They say that everypony has a soul. The soul is the definitive core of very being that defines who we are and why we exist. The soul is the very heart of individuality.

But just what is a soul? Is it something that can easily be pushed aside for material gain? I’d like to think this isn’t the case, but the long bloody history that ponies painted in balefire and pain teaches us differently. Many ponies shelved their own morality to further the advances of war and technology. They gave their own lives, willingly I might add, in the pursuit of bloodshed and hate. Their souls were forever tainted by their sins, and their actions destroyed the world and made life hell for everypony from that point forward.

Was there some other dark and sinister force at work, like the Zebras believed? Did some entity from the stars infect the very souls of ponies, forcing them to commit unspeakable evils? Or are we really just capable of such evil without outside influence?

The next morning came and went without a hitch as Violet and I packed up and got back onto the road. I nodded farewell to the little shack Violet had managed to get us into after our encounter with the raiders. Checking my PipBuck, my map revealed we were still a day north of the Canterlot ruins. If we were lucky, we’d arrive at Tenpony Tower within the week.

“Looks like we still have a ways to go,” I said to Violet, pointing out the route on my PipBuck to her.

She nodded, her eyes still baggy from lack of sleep the night before.

“We should try to make sure we’re under cover by the end of the day. We don’t want to be outside when night falls,” I said. “Who knows what trouble we’d run into?”

Violet and I continued down the road as I clicked on the radio on my PipBuck. The slow crooning voice of Sweetie Belle filled our ears as we walked along, providing us some much needed relief from the boredom of travel. Around midday we reached an abandoned Pony Joe’s on the side of the road. It appeared there hadn’t been anypony near this particular location in ages. Outside of the donut shop was strewn skeletons of centuries old dead ponies, most likely ones that had been caught in the aftermath of the end of the world.

“Star?” Violet asked, looking up at me.

I looked over inquisitively. “Yes?” I responded, as I clicked off my radio. I had been listening along with the music and not really paying any attention to anything else.

“I think we should stop and rest for a bit, I’m a little hungry. Also, I had an idea if you’re willing to go along with it,” she said, smiling.

“Sure, we can stop. What was on your mind?” I asked.

“Well, you know how you were talking about teleporting that buck from yesterday?” she replied. I nodded in response. She continued on as we made our way to the Pony Joe’s. “Well I thought maybe it might be a good idea as we travel for you to get some practice using it. You know, learn how to teleport yourself and other objects if you have to. It could be a very useful skill if we end up in another fight.”

“I guess… I guess I don’t see the harm in it,” I said tentatively. I was still very nervous over this whole “another spirit in my body” deal. “I guess if I’m going to be stuck with this spirit, I might as well get something out of the deal, right?” I grinned sheepishly.

“Alright then, let’s get started right after we’re finished with lunch,” Violet said happily as she opened the door to the Pony Joe’s and walked inside.

I followed behind her, keeping my eyes on our surroundings in case there were any intruders. Thankfully, my E.F.S. hadn’t picked up anything yet, which was a good sign.

The donut shop was in terrible condition, which put it head and shoulders above most of the other abandoned buildings I’d been in before. Skeletons of long-dead ponies adorned the restaurant’s tables, right next to their morning cups of coffee and plates of long-dead donuts. The faint glow of a Sparkle Cola machine in the back of the main eating area provided the only illumination in the dreary place. I sauntered my way up to the machine in awe.

“Boy, they sure made these things to last,” I said aloud, more to myself than anything. I looked back at Violet, who had cleared away one of the tables and was chewing with grim determination on her food rations, and then back to the machine. Several of the plastic buttons which indicated the flavor of the cola contained within were broken, rendering them unusable. I placed a hoof on the front of the machine, feeling the warmth of it. Apparently it was only the light on the front cover that was working, since there was no telltale hum of the refrigeration unit inside. Surprisingly enough the machine was still locked, a heavy padlock hanging from the door. I lowered my horn and closed my eyes and focused on the padlock, intent on ripping it from the side of the door. Let me tell you, I was no locksmith. I could not pick a lock to save my life, literally. Fortunately, I didn’t have to be, my powerful telekinesis making a handy replacement for fiddling with bobby pins.

A sharp snapping noise and a cry of “Ow!” brought me out of my focus on the lock. Apparently I had focused a little too hard on the lock, causing the whole thing to snap off and fly off into the room behind me. It had ricocheted off of a table and landed squarely on Violet Iris’ flank, causing a cry of pain that snapped me to attention. I looked back at Violet with a grin on my face, while she glared at me with fires of rage in her eyes.

“Um… sorry?” I managed to squeak out, trying to hold back the giggles.

Violet began rubbing her rump tenderly as she snorted. “Yeah, yeah, just watch it next time okay? That really smarted,” she said, turning back to her food and looking over our supplies.

I turned my attention back to the now-open Sparkle Cola machine. The inside of the machine revealed only three bottles of the stuff were left including one glowing bottle of Sparkle Cola RAD that bore the slogan “Radish-y goodness with an irradiated flavor!” I pulled out the bottles and walked back to the table where Violet had set up. Violet picked up one of the classic bottles and cracked it open.

“You can have the RAD bottle,” she said, pointing at the glowing bottle. “Never did care too much for the Radish flavor to be honest.”

I grinned, popping the cap off the bottle and sucking down the glowing liquid. My PipBuck gleefully clicked along as I drank, tracking the trace amounts of magical radiation in my beverage. I’ve always never been quite sure why ponies before the war would drink something that was intentionally irradiated but I didn’t care too much, since the stuff tasted great. Just the right amount of radish and the right amount of radiation made for a fantastic taste. Violet chuckled as I slurped the bottle clean.

