Defeated
I slowly walked through the halls of the ancient Palace of Canterlot, hooves clopping loudly as I made my way, step by slow, reluctant step, toward the gate.
Mine had been a difficult life so far. But this...
This was almost more than I could bear.
I had always held out hope for Equestria, that one day ponies and the other members of surviving races on our planet could rise out of the world that we had almost made our tomb. I was fortunate enough to be in a bunker when the bombs, made all the more powerful by Magitek, rained down upon the world. But sadly, the rest of the world did not have that luxury. Millions, if not billions, perished. It was estimated that 90% of all the various people - the ponies, the dragons, the griffons, the yaks, the zebras, the changelings, and more - died on that day, or in the months following the devastation.
I don't remember who shot first. It didn't matter.
The One Day War, as we called it, destroyed society. Where radiation did not kill, hunger, thirst, and bands of raiders too often did. Survivors fought over the ruins and especially over the remaining stores of food and water. We almost succumbed to the destruction. Even Twilight Sparkle, her friends, and the Diarchs died, from the war or its aftermath. Even Discord died; I don't know if its because he was directly killed by the bombs, or whether he lost the will to continue living after Fluttershy was killed in the war.
The Spirit of Harmony, however, refused to let itself die that easily.
It called me to the ruins of the crystal clubhouse in the burned-out ruins of the Everfree Forest; even that enchanted wood was unable to survive the weapons we had so foolishly made. There, in the presence of the band that I led, that I was made the last alicorn... the Alicorn of Survival. I was granted wings to fly, and the Spirit of Harmony told me that I must not allow Equestria to die... that I must bring back harmony to this shattered world.
Oddly enough, it didn't fix my horn. Not that I really cared; I was used to it by then. My magic did become more focused, though; no longer was I limited to mere blasts of electricity or fireworks.
I gradually lead my band to become stronger. What was once a band became an army; one that began to reunite the scattered settlements and stragglers. It wasn't very long before we had become known as a force to be reckoned with. Raiders fell before us; weary survivors joined us.
I was formally crowned in the ruins of Canterlot, and led my armies across the planet. We faced resistance, but in the end, we prevailed.
"The Equestrian Survivors." That was what we called ourselves as a band, the name we kept as an army, and the title of the worldwide empire we had built.
Although devastated, our world still held enough scientific minds and resources to rebuild civilization. We planned our expansion into space, the one place undamaged by the nuclear devastation that had almost claimed all of us.
I held no illusions; Equestria was home. But in expansion, maybe we could find a way to reinvigorate our world, to clear out the radiation and restore fertility to a barren wasteland.
In 1157, or Galactic date 2158, we managed our first successful space flight. By 2200, we had managed to establish mining colonies on nearby planets. I still had the responsibility of raising the sun and moon, but I took more and more of an active role in our rule.
I hold no illusions as to what I am. I had to lead. The world needed to be rebuilt, and that required expansion. And so we built our first fleets. They were pathetic, really, compared to the giants we still have in our arsenal, but I remember the hope they inspired among our people.
I never forgot Twilight Sparkle and her friends, though, nor the forgiveness they gave me for my actions as the right hoof of the Storm King. I still held - and still hold onto - the magic of friendship and harmony. I resolved that, although I would be a military leader, I would do my best to extend the hoof of friendship into the stars, and that we would only use military might when we had to.
We expanded. We met fellow Space Age civilizations. We built, prospered, and hoped.
It was all so bright once. But we soon learned an important lesson.
Civilization in space isn't that different from civilization in atmosphere. The only real difference is the distance between planets and stars, distance made much shorter by hyperdrive.
We had to balance between our more powerful neighbors, neighbors with fleets stronger, if not more advanced, then ours. I made alliances as I needed to, the goal being to defend against threats. I was even willing to sign a defensive pact with a space-bound bandit kingdom of avians to defend against much stronger adversaries.
Like them.
