Dawn of Equestria (Part III)
Dawn of Equestria (Part III)
It was a red blinking light that was the first thing Sugar Baker could see. The flashing bounced on his eyelids, refusing to let him sleep. He opened his eyes to a dizzying haze. He could feel the ship spinning slowly after the blast.
His chair had broken. He found himself lying on the floor. The red light continued to call out to him without pause. He struggled to sit up, but something was keeping him in place. The light continued to flash at him, mockingly.
He looked around the room to see what had happened. His eyes managed to focus on the light in the ceiling, which had shattered. He could see the console for his guns silent from his absence at the terminal. The view of the stars continued to spin. He wasn’t sure if it was just him or the ship as well.
He tried to sit up again, looking to see what was stopping him.
“Oh…” he thought, “This pipe is stopping me. A pipe with some red paint on it…”
But the red light persisted in trying to get his attention. He needed to shut off that light.
He struggled to move, the pain building up as he tried. His horn glowed helping him push himself off of the pipe. The sudden taste of copper bit coins caused him to spit up some of the red paint. He pulled himself up to the console and looked at the flashing red light.
The flashing red light turned off.
Bake stared at it, waiting for it to flash again, to no avail. He had no idea what that light was for. After a few seconds, he gave up and looked out the window into space. He could see debris from the ship and ponies drifting aimlessly across the backdrop. It was quite peaceful.
“Two of those ponies look just like my daughters,” he thought. “…One white one blue. They must be wishing me farewell.” He waved back at them in his delirious state.
“There’s a missile heading for them,” he said aloud to the room. “That won’t do.”
Bake struggled to grab the controls to his guns. They were twisted, but still responded to his touch. He started firing them in a waving motion, twirling the bullets as they flew off at the stray MEM missile, heading for the debris. One of them actually managed to connect. The missile exploded before it could reach his daughters.
“Good bye, Celestia…Good bye Luna…I’ll tell your mother you said hello…”
He sank back to the floor, lying down and staring into eternity. Before he shut his eyes, the red light started flashing again.
“Good bye…flashing red light…Thank you…for saving…my daughters…”
Bake closed his eyes, exhaling his last breath in a sigh of relief.
“What else can we throw at them!?” Chancellor Puttinghoof asked the crew, looking for anything that might do some sort of damage to the Pegasus ship.
With all magical enhancements removed from the weaponry, they were finally having an impact on the Pegasus ship; but not nearly enough. Their changes did put the Pegasi’s new weapon out of commission, however. The chancellor was trying everything to take advantage of this.
“Two of our gunners are down and we’re down to ten more missiles,” one of the Earth pony officers detailed.
“Then launch every last missile together!” he yelled.
The ship shook from the impact of a missile from the Pegasus ship, which maintained the full magical enhancements of a proper MEM missile. The impact broke through their shields sending shockwave after shockwave down the length of the ship.
“Report!” the Chancellor yelled for the fiftieth time.
“We’ve lost the last of our weapons! We’re defenseless!!!” the officer replied.
Puttinghoof tried to look for the answer: weapons down, shields failing, families still aboard the ship, and a Pegasus ship ready to tear right through them.
The main screen showed the Pegasus ship bearing down on them for the kill with the rebel world in their backdrop.
“That’s it!” he cried out. He figured it out: how to save the families and stop the Pegasi, all in one go. The Chancellor returned to his chair with a stride of confidence.
“Engine Status!” he demanded.
“We’ve got one engine with full power and the other is coming back online, but I wouldn’t recommend any races!” the engineer answered.
“Well sorry to disappoint you, but give me everything you’ve got, NOW!”
“Aye sir!”
“Helmspony, I want you to head as fast as you can, straight under that ship and descend into the planet’s upper atmosphere.”
“Sir?”
“Just do it!” the Chancellor ordered wearing the most serious expression his face had ever worn.
“Yes sir!” the helmspony answered. The ship thrust forward and down hard, shooting past the Pegasus ship before they could reciprocate. They were forced to circle around to join the chase.
Next the chancellor opened up a ship-wide communication:
“Attention! Attention! I need every last child and parent to get to their designated digi-port rooms immediately! Essential personnel and volunteers will remain. Repeat. This is an evacuation. Get to the digi-port rooms and prepare for emergency transport. When I give the word you will transport to the surface as quick as possible!”
