The light of a dark orange star poured through the windows of the ship, casting the inner walls in a strange and ominous color. Starlight Glimmer lifted her hoof over her eyes to shield them from the distant star and watched as it was slowly eclipsed by a large brown and gray planet, its atmosphere covered in thick swirls of dirty clouds.

When the planet had finally fully eclipsed the sun the ship had passed into darkness, Starlight’s eyes adjusted to a new light. Far above the planet’s surface was a red glow. Starlight squinted, and realized that it was coming from a mass of asteroids clustered together and bound to a single massive one, its half-shattered body overgrown with machinery and linked to the glow of cities on the planet below by a long tether.

Ships of every shape and size were swirling around the asteroid cluster. Some were small, but others were immense. Seeing them made Starlight wonder just how big Armchair actually was in comparison.

“Pretty, isn’t it?” asked Armchair.

“I’ve never seen anything like it,” said Starlight. Really, she had never seen anything at all, but she was still honestly awestruck by the structure.

“It is one of the few places in the galaxy where a geth transport ship can dock without any questions asked.”

“Why?”

Armchair paused. “Geth are not well liked.”

“Starlight Glimmer,” said a voice from the edge of the hallway. Starlight turned to see Si’y drifting over the uneven path, his armored tentacles swaying as he moved. She noticed that he was wearing different armor than she had seen him in before, and that he was loaded down with several weapons. As she watched, the inspected a pistol and then holstered it in the armor around his main body.

“Si’y,” she said. “Are you going somewhere?”

“Indeed, this one is. It would also kindly suggest that you follow it to the docking bay.”

“Um…okay,” said Starlight. She fell in step with the hanar, even though he was floating rather than stepping.

After a few seconds of walking, several of Si’y’s side-optics focused on Starlight. “This one wonders if the Starlight Glimmer would like a weapon?”

“I…I don’t think I could hold it,” said Starlight, raising one of her hooves.

“This one understands.” He held out a tentacle, showing the mechanical manipulators on the edge. “Possessing tentacles instead of digits and thumbs makes the use of alien weapons difficult for the hanar as well. Yet, despite these biological limitations, the hanar were able to construct spacecraft. Somehow.”

“I don’t think I would feel comfortable holding a weapon anyway.”

“Because you are not confident in your ability to properly wield it, or because you fear having the power to so easily end the life of another?”

“Both.”

“This one understands, then. You share that sentiment with Doctor Fenok, as well as many of this one’s people.”

“But not you?”

“The hanar claim to be among the most advanced cultures of this galaxy. Yet they produce little more than poetry, dances, novels. Nothing of substance, nothing of meaning.” He removed one of the pistols from his person. “The other races, they build this. Things that can truly affect the world.”

“Words can affect the world too.”

“Yes. Because clearly the Commander Shepard stopped the Reapers by speaking with them.”

Starlight sighed. “I can’t help but wonder…”

“Wonder what?”

“Nothing.”

“This one believes that if you started the thought, it is more than nothing.”

“Well, it’s just that…I can’t help but wonder what my people are like.”

“You do not know?”

“No. I’ve never met another pony. At least, not that I can remember. I don’t want to hurt anypony, but….Sjdath said my ship had weapons. No. I know it had weapons. But…but why?”

“This one believes that the answer to that is obvious.”

The conversation stopped there, leaving Starlight to think. She had memories, but they were jumbled and out of order. The idea of hurting any living thing was abhorrent to her. In the mess of her contorted mind, she could recall Equestria and its grand cities. There was peace, and she remembered that she had been happy, but that was so long ago, if it even had been true.

As they made their way toward the docking port, Starlight and Si’y suddenly felt the catwalk she was crossing start shaking under heavy footsteps.

“Dad, come on!” said Zedok, appearing around a corner and walking backward, facing her lumbering krogan father. “You said I was supposed to see the galaxy, didn’t you? Life experience and all that?”

“I did,” said Fenok, sounding exasperated. “But…this is Omega!”

“So, what? You only want me to ‘see the galaxy’ when its prissy schools on Thessia or salarian museums?”

“No, that’s not what I mean!”

Still walking backward, Zedok suddenly tripped over Starlight’s back.

“Zedok!” cried Starlight as she was pushed over.

Zedok cried out, but Si’y moved quickly. As she fell, he stretched out his tentacles and caught her.

“Oof!” she cried. She then looked at Si’y, smiled, and wrapped her arms around his armored core body. “Hey there, Si’y.”

“Here,” said Fenock, lending an immense hand to Starlight.

“Thanks,” she said, taking his hand in her hoof and feeling him pull her up. At the same time, she noticed just how intently he was glaring at Si’y, as though he were about to tear his tentacles off.

“This one was- -just protecting a valued crewmember!” said Si’y, quickly, using his tentacles to put Zedok back on her feet.

“I’m sorry,” said Starlight. “But you really shouldn’t walk backward like that.”

“Yeah, yeah,” said Zedok, brushing herself off. “I’m still going to Omega, though, and you can’t stop me!”

