Chapters Date: March 14, 2023
Three months ago, calamities of immeasurable intensity began coming down on Equus with little to no warning signs. Forests were burned to the ground, buildings were destroyed, and cities were either set on fire or flooded from rising sea levels. Celestia and Luna began to worry that the planet was going to perish to the point of destruction. They began searching their star maps for a planet that was similar enough to be a suitable new home for everyone. They eventually found one and sent word to the Main Six and Starlight, asking them to meet in Canterlot. Accepting the requests, everyone boarded the train and rushed to the Royal Palace.
Upon arrival in Canterlot, everyone ran as fast as they could until they reached the castle. Cadence, Shining Armor and Flurry Heart were already waiting when they came in. Luna reported that she and Celestia had found a new planet on their star charts that had an environment that was similar enough to that of Equus.
"If I have done my math right, this planet is thirty trillion miles away and would take many years to reach.", said Celestia.
"How are we to get there without the years getting to us?", Twilight asked.
"Good question, Aunt Twilight. I have been designing a way for travelers to go long distances without being awake for the entire trip. It consists of capsules with a retractable pad. This works by having the occupant sedated and hooked to life-support by IV-lines and to a heart monitor. I call this process "Cryostasis" or "Suspended Animation". To make a long story short, we will be awake when we get on board the transporter vessel and then enter stasis. We will be sleeping until we arrive in orbit around the new planet. Before the vessel arrives in orbit, we will be revived.", Flurry Heart answered.
Twilight was impressed by her niece's description of a method to get everyone there. She said that it was the best bet they had if everyone was to arrive without gaining any more age. Celestia explained that there was a ship in orbit around Equus that had been fitted with the very equipment that Flurry Heart had just described. Twilight decided that the Young Six would need to come as well so that they could find a place for the other races. Cadence said that she and Shining Armor were coming since a blizzard had forced the crystal ponies to evacuate from the Crystal Empire.
Everyone was taken by train to a launch facility in the middle of the desert where a shuttle was waiting. While they waited for the signal to board the shuttle, they dressed in uniforms with their names on them. As they finished lacing their boots, the pad workers notified them over an intercom that the time had come to board the shuttle. After climbing on board and fastening seatbelts, everyone braced for the launch. The shuttle started tilting backwards until it pointed straight up. The shuttle blasted off and reached space in forty-five minutes and everyone started looking around for the ship. They looked for three minutes, but couldn't see anything. They were startled when several lights suddenly illuminated and revealed their ship, which was called the Seed of Equestria . The ship was pitch black on its skin and had a rotating wheel with four connections from its middle. When the shuttle was docked, everyone took their seatbelts off and pulled themselves through the connection tunnel and boarded the main vessel. The shuttle was released back to the ground because the ship had its own smaller shuttle for short excursions.
"I built many parts of this ship. I will show you around.", Flurry Heart said.
Everyone looked at all of the different areas throughout the ship and were amazed at how much food was stocked for them. Twilight noticed during the docking sequence that the vessel had no thrusters, and questioned Cadence about why that was.
"Good question, Twilight. Flurry designed a whole bunch of ships like this one. They are black to blend in slightly with the space around them. They are prototypes of something called a "solar-sailer." This is a ship that does not leave a trail of thrust behind it because a retractable sail converts space energy into an endless supply of fuel.", she answered.
The wheel was the only part of the ship with gravity. This was because of the fact that the wheel was in constant rotation. The stasis capsules were in one of the four parts of the wheel. Flurry demonstrated how they worked by opening one. The glass hatch opened sideways down the middle and the retracting platform rose upwards. There were padded straps attached to the platform that would gently grip whoever was laying on it, and wires and IV lines to attach to the catheters that the crew had in their limbs to pump in nutrients to keep them alive. Flurry activated the sail and joined everyone in the sleep station to watch the deployment over a camera. Twilight was shocked when she saw how massive the sail was. It started out folded up nicely, but after it was extended out, the ruby red canopy unfurled. Flurry had also programmed the star coordinates of the new planet into the navigation computer and written an additional program to wake her up so she could wake up everyone else once the ship arrived in orbit around the planet. Once everyone was on a platform, Twilight laid down on hers and attached the tubes, electrodes, and straps. The straps quickly tightened up and held her still. The platforms lowered into the capsules and the hatches closed over everyone. Instantly, the pumps started giving nutrients and the sedative was administered. As the sedative took effect and everyone became sleepy, they started shivering when the capsule slowly became colder and colder. As their eyes slid shut, they watched as the hatch windows frosted over with ice crystals. Everyone slipped out of consciousness and into a deep slumber.
Nearly six years later, the ships arrived in orbit around the planet which had now been called "New Equus". Everyone was awakened from stasis and they started getting ready to land. Three weeks later, everyone was safely on the ground and building up the cities and kingdoms from Equus. They had successfully built up their homelands after about two years, and everything was finally back to normal.
After an extremely long time, the Seed of Equestria finally arrived in orbit around the new planet that Celestia and Luna had found on the star map. Flurry Heart was revived and she started waking up everyone else. Twilight lay motionless in her stasis capsule until she felt herself waking up. Her vision was blurry for a few seconds, but she soon noticed the frost sublimating off of the hatch as the capsule warmed up. The hatch unlocked with a *click* and she started rising as it opened. After the platform stopped moving, Flurry started releasing the straps and removing the IV lines and electrodes.
"Are we there yet?", Twilight asked her niece.
"Yes, we're there Aunt Twilight. We're there.", Flurry replied.
Flurry then revealed the stunning truth to everyone.
"We've been in cryostasis for 5 years, 9 months and 22 days. We will be hungry, and we will be weak. If you are still cold, there are thick blankets on the shelves over there.", she explained as she pointed out three shelves off to one side.
Twilight saw the blankets and quickly ran over and grabbed one. Sitting in a chair, she wrapped herself tightly. She was so cold that she ended up sneezing and blowing her nose. Once everyone had recovered from their cold state, they headed to the dining area to eat. After a small meal, Flurry Heart assembled an excursion team to scout out the planet's terrain and environment. After putting on space suits, Twilight, Smolder, Rainbow, Ocellus, Yona, and Rarity boarded the shuttle and closed the hatch. After landing on the planet, they started exploring the land around them for the next week. When the week was over, it was time for the scouts to return to the main ship and give reports. After docking back on the Seed of Equestria , the team gave positive reports that the planet was perfect for rebuilding the civilizations of Equus. While the excursion took place, Flurry had opened a channel to Celestia and Luna. She received word that massive solar flares had caused immensely hot fires across Equus and forced everyone to evacuate to the remaining ship's that were on standby in orbit. The final shuttle launch nearly failed because the largest solar flare had sheared Equus in half. After getting the positive reports, Flurry gave the all clear to the remaining ships and the thousands of remaining inhabitants entered stasis. The sails were deployed, and the cruisers set off for the new planet.