Exodus

*Note: Eeeyup. Elements. No prizes for guessing what kind. Also a much needed break from BATTLING and a vital switch to CHARACTERIZATION.

"The Ninth fleet's last communication indicated a confirmed sighting of the enemy, and that all fleet elements were moving to engage." The avian alien's voice was croaky and inhuman, possessing a metallic tinge to it which served to make it unique and hard to read for emotion by most non-Funahr. This particular specimen, however, was visibly controlling an anxious stutter with only moderate success.

"My reconnaissance force entered the battlefield exactly twenty one hours after the Ninth Fleet's last communication was received. We did not sight or detect any vessels, friendly, or hostile, in the area." The Funahr gulped, perfectly aware that his next words were likely to make him the latest victim of Admiral Steiner's literally deadly rage. "We did discover a large amount of loose starship debris during a preliminary scan. The extent of the damage is far too great to ascertain which ships the debris came from...but considering their variety, it is likely that almost every ship in the Ninth fleet was represented. The scale likely indicates...catastrophic damage."

"What are you trying to say, captain?" Lord Admiral Steiner narrowed his eyes, waiting for the punchline that he knew was coming.

"It is extremely unlikely that the majority of the Ninth fleet came off well enough in the battle to utilize their warp drives without falling apart or...suffering reactor meltdowns. Minimal debris from Equine ships was accounted for, and no starship wrecks from either side were recovered. I'm afraid that all evidence points to the Ninth fleet as either outright destroyed or lost in warp travel. The circumstances, however, make even this simple conclusion shaky."

"Twenty five thousand men. There were twenty five thousand men, crewing twenty of the Federation Navy's finest warships, who launched the assault on the Equine fleet. You're telling me that they're all...just...gone?" Lord Admiral Steiner's voice was low and dangerous, an effect made all the more terrifying by the lack of discernible emotion on his face. The Funahr on the holographic projector coughed nervously and folded his winged arms behind his back, likely as a self-comforting gesture.

"Yes sir...its as if our fleet just...disappeared." The Funahr straightened and regarded the admiral with expectant features, having said all that he had feared saying.

"There were no starship wrecks and not enough debris from a single ship to indicate a reactor meltdown, correct?"

"Affirmative, my lord."

"Interesting." The Lord Admiral leaned back in his command chair and raised an ornate horn pipe to his lips. He lit it, and took a long drag. The Funahr grew even more uneasy, unsettled at Steiner's lack of response. Finally, he plucked the pipe from his mouth and leaned forward.

"I want all of your findings concerning this incident forwarded to Federation Fleet Command. When you have sent them via comm buoy, you will go after the Imperial fleet by following their last known warp signature. Leave a trail of beacons for the cavalry to follow."

The Funahr raised a curious eyebrow, and Steiner could almost see the alien's heart slowing as his apprehension and anxiety bled out of him. The Funahr saluted, and winked from view as his holographic projector disconnected.

"Communications officer. Message for all fleet units within three days warp travel, and for Abudatia Station. Forward to Federation Fleet Command." The bridge comm officer nodded and placed his fingers on his keyboard.

"All Federal Navy warships are to rally on the FGS Kraken's location. Abudatia is to dispatch every available logistics support ship at its disposal, fully supplied, to be transferred to my personal command. All arrangements to be made within one standard day. Failure to be met with severe disciplinary action. Send." The comm officer nodded and pressed a key, sending the message into the short process of encryption and preparation before being bounced off every nearby comm buoy on the way to its recipients.

"Sir?" It was lieutenant Domenico Lombardi, Steiner's personal aide. "That's over two hundred vessels. Half the entire sector fleet!"

"That's correct, lieutenant." Steiner spun his command chair around to face the young, olive skinned officer and raised an inquisitive eyebrow. "I assume that you have something more useful to say?"

"Sir...this seems like a serious overreaction. Surely the enemy fleet isn't threatening enough to warrant sending half the sector's warships after it? I mean...they're on the run and no longer a threat to any-"

"The entire Ninth fleet has been lost in combat to a numerically inferior opponent which it should have been able to defeat within a matter of hours." Steiner gestured with his pipe to Domenico's bridge station. "I'd say the situation just escalated, and that we have severely underestimated those...crowbait. Now return to your station, lieutenant."

