//Begin Personal Log
//
//July 2nd, 2559
//
//22:58 Local Time
I’ll be brief. The gryphons made their move against the city of Manehattan two days ago. The city garrison has been doing a fantastic job at keeping the attackers at bay until the civilians could be evacuated. Now though, the gryphons are attacking with renewed vigor.
In a city of eight hundred thousand, only seventy five thousand remain. A number of guards from Canterlot have been dispatched to bolster the defences around the city. However, I doubt they will be able to hold the city for more than another two days. Even if I were to send marines, there are so few of us that it would make very little difference.
I now have a quick meeting with Luna and a few others on how we can evacuate the remaining civilians.
//End Log
It was midday as Luna stood around a large map of Manehattan, looking at the sections of the city marked in red. Joining her were both guard Captains, as well as Daniel and Jonathan. About a quarter of the city was outlined in a thick red line, showing where the gryphons had seized control. In the past two days, the gryphons had taken control of the sea port, allowing them to land large numbers of troops in the heart of the city.
“Alright, we’re in day three of this siege. What’s changed?” Luna asked.
“Local garrison is reporting a massive influx of gryphons troops. Multiple ferries have been sunk and a number of airships have been shot down. We’re running out of ways to transport civilians,” Silverlight reported.
Daniel then pointed out the two rail lines leaving the city. “Both rail lines have been destroyed, making it impossible for trains to make it into the city.”
Luna scowled at all this information. “What about the roads?”
Jonathan sighed. “They are still in tact. However, some civilians have tried making it out in small convoys. These land groups never make it far. They are easy prey for the gryphons patrolling outside the city.”
The group stared at the map as they tried to come up with ways of evacuating the remaining civilians. Daniel sighed and rubbed his eyes as he stared at the map.
“We sent a relief force to the city a few days ago, right?” Captain Ryan asked.
Nightshade nodded. “Yeah. They left yesterday via train.”
“Do we know if they reached the city?” the Princess asked.
“We haven’t heard anything, your highness. Though that could be because of broken communication lines,” the thestral guard replied.
“Perhaps,” Luna said as she looked to the humans. “Is your drone still in the air over the city?”
Daniel nodded. “Yeah, we can keep it in the air for another three days.”
“Can you check the footage from it and see if the guards ever made it to the city?” the Princess asked.
“Of course.”
“Good. Now, what are our options for evacuating the remaining ponies in the city?” Luna inquired.
“Well... we still control the airship aerodrome. We could use airships to shuttle ponies out if we could provide them cover,” Silverlight offered.
“How many can you fit on a single airship?” Daniel asked.
“Depends. Though on average, about two hundred,” the guard Captain replied nervously.
“That’s... one sec,” Daniel pulled out his datapad and did some quick calculations. “Do you have four hundred airships just sitting around? Because that’s how many you would need to evacuate everyone.”
The solar guard Captain looked back at the map as he tried to think of another plan.
“What if we try moving ponies in larger land convoys. Perhaps the larger numbers will give them a better chance,” Nightshade suggested.
“Or they could just become even bigger targets,” Jonathan countered.
Once again the room became silent. Though that silence was broken as the doors opened, allowing Andrew to quietly make his way to the table.
“Sorry I’m late.” The engineer apologized as he took a spot next to Daniel. “So... evacuation.”
“Right. Can you think of a way to evacuate seventy five thousand ponies?” Daniel asked.
Andrew tapped his chin for a few moments as he gazed at the map. With a snap of his fingers, he turned to Daniel. “Why not use heavy transports? You know, the ones we used back on Reach.”
“But, those only carry around five thousand,” the Captain replied.
“So it would take a few days. Is that a problem?”
“Yeah. We have thirty hours... at best, before the city is overrun,” Jonathan stated.
Andrew sighed as he looked back to the map. “How crazy of a plan are you willing to accept?”