They called themselves the Zenak Assemblers. They were a "race" of machines, a hivemind of robots. Their technology made our ships seem like toys for infants. Their might dwarfed our own. Their economy - if a stream of energy credits, minerals, alloys and more produced by machines can be considered an economy - made us look like Klugetown, back before my service in the Storm King's army.
After fighting with our bandit allies against them - and losing a system to them - I made the choice I should have made long ago; that bandits, even powerful bandits, were never going to be desirable as allies. I broke off the alliance with them, in the hopes that our neighbors might forgive us. They did, but the two main superpowers were were caught between - besides the bandits - demanded that we become some form of vassal.
I hated the thought; we were the ones to decide our future. But when it came down to it, there weren't many choices. The only federation anywhere near us probably wouldn't accept us, and without allies and the necessary tech, we were limited to hit and run strikes in warfare. We could only retake what other nations captured; we didn't have the strength to capture their systems, or challenge their main fleets.
So I signed an agreement to become the protectorate under the Zenak.
I had refused, at first. But when it became obvious that they, and our two other neighbors, wanted our vassalization, and that we didn't have the necessary technology (yet, I told myself) to successfully resist, I chose to go with what I thought was the lesser of three evils. Not that they seemed evil; they had fought - and helped a coalition of nations to destroy - an empire of robotic exterminators who wanted nothing more than to kill off all organic life. That was a big win, and under the wing of our new guardians, I thought we could one day retake the galactic stage.
The age of technological progress that followed was astounding. Research that should have taken years to complete was done in mere months. Our fleets grew all the more powerful. Our resources - including rarities like explosive motes and gas to fuel our weapons - grew. And since we were under the protection of a nation of robots with massive fleets and a technological edge, no one bothered us.
As we continued to excel, we discovered amazing technologies. If utilized properly, we realized that we could rebuild Equestria not simply as it was before the One Day War, but as a Gaia World. Our dreams seemed to be within reach.
But I remained cautious of the Zenak Assemblers. And I was right to be concerned.
They didn't consider us as equal partners; they saw us as children, needing to be stewarded. They saw us as a species needing protection, not a nation to rise. They began plans to assimilate us - to integrate us into their empire. Either they deliberately withheld their plans from us, or maybe a communication error prevented the message from getting to us. I don't know.
But when I discovered their scheme, they were only forty-seven months away from finishing it.
When my people learned what was going on, they were outraged. They demanded that the protectorate system be abolished. Individual Zenaks unfortunate enough to be caught in the streets had rocks and fruit thrown at them, and statues and art depicting them were vandalized.
I was outraged too. I had not come this far, had not led Equestria through so much, for it to end like this.
I tried to gain independence peacefully. I demanded our freedom from the Zenak. Of course they refused each time. Insults, harming relations, nothing convinced them otherwise.
I used the time to build up our fleet, to upgrade. By the time we had reached the six-month mark before the Zenak were to integrate us, we had built a titan, and a fleet of twenty-three powerful battleships; each had a Tachyon Lance at it's bow, capable of tearing ships apart before the enemy's weapons were within range. We had powerful kinetic artillery, not as powerful as those of our overlords, but they'd do. Coilguns, lasers, and plasma launchers were ready, and we had powerful fortress stations. Our tech came close to that of our overlords, even if they outweighed us militarily and economically. Our fleet was rated a having 72.3k power (galactic scale of fleet power, or GSFP), roughly on par with the most powerful Zenak fleets
We declared independence the only way we could - by declaring war.
On that first day, Zenak influence on each of our colonized worlds was destroyed. Their symbols in our society were destroyed, as were any Zenak individuals on our worlds. Abuse was heaped upon them on the holonet, and we made sure that the galaxy knew of our disgust for our overlords' betrayal. The most common messages were things like, "Death to the betrayers!" and "Zenak scrap soon for sale, cheap!"
How naive we were. How naive I was.
The few Zenak ships within our borders on the first couple of days went immediately to work, seizing unguarded systems. Although we immediately began building more battleships on the outer worlds, we were at a disadvantage from the start, as the enemy roamed, for a while freely, within our borders.
