Flitter Shade focused nervously on her task at hand as she struggled to keep her sanity. Captain Moon Glow was dead. So was Shadow snap. They had both been murdered, almost carelessly by the nameless abomination that floated just behind her.
“There’s no need for you to stay in the pilot’s seat the whole trip.” The things voice was smooth and practiced, not at all the voice of a cold blooded murderer. Except that it was. “Your crew mate has already explained to me that the lander can basically fly itself right now. We only need you to dock with the main ship, and that’s not for another six hours. Come on, we’re going to have fun!”
The tiny umbrum was scooped out of her familiar seat in the thing’s magic with a soft “eep” and dragged casually towards the landers sleeping quarters. Flitter Shade closed her eyes as the aura tightened with her struggles.
“Oh don’t be like that,” the floating crystal torso laughed, “I’ve had a pretty rough time of it these past thousand years or so. I just need to relieve some stress. Sunny Dear?”
“Sunrise, help!” Flitter pleaded as the familiar lavender unicorn bounced cheerfully into the hall.
“Master?” The little umbrum despaired as the manic unicorn began nuzzling affectionately against their horrific captor, her eyes glazed over with her face locked in a vacant smile.
“Yes, I am your master,” the crystal abomination replied cheerfully, “now be a good little toy and help me unfasten this damnable space suit.”
“Please… no… Sunrise snap out of it!” Flitter’s struggles became furious as her uniform was pulled loose in her former friends magic. With a sudden burst of magic, Sunrise face went slack with terror and Flitter Shade found herself slammed roughly against a wall.
“None of that now,” the horror said sternly, “I need you alive to operate the ship, I only want to keep you pretty, and if you're going to act like this the whole time there’s really no reason not to just pluck your cute little wings right now. So calm down. You’re alive. You’re not stranded on an airless rock. And honestly I’m not even equipped for what you're worried about right now. I just want something pretty to look at while you explain what I’ve missed over the last thousand years or so. I’m afraid I’ve fried your little friend’s brain until she’s just a teensy tad over-done. She might leave out crucial details because she thinks I won’t be happy to hear about it. So you get to keep your mind. So again, yay for you. Now calm down and stop struggling.” Flitter wept softly as the crystalline mass casually flipped her over in it’s firm magic grasp and roughly pulled up her tail as it ran it’s singular cold, hard hoof along her spine. “Gotta love an umbral. Tiniest flank you can tap without setting off an amber alert.”
The horrible torso-thing laughed at it’s own joke, and Flitter’s helpless screams were lost to the vacuum of space as the door to the sleeping quarters slid shut with a quiet hiss.
-=-=-=-=-
“Can you believe it Sunshine?” Flitter wasn’t sure if the crystal horror was mocking the unicorn or just hadn’t bothered to learn her name. “I mean seriously, it’s unbelievable. I’m gone gone for a millennia or so and Prince Ships-a-Lot has gone full on Pharaoh. I mean ‘Sky King’? Seriously? And none of your have ever even HEARD of Princess Sun-Butt! Maybe I should be teaching you ponies history, since I clearly have a better grasp of it than you do. Not that you didn’t do your best Flutter Flank.”
“Please, I need to concentrate, docking with a ship in orbit isn’t easy.” Flitter Shade shuddered as the living torso brushed her mane with it’s one hoof.
“Pfft,” the horror replied absently, “Fine then, I’ll just go back to playing with my food. We’re going to need to hit up the med bay pretty soon. I can’t have my best meal running out of juice. Don’t you worry though, Sunshine. I’ll cook up a batch of meds that will have you loving practically everything. Just think, no more pain, no more worry, nothing but love. Doesn’t that sound nice?”
“It sounds wonderful master!” The brain washed unicorn nuzzled into the broken thing that kept her in thrall.
“Tell me again about this Starsdale Station, Flitter Booty,” the nameless horror openly mocked the tiny umbrum.
“It’s the most secure station in Equus orbit,” Flitter regained some confidence as she spoke, “You only took our ship because you caught poor Shadow off guard! They’ll have twenty guards like him meeting us at the airlock!”
“I’m sure they will, after all, there’s going to be an insane little umbrum going on and on about talking statues. And two of the crew are dead, and she just up and left two more stranded on the moon to die of exposure!” The thing burst into rolls of laughter before continuing. “And poor Sunshine is clearly PTSD, I wonder what that terrible umbrum did to her? Luckily she kept the horrid little thing from destroying the most valuable find in the history of Equestria.”
“Why’d you do it, Flitter?” The sincerity in Sunrise’s voice was heart-breaking. “They were our team-mates. They were your friends! I never got attached like that, but I really thought you cared about them! Did you want credit for the discovery? Why?”
The lavender mare cried freely as her horrible master moved to comfort her, “There, there, Sunshine, it’s not her fault. She’s sick, clearly not in her right mind. It’s the space madness, I’m sure of it!”
“All I have to do is hit the full thrusters just once, and that would be the end of it!” Flitter nearly screamed in frustration, but her threats meant little to her captor.
“But you won’t, dear,” the torso laughed calmly, “Maybe if it was just me and you, but you wouldn’t let poor Sunshine die like that. She’s the last one left. All the rest of them or dead, or at least soon will be. Now stop pitching tantrums and finish docking the ship.”
“Please don’t hurt me Flitter,” Sunrise Aurora sobbed, “I’m so sorry you have space madness! I want to live.”
The mastermind of their torment hummed tunelessly as the mechanical latches secured the lander and pulled it into the main ship. Flitter held one thought as a shield for her rapidly fleeing sanity, “Security at Starsdale will stop him. They HAVE to.”
7470828 Dark futures are dark. Glad to hear your enjoying the new direction.
Sunshine
Huh, I had my suspicions that Silver was this Sky King but I couldn't be sure with how things could change over a thousand years. So Celestia is gone...either stuff happened and she's sealed away somewhere or she's just hiding away from the public eye, possibly because of what happened to the Changeling race. Or she's just dead.
p.s:Is he using the same cocktail he used on Madam Buttefly on Sunrise?
7471648 It's bad enough he refuses to use the poor mare's name, but he also insists on mispelling the wrong name? The fiend!
Not only is Celestia gone, no one has even heard of her. Or changelings. Humans are completely written off as a creation myth of the biped tribe. At this point we can only surmise that whatever went down was so bad that most of Equestrian history was purged to erase it from pony memory.
As for what the Nopony is using to control Sunrise, right now he's just using old fashioned changeling mind control of the sort that Chrysalis used on Shining Armor, but he's definitely talking about mixing up a batch the good stuff as soon as he gets the facilities. He's leaving Flitter alone in that respect because a) he needs her to operate the ship and b) more importantly, she's more fun to play with this way.
7471738 Ah, that's right, the Lander is just a vehicle, not a proper vessel or space station equipped with fully stocked medical supplies...Welp, looks like the Equestrians is going to start losing space stations soon and no one will know unless someone sends a warning planetside...or until it's too late.
And given how it took changelings to help the poor drugged up ponies back at the circus, they're going to need help and I doubt the one who has that knowledge is willing to do that.