"Sir...is this really necessary? There are civilians on tha-"

"Lieutenant! That's an order!" Steiner practically shouted, "Return to your station before I have you escorted off the bridge!" The young officer saluted stiffly, carefully reigning in his anger, before striding off of Admiral Steiner's command platform. The admiral did not miss the nervous glances thrown around by his bridge crew, but chose not to make an issue of it. None of them had fought this war for as long as he had. None of them understood.

Lord Admiral Steiner leaned back and exhaled. He turned his chair and looked up at his open bridge window, into the star filled expanse beyond it. Somewhere out there awaited the battle which would lay his personal demons to rest, and the consequences of failure were unthinkable. This was a war that he had dedicated his entire life to fighting, and he would see it finished, one way or another.

What had happened to the Ninth? Where had they gone? The thought was unnerving. As the Funahr had said, the scale of the damage done made the Ninth fleet's escape via warp extremely unlikely. But twenty five thousand men and their warships did not simply disappear without explanation. The thought unnerved him.

All the more reason to bring ten times as many ships as Yeung Gao had at his disposal.

"Now the gloves come off." He muttered, as he raised his pipe for another drag.

Applebuck strode over to one of the few steel dining tables with free seats in the entire mess hall, where a certain blue unicorn sat alone, eating her dinner in solitude. The red earth horse got the feeling that such isolation had never been unusual for her, and decided to remedy that unfortunate situation post haste. He set his dining tray down with as much gentleness as he could manage, determined not to startle his would-be dining companion. The faint clatter of cutlery betrayed him however, and Tender Heart looked up in response, clearly startled at the novelty of having someone willing to accommodate her presence.

"Evenin' miss." Applebuck frowned, and glanced over at a nearby wall mounted clock, which displayed the standard twenty four hour shipboard day. "S'pose that kind of thing don't matter much on a ship."

"Hello, Mr...Applebuck?" The unicorn's voice was as soft as always, as if she was uneasy at the prospect of upsetting or offending someone by speaking too loudly. "Was there something you needed?"

"No ma'am. Ah saw you here alone, figured you could use some company." Applebuck raised an eyebrow, "Though ah figure yall're unused to that kind of thing ain'tcha?" When he received silence in reply, he wondered whether or not he'd overstepped his bounds.

"You aren't used to speaking with mares, are you?" Tender Heart's voice had not changed in volume, but her tone contained a faint undercurrent of mischievousness. Blink and you were liable to miss it. Applebuck was completely oblivious.

"Ah'm 'fraid so. The only mares ah've spoken to are either my mother, Poseidon rest her soul, or farmhands."

"Oh...I didn't mean to pry. I'm sorry." The mare turned her head away nervously, her hooves resting idle on the table-top.

"Fer whut?"

"I didn't mean to imply that you were clueless, or rude or anything...like that..."

"No offence taken, ma'am. Ah'd neve-" As if on cue, Applebuck was interrupted just as he was making progress. A loud, repetitiousness clatter of aluminium cutlery, accompanied by a surprised shout of pain drew the attention of half the ponies in the mess hall, many of whom looked over with undisguised curiosity. In the middle of it stood a black unicorn pony, who Applebuck recognized as the same one from the council, and a brown earth horse dressed in a dirty blue mechanic's jumpsuit.

"Watch where you're going, lady!" He yelled, pain and undisguised anger causing his voice to quiver, and stomped a hoof in frustration. "Look at this buckin' mess!" The front of the jumpsuit was soaked clean through with hot carrot soup. Vegetable chunks adorned his neck and face, and aluminum cutlery was scattered all around his hooves. The unicorn had clearly collided with the ill-tempered mechanic and spilled her food all over him. Now the entire mess hall was watching the drama unfold, with nopony willing to step in.

"I'm sorry! I wasn't looking where I was going, I didn-"

"Shut your mouth! I go on duty in ten minutes and I have to get this shit cleaned up? Buck you!" The situation was rapidly escalating. Something had to be done. Applebuck nodded apologetically to Tender Heart, who was currently refusing to look at the incident.

"Back in a second, ma'am."

He stood up, and noticed a familiar rainbow maned stallion dressed in a pilot's uniform standing up at the same time, at a table occupied by off-duty strike craft pilots. They both trotted towards the site of potential fight, glancing each other with surprised recognition as they did so.

