The pony species adjusts to life on a former Republic warship after the destruction of their home planet.
Equis has been destroyed, the land of magical creatures gone forever. I now find myself in charge of the survival of what's left of my species, as well as a handful of others. The only bright side is that we have a ship big enough for all of us, and a little inter-dimensional help. ~ From the journal of Twilight Sparkle
This story takes place, for the most part, in the Multi-verse. Expect to see elements of many different series, both popular and cult status.
Update: Remember how I said there was gonna be a webcomic? Yeah, it's not exactly webcomicish, but here. http://fav.me/dcyhcww
Author’s Note: These chapters will be , for the most part, relatively short and to the point. I’m currently working on a Garry’s Mod based webcomic of this story. It and this involve events that have only ever been recorded in my head (sometimes on-the-spot) and likely won't ever be chronicled. I apologize if it seems confusing at times. And yes, I know my OC seems very Mary Sue, but I promise, he's not all powerful or all knowing. He's simply... complicated.
Prologue: Home
From the personal journal of Twilight Sparkle 24 May, First year of Exodus
Space. It used to be so far above me. A giant tapestry of beauty woven by the Princess of the Night. Distant stars, while fun and exciting to study and observe, were always far out of reach. Constellations had more meaning when each point was only a few inches apart. And meteors were far more beautiful when they weren’t an actual threat to life on a daily basis.
Now. Now our lives are confined to 1137 meters of dura-steel surrounded by eternal nothingness. And who’s been put in charge of it and the hundred something ponies that survived our world’s destruction? Me. Twilight Sparkle. Princess of Friendship.
I don’t mean to sound bitter about it; honestly it’s a great honor that all these ponies trust me that much. And the Royal Sisters have every confidence and faith in my organizational abilities. A great honor and a noble responsibility.
Life on a starship isn’t like life in Equestria. It’s the same thing day in and day out. You see the same ponies over and over. Most weathered the evacuation decently. Others.. well. Some things you can’t see the bright side of, no matter how bright your outlook is, and not even the support of your closest friends can help.
Celestia and Luna took it upon themselves to see to the safeguarding of the ship. At the few planets we’ve stopped where sentient space-faring life existed, they’ve done well in acquiring needed defenses. It’s not the best equipment available, but with our limited resources, it should make do. Whether we can learn to use them safely and effectively remains to be seen. Fortunately, we have help with that in the form of a veteran fighter. An interdimensional hopping being who not only warned us about the coming danger, but also secured this ship for us. Along with his wife, Cloudchaser, Timber’s guided us through some very sticky situations, both politically and physically. I can honestly say we’d be quite lost without the two of them.
Some of the other survivors have taken to learning how their new home operates, taking cues and instruction from the android crew. They’ll never completely take over for the automaton guardians, but at least they’re keeping busy. I should be happy they’re taking the initiative.
But honestly, I just feel so… numb.
I wish Spike was here.
Chapter 1 - The Day Equestria Disappeared
From the journal of Twilight Sparkle 3rd of February, 20XX
You would think the day the world ended would have started out a little more ostentatiously. While there were several significant events going on in the world that day, none of which were a big concern for myself or the rest of Equestria. The only major thing of note was that Cadence was visiting Ponyville with my brother and Flurry Heart to prepare for my niece's fourth birthday. They'd assured me they would be fine on their own (as fine as dealing with Pinkie Pie can get anyway) and left me to my own duties. I was enjoying my normal Wednesday task: resorting, cataloging and re-shelving my library. I can honestly say that, next to any activity with my friends, this is my favorite thing ever to do. And, of course, I had my number one assistant to help. We were about halfway into the task before Spike finally began to gripe.
“Come on, Twilight,” Spike complained. “It’s lunchtime! Can’t we take a break for a few minutes?”
“Not yet,” I replied. “I’ve still got half of the Geological section to do still, and I haven’t even considered how I’m going to integrate the Zoological section.”
“”You could try putting it at the end of the library,” he grumbled, folding his arms. I really should have agreed to stop; I was hungry and I knew he was too. But I wanted to get this done so I could go to Applejack’s farm without having to worry about coming back to finish. After all, Apple Bloom turns twelve only once in her life.
“It’s not just that,” I said to Spike. “I’ve also got another order of books coming tomorrow, and if I put the rest of the sorting off, then it’ll just be a big mess when they arrive.”
