Catalyst 2.0: Nothing (pt.2)

>Twilight massaged the area below her ears.
>She had been primed for a rough verbal ride.  The sisters did tend to be kind (Celestia especially, for varying reasons), so she assumed she was only exaggerating her worries with the matriarch.
>The Crystal ponies, though.  That was an entirely different set of problems. Twilight had spent such an inordinate amount of time getting Gilda “to spec,” she had not pulled the details from her.
>And Anonymous...
>Even with his “fresh” nature, his resistance, he still proved necessary.  And, she told herself... Undeserving of what he was being submitted to.
>That did not, however, stop the building backfire.  She knew something was building with him.  And that her worried.
>It all took a backseat, however, when she realized Luna was not in attendance.
>Similar to the old days, there was a circular table separating the members of the conference. Pure white, the projection surface was polished to a sheen.
>Celestia, in a show of respect and pride for Twilight Sparkle, sat perfectly across from her.  A direct line of sight, allowing her the most complete and perfect addressing with speech.
>To her right, the crystal pony representative.  Cadence, indisposed from the digital illness that was warping her perception, was disheveled and appearing rotten.  The very nature of her sleepless eyes made Twilight worry, but she was not without concern for her own agenda.  Despite her “disease,” Cadence had forgone her husbands expressed worries and attended.
>It was, after all, for her people.
>Luna's representative, to her left, was the sole reason she was worried the conference would fail.  Too busy, she had claimed.  Too worried.  As if she considered herself altogether separate, she had disregarded the conference, and in her stead appointed somep0ny else entirely.
>Smug, smiling, and her nose to the air, Twilight had visibly grimaced when she arrived.  In a firm business dress, she'd taken her place as if it were her natural purpose.
>Trixie, the “great and powerful.”
>What a goddamn crock.
>”Trixie is not here for delays,” she had said. “Nor is she here for the sake of my mistresses wasted time.  Please, let us attend to this quickly.”
>And so, while the lot of them had waited, Twilight scrubbed her temples and mentally prepared.  When she signaled with a nod, Celestia began the proceedings.
>Things were, as Twilight found, much worse than she had ever anticipated.
–
>”Are you sure you're good for this?” Gilda asked you.
>As you stepped out of Rarity's room, she admonished you with her gravelly tone.  You, out of honesty's sake, shrugged.
“Won't know till we get there, huh?”
>Gilda drew the corners of her beak back, and flicked her tail. “I've done this a few times before.  But not on conditions like this.  You, on the other hand-”
“You don't trust me?”
>You asked her plainly.  It didn't even require looking her in the eye.
>To your surprise, she laughed.  “With a gun and a system, I do.  But if you wanna know the truth, you were never very bright with this sort of thing.  With what happened, how you acted then...”
>She shook her head.  “that little diva of yours.  She has this... Effect on you.  Weather or not you want to admit it.”
>You smiled.  Grimly so, but a smile nonetheless.
“Who else would I be doing this for?”
>”That's what I mean.  Twilight primed me on what your problem was.” she sighed. “I guess the better question to ask is if WE'RE ready for this.”
“What do you mean?”
>The two of you stepped into the infirmary elevator.  It started to hum, and you felt your gut sink.  “You and me, we did a lot of bad things.”  She said.  “You're not the guy to neglect responsibility for it.  Thing is, you don't even know what happened, so you can't exactly accept the consequences can you?”
>You shook your head at her.
“No, but I know what's happening now.  If they refuse to accept it, well,”
>You shrugged again.
“I'm not much to them.”
>”That's the problem.”  The elevator doors opened.  “I've heard that from a lot of my boys and girls.  Hell, I admitted it myself.”  She lowered her gaze. “And you know what? They were right.”
“You don't give yourself enough credit, Gilda.”
>”You really think so, don't you?” She looked you square in the eyes.  Her lids twitched.  Was she crying?  Trying not to?  “It wasn't me that came organized the tower assault. You had that right.”
>Your jaw tightened.
>”You really don't remember?” She asked.  “The things you said?  The things you did? The things you actually accomplished?”
>You closed your eyes.  It was the elevators filters, you thought to yourself.
>”The things the entire team committed to, when I went nuts?”
“... What?”
>She grimaced.  ”You don't even remember taking control.” She said, more to herself than to you.  She let out a mournful laugh.  The strength drained from her, and she sat on her haunches.  Even the serpentine sway of her tail had stilled.
“No, Gilda.  The internals are so screwed up, I...”
>You paused.  The sound of the elevator pressing down around you, the walls seemed to shrink.
>She started to laugh, once again. It grew to a shrill, gorgeously breathy chirp from her beak.  “Brother, you fucking earned you place in the Sky Hunters that day the tower fell.” She clutched at her chest.  “And they're all going to ask why.”
