My Little Pony: Venator

by ScottWolf

Chapter 02

Chapter 2 - Stock and the Art of Taking

From the journal of Twilight Sparkle
5 of February, First year of Exodus

It’s amazing how the destruction of a world can bring people to the point of declaring war on each other.

Two days after our flight from home, the fleet of rescue ships all finally came together for a final tally of survivors. Of all the species that lived on Equis, a grand total of six survived: Ponies, Griffins, Hippogriffs, Yaks, Reformed Changelings, and a small handful of dragons.

Handful. Strange word, considering most species I knew about at the time didn’t have hands. Monkeys and apes had hands; they didn’t make it. Yet now as I write this I’m using quite a few new terms and phrases. Goes to show what a few months in space can do for a mental state. Or rather, to.

The leaders, or delegated representatives in some cases, sat in the reception area of the ship I had learned was called a Venator-class Star Destroyer named Exodus (apt name, I know) and discussed the future of their people and the relationships between those peoples.

Long story short, the only ones not throwing insults were the pony princesses, colorful changelings and the ship captains of the fleet, whom were trying their very best to remain in polite control of their charges.

“Brittle boned catbirds!” The matriarch of the Dragons

“You feather-brained, dull-beaked harpy!” The representative of the Griffons.

“You barbaric meathead!” The Queen of the Hippogriffs.

“YAKS HATE DRAGONS!” Obvious.

“Gentle beings, please,” Thorax said, practically having to yell over the din. “The name-calling is getting us nowhere!” No one listened. I watched him go through several emotions at once, then watched as a rather large dragon head morphed into being where his normal head would be, and emitted an extremely loud roar. Naturally all other noise ceased, all eyes turned to the changeling. He glared around once, then nodded satisfactorily before returning to his natural form.

“Thank you, King Thorax,” Celestia said with a small bow, then turned her attention to the other representatives. “This is not a meeting for pointing blame and airing grievances. We’re here to find out exactly how many of our different species survived.”

“I still say it was some hippogriff magician that called that thing to our planet,” muttered Gruff Griffon, not at all trying to hide his statement.

“If you dare to blame us for that horrific event,” Queen Nova growled, slowly rising from her seat, “I will personally leap across this table and rip out your throat!”

“You wouldn’t get past the scruff,” Gruff shot back!

“YAKS THINK ALL OTHERS PLAN ATTACK SO YAKS LOSE ANCIENT SACRED HOME! YAKS CLOSE TO SMASHING!!” Again, obvious.

“You won’t smash anything when you’re the consistency of burnt bacon,” Ember yelled, smoke wafting from her nose.

“ENOUGH!” Luna’s voice had everyone covering their ears. “WE ARE TIRED OF THIS CONSTANT BICKERING! WE DEMAND THAT YOU ALL BE SILENT AS THE GRAVE LEST WE PUT YOU IN YOURS!!”

Celestia, ever the image of patience, simply sat and waited while everyone recomposed themselves. When she saw that they had, she began.

“I would like the representative of the Griffin Kingdoms to begin. And I advise he refrain from talon-pointing and blame-naming. I have a specialist in attendance,” and she nodded toward Timber, who sat off to the side, “who will give testimony on the event and the reasons for it after we all know how we’ve fared in this tragedy. I truly believe that the only way we’re going to get through this is together.”

The griffin coughed once, eyeing the princess for a minute, then sat up straighter and gave his report. Queen Novo followed, then Prince Rutherford and Ember. According to Thorax, the changelings had survived completely intact, his being the only hive who were sent a rescue ship. For all any of us knew, Chrysalis and her brood died with the planet. It turned out the evacuation estimates for everyone else had been far too generous.

“Of the race of ponies,” I said when it was my turn to speak, “two hundred and eighty-six unicorns, five hundred twenty-two pegasi, and seven hundred and eleven earth ponies were rescued, totaling one thousand five hundred and nineteen ponies, the majority of whom now reside upon the Exodus. This does not count the four alicorns you see before you today, nor the alicorn child of the Princess of Love.”