“Wouldn’t that be a crime,” he snarked back. Before either of us could comment further, there was a large bang that seemed to come from the Map Room. Both Spike and I dropped our books and ran out of the library. Another bang was heard, just as loud as the first, as we ran down the hallway. Starlight Glimmer joined us in our mad gallop, asking what was going on. I had no answer, which only sped us on further.
The Map room was filled with a clearing smoke and the sound of coughing. I put a hoof over my nose and squinted through the smoke. In the middle of the map table lay two ponies who seemed to be tangled up with each other and some sort of mechanism. Starlight and I rushed to the table where we could get a better look, and as the smoke cleared, the colors of the two came into focus.
“Timber? Cloudchaser? Are you two alright?”
The male coughed a few more times, then looked directly into my eyes. Looking back as I write this, I should have been paying more attention to those eyes. If I had, I might have been more inclined to act quicker than I did. I saw in them a great fear, almost a panic, that in all the time I’d known him he’d never shown. This was a pony who had faced a full grown Ursa Major and simply laughed as he charged it, who I’d fought against countless Changeling incursions with, who had saved me from the wingblades of a griffin assassin twice. This was a pony I would confidently label fearless and knew he would live up to the title in every way possible. His eyes were the first sign of trouble. But, being naive as I was then, I dismissed the non-verbal cues. His first words to me were only a distant clue by comparison.
“Twilight,” Timber said between coughs. “We need to evacuate Equestria!”
I looked at him incredulously. There was no way I heard that right. Evacuate Equestria? Yeah right. I laughed a little, thinking (or really, hoping) he was playing some sort of prank on me. Starlight and Spike must have thought so too for they both gave a laugh.
“Very funny,” Starlight replied with a chuckle. “And why exactly do we need to evacuate the whole country?”
“Not just the country,” he said as he got to his hooves and off my table. “The whole world needs to evacuate!”
Cloudchaser seemed to still be a bit woozy, but she quickly shook it off and began packing their teleportation device as we spoke. I noticed her movements were very hurried. They were going all out on this prank.
“The whole world??” I laughed again. “Let me guess: something’s coming to destroy the planet.”
“Crap, we only have the one ship,” Timber went on, starting toward the door as if he hadn’t heard me. “And it couldn’t possible hold an entire planet’s population, much less a whole country’s.”
“What about the Lycan Federation,” Cloudchaser asked as she joined him, leaving Starlight, Spike and I behind as they exited the room. We looked at each other, exchanging nervous grins, before following them out.
“No, they wouldn’t help,” Timber replied. “I don’t have enough pull with them, and they don’t have the ships for it besides.”
“The New Republic then! They have the ships, and this is the sort of emergency they’d respond to!”
“Not close enough. That monster’s only a few hours away.”
“What monster,” Spike asked, running up beside the grey pony. He gave a quick flap of his wings and leaped up to ride Timber’s back, grabbing hold of one of the blue swaths of fur that made up his unique coat pattern.
“The kind of monster you don’t see coming until it’s sucking you in,” Timber replied as we exited the castle. “A Rogue Black Hole.”
“I would think we would have noticed a giant hole in space coming towards us,” I said tersely. This prank was going a bit too far. We trotted past the Friendship Academy and entered Ponyville proper. Timber maintained a home here when he wasn’t out adventuring with Cloudchaser. “Seriously, this joke is going a bit far.”
He suddenly stopped and whirled to face me, throwing Spike off with the inertia. Before I knew it he was right in my face, his blue tipped orange mane brushing my eyebrows.
“This is not a joke, Twilight,” he yelled. I backed away, stunned as he went on. “There’s is a Black Hole coming this way! You don’t see it because the accretion disk is almost nonexistant! It’s sucking matter in so fast it doesn’t show any color! We have literally hours before we feel it’s effects!”
“H..hours?” Starlight’s eyes were pinpricks, her ears flat against her skull. I can’t imagine I looked any different. “Wh-what do we do?? How do we stop it??”
“There’s no way to stop it,” Cloudchaser replied, much more calmly. “All we can do is get off this planet and out of it’s way.”
“I need to get to our house,” Timber said, as he turned away. “I’ll call whoever I can to assist. Gaia knows a few governments owe me favors. There’s a ship in orbit, and it will be sending down transports soon. Contact Celestia and Luna. Tell them to get themselves ready. We’ll get as many as we can off planet.”
