Go

by Church

Part I- C

The entire city of Canterlot gathered on the outskirts of the small town of Ponyville. Ponyville’s residents had also been ordered to evacuate, and had joined the massive group on the hillside. Luna and the Royal Guard were in front. The Elements of Harmony were at Luna’s side. Princess Celestia was nowhere to be seen.

“What’s going on, Princess?” Twilight asked out of concern. She felt as though she was about to watch her town get ripped to pieces.

“Hush, Twilight Sparkle,” Luna said, her horn beginning to glow faintly. “This requires deep concentration. You will see.”

Luna sent a message to all of the Guard through telekinesis. This message affirmed the Guard’s worst fears, the message that they were told they would never have to use. Good thing they were taught it anyway. Shining Armor grimaced, his wife very close to her side. They still had not received word of why all this was happening.

“You remember the spell...” was heard by every unicorn member of the Royal Guard.

Horns began to glow. The effort exerted was extreme. Faces of hurt were seen throughout the ranks, their entire focus going into the spell. And for what? Nothing was happening. The members of the audience began to grow confused. They had been evacuated to watch royalty put on a light show. Once again, Luna was questioned for her loyalty to the Queendom.

Then, Luna’s horn produced a grand spark of pure, wickedly sensational light.

The ground began to tremble.

Pinkie and Fluttershy fell right to the ground and covered their heads, assuming the trembles were that of an earthquake. Shouts of shock came from the crowd. It felt like the world was being torn apart. It felt like thousands of gargantuan fissures would suddenly present themselves and suck everypony under. It felt like a meteor had come and struck the earth with great force, creating violent seismic activity. Twilight Sparkle felt as if she were about to watch her town get ripped to pieces.

Then, by some ungodly force, Twilight watched as her town got ripped to pieces.

A tower. A tower sprouted out from under the earth, obliterating Sugar Cube Corner with minimal effort. It was tall, black, difficult to see in the night. The only reason it was seen was because it had several lights running down its length. It looked like a lighthouse. It was a lighthouse kept under the crust of the earth. Oddly enough, stranger things have happened.

Then, the tower stopped. Soon after, everything went.

The entire village of Ponyville bulged outward. Homes were annihilated. Trees were uprooted and tossed aside like play things. Roads crumbled and broke up, sending concrete fragments flying. The entire village of Ponyville looked as if it was being torn from its roots. Carriages ceased to be, the sickening sound of shattering glass was heard, the shaking of the earth could still be felt. The spell hadn’t ended.

Imagine, if you will, a city being born. That is exactly what the spectacle appeared to be.

Lights flickered in the distance, all stemming from this massive formation emerging from the earth’s crust. Everypony in the audience stood gaping. Homes. They could see homes shooting straight up out of the earth. There were various buildings that could serve various purposes. It was an entire city coming right out of the dirt. Nopony ever knew.

Ponyville could no longer be placed on a map. It was gone. The new city hadn’t even fully ascended from the earth yet, but it was gone. It was replaced by this grandiose metallic metropolis that glittered with various lights placed at the street corners and in the houses. That’s right. The thing had a grid. Soon enough, it rose high enough for the base to begin to appear.

The base made its way up through the canyon that used to be Ponyville. Now a humming sound could be heard. Everypony watched in awe as the final piece to the structure appeared. Zero gravity boosters, thousands of them, all propelling the structure upward. It wasn’t a city.

It was a spaceship.

The city floated on thin air, much like Cloudsdale, just not Cloudsdale. Rainbow Dash stood next to Applejack, nudging her in the shoulder to AJ’s annoyance.

“That was probably the coolest thing I have ever seen...” Dash muttered.

The horns of the Royal Guards quit. All of them collapsed, panting, completely spent. Luna’s kept glowing. From the city limits, a beam of light shot out. It angled itself straight downward, and shot like lightning to a spot just before Luna’s hooves. It then widened itself, enough to accommodate the appropriate amount of guests. This was the bridge. Luna’s horn stopped glowing. She held her head in agony.

Not a peep was heard from the audience. Not a gasp or a crying foal. They all stared in disbelief.

“A... a spaceship!” Twilight said in shock. “Why? And under Ponyville?!”

Luna took a moment to stop her head from throbbing. “Of course,” she said, breathing heavily, “you do not believe we sent you to Ponyville by random choice, do you?”

Twilight was totally confused. “I don’t get it. Why have you built a monumentally large spaceship? And why are you revealing the secret of it now?”