The entire command center stared at the chancellor, wondering just what his strategy was.
“You too ponies!” he ordered. “Gunnery Sergeant, with our weapons gone, you’re no longer needed. Get to a digi-port now. I only need one pony that can fly. If I get that volunteer, the rest of you are ordered to leave.”
The crew stood in place, one by one raising their hands, including the gunnery sergeant. Every officer in the room had volunteered to stay. Including Sunbeam.
“No, Sunbeam; absolutely not! I order you to get to that digi-port now!”
In a harsh voice made by her bruised mouth, Sunbeam protested. “You never could tell me what to do before, what makes you think you can now?”
Puttinghoof wasted no time. “Seargeant, I’m ordering you to escort this Pony to the digi-port room. You are to personally see she is beamed to the surface. Then you will join her. Understood?”
The gunnery sergeant was irked by the order, but saluted in obedience.
“No!” Sun argued as the officer grabbed her. “You can’t do this!” She struggled to shake him off.
“Listen to me,” he said putting his hooves around her. Sun twitched, still on guard from his previous contact with her jaw. “I’m sorry for what I’ve done. You were always smarter than me. Just like a little girl I once knew and loved. I should have listened to you from the start. This new world doesn’t need ponies like me. The pony race has had enough politicians. If they’re going to survive, they’re going to need smart people like you, Smart Cookie.”
Sun glared at him angrily.
“It’s Sun, I know…Sunbeam,” he hastily corrected, despite that not being the real reason for her anger. “I just thought that nickname would make you smile every now and then. Just like your nickname for me, ‘Puddinghead’.”
Sun’s face flushed with a little embarrassment.
“Don’t think I haven’t heard you call me that from time to time. It always brought a smile to my face, and I thank you for it. Now go. I want you to be safe.” He turned back to the sergeant, “Take her.”
“No! You can’t do this! I won’t let you!” she protested, but the officer was much stronger than she was and pulled her from the room.
“We’re in orbit now sir,” said the helmspony.
“Good, now begin to slingshot us around the planet. Build up as much speed as you can.”
Puttinghoof returned to his chair and opened ship-wide communications again.
“Attention! Attention! Begin evacuations now! All evacuees are to digi-port to the surface of the planet immediately. Get to your designated digi-port rooms and transport down to the surface!”
Across the ship, families crowded around their assigned digit-port rooms. Operators were trying desperately to keep the peace and move as quickly as possible with the Earth pony families. In at least one room, the operator was completely overwhelmed by the panicked parents. The pad was destroyed, leaving those families trapped. Not every family was going to make it to the new world.
“Still no effect!” the Unicorn monitoring weapons called out after another failed attempt to strike the Windigos ship.
“Son of a mule!” the captain swore. It took him a second to realize what he just said in front of the princess. “Sorry, your Majesty,” he quickly apologized.
“Words are not at issue, Captain, but failure is. Is there nothing we can do to stop this thing?”
The captain was straining to think of anything that might cause some damage to that ship.
Clover, who stayed right at her leader’s side throughout the fight, was at a loss for ideas as well, and the energy from the Windigos primary weapon was nearly complete.
“Captain, the ship is nearly ready to fire the weapon at the planet,” the weapon’s pony reported.
The main screen showed the image of the massive sphere, with the white bulb of energy beginning to pulsate. Another bulb was starting to form on it side, facing them.
Princess Platinum stared out at the ship, mere minutes away from destroying the last hope for her people, along with everypony on this ship. Her whole life had been spent doing the exact opposite of what her cutie mark had told her to do. She had always wanted to help her people; to be a generous and noble monarch, leading her people into the future. Now she stood staring down the face of her people’s destruction.
She looked around the ship as Unicorns diligently carried out their orders, knowing the odds of their success now. And Clover…
The princess stared hard at her servant and best friend. She was the one pony she trusted more than any other, her true conscience and guide to the world they lived in. After treating her so horribly for so many years, she would be here now to witness her final suffering and death. That would not do.
Just behind Clover, stood a Digi-port pad. Without even thinking, the princess shoved Clover into the pad.