“At this point, it doesn’t matter. Give me the craziest idea you have,” Luna answered as she stared at Andrew.
“Okay... star liners,” Andrew said with a grin.
“Star liners?” Luna asked.
Daniel sighed. “Basically a cruise ship in space. They’re huge. Most can carry some ridiculous amount of people. Like... twenty thousand.”
Luna’s eyes went wide as she stammered for words. “Why don’t we use those?”
“Because the UNSC doesn’t operate any. They are strictly civilian craft. Plus, getting even one of them would be next to impossible on such short notice,” Jonathan replied.
“Uhh, hello? This guy right here builds them.” Andrew said as he pointed to himself. Everyone then turned to Andrew. “I... may have gotten a work order to build a pair for Virgin Galactic. They were supposed to be delivered in two weeks.”
“So you’re telling me you just happen to have two cruise ships laying around?” Daniel asked with a chuckle.
“Well... yeah. Pretty much. Though I would need to call Virgin and ask if they would be okay with letting us use them,” Andrew replied as he pulled out a small device.
“Are you calling them right now?” Jonathan asked in surprise.
Andrew nodded as he pressed a button on the phone and set it on the table.
“Hello?” A voice asked from the phone.
“Hey, Greg, it’s Andrew.”
“Andrew! How are you?” Greg asked.
The engineer chuckled. “Oh, I’m doing okay. Though, something big has come up, and I really need your help.”
“I see. What’s up?”
“Well... have you heard of planet Avalon?” Andrew replied.
Greg laughed at the question. “Who hasn’t?”
“Right... so I’m actually on Avalon right now,” Andrew bluntly stated.
“Really? Dude... how did you manage to swing that?”
“Long story... not really... but that’s beside the point. I’m here with Princess Luna and Captain Daniel Ryan... and we need your help,” Andrew answered.
There was a pause on the other side of the phone. “You’re kidding... right?”
“I’m afraid not, Mister Greg,” Luna replied.
Another long pause followed as Greg processed what had just been said. “Okay... what’s going on?”
“We need to evacuate seventy five thousand civilians from a city under siege. We’re under a really tight timeline and need this to happen in hours,” Daniel replied.
“Seventy five thousand in a few hours!? That’s... insane...” Greg said with a hint of worry.
“Greg, if you help us with this, I’ll provide free maintenance and repair to your cruise ship fleet for the next five years,” Andrew quickly offered.
“Plus you’ll be saving tens of thousands of ponies,” Luna added on.
“Alright... alright. Send me the location and I’ll have the ships in FTL in two hours. Andrew, you can go ahead and use the two at your facility. I’ll call once they are in orbit,” Greg said as he tried to hide his excitement.
“Greg, you’re a lifesaver,” Andrew said as he picked up his phone.
“I know. Say, any chance of me getting to meet Princess Luna?” Greg asked with hope.
“Oh, believe me. If this works, I’m going to want to meet the man responsible for making it happen,” the lunar Princess replied.
“Now, Mr. Branson, I need to ask you to keep this secret. No one can know outside of yourself and the crews operating the ships. Deal?” Daniel asked in a serious tone.
“Sounds good. See you all soon,” came Branson’s reply.
Andrew returned his phone to his pocket as he looked at the faces around the table. “So... good plan?”
“It’s crazy... but it’s our best hope for success,” Daniel replied. “Now all I gotta do is talk to the Director about this.”
~~~
Greg Branson leaned forward as he stood over his desk. His mind was still reeling from the conversation he had just had with the CEO of Traxus Industrial. He needed to get four entire cruise ship crews ready to fly in only two hours. Impossible? Not for the great-great-great-great-great-great grandson of Sir Richard Branson, the man who started Virgin Galactic back in the early twenty first century.
With a sense of renewed vigor, Greg reached for his office intercom.
“Sebastian, get me the four best cruise ship Captains in my office. I don’t care what you have to do. Also, put out an emergency alert to their crews, have them ready to go in an hour,” Branson ordered.