Furthermore, while our fleet was powerful, it was still, at the start of the war, just one fleet. And the enemy weren't alone; by their defense pacts, they brought in allies, allies who had no business fighting in a war of independence. They only showed up near the end, but even so, it would be demoralizing.
Our fortresses were only half as powerful as their fleets. They were crushed with ease, and the enemy invaded on multiple fronts. System after system fell, and each loss of resources weakened us and strengthened the enemy. The Zenak weren't so foolish as I had hoped; they kept their powerful fleets bunched together, so that while one individual fleet of theirs had maybe 60k power by GSFP standards, they always had at least two of them together.
Our fleet fought the enemy at Durak, just outside the Equestrian system itself. Besides being on the doorstep of our capital, an inhabited world was there. I refused to lose an inhabited world without a fight.
Unfortunately, the Tachyon Lances we had placed our faith in proved not to be so decisive. The enemy, either by accident or design, were near the hyperspace lane where our fleet materialized. Although we fought gallantly, and destroyed more ships than we lost ourselves, the battle was a decisive defeat, and we were forced back to Equestria with out tails between our legs. Our titan, which had cost so many resources to build, the most powerful ship in our fleet, was destroyed.
Durak was invaded. Our soldiers fought heroically, and the battlefields were littered with destroyed Zenak warbots. But the Zenak had plenty of bots to spare. The last calls from the planet, before the enemy managed to cut all formal communication, was that the Zenak had overrun the final defensive lines before the planetary capital, and were running amok in the streets.
Without missing a beat, the enemy then invaded the Equestria system. Again, our brave fleet put up a fight, but still weakened from the previous battle, and without enough time to rebuild the lost ships or to repair, we lost again, even with the citadel in our system. Again, we pulled back, and again, the enemy invaded, this time with their troops landing upon our hallowed homeworld.
Our soldiers again fought well and with distinction, and the Zenak suffered heavily. But again, through sheer numbers, our soldiers were overwhelmed, and Canterlot fell into their mechanical claws.
What was let of our fleet began to counter by freeing systems that had been taken by the enemy. By regaining resources, and keeping our army and fleet intact, maybe we could turn this around. The enemy had paid a price for their victories, after all. This had some success; the roving, individual enemy ships were destroyed, and systems, with their resources, were recaptured.
For whatever reason, the enemy didn't bother to keep their fleets in our home system, and we struck back. We were successful at retaking our citadel, enemy transports were destroyed, and our armies launched a counter-invasion of our homeworld. To my joy and the joy of the citizens, we were successful, and I had dreams of retaking Durak.
It wasn't to be. The enemy came back to our homeworld in force, and our fleet was once again defeated. With only a shattered few surviving ships, we were powerless when the enemy armies came back to invade Equestria for a second time.
I knew we were beaten. The enemy could come and go as they pleased, and our armies and fleets were no match for them in firepower.
Before their troops could reach Equestrian orbit, in 2373, three years after it began, I surrendered.
And so here I was, walking toward an overhang of the castle, outside under the sun that had seen so much destruction.
My loyal guards accompanied me. Some of them wore horseshoes, the kind that are nailed on. It was odd, that this ancient technology was and is still used; even my shoes, or boots, as some called them, were and are nailed into the unfeeling and unbending keratin of my hooves. It felt odd that this technology was still used and reliable to keep our hooves from cracking on pavement, when most such relics have been swept away; no longer were carts pulled by ponies, such things were only used by children as toys. Maybe horseshoes were just a cheaper and still effective solution even after the need to be our own propulsion died out (not to mention it made it difficult for an enemy to take your hoofwear off in battle). The royal chariots that once carried the Diarchs across the skies on important endeavors had been replaced by mechanized flight and ground travel. Ships - the water kind - were almost entirely a thing of the past.
Whatever we had been, the only thing that mattered to me right now was that we had lost. I had lost. And there are no takebacks in life; no time machine existed, no time-travelling spell (at least, not after the One Day War), that would let me go back to the days before we were a protectorate. I had to deal with this as it was.