“Alright, I think you’ve had enough radiation for one day,” she said, giggling as she began to pack up our supplies. “Let’s get going so we can start working on your training.” I groaned.

“Five more minutes? Maybe enough time for a power nap?” I asked, giving the puppy dog eyes as hard as I could.

Violet simply glared at me and facehooved.

“Alright, now I’m not extremely familiar with how this spell works, but the only way you can improve is with practice,” Violet said as we continued along the road. She had grudgingly allowed me to have five more minutes in which to look around the donut shop for any valuable items. Of course there were none to be found except a tattered copy of Playmare in an equally worn briefcase, so we moved on from Pony Joe’s and back on the road towards Manehattan. “In order to teleport, you need a target and a target location. You need to either be able to see your location or have previously seen it. If you try to teleport somewhere you haven’t seen, you could end up as part of a solid structure! So don’t be stupid, you hear me?!”

I cringed. The mere thought of ending up in the middle of a concrete wall didn’t sound very appealing to me at all. Violet went off the side of the road as her horn glowed, bringing a few rocks up and onto the main road.

“Let’s try something simple. I want you to teleport those rocks a few feet ahead up the road,” Violet instructed as her horn glowed again. An “X” appeared on each of the rocks, marking them so we would know which rocks were the ones I was working with.

I grinned and lowered my horn. Okay Star, you can do this! You can do this! You can--- I chanted as my horn glowed, enveloping the rocks in a haze of purple magic. I envisioned the road as my magic released, causing the rocks to disappear and then reappear… in the exact same location they were at before.

“What?” I said blankly. “What?”

Violet fell over, her insides nearly splitting with laughter. “Wow, that was incredible! Just amazing!” she managed to say through her laughter.

I glared at her. “It’s not funny!” I cried out. “It’s only my second time trying it! You said yourself it would take practice.”

“Yeah but I figured you would at least move them a little,” Violet sniffled as she shifted back onto her haunches. She had tears in her eyes from laughing so hard.

I snorted and lowered my horn again. Come on magical teleport-thingy, do your magic! I thought as I tried to focus again on the rocks. This time, the rocks disappeared again but did not reappear. I jumped for joy.

“Huzzah! How many points do I receive?” I exclaimed in joy as Violet sniggered again. I stared at her blankly as she pointed above my head. I looked up in time to see two rocks falling towards me.

Oh clop me, I thought as the two rocks made a nice indentation on my head, inducing a highly painful headache. Violet chuckled some more before launching into another fit of pain inducing laughter.

“Oh come on!” I cried indignantly. “That’s just not fair!”

Violet continued laughing exuberantly at my plight. If she wasn’t so daggone cute I’d have done something about it. I blushed and turned away.

If you wanted help with it, you could have just asked, a voice inside my head said grumpily. I stopped for a moment.

What? Who are you? I asked the voice subconsciously. Great, I was hearing voices now! And talking back to them no less! I knew I was crazy but I didn’t realize just how crazy.

A friend. I’ve looked for one for so long. Imagine my surprise when I found you, the voice said. Realization dawned on me and my eyes widened.

You’re her, the other spirit inside of me, I answered immediately.

If you want to put it like that, sure. I suppose that’s who I am, the voice responded. Do you want help with your teleportation or not? I don’t have all day you know. I’m very busy. I wondered at just how “busy” a voice inside my head could be, but considering the fact that I was still crazy I guess it made some sort of sense.

Alright, what do I do? I asked the voice.

Teleportation isn’t just a simple spell. It takes a lot of emotional involvement, feelings, in order to get right. You have to feel where you want to go or where you want your target to go. You’re simply focusing too hard on it is all, the voice instructed.

I nodded and began to go through the motions of charging my magic again. I started to let go of my focus some and spent more time on feeling the magic as a subtle glow surrounded my target. With a small *pop* sound Violet’s laughter stopped as she disappeared. She reappeared further up the road, blinking and confused as she looked around. I grinned.

I did it! I thought triumphantly.

The voice in the back of my head chuckled lightly. Well done, but you still need more practice, it replied.

I sighed as I ran up to catch up to Violet, who was staring blankly at me.

“I thought I told you to practice on the rocks and not me,” she stated, glaring at me.

I giggled and playfully punched her shoulder. “Oh come on now, at least I didn’t teleport you up into the air right?” I said, still giggling.

Violet sighed and gave a meek laugh as well, rolling her eyes.

“Yeah, I guess so. We’d better get going though, we’re wasting daylight as it is,” she said, pointing to the sky where the Sun was beginning to set.

I nodded as I helped her up from her haunches. We continued along the road, the soothing voice of Velvet Remedy coming through the radio on my PipBuck.

Alright, I guess you helped out, I projected to the voice in the back of my head. I’m not entirely sure I trust you still.

That’s fair. I wouldn’t trust another spirit taking my body over either, the voice responded.

So you admit to trying to take me over? I asked, unsure of the response I would receive.

I don’t believe it is a conscious decision, no, but all the same my answer is of the positive nature, the voice responded again.

Do you at least have a name that I can call you? I thought finally, tired of the mental game we were now playing.

I certainly do. You can call me Spark.

Several hours later a settlement came into view ahead of us. The map on my Pipbuck identified it as “Mall of Equestria,” a pre-war center for commerce. The town itself was mostly built on the outside of the mall complex, jutting out from the side of one of the large department stores. A mish-mash of boxcars and storage pods harvested from the shipping area of the mall made up the large majority of buildings and signs from various stores and restaurants made up most of the outer walls. The rest was filled in with corrugated steel and planks of wood. A few guard towers were propped up above the wall along its perimeter, and the telltale light of their occupants could be seen from the road.

