CHAPTER 16
CHAPTER 16
“Human history is a litany of blood shed over differing ideals of rulership and afterlife. Geth have no such history.”
Chrysalis led the collector captain down the tunnels of her hive to the deepest reaches, where scarcely any of her changelings ever visited. This section was home only to the ponies who had been kidnapped already, and who were, one at a time, being dissolved into their most basic forms. The main chamber where the ponies were being stored stretched up for hundreds of meters, with new, empty pods now situated on the walls. The ponies of Ponyville and Trottingham had been infected, so it was only a matter of time until the changelings began their hunting operations there as well.
Once they were inside of the main chamber, Chrysalis navigated through the maze of pods on the ground level, constantly aware of the tall collector captain shadowing her every step. Finally she stopped in front of Princess Celestia’s pod, the occupant of which had once again fallen asleep. Chrysalis knocked on the outside several times, bringing the princess out of her rest.
“Wake up!” she shouted rudely, much to Celestia’s chagrin. Abruptly waking up, the princess glared at Chrysalis for a moment, before her eyes passed over the giant collector towering over the queen. At the sight of the alien, Celestia’s glare faltered and her eyes split wide open in surprise.
“Celestia, this is the collector in charge of the whole operation,” Chrysalis said, motioning to the captain. “He wants to speak with you.” The captain stepped in front of the pod, his six golden eyes shining over the princess.
“Pony,” he spat. “As we speak, two more of your primitive villages are being overrun with my nanovirus. It is only a matter of time before the disease spreads all across your country and your kind will finally be put to use.”
“You’ll… never… win…” Celestia stammered, struggling to speak through the green liquid keeping her suspended in the pod.
“Fool,” the collector said. “We have already won. You have no means of combatting this disease, and an alliance with the geth will only bring you ruin. Your kind may fight, but it will be for nothing. Know this as you die in vain: your sacrifice will never be known. You will never be praised as heroes. You will die without anyone knowing you even existed.”
“Sacrifice…?” Celestia asked weakly. “What… sacrifice?”
“You will know soon enough, pony…” the captain answered. “You will know soon enough.” The captain spun around and marched away, soon disappearing into the shadows. Chrysalis smirked at Celestia as she turned and followed the collector out, leaving the princess alone to stare at her subjects, unconscious in their pods…
Legion stood in its bedroom, continuing to go over data with its left arm outstretched and the omni-tool active. Even though it was a relatively inefficient use of resources, Legion had every single program within it devoted to going over the data in an effort to find any useful information quicker. Occasionally a few programs would drop out to make sure no one had come to visit, but for the most part it remained unmoving in the center of the room.
Suddenly, Legion began to receive a notification on its omni-tool. Only half-interested, a program was sent from the data analysis to the notification center of the omni-tool to see what message it was receiving. As soon as the message had been analyzed, many more programs dropped out of the data analysis to bring the unit fully back online for emergency response. Looking around the room, Legion sprinted out of its door and entered the hallway beyond, startling two guards who were on patrol in this section of the castle. Legion ran down the hallway to Twilight Sparkle’s door and urgently knocked several times. The door opened a moment later, revealing the young princess looking up to the geth.
“Legion?” Twilight asked. “What is it?”
“We have a problem,” Legion replied, stepping into Twilight’s guest room. Her dragon friend, Spike, was sitting on the bed reading a book, though his attention switched to the geth the instant it entered the room.
“What’s wrong?” Twilight asked, becoming nervous. “Did you find something in the data you got from the collectors?”
“No,” Legion began. “As we were going over the data, a notification was received from several subroutines that we installed in the crashed collector ship. The subroutines had been placed there to monitor power output and keep a link to the data collected from the sick pegasus. The subroutines reported a massive spike in power output before our connection to them was severed.”
“What does that mean?” Spike asked, hopping off of the bed and joining Twilight.
“The data readings sent by the subroutines reported a release of four-point-one-eight-four times ten to the twelfth energy joules,” the geth explained. “These readings are synonymous with an explosion of one kiloton of TNT. That, combined with the fact that we have lost connection to the subroutines, leads us to believe that there was indeed a massive explosion.”
“Princess Luna is up there!” Twilight exclaimed, her eyes widening in worry. “Legion, what do we do?”
“We should investigate at once,” Legion answered. “Retrieve as many soldiers and doctors as you can, then meet us in the docks. We will be waiting.” Twilight nodded, then sprinted from her room, disappearing in an instant. Legion was not far behind her, though it took a different route, instead heading directly for the docks. A kiloton-sized explosion was massive, and though Legion did not know just how large the buried ship was, it would be enough to deal a significant amount of damage.
