When We Saw the Universe

by KKDW

Chapter 6: Crusaders

Over the last few decades nearly ever foal has joined the Cutie Mark Crusaders growing up, to learn more about themselves under the guidance of two great ponies. I knew them when they were just foals themselves, but one thing many ponies forget is that there were originally three of them.

– Extract from When We Saw the Universe by Captain Twilight Sparkle

Shortly after leaving Xocvi the Dominator II made a jump through Hyperspace to bring it close to its next destination, the planet Celo-7. This would be the second time the resistance had sent a ship to that planet, the previous mission there had ended up as a spectacularly failure. Every Carrier sent down to the planet was shot down by ground fire, and the main ship itself eventually had to retreat when the Bolkarn sent another ship to the planet to confront them.
Shortly after materializing in the sector of space that the planet was part of the Domiantor II picked up two escape pod distress signals. One was coming from a planet called Stixus, the other from H997-Ω. The crew was hesitant about answering those distress calls, partly because it would take them outside their mission objective but mostly because the signals identified them as being from a Bolkarn ship. Eventually it was decided to answer the distress calls, if it turned out they were Bolkarn they’d be taken prisoner and interrogated. They went to Stixus first as it was the closer of the two, the escape pod had not been occupied by a Bolkarn and after that they knew who would be in the other escape pod.
H997-Ω was a cold planet and a long way from its sun, its surface was covered in ice and snow with winds rushing across it constantly. The planet was completely uninhabited and the atmosphere was unsuitable for any known life forms in the universe. It wasn’t somewhere you’d want to be stuck in an escape pod, and according to the occupant of the other one they’d both been waiting to be rescued for over a year.
Carrier 1 touched down on the planet’s surface. The journey down had been rough with the small ship being battered by the raging wind. Once it had landed a group of ten members of the Dominator II’s crew emerged from it with Twilight and Liha among them, the pilot stayed behind to help guide them back to the Carrier. They were all wearing bright orange spacesuits; the spacesuits themselves were capable of changing color depending on the situation. Orange allowed them to be seen clearly against the almost completely white environment around them. However even with the bright orange it was almost impossible for them to see each other thanks to the heavy snowfall combined with the wind obscuring their vision.
Twilight put up a small magic shield around herself to keep the snow off while Liha took the lead. Liha was carrying a small receiver that would home in on the escape pod’s distress signal and lead them to it. Because of the environment Liha had left her crutch behind, Twilight had a feeling that she was regretting that decision as now she was having more trouble walking through the snow then the rest of them.
“Everyone keep close,” Liha said to them though the built in helmet radios.
Liha was holding one arm in front of her face in a futile attempt to keep some of the snow away, she wasn’t the only one. The helmets did have an infrared filter for the visors but Liha had told them that if they used them they might miss the escape pod. While Twilight would’ve expected something like that to be giving off some heat apparently after spending so much time in this environment its temperature would’ve decreased to a similar level, it was also fairly likely that the pod would’ve cryogenically frozen its occupant as well as deactivating any systems that weren’t absolutely necessary to conserve power for those that were.
They’d been searching for almost half an hour when they finally found the pod. More than half of it was buried in the ground, with the rest sticking out at an angle. The pod itself was a long wide cylinder; it would need to be if it was meant for a Bolkarn, and covered in frost and snow. Liha limped towards it and began examining it.
“The cryogenic system is in operation,” she said, even with the radios she still had to raise her voice to be heard over the wind. “And the occupant is still alive.”
“Thank goodness for that,” Twilight said as she joined Liha beside the pod.
“We’re gonna have to take the pod back to the ship to revive them,” Liha said as she began brushing aside snow from the pod to reveal a glass panel underneath through which they could see the occupant of the pod. “Well, is that her?” she asked.
Twilight looked inside at the sleeping occupant. Her mane was a mess and she was covered in dirt, scratches and bruises, Twilight noticed a lot of scratches and cuts along her front as though she’d been dragged across hard rocky ground, she essentially looked like anyone else who’d been in a Bolkarn mine for some time. She’d also lost her big pink bow, but despite all this Twilight could still recognize her.
“Yes,” Twilight said. “That’s Apple Bloom.”

Somehow, and none of them knew how it had happened but they were glad it had, the Cutie Mark Crusaders had managed to stay together after the Bolkarn attacked Equestria. They hadn’t been together at the time of the attack but the three of them were all captured and herded into the same ship with several other ponies and transported to Celo-7.
Foals and other small life forms weren’t much use in the mines. They were mostly used for carting around the chunks of rock and minerals that had been dug out away from the mines, sometimes however they’d be sent through gaps in the natural caves that the larger creatures couldn’t go through. And there were a lot of caves on Celo-7, and this was one of the reasons why the Bolkarn had chosen the planet for one of their many mining operations, most of the work had already been done for them. Working in the caves was hard work, a lot of them were high up in the mountains so pushing or dragging the carts up to them was very difficult. And going down had its problems too since you could easily lose control of your cart and have it roll down the mountain ahead of you until it crashed into something or someone.
The environment around the mine was rather pleasant. The sky pale red was often clear with only occasional and very light rain, and the air was cool and relaxing with the wind never amounting to anything more than a gentle breeze. When the slaves looked out at the view from high up in the mountains they could see a vast landscape of dark blue plant life spreading out towards the horizon. Most of the vegetation around the mine had been torn up and thrown aside, leaving only a few patches that would grow on the side of the mountains.