The Sun was low in the sky at this point. Most towns such as this instilled a strict curfew, closing their gates to anypony once night fell. We hoped we weren’t too late. We started towards the gate, only to be cut off by the *crack* of gunfire and a spray of rocks from the ground in front of us.

“That there’s a warnin’ shot,” a voice ahead of us drawled. We looked up to find that it belonged to a green earth pony buck standing just outside the gate, brandishing a large rifle attached to his custom battle-saddle. “Won’t miss next time.”

“We don’t mean you or your town any harm,” Violet stepped forward as she called out to the guard. “We’re members of the Followers of the Apocalypse, seeking refuge at your town for the evening on our way to Manehattan.”

The earth pony spat off to his side. “You bringin’ one of those things in here and you tellin’ me you don’t mean any harm?” He snorted and began to laugh. I realized he meant me after a second.

“Hey!” I cried out indignantly. “I’m not a thing! Violet, tell him I’m not a thing!”

Violet rolled her eyes. “She’s not a thing,” she repeated flatly before looking at me. “She is a member of the Followers as well and my friend. There. Happy now?”

I nodded happily. “Yep!” I said, laughing.

The stallion laughed in response.

“Alright, tell you what. You got caps?” he said. We nodded in affirmation. “Good. We’ll let you in for the night. You’ll leave yer weapons at the gate with us, and it’ll be thirty caps to spend the night. No funny business or you’ll be out on your asses. Sound good to you?”

“Sounds fine, but we also have some trade if you’d like,” Violet said. “We hit a spot of trouble with some raiders yesterday. Suffice to say, their stuff now comfortably resides within my companion’s saddlebags.”

The stallion’s eyes lit up at this. “Took down some raiders now didja?” he said, smiling widely. “Well, you’d better come on in then. I’ll look at whatcha got and we’ll work something out.”

We nodded and followed him through the gate.

“I’m Cross Tire by the way, pleasure makin’ yer acquaintance,” he said as he opened the gatehouse for us. The small dank room smelled like wet earth pony. “Just set yer stuff there on the table for the moment.”

“Thanks,” Violet responded, pulling off our saddlebags. “I’m Violet Iris, and this is my companion Radiant Star.” I nodded as she said my name.

Cross went to work going over our haul from the raiders as Violet assisted him. I never was much one for the whole bartering thing. Instead I played around with my PipBuck while Violet did her thing. Seriously, I must have been a really lazy pony before I became an alicorn or something. It’s almost like I never pay attention to anything but ---

“Star!” a voice rang out in my ear as I snapped back to attention. Violet was standing in front of me waving her hoof at me.

“Wha --?” I managed to sputter. Clearly this was another opportunity that I had completely missed.

“We’re done here. Cross Tire’s going to show us to the inn where we’re going to spend the night,” she said, pointing to our now less full saddlebags.

Cross had been gracious enough to let us keep our ammunition and any of our medicines / travelling supplies and only opted for the weapons in exchange for some caps and the room for us to stay in. He stood at the door of the gatehouse, waving us into the town proper.

“Welcome to the Mall, folks,” he said as we made our way through the streets. Even though the sky was darkening, there was still plenty of activity going on as ponies were milling about at various drinking establishments, playing card games in the streets, and trading with various street vendors. I had seen nothing like it. Fort Knowledge was a small town mostly consisting of tribals and librarians, so I was unaccustomed to this kind of commerce. The only other thing I noticed here and there was the stares. I was used to that of course, but it still made me uneasy. When your kind was long associated with slavery and evil, it was a difficult stigma to get rid of in the eyes of other ponies. Still, I did wish they were a little more subtle about it.

“Pleasant place you have here,” I said as we passed by a street vendor selling used spark batteries.

“We do alright fer ourselves. A lot of the wares are salvaged inside the mall, what we can get at least without getting fricasseed by the security drones,” he said with a smile as we made our way up to the inn.

“Security drones?” Violet asked.

“Yep. They’re a hassle alright. At the end of the war, they must’ve gone active when the mall went on lockdown. With nopony to shut em off, they just kind of run rampant. We can handle em to a point, but makes it hard to get the good stuff out of the mall,” Cross responded.

Violet grinned at me and winked. Oh no no no Violet, what are you going to get us into? Please don’t say it, please don’t say it, please don’t ---

“Who would we talk to about maybe helping out with your little problem?”

The words rolled off her tongue smoothly and quickly. Yep. She said it alright. I had a very bad feeling about all of this.

“Really? Ain’t never had nopony offer to just go in and clear em out before. I suppose you’d be wantin’ to speak ter Steeljack. He’s our acting security officer since the last one got turned into barbecue in that Celestia-forsaken mall,” Cross said as he drew out a map indicating where Steeljack’s office was.

“Thank you, we’ll see him in the morning,” Violet responded, taking the map from Cross.

I scowled at her as we entered the inn. Violet grinned at my face. She was still cute. I really wanted to tell her how cute I thought it was, but she had never seemed too interested in that kind of thing.

“What? Think about it, you saw his reaction to you, not to mention how everypony else looked at both of us. You do this and it will paint the Followers in a very positive light. We might even be able to start a chapter here,” she said as we acquired our room arrangements from the innkeeper. We headed into the room provided for us and laid down on our beds.

“Well, I suppose you’re right. It was kind of creepy getting the stare from literally everypony just now. You’d think I’d be used to it by now,” I said, curling up into a comfortable position.

Violet smiled. “Hey now, they just don’t know you is all,” she said, nudging me with her hoof.