“Zedok…I didn’t say I was trying to stop you. It’s not safe there, and you know it.”

“I can handle myself,” said Zedok. She raised one of her hands, and the air around it sparked blue. “Besides, Jack will be there.”

“Like that makes me feel better,” muttered Fenok.

Zedok sighed. “Daaaaad, come onnnnn. Look, look at this.” She turned her attention to the tool strapped onto her left wrist. A hologram appeared. “Look! Nos Astra Sporting Goods just opened a store on Omega, and look at this!”

Starlight looked up at the armor. It was a tiny image of a being that looked not unlike an older, bustier version of Zedok carrying a rifle and dressed in form-fitting, partially plated armor. “What is that?” she asked.

“Only the latest in asari battle armor!” said Zedok excitedly. “They made in conjunction with the Batarian Research Collective with REAL Collector technology! Look at this thing! Reinforced isocrystaline plates, a full-body biotic amplification matrix, non-Newtonian nanopolymer systems- -you could take a direct punch from a krogan and not even FEEL it in this thing! Plus- -and the best part- -it’s actually fitted for an asari! Not some surplus human armor with a crappy helmet and no play in the waist- -made for an ACTUAL asari!”

Fenok leaned in closer. “And look at the price!” he cried, his tiny eyes widening. “Ze, for the price of that suit, I could put your through medical school on Sur’Kesh.”
“This one would add that it is twice what we make in a year,” suggested Si’y
. Fenok’s eyes narrowed. “How much are you getting paid?”

“I pay you what you are worth,” hissed Sjdath, shoving- -or rather attempting to shove- -Fenok out of her way. She brushed by him instead, closely followed by Jack. “If you want higher pay, hanar, start shooting the competitors instead of ME.” She paused and looked down at Starlight. She then looked back at Jack. “Please tell me that we are not bringing the horse.”

“Pony!” snapped Starlight. “I am a PONY! How would you like it if I called you a sewage-lizard!”

“I wouldn’t mind at all!” spat Sdjath. “But I WOULD tear out your eyes and eat them while you watched!”

“How would I watch if you’ve already pulled out my eyes?”

They all paused.

“The pony has a point,” said Si’y.

“She needs to see the world some time,” said Jack, interrupting the tension. “Might as well start now.”

“What’s next?” said Sjdath. “Are we going to be taking Arachne out, too?”

“Good luck getting him out,” said Fenok. He reached out and tapped several things into his daughter’s omnitool. The hologram of the heavily armored asari disappeared and was replaced with a list. “You can look at all the clothes you want, but we don’t have the credits for them. Go out there and get these supplies. I would go myself, but, well. You know how I am with other krogan. That, and I have some samples from Ms. Starlight to run.”

“Wait, you took samples of me?!”

“Not very big ones.”

“Wait,” said Zedok, her eyes widening. “You mean I can go?”

“Yeah, sure,” growled Fenok, looking away. “You’re growing up so fast, it’s…sometimes hard not to see you as my little girl anymore.”

“Dad!” Zedok hugged him, something she had to jump to do.

“I hire a krogan and I get a marshmallow,” sighed Sjdath.

“Eep!” cried Starlight, blushing. “Don’t put your tentacle there!”

“Sorry,” said Si’y.

“Just try not to get into a knife fight with a drell,” said Fenok, setting his daughter down.

Zedok looked up at him in awe. “You mean the last time you were on Omega you fought a drell?”

“No, of course not! You’d have to be insane to knife-fight a drell! It was actually your mother.”

“We are now fully docked,” said Armchair from above. “Connected at level seventy six, delta section, Zeta district. As requested.”

“Good,” said Sdjath. “Let’s try to make this as quick as possible.”

The large outer door slid open, and Starlight was immediately struck with an extremely unpleasant smelling wind. It smelled like trash and stale air mixed with all kinds of smells that were almost food.

“Sweet Celestia,” she said, covering her nose. “Is it supposed to stink that badly?”

“It’s Omega,” said Jack, stepping out past her. She took a deep breath. “I’ve smelled worse.”

“The smell is not unpleasant to this one,” said Si’y, floating past Zedok and Sjdath as the silvery door to Armchair’s innards closed behind them.

“You have an internal life support system in there,” said Zekok.

“Indeed, it does.”

“I bet I know where you’re going,” said Sjdath, lurching out onto the hard, cold metal of the isolated landing dock and adjusting her breathing valves.

“This one would assert that asari consorts will not…care for themselves.”

“This is Omega, not the Citadel,” said Sjdath. “They are not ‘consorts’ here. They are prostituka. And trust me,” she looked down at Starlight. “They stink far worse than the rest of this hole.”

“You know, I’m asari,” said Zedok. “And I don’t stink.”

Si’y looked up at her. “Zedok is the daughter of a krogan, and this one prefers its hydrostatic skeleton to remain unruptured, thank you very much.”

“Oh, come on. Daddy’s a pacifist.”

“The Hanar have a saying that many a man is a pacifist until matters come to his daughter.”

“No they don’t,” said Sdjath.