Sweetie Belle, Apple Bloom and Scootaloo had all stayed close together since they arrived on the planet, any job they were given they did together. The Bolkarn never attempted to stop them or split them up, either they didn’t mind or they just didn’t care. The only other slaves they interacted with were other ponies, though there weren’t many of those. The only reason they didn’t talk to anyone else was because of the language barrier, the only race in the mines aside from the ponies that spoke English were the Bolkarn, and the three of them preferred to avoid interacting with them as much as possible. They’d been in the mine for at least three months, though from the state they were in anyone looking at might think they’d been there for a lot longer. Sweetie Belle had said on more than one occasion that if Rarity saw her in that state she’d probably die of shock or something.
The sun was setting and they were taking a cart up to one of the caves to be loaded up with anything that had been dug before taking it back down again, they’d done this several times that day already, and on Celo-7 days were nearly ten hours longer then what they were used to. Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle were both pushing the cart while Scootaloo was pulling it with a harness strapped around her. All three of them were exhausted.
“You’d think this would get a little easier after a few months,” Sweetie Belle said between.
“Well, jus’ look on the bright side,” Apple Bloom said.
“What bright side?”
“At least it’s only full o’ rocks on the way back down.”
“Oh. You know what, that is a bright side.”
“And at least we’ve learnt one thing after all this,” Scootaloo said.
“Wha’s that?”
“Our special talent is quite definitely not mining!”
“Oh come on Scoot, seriously!” Sweetie Belle exclaimed, rolling her eyes in annoyance.
Apple Bloom glanced down at her Cutie Markless flank. “Ya know, she has a point,” she said. “We’re never gonna our Cutie Marks in this dump.”
“Well let’s hope we all get out of here as soon as possible,” Scootaloo said.
None of them said anything to that. They all knew that they had almost no chance at all of escaping the mine or being rescued. Apple Bloom decided to change the subject.
“Ya know, aside from the mine this is a pretty nice planet,” she said.
“Nice!” Scootaloo exclaimed. “The sky is red, the plants are blue! This place is weird.”
“Well Ah like it,” Apple Bloom said.
“Me too,” said Sweetie Belle. “Just look at the view, and that sunset.”
“I’ve seen the view and I’ve seen the sunset,” Scootaloo replied. “And you know what, I really don’t care.”
“But Scootaloo…”
“Shut up okay, anyway we’re almost there.”
The steep slope of the mountain began to flatten out as they approached the cave, making it easier to push and pull the cart. A Bolkarn warden was standing outside, a large gun held in two hands. He didn’t get much opportunity to use it as the slaves knew there wasn’t much point in trying to fight the Bolkarn. Instead he’d take the occasional shot at some of the planet’s wildlife when they flew overhead. He glared at the three crusaders as they went past him into the cave. They avoided looking at him, staring at the ground instead.
The three of them took the cart to the back of the cave where a small group of slaves were hacking at the stone wall with pick axes. The cave itself was only just large enough for a Bolkarn to stand up in. A series of lights had been hung from hooks that had been hammered into the cave walls. The slaves working in the cave included another pony, a tree, a reptile that walked on six legs with four arms, and a pink creature with large round ears and a long nose whose skin looked like it had been knitted that communicated through a series of whistling sounds. The pony gave them a small nod when they brought the cart to them while the others acknowledged their presence with their own language.
The Crusaders’ work wasn’t done yet. They went back down the cave and stopped at a small opening in the wall. For a few days now they’d been tasked with mining the cave on the other side of the opening, though since they’d often be called upon to take the cart up and down the mountain they hadn’t made much progress. They each squeezed through the gap one at a time. The narrow gap itself lasted for less than a meter before widening out to about the same size as the main cave. They quickly hurried over to where they’d left their tools and a small lamp and set to work. While they hadn’t made much progress on the cave wall they’d done enough to make a noticeable indentation in the bottom of the wall.
“Ya know if we keep this up we’re gonna have a really small tunnel to mine in,” Apple Bloom said.
“Best mind our heads then,” Scootaloo replied and the three of them laughed.
The mining work wasn’t easy, having to hold the tools in their mouths made it difficult to see what they were doing, on the occasions they’d been doing actual mining work over the last few months they’d almost hit each other several times, and once they actually did. Scootaloo now had a long scar down the back of one leg because of that. They’d been working on this bit of the cave for five days now, and the amount of work they’d managed to do could probably be done by one of the larger species in less than a day.
They continued to hack into the cave wall for half an hour, during that time Sweetie Belle almost hit Apple Bloom in the head with her pick axe twice. Then they heard a crash from outside, the sound being muffled slightly, and the cave shook.
“Wha’ that hay was that?” Apple Bloom said.
“I dunno,” Sweetie Belle replied. “It sounded like… uh oh!”
“What’s up?”
Sweetie Belle was looking at the ceiling, the other two glanced up at it and saw a crack appearing in it, small bits of dust started to fall from it.
“EVERYPONY OUT!” Scootaloo yelled, and the three of them made a dash for the entrance as the cave began to shake again.
As they forced their way through the gap leading back to the main cave they saw the other slaves rushing out of it, with more cracks appearing and chunks of rock coming away from the ceiling. Getting through the gap quickly wasn’t easy, Scootaloo got stuck just short of getting out, Apple Bloom stopped to help her and told Sweetie Belle to go on without them. By the time Scootaloo managed to get out of the gap all the other slaves were already outside the cave. The two of them galloped towards the exit, with rocks falling all around them.