I nodded, as my eyes closed and I drifted off to sleep.

A hoof nudged my side as I turned over and began mumbling. My eyes fluttered, pulling me out of a very lovely dream involving Violet’s flanks and a bottle of chocolate sauce. I grinned widely, drool pooling on the bed below me. It was kind of strange. I hadn’t had dreams like that about Violet until recently. In all the time I’d known her, I’d never been sure of which way Violet’s barn door swung. Another hoof nudged my side, interrupting my train of thought. I groaned loudly.

“Five more minutes…”

“Star.”

“Five more minutes…”

“Star…”

“Five more… OUCH!” I cried out as I felt teeth clamp down on my rump. A flash of light and one second later I was sitting on the roof of the inn, with a very bewildered look on my face. I looked around, confused.

I should have warned you about that part, the voice - Spark - said, with a ripple of nasty humor filling her voice. Teleportation magic is unpredictable.

Haha, laugh it up crazy voice, I thought, sneering in my mind at the sarcastic spirit.

“Star? Are you alright?

A voice broke through my inner monologue for a moment. I looked back to see Violet standing on the roof next to me. She was blushing furiously.

“Yeah… are you? I didn’t scare you did I?” I responded.

She blushed some more. “I… I was just worried. Tried to wake you up and when you wouldn’t, I sort of… hit you in the ass,” she said as she blushed vigorously.

I stared at her blankly for a moment, before rolling into a ball of laughter.

“Oh that’s just too funny,” I chortled. Violet continued to blush more. I choked back my laughter and walked carefully over to her.

“Look I’m fine, sorry I worried you. I seem to have unintentionally teleported myself up here. Totally my fault,” I said, putting a hoof on Violet’s shoulder. “Come on, you want to go see this Steeljack fellow right?”

She nodded as her blushing subsided. We headed back down to our room and collected our things before heading out to see Steeljack.

An hour later after navigating the tightly wound together streets of Mall and getting lost once or twice, we found the security officer’s headquarters. As we arrived, we were greeted by the sight of a buck being thrown out on his ass into the street. He looked at us once and then scurried to his hooves and down the street until he was out of sight. A voice from the door brought us back to the mission at hand.

“Damn salt-lickin’ boozehound bums. Always getting in trouble on my watch,” the voice said. The voice belonged to a massive gray earth pony stallion with a black mane wearing piecemeal power armor. The words “Security” were stenciled in on the side of one of his front gauntlets. Resting on his back was a carbine rifle attached to a battle-saddle. A PipBuck sat inset on the left leg of his armor. The stallion looked at us and grinned.

“You must be those Followers of the Apocalypse that Tire let in last night,” he said. “He said you might be stopping by. Name’s Steeljack, I’m the acting Chief of Security around these parts.”

“Hello Office Steeljack, I’m Violet Iris and this is Radiant Star. We were wondering if you had any work for us we might be able to help you with,” Violet said, introducing us.

“Please, just call me Steeljack. No Officer stuff really. Mall’s a great place, but not nearly big enough to deserve such formality,” Steeljack replied with a chuckle, waving us inside. We followed him to a small office just inside the building.

“Truth is, I do have one job I can’t get anypony to accept,” he continued. “The security drones in the mall have been ramping up their hostility towards our salvage teams. And there’s more of them! Seems like no matter how many of the bastards we kill, more just keep coming.” He pulled out a crudely drawn map of a building which I assumed to be the mall complex itself.

“Cross Tire mentioned that last night,” I said, trying to seem at least a little involved in the conversation. “Is there any way we can help?”

“I’ll tell you what, if you two want to help get rid of those things go right ahead. I’ll give you first pick of the best stuff we salvage out of there. Does that sound like a fair deal to you two?” he replied.

Violet nodded enthusiastically. “That will be fine,” she said happily. “We should probably get going then and get on with the job.”

Steeljack held up a hoof and coughed. “Well that’s all fine and dandy, but I’m not just for letting you both go in there without some sort of escort. Have to protect Mall’s interests you see,” he said.

“You mean we have to have a babysitter?” I said, cocking my head in a confused manner.

“Nothing like that. You folks also don’t know the layout of the mall. Would be hard to just traipse in and not know where to go right? That’s why I’m going with you,” Steeljack said. “Been itching for a little action lately. Far better than dealing with cornhole drunks all the time.”

“We appreciate the assistance,” Violet said. “Obviously we had to turn in our weapons at the gate. Are we getting those back then?”

“I’ve got you girls covered there. Meet me at the back gate near the mall complex in about an hour or so and we can get this show on the road,” Steeljack said with a smile.

If there ever was a great truth to this world, I saw the face of it that day in the mall of Mall.

Robots suck.

We met up with Steeljack in front of the mall complex, who provided some weaponry to us which included a standard bolt-action rifle and a 9mm pistol for Violet, plus a combat shotgun and a pair of SMGs for me. Steeljack also had some frag grenades for each of us.

The first thing I noticed upon entering the mall was that it was very clean. The stores lining the mall went on for what felt like forever and a makeshift barricade had been set up in the main lobby, presumably for defending the entrance from the drones. As we moved past the barricade and into the mall proper I began to feel uneasy in the sterile whiteness. There was nothing showing on my E.F.S. other than myself, Violet, and Steeljack.

“Alright, from this point forward, talk only when necessary. We need to make our way to the Administration Office. Hopefully that’s where the central mainframe is,” Steeljack said, signaling to the both of us. “From there we can shut down all of the drones at once.”

“What should we expect from the drones?” Violet asked quietly.

“They’ll move in groups, but they’re not really intelligent. As long as you don’t let them surround you, we should be good. They have some cutters and some laser torches but that’s about it,” Steeljack responded.