“Princess! What are you doing?” Clover yelled, falling back into the wall of the pad.
“I’m sorry, Clover,” she said, pushing buttons on the panel. She had no idea if she was doing it correctly, but when she saw the image of the rebel ship with a flashing dot in its center, she figured she was. “I’m so sorry for everything. Take care of our people.” Platinum was crying in earnest.
“No wait! Please Princess!” Clover tried to protest, but the princess pressed the last button, and the Unicorn was transported over to the disabled rebel ship, just as the Windigos fired at the Unicorn ship.
The princess saw the white light burst forth surrounding the ship and penetrating straight through her. Her final tear was of the happiness she felt in helping at least one of her people.
The chancellor’s ship was spinning around the planet, gaining momentum rapidly. The heat on the outside of the ship ignited in flames, burning in the atmosphere.
“How many evacuated?” Puttinghoof asked.
“Sixty-two percent,” the officer read off.
“What’s the status of the Pegasus ship?”
“They’re in pursuit, and gaining. We could accelerate if we stop transporting ponies to the surface.”
“No!” the chancellor shouted back. “Maintain speed and keep transporting them down!”
The two ships were locked in a chase circling around and around the planet. The Pegasi were using everything they could to get the upper hand. From the surface of the planet, ponies could stare up into space as one fireball chased another across the sky.
“Seventy-four percent,” the officer continued to read off.
The strain of the g-forces was building beyond the ship’s capacity to manage, causing those onboard to experience the feeling of being squished into their seats. Those standing in line at the Digi-ports were struggling to reach the pads.
“How long until they reach us?” Puttinghoof shouted.
His answer was delivered in the form of a small blast near the rear of the ship, where the MEM missile exploded just out of range.
“How many transported?”
“Eighty-one percent.”
More impacts started blasting near the ship. The shockwaves were causing the ship to shake with an intensity that many feared would cause the entire thing to shake apart.
“Eighty-two percent.”
“Come on! Just a little bit more!” the Chancellor muttered staring at the main screen.
“Eighty-three percent.”
*WHAM!*
One of the missiles connected with the underbelly of the ship causing it to bounce. The ponies were thrown from their seats. The ship held together, but by threads alone.
The officer reading the Digi-port progress scrambled to his chair.
“Eighty-four percent!” he yelled.
“I guess that’s the best we can hope for,” the chancellor sighed. “Now! – AND DON’T MISS!!!”
The helmspony flipped the engines in a massive one-eighty firing full blast in reverse.
Puttinghoof sat up straight in his chair with a smile on his face. “See you soon Honey!” he said as he started to giggle. His giggle became a chuckle, which turned into a laugh and expanded into a belly-rolling cackle, with pains in his sides and tears running down his face. He hadn’t laughed so hard or felt so alive in so many years.
With the Pegasi unable to foresee this strategy, they rammed full velocity into the Earth pony ship, the two ships becoming a conglomerate of each other, tumbling into an uncontrolled descent to the surface.
I feel so peaceful…
It’s so quiet and serene…
Oh…I must have died…
I’m glad it didn’t hurt…
Still…I feel very cold…
And I want to breathe, but cannot…
The afterlife is a strange place…
I just wish Luna hadn’t been with me…
I’m so sorry, my little sister…
Please forgive me…
*THUNK!*
“Ow! …That hurt!” is what Celestia meant to say holding her nose after being kicked in the face by something, but her words had no sound to them as they came out of her mouth.
She opened her eyes to a scene she never could have imagined. She was floating amongst debris from the rebel ship, which lay adrift nearby, spinning slowly at an angle. One of the engines had been completely ripped apart from the weapon. Sparks flashed out of the hole that remained behind. The planet stood before her, two ships circling around it in a chase. One moon stood not too far from where she was with the other just barely visible on the opposite side. It would be the most beautiful sight Celestia had ever seen, had it not been for the bodies of dead ponies floating all round her. But the most prominent object in the scene was this massive metal sphere. It glowed with a green hue and looked like something made from fillies’ nightmares. The side of it that faced the planet was glowing bright white.