“Nevertheless.” Si’y held out his frontal tentacles in front of him, curing them around where his chest would have been if he had been a biped. “Your form is far to…maidenlike for this one’s preference.”

“Hey!” cried Zedok.

“I’m surprised you’re bothering with that,” said Jack.

“Mercenary Jack underestimates how much this one enjoys hot-buttered asari.”

“No, I mean because of this.” She pointed at a torn poster hanging crooked on one of the walls. Starlight looked up at it, and saw that it depicted a creature similar to Si’y’s proportions, except instead of being covered in metal it was apparently nude, and holding a gun wrapped in one tentacle. Starlight had wondered what Si’y looked like under his suit, but she had not imagined him to be so pink and eyeless.

Upon seeing the poster, Si’y released a garbled mechanical noise. He moved quickly to the poster.

“There is a new Blasto movie?!” he cried, excitedly. He read the text on the poster. “Played in full-color high-realism 96K holograms in a traditional batarian circular amphitheater?!” He turned to the others. “The asari can wait. This one NEEDS to see that film!”

Before anyone could even try to stop him, he rushed off down a narrow corridor.

“Well,” said Zedok. “I’d go with him, but to be honest, I don’t think it’s worth the trouble to sit through a whole Blasto movie. I’m going to go get daddy’s supplies, and then I’m going to have a look around.”

“Wait,” said Jack. She reached into her belt and pulled out an unusually large pistol. She tossed it to Zedok, who caught it easily. “Take this.”

Zedok looked down at the pistol and her eyes widened. “This- -this is a Spectre pistol,” she said in awe. She looked up at Jack. “Where- -where did you even get this?”

“Simple. I killed a Spectre.”

“No way!”

“Are you doubting that I could?”

“N- -no!” cried Zedok. She looked back down at the pistol. “Wow, it’s even monogrammed…who was ‘J.S.’?”

“It’s already loaded with polonium ammo, and I know you got Si’y to show you how to use it. Just don’t lose it.”

“What about you?” said Starlight, looking up at Jack. “You don’t have a gun now.”

“I don’t need one anyway. I haven’t in years.”

“Of…of course.” Zedok regained part of her composure and smiled. “Of course, I won’t need it either. I’m a biotic too, after all!”

She turned and took a running start before her legs charged with blue energy and she jumped an impossible height to an overhang on the next level up. “I’ll meet you back here in an…in two hours!”

Zedok then ran off. Jack watched her go, and then started walking away.

“And where are you going?” demanded Sjdath.

“To get a drink,” said Jack.

“You’re just going to leave me alone with the HORSE?”

“I WILL gore you with my horn if you call me horse one more time, sewage-lizard.”

Jack just waved as she left, not even looking back.

“Great,” said Sjdath. “Just great. No biotics, no weapons, so I hire a crew to protect me, and what do I get?” She gestured to Starlight. “I get THIS.” She sighed and looked down at Starlight. “I suppose I have to buy you an omnitool, too. I WILL be taking it out of their pay.”

Sjdath began to stamp off down a dark and wide hall. Starlight followed her. “At least you have claws,” she said, falling into a trot to keep up with Sjdath’s loping gate. “All I’ve got is a horn, and it’s real nubby and dull.”

“Yes, because clearly my claws will protect me against a krogan with an assault rifle. And at least you are a biotic.”

“A biotic?”

“Like Jack, and the asari girl.”

“I heard Fenok talking about that. What does it mean?”

“You seriously don’t know?”

“Would I ask if I knew?”

“It means you can move things. Localized mass-effect fields, really, but I don’t really feel like explaining it.”

“Move things? How much?”

“I don’t know! I’m a scrapper, biotics never really concerned me. But…”

“But what?”

“When you freaked back in my shop, you moved a piece that was over four metric tons at those gravity levels. Granted, you didn’t pick it up, but it is still impressive that you could even slide it.”

They took a side hallway that was venting a strong wind and started down it. Several creatures were standing at the entrance, loitering and speaking to each other. Starlight did not recognize them; one had four eyes, while another was wearing a mask that covered his entire face with an expressionless plate. Both of them stopped and stared at Starlight, but stepped back when they saw Sjdath. They immediately went back to talking.

“Damn quarians,” said Sjdath as her and Starlight descended into the trash-filled darkness of the lower level. “A bunch of genetic failures. I can see why the geth wiped most of them out.”

As they got deeper into that particular corridor, Starlight began to notice that they were still not alone. Figures were moving amongst the abandoned and damaged equipment and discarded parts of obsolete technology.

Slowly, they got more bold and began to step into the dim white light. Starlight pulled close to Sdjath, but she realized upon seeing the others that they were the same kind of creature that Sjdath was. They looked a little bit different: their skin was not as thick, and their faces were exposed to reveal sharp teeth set in grinning faces. They were dressed in armor that looked like it was made from scrap. They were vorcha.

Quickly, they began to surround Sjdath and Starlight.

“We need to hurry,” whispered Starlight.

“Niet,” said Sjdath, stopping.

“What are you doing?!” hissed Starlight.