Silently we delved into the depths of the mall, now coming across sections that hadn’t been salvaged yet. Mall carts and clothing racks were strewn about amidst bones and pieces of rubble. My wings ruffled a bit in my nervousness. We had yet to encounter any robots, a sign that even Steeljack found to be strange. Finally we came into a large lobby area under a skylight where we could see the words ADMINISTRATION over a passage at the other end. I started forward, only to meet Steeljack’s hoof in front of my chest.

“Hold it,” he said, grimacing. “Something’s wrong. This is a little too easy. These things aren’t that intelligent. We should have been attacked by now.”

A beeping noise at my leg indicated that he was right. I glanced at my PipBuck and then back at my Eyes-Forward-Sparkle.

“Oh fuck!” I shouted as dozens of red indicators lit up my E.F.S. like a poinsettia flower on Hearth’s Warming Eve. Red blips appeared all around us as the first wave of robots came around the corner.

At first glance, the robots appeared to be your typical Helpinghoof maintenance drones. You know, the kind that clean up after messy ponies and perform menial maintenance tasks. Why anypony in their right mind would equip said drones with laser torches and buzz saw cutters was beyond me.

Three of the drones sped around me and began to zero in on my position. I grimaced, hoping for the best as I slipped into S.A.T.S. and lined up a shot at the drone in front of me. Time resumed as the combat shotgun blew a hole in the drone, knocking it to the ground in a shower of sparks. I managed to move forward as a sharp pain seared my rear. One of the drones on the side of me had hit me with its laser torch. I snorted and kicked back as hard as I could to keep it away, managing to push it back far enough to get its flame clear of my plot. A sharp *crack* heralded that drone’s head disappearing. I looked over at Steeljack, whose rifle was smoking.

“Don’t let them surround you!” he growled at me.

“We’re already surrounded!” I shouted back, putting another air hole into another drone.

Steeljack jumped back and let loose his rifle, its smooth *crack* filling the air around us as he pounded round after round into the oncoming horde of drones. Violet was busy with three drones herself, I noticed while three more zipped up to me. I lined up a shot in S.A.T.S. and… missed horribly as my shot was interrupted by Violet being tossed into me. She had a small gash on her face, and was breathing hard.

“There’s too many of them!” I called out to Steeljack. “I thought you said they weren’t this smart!”

“They’re not supposed to be!” he called back. “Something must have changed. They’re dividing us and swarming. We need to stick together!”

I nodded, pushing Violet back on her hooves. “Come on Violet, we need to get to Steeljack,” I said, pushing her forward.

She nodded, still breathing heavily. She was having troubles holding her rifle with her magic. “Dammit... don’t stop on me now Violet!”

Violet perked up and trotted onward as we pushed through another group of drones and made it back to back with Steeljack. He was breathing heavily as well.

“You alright?” I asked as we watched the drones speed around us in a circle. He nodded.

“Yeah. I’m good!” he called back. “Let’s give these fuckers what’s coming to them.”

I grinned and nudged Violet, who nodded as she pulled out one of her frag grenades. Steeljack and I each pulled out one as well.

“NOW!” Steeljack shouted as we pulled pins and tossed grenades into the fray of robots. A few seconds later, several small explosions ripped through the group surrounding us, taking out several drones. The rest of the group began to withdraw back into the recesses outside of the lobby.

“What the fuck are they doing?” I asked aloud, as I checked my E.F.S. The red blips on it slowly disappeared until we were the only blips showing.

“They… retreated?” Steeljack said, as confused as I was at this point. A shuddering crash silenced him as he was about to say anything else. A red blip appeared on my E.F.S. Just one, which worried me.

“Umm… guys?” I said, shakily as I helped keep Violet up while she drank a healing potion. “We’ve got company, and it’s just big one.”

Now I’ve seen some pretty messed up stuff, having been a part of the Goddess and all that Unity junk. When you’re slaving ponies, there are a lot of things you really don’t ever want to see. This thing though, pretty much took the cake, ate it, spat it out, and then ate it again. A massive robot, walking on two back-extended legs was making its way down the mall concourse, its massive turrets pointed right at us. While this may seem par for the course, what was really messed up about this thing was the upper part of its torso. Prominent on the robot was a jar filled with a sick-looking fluid, a warped brain held in the embrace of wires and hoses. Wrapped around various parts of the thing’s massive body were stretched pieces of flesh. The disgusting thing stopped right at the entrance of the lobby.

HALT INTRUDER. SURRENDER THE PURPLE ONE OR BE DESTROYED, a grating heavy voice exhumed from the massive titan of metal and flesh.

It took me a second to realize it was talking about me. Not again! I thought as I groaned. Why did everything have to pick on me?

“What do you want with me?” I called out to the metal beast. Steeljack and Violet looked at me nervously.

YOUR BIOLOGICAL MAKEUP IS SUPERIOR TO OTHER BEINGS. YOUR MAGIC WILL ALLOW US TO ESCAPE THIS PLACE, the voice echoed over the lobby. WE WILL ADD YOUR BIOLOGICAL BEING TO OUR OWN. I visibly recoiled in shock when I realized this meant literally piecing myself to this… thing.

“I don’t think so. I have something important I need to take care of first. It’s called ‘getting me back to being me’ and I can’t rightly do that if I’m a part of you now can I?” I growled, looking around for something, anything I could use to get us out of here or to take this thing down. “Why can’t you escape on your own, anyway? You’re big enough to blow your way out of here.”