"Hey, you wanna take it easy on the lady there, buddy?" The pilot had reached the quivering, cowering unicorn first, and had defiantly placed himself in front of the much larger horse.

"This is none of your buckin' business, asshole." The mechanic lowered himself slightly, into a threatening fighting stance. "Get the buck out of my way before I break something."

"Ah reckon yall're makin' a right fool of yourself. Why don't you sit down, cool off, and let these folks get back to eatin' in peace?" Applebuck's tone had not deviated from its usual, gentle tones. Which only made his considerably larger and more muscular presence more intimidating as he placed a firm hoof on the mechanic's shoulder. The other horse spun around, an insult dying on his lips as he looked up at Applebuck and realized his chances in a direct confrontation.

"She dirtied my uniform!" The mechanic's feeble attempt at justification earned a disappointed shake of the head from Applebuck.

"And you call yourself a stallion? Look at her, she's terrified of you and she didn't want to hurt you." Applebuck's tone hardened a fraction. "Sit down, and stop bullyin' mares."

"Buck you." The mechanic shrugged off Applebuck's hoof but walked away nonetheless, muttering to himself as he did so. The ponies all around them resumed their meals, probably disappointed at the lack of entertainment.

"Tough guy eh? I had him on the ropes." The rainbow maned pegasus looked up at Applebuck and grinned. "I know you, don't I?"

"Sure do." The earth horse walked over to the mare and lowered himself to her eye level. "Ya'll alright miss?"

"Yes. Yes I am. Thank you." The unicorn was clearly shaken, but managed to hold herself straight as she gave her two rescuers a grateful smile. Her smile dropped as she saw the sorry remnants of her meal scattered over the floor. "I was looking for a table...but I guess I took too long and didn't see him in front of me."

"No worries ma'am. Ya'll can sit with us." Applebuck nodded at his table, where Tender Heart sat, nervously fidgeting. "We could use some more company. We're a bit short."

"Thank you, that means a lot to m-" A pink blur zoomed up to the group and peered right at the unicorn with wide, unblinking eyes. An uncomfortable few seconds passed before the rainbow maned unicorn raised his hoof to cough, the lack of surprise on his face hinting that this was not an uncommon occurrence.

"Hi! I'm Pinkie Pie! I'm Spectral Blaze's wingpony! Who are your friends Blaze?" She gasped, and dashed over to Applebuck, craning her neck in awe in order to look up at him. "You're tall! Hi, I'm Pinkie Pie!" She held out a hoof expectantly. Deciding not to be discourteous, though he was thoroughly confused, Applebuck shook the proffered hoof firmly.

"Applebuck, pleased to meet you, miss." The earth horse frowned as he noticed several ponies staring at the unusual group, and shook his head slowly. "Reckon we ought'a sit down. We're drawin' some attention like this."

"Yeah, we should be getting back to our table. It was nice to se-" Spectral Blaze didn't get to finish his sentence, an admonishing pink visage popping up (Not quite) unexpectedly in front of him.

"What do you mean we should be leaving? We just met them! Don't be a rudey-poo!" The pink pony zipped behind Spectral Blaze and began pushing him towards the table with her head.

"Alright! Alright fine, for Poseidon's sake!"

The entire group took their places around the table, none of them noticing Tender Heart's slowly paling face at this sudden, extremely unwelcome influx of ponies.

"Hi! We haven't met! At least I don't think we have! What's your name?" Pinkie Pie said, entirely oblivious to the level of discomfort Tender Heart was outwardly displaying.

"Sorry ma'am. She's a little excitable." Applebuck said, eyeing Pinkie disapprovingly. "These are Pinkie Pie and Spectral Blaze." He gestured with his hoof at the two ponies in question.

"Hey doc. You fixed my concussion, remember?" Spectral Blaze stretched out a hoof, which was tentatively shaken in turn.

"Yes...yes I think I do. You're that pony who was hurt in the riot two weeks ago." Tender Heart's face grew concerned. "How are you doing? Have you experienced relapses? Migraines?"

"Nah. I'm a pilot. Don't have time for that kind of thing."

Applebuck noticed the black unicorn he'd 'rescued' sitting awkwardly to the side, unnoticed and unwilling to rectify the situation.