Before Sjdath could answer, one of the other vorcha stepped forward. He opened his mouth and his tongue flicked through the air. He then spoke in a harsh, hissing language that Starlight could not understand.

Sjdath paused for a moment, reaching up to adjust her valves. Then she spoke in the same language.

The other vorcha’s eyes widened, and with a scream he leapt onto Sjdath, trying to pull her back into the surrounding crowd.

“Sjdath!” cried Starlight.

Sjdath hissed in her own language, and with one swift motion brought her claw across the attacking vorcha’s face, cutting him deeply. He screamed, and Sjdath kicked him back. Another swipe of her claw across his face brought him down and ruined one of his eyes. Now clutching his face, Sjdath looked around. Her eyes fell onto a rusted piece of metal. She picked it up, hefted it, and then brought it town on the second vorcha’s right arm. There was a sound of bones snapping, and Starlight felt like she was going to vomit.

The vorcha screamed, and Sjdath yelled at him, beating him again and again before finally taking the point of the bar and shoving it through his neck, pinning him to hollowed out mainframe that lay beneath him. As he struggled against it, she turned to the crowd and addressed them. They looked at each other, and then nodded in agreement. They separated and allowed her and Starlight to pass.

When they were away from the others, Starlight looked back, seeing them pull the metal out of their friend and help him stand before shoving him back into the pile of scrap. Starlight realized that she was shaking.

“Why- -why did you do that?” she asked, weakly.

Sjdath adjusted her valves. “He cordially asked if he could mate with me,” she said. “I politely declined. He was not ugly, but far too young, and I have far too little time.”

“You could have killed him!”

“He is vorcha. He will survive. In the absence of my body, I gifted him pain. If he is worthy of life, he will heal and become stronger.” Sjdath released a hiss-like sigh. “This, it is not something you could understand.”

“Is it…is that just what vorcha do?”

“Yes. We are not weak like other races. We heal, and we adapt in ways they never can. Why do you think they live down here, in this trash? Because they can. Because we can.” Sjdath looked down at Starlight. “For this reason, we are considered vermin.”

“That’s ridiculous! You’re people, just like the rest of us!”

“Not in the eyes of many, no. But we are far from the worst.”

“Worse?” squeaked Starlight. She understood that the vorcha were not evil, just different- -but they were still scary and violent. If there was something worse, she did not want know what it was.

“Oh yes. For as bad as we are, we only change ourselves to fit our world. There is a race far worse than us, a plague on our galaxy.”

“And…what is it?”

“The humans.”

“Humans?” said Starlight, momentarily imagining something monstrous and grotesque. Then she remembered something. “Wait…you mean like Jack?”

Sjdath growled. “No…I don’t know what Jack is. She might have been human once, but not anymore. But yes. The people of the planet Earth.”

“Earth? As in, like, dirt?”

“Indeed. An appropriate name for such filth. We vorcha, we spread…but they, they spread faster. They conquer and destroy. Within barely half a century, they had already gotten a place on the Council. Not that the Council races have any power anymore. But I’ve seen what they are capable of. I know.”

“I don’t understand,” said Starlight.

Sjdath adjusted her valve. “I am from a place called Wastestation 3M TA3.”

“Is that your homeworld?”

“No. It is a human installation. They built it almost as soon as they established faster-than-light travel. Its sole purpose was to seek out habitable worlds to dump toxic waste onto.”

“That doesn’t make any sense.”

“Not to you. You are sane. To humans, that is considered brilliance. Dump it into a star? A gas giant? No. Somewhere with air, so they could come back to it later. A very human prospect. They did not succeed.”

“Why?”

“They never found what they were looking for. The crew mutinied. The workers became cannibals and devoured the officers. It was abandoned, and eventually inhabited by my ancestors. But…”

“But?”

“There were stories. Vorcha seeing strange things moving in the dark, crawling in the vents. And murders. Bodies eaten with flat tooth-marks, not like vorcha have.” She adjusted her valves again. “The humans are worse than we are. By far.”

“That valve,” said Starlight. “You adjust it when you’re nervous.”

Sjdath looked down at her hand, and then pulled it away. “No I don’t.”

“Yes, you do.”

She released a low hiss. “I suppose I have a tell, then.”

“Why are you the nervous one here? I’m the soft, squishy, pretty one.”

“I assure you, by vorcha standers, I am…how is the slang? ‘Smokin hot’?” She laughed, or did something that Starlight assumed was laughter. Then she became more serious. “I am terrified,” she said. “I just wanted to get some fuel and get the blyad out of here…but it’s never that easy.”

“Because that four-eyed guy is following us?”

“You noticed too?”

“Yeah.”

Starlight looked just slightly over her shoulder, which was not difficult with her enormous eyes. Indeed, he was still there, hanging back as though he were just walking in the same direction, never looking straight at them- -at least with his lower eyes. His upper eyes were locked tightly onto Sjdath, though, and Starlight doubted he even noticed he was doing it.

“I’m not welcome here,” said Sjdath. “Damn it, he’s probably working for Aria.”

