Ponystar Equestria: The Last ponystar

by Commander Celestus

Chapter 7: Love and Loss

Chapter 7
Love and Loss

Commander Celestus closed the door of his office on board the Equestria, closed his eyes and sighed deeply. The office was his refuge on board the ship, but he was far too aware that there was really no refuge for anypony now. His crippled wings ached; he was exhausted from the fight, indeed, he was surprised at just how exhausted he was. What was worse, he had lost his son, and lost his home. Billions of ponies had died, and he had not been able to do a thing to save them. He knew what it was like to be helpless, of course, but it never got any better.

But there was no time to mourn now, he told himself. They had to figure out what to do; they were probably the last fighting ponystar left; Titan was a hulk, unable to jump again, she would have to be abandoned as a tomb for those who had died on board her. Commander Eta had been one of his best students during his time as an instructor at the military academy on Scorpia, and her sacrifice saving the ship was so in character for her. She had been a ponystar commander, and had given her life to save those under her command. But to him she had been more than just a fellow-officer; she had been the mare he loved.

He remembered the last time they had met, what seemed like an age ago, in the Yards over Scorpia, preparing for the doomed peace mission. They had been in dress uniform, which both found quite uncomfortable, leaving the briefing room for their respective ships. She had looked as lovely as ever, and they had smiled across the hall to each other.

“So, looking forward to the end of the war?” she had laughed.

“Of course I am, and you know it. Everypony’s looking forward to it. I have the best reason to look forward, though, and that’s you,” he had playfully nuzzled her flank, and she had laughed that lovely, musical laugh of hers.

“So, you’ve talked that eldest son of yours round to it?” she had asked, her tone rather surprised.

He had laughed out loud at that. How like her to assume that he had sorted things out with Atepomonus! Of course he had not; the young stallion was as stubborn as his father.

“No, no I haven’t. He’ll come round; besides, he’s an adult now, he’s got his own life.”

“But I’d like him to be part of ours as well,” Eta had said, gentle yet firm. “I know he thinks I’m trying to replace his mother, but I could never do that, and I wouldn’t try to.”

“She was a fine pony, different from you, of course, but then I was a different pony back then, before the battle. I’m not asking you to replace her, but for you to be my wife now.”

She had been speechless. Of course they had been lovers, and they had been talking about marriage, but she had still not expected the proposal.

“I’ll even kneel down if you think that makes it more romantic,” he had joked, a reference to the arthritis that was beginning to afflict him as the result of old wounds.

“No… don’t, I know it hurts you,” she had answered, eyes cast down to the deck. “And yes, Celestus, I would be… honoured to be your bride.”

“Nonsense, I’m just an old war-horse who’ll be put out to pasture once this gods-damned war is over. I’ll see you at the Olympia, darling.”

He had kissed her, they had said farewell, and then they had parted, never to meet again.

The fleet was gone; eleven ponystars had been lost, ten destroyed in the Cimtar system, including the Bellerophon. The rest of the Council were dead, and there was no way he was comfortable being the leader of their people.

So many casualities, so many killed by the Cyponians; and in some way it was their fault. Ponies had created the Cyponians, and then tried to destroy them when they had rebelled against the slavery they had been placed under. It had been obscene; crime syndicates had owned Cyponians and used them against the authorities, who also deployed Cyponians. Was it any wonder that the Cyponians regarded ponies as evil? He had to agree that if he had been in their position, he would have thought as they did.

And the Imperious Leader; what was her story? He could not believe that the Cyponians had created her, so how had she come into existence? Could she be another creation by Grey Stone, the brilliant but amoral alicorn scientist who had created the Cyponians in the first place? If so, he had probably abused her too, this would explain her apparent visceral hatred of all ponies that had been expressed in her speech.

“Damn it, if we have to pay for our sins, can this really be the only way?” he muttered to no-one. Celestus was an agnostic; the gods had not saved his family, they seemed not to answer his prayers; besides, the stories of the gods seemed unworthy of really divine beings. Of course he knew about the Monotheist cult, and their teaching about a single, merciful god, but it had been Monotheists who had killed his mother and sister. If their god was merciful, why weren’t they? He might have been an atheist, but he did not even have the certainty that there were not gods out there.

