Outside the ship, the wind continued to blow. Starlight stared out the window, watching the thick red gas swirling by at blinding speed and listening to the distant sepulchral creaks of the ship as it settled under the pressure of the atmosphere outside. Occasionally a flash of light would struggle to streak though the murky distance, a lightning bolt that would be followed with muffled thunder heard through the glass and steel of Armchair’s body.

In a way, it was terrifying that such a storm could even exist, but stranger still that from a distant the gas giant had looked so peaceful at a distance, a red and tan marble floating in the light of a distant, harsh sun. At the same time, Starlight felt oddly secure. Even as damaged as he was, Armchair was still secure enough to keep the storm outside and them safe within.

A clicking of heavy clawsteps came from down the hall, and Starlight waited. She did not need to turn her head to know that Sjdath was approaching.

Sjdath eventually came to a stop near Starlight. She looked down, and then out the window.

“I know,” she said. “This is bisulney. Completely insane. Sometimes I wonder, what did Cerberus do to her to make her come up with ideas like this? But in all honesty, it works. Their ship could be ten feet away from us in that soup and it would never see us. That is, if something that large could survive the gravity sheer. Which it can’t.”

“Have you made any progress on figuring out where exactly we are?”

“Somewhat.” Sjdath opened her omnitool. “Some backwater in baterian space. How we got here, though, I have no idea. In some ways, I don’t want to look.”

“Why?”

“Because of what I keep finding. The mass corridor was already collapsing when we started to pass through it. We barely pulled through. The relay must have been destroyed the instant it fired…and Armchair…”

“I haven’t heard him speak.”

“Because he can’t. Not now. The damage to his body is…extensive. Arachne is already working at full speed to restore him.”

“And you?”

“I have had…other concerns.”

“How is Si’y doing?”

“He is strong for a man with no spine. It is why I keep him around. He will heal.”
“And you?”

Sjdath put her hand on her newly thickened and mottled skin, specifically on one of the still visible circular scars. “Better. Much better. In fact, better than I ever have. My stem cell profile is that of a six-month old. Something in that weapon…I thought I was too old to adapt.”

Sjdath trailed off, and the two of them stood in silence for a moment.

“You know why I’m here,” said Sjdath at last.

“It’s time, isn’t it?”

Sjdath nodded. “Come. We need to meet Fenok.”

Starlight sighed, and then turned away from the window. She fell into step with Sjdath and they walked together through the dim halls lit by the luminescence of atmosphere outside, the upper winds of a planet hundreds of times larger than any world with a hope of supporting life. The only sound was that of the ever-present wind and their footsteps against the metal below.

Together, they moved into an inner part of the ship. There, Fenok and Jack were already waiting for them.

As they approached, Jack turned toward them. “Still wearing the suit, Star?”

“Still going topless, Jack?”

“Yeah. Pretty much.”

“I really wish you wouldn’t,” sighed Fenok. “Not that your tattoos are unpleasant, but, you know, it sets a bad example for Zedok.”

“You don’t complain to me about that,” said Sjdath, somewhat annoyed.

“Yeah. There’s a reason for that.” Fenok opened his omnitool and started walking. The others followed him.

“So our patient is finally waking up,” said Jack.

“Yes. I tapered off her anesthesia. She should be regaining consciousness any minute.”

Starlight sensed a hesitation in his voice. “Something is wrong.”

Fenok looked down at her. “Yeah. Yeah it is.”

“What?” said Jack.

“On her physical examination…well, she’s not doing good.”

Starlight felt her breath catch. “We didn’t- -”

“Oh, no,” said Fenok. “She was like this long before we got to her. Years. Decades, even.”

“What’s wrong with her?” asked Starlight, firmly.

“Well, with her head and spine, noting. Except that’s all she has.”

The others stopped. “What?” said Jack in disbelief.

“Exactly as I told you,” said Fenok. “Look, I didn’t believe it at first either, but it’s true. Head, spine, part of an upper torso, and a few fragments of organs. That’s all she has. The rest is some kind of cybernetic system.”

