CHAPTER 6
CHAPTER 6
“We are created life. We are a philosophical issue.”
Twilight Sparkle’s eyes flickered open, creating a quick transition from the blackness of sleep to the sudden influx of light streaming in through her window. She squinted to make the transition more comfortable, and slowly opened her eyes back to normal as her retinas adjusted.
Yawning, Twilight quietly crawled out of bed, her eyes darting over the clock hanging on her wall. While yesterday she had been given a good half an hour before meeting with Rainbow Dash, today she had a mere fifteen minutes. Quickly she exited the bedroom, turned down the hall, and trotted down the stairs to the main room.
Almost as soon as she entered, the uncomfortable feeling of something watching her returned. It had not been felt since the celebration with Celestia and Luna, and Twilight had hoped that it was only her nervousness about the situation. But now she had nothing to be anxious about. All she had planned for today was a fairly normal routine, beginning with flight training.
Cautiously, Twilight stepped into the center of the main room and looked around, feeling as though the presence was very close. For a brief moment she thought she saw a flickering in the air by one of the walls, but a moment later it was gone. Shrugging, she chose to ignore the feeling and instead walked into the kitchen, grabbing a protein bar like as she had done the day before.
Unfortunately, her inability to wake up perfectly on time meant that she would not be allowed to enjoy it in the warmth of her home. Yawning once more, Twilight carried the protein bar back into the main room and moved for the front door. She pushed it open, and immediately a heavy burst of freezing air rushed into the library, chilling the alicorn standing in front of it. Shivering, Twilight activated her heating spell and exited the library, closing the door behind her. Taking a quick bite of breakfast, Twilight turned down one of the streets of Ponyville, and began to head for Rainbow Dash’s cloud house.
Legion watched as the lavender alicorn exited the tree home, slamming the door shut behind her. As soon as the door closed, the geth ran across the room to one of the windows to watch the pony leave. Once it was out of sight, Legion opened the door and walked out, following the path it had seen the pony take.
Legion had almost not activated the cloak in time. To conserve power it had left it off all night, confident that it would be able to turn it on once the pony or lizard came down. However, to make the time pass quicker, Legion had decided to shut down most processes, and simply spend the time going over data. It went over all data collected on the planet, and also reviewed the data collected while aboard Normandy. This had left the geth significantly less aware of its surroundings, and when it heard the sound of hooves on the stairs, it had to force a quick start-up of all disabled processes to re-enable the cloak.
Even with the cloak, Legion feared that its cover had been blown when the alicorn began looking around the room cautiously, as though it knew that a presence was there. Its eyes had passed right over the invisible geth, but it moved positions once the pony had looked away. The pony had grabbed a small protein bar to eat, then left to go about its morning schedule.
As Legion walked through the town, it began to grow aware of how early it was. If the geth’s internal clock had adjusted properly, it was only about 7:10am. The rest of the town was devoid of life, with the exception of the guards who roamed the streets constantly. As it walked, Legion was surprised to find that many new guards had arrived, likely to reinforce those already here. However, there were some clear differences.
While the original guards all had white coats and golden armor, and resembled actual ponies (albeit mythological ones), the news ones had wings similar to a bat, with matching ears and fangs. All of them had dark gray coats with a very dark purple tail. The mane was concealed by a helmet with a shade of purple just slightly lighter than that of the tail. Sticking out of the top of the helmets were ridged plumes of the same dark purple color.
Also different from the regular guards were their eyes. They resembled the eyes of a cat, with a large yellow-green iris and small black pupil slits. The eyes scanned the area, trying to find any trace of Legion. Of course they would not find it, thanks to the tactical cloak, but that did not stop them from searching every inch of the town. While keeping the lavender alicorn in its sights, Legion also had to be careful to avoid the guards, not wanting to give itself away. Twice they almost ran right into it, and once Legion was forced to duck into an alley to avoid a larger squadron of guards walking right towards it.
As it continued to follow the purple alicorn, Legion realized that they were heading to the outskirts of the town. Just a few dozen meters away, the buildings ended and gave way to the rolling grassy plains just outside of the town. Legion followed the pony out, then followed it further as it made a turn and began to approach the floating cloud home the geth had observed the day before. Underneath the cloud was the cyan pegasus, who appeared to be waiting.