I stepped out into the sunlight. The sun, still shining over our still barren world (albeit with many improvements over the centuries), remained motionless in the sky. If it could have felt, it surely would have joined us in our sorrow.
The Zenak ambassador awaited, silent and nearly unmoving. I felt my blood boil. This poor excuse for a floating scorpion could at least show some emotion, whether anger of sympathy. Either would have felt better than this unfeeling exterior these machines showed to the world. But as much as the desire to vaporize him on the spot was tempting, I resisted it.
The Zenak battleships in the sky above and their troops within Canterlot made sure of that.
I walked until I was twenty feet away, and then stopped.
For a moment, all was still; except for the wind bearing dust and ashes from a twice-destroyed city, everything was silent.
"Tempest Shadow."
"Grand Marshal Tempest Shadow."
"Your title is irrelevant to the Zenak Assemblers; what matters is your submission to us."
I hated that machine voice. I wanted to obliterate it from my mind. Instead, I forced myself to remain calm. "What are your terms, machine?
"You know the terms; X-01 submitted them publicly. They are quite basic." When I remained silent, the thing went on, as if annoyed, "The Zenak will hold full control over the planet and various systems we've conquered, and you shall revert to being our protectorate."
That... that would kill us. No, it would almost kill us. We would be split into small pockets, all but defenseless. Our economy would be on life support.
But it would be sacrificing only one world of Survivors instead of an entire empire.
"I - reluctantly - accept."
"Reluctance is irrelevant. That you agree is not."
At least it was over now. Or so I thought.
"You betrayed us. You threw off our protection and made war upon us. Estimates are that 1,785,296 Zenak have been destroyed, deactivated, or otherwise disabled in space and ground battles, and those are just preliminary. Plans from your destroyed ships were discovered, indicating you planned a counter-invasion of our empire to regain the system lost in the previous war with us. You took advantage of our protection, of our science, of our gifts, and turned it against us. You destroyed those Zenak who were among you when the war began. You insulted us, provoked us, made incendiary claims on your holonet against us. Though you stand before this unit, in submission, you continue to despise us. Why?"
My composure broke. "Why? Why? Ask yourselves why! You planned to betray us by integrating us into your empire! You would have removed all autonomy from us, and we would have become slaves to your will. We even warned you, once we discovered your plans, to give us our independence. You refused; you should have known this was coming!"
My body heaved, and I sweated profusely as I glared with rage at this machine, one that belonged to an empire determined to undo all the hard work we had done.
"It was our right as your overlords to assimilate you into our collective. We had the right to refuse your demands for independence as overlords. We had done it out of a desire to protect-"
"Shut up! You never considered us as equals, only as a hunted or endangered species to be exploited. Don't you dare try to rationalize what you've done!"
"Your anger is irrational. As this unit stated, we had the right, as your overlords, to assimilate your empire. It was specifically stated under Section 2, subsection 9, of the treaty. If you had wanted to avoid this outcome, you should not have asked to become our protectorate."
"I only accepted out of a desire to protect my people! You and other giants surround us; of course we needed defensive allies. You had just demanded that we become your protectorate; if I had continued saying no, you would have invaded us!
"At least it would have been an honest war, without deception. Whether or not you accept it, you did betray us by declaring war after becoming our protectorate. And you used the science we graciously gave you to fight against us."
I hated to admit it, even to myself, but I felt some truth in the robot's words. Furthermore, I felt an anger beyond my ability to comprehend caged within them. Though no emotion came through the words emulated by the machine, I felt an entire empire's anger bearing down on me.
"At least we won't be annexed now. There's a peace treaty, a truce, in place. until it's over, y-"
"Your assumption is wrong. The integration will continue."
"WHAT!" I shouted, so infuriated that my horn lit up with lightning.
"The treaty only specifies that the war ends under the terms granted, not your autonomy. The integration is due to be finished less than a galactic week from now."
"That's not acceptable!"
"Then you should have continued fighting. This is our right, and as your masters, seeing your violence toward and hatred of us, we have decided to forward the integration to within a few days from now."