“You mean…like the implant on my back?”

“More than that. This isn’t implants, it’s a friggin casing. And weirder? I have no idea how it works. There’s no power system, no electronics, nothing. It’s linked straight to her nerves but…”

“But what?” said Jack.

“It’s powered directly by her biotics. That’s the only way I can imagine how her body was supposed to work.” He looked up at Sjdath. “I hope you had better luck with her exoskeleton.”

“No,” said Sjdath. “I went over it from top to bottom. And it is just as you say. Clockwork.”

“Clockwork?” said Jack.

“Clockwork, pistons, gears. Not an ounce of electronics, computers, mass effect equipment- -nothing that we consider remotely modern technology. It is indeed well made, but it is well made for about two thousand years ago.” She paused and looked down at Starlight, then quickly back to Jack. “Just like their ship was…”

“So she’s just a severed head in a robotic body?” asked Jack.

The others were silent for a moment. “Well…she has a spine, too,” added Fenok.

“Fine,” said Jack, pushing past Fenok. “I just needed to know which parts of her I can break.”

Jack stormed off, and Starlight trotted after her. They quickly reached the area where the pony Lyra was being held. Standing outside the door was Zedok, and floating beside her, Si’y without his armor.

Starlight could not help but stare for a moment. This was the first time she had seen what Si’y actually looked like without his metal coating. He was oddly pink and smooth, and Starlight thought that was really strange. She just could not imagine a hanar not covered in metal and wielding a ridiculous quantity of firearms.

“Si’y,” said Sjdath. “You’re up.”

“This one has repaired its mass-effect levitation system,” said Si’y. Starlight was surprised to see that his upper body flashed when he spoke. “This one’s suit, however…that will take more time to repair. This one apologizes for appearing before Captain Sjdath and its other associates in a nude form.”

“Don’t be,” said Sjdath, apparently smiling beneath her respirator mask and adjusting the valve. “Your tentacles are a lot thicker than I expected, Sianiris.”

Si’y’s color darkened. “This one- -thanks you.”

Sjdath looked him directly into where his eyes probably would have been. “Frankly, I think that you are wasting your talents on the prostituka.”

“This one- -this one- -this one- -”

“Eew!” said Zedok, shuddering.

“Come see me later about an ‘advance’ on your pay,” said Sjdath. “But right now, I work to do.”

“Finally,” said Zedok, pushing herself off the wall she had been leaning on.

“No,” said Jack, pushing her back. “You stay out here.”

“But- -but why?”

“Because I’m about to do some things that you probably shouldn’t see.”

“This one shall remain outside as well,” said Si’y. “It would not be proper etiquette for the honored enemy to see this one in its present state.”

“Fine,” said Jack, pressing her hand against the door control panel. The door hissed open, and Jack turned back to Starlight. “Star?”

“I’m going in,” she said. “I have to hear what she has to say.”

Despite this reassurance, more to herself than anybody else, Starlight hesitated for a moment at the threshold to the door. Then, bracing herself, she entered. Almost as soon as she did, she began to wonder if she had made the wrong choice.

The room was little more than a windowless storage closet, and the teal pony sat on the far side, chained to a wall. Her body was not in good shape, and Starlight momentarally felt sick at the sight of her. Lyra was missing one foreleg, and the plating on much of the rest of her body had been removed, revealing the gears and metal frame that allowed her limbs to move. Inside her open chest, Starlight could see the remnants of organs connected to numerous thin, glass-like tubes filled with red liquid that fed from the junction that sat on what had once been her upper torso. Most of the machinery in Lyra’s body was static, but Starlight could see one organ that was moving: a mechanical heart, constantly beating.

Logically, Starlight knew that Lyra was mostly robotic. Emotionally, though, it sickened her to see a pony in this state. Lyra was the first pony Starlight had ever seen, save for the distant and confused memories of her past. She had hoped that finally meeting one of her own people would be a much more joyous experience, an affirmation that she was not alone. Instead, she got this.

