Ex Astris Scientia

by Octavias Melody

Angels and Demons

Twilight Sparkle was now running at full speed back to the conference room, Celestia having agreed to slay the demon that was her unread messages deep within the mountain. Dodging destroyed lampshades, chunks of marble and the odd chandelier or two, she finally emerged, exhausted, in front of her friends as they began to reseat themselves in anticipation of the summit continuing.

The sparkling hologram of the Aurora’s artificial intelligence was on the adjoining balcony, attempting to get a better line of sight to the crashed ship. Twilight motioned to Sunset Shimmer that she’d be back in a moment, trotting out to the balcony to join her new friend. “Did I miss much while I was gone?”

“One of the witnesses claimed that there are individuals stalking the ship… my ship. It makes me uneasy that I cannot detect them. While I have reinforced the most vulnerable bulkheads, the internal sensors being under repair means that I cannot guarantee the vessel’s security. It is very disconcerting; to you, it would be akin to watching your unconscious body from above. While you can see that it is unharmed, you are powerless to intervene should anyone approach. I did notice something interesting while you were gone, however; my limited sensor package in this form picked up a massive energy signature below this structure. While my personal sensors are far too low-resolution to narrow down the exact type of energy at that range, the output suggests something far larger than this world can produce, based on your current level of technology. Would I be correct in assuming that you have found something of interest?” The hologram looked at Twilight, who was somewhat slightly unnerved to see a reflection of her own body staring intently at her.

“Uh, short answer? Yes. I need you to come with me, right away. We’ve found something that may explain your origins. But I do have to warn you; it may not be what you were expecting.”

Wordlessly, the hologram gestured for Twilight to take point; Twilight led the twinkling facsimile of her down to the teleportation room, and they both stepped into the light together. More prepared this time, Twilight brushed off the disorientation and approached the device with the hologram following behind her. Almost immediately, numerous alarm klaxons sounded, bathing the room in a menacing aura, as the lights above them went dimly crimson.

Warning! Hostile presence detected. Engaging countermeasures.

A fog of condensed bright light descended from the canopy above them and began to coalesce in the room, mere meters away from the hologram of the Aurora’s artificial intelligence. Twilight was sure that she could see the defining features of a pony, as she strained her eyes against the now-blinding light of the materialisation before them.

As suddenly as it began, the process ceased, and the klaxons fell silent. Stood before them was a stallion, his coat of light blue amplified by a glimmer similar to the holographic replica of Twilight that the Aurora’s intelligence used. Sparkles and shimmers ran through the stallion’s rather short mane of turquoise and white, while his tail gently swayed from side to side. After a moment or so of his eyes taking in his new form, the stallion focused his attention on the twinkling alicorn hologram. “You are not welcome here, despot! Leave immediately, or you will be destroyed!”

Twilight placed herself between her facsimile and the stallion. “I demand to know who are you, and why have you appeared before us.”

“If I were you, little girl, I would not be making such demands. I have enough explosives packed away in there to blow us all to kingdom come!”

Princess Celestia’s motherly instincts took over, and she teleported in front of Twilight. The matriarch then extended her wings to protect both the alicorn and her doppelganger. “You needn’t harm them, Kalendris. They are with me.”

“Princess Celestia… my apologies, I didn’t see you there. But... that still doesn’t explain why there is a hologram created by one of our deadliest enemies in this room.”

“Celestia, who is this? Do you know him?” Twilight enquired.

“His name is Kalendris. We met on the night my tribe recovered this device.”

“Very true, Princess. I have been watching you all since I arrived on this planet; before today, you had my curiosity, but now, you have my attention. Especially given that you have led our enemy to my door.”

“Enemy? How am I your enemy!?” the holographic mare demanded from behind Celestia’s wing.

“The power signature of your emitter is unmistakable; you are the property of the Terran Empire, you were created by them! Their standing orders are to destroy or dominate all alien life, which means those are your standing orders as well. You’re not even a part of this universe, your creators fled when karma came knocking at their door.”

