Fading Suns: A New World

by David Silver

114 - Landed Noble Landing Nobly

The ship shuddered and shook as it came in through the sky, the hull glowing a hot red as the atmosphere of the planet objected strongly to its speedy plummet from space. Laud worked the controls, trying to keep the descent at the right angle. "Not twice," he muttered, determined to not crash two ships into Equestria. "The sun and moon haven't knocked me off balance today."

One of the red lights on his console began to flicker. He brought down a fist on it. "Not now," he growled at it, the light seemingly cowed, lit, dimly. He needed all his thrusters. "Starlight, we will have words to share."

"Telling me?" Chrysalis rolled her eyes. "She was supposed to be my steed for the entire day and she goes and takes a nap?"

"Not now." Laud struggled to keep things in order. "This ship is doing its best to come apart around us, and I don't think that would end well for you, demon."

"I thought we were over that." Chrysalis scowled at him. "I am a queen. Aren't you supposed to respect nobility?"

"Please... regale me with the tale of your kingdom then." With a sheering snap, his control stick came free in his hand. "Pancreator above!" All eyes in the control area were on him. He shoved the stick back where it belonged, even if it had no hope of doing much. The flight of the ship was officially out of his control.

The least he could provide was to not have them all be in blind panic in what could be the last moments.

"You don't look well." Chrysalis was scowling at him, as was her nature. "Is something wrong?"

Speaking pony at the equine demon, he felt sure the others would not understand, "We are now crashing. Our odds of survival have become slim. I wish I could say it's been a pleasure knowing you."

"This ship can't crash. I'm on it," she barked, looking furious. "What's wrong with it?"

There was no time to really consider the ethics of talking with a demon or to ask one for assistance. He gestured her forward and indicated the broken control stick. "This should be attached."

"Is that all?" She hopped down into his lap, bright green flames announcing her change as she became a replacement stick, already connected, with frowning eyes on the control knob. "There. You are not permitted to crash."

Could it work? He took hold of the restored(?) control with one hand, the other dancing over the panels as he evened things out a little. That flickering light had gone out again. No amount of pounding could force it back on. "We're losing engines, and you can't replace those. Hold it together..."

---

The light show had ended. The sky was... the sky. Ponies were sighing with relief. Well, most of them. One squinted through a telescope. "Your Highness... One of them is returning, quickly."

"They do tend to move quickly," Celestia noted, having already learned that much. "Why do you sound worried?"

"It's on fire..." The unicorn backed away, gesturing at the view.

Celestia stepped in, placing her eye against the telescope and adjusting it with a golden magic until she found it, streaking through the sky. It was coming in quickly, too quickly. It left a trail of smoke behind it, the bottom of it incandescent with heat. It was like a small sun in the sky, streaking quickly towards what promised to be a rapid and painful end.

"I don't know where it will, uh, land?"

She had her doubts that ship would be doing anything that could be called a 'landing'. It was, perhaps, a miracle that it hadn't already dissolved from the way it was burning and shaking. "Is there something we can do?" She drew her head back. "To slow it."

"N-no," he replied with hanging ears. "I can't reach that far, or move something so large." He glanced at it and back at Celestia. "Ma'am... it does look like a sun. Perhaps?"

She could see it without the telescope, streaking through the sky, burning so brightly, moving so quickly. It was like the sun when she moved it, though with more smoke.

"Mayhaps..."

She reached with her magic as she spread her wings. "Calm yourself, strange celestial object. I've moved larger things than you before."

---

Grunts of pain echoed through the ship as people were thrown violently. Everything began to glow a bright golden hue, and it had brought them to a stop. Those strapped in properly were left dizzy from the momentum shift, some of them simply knocked out immediately under such intense Gs.

The world around him swam as Laud fought against unconsciousness. "What... happened?"

Chrysalis peeled herself off a wall as she buzzed back towards Laud. "Something grabbed the ship." She had been sent flying to splat against the wall, but she was an equestrian. A little blunt trauma didn't seem to have bothered her too badly. "Still, this means we're not crashing, doesn't it?"

"There is... that." He sat up, shaking his head free of some of the fog that clung to him. "Nobody panic," he shouted in the human tongue. Back in the equine tongue, he spoke more quietly to Chrysalis, "Do you have any idea what or who is doing this?" The control panel was a mess. The abrupt stop had broken half of it. What was working was busy reporting that other things had broken. Space ships were simply not designed to stop like that.

"Not a clue." She landed on the armrest of his chair. He wasn't using it. "But if they bring us to the ground, that does solve your problems." She squinted at him. "You don't... look well. Unless it is a human trait to bleed from their eyes."

"What?" That... perhaps explained his obscured vision. He clenched his eyes shut as if that could help minimize the damage. "You seem alright, fly around and take measure of how many people are awake, dead, or groggy."

"You're not my boss." She rolled her eyes, not that he could see it. "I owe you nothing."

"We all land together, or we all die. Go."

"Whatever." She buzzed into the air, that sound receding as she began her patrol.

The ship around them shuddered softly, then began to move. He could feel himself lifting a little out of his chair. They were accelerating towards the ground. The shuddering wasn't there. It was smooth, unnaturally smooth. Whatever had grasped them was bringing them down. They were in the grips of alien magic. No, horse magic. That was better, one hoped.

---

He coughed into a clenched hand, specks of red dotting it in the effort. "What happened?" But there was no reply to him. He reached for the buckles of his seat, but hesitated. What happened once, could again, and he shuddered to imagine what would have happened were he not secured the first time. His head swam, his vision was blurred, and he felt certain things had been... rattled.