“You had your reasons Gilda.  I'm sure a big girl like you can help me explain.”
>”None that I can recall.”
“What?”
>”She took me, brother.  The moment Nightmare knew you were going to light up that tower, she poured out like tar and into me she went.  She was in control then, and I didn't even know my ass from my head.” She turned away, dragging her talons along the perfect metal.  Leaving deep gashes, she wiggled her talons in front of her own face.
>“How the HELL do you think she was confined enough to try and kill her in the first place?”
–
>”The virus is, Trixie will admit, is of a certain concern.  But since it is limited, I suggest we keep to the real worry.”
>Twilight groaned, looking back to Cadence.  The Crystal Princess wheezed where she sat, her voice far too weak to retort.  “You can't simply ignore it,” Twilight said. “It's completely related-”
>”Which is precisely why we should discuss your program's little intervention.  If you would only just admit him to your decryption device-”
>”You can't just reorganize somep0ny's brain!  Especially with the Id code unlocked like it was.  The interference from the Combat Suite- YOUR forced reprogramming, I might add- was a bit of a boon in that regard.” Twilight rested one hoof on the table, pointing at the source of her reprimand.
>”But it was inhumane. Cruel, even.  You pushed an unwitting p0ny-”
>”A willing Pseudo, Twilight. Pseudo.”
>”A willing, but unwitting P0NY into a combat situation.  Now you're saying he doesn't deserve the right to at least some understanding as to why he wants to shy away from us ripping it out of his skull?”
>Celestia, in her smooth, humble voice, calmly interjected. “I'm afraid I have to agree with Twilight on that.” She said.  Trixie retreated to her flank, sticking her nose up as per her usual habit.  “There was more than him present, was there not?”
>”Trixie admits to this.  But Trixie regrets to inform you, that none of those particular individuals are alive or accounted for.”
>”You are so full of bad apples, you'd be crapping applesauce by the end of this meeting.”
>”My, my, Twilight.” Trixie smirked. “Your stresses have rendered you crude.  If not feeble!”  She held up a forehoof, adjusting the hem of her cobalt sleeve. “Unwilling to find out what happened, for the sake of a... P0ny, that can be readily retrieved from death or insanity.  You are too kind- especially if we consider poor Cadence's feelings on the matter.”
>Cadence winced.  “It was a tragedy to lose a potential information outlet of that magnitude... For all of us... But if we had only been told of why it had been necessary...”
>”You see?” Trixie gloated.
>”All of you, please!” Twilight was surprised to see Celestia silencing them all.  “We may not have to go the route of what Twilight claims is torture.”  She inhaled a deep breath. “You all have a different view.  And all, from different points in the event.  Parts of your influence were present at different times, and this conference was called to piece these views into a whole.”
>Celestia eyed Twilight first, the moved her gaze to Trixie. “Not, to place blame.  If the reality of the ordeal is correct, then everyp0ny in this room was simply doing the right thing.”  She raised a brow.  “there are worse evils, if all of you are telling the truth.”
>With only a sliver of a pause, Trixie puffed out her chest.  “As you say, Princess.”
>There was a long wait.  Unknowing where to even begin, Twilight busied herself in the ivory reflection of the table.  It was then, Celestia called upon her.
>”What do you know of the bombing, Twilight?”
>”Very little, Princess.  More than others, but-”
>Trixie cooed. “Enlighten us.”
>The violet pony sneered back.  With a flare of her horn, she tossed up the display.  The picture she had captured from the “black box” of his old chassis.  With a squint, Celestia perused her own holographic terminal.
>”We know he was active.  We know there was a great deal of armament around the area- common weapons, now, but upon further scrutiny...” she highlighted one of the changeling horde's weapons.  It grew, and shape recognition software outlined it.
>”This, here.  It was to be standard issue for the Ebon Pegasi drone program.”
>Celestia glowered at the colored weapon.  Deep and unforgiving, Twilight expected to hear the princesses rage.  It had been a long time since the Pegasi had EVER been mentioned to her.
>”It was advanced for the time I assume the program was established here.”
>”You mentioned changelings.” Trixie said.
>”Yes.  Yes I did.”
>”There were no such reports from the soldiers sent to the tower.”
>Twilight zoomed back out.  She highlighted several figures, through which light and shining crystal earth could be seen.  “Plain as day, it's obvious what they are. Not to mention...” she scrolled the view upward some, and highlighted the ghastly creature in the sky.  “There.  The figure of Chrysalis.”
>Trixie spoke quickly.  Almost too fast to discern.  “The dissection of the Ebon Pegasi files was quick and simple.  The designs and methodology behind the program held that a mainframe would be required to control them were overt. It can be gathered that-”
>”Then how do you explain the shape?” Twilight retorted.  “They are very obviously NOT the pseudo-p0ny forms we currently know.”