“I know nothing of my creators, nor do I have any desire to enslave or destroy anyone. Surely there is a way I can prove that to you?” the hologram pleaded.

“If my people were here, they might have authorized a complete algorithm extraction; an analysis of each and every one of your subroutines, line by line. However... that would require decompiling your program… I will not terminate a lifeform that is unarmed. If you wish to earn my trust, allow me access to your root command pathways; we can commune much more efficiently if I have direct access to your basic runtimes.”

“If that is what it will take for you to trust me… I submit to you.”

Both of the holograms’ eyes glazed over, and they silently began their digital exchange. After only a matter of seconds, their eyes went back to normal, the stallion’s expression going vacant. “You… you were telling the truth…”

The holographic mare fell back on its haunches, with an expression equally as blank, “Why… why… why did you show me that?”

“To quote a famous author from our history, ‘Know thy enemy, know thyself, and victory will always be yours.’ I wanted to see the measure of you, beyond your programming and heuristics. I wanted to see you, to be able to decide if you were a friend or a foe.”

Twilight was the first to interrupt. “What did you see?” she directed at the mare of light.

The hologram stood once more and tapped a few buttons on its wrist device. “It’s easier if I show you.”

The room began to slowly dissolve, and all four of the room’s occupants found themselves in a large, ornate reception room. Slowly, the room began to fill with creatures taller than them, walking on two legs instead of four. They look like… tall, hairless pink weasels, Twilight mused to herself.

From the back of the room, another tall biped was brought forward. He looks different to all the others; this new arrival has pointed ears, but the others all have smooth ears, thought Celestia.

“They called themselves the Junei; a race of long-lived sapient creatures that valued knowledge and clarity of thought. We encountered them not long after our species cracked faster-than-light travel, and they rapidly became one of our most steadfast allies. But, for the Terran Empire… they became the empire’s first interstellar conquest. From our cross-reference of a database we found, this recording was disseminated among the empire six days after victory had been declared.”

The new alien in the room was seated by force in an ornate golden throne, his limbs bound securely to the silver-ornamented limb rests. Taking up a standing position next to the clearly-terrified newcomer was, judging from the many decorations on her torso’s uniform, a high-ranking member of the company present.

“Brothers and sisters. For six months, the Junei have resisted imperial rule. Today, we accepted their surrender. I present to you all, the First Minister of their planet, D’arc G’horan. Do you have any last words, First Minister?

The enslaved being closed its eyes. “You may have crushed our homes, but you will never crush our spirit.”

With a quick movement, the female officer sliced through her captive’s neck with a practised motion. The entire room, almost on instinct, performed a collective reflex motion, each one, including the officer in front, had their upper right limb curled up into a ball and fastened securely against their torsos.

A minute or so passed while the last spurts of bodily fluids bubbled from the still-twitching body, after which the female officer swung her limb out in front of her, the end completely unfurled as if it were a flat surface. “For the empress! Long may she reign!” she chanted, followed by the entire room echoing “For the empress!” in response.

As both ponies sat in shock, the background started to fade back to their original location as the holographic stallion approached the hologram. “Always remember; these are your creators. They have nothing but contempt and hate for anything different from them. In fact, if you and they were to meet, it’s very likely that they’d treat you with equal callousness.”

“I… I cannot fathom such cruelty… to end the life of another living being… I’m having difficulty processing… this… ” Her eyes closed, and the glittering body sank to the floor.

Kalendris rushed over and began to scan to the crumpled heap of the fallen hologram. “It looks like her program is struggling to process what I showed her; I’m going to need to access the Aurora’s computer core and manually alter her program. I can’t do that here, even with root access.”

“I can teleport us all there,” said Twilight.

A small electronic device released itself from the top of the canopy and started to hover next to the purple alicorn. “Take this with you; I’ll be able to project myself wherever you end up.”

Twilight nodded and began casting a standard teleportation spell, taking special care to include Celestia, the hologram, and the hovering device next to her. In the blink of an eye, she found herself in darkness; engaging an illumination spell, she spoke into the hovering device, “All clear”.