“Thank you, Princess Twilight,” Celestia said with a nod. “Ladies and Gentle beings, by my counting, our combined races now total just over three quarters of a million souls, where we once totaled in the billions. Not only have we been diminished individually, but we have also seen the extinction of several of our fellow Equis residents. The horses of Saddle Arabia. The Parrots of the Ponish Main. The great Sphinx's of the Middle Eastern Kingdoms. Not to mention the various lesser creatures.

"I would now like to call upon the pony we know as Timber. As you’re aware it was through his warning that any of us survived at all, and I believe he is the only one among us who could shed light on our predicament." The blue and grey coated earth pony stood, nodding his thanks to Celestia before beginning.

“At oh-three-thirty hours on February the third, I was made aware by Princess Luna of the existence of a rogue Black Hole. Typically you only see this sort of event at the centers of galaxies or on the fringe of known space. I set myself about discovering it’s path, and was dismayed to find it was headed directly toward Equis. I immediately began the journey home. Fortunately we have been in possession of a Star Destroyer for some months, parked out beyond Equis' moon for study.This was of course the very same ship we sit within now, and I only needed call in a small favor to secure it a crew and captain.

“As it was on the way, I retrieved the vessel and set it to take up orbit around our planet where the crew could take command, then proceeded to teleport myself home. At that point I put out the warning and called for more assistance. Five hours later, Equis was destroyed and we were all aboard our respective ships.” With that, he sat back down.

“If I may ask,” Novo said, raising a talon, “where did the black hole originate?”

“I still haven’t determined that, Queen Novo, And I fear I may never have that answer. I can, however, say with certainty,” and he glared at the griffon, “that it was in no way linked to anything anyone here did.”

The rest of the meeting had to do with supplies and logistics. Pretty boring really. It went on for another two hours, fortunately with the representatives heeding Luna’s threat. Speaking with Queen Novo afterward, I learned that some of them still thought she could turn back into Nightmare Moon. I didn’t feel the need to correct the assumption. I was just too tired.

I wanted to return to my room and fall asleep for a while, but Cadence caught up to me before I made it to the elevators.

“Twilight, can I talk to you for a minute?”

“Of course, Cadence,” I replied as I pressed the call button. “What is it?”

“I was wondering how you’re feeling,” she said as she stood next to me. “We haven’t really had much time to talk about what happened.”

“I feel like that’s all I’ve done the last two days,” I said. “I mean, as soon as I was aboard the Exodus, I was talking to ponies and getting numbers of survivors.”

“No, I mean how are you feeling about it.”

“What kind of question is that,” I asked, a bit defensively. “I’m upset about it obviously. I wish it hadn’t happened.”

“Everypony wishes it never happened,” Cadence countered. “I want to know how Twilight Sparkle the pony feels.”

I waited a moment for the elevator to arrive, then entered with her. When the doors closed, I allowed my shoulders to slump finally and sighed. “I’m scared, Cadence. I don’t know what’s going to happen to any of us. I don’t know who’s families made it onto other ships. Mostly I’m worried for my friends.”

“I heard about the Pies,” she said, her head lowering sadly.

“She watched it happen. How do you recover from that?”

“With help from your friends. If at all. I can talk to her if you want.”

I nodded, then reached out with my magic and pressed a button, causing the elevator to rise several levels. The door slid open and the sounds of ponies, changelings and other creatures dealing with the situation hit our ears. Many noticed us arrive, and bowed to us as we walked past, but most others went about their business. Many creatures sat in place crying. I nodded to six people whom I recognized from the school, but only the hippogriff waved back. I hoped the rest of their families had made it.

The android crew mingled with the Equis creatures, helping where they could. I didn’t know if they were programmed to be so polite or if they were simply ordered to by Timber or whomever was in charge of this ship. Either way, it made much of the transition easier, and I was glad for it. I also saw several other species of people I didn't recognize, but was happy that they too were helping with the recovery effort.

