The Unknown Daughter's Reunion:Part 3

by Disembodied_Pony

Chapter 6: Severance

For nine days, the space above the ionosphere of Equus slowly filled with ships.

Two hundred and three now orbited the planet, fully ponied. Centered over Equestria; they connected to the network of satellites that were deployed.

The deployed network; an endeavor which began with finding the remains of princesses two years ago, was now serving a different purpose:

Watching...

Tracking...

Cataloging...

Ponies sat at monitoring consoles for half of the day, every day. Learning everything about the movements of ponies that now donned the armor of Equestrian Order, as well as the ponies of Canterlot themselves; whom they served.

Where they lived.. their families.. foals if they had such..

What was about to happen would not leave foals orphaned. Being the rightful legacy of the ponies of exile; they would remain at their sides as they have always been.

The empress was not looking forward to the thousand-plus interviews with the captures. Which would undoubtedly have their own foals being thrown as bargaining chips in an attempt to sway her final judgement of sending them to their new home; far away.

The interviews were the final contingency that any ponies were mistakenly captured in the night.

Her own response possibly just as ruthless as their attempts would be; For she learned from masters long ago; the art of ruthlessness. As wicked as a pony could possibly be, she had seen and dealt with worse.

She almost couldn't wait to hear the petty rationalizations in regards to their own recklessness of their foals futures.

Then there was the possibility of a pony abandoning their betrothed at the first sign of consequences... a troubling thought.

As ponies of like mind formed relationships; When one thought a certain way, the other likely did as well. Would a pony that abandoned the other be any better?

All of the conjecture becoming moot in the end; as only the scenery around them would change by the empresses actions, nothing more. Families would still be together, and not ripped asunder; their future would be what they would make of it.

Meanwhile, the princesses were still hard at work; trying to bring around some ponies of Canterlot that were 'on the fence' as it were.

The empress had no qualms about their efforts, as it saved everypony time; provided they would give the princesses a chance.

However she still wouldn't let them completely off of the hook, and would be keeping an eye on them as the dust settled. Ponies being 'on the fence' about such things, made her feel uneasy.

Having left the flotilla of ships, Moon headed back to the empire to speak to her advisors in Colony Prospects to find a place for their soon to be burdenous cargo.

The date was set, and the days numbered. The empire would not be keeping a mass of its resources over Equus for long, and three weeks was all that was willing to be spent spying on ponies.

A week back to the empire, a few days talks with advisors in designating a colony, a week back, and a few days to begin; was the empress's timetable.

Nopony said this was easy, in any way.

---

Sitting with Grassy Knoll, the empress asked him about his preferred location.

Enthusiastically, Knoll replied;

"I think this'll be the best spot. It's out of the way of traffic lines, and there's good gravity as well as temperature. The atmosphere will have to be adjusted, as it's not breathable right now.. But you said they're in stasis right?"

"Correct. They are, and will be encased in crystalline stasis upon transport. Shielded from time as well as the elements, they would be impervious to even exposure to space" Moon clarified his presumption.

"Perfect then. We can assemble an enclosure quickly to place them in, and terraform the rest at our earliest convenience. When it's done, unfreeze them or whatever... and wholla; instant colony!" Grassy Knoll replied.

"Why the enclosure?" Moon asked.

"Safety precaution. We never terraformed around much else before, and who'd know what effects atmospheric conversion charges could have on exposed magic crystal? We do know what structures can withstand the charges however, and the contents within; magic or not" Knoll answered her.

"Are there no places already containing atmosphere?" the empress asked him.

"None that don't already have ponies living there. It was my understanding that this colony would be a standalone; not part of the empire?" Knoll asked.

"Also correct. Once your work is completed, there will be no empire presence there, nor landings. These ponies will be on their own" Moon answered him.

Confidently, Knoll replied with a nod;

"Then this is our best option. Others have slightly better atmosphere, but still not breathable; so they need nearly the same amount of work.. and are on traffic lines; either existing, or potential ones." Knoll continued;

"This one is a tiny bit more work in the beginning, but shouldn't ever be an issue after that" Knoll finished.

"Let us hope so..." the empress spoke softly, mostly to herself.