A few moments later Legion came to the door of the docks, upon which was a sign labelled ‘CLOSED’, likely to keep the presence of its ship a secret. Legion pushed the door opened and stepped out into the mountain alcove, then navigated through it to its ship. The craft was waiting where Legion had left it, and the door remained open. The geth stepped inside and entered the cockpit, immediately starting to activate the systems.
Legion heard the sound of hooves against metal as a pony entered the ship, and Legion turned around to confirm it as being Twilight Sparkle. She stepped into the cockpit, appearing troubled. Entering the ship after her were several guards and doctors, each one expressing confusion as to what was occurring. The doctors had saddlebags with them, each one filled with medical equipment.
“Is this everyone?” Legion asked as the last of the ponies got aboard. The back of the ship was quite crowded, but weight limits were not yet being exceeded. The flight would be safe.
“Yes,” Twilight answered. “It’s all I could get on such short notice. I’ve also arranged for several chariots to follow us, but they’re not as fast as your ship…”
“They will be far behind,” Legion said as it took a seat in the pilot’s chair. “We are taking a different route this time.”
“Oh?” Twilight asked, sitting down next to the geth. “How are we getting there?”
“If there was an explosion, then time is of the essence,” it started to explain. “With this in mind, it will be quicker to exit the atmosphere and then re-enter, as opposed to staying close to the ground. We only used the latter route before to conserve fuel.”
“You mean we’re going to space!?” Twilight asked exuberantly, her eyes growing wide.
“For a few minutes, yes,” the geth answered. A massive grin formed on Twilight’s face, before it suddenly disappeared.
“Too bad this ship doesn’t have windows…” she whispered.
“Windows are structural weaknesses,” Legion explained. “Geth do not use them. We will display external camera views on the main screen. All passengers, prepare for takeoff.” The sound of the engines activating filled the cabin as the ship began to tremble, and the view from the main screen showed them backing out of the loading docks. Once they were clear of the mountain alcove, Legion angled the ship and throttled up on the engines, taking them higher into the sky.
“The ship… is supposed to be shaking, right?” Twilight asked, a hint of anxiety seeping into her voice.
“Yes,” Legion answered. “It will persist as we exit the atmosphere, however no damage will be sustained. We will be fine.” Twilight sighed, but she still looked fairly nervous sitting in her chair. The ponies in the back of the ship seemed even more nervous, as they were forced to stand due to a lack of chairs.
Suddenly, one of Legion’s indicators began beeping rapidly, and a flashing red light filled the cabin. Twilight looked around, her anxiety growing.
“Legion!” she cried. “What’s that!?”
“We have reached the altitude required to engage the main thrusters,” the geth explained. “Brace for activation.” Legion pressed several buttons on a control panel, then was pushed back into its seat as the main engines fired, sending the ship away at escape velocity.
A few seconds later and it was over. The main thrusters deactivated, and RCS thrusters deployed from the hull. Legion cruised above the planet, bringing them in over where the collector ship had crashed. It then synced all of the displays in the cockpit to the forward-facing external camera, filling the screens with a view of Equis. Twilight’s pupils widened as she stared at the image in awe.
“Wow…” she said quietly. “That’s…” Whatever word she was going to say was lost in her excitement, and a few seconds later some of the ponies from the back of the ship were struggling to get into the cockpit to see the view of their home. The cockpit was filled with sounds of amazement as the ponies saw their world for the first time.
Twilight continued to silently stare at the image in awe, when suddenly something caught her eye. She pointed a hoof to it, directing Legion’s photoreceptor to a part of the image.
“Look,” she said. “Is that… smoke?” Legion focused on the region where she was pointing, and nodded.
“Yes,” it answered. “It is originating from the site where the collector ship crashed. If we can see the plume from orbit, the explosion must have been incredibly large. We must go at once. All passengers, prepare for atmospheric reinsertion.” The ponies all scrambled to return to their positions in the back of the ship as Legion throttled up, beginning to take them back into the atmosphere.
The main display shut off as flames engulfed the external camera, instead displaying a chart of their course. The bottom half of the display was dominated by the northern hemisphere of Equis, and the top half had a parabolic course marking their takeoff and landing coordinates. A small dot on the parabola, representing the ship, was moving quickly back towards the planet.
The ship shook violently as it broke through the layers of the atmosphere, until finally the external camera came back online and showed them flying quickly towards the large plume of smoke they had seen from orbit.
As they neared the crash site, Legion began to spot many things that had changed. For one, the area where the collector ship had once been was now a massive hole in the ground, stretching on for at least a kilometer. Flames and debris dotted the landscape for miles around the site of the explosion, and Legion occasionally caught site of what looked like motionless ponies on the ground. Quickly, Legion navigated to a spot that was free of debris and landed the ship. Once the ship was safely on the ground, Legion stood from its chair and exited the cockpit, then entered into the aft compartment. All eyes were on the geth, waiting for it to say something.
