Prologue: Ponies and apple cider
“I mean, that asteroid have been on its way for us for what? ten maybe twelve years.”
“Hey! You awake?” the bartender yelled, and knocked his hoof against the table to awaken a sleeping mare.
Groggily, the yellow mare lifted her head from the table with a half-empty bottle of apple cider still in one of her hooves. “Huh?” was all that she managed to say as she looked at the bartender. Her vision was severely diminished since she had been nursing that apple cider all day, and it may have been spiked with salt.
In a quick motion the bartender whisked the bottle from the mare's hoof, and looked at her with stern ice cold eyes. “Pay up!” the grey stallion said.
The mare's vision was still swimming from the amount of liquid she had been drinking that day. “Whatever. Take it,” she said while she hoofed out a sack of bits from her red saddlebags seated next to her in front of the long green bar table. Unceremoniously she put her head down against the wooden top of the bar table, and the aroma of salt, apples, vinegar, and sweat filled her nostrils, and caused her a slight headache.
She had been there all day, ever since she got the message from her cousin Applejack. She lost another contest, and apparently it was her last since Applejack had told her to go, and never come back. Marmalade, that was her name, and she wore it with pride, but would no longer be associated with apples, but she had to admit that the apple cider made her feel good again.
The stallion bartender hoofed a glass of water over to the mare. “Free of charge,” he said as he smiled at her. Marmalade couldn't see it, and just heard the stallion's voice. It took her some effort, but she lifted her head to look back at the stallion, and she had to blow her orange mane out of the way. That's when she noticed something about him; he had the most gorgeous blue eyes.
“Right...” her voice trailed off as she lifted the glass, and drank the water. She remembered to savor it, not as the bottles of apple cider she had practically inhaled earlier. “not like I can pay you anyway,” she added once she had finished the glass, and the bartender refilled it. This time he left the bottle of water next to her glass, so she could refill it herself.
“Tough day, huh?” he said to her.
“Yeah, tell me about it,” Marmalade answered, and poured more water into her glass. This would be her third glass, and by now her vision had started to clear up. Finally she could look at the stallion, and not feel dizzy, or nauseous, or feel like she would tumble over, and off the bale of hay she was seated on.
A pause was present for several seconds before the stallion opened his mouth. “
Why don't you tell me?” he asked her while he awkwardly washed a glass with a cloth of white linen. The mare just looked at him, and she had a glare forming at the brim of her eyes.
She had to relax her eyes since it started to give her a headache on top of the one she already had from the cider. “Right. There's nothing to tell,” the yellow mare said, and strongly avoided the issue. She was angry, but not angry enough to go telling on her cousin. Applejack may not have wanted her there any longer, but darn be all if Marmalade would stoop to her cousin's level.
“Drinking away your troubles?” he asked her.
She took another sip of water. “Aren't we all? I mean, that asteroid have been on its way for us for what? ten, maybe twelve years,” Marmalade answered.
“Probably,” Lucky added, and cast a glance towards some of the other patrons. “I guess everypony that needs to, have their affairs in order.”
“You'd think that,” Marmalade retorted back, and downed another glass of water.
“Stallion trouble?” he asked, and a smug smirk crept across his muzzle as he moved on from the current glass he was cleaning, and over to a dirtier one.
“No,” Marmalade said, her voice was strong and confident, and she knew that she did, not want to load her troubles onto another pony, not on a pony she didn't even know in any case.
“Okay then, so it has to be foal trouble?” the bartender stallion said, and gently lifted away a piece of his black mane that had fallen down, and covered his eyes.
Marmalade let out a chuckle at the stallion and answered, “No, nothing like that.”
“What then?” the stallion said as he settled the last glass onto the others. He had stacked the glasses upside down onto each other on the table, and now they were stacked neatly in a pyramid shape. Some of the other guests at the bar didn't find his trick so amusing, and just snorted rude comments toward him.
Taking a swig of yet another glass of water, Marmalade decided to tell him. If he wanted to know, so much then she would tell him. If nothing else, but to annoy the other ponies there, and slake the stallion's thirst for information.