"Our people will never accept your rule! We will rebel!"
"You didn't have the strength to stand against us when you had a titan and battleships. Your people will not stand against our fury should they further invoke our wrath. For those who reject us as their rulers, there are only three outcomes; death, for those who resist; hard labor, without compensation, for those who remain peaceful but reject our rule; and flight to other empires for those who choose to flee. We will not abide further resistance of any kind. Nor will we tolerate rocks or plant matter being thrown at us, nor insults. It. Is. Over."
My face remained furious for a moment, but, feeling as if my soul was about to shatter, I could not continue. The lightning faded and I lowered my head, tears streaking down my face, barely able to keep from sobbing.
"Is this our fate? To rise from ashes, and die like slaves?"
Again, a silence. As I fought to keep my tears in, as I struggled to come to terms with the reality of our situation - that we had risen out of nuclear war, rebuilt our destroyed civilization, and risen only to fall in a most humiliating manner - silence fell.
I don't remember how long it lasted. It may have been half an hour, or maybe five minutes. I didn't care. We had lost. We were to become the servants of another empire, one that would forever deny us our freedom, and had the will, might and tech to back up its threats.
We were defeated.
After a while, a voice rang out of the silence.
"Why?"
A moment later, as I collected myself, I replied, "Why... what?"
"Why do you exist?"
"What do you mean?"
"What was the purpose of your empire? What was it's goal? Why do you exist?"
"What do you care?!" I demanded, tears falling down my face. "You're going to destroy us anyway!"
"Not destroy. For those who consent to our rule, there will be peace, and protection. There will be opportunities for advancement, so long as an individual never takes to revolting against us. X-01 - and this unit - ask again; Why?"
I wasn't sure why. But the story of our people, in a nutshell, came from my lips.
"Once, Equestria was a land of harmony. Ponies - and other species - lived in peace. Friendship, and its many attributes, was our highest goal. But somewhere along the way, we lost it... and nearly perished in nuclear fire. I struggled to bring my people back from that disaster. I was crowned the Alicorn of Survival, and the world was united under me. We expanded into space, hoping that by doing so, we might just be able to restore our home to its former self. We came into contact with empires, made and lost friends; I struggled to protect my people from another holocaust. That is why."
Another long silence.
"This unit sees now why you called yourselves the Equestrian Survivors, as does X-01. Your goal was restoration and harmony."
I said nothing.
"In this, you are not excused from your betrayal. However, X-01 will extend one final mercy to your people... and to you personally, Tempest Shadow."
I looked up.
"The Zenak Assemblers will allow you, personally, Tempest Shadow, and your fleet, and your armies, and as many of your people as care - and are able - to join you, in whatever transport you are able to manage, to leave. You will leave this galaxy... and never return. You may not flee to other empires; should you try, we will hunt you down and destroy you. The same applies if we find you within our borders after the annexation is complete. As long as you leave within the time limit, you will not face further hostility. This mercy will of course be withdrawn if any further treachery takes place on your part."
For a while, I couldn't bring myself to say anything. We - I - would be banished from our home that we had sought to rebuild, never again to see wonders like the Everfree Forest, never again talk to the Spirit of Harmony, be in exile from our home and be forced to take up residence in another galaxy, one entirely unknown to us.
But we would live.
With a massive effort, I managed to say, in a whisper, "Thank you."
"X-01 would remind you that you have but days to leave. When we depart, this unit would advise you to immediately begin preparing for your exile. Too many have died or been destroyed; the conflict ends now."
In that moment, I realized something.
Even a race of robots could develop real emotions. The Ambassador felt real personal anger towards what he considered to be our betrayal. And even though the Zenak were a collective, under a machine hivemind, individuals within that collective could have real feelings.
"I'm sorr-"
"That is all this unit and X-01 have to say. Goodbye, Tempest Shadow, and you had best leave immediately; we will not spare you a terrible fate if we find you within our empire."