“Right away, Mr Branson,” came the reply over the intercom.
Greg turned around and sighed as he looked out the window of his office. Before him stood the starport of New Mombasa, located in South Africa. Just beyond the starport sat the massive crater left by the Covenant. A stark reminder of their search for the Ark, as well as what they had done to the city.
“Mister Branson, the Captains you requested are on their way. They should be here soon. I have also put out the alert to their crews,” Sebastian announced.
“Fantastic. Alert the ground crews to prepare two cruise ships. Do whatever it takes to have them ready to fly in two hours,” Greg replied.
For the next twenty minutes, Greg researched and read every bit of information available on planet Avalon. Unfortunately, the UNSC was being very tight-lipped on any information not given out in official press releases. The most recent bits of information did state that there was a large conflict brewing on the planet, though the severity of which was not yet clear. Now though, it seemed Greg would get a front row seat to whatever happened.
“Sir? The Captains are here.”
Greg relaxed and let out a sigh. “Thank you, Sebastian. Send them in.”
The door to his office swung open as his four best cruise ship Captains entered. “Is everything alright, sir?”
“For now. Please, have a seat,” Greg said as he motioned for the group to sit. “Now, I understand that this might seem a bit strange, calling you all in on such short notice, but it is important. What I am about to tell you is top secret. Not in regards to company secrets... but to the UNSC as a whole. Understand?”
The Captains nervously looked at eachother before nodding. “Of course, sir.”
“Thirty minutes ago, I received a call from Andrew Traxus and an ONI officer. They need our help in evacuating seventy five thousand civilians from an active war zone. The trick is, they only have a day to evacuate everyone. They called us first, so we will be heading out in two hours. Your ships are being prepared, and your crews are on their way,” Greg announced as he leaned back in his chair.
“Where are we going, exactly?” one of the Captains asked.
Greg smiled as he spoke. “You are all going to Avalon.”
The room went silent as the others tried to figure out what had just been said.
“Sir... did you just say... Avalon? Like... Equestria?”
“Indeed. I take it you are all aware of the developing situation in Equestria?” Everyone nodded. “Well, it’s more dire than anyone thought. So... if there is anyone here who does not feel that they are capable of doing this, now is your only chance out. It will be dangerous, so I understand if any of you don’t wish to undertake this assignment.”
For a few seconds, no one said or moved. Greg smiled when none of the Captains moved. “Fantastic. Well then, ladies and gentlemen, if there are no questions...”
“Sir, will we be getting UNSC assistance once we arrive? I can’t imagine having four massive star liners just sitting out in the open in an active war zone,” a female Captain asked with concern.
“As soon as you arrive, contact the UNSC Tuscany. She will provide further instructions and inform you of the finer details of their plan. Though, I can assume they will do everything to keep you safe,” Branson answered.
With that said, the Captains got up and went off to their respective ships. Greg then picked up his desk phone and dialed Andrew’s phone number.
“Andrew, the ships will be leaving in an hour. I’ll have them call you once they reach orbit,” Greg announced.
“That’s great, have them call Captain Ryan when they arrive. He’ll give them further instructions,” came Andrew’s reply.
“I’ll pass that along. Have things developed any further?”
“It’s slowly getting worse.” Andrew announced with worry in his voice. “Attackers have captured a third of the city and are putting a lot of strain on the defenders.”
“The star liners should be in orbit in about six to seven hours,” Greg replied.
“Sounds good,” Andrew said followed by a defeated sigh.
“Everything okay with you?”
“Yeah... a few good friends are in that city right now. She and a few others volunteered to help evacuate the city. Though I haven’t heard from any of them in a few days,” Andrew responded.
“I’m sure they’re okay. Let’s just focus on one thing at a time, she’ll probably turn up afterwards.” Greg said, trying to comfort his friend.
