It must have been early morning when Homage finally came around. Bright light coming from the ceiling blinded her slowly opening eyes and she let out a groan as she forced them shut again, turning her head to the side.

It took her a few moments to remember what had happened the evening before, and just where she must be laying right now.

In an instant, she was feeling wide awake. Her eyes shot open and her head upwards. She was laying on a futon-like cod in a small, but surprisingly well-preserved room. The dim light of dawn was shining through a small window above her head, and dead silence hung over the room.

Leaning forward, slowly catching her breath, Homage opened and closed her eyes a few times.

Was this really happening? Had she really lost the pony she admired more than anyone else in the wasteland? Had she really gone looking for her in an old pre-war prison? And had she really ... found her?

She could feel a shudder run through her body at the memory. The pony that had knocked her out ... had that really been Littlepip? Had her heroine; her own, personal bringer of light really fallen like so many other heroes of the wasteland before her?

The mere thought of something like this happening sent tears into her eyes, and she shook her head, forcing herself to end that train of thought right there.

Carefully, she looked up again to look around the room she was in. She turned her head to the side, looking around, and froze.

Next to her makeshift bed was standing a big, old pre-war desk, and before that an equally old, big and impressive-looking brown leather chair, and sitting in it was...

"Took your sweet time waking up, huh?"

Homage gasped as she looked at the pony in the leather armor. She looked even worse in broad light.

Sitting upright, her legs crossed and front legs resting on the armrest, Littlepip looked at her.

She looked perfectly calm, and her face was almost smug as she looked her newest catch over, then un-crossed her legs and leaned back in the chair. "I need to work on that poison-dosis."

"Pip..." Homage gasped, feeling her heart sink and her eyes tearing up. There were a million words she wanted to tell her heroine in that second, but her mind was so overwhelmed with everything that had happened, she couldn't bring out much more than the lightbringer's name. "Littlepip. ... Please-

"Nope." Littlepip cut her off with a decided shake of her head, raising a hoof to silence her. "Don't waste your breath with this 'fallen hero' and 'light in the darkness'-shit." she leaned forward in her chair, her body tensing up as she fixed Homage with a freezing glance. "I did not 'fall'. I did not 'fail'! It was you who failed me!" she snarled, pointing an accusing hoof at Homage, "You and that other pack of traitors! You stabbed me in the back when I needed you most! You took my trust and just threw it away!"

Homage flinched noticeably at that, sinking back onto her cod. "Littlepip, we..." she whispered weakly, her mind struggling to digest everything the heroine was throwing at her. "We wanted to help you! You were suffering from your addiction, and we wanted to help you get over it!"

"By shooting me with a fucking dart gun!?" Littlepip countered fiercely.

"You wouldn't do it voluntarily!" Homage replied, almost begging with the angry mare. "Trust me, it wasn't an easy decision, but there simply was no other way you would-"

"I would have done the fucking therapy!" Littlepip jumped up from her chair, now legitimately raging. "I would have done it after saving that poor bastard Monterey Jack!" she shook her head, her body tensing up with trouble to put her rage into words, "I had it all under control!" She yelled with wide eyes, turning towards the captured unicorn, "All you had to do was trust me! But no!" she growled, taking a threatening step towards Homage's cot, "You had to betray me and fuck it all up!"

Homage could feel her lips tremble. It hurt. It hurt her more than anything else hearing these accusations - not least because she couldn't deny that she understood at least a bit of Littlepip's reasoning.

Still, the pain in her heart was intense, and the normally so casual and charismatic mare truly had a hard time finding the right words.

"B-but we..." she muttered weakly, "We just wanted to-"

"Shush." Once again, Littlepip cut her off dryly. "I don't know what you were thinking, and I don't care either." she closed her eyes for a moment, letting out a short sigh.

"I'm over these ponies now."