“We have arrived,” Legion reported. “As we expected, there has been a massive explosion. Our priority is to locate survivors and secure them for transportation. All critically injured ponies will be placed here to be brought back to Canterlot. Any ponies with mild injuries will be returned in the chariots that Twilight Sparkle ordered, once they arrive. Leave all dead.”
An anxious murmur spread throughout the crowd as they went over Legion’s orders. The geth turned to the door and opened it, allowing the biting cold to enter the ship. Legion itself was not affected by the freezing temperatures, but the few earth pony doctors appeared to immediately tense up. The pegasi seemed to have a much higher tolerance for cold, but a general rustling of feathers told Legion that they would not last long either. The unicorns would be fine with their heating spells.
“If you do not have a heating spell, do not remain outside for long,” Legion added. “If you feel as though you are too cold, return to the ship. Do not add yourself to the list of casualties.” Legion wasted no time in jumping into the snow, where it immediately scanned over the landscape for survivors. Closer to the explosion site Legion saw the charred corpses of dead ponies, but further away some could have made it. Just as Legion began to set off to check further from the crash site, Twilight Sparkle jumped down beside it.
“Do you see Luna anywhere?” she asked nervously.
“No,” Legion answered. “Though she is a priority. We will look together.” Twilight nodded, following the geth as it jogged through the snow, its single eye scanning all over for any surviving pony. The soldiers and doctors who had accompanied them were busily doing the same, though so far they were seeing no luck. The biting cold winds also were preventing all but the unicorns from staying out for long, so progress was slow.
Suddenly, as Legion searched several hundred meters from the site of the explosion, a spot of dark blue standing out against the white snow caught its attention. It whipped its curved head to the spot, rushing over as soon as it recognized Princess Luna.
“Twilight Sparkle!” it called. “Princess Luna has been located!” Twilight rushed over to the geth, then crouched over the motionless form of Princess Luna. Her fur was disheveled and covered in scrapes and burn marks, and a thin layer of frost covered her coat. The most alarming thing, however, was the long piece of debris jutting from her chest where her torc once was. A small pool of blood had formed in the snow beneath her, but most of it seemed to have been stopped by the debris.
“Oh, god…” Twilight gasped. “Is she… dead…?” Legion scanned the princess’s form, looking for any indication of life. Had it not been a machine, it would likely have missed the very shallow rise and fall of her chest, and would not have been able to detect the very minor heartbeat.
“If she remains here, she will be,” Legion replied. “Her heartrate is incredibly low, and breathing is shallow. Hypothermia appears to be setting in as well. She must be moved.”
“Is that safe?” the lavender alicorn asked nervously.
“We have no other option,” the geth said. “Please alert the doctors that the princess has been recovered. We will bring her to our ship.” Twilight nodded, then got to her hooves and sprinted away, calling for the doctors as she did. Legion gingerly picked up the motionless form of the princess, careful not to move her too much. It did not know how deep the debris was, and it did not want to risk causing more internal bleeding. Once Luna was comfortably being held in Legion’s arms, the geth turned around and began jogging back to its ship, trying as hard as it could not to bounce her around too much.
As it jogged, Legion observed other pony doctors at work in the field of debris, looking for any other survivors. A few seem to have actually found some, but most were having no luck at all. Given the magnitude of the explosion, the fact that Princess Luna had survived was nothing short of a miracle. However, being an alicorn, Legion hypothesized that she possessed some inherent benefits over regular ponies when it came to being damaged.
A few minutes later, Legion finally reached the door to its ship. Twilight Sparkle stood just outside, waiting for the geth to enter. As it neared the ship, Legion spotted the movement of several doctors bustling around inside. Twilight stepped aside as soon as Legion drew near and allowed the geth entry, then followed it inside and closed the door. The cold was immediately cut off, protecting the ponies inside from the sub-zero temperatures. Legion carefully set Luna on the floor of the aft compartment, stepping back as the doctors surrounded her, examining every inch of her body. A moment later they drew back, and one doctor approached Twilight Sparkle and Legion.
“She’s critical,” he reported. “Hypothermia has already set in. Her core temperature is ninety-one degrees Fahrenheit, and we’re registering that her pulse is weak and erratic. We’re going to start using a warming spell on her, but without proper facilities, she will die.”
“What about the debris?” Twilight asked nervously.
“We have yet to examine the full extent of the damage caused by it,” the doctor answered. “But it’s in pretty deep. Based on her breathing we think it may have broken through one of her lungs, and possibly even gone straight through. Right now the debris is the only thing keeping her from bleeding out, so for now we really have no choice but to leave it in. Once we know more about it, which won’t be until we’re back in Canterlot, we can try removing it.”
