Damn... This story might yet have a happy ending.
I wonder if Celestia will have permanent damage. Closing up a wound don't negate damage...