I stood there as they galloped off, too stunned to do anything. My mind reeled with the information it had just swallowed, and wasn’t properly processing it. Fortunately, Starlight was a little more alert.
“Spike, send a letter to Princess Celestia. Mark it Apocalyptic if you have to but get it to them quickly. Tell them what we know and to get in contact with us as soon as she can. We’re going to go find Princess Cadence and get her family together, as well as spread the word. We need to move quickly.”
“Twilight?” Spike stared at me as I stood there, still dumbfounded.
“Go, Spike!” Starlight telekinetically picked him up and threw him toward the castle. I dimly heard flapping of small leathery wings fading into the distance. My awareness didn’t fully return though until a hoof slapped me across the cheek. I blinked and looked at Starlight, who was suddenly holding me by my shoulders and glaring into my eyes. “This is no time for a Twilight Freak-Out! We need you alert! There’s going to be a lot of panic, and everypony is gonna be looking to you for guidance!”
“R-r-r-right..” I said at last, shaking my head. “Find Cadence. Tell her to start organizing everyone. I’ve got to find my friends and get them to help. I’ll meet you at Town Hall.”
It took me half an hour to round up the other Elements of Harmony, and after calmly but quickly informing them of the situation (and straight-up yelling at them when they wouldn’t take it seriously), we all headed off to different parts of town. I looked up at the sky and thought I could see a big patch of darkness through the blue. Maybe it was my imagination, but I ran harder.
Within another hour, I could definitely sense something wasn’t right. It felt like a pull in a direction I knew would be bad. The other ponies of town seemed to sense it as well, and panic began to slowly creep in. Most looked to me or Cadence or even my brother and followed our lead of staying calm, but quite a few screams and cries could still be heard around town.
Timber’s dropships began to arrive soon after. They looked old and weathered, as if they’d been part of a war long past. I hadn’t seen Timber himself since he’d ran off, but Cloudchaser kept us apprised of the situation. Celestia and Luna both showed up with a detachment of Royal Guard to help keep ponies calm. After sending out missives to other world leaders, they had given the job of preparing Canterlot’s citizens to a general and flown here as quickly as they could.
Loading ponies and other creatures onto the ships went fairly quickly. The ships themselves were crewed by android automatons. With help from the Guardsponies they loaded about thirty beings onto each ship, which lifted into the sky only to be replaced a few minutes later by another. Cloudchaser told me that another Galactic government had responded and was in the process of arriving to pick up other species around the world. It wouldn’t be a complete evacuation, but we would save as much of the population as we could.
Ponyville was mostly evacuated when we ran out of time.
The earth suddenly lurched, jarring nearly everypony from their hooves. A rumble crept across the town. I looked up, and my jaw dropped. The Black Hole was visible now, it’s outer event horizon a thin white and red circle before plunging into darkness. I fought the wave of panic and yelled for everypony to hurry. I looked around as ponies ran past me to board what would be the last shuttles off planet. Everything shook. Houses started to collapse. I couldn’t see my friends anywhere. I saw the Guardsponies bodily pushing Celestia, Luna, Cadence and her family onto one of the shuttles before it’s doors snapped closed and it lifted off. Several ran toward me, but I leaped into the air in search of my friends. I saw Spike flying faster than he’d ever flown toward me, a messenger bag around his neck.
“Twilight! We need to get to Timber’s house!”
“Where is everypony else?!?” I had to yell now because the rumbling had become a roar. Below me, the ground cracked and heaved, and molten lava erupted through, drawn up by the gravity of the beast above us.
“They’re there on Timber’s ship! It’s the last one on planet!” There was an explosion, and as I watched, the town hall crumbled into a giant rift, taking several ponies who had thought to use the building as shelter. I would have looked on longer, but Spike grabbed my face and turned it toward him. “We need to go now!!”
I nodded and together we streaked toward what used to be an unassuming home in Ponyville’s downtown area. All I saw was the semi-circular ship I knew as the Ebon Hawk. Timber’s personal starship. In all my travels with him he’d never let on how he’d acquired it, saying it was either a gift or a prize or a repayment of some debt or other. The story never stayed the same, and I’d eventually stopped asking.
Somepony must have seen me, for the ramp lowered as soon as I landed in front of it, and we hurried inside. I first saw Applejack standing at the inner airlock, which she sealed as soon as Spike and I were aboard. She then slapped a hoof on another panel and yelled, “They’re aboard!” I heard engines whine to life and felt a lurch as the ship lifted off, then gravity normalized itself and we made our way to the main cabin and the rest of my friends.