“Really?” the stallion answered which in the preceding conversation Marmalade had figured out was named Lucky. She wasn't surprised. His cutie mark was after all three green four leaf clovers, and although She didn't say it, but she thought that Shamrock would have suited him better.
“Yeah, I'm not that surprised really. I am after all not a great athlete while the rest of my family are,” Marmalade said, and swirled her glass, so the liquid sloshed around inside.
“I've heard that, but Applejack strikes me as a pony that wouldn't throw somepony out of the family for that little,” Lucky said as he peered over at Marmalade, and he kept a scrutinizing look at her. He wanted her to be lying of course he did. Applejack was one of the most respected ponies in Equestria, and here was some no-name pony dishing dirt on her.
“Of course you would think that, but I'm in her family, and every family have secrets,” Marmalade answered smugly. On the inside she giggled as she saw Lucky's scrutinizing look fade, and be replaced with a light blush. Yep. He was hiding something, not unlike every family out in the world.
“I guess so,” he answered as he tried, not to blush, or reveal anything he didn't want to. Frantically he tried to diverge Marmalade's attention by picking up another glass, and cleaning it, but the glass was clean.
“Well, I think I'll be heading home,” Marmalade said as she put her glass down, and lifted her saddlebags, and threw them over her back. She nodded to Lucky, and started for the door, but stopped herself, and said without turning, “Thank you, Lucky.”
She continued on her way, and as she exited she could faintly hear Lucky's voice say, “Don't mention it, Marmalade,” She smiled at that. He had helped her dispose of her anger, and resentment. The feelings in her heart was replaced with joy, and regret.
***
Marmalade stumbled down the deserted, and dusty streets of Detrot city. Despite several glasses of water, she still felt the effects of Apple cider on her head, and body, but she was still in better shape than she would be without those said glasses.
Only the sounds of her hooves hitting the stark cold grey concrete streets echoed off the buildings around her. They rose into the sky like big monsters of metal, and concrete. Just like Applejack had described to her when they were little.
To her it felt as if the world would spin forever, and now she regretted drinking that apple cider more than anything in the world. She had to support herself against the wall of a building. Her side was seated against the yellow concrete.
“Miss?” a voice said, and made Marmalade almost jump.
“Who? What?” she exclaimed as she lifted herself away from the wall. Just in case somepony decided to jump her.
A cough erupted from the darkness before the voice spoke again, “Miss, you need to come with me.”
Marmalade was confused, and a sense of fear overwhelmed her, but she didn't run. She was done with running away, and in the end it hadn't helped her anymore than facing her problems head on had. “I don't think so. I don't plan on following after some random pony just 'cause he asks me to,” she answered back into thin air since she still hadn't seen the pony that was talking to her, but he was clearly a stallion.
“You're Marmalade Jalapeno, aren't you?” the voice asked her, and its owner still, not showing himself.
At first all that went through Marmalade's head was: Ugh.... not Jalapeno, Marmalade had all her life been annoyed when ponies would use her entire name, and Jalapeno wasn't the best name a mare could have. Because of that she never used it, and she always just said her name was Marmalade, and nothing else.
“Yeeessss....” Marmalade answered after a few moments of silence. She still didn't know who this stallion was, and since he knew her name it made her even more nervous than she already were.
The stallion stepped out from what appeared to be a side-street in front of the building Marmalade had leaned against moments before, and he stepped in front of her, but kept his distance. His coat was dark blue, and bordered on being black. On the other hoof, his mane, and tail was black. “I'm from the royal advisory council, and I'm here to escort you to a Cradle.”
Marmalade didn't get any less confused and just responded, “ A what?”
The stallion sighed, and Marmalade frowned in return. “No time to explain, just come with me.”
“No,” Marmalade said defiant in her answer. Besides, she didn't know if she could trust this stallion emerging from a back alley in an almost empty city, not that it helped that she herself was still pretty drunk from seven bottles of apple cider, or was it eight?
“Are you stupid? The world is ending. I'm offering you an opportunity to live, and you say no?” the blue stallion said as he approached her ominously.
“Wait a minute... is that what you're offering me?” Marmalade asked him since she was genuinely interested in his response. He nodded back to her, but kept his tongue in order for Marmalade to not just gallop away. “Okay, fine, but what exactly is a Cradle?”