Apple Bloom managed to get ahead of Scootaloo, but then she tripped on a small hole in the ground and fell flat on her face a short distance from the cave mouth. As Apple Bloom got back to her feet Scootaloo charged up behind her with her head lowered. She then got herself underneath Apple Bloom and used her head to throw her forwards. Apple Bloom hit the ground flat on her front and skidded across the floor and out of the cave, leaving a few small streaks of blood behind her. She looked back at the cave, and saw Scootaloo charging forwards, she was almost outside. Then the entire cave collapsed on top of her.
“SCOOT!”
Apple Bloom rushed towards the blocked entrance and began digging into the pile of rocks with her hooves, but only managed to shift the smaller ones. Tears started to well up in her eyes, and before look she broke down crying against the rocks. Then she opened her eyes again and saw that the other slaves had started clearing away the rocks. Apple Bloom stepped back and let them work; she knew she couldn’t do anything to help. She sat down next to Sweetie Belle and watched. They could see what appeared to see a small spaceship embedded in the side of the mountain just above the cave, the ship’s hull was just bare metal save for a large number 7 painted on the side. The ship was on fire with several Bolkarn gathering round it, pulling out the ship’s occupants, some of whom were still alive. Looking up at the sky Apple Bloom saw more ships like it descending towards them and being shot down by several large cannons set up around the mine.
While they were watching this happening Apple Bloom finally noticed the pain from her underside, looking down at herself she saw several scratches and cuts with blood seeping from them. She hadn’t noticed it in the heat of the moment, and it was only now that she’d managed to calm down that she became aware of it. She gritted her teeth and tried to ignore it, there were more important things to worry about now.
The slaves finally managed to clear away all the debris, Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle rushed towards them. They wished they hadn’t. There was Scootaloo lying on the ground, dead. Patches of her flesh had been torn open with her insides exposed, and several of her bones had been broken and crushed to bits. The worst part was her head which had been smashed open, a few of her teeth and been knocked out and broken apart. One of her eyes had come out, which was now lying on the ground, squashed almost completely flat. Sweetie Belle shut her eyes and turned away from the horrific sight, Apple Bloom just stared at it in horror with her mouth hanging open. Eventually she turned away from it two and started to cry again, they both did.

After that the other slaves had carried Scootaloo’s body back down the mountain to a makeshift graveyard near the mine. They dug a shallow grave and buried her body in it, making a pile of rocks on top to mark it. When they left Apple Bloom and Scootaloo stayed there, staring at the pile of rocks. Night had fallen now and slaves were being ordered to stop work for the day which they all did gladly. The Bolkarn herded the slaves into several small shacks that they slept in, but they left the two mourning ponies alone.
Apple Bloom glanced up at the moonless sky. The world that had seemed pleasant now felt like what it really was, alien. The cutie mark crusaders were a long way from home, and now one of them was dead, buried in the ground of an alien world countless miles from Equestria. Apple Bloom wasn’t crying anymore, she didn’t think she could shed any more tears now, though she desperately wanted to.
“Do… do you think it was quick?” Sweetie Belle asked?”
“Ah hope so,” Apple Bloom remembered what Scootaloo’s body had looked like. If she hadn’t been killed instantly then she must’ve been in sheer agony before finally dying.
“An’ she died without a cutie mark,” Apple Bloom said quietly.
Sweetie Belle was about to say something but decided against it, only giving an ‘mm’ of agreement. The two of them went back to silently staring at their friend’s grave. Eventually Sweetie Belle broke the silence.
“We are the Cutie Mark Crusaders,” she began to sing, “On a quest to find out who we are...”
Apple Bloom’s ears pricked up when she heard this. She hadn’t heard Sweetie Belle singing in a long time. The sound of her singing voice was calming, but it didn’t completely go against the mood. The song itself was different from what it used to be, softer and slower.
“And we will never stop the journey”, Sweetie Belle continued, and then Apple Bloom joined in, “Not until we have our cutie marks,” they both sang.
The both continued singing for some time, repeating the song more than once. Eventually the song came to its end. Throughout it Apple Bloom’s memories of the many escapades the three of them had had together flashed through her mind, even if they’re countless attempts to achieve their cutie marks had failed they’d still had fun. The grief she felt over Scootaloo’s death was still there, but now a new feeling was rising within Apple Bloom, determination.
“Sweetie Belle,” she said after they stopped singing, “Ah swear righ’ here and now tha’ the two of us are gettin outta here. Or we’ll die trying.”
Sweetie Belle stared at Apple Bloom, her mouth open in shock. Then she nodded and the two of them trotted back towards the mine.

The two of them spent the next few months trying to work out exactly how they’d pull off their escape attempt. One part was obvious; they’d have to sneak aboard one of the Bolkarn spaceships that came to the planet every so often to bring in more slaves. But these ships were always guarded by countless Bolkarn, getting past them unnoticed wasn’t going to be easy. One idea they considered was to hide amongst the materials that had been extracted from the mine when they were being loaded onto the ships. They weren’t entirely sure about this idea and decided to watch the next ship to arrive being loaded. It turned out the Bolkarn had already thought of the possibility of slaves trying to escape that way and would check each load for anyone hiding amongst them.
They’d almost given up hope of being able to make a successful escape attempt until about six months after Scootaloo’s death when a large red ship arrived. They were surprised to discover that this one wasn’t carrying slaves. Instead a small group of Bolkarn emerged, lead by one who carried a large hammer and wore a cloak and Apple Bloom was sure was made out of the skin of a Manticore. It turned out they’d come to inspect the mine. Most ships carrying slaves only stayed for a few hours at most, just long enough to unload all the slaves and load up everything that had been mined, they didn’t expect it to stay more than a day.
