Fuck the Ambers. Fuck them. They have to come along and ruin us, every time. It's not like we weren't prepared or anything. But the plasma weapons barely did anything against them. These Ambers are upgraded. I saw it in their crystals. Energy - beyond anything we'd ever seen. Hateful and angry energy, the kind you get when someone annoys you to the point of wishing their death. Spite, given a material form and injected into their very forms.

Everyone on board is either dead or captured. I'm one of the lucky ones - I got out with a half-missing hand. The others... well, someone was taken as a torso, nothing more, with his arms and legs completely severed. Gives me shivers just thinking about it.

I don't know where they've taken the horse. Last time I saw her I was half-dead on the floor of the hangar. Kinda like her.

I've seen a Crystal brig before. The ones whose crystals are a nice, solid blue. It's a very innovative thing they do. First, they inject you with nanites that remove the need for food, drink, or the bathroom. Next, they throw you into a regenerating crystal ice cream cone that traps you in like a teepee without a door. The only view outside is on top - there's a small porthole where you can see the stars. Reminds you that the Crystal now controls you - you don't control the Crystal.

They did unspeakable things, these Ambers. They made their ships so that the screams of the tortured can be heard in the cells. And not only that, it echoes around endlessly, the pain reverbing in your ears. It's mind-numbing. It's impossible to think. For some, it gets to be too much. I've only heard rumors up to now - survivors who endured the torture in the crystal ships, who were finally rescued by Federation. I had to receive them once on board - I was, to say the least, uncomfortable by their presence. Now, I'd like to see the face of the person who receives me, if I get out of here alive.

If. If is the question, not when. This is deep space. The prisoners we cared for were all from explored space. Patrol craft found them eventually.

Us? A prayer before mealtime is more likely to happen than a rescue.

The crystal bandage that formed around my severed hand kept the blood from leaking out, but the headaches and torment it brought along was torture in itself. Add that to the deliciously painful methods they use to extort information from you, the endless isolation, and the unanimous red decor. The whole place is a living hell.

These Crystalline aren't like the regular ones - those are shades of blue. They started popping up in small fleets soon after the Rebellion was shut down. Dr. Pom always said that the color of a Crystal is dependent on the emotions they evoke - Crystalline color changes rapidly as a child, but by adolescence Crystal society has usually caused the specimen to maintain their most-expressed color. However - in the case of the Amber, the Rebel invasion of their home systems caused a certain anger reflex within the Crystal matrix - their "brain". This extreme anger corrupts the functions of the Crystalline, making them both infertile but capable of self-replication. The Amber ship is little more than a collection of dead Amber Crystallines, fused together in both mind and matter.

They remind us that we are unlike them - that we are mortal, unlike them, who can live for generations "in proxy" of themselves.

But, no matter how depraved the rumors are, there have never been rumors about Crystals becoming invulnerable to weapons. It just simply cannot be true.

Heavy footsteps. Through the semi-transparent crystals I can make out a Crystalline. It stands at seven foot two, just shorter than the average Rockman. The shape is contorted by pockmarks, most likely made using Manis spit. It's holding something in its blunt hand - cyan blue, with a faded rainbow mane and a pair of defeated blue eyes.

It looks around for awhile but does nothing. It then approaches my pod and touches it. His faceless face is as red as everything else. I scowl angrily at him, but he says nothing, merely tossing the pony into my pod and closing it.

His crystals looked solid, as opposed to the transparent nature of the red crystal covering the ship. Perhaps it was a temporary effect? Whatever the case, I had a new occupant in my cell - one that I wasn't keen on letting die.

She wasn't injured - at least, not any more than the last time I saw her. Dr. Pom had said it was a female, due to the similarities between it and mares of the species Equus ferus caballus, but other than that even his advanced processors couldn't come to a stable conclusion on what it was.

Whatever she was, I was responsible for her life.

Then, she looked at me with her magenta eyes, and I felt my heart jump into my throat. Fucking Ambers.

They replaced her left eye with a solid piece of crystal. Could she even see out of that? Did they actually torture her to try and figure out who she was? Amber torture methods are famous for not leaving any marks - she could've been...

The soft cyan fur collapsed into my arms. I felt obligated to hug it.

I had an extra nanite injection stored in the lapel of the armored Federation uniform. It was supposed to be for emergencies - I supposed this was emergency enough. There weren't enough nanites for a complete healing - merely a broken bone or something - but at least it would give her comfort.

The flat, disk-like needle went into her leg without so much as a sniffle. I rubbed her mane with my free hand while the nanites worked their magic, numbing pain systemically and promoting cellular growth in damaged areas. She slowly came to life in front of me, and only squeezed harder into the hexweave of my chestplate.

I hugged her too, trying my best to dull out the desperate screams of the tortured as they echoed around the vessel.

Briefing Report on Amber Fleet Intercept Mission

To be stored on board the UFS Nesasio until mission expiration.

Initiation date: 21/07/2107

BRIEFING - The following information is confidential to all except those for whom this briefing is intended.

UFS Nesasio,

We have received reports of increased Amber activity in the outer regions - specifically grid 10726, 130; 10738, 130; and 10748, 130. While initial readings show no difference from standard Amber fleet composition, field sources report that these ships are becoming increasingly resistant to plasma weapons and are exhibiting more brutal tactics, including boarding actions and hostage capture.

PRIMARY OBJECTIVE: Secure an Amber or an Amber vessel for interrogation and/or analysis.

IF PRIMARY OBJECTIVE CANNOT BE COMPLETED: Secure Amber wreckage (including corpses) for autopsy and salvage analysis.

SECONDARY OBJECTIVE: Respond to and resolve distress reports that may involve Amber vessels, the nature of which is either violent an/or abductive.

TERTIARY OBJECTIVE: Recover personnel and/or civilians that have been captured by Amber vessels.

They hadn't come. Both the Federation and the Amber. After they threw her into the pod it hasn't been opened since. My wounds are actually beginning to heal. She's actually beginning to look around and move on her own now. She still can't talk (if she can talk) - her throat is extremely damaged by the tube she stuck down, but at the very least she accepts mane rubs. I've tried my best to communicate with her - to an extent, it's working. Mom always said I was great with kids - this pony, she's just like a kid.

From what I could tell she has the same personality as my youngest sister - adventurous and thrill-seeking. Not afraid of anything. She's not fearful of the pod or screams, more likely just curious. She's been scratching at the crystal for days now - it's almost a form of entertainment to her. It makes me happy just looking at it.

The world changes, I suppose. Wherever they're taking us, at least I have her.

The ship shook slightly as the hyperspace fluctuator activated. Outside the tiny porthole, the blanket of tiny white dots blurred out into an unintelligible sequence of lines until the blackness of space was gone and there was nothing but light.