~~~
Daniel sighed as he leaned back in his chair. He had just finished informing the Director of their plan. He was not happy about it, but understood how desperate the situation was. While he had the reluctant approval of ONI for this operation, one issue still loomed. Where would the refugees go?
Sure, the refugees could go to any of the other major cities, though that would put a lot of strain on the city’s infrastructure. The refugees could also be broken up and sent to many cities, allowing the strain on cities to be mitigated, but at the cost of possibly breaking up families. It was then that a thought crossed Daniel’s mind. What if the star liners became the refugee camps?
They already had the necessary infrastructure, they were away from the fighting, and could make it easier to keep families together. It was an idea that he would need to talk to Greg Branson about when the ships arrived. His train of thought as a knock resounded on his door.
“Enter,” the Captain commanded.
The door slid open as Jonathan poked his head in. “We’ve got a bit of a situation.”
“Something new happening in Manehattan?”
Jonathan shook his head. “No. A lone airship has been spotted to the north. Tommy thinks it’s a gryphon airship that got blown off course by a strong storm.”
“Can we confirm the presence of a storm in the northern region?” Daniel asked with a raised brow.
“Yes, sir. What do you want to do about the airship, if anything?”
“Alert Luna, but arm one of our archer missile pods. Also, send a drone into the area to keep an eye on them,” Daniel ordered as he stood up and grabbed his jacket.
~~~
The sun was setting as Hawthorne looked over the railing of the airship he was on. He knew they had been blown off course by the storm, though the Captain assured everyone on board that they would not be delayed. This made Hawthorne relax a bit. He carried important documents from King Varen himself to one of the largest fortresses on the Equestrian border, orders that could not be delayed.
The young gryphon sighed as he rested his head on the railing, letting the sound of wind force him into a relaxed state. Though, as he looked to the sky, something small caught his attention. A small black figure seemed to be following the airship. It didn’t look like any kind of bird, nor any other kind of winged creature.
For the next ten minutes, the object seemed to continue to follow them without slowing down. This began to worry the young courrier. Not wanting to let his paranoia overwhelm him, he strode down into the bowels of the ship, heading to his room. Once inside, removed the satchel and set it on the nearby bed. Varen had instructed him to never leave the bag unattended. With a sigh, Hawthorne sat down at a small desk, but could not keep himself from staring out the small window in his room.
Sure enough, the small black shape was still following. Standing up, Hawthorne walked over to the window and looked to the ground. They were flying along side a large snow covered mountain range, while below them opened into a vast, snow covered valley. As the young gryphon sat back down on the edge of his bed as he gripped his satchel. In his claws were the words and supreme orders from his king.
With a thunderous boom and a violent shake, Hawthorne was thrown from his bed and onto the floor. He could feel the ship begin to rapidly descend as more explosions echoed throughout the ship. He could hear wood and iron splintering and cracking as other gryphons cried out in pain. Hawthorne carefully picked himself up and glanced out the window.
All around his window, flames licked up the side of the hull as the entire airship quickly fell from the sky. He watched in horror as the entire bow section of the ship broke off, and fell to the valley below, leaving a massive flaming wreck. Hawthorne could see the ground rapidly approaching, causing him to panic.
He needed to get off the ship before it hit the ground. With a surge of adrenaline, Hawthorne picked up his bag and rushed out the door. The inside of the hallway was filled with smoke, flames, and debris. This left him with only one way to go. Turning on his heels, the young courrier dashed toward the stern of the crashing airship as he listened to the screams of dying gryphons. As he reached the rear end of the ship, he spotted the door to the engine room and quickly threw it open.
Inside, most of the machinery was on fire or left in heaps of twisted metal. Though a single door to his right caught his attention. With desperation filling his mind, Hawthorn put on a burst of speed and jumped over a fallen boiler, using his wings to glide over the obstruction. Putting all his strength into it, the courier threw the door open and quickly leapt from the burning airship.
the one thing he didn’t notice was the altitude of the crashing airship. As he jumped out, he noticed he was only about sixty feet from the ground. Not having enough time to gain altitude, Hawthorne folded his wings in and braced himself as he crashed into the deep snow on the valley floor.
