Finding an entrance to the crashed ship wasn’t too difficult. Since they knew the layout of the Starshot, and that this ship seemed to be a miniature version of it, they quickly located an airlock on its starboard side. Thanks to the way the ship had gone down, with its nose ramming into the ground, its hatch which would normally be far above them was now level with them instead.
This meant no teleportation or flying would need to be involved: it was simply a matter of brute force.
“NYAH!.!.!” Luna cried, literally ripping the outer door off the side of the ship with a tremendous whine of twisting metal.
While her magic certainly wasn’t as strong as it was on Equis, she was still an alicorn, after all. It was certainly still enough to impress her companions, even Tempest, given their looks. Luna couldn’t help but feel a slight bit of ego swelling in her at the latter.
‘Without those obsidian orbs of yours, defeating me would not have been so easy, would it?’ Luna thought, glancing at the former villainess.
“My goodness, princess,” Doctor Whooves said, still bedazzled. “I’m starting to think I should have accepted your help with the Starshot excavation.”
Derpy turned to Luna, curious. “Why didn’t he?”
“Something about princesses not needing to get their hooves dirty,” Luna said, giving the doctor a ‘really?’ look.
“You’re showing your age, doc,” Tempest playfully chided. “That’s almost too old fashioned.”
“Something I’m quickly growing out of having seen that,” Doctor Whooves said, before pointing to the inner airlock door. “Mind doing the same trick twice?”
Luna smiled confidently, before ripping the inner door off its hinges and depositing it with the outer, nearby.
‘I hope the moss won’t mind my littering,’ Luna thought playfully. ‘Or whatever creatures may dwell here in the far future.'
With that, she nodded to her team, gesturing them forward into the airlock. Tepidly, they peaked beyond the inner doors. Only pitch blackness was there to greet them.
“I suppose it’s no surprise the power’s off,” Tempest shrugged. “No worries, though.”
Smiling to herself, she pressed a button on her suit’s small control panel, activating its in-built flashlight.
“Ah!” Doctor Whooves grinned, doing the same. “I almost forgot about that!”
After Derpy and Luna followed, they finally had a view of the corridor. With its spartan, utilitarian look, devoid of any ornaments or artistic expression, there was absolutely no denying it now: whoever built this had also built the Starshot.
The sight of it seemed to put a look of disappointment on Derpy’s face.
“Derpy?” Luna said.
“Hm?” she said, before realizing what she was projecting. “Oh, it’s nothing. Just… suppose I was expecting a little more.”
“What do you mean?” Doctor Whooves asked.
Derpy sighed. “I guess I was just hoping the lack of… well, personality, on the Starshot was just a fluke. That the aliens weren’t as cold as they seemed, you know?”
“A fair point,” Doctor Whooves nodded. “While their scientific progress cannot be questioned, it appears our… hosts aren’t exactly the most artistically inclined.”
“We can’t say that for certain,” Tempest said. “I talked with Pharynx the other day. He thinks the Starshot’s a military ship. Maybe this one is, too. Warships aren’t really built for show.”
“Huh, I didn’t think of it that way,” Derpy said. “Maybe there’s still a chance we’ll have something in common with them, then?”
“Assuming we ever run into them,” Luna pointed out, glancing about the corridor.
She led them a few meters towards the stern, expecting a ladder to the lower decks to be nearby. Aside from having a lack of ornamentation, the lonely halls didn’t seem to show much of any sign of habitation. There were only a few objects scattered about: mainly a few of the hand-held computers Luna’s crew were still figuring out…
...And what looked to be an alien weapon.
"Souvenir?" Tempest asked innocently, to which Luna gave a reluctant sigh of approval.
This was actually the first time she had seen one of their weapons, as she hadn't visited the Starshot's armory yet. It almost looked something like the muskets the Griffons used. However, this appeared to be specifically built for equines. It was attached to a saddle-like object laying near it, which allowed the weapon to hang off a pony's side. This was along with what Luna assumed was a counter-weight in the form of a black, cube-like object.
