//------------------------------//
// Captain's Fall 
// Story: Starshot: Bats of the High Wilderness 
// by Tums Festival 
//------------------------------//

"Let's see… engineering…" Spike said, flying down the halls of the Starshot's lower decks. 

There was no better time than now to start making friends with Crescent, even if he had to play wrench monkey for a little. But unfortunately, getting to her was a bit of a problem, as he had to admit he was a bit lost. Every other deck on the ship had a pretty simple layout: a long corridor stretching from aft to stern, sub-corridors and rooms hanging off it. However, this deck was completely different. More of a maze than anything. He was getting close to dropping his pride and asking the computer for help when he almost ran into somepony. 

"Oh! Woah!" Spike said, screeching to a midair halt. "Heh, sorry about that."

Before him was a threstral. One who gazed at him bashfully, equally apologetic. With two, cute little fangs hanging out of her mouth, Spike had to admit she looked kind of adorable.

‘Why the hell did the ancient Equestrians shun these guys?’

"Just heading to engineering…" Spike coughed, trying to get himself back on topic. "I'm a little lost, though."

The threstral nodded understandingly, before gesturing to a particular corridor. She then bent her arm in an L-shape, which Spike took as a need to make a left. 

"Oh, thanks," Spike said. "Heh, wow, you already know my ship more than I do."

She simply shrugged. 

"Mare of few words, huh?" Spike said. "It’s cool. I can do enough talking for the both of us."

She shook her head, pointing to a particular spot on her neck - usually where vocal cords would be.

Spike understood what this meant immediately. He winced. "Oh… damn. Sorry. That was stupid of me."

She shrugged again, as if to say, 'no big deal'. 

She then seemed to think about something for a moment, looking as if she was summoning the courage to ask a potent question. Finally, she moved to remove something from a saddlebag that hung at her side: a black marker. Holding it in her mouth, she walked over to a nearby bulkhead, before looking towards Spike as if asking for permission.

"Er, sure," he coughed. "I don't think anypony would mind."

She nodded appreciatively, before quickly (and quite decently) drawing Luna's head. 

"Huh," Spike blinked. "Not bad."

She smiled, paused for a second, and then almost apprehensively drew an equal sign. She followed it with a heart, then a multiplication sign, then a bat pony's head, and finally… a question mark.

Spike gazed at it for a second. It was obviously a question, but what kind, he could only guess at. "Does… Princess Luna love threstrals?"

She nodded, and before Spike could respond, she quickly drew three dots (...) followed by a hand-clock on the wall. She then made a circular motion on it with one of her hooves, which Spike took to mean the passage of time. She finished by drawing another question mark by it.

"Hm…" he pondered. "Do I… have time?"

She shook her head. She pointed at the previous drawing, then at the dots, then at the clock.

"Oooooh!" Spike said. "Does Princess Luna still love threstrals after… after all this time?"

She nodded in excitement, clapping her hooves together.

"Heh," Spike smirked. "Well let me put it this way: I've heard her call you her 'Children of the Night'. Seems pretty affectionate to me."

She seemed stunned for a second, but her eyes quickly widened with delight. She began to bounce gleefully.

"You're a fan, huh?" Spike asked.

She nodded once more.

"You should go tell her," Spike smiled. "She'd probably like that."

Her eyes widened again, though this time there was an air of nervousness about them. 

"She won't bite," Spike grinned. "Just catch her in the cafeteria or something."

She paused, considering his words, before nodding once more. Without warning, she gave Spike a brief hug--

"Woah, heh, you're welcome."

--Before continuing down the corridor. As she trotted, Spike noticed her cutie-mark: a red cross. This was Crescent’s sister, Waning Moon, he believed her name was. She must have been visiting the former. 

Spike smiled before carrying on. And thanks to the threstral's directions, he finally found his destination.

His reason for getting lost in the first place was he had never actually been in the Starshot’s engineering section before. Truth be told, he wasn’t really that interested in anything down there. However, this changed slightly when he entered what was called the ‘Hypercore Room’ near the rear of the ship. It sort of resembled the bridge: circular with various consoles facing the walls. But instead of the captain’s chair at the center, there was a massive, cylindrical object, stretching ten meters high from the floor to the ceiling. 

