Chapter 1: Wake Up!

‘Ugh…wha…where am I?’ Twilight thinks, her head a little foggy.

“OW! Ow! Pointy!” Rainbow’s voice calls out as Twilight hears tinkling of something like glass shards falling.

“The process is working. The crystals are falling apart,” an unknown voice says.

“He…hello?” Twilight tries to call out as she hears more ponies groaning in pain.

“Oh, she is responding. Get captain Velvet,” one of them says.

Twilight coughs as she tries to see through the blurry vision. “He…hello? Who’s there?”

“Please remain still. We aren’t done freeing you from your crystal prisons,” one of them says.

“Crystal? What crystal?” Twilight tries to asks as vision pass through her mind sharply now.

“Can you tell me your name?” the pony asks.

“Twi…Twilight Sparkle,” Twilight tries to say as she tries to stand.

“Good. What do you remember?” the pony asks as she heard a swishing sound.

“I…I can’t…it’s so blurry,” Twilight tries to describe.

“Let them rest. We don’t know the effects of this,” a new voice says but Twilight could tell it was a young mare’s.

“What’s going on? Applejack? Fluttershy?” Twilight tries to call. “Girls?”

“Shh…everyone is alright,” the mare says as Twilight went to feel her lower hooves that she couldn’t move, but found something hard like crystal there.

“Hmm…tell me…how long will it be until their bodies are used to being out of the crystal or do they need a grace period? Sights, sounds, taste, the whole sense categories,” she hears a stallion ask, but sounding a bit distorted.

“I think they will need a grace period your majesty,” the mare says.

“Oh. Then don’t bring them to me until they do. I don’t think they can take the aura and scent I would be giving off. Heck, any stallion for that matter. Only mares should interact with these mares at all times for now…woop. Looks like I am needed. I’ll be waiting for them and…yes, yes. I’ll be there right there. Stop pulling on my robe. Anycase, I expect to see them once they are ready,” she hears the stallion again.

“As you command,” the mare says.

“Who…who was that?” Twilight asks, trying to look toward the voice now.

“That is the current ruler of Equestria, but don’t think about that now. Save your strength and rest,” the mare says before brushing Twilight’s mane.

“Current…ruler?!” Twilight asks shocked. “Celestia? Princess Celestia and Luna? Where are they?” she tries to ask as thoughts race through her head.

“Shh,” the mare says before putting something on her muzzle and starts to smell something odd before feeling very sleepy.

“Chloro…” Twilight falls asleep and snores loudly at that point as the mare was a bit surprised at how loud she was.

“How did her dragon sleep through that?” the mare asks. “Oh. I should call up the Dragon Lord. He would be very excited to know she is still alive.”

About a week later, Twilight started coming to herself with a few smacks. “Twi!” Applejack calls smacking her a few times more.

“Ow. Applejack,” Twilight groans trying to sit up.

“About time you woke up,” Applejack says frowning.

“Applejack? What happened?” Twilight groans as she sits up in bed.

“Well, you slept longer than any of us,” Applejack says as what happened started coming back to her.

“Sombra! Where is he?! What happened?!” Twilight asks shocked.

“Easy Twi. We won. Sombra was destroyed forever before we were fully frozen in crystal,” Applejack informs.

“How long?” Twilight asks as she starts to see the other mane six wandering around and looking out the window.

“Um…don’t freak out as much as I did at first,” Applejack says trying to put up a strong front.

“How long?” Twilight repeats, almost glaring at her.

“It’s been a little over seven hundred years,” Applejack says sighing.

“Seven…” Twilight stops at that point as she tries to comprehend this as Applejack remained silent to let her process this. “Everypony…mom…dad…Spike!” she yells as she looks around.

“Even Celestia and Luna have passed away Twi,” Applejack informs.

“No. No. No. No. No!” Twilight calls out as she starts pacing.

Applejack let her be as she dealt with the loss like she and the other mares that were frozen were with all her family and friends in mind. After about an hour, Twilight finally started to calm herself to talk. “It’s not easy on any of us,” Applejack says.

Twilight tries to breathe like Cadence taught her. “So…what now?”

“They are waiting for us to get calmed down enough before telling us more,” Applejack says.