"But why-"

"Shut up." Littlepip interrupted her again, disdain in her voice as she threw her an angry glare, baring her teeth. "Remember, you're not a guest." she clarified unmistakably, "You're a slave. And you don't get to speak unless I tell you to."

Homage stiffened at those words. Her mind needed a moment to process just what her friend her just said, but as the meaning of her words became clear to Homage, she could feel an all new emotion well up in her mind: anger. She didn't know what had gotten into Pip to act like this, but she sure wasn't going to sit by and watch as she was losing her mind!

"What in the world are you talking about?" Homage asked, cocking an eyebrow. "I'm not your damn slave, and I sure as hell won't-"

She was cut short as she saw Littlepip's hoof come forth, and split-seconds later a stinging pain exploded over the side of her face. The slap wasn't hard by any means, but it sufficed to upset the mare's balance and make her fall over on her bed, a hoof instinctively coming up and carressing the aching spot on her face.

Like thunderstruck, Homage lay motionlessly on her cod for a moment, breathing heavily. Tears were running down her face, partly caused by the pain in her neck region, but mostly by the pure, blank horror the realization that Littlepip wouldn't hesitate to harm her hitting her mind like a sledgehammer.

Her tormentress let out a long sigh and looked to the side, away from the gasping mare. "I'm sorry." she muttered after a moment. "I lost control for a moment."

"What the fuck!?" Homage snarled as she had caught enough breath to sit back up again, the pain in her cheek quickly fading. "What the fuck, Pip?" she asked, turning at the unicorn mare with eyes wide in horror, "What the fuck has gotten into you!?"

Littlepip remained silent at that, staring at the wall behind her. Then she looked back at Homage. "I told you, didn't I?" she said bitterly, shaking her head. "My friends betrayed me. You betrayed me! The whole fucking wasteland betrayed me!"

"I... I know, but..." Homage replied hesitantly, "Why? Why didn't you come back? Why..." her look darted around the room, "All this?"

Again, Littlepip replied nothing, just looking at her newest prisoner with a cold, calculating glance. Then, after a long period of silence, she turned around and, with a curt, "Follow me." walked away from her chair and towards a glass door set in the wall next to her desk.

Still hesitant, but determined to get some clarity on just what was going on, Homage slowly got up from the cot and followed Littlepip through the glass door leading onto a small balcony outside. What she saw made an all new wave of sickness crawl up her throat.

Slaves. Dozens of them.

The balcony the two were standing on overlooked a few acres of fields, all filled with working ponies who were harvesting what looked like small, sicklish carrots, sowing seeds, or watering the fields with sick brown water. They all could have been taken for industrious farmponies, if it weren't for the bomb collars around their necks or the dozen or so armed guards standing at the edges of the field and watching over the working hordes like predators.

Homage took a moment to let her gaze wander over the enslaved ponies, then lowered her head with a sigh. "You've got to be kidding me." she muttered drably, keeping her look directed at the ground.

She clenched her teeth, letting out a drawn-out sigh. Boiling inside her was a dangerous mixture of anger and sadness, and she was sure it wouldn't take long until one of these would prevail and she would do something she might regret later on. After all, contrary to all the other captives around her, she wasn't wearing a slave collar, and if she were to use the element of surprise, she was sure she could overhwelm Littlepip if the need would arise.

"Beautiful, isn't it?" Littlepip said, making Homage look up at her. "It took me years to build this up, but finally..." she paused, taking in a deep breath; a wide smile formed on her face, "Finally we're here."

Homage shook her head in resignation, then turned her head towards the mare she used to love. "Why!?" she spat out, "Pip, why? Why the fuck are you doing this!? You used to do everything to stop ponies like this, but now you've become one of them!"

The slaver-turned heroine just shrugged carelessly. "Times change, ponies change. You can either go with the flow, or drown." she offered a half-assed response.

Homage wanted to respond, but then bit her lip, letting out a pained sigh. Seeing her love like this brought her pain beyond imagination, and no matter what she would say, nothing would be able to express the agony burning in her heart.