Lyra appeared unconscious, and Sjdath approached her, adjusting a collar that had been placed around Lyra’s neck. Lyra groaned and moved weakly, but did not resist “It is good,” she said.

Fenok raised his left arm and opened his omnitool. “I am going to administer a stimulation,” he said, tapping a single button on omnitool.

Lyra suddenly jerked and lifted her head, her eyes wide and confused. She took a long, deep gasp as several valves opened and closed in her open torso, and then looked around.

The first person that Lyra looked to was Starlight. Lyra’s eyes narrowed with hate, and her horn ignited orange, preparing for attack- -only for the magic glow to suddenly collapse as a similar burst of orange light poured out of Lyra’s collar, causing her to scream in surprise and pain.

“What- -what have you done to me?” she demanded. “My magic- -”

“Won’t work,” said Sjdath. She leaned down and looked into Lyra’s eye. “This system was designed by Cerberus to contain HER.” She pointed at Jack. “And if it held her, I sincerely doubt you will be able to escape.”

Lyra’s eyes narrowed. “So be it, you hideous primitive.” She struggled slightly against her chains, but quickly found that they were threaded through her limbs themselves. She could not move more than a few inches from the wall. Then she stopped, assessing the situation and looking around the room. “Captured, I suppose.” She looked up at Jack. “You should just have killed me.”

“Oh, I still might,” said Jack. She stepped forward and crouched down in front of Lyra. “But to be honest, I think it’s better this way.” Jack stood, and then swiftly punched Lyra in the side of the face.

“JACK!” gasped Starlight.

“Now I get to make you talk.”

Lyra, whose head had been turned sideways by the blow, spit out some blood and part of a tooth. Then she smiled and slowly turned back to Jack. “Do you really think an evolutionary failure like you can get anything out of me? This isn’t my first rodeo.”

Jack struck Lyra again, this time in the other side of the face, and followed with another blow. Lyra took a moment to breath, and then looked up, still smiling, her nose leaking a thin stream of blood. “You hit…like a colt…”

“Oh yeah?” said Jack, oddly calm. Then she laughed- -a sound that terrified Starlight with how cold it was, and how oddly sincere it became. “You might be right. I’m not as young as I used to be. And definitly a lot less patient.” She reached down and grabbed Lyra’s horn, squeezing it hard. For the first time, Lyra winced as if in pain, and Jack pushed her head back. “So I guess I should work smarter, not harder.”

Jack pushed Lyra’s head to the side and released her. She slowly crossed the room to a small counter. Starlight could not see what was on it, but she heard metal clanking as Jack picked through the objects. Then, suddenly, Jack stopped and turned around. Starlight and Lyra both saw the pair of pliers in her hand.

“Not much left of you, is there?” said Jack, calmly walking across the room toward Lyra. “But you still have one thing, I think.” She crouched down in front of Lyra and reached out, putting a single finger on the tip of Lyra’s horn. “Fenok tells me that this is how you control your biotics. It must have an amazing number of nerves to give you that much control, doesn’t it? I bet yanking it out sure would hurt.”

Lyra’s expression remained stony, but Starlight saw her expression flicker just enough to betray her fear. The mechanical device that served as her heart suddenly started beating faster.

“Last chance,” said Jack. “Tell me what you want with Starlight. Why you attacked us. What you did to her.”

Lyra reared back and spit blood into Jack’s face. “Buck you, primitive,” she said.

“Fine,” said Jack, lowering her soiled goggles. She grabbed Lyra’s horn hard, causing the unicorn to grit her teeth against the discomfort. Then she lifted the pliers and put them around the base of Lyra’s horn, taking time to show Lyra exactly what she was doing. “What do you think? Pull it straight out, or twist it nice and slow?”

“Jack, no!” cried Starlight, rushing to Jack’s side. “Not her horn! You can’t- -”

“Watch me,” said Jack, tightening the pliers.

Starlight was about to pull Jack back when Fenok stepped past her. He grabbed Jack by the shoulder and threw her back. The pliers clattered to the floor.

“What the hell, Fenok?!”

