Conspiracy of the Heavens

by observer of dimensions

Discovery

"All systems green...energy sponges are at max intake levels...Let's rise us a sun!" The sliver mane engineer said with unbarred excitement.

"OK, commence rising of the sun." Twilight ordered. Her subordinates didn't need to be told twice. They immediately began inputting the command into the computer. Neither the two engineers nor Top Notch noticed Twilight's only expression of excitement; a small smile.

Though there was a room in-between them the whining of the engine could be heard from where the four ponies stood. Out of the whole process, this was the most unnerving part. It was not because this was the most intricate part of the process. Oh no, it was the whining of the engines. They all have heard it before but it got to them every time. The whining sounded like a pony screaming in agony. None of them could stop themselves from cringing as the volume of the engine increased. The whining however, was their only indication that the sun was rising see how there were no windows in the room.

For all it's preparation rising the sun didn't take long. Setting the sun was the same and the sun moved on it's own across the sky. The only thing they really had to do was monitor the pressure systems that kept the excess magical energy from the engine contained. Too little pressure and the energy would escape through the sponges that were designed to suck it up. Too much pressure would cause the energy to become volatile resulting in disaster.

As the whining of the engine stopped a new sound reached the ears of the engineers; a alarm

"Wha....we're under attack!" The sliver mane engineer stated with fear lacing his voice.

"It appears so Captain Obvious." his friend retorted. None of them had even been in an attack before. Even Top Notch who had been at Solaris Magnum for more then forty years. The ears of all four of them drooped. Twilight quivered a bit at the thought of Solaris magnum being attacked. She however, shook off the thought like one would shake water off their body after a shower.

"No...the soldiers here are well trained. They can handle whatever is out there." She would stand by her conviction but couldn't help feeling a ping of fear.

"That's it I'm getting out of here." The red mane engineer took off toward the door opposite of the one Twilight had entered. Twilight was about to speak but Top Notch beat her to it.

"Come back here you idiot, we are safer here then out there." Top Notched yelled as he chased after him. Having already reached the door the red mane engineer turned to face Top Notch. 'I think I rather take my chances then wait in a death trap." With that said he opened the door and turned his head toward the opened portal.

Sharp talons met his face, cutting though his flesh like a knife through butter. He fell to the floor a second later. Instead of running away Top Notch galloped to the Griffin. He was most likely going to try to beat back the Griffin and close the door.

As Twilight and the silver mane engineer watched Top Notch lose they barely registered the sound of the other door. Two Griffins rushed in, one with a spear...a pony spear. The spear carrying griffin notice the two turn to look at him. He took arm and threw it at them.

Since the appearance of the first griffin all twilight could do was watch in shock as the room was invaded. 'How...how is this happening.' She thought to herself.

Twilight recovered from the shock just enough to witness a spear flying right at her. 'NOOOOOO" A flash of sliver appeared in front of her. The engineer had jumped in front of her. He took the spear in the chest. Twilight instinctively rose her forelegs to catch the stallion as the force of the blow sent him crashing into her. It was at this moment that Twilight regain control of her body and mind. it was however, too late to stop the stallion's body from causing her to become unbalanced. She fell onto her back with the stallion on top of her.

'I'm going to die, I'm going to die' Twilight repeated to herself over and over. Too sacred to move Twilight stayed underneath the body. Twilight shut her eyes and clenched her teeth as the sound of talons against polyester reached her ears. She waited for the end to come, for the Griffins to find and kill her. That end never came and instead of the footsteps getting louder they became fainter.

Suddenly there was the sound of a metal door opening followed by yelling and sounds of battle. Twilights eyes shot open in confusion and surprise. Why hadn't they finished her. Surely the were trained soldiers for getting this far. They would be able to tell she was still alive just by looking at her. Two possibilities popped into Twilights mind. Either they believed the spear had pierced and killed her too thus thought it was unneeded to check her or they knew she was alive but were going to deal with her later.

Returning her focus on the sounds of battle she realized that while the sounds continued they had gotten quieter. Quickly but quietly Twilight pushed the body off of her and rose slowly to her hooves in a crouching position. Twilight slowly lifted her head to peek over the control hub that was blocking her view of the action. Immediately she had to ducked back down as a magic blast flew through the space were her head had been seconds ago. Twilight recovered from the fact that she nearly had her head blown of by hyperventilating.

A gasp then a thud of a body dropping to the floor caused Twilight to hold her breath. Somepony or someone had just won the little battle. She peered over the hub forgoing all safety. There in the chamber room stood a Griffin. It was male and had his back toward Twilight. The Griffin was looking down at the body of his foe.

Twilight briefly looked over the chamber from her location. It looked like a small hallway with just enough room to fit two ponies side by side. On the floor of the chamber were three other bodies, two Griffins and one pony.