The Ambassador turned abruptly and slowly floated back toward the small barge he had used to transport himself between his ship and Canterlot. I was left alone, with my guards and my thoughts.
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I went to the ruins of the Clubhouse of Friendship. I didn't know what I would find.
But seeking the Spirit of Harmony was the only thing I could do.
Our military - or what was left of it - was already packing and making preparations for a very, very long voyage. The wives of our brave Guard stallions were attempting to crowd themselves and their children and various other family members into our troop transports. Our ships had only a day to make repairs before our scheduled departure, and only rudimentary ones at that; some were still leaking atmosphere, and entire sections of ships had to be shut down and quarantined due to a lack of oxygen in those areas. Some still bore terrible damage; some had almost no armor left, some could barely move, even in the vacuum of space.
Still, they had working weapons; we wouldn't be going out into the unknown without protection.
Our biggest physical problem was feeding and quenching our remaining population. Gardens and farms were being set up in any free areas of any ship and transport in our fleet. We would have to ration; cryogenic sleep was not going to be immediately available, as we had no time to build any chambers for that purpose.
Our biggest heart problem, however, was much worse.
We were leaving our homeworld. Our home where ponies and other species had made their home for millennia. The Spirit of Harmony, our civilization, our beloved home... it would all be lost to us once we began our voyage. Our legacy, our ancestral traditions, the home of our culture... we were banished from it all.
And so, my visit to the clubhouse. The place I was made an alicorn. The place where I knew I could find the Spirit of Harmony one last time.
I walked through the ruins. I'd heard that once, when there was still harmony in the land, that a group of friends would meet here, friends from various species.
Whatever had been, it was nothing more than some melted crystals and echoes now.
She was waiting by a pillar, as though expecting my arrival. I felt a wrenching in my gut. The Spirit had never changed the form it used to greet ponies; though Twilight Sparkle was long dead, it still bore her image, albeit with a transparency that only the Crystal Ponies used to have, and even then only under certain circumstances.
"Greetings, Fizzlepop Berrytwist," she said, in her echoing voice. "I have known for a long time that you would come."
"Fizzlepop Berrytwist - or what was left of her - died in the One Day War," I said, feeling a tug in my heart at my old name. "For all intents and purposes, my name is Tempest Shadow."
"if you insist upon that name," she replied.
I sighed.
"Why have you so long delayed to meet me here?" she asked. "It has been centuries since you were last here."
"Only decades since you last invaded my dreams, actually."
She said nothing.
I sighed again. "Why didn't you protect us when the Zenak came? Why didn't you protect us from being occupied? Why are you allowing them to banish us?" I felt a mixture of sadness and anger as my words came rolling out of my mouth.
Now it was her turn to sigh. "The One Day War happened because ponies - and the world - forgot about harmony. They forgot about the bonds of friendship. They forgot to love one another. They became greedy, and pushed for material goods rather than for the bonds that truly tied us together. They became divided, even violent. And so the world nearly ended."
"What does the One Day War have to do with today?"
"I made you alicorn of Survival," the Spirit went on, as if I had not spoken. "I gave you the injunction to lead the world out of darkness. I watched as you built a great empire."
Her eyes seemed to flash. "You forgot once more. Briefly, as the world united, as you began your journey out into the stars, you remembered friendship and harmony. I was so happy for you. But as you expanded, you forgot the meaning of friendship. You forgot harmony. Instead of looking to make friends, you made alliances with powers that had no particular concern for your well-being, in order to guarantee your survival. You sought resources, and to make more out of the resources you had. You turned to technology, a fine goal within it's field, but not capable of saving you. You didn't make your choices based on friendship and harmony, but on what was profitable for you at the time. I could not help but be disappointed with the Survivors... but I was most disappointed in you, Tempest Shadow."
"What? Why me? I only ever sought what was best for my people! And I fully intended to spread friendship and harmony, if only they would have let me..."
"You tell yourself such things, for it is easier to escape responsibility that way. But the truth is, you pushed that agenda to the side. You failed Harmony long ago; your hatred towards the machine ambassador was palpable from here... as was those of all creatures toward them before, during, and after the conflict."