“When will that be?” Twilight asks before they hear the door open up and see a mare walk in looking like a doctor.

“When we tell them we are,” Applejack informs as Twilight is examined.

“Well, I need to know what happened now,” Twilight says.

“After the check up, I will inform Captain Velvet of it,” the medic informs.

“Velvet…?” Twilight asks shocked again.

“Is there a problem?” she asks.

“My mother’s name is…was Velvet…” Twilight says distantly.

“Oh. She isn’t your mother,” the medic says, trying to put it as gently as possible.

“I know…it’s just…” Twilight chokes back as she tears up.

“It’s alright Twi,” Applejack says hugging her.

“I miss them,” Twilight cries as she quickly hugs her back.

“It’s alright Twi,” Applejack says as the medic scans them both with a device.

After a bit, Applejack showed Twilight out of the room to where the others were, but, along the way, Twilight kept getting distracted by everything she saw.

“It all looks…futuristic,” Twilight tries to describe.

“It is sleekish,” Applejack says.

“Some color would help,” Rarity voices.

“Rarity, I thought you were with the others?” Applejack questions.

“Was on my way back to check on you,” Rarity says concerned.

“Twi finally woke up and well…” Applejack trailed off, telling Rarity all she needed to know.

Rarity hums as she nods and walks over to them before standing right by Twilight’s side. “We all went through it dear. If you need to talk, we are here for you.”

“Thanks…but I want to know what has been happening since we were frozen by Sombra,” Twilight says, trying to muster the courage to continue.

“There is a doctor waiting for us in the room up ahead,” Rarity explains leading her with Applejack.

“Who else was frozen with us?” Twilight asks.

“Fluttershy, Rainbow, Pinkie, Maud, Spitfire, Fleetfoot, Soarin, but he was being examined away from the rest of us, Vinyl, Octavia, Trixie, Starlight, and Daring were. Basically all of those who fought against Sombra in this final battle darling,” Rarity informs recounting.

“Has Soarin returned yet?” Twilight asks.

“No. They are keeping him separate in case there any side effects from being frozen, as they call it, for so long. They said they won’t let us see him till we land at our destination,” Applejack informs.

“Land?” Twilight asks confused for a bit.

“We are on a ship dearie,” Rarity says as they arrive to see the rest of the group waiting in the room, though a few looking out the window to see, to Twilight’s shock, a planet.

“Hey, Twi…so…our planet…huh?” Rainbow tries to asks as she looks over to her.

“Uh…” Twilight says walking towards it as she grew closer, though a voice called her back to reality.

“Mares.”

They all turn to see a mare wearing a military officer's suit, though looking slimmer. “Who are you?” Applejack asks, raising an eyebrow as she watches the mare carefully.

“I am Windy Velvet, the captain of this ship,” she answers.

“Velvet…” they all hear Twilight mumble as they see Twilight staring at the blue coated captain longingly, her mane in the style that looks like her own mother but had a dark brown color. “Doesn't even look like her.”

“Now I bet you are all wondering why you are in space,” Windy says.

“Obviously,” Daring says dryly.

“Well, Sombra’s magic was cast as you may recall. A magic hotspot and the spell was constantly being powered by it so we decided to try and take you off-planet, figuring it would weaken the spell so we could break it,” Windy says.

“So…what's going to happen to us now?” Spitfire asks, holding her trademark eyebrow raised.

“Well…that is for the emperor to decide,” Windy says.

“Start from the beginning,” Applejack says.

“Very well. Around six hundred and fifty years ago, Princess Celestia gave birth to a son, a male alicorn, our current emperor, Sunny Stars,” Windy says starting to explain some highlights of the history they had missed with several wars that happened and reforms since their time. “And about three hundred years ago, Celestia died of old age, following her sister in passing from this world. After which, Sunny was the only heir to take the throne but didn’t take the title of prince, instead, he took the title Emperor as he had no siblings to share the rule with,” Windy says.

“Wow…so…all that time? Is he…a good emperor?” Fluttershy asks a bit skittish to meet to the new alicorn.

“Yes…um…” she clears her throat as she blushes. “He’s very good…at what he does…so good that the other species of our planet swore loyalty to him in the last few hundred years and we now work towards a single goal in one empire…multiple ones even that involves both the space and planet itself,” Windy informs.

