The Second ExodusBy Lord Tristem
Crushed… Destroyed… Broken!
These words repeated in Tristem’s head again and again. The Equines had taken everything from his people, their world, their culture, their civilization, everything.
Tristem looked around at the people huddled around him many of which were malnourished and sickly, “How many of us managed to escape,” he thought to himself as he gazed out the window.
Looking out he could see the sides of four other ships all identical to the one he was on. In total there were 12 ships each named after a zodiac sign. These generation ships had begun life long before Equestria’s emergence from the sea 6 years ago as a way for humanities rich and powerful to escape a dying world. Tristem’s people had discovered the nearly complete generation ships 3 years prior and set about finishing their construction so that they could be used to escape Earth should they fail to stop Celestia and her Equine subjects.
“Master Tristem,” Tristem turned around to see a young woman holding a newborn child. Both the woman and child looked like half-starved scarecrows their cloths were nothing more than rags.
“Yes my dear what is it?” asked Tristem. “My child isn’t feeling well could I possibly take her to the infirmary?” asked the woman.
Tristem thought for a moment medical supplies were at a premium as with everything else, but he couldn’t bring himself to say no to the new mother, “Well we can’t very well have our children dying on us now can we. You have my permission, go to the infirmary and tell Dr. Silva that I said it was okay,” said Tristem. “Oh thank you my lord,” the woman hugged Tristem.
She started to walk off, but before Tristem could turn away she stopped and turned around, “My Lord I have to ask, what were you thinking just now?” asked the woman.
Tristem sighed, “I was reflecting on the events of the past seven or eight years.” “My lord none of that was not your fault you couldn’t have known that Lady Cao was going to betray us,” insisted the woman.
“I should have known she was my sworn sibling after all,” Tristem looked out into the vastness of space, “Now are only chance for survival is for us to reach the planet Aeos and start over.”
“Don’t be so hard on yourself my lord after all it is only because of you and Lord Viktor that we are not now all dead or turned into those monsters.”
Tristem thought for a minute about what she just said.
“I guess you are right my dear, now why don’t you head off to the infirmary,” said Tristem. “Yes my Lord,” said the woman as she turned and left.
Tristem stared out into space again his thoughts drifted back to the day that his sister Lady Cao had betrayed him and the Radical Dreamers.
That day 2 years ago was to be the day that the Radical Dreamer's plan's came to fruition. His group had already covertly overthrown the traitorous worldcorp government that had sold humanity out. Furthermore they had managed to bring the so called HLF to heel bringing them under Radical Dreamer control.
All of which was a prelude to that day. The day they would end the Equine threat to their species, and forever set humanity on a better path. The plan was simple the heads of the “worldcorp” had invited Princess Celestia and Luna to a party in which they would discuss the final assimilation of humanity into Equestrian society. Little did the Princesses know however, that this was a trap set by the Radical Dreamers; the plan was to capture the Princesses and force them to halt the assimilation of Earth by their realm.
That was what was supposed to happen at least. Unbeknownst to Tristem and the other members of the Radical Dreamers however they had been betrayed and the Princesses were well aware of their plan. The betrayal came at the hands of Tristem’s sworn sister Lady Cao.
Cao had long been conflicted about Tristem’s opposition to the Equines. She had wanted to undergo conversion ever since seeing Equestria and was moved by the shear kindness of the Equines. She had hoped that eventually Tristem and Viktor would see the light and give up on their plans. When it became obvious to Cao that Tristem was going to go through with his plan however she decided that she had to stop him. Taking a leave of absence on the eve of Tristem’s planned ambush on the Princesses Cao rushed to a nearby conversion bureau and convinced the staff to allow her to be converted immediately. Once inside her conversion dream she warned Celestia about Tristem and his plans.
On that day Tristem remembered how Celestia had shown up early flanked by hundreds of ponies while he and his people were still busy setting up the ambush. He was even more shocked when Celestia told him that she knew who he was and what he was planning.
For almost a minute Tristem stood there dumbfounded, but his surprise was only momentary, Tristem quickly gave the order for his men to attack, and at first it seemed as though Tristem’s men would carry the day, due in large part to the ponies’ primary weapon the potion being ineffective.