It was the middle of the night, the ship had been there for two days now and most of its crew were outside sitting around several campfires with the mine’s wardens. They were all chatting, laughing, drinking, and occasionally fighting each other. Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle had snuck out of their shack and were hiding behind an outcrop of rocks watching them.
“Are you sure about this Apple Bloom?” Sweetie Belle whispered as one Bolkarn threw his drink at another and missed.
“Yeah, it’s now or never,” Apple Bloom replied. “Ah’ve got this gut fellin’ that they’re gonna leave tomorrow. And we’re goin’ with ‘em.”
Sweetie Belle gulped, but then whispered, “Ok then.”
They slowly and cautiously moved out from behind the rocks, making sure to keep to the shadows and always watching the Bolkarn. They’d sometimes stop and remain as still as possible if they thought a Bolkarn was looking in their direction, and they wouldn’t move again until they were absolutely sure that they weren’t being watched. Eventually they made it to the ship. They edged around the outside of it, keeping close to the ship’s hull, and made their way to the rear of the ship where a large ramp led from a wide entrance to the ground.
The next part would be a lot harder. Up until that point they’d been relying on the darkness to hide them, but the entrance to the ship was brightly lit, bathing the ramp in bright light. This was the only way in and if a Bolkarn looked towards the ship they’d be spotted easily. Apple Bloom quickly explained the problem to Sweetie Belle after realising it.
“So what do we do now?” Sweetie Belle asked.
“Ah dunno. We’ll probably have to move fast, really fast.”
“But don’t hooves make a lot of noise when you’re walking on metal?”
“Shoot! Ah didn’t think’a that.”
“So are we still going to try it are do we give up?”
“Well we’re certainly not givin’ up. We jus’ need ta think’a somefin.”
The two of them sat there, huddled against the hull of the ship, watching the small crowd of Bolkarn. They didn’t know how long they’d been sitting there before something finally happened. Sweetie Belle saw it first, and she nudged Apple Bloom to get her attention. A group of slaves had emerged from their shacks, carrying various mining tools, and they were slowly sneaking towards the Bolkarn. One of the Bolkarn happened to look round and spot them, he shouted out a warning to the others and then the slaves charged towards them. The two foals watched as slaves and Bolkarn clashed, a lot of the Bolkarn were drunk and clumsy and the slaves knocked them out easily. Others weren’t beaten so switfly, Apple Bloom saw the one with the manticore cloak swinging his hammer left and right, striking down every slave unfortunate enough to get in its way. The noise from the fighting was incredibly, weapons clashing against each other, shouting and screaming and growling and countless other noises. One Bolkarn was knocked into one of the fires, another had taken a pick axe to the eye, and one Bolkarn pulled a gun and shot a slave at point blank range.
Then Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle saw the pink whistling creature look towards them, it whistled something loudly that they could barely hear and waved one of its arms. Apple Bloom realised what it was trying to tell them.
“GO!” she shouted to Sweetie Belle and the two of them dashed away towards the end of the ramp, running up it as fast as they could go, they didn’t stop until they were deep inside the ship.
“What was... that about?” Sweetie Belle asked, gasping for breath.
“A distraction,” Apple Bloom told her. “They did that so we could ge’ in here unnoticed.”
“Oh...” Sweetie Belle said quietly, and then she realised what this meant. “Oh my gosh! Some of them could get killed.”
“Ah’m sure they all realise tha’.”
“But why would they do that just to let us escape?”
“Ah dunno, bu’ it’s done now. Notin’ we can do abou’ it.”
“But...”
“Look, they gave us this chance to escape. Let’s not waste it, okay.”
It took a few seconds for Sweetie Belle to respond, eventually she just said a quiet “Okay.”
“Good. Now let’s go find some place to hide.”
After cautiously walking through the ship they eventually found their way to the hold. The hold was dark and quiet, it was full of large crates containing goodness knows what. They made their way to the back of the place and found a small gap between two crates and squeezed themselves between them.
“Are you sure we’ll be okay here?” Sweetie Belle asked.
“No, bu’ it’s the best we’ve go’ for now.”
“So what do we do now?”
“Jus’ sit here an’ wait for the ship to take off Ah guess. So in the meantime Ah think we should ge’ some sleep.”
“How long do you think that’ll take?”
“Dunno, maybe it’ll take off in the mornin’... though I think they migh’ stay a little long’a now after tha’ distraction.”
“Oh. I hope they’re all alright.”
“So do ah. Now jus’ go to sleep now okay.”
Sweetie Belle nodded, and the two of them lay down on the cold metal floor and eventually they both fell asleep.

They were woken the next morning (at least they assumed it was morning) by the roar of the ships engines. The whole thing shook as it lifted off from the ground and headed into the sky. Eventually the shaking stopped shortly after the ship had reached open space and the engines died down.
“So what do we do now?” Sweetie Belle asked.
“Stay here for a little long’a,” Apple Bloom said. “An’ then try an’ find a way off this thing.”
“So, we put all that effort into getting on this ship and now we’re just going to get back off again.”
“Well, yeah.”
“Can’t we just wait for it to land somewhere and then get off?”
“This ship is either goin’ to another planet that the Bolkarn have set up a mine on or their own planet. An’ Ah really don’ think we’ll wanna be in either of those places so we should get off before it gets there.”
“Oh! That makes sense... but, what do we do if we can’t find a way off?”