As soon as the alicorn approached the pegasus, the pegasus jumped into the air and began rhythmically flapping its wings, hovering a few feet off the ground. As the two ponies began conversing, Legion crouched down and got slightly closer, then activated the modified omni-tool and began to run the translation program…
“Hey, Rainbow Dash!” Twilight said as the approached the pegasus sitting on the ground just a few feet in front of her. Grinning, Dash leapt into the air and began to hover.
“Hey, Twi’,” she responded. “You ready?”
“I am,” the young princess said. “What’s first?”
“Well, we’re going to forgo the wing-ups today,” Dash began. “You’re pretty good at those, so I figure we can just get right to it. Though I would recommend that you keep doing them on your own time.”
“Alright,” Twilight replied, beginning to flap her wings. A moment later she was in the air next to Dash, though she was visibly more wobbly than her friend. Dash motioned for Twilight to follow, before she turned around and slowly started flapping away. Twilight struggled to keep up, but managed to stay a few feet behind her friend. Slowly, Rainbow Dash began to angle herself up and she rose higher and higher into the sky, with Twilight not far behind her. Finally she came to a stop, and turned to make sure Twilight had kept up.
“Well done,” she said as Twilight struggled to come to a hover next to her. “Now we’re going to swoop back down. It’s mostly going to be freefall, but you’ll use your wings to slow yourself down and come to a stop just a few feet above the ground. Watch closely.” Dash folded her wings to her sides and gracefully fell backwards, before doing a twist in the air to level herself out. She dove for the ground, gaining speed, and just a few meters from the grassy floor she flared out her wings and swooped back up, coming to a level height just above the ground. Her trick complete, she looked back up to Twilight, waiting for her to follow.
Twilight gulped anxiously, and replayed exactly what Dash had done in her head, trying to get a picture of what to do. Finally she simply stopped flapping, and a moment she felt the air rushing past her as she began to gain speed. The ground came ever closer, and then, just a few meters up, Twilight flared her wings out as Dash had done. A moment later she was once again flying forward, the wind in her face. Twilight angled herself down, and shakily landed on the ground.
“Nice job, Twi’,” Dash said, patting Twilight on the back. “Okay, now let’s go over long-term sustained flight…”
Princess Celestia walked tiredly down the reflective marble hallways of the Canterlot Castle, occasionally catching a glimpse of herself in the floor. Stifling a yawn, Celestia finally came to her destination: her private meeting room. She opened the door to the lackluster room, smiling as she saw that the other two ponies had already arrived. One was her sister, who appeared to be even more tired than Celestia, and the other was the Chief Medical Officer, Healthy Heart. The pale blue unicorn seemed to be the only one who was fully awake, as she stared attentively as the solar princess entered the room and took a seat at the table.
“Your highness,” she said, bowing her head. “Thank you for coming on such short notice. I know you are busy, but I assure you, this is of the utmost importance.”
“It is perfectly fine, Heart,” Celestia replied warmly. “Now, why were my sister and I called here? Are there more developments on the situation in Westrock?”
“Yes, your highness,” Heart replied, her expression turning to a worried one. “I am afraid it is not good. My specialists already confirmed that it was not a bacteria or a virus, so I commanded that they run tests for genetic disease. It came back negative.”
“If it is not a virus, bacteria, or genetic illness, then what is it?” Luna asked, confused.
“That’s just it, princess,” Healthy Heart said. “We don’t know.”
“What do you mean?” Celestia asked, surprised. “What else could it be?”
“That’s what my specialists are trying to find out,” the mare replied. “But right now, it’s not looking good. So, the second reason I asked you here today… I am requesting permission to send more of my ponies into Westrock.”
“More ponies just means more lives at stake, Ms. Heart,” Luna noted.
“I understand that, princess,” Heart continued. “But if I do not send them, then finding out what it is, and then finding a cure, could take years.” Celestia and Luna exchanged a glance, then nodded in agreement. Looking back at Healthy Heart, Celestia spoke.
“Very well, Heart,” she said. “I will send word to the guards at Westrock letting them know to expect more medical specialists. I hope it is worth it.”
“I do too, Princess,” Healthy Heart said. “Thank you.” The three ponies all stood up at the same time, and made for the door. Upon exiting, they split up into two groups, with Heart going alone back to the medical wing of the palace, and Celestia and Luna walking together down another hallway.
“What do you make of this, sister?” Luna said, breaking the silence that had formed. “A disease that is not viral, bacterial, or genetically borne?”
“I do not know, Luna,” Celestia replied. “These are troubling times indeed.”
“That they are, sister…”
The two sisters continued walking down the hall together in silence, until they came to the hallway that branched off into Luna’s tower.