'There has to be more to it,' Luna thought. 'How would you even fire it?'
Despite it being a complete unknown, Tempest still managed to equip it, using a combination of her hooves and mouth to put on the saddle. Soon, the counter-weight hung off one side, and the weapon the other.
Doctor Whooves gazed at it with a hint of disapproval.
"Something wrong, Doctor?" Tempest asked. "It's not heavy, if you're wondering."
He glanced away from her. "It's nothing. I've just never been partial to the idea of… guns."
"They aren't really the kind of thing ponies could even use," Tempest shrugged. "Though the aliens found a way around that."
"At least Pharynx will be happy," Derpy said.
Doctor Whooves cocked an eyebrow. "Indeed."
Luna led them further towards the stern. Despite being in a group, an overwhelming air of loneliness began to creep up on her. The ship truly seemed to be abandoned, as all that was there to greet them were a series of eerie shadows on the wall.
"Honestly," Luna sighed. "It's feeling like we will never meet our mysterious benefactors at this..."
She paused, noticing a certain shadow in particular - one that seemed to resemble a pony, though it wasn’t cast by any of them. For some reason, that was all it took to bring a peculiar set of memories flashing before her eyes.
“...Rate?”
It was her dream last night. A replay of a conversation she had with Celestia years ago, but then… the star, the Red Dwarf, stepped in to speak with her, as insane as the idea was.
Luna concentrated, navigating the web of memories in the hopes of creating links to the ones still hidden from her. If only she had brought her dream diary - it would certainly make things easier. Still, through sheer brute force, it finally came to her. Assuming the star wasn’t a figment of her imagination, it was trying to warn her of something down on the planet. What was it, though? What… was it?
“Captain?” Tempest said.
Luna shook her head, trying to force her focus back on the present for a moment. “I think… I think we should try to do this as quickly as possible.”
“What?” Doctor Whooves said, looking annoyed. "But there is so much we could learn from this ship! Who knows: it might even have an intact memory bank. If we could figure out how to integrate it with the computer, we could answer so many questions! I don’t see why--”
Suddenly, he along with the rest of the group paused. Luna knew why, too, because she was feeling it was well. It was like a swarm of spiders crawling across her back, their little legs sending shivers down her spine.
And with that, she realized why the shadow that had originally caught her attention was so peculiar.
Nothing was casting it.
“Hehehe….” a sinister voice giggled, one with a familiar hiss and long reverb. Yet one with a distinctly female tone. “It has been a while since I’ve spoken the language of The Garden. Spoken to anypony, really. Though your sight burns my eyes, I still love seeing it.”
“U-Uh,” Derpy squeaked, her eyes wide in panic. “W-Who… what is that?”
“Everypony,” Tempest said, taking a step backwards towards the now distant, destroyed airlock. “Back away… slowly.”
Illuminated by the flicker of their flashlights, the shadow slowly pushed away from the wall, becoming more like a cloud of smoke than anything. Slowly but surely, it took the shape of a pegasus, though one still cloaked in darkness.
Luna, however, was unphased, and held her ground. After all, this wasn’t the first time she was confronted with a type of shadow monster. However, when glowing green eyes appeared on its ‘face’, along with a glowing, toothy grin, she still began to feel slightly unnerved. This wasn’t helped by a new series of memories flashing before her.
“Being from The Garden, you may have an advantage. But do not underestimate it.”
‘I remember it now…’ Luna thought. “I remember everything! This is what the star was trying to warn me about. But why?’
“Who are you?” Luna barked, glaring at the creature. “Explain yourself!”
“I am but a humble Steward of Entropy,” the shadow creature said, cocking her head slightly in a curious way. “Mmm, yet there’s nothing humble about you, is there? You have an air of nobility about you. And such a potent, putrid, blasphemous power flowing through your veins. I suppose it’s no surprise it’ll take more time than most to harness your potential. We’ve never fully converted a Star Speaker before, after all.”