The stallion started to talk, but Marmalade's concentration fell, and she found that she couldn't get anything of what this stallion was explaining to her. She occasionally managed to pick out words that she knew, but all in all it was a blur for her.
***
Marmalade went from one strange, and abnormal situation to, yet another strange, and abnormal situation. In what felt like the worst, and happiest day of her life. She found herself on a carriage flown by two white pegasus stallions with blue manes, and tails. It was hurtling across the sky to an unknown destination since her newest friend didn't want to tell her where she was going.
“So, why me?” Marmalade asked the blue stallion as she leaned back in her seat. The velvet gently caressing her back as she looked over at him. He was seated opposite of her with his back against the two pegasi flying the carriage.
A smirk appeared across his muzzle as he answered her, “Why? 'Cause you are a pony who know how agriculture works, and one who also isn't tied to anypony in special.” Somehow this stallion knew of her troubles with the rest of her family.
“I guess so, but I'm not one of the best, and never will be,” Marmalade said. She didn't want to ask him how he knew so much about her, and was quite happy with the answer she already had.
“You doubt yourself too much, you are one of the best,” he said, and she just nodded in response.
“You're taking this pretty well. I've had ponies kick, and scream, so much we had to sedate them, and then put them in the Cradle,” the stallion said as he took a quick look at the ponies flying the carriage, so he could make sure they were flying where they were supposed to.
“Hm? Oh yes. I've got nothing to lose really, but tell me. What will happen with Applejack, and the rest that aren't in these 'Cradle' thingies?” Marmalade asked the stallion as she leaned forward, and propped her front hooves against the wooden floor of the carriage.
The stallion looked at her for a little while, and thought about how he should respond her, “Death.” That was his entire response. A single word, yet it had the power of a thousand suns.
Marmalade looked at him as it dawned on her that her friends would die, her Equestria would die, and her family would... die. She felt it to the core of her being, but it wasn't fear, or sadness. Since the ponies of Equestria had known about the asteroid for years, yet done nothing to prevent their own destruction from happening.
“We're nearly there, so do you want a glass of grape juice to celebrate?” the stallion's voice broke the silence, and hurtled Marmalade's mind back to the present, and away from memories of home, and friends.
“No, nothing for me,” Marmalade responded back. Her voice sounded melancholy. She may not have wanted to admit it, but Marmalade Jalapeno felt sadness in her heart, and not just for the loss of her family, but for the loss of every pony in Equestria.
“Fine the-” the stallion started to say when Marmalade suddenly and abruptly interrupted him.
“What's your name?” she asked the stallion, and looked over at him.
“-n”, the stallion said, and finished his sentence. It took a few moments before it became apparent to him that Marmalade had asked him a question, “My name? Hm... every pony that I have escorted have never asked about my name before.”
He took a small break in his train of thought before he looked back at Marmalade and smiled, “Rainbow Star.”
She smiled back at him. She would at least know the name of her kind benefactor before the end came. “So what will you do?” she asked Rainbow.
He began to laugh, and a grand laugh it was. If this had been inside a building he definitely would have raised some heads, and gotten a few strange looks. “I won't be in one of the Cradles if that's what you mean. I'm just the escort, not one of the lucky few.”
“Just a nice guy, huh?” Marmalade asked in return, and just winked at him as she started to giggle a little.
Her joy was short as the carriage jolted, and made Rainbow Star look back at the pegasi flying the carriage. In the distance the edges of Cradle 612 came into view. It was shrouded in the darkness, but blue lights jutted out from the metallic tetrahedron structure, and It was constructed to dig itself underground as the asteroid hit the surface, and thus hide, and protect itself from other ponies, and the sheer destructive power of the asteroid.
“We're there,” Rainbow noted, and Marmalade tried to awkwardly peer over his shoulder since she didn't want to stand up in the carriage while it was in the air.
***
The large square, and neatly designed metal door with red edges slid open, and lead straight up into the wall as Marmalade, and Rainbow stepped inside. Rainbow had ordered that the pegasi stand outside, and wait for him to return, so they just nodded. Marmalade was still confused at how every pony here seemed to be okay with just losing their life for some random pony they didn't even know.