“The horn is connected to her frontal lobe,” said Fenok, sounding exasperated. “It goes into her BRAIN. If you pull it out, you’ll lobotomize her!”

“You were there, Fenok. She attacked us. Tried to hurt Zedok and Starlight- -and she DID hurt Sjdath and Si’y. You know she deserves it.”

“But if you pull out the brain through the forehead, we do not get information,” said Sjdath. “Not that I care. But here.” She opened her omnitool. “I have a modified program for a neural shock that will stimulate the pain receptors. All of them. At once. I’ve tried it, it’s pretty potent. She will probably survive, too.”

“Probably?” said Starlight, feeling increasingly uneasy.

“It works differently on different species. The last quarian I tried it on died instantly. Because they are genetic failures. No big loss, though.”

“Go ahead,” said Lyra, defiantly. “And when I get out of this, I’ll shoot you again. This time in the face so you stay dead. Don’t worry, it won’t make you any less ugly.”

“I don’t like this,” said Starlight. “I mean…she’s just a pony.”

“I agree,” said Fenok, shaking his head. “You barbarians…let a krogan show you how to do an interrogation.”

“Fenok…”

Fenok crossed the room and acquired a small but well reinforced stool. He dragged it across the floor and set it down in front of Lyra. He then sat down on it and leaned forward toward her. Lyra looked back up at him, her eyes alive with resistance.

“You’re a male,” she observed. She turned toward Jack and Sjdath, who had taken up waiting on the far end of the room near the tool table. “And I thought you couldn’t sink any lower. Letting a male on your crew…” She turned back to Fenok. “I bet you belong to the blue one, don’t you?”

“She’s my daughter.”

Lyra’s eyes narrowed. “Then she is a bigger pervert than I thought.”

Fenok frowned, and lifted his hand. Starlight immediately felt nervous and afraid, not knowing what he was going to do to poor Lyra.

Instead of striking her, though, he pressed one of his fingers against his thumb and very gently flicked Lyra’s nose.

“Boop. Bad pony.”

Lyra’s eyes widened in shock, and then she lunged forward. “How DARE you!” she screamed. “I am a one hundred and forty seven year old warrior! I have seen more battles than you could imagine and killed more ponies than you can COUNT! Torture me if you must, but I DEMAND that you treat me with the respect I’ve earned! I will not stand to be booped!”

“I’m sorry,” said Fenok. “I can see how that would be insulting to you. I didn’t mean any disrespect.” He paused. “Your name is Lyra, is that correct?”

“What do you think?”

“I think it is. My name is Vuhlig Fenok.”

“And I don’t give a rat’s butt.”

“Boop her again,” said Jack.

“If you do, I will bite you.”

“Calm down,” said Fenok. “I’m not here to hurt you. I just want to talk.”

“Talk? At least the ugly one was trying. You’re just wasting my time.”

“You’re not going anywhere. And neither am I. I think we have time. And if you don’t want to say anything, that’s okay.” Fenok opened his omnitool. “When Starlight pulled you back to the ship,” he said, slowly as though he were absentmindedly speaking while doing something more important. “We pulled that robot suit you had up too.”

Lyra did not respond. She just looked to her side, glaring at Starlight.

“I took a look at it,” said Fenok. “And, I admit, I’m no engineer. Not like Sjdath is. But I know quality when I see it.”

“You primitives couldn’t possibly understand the technology.”

“No, but I do know that it was in a lot of battles. You’ve had it for a long time. Dents, scraped paint, laserburns…but there was one spot where you never let the paint fade.” Fenok held out his arm and projected a holographic projection of a piece of plating from Lyra’s robotic suit. On it was painted a trio of colorful objects. To Starlight, they looked like blue and yellow bows, or perhaps wrapped candies.

Lyra’s eyes flicked toward the hologram, and as much as she tried, a hint of recognition crossed her face. “So what. It’s my crest.”

“No, it isn’t,” said Fenok. “Yours is a harp. It was etched into your flank plate.”

“It’s a lyre,” said Lyra. “Not a harp.”