“Who’s Aria?”

“Let’s hope you never need to find out.” Sjdath opened her omnitool and began typing on the hologram. “Alright. I am going to try to use a neural overcharge on him. It should- -”

“I wouldn’t,” said a gruff voice. A pair of armored krogan stepped out from behind a pair of supports, blocking the path. One pointed a large shotgun- -which looked small compared to him, of course- -at Sjdath’s head. The other pointed his rifle at Starlight. From behind, Starlight heard the sound of a much smaller weapon being drawn and knew that the four-eyed man was covering their retreat.

“Don’t try anything,” said the krogan with the shotgun. “I’ve seen a lot of vorcha get shot, but I’ve never seen one manage to grow back a whole head.”

“Krogan warriors,” said Sjdath, lifting her hands over her head in surrender. “I am only here to get fuel for my ship! I’m sure we can work something out! If you will just let me reach for my omnitool, I’m sure I can transfer you a substantial tip for doing such fine work protecting this trash heap.”

“Do you really think we’re that stupid? Well…” he looked to his associate. “He is.”

“Hey!”

“Come on, you know you are.” He turned back to Sjdath. “But we don’t work for money anyway. We work for Aria.”

“I work for money!” exclaimed the four-eyed man.

“Quiet, you! This vorcha is real important to Aria. And she’s been dying to see you, Sjdath. Well, maybe SHE’s not the one who’ll be dying.”

“What about the…um…tiny elcor?” asked the other.

“I don’t even know what that is, but if you try to touch me, I will bite you so hard!”

“Not an elcor. Um, yeah. Take that one too. Aria will know what to do with it.”

The shotgun krogan stepped aside and then pushed Sjdath forward. His comrade kicked Starlight hard in the flank, causing her to cry out and fall into step.

Sdjath groaned. “This is exactly what I knew would happen!”
 

Far away from the obscure, vorcha-infested depths, in one of the many bars in Omega, a human and a salarian sat at the bar contemplating the tiniest of shot glasses sitting before them.

“I don’t think this is such a good idea,” said the salarian.

“Oh, come on,” said the human. “Ryncol can’t be that bad.”

“It catches on fire, you know that, right?”

“So do lots of things.”

“Not lots of things that you drink.”

The human reached out and gingerly took the thimble-sized glass. He looked over nervously at the salarian. “Are you sure you don’t want to go first?”

“Positive. I have too much to live for.”

“Thanks for the vote of confidence.” The human stared at the tiny aliquot of cloudy liquid and took a deep breath, steeling his nerve. Then he downed it.

This was followed by a great deal of coughing, choking, and spitting blood for several minutes while his salarian friend looked on with a combination of panic and bemusement. Eventually, though, the human’s coughing spasm slowed.

“Are you okay?”

“Fine,” gasped the human, feeling the horrid taste of the fluid rise through his mouth one more time in what he could have sworn was a puff of smoke.

“How do you feel?”

“Actually, pretty okay,” said the human, clearing his throat. “No. In fact, I feel better than okay. I feel great! I feel like I could pull the ears off a- -”

He stood up, but as he did, he looked down and suddenly became aware of a blue-green unicorn deeply contemplating his right hand.

The unicorn looked up at him. “Has anyone ever told you that you have nice hands?”

The human turned to the salarain. “Nope, I was wrong. I need to go to the hospital. RIGHT NOW.”

As the human began to panic, Lyra pulled herself off the high bar stool and trotted out of the bar.

“Lyra!” cried Scootaloo, emerging from the crowd outside dressed in planetary-landing naval armor. “You can’t just run off like that!”

“Have you seen these aliens?” said Lyra. She looked back at the group in the bar, with special attention to the several scantily clad blue girls. “They have HANDS! Actual, sexy, sexy hands…I want one to run one through my mane and say I’m a good girl…”

“You’re our only unicorn, and the only one here who actually knows how to fight! You can’t just leave the group, it breaks protocol!”

“Protocol?” said Lyra. “Really? There isn’t exactly a protocol for being on an ALIEN ASTEROID. And…” She bent down closer to Scootaloo. “Doesn’t protocol say the captain isn’t supposed to go on away missions? And where did you even get an armored uniform that small?”

“I can make changes to the protocol if I want to!”

“Like bringing HER?”

They both looked into the crowd of tall bipedial aliens walking by. From the group, they could hear a soft voice coming from around there knees.

“Oh, sorry! My apologies! Oh, please watch my tail! Oh! I’m so sorry!”

“Watch it!” said a passing creature.

“Oh, I’m so sorry! Please forgive me!”

With some effort, Fluttershy pushed through the group’s legs and back to Scootaloo and Lyra. Fluttershy was also dressed in planetary landing armor, and never before had it seemed so out of place on a pony.

“Fluttershy is Equestria’s foremost xenobiologist,” said Scootaloo. “It made sense to bring her.”

“She specializes in ANIMALS,” said Lyra. “And we’re not here to see the sights!”

“I beg to differ. I mean, if that’s okay,” said Fluttershy. “This could be the single greatest discovery in all of Equestrian history! Just look at them all! Real aliens!”

