Stallions and mares screamed.
Buildings were crumbling and falling. Flames shot from the cracks forming in the shaking ground. The normally clear, bright orange skies of Colton were colored a sickly grey, polluted by the smoke and vapor shot forth from the very core of the planet. The sun, still burning bright red and oblivious to the impending destruction of its charges, was partially obscured, visible only as a glowing, round ember through the clouds.
A stallion rushed through the panicked and busy streets, with his exhausted wife, who was carrying a satchel around her neck that she took great care to protect, following close behind. He managed to force his way through the terrified coltonians surrounding him and into the intact, shaking building in front of him. The sign out front, wobbling and nearly fallen over, clearly said 'New Colton Innovations! Changing our planet and aiding yours!'.
As the stallion and mare managed to force their way past the dense crowd present in the lobby, they made it to the front and showed the security guards, clad in standard black scale bodysuits and headgear, opened up momentarily to let them through before closing just as quickly to keep the raving masses out. As the stallion and his wife made it through the lines and into the laboratories, a powerful voice behind them screamed above the others.
"YOU CANNOT ESCAPE ME JOR-EN!!"
The stallion looked back as he recognized the voice, only for his eyes to widen in horror at the realization of who he saw.
"No...no...they imprisoned you! I WAS THERE!!" He screamed back.
The mare kept running, urging her husband on. "We don't have much time, Jor-En! WE MUST GO NOW!! WE MUST!!
He snapped out of his stupor, following his wife as they rushed into the laboratory. The stallion behind them managed to force his way through the security guards, a testament to his strength, following after the two as quickly as possible.
The doors flew open as the couple entered. The scientists that were supposed to have been there had already fled. They had all gone to the escape pad, where dozens of thousands of rocket pods had been stored in case of an absolute emergency such as this. The only reason the couple had come was to insure the safety of their greatest achievement.
The wife opened up the satchel, revealing a small child, a newborn, wrapped in a dark red blanket. The baby blinked her sleepy green eyes and yawned adorably. Her yellow mane had barely grown out, and her orange fur still looked bright and short, dotted by several freckles on her face.
The stallion gingerly took hold of her and carried her over to a small rocket pod in the corner of the room near the failed portal experiment, hidden away from prying eyes. After hearing of Colton's unstable core, they worked together to create a backup plan, a capsule to protect their daughter and send her away, hopefully to a peaceful world, in the event of the planet's demise.
As he placed her in the capsule and made sure she was comfortable, the baby began to nod off. Her mother ran up to the entrance to the capsule with her father, just in time to watch as their child fell asleep.
"She... she really is beautiful, isn't she?" The stallion managed to choke out the words as he teared up. His wife did the same as she nodded.
He spoke, gaining back his composure momentarily. "We love you, Ap-El. You were born to do great things. Never forget that..... my daughter." He closed the capsule, sealing it shut and preparing it for the journey ahead.
Just as his wife had typed in the launch code, the doors burst open. Both ponies' heads darted to it only to find the stallion from earlier standing in the door frame. He began yelling at them, screaming in his fit of rage. "Did you think you could imprison ME?! DID YOU TRULY THINK TO LOCK ME AWAY?!?!"
He charged into the room and grabbed the mare by her head, rearing up and holding her in a lock. She tried to elbow him, but to no effect. The room shook violently, but he managed to keep his balance until it stopped. He snapped the poor mare's neck, not even allowing her a final word.
The stallion screamed. "AU-EL!!!"
The crazed stallion then charged at him, but not before he was able to hit the launch button. The rocket pod roared to life, and shot through the ceiling no sooner than it opened.
The stallion didn't slow down, ramming Jor-En at full speed. The stallion fell to the ground and slid across the floor, banging his head against the base of the giant portal arch. Before he could get up, the stallion charged again and leapt atop him, keeping his head down and choking him with his hooves.
The stallion began shouting again, sweat streaming down his face. "How DARE YOU. HOW DARE YOU!! YOU TRIED TO KILL ME!! YOU TRIED TO IMPRISON ME, OF ALL THE COLTONIANS ON THIS DAMNED PLANET!!!! Do you believe your child is safe, Jor-En?! I WILL have my vengeance, on not only you, but her as well!!! I WILL FIND HER!!!!! AND SHE WILL SUFFER YOUR FATE!!!!!
Jor-En struggled to speak, his face going blue. "No.....she.....WON'T...!"
He smashed the controls near the base of the portal, activating it in a last ditch effort to kill Zod with him. The portal flickered to life, sparking and sizzling as it struggled to stay alive. Everything in the lab was drawn to it. Desks, chairs, and papers were slowly being pulled, and just as Zod looked up into the portal humming above him, Jor-En mustered the remaining strength of his legs and managed to kick him up and into it.
"RRRRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!....."
Zod screamed as he was pulled into the abyss.
Jor-En passed out just before the portal imploded on itself and blasted everything near it our of existence.
~~~
The destruction was closer than any of them had realized. The planet's severely irradiated core, brought about by the intrusive experiments of the Coltonian government and the repeated attempts to reduce its density, caused it to break down at an accelerated rate. The planet went up in radioactive flames and exploded before any of the emergency escape ships were able to launch.The Coltonians had all been extinguished, wiped out at the apex of their power.
They were all gone. All but one.
The small pod flew through the cosmos, destined to end up on an average, hospitable planet in the middle of the galaxy. The chances of it landing there were one in a million. The chance that a small bit of debris, irradiated chunks of the planet hurled away by the explosion, followed it there, was even lower...
~~~