“Which leads me to believe that this is somebody else’s symbol,” said Fenok, slowly and calmly. “And it may not look like it, but I was a soldier once. A long time ago. I recognize a memorial when I see it.”

Lyra looked up at him, and then at the wall to her left. “You wouldn’t understand.”

Fenok paused, and then groaned as he leaned back, sitting erect on the stool. “I have a story. One I don’t tell much. Would you like to hear it?”

“Do I have a choice?”

“Not really, no. But I think it will help us understand each other a little better.” Fenok began: “You’ve met my daughter, Zedok. What you can’t imagine is just how much she looks like her mother. Her name was Alaelia. I met her almost two decades ago, on Omega. She was a lot like you, in some ways. A warrior to the core. Reckless, dangerous, lethal…the kind to laugh as she ran into battle, but deep down, she was so sad. You could see it in her eyes, sometimes. How much she was hurting. It was a mismatched pairing, I guess. Me, probably the only krogan pacifist, trying to set up a medical practice, and her, working for Aria. But somehow we fell in love.”

“That’s beautiful,” said Starlight. Fenok looked back at her and smiled. Then he turned back to Lyra.

“She actually listened to me. To what I thought. Nobody ever did that. On Tuchanka, I was a freak. Even Okeer, who was like a father to me, tried to kill me when he found out what I was. But she actually understood.”

“So what?” said Lyra, harshly.

“So? We left Omega. She returned to Thessia, and I went with her. We got married. We were there seventeen years ago, when the Reapers came. We served in the evacuation, but somehow we both got out alive. We survived, and when it was over, Zedok was born.”

“But something happened.”

Fenok nodded. “When the Reapers left, the war ended, but the violence didn’t. There was a rebellion, and they called Alaelia back into service as a commando. I begged her not to go, to stay with me…but she went anyway.”

“And she didn’t come back.”

Fenok shook his head. “No. No she didn’t.” Fenok put his hand to his face and closed his yes. “Fourteen years. Fourteen years, and sometimes, I still look to the door, expecting her to walk in, smiling, as if nothing happened. I still wake up alone, and I reach out for her…but she’s not there. She never will be. Never again.” He opened his eyes and looked at Lyra, who was now watching him with rapt attention. “So forgive me if I can say I understand what it’s like to lose somebody.”

“Fenok,” said Starlight, putting her hoof on his side. “I’m so sorry.”

“It’s okay, Ms. Glimmer. There’s nothing you could have done. Nothing anyone could have. Except me…”

“The mark,” said Lyra. “You’re right.” She sighed and looked down at the floor. “It belonged to my lover. My Bon Bon.”

“What happened?” asked Starlight.

Lyra pulled her remaining foreleg forward. The chain rattled, but she did not try to break free. She just looked at it. “This. This happened.” She leaned back and looked at the ceiling. “It was back during the war. For centuries, Equestria has been at war with the Crystal Galaxy and the Dark Empress Cadence. My Bon Bon was a spy, an agent. You wouldn’t have known from looking at her. Hay, I didn’t know until years into our relationship. But I should have. The way she moved, with precision, confidence, always knowing exactly what to do. She was an earthy, and almost a century younger than me…and I guess it sounds idiotic, but I looked up to her.

“But then they sent her in. And something went wrong. She got caught. So they sent my unit in to get her out.”

“But you…she didn’t make it,” said Starlight. “Did she?”

Lyra shook her head. “We were massacred. When we got there, she was…she was already gone. Damn it, I think they already knew. They sent us in anyway.” Lyra let out along sigh. “They knew I would do anything for her, that I would push straight through to Cadence herself if it meant saving my Bon Bon…and I led my mares to their grave. For nothing. There were no survivors. Not even me.” She looked down at her body again, and her tone hardened. “But that’s now how Equestria works. You don’t get to die unless they give you permission. And they made me into…this.”