The group began walking, with Lyra and Fluttershy flanking Scootaloo. Due to her size, Scootaloo could be easily trampled underfoot by the aliens.

“It’s just like in the stories,” muttered Lyra.

“Stories?” asked Scootaloo.

Lyra nodded. “My people have passed down stories for many generations. Stories of the Humans. These aliens, they look a lot like them.”

“Humans are a Questlord myth,” said Scootaloo.

“That’s what I thought too. But now…”

“We’re in the middle of a clearly advanced, spacefaring alien society,” said Fluttershy.

“A smelly one,” added Scootaloo.

“Can’t you just let me enjoy this? Maybe I can take a few samples…do you think their arms grow back? I’m pretty sure they do…”

“We’re not here to take samples,” said Scootaloo. “The trail led us here.”

“To a hive of over four hundred vessels, all of them silent on all known magical channels. How can we even know which one the Core is on?”

“We look, and we ask around,” said Scootaloo. “I’m an officer of the Royal Navy. They will answer to me.”

“Do you really think that any of these things even know what the Royal Navy is?”

Scootaloo paused, knowing that Lyra was right. There was no way to find the lost Core just by walking around, not when it was probably being stored on any number of those ships- -unless of course it had already left. The thought of having let it slip through her hooves made Scootaloo panic slightly, wondering if she had made the wrong decision. Now the Core being stolen was her fault.

“No,” she said. “A city this big, it has to have a leader, somepony in charge. We find her, we find the Core.”

“Right,” said Lyra. “That’s as good of a plan as any.”

The two of them accelerated, and Fluttershy fell behind.

“Wait!” she cried. “Don’t leave me- -OOF!” She was knocked over from an impact with something hard.

“Watch it!” yelled a distorted voice.

“I’m so sorry,” said Fluttershy, rubbing her head.

“You had better be. You’ve damaged my suit!” Fluttershy looked up at a creature that, unlike the others, was barely her size and almost perfectly spherical. “It’s going to take more than ‘sorry’ to pay for this- -”

Fluttershy gasped so long and so loud that the creature’s mechanical eyes widened and he stepped back. “What- -what are you doing? What- -what even are you?”

“YOU ARE SO ADORABLE!” cried Fluttershy, wrapping the volus in a powerful hug. “So round, so chunky! I could just…eat you up…”

“Wow,” choked the volus. “You are exorbitantly soft…say. I have some friends I think might like you…”

Farther ahead, Scootaloo looked back. “Great, now we lost Fluttershy.”

“Never mind,” said Lyra. “She isn’t useful for anything anyway.”

“You know, a lot of ponies on Equestria consider her ‘Best Pony’.”

“And yet they stuck her on a long-term deep space mission. And, to be honest, I don’t blame them. Tartarans creep me out.”

“But she’s so soft.”

“You would know.”

“What is that supposed to mean?”

“Frankly? I’m saying that you don’t get a captainship at your age without preening a few pedofillies.”

Scootaloo grabbed the front of Lyra’s metal armor and pushed her off the main path. Lyra was surprisingly heavy, but allowed herself to be pushed. “You did NOT just mean Rainbow Dash there, did you? HMM?”

“So what if I did?”

“Slander against the Fleet Commander is punishable by court-martial- -or death!”

“I’m a contractor. At worst, they fire me.”

“Oh, I’ll fire you alright.” Scootaloo pulled Lyra close. “My sister NEVER touched me! Not like that!”

“Even when you wanted her to?”

Scootaloo raised her tiny hoof to slap Lyra, but found that she could not do it. Instead, she released Lyra.

“You didn’t argue that you really deserve your position, either.”

“Do you think I don’t know?” whispered Scootaloo. She looked over her shoulder and glared back at Lyra. “Do you really think I’m that naïve? I know why I got this job. Do you think I ever wanted to be a captain?”

“Are you seriously looking that gift horse in the mouth?”

“Gift? All I ever wanted was to be with her! To be her sister! To live in her house, to help her with her job- -and she gives me THIS. Stuck on some Celestia-forsaken rock covered in hideous reeking giants!”

“And yet you’re still trying to impress her.”

“What else am I supposed to do!?”

“Don’t,” said Lyra. Her seriousness stopped Scootaloo in her tracks. “Just don’t. I know where this road goes. Scootaloo, it leads to me.” She gestured to her destroyed eye and the scars on her face, and then to the barely visible ones on her neck that lead beneath her armor.

“Just help me get the Core back.”

Lyra sighed. “Fine. But it would help if you could fly up over their heads and check the area.”

Scootaloo muttered something.

“What?”

“I….”

“Can’t hear you. You sound like Fluttershy.”

“I said I can’t fly!” screamed Scootaloo, causing several aliens to look at her.

“You…you can’t fly? Seriously?”

“I have stubby wings!”

“My own feces! Aren’t you supposed to be sister to RAINBOW DASH? You know, the greatest flyer in Equestrian history?”

“I’m still growing!”

“You’re almost old enough to foal!”