Littlepip said nothing for a few moments, seeming to enjoy the silence that was only occasionally interrupted by noises coming from the fields.

Slowly, she took in a breath, then, keeping her look focused on the fields below them, said, "You might be wondering why you're here, and not with the other scum down in the holding cells."

Instinctively, Homage wanted to protest against calling the slaves 'scum', but controlled herself, as that was a question she really hadn't thought about yet. If Littlepip wouldn't hesitate to attack and imprison Calamity, Velvet Remedy or SteelHooves, what was keeping her from doing the same to Homage?

"See..." she began, her look remaining on the fields down below, "I won't lie to you. I've been tempted to put you down there with them. After all, you stabbed me in the back when I needed you most - just like them." she paused for a second, her eyes narrowing, bitterness in her voice.

"However..." she turned to face the gray unicorn mare, "Contrary to them, I believe there's still some hope for you left." she explained, her face lighting up ever so slightly.

"Wha- what do you mean?" Homage asked warily, even though she already had a suspicion of what the answer might be.

"I mean you might still have enough brains in you to change your mind ... and join me." Pip said soberly. The bitter look on her face vanished more and more as she elaborated. "I've been living here for years now, and I couldn't be happier." she said, her voice lighting up with every word, "Who needs the wasteland? Who needs all that misery out there? We've got everything we need here, and we don't need waste a single thought on all the shit going on out there."

Homage remained silent, looking at her lover with a bewildered look.

"Come on..." Littlepip invited, and Homage felt reminded to the old times for just a second as she stretched out an inviting hoof, "Fuck the wasteland; fuck all the pain and the misery out there! Join me, and we'll never need to look back again!"

Homage looked at her friend's outstretched hoof, letting her words sink in for a moment or two. Then, however, her look went past it and towards the fence that encircled the whole correctional facility. The balcony was at about the same height as the fence's top; if she would climb onto the railing and jump, she could-

Her thoughts were cut short by a long, disappointed sigh coming from the mare of the house.

"You're thinking about breaking out, aren't you?" she asked bitterly, rubbing her nose with a hoof.

Again, Homage looked back to, her and she realized that the mare still had made no moves to stop her. More importantly, she realized that this was probably one of the best chances she would ever get! Feeling her pulse speed up, she took a step towards the railing, already tensing the muscles in her legs for the jump that would take her to freedom, but was stopped by a brief, calm "Don't." coming from Littlepip.

As much as her mind struggled against it, Homage stopped dead in her tracks, casting a confused look at the pony. She wasn't confused by Pip telling her to stop, as much as she was confused by her making no moves to actually get Homage to stop.

"You wouldn't make it far, trust me." Littlepip explained drably. Before Homage could inquire further, Littlepip's horn lit up, her telekinesis picking up an empty cup from a small side table on the balcony and launching it past Homage and over the fence.

It flew for about a second, maybe two, before two magical energy turrets hung from the two watchtowers on either side sprung to life. A beam of vicious purple energy came shooting from the turrets, and hulled it into a deadly cocoon, reducing it to a small cloud of dust within less than a second.

Homage swallowed as she watched the incineration, feeling the heat on her fur, even from this distance. This ... this could have just as well been her!

"They're programmed to shoot anything that leaves the perimeter." Littlepip explained matter-of-factly, "Cup, pony, slave, slaver, you name it. Nothing gets out of here without my permission."

Total silence hung between the two ponies again as the commotion died down.

Then, slowly, bitterly, Littlepip asked, "So you won't join me, huh?"

Homage took in a deep breath. Truly, she could think of a hundred ways to explain her former love that and why she won't join her for this madness. This was ... this was so wrong on so many levels! But really, all she could bring out was a slow shake of her head. This had been way too much to handle for now.

Again, Littlepip gave a long sigh, letting her head sink. "Fine." she said conclusively. "Then go."

"What?" Homage questioned, raising an eyebrow, genuinely confused for a moment.