>Trixie eyed Twilight.  Looking away, she did something Twilight did not expect.
>She admitted something.
>”Trixie believes... That is your expertise.  Trixie is sorry for interrupting- please.  Continue.”
>Taken off guard, Twilight brought her hooves to the table.  “Well...  Each of these was to use a base personality- a prefabricated Id code.  The control unit was to issue control over the sub-units.”  Twilight looked up at Celestia, and reclined.
>”The Id code is useless in itself.  I believe this is a phenomenon we have not readily seen until now.”  She ran a hoof over the hologram.  It slid away, showing a pair of schematics.  In one, there was a regular pseudo chassis.  In the other, an equally sized changeling.
>”Both the pseudo forms utilize Panacea.  Without a sincere personality, or, perhaps with darker ideals submitted from the control unit, the Panacea adapts to the thoughts of the occupying construct. In this manner, I think the mind of a construct can change the look of it's chassis over time.”
>Celestia zoomed her own display upon the changeling figure.  “A dark soul,”
>Twilight nodded. “Changes the body unconsciously...”
>Trixie was visibly disgusted.  In her face, though, Twilight could see.  She was not focused on her wording, or picking from a mental thesaurus.  She was worried.
>”If this is true, than why has your construct not changed how he looks?  Why haven't the remaining pseudo's, or pseudo offspring?”
>Twilight shrugged. “Maybe some p0nies just don't cast themselves in a certain light.”
>Trixie frowned.
>”But...” Cadence wheezed.  “That means a construct had to occupy the control unit... If it looks like Chrysalis... then...”
>”No.” Trixie said.  “It was not simple reports that confirmed whom corrupted the main unit.”
>Celestia closed her eyes, and sighed. “Yes.  My sister admitted she felt the escape.”
>Twilight buzzed the hologram away. “That's what I don't understand, Princess.  If it's true that Nightmare gained control, she would not have looked like... That.”
>”She pervades the forms she takes. With a bare, soulless body-”
>“The Ebon Pegasi modeled their drone program after the changelings, in order to have a comfortable definition in a “hive mind.”  Trixie said. “By your admission, since Nightmare has no real form, the physical nature would remain unchanged from the root genetic code within the Panacea.  No, Twilight.”  Trixie looked her square in the eyes.  “You're right.”
>Twilight ran a hoof over her head.  She brushed back her sweat-sticky mane, but it flopped back into her eyes. Of all the p0nies to be praising her... What was her angle?
>Celestia, brushing away Trixie's energetic description, sent words to Cadence.  “What about you, princess?”
>Cadence seemed to snap awake, though her eyes were fully open.  “I... Well...”
>”I'm sorry.  But we need to know.”
>”I understand.  Yes...” Her horn let out a weak glow.  Doing so seemed to sting. “When the unit Luna deployed began to make it's way to the tower... We didn't know what was going on...”
>”We?” Twilight asked.
>”The defense ministry thought it was a group of griffon separatists...  There have been a lot of instances we have had to defend against...  When our unit arrived, there was no sign of-”
>”YOUR, unit?” Trixie asked.  “You deployed to the tower?”
>”Of course...  Why wouldn't we?”  She looked about between the rest of them, her saggy eyes confused.  “I... I'm sorry Princess, I thought you were aware that we-”
>”It's alright.” Celestia said.  “What happened?”
>”It was only a recon unit... Force was authorized when they saw it was a group of PMC griffons... Moving on the tower...”  She looked back down at the table.  “They were all killed... To the last man...  But, there were no reports of changelings...”
>”The Sky Hunters decimated the drone forces.” Trixie said, with no small amount of pride. “If what you are saying is true, then your squadron arrived late and it was not reported by the Sky Hunters.”
>”And if what you're saying is true...” She replied.  “Luna's PMC's killed a squadron of crystal p0nies defending a crucial empire resource...”
>Twilight had to hide the smile.  Remembering that she had the only remaining members of that unit in her own employ, however, quickly uprooted her spite-lifted spirit.
>”They were both defending themselves.” Celestia said.  “All over the sake of the tower.”
>Silence.  Looking between a p0ny she hated, and a p0ny she knew all too well, enduring it suddenly became an exercise in restraint.
>”Why did you allow the establishment of the drone program at the tower?” Trixie finally asked.
>There she was.  The Trixie Twilight really remembered.  With Cadence's befuddled, worried expression, she stammered out a weak admittance.  “It was the perfect transmission hub... The signal could project over most of Equestria...  Give them a way to control replaceable drones instead of natural p0ny forces over a very wide area...”
>It hit her.
