Exiting the gate outside the orbit of Luna's moon, her highness' ship entered into orbit.
Trotting onto the transporter platform, the empress nodded to the operator; Still Frame.
As she materialized in the entrance way of the castle in Canterlot, the guardsponies saluted her. The long standing tradition, outlasting the true reason they had taken to doing so over the customary bowing.
Saluting them in response, she followed them to the Royal Court where the princesses were tending.
It was time for the empress's status update to the princesses, on the colony of ponies banished from the paradise that was Equestria. Every fifty years, the empress would check on the ponies there, and report her findings on the colony that was set aside for the exiles.
Such was the part of the agreement the princesses made with the empress: Though they would not visit nor appear before them, they were always hopeful that the descendants of the exiled would eventually return to Equestria. Welcomed back after their hearts had healed of the darkness they carried.
Walking past the open doors, she saw her aunt and mother sitting.
While waiting for the last petitioner of the day to conclude their business, she looked around the room. Her eyes always lingered for a moment longer above the throne, thankful that the space there was taken by the symbol of Equestria and not what still graced her nightmares on rare occasion.
Two hundred and three years ago, it was here that her world was shaken, and in response she shook back...
With the petitioner exiting through the doors, the guards closed them behind them, leaving the royal family to themselves.
Smiling, she approached the reining Diarchs of Canterlot. Both of them arose and met her at the steps, embracing for a short time.
"It is wonderful to see you again, daughter" Luna smiled. She, finally have gotten used to saying that.
"Me as well, my niece" Celestia said. It took her a while longer, but had finally gotten passed the awkwardness after everything had settled down.
"Thank you, both of you. It warms my heart to see you again, and to where I hold you in my heart. Though my visit here this day is tainted with ill news.." the empress said sadly.
"Oh..." Was all that the two diarchs could utter, their ears wilting.
Taking a breath, the empress began her report without delay;
"The colony of the exiled; has fallen, and is no more. Research indicates that the majority of ponies there had met their end through starvation. The colony proper, contained only the remains of unicorn and pegasi. Further searching found that the earth ponies were nearly One Hundred and Five Thousand lengths eastward, and had perished nearly two years beforehoof, of dehydration we presume. As there were no water sources available anywhere outside the colony site, we are certain of this" The empress pushed out the words.
She didn't need to carry a pad to remember these details, they were terrible enough to remember without one.
"That means that..." Celestia gasped. Luna, picking up where she left off;
"They drove out the earth ponies, and then starved to death without their magic... Horrible!"
There was no question as to what had occurred, the earth ponies could sense that there was nothing beyond the colony but that of a barren landscape of death. They, would not have left had they any choice in the matter.
With a nod and a sad sigh, the empress went on;
"We will never know the specific reason they did so, nor if they came to realize their mistake before the end came for them. It is quite possible that they changed their minds a week afterward, but was already too late. Dooming themselves in only two days, then taking two years to come to fruition."
Sitting down, the empress lamented;
"In the millennia which the empire has existed, this is the first of a colony fallen. The final legacy of the descendants of the exiled ones.. Consumed by that which they carried in their hearts."
After a few minutes of silence, Luna spoke up;
"What should we do about their remains?" She asked, looking to her sister.
"I, should we bring them here?" She asked the empress.
"That could be done, though they have already been laid to rest on the lands they had lived. Neither ponies of the empire, nor Equestria."
Pausing for a moment, she asked;
"With your permission, I shall cast an entropy spell which shall break down the remnants of their remains, into the elements from which they were made."
Looking to the empress in surprise, they asked her;
"Can such a spell do that?"
Looking past them both, remembering a time long ago... The empress replied with a voice haunted by memories;
"It, does."
In the coming centuries, the lost colony world slowly became a lush green paradise. Being terraformed by automated systems; grasses, trees, and plants of all kinds grew there now. Rains fell from the skies unchecked, and rivers flowed of their own accord into seas.
But ponies never tarried there too long. Instead, passing it up for other worlds.
That world...the holder of a dark spot on the empire's prosperous history.
The memory of the era of fallen ponies, fading with the passing years.