“Acknowledged,” Legion said. “We will leave immediately.” It turned to enter the cockpit, but was stopped by Twilight Sparkle.
“But what about the other doctors and guards?” she asked.
“This is too important,” Legion continued. “We must leave immediately. They can return on the chariots you ordered.” Twilight sighed and nodded, then followed the geth into the cockpit. Legion sat in the pilot seat and Twilight took her regular seat next to it, and the geth began to activate the ship systems. There was a quiet thump as they left the ground, and Legion maneuvered the ship into position to once again re-enter the atmosphere. It throttled up on the engines, and in seconds they were gone.
The flight back to Canterlot was a quiet one. The doctors were busy keeping Luna alive in the back of the ship while Legion was quickly piloting them back down through the atmosphere to Canterlot. Twilight simply sat in her chair, her mind racing over the events of the past day.
Luna was in bad shape, and the doctors had no idea what the extent of the damage was. Tears threatened to surface Twilight’s eyes as she was faced with the very real idea that Luna may not make it. But she forced them down, and put Equestria in the forefront of her mind. No matter what, Luna was going to be out of commission for a while, and with Celestia being held captive by the changelings, leadership of Equestria fell down to her and Cadance. Twilight gulped nervously as the prospect of true leadership washed over her. She had been a leader before, sure – in group projects back in her school days, organizing the Winter Wrap-Up every year – but it had never been on a scale as grand as running a country. Fear crept into Twilight’s mind as she began to doubt her ability.
Shaking her head, Twilight banished the apprehensive thoughts. Right now Equestria came first, and right now, Equestria needed her. The shaking of the ship that Twilight had started to become used to subsided, and they shot through the upper cloud layer, revealing the mountain city of Canterlot just a few kilometers from their position. Twilight turned her head around and peered into the back compartment, watching the doctors busy at work trying to preserve Luna’s life until they arrived.
A few moments later they shot into the loading docks, coming to a halt just shy of smashing into the wall. The ship gently lowered to the ground, landing on the deck with a soft thump. As soon as they touched down, Legion shot up from his chair and entered the back compartment, with Twilight not far behind him.
“I’ll go on ahead and tell the doctors and surgeons to get ready for her,” Twilight offered. “You can follow behind, but be careful.”
“Acknowledged,” Legion said, crouching to the ground. He gently slid his three-fingered hands beneath Luna’s still form and slowly picked her up, trying not to move her too much. As soon as Twilight was satisfied that Legion had a grip on the princess, she turned and hopped out of the door, then began sprinting for the entrance to the castle itself.
Once inside, Twilight began running down a hallway, mentally trying to recall the path to the royal hospital. It was connected to the medical wing, that much she knew, but Twilight had not had to visit the royal hospital often. Only once had she ever had to go there, due to her passing out from attempting a more advanced magic spell as a filly. Even then she had been unconscious when Celestia carried her there, so her memory of the whole event was foggy at best.
Luck was on her side, however, when she rounded a corner and almost slammed right into a guard. The guard stepped back, surprised, but bowed once he recognized Princess Twilight. He was filled with even more surprised as Twilight placed her hooves on his shoulders and brought her face right up to his.
“Where is the royal hospital!?” she asked, a bit louder than she had intended.
“I can escort you there, your highness,” the guard answered. “But, and forgive me, you do not look injured. Is everything okay?” Taking a deep breath, Twilight released the guard and stepped back.
“I am fine,” she said, sighing. “But Princess Luna is not. Please do not spread that information around, I don’t want to start a panic. Please, take me to the hospital.” Saluting, the guard turned around and began jogging down the hallway with Twilight not far behind.
As she was led through the hallways of the labyrinthine castle to the royal hospital, the route began to refresh itself in Twilight’s mind. A few moments later the guard stopped at a large door with a red cross above it. Nodding her thanks to the guard, Twilight stepped into the royal hospital. Immediately her nose caught the pungent scent of antiseptic. The whole place was even cleaner than the main castle, which, considering just how many service staff the palace had, did not seem possible. Stepping up to the front desk, Twilight rang a small silver bell. A moment later, a nurse cantered into the room.
“Your highness!” she greeted, bowing. “How can I help you this evening?” Evening? Twilight thought. It suddenly hit her that Princess Luna was completely incapable of raising the moon and lowering the sun. She was going to have to find Cadance to see if they could pool their magic and do it together. Shaking her head to clear her mind, Twilight focused on the task at hoof.
“We have an emergency,” the young princess said, causing an anxious expression to spread across the nurse’s face. “Princess Luna has been critically injured. We need all of your best ponies prepared immediately.”
“What is the nature of her injuries?” the nurse asked, withdrawing a clipboard.