“Then Ah guess we’ll have to wait fer it to land somewhere... either tha’ or start panicin’!”
They remained huddled in their hiding place for nearly an hour before finally venturing out of the hold. As they explored the ship they made sure to move quickly, but quietly. They thought that the ship’s low lighting might help hide them from the Bolkarn. About half an hour after they started looking they decided to try another level of the ship, they’d seen Bolkarn using the ship’s elevators but thought it would be unwise to use those. It wasn’t long before they found an emergency shaft. The ladder made them almost reconsider using the elevators, but they decided to risk it. Going up or down the ladders was slow progress but they managed it without getting hurt. After a while they lost count of the number of levels they’d searched without finding anything useful.
“Do you think we should just give up and go back to hiding?” Sweetie Belle asked.
“No, not yet. We keep lookin’.”
“Yeah, but...”
“YOU TWO, STAY WHERE YOU ARE,” someone shouted.
They looked round and saw a Bolkarn standing at the other end of the corridor and pointing his gun at them.
“RUN!” Apple Bloom yelled.
They ran. The Bolkarn shouted at them to stop, and then began to open fire at them. They turned a corner and spotted an emergency shaft ahead of them and headed straight for it. As they closed the access panel behind them they heard an alarm going off, and then a voice.
“Attention all crew,” it said, “we have two intruders aboard the ship. The intruders are small and of an equinoid race. Find them, and eliminate them.”
“What does eliminate mean?” Sweetie Belle asked.
“Do Ah look like a dictionary to you?” Apple Bloom said.
“Intruders were sighted on level 24,” the voice continued. “It is likely they will head for the escape pods, they must be prevented from doing so. That is all.”
“Escape pods,” Apple Bloom repeated. “Ah like the sound of that.”
“What’s an escape pod?”
“Well Ah dunno, but I can guess. An’ it has to be our way off.”
“So how do we find them?”
“Well they have to be on this level otherwise they wouldn’t be worried about ‘em, so they might have a few Bolkarn standing guard. We just have to find the guards.”
“But how do we get past them?”
“Don’ worry, Ah’ve got an idea.”
A short while later Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle had found a cluster of guards standing in front of a door that they assumed led to the escape pods. It hadn’t taken them too long to find it and they’d managed to avoid being spotted by the Bolkarn, though there were a few near misses.
“Are you sure about this?” Sweetie Belle whispered.
“No, but it’s the only plan we’ve got,” Apple Bloom replied.
Having established where they needed to go they crept back towards a nearby shaft and climbed inside, shutting the door carefully and quietly behind them. Apple Bloom then began to climb up the ladder.
“Good luck,” Sweetie Belle whispered to her.
Apple Bloom made her way up to level 21, along the way she almost slipped and fell twice. To climb the ladder she had to push her hooves hard into its sides and had to rely on friction and the force of her own muscles pushing against it to hold her in place. The hard part was when she’d have to move upwards, moving her back legs was simple enough but her forelegs were another matter since they were keeping her from falling over backwards. Sometimes she’d add some extra grip by biting into the rungs if she thought she was about to fall. Progress was slow, but eventually she reached her destination.
She carefully opened the access panel and climbed out of the shaft. There was nobody in sight, good. The whole plan would’ve fallen apart if she’d been spotted immediately. Keeping herself pressed against the walls she snuck down the corridor and eventually spotted a group of Bolkarn walking away from her.
“HEY LOSERS!” she yelled, stepping out into the middle of the corridor. “BET YA CAN’T CATCH ME!”
Now came the hard part. Apple Bloom spun round and dashed away from them as fast as she could, past the emergency shaft and down the corridor. She’d managed to put a fair amount of distance between herself and the Bolkarn, now she just needed to lose them. She’d turned a corner into another corridor and rushed down that. As she darted down it she quickly looked around her for somewhere to hide. There! A small panel had been removed from one wall, exposing the ship’s inner workings. The space wasn’t too big, but it was just about large enough for Apple Bloom to fit in. She quickly glanced back to make sure the Bolkarn hadn’t turned the corner yet and then ran towards the exposed space and dived inside, and then she picked up the panel and carefully lifted it back into place. She stayed huddled in that space as she heard the Bolkarn come thundering past her. She waited a little while longer before finally emerging, and careful to make as little noise as possible she made her way back to the emergency shaft.
She managed to get back to the shaft without being spotted and as she climbed back in she heard the voice from earlier speak again.
“Attention, intruder sighted on level 21,” it said. “All guards head to level 21 and eliminated intruder immediately.”
Apple Bloom grinned as she started to make her way back down the ladder. Everything had gone according to plan so far. She descended the ladder as quickly as she could until she spotted Sweetie Belle below her, clinging to the ladder as hard as possible.
“Are they still there?” Apple Bloom asked her.
“Well I heard some of them running past here after that voice told them to go after you,” Sweetie Belle replied, “But I don’t know if they all went.”
Once again they made their way towards the escape pods as quietly as possible. All the guards that had been stationed there had gone. Sweetie Belle let out a sign of relief and they both quickly darted towards the door. The door opened by itself when they approached it and they stepped inside. The room was larger than they expected, and full of large vertically mounted cylinders, each one much bigger then a Bolkarn. The two ponies walked around them, staring at them. Through a glass panel in each pod they could what they assumed was a seat and a few screens.
“Looks like they’re meant fer only one,” Apple Bloom said.
“One Bolkarn,” Sweetie Belle added. “I’m sure we can both fit in one of these together.”
“We could,” Apple Bloom said slowly. “But Ah’m not sure we should.”