“What does that have to- -you know what, let me show you!” Scootaloo extended her tiny, pointless wings and fluttered them rapidly. She took a running jump into the air- -and slammed right into the back of a blue skinned girl.

“Crap!” cried the girl, falling over backward. Scootaloo cried out and was nearly crushed beneath her weight. The girl fell, and what she had been carrying clattered to the ground. Lyra moved out of the way, but she kept her eyes on a large pistol that clattered across the floor.

“Watch where you’re going!” cried the blue girl angrily, rubbing her head. “If I wasn’t in a hurry I would kick you- -um…” she sat up, pulling herself off the tiny filly that she had nearly crushed to death. “Ponies!” she said.

“You know what we are?” gasped Scootaloo, rubbing her head and standing.

“N- -no,” said the girl, looking suspicious. One of her hands went to her side.

“Looking for this?” said Lyra, lifting the weapon in her magic.

The girl jumped back slightly, apparently surprised by the orange glow that was emanating from Lyra’s horn and from around the pistol. “You- -you give that back!”

“How about you run one of those hands of yours through my mane and call me a good girl.”

“Lyra, just giver her back her…whatever that is!”

“I was joking,” said Lyra, passing the weapon back to the girl. She yanked it out of the air and put it back into her belt. “Nice model, though. Polonium projectiles. Good choice.”

“Thanks,” said the girl, darkly.

“You seemed to recognize us,” said Lyra, her eye narrowing. “Any reason why?”

“I don’t have to tell you anything.”

“Then I will make you talk,” said Lyra, charging her horn.

“Come at me, little horse.”

“Lyra!” cried Scootaloo. “Hold on!” She looked up at the girl, who was now crouched near them. “My name is Captain Scootaloo of the Royal Equestrian Navy.”

The girl raised one eyebrow. “Aren’t you a little young to be a captain?”

“Aren’t you a little young to be stuffing your bra like that?”

“Lyra! SHUT. IT.” Scootaloo turned back to the girl. “We were dispatched here to recover equipment stolen from a damaged experimental ship. Mainly, the Core.”

“I don’t know anything about any ships,” said the girl. “I live here, on Omega. Always have. Probably always will.”

“Well, then, perhaps you could tell us who rules here?”

“Rules?”

“Who is in charge? That equipment is extremely valuable property of the Equestrian government, and we would like to work on getting it back.”

“In charge? Aria.”

“Aria?” said Lyra. “As in the siren?”

“As in the asari,” said the girl. “You know, like me. Except less sexy.” She looked around nervously. “Don’t tell her I said that, though. I mean, really. Don’t tell her. She’ll find me.”

“Then we will speak to this ‘Aria’,” said Scootaloo. “Thank you for your service to the Eternal Equestrian Empire.”

Scootaloo walked past the girl, and Lyra followed, winking as she passed and causing the girl to shiver.

When they were out of sight, Zedok stood up. “This is not good...”

Starlight was pushed harshly. She stumbled down a small set of stairs. Sjdath was pushed as well, but being a biped, she more easily caught herself. She turned and hissed at the krogan who had shoved her, but still moved in the direction she was being led.

They had been brought to a large platform high above much of Omega. In the distance, Starlight could hear loud music and see the lights of a club. The platform was almost empty, save for a number of heavily armed krogan, many with their faces covered with thick, featureless mask.

One figure was seated, and as Sjdath and Starlight were forced to approach, Starlight realized to her surprise that the woman on the long bench was an asari. She did not look even look threatening; if anything, she looked oddly like an older and bluer Zadok.

“Lady Aria,” hissed Sjdath, stepping forward. “I was just coming to- -”

Aria held up a finger, silencing Sjdath. “You will speak when I tell you to. The sound of your voice makes me want to bludgeon you to death, and frankly, these clothes cost more than ten of you and I’d rather not get blood on them.” She stood up, and then looked down at Starlight. “What is this? You have a dog now?”

“I am a pony,” snapped Starlight.

“It talks,” said Aria, mildly amused. “And just when I thought I’d seen everything.” She crouched down near Starlight. “Hmm. If it wasn’t for all that metal, it might even be cute.”

“There are more important things than being ‘cute’.”

Aria smiled. “Yes, there are.” She stood back up. “If that were the case, I’d be dancing on a table somewhere and Sjdath…well, she’d have died in the womb.”

“Aria, please,” said Sjdath, nervously.

“That talking again.” She pointed at one of her krogan aids. “You. Rip her vocal cords out.”

“No, wait, Aria, please! At least give me a chance to explain!”

“Sure.” Aria sat back down on her couch. “I’ll let you explain. All you have to do is tell me the account where you have my two million credits, and I’ll let you and your pony walk out of here right now.”

“I…I don’t have it.”