“I must continue my rest,” the princess of the night said. “I shall see you tonight, ‘Tia.”
“Sleep well, Luna,” Celestia said, watching her sister go. As soon as the door to the tower slammed shut and Luna disappeared from view, Celestia yawned once more. She turned down the opposite hallway and continued to her destination: the throne room. There were still three more hours of Solar Court that Celestia had to get through, so she figured she may as well get it over with…
“Bye, Rainbow!” Twilight waved as her pegasus friend ascended back into her floating cloud home, and closed the door behind her. Yawning, Twilight turned back to face the small town of Ponyville, and reentered the maze of buildings, beginning to find her way back home. Unlike most of the training sessions that she had held with Rainbow Dash, this one had lasted almost the entirety of the day. With only one break for a short lunch consisting of dry sandwiches that Dash prepared for the two, the whole day had consisted of improving Twilight’s ability to fly.
As tired as she was, Twilight had to acknowledge the progress that had been made. With her already enhanced abilities as an alicorn, she was beginning to gain on the progress that Fluttershy was at, which was admittedly lower than average for a pegasus. However, it was progress nonetheless, and Twilight was glad to have gained it.
However, one thing that had bothered her throughout much of the day was the ever-present sensation of being watched. There were a few gaps lasting no more than half an hour where the feeling would suddenly disappear, but for the most part it was there. Rainbow Dash had clearly noticed early on that something was bothering her, but Twilight had brushed it off and simply ignored it. By the end of the session, she hardly even knew it was there.
Even as she walked back to her home, Twilight noticed the sudden lack of the presence. Almost as soon as she had reentered the town, it had gone away, and so far it had not come back. Twilight decided not to question it, and instead decided to cherish the fact that it was leaving her alone.
As she walked, Twilight observed the goings-on of the town. The guards were changing their watches, as the night guards took over for the day guards, and ponies were beginning to retire back into their homes. The bright sun was disappearing past the horizon, and behind her Twilight was beginning to grow aware of the pale beams of light offered by the moon. Stars were beginning to twinkle into existence, and an air of tranquility settled over the town. The streets were silent as everypony eagerly walked home to put an end to their busy days, and forget the troubles of life for just a few hours.
Twilight smiled, satisfied as she walked down the street, ignoring the burning pain in her wings and back. Only a few minutes of walking later and her house came into view, standing as the centerpiece of Ponyville. She sped up to a light trot to reach the library quicker, then pushed the door open with a burst of magic. As she stepped into the main room, the warm air of the library invited her inside and immediately relaxed many of her aching muscles. She closed the door behind her, slowly moved over to a couch, and collapsed down onto it, closing her eyes.
Her rest was short-lived, however, as only a few seconds after laying down, the presence returned. She felt its gaze pass over her, causing goose bumps to form on the skin beneath her coat, and bringing her to open her eyes and scan the room. As usual, nothing was there.
“Twilight?”
“Ah!” Twilight yelled, surprised. She whirled around towards the source of the noise, only to find that it was her number one assistant, Spike.
“Wow, jumpy,” Spike said jokingly, smirking. “How was practice?”
“Sorry, Spike,” Twilight responded, offering a smile. “It was fine. Long, but I made a lot of progress.”
“Yeah, you were gone for most of the day,” the dragon noted as he began to move for the kitchen. “I didn’t know what to do with myself, so after a while I just went down to Rarity’s to see if she needed help with anything.”
“Did she?”
“A little… I helped however I could. Dinner?”
“Yes, please,” Twilight said as she stood up and began to follow the dragon into the kitchen, her stomach rumbling. She had not had anything to eat since her poor excuse for a lunch, so it came as no surprise to Twilight that she was famished. Once again starting to ignore the ‘thing’ that she was fairly certain was watching her, the young princess entered the kitchen to make some dinner.
Legion watched as the lavender alicorn, whose name was some variation of ‘dark’, ‘night’, or ‘gloom’, walked into the kitchen of the tree house behind the purple lizard, whose name remained unknown. As it had watched the pony over the past day, the omni-tool translator was able to decipher much of the pony language. By the end of its training session, for that is what Legion had confirmed it to be, it was able to understand much of what the two ponies were saying to one another. The other pony, the cyan pegasus, had a name along the lines of ‘speed’, or alternatively, ‘prism’. The translator had not yet finished everything, but the ponies’ names seemed to be composed of regular nouns, adjectives, and verbs, rather than being unique titles like the other organics preferred.