“Why not?”
“They’re bound to come after us, an’ if we split up that might make it harder for ‘em.”
“Oh. Are you sure?”
“No, I don’ want us to split up but Ah think we’ll have to.”
Sweetie Belle swallowed, and then said a quiet “Ok.”
“Good, now all we’ve gotta do is work out how to work these things.”
That part proved to be easy; they found a large button at the base of each pod which opened the glass panel. Climbing inside wasn’t easy, but they managed it.
“Well, good luck Sweetie Belle,” Apple Bloom said once they were both inside a pod.
“You too,” Sweetie Belle replied, and then the glass panels of the pods closed.
Suddenly the two pods rushed downwards, Apple Bloom’s pod was covered in darkness until finally it shot out of the bottom of the ship. She could see Sweetie Belle’s pod just in front of her. They waved to each other before small engines in each pod kicked in and the two pods shot away from the ship in opposite directions.
“WHAT THE!” Apple Bloom exclaimed when she saw this, she pressed herself against the glass to try and see Sweetie Belle’s pod, but hers was pointing in the wrong direction.
“Attention occupant,” said a voice.
“What! Who said that?”
“I am this pod’s artificial intelligence operating and guidance system.”
“Ah don’t know what that means.”
“I am tasked with guiding this pod to the nearest suitable planet, or to follow your instructions if you wish otherwise.”
“Erm... okay, what is the nearest suitable planet?”
“The nearest suitable planet is Celo-7.”
“NO! Not that one, definitely not that one.”
“Acknowledged.”
“Phew.”
“Please provide alternative destination.”
“Oh, Ah dunno. Somewhere close where that ship ain’t gonna follow me.”
“Acknowledged, searching for nearby planets suitable for these instructions.”
The voice remained silent for a few minutes. Apple Bloom sat there waiting for it to speak again.
“Potential planet found, planet H997-Ω. Is this destination suitable?”
“Sure why not, let’s go with that one.”
“Acknowledged, changing course.”
The engine’s flared and turned the pod slightly and then shot it off towards its destination. Apple Bloom didn’t know how long it took to get there since she fell asleep after a little over an hour. Eventually she was woken up when the voice spoke to her again.
“Attention occupant…”
“Apple Bloom, call me Apple Bloom.”
“Acknowledged, attention occupant Apple Bloom, about to make planet fall on H997-Ω. Standby for entry into planet’s atmosphere.”
Suddenly a series of straps snaked out from behind Apple Bloom and wove themselves around her, securing her tightly in place. She had a bad feeling about this. Looking through the glass she saw a large white planet in front of her and getting steadily closer. It wasn’t long before the pod reached it and punched its way into the planet’s atmosphere. The whole pod shook as it fell at an incredible speed. Apple Bloom could feel the pod getting hotter and she could see flames lapping against the bottom of the glass. She closed her eyes and held on tight to the straps around her hoping it would be over soon.
And then the pod struck ground. If it hadn’t been for the straps Apple Bloom would’ve been thrown against the glass, but she still felt the shock of the landing and needed a few seconds to recover while the straps undid themselves.
“Planet fall successfully accomplished,” the voice said.
“Yeah, Ah noticed,” Apple Bloom muttered.
Apple Bloom peered through the glass at the world around her. Everything was white, covered in snow and ice. There was snow falling all around them, and beginning to obscure the glass. She suddenly understood why this planet wasn’t the pod’s first choice for a suitable destination.
“Information: surrounding environment and atmosphere unsuitable for occupant Apple Bloom.”
“What does that mean?”
“Occupant Apple Bloom should remain within the pod until rescue arrives.”
“Oh. How long will that take?”
“Unknown. Time till rescue can range from a few days to several years.”
“YEARS! Ah can’t stay in this thing fer that long.”
“This pod is equipped with cryogenic freezing systems for situations such as this one.”
“Erm…”
“Cryogenic freezing systems put the subject to sleep for a period of time, during such time subject will not age or grow or similar effects of the passage of time.”
“So it’s like hibernating then.”
“Affirmative.”
“Well Ah guess you’ll have to do that then. But how will anyone know I’m here waiting to be rescued?”
“This pod will send out a distress signal that will be picked up by any passing spacecraft.”
“Oh good. But… what happened to Sweetie Belle’s pod?”
“Status of Dominator III Escape Pod 8-12-99-Z1, unknown.”
“Oh.”
“Activating distress signal and cryogenic freezing systems. Shutting down all unnecessary functions.”
Apple Bloom glanced up at the glass, which was now completely covered in snow. Then the pod began to fill with white vapor. As it spread around her Apple Bloom began to feel sleepy. She felt the pod getting colder and her eyelids getting heavy. She let them close on their own, and then she drifted into sleep.

Apple Bloom woke up. Her body felt stiff and numb. She opened her eyes. That wasn’t easy, she could only get them half open and what she could see was slipping in and out of focus, there was something purple standing over her.
“Oh thank… ness yo… right,” said a voice that sounded familiar. “…or a m… I tho… you hadn’t m… t.”
“Where am Ah?” Apple Bloom tried to say, her voice sounded hoarse and speaking hurt her throat.
“You’r… afe,” said the voice. “Just st… nd quiet, you should be… in a moment.”
The stiff feeling in her body was lessening, and the sounds around her were becoming clearer. She managed to get her eyes fully open just as her vision was clearing and she saw who had been talking to her.
