Spike shared an enthusiastic high-five with a fellow technician. "We did it!"

The technician nodded. "It was a good bit of teamwork, Spike, I appreciate it. You got some special skills when it comes to programming." He pointed to his own head, then towards Spike's face. "Team effort from start to end." He crashed back into his seat. "Phew."

"Yeah, that was touch and go." Spike danced his fingers over his keyboard. "But we're gathering lost ponies up nice and fast. Cheerilee, DJ-Pon3, what a name there, Fancy Pants, Fleur de lis." He inclined his head. "Two fancy ponies together. Think that was on purpose?"

The technician shrugged. "I doubt it. They were probably friends. Why else were they together?" He grinned widely. "Ponies do seem quite fond of each other, I have noticed."

"Yeah, that's true." He clacked at the terminal busily. "Then there's this one, Bon Bon. Half her files were flagged as confidential. It was tough getting her in one piece with all the permissions set up like that. What's she hiding?"

Spike's colleague shrugged helplessly. "I'm pretty sure that's confidential and we're not meant to know, even if we accessed the computer holding those files."

Spike turned in his seat, facing that technician directly. "It's our job to revive these ponies, and for them not to cause a mess. We don't know if she'll make a big mess or not because of this." He shrugged lightly. "So, you know, kinda bothers me. Don't you think we deserve to know that much?"

The technician sighed, leaning forward and rubbing at his forehead. "Alright, let me see." He tapped busily at his keyboard, scowling. "The permissions were hard enough with her offline. Online, I doubt we'll force it without her finding out. Have you tried just asking her?"

Spike nodded quickly, grinning wide. "Yeah, sure. I can just ask her. I mean, if it's so confidential I can't even know about it, how will she react to me asking her directly?" He threw up his scaled hands. "On the other hand, if she gets really testy, that gives us an excuse to turn her off, so maybe you have a point."

The technician rubbed his temple again, eyes shut and seeming to be in distress. "I didn't mean it like that. I was being sarcastic." He waved a finger around. "If you can get her to trust you enough to open up about it, you will have answered your own. Don't go rushing to flick her off like an app you're tired of. She is a living thing, digital at the moment or not."

"Yeah yeah." Spike pressed a finger down on a button away from his keyboard. "Calling Bon Bon. Are you available?"

The pony's face appeared on his screen. "Spike? What can I do for you, my friend?" She looked more chipper than he was expecting.

"Hey, yeah." He rubbed behind his head for a moment before gesturing towards the screen. "I was hoping you could stop by, for a chat. Fitting in well with the digital life?"

She beamed broadly. "I've been having fun in the AI core. It's a unique experience." She smiled. "I'll pop by, should only take a moment. I assume you mean the tech lab?"

Just a moment later, she appeared with a soap bubble sound played by the computer. "Ta da. How can I help? You're not the Spike I used to know, I realize. I can tell that by looking at you, but you have some of his, how do I put this, energy? You're a nice dragon, and you saved my bacon, so thanks."

Spike chuckled, waving her over towards the screen he'd been using. "Welcome to the lab." He gestured at his fellow technician. "Meet my friend, uh, Bob. Say hello, Bob."

Bob flipped a casual and sloppy salute. "We just finished decoding the last memory crystals we were given. That was work. I'm ready to collapse and sleep a while."

Spike chuckled at that. "Good work, friend." He looked back at Bon Bon and gestured her closer with a finger. "We were working on you. The permissions made it extremely difficult and I'm curious what you're keeping so secret."

Bon Bon went tense, but forced herself back to calm. "Thank you for working around that. A mare sometimes has a few secrets, hm? Nothing dangerous to anycreature on this ship, I promise that."

Bob looked at Spike, then Bon Bon. "You've been a pleasure since we got you up. You don't seem like the sort of person who would hurt anycreature else, and my gut feeling says we can trust you. But I can't shake wanting to know, so I can at least ask, right?"

Bon Bon huffed, otherwise quiet a moment. "Do you know the status of Princess Celestia? I'm given to understand Twilight, not going by princess these days, and her close friends are operating on this ship."

Spike's mouth fell open before he could respond. He had to shake his head and get back to himself before he could answer that question with words. "Yes, she is here. I'm sure she'd love to see you again too. She is the captain though, so we'd need to get you in her schedule. As for Princess Celestia, I've only heard some ponies mention her. History files say they ran into a recording of her, and that's all I know."

"Recording?" She blinked, eyes narrowing. "Oh no. That can't be." Bon Bon took a few deep breaths. "I'm sorry." She sighed. "Alright, look. If things went as badly as they seemed to have, holding a secret for an organization that doesn't exist anymore is a bit silly." She laughed tensely. "Even if I hate the idea." She clapped her hooves together. "I'll explain, just get me in to see Princess Twilight. I'll tell you both then."

Spike glanced at his colleague before responding. "Yeah, sounds like a good deal." He cleared his throat. "Computer?"

Cadance peeked in from the wall, flickering in her holographic nature. "Yes, Spike? Oh, hello, Bon Bon."