Legion followed the two into the kitchen, and began to create a recording of their dialogue for future analysis…
//:LOG_RECORDING – BEGIN
Note: Pony will be marked with ‘P’, Lizard with ‘L’
L: So, what eat?
P: Have/possess?
L: Apples, some good from [UNTRANSLATABLE], flower, ingredient.
P: Hmm… We make [UNSTRANSLATABLE].
L: Acknowledged.
P: Get ingredient, we need [UNTRANSLATABLE].
L: Acknowledged. I have stone/rock?
P: Yes.
Addendum: Translations represent early version of translation software. Not all translations may be accurate, and some words are omitted for convenience.
//:LOG_RECORDING – END
Legion ended the log, and filed it for future study. As the two creatures began to go about the process of preparing their meal, Legion crept into a corner, and continued watching.
Private Darkened Wing of Princess Luna’s elite Nighthawks cautiously trotted through the dark streets of the settlement of Westrock, his yellow cat-like eyes scanning the area for any assailants. Since their arrival the day before, the individuals responsible for the multiple raids on the town had yet to show themselves. As had been proven earlier in the day, of the 84 settlers still in the town the night before (the other sixteen having been kidnapped), all were still present in the morning.
All were also infected with a strange disease, the details of which even the Nighthawks were not being told. All they knew was that it was very infectious, and after prolonged exposure, it became very painful. Nopony yet had died, but Darkened Wing had heard from the hushed whispers of passing doctors that it was certainly a possibility. Fortunately, every single Nighthawk had been given a special enchantment, a ward to fight off contracting the disease. They didn’t know if it would be effective, but so far, nopony else had been infected.
As he walked down the streets, Wing suddenly caught a glimpse of something moving between two buildings just ahead. Using his natural night-vision abilities that came with being a Nighthawk, Wing scanned the area for movement, but found none. However, they had been trained to always be cautious, and Darkened Wing was no exception. Drawing forth two curved daggers from sheaths on his belly using his telekinesis, the pony crept towards the two buildings, then stacked up on the side of one. He shimmied the rest of the way along the side of the building until he was right at the edge. Whirling around, Wing stepped into the alley between the two buildings, both daggers held at the ready. However, he lowered them when he saw that the source of the noise was just another Nighthawk.
“Hey!” Wing shouted the gain the soldier’s attention. The pony spun around quickly, drawing out daggers of its own and instinctively stepping towards Wing. When he saw that it was an ally, he stepped back.
“Dagger Storm?” Wing asked. “That you?”
“… Yeah,” the pony said after a pause. “It’s me.”
“What’s going on back here?” Wing pressed on, taking all precautions.
“I thought I saw something,” Storm answered. “So I figured I’d come and check it out. But it was nothing. Just the wind, I suppose…”
“Yeah, guess so,” Wing said, sheathing his daggers. Remaining cautious, he turned and began to walk out of the alley. “We should return to our duties. We don’t want any—“
Darkened Wing was cut off as two curved daggers wrapped around to his front side and penetrated his throat. He was unable to scream as his windpipe was cut in half and no air could escape from his mouth. The two daggers sliced in opposite directions, taking Darkened Wing’s head off with them. The head rolled to the ground, and the body collapsed shortly after. From the shadows of the alleyway, Dagger Storm stepped out and grabbed the body of the now-dead Nighthawk in his telekinetic grasp, then carried it back into the dark alley. As he walked, a green shimmer encompassed the pony and dropped the visage of Dagger Storm, instead revealing the true form: a black chitinous exoskeleton, occasionally interrupted by circular holes, with a bent horn and bright blue eyes. In place of the false soldier, stood a changeling.
Twilight Sparkle placed her empty plate into the sink, stifling a yawn as she did. Behind her, Spike continued clearing the table as she began to run the water and clean off her plate. The dinner hadn’t been anything fancy, just a few daisy sandwiches. But Twilight didn’t care; she had worked up so large an appetite during her training session that even a simple sandwich was, at least to her, equal to a feast. Stifling yet another yawn, Twilight turned off the water and began to dry the plates with a towel.
Throughout the entire meal, Twilight had been aware of the presence still watching her. However, it no longer bothered her very much. She had become so accustomed to it at this point that not feeling the penetrating gaze on her felt strange. Even now she still felt it watching her, and though she did not know what it was, she didn’t really care. Probably it was nothing more than her nerves.