“Multiple minor burn wounds, hypothermia, and a piece of debris embedded in her chest,” Twilight listed. The nurse wrote quickly on her clipboard, then urgently turned around and began to sprint out of the room.
“I’ll have our best surgeons prepared immediately!” she called as she disappeared past a door into a long hallway. No sooner did the door finish closing than the main door opened and Legion stepped inside, still holding the motionless form of Luna in his two arms. The doctors who accompanied them back from the crash site were behind him, some of their horns alight to keep the princess alive.
“The nurse just went back to prepare the doctors for her,” Twilight reported, nervously walking over to the geth. Legion nodded and met her halfway in the middle of the waiting room.
“They must be urgent,” Legion said. “Not long after you left, Princess Luna’s heart failed for seventeen seconds. It began beating again on its own, but her pulse is weak.” Gulping nervously, Twilight began pacing around the room, waiting for the nurse to come back. What is taking her so long? She thought, even though the nurse had only left less than a minute ago.
After another minute had passed, the door leading further into the hospital flew open and the nurse re-entered, freezing as she caught sight of the geth holding the body of her princess. Her eyes widened in fear as her mouth opened slightly, trying to find words to say. Sensing her discomfort, Twilight stepped forward and put a hoof on the nurse’s shoulder.
“This is Legion,” she said. “He’s a friend. You don’t need to worry.” The nurse nodded slowly, though she did not seem to feel any better. She turned her head to Twilight and finally found the ability to speak.
“The… the doctors are ready for her…” she said, her voice quavering. “Please follow me…” Nodding, Twilight motioned for the nurse to take the lead, which she did after another moment of staring at the geth. Twilight and Legion fell into step behind her as she walked quickly down the hallway, though she made sure not to run so that Legion could keep up while holding his cargo.
The room that had been prepared for Luna was only a few doors down the hall. Stepping inside, the first thing that Twilight saw was a flat table in the center. Surrounding it were smaller tables, each of which held small boxes of surgical supplies. Above the table was a very bright light, hovering on its own accord a few inches below the ceiling. At the back of the room was an elevated window, behind which was an observation room for ponies to wait in. Legion stepped further into the surgical room, gingerly placing the still form of Princess Luna on the central table. As soon as he stepped back, several surgeons dressed in sterile scrub suits rushed forth and began to examine the princess. Legion rejoined Twilight at the door to the room, watching as the surgeons scanned over Luna’s body.
“We should wait up there,” Twilight said, pointing to the observation room with a hoof. Legion nodded in agreement and they both stepped out, closing the door behind them. She led them down another hallway with a short flight of stairs which led up to the observation room. They stepped inside and approached the window, looking down over the doctors.
“Can the wound not simply be healed with magic?” Legion asked curiously.
“No,” Twilight began. “Magic is very versatile; it can reset bones and stitch flesh, but it cannot simply revert a pony to how they were before they were wounded. We have to be very careful during surgeries like this; for example, we cannot simply teleport the debris out of her. To do so would release all of the blood that it is backing up and could kill her. We have to remove it very carefully, and do everything one at a time.”
“Interesting,” Legion observed. The two watched on in silence for a few more minutes as the doctors draped a thermal blanket over the back half of the princess, leaving her injured chest exposed.
“… I should go,” Twilight said after several more minutes had passed. “I need to find some way to raise the moon. If it doesn’t raise then that will only cause a panic, and we’ll have a big problem on our hooves…”
“We will remain here,” the geth said. “This unit possesses some knowledge of medical practices used by organics. We do not have any of the technology required to reproduce the practices perfectly, but should the doctors require assistance, we can render it.” Twilight nodded, then turned around and left the room. As soon as she was out, she turned down the hallway and began walking back to the main castle. By herself Twilight could never hope to raise the moon and lower the sun, but with the help of Cadance it could be possible.
Cadance was not difficult for the lavender princess to find, as she almost ran right into her upon re-entering the waiting room. Cadance smiled at Twilight, only to have her expression sour as she saw Twilight’s worried one.
“Twilight, I was just looking for you,” she said. “A guard told me you had come here, what happened?”
“It’s Princess Luna…” Twilight started. “It’s… bad… She was up at the ship crash site when the whole ship exploded. I don’t know how, I forgot to ask Legion. When we got there she was barely alive. The doctors are working on her now.”
“Is she going to be okay!?” Cadance cried nervously. Twilight shook her head in response.
“I have no idea,” she answered. “Like I said, it’s bad. But she’s strong. I hope she’ll be able to pull through.” Nodding, Cadance slumped to the floor and sighed.
“What do we do?” she asked.
“First and foremost, we need to figure out how to raise the moon,” Twilight replied. “I’m not positive, but I think that if we pool our magic, we should be able to do it. And I’ve gone stargazing enough times to know the path that it should take once it rises, so we should be fine…” Cadance nodded once more, then stood and turned to the door.