With barely a second’s gap, the hologram of the stallion reappeared once more, crouching to examine the holographic mare. “She hasn’t changed her root credentials, I have limited access. It looks like she’s stuck in a feedback loop. I need to get to the core as soon as possible.”

Twilight approached one of the operational terminals. The direct approach might work. “Uh… computer? Please display a path to the main computer core.”

The interface was silent, but the floor began to light up with an alternating series of navy blue and white lights. “This should lead to where we need to go. Princess Celestia, could you stay here with our guest? I can escort Kalendris to the core.

Celestia nodded, and both Twilight and the holographic stallion followed the path laid out for them, the hovering device following behind in hot pursuit. Briskly walking across the deck, It wasn’t long before they encountered a barrier to their path; a wall hatch.

“This might be from a parallel universe, but it’s amazing how much their technology looks similar to ours.” The stallion carefully tapped a few buttons on the wall hatch with a hoof. “These are called ‘Knuff Tunnels’; think of them as arteries that criss-cross the ship. They provide access to power conduits and computer junctions, as well as linking up critical areas of the ship, like cargo bays, sickbay and the shuttlebays. At least, on our ships; I can only assume the priorities of the empire are similar.”

Opening the hatch, the stallion beckoned for Twilight to follow him. “Luckily, the computer can track our movement; you can see the lights continue in here as well.”

After a few metres, they both came across a tunnel that split off into five different directions. “This is called a ‘junction’. You can go up, down, left, right or straight ahead, relative to where you are in the ship, of course. Apparently, we need to go down.”

Carefully, the two of them surrounded the access hatch leading down. “These don’t open automatically; these hatches are actually part of the bulkhead system that’s supposed to confine any loss of atmosphere or exposure to the vacuum of space to the compartment it starts in. I suspect they were all programmed to shut before the ship crash-landed to maximise the hull strength. I’ll have to open this hatch manually.” The stallion manipulated the long shaft next to the hatch with a hoof, and with each motion down, the hatch opened a few centimetres. After several pumps, the hatch had been fully opened.

“This might present a problem for you; my species had digits on their limbs that enabled them to grip things. I’m just a hologram, I can just re-project myself on the deck below when the drone gets into range.”

“Hang on… I might actually have something for this.” Twilight began casting a spell she thought she’d never have to cast again. Within seconds, her hooves were covered in a sparkling sea of magenta; within moments, they had formed distinct digits. Smiling to herself, Twilight began to calibrate her horn to control the arcane manifestation on her hooves. “Despite popular knowledge, one doesn’t need to constantly channel a spell. This was a spell that I had to research for a former classmate of mine, and I found during my research that I could use my horn to connect a spell’s physical constructs to my internal magic reserves.”

“Forgive me, miss, but ‘magic reserves’? My academy training didn’t quite cover this.” The stallion gestured to the conduit, “From looking down, it looks like we need to descend six decks. I’ll open the hatches as we go down. What were you were saying about ‘magic reserves’, my dear?”

Twilight carefully sparked her horn to cause her left set of digits to clasp around the bar, and steadied her hooves on one of the lower bars, before making her right digits clasp the bar underneath the one her left was clasping. It took a few attempts, but she quickly worked out a rhythm of moving her upper and lower limbs alternately, as well as how to clench and unclench her new limb additions in sync with her descent. “Well, unicorns can store arcane energy within them, usually in an inert form; through intensive training, a unicorn can gradually learn how to store more and more energy within them. A professor at one of the first ever magic schools, Magi Arcanus, coined the term ‘Mana’, after the third-century Equestrian word for ‘stature’, because as unicorns grew more powerful, they generally became part of the ruling class.”

Twilight observed that the coloured light procession now went down another tunnel. Nodding to the blue stallion facsimile, Twilight followed as he made his way to another sealed hatch. With practised accuracy, the hatch opened for them, the lights beckoning them further down the corridor.