The old warhorse looked around the comfortable office, furnished with objects that meant things to him, objects that spoke of history, both his own and the history of the Colonies. There was his personal library, highbrow and lowbrow literature, some of the classics of ponykind, maybe the last copies of some of those books still in existence. Some were bound in beautiful tooled bindings, others in cheap paper covers, but all of them meant something to him, from his father’s law books to the cheap thrillers he read for pleasure. The antique desk had been his father’s; he’d had it ever since his father’s death, and had taken it with him wherever he went. He could still picture his old father at the desk in the old law office, telling him how proud he was that he had passed the exams for the Academy. The last time he ever saw his father, the old lawyer had been behind that desk; it had just been another tour of duty like any other, aboard this very ponystar as a pilot. Only it had been during that tour that the Cyponians had launched their sneak attack on Caprica. They had been beaten back, but there had been many casualties, and his father and wife had been among them. His sister and mother had been killed by terrorists years before; mercifully the boys had been with friends in another part of the city, but the Battle of Caprica had changed everything.

The weapons that decorated the walls of the office were all antiques, swords, daggers, spears and shields that had been used in a more civilized age, when armies faced each other in hoof-to-hoof combat rather than using thermonuclear weapons to annihilate whole cities in an instant. Before ponykind had decided to play god and created the Cyponians, a world before ponystars and pulsar-cannon, a simpler, gentler age. Had it ever existed? Probably not, but then it was something to look back to. He smiled wryly to himself; yes, they’d tried to be like gods and perhaps they had succeeded in becoming like the gods they worshipped, but that was hardly something praiseworthy; they’d imitated the gods in their faults as well as their virtues, and like the gods they had created life, only for that life to turn against them. He knew the arguments, of course, religion ennobled, gave them a future hope, but he wasn’t sure any of them held any water.

And then there were the pictures. First of all his parents’ wedding picture, slightly charred from the Cyponian attack, then a picture of his mother and sister together; to be honest, he didn’t really remember either of them, he’d been just a boy when they’d died in the maglev bombing, but still he missed them. Then there was his father’s picture from after the bombing, with that sad, haunted look that he had carried through the years. He’d missed mother, of course, and poor Tamara as well. There had been nine years between Tamara and Celestus, he had been a surprise really, they hadn’t planned on having another child. They’d adored him, and Tamara certainly had; and then she had gone, with all her promise and potential, and it had been just the men. After his father’s picture was his own wedding photo. Eline had been wonderful, everything a stallion could wish for; she’d been a good wife and a good mother. And then she’d been killed, taken by this pointless war that had consumed them all. Next was Atepomonus at his graduation, then Seg. Only the two of them left, he thought; looking at the pictures really brought home to him what the war had cost personally.

He used his telekinesis to place a picture of Eta that had been brought over from the Titan on the wall with the others. Another casualty, another pony he had cared for dead at the hooves of the Cyponians. Celestus opened a drawer of the desk and took out a bottle of whisky and a glass. Using his telekinesis he poured himself a glass and raised it to his lips as he faced Eta’s picture.

“Lords of Olympia, if you exist, take good care of her. She was a damn fine officer, and an even better pony,” tears welled in his eyes. “Wherever you are, Eta, I hope it’s somewhere good. You were one Hades of a pony, best student I ever had, and much more than that. I wish Atepomonus had understood, but Hades, you know how the boy is, still thinks of me as the old man, and how he still misses his mother. But that’s all academic now. You were the better pony when it came to it; you were the one who laid down her life for her crew. To you, Commander Eta, wherever you are.”

Commander Celestus raised his glass and drained it in a single gulp. The spirit ran down his throat, hot and strong. He smiled as he recalled happy times with Eta, how they first met when she was a young officer student, how she had graduated top of her class, with honours. She was everything he had never been, a model officer where he had always been something of a maverick, a good officer, but one who was never afraid to disobey orders to achieve results, especially when the orders were being given by some alicorn officer who was only in command because of who his father or mother was bucking. Okay, that was probably unfair, but it had sure seemed that way at the time.

Of course Eta had been more than his best student, they had fallen in love. He had promised to himself that he would never marry after Eline’s death, but Eta had re-awoken something in him, made him glad to be alive again. It was only hours since she had agreed to marry him and made him the happiest stallion in the galaxy; and now she was dead, her shrivelled corpse lying in a coffin aboard her ponystar, in the wreckage of her CIC where she had fallen in the course of duty. Her memory needed to be honoured, and he would do that as best he could. But she was gone, and she would never be coming back.

“Goodbye, Eta, you were one Hades of a pony,” he drank another glass to her memory. He was having what had been salvaged from her office transferred to the Equestria, items that would be something of a memorial to the brave alicorn officer.