"Then why make me alicorn of Survival?"
"Because you were the strength our world needed to survive. No one else had the same determination, hardness, and ideals of friendship to accomplish those goals. I had hoped you had learned, that you would do as the last Bearers of Harmony and their students did, that it is harmony that brings peace, not the physical things one has or what alliances one makes. It was for this reason that I could only watch as the consequences of your failure caught up with you."
"You never warned us-"
"Because you never asked. I could have told you that becoming a protectorate would lead to destruction. Instead, you made your decisions without wise council, based on what you personally thought was right, and not on what was right. I was always here, waiting, for you and others to give wisdom to, if only you would ask. Now the world suffers a second time."
I felt once more as if my soul was about to shatter; even the Spirit of Harmony, that had made me an alicorn, that had tasked me with ensuring our survival, was telling me that I had brought ruin upon us once again.
Her eyes softened. "However, know that it is not the end, Tempest Shadow. You have been given the chance to live, and lead those who reject the machines to a new life."
"But... how can we? This is our home... this is where friendship and harmony reside-"
"Those things reside in other species as well; it is why I allowed the Elements of Harmony to be destroyed. It is why I called students from six separate species to build this clubhouse with the power of their friendship. It is why I hoped so dearly you would remember these lessons as you made your ways through the nigh-endless oceans of outer space. I may be the Spirit of Harmony, but no one world can contain the values I embody."
"But... we've lost Equestria-"
"No; you've merely been banished from it. The Almighty Spirit, the eternal, all-powerful, all-seeing Spirit, the one True Spirit that I serve, tells me that you will return once more. The machines will not last forever. One day, their hold on this world will falter and come to an end. And you will be able to return."
I looked up, hope daring to mix with my despair. "When?"
"Over a thousand years from now."
I felt my heart drop into my stomach. I had hoped it would be mere years or decades.
"You will travel to a small galaxy, one in distant orbit of this one," she said. "There, you will find a pleasant world, one isolated, one that is not yet discovered by the denizens there. There, you will make a home for yourselves as you await the end of your exile. You will learn friendship and harmony once more. You will bring the knowledge of the old Equestria with you, along with all the lessons of the six Bearers and the six Students, and you will forge a society, one that retains the new knowledge, that which has given you the power to traverse the stars, and which reveres the old, that which gave you what is truly important. There, you can finally have the peace you desired as you wait to come home. You will learn new lessons about friendship, and you will learn how to again live in harmony. You will have learned how to rebuild our world by then, not just physically, but also in the ways that really matter."
"How will we know when we can come back? It's not like you can be there and here..." This I said, hoping she would join us directly.
"I must remain upon this world," she said at once, dashing that hope. "I must continue to reach out and bring others to harmony. And I will provide a home for those who seek shelter from the machines, one the machines will not discover."
"But... But..."
"Fear not, Tempest Shadow. I will remake the Elements of Harmony."
As she spoke, crystals began to levitate from the ruins. They gathered above her head.
"It will be your job, as it was of Celestia, to teach others the value of friendship, of the calamities that resulted from the failure to hold to the true values, and of what you have learned from this disaster."
The crystals surged around her head. Her eyes and mouth became white as she kept speaking.
"You will find six students to teach. You will give them the reforged elements."
There was a flash of light; I hid my eyes for a moment. Then, as the light lifted, I saw six crowns, each with one of the symbols of harmony at the peak of it's arch.
"You will survive. And you will rebuild. And you will return."
Her features returned to normal as the crowns came to rest at my booted hooves.
"Be forewarned; the coming journey will be hard," she said with regret. "Not all who travel with you will make it to the world of your exodus. There will be challenges, and there will be much regret and sorrow as this world leaves your sight. But fear not, dear Tempest, for, in your travels, in your search for your students, all you will need to contact me is to place this seventh crown upon your head; then I will speak to you, and guide you on your path through life."