"You heard me, slave." Littlepip hissed, sharper this time, and stretched out a hoof into the direction of her room, "Back into my room. Now. And don't make me encourage you."

It was a few days later when Homage was awoken from a light afternoon snooze by a knock on the door. The past days had been ... devastating, to say the least.

While she was undoubtedly happy that her personal heroine wasn't dead after all, the realization that she had turned into ... this made her heart hurt almost more than her death.

Every minute; every second she had spent thinking about how she could escape this hell - without using violence. As much as she hated everything that was happening here, she knew that, when things would get rough, she couldn't get herself to hurt Littlepip. She just ... couldn't. No matter what she had done, Homage still admired her; loved her even, and the mere thought of harming her brought her physical discomfort.

So at least for now, she had come to the conclusion that laying low was the... safest course of action. She deeply regretted not being able to help the slaves and her captured friends, but history had proven to her that acting overhasty would cause failure more often than it would lead to success. And she couldn't risk any lives - neither her own, nor those of her friends.

So she had decided to play along for now; play the innocent, brainwashed slave, and wait for her chance. From snippets of dialogue she had gathered up throughout the past days, she knew that the facility's defense mechanisms could be disabled from a central terminal, and she knew for certain that, given time, Littlepip would let the location of that terminal slip. And when that time had come, she would be out of here.

And then she would come back. Oh how she would come back!

She would gather up all the ponies she knew. Heck, she would mobilize the whole wasteland if she needed to... and come back here. Free all the slaves, take care of the slavers willing to surrender, then burn this whole damned place to the ground. And with the proper caution and tactics, she knew that she could get her fallen heroine out of this safely; take her back to Tenpony Tower and knock all this nonsense about giving up in ponies out of her, once and for all.

At least, this was her plan. She knew that the time to act would come, but... but it hadn't come yet. And every second she spent laying around doing nothing felt like torture to her; knowing that there was nothing she could do right away made her feel so helpless, so ... useless.

Shaking her head, trying her best to not let her thoughts becoome too dark, she let her look glide over the room she was in, her eyes ultimately coming to rest on the ... table that had now filled out the middle of the room since a few days ago.

An all new wave of sickness hit her as she saw it ... as she saw ... him. SteelHooves.

Really, as if incapacitating his armor, rendering him completely unable to move hadn't been humiliating enough, now it seemed Pip had decided that the immobilized Steel Ranger would make for a great piece of furniture - and had promptly had him brought up to her private quarters and fixated a tabletop on his motionless back, turning him into probaly the most heavily-armored table in the whole wasteland.

"I'm so sorry SteelHooves." she whispered weakly, her voice full of hurt, as she reached out a hoof and gently touched his armor. "I should've just listened to you. The goddesses know you'd probably have all of us out of here safely in no time."

She had to admit, despite the fact that he was still alive, and could sense what was going on around him, it did feel a little odd talking to what basically looked and felt like an inanimate object.

But she quickly shook her head at that thought. SteelHooves was still in there, and she'd be damned if she was going to leave without him!

That is ... as soon as she would get a chance to leave. If she would ever get a chance to leave.

She could feel her head sink in incoming despair, but perked up as a second knock came from the door, which was promptly met with a curse and the sound of hooves coming from the back room as Littlepip walked past what had become Homage's private cot and towards the door leading into the staircase.

"What!?" she growled as she tugged the door open. A blue unicorn slaver in black leather armor stood at the other side.

"There's a bunch'a slaves wanting to talk with you." he grunted back, unaffected by the harsh greeting, "Said they won't work till they've seen you."

That caused the slave mistress to blink with a blank expression, before she gave an angry huff. "Are you fucking serious!?" she snarled at him, "How many times do I have to tell you? If there's slaves that refuse to work, just grab their legs and start pul-" she cut herself off as her look went past the slaver and she saw who the ponies that wanted to see her were.