Lyra slammed her hoof into the metal floor, and her voice started to waiver. “I tried! I really did! But it’s my fault! It’s my fault I lost her! The only mare I ever loved, the only thing in my whole bucking life that mattered, and I failed! If I had just been faster, or stronger, of if I had held on a little longer…”

Fenok reached out toward Lyra’s head, and Lyra turned away sharply, trying to defend her horn. Fenok did not reach for it, though. Instead, he gently laid his hand on her head and ran it through her hair. Lyra turned toward him, her eyes wide and watering.

“It’s not your fault, Lyra,” he said. “You hear me? You did everything you could, gave everything you could. You did nothing wrong. You’re a good girl, Lyra.”

Lyra’s eyes quivered and she sniffed, and tears started to roll down her face.

“I’m a- -hundred and thirty seven- -year old warrior- -a Questlord- -I’m not- -crying- -”

Then she began to weep, and Fenok got down of his stool and hugged her. She hugged back and screamed, not in pain but in anger and sadness, long inarticulate sounds of rage and a hurt she had held onto for so long.

“Goddamn it,” said Jack. “I hate paragons…”

Fenok ignored her, and continued to wait patiently until Lyra was done.

“Are you okay?” he asked.

“No,” said Lyra, wiping her eyes with her remaining hoof. “But I’m better.”

“You don’t have to tell us anything if you don’t want to, but it really would be helpful if you could.”

“Yeah,” said Lyra. “Yeah…it’s not like I know that much, but I guess I can help.”

“What do you want with Starlight?” asked Jack.

Lyra looked up at her, still somewhat defiant. “She is property of the Equestrian government. My ‘commanding officer’ is attempting to retrieve her. As simple as that.”

“How can I be property?” asked Starlight.

Lyra turned to her. “You mean you really don’t know? You’re a Core.”

“A core of what?”

“Of a ship. A living source of magic. A ship isn’t anything without a Core, just a piece of metal and stone. It’s the Core that makes it move.”

“Wait,” said Sjdath, sounding intrigued but also incredulous. “You mean your power source for a vessel is not a mass core but rather…a living biotic?”

“Horse. Shit,” said Jack. “That’s the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever heard.”

“No, that’s how technology works. Through magic. That’s the way it has been since Starswirl the Bearded created the first Core and brought ponies into space.”

“And I’m telling you that’s impossible. No biotic is that powerful, not even me. You’re telling me that ship, that real big one that chased us out of the Perseus Veil, THAT thing was powered by biotics?”

“I didn’t actually see it, you know that, right?”

“It was big,” said Starlight, softly. “Immense…but not just its size. What it felt like. It came in a flash of purple light. I…I don’t think it used a mass relay either.”

“Purple?” said Lyra. She smiled, and then laughed.

“What’s so funny?” demanded Sjdath.

“You really stepped in it now. That ship was probably the Harmony, the flagship of the Equestrian navy. And yes, it is powered by ONE being. The Core of the Harmony is the Fourth Goddess, Princess Twilight Sparkle. If they came…” She turned toward Starlight. “You must be really important.”

“What do they want from me?” said Starlight. “What were you trying to do to me?” She was becoming increasingly agitated.

“You are a piece of equipment, part of a damaged ship. I don’t know more than that. What do they want to do? I’d say they want to put you back in there.”

“But I don’t want to go back,” said Starlight, quickly.

“You don’t get it. You don’t have a choice. You’re not considered, you know, alive. You are property. Stolen property. Nothing more. Not even a real pony…”

Jack stepped forward suddenly and Fenok was forced to stop her. “She is NOT property,” she hissed, “and there is NO WAY I’m going to let you take her.”

“You don’t understand. You primitives don’t have a choice. This isn’t an ordinary Core we’re talking about, here.”

“I’m right here,” said Starlight. “And I have a name.”

“Do you have any idea how ridiculous that sounds? But that’s not the point. Contrary to how it looks, I don’t actually care either way. But they care. And they will not stop until they have you back.”