Luna laughed weakly. “We did not build it, Twilight Sparkle. There is much you need to learn about our history that is not taught in history books.” Luna took one step forward, onto the bridge. Satisfied that it was functional, she began to walk up to get a better viewpoint of her audience.

Meanwhile, Twilight was left to think. If they hadn’t built it, then who had? Who was left on the planet to build such a magnificent structure? Perhaps they had received help from a distant planet? No. Too much trouble. There wasn’t a need for it. Why would they have it built? Unless...

unless they came here in it.

“You mean to tell me we’re descendants of settler ponies?!” Twilight murmured to herself.

Luna stood on the bridge and looked out at the many faces in the crowd. She looked beyond and saw the rolling hillsides and grassy plains. She looked beyond and saw the infinite reaches of space and the stars. She looked beyond and saw her sister.

Everypony expected the Princess to use the Royal Canterlot Voice. They expected her snooty attitude and pushy nature. What they got was a very different Princess Luna.

“Come with us, and we will provide you with protection, a warm home, and food to eat. Don’t, and your world will erupt.”

With that, Luna turned and boarded the space-city. The Royal Guard tentatively followed, still completely unaware of what was occurring.

“What’s going on?” Rarity asked. “What’s happening? Why did she go and rip apart our homes!? Dear Celestia... my designs!” Rarity began to sob on Applejack’s shoulder.

“I don’t know,” Twilight replied, ignoring the drama, “but Luna’s acting very strangely. I still haven’t seen Celestia. She just... she just destroyed a town. That’s more than strange, I’d say. We need to be on our hooves, girls.”

They all nodded in agreement and stepped hoof onto the bridge together. They filed in after the Royal Guard.

The rest of the population was soon to follow.

“All right, where’s Princess Celestia?” Twilight demanded, charging into the Control Room of the spacecity with the famed Elements of Harmony. They were in the tower. They were a soaring distance into the air. “What do you mean by ‘erupt’? What’s going on Luna?”

Luna wasn’t in the mood. She hung her head low on the Control Console. The rest of the Royal Guard was getting the former citizens of Canterlot and Ponyville situated, which was proving to be a hassle. This entire situation was shrouded in mystery, and it was sort of “no shit, Sherlock” that she would be the one at the center of the blame. Nopony had a single clue of what was going on. They needed answers.

They would soon get them.

“Please... sit down over here.” Luna pointed to six empty chairs. “We... I only want your help.”

The Elements slowly approached the crestfallen Princess. Luna showed no desire of striking them or trapping them. She was Luna all right. But with everything that was going on, it was almost wishful thinking to believe that Luna had done nothing wrong. She hadn’t done anything wrong, but it was still wishful thinking.

“I know your minds must be troubling you,” Luna stated.

Twilight half-frowned. “You could say that.”

“You will all know the truth very soon,” Luna said morosely. “We... I can’t imagine that you will know what to do with it.”

Twilight Sparkle came round to get a proper view of Luna’s face. The rest of the Elements settled into their chairs, keeping an eye on Twilight and Luna.

“Luna... have you been crying?”

Luna said nothing. She was staring out the tower window, out over the horizon, where she saw trouble. At first, she thought it was hope. Light. There was light on the horizon. The light of the Sun. Then she recognized it as trouble. That light was a searing red. That light was burning white hot. That light was the light of a dying star.

“We need to get out of here,” Luna said. She immediately felt awful for saying it. If there were any way she could leave the ship and be with her sister, she would not hesitate to do it. Sadly... she knew her duties. Whether she liked it or not, the fates of thousands of ponies rested in her hooves. “Ship, start.”

The Control Room hummed to life. Thousands of buttons lit up in a dazzling display. Knobs and levers and cranks that seemed to serve no purpose at all became a source of light. It was all a neon blue.

Twilight was mystified. “Luna... what is this? What are you doing? Where is Celestia, and why did you completely upend an entire village?”

“It doesn’t matter, Twilight Sparkle,” Luna whispered. “Nothing does.”

“What?”

Twilight looked out to the horizon line now. She saw the fiery light from the Sun begin to creep across the land. The Elements followed her gaze, and they too saw it. Each of them raced to the windows and pressed their faces to them.

“What’s that?” Twilight asked, dreading the response.

“We need to get out of here,” Luna repeated. She lifted herself from her chair and began to punch various buttons and turn various dials. A couple of members of the Royal Guard waltzed in and immediately felt dumber just by looking at the complications to the advanced technology.

