Celestial Hulk

by Waxworks

Chapter 5

Some amount of time later, Minuette opened her eyes to find herself laying on a soft bed of grass, the smell of green and growing things filling her nostrils. She attempted to lift her head, but a splitting pain prompted her to just relax and stay laying back. She put a hoof to her chest and felt the burns on her chest, finding them covered with gauze and bandages. She opened her mouth and croaked out a weak sound that should have been hello, but was merely a squeak.

“Minuette? Are you awake?” A male voice said.

“Caramel?” Minuette rasped.

“MInuette, oh thank Celestia. Your burns and tail, and all the magical exhaustion combined with mild dehydration, I was worried you’d need more intensive care than I could provide. Here, have some water.” Caramel said, holding a small water pouch up to her lips.

Minuette drank greedily until she could stomach no more, and tried once again to sit up. Her head hurt, but she managed it. She looked around at the familiar green and growing ship they’d traveled off of Equestria in. A familiar sight compared to the dead and lifeless hulk they had just been on. She smiled at Caramel, his eyes with dark circles under them and worry plain on his face.

“We… didn’t know what to do when you got caught inside the ship, so we waited two hours, then pulled away and contacted the princess to ask about the situation. She told us to trust in our friends and patrol the outside of the ship. If you didn’t come out in three day’s time, we were to head back to Equestria and the princesses would deal with the ship in an extreme manner.” Caramel explained.

“Extreme” Minuette asked.

“I think they were prepared to destroy it. If it was a trap and ponies died to it, it was not worth examining further.” Caramel said.

Minuette nodded. “A fair assessment. It definitely isn’t a safe object, that’s for sure. Did Moondancer explain what was in there?”

“She did. It’s dangerous, and not something we can allow to run loose above Equestria. Who knows if it could survive coming down to land, but we’re not willing to take that chance. The princesses will destroy it and that will be that.” Caramel said.

Minuette sighed happily. That would be the best course of action, and nopony would have to see that horrible face, or hear that horrible noise again. She was so glad to be free of that place and away from that creature. It was probably a tragic tale, but it had long ago reached its end. Nopony needed to hear an epilogue like this.

“Where’s Moonie? I want to see her.” Minuette asked.

“She’s on the moonlit side of the ship. We’re coming down to Equestria soon, so if you want one last look at the aether, now’s the time. Think you can walk?” Caramel asked, helping her to her hooves.

“Yeah, I’ll manage, thanks.” Minuette said.

She slid off the bed and walked gingerly out of the medical bay, her burns making it painful to move. She made her way to the tunnel leading up to moonside, and floated up the ladder to the garden area, the moon, and Moondancer, glowing in the dark, staying out of one of the cargo bays at the starry aether.

“Hey Moonie. Thanks for saving our flanks back there.” Minuette said as she walked closer.

Moondancer looked at her briefly before staring back up at the opening. “Hey Minuette. Feeling better?”

“Much. The burns sting, but they’ll go away in time. I suspect I’ll have some scarring, though. Better than being dead I guess.” Minuette said as candidly as she could.

“Yeah, I’m glad you’re okay. I’m sorry I was so useless.” Moondancer said.

“Oh it happens to everypony. You got caught by something neither of us could stop, who could have expected it would cause so much trouble with your magic?” Minuette said, brushing it off.

“I guess so. I’m just sad I couldn’t stop it or fight back at all. Then when it caught me… I couldn’t do anything. I just panicked, and then it stuck me in that furnace and it… it…” Moondancer stopped before she finished, and almost seemed in tears.

Minuette hugged her tight, letting her shake a little in her hooves as Moondancer held back sobs. “It’s alright. You’re safe now. There’s nothing wrong, okay?”

“Okay. Okay. I believe you.” Moondancer said. She pulled away and looked at the night sky once again.

“I’m going to go talk to Twinkleshine okay? And get these bandages changed. They’ve gone all yellow, and keeping burns clean is important.” Minuette said. “We’ll be back on the ground soon.”

Moondancer nodded and Minuette slowly walked away, leaving her alone once more.

Moondancer looked back up at the aether, watching as the distant object in the sky suddenly flashed brightly, then was gone, evaporated in celestial fury. Moondancer looked back at the ship around her and her eyes filled with fire. Her flesh cracked and blackened and a quiet, static, hissing noise emanated from her black, open mouth. Her eyes melted in their sockets, leaving only a sickly green flame burning inside them.

“Hey Twinkleshine, how did you find us, by the way. Moondancer seemed upset, so I didn’t want to bother her too much.” Minuette asked.

“Oh, I saw what looked like a flame in the middle of the aether…”

~The End.

Comments

[Flutternight]

Ooh boy. Looks like this one has the possibility for a sequel. I loved it!

[Pony Knight]

Nice. Would be awesome for a sequel but I'm a little confused on what happened. It starts off all DEAD SPACE like then it sounds like a ghost is controlling a human skeleton. What I don't understand is what is the ghost and what happened to minuette? Because it almost sounds less like a ghost and more like cosmic energy that has a life of its own.

[Waxworks]

8424038
I mention that the ghost-thing was attempting to propel his shitty spaceship by burning bodies and other things. He attempted to burn Minuette as fuel in his little ship, and he succeeded. Now Minuette is also a horrible ghost-thing.

[Pony Knight]

8424401
I should have been a bit more clear in what I was trying to say. In my fit of excitement I was trying to make a dead space reference but it came out more as like a question. my bad

[Waxworks]

8424871
Ah, I get it. Glad you liked it no matter what.

[Moosetasm]

8424401
I assume you mean Moondancer is who was burned up? Either way, it’s Lovecraftian horror enough that explanations would actually detract from the horror. So not knowing exactly what it is or why it’s doing what it’s doing, or other specifics adds to the terror.