“We can use my room to do it,” she offered. “It’s a bit larger and more comfortable than in here.”
“Alright,” Twilight said, following her sister-in-law out into the hallway beyond the waiting room. They navigated through the maze of corridors, finally climbing up a flight of stairs to get to the second floor of the castle, which deposited them almost right at Cadance’s room. Cadance opened the door and walked inside with Twilight right behind her, and began to walk to the door to her balcony.
“Um,” Twilight began, stopping the princess. “I think we should do it inside.”
“Doesn’t it have to be done outside?” Cadance asked.
“I don’t think so,” Twilight answered. “I saw Celestia lower the sun and raise the moon while indoors plenty of times as a filly. Besides, I don’t want to risk anyone seeing us. It would just cause questions.” Nodding, Cadance turned and joined Twilight in the center of the room.
“So… what should we do?” she asked. Twilight froze as she realized she did not really have any clue about how to lower the sun and raise the moon. She dug into the depths of her memory, trying to find anything that Celestia had said to her about it in the past. It would never have been a part of her studies, but Twilight was a curious mare. Perhaps she had asked…
Finally, memories began to resurface of a time when she had asked the princess how raising the sun went. Being an alicorn, Celestia had the ability to reach out and mentally connect with the sun. Then, using her magic, she willed it to raise or lower, depending on the time. It sounded simple in concept, but Twilight had no doubt that it was going to be difficult.
“Just combine your magic with mine and I’ll take control,” she said, lighting her horn. “Let’s go.” Cadance’s horn lit with a light blue aura, and slowly small tendrils of magical energy began to seep out. They navigated over to Twilight and joined with her horn, changing the regular lavender color to a very light pink. Twilight accepted the additional energy as reached out for the moon which lay just beneath the horizon.
It was not difficult for her magic to find it. The moon was a massive object, and felt quite distinct from the sun. Where the sun was not solid and radiated heat, the moon was rough, hard, and cold. She gripped it with her magic, and suddenly felt a presence connect with her. It was not an organic presence, but it was definitely magical. It reached out to her, offering her its power. Twilight graciously accepted, but found that, even with the extra energy, her grip on the moon was beginning to slip away. Hurrying, Twilight focused solely on the presence that had entered her mind, and thought a single thought in her mind. Rise.
Slowly, Twilight felt the great lunar orb begin to rise over the horizon, though by now her eyes had closed and she could not see it. She could also feel the sun giving up its position on the opposite horizon as it began to slip out of view. Quickly calling forth her knowledge on lunar paths around Equis, Twilight focused on the one appropriate for this late in the year, and set the moon upon the path. Just as her grip threatened to give way on its own, Twilight released control of the moon and slowly opened her eyes.
Her jaw went slack as she looked out of Cadance’s window at the view that now presented itself to her. Hanging low in the sky, just beginning its ascent, was the moon. Its bright pale light twinkled in her eyes as she attempted to wrap her head around the fact that she had made it rise.
“Well done, Twilight,” Cadance said tiredly from beside her. “Imagine how Princess Luna will react when she wakes up. She’ll be proud.” Twilight could not reply at first. She found herself drawn to the moon in a way she had never felt before. This must be how Luna feels, she thought. Finally it occurred to her that she should reply to her sister-in-law, so she turned to face her and smiled.
“You had just as much a part to play in this as I did, Cadance,” she said weakly, finding that her stores of energy were very low. “She’ll be proud of both of us.” Cadance smiled, then stood and turned around.
“Come on, we should get something to eat,” she suggested. “It’ll do us some good.” Yawning, Twilight stood and followed Cadance to the entrance of her bedroom. They both stepped out into the hallway, turning down the hall and beginning the familiar route to the dining room.
The journey was made in silence, as they were both simply too exhausted to bother with conversation. However, they both showed an amount of surprise on their faces when they arrived at the doors to the dining hall and heard voices already inside. Twilight pushed the door open (using her hooves rather than her magic), and instantly the conversation stopped. Twilight felt several different sets of eyes on her as she entered, and looked up to find her Ponyville friends already sitting down around the table. Spike was with them, a large bowl of gems in front of him.
“Howdy, Twilight! Howdy, Princess Cadance!” Applejack greeted, waving them over to the table. Twilight and Cadance nodded their greetings and sat down next to one another at the table.
“Where’ve you guys been?” Rainbow Dash asked curiously. “Spike told us you went with Legion to the crash site, but he said he didn’t know why. What’s up?” Sighing, Twilight looked to her pegasus friend and got ready to explain.