Twilight finished drying the two plates, then placed then back into the cabinet where they belonged. Her task done, she turned around and was happy to find that Spike had finished cleaning off the rest of the table.
“Good work, Spike,” she said, yawning wide. “Well, I’m exhausted… I’m going to call it a night…”
“Twilight, it’s only nine o’clock,” Spike noted.
“Then I’ll read for a few hours,” Twilight said, exiting the kitchen. “Good night.” She moved across the main room of the library, then slowly walked up the stairs and entered her bedroom. Midway across the room she grabbed a book with her telekinesis, pulling it close to her as she crawled into her elevated bed.
Her eyes danced across the pages, taking in each word, and all the while she remained aware of the presence. Occasionally she would glance up from her book to try and see if there really was something watching her, but, as she expected, she saw nothing. There never was anything.
Smirking, Twilight decided that if something was watching her, she might as well have some fun with it. Spike was still downstairs, and there was nopony else in the library to hear her. Even if Spike did hear something, he would likely assume that Twilight was simply remembering something by reciting it to herself. She lowered her book into her lap, then looked up and stared into the center of the room.
“I know you’re there,” she deadpanned. Twilight quickly shot the book back up in front of her face to hide her amused grin, knowing that the odds of something actually being in the room and watching her were slim to none. Still, it brought her a moment’s amusement, and that was as good an excuse as any to have said it. Shortly after, her smile faded away and she once again fell into the world of her novel…
“I know you are there,” the pony said suddenly and with no emotion. Legion froze as it continued the reconnaissance, wondering for a moment if the pony really was aware of its presence, or if she was speaking to someone else. However, a quick scan of the room indicated that they were the only two beings present, so unless the pony was insane or experiencing hallucinations, she was speaking right to Legion.
However, immediately after saying it, the alicorn raised her book back up, and continued reading, as though she did not care that she was being spied on. Still not wanting to take any chances, Legion crept backwards and left the room, then turned around and moved down the stairs, reentering the main room. Once there, it began to go over the data that it had collected.
Since the pony and lizard had started to make dinner, Legion had been running through all of the recordings it had taken, trying to refine the translations. And finally, not long before the two finished dinner, it had made significant progress. The translator now mimicked voice and tone, rather than being emotionless voice synthesizers, which had helped the geth to determine that the lavender alicorn was a female. Its name was still difficult to comprehend, but Legion had several processes dedicated to deciphering that. It had also made progress in translating conjunctions, as well as many other types of words, making sentences translate with almost perfect accuracy. There were still a few words that needed work, but for the most part, Legion was well on its way to being able to understand, and even speak, their language.
Structurally, it was very similar to English, a language commonly spoken by humans. The longer it was here, the more Legion continued to draw parallels between this world and Earth. Already this world had shown itself to possess many Earth-native animals, and it even had animals from human mythology. Legion was able to consider a few possible explanations for this, including migrations overseen by advanced alien races, but it had no evidence. This was something that the geth consensus could deliberate over for hundreds of years.
As Legion continued going over the data, the purple lizard entered the main room and began going up the stairs, likely to go to sleep. Legion waited for several more minutes until it was fairly sure that the lizard was not going to come back down, then decloaked and resumed the same process from the night before. It shut down all non-essential processes, only leaving on the photoreceptor and translation software, but kept the disabled ones on standby to turn back on at a moment’s notice.
Overnight, Legion would continue to run the translator and refine the data it had collected over the past day. If it was able to run uninterrupted over the course of the whole night, then by morning, it would very likely be able to speak the language. Of course, Legion still was not entirely sure how it was going to reveal itself to the ponies. Considering that their solution to the last sighting was to send hundreds of soldiers, Legion was going to have to be very careful. It meant them no harm, so hopefully they would give it the chance it needed. Without that chance, Legion would be stuck here forever.
Princess Luna soared through the skies above Canterlot, tearing through clouds and moving at speeds that normal pegasi could only dream of achieving. It was rare that Luna got a chance to do this. Mostly she was constantly under the direct protection of her guards, and she knew that Celestia didn’t like her going out to fly at night, but this night she had been left alone by the guards for long enough to get this break in. Grinning widely, Luna swooped back down to the castle and aimed for the open window of her private study, then flared her wings just feet from the wall. She slowly flapped the rest of the way, and softly landed inside.
Everything was as she had left it when she abandoned the room to go flying, which Luna hoped meant that nopony had noticed her absence. Still not taking any chances, the princess quietly moved back to her chair and sat down, then began reading over the numerous reports on her desk, completely uninterested.