Unfortunately for Tristem Celestia knew about this and had planned accordingly. Once she was sure that Tristem believed he was going to win Celestia made her move. Suddenly thousands of ponies under the command of Shining Armor jumped out from all sides surrounding Tristem and his elite forces.
Realizing that they had failed the Radical Dreamers detonated incendiary charges that they had placed earlier and used the confusion to break out of Celestia’s encirclement. Tristem stayed behind in order to cover their escape. As Tristem turned to leave however he was stopped by a red earth pony mare with a yellow mane.
“Tristem I’m sorry,” said the pony. The ponies’ voice sounded familiar to Tristem. He stood their pondering this and then all at once it hit him.
“Cao,” asked Tristem. “Yes Tristem it’s me,” said Cao. “Cao… what are you… why are you?” stuttered Tristem a surprised look on his face which almost immediate turned to rage, “YOU, YOU TRAITOR! You set us up!” yelled Tristem as he drew his sword.
“Tristem I couldn’t take it anymore I love the Equines and I love Celestia she’s the kindest being I’ve ever encountered. I couldn’t just let you do this to them. Why do you fight against their plans Tristem?”
“I thought you understood that Cao they’re committing genocide against our species,” yelled Tristem.
“No they’re saving us. Tristem humanities time has passed we wrecked our world and killed each other. By all rights we should be allowed to die yet Celestia is saving us,” said Cao.
“Be that as it may it changes nothing. They are destroying both us and our world for their own selfish reasons. Even if they are doing it with the intent of saving us it’s still wrong, you and I both know that there are alternatives.”
“But… SILENCE!” this made Cao shrink backward.
“Cao by all rights I should cut you down right here and now. You were my sister I loved you and you stabbed both me and Viktor in the back.”
“Tristem I,” Cao head and ears hung low as tears welled up in her large Equine eyes.
“Cao we are no longer brother and sister I resend the blood oath I made with you. As my final act as your brother I will let you live,” said Tristem as he put his sword away and walked past Cao.
“TRISTEM!” sobbed Cao her green eyes filled with tears.
Tristem turned his neck to look at Cao, “Cao you’re a criminal and a traitor. If I ever see you again; I will kill you.”
Cao collapsed onto the floor crying as Tristem walked off. Celestia having seen the exchange went up and comforted Cao, Cao’s tears quickly turning Celestia’s pristine coat into a matted mess.
“Tristem… Tristem… Lord Tristem,” said Dr. Silva’s voice over the ships intercom.
This woke Tristem up from his flashback. He went over to the wall and activated the intercom mounted on it, “Yes Silva?”
“This young woman came in here and said that you said it was okay for her to get medical help for her baby is that correct?” asked Silva.
“Yes I did. I want you to do what you can for her,” said Tristem.
“As you wish,” said Silva.
“While I have you, how is our project coming?” asked Tristem.
“I have a working prototype ready,” said Silva.
“Good do you think it’s ready to be tested on humans?” asked Tristem.
“I believe so,” said Silva.
“Good I want you to test it on the woman and her child, take every precaution necessary to ensure their survival,” said Tristem.
“As you wish,” said Silva.
Tristem turned the intercom off and walked over to a nearby terminal. “Celestia I understand that you were trying to help us. I understand that your heart was in the right place,” thought Tristem as he accessed a file from the terminal, “but the way you did it was wrong. No matter what your intentions were it was still wrong, there were better alternatives.”
Tristem than briefly glanced up to make sure he was accessing the right file. “You were right about one thing though; humanity in its current form is doomed to forever destroy itself in the long run. Therefore not only must we rebuild our society from the ground up, we also must rebuild ourselves.”
“And you know what’s really funny, despite all that you have done; I still don’t hate you.”
Tristem stared at the image of the planet Aeos which he had brought up on the terminal, “This shall be the crucible of our rebirth.
Author's Notes
Well that's it I hope you guys liked it. Please feel free to leave any comments or suggestions. Also any ideas you want to give me about what I should do with the eventual story series I'll build off this would be greatly appreciated. As I said before this is my farewell to the conversion bureau universe. This story represents my true feelings about it. I will be fair and say that I tried to like the conversion bureau idea I really did, but when its all said and done it just seems morally wrong, and it paints both humanity and the Equines in a very bad light, and furthermore the original is very unrealistic.