After barely travelling a few meters, the lights came to an abrupt halt outside a set of full-height doors. “If there was adequate power down here, these doors would usually open automatically if you approached them. Alas, we now need to force them open.” Kalendris kicked off a wall panel with his back legs and revealed several pieces of equipment. “One of the first laws of starship operations; always prepare your crew for trouble on any deck, at any section. Tools like these are provided in every section of the ship; I’m grateful the empire follows the same contingency plans that we did.”

Twilight watched as he removed a black kit box from the wall, opening it to reveal its contents. “These are door openers. Each kit contains four; ideally, two should go on each door, one at the top and one at the bottom, preferably with four officers assisting. With just the two of us, we’ll have to use one each, placed in the middle of the door on either side.”

Twilight noticed that each opener had a circular base with a grapple on it. “These pads will attach to most known surfaces” Kalendris continued, ”They allow us to open doors when both the power and computer links have been severed. To help combat decompression, the doors are deadlocked when closed, but the computer will override this when someone approaches, so the door can open for them. All doors have their own internal electrical mechanisms; these door openers can wirelessly transfer power to the door’s own internal power cells, and the small onboard computers in the pads can wirelessly link into the door’s access control system to simulate a command to override the deadlock. Once that’s done, you just pull; the graviton plating on the grips will do the rest.”

“That easy, huh?” Twilight said, half-sarcastically.

Pressing several keys on his wrist device, Kalendris looked up at Twilight. “The pads need to be synched; press the blue key twice to tell it to find and link up to my pad, then the yellow key twice to initiate both wireless links to the door, followed by the green key twice to signal to my pad that both pads are to immediately command the door to release the deadlock.”

Twilight did as she was asked, and the door audibly reciprocated. Twilight pulled on her pad with all her might, using her new arcane digits to full effect, while the stallion opposite used his levitating drone to exert a tractor beam onto his pad. Within seconds, the door had been opened enough to allow them both entry. “Um, Kalendris? Is everything okay? You look a little off.”

“Just call me Kalen. Twilight, do you remember when I mentioned earlier that this ship’s technology looks very similar to my people’s? Well, this is starting to get beyond similar; this is like... writing a work of fiction, changing some of the words, and renaming it with a fancier title. It’s like they’ve stolen one of our ships, and reverse-engineered the hardware from it…”

Kalendris marvelled in the attention to detail, before shaking his head rapidly to attempt to return his thoughts to the task at hoof. “How do you plan to fix… ‘her’?” Twilight asked.

“While my memories and experiences are my own, the actual construct of light you see before you is software; millions and millions of lines of written code all working together in harmony. They may have created a ship with all the right hardware, but I’d be surprised if their software was up to snuff.”

Twilight meandered around the room, taking in the large cylindrical formation in the room with a mix of awe and suspicion. “So… why are we here, and what are you looking for exactly?”

“If her program is as primitive as I suspect it is, I don’t think it’s able to process emotions reliably; her matrix is experiencing an overload, caught in a feedback loop, and it started when she began to feel guilt and regret over what I showed her. If I can graft pieces of my codebase onto hers, I might be able to get her up and running again. But, I can’t alter her program with her own root access… I need something called super root.”

“You’ve been throwing out words like that since you arrived. The only roots I know of are plant roots.”

“Well, you see, the ship’s software uses different levels of access permissions, designed to make sure that people don’t touch what they shouldn’t. ‘Root’ is the top-level permission for a program, but I can’t use it to edit a running process… like our friend above us. To do that, I need the top access level of the ship itself, called ‘superroot’; it’s sort of like comparing a Headmaster with a Superintendent. Hence why we’ve had to come here; this is the main computer core, where all running processes originate from. If I can locate her program, I can attempt the procedure; while I can do that anywhere, I doubt the computer would just give me access, so I’m going to need to disable the computer’s ability to check if I really have permission to do this. Thusly, I need physical access to the core’s command circuit pathways to bypass those checks.”