Her boredom was interrupted as there was a knock on her door. It was lightly pushed inwards and a guard stuck his head inside. For a moment, Luna thought that she had been caught, her sister alerted, and she was about to be chewed out for ‘not taking her nightly duties seriously enough’. Fortunately he seemed to be alone, and he stepped into the room, carrying a scroll in his magical grip.
“Your highness,” he greeted. “This letter just arrived for you.” The guard deposited the letter on Luna’s desk, saluted, then turned and exited the room, closing the door behind him. At first, Luna was about to discard the letter as just being another financial report to add to her growing pile. However, she stopped when she noticed that the seal on the letter was not the seal of the Royal Treasury, but rather the seal of her elite soldiers, the Nighthawks. Quickly, Luna tore the seal off and unfurled the scroll, her eyes scanning over it.
As she read on, Luna began to get more and more worried. Her brow furrowed as her expression turned from one of concern to one of shock, and then to one of fear. As soon as she finished the letter, she dropped it on her desk, stood up, and briskly walked to the door. Pulling the door open, Luna poked her head out and looked to the guard.
“Wake my sister,” she ordered. “It is urgent.” Not waiting for a response, Luna shut the door and returned to her chair, sighing.
A few minutes later, the door reopened and a very tired Princess Celestia slowly walked inside, smiling at her sister.
“Hello, Luna…” Celestia said, yawning. “What is it? Your guard said it was urgent.”
“Tia, I…” Luna began, but stopped as she tried to figure out how to word it. “I… just received a letter from Captain Silent Dart, the pony in charge of the Nighthawks squads I sent to Westrock…” Sensing her sister’s worry, Celestia straightened her spine and looked Luna in the eye, troubled.
“What did it say?” she asked.
“… Four Nighthawks were found dead,” Luna finally said. “One was beheaded, another repeatedly stabbed in the chest, another stabbed through the brain, and one burned by beams of magic.”
“Who is responsible for these actions?” Celestia asked, suddenly becoming much more alert.
“They do not know,” Luna answered. “Dart is staging an investigation, but there are no leads. All of the deaths were isolated from one another, all at opposite ends of the settlement. But, sister… that’s not all… Six more ponies were kidnapped, including one of Healthy Heart’s medical specialists.”
“And nopony saw the kidnappings take place?” Celestia asked, troubled.
“No, sister,” Luna answered. “My Nighthawks were investigating the murders when it happened. Here is where it gets strange: the captain left four Nighthawks to defend the medical ponies and patients while they investigated. However, when they found the bodies of the murdered soldiers… they were the guards who had been left to defend.”
Celestia’s eyes widened as she came to a realization.
“You have reached the same conclusion as I, have you not?”
“The changelings…” Celestia whispered.
“There is no other explanation,” Luna said. “I think we can safely rule out diamond dogs as a suspect in these attacks.”
“But why?” Celestia asked. “Why would they be kidnapping ponies?” Luna shook her head.
“I do not know, ‘Tia,” she said. “Perhaps to feed on their love? It does not matter. What does matter is that the diamond dogs could not be responsible. It can only be the changelings. We need to fortify Westrock, immediately. Before any more ponies are taken.”
“I agree, sister,” Celestia said. “Begin preparations. In the morning, when I resume my duties, I shall finalize everything and send reinforcements.”
“It shall be done.” Celestia stepped back from Luna’s desk, then turned and reopened the door. Without saying another word, she stepped out and closed the door, the sounds of her hooves echoing off the walls as she stalked down the hallway. Luna collapsed back into her chair, rubbing a hoof against her temple. A moment later, she sat back up, grabbed a piece of parchment and a quill, and began to issue the orders to send reinforcements to Westrock…
Light filled the interior of the main room of the library as the sun rose above the horizon and warmed the surface of the young planet. Legion took notice of this and immediately dimmed its photoreceptor to avoid burning it out, then began to scan the room for movement. According to its internal clock, it was nearing 9:00am. It was much later than the pony had woken up the day before, but only a few minutes after fully reactivating, Legion began to hear the sound of hooves clopping against wood.
Legion quickly activated the cloak and watched as the pony walked down the stairs, and then, as she had done yesterday, moved into the kitchen for breakfast. Only a few minutes later, the purple lizard came down the stairs and followed the alicorn into the kitchen. Legion quickly followed behind to hear the ensuing conversation.
“Good morning, Twilight,” the lizard said. Legion noted with satisfaction that the translator calibrations it had done throughout the night had paid off, and now it was able to perfectly understand the pony language.