“U-Um,” Doctor Whooves said nervously, standing in front of Derpy in a defensive manner. “S-So… I t-take it you know something about us? S-Splendid. W-Would you mind answering a few questions about--”
The shadow creature suddenly launched herself in front of him, a trail of smoke in its wake. It took nearly all of Luna’s willpower not to blast it with a spell. And from the look of Tempest, she seemed to be having the same ordeal.
“Reeeelax,” the creature chuckled. “I’m not going to hurt anyone. Just wanted to get a closer look at this cutie.” The cat-like grin across her face widened slightly. “And a cutie he is. Not to mention…” She made a sniffing sound. “Oooooh, one that’s much more than meets the eye. Tell me, Child of Gallopfree: whatever happened to your people? We were going to ascend them, but someone else denied us the pleasure. There’s only so many culprits it could have been… was it them?”
Doctor Whooves gazed at her with utmost confusion. “C-Child of what? Them?”
The being let out a bemused cackle. “You mean you don’t know? Oh, what a shame. But don’t worry, we can help with that. Our neuroscanning technology is coming along nicely. Whatever trickery has blocked your memories, we can undo.”
At that, Derpy seemingly had enough. She leapt to the side of Doctor Whooves, before bringing a wing down between him and the creature. “Stop it! Can’t you see how frightening you’re being?!”
It cocked its head. “There’s no need to be afraid. I know it’s not your fault you’re tainted with the filth of the before-times.” She turned to Luna. “... Or represent the filth of the current. If you’ll just lead me back to your dropship, we can leave this hive of traitors and be underway. I take it the Void Inquisitor awaits us?”
Now Luna was growing very nervous. This thing knew about the ship they were on. It knew about the concept of dropships. It was growing less and less likely that it was some form of native to this world. In fact, though it hurt the deepest part of her soul, a horrible truth was coming to the forefront.
“You…” Luna gulped. “You… built this ship, didn’t you? And built ours, as well.”
“No,” Derpy said in an almost heartbroken tone. “No, that can’t be right…”
The creature lifted one of the fiery, green tendrils it had for an eyebrow. “Questions, questions, so many questions. Not only is it not your place to ask them, but shouldn’t they have been answered already? Are you not a rescue party sent by my beloved?”
“We’ll answer your questions once you answer ours,” Tempest spat.
“Oooooh, there’s fire in this one,” the creature said in a sing-song tone. “That’s alright. I don’t mind a little bit of it, so long as it doesn’t get in the way. It’s strange you still retain it, but I suppose my love has grown soft after all those years. An unexpected, but not unwelcome change.” She narrowed her eyes. “Still, enough prattle. While you yourselves have been amusing, I have long since grown bored of this waste of rock. You are here to serve, not to gawk.”
“The only person we ‘serve’ is the captain!” Doctor Whooves said defiantly, gesturing towards Luna.
“Captain?!” the creature laughed. “HAHAHAHAHA!.!.!”
The group remained silent, and the creature looked annoyed, as if she was expecting them to laugh with them.
She blinked. “Oh, you’re serious?”
“I’ve heard enough,” Luna said. “We don’t know who your lover is, nor do we know why you think of us as your servants. We only visited this world to gather Solarium for our ship--”
“That being the Starshot, not the Void Inquisitor, thank you very much,” Derpy huffed.
“--So we can begin our journey home. You may come with us if you wish, but you will not make many friends with that sort of talk. And if you stand in our way...”
The creature paused, its grin turning into a frown. Luna could have sworn she saw a look of total disappointment in her creepy green eyes. Nonetheless, that disappointment quickly turned to annoyance.
“So, my beloved did not come after all,” she mused to herself. “There is no way they would have let heretics like you aboard their ship, let alone let one of you call it its captain. It also explains why they did not come themselves.”