“And that goal is…?” Daring asks.

“That's making us a space-faring empire,” Windy says as a space station orbiting the planet came into view.

“This is how far we came…I'm impressed,” Fleetfoot says.

“Where’s Soarin?” Spitfire asks, frowning a bit now.

“He is…how should I say this? Our records said all those frozen were mares so we had only stuff for them and well…someone wasn’t told to change certain chemicals so…once again, all on this ship are once again mares,” Windy says nervously.

They all stare confused before becoming wide eyed at that. “Soarin is a mare now?!” Fleetfoot yells.

“That is how advanced our technology in medicine is now,” Windy says not denying the question.

“Where is he…she?” Spitfire asks, quickly correcting herself.

“We are administering something to balance out her new hormones,” Windy informs.

“Is there…anything else we should know?” Rainbow asks, placing a hoof on Spitfire’s chest to make sure she doesn't do something brash.

“No, and we are just continuing the hormone treatments and waiting for said hormone balance to be accomplished,” Windy informs.

“So…what now?” Maud asks blinking slowly.

“That is for the emperor to decide. For now, I best get back to the bridge. I still have reports to write and experiments to do,” Windy says before turning on the TV to the news channel.

“Welcome back to ESN. The news network for the empire. Last week, we asked the question, ‘Can powered emeralds help regrow horns?’ Evidence was inconclusive,” a voice says as a dark blue and black flag was shown on the screen before a white stallion started talking.

“They…have their own news network?” Applejack asks.

“An empire that expands into space…obviously,” Twilight says as they all watch what was going on.

“Powered emeralds?” Starlight asks sweat dropping.

“In 1538, the world erupted into flames. The spark of the first world war brought all our species to the brink of extinction. The death toll was in the billion, decades of radiation, starvation, and ongoing conflicts persisted, one regime rose to the top to tackle these issues. The Equestrian Empire. Through military discipline, self-sacrifice, and aid rendered, it has saved all those that could be saved. Now the year is 1704. Just eight months ago, the Equestrian universal research union, or the EURU, lead by Commander Swift, successively tested the world’s first hyperdrive. Equestria is buzzing with the possibility of faster than light travel. Recruitment from everything, from mobile infantry to scientific leaders in every field, are just exploding in nearly every recruitment center. From Manehattan to Saddle Arabia. What you are now seeing is the launching of three of the Smart Cookie-class corvettes: ISS Opalescence, ISS Smart Cookie, ISS Wyvern. The science ship, ISS Fernando, is now returning to Equestria after seeing to a secret project as we were told. So far, any attempts to get its captain, Windy Velvet, on the line, have been unsuccessful. Emperor Sunny addressed the Equestrian Council this evening with one line, ‘Our future is written in the stars. Now, we must forge the pen.’ That is all for now. For all upcoming news, stay tuned and, now, here's Quick Tongue with sports,” the reporter says.

“Wow…this is a lot to take in now,” Applejack says somberly. “Wonder if my farm is still up?”

“Applejack…seven hundred years,” Rarity reminds.

“I know…it's just…I'm just hoping at least somepony would have kept it alive,” Applejack hopes.

“We will see Applejack,” Rainbow says as all the pegasi started to wonder what might have happened to Cloudsdale in that time.

“Did anyone catch the name of the science ship’s captain that was mentioned?” Starlight asks.

“Yeah. It was Captain Velvet,” Pinkie says a bit surprised.

“We were the special project,” Daring says.

“Nice cover story,” Maud says simply.

“So off to see the son of Celestia and emperor of the world,” Spitfire says like the word fit weirdly in her mouth.

“That's still weird,” Fleetfoot says.

“I know…you think our commission in the military is still in effect?” Spitfire asks thinking.

“Well…we don't really have to check in as long as our account is open,” Fleetfoot tries to explain.

“Think of the back pay,” Spitfire says.

“Oh, boy…you think they would allow it?” Fleetfoot asks her.

“I think the rank of general would be appropriate for me,” Spitfire says in her own little world.

“Girls!” Rainbow yells in their face.

“Yes?” Spitfire asks.

“Aren't you seriously overthinking it now?” Rainbow argued.

“We will all see soon enough,” Fluttershy says watching the space station pass by.