Rainbow Dash sat at the security station seat. She didn’t appear to be using the equipment, but just sat there in a seemingly catatonic state. When she looked up to me, she gave a small smile and a wave. I nodded back and continued to look around.
The Apple Family had gathered themselves at the back to comfort a crying CMC. All three fillies where there, holding each other and weeping. Applejack joined her brother and hugged them close. Granny Smith was nowhere to be seen.
Fluttershy was curled into a tight ball, her wings wrapped around her head. She made no sound other than small whimpers. Starlight, who lay next to her trying to be comforting, looked up at me.
“You’d better go see Pinkie Pie,” she said quietly.
“What happened,” I asked, dreading the answer.
“Rarity’s with her in the crew quarters,” Starlight went on, looking back down at Fluttershy, who gave a small shudder. I nodded and hurried into the small room.
Pinkie Pie lay on one of the bunks facing the inner bulkhead, her back toward the door. Her mane and tail were as flat as pancakes, not a bit of poof in them. Rarity sat on the floor next to her, nuzzling the pink pony as best she could. She looked up at me, tears in her eyes.
“Her… the Pies… they…” Rarity couldn’t say any more. She didn’t need to.
As I backed out of the room, reality finally closed in on me. I sat down with a thud, then slowly slid to prone, my wings splaying out on my sides. My emotions began to take control and I began to cry. I don’t know how long I cried for. I only remember my friends gathering around me, forming a group hug.
Somewhere behind us, our home was crushed into its smallest atoms and swirled into an inescapable vortex that obliterated them. Within minutes of our leaving, nothing was left, and we were a lightyear away, making rendezvous with the rescue ships.
Equestria, and the whole planet of Equis, had ceased to exist.
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.”
From the journal of Twilight Sparkle 10th of February, First year of Exodus
There are days when I think to myself, "this is as bad as it can possibly get, and nothng else going wrong could possibly make it worse." And as soon as I I say that, a little thing I now know as Murphy's Law pokes it's finger in and says, "OH REALLY???"
Murphy's an asshole.
A few days into our new life, the griffons decided they'd had enough of cooperation with other species, and decreed they would soon go their own way. Within hours, the yaks did the same (albiet acting like it was their idea all along.) Celestia plead with both Prince Rutherford and Lord Gruff to stay with the fleet, sadly in vain. Both species demanded that the ponies return any citizens being held on our ship, something we would never have refused had those individuals simply asked.
Not all griffins and yaks opted to return. Two yak families and several grifin individuals formally requested to stay with us, most of whom had close ties to ponies, changelings and hippogriffs. I was more than happy to accept them, and made sure their leaders knew this was not an act of foalnapping.
I was having that thought as I watched shuttles leave the long hangar with my some of my friends and the captain of The Exodus when Murphy first made himself known.
"So, Cap'n," Applejack was saying. "You're tellin me this ship can carry all'a them shuttlecraft an still have room fer more?"
"That's correct," Captain Jahne Delmari replied. "We have room for 460 small to medium sized starfighters and landing craft, as well as several dozen ground vehicles. Sadly, we don't have any of them at the moment."
"I'm sure the princesses will find something," Rainbow Dash said as she watched one of the crew conver with a droid, then look up and nod to the captain, who nodded back.
"Well, ladies, the last shuttles are launching now if you would like to watch." We all agreed and crowded around the large viewport.
Just as the last few were leaving, a sudden movement caught my eye. Another ship had appeared in the distance, followed by two more. They were fat and rounded with a smaller compartment at the front. It reminded me of some sort of bug like a tick or a flea. I was about to turn to Captain Milhari when an alarm started going off.
"Alert," said one of the nearby stationed droids. "Unknown craft dropping out of hyperspace at 243 elevation 662."
"Scan for IFF," Delmari ordered, her hands clasped calmy at her back. "I want an ID on-"
"Warning! Ships have deployed Skipray Blastboat craft! Estimated intercept in ninety seconds!"
"My stars," Rarity exclaimed. "What do we do?"
"Helm to course 185 half flank speed, secure hangar doors, shields to full, arm starbord turbolasers. All hands, battlestations!"
A warbling alarm sounded throughout the ship, and behind us droids and personel began to move quicker. The view outside the ship tilted as we came to the new course and the long hangar doors closed below us. More movement caught my eye and I watched as the Ebon Hawk launched out of the starbord hangar bay.