"Oh." she noted dryly, and Homage could see a sinister grin forming on her face, "Why, isn't that a surprise!" she gave a curt nod towards the slaver who grunted again and then turned around, walking away.

"Come on inside!" Littlepip invited her 'guests' with a mock friendliness in her voice, "To what do I owe the honor?"

The two ponies came walking from the twilight of the staircase into the room... and Homage could feel her heart sink.

Velvet Remedy and Calamity. And they did not look good.

To be fair, the wasteland hadn't been to good to them to begin with, leaving them in not the best shape. But now... now their already skinny bodies were now even more emaciated; their coats were matted, sticky and dirty. Their looks were directed at the ground, their rueful eyes looking up at Littlepip like sheep to slaughter, the two ponies looking a picture of misery.

Calamity took in a short breath, then hesitantly began, "P-Pip, we ... we wanted to talk with you ... 'bout ... gettin' outta here."

That gained a truly amused snort from the mare, who broke out in a short giggle, "What!?" she asked, chuckling, "Are you serious? Are you fucking serious!? You just ... walk up to me and ask me to set you free!?"

"No." Velvet Remedy chimed in softly, her voice hoarse, "We ... wanted to..." she bit her lip, swallowing, "Fight for it. In the pit."

Finally Littlepip's laughter faded and she replied with a dry "Oh." The smile slipped from her face, and she reflected for a moment, but then shook her head, "Nah, I know you two, and you might actually end up killing one of the other slaves." she shrugged, "Why take a risk?"

"No, Ah meant..." Calamity spoke up again, pain in his voice, "We wanted to fight..." again, he paused, looking at his partner who gave him a short, sorrowful nod, "Against each other."

Again, the slaver mare gave a short laugh. "You're kidding, right? I know you two like each other. Way too much to fight."

"We ... we don't want to fight." Velvet Remedy explained, giving a short sob, "But ... if one of us can get out of here, even if the other one has to-" she cut herself off, breaking into another fit of sobbing.

Calamity, putting a comforting hoof on his friend's back, continued, "We'd rather have one of us be free than the two of us rotting in here forever. That's all there is to it." he explained bitterly. "So whaddaya say?"

The slaver mare remained silent for a long moment. Then, after some contemplation, her face lit up noticeably, a wide smile spreading over her face.

"Yes." She finally said, nodding, "Yes, this is perfect!" the grin on her face widened, her look darting between the two, "You two, fighting each other till death. One has to kill their lover to be set free." That sentence caused Velvet to give another soft sob as tears finally started running down her face.

Littlepip ignored her friend's tears completely, and nodded, looking like she had to contain herself to not let out an excited squeal. "What a great idea!"

The charcoal unicorn collapsed to the floor, sobbing, wailing like a little filly. Calamity, doing his best to console his lover, gave Littlepip a hateful glare as he put a wing around Velvet, but remained silent.

"Alright then, we got no time to waste!" the slaver mare continued swiftly, sounding truly excited, "We'll do it tonight, at seven!" her look shot back to her downcast friends. Pointing a hoof at them, she gushed, "Just the two of you! Fight till death!" the wicked grin on her face widened as she added, "No rules, no restrictions! Anything goes! I wanna see some blood!" she declared, biting her lip in ecstasy as she talked herself into a stupor.

"W-why?" Velvet Remedy whimpered softly. She had gotten back to her hooves, but her voice was still weak and her legs were trembling, "Why do you have to do this? Why do you have to make us-" but she cut herself off mid-sentence as another fit of tears broke loose and she embraced her pegasus lover, crying into his shoulder.

"Shhshh..." Calamity did his best to calm her, his dull eyes directed at the ground, "Don't let her have the pleasure."

Littlepip, seeming to enjoy every last tear her former idol shed, watched her sob for a few moments, but then stepped in, saying, "Alright, enough with the wailing. Come on you!" her horn lit up and the door to the staircase slid open where the unicorn slaver from earlier was standing ready, "You got a fight to prepare for. Knucks!" she said, addressing the slaver, who looked up, "Bring these two to their cells." she said, tilting her head into the direction of the couple, "Give them whatever they want - food, water, candy... make them have a proper last meal."