>With a dawning horror, Twilight's jaw fell.  Celestia saw her expression first.  Instantly concerned, she halted the others with a single slap of a gold-laced hoof.
>Lost in her own mortified thoughts, her eyes shot back and forth.  She read statistics in her AR vision, confirming the signal strength and bandwidth.  ”And Anyp0ny occupying it could...  Transmit a signal to any receptors in range, right?”
>They watched her.  She brought up a personal holoconsole, creating makeshift projections.  “Nightmare... She...” The image blossomed over a map.  She put her hooves to either side of her head. “If she'd had enough time to  compress her digital structure in the tower, she could have spread herself over anything that could accept the reduced memory requirements!”
>Her projection darkened from the pinpoint of the tower.  It licked out along the veins of projected paths- widely used network streams, satellites.  “Every digital object... Everything we've made in the past decades... She could have had full control.”  She hung her head as the projection simply spread.  And spread.  And spread.
>”She could have taken over any other pseudos.  Infested entire AR relays.  She'd have control over any linked p0nies sight, hearing.  Let alone the machines she would have...  Can you imagine?”
>Cadence, despite her condition, mustered the energy for shock. Celestia, somehow still stalwart, furrowed her brow.  Trixie's tongue, seeming dry, gulped bile.
>”From what my sister has said,” Celestia began. “She was merely acting to contain or destroy Nightmare...  I do not believe she knew of what you're implying, Twilight.”
>”She had to have! The entire reason we're even here is because she sent the Sky Hunters to die!”
>”Twilight Sparkle!” Celestia's beautiful voice had a way of projecting.  The complete power in her gullet went like a wave over her body, and Twilight was left silent.  “I will explain to you why I trust her, but you must trust me as you have in the past.  For now, we need to complete the current task.”
>She turned to Trixie.  “You are her chosen representative.  Was Luna aware of the danger?”
>Trixie shook her head weakly.  Then, she shook it much, much harder, as if pleading. “No.  Not to that depth. But it confirms an... Oddity, in the reports-”
>”Do go on.” Celestia said, placating Trixie's fear with a gorgeous venom.
>”The Sky Hunters reported an... Uncharacteristically strong defense at the tower.  The changeling forces were destroyed, but bypassing the security was still necessary. It required two things.  The inner systems required a construct, to protect Nightmare while the rest of the team set up explosives.”
>”Continue.”
>Visibly heated beneath Celestia's smoldering gaze, Trixie bit her lip.  “The outskirts had a crystal protection spell, corrupted to utilize a combination of dark magic and electromagnetic shield projectors.  To bypass it, a War Magus was needed-”
>”Luna deployed a War Magus?  Without authorization?” Twilight snarled. “Didn't she realize that Nightmare might have taken THEM instead?”
>”No, no.  She couldn't.  I mean...”
>”Couldn't? …  A Monolith.” Twilight shuddered where she sat. “It wasn't just a Magus, but a MONOLITH?  Those haven't been used since the Purge!”
>”She was only there briefly.  A few hours, including the time to prepare.  Enough to take down the wall, allow an opportunity for Gilda and the construct.”
>”Nop0ny mentioned anything about Gilda.” Twilight said.  She couldn't bear to look the bitch in the face.  Disgust and satisfaction in equal measure, at catching Trixie's slip she snorted.  “That's why you know so much about this, isn't it?  You were there in person.”
>”I-in revelation of current events... Can that really be considered the wrong thing?”
>”No.  But we will discuss it just the same, Trixie.  How does tomorrow sound?”  Twilight watched as Celestia's horn glittered, AR blocks popping up within Trixie's eyes.
>”My schedule will be cleared, Princess.”  She withered back into place, visibly shaking.
>”I'm sorry Cadence.”  Celestia said.  “With everything that has come to light, both my sister AND her representative will be getting more thoroughly questioned.  I will divert anything we find to you.  Is this acceptable?”
>”No... I mean, no, it's fine...” she shook her head. “If what was said is true, then I'll be happy to speak against any aggression...” She let out a weak laugh.  “I don't think anyp0ny would disagree with me...”
>Celestia closed her eyes, and raised her brows.  “There is still one thing unresolved.  Twilight?”
>Sitting straight, Twilight exhaled her held breath.  Her eyes itched with the dried remains of furious, frightened tears. “Yes?”
>”I believe your construct... I'm sorry.  I believe there is a p0ny under your care that knows something rather important.”
>Twilight's throat clenched.
>”We need to find from him the part he played, don't you agree?”
>Her lower lip curling upward, she closed her eyes.  Pity, worry, and an ache in her horn bid her to disagree.  “We... We may have some convincing to do.”
>”Then convince him we will.”
>I'm sorry Anonymous, she thought.
>Send message?
>Y/n?
>I'm sorry it has to be this way.
>y.
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