Lost In the Stars

by Crabs_of_steam


Ascension

It has been hours since the ship had exploded. The dome of stone that protected Nico and Luna from the blast had long since reverted back to their natural color when the temperature dropped to normal.

Luna laid flat on her back. She groaned from the surging through her head and back, as well as hissing from the burns that dot her body. As she lay she thought her head was about to explode.

“Where am I?” Luna moaned to herself. The last thing she could recall was flying away from battle with Nico on her back.

Luna slowly opened her eyes only to see pitch black. She concentrated on her horn and illuminated the whole room in a blue a light. She saw a roof of stone above her. “A cave?” Luna’s eyes scoured the room and quickly found herself in a hole, two feet deep. “What is this?”

As she was thinking, Luna felt a hand being rubbed on her left side. Her eyes lost all focus and she let out a tiny moan as she felt the hand glide over her singed patches of fur.

Suddenly, Luna heard a series of coughs. Her eyes refocused and shrunk to the size of pinpricks as an unsettling thought appeared in her mind, “Who is touching me?” She cautiously turned her head left to see a Nico stroking her chest, his naked body grinding alongside hers.

A powerful blush instantly overtook Luna’s face. She let out a loud shriek as she scampered out of the hole. Nico awoke from the scream and sat up. His eyes were in a daze as he searched for the source of the noise. Immediately Nico’s face was greeted with a hoof slap that ran across his face as well as the word, “Pervert!”

Nico grunted from the pain and rubbed the red imprint left on his right cheek. He then looked up to see the Alicorn glooming over him. Nico looked into Luna’s eyes and saw the flames of rage as well as himself within the consuming the flames. Nico blushed as he remembered that he isn’t wearing clothes. Nico stood up on his feet and muttered, “Th-this isn’t what it looks like.”
Luna shielded her eyes with her hoof to prevent them from gazing at Nico’s delicates. “Don’t waste your words with me you sex-starved cobra! Your appearance says enough!”

Nico’s mouth dropped open from what Luna just said. “No, no way in hell.” Nico brought up his hands in surrender and said, “Just listen, please. You got knocked out while we were escaping. I had to make this dome of rock to protect ourselves from the blast.” Nico pointed at the hole he made. “I made this so you can stay cool during the blast. Then it got super hot and so……. yeah.” Nico stared at the ground and scratched his arm. “Sorry,” he squeaked.

“So, you have the effrontery to strip yourself naked and lay next to me?” Luna released a massive sigh and let down her hoof to stare at Nico.” I will overlook this incident, Nico. But know that I am no fool. I will not fall for your tricks so easily.” As she talked Luna’s eyes slowly wandered downwards to Nico’s waist. Within seconds, Luna’s wings exploded into the air with a massive “pomf!” sound.

Just as her face was being overtaken by a powerful blush, Luna felt a strong surge of pain coming from her wings. “Ahhhh!” She fell down on her stomach and bit at the bottom of her lip. She beat her hooves on the dirt floor as tears escaped from her eyes. “Oh the pain!” she cryed

“Luna!” Nico called out. He scrambled out from the dirt hole and knelt right next to Luna. “Where’s the pain?” questioned Nico, as he examined Luna for any wounds.

“My wings,” cried the blue Alicorn.

Nico looked at Luna’s wings. He noticed that they were throbbing but couldn’t find any sign of a fracture that pierced through her skin. He then spoke up to Luna, “Well there’s no sign of a compound fracture, or any type of fracture. The explosion that knocked you back, I’m pretty sure that the force sprained one of your muscles and you didn’t feel it until you flexed your wings. So you gotta close your wings and I’ll bandage them up.”

Luna felt another surge of blush overtake her face. She stared at the ground to avoid looking at Nico as she said sheepishly, “Uh. I cannot do that, not right now.”
Nico raised an eyebrow in wonder. “Really? I mean yeah I know your wings hurt, but…. can you even move ‘em?”

Luna shook her head. “This out of my power, Nico. Please, there must be some other way.”

“Oookay. Well, if it’s too much, then I got something to fix this quick.”

Luna nodded and let out a small smile. “Yes, yes Nico, I would very much appreciate that,” Luna looked at Nico with her eyes closed and said, “Yes, before you do anything else, can you please put on some clothes?”

“Oh yeah,” chuckled Nico. He plodded toward his clothes and armor which were randomly laid on the dirt floor. He hissed from the sudden pain erupting from his right leg and chest as he moved.

“Are you okay, Nico?” asked Luna, her voice filled with concern.