~~~
Daniel chuckled as he watched all five archer missiles impact the airship from above. The drone feed showed large chunks of the ship falling away, as the entire craft quickly began to fall. While the missiles hadn’t exploded on contact with the balloon, they had instead gone through and left gaping holes before slamming into the deck.
As the air in the balloon rushed out, the ship began to pitch forward as the hull cracked in half, allowing the bow to fall away in a flaming wreck. Luna gasped as she watched the ship break apart in mid air. Though as the scene unfolded, the drone’s focus switched to the rear of the ship as a small object flew out just seconds before the hull shattered and exploded on the valley floor.
“Did you see that?” Luna asked.
“Yeah... switch to thermal view,” Daniel replied.
The drone’s video feed quickly switched to the familiar black and white infrared. Against the snow, it was easy to identify heat sources. The largest, of course, being the burning wreck. Though there was one heat source that seemed to be slowly moving.
“Lone survivor?” Jonathan asked.
“Possibly, or it could be a piece of debris,” the Captain countered.
As if on cue, the unknown heat signature began to move slowly toward the wreck.
“I’m gonna have to go with survivor,” the Commander said with a chuckle.
Daniel rolled his eyes as he reached for the ship’s intercom. “Commander Dior, please report to the bridge.”
Luna stared at the display for a few moments before it switched back from thermal view. Zoomed in on the screen, was the unmistakable form of a lone gryphon. He looked to be in pain as he scoured over the crash site.
“What is he doing?” the lunar Princess asked.
Daniel looked back to the screen and watched the gryphon dig through the wreckage, eventually pulling out what looked like a white bedsheet. The gryphon then produced a long piece of wood and tied the sheet to one end of the plank, making a large white flag. He then looked to the drone overhead and began waving his flag.
“Now... is it just me, or is that gryphon waving a giant white flag?” Commander Dior asked from the doorway.
“Ah, Commander, I want you to take some SPARTANs and go pick this guy up. It’s a twenty minute flight north by Pelican.” The SPARTAN saluted and quickly walked away. Daniel then turned back to the screen and chuckled. “I wanna know why this guy isn’t trying to flee the crash site.”
~~~
Hawthorne’s breath was labored and pained as he waved his makeshift flag. He hoped the figure above him could somehow alert someone that he needed help. Though after waving the flag for five minutes straight, and seeing no change in the figure, he dropped the flag and sat next to a piece of burning wreckage in an attempt to keep warm.
For the next twenty five minutes, Hawthorne sighed as his mind ran through the worst case scenarios. There were a few major possibilities. He could become hypothermic, and die. He could suffer from unseen internal injuries, and die. He could be preyed upon by the multitude of savage creatures that inhabit the north lands, and die. Or something completely unseen could drop from the sky, from which, he would probably die. the gryphon noticed a theme with his train of thought.
However, his eyes widened as a dull roar soon filled the valley. He slowly turned around to see a large metal aircraft land only a few meters away. His heart skipped a beat as four large humans slowly stepped out, each one pointing a different weapon at him. He recognized one of them from the video the King had showed him from the attack. The one in light blue armor who had ripped a warrior’s jaw off kept a small weapon in one hand and a set of manacles in the other.
Not wanting to provoke the humans, he slowly brought his front claws up, keeping them above his head. The humans paused as he brought his hands up, but began slowly moving toward him once he had stopped. The SPARTANs eventually surrounded him while keeping their weapons trained on him.
Dior then threw the manacles at his feet. “Put them on.”
Hawthorne looked at the steel manacles and carefully picked them up before securing both his front claws in them.
