//------------------------------// // XI // Story: What Came Before // by Lynwood //------------------------------// High above the ponies, above the clouds, above Equestria, hung a construct of massive proportions, the biggest of its two siblings. It had been built to endure, with an outer hull made of three yards of solid reinforced steel. Unbeknownst to the ponies, this was home to over 800 million human beings. Men and women had grown up on this ship, lived on this ship, and died on it. Almost two generations had been born and raised on this ship's sixty-year journey. Or at least, that's how long it was to the inhabitants. Currently the ship was essentially one huge celebration. It was a sort of we-made-it party, and everyone was participating. Even the Captain Families joined in. However, in a dark, forlorn corner of the ship, there was a room. It contained naught but a long, slender table, expensive looking chairs, and an old-fashioned LED light hanging on a pole that extended up into the darkness. A light cut into the darkness. Revealing its source,'an open door. Through the portal stepped through a multitude of black-clad figures. When out of the light, one might confuse them for a shadow. The figures walked towards the table and took their seats upon arrival. Two of them split from the group and stood near the doorway. All but one seat was filled. The group murmured and shuffled, lit barely by the old light by the time the door closed. The clearing of a throat quickly silenced the group. A single figure stood, and all heads turned toward her. "I now begin the official meeting of leaders upon The Return. As you all know, we ordered by those who left our home to discuss our situation." The woman spoke with a carefully controlled yet still powerful tone. "The utmost coordination is required to successfully and peacefully resettle our home. I will now take the names of all attendees. I am President Hunters, leader of the American People." The woman took a seat, and the man on her right stood. He spoke in a clear but unsure voice. "I am Major General Mathew Briggs of the Army." He sat down. the next man stood up. "Chancellor Offen of the port sector." He sat. The woman next to him stood. This continued all around the table. "Chancellor Mary DeWolfe of the starboard sector." "Captain Leonard of the Nesci Family." "Chief Equine Geographer Spakovsy" "Brigadier General Lyng of the Marines." "Senator May of District One." "Captain John of the Pallara Family." "Senator Hargreaves of District Two." "Admiral Eckert of the Air Force and Navy" "Senator Guenard of District Five" "Captain Markus of the Kaufmann Family." "Senator Keegen of District Four." And so, the pattern ended at the one empty seat. President Hunters frowned. "Who is absent from this meeting?" She said. Senator May tentatively raised his hand. "Senator Whaley. She's celebrating The Return with some of her officers, your honor." Hunters scowled, then gestured towards one of the men standing near the doorway. "You there. Retrieve Senator Whaley." The shadowy guard nodded. "Yes, ma'am!" He rushed out the door. Hunters turned back towards the rest of the group. "We shall now begin the conversations. There are a multitude of distressing facts that were discovered by the exploration and surveillance team sent down to the surface. We shall discuss our options for each of these problems and choose the most favorable one." She cleared her throat. "Article One: The advancement of MaEMS. The locals have greatly shaped and evolved this energy tool for their purposes. It is deemed to be approximately one-hundred times more effective and deadly then the original coding, and rivals the power of our modern forms. This is the first problem with the planet's use of MaEMS. The second is the extensive air pollution." She stopped, shuffled her papers, and continued. "The over-usage of MaEMS has been polluting the air for centuries, and while the inhabitants have successfully adapted to this change, we have not. Much of the Earth's atmosphere is breathable to humans. How should we respond to the situation?" There was silence for a moment, then Senator Guenard spoke. "I remember we had a MaEMS wastage leak in District Five. It was relatively easy to clean up, they used air filters. Maybe we could set up a terraforming base?" In response, Brigadier General Lyng spoke up. "That's a risky move without the permission of the country that owns the land.We aren't fully equipped for war, and the artificial farms produce less and less every year. We don't have the food to sustain all out war so we cant potentially risk it." The leader of the Marines commented. Hunters cleared her throat. "War should not be entirely out of the question. If we are introduced to war, do we have knowledge of potentially fruitful targets for a missile or Aircraft strike? Where are the main production centers, and food centers?" At this point, Spakovsy spoke up. "The largest city on is on the former East Coast, named Manehatten, is their main production and trade center. Incapacitating them with a siege would be extremely effective. As for food, there is a gargantuan apple tree farm in Kansas, or, at least, what used to be Kansas." "What are their other big urban centers.?" Queried a Senator. "Well, they have some relatively big ones by the great lakes and in the southwest. There's a moderate city around an artificial mountain in northeast Colorado. There's another species living in the Rockies, with a large city in the Salt Lake Valley. The griffons, I think. There're a few other races, such as the changelings in the southwest states. Their hive is somewhere in Arizona." At this statement, Briggs scoffed. "The changelings? The Mexican ones? Did they make it this far? How'd they manage to do that?" Spakovsy readjusted his glasses and looked at the stack of papers he possessed, shuffling through them until he found what he was looking for. "Here it says that the MaEMS induced climate change caused their primary food source to do extinct." Spakovsy Wiped his brow with a cloth he retrieved from his pocket. "It was a sort of bug rodent created by the Mexicans. Apparently it was extremely sensitive to climate change or something. Who knew?" Briggs scoffed. "Just tell us." "Alright, alright. Some 1200 years ago, in order to survive they modified themselves to feed on emotion causing hormones, sort of. They feed on the pony equivalent of a mixture of testosterone and estrogen. Huh. They eat love." Multiple pairs of eyebrows furrowed at this. "Well. Mexican living love sacks. Who would've guessed?" Joked Hargreaves, chuckling. He was silenced by a glare from Hunters. One of the senators spoke up. "With all due respect, ma'am, Talking about love vampires is great and all but can we talk about possible colony sites? My father always told me about Missouri, and I've never seen it." Hunters nodded. "A colony would take a great deal of time and effort to set up, but I believe we could accomplish this within a month." She turned to Spakovsy. "So if we were to land a colony here, where would the best place to be? Please tell us, Mr. Spakovsky." "Well," he began, "There's a suitable landing spot in northwest Oklahoma. Its scarcely populated and reasonably fertile. And," He smiled at the Senator, "Right next to Missouri. How does that sound?" Before anyone could respond, the door slid open and a messy-haired woman in a wrinkled suit rushed into the room. She looked around at the roomful of officials staring at her. "Hey! It's not my fault those Fouries are so good at partying!" She had a tie around her neck, loosely knotted and slack. The woman hurried to her chair and plopped down into her seat, grinning. "Senator Sarah Whaley of District Three, reporting for duty!" She grinned at everyone sitting around the table with slightly bewildered expressions plastered onto their faces. Whaley smiled. "So, what'd I miss?"