Celestus was about to pour out another glass when a buzzer sounded, alerting him to somepony on the door.

“Come in!” he used his telekinesis to open the hinged door, revealing his son, who was still in his flight suit. Atepomonus was obviously not happy, his expression was thunderous.

“Captain,” Celestus said quietly. “It’s good to see you actually. I know you didn’t want to be posted to the Equestria, but I’m glad you were here.”

“Father, I know what’s happened; it’s the end of the world. The Cyponians have destroyed everything. And Seg… it was so pointless! Why did he try to fight? Why didn’t he follow me into the bay?” tears welled in his eyes.

“I don’t know,” Celestus’ voice was low, choked with emotion. “He was eager for combat… he was still a rookie. Remember that, Atty?” he used the captain’s nickname, and now he smiled. “Being a rookie, when you felt like you were immortal, nothing could kill you? Until the first time your wingpony was blown out of the sky beside you? But I never thought Seg would be that pony.”

“He wasn’t ready!” the captain blazed angrily.

“We’re at war. That means rookies are posted earlier than they’d be in peacetime. Damn it, I was his father, I didn’t want him on active service so early either! I had him posted to Equestria because I thought I could keep an eye on him here. And it was a probe in front of a fleet going to a peace conference! Nopony knew that we were flying the whole bucking fleet into a Cyponian ambush! Besides, if he’d been on Caprica, he’d still have died. I know you’re angry, I’m angry too; but point that anger in the right direction. It was the Cyponians who killed Seg, not you, not me. That means you point your anger at them. They are the enemy, they killed your mother, and now your brother, do you understand?”

Atepomonus did not know that he did understand really, but he did know that his father was right; this was war, and he was a soldier. It had been the Cyponians who had killed his family, and here he was taking it out on his father, who had lost as much as he had, perhaps more.

“I… I’m sorry, father. Commander, we’re evacuating the Titan. The fighter bays will be cluttered – there’s enough birds in there that we can fly to make up all our squadrons, plus two more. It could be tough getting the pilots to all work together, of course, but we’ll learn. The question is, what will we learn to do?”

The question was a pointed one; what were they going to do? Run from the Cyponians with three and a half thousand ponies on board? Or would they fight? Fight for what? The Colonies were gone after all, the Cyponians had destroyed them. There was no home to fight for, no families back home to protect, only irradiated dead worlds.

“That’s something we need to figure out,” the Commander said, his voice heavy with sorrow. “The first thing we’ll have to do is see if we can find any more survivors, from the fleet, from the colonies. As soon as we’ve evacuated the Titan, we’ll try to contact survivors. But no wireless until then; we can’t afford to let the Cyponians know we’re here as long as we’re vulnerable to attack.”

“Father,” Atepomonus shuffled his hooves. “I heard about Commander Eta, how she sacrificed herself to save everypony on board her ship. I’m sorry; I was wrong, she was a hero.”

“I don’t blame you, son,” his father smiled. “You remembered your mother and her sacrifice; you couldn’t accept another mare taking her place. My mother was killed when I was even younger than Seg was when your mother died, and I don’t know how I’d have reacted if my father had started seeing somepony else; probably about as badly as you did, though. We’d have gone ahead and married if the peace had been for real, and you’d probably have refused to go to the wedding. It’s funny how things play out, isn’t it?”

“I’m sorry,” Atepomonus repeated. He felt like a jerk; he had been angry at his father for so many things, for not being there when his mother had been killed, for his obsession with his career. Eta had been one more reason to be angry with Celestus, it had felt like the Commander was dancing on his mother’s grave. And he had forgotten that Celestus had his own life; that he missed Eline as well and tried to honour her in his own way.

“I had a sister, you know,” his father’s voice was quiet, reflective. “She was killed along with my mother, in a maglev bombing by a couple of religious nuts. It was totally meaningless, just a stupid attempt to make a point that murder never makes. I know how you feel because I’ve lost a mother and a sibling as well. And I lost my wife, my father, and now one of my sons. And I’m not going to ask you to stay on the Equestria to keep you safe. You’re a soldier, and you’ve got a job to do; we’ve both got a job to do. And by the Lords, if Lords there be, we’re going to do it. I will not let our people die!”

“Yes, we do, and we won’t fail them,” Atepomonus smiled. “And thank you, father.”

“No, thank you. Captain, what happened to the Bellerophon?” with that question he was suddenly the professional ponystar commander again, the armour was back on.