"Aye." the slaver grunted soberly, and turned around. Calamity, still holding Velvet in his arms, turned around to follow him, but was cut short as an aura of magic, similiar to that around Knucks' horn formed around his and Velvet's collar and the slaver tugged the two behind himself. The pegasus opened his mouth to protest, but fell silent as the mare in his arms let out another sob, mourning this terrible world.

"No!" finally Homage had managed to break out of her stupor and had dashed forward, facing Calamity and Velvet Remedy who looked up with red, tearstained eyes. "Y-you can't...!" she sought for words, being so overwhelmed with the fact that her two friends were ready to willingly sacrifice their life to grant the other freedom. "This is stupid!" she finally brought out, "You don't ... you don't have to fight each other like animals! We'll find another way out!" she proclaimed, her eyes begging with those of Calamity, who still seemed a bit more composed than his marefriend.

"There's no other way, Homage." Velvet whimpered weakly, "There's no other way out. ... No escape." she closed her eyes, and another tear ran down her face, "No hope."

"What the fuck has gotten into you!?" Finally, it seemed, Homage had found her temper again, "Seriously! You've been up shit's creek before, you got out safely every time, and now you're gonna give up after not even a week!?" she snapped, taking an angry step forward, "What the hell is wrong with you!?"

"B-but this is ... this is different." Velvet countered slowly, "It ... we just ..." she closed her eyes, sobbing, "We can't. There's no other way."

"But-"

"There ain't no other way, Homage." Calamity cut her off weakly. He locked eyes with her, and she could see the despair, the exhaustion, and the hopelesness in them. It broke her heart.

"There is another way!" the unicorn affirmed desperately. Knucks, seeming to get impatient, yanked the two ponies' collars warningly. "There ... there will be another way! Just give me time and I'll ... I'll figure something out!" she offered the pegasus with increasing despair, but he just shook his head.

"Nope." He replied briefly, once again locking eyes with her. "Ah appreciate it, but... if that's what it takes to get us outta here..." Homage wasn't sure, but she could have sworn she saw the corners of his mouth twitch upwards for just a second as he said, "Then' that's what we gotta do."

He turned his head to the side, resting it on Velvet Remedy's shoulders and closing his eyes. She, in turn, broke into another fit of muffled sobbing and blaming herself for all this.

Homage looked at the two, confused at that last bit Calamity had said, but before she could inquire any further, Knucks ran out of patience and gave the two ponies' bomb collars another hard yank, throwing them off their hooves and to the ground where he then proceeded to drag them out of the room.

"Bye bye~" Littlepip chanted happily, prancing around and after the two, "Get ready you two, I wanna see a show to remember!" she waved a hoof at the bundle, then closed the door behind them, gave a heavy sigh and turned to Homage with one of the happiest smiles Homage had ever seen on her. "What a lovely twist of fate, huh?"

"P-Pip..." Homage mumbled like thunderstruck. "How ... how can you ...?" she pointed a hoof at the now closed door, "These ponies ... they're your friends! You would have died for them if you-"

"Not now." Littlepip put her off with a quick flick of her hoof, trotting over to the door leading to her balcony and gushing to herself, "I can't believe they really wanna fight each other! This is better than all I could have ever imagined! They will fight! And I will watch!"

"Pip..." Homage tried to protest weakly, "Please..."

"Oh what a day." Littlepip chanted, placing her two hooves on the door handles and pushing it open, "What a lovely day!"

The short mare stepped out onto the balcony, her joyful look going down to the ponies working on the fields. Not too many looked up at their master's sudden outburst, and those who did were promptly rewarded with a whiplash to the back from nearby slavers.