“You fly, you die. Got it?” the light blue SPARTAN asked in a more demanding fasion.
Hawthorne nodded silently as he trembled in fear. He could almost feel the smirk on her face as she turned around and walked back toward the waiting aircraft. The SPARTAN behind him gave him a forceful shove to get him walking.
~~~
The city of Manehattan was in absolute chaos. The local garrison of guards were doing their best at keeping the attacking gryphons at bay, all while seventy five thousand ponies waited eagerly for a way out of the city. Unfortunately, the sea port had been seized by the attackers and was now being used to ferry in additional troops and supplies, the rail lines leading in and out of the city had also been bombed, and roads were too dangerous to travel. This left the aerodrome as the only possible means of escape. To make matters more difficult, it was a very cloudy and smokey day, making it harder for aircraft to navigate. Though, this didn’t dissuade six Equestrian airships from holding position overhead, protecting the crowd below.
Word had spread quickly over the past day for every civilian to pack a single bag per pony and to assemble at the aerodrome. Though nopony knew how they would be evacuated. To make matters worse, the fighting was getting closer to the city center, threatening to make the airspace quite dangerous.
There were rumors spreading among the civilians that a fleet of airships would be arriving that day to pick them all up. Though, nopony could be certain of anything. The lack of information was making a lot of ponies very nervous, the sounds of warfare drawing closer was doing nothing to make anypony feel better. A dull hum slowly began to fill the air, causing some ponies to look around in confusion.
As seconds ticked by, the hum turned into a distant roar. Eventually, the ponies on the ground could not only hear the roar, but they could also feel it. All conversation stopped as the ponies around the aerodrome held their breath.
Everything continued to vibrate as four gargantuan starships slowly descended from the cloud cover. Any gasps from the crowd were drowned out by the roar of each ship’s six massive engines. Slowly but surely, the first star liner pulled up to the aerodrome tower. While normally used to dock airships, the cruise ship had very little trouble sidling up to the tower.
As the ship made it into position, three gantry arms swung out, connecting walkways to entrances in the ship’s hull. The other three ships hovered patiently while they waited for their turn to load. The airships then moved into a protective stance above the star liners, making sure any gryphons would be dissuaded from attacking the ships.
“Everypony, listen up!” A unicorn guard with a megaphone shouted. “All ponies with a number one on their card, please move into the aerodrome and up to the boarding area. Once on board, please follow the instructions of the ship’s staff. This will help us get through the loading process quickly.”
A series of murmurs echoed through the crowd as ponies began moving into the building. As the first group of ponies began boarding, a second ship moved into position on the opposite side of the tower. While the ships began loading, the sounds of fighting only grew in intensity.
“Please! Keep moving!” guards shouted, trying to move the crowd along.
Clover and his sister, Lavender Bloom, nervously moved along with the massive crowd of ponies. They had lost sight of their parents and were surrounded by strange ponies. They had no tickets, and were very frightened. The two young ponies continued to move forward in the middle of the crowd, despite not knowing the fate of their parents.
“Every pony, keep moving! Keep moving!” A guard commanded at the base of one of the walkways leading to the ship.
Clover gulped audibly as he looked up at the massive star ship. It was larger than anything he had ever seen, or even dreamed of. Many ponies found themselves pausing before going across the walkway, staring at the sar liner before them. Lavender made sure to stick close to her brother as they made their way toward the open door of the massive ship.
Inside the ship, nearly two dozen marines ushered ponies forward, directing them deeper into the ship. Gathering his strength, Clover guided his sister toward the nearest marine. The young colt tapped the marine on the leg as he looked up to him.
“E-e-excuse me?” Clover asked, his knees trembling in nervousness.
The marine looked down at the small colt and filly and slowly knelt down. “How can I help you?”
“Well... we don’t know where our parents are...” Clover answered.
“Do you have your tickets?” Clover shook his head. “Do you know which ship your parents were supposed to be on?” Again, Clover shook his head. “Alright, what are your names?”