“Listen to me, Steward,” Luna said, Captain Quick Card’s demeanor suddenly channeling through her. “You do not understand the situation we are all in. This is no time for posturing.”
It was a stretch, but Luna at least had to try diplomacy. Even if he was a fictional character, Quick Card’s preference for it, rather than hostility, wasn’t without merit. She would have to act quick, though - the chance of a peaceful resolution was quickly melting away.
“I know not why you view us in the way you do,” Luna continued. “I don’t know anything about the culture or government you represent, nor what horrible turn of events led you to crash upon this world.” She took a step forward. “I can tell, however, that you have been alone for a long time. A fate I have shared myself, and would not wish upon anyone else. If you work with us, not against us, we can offer you something much better than our servitude. We can offer you our friendship.”
“Friendship?!” it giggled. “With lower beings, let alone heretics?! Foalish Garden Child. You know nothing of the wider universe, do you?”
“And how would you know that?” Luna glared.
The creature rolled its eyes. “You have all the markings of somepony way out of their depth. Like a child walking out of their house for the first time. Otherwise, you would have heard of the glorious Oblivion Empire. We, the heirs of the starless skies, where the Deep Ones will rule when the last atom dies!”
“Alright, she’s from something called the Oblivion Empire and is calling us ‘lesser beings’,” Tempest said. “No offense, princess, but I think she might be a baddie.”
“N-Not everything in the universe is white and black,” Doctor Whooves said. “We don’t know if--”
“Come on, Doc, really?” Tempest said, before glancing at Luna. “Cap’n, we aren’t talking our way out of this. Let’s take this thing down.”
“If that is the option we must take,” Luna said, still addressing the creature. “... I assure you you will be at a disadvantage. For I am Princess Luna of Equestria, the Princess of the Night! Do you have any idea of the power an alicorn wields?”
“‘Princess of the Night’?” it laughed. “Pleeeease. You don’t know what the ‘night’ is. As for your ‘power’, that pathetic magic of the before-times has done nothing but make you weak. The others may fear it, but I do not. It is an evolutionary dead end: one which blocks innovation and keeps you reliant on the waste of a neutered sun.”
The creature began to pace.
“We’ve seen what happens when you don’t have it,” she continued. “Without our guidance, or our ship in your case, none of you would last a minute off your world. Tell me, before you stole the Void Inquisitor - and yes, I’m assuming that’s what you did - did you even have a concept of a starship? By the void, did you even know of your own abilities, archaic and disgusting as they may be?”
Luna searched for a reply, but she couldn’t. The creature had left her stunned.
“The silence tells me what I already know,” the creature said dismissively. “I’ve heard enough, anyway. The Void Inquisitor needs Solarium, yes? This ship has several canisters of it left. I will be taking them aboard…” Her eyes narrowed to slits. “After I’ve dealt with you the same way I dealt with my former crew..”
To the horror of the group, parts of the creature's form began to split off from the whole. Like hellish wisps, they glided into the darkness for some unknown purpose.
Slowly, but surely… bright, green, glowing eyes lit up the darkness, and the crackle of bones flooded the hall.
“Okay, that’s it!” Tempest growled, powering up her horn in preparation for an attack.
Luna was just about to join her, but before she could summon her mana stores, the creature suddenly blurred deeper into the darkened corridors, laughing all the way.
“Behold the fate of all heretics!” she cackled, her voice now echoing around them. “Those who won’t serve in life will be my puppets in death!”
The bone crackling grew louder. Then, finally… they emerged from the dark. Walking, nightmarish equine skeletons, each shrouded in a similar mist to the creature. Most appeared to be pegasi or pegasi-like creatures; it was hard to say for certain since their flesh had long since rotted away. Worse yet, some of them seemed to be armed with alien weapons.
There were ten in all, and coming from all sides.
“Okay, I-I think we've outstayed our welcome!” Derpy cried out in terror. "Can we go now?!"
And at least for the moment, Luna would like nothing more. The creature was right about one thing:
They really were far out of their depth.