"Listen up, slaves!" Littlepip shouted, the smile on her face going from ear to ear. Now all the slaves' heads were raised in an instant, along with these of the slavers.

"You're all off for the rest of the day!" she proclaimed happily. At the confused, unbelieving stares she received, she added, "Yes, all of you! There will be a big match in the pit for tonight, and I want all of you to be there to watch!"

A few seconds of silence followed, until an avalanche of excited, happy cheers broke loose. Homage, having joined her former friend on the balcony, looked down at the cheering masses... and felt a bitter sense of disgust in the back of her throat as she realized that, based on their shouts for another battle, most slaves down on the fields seemed more excited about the upcoming fight than about the free afternoon - a fight in which her two best friends would...

She had to swallow as she felt tears forming in her eyes again. She had to stop this! She had to do something!

But ... what could she do? Velvet Remedy and Calamity were both wearing their slaves collars, meaning that one wrong movement could cause them to...

She shook her head to clear away the gruesome images popping up in her mind.

And even if they could somehow get rid of their collars, there still was the belt of turrets about the premises - without these disabled, her friends would be turned to pinkish dust the second they set hoof outside the fence!

But she could do this! She would find a way! She'd be damned if she would just stand by and watch her friends kill themselves.

Okay, first she had to disable the turrets. Piece of cake, right? She just had to find the ... secret terminal or something -easy, right?- hack into it -like a walk in the park!- then she could disable them. Then all she had to do is sneak out of Littlepip's private quarters, into the holding cells, find a way to unlock her friends' bomb collars without triggering them -easiest thing in the world!- and somehow get past the guards, all before 7 o'clock.

Homage gave a long sigh, looking at the pony next to her whose look was still focused on the fields below them. Giving her a calculating glance, Homage wondered if she should try to attack her instead of going the sneaky path. She ... hated the thought of hurting her former lover, but her two friends' lives were at stake! And if she could save two ponies by assaulting one -no matter how much she still felt for that one- she... she wouldn't hesitate to do the right thing!

She bit her lip, fighting with herself, but then lowered her head, once again remembering that time was of the essence - and that she couldn't afford to just stand around. She had to act. And she had to act now!

With that thought in mind, Homage took a step back from Littlepip, getting ready to pounce on her the second the slaver would turn her head just a little further to the side. Keeping her look focused solely on the unicorn mare, she tensed the muscles in her legs to do what had to be done and- wait, why was her horn lighting up?

Click.

Even before Homage had seen the green aura around her friend's horn, she had already felt the cold touch of metal on her fur, and the dooming sensation of a collar being closed around her neck, tightening around her throat, and feeling like it was about to strangle her.

She opened her mouth, wanting to scream more out of instinct than anything else, but all that came out was a breathless gasp as one of her hooves shot upward, touching the bomb collar that now sat wrapped around her throat as well.

Homage stiffened as the harsh reality came crashing down on her:

She, too, was now just a push of a button away from a certain, gruesome death.

And now she really was choking; head dropping forward, dry heaving, and feeling like she was about to vomit from pure disgust and hopelessness.

"You don't think I'm this stupid, are you?" Littlepip said bluntly, shooting Homage a somber expression.

"Come on." she said, turning back around and tugging Homage's collar, "We've got a fight to look forward to."

The now all the more enslaved pony, dragged by her mistresses magic and not daring to resist so as to not set her collar off, followed her inside, being led to her cot like a brahmin.

"Lay down." Littlepip commanded her dryly, and Homage obeyed without backtalk, letting her head hang low, feeling... utterly powerless.

She had failed.

She should have come up with a plan; should have found a way to bring this all to a good ending.

But she had failed.

And now all that was left was the small, tiny bit of hope that Velvet Remedy and Calamity could help themselves.

Because she, quite obviously, was the most incapable savior Equestria had ever seen.

She closed her eyes, letting her head sink onto her hooves, tears wetting her eyes.

Velvet Remedy was right.

There was no hope left.