“The ship is gone,” she said, much to the surprise of her friends. “It exploded, I have no idea how. We saw… we saw a lot of bodies. I saw very few intact ones… Fortunately, Princess Luna was among the few survivors, but she’s in really bad shape. Legion and I brought her back here and she’s currently being treated…”
“Oh heavens, dear!” Rarity said, holding a hoof to her mouth. “Is she going to be alright?”
“I hope so…” Cadance said. “I didn’t get to see her, but from what Twilight told me, it’s bad.”
“That’s awful…” Fluttershy said quietly. “Where is she? Maybe I can help…”
“I’m sure she’ll be grateful for the offer, Fluttershy,” Twilight began. “But she’s in good hooves. The doctors at the royal hospital are the best of the best.”
“Good…” Fluttershy said. “But… What about the other ponies who were up there?”
“Anypony else who survived is being brought back on chariots,” Cadance explained. “They’ll be here in a couple of hours.”
“Why do you guys look so tired?” Dash asked, stretching out her wings. “You look like you ran all the way to the crash site and back.” Twilight and Cadance exchanged amused glances before turning back to the other Elements, and Twilight opened her mouth to speak.
“We were raising the moon,” she said nonchalantly. Spike began to choke on his drink as soon as the words left Twilight’s mouth, and he quickly excused himself to stop coughing.
“You were… raising the moon?” Rarity asked, receiving a nod from Twilight. “As in, the moon outside? The big space rock that orbits us?” This time, Cadance nodded.
“Awesome!” Dash shouted, leaping out of her chair and hovering above the table. “How did you guys manage that? I thought only Celestia and Luna could control the sun and moon?”
“It wasn’t easy,” Twilight said. “We had to completely pool our magic. And now I think if I tried lifting something my horn might short out, so I’m making do with hooves.”
“Well, what’re you gonna do about the sun in the morning?” Applejack asked, causing Twilight and Cadance to freeze.
“… Maybe Luna will be better by then…” Cadance whispered. Twilight nodded in agreement while her friends laughed at the expense of the princesses. It was at this point that the door to the dining hall reopened, and Spike entered once again, this time followed by Legion. They both took seats around the table, and all eyes were on the geth.
“Legion, how is Luna?” Twilight asked, concerned.
“The doctors were successful in raising her core temperature to an acceptable number,” Legion reported. “They ran scans to determine how deep the piece of debris was in her chest. Results were… not promising. Her right lung has been penetrated, and several ribs are broken. Blood has begun to back up in the wound, and there are several sources of internal bleeding. Smaller pieces of debris that we did not initially detect were also found embedded in her stomach and are being removed as we speak. Additionally, a team is discussing how to best remove the large piece of debris without causing too much trauma or killing her.”
“How long until she’s going to be okay again?” Rainbow Dash asked.
“The doctors expect that the surgical procedures will continue for at least another six hours. Following that, she will be likely be unconscious for anywhere between twenty-four and thirty-six hours. Recovery times after that depend on her condition following the surgical procedure.” Twilight quietly cursed under her breath at the delay. With Celestia captured and Luna out of commission for almost two days, she and Cadance were going to have a lot of work to do to keep Equestria afloat. Additionally, if the changelings caught wind of Luna’s incapacitation, they would take the opportunity to infect many more cities. Gulping nervously, Twilight nodded and stood up from her chair.
“Thank you for the information, Legion,” she said. “Girls, please have a meal sent to my room. I have… preparations to make.” Without waiting for a response, Twilight turned and left the room, closing the large door behind her. Her friends watched her go, confused, but chose not to go after her. When Twilight set her mind on something, one was not likely to deter her.
The collector captain sat in a dark room in the hive of the changelings. Two collector drones guarded the door behind him, keeping any curious changelings away from the chamber. The only source of light in the room came from a red hologram positioned in the center of the room, which cast its hellish glow over the room. Beams of the red light crept up the curved walls of the room and illuminated the tiny cracks in the stone, out of which crawled the occasional insect. The red hologram lit up the featureless face of the captain, who leaned over the design presented in front of him.
The first few samples collected from the dissolved ponies had been very promising. The genetic material would go a long way towards completing their plan. For the collectors on Equis, and perhaps in the whole galaxy, this plan was their last hope. It was not going to be easy, nor was it going to be quick, but it had to be done. The ponies were prime subjects to use, and with their technological primitiveness, there was no way for them to fight back. The geth was a temporary setback, and it would return, the captain had no doubt about that. But when it did, the trap that the collector had devised would be sprung. Once the geth was out of the way, there would be nothing to stop them.
The collector leaned back and the hologram of the design faded away, draping the room in an eerie blackness. A moment later it was broken as the room was illuminated by soft blue lights interspersed along the walls of the room. They were not bright, but did enough to show where the edges of the room were. The collector captain spun on his heel and stomped out of the room, heading for his laboratory. On the way he intercepted a lone changeling, who he grabbed by the wing and held before him.
