Chapter 1

    Princess Celestia, please, let me stay with you! Don’t send me away, I can help!

    I’m sorry, Twilight.

    Twilight Sparkle let out a shaky gasp as she sat her head up in the darkness, chest heaving, and thick tears staining the soft fur of her cheeks. A dream. A simple, small… painful memory. Fumbling in the darkness, the little alicorn wiped her face clean.

    “Twilight? Is that you, are you awake?”

    “S-spike? Yeah… yeah, I’m up. Open the hatch.”

    Too-bright florescent lights burned away the darkness as the pod door began to open, gases vital to her survival hissing out quickly and mixing with those in the rest of the room. Sitting up, Twilight felt a tightness around her barrel, and it took her a moment to remember the straps binding her wings, to keep them from getting hurt if they extended during stasis; with a simple cantrip, she was free, and standing on shaky legs. The room itself was massive, holding thousands of pods similar to her own, each of them glowing with runes that kept their magic, and occupants, alive. To the newly awakened Princess, the moment was both sad, and relieving. Her race may be on its last legs, but it was surviving.

    The stasis made it seem like only yesterday they had fled Equis. Away from their homes and lives, away from… no. Twilight shook her head to clear her mind, shakily trotting towards the bridge. She could not dwell on it now. Too much rode on her and Spike; too many lives. Twilight had to see how the Hope had fared during its voyage, and why Spike had woken her up now. The corridors were warm, every inch decorated in murals by artists trying to calm themselves in the trying days of the Exodus. Messages to those on the next waves were scribbled everywhere, as were motivational speeches and silly drawings, to keep spirits high. Twilight smiled faintly as she passed a mass of pink, running a hoof over it slowly before continuing on. Keep Calm and Party. Only Pinkie Pie.

    The bridge was a circular room filled with magitech consoles, most of them dark and dormant. But what truly gained Twilight’s attention was the massive purple-and-green dragon seated in the center of the room, pony-sized claws deftly tapping at holographic controls glowing in front of him. Spike looked back at Twilight as the door hissed open, a tiny smile splitting his draconic visage.

    “Good morning, Twilight,” he rumbled out, his voice only a deep echo of the baby dragon the alicorn remembered when they entered the Hope.

    Twilight’s haunches hit the floor as she stared up at him, awe and slowly dawning despair filling her eyes. A fully grown dragon… to grow that large, on a minimal diet… how long would that take…

    “Spike… how long…”

    Her Number One Assistant gave a deep-chested sigh, turning back to the gigantic screen in front of his eyes, giving the keys a few taps. Only a dragon could be as silent as Spike was for those pregnant minutes.

    “Three thousand, two hundred and two years, six months, and three days, Twilight,” he finally whispered, staring straight ahead even then, “We’re a long ways from home. There are things out there…”

    Spike shook his head as he spoke, turning back to Twilight; she was horrified by the pain she saw in those emerald depths, and the jaded, gem-like quality that held it all together.

    “But… Hope is still going. We’re set up in the corona of a star to recharge the reactors, and we’ll soon have enough power to begin waking everypony up. The hydroponics are going strong, and the construction, a-and-”

    Twilight heard little else, her stubby legs attempting to hug Spike’s side, fresh tears staining both her fur, and his own amethyst scales. The dragon’s gaze turned down to his best friend and, for the first time in over a thousand years… Spike let himself cry.

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    “Octavia!”

    Vinyl Scratch let out a cry as she arched up… and winced as her horn bounced off the top of the metallic pound with a hiss of sparks.

    “Shit,” she grumbled, rubbing it carefully, “What the hell…”

    “Please be careful as you awake. The stasis pod will open shortly.”