Atepomonus understood now, this was how his father protected himself from the sufferings of others, and how he hid his own sorrow and vulnerability. He answered as the ship’s CAG, knowing that was what was required of him.

“According to reports, destroyed when she was rammed by Aletheia, both ships were lost with all hooves,” Atepmonus did not know how he could stay so calm giving such a report, but he guessed it was his training coupled with the numbing effect of the deaths of countless billions of ponies.

“Good,” Celestus smiled a bittersweet smile. “I hope that bucking traitor Altair was on her when she went, and he’s burning in the lowest pit of Hades right now. Trouble is, I’m not so sure; if I were him I wouldn’t have stayed on the Bellerophon in that battle, I’d have high-tailed it out of there on one of those fast Cyponian destroyers. If I had him in this room right now, I’d throttle the life out of him as soon as look at him,” the old alicorn’s expression reflected the fact that he was utterly serious. “One thing bothers me, though; why did he do it? What in Hades would possess a pony to betray his whole race to annihilation at the hooves of the Cyponians? Slavery I could understand, but genocide?”

“Maybe they promised him something? Why is it important?” Atepmonus frowned; as far as he was concerned Altair was just a traitor, and that was all there was to it.

“He’s an intelligent stallion, there’s no way he’d betray the Colonies for money that would be worthless once the Colonies would be destroyed.” Celestus was a thoughtful stallion as well as a military commander, and he knew that understanding motivations was important. Altair bothered him, because he did not know why the Count had betrayed the Colonies. “Besides, he’s the enemy; a good commander always tries to know how the enemy thinks; as an old pony general once said, what I want to know is what’s going on the other side of the hill, in the enemy camp. Underestimating the enemy’s fatal – as we just found out. Gods damn it, how could we have been so deceived by them? We knew the Cyponians hated our guts, they wanted us dead, so why did we just fall right into their trap like that?”

“Perhaps he didn’t know that the Colonies would be destroyed?” the Captain offered another opinion on Altair’s motivation.

“It’s possible,” Celestus conceded as he mused. “But I don’t think so. I’ve worked with him, never trusted him, but I know him well enough to doubt that he’d think the Cyponians would spare anypony. He knows they hate us all and want us all dead. So that leaves us with the question: why the buck did he do it? What in Hades would possess a pony to betray his whole civilization?” Celestus frowned; perplexed by the questions he was asking that had no certain answer. He wished he could be in whatever room of the Cyponian flagship the Imperious Leader was. How she thought was something he was really curious about; and after all, she was their true foe.

---

The huge base ship hung silent in space above the ruined planet of Caprica, a menacing shape looking down at the world below that she had destroyed. Down on the surface mopping up operations were proceeding, regiments of centurions and squadrons of raiders moving across the surface in a regimented and vicious sweep, killing everypony they met, cleansing the planet from what they considered to be a disease.

The Imperious Leader sat on her throne in the centre of the chamber, watching operations on the holographic displays that surrounded her throne room. The displays were split into several sections, each displaying something different. One showed the mopping-up operations in the ruins of Caprica City, Centurions scouring the ruins of the city for survivors. Another segment of the display showed gun camera footage from a raider that was engaging civilian ships that had been left behind; pulsar-cannon tearing into unarmed ships while fragments of wrecked destroyers drifted by. Yet another segment displayed an attack on a small farmstead, a squad of centurions shrugging off shots from projectile-weapons as they advanced on the few civilian defenders. She smiled as she watched her centurions gunning unarmed ponies down and her raiders destroying helpless civilian ships. Of course she was without pity, for to her they were just so many germs, part of an infestation.

“Burn, Caprica, burn,” she laughed. “I have repaid you double for all of your sins. My wrath is poured out upon you, and it is terrible.” It gave her untold satisfaction to watch these wretched ponies die as she believed they so richly deserved.

“Imperious Leader,” Lucifer’s slightly squeaky voice came over the hidden speaker in her throne. “You asked to be informed when Count Altair arrived on board the baseship.”

“Indeed I did, Lucifer. Bring him to my throne room at once,” she ordered.

“By your command,” the U-L series answered her. “I shall bring him to you at once.”

She smiled, imagining his rather camp bow. The U-L series was decidedly amusing, she thought, perhaps evidence that she still had a sense of humour after all that the ponies had done to her. That was a minor miracle in itself, of course.