He was not a liturgist. His prayers would not banish the damage done. And there was damage, of that there could be no doubt. "Anyone?"

But there was nobody there to help the cardinal. He didn't even notice as consciousness fled him.

A familiar equine stood before him. The demon. "The lights have faded. Is the... is it over?" she asked, watching him intently.

"It is... but I may not live to see the following day." He smiled bitterly at her. "The ship I am on, it crashed? Something happened. I fear I am dying, returning to the Pancreator before my time."

Luna inclined her head. "Is there ever a good time for such things?"

"I suppose there isn't." He sighed with weariness. "You do win."

"I do not." She vanished, only to appear a moment later. "Hold hope. I will do what I may." And she was gone.

---

"Spike!"

Spike jumped a the sudden bark. Luna was towering over him. "Yes? Something happen?"

"Something is happening. I need you to send a letter to mine sister immediately."

He saluted sharply. "Ready. Got--" The scroll was pushed against him. "Oh, got it." With his magic flame, he sent it flying. "Done, all set?"

"No. Can you speak human?"

He pulled out a translating collar, only for it to glow with Luna's magic, yanked away to slip around her neck. "I'll be back." She vanished.

---

She clanged her hoof against the metal door. "This is a matter of import!" she barked in the Royal Voice, for the translator to echo it at its even level. Did it not understand the importance? "It involves one of your own."

The door cracked open. "Yes?"

"One of your leaders is injured and may become more so. I require your immediate assistance." She turned and pointed up into the sky.

The priest guard stepped out to see where she was pointing. There, far in the sky, was a ship wreathed in golden magic. "What's going on?"

Gregor suddenly emerged, heaving for breath. "Princess, you've... joined us."

"Gregor." She smiled at him, clearly relieved. "Mine sister took hold of that ship, attempting to help. The ship is damaged, badly. It cannot land of its own power. I fear it may not land even with her power. She's brought it low, but still a fair distance."

Gregor's eyes were on the ship held there in Celestia's magic. "I... see. You mentioned an important person?"

"Their leader. Your leader," barked Luna. "He is hurt, dying on that ship. Take your ship up there, rescue him immediately. Sister can only hold them for so long."

He could hear no deception in her words, only fear. "We will do what we can." He turned back to his people. "Prepare to launch. Get the best pilots on deck. We have a mid-atmosphere rescue." Mid-air maneuvers were no small task. There was a lot that could go wrong in an instant. "For the cardinal!" That got people moving. Perhaps they could win back their lost grace.

Luna stepped forward after him, to his surprise. "We can take it from here," he advised with a little smile. "You know little of how ships function."

"This may be true, but I can still help." She leaned in. "There is no time to question what help one receives."

"If I cannot dissuade you." He gestured at a seat they were passing. "I can at least insist you strap yourself in. It is not safe to be unsecured."

Luna stepped up and sank on the human chair, only for a priest to hurry up and try to start buckling her in. She was soon seated in a more human fashion, straps going over her front to keep her in place. "How curious..." Also uncomfortable, but not terminally so. If it meant she was there when there was a need, she would tolerate it.

Everycreature else was busy doing much the same, strapping themselves in all around her. She wondered what they needed it all for until the room jolted around them, throwing her against her bands a moment. "Oh." A priest laughed and she frowned, knowing they were amused at her startlement.

Still, they were rising, she could feel it. "We will be in position shortly," came Gregor's voice. "We are not leaving the atmosphere, or even going high enough to have that be a worry." The humans said soft things. Relieved? She couldn't be sure, unable to understand them, or even what Gregor had said, spoken in the human tongue as it was.

"What did he say?" But her collar only worked one way.

If any of them had tried to reply, she wouldn't know. She would just have to hope her message reached her sister quickly and that things would go according to her last second plans.

It was time for her to show a bit of faith, as the humans seemed fond of doing. She would not invest it in the Pancreator, with her sister being a far more immediate and reliable source of benediction.

Author's Note:

What, you thought it would be easy? That ship was not ready to land. Not even slightly.

Written early for patreons who got this ahead of everyone else. Want to get early chapters, or even your own story written? atreon!

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Comments

[Reese]

"over the panels are he evened things out a little"
"over the panels as he evened things out a little"?

"placing her eye against it and adjusting"
"placing her eye against the telescope and adjusting"?

"reply to him." He reached for the buckles"
"reply to him. He reached for the buckles"?

[David Silver]

10491196
Fixed. No room for typos in historic moments.

[Booster Spice]

All ships are capable of landing.

Wether the contents are required to be in a non photonic state immediately afterwards was not stated as a prerequisite.

What ya mean, Lithographic braking is not an acceptable landing method.

Did anyone remember to pack the canary? Cos after this rescue, its going to get upgraded to Sparrow.

[Teraunce]

Nice new chapter in this story. I hope everyone survives.

[keroko]

I mean, atmospheric reentry is hell on a ship even in the best circumstances. For a ship that was literally conjured out of thin air in the span of minutes by creatures with next to no idea on how it and space flight in general functions, it's a miracle it held out as long as it did.

[Midknight Defender]

"You're not my boss." She rolled her eyes, not that he could see it. "I owe you nothing."

A ship’s captain can give orders to a king (or queen, Chryssie!) when aboard and facing an emergency.

[tsaukpaetra]

Yeah, catching a hole-filled object is much more delicate than hefting a ball of gas. Whoops.
Frankly we're surprised the ship kept cohesion at all during reentry, we personally would not have attempted it, but appearances are important while the opposition doesn't know your full hand.
Still, they made it into the atmosphere, which means Pegasus aid should be able to be rendered. Just a matter of timing. Time for Equestria to shine!
Keep going! ;)