“Well, I could be doing better,” sighed Nico. He slowly put his arms and legs through his jumpsuit. Afterwards he grabbed the Millennium Side-Pocket and buckled it around his waist. He scooped up his armor one at a time deposited them into his side pocket.
Nico hobbled back to Luna and summoned a stimpack in his left hand. The red contents of the syringe glowed in the dim environment, fighting Luna’s blue spectral light. “You’re not scared of needles are you?”

“I will take the headsman’s axe if it means an end to this horrid pain!” screamed Luna, tears pouring from her eyes as her wings continued to throb, “Hurry up!”

“Ok then, jeez.” Nico kneeled besides Luna looking for a spot for the injection. As soon as he found one, he made the injection and emptied the syringe’s contents into the Alicorn. As time passed, Luna’s wings slowly started to descend and then finally folded back into their original position. Luna let out a sigh of relief as the pain subsided. She looked up at Nico with a skitteish smile and gibbered, “Thank you, Nico.”

Nico grinned. “Yeah, luckily for you, you didn’t break any bones. What I love about them is that they can fix anything: burns, cuts, bullet wounds, you name it.”

“Then how come you will not use one for yourself?”

“Two things, it forces your bones back into place and that’s really painful, and they’re really hard to come by. I only have two left.”

“Oh, sorry. I didn’t realize how valuable they were.”

Nico shook his head. “It’s cool, cool. I’ll send a bill to your kingdom. But right now let’s get outta here.”

Nico walked to the rock wall, Luna tailing behind him, and summoned a pickaxe, its head made of gold and the handle made of a black material. As he winds his arms he suddenly gasped and turned to Luna. “My ship,” said Nico solemnly. Luna gulped as she looked at Nico, fearing as to what is going to happen next. Nico sighed, “Well, I’m gonna have to add this to the bill.” He then began chipping at the stone wall as Luna stared at him in total confusion. Nico continued, “Since I’m the owner I will give my own appraisal for my ship. Let’s see a first class Hermes scouting vessel, a real classic, and no longer in production. That starts off at about roughly fifteen million pixels.” Luna mouth dropped wide open. “With the materials used to make the ship as well as the star maps upgrades that would be ten million pixels.” Luna was shaking her head frantically. “And the memories I had with the ship, priceless. I promise you it would amount to hefty sum.”

Luna buried her head into her hooves. “Are you serious?” asked Luna

Sweat was streaming down Nico’s face as picked at the wall. “Well, I am hoping for compensation.”

Luna moaned, “Oh, my sister is going end me!”

“A sister? I didn’t know you had a sister. What’s her name?”

“Yes,” sighed Luna, “I have an older sister. Her name is Princess Celestia, and when we return, she’s going to be more than my sibling, she’s going to be my executioner!”

Nico chuckled at the distressed Alicorn. He then saw a small opening as a cone of grey light shown through the crack. Nico worked through the pain and hastened his pace. He did this until he made a hole large enough for him to squeeze through. As he was shimmying through the hole he called out to Luna, “I made the hole. I’m gonna squeeze through and make it big enough for you to fit through.”

“Or,” interjected Luna, “I can do this.”

As Nico popped from the hole, Luna appeared in a blue flash in front of him and gave him a smirk. “Or you can do that, yeah.”

As the two looked at their surroundings they felt that they weren’t on the same planet anymore. The foliage that towered above as well as the slew of strange alien creatures were replaced with a scarred landscape populated with scorched trees, all buried under a thick blanket of ash. The clouds of ash covered the sky turning the suns light into a sickly grey color. The air was so thick with ash that it watered both Luna and Nico’s eyes and almost caused them to go into a coughing fit. Nico strapped on his helmet while Luna unfurled her wings to cover her eyes.

Nico walked forward. “Come on, follow me.”

“Where are we even going?” questioned Luna.

“We’re looking for one of the Penguin spaceships. There has to be some here after the blast. It’s our only chance. Either we find a working saucer or we’ll just have to make another distress beacon and wait.”

He plowed through the clumps of fallen ash that were as high as his waist. He suddenly stopped when he saw a gaping crater under a small layer of ash. He let out a heavy sigh and continued.

He finally stopped when he saw mounds of ash. He walked to one of the grey mounds and started to wipe off the ash to reveal a metal plate. Nico smiled as he had found a crashed Penguin ship and continued to wipe off the ash from the ship’s sides to inspect the ship for any damage to the hull. He stopped when he saw a small breach that stretched vertically along the ship.

Nico snapped his fingers in a rapid succession. “Damn,” he cursed.