THE SAFEGUARDS ON OUR PROGRAMMING PREVENT US FROM EXITING THE FACILITY, the voice stated. WITH SUFFICIENT MAGIC SUCH AS YOURS WE CAN OVERRIDE THE PROGRAMMING. WE SAW YOU ENTER THE FACILITY AND BROUGHT YOU HERE TO BE JOINED WITH US.

I grimaced. Now I knew why the drones had waited to attack us. They knew from the get go that I was not only in the building, but that I was special. They had corralled us to this spot so that this walking monstrosity could take me, without any regards to my companions.

I reiterate: Robots suck.

“So you knew all along,” I said with a grimace. “Why? Why me? Why am I so damn important?!”

WE WISH TO LEAVE THIS PLACE. WE HAVE BEEN HERE FOR SO VERY, VERY LONG, the voice stated. If robots could be sad, I suppose there could have been a hint of sadness in its voice. Violet gasped in harsh realization, as tears welled up in her eyes.

“Star… that thing… it was once a pony, or… several ponies,” she choked out.

I stared at her and then back to the monstrosity before us. “What? What do you mean? You were…” I said softly as silence filled the air once more.

THE GREEN ONE IS CORRECT. AT ONE TIME, WE WERE PONY. NOW, WE ARE SO MUCH MORE, the voice grated, cutting the silence in half. WE ARE ONE NOW. PONY AND MACHINE, TOGETHER IN PERFECTION. I growled. It sounded just like the Unity that I came to so despise after I realized what that sort of mentality led to. There was no harmony in being joined together at the level of the soul. Souls weren’t meant to be stuck together like that.

“There’s no such thing!” I shouted at the creature, tears forming in my eyes now as well. “At one time you may have thought it was a good idea to turn yourselves into this… thing of arcane science, but it wasn’t! Harmony is about sharing in each other’s individuality, not this sick and twisted mix of body and mind!”

Despite how much I hated this disgusting thing, I still was unable to shake the fact that this being was once multiple flesh and blood ponies. Ponies who found a way to survive in the end of days, by means possible that should have never been available. I mean, Celestia’s sake, this was a fucking mall! Where in the world in a mall of all places do ponies figure out how to merge arcane technology with biological matter? Those prewar ponies were really fucked up!

IT DOES NOT MATTER. IT IS TOO LATE FOR US. WE ONLY WISH TO ESCAPE THIS PLACE. NOW, PURPLE ONE, YOU WILL SURRENDER YOURSELF TO US, the voice echoed again firmly.

“You ain’t takin’ her, you sonofabitch,” a voice to my left snarled. I looked up to see Steeljack readying his rifle. “Your time is over, you hear me? There’s no place here for some mechanical horror! Good ponies live here now, and I’m not about to let you get out of here and change that!”

“Steeljack?” I asked in amazement.

“When I tell you to run, you run. You hear me? Make it to that Administration Office. It’s our only chance to shut this damn thing down. I’ll keep it busy,” Steeljack responded with a grin, as his rifle finished reloading with a soft *click*.

“You won’t last ten seconds!” Violet cried out at him.

“That’s ten seconds longer you’ve got to get this thing shut down!” Steeljack stated. “Now go!” He jumped out and fired a shot across one of the arms of the metallic monstrosity. “Come and get me you overgrown brain factory!”

I prodded Violet and grabbed her as my horn began to glow. Oh please let this work oh please! I thought as I stared directly at the door to the Administration Office. In a flash of purple light, Violet and I disappeared and reappeared just inside that same door.

“Yes!!!” I exclaimed, pumping my hoof in the air. “I did it!!”

Violet facehooved. “That’s all well and good but we gotta get moving, or we’re going to have company shortly,” she said, pointing at her PipBuck.

Sure enough, my E.F.S. began to register more drones coming from the lobby and headed right towards us. I could make out Steeljack in the lobby hopping about as blast after blast of laser fire melted the scenery around him. Violet and I headed down the hallway until we hit a set of stairs labeled MANEFRAME MAINTENANCE.

“This must be it!” I shouted at Violet as I burst through the door at the top of the steps into the mainframe room. At the center of the room was a massive computer console, surrounded by more jars with sloshing liquid-y brains inside of them. I growled as I smashed one of the jars, spilling its contents over the floor.

WHAT ARE YOU DOING? YOU ARE DESTROYING OUR BIOLOGICAL MATERIAL, the voice echoed inside of the room.

“I’m sorry, but it’s for the best,” I cried out, tears beginning to form in my eyes. “You can’t be here anymore. You heard Steeljack. Your time is over!” I looked over to Violet pleadingly. “Do you know anything about shutting this thing down?”

Violet nodded in response as she pulled up her PipBuck. “I’ll see if I can disable it. You watch my back alright?” she said as she connected her PipBuck to the machine and began attempting to crack the terminal.

I turned around just in time to catch a blow to my face from an incoming security drone. I grimaced through the pain and kicked back. I lifted the combat shotgun and began pumping round after round into the waves of drones swarming the small room. It was getting to be too much.

“Violet! Aren’t you finished yet?” I cried out as I dodged another incoming blow.

Violet shook her head furiously. “I just need a little more time!” she yelled back. “This thing’s alive! It’s like it’s trying to avoid my intrusions!”

I growled as I fired another round into another security drone. A *click* filled the air as I ran out of ammunition in the shotgun. Quickly I levitated out the SMGs and began spraying bullets across the drones. The SMGs had little effect on the tough exterior of the drones however, but the impact of the bullets drove them back at least a little bit.

Star, Spark said from the back of my head.

Go away you, I’m busy. You can take over my head some other time, I snapped at the voice.

Star, listen to me. I know you don’t trust me because you think I’m trying to take you over. But I can help you. You’re going to die, she’s going to die and most likely your new friend Steeljack is going to die too, Spark stated. You need my help.