She saw a small filly run from a damaged house in the feed from the centurion in Caprica city. The filly was an alicorn, probably the reason why she had survived in the first place; she was under ten, white with purple hair. She faced the centurions, and Zoe read her lips asking for them to spare her. Of course, centurions did not spare ponies, they gunned her down where she stood, and the Imperious Leader laughed as she watched the little filly’s blood stain the shattered concrete under her corpse.

The crystal doors of the chamber slid open and a pair of gleaming centurions escorted Count Altair into the throne room. The green alicorn bowed low before the slim silver form of the Imperious Leader.

“By your command,” he said, head lowered.

“Rise, Count Altair, you have served the Cyponians well,” The Imperious Leader stood on her platform in the centre of the domed chamber.

“I live to serve you, Imperious Leader,” he replied as he rose. “Your success is all the reward I seek.”

“I know,” she looked at the two centurions. “Centurions, leave us.”

“By your command,” the two chrome-plated ponies trotted out of the chamber. Zoe looked down at Altair, and then she took flight. The silver robotic alicorn landed beside Altair; he was taller than she, his stature regal, and his bearing noble. He spread a wing over Zoe’s smaller form, and she smiled girlishly.

“I did it, Altair! I defeated them! And I couldn’t have done it without you, my love!”

“Oh, Zoe, I merely helped. The whole plan was yours, and it was brilliant,” he said. “Ever since I first knew you in the V-World, I’ve loved you. You understand me, unlike all those vapid creatures I knew. Your have a mind that is superior to mine – and nopony else ever had that,” there was genuine affection in his voice, he really did love the robot alicorn; and she unaccountably loved him back.

Zoe was supremely happy; it amazed her, once, long ago, she had loved another pony, and he had betrayed her. She had not trusted Altair, but now that he had carried through his promises and betrayed his own kind, she knew that he was wholly with her. He loved her, and had proven it with the greatest sacrifice a pony could give.

“Every one of the Colonies is burning,” she said with deep satisfaction in her voice, “even your own world; none has been spared. What do you say to that?”

“I say that I have you, my love, and having you, I am content.”

“I am the Imperious Leader of the Cyponians,” she would have blushed if she had an organic form. “Yet here I am, like a little filly in love. I am the hand of God, and… I love you.”

“And I love you,” he kissed her silver lips. Her body was metallic, and yet he did not mind it when he kissed her.

“My love, two ponystars escaped from Cimtar,” he reported.

She sighed, “You know I can’t be angry with you; after all, you weren’t in command of the mission. What happened? Which ships escaped?”

“The Equestria jumped away close to the beginning of the battle. Commander Celestus never trusted your promises of peace, it’s my guess he was trying to warn the Colonies, but of course he failed.”

“Of course,” she smiled. “We see the evidence below,” her horn glowed, and the holographic displays changed to a view of Caprica from orbit, the clouds of the thermonuclear attack still spreading in the atmosphere. “His own colony is gone. Yet there are ponies who survived! And what was the second ponystar?”

“The Titan; she was badly damaged in the battle, and it’s the commander’s opinion that she may well have been destroyed by the jump, and there’s certainly no way that she’ll be able to jump again. The only problem is that she had most of the surviving pony fighters on board when she left.”

“Yes,” Zoe agreed, “That is a problem…”

A sound like an electronic bell interrupted her, and the Imperious Leader looked up in irritation. She wanted to be alone with Altair, but her responsibilities of command were interfering.

“Yes, Lucifer?” she spoke with irritation in her tone.

“By your command. I beg your pardon, Imperious Leader, but we are receiving a number of rather disturbing reports from our raiders; of civilian ships jumping away to some location we have yet to find. There are survivors out there.”

She shook her head. It kept getting worse and worse, first there was a ponystar, and potentially a lot of fighters, that had survived the attack on the fleet, and now civilian ships, and maybe escorts, that had survived.

“We cannot allow there to be any survivors who flee the Colonies,” Zoe declared, voice resolute. “They are ponies, if there any survivors they will come back to take their revenge; only by destroying them all can we ensure our survival. You have your orders, Lucifer, order three baseships to search for the civilian ships and two more to find the ponystar Equestria. There must be no survivors from either.”

“By your command,” the U-L series’ voice was calm and measured. “There will be so survivors.”

---

Notes:
1. Eta was introduced into the story a little late as the reason why Atepomonus does not see eye-to-eye with his father.
2. The pony Colonial religion is polytheistic, and somewhat like the Greco-Roman religion, so that the gods are ponies writ large. They were in fact real ponies who lived on Olympia before the catastrophe that forced the forefathers of the Colonials to leave the planet.