    Vinyl snorted faintly at the chipper, metallic voice. Bit too late there, Miss Voice Pony. Luckily, Vinyl wasn’t the claustrophobic type, but she definitely was the worrying type. Octavia! The last she had heard from her marefriend was a phone call from Fillydelphia, promising that she was on a train to the Hope, and would be on the next wave of Sleepers. And if they were waking up… then they arrived? Oh Celestia, Tavi had to be on this ship. If she wasn’t…

    The DJ shook her head, all but shoving the pod door open once the first cracks appeared, leaping out. Around her, other pods were beginning to open, bleary-eyed ponies of all races and ages stumbling out on shaky legs. Vinyl could feel her own legs shaking with the exertion, but she shoved it into the back of her jacked up mind as she began to run down the line of pods. There was Derpy Hooves, and her daughter Dinky, hugging each other tightly and sobbing in relief. Bon-Bon and Lyra together, the latter still wrapped in the bandages and patches she had been put in the pod with. Lyra’s train had been caught by a Minotaur rocket, and she was one of the few survivors who made it to the Hope. Vinyl desperately wanted to greet her friends, but… Tavi first. Always Tavi first.

    Turning the corner in the vast Sleeper bay, Vinyl’s jaw dropped in surprise; hundreds, possibly thousands of ponies packed the bay, babbling in surprise and worry. Guards, likely the first to be woken, judging from their clear eyes and steadier limbs, were guiding reunited family groups out into separate rooms. The Apple family dominated an entire side of the bay, the various families of the clan doing their best to sort each other out before leaving. Vinyl couldn’t help but look relieved to see Applejack embracing her younger sister and elder brother off to one side. If it hadn’t been for Applejack’s work ethic, none of them would have had a ship to save themselves on.

    There! Vinyl brightened when she spotted a group of ponies she recognized; the Royal Canterlot Ensemble, Octavia’s traveling team. They were mostly unicorns, clustered around each tightly like they were adrift at sea. Vinyl’s smile faltered when she saw quite a few wounds and bandages among them, and her quick trot became a nearly frenzied gallop.

    “Octavia? Tavi? Hey, hey, guys! Hey, where’s Octavia? She was with you, right?”

    A hopeful smile turned quickly to a near-terrified quivering lip as the Ensemble exchanged somber glances. A young, light purple-furred unicorn sighed softly, blonde mane falling messily around her eyes as she stepped forward.

    “Vinyl…” she began softly, “Our… our train was shot up by a Minotaur tank. Octavia was separated from the rest of us in the confusion… n-none of us are sure she got out.”

    No, no, no, this was not happening. It couldn’t be happening. The quickly tearing up DJ stumbled away from the sad-eyes ensemble, glasses falling from her muzzle as she spun towards the line of still closed pods. Slam. Slam. Twilight had said the pods were made to withstand the vacuum of space, and they were certainly hard enough for it; too hard and Vinyl knew she’d crack a hoof. But she didn’t care. She had to find Octavia. Slam. Slam. As she rose back to deliver a devastating double-hoof blow to a pod, a pair of forelegs wrapped around her barrel, tugging her back. A guard? Probably.

    “Let go of me, damnit!” she roared, struggling violently as a dam broke in her mind, sobs rising up quickly with the tears, “I-I have to… I have to find T-tavi… Celestia, pl-please, I was going to m-marry her…”

    The disk jockey went limp as the emotional wave rolled over her, anger and desperation giving over to utter despair. She slowly curled in on herself, wailing into her hooves. She couldn’t do this. First Equestria was gone, everything she had worked for in her life, and now Octavia? No, no-

    The forelegs encircling Vinyl slowly drew her closer, and the intoxicatingly familiar scent of wood polish and lavender soap filled her nose as a familiar voice asked simply, “You w-were?”

    What… Teary magenta eyes met lavender… Octavia was banged up, definitely. One ear was tugged and split at the top, and part of her neck and side were wrapped tightly in bandages. Her pink bow tie was immaculate as ever, however, as was her smile. Vinyl’s heart practically stopped. Please, don’t let her be having some kind of grief-filled illusion and be giving the love eyes to a random guard.

    “Y-yeah,” she whispered softly, “When you g-got back from Fil- mmm!”

    Yeah, this was either really Octavia, or a guard was taking some serious liberties. Vinyl all but melted into the firm, passionate kiss, trembling and hiccuping in the arms of her lover. And as ponies gazed on in surprise, a few smiled. No matter what they had lost in the Exodus, love would never be one of them.