"What's your name miss?" He offered, with as much amiability and genuine interest as he could muster.

"Shining Sky. Pleased to meet all of you." She was confused. She likely had no idea how to interact with this many ponies in a friendly setting. Applebuck wondered why all the mares he'd met on The Ark so far all seemed to be maladjusted and socially awkward. "I can't thank you enough for saving me. Both of you. Poseidon knows what he would have done."

"It was nothing." Spectral Blaze said, leaning back with a smug grin on his face. "Fought bigger. I could have handled him, no sweat."

"Have ya' now?" Applebuck asked, raising an eyebrow. "Care ta elaborate?"

"Hell yeah I've fought bigger. Like, starship bigger." Spectral Blaze grinned and launched into a tale of his exploits as a strike-craft pilot and all-round war hero, with Pinkie Pie interjecting to spice up parts she thought boring, or to add annotations of her own to his tale. Soon, Applebuck noticed everyone at the table, even Tender Heart, listening intently to Blaze's stories, even if they smelled strongly of a less than truthful ego trip. Still, he couldn't complain.

What an odd group of friends they made. Applebuck frowned slightly. The word had come naturally, without prompting. Shining Sky chuckled, warmly and genuinely. Tender Heart even gave a small smile. Pinkie Pie had just interjected into Blaze's story with a 'correction', and the two pilots were now arguing light-heartedly about which of them was in the wrong. Watching the scene, Applebuck suddenly felt as if a previously unknown hole in his life was being filled. Was he feeling...genuine affection? For a group of strangers that he'd just met? That was strange. What was stranger was that he couldn't shake the feeling that something vital was missing from the group, as if it were incomplete. With a shrug, he put it down to idle musings and began listening to Blaze's story attentively, subconsciously on the look out for plot-holes and deceptions.

A rough block of marble stood in the middle of a small, darkened studio, illuminated by a single light embedded in the ceiling. A nearby steel table held a dizzying array of tools arranged in order of size and utility. A power drill and an industrial strength rock cutter dominated the far right of the table, standing in stark contrast to a tiny diamond edged chisel and its matching mallet at the opposite end.

"Lights..." The room's sole occupant whispered, brushing jet black locks out of her eyes with a pristine white hoof. Her horn glowed, rotating a dial at the opposite end of the room, and the light illuminating the marble grew brighter.

"Tools..." She stepped over to the table and examined every item on display with a critical eye, spending as much time on each as was needed to ensure complete perfection. When she was satisfied, she nodded, and turned to the studio door.

"Privacy." The lock clicked, and blinds were drawn over the two large viewing windows situated on either side of the door.

"Now...time to create!" The unicorn levitated the rock cutter off the table, activated it by pulling on its charging handle, and placed its barrel on the marble block's surface. She spent several minutes positioning the rock cutter with a master's proficiency, turning dials and ensuring that the utmost precision was promised by it, before she pressed the trigger and sliced off a small chunk of marble, which subsequently clattered to the floor.

This piece was to be the first one that she had the opportunity to create in months. She'd had to fight tooth and hoof to have her studio transplanted to The Ark once she'd heard of her place on it, and had argued that her artistic skills were surely needed to lift the spirits of the ponies aboard the fleet. This argument had been seen as extremely dubious by The Ark's designers, but they had none-the-less acquiesced eventually. Thus, the marble block was only one of several she'd been allowed to store within the studio itself. There was no more margin for error.

Her long hiatus from sculpting had left her bursting to the seams with unexplored ideas and unfulfilled artistic desire. Now that she finally had a moment of peace and quiet, she could turn her considerable skills towards the common good. That is, inspiring the ponies and horses onboard the Exodus fleet with an emotionally powerful carving sure to touch the sense of duty and pride within all true Imperial citizens. This was a task of tremendous gravity. It had to be exactly right. Perfection was demanded. In other words, business as usual for the supremely talented unicorn.

She spent a few more minutes examining the marble, superimposing her mental image of the finished piece onto the block and carefully judging the best way to cut her vision out of the material in front of her. Another cut, and another small piece of marble fell. She smiled with genuine pleasure at the sorely missed novelty of the act, then snuffed it out. Work came before such triviality as personal amusement.

It was business as usual.