Unease about the whole operation had been plaguing her since she first uttered the word 'banishment'. As if a half-remembered memory was whispering to her from the distant past.

Giving her consent to Knoll to begin construction of the enclosure, she bid him farewell and boarded the transport back to Equus.

---

Meanwhile, aboard the flagship: Homecoming, the princesses were gathered in the conference room.

"I just can't understand these ponies. Logic, and even the process of elimination is... it's like they're allergic to it! Nothing I say has any impact besides making them angrier!" Twilight exclaimed.

"I'm at a loss too Twilight. I makes little difference if I use a light touch in conferring with them or not. They act as if nothing I propose matters in the least" Celestia commiserated.

"They're closed off. Not simply to us, but even themselves, I'm afraid" Cadance postulated.

"As opposed as I was to what the empress proposed... I, can't think of anything else we can do?" Twilight looked at each of the other princesses, almost pleadingly.

Answering her plea, Luna spoke up;

"We tried our very best young Twilight, into the final moments. Which is the most valiant thing we could have done" pausing, as if trying to convince even herself, she continued;

"Though, I will not sleep as soundly as I would have otherwise.. I can find some measure of closure in that" Luna finished.

Hanging her head, Celestia closed her eyes;

"My poor little ponies. May the stars look after you where we could not..."

With the other princesses looking down in turn, the room fell into silence. So few had they been able to turn around, their final effort to rescue them from their fate; felt like failure.

---

Her highness's transport having returned to the empires flotilla over Equestria; the empress joined the princesses, as well as senior staff of all of the ships.

In a mass conference, the captains; all two hundred and three, went over the plan and schedule.

Beginning an hour before midnight Equestria time, less than twenty hours empire time; 'The Great Exodus' would occur.

Starting at the coast of the Celestial Sea; Manehatten, followed by Fillydelphia, and so forth: Would loose it's departments of Equestrian Order.

Beginning with it's slumbering off duty officers and family, they would be transported from their beds, and into crystal without waking. Placed into the cargo holds; they would never know they left until the empress's interviews came, later.

Active patrols and staff, would notice something happening as they were whisked away, but would meet the same fate as their slumbering counterparts.

Moving across Equestria ahead of the passing Moon, ending in the Luna Ocean; the machine would disappear.

Canterlot... would be a ghost town the following morning.

When the taken ponies would eventually be re-awakened; They would be disoriented, furious, and facing an alicorn with little pity to exchange for their anger.

An alicorn with deep personal philosophical questions for them, which held their return in its balance.

In Equestria;

Ponies which the empress had made connections with, would rise the following morning and report back to their old jobs. Though with vastly different and lighter protocols adopted.

The princess sisters; Would transport down to the castle in Canterlot, Twilight; to her castle in Ponyville, and Cadance; to the Crystal Empire.

Backed by a support contingent of the empress's ponies, as well as loaned Ceremonial Guard; the princess capitals would be self sustaining within hours to a few days at most.

---

That night, went by many names.

The empire called it; 'The Great Exodus',

Equestria called it; 'The Culling',

The Crystal Empire; 'The Warming',

Some called it.. more unsavory names.

One of the names meant to be critical of it, was; 'The Nightmare'. Referring to the horrible power displayed quietly that night.

While finding it amusing in an ironic sense, it got the empress's attention, and stung her pride surprising deeply. Which, she then took it upon herself to educate those few ponies on what real 'nightmares' were, much to Luna's opposition.

One of them, came close to learning of a dark chitinous terror of the old world, but the empress held back at the last moment. Limiting the pony's nightmare to the disturbing sounds from the steel duct-works above their head, while left wandering through strange metallic corridors.

Believing the true experience was beyond a pony's tolerance for sanity, she spared that one.

She hadn't even shared such knowledge with her mother, fearing it would keep her up nights.

---

The fleet of ships having left Equus, headed back to the empire to unload their cargo of well over two thousand ponies; a small contingent remained.

It providing medical support for the detachment of ponies of the empire, as well as repairing the collapsed Canterlot tunnel, and the surrounding rails of the former no-go zone.

The flagship heading it, began collecting the satellite network.

Finally making good on the empresses decree made two years ago, now that her mother was back on the throne.

Now was when the real work of getting Equestria back on track: began.