“Good morning, Spike,” the lavender alicorn, who was apparently named ‘Twilight’ responded. “Did you sleep well?”
“Yeah, you?” Spike, the purple lizard, replied. The Twilight pony nodded in agreement with Spike’s statement as she approached a cabinet, where she pulled out another protein bar.
“So when are you leaving for training with--,” Spike was interrupted as he suddenly covered his mouth with a claw, then burped loudly. Along with the burp followed a green flame, which exploded outward and deposited a rolled-up scroll.
Legion curiously considered the display, wondering what had just occurred. Had the lizard eaten a scroll? Whatever had happened, Twilight did not seem fazed. Rather, she grabbed the scroll in the telekinesis that Legion had observed before, and unrolled it.
“It’s a letter from the princess,” she explained. The lizard nodded, then reached into a cabinet and retrieved a bowl full of gems. He grabbed a handful, threw them into his mouth, and began loudly chewing on the stones. As he chewed, Twilight read over the letter, which apparently came from the leaders of the country, and her expression increasingly became one of worry.
“Spike,” she said, lowering the scroll. “Get the girls. We might have a problem.”
Only half an hour since she had received the letter from Princess Celestia, Twilight stood in the main room of the library, ready to address her five friends who stood eagerly in front of her. Pinkie Pie bounced in anticipation, clearly not aware of the potential gravity of the situation, Applejack and Rainbow Dash were indifferent, Rarity was concerned, and Fluttershy was sitting quietly hiding behind her mane.
“I’m sure you’re all wondering why I asked you here,” Twilight began. “I just recently received a letter from Princess Celestia. It says, in very little detail, that we may have a problem, and it may be involving the changelings again.”
“Again!?” Pinkie yelled, stopping her bouncing. “Did they not learn their lesson last time?” Twilight raised a hoof to restore order, prompting Pinkie to resume her bouncing.
“Please,” Twilight said. “This could be quite serious. According to Celestia, this has been ongoing for the past several days. It only recently escalated around the time we saw that creature, during the celebration. Anyways, they are requesting that we, along with all guards currently stationed here, travel to Canterlot to assist.”
“The princess wants us to go to Canterlot now!?” Applejack said, surprised. “Not only do ah have a farm to take care of, but what about that creature? If we, and all the guards, leave, Ponyville is at risk!”
“I know, Applejack,” Twilight said. “But this could be important. And if that creature means any of us harm, it would have attacked by now.” Applejack made to reply, but she was suddenly cut off. However, rather than being cut off by any of the other ponies in the room, or even by Spike, she was cut off by a strange voice that seemed to come from nowhere.
“We do not intend harm at this time,” it said. All of the mares looked around curiously, trying to find the source of the speech.
“Hello?” Twilight called. “Who’s there?”
“Show yourself!” Rainbow Dash ordered aggressively, beginning to flap her wings as she rose into the air. None of them actually expected for the speaker to comply. There was a shimmering sound, followed by some mechanical whirring, and in a corner of the room the light folded and revealed something that none of them were expecting.
It stood a little over two meters tall, and was made of a dark gray metal. Its head curved forward and ended in a single, glowing blue eye. In its two three-clawed hands it held a long rod-like object, and several flaps around its eye were raised upwards.
Standing in the corner of the room, was the creature.
Stats
Page generated in 0.026 seconds
Total duration
662 users online
1,056,184 hits today, 2,571,732 yesterday
FIMFiction
My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Fanfiction
Designed and coded by knighty & Xaquseg - © 2011-2024
Follow & Support Us
Support us
SubStar
Chat!
Discord
Follow us
Twitter
MLP: Friendship is Magic® - © 2024 Hasbro Inc.®
Fimfiction is in no way affiliated with or endorsed by Hasbro Inc.®
Alright, now we can get some interaction. I'm so excited for the next chapter.
ZE CLIFFHANGER!
How soon is soonish in the terms of soon? Basicly how long until my freaking fix?!?!
5302531 I try my absolute best to maintain a weekly schedule, so updates usually come on Saturdays. However, there is a whole lot of stuff I hope to cover in this next chapter, and if I'm unable to write every day this week, it could take me a couple more days than usual.
I am glad that this is getting people excited, so I'll try my best to get the next chapter out soon.
Ah cliffhangers my old foe, the one i can never defeat, so all i have to say is... "come on man give me my fix i need more of this story!"