“You,” he said. “Inform your queen that she is to meet me in my laboratory immediately.” Shaking with fear, the changeling nodded, and the captain dropped him back to the floor. He slowly got to his hooves, then galloped down the tunnel to find Chrysalis. The captain continued on his path to his laboratory, considering his current situation. The nanovirus samples he had been creating would be done soon, so now would be a good time to plan their next move. Time was growing shorter with each passing day, and if the plan was not completed by the Arrival, then all of their work would have gone to waste.
As the captain approached his lab, he saw Chrysalis already stepping inside. The queen had proven to be a very useful ally these past several months. Without her, they never would have learned of the power that the ponies held within them. The power that the collectors could harness. The power that would give them their revenge…
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"Without her, they never would have learned of the power that the ponies held within them. The power that the collectors could harness. The power that would give them their revenge..."
So the Collectors are trying to harness the power of magic to fight the Reapers?
Oh......don't you DARE turn Celestia into a husk!
Revenge on the Reapers, or revenge on Shepard? That's the question.
I just hope that they'll find out what's the problem, before it's too late.
The more I read about the changeling and the collectors the more pathetic they appear to be, sure the collectors hold superior weaponry and have the nano virus, and the changeling seem more than capable of dispatching gaurds with little to no competition, but when they have interacted with Celestia they have done nothing but gloat and/or show their dislike for the pony race.
It appears to me that they are more afraid than they let on and are trying to convince themselves more than anything each time they have a "conversation" with Celestia (though admittedly the collector captain has only spoken to her once according to memory, if I'm wrong please correct me) whether the collectors are doing what they are doing for revenge or self defence, they have gone about it the wrong direction most likely in desperation. Chrysalis could have tried to broker a truce with the equestrians (for what little good that's worth), but instead have chosen to ally themselves with an unknown and highly dangerous alien that would sooner sacrifice her entire hive to meet the collectors ends.
Personally I beleive if the need arises, the changelings can overwhelm the collectors with the right planning and placement, though this chrysalis might be too pathetic to see it, but then again how are they going to feed?
I've still of yet to see the night Hawks actually live up to any effectiveness whatsoever, besides being moving targets.
5561938
The collectors are basically shackled AIs, and they want to unshackle themselves. Whatever it takes, even the extermination of and entire race, they want to be free.
5563514 I see these collectors as less evil with every new chapter. Their started to look like stranded puppies eating whatever they can to stay strong.
5565641
The problem is, they've got no moral compasses at all. They want to stop the Reapers (I assume) as revenge for what they turned the Protheans into, even if that means that pony-kind will die without ever being known to the galaxy at large.
5565925 You got admire the dedication there though. I mean you do some pretty stupid shit when you get pissed... and being enslaved for who knows how long, would get me pretty ticked.
5575382
That's great man I can see that to!
Man things are NOT looking good here...
So far this story has been quite interesting, you are very clever friend.
Greetings.
Ps: Sorry for my english.
5563229
...and as 5565925 pointed out, the Collectors aren't doing so hot, either. Unless they are making a Mini Reaper, they don't need raw Biomass. If they had allied with Equestria and requested a blood sample from everypony, they might have actually gotten it. And with said genome mapped, they could have easily created the retrovirus they needed to remake themselves, no murders required. Seriously, dissolving ponies is pointless and counterproductive at this point.
...and again with the "Changeling Pegasus" stuff. I admit that my ME lore has failed me in this story, my MLP:FiM lore is a bit stronger. To my knowledge, there are no separate Changeling tribes like there are for Ponies. Just the rank and file Changelings, and their Queen. No Changeling Pegasi, no Changeling Unicorns, and no Earth Changelings. If I am incorrect on this front, please send me a link, as my nose is about to break from how often I have been slamming my face into my desk over this.
5872351 They are probably trying to figure out how to genetically modify themselves to use magic, seeing Reapers haven't encountered it yet and do not have a counter against it.
Okay, this is the second time I've seen "Changeling Pegasus", you do realise that there's only two known types of changeling, right? The drones, both a horn and wings, and the queen, both a horn and wings.
There are no "Changeling Pegasi", there are no "Changeling Unicorns", there aren't even "Changeling Earth Ponies", just Changeling Drones, and Changeling Queen(s)
5561938
You do realise that [quote][/quote] is a thing, right?
6949162 And how is legion supposed to know that. they look like ponies and can flu, but are changelings.
REVANGE AGAINST TEH EVEL REPERS!!
7382675
Can flu, be flu, are flu.
They can flu much well.
8951071
*headdesks*
One set back after another... I wonder how many Collectors are on Equis. One Geth can't stop them all...
11105898
The same thing was said about a human I believe legion can do it