"This is Ebon Hawk," Timber called. "I'll deal with the launches, captain. The Galleons are all yours."
"Understood, good hunting," Delmari replied, then looked to another of the droid crew. "Gunners engage those frigates. Target engines and shields."
"Roger roger," the droid replied, and suddenly space was lit with green light as the big guns opened fire. In all my years studying and practicing magic, I'd never seen anything as awe-inspiring as that. Rainbow Dash summed it up perfectly a moment later.
"So awesome..."
We were distracted from the display of power by several explosions to our port. A short distance away, Timber was in combat with six other ships. They were smaller than his freighter, but nowhere near as agile or dangerous. And he tore into them like Spike eating a basketful of gems.
Beyond him, the other ships of our small fleet opened fire on the remaining four blastboats as they bore down on the fleeing shuttles. I wasn't able to see clearly what happened next. It wasn't a completely happy ending.
Within a few minutes, it was all over. One of the pirate frigates was disabled, the other two jumped away to safety. None of the blastboats made it back to their ships; what the fleet hadn't shot down, Timber caught running away. He was returning as we recieved the report from the shuttles and other ships.
"Captain," a droid called out. "Seven shuttles delivered cargo safely. Three shuttles destroyed in combat. All hands lost."
"Lost," Rarity repeated. "As in..."
"As in lost," the captain replied sadly. "I'm sorry."
I closed my eyes, retaining my composure as best I could. I was a leader now, and I would have to get used to things like this. My friends, on the other hoof, took it harder.
"You mean.. they're..." Rainbow couldn't finish, and it was Fluttershy who completed the sentence. "Dead?"
Delmari nodded. "I'm afraid this is the universe you girls have been forced into. I'd hoped to spare you from this reality for a bit longer."
I opened my eyes and took in my friend's reactions. Rarity seemed beside herself, Fluttershy was on the verge of tears, Applejack had her hat in her hoof and her head bowed, and Rainbow Dash simply stared out into space. I looked at each of them in turn, then looked up at the captain.
"I'd better report this to Celestia and Luna," I told her. "They'll want to know."
"Yes, ma'am. I'll compile a report for them shortly."
I left the bridge with my friends following.
~~~~~
"No survivors."
Celestia sat with her eyes closed, head held high, as she absorbed the report Captain Delmari read to her. My own report had been met similarly, the only response coming from Luna in the form of a thrown table. Deep down, I started to believe just a little what all the other races feared.
"There were simply too many," Delmari went on, "for one modified freighter to defend against. The Ebon Hawk is still only one ship, no matter how good it's pilot." Timber, for his own part, sat nearby. Though he didn't look it, I could tell he was upset by the losses too.
"Thank you both for your report," Luna said after a moment of silence. "And to you, Timber, for doing what you could. This further enhances the fact that we need more adequate defenses." She turned to Celestia. "We need to convince those people to stay with us."
"They won't," Celestia replied.
"They must!"
"They won't! I've already talked to them, but they're both too hardheaded or stupid to listen to reason!!" I've know Princess Celestia ever since I was a foal. I've never heard her call any being stupid. Needless to say, my jaw hit the floor. Fortunately she gave us a moment to compose ourselves. "I've done all I can. All we can do now is wish them well."
As I watched those ships leave out the view port from my room later that night, I reflected on the job that had been forced upon me, and if I was really up to it. This wouldn't be the last time Death touched our fleet, and i had all but fallen apart. I could only hope that next time he made an apearance, we would be better prepared. Fortunately, I had the magic of friendship on my side. I kew that no matter what happened, somehow it would come out alright.
Now if I could only convince Pinkie that were true.
From the journal of Twilight Sparkle 11th of February, First year of Exodus
One day after the attack, I decided to visit Pinkie. Her room was several floors below the command towers, just aft of the elevators. My own were on the aft part of the flight command tower. I'd invited her up several times in the past week we'd been aboard. She never even replied. Cadence told me she had tried to talk with her, but for the whole visit Pinkie had simply laid there, not responding, not doing anything. She hadn't even acknowledged that Cadence was there.
I can't say I knew what she was dealing with. My own parents had been on one of the first shuttles out of Canterlot. My family was intact. Pinkie had lost everyone but her sister Maud and her coltfriend. I'd spoke with her too, but she was hard to read. I wasn't until Starlight talked to Maud that I learned how upset Pinkie really was.