*WHACK!*
Something kicked Celestia again; this time in the back of her head. She turned to see Luna flailing and screaming. She couldn’t hear her screams, but she could see them clear as day. Luna was crying and kicking and screaming in shear panic.
Celestia was just ecstatic her little sister was alive. On instinct alone, in a soft fluid motion, Celestia stretched out her wings and glided to her sister with ease. She reached out for her with open hooves and a smile, before being kicked in the face again by the screaming Alicorn filly.
Celestia tried to get her to calm down, but her sister was not having it. Finally Celestia soared over her sister’s head and flawlessly stopped just behind her. She grabbed Luna from behind and cradled her. It took many more minutes before Luna would begin to settle down, but Celestia held her tightly until she finally did.
As the debris and the bodies of Unicorns, Earth ponies, and Pegasi drifted past them, neither could imagine why they were alive, why they did not feel the need to breathe, nor why Alicorns seemed to be the only ponies with this ability. They were both just glad to be alive and have each other.
Amongst the debris, Celestia caught sight of her bag, floating aimlessly nearby. Something was glowing inside it. Holding her sister tightly, she used her wings to drift over to her bag, reaching out with one hoof for it. Luna had started to calm down, but latched onto her big sister like a pony drowning at sea, grasping onto a life line back to the boat. When Celestia opened the bag, she could see the tiara inside, glowing brightly back at her.
She took the crown from her bag and placed it on her head. She had no clue what she was doing, but felt it was what she needed to do. She then tried to activate it with her horn, but nothing seemed to happen. The crown continued to glow, but nothing more.
Celestia knew she was missing something. She looked down at her sister who was crying into her chest. Then she realized. She needed to express the one trait the makers of the Elements of Harmony never foresaw: the magic of friendship.
Celestia took her hoof and lifted Luna’s chin to face her. Luna obliged, but still continued shed tears, which lifted off her cheeks and floated away into space. Celestia smiled at her and tilted her horn toward her sister’s until they touched. Her horn started to glow as she pushed magic through it to her sister. Luna wasn’t sure what her she was trying to do, but she too pushed magic through her own horn, until both were glowing together in harmony.
At once, Celestia’s eyes turned white with bright light. Her tiara’s glow increased tenfold. Standing behind the scene in the background, laid the Bathmorda nebula, a vast barrier of pure magic, which began to spin into an enormous pink funnel, like a tornado being pulled to the ground from the clouds. The entire nebula was being spun into the tips of both Alicorns’ horns.
Harmon coughed up vast quantities of rubble, spitting up and shielding his eyes. He wasn’t sure what happened, but knew it was bad. His cell had been broken apart as though a bomb had exploded. Both of his guards laid dead upon the floor, covered in concrete, metal, and other materials. Harmon’s cell door had broken off and was lying on the floor. Harmon had been thrown against the wall, covered in bruises, but wasn’t seriously injured. His lungs and eyes burned from the dust as he struggled to free himself from the brig.
He could feel the ship moving, almost tilting. He was starting to feel queasy. He tried to get to a Digi-Port room to escape, but when he rounded the corner on the nearest one from the brig, he saw the entire hallway had collapsed. Rubble was strewn about and an Earth pony body was hanging out from it.
“Why is there an Earth pony onboard?” he wondered. The ship was started to shake and spin around. He would have to try to get to another Digi-port pad and fast. He had a tingling feeling, he did not have long.
He passed collapsed hallway after collapsed hallway, desperately trying to get to any accessible and working Digi-port room. He finally discovered one that appeared undamaged and unblocked. He flew as fast as he could at it before being smashed into the wall.
Harmon shook his head and saw Commander Hirkain hovering in front of him. His face was slashed and bleeding. One eye was missing, and the only thing more horrific was his scowl.
“YOU!!!” he screamed. “This is all your fault!” Hirkain picked up Harmon by the scruff and lifted him off the ground. “You and your bucking traitorous filth!” He punched Harmon across the face.
The ship was twirling around them now, shaking hard as the atmosphere of the planet burned around them. Harmon was turning green.
“You…needed to…be stopped!” Harmon puttered.
“THEY NEEDED TO BE STOPPED!!!” Hirkain punched him again, this time in the gut, knocking the wind out of him. He struggled to breath. “Without me, those idiots would have rotted to death on that dying rock! I saw the future of the pony race! I saw the future where I ruled them all!”