‘That’s gotta be the power core,’ Spike thought, mesmerized by the shimmering energy flowing through it; some type of windows giving a view within. 

Doctor Whooves, Big Mac, and Crescent were already there, the latter working at one of the consoles, the former eagerly watching her work. They didn't seem to notice his entry.

“Aye, can’t blame ya’ for not fixin’ this yerselves,” Crescent said, manipulating the console before her with a skill far surpassing anything Spike had seen before. “Empire doesn’t have any training programs for this kinda problem.” 

“E,yup,” Big Mac said sorrowfully. 

“Heh, don’t worry, big fellah,” Crescent said. “Stick with me and I’ll getcha up ta’ speed.”

“E’yup,” Big Mac said, his tone taking a one-eighty into cheerfulness. 

“Any idea what the problem is so far?” Doctor Whooves asked.

“Oi, patience now,” Crescent said, slightly annoyed. “I dunno what engineers on Equis are like, but out here, ya’ rush things, ya’ go boom.”

“Sorry, just curious,” the good doctor replied. “To be honest, I have no idea where to even begin with this sort of thing...”

Crescent smiled slightly. “Eager to learn, then? I like that. Gotta say, it’s refreshin’. Usually Science Officers are cocky bastards. Think they know everything about everything.”

Doctor Whooves chuckled. “My dear, I don’t think I’ve ever been more humbled than by this final frontier.”

“Fair enough,” Crescent smirked. “Though just remember that the ‘frontier’ as you call it is home to us.”

“Ah, yes,” Doctor Whooves said, flushing slightly. “I suppose that was a bit of an Equis-centric attitude.”

“Hah, no big deal,” Crescent said. “Just havin’ a bit of-- Ah, here we go. System diagnostics. Can ya’ believe they don’t teach lads how to bring this up in the Empire? My umbral always got pissy whenever I did it, but he couldn’t shrug off the results I got.”

“Wait, you’re not a native to the NLR?” Doctor Whooves asked.

“In spirit, yes, but in body, no,” Crescent said. “Grew up in the Oblivion Empire. Feckin’ nightmare lookin’ back on it. Only got worse when I joined their ‘Shadow Edge Armada’’. Rather leave it at that for now, if ya’ don’t mind.”

“I understand,” Doctor Whooves nodded.

"Thank ya'," Crescent said. "Ah! Found it!"

"How to fix it?" Big Mac asked.

"Naw, me lost socks," Crescent grunted sarcastically. 

Big Mac frowned.

Crescent looked at him apologetically. "Oi, just playin' with ya', big felleh. Gonna have to get used to that if we're workin' together."

‘Annnnd now for my entrance,’ Spike thought.

"Don't be too mean," he spoke up, walking over to the group with a smile. "He doesn’t look like it, but Big Mac's actually a big softy."

"Hey!" he grumbled.

Crescent laughed at that. "Worse things ta' be, ya’ cheeky dragon. Anyways, yer' just in time. Think we got this issue pinned. Looks like the failsafe Song put in didn't actually do any physical damage. Yer' SO here--" She gestured to Doctor Whooves. "--had the right idea. Central computer is what's holdin' ya’ up. Once we disconnect it from those systems, you'll be clear."

Spike raised his eyebrows, impressed. "That… that's great!"

Crescent raised a hoof. "Hold on there. This won't be completely easy-peasy. We’ll need to rewire the hyperdrive to the main engineering control module, punch in HSJC and regulate PI manually since we won't have the computer to do it, and… you have no idea what I'm talkin' about, do ya'?"

Spike shrugged. "Nope, but it sounded cool."

Crescent deadpanned. "Well, at least yer' honest."

"Crescent, your First Officer has requested your presence in the Meeting Room," the computer suddenly squawked.

"Ach!" Crescent growled, jutting up from her console in surprise and nearly hitting her head on a low-hanging bulkhead. "Next time give a warnin', ya blasted bag o' bolts!" She then sighed, gazing at the creatures around her apologetically. "Sorry, I gotta go for a wee bit. But I'll be back."