Spike gave her a casual half-salute. "Hey, Cadance. Could you please pass word to Twilight that this old friend, Bon Bon, would love to see her? We have a few questions about what was on her crystal."

Cadance nodded. "Certainly." She paused a moment. "There, sent her a message." She stepped free of the wall, flickering less with her body all accounted for. "You've been doing good work, rescuing so many ponies."

Bon Bon chuckled weakly. "You know, I am a bit curious about what happened to Equestria, but if Princess Celestia is gone, I'd rather find out after I get some of these secrets off my shoulders."

Cadance lifted an ear. "You had secrets? I thought you just ran a candy shop?"

Bon Bon waved that away. "I'm not talking unless Twilight is here. Get me the princess and I will spill everything."

A couple minutes later, Twilight trotted in with a big grin on her muzzle. "Bon Bon! I got here as fast as I could." She went right up to the earth pony, looking pleased to see her. "Everything going well? I hear you have a secret?"

Bon Bon laughed weakly. "Oh, do I." She glanced aside, then directly at Twilight. "Yes. I'm sorry, but yes." She pointed to herself. "I am, was, an agent of a secret organization tasked with keeping Equestria safe from monster attacks. Seeing as we no longer have access to Equestria, I feel certain that agency is no longer in existence."

Spike tilted his head. "Wait, you were some sort of spy? Why did your files contain such a restriction?"

Twilight flicked her ears up. "Are you telling me that you're a member of the Equestrian Special Intelligence, or some other similar organization?"

"Yes." Bon Bon sank to her haunches. "I don't want to go into details until I get confirmation that Princess Celestia is no more, or some other pony has taken her place, neither of which seems to be true. Besides, mostly invalid. I was an agent, now I've been fired for lack of agency."

Twilight frowned, shaking her head. "We have encountered Princess Celestia's recording once, in which she helped us along with some directions. There is nothing about what happened to her, not there, nor anywhere else we have been. I'm sorry. I can't give you the answer you want."

Spike inclined his head. "Well, alright. That does explain things. If you're not using your secret agent skills to hurt us, I have no issue, I guess."

Cadance nodded. "It explains everything."

Bob snapped his fingers and pointed at Bon Bon. "Weren't you involved, when things on Equestria went bad? They didn't call in all their agents for that problem?"

Bon Bon folded her arms and gave a thin smile. "We tried. We failed. I hate myself for failing, but that doesn't change the facts."

Twilight sighed gently. "That's why I'm so happy to bring back those ponies we can rescue. We all tried our best. We didn't bring you back to yell at you. Once we get back to a proper station, we can sleeve you in a living body, if you want. The ship doesn't have those facilities, so you're going to have to be digital, for now."

Bon Bon nodded slowly. "Alright. I can live with that. It's good to see you, Twilight." She offered an arm towards Twilight. "You look cute in those glasses."

Twilight flushed, smiling at the compliment. She reached out with a hoof and accepted the hug. "Thank you. And welcome aboard the Resolute."

With everything resolved for the moment, Twilight trotted back to the deck. "Tell me the M'hoth have reached out."

Cadance smiled wryly from where she stood. "Nope. Sorry, Twi." She turned. "All they've done is keep their sensors aimed at us to keep an eye on what we do."

Twilight sank in her seat. "That's logical of them to do. We're the strangers, from their point of view. Let's not give them anything to be concerned about. Ideally, we'll make new friends."

Cadance nodded. "As you say. They are not an unfriendly race. I've been listening in on their transmissions. They were a bit surprised to see us arrive here."

Twilight frowned softly. "Of course. The resolution of the Sparkle Gate needs to be refined. I thought we were aiming to arrive well outside their system and cruise in, rather than appearing inside it. Harriet?"

Harriet glanced back over one shoulder. "Yeah? Something you want?"

Twilight gestured with a hoof. "How close did we arrive?"

Cadance glanced at her sensors. "I'm going to say we arrived closer than you ordered."

Twilight smirked at that reply. "That much is self-evident. How close? They ordered us one solar system of distance away. I had hoped to appear further than that and cruise into easy scanner distance."

Harriet considered the map and drew a circle around their system. "About here." She moved the circle out a bit further. "This is how far away they ordered us to remain from them, but we arrived closer."

Twilight peered at the closer circle. "We appeared right in the middle. I'd be just as alarmed! No wonder they're acting so reservedly, knowing we can skip past any defenses they have." She snorted with thought. "They probably think we did that on purpose."

Harriet waved that away. "I wouldn't be worried. You already apologized to them. It was a clear mistake. We'll improve your technology and get it sorted out. Maybe even fix it so we don't scare space bears like that again."

Twilight tapped her hooves together, one ear off to the side. "Still, it explains why they're slow to move. We're lucky they've been dealing with ponies, renamed or not." Her face broke into a smile. "It's lovely to imagine another sprouted seed. We only got a brief look, but they do seem to be getting along well with their pony cohorts."

Author's Note

Welcome Bon Bon, former secret agent. Hard to be a member of a collapsed organization, yeah?

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