“You’re insane!” Harmon screamed back. The commander took him and hurled him into the wall. Harmon struggled to stand up, but the ship was spinning out of control. He couldn’t see straight.
Commander Hirkain took the blade from his side, the same blade used to slit Galifrea’s throat, and pointed it at him. “It’s time to end your traitorous life, once and for all!” He charged at Harmon blade in hoof.
Harmon could only make out the shape of the commander spinning towards him, as he desperately tried to get back up.
Hirkain flew at the pony, spinning with the walls in a dizzying effect, before the ship lurched from striking an air pocket, sending him bouncing into a wall. Harmon caught the blade in the confusion, swinging it around onto the commander himself. The blade dug deep into the Pegasus’s gut.
The commander’s remaining eye widened with disbelief. Like the bullies of his childhood, he had lived to suffer the same fate. His mouth dribbled blood as death overcame him.
Harmon extricated himself from the body and scrambled to get to the Digi-port room. The ship was spinning so fast he was at a loss for which way was up, but he flew around until he finally reached the terminal. The console was a blur as it danced around his eyes from nausea. He punched buttons until the light appeared ready for transport. He fell onto the pad as the device prepared for transport.
The hurling ball of flame that used to be two ships slammed into the ocean. Tidal waves rose up in every direction reaching out to all shorelines. The inland colony remained behind, untouched by the massive floodwaters.
The weapon began pulsating faster and faster on the Windigos vessel. It was fully charged and ready to fire. Directly above the rebel colony the ship hovered, poised to launch the weapon capable of eliminating the entire colony, poisoning the atmosphere of the planet, and sentencing all life to extinction. They remained unperturbed by the nebula’s transformation going on behind them. It continued its preparations to fire the weapon, unimpeded by any more ships that could have been a threat.
As more and more of the nebula was drawn into the vortex surrounding the two Alicorns, their combined auras expanded outward in a glowing ball of magical energy. In a single moment as the nebula was completely absorbed, the auras contracted into a singularity, with Celestia and Luna at its nucleus.
A beam of yellow and blue magical energy entwined together burst forth from the center, aimed straight at one of the planet’s moons. It smashed into the rock with the force of a ten million Gigaton Monceros particle blast.
The explosion expanded outward from the center of impact, spreading in a fiery wave of yellow and blue. The energy wave ceased only when the entire moon had been consumed. As the Windigos fired their devastating weapon, the moon burst forth the fiery arc of massive solar flare. The arc stole the energy of the weapon and sliced through the sphere like a hot knife through butter.
The green light of the sphere had been silenced. The ship started exploding at multiple points all around, before bursting apart entirely. Only a small part survived the blast; no bigger than a hoof. It flew off into the empty space beyond.
When the flare of the fiery moon dissipated, a miniature sun remained, born from the explosion. The surface of the world below witnessed its first dawn for thousands of years.
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And so ends her climax!
(I mean THE climax!)
So one more chapter to go.
But hopefully you're all enjoying the show!
can't wait. Hope you put some killer ideas to use.
WAHOO THE SUN IS ON! and it came on with a bang
2426583
killer ideas? how many more ponies do u want me to kill? O_o
2427536 killing more ponies? No-no, not that! LOL.
I meant to say the ideas I gave at the beginning for the twisted ending and revelation. Also, maybe that idea I gave you could create a sequel.
2427826
we shall see...
A 1 gigaton blast won't create a sun, but its magic anyway lol
2429426
fair enough. lets make it 1 gajillion!
So, Platinum performs an act of terminal generosity, Puttinghoof goes down laughing... and Hirkain is betrayed by sword and soldier alike. Brilliant.
Oh, and the alicorn sisters prove that stars are the best weapons.
Looking forward to the denouement, though I can't help but wonder: Why? What was the Windigos' goal? The purpose behind their quest for pony extinction?
2442045
oooh! - nice question!
I'll be making a small bonus chapter that will answer that question very well with an awesome twist. - If you haven't read The Discord Continuum, you might want to take a peak.
The rebel ship was not fairing much better
The ship was started to shake and
1. Faring.
2. Starting.