A seventh crown came seemingly out of nowhere, to rest at my hooves as well; this one was made entirely of crystal, and featured no metal whatsoever, as opposed to the Elemental crowns.
"There is little more to be said, Tempest Shadow. Time grows short, and your departure is almost nigh. Do not be afraid; despite your mistakes, the Almighty Spirit will bring you personally back to Equestria, and you will live upon it once again before it is your turn to join those who came before you. For now, guide your people. Teach them the lessons that this world forgot. Lead them in strength to the planet of your exile. And I, and He whom I serve, will watch over you."
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From the bridge of the ISS Tough Cookie, our least battered battleship, I watched as ponies, dragons, yaks, changelings (reformed and unreformed alike; there had always been a faction that refused to accept the butterfly form and preferred to work for their love), hippogriffs, griffons, and more crowded onboard our fleet. We had three days to leave the galaxy, or the Zenak would be upon us. I had always thought I had a hard heart, one that could tune out misery, but as refugees, with little more than the clothes on their backs and whatever valuables they could carry with them came, I was barely able to hold in my feelings.
I had to remain strong, as a symbol of our unity; and yet my heart felt as if it would burst.
Some were sorrowful, and openly cried. Others still spewed hate for the Zenak for what they had done to us. Most, though, looked as if someone had dropped an anvil on their heads; they didn't speak, they didn't cry, they didn't have angry faces... they simply stared, barely noticing if they were bumped or prodded.
Having seen the near end of Equestria, and having lived through this disaster, I could understand. I felt that way too.
The truth was, we were leaving our home, and the vast, vast majority would never see it again. I would be one of the fortunate few who could, and would.
I longer held a hatred for the Zenak. I knew that it was anti-harmony, and that it would lead to further internal destruction. I could not bring myself to love them just yet - maybe I wouldn't, until the time of exile was over - but I no longer blamed them.
It had been my fault that this had happened; I had failed to teach and maintain harmony and friendship. I had failed, much more so than Twilight Sparkle, who had once been my prisoner. It was toward me that those shouts of hate should have been directed, not the machines.
"One day we'll come back and wipe those things off our world!" one pony shouted.
I saw in him the extent of my failure. I was truly fit only to lead a band of survivors. I had failed to maintain the teachings of harmony; if this pony felt this way, even after the war and the upcoming annexation, many more who stayed would resist; they would almost certainly fail, and would be killed by the Zenak. That upcoming slaughter was likewise my responsibility.
I would have brought all our people if we could. But civilian transports were in short supply, and, without the time to build more ships, we simply could not evacuate a significant portion of our population. There were maybe a hundred thousand military personnel, and a few hundred thousand civilians at best. Nothing compared to millions, even billions, across what had been our empire.
Still, some element of Equestria would survive, independent of the Zenak, and we would go on to rebuild, repopulate...
We would survive, as we had from the One-Day War until now.
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I watched Equestria, our beautiful home, slowly becoming more distant. Even from here, despite the improvements we had made, the world still resembled the shattered globe we had hoped to rebuild. A testament to our failures; our world remained stained with our mistakes, and all our rebuilding up until now had done nothing but merely put a bandage upon the damage.
We had had plans to convert our planet into a Gaia world, to make it even better than it had been before the nuclear holocaust. But then came the protectorate, and the war.
Many, upon the transports and battleships, no doubt were also watching the home they were leaving for the last time slowly disappear.
I could not bear to look away, not so long as my eyes could still see it.
My officers were giving orders in the background; there were reports of an atmospheric leak here, a power failure there, a host of problems within the Tough Cookie.
All that mattered to me was that we were leaving. This was our last good bye for over a thousand years.
I don't remember just when the tears started. All I know is that I gradually became aware of them. They came as a trickle, and grew into a river as our world faded. I began unabashedly sobbing as I fell to my haunches and my shod hooves came to my eyes. I don't remember stopping, not until our world had long faded from our sight and I lay upon the floor, drained of tears and yet unable to cease sobbing.
It would be a long journey.
But we would survive.
We had to.