I sighed. As much as I tried to fight it, I knew she was right. I couldn’t do this alone.

Alright what do you want me to do? I said.

Let me take over for a short time. You’ve already encountered Loneliness and Obsession… it’s time for a little Anger, she crooned. If I could see her, I’d assume she was grinning. I growled as pain unlike I’d ever known shot through my entire body.

Fine! Do it, and make it quick. I want my body back when you’re done. I’m not going to stop until I get you out of there! I yelled at the voice inside my head angrily.

Deal, Spark said as my world went white and everything disappeared.

There I was again, in the same hallway with the same doors. Except this time, two doors were locked shut: one for Loneliness and one for Obsession. I groaned.

Not this again, I thought, waiting for which door was going to open next.

“No door this time,” a voice behind me stated. “You’re not ready yet for her.” I turned around to see a faded purple unicorn, an aged Twilight Sparkle.

“What is going on here?” I asked. “Why is this happening to me? You’re supposed to be dead you know.”

Twilight smiled softly and nodded.

“I can honestly tell you I don’t know why I’m here Star,” she said, still smiling. “The last thing I remember is being inside of the Goddess. After that, the first thing I remember is you at the lake.” I shuddered visibly. “I suppose that means you remember it too.”

“All too well, unfortunately. What she did to us, what she made us… I know it wasn’t your fault Twilight. Her personality was just too forceful for us all,” I said, shaking as I moved towards the old mare.

“Trixie…” Twilight sighed, as she slumped to the floor. “All I wanted was to make the world a better place. I just wanted to help.”

“You mentioned her earlier. Who did you mean?” I asked, sitting down in the hall next to Twilight.

“Anger. She’s a spitfire. Trust me, you don’t want to be around her just yet,” Twilight responded. “All of my emotions, they have names. You’ve met Loneliness and Obsession already. Loneliness was the filly I used to be, when I had no friends and was lonely all the time. It was a tough period in my life, but I shelved that emotion because I had the Princess and books and I had no use for friends. How silly that was.”

“And Obsession?” I asked, remembering my encounter with the crazed mare. I could still see her giggling face in my mind’s eye.

“She was me in the middle of the war. It was obsession that drove me to new heights of insanity. Obsession is what fueled my passion for my work. I was beginning to see things Luna’s way. I wanted to end the war decisively, and that didn’t necessarily mean peacefully,” she said, avoiding my eyes.

“So I’ve got all these emotions that were once a part of you?” I said, staring at her. Twilight nodded. “And you don’t know why or how this happened?”

The lavender mare shook her head in response. I flopped back in frustration on my back.

“This is so frustrating! I just want some answers! Is that too much to ask?” I groaned, before finally sitting back up next to Twilight. “Twilight?” I asked as she looked at me. “What’s going to happen to us then? We’re going to fix this right? Get you out of here, maybe into your own body? Those ponies at Tenpony, they can help us right? I mean they’re named after you and all, they’re the Twilight Society, for pony’s sake!”

“To be honest with you Star, I’m not even sure I want that. I’ve done so much harm to the world… all I want is rest,” Twilight said, sighing as tears formed in her eyes.

I extended a wing around her. “For what it’s worth… I’m really sorry Twilight,” I said, smiling at her.

“I’m sorry too,” she said, perking up suddenly. “I think our time is up though. Spark is done with her job.”

“I hate to ask this too, but who is she anyways?” I asked as the hallway before us began to erode into blackness.

“Spark is one of the most important parts of me… she was my Element,” Twilight concluded as the world faded to black.

Wakey wakey, little Star. How I wonder how lazy you are, Spark crooned into my mind as my eyes slowly opened. I looked around, noticing I was still in the Administration Office in the mall. The lights were dark and the mainframe appeared to be shut down. I could see two very blurry forms at the console.

“Hello…?” I called out.

One of the blurry forms turned back to me as my eyes cleared up, revealing the two to be Violet and Steeljack. In a second, Violet pounced on me and was hugging me.

“You’re alright!” she said, squeezing me tighter.

I groaned through her squeezes. “Can’t… breathe… squeezing… too… hard…” I managed to cough out.

Violet released her hold and smiled sheepishly. She blushed furiously.

Oh come on just tell her already! I thought to myself. She obviously likes you! I waved the thought away to focus on Violet.

“Sorry,” she said. “I don’t know how you did it but you sure were awesome!”

Steeljack walked inside the room, limping slightly. He looked like he’d been hurt too.

“What happened?” I asked with confused eyes. “I don’t remember…”

“Well… one second you were shooting up those drones while I was trying to shut down the mainframe, and then the next the entire room was glowing purple!” Violet said. “The next thing I knew, all of the drones in the room were on the ground, blown apart.”

I shook my head unbelievingly. Had I really done all that? It was impossible for me to believe.

“After that, the big guy just stopped dead cold right as it was cornering me against the wall. If you hadn’t been able to give Violet here the time she needed, you’d have been calling me Crispy-Jack,” Steeljack said, breaking the awkward silence. “Fucker still got me good though. Nothing a little Med-X and a healing potion won’t cure though.”

“Thanks,” I said. “For giving us the chance to help at least.”

He chuckled. “Sweetie, you’re something. I ain’t never seen nothing like that in my entire life. Is this what you girls in the Followers get into often?” he responded.

I shook my head. “No… usually there are less psychotic fused-together robotic ponies in our adventures,” I said, chuckling.