“But their ship is trapped,” said Sjdath. “They destroyed their mass relay, the only way out of that system. It would take centuries at light speed to get to- -”

“I don’t even know what a mass relay is,” said Lyra. “If that’s how you primitives move between systems, it doesn’t matter. The Harmony has an internal teleportation capacity. It can go wherever it wants to in an instant.”

“Teleportation? Do you know how ridiculous that sounds? I wouldn’t believe you…except…” Sjdath looked down at Starlight, and Starlight understood. She had already teleported them once, and it had not even been difficult.

“Your galaxy hasn’t even mastered the most limited aspects of magic,” said Lyra. “For a civilization that actually has hands, everything you do is simple, childish. You’re living on borrowed time.”

“Then we will fight them.”

“You couldn’t even fight me.”

“No,” said Starlight. “I don’t want to go back…but…”

“But what?” Jack turned toward Starlight, angrily. “You can’t be thinking about going back to them?”

“But if they’re going to hurt you, then maybe- -”

“No!” said Jack. “That’s not how it works!”

Starlight frowned, and turned back to Lyra. The teal pony stared back, her sighted eye almost as cold and empty as her hazy blind one. Starlight knew that she was right. The things that Lyra was saying, they made sense to her, as if she had once known them long ago but forgotten them. She understood what she was supposed to be, but also knew that she had not always been that way. They had done something to her to make her a Core, but she could not fully remember what. She did not want to.

“Fine,” she said. She turned around swiftly and opened the door, walking out.

“Hey,” said Zedok, who had been leaning close to the door and listening, futilely. “How’d it go?”

Starlight did not answer, and Zedok looked to Si’y, concerned. Si’y just shrugged. Starlight continued down the hallway until she heard heavy footsteps behind her.

“Hey!” called Jack, running to catch up to Starlight.

Starlight turned around quickly and responded far more angrily than she had thought she would. “What the hell was that?”

Jack froze, slightly taken aback by Starlight’s reaction. “What are you talking about?”

“You were going to pull of her horn! What is wrong with you?!”

“Me? We needed that information. They were going to take you away- -”

“I already knew that! I was part of an engine for years, decades even, and they’re trying to put me back. They stole my life. I get it- -but you didn’t need to do that to her!”

“You know she deserved it.”

Starlight groaned angrily. “You don’t understand! It’s her HORN!”

“Star, I don’t understand why you’re getting worked up over this…”

“Why? Because I have a horn too! I thought you of all people wound understand, but I guess I was wrong. Why didn’t you just rape her while you were at it?”

The atmosphere of the room suddenly became icy, and Starlight immediately realized that she had said something wrong.

“Don’t you dare talk to me about rape,” said Jack, her voice threatening and low. “You’re lucky that it was US that found you. And I wasn’t that lucky.”

“I know you’ve been through a lot. But that doesn’t give you the right to touch a pony’s horn.”

Jack leaned forward, staring Starlight in the eyes. “I will touch whoever’s horn I want to. I will touch YOUR horn if I want to!”

Starlight stepped back, shocked, and Jack’s expression changed. This time, it was her who realized that she had said something wrong.

“You know,” whispered Starlight. “I would have let you. If you had asked. Because you’re my friend. Or I thought you were. I’m starting to think I don’t even know you at all.”

“I never claimed to be a good person,” said Jack. “I’m not. I never was. But I’m not going to let them take you, Star. I’m not going to let them use you like they tried to use me. I don’t care who gets in my way. Human, pony, whatever they are, they will die.”

“I didn’t ask for that,” said Starlight. “They used me as a weapon, but I never wanted to hurt anybody. I still don’t want to. And having you kill people for me doesn’t make it right.”

“I stopped caring what was right a long time ago.”

“Then maybe you need to remember. That’s what I thought you were trying to do.” Starlight turned around and started walking. “You can sleep by yourself tonight.”

“Star…”

“Just leave me alone!”

As Starlight walked away, Jack almost followed her. Instead, though, she just took a deep breath, and then slammed her fist into the wall, producing a deep dent. If anybody knew how Starlight was feeling, it was her. Afraid, confused, angry, Jack knew it all.

That did not make her feel any better, though.