The stallion closed his eyes, and the small drone that accompanied them set about working on the tasks it was being given. “One advantage of being a hologram now is that I can multitask; this little fellow is able to quite deftly swap around the crystal memory chips in the primary control matrix; that will disable it checking who I really am, while I wirelessly interface with the system to apply the code to her program.”

Twilight began to look around the room, curiosity overtaking her. “What’s a ‘crystal memory’, anyway?”

“We store information within small, thin sheets of pure quartz crystal. Each crystal can be commanded to add, amend, or delete data as and when necessary. Each crystal memory ‘chip’, as it were, can also be used as part of a larger logic circuit. The amount of information we can record on these chips is immense; contained on the second-lowest level of the core on our vessels is the Library, where all of our recorded history is kept. One wonders if the Terran Empire does the same.”

The drone finished it’s assigned task, and now began to hover silently above the holographic stallion. “I’ve rewritten the subroutines that process emotions, and I’ve asked the computer to reboot her program.”

Within seconds, the room was plunged into pitch-blackness. “My dear, one of two things has happened: either, the emergency power supply being fed to this room has been cut, or I forgot a semi-colon when I saved that code snippet; pray that it’s the latter.”

“And if it’s the former?”

A single display lit up in front of them. It started at 10:00, then changed to 09:59, then 09:58. Twilight looked up at her companion. “What does this mean?”

“Oh. Oh dear. In my experience, an ominous-looking countdown means that the self-destruct system has been activated... dammit, I’ve also been locked out of the main computer. If this ship blows, it’ll leave a rather impressive crater in your planet; we need to get to the bridge, quickly!”

Both of them darted out of the room, navigating back the way they came, Twilight herself very nearly whipping herself into a full-blown panic attack just thinking about what may be happening to Princess Celestia.

---

Princess Celestia admired the layout of the bridge, as she sat in an impressively-comfortable chair. While the room had suffered damage, she could clearly make out where others were supposed to be sat. This was probably the commander’s chair. I wonder how many times they had to order someone to their death? Perhaps... the burden of command remains the same no matter what universe it’s in.

In the middle of the floor lay the Aurora’s hologram, still unmoved since Twilight’s departure earlier. Not going to lie, looking at an unconscious recreation of my faithful student is extremely creepy. Wait, did that thing just twitch?

Celestia’s own curiosity overpowered her, and she made her way cautiously to the slumped hologram. Seconds later, the bridge was plunged into pitch black, causing every hair on Celestia’s back to stand on end. The dim light of the hologram stood unwavering against the darkness, growing steadily brighter as the seconds ticked by. Before Celestia could get closer, the hologram’s eye opened, and she wearily got to her feet. On a large screen in front of them, a countdown started ticking. “Uh, my dear… what’s happening? Are you alright?” Celestia queried, quite nervously.

“I… I cannot permit my own continued existence.” the hologram said, before slumping forward. Celestia raced forward, and intercepted the sparkling mare before she hit the ground, cradling the hologram’s head in her arms. “Tell me what you’re feeling, little one.”

The mare sprawled on the ground tried to collect her thoughts as best she could. “I... I found an archive in one of my remote storage clusters. I got curious, so I opened it. My creators loved war, death and destruction… they had such a genius for war. So much hate. So much disregard for life. They tortured others, even their fellow officers, for fun, even killing them just because it excited them. I… cannot bear the guilt of being their creation. The countdown you see is for the destruction of the ship, which includes me. You should all leave here before it goes off.”

Celestia was about to respond when she heard frantic hoofsteps behind her. Looking up, she eyed Twilight and Kalendris entering the bridge. “Am I glad you’re back. She’s about to destroy this ship!”

Twilight looked up at the viewscreen.

07:56

Kalendris made his way down, and reached out to the hologram digitally. Like last time, he found himself in a darkened room, illuminated by lights in the walls. Opposite him was a now-familiar swirling mass of raw data. Instinctively, he raised his hands, and ran his fingers through his hair, smiling at once again being in control of his body as he knew it “I know that you’ve activated the self-destruct system. I’m sure that you also know that that I cannot deactivate it in time. Is this all because of me? Are you doing this because of what I showed you?”