"Mind if I come with?" Spike asked.

"It's yer’ ship," Crescent said. "Buuuuut this is supposed to be a bit o' a private matter. No offense, but we’d be happier if we kept this to ourselves."

"Oh, okay, no problem," Spike said.

Crescent sighed, walking to the door of engineering. "Don't worry. Like I said, I’ll be back sooner than later. This won't take long."

--

Ten minutes later, Crescent found herself surrounded by a mix of cold and sympathetic eyes. Truth be told, at the moment she would be more comfortable with a briefing room table filled with Equins rather than her own crew.

“Captain Crescent Moon of the Tyrant’s End, as per Page 215 of the Book of Ideal Laws, an inquiry and vote of approval or disapproval of your conduct is required,” Snoopy said, reciting the entry almost precisely, though in a reluctant tone. 

His usual, casual accent and laid back attitude were gone for now, replaced by a cold decorum. “This meeting will determine whether or not you remain as our current captain. Keep in mind that this is automatic after the loss or severe crippling of any NLR vessel.”

“Hah!” Clea scowled, her tail wagging furiously. “Automatic or not, you had this coming!” 

The murmurs of agreement and murmurs of disagreement were almost split 50-50, from what Crescent could hear. 

“Everyone, keep it cool,” Snoopy sighed, his casual accent coming back. “I know we’re strung out, but we gotta get through this.” He nodded to Crescent. “Crescent, you know the drill. Give a general defense, then comes the questions.”

Crescent’s gazed at him sorrowfully, her mood dropping to a new low. She had known this was coming; but damn if it didn’t still hurt. “I…” she began. “I did the best job I could. Made a lot of mistakes, but did a lot of things right, I think. All I can really think to say.”

Another thestral angrily raised her hoof.

“Go ahead,” Snoopy nodded.

“Yeah, thanks,” he growled, glaring at Crescent. “Listen, you did do a lot of good, and we respect that. However, when it came down to it… well, everyone here knows we should have withdrawn at the first sign of trouble. But you wanted to keep on fighting. Now, we’ve practically lost our ship and two of our people are in critical condition. Nothing can excuse this.”

Crescent glared in return, wanting to immediately respond. But she held her tongue, waiting on Snoopy.

“Crescent?” Snoopy said.

“We were goin’ up against another frigate,” Crescent said. “Yes, we were takin’ a beating, but ya’ can’t determine where a fight’s goin’ that early. Not when both sides are equally matched.”

Clea raised a paw.

“Clea,” Snoopy nodded.

“We were taking more than a beating,” Clea snapped. “We couldn’t land a single shot on them! You should have known right there and then that we were outmatched. But your ego wouldn’t allow you to admit it! If not for our new ‘friends’, we would be stranded here, waiting for Song to throw us in shackles!” 

Crescent swallowed hard. Usually, if she had been accused of something like that, hooves would be swinging. However, this wasn’t a lie. This was… the truth. She honestly couldn’t think of any way to respond to that. All she could do was hang her head in shame. 

The room held its breath, until finally, Snoopy broke the silence.

“Crescent, any defense?” 

“No, Snoops,” Crescent said, her heart sinking low. “Thanks.”

“Then it’s time to vote,” Snoopy said. “Crescent, gotta have you wait outside for this part.”

“I-I understand,” she said, trying as hard as she could to keep her eyes from misting up. 

Such a thing might have actually gain her sympathy, but she didn’t exactly want sympathy at the moment. Deep down, she knew she deserved what was coming. So without another word, she sat up and sauntered towards the exterior corridor. She then manually closed the door behind her, making sure they wouldn’t automatically open, before leaning against the nearby wall.

“All in favor of keeping Crescent as our captain?” she heard Snoopy’s muffled voice say. 

There was a pause. A few of them such as her sister would certainly be on her side, but she didn’t believe it’d be a majority.

“Right. And all in favor of a People’s Demotion?”

More silence. 

“Okay, then. It’s settled. I’ll uh… I’ll tell her myself. Owe her that much.”

And once more, as she was feeling a lot lately, Crescent regretted ever taking the chair in the first place. For at the moment, her heart was as broken as her ship.