“You haven’t answered any questions, Luna!” Twilight cried, her voice taking on a direct tone. “What is going o-”

“Enough, Twilight Sparkle!” Luna barked, whirling around viciously. Twilight could tell she had most definitely been crying. “We will show you! We will- We will... oh!”

Luna fell to the floor, sobbing. She curled up into a ball, an embarrassment in front of her loyal subjects. She felt less like a leader already. Hopeless. That is how the Princess of the Night felt. Hopeless. The entire situation... hopeless.

The Elements raced over and circled the fallen Princess, concerned for her well being. Obviously something terrible had happened. Celestia was gone. Luna was emotionally compromised. A humongous spaceship had emerged from the depths of the earth, and everypony in the area was told to come aboard. Only recently had Twilight Sparkle discovered that the Princess’ had not created Equestria. They had, in a sense, just moved here. Then, Pinkie began to shake convulsively.

“Pinkie sense?” Applejack muttered.

Through her whimpers, Luna uttered the two words that would save all of the ponies she possibly could in such a short amount of time. The Moon needed to get out of this atmosphere.

“Ship... Go.”

Suddenly, the ship began to move. The thrusters burst in. A rude kick sent everypony sprawling backward. A translucent forcefield was seen descending around the city, safely sealing everypony inside. Everypony hung on to what they could. No advance was given, and several ponies out in the streets were suddenly pancaked to the sidewalk. But that meant it was working. They were going up.

“Where are we going to, Luna!?” Twilight yelled over the intensity of the thrusters. Luna didn’t answer. She closed her eyes and came in contact with her Moon.

Soon they were above the atmosphere. For the first time ever, a slight amount of the population of Equestria was above the clouds. They had entered space. This was not on the schedule for the Summer Sun Celebration this morning, and Twilight’s plans had been thrown for a loop.

The lavender unicorn struggled to her hooves. Her friends were quick to join her, helping each other up, curious to take a peek through the window. They stumbled over to the protective pane, built to withstand deep space travel. The view through the window was not a sight they wish they had seen.

“Is that... is that the sun?” Rainbow Dash asked, flabbergasted.

Miles and miles and miles away, Celestia’s Sun was burning. It wasn’t only burning, however, it was melting. The surface was a blistering red, and humongous bursts of flame lapped at the surface or sprung out into space and dissipated. Some of the flames looked like a large whip extending out to the planet of Equestria, but ultimately failed to reach. The Sun was a ball of dying energy. It was a bomb set to explode.

“Luna!” Twilight pleaded from her spot in the window. “This isn’t happening, right? Tell me this isn’t happening!”

Luna crossed over to the window, struggling to remain upright. She had to see her sister’s Sun, no matter how bad of shape it was in. It was the last thing Luna had of her sister. She pressed her nose into the pane, sharing the look of despair splayed upon everypony’s face.

Luna thought the Sun was beautiful. She wouldn’t ever tell anypony that, for she was stubborn. But she did think it was beautiful. She was always happy for her sister. Celestia changed the lives of so many ponies. All for the better. Tia was all Luna ever looked up to. Luna stayed up to watch the Sun rise not because she had to, but because she wanted to. It was majestic. It was empowering. It was peaceful. She never knew why so few ponies never woke to see the Sun rise. But now it was too late. They had missed their opportunity.

Boom.

Fire was reflected in the eyes of everypony onboard. Tears immediately stained the eyes of the Elements of Harmony. Twilight Sparkle took it the hardest. She let the gravity of it sink in all too quickly. Immediately, she realized her teacher was not onboard this ship. She screamed.

“No! Luna! Turn around! What are you doing!? Your sister is there! Save her! Save her please!”

Luna felt the gentle tug of her Moon, and knew that it was now following the ship. Twilight’s pleas of sorrow hit Luna hard in the gut. It was her fault her sister had died. It was her fault she could not save all of Equestria. It was her fault she didn’t just die with the most beloved friend she could ever ask for. She had failed. She had failed everypony. Luna was coming to terms with the fact that she was already dead inside.

A flashing light came on. It was blinking red, and everypony turned to look. It read “fasten seatbelt”. Everypony but Twilight Sparkle fell back in their chairs and strapped in. They buried their faces in their hooves and wished it all away. But it was truth. It was harsh reality. Now they knew as well as Luna did, there was no such thing as immortality.

“Ship...” Luna whimpered. She looked up to the heavens, out to the infinite reaches of space. She felt she was going this trip alone. She felt she was completely alone. Wherever they were going, it was going to be a long trip.

“Ship...” Luna reiterated. “Warp.”