FINALLY!!! :D
Wait a minute... I thought that Geth do not infiltrate.
Cant wait for the next chapter
God damn it cliff hanger...
next chapter come out soon? Please?
5302831
it is legions paradox, he is a geth infiltrator yet geth do not infiltrate, it is a paradox to a machine so they do not acknowledge it
cliff hanger why!!
And of course the one chapter I caught the story up at is when Legion finally makes contact.
wiki.teamfortress.com/w/images/thumb/9/90/Meetthesandvich4.PNG/300px-Meetthesandvich4.PNG?t=20110324083533
The moment we've all been waiting for has arrived.
God damn it. I hate pointless cliffhangers.
I mean, here's there's no point because what happens next is not a life ore death scenario, just the ponies reacting to Legion's appearance. It's a cliffhanger for the sake of being a cliffhanger.
OMG YES!!!
Rhetorical: Why is it that the Mass Effect crossovers are the only ones that are ever good?
Statement: I am enjoying your story and anticipate the next chapters release with much gravity.
Finally!!!
techpresident.com/files/7HM3y.gif
(Nod)
This chapter was enjoyable enough.
Some things:
the changelings seem extra specially murderous,
your pinkie speak needs work, and
the cliffhanger ending was meh.
I would rather have waited a day or five longer, to have gotten another scene in the chapter.
The quick fix for the meh ending would be to trim the chapter, having it end with either Legion's statement of peaceful intentions, or with the line about how none of the ponies expected him to show himself. It would still have been meh, but maybe not as much.
MOOOOOAAAAARRRR
img.4plebs.org/boards/pol/image/1396/67/1396675493319.gif
5303723 I know the feel man. It has happened way to many times!
5304118 Agreed.
5242403
Seems like a normal conversation to me...
You're shitting me. On top of the mountain of reasons why Equestria alone will fall within the day, THIS is one of the cherries on my sundae.
YES, SEND MOAR PONIES TO IMPERSONATE!!
Oh yes Legion, just decloak someone's house. It's totally normal!
I foresee Dashie attacking already.
Oh boy.
i2.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/original/000/386/151/605.jpg
Nope sorry but you lost me. 6 chapters in and nothing of notable interest has happened enough for me to want to continue.
I feel that the complexity of language is being badly understated here. Sure if "Equestrian" mimics English then it would be easier, but fluent translation of words and meanings after a handful of conversations? That's pushing my suspension of disbelief.
5717043
Legion is essentially a collection of thousands of unique supercomputers working in tandem. Honestly, a quick translation of a language similar in grammatical structure to English isn't too far-fetched.
Keep in mind that Legion has also been observing the ponies for several days. It's not unreasonable to assume he would keep a record of audio logs for later analysis.
If your technology can literally pick your brain for the language, than a couple of days seems reasonable.
Legion... If you mean no harm, why are you holding your rifle at the ready?
6888955 Uh, look at relations between the Geth and organics...Just because Legion intends no hostilities doesn't mean he expects them to have the same attitude. He was spying on them after all.
Next step: fire Healthy Heart and find someone competent to run this operation. That's really all the insight she's got? "It wasn't one of these specific things, so we can't tell you anything. Like what the symptoms are, how it's spreading, what kind of actual risk it poses, what treatments have been tried, etc. Because other than running these specific tests, we've just been sitting back and twiddling our hooves."
If you interrupt your rulers' busy schedules with an urgent message, you'd damned well better have something important to say.
7576935 Let's not forget she didn't mention fungal infections as a possible vector.
8054245
also parasites and poisons
chapter 6: the chapter which marks the point at which shit gets needlessly grimdark.
Is everypony mad? They all slam doors shut instead of closing them. Or pushing them shut. Or shutting the quietly.
Giggle at the ghosties
... whose?
I mean, for a human, it makes sense: a big part of our gift of analysis is weeding out what's not important and focusing on the rest, so it makes perfect sense to omit information considered insignificant - for ease of use by the next person. But for a machine, every part of data is important, until it's proven otherwise - and then it's promptly deleted. If the data that's not being shown holds potential significance, it should be present until such time as it's deemed insignificant.
If nothing else, the data should be meta-marked with "more significant" or "less significant", like you'd label containers. This way, a machine processing the data could skip over the "less significant" bits just as easily.
"A headache that lasts more than 3 days is not a headache. Go see a doctor."
First contact, hope Rainbowdash don't fuck it up...
Well... I suppose that is as good of a time to initiate contact as any.