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    Twilight gazed down at the console with a critical eye, pacing back and forth on Spike’s broad shoulder. Three spheres shined on the magitechnical device, three worlds that had been the reason for Spike awakening Princess Twilight from stasis. Scans showed that all three had suitable atmospheres for ponykind, and that their DNA structures were compatible for their diet. It wouldn’t do for them to land, only to die of starvation soon after from lack of edible food, or worse, for them all to die of poisonous food intake. That would be far too ironic for Twilight to handle in the afterlife.

    “The one closest to the sun is rather hot,” she remarked after a moment, glancing over at Spike’s thoughtful face, “It doesn’t have as much abundant food, and the seas are smaller.”

    “True, but the proximity to the star could have caused larger mineral deposits to form underneath the crust,” he replied softly, pointing to several larger mountain range, “From the added gravitational forces. And the pegasi could create cloud cover.”

    “We assume they can, at any rate. For all we know, these worlds could all act like the Everfree Forest.”

    Twilight sighed, rubbing her temple before motioning to a far greener world, “What about this one?”

    “Larger and not as warm, with large forests and jungles,” Spike read from the readout, tilting his head, “Food will be abundant there. But we don’t know what kind of animal life there is.”

    “But no one would starve.”

    Spike chuckled softly, claw flicking over to the last of the three worlds, bringing it up. This world was more like Equestria had been, with several large continents, split by a world sea. Each continent seemed to have a mix of environments, ranging from arboreal to deserts to grasslands. Twilight trotted back to the center of his shoulder, peering down at it curiously.

    “It has possibilities, but see those readings there? Increased greenhouse gases? What if there is already a race living there? We have enough trouble as it is.”

    Twilight sat back on her haunches, sighing softly. She knew from the get-go that this whole mission was going to be monumentally stressful, but it had not truly HIT her until this moment. One wrong decision wouldn’t just mean a telling-off by the Princess. It could mean the extinction of her entire species! She hung her head, rubbing her eyes.

    “I know this is tough, Twilight,” Spike whispered softly, “Why don’t you sleep on it? Decide tomorrow what to do?”

    That sounded amazing, if Twilight was honest with herself. But she couldn’t. She needed to do something first. All of her friends had been by earlier, and her neck still hurt from all the bear-hugs. Almost all of the ponies in the Sleeper Bays had been awoken and sent to their various suites for nutrition and training. All but one. With a purple flash, Twilight teleported down to the sleek ground.

    “I will, Spike. After I see the Princess.”

    The Pod in the back of the last Bay, protected by the thick layers of armor and magical shields of the Hope, lay the Royal Pod. Several times larger than the typical pod, and guarded by a quartet of elite pegasi Guards, it was the heart of the ship. Twilight shakily ascended the steps to the pod, giving each Guard a nod and weak smile. They were all exhausted, and pushing themselves. She would need to get a rotation going.

    “Any change?” she asked the head guard, a white pegasi named Honor Shield.

    “No, Princess,” she responded softly, good eye looking down at the ground, “S-she still sleeps.”

    Twilight nodded slowly, stepping forward to peek into the Pod. No pony she had look inside had been able to hold back tears. Princess Celestia, their shining light, their Princess and Goddess in one… She lay almost deathly still, if not for the faint up and down of her barrel as she breathed. Her horn was blackened at the tip, as were patches of her glorious white coat. Her mane and tail moved in a non-existent breeze, though their once vibrant colors had dimmed to a soft pink, and one of her cutie marks, on her left flank, was scored over by a burn. The power it took to harm her… Twilight shuddered, closing her eyes.

    Aaaah!

    PRINCESS!

    “Princess?”

    The Princess of Friendship jerked and opened her eyes, shyly glancing over at a worried Honor Shield.

    “S-sorry, sorry. Contact me if anything changes. ...and set up a watch rotation. Get some rest, Captain, that… that’s an order.”

    “Yes, ma’am, right away, ma’am.”

    Twilight sighed softly the second she was out of the sight of the guard. Sleep. Sleep was good, yes. Tomorrow, she would decide the fate of her people. She would not let Celestia down. She would not let Equestria down.