Marmalade was awestruck as she walked into the Cradle: Metal walls all around, several capsules indented into the walls, and almost all of them were full, and each one with a sleeping pony inside. All except one. The room itself was circular, and constructed on the basis of equality. The most striking feature in the room was still the long metal pole jutting up from the metal floor. It went from floor to ceiling, and in the middle there was a screen with moving pictures, but it was also accompanied by a little rectangular shape beneath with a bunch of keys.
“What the hay is this?” was all that Marmalade managed to say as she tried to make sense of everything in the room.
“This...” Rainbow said as he went around the room, and circled it once before he ended next to the machine in the center of the room. He propped his body up against it before he answered Marmalade with a smug look on his face, “is the Cradle. Specifically it's Cradle 612, one of many.”
“Okay. I know this is supposed to save me, and all, but you still haven't said why you need me,” Marmalade answered as she tried to glean some information from the stallion.
“Each pony here is here because they are each individuals which we deem necessary to save the world, or at least Equestria. You will be in charge of agriculture, and this means you will be this group's sole food supplier,” Rainbow answered.
She started to feel light headed, and Marmalade had to lean herself against the wall as to not fall over.
“You okay over there?” Rainbow said as Marmalade looked back at him, but she still kept her body against one of the metallic walls as support.
Marmalade smiled. “Yeah. I'm just fine, it's just a bit much for me to handle,” she said as she tried to pull her body back up, and away from the metal wall. It gave her chills.
“Good. We don't have anymore time though, and I need to get you inside that capsule,” Rainbow said as he pointed a hoof to the open capsule at the other end of the room, but it wasn't a long walk since the room was, so small and circular.
“Although...” he started as he looked towards her, and then clicked his tongue, “you need to get some nanotrites.”
She looked back at him with a confused face as he started to press keys on the keyboard as a metal arm with a needle at the end lowered itself into the room from the ceiling, and stopped mere inches away from her. Marmalade jumped, and just looked at the needle then back at Rainbow. “Won't happen... I... I hate needles.”
He looked out from behind the screen with a frown on his face. “Really? You've come this far, and you're letting a needle stop you?”
“I hate needles,” Marmalade added once again, and frowned in return at him.
Rainbow facehooved, sighed, and looked at her with a determined look on his face. “You're not getting in the cryogenic chamber without taking this injection,” he said as he leisurely pointed a hoof towards the needle.
Marmalade swallowed hard, and took a long hard look at the metal needle. To her it looked like the biggest needle in the world, but she moved forward. At the point the needle pierced her skin she was sweating due to her nervousness, and fear of said needles, but she managed to overcome it.
“See? Not so hard,” Rainbow smiled at her as the metal arm retreated back into the ceiling.
Marmalade nodded to Rainbow, and went over to the capsule. He pressed a few buttons on the computer keyboard, and a bed emerged from the capsule. It laid itself down horizontally, so Marmalade could lay down on it without trouble.
Taking a nervous breath, Marmalade urged herself on, and lay down on the bed. It was made of plastic, but linen covered it, so it would be more comfortable to lie on. Rainbow Pressed a few more buttons as straps pulled over Marmalade's body, and the bed was hoisted back into the capsule. The capsule itself also lowered itself into the wall again, but didn't close itself.
“You ready?” Rainbow asked, but he didn't move his head away from the computer.
“Yeah,” Marmalade answered back, but her sure voice was gone. Up until now she had stayed strong, and confident, not wavering a single time, but it hadn't truly dawned on her until now what the consequences of her choice would be, “no wait!” she added quickly.
“Yeah?” Rainbow shot back keeping his answers short.
“Will I... dream?” she asked nervously.
Marmalade could hear Rainbow sighing, but he paused before he answered. She grew more and more nervous as the pause continued, but he finally answered after what felt like hours, “Yes.”
She swallowed, and nodded instinctively, but quickly shot back an okay answer to him, so he would know that she was ready.
She could hear a few more clicks as the glass door of the capsule closed, and a breathing piece lowered itself over her muzzle. Marmalade could feel herself falling asleep, but it didn't feel like normal sleep. It felt forced, and wrong as if she was doing something she shouldn't have.