“These ponies are going to need guidance,” Cadence said as we walked past the throng. I could only nod, and she went on a moment later. “Someone who works with them daily. Someone who’s been with them for several years now. Someone... “ At this she stopped walking. “Who has a knack for dealing with world-ending situations.”

I stopped walking and looked back at her. “They have Celestia and Luna for guidance. And if they need grief counseling no pony’s more qualified that you.”

“Tia and Luna aren’t taking charge of this.”

“What??”

Several ponies looked up at my outburst. Cadence glanced around, then walked past me into an unoccupied cabin. I followed her in and closed the door behind me.

“Tia and Luna can’t continue as the all-powerful rulers of the pony nation,” Cadence said quietly. “They lost their power when that black hole sucked up both our sun and moon along with our planet. They were too tightly tied to their elements.”

“But why haven’t we lost our powers? Why hasn’t Flurry Heart?”

“We aren’t tied to celestial bodies, Twilight,” she explained. “My element is love, and there’s plenty of that around to sustain my power. Flurry Heart’s power is based on the trust and faith of our subjects, and thus far that hasn’t wavered. Your power comes from both your element of Harmony and your connection to your friends. So long as you keep faith in your friends, you’ll stay powerful.”

“And how does that make it impossible for the princesses to rule?”

“Say we came under attack by a greater threat, and the defenses of the ship weren’t enough. How would they protect the people aboard? Without the sun and moon, they’re no more powerful than an above average unicorn, and couldn’t do much against anything larger than a Bugbear.”

“But their experience,” I countered. “They have centuries of experience in both combat and diplomacy! Surely that would be more valuable than raw power!”

“They’re not leaving us, Twilight,” Cadence said, trying to soothe my slow buildup of panic. “Celestia and Luna will both be serving as envoys to whomever we run into out there. And in between that, they’re in charge of acquiring things we need like defensive ships and fighter craft.”

“But-”

“Twilight,” she interrupted. “There’s no arguing your way out of this. You’re it. You’re all we have.” She put a hoof on my shoulder and smiled. “And you’re not going to be alone. Tia, Luna and I will stand beside you in our own ways. And when we’re not there, you’ll have your friends. You’ll be fine. Now take a deep breath.”

I closed my eyes and inhaled, holding it for a five count. On Cadence’s prompt, I let it out slowly, and found myself able to smile for the first time in two days.

“You’re going to be a great ships counselor, Cadence.”

“I know,” replied my sister-in-law.

Author's Note:

So. Here we are again. World's ended, races at each other's throat, and there I sit, watching it all. Like a god watching his worshipers live their lives in blissful ignorance. Waiting...

Sorry, I seem to have lost my train of thought there. ANYWAY!

So I had a complaint last chapter about the Black Hole. I was a bit short with the commentor, and I apologize for that. I just really don't like it when someone pushes their glasses up their nose and points something out as if it wasn't clear to the universe that this thing was wrong. Well, I've explained it now! Ya happy?? EH!? I DID THIS FOR YOU!! BECAUSE I LOVE YOU!!!

Sorry, lost train of thought again. ANYWAY!

So second chapter's done. Haven't yet started on the third because the Super Bowl kinda took over my life for the weekend. Lots of cleaning and cooking and preparing for guests. All for a disappointing end (for me anyway, most of my friends were ecstatic). But I will begin shortly. Pinkie Promise!

Comments

[Dreadknight garen]

So they stopped being in leading roles just because they dont have absurd powers anymore? Thats pretty stupid tbh

[ScottWolf]

9439924
Your face is pretty stupid tbh.

[Dreadknight garen]

9442650
o k s i r thats going too far, im afraid im going to have to yeet tf out of you now.

[ScottWolf]

9442662
You're... going to flail your arms around at me in a weird dance craze... Whatever get you to sleep at night.