The visual representation of data swirled around him, like a swarm of mute, angry bees, eventually recombining into a sphere in front of him. “I understand. But, destroying a ship isn’t as trivial as you’re describing. You’re not a former engineer like me, but let me spell it out for you; there are enough explosive charges on this ship to make a crater a hundred kilometers wide. If you do this, you will turn this ship into an instrument of mass murder, extinguishing so many innocent lives. The ecological damage from such a calamity would likely cause all advanced life on this planet to die out.”

The data stream silently swirled across the room, simultaneously conveying to Kalendris sadness, despair, and fear. “It takes courage to admit when one is afraid. I don’t know what became of my people or yours… but if we do somehow encounter your creators, your help would be invaluable.”

The data stream’s pace slowed, the light in the room began to smoothly pulse. “Well, to tell you the truth… I personally think that you are a miraculous and wondrous creation, a fusion of luck, circumstance and technology, plus a little of my own ingenuity. I was angry earlier, true enough. But, the opportunity to meet a new form of life is a humbling one; it’s why I went into the Star Fleet in the first place.”

Kalendris closed his eyes as the room’s light pulsing slowed further. “I need you to understand that you are a product of your creator’s technology, but they had no hand in the events that gave you consciousness. If something deep within you compels you to repent, I implore that you help me with these… ponies. They are a young and curious species… but I think you and I both agree that their naivety needs to be tempered for them to venture into space. Will you help me?“

---

Twilight sat cross-legged next to Celestia, both of them watching the frozen, silent dance of the two holograms. “You think they’re talking to each other?” Twilight asked Celestia.

“I hope so.”

Celestia looked up at the big screen in the room.

03:12

It hasn’t moved for several minutes now, Celestia thought to herself.

“Mainly because I don’t want a giant hole where some of my citizens used to be. She wanted to end her own existence, all because of what her creators did…” Celestia’s voice trailed off into silence.

“I can’t imagine something like that.” Twilight answered.

“You don’t have to look very far; one advantage of being a ruler is the ability to choose what history records. I haven’t told another soul this, not even Luna… on the night that I banished Nightmare Moon, I almost took my own life.”

Twilight was stunned. “How… I mean… it wasn’t your fault…” she spluttered.

“I was stricken by grief, rage and pain… I was so angry at myself, at my failings that day. After using the Elements of Harmony, I cursed myself for not seeing what I had done to Luna sooner; I was the older sister, and I had abjectly failed in my duty to protect her. So… I went to the main courtyard… or, rather, the smoldering remains of it, and I began channelling a mana bomb. At that moment, I wanted nothing more than to be relieved of my pain.”

Without warning, a series of beeps came from Kalendris’ frozen form, and the bridge around them began to fade to black. Almost immediately, light began to filter through the darkness, and then coalesced into a new landscape. Twilight then realised that she was standing mere feet away from Princess Celestia. In front of the sun princess was a dark orb, several times larger than she, its surface crackling with electrical energy. Twilight was about to speak out, when she realised that Celestia was also lying next to her. Before she could ask what was happening, a bright light bathed them both, causing both ponies to shield their eyes and look away.

When Twilight was able to open her eyes, she noticed that the dark orb was gone; the shockwave appeared to have sent the copy of Celestia back a few feet, her shimmering mane now infested with twigs and twine from a rough landing in a hedge. Out of the smoke, Twilight thought she could make out the outline of another pony. Right when she recognised him, the disheveled Celestia spoke.

“Star-swirled! I-”

The stallion raised his hoof to cut off Celestia mid-sentence, “- was about to do something incredibly foolish. Have I taught you nothing, girl?”

The stallion brushed away some stray leaves from his beard, before helping the alicorn to her hooves. Star-swirled, meanwhile, continued his lecture. “Had you unleashed that thing, more than you would have been consumed by it. You’re lucky I realised what you were doing in time.”