“M-my name is Clover, and this is my sister Lavender Bloom.” Clover replied as the marine wrote down their manes.
“Great, my name is Jordan. What are your parent’s names?” the marine asked as ponies continued to file in.
“My mom is Golden Thread, and my dad is Spruce Meadow,” the young colt responded.
“Alright,” Jordan said as he looked to another marine. “Lieutenant, I’m going to take these kids to the auditorium. Okay?”
“They lost?” the Lieutenant asked.
“Yes, sir,” Jordan replied.
“Alright. I’m going to send any other wayward kids to you. I doubt those two will be the only ones,” the marine officer said with a sigh.
Clover and Lavender followed the marine through the ship. As soon as the ponies got on the ship, they were moved to a waiting area until they could be processed and then sent to the auditorium for an orientation. Jordan led the two kids through the crowd of ponies and into the massive auditorium. The three continued walking along the wall until they reached the front row.
“Have a seat,” Jordan said, motioning to a pair of seats. Clover and Lavender jumped up onto the plush auditorium seats.
“What’s going to happen now?” Lavender asked as she looked at Jordan.
The marine cleared his throat before he answered. “Well, the ship is going to take off soon. Then once we reach orbit, the Captain is going to come down and talk to everyone.”
“When will we be able to find our parents?” Clover asked with teary eyes.
“Probably tonight. Once all the ships are in orbit, we will be able to start reuniting ponies with their families,” Jordan replied. Clover nodded as he wiped away a single tear.
Back outside, most ponies were becoming increasingly anxious as the sounds of artillery only grew in frequency and intensity. Slowly, the fighting was making it’s way to the star ships. However, after an agonizing hope was renewed as the engines of the first star liner flared to life. All eyes watched the massive ship pull away from the loading tower and off into the sky. After only a few seconds, the entire ship disappeared above the clouds.
Cheering erupted from the crowd as the first star ship escaped the war torn city. As soon as the first ship escaped, the third cruise ship pulled into position alongside the tower and began to take on passengers. This same maneuver was followed soon by ships two and four. To the credit of the city garrison, not a single gryphon made it to attack the starships. Though their time was running out. If the remaining guards couldn’t make it onto the last ship, they would be left behind to the gryphons.
However, if the guards all flooded to the remaining ship, the gryphons would overrun them and have easy access to the waiting star liner. To prevent this, the guards slowly made a retreat toward the waiting starship, before breaking off and rushing aboard. Thankfully, the gryphons were more interested in taking control of the city, rather than trying to take down the massive ship.
As the last hatch sealed shut, the fourth and final star liner lifted off and headed into the heavens above.
~~~
Clover and Lavender Bloom sat in one of the ship’s lounges, mindlessly looking at the planet below them. It was surreal for everypony on the ship. It was now dawning on everypony that they were, in fact, in space. Clover sighed as he thought of what the ship’s captain had said in the auditorium.
Not only would they not be going home, but everypony onboard would be staying in space until the war was over. Many of the adults seemed relieved at this revelation. They also seemed to shudder when mentioning something about massive refugee camps. Clover wasn’t sure what they were talking about, but he knew that whatever these refugee camps were, they couldn’t be good.
Clover sighed again as he continued to gaze out the window. Suddenly, his vision went black. He panicked and brought his hooves to his eyes, only to hit something big covering them. The obstruction removed itself, causing him to whip around, trying to find the source of the disruption. His jaw dropped and his eyes began to water as his mother stood behind him with a warm smile. Lavender Bloom was already embracing her father, causing Clover to leap from his seat into his mother’s embrace.
Jordan chuckled at the reunited family. All across the cruise ships, families were being reunited. Life was looking up for the refugees of Manehattan. Instead of spending the remainder of the war in a shanty refugee camp, they would be spending it on a luxury star liner, far away from the danger and horror of war.