A sudden movement caused Twilight to duck her head down but she raised it again immediately. The movement she had seen had been the Griffin reaching for his victim. said Griffin was now shuffling through the guard's armor. Twilight's ears perked up as the Griffin produced a key from the body. With his prize in talon the Griffin headed to the door leading to the engine room.

'What is he going to do? destroy it, take it...no I have never seen it but I doubt the engine is small enough to move.' Click Twilight was brought out of her trance by the key unlocking the door. It was at this moment Twilight realized what she should be doing. She should be defending the engine not letting the griffin do who knows what to it. She was the Chief engineer. It was her duty to protect and maintain Solaris Magnum. She was given this duty by direct order of the Equestrian Empire. To fail her duty meant she failed the Empire she swore to follow. She must stop this intruder or die trying.

Calling upon her magic Twilight teleported a few feet behind the Griffin. The Griffin had just opened the door wide enough to peek in. Twilight charged her horn with magic. 'Hey beak face." The Griffin spun around in surprise. Before he could react farther Twilight unleashed her magic bolt right at his face. The Griffin tumbled backwards knocking his head against the door. The force of the impact cased the door to slowly swing back stopped just short of touching the door frame. The Griffin collapsed on the floor.

Twilight looked up and down the Griffin's body. He didn't wear any armor but that wasn't what Twilight was focusing on. Instead she was looking at his talons. Normally Griffin talons were sharp enough to cause damage in a fight but not to the point of being lethal enough to kill on one strike; unless it was well placed. This Griffin's Talons however were sharpened to a point beyond what any normal griffin would want. They made an excellent weapon, razor sharp and deadly.

Twilight already saw the drawback however. The talons had no sheath making them deadly to their owners as well. Such Griffins had to be careful not to hurt themselves or their allies,

The blast had knocked had only knocked the griffin out leaving him very much alive. This however could be changed. Using her magic Twilight lifted one of the talons into the air. She manipulated the limb so the sharp talons were pointing down at his chest. Now all she had to do was force it down.

Hesitating. She was hesitating. She could do it easily but would she go through with it. Somewhere deep down in the core of her being something was telling her to not do it. She grinded her teeth scrunch up her nose and turned her ears back. No matter what she did physical or mentally she could not get rid of the feeling. Defeated she placed the talon back down besides the Griffin. He wouldn't be a problem for at least a few hours. What was the problem was the door, It needed to be closed and the key hidden. Since the door was right up against the frame a simple push would close it. Twilight put a hoof on the door and was just about to close the do when an unexpected noise reached her ears. A voice from behind the door.

"He. . .hello. . . is somepony there. . . please. . . please help me." The voice sounded feminine but broken up as if the speaker was exhausted or in pain. 'Who could this be' Twilight thought to herself. It could be a solider but it's female. There aren't many females in the military. Even if it was why would she sound exhausted when the Griffins hadn't even breached the engine room.

To find her answer meant going through the door. Doing so would be breaking the law which in this case could be punishable by death. She had never broken a law or rule before why should she start now. Like with the Griffin something swelled up within her, something she couldn't suppress. This time however she could name it, it was curiosity. She had not been filled with such curiosity since she was a little filly before she was told what job she would eventually take.

Twilight didn't know what the deciding factor was. It could have been that no one else was there. It could be that she felt that she could defend the engine by waiting inside. Maybe it was the fact that either way she may die be it by Griffin or public execution. Whatever the reason was she grabbed the latch and opened it.

There was no super advance engine that had the unearthly power to control the sun. Instead there was a large white pony laying in the middle of the cyclical room. The pony's mane and tail was divided into four colors; powder blue, light green, violet and pink. She had a horn longer then Twilight had ever seen before. There also oddly shaped bulges on the pony's sides.. The base of the pony's horn had some sort of brace. Even at the distance she was at Twilight could see what looked like glowing words on it. The brace wasn't the pony's only restraints. Four cuffs attached to chains were clasped around the legs. Again Twilight spotted the glowing words.

"Runes, old magic. . .that keeps me. . .from escaping or using magic." Twilight jumped at the sound of the voice only to realize it was coming from the mystery pony. The two stared straight at each other form a moment letting Twilight take note of the pony's Magenta eyes. Quietly Twilight trotted up to the pony. The white pony watched even picking her head off the floor where it had been just a moment ago.

Twilights' eyes widen as she got closer. The strange bulges weren't bugles at all but wings. Upon farther investigation she identified the pony's cutie mark, it was an image of the sun. A. . . Alicorn is this even possible. The only Alicorn that was suppose to exist was the queen. yet in front of her was another one.

"I. . . can tell by the inquisitive look you have that you...aren't a solider. . . I thought something was up when the door opened but nopony came in."