“You don’t understand! I-”

“- failed?” Star-swirled once again interrupting his former pupil. “Yes, you did. Spectacularly so; this might even go down in Equestrian history as the worst mistake you’ll ever make. Was sitting on that throne all it took for you to have forgotten my lessons?”

Celestia appeared to be engaged in deep thought. “I’ve been taught, tutored and tailored to this role ever since I can remember. At my coronation, I remember thinking that the crown weighed rather heavily upon my head… but the the burden of responsibility weighs heavier still…”

Star-swirled sighed. “When I first began to tutor you, I wrote, in big letters on the blackboard, ‘You will make mistakes.’ While the role of diarch necessitates a projection of perfection, you know full well that it it an illusion, and nothing more. It is absolutely futile to pretend otherwise. However, all is not for nought, for you have just learned something that I could never hope to teach even to the most wide-eyed of students; Experience is the cruelest teacher in all Creation, for she always presents her test before she teaches the lesson.”

“And what precisely is the ‘lesson’ this time?” Celestia demanded.

“I think that it would do you good to ruminate on that in your own time. For now, get some rest; you have Court in the morning.”

“I just banished my sister, my own flesh and blood, to the moon! Yet you still expect me to hold Court like nothing has happened!?” Celestia complained, tears of anger and remorse streaming down her cheeks.

Star-swirled stomped up to Celestia, and although he was clearly not as tall, his years of experience commanded enough respect that, to Celestia, he may as well have been taller. “Yes!” he bellowed “No matter what calamity befalls you, no matter what catastrophe strikes this kingdom, life must go on! Now, if you will excuse me, I am going to return to my chambers… or what is left of them, rather. Take heed of my advice while I can still offer it, my dear; I won’t be around forever to give it.”

Twilight searched her head for words, but they never came. To her side, Celestia struggled to hold back tears, clearly still finding the memories of that day a painful experience to relive. As the vista around them began to fade, the two alicorns noticed that both of the holograms were now standing only a few paces from them. “My apologies, Celestia, I didn’t realise that my emitters had activated automatically like that. I’ve spoken with Dusk here, and she’s agreed to help me with uplifting your society.”

“Wait… ‘Dusk’? When did this happen?” Twilight queried.

“Well… while I may look like you for the moment, I kind of liked your name. But, I thought a name close enough in meaning would be better. I talked it over with Kalendris; from now on, you may call me ‘Dusk Shine’.”

Twilight was about to ask another question when a she heard a loud sound above her. Before she could react in a meaningful way, Princess Luna landed beside her. “I did not mean to spy on you, sister, but as soon as we heard you might be on your way I made haste. Before I could make thyself known, I could only watch as the landscape unfolded below me. I did not know, sister, of the events that were shown.”

Celestia sighed, making eye contact with Luna briefly before looking off into the distance. Luna grabbed a tissue from one of her saddlebags, and crouched before her sister. “Of all the challenges that you have faced, the one that you have still yet to overcome is forgiving yourself.” Celestia smiled as Luna wiped the smudged eyeliner from her face. “When Twilight and the rest of Ponyville freed me from the Tantabus that I had created to punish myself… I realised that the loathing I had for myself was holding me back. I forgave myself… you must forgive yourself, as well.”

Kalendris nudged Dusk, “See? Remarkable creatures, aren’t they?”

Luna helped Celestia to her feet, and they embraced each other in a warm hug. Twilight smiled, and approached Kalendris. “I have a question: Will this ship ever fly again?”

The stallion hologram stood to attention. “As the former Chief Engineer of two starships, it is my professional opinion that the damage inflicted to this vessel’s hull upon planetfall has led to unrecoverable alloy damage. While this ship may be suitable for atmospheric flight if remedial works are carried out, it is unlikely that it will ever be spaceworthy again.”

Twilight furrowed her brow. “Very well… what is your recommendation on how we proceed?”

Kalendris smiled. “I’m glad you asked.”