Luna was behind Nico. “What’s wrong, Nico?” she asked.

“Ships busted. Alright I’m gonna need your help right now, Luna. I need you to look for anymore crashed saucers” Nico walked from the saucer and pointed to the other mounds of ash. “You can start over there. Holler at me when you find a working saucer.

Luna nodded and split apart from Nico to check on the other fallen saucers. Each ship they came upon varied in condition. Some only had just a small breach in the hull; others were cracked in half like an egg, while a few were completely ripped to shreds with the only proof of their existence being chunks of shrapnel charred black scattered about the area of their demise. For the Penguins that operated these spacecraft, some remained in their spaceships which currently serve as their metal tomb. Other Penguins who happened to be found outside their ship lay lifeless on the ground buried under a thick layer of ash.

With every saucer he inspected, Nico’s hope of escape seemed more fleeting. When he spotted a saucer wedged into the ground. He sauntered over to the ship, skeptical that the saucer he heading towards would fare better than the last one he came upon.

He clambered to the saucer’s glass dome, trying to compromise for his injuries. He slowly wiped the ash and saw within the glass dome, a dead penguin. It was sprawled all over the controls. Nico was going to leave to examine the rest of the ship when he noticed the deceased penguin had a prosthetic flipper on its right side. Nico gawked at the penguin. “Dreadwing,” he dribbled. When he finally regained his composure Nico shouted into the air, “Luna, get over here!” I think I found our ship!”

Nico circled the ship and was pleased to find no serious damage done to the hull. He came to the base of the saucer where no ash fell where he found a small metal panel. He summoned his Matter Manipulator and focused it on the panel till it was gone. On the other side was a large number of wires and cables of various colors and sizes arranged in a varied sequence of patterns. Nico gazed at the wiring for only a few seconds, “Too easy.”

Luna came behind Nico. She was gasping and coughing from the poor air. “You found a working ship?” she wheezed, “What are you doing?”

Nico inserted both his hands into the compartment. His hands moved with the grace of a calm river as he took apart and rearranged the wires. “Just hotwiring the saucer so we can get in.”

“Is it difficult?”

Nico only chuckled. “Nah. To me this is just as easy as breathing. I used to hotwire cars back in the day.” Nico turned his head to Luna and asked, “Do you have any cars where you come from?

“Do you mean the railroad car?”

“No, I mean an automobile. A vehicle with four wheels?”

Luna shook her head. “No, sorry”

“Really?! Well, anyway bear with me. Anyway I used to steal cars and sell them off, and that was when I was just ten years old! I had to sink down below the dashboard just to reach the pedals! I was a shitty human being when I was young. Then one day I got caught by my dad. He came home early that day and was pretty shocked to find a sports car on our driveway.”

Luna was eyeing Nico with curiosity. “So, you got caught by your father? What happened next?”

Nico closed his eyes and said in a nonchalant voice, “Oh, just simple heart warmed scolding and a promise by me to never do such a thing again.” Nico then cracked into laughter. “Of course that was after I had my ass whupped red with a belt. My dad was strict and he sure did the beat the chollo outta me on that day.” Nico laughed along with Luna. “Oh, the good old days?”

The saucer suddenly began to whir with life. “Got it!” shouted Nico. He returned the metal panel and backed away from the ship. Four beams protruded out from the saucer to balance. Small steps, with a size meant for penguins, extruded from the saucer to Nico and Luna, and the saucer’s doors whooshed open.

When the doors opened, two penguins tumbled down the stairs to Nico’s feet. Luna jumped back, her pupils shrinking to tiny pinpricks. Nico picked up the two penguins and started to arrange them in a line. He entered the ship and carried the other penguins out, one wrapped in each of his arms.

He finally carried Dreadwing from the ship. He was more difficult than the others, as his prosthetic metal flipper weighed him down and Dreadwing, despite his small stature, was a dense mass of muscle. Nico grunted and sweated as he carried Dreadwing down the tiny flight of steps.

As Nico placed Dreadwing on the ash floor, He brought out his Matter Manipulator and aimed it at the base of Dreadwing’s metal flipper. “I could get something out of this. I know a friend in Alcor Three who’s willing to take something like this. He can probably get this flipper off of our hands and help us out in exchange. He could even het you a free passage back to your home if he’s capable.” Nico grinned as he held Dreadwing’s flipper in his hands. “Well, at least I can say that today won’t be a total loss.” He deposited the flipper into his side-pocket and made his way into the saucer. “You coming?”