I had a basket of various sweets with me when I knocked on her door. "Pinkie," I called. "It's Twilight." No response, so I tried again. "Pinkie, can I come in?" Still nothing, but I wasn't about to give up. "I've got a basket of treats with me. The Sampler Platter. Well, as close as I could make a sampler platter. You wanna try some?" Silence was my reply, so I decided to let myself in.
Pinkie lay as had been described: on her bed, facing away from the door. The single recessed light on the far was was lit, casting cold illumination on the party expert. She looked like the most pathetic thing I've ever seen.
"Pinkie?" She said nothing as I walked in and the door closed behind me. Moving around to the other side of the bed, I got a look at her face. Her eyes were half closed and staring at a spot between the floor and halfway up the wall. I sat down somewhat within her eye line, and leaned down until she was looking directly at me. "Can you hear me?" She continued to stare through me. I frowned sadly, then decided to try the sweets. "Do you wanna try one of these? I got them from... well, several different sources. I even snagged an Apple family fritter. Sound good?"
I got no response. I tried for half an hour. I put cupcakes in front of her. I brushed out her hair. I tried to sing her a song.
I walked out of that room more depressed than when I went in.
From the Book of Communication Between Worlds 3rd of February, First year of Exodus
Dear Twilight Sparkle,
How you been? I haven't heard from you in a few weeks. Busy being a princess I guess. I can relate. I started my new job as a computer graphics designer yesterday. It's kind of a weird schedule I'm on: work three days, then off for a day then work two more and off again. They haven't put any deadlines on my work yet (still letting me adjust to the company's workday flow), but in a few weeks they say they'll be letting me onto some big projects they have in the works. I'm so excited!
I got a strange call today from Pinkie Pie. Something about her Pinkie Sense going all wibbly-wobbly and making her damage her kitchen, and then she had a very sad feeling she couldn't explain. Normally I wouldn't think much of it (it's Pinkie Pie after all), but I also got a call from Principal Celestia. She told me the pedestal that used to hold the school's statue blew up. Did something happen on your side? I'm going back to Canterlot High tomorrow to check it out. I would right now but I'm beat and it's a long drive.
I'll pop through the portal and say hi when I get there. And since she's here while I write this, Twilight says hi. Sorta confusing to say since I'm talking to Twilight for Twilight. Anyone reading this but us would be so confused.
Your friend, Sunset Shimmer -------------------------------------------------
4th of February
OMG Twilight are you there?!? There's a giant hole where the portal should be! What happened? Please get back to me!
An hour later
Twilight please reply!
That evening
Sunset.
Equestria is gone. I'll explain more when I can. Trying to keep everypony together. I promise I'll explain when I can.
Sorry I haven't replied in so long. It's been ...hectic. So. To the point.
Equestria, her sun and her moon, were swallowed by a black hole. There was nothing we could do to stop it. We evacuated as many ponies and others as we could, but... I suppose if we were in your world, we'd be on the endangered species list.
Before you asked, I did look for your parents in the survivors. It appears they both made it, as did your brother Sunburst. He got out with the Crystal Empire shuttles while your parents were in Manehattan when they evacuated.
I'm fine, my family is fine, and my friends are... fine.
Is there a way to bring me home? -------------------------------------------------
We're still sorting stuff out, but I do have a way. I don't know if I can send you back though. He's not a taxi service. -------------------------------------------------
I understand. Talked it over with everyone here. They're gonna miss me but we all think its for the best. -------------------------------------------------
He's ready to pick you up. Set this book in a large open space and step back about fifteen feet. -------------------------------------------------
Doing it now. -------------------------------------------------
From the journal of Twilight Sparkle 13th of February, First Year of Exodus
I watched as the Ebon Hawk rotated into a landing position. Beside me, Celestia watched as well, her regal poise ever about her mannerism. I was trying very hard to emulate her, but my heart felt like it was in my throat. This would be the first time she'd seen her former student since she'd disappeared through the mirror.
A hiss of steam and a clank of metal and the ramp lowered. Down walked Timber and Cloudchaser, followed by a familiar orange figure.
"Hello, Princess Celestia," Sunset said, looking up at her one-time mentor. She was nervous, but did her best not to let it show too much. Celestia gazed down at her for a moment, then stepped forward and pulled Sunset into a hug.