“Twilight,” if she hadn’t been having trouble speaking Apple Bloom would’ve let out a load exclamation, but instead what she said was a hoarse whisper. For a moment, seeing Twilight Sparkle made her wonder if the whole experience with the Bolkarn had just been a dream, but then she realized she was still sitting in the escape pod. “Yah found me,” she said, just managing to force the words out.
“Yes, we did,” Twilight said softly. “And I’m sorry we didn’t find you sooner.”
“How long was Ah waitin’?”
“Well, according to some information we got out of the pod, you’ve been cryogenically frozen for 18 months.”
“WHAT!” Apple Bloom gasped and then a stab of pain shot through her throat, she felt like she was about to choke and had to take a few deep, wheezing, breaths.
“Take it easy Apple Bloom,” Twilight told her. “After being frozen for such a long time you’re body’s going to take a while to recover, but you’re recovering faster than I expected.”
Apple Bloom nodded, and took a few more deep breaths, those didn’t wheeze as much as before.
“Ah was with Sweetie Belle,” she said slowly and quietly. “Our pods went in…”
“I know. We found Sweetie Belle before we got to you, and she’s already told us what happened. And… I’m sorry about what happened to Scootaloo.”
Apple Bloom looked at Twilight and nodded, and then she asked, “Are Big Macintosh an’ Applejack here?”
“Well Big Macintosh is back on our base planet,” Twilight told her. “And Applejack… well…”
Twilight paused, and then took a deep breath before continuing.
“I’m afraid Applejack’s dead.”
Apple Bloom’s eyes widened when she heard this.
“No!” she said, it came out sounding like a squeak.
Twilight just nodded. And it was a few minutes before either of them said anything, Apple Bloom broke the silence first.
“Whe… where’s Sweetie Belle?” she asked quietly.
“Oh, she’s in the medical section. Do you want me to take you there?”
“Yeah. Wait, why’s she there?”
“Oh… well her escape pod’s cryogenic systems weren’t working so she had to experience the long wait for rescue.”
“Oh.”
“And… well the planet she was stuck on wasn’t very nice. Do you think you can walk?”
Apple Bloom stretched and flexed her legs experimentally, they still felt a little stiff but they weren’t as bad as they were earlier.
“Ah think so,” she said.
“Good, hold on a second.”
Twilight’s horn lit up and she levitated Apple Bloom out of the escape pod and set her down carefully on the floor. Apple Bloom felt a bit unsteady on her legs and almost fell over but she managed to catch herself and recover her balance. Now she was out of the pod she was able to get a decent look at the room she was in. It was fairly large, it would need to be fit the pod, with various racks on the walls, some of them were empty and Apple Bloom had no idea what was hanging from the ones that weren’t. There was also a table built into the far wall which was strewn with seemingly random bits of metal and other things.
Twilight pressed a button on a control panel mounted on one side of the room, and then nearly a whole wall slid upwards revealing the ship’s hanger outside. Twilight lead the way out of the room and across the hanger, staying close to the wall. Apple Bloom stared at everything they went past, there were several ships spread across the hanger floor haphazardly. Some with engineers either clambering over the tops or slid under them, doing goodness knows what. Looking up Apple Bloom could see several large frames attached to the walls, each one holding several of a specific type of ship. One of the engineers shouted something in a language she didn’t understand and a large mechanical claw descended from the ceiling. It grabbed one of the ships and lifted it into the air. The claw shifted across the ceiling before it was parallel with a frame holding the right type of ship before moving towards the frame, a pair of metal arms extended from the frame, grabbing the ship and drawing it into the frame.
Apple Bloom followed Twilight to an elevator at the back of the hanger. The elevator took them up several floors before they stepped out into a long corridor. Twilight led the way down the corridor, looking at each door as they passed it before finally stopping in front of one.
“Ok, I think this is the right one,” she said.
The door opened as Twilight stepped towards it and she gestured for Apple Bloom to follow her. The medical section was gleaming white, with a series of beds up against most of the walls. Above each bed was a screen, though what was being displayed on them Apple Bloom didn’t know. There were also beds in the middle of the room, back up against small sections of wall only a bit wider than the beds themselves. Twilight led Apple Bloom across the room to where Sweetie Belle was.
“I’ll leave you two alone, shall I?” Twilight said, Apple Bloom nodded and Twilight trotted away.
Twilight had left Apple Bloom a short distance away from Sweetie Belle’s bed. Apple Bloom took a deep breath and walked towards her. She was shocked when she was able to see Sweetie Belle clearly, in her own head it had only been a few hours since she last saw Sweetie Belle, this wasn’t the same Sweetie Belle she’d waved to before their escape pods took off in different directions. Sweetie Belle had grown a little and her horn was now longer, after 18 months that was to be expected. But she was now a lot thinner and Apple Bloom could see some of her bones pressing against her skin. There were small patches of her coat missing, along with some of her mane. Apple Bloom was struck dumb by the sight of friend in this condition.
“I know, I look terrible don’t I,” Sweetie Belle said.
Apple Bloom didn’t know how to respond to that. She couldn’t even look Sweetie Belle in the face. Instead she just stared at a small table by Sweetie Belle’s bed that had a small rock sitting on top of it. In the end she just nodded.
“What happened?” Apple Bloom asked quietly.
“The Bolkarn took a few shots at my pod,” Sweetie Belle told her. “That damaged some bits of it and it needed to land on the first planet it came to.”
“An’ what was that planet like?”
“Awful, there was almost nothing there but rocks, moss and stuff like that. And it rained a lot.”
“I… I guess bein’ alone there fer so long must’ve been awful.”