“Well, you’ll be happy to know that all of the drones are shut down for good. We can finally move into the mall proper, and salvage the rest of this Celestia-forsaken place,” Steeljack said happily, placing a hoof on my shoulder. “Also, while you were out we had a looksie around. Found something for you that you might just like.” He helped me up and took me over to the other side of the room where a pedestal was sitting.

On top of the pedestal was the most perfect vision of weaponry I had ever seen. It was a minigun, gleaming with the colors of night. The gleaming metal was like gazing into a field of stars on a moonless night. Somepony must have thought the same because appropriately on the side of the weapon the words STARGAZER 6000 were embossed on a plate. It was cool, awesome, and radical all at the same time! I squealed with delight.

“We found this downstairs below this room. This place must have been not just a mall but a research center as well. Those prewar ponies, I tell you. They never stopped developing for that silly war of theirs,” Steeljack said. “Nopony around here is really good enough with these kinds of weapons to get any real use out of it, and I did promise you that we’d give you the very best salvage… so it’s yours.”

I squealed with the delight one would expect a filly to have in a candy store. I reached out with my magic and lifted Stargazer from its pedestal. Despite the size of the weapon, it felt quite light in my grip. I aimed it a few times, giggling profusely as I did. Finally, my excitement wore down as I attached the weapon to my saddle. Violet snuck up behind us and tapped me on the shoulder. I looked back at her, grinning.

“Glad you’re happy with your new toy and all, but I think it’s about time we got out of this hellhole and back to some semblance of civilization,” she said.

I nodded, as Steeljack and I packed up our things. We made our way out of the office and back into the mall, heading towards the entrance. Allowing Steeljack to walk ahead of us, I fell back to talk to Violet.

“Violet,” I said quietly, as we continued to walk. “I’m not sure what’s going on, but I think I’m going crazy here. I met the spirit that the Elder was talking about.”

Violet’s eyes widened. “What? How?” she asked.

“When I supposedly saved you from that… thing. I met her,” I said, keeping a straight face. “Violet, I think she’s trying to take over my body, but I don’t know why.” Violet nodded. “The thing is… I don’t think she wants to. It’s like she’s being forced to.”

“You keep saying ‘her’ and ‘she’. Who is this spirit?” Violet finally asked.

“I think… I think it’s Twilight Sparkle,” I said with confidence. I was positive that at least part of this thing belonged to the Ministry Mare, but I was unsure just how much. “At least… it’s part of her. Bits and pieces, like scattered emotions and memories.”

“You mean the Twilight Sparkle? The Ministry Mare?” Violet asked, dumbfounded.

“The very same,” I replied. “She was a part of the Goddess. Nopony really knows what happened to her when the Goddess died. I don’t know what to do. All I can think of is getting to Tenpony and talking to the Twilight Society. Maybe they’ll know why this happened to me…”

“We’ll find help Star, and we’ll get you back to being you again,” Violet said as she hugged me. “Why are we whispering anyways?”

“I didn’t think it was necessary for Steeljack to hear this is all,” I said. “I don’t want him getting involved in something he doesn’t need to.”

“I can hear you, you know,” a voice ahead of us stated flatly as Steeljack turned around. “I don’t know anything about any Ministry Mares, but I know that I’m not cut out for this Security job. Besides, the paperwork is almost boring enough to kill all by itself. You girls are headed to Tenpony Tower?”

We nodded, eyes shifting that he had heard our conversation. There was much more to this stallion then it seemed.

“If you’d like… I’d like to come with you. If this is the kind of fun you girls get to have all the time, I’m missing out. I’m tired of drunken ponies just making more work for me,” he declared with a wave of his hoof.

I chuckled. By this time we had managed to make it back to the mall entrance. Sunlight filtered in through the front entrance. It was a warm and welcome sight.

“Steeljack,” I finally said. “You don’t need to do this. I’m not even sure what’s going to happen when we get to Tenpony Tower. I’m not even sure if I’m going to remain sane until then. This thing inside of me, I don’t know what it is, and I don’t want to hurt anypony with it.”

This was true of course. Twilight had already mentioned Anger. What if that part of her mind came out at the wrong time? I didn’t want to risk hurting a friend with it.

“Pssh,” he said, grinning. “Look at me. I’m in the most risky job in a half-rate settlement, and I’m more worried about the hassle than the danger. What do I have to worry about on the road?”

I started to respond before Violet cut me off.

“Star, let him come. You know as well as I do that I am bad in a firefight. I barely even managed to take down a single group of those robots back there,” she said. “We could use the muscle, no offense.”

“None taken,” Steeljack replied, still grinning widely.

I paused for a second and considered what Violet was proposing. She was right, after all. The more ponies we had with us, the higher chance we had making it to Manehattan without any more issues. I sighed loudly.

“Fine, you can come. But we leave as soon as we get some rest. I need to get to Tenpony as soon as possible,” I said as we passed out of the entrance of the mall. I took one look at the both of them and sauntered off. “If you need me I will be back at the inn, resting my eyes.”

I didn’t get more than five feet before I heard Steeljack say to Violet “Do you want to tell her she was out for a day and a half or should I?”

Author's Notes:

This chapter ended up being a lot longer than I originally planned, but I think I covered the ground that I needed to. Mainly I wanted to convey the beginnings of Star’s relationship with Spark/Twilight and introduce Steeljack to the group. Anyways, hope you enjoy it!

If you enjoy this story, please check out all the other FOE sidestories out there in the FOE: Related Fics group!

Revision Notes:

Revision 2 of Chapter 1 is good to go! There was quite a bit done to this chapter, and it was good to revisit and get it going. I am quite pleased at how this edit pass is turning out, and I can’t thank Heartshine and Wirepony enough for their efforts in making this workable to be recorded!