Nico turned to Luna who had her eyes transfixed on the dead penguins. She broke from her trance and stared up to Nico as he then joked, “Come on, let’s get inside you like a ghost!” Nico was covered head to toe with grey ash, while only Luna’s face remained clear of impurities.

Luna followed Nico into the saucer and bended her head through the archway. Once inside the ship’s doors whooshed close. She started to shake her entire body of the ash, while Nico patted his jumpsuit.

The inside of the saucer was well lit by the ceiling lights which allowed all to be seen. It was cramped and small to the point where Nico had to crook his head to avoid hitting his ceiling. The metallic walls were equipped with flashing lights and screens as well as a few lockers, which stunk with the strong lingering smell of fish. In the center of the room was a small swivel chair that could ascend into the cockpit.

Nico wasted no time and crawled over to the chair and removed the chair. He stood up and squeezed his body through the hole into the cockpit; he popped both his arms into the glass dome compartment one at a time.

The room was darkened by the ash which covered the glass dome. The control console’s buttons illuminated the area with an assortment of colors.

Nico pressed a large yellow button found in the center of the console and the whole ship began to quake. He then pressed a green button and immediately the ash that covered the glass dome was washed away to reveal the grey smoldering wasteland. Nico grasped the red joysticks that were at the center of the control console and lightly pressed them forward.

Slowly, the ship began to rise from the ground and leveled itself in the air. As it moved, Nico inserted coordinates into the control console. “Alcor Three here we come,” he cheered with a small tired grin on his face. He pressed a large red button and the shep began to move upwards.

Nico ducked out from the cockpit and called Luna over. He pointed to the cockpit and said to her, “Hey Luna, go up and take a look.”

Luna obeyed and went to the control console. She stood up on her hind legs to reach the cockpit. Her eyes were filled with wonder as she started at the mishmash of buttons and levers as well as to see the ship ascending into space. She grunted from the sudden force she felt and tried to keep herself from collapsing down onto the floor. She couldn’t help but smile as she saw herself in space.

Luna turned her gaze to the planet she just escaped from. There on the surface of the massive green planet was a small grey blemish. Luna’s smile slowly faded away and she looked down to ground. Then the as the saucer jumped into lightspeed, Luna exited the cockpit and sat down on the floor.

“We’re finally on the move!” Nico cheered.

Luna tried to avoid looking at his face. She let out a sigh and muttered to Nico, “How you do it Nico?”

”Scuse me?” asked Nico, “How do I do what?”

“Those Penguin’s that perished. So many gone. I know they were our adversaries, but-” She looked up at Nico with trembling lips. “-how are you not disturbed by any of this?”

Nico smile vanished as he stared at the downtrodden Alicorn. He let out a sigh sat right next to her and said in a solemn voice. “The Milky Way Galaxy isn’t perfect. It’s not a place of wonder or adventure that’s been so romanticized in your comics. It’s a meat grinder where people and become something else. It took me time to learn that lesson; I’ve done things I regret during those years.” Luna frowned and stared at the floor. Nico continued, “This galaxy isn’t meant for the weak, but you’re not weak, Luna. “

Luna stared up at Nico in confusion. “What?”

“Yup, not even close. You’re quite the opposite really. The way you fight, I wouldn’t dream having to face you.”

“Really?” asked Luna jokingly.

“Yeah!” Nico moved his hands back in forth in a swift motion. “You were all like ‘whoosh!’ You moved so fast in the air I had a hard time trying to find you! Not to mention you saved my ass like twice!”

“You saved my life too!”

“Well, yeah but not like how you did it, with your horns and wings! I’m not saying that I’m jealous, but I wouldn’t mind if I could do what you did.” Nico rubbed his chin as he said, “You know make a decent companion to travel if….”

Luna’s ears flicked with excitement. “If what?”

“You know, if weren’t so terrible with operating ships,” Nico mumbled, “I mean, you did crashed mine.”

Luna began bashing Nico’s arm. “When are you going to let that go?” she giggled.

“Well, since you did save my hide more than once today, I shall deduct your bill I will send to you and your sister.”

The two broke into laughter. Then Nico patted Luna on her back. “You see how easily you forgot about the penguins? I know death is a serious thing, but it’s all a part of life. I will die, you will die, everyone dies at some point. Some sooner than others. And when our bodies are long gone, the universe still continues without us.” Nico scoffed,”I don’t know how that would answer your question, I’m not a poet. If you ever find yourself troubled, I’m always available.”

Luna nodded and wrapped her hooves around Nico in a warm embrace. “Thank you.”