“It was, but I wasn’t alone.”
“No, no of course you weren’t, Ah guess the pod’s voice thingy could’ve kept yah company.”
“No I didn’t mean that, I made some friends. They’d been marooned on that planet a while ago. But…”
“But?”
“They… they all died, slowly, one by one. And… and I thought I was going to die to before I was rescued.”
Apple Bloom was stuck for words again. She looked around for inspiration for something to say, and then her eyes fell on Sweetie Belle’s flank. That hadn’t changed.
“Gee, and in all tha’ time yah still haven’t gotten yer cutie mark.”
“OH FOR GOODNESS SAKE APPLE BLOOM!” Sweetie Belle suddenly shouted, causing Apple Bloom to take a few steps backwards in surprise and a few of the others in the room to look and stare at them. “HAVEN’T YOU REALISED BY NOW THAT THERE’RE THINGS MORE IMPORTANT THEN A DAMN CUTIE MARK?!”
“I… I…” Apple Bloom stammered.
“Oh, gosh! I… I’m sorry Apple Bloom,” Sweetie Belle said after realizing what had just happened. “It’s just…”
“No, yer right. Ah’m sorry.”
“Though I see you haven’t gotten your cutie mark either,” Sweetie Belle said, and she winked at Apple Bloom.
“Yeah, but Ah was frozen!”
Then they both laughed for a few minutes, though their laugher soon petered out into an awkward silence which was finally broken by Apple Bloom.
“Ah… Ah guess this is my fault,” Apple Bloom said.
“No, it isn’t. Don’t say that.”
“No, it is. Getting in different pods was my idea so if we hadn’t done that we’d at least have been together. An’ if we’d both used mine the cryog… cryogen… the freezin’ thingy would’ve worked so yah wouldn’t have to wait.”
“Look, it’s already happened and there’s nothing we either of us can do about it. So please don’t go blaming yourself.”
“Ok, Ah’ll try.”
“Has anyone told you what happened to your family?” Sweetie Belle asked.
Apple Bloom opened her mouth to speak, but then paused. Did she want to tell Sweetie Belle what had happened to Applejack? No, she decided to keep that to herself for now. She’d tell Sweetie Belle when she was close to being healthy again.
“No,” she said. “Not yet.”
“Oh. I asked about Rarity and my parents. But nobody knows where they are at the moment.”
“Oh, well Ah hope they’re ok.”
“Me too.”
There was another pause in their conversation.
“Apple Bloom, I’m feeling a little tired. Do you mind…?”
“No, not at all. Yah get some sleep if yah need to.”
“Thanks.”
“Ah’ll come back and talk to yah later, okay.”
Sweetie Belle smiled and nodded. Then she closed her eyes and went to sleep almost immediately. Apple Bloom trotted away and out of the medical section. Twilight was standing just outside the door waiting for her.
“So what now?” Apple Bloom asked her.
“Well, I guess we’ll have to find you a cabin to stay in while you’re here,” Twilight told her. Then she muttered to herself, “Now where’s there a free one… ah, I know,” then she spoke up, “Follow me Apple Bloom.”
They headed back to the elevator which took them down a few floors and to another corridor. As they walked down this one Apple Heard a lot of noise coming from behind one door, then she noticed that most of the doors here had things painted or written on them. She spotted one with a lyre and three sweets on it, another with what she assumed was writing in an alien language scrawled across it. Finally they stopped outside a door with three red apples painted on it. Apple Bloom’s jaw dropped.
“Is this…?”
“Yes, this was Applejack’s cabin,” Twilight said quietly. “Nobody’s touched it since… since we lost her.”
The door opened and they stepped inside, the lights came on as they did. Apple Bloom looked around the cabin, there wasn’t much here. Just empty shelves, a shower in the corner, a few draws, the bed… then she realized what was on the bed. She approached it slowly, and then she picked up Applejack’s hat. She looked back at Twilight, who nodded.
“I think Applejack would’ve wanted you to have that,” she said, Apple Bloom nodded back.
Then Apple Bloom spotted a small framed photographs sitting on a table beside the bed. The photograph had been taken a few years ago during cider season. There was Applejack, Big Macintosh, Granny Smith and Apple Bloom herself standing beside the stall with a long queue of ponies stretching into the background. Apple Bloom had a sudden brief flashback to the Bolkarn invasion, seeing them storm across the fields and orchards of Sweet Apple Acres and setting their home and the barns on fire, Granny Smith had died in the attack. Apple Bloom noticed that the photograph had been damaged, with the edges being heavily burnt. Applejack must’ve either grabbed this as they fled or found it in the remains afterwards.
“Are you alright Apple Bloom?” Twilight asked.
“Huh, wha’?” Apple Bloom realized she’d been silently staring at the photograph for a few solid minutes. “Oh… yeah, Ah’m fine.”
“Good, is it okay if I leave you by yourself now?” Twilight asked.
“Yeah. Ah’ll be fine.”
“Ok, but if you need anything tell the computer to call me, ok?”
Apple Bloom nodded, and Twilight stepped out of the room with the door closing behind her. Apple Bloom lay down on the bed, putting the photograph back where she found it and the hat on the shelf. She felt she needed time to relax after everything she’d been told in the last hour. It didn’t seem that long since Scootaloo had died, and now she’d learnt that Applejack was gone to, and Sweetie Belle had come close to death as well. And now memories of the Bolkarn attack on their farm and Granny Smith’s death were flashing through her mind. She buried her head in her forelegs and began to cry.