"Your the one who actually rises the sun!" Twilight blurted out. The white pony stared at Twilight in surprise, then without warring she giggled. It was a soft and light giggle. The type of giggle that could relieve all tension.

"out of all the things. . . I expected a pony would say I wasn't expecting that." The pony giggled again. "Yes I am the one who rises the sun-" the pony's face darkened "-even though this isn't the conditions I want to do it in." The pony said woefully.

A this point however, Twilight was only half listening. Before was a Alicorn that shouldn't exist. A Alicorn where a machine was suppose to be. The Equestrian empire had outlawed all types of slavery in the first years of it's establishment. Clearly chaining a pony up and making them preform some type of labor was just that. While it could be possible that the pony was a criminal but it just didn't feel right for Twilight to think that. Twilight knew that the empire had secrets but this was just unbelievable.

"are you ok" A concerned voice asked breaking Twilight away from her thoughts. 'Huh. . . what?" Twilight stammered involuntary. "You weren't responding to anything I said." The Alicorn looked at Twilight with worried eyes.

"Oh I'm fine."

"Then can you tell me what's going on?" The Alicorn asked politely. Twilight glanced at the door to see if anypony was coming; no pony was.

"the facility is being attacked."

"What happened to the guards."

"They. . . died." the Alicorn's ears drooped as a look of pure sadness appeared on her regal face. "oh. . .poor dears."
Twilight was confused. The Alicorn had been trapped here for who knows how long and yet she felt sadden by the fate of her captors. No pony in their right mind would do that. Before she vocalized that question she stopped. They had wasted enough time already.

If it had been just a machine she would have probably shut and locked the door guarding the engine with her life. Even if she died she would have been satisfied to serve the empire. It was different now that she knew the truth. She felt angry and confused. The empire she looked up to and severed dutifully was doing things she wouldn't stand for.

"You're leaving aren't you." The Alicorn said in calming voice. Twilight gave a slight nod. "Let me get out of those chains. . . I don't why I'm doing this." Twilight sighed trotting closer to the Alicorn. Lowering her head Twilight began to examine the runes on the cuffs. The Alicorn in turn gave her a funny look.

"With a precision magic beam you could cu-" "No that will take to long" Twilight interrupted earning an 'Excuse Me'
look from the Alicorn. Without saying a word Twilight lowered her head till her horn touched the cuff on one of the Alicorn's forehooves. After several seconds the cuff made a click sound and unlocked. "See" she said raising her head. Twilight's eyes closed as she smirked, very pleased with herself. "While there aren't many books on runes I so happen to have read them. This type of rune just required a pony to know the correct unlocking spell within an acceptable frequency. The only ponies who can are those who's talent is related to locks or unicorns who have a talent with magic which I so happened to be."

"Um. . . there's more" The Alicorn replied blankly holding up her other for hoof jingling the chain.

"Oh. . . right."

Three cuffs and a horn brace later the Alicorn was free and staggering to her hooves. Her legs were wobbly but she was able to support herself. Giving a nod to Twilight they left the room. Once they had reach the connecting chamber Twilight closed the door as the Alicorn went ahead. Once the deed was done Twilight turned around to find that the Alicorn was just standing at the opposite door way. "Hey we need to get a move on if we are lucky the empire is still fighting the Griffins off so we mi-" Twilight stopped talking as her eyes fell upon the same thing the Alicorn was looked at. Twilight's eyes widen in shock at the sight before her.

At the control hub was a certain sliver mane engineer working away at the controls. His body was facing sideways to avoid hitting the control hub with the spear still sticking out of his body. His eyes made this sight even more inconceivable. They were glazed over and sightless, the perfect indication that he was suppose to be dead and unmoving. The corpse seem to be paying to much attention to the controls to notice the two. Twilight took one step into the room. The sound of the hoof against the floor caused the corpse to stop moving. The head jolted up, eyes shifting back and forth between the two ponies in front of it. Without warning the corpse shot a magic bolt at the hub. The action made the two ponies jump. The corpse smiled at this before falling to the floor.

Recovering from the scare first Twilight teleported to the hub franticly searching for any indication of what the thing did. "What-what was it doing?" the Alicorn asked; worry creeping into her voice. Twilight shot her a glace full of fear and anger. "well it's hard to tell with a hole in the computer but I guess from what I can see it probably rose the pressure to dangerous levels."

"What will that do."

"Oh just blow up the entire compound." Twilight said in a matter-of-fact tone.

Comments

[xTSGx]

I was just wondering what the hell Celestia was doing.

Pretty good so far. A shame it doesn't have more readers.

[observer of dimensions]

2494235 Thank you for taking the time to read my story. I also would like to thank you for commenting. Tis the food I enjoy eating as a writer .