Aria sighed and shook her head. “Sjdath…you know that doesn’t speak well of you.” She snapped her fingers and smaller asari appeared from behind the krogan, carrying a tray with a glass on it. The second asari held it out, and Aria took it. She swirled it and sipped it slowly. “Delicious,” she said. “Thank you, Jenny.” As Jenny bowed and left, and Aria looked up at Sjdath. “See, Jenny knows her job. She likes to make me happy, because when I’m happy, everyone is happy. All these… ‘handsome’ krogan? They know their job. They do it, and it makes me happy. I gave you a job, Sjdath. And did you do it?” She stood up rapidly and threw the empty glass on the floor, causing it to shatter at Starlight’s feet. “NO! You didn’t, did you?”

“Aria, I tried- -”

“I gave you an advance of two million credits for ONE job, Sjdath. It wasn’t even hard.”

“It was impossible to know that Cerberus had booby-trapped the freighter! It went up before I could get the weapons off! We were lucky to have survived!”

“And where are my weapons?”

“They- -they were destroyed.”

“Okay, then,” said Aria, seeming somewhat calmer. “I get it. That happens. So just give me back my money.”

“Lady Aria, come on. There’s overhead on any salvage mission, and that one- -”

“You spent it,” said Starlight.

“NOT HELPING,” hissed Sjdath.

“So,” said Aria. “You spent my money.”

“I can pay it back, Aria. I just need more time!”

“Really?” Aria stepped closer. “Do you intend to sell pony rides, perhaps?”

Shaking, Sjdath started to turn the valve on her mask, increasing the flow. Aria reached out suddenly and grabbed Sjdath’s arm.

“You know,” she said, “you really are an interesting case. I’ve seen firsthand that vorcha can adapt to just about anything. Low pressure, radiation, toxicity…but you…your entire physiology is adapted for breathing a mixture of sulfur dioxide and hydrogen sulfide. I didn’t even know vorcha could do that. You really are a tribute to your people.”

“Aria, please,” whispered Sjdath.

“Of course,” said Aria, releasing Sjdath and stepping back. “That does make me wonder.” She looked up to one of the krogan behind Sjdath and Starlight and nodded. Before Sjdath could react, one of them reached down and tore off her mask.

Sjdath’s eyes widened. She turned arouond, trying to grab her breathing apparatus from the krogan. He held it out of her reach and struck her in the chest, forcing her to gasp. As soon as she did, her hands went to her own throat as she started to gasp and cough. Sjdath turned around, panicking, and then fell to her knees next to Starlight.

“I really do wonder,” said Aria, standing over Sjdath. “Which will happen first? Can you acclimate to an oxygen atmosphere before you suffocate?”

“Aria,” gasped Sjdath. “I will…tear out…” she was unable to finish her sentence with anything more than a puddle of black fluid that poured from her mouth.

“Sjdath!” cried Starlight, putting her forelegs around her dying friend. She looked up at Aria. “Please, give her back her mask! She’s dying!”

“That’s the idea,” replied Aria. “Isn’t that the vorcha way? She was foolish enough to come here, to MY house, without even trying to pay me. I can’t let that go unpunished.”

Sjdath collapsed completely onto the floor, breathing rapidly. “Sjdath!” cried Starlight.

“Don’t worry, pony,” said Aria. “You don’t owe me anything. But I suppose you do belong to me now. You really are cute. Perhaps you can learn to dance for me.” She shrugged. “Or, well….maybe we can sell pony ‘rides’. That would probably be…”

Aria paused, and her eyes widened. She raised her right arm and it charged with a corona of blue light. Before Starlight knew what was going on, a sphere of blue energy slammed into Aria’s arm, impacting with enough force to knock her off balance. The combination of energies produced a resounding explosion that knocked back several of the closest krogan.

Starlight threw herself over Sjdath in fear, feeling the energy of the blast tingling through the center of her horn and deep into her skull. For just a moment, she was disoriented but still aware enough to see the krogan behind her flash with blue light and then drift into the air helplessly before being slammed into the floor with enough force to deform the metal.

As they tried to struggle futilely against their newfound weight, a glowing figure stepped past them through the path she had made for herself.

“Jack!” cried Starlight.

The krogan standing behind Aria raised their weapons, Jack opened her hands, filling them with blue energy that sparked and concentrated.

“HOLD YOUR FIRE!” cried Aria, raising one hand. “She’s insane enough that she would actually try to fight!”

“And I would win,” said Jack.

“I don’t care who wins or loses,” said Aria, shaking her head. “It’s the property damage I’m concerned about.” She looked angrily at Jack. “Why are you here, Jaqueline?”

Jack dispelled her biotic energy and stepped down. She pointed at Sjdath. “Because she’s the one providing me with a paycheck.”

“Her? Really?” Aria looked down at the now mostly still vorcha, then back up at Jack. “Really? Come on, Jaqueline, you’re better than that and you know it.”

“Don’t call me that,” said Jack, calmly, “or I will do something we’ll both regret…well, you’ll regret it.”

Aria smiled. “You’re powerful, Jaqueline. Cerberus certainly does good work. But you’re still just a human. I think I could take you.”

Jack charged her biotic energy again. “Do you want to try?”

“Not here, no.”

“Good.” Jack reached down and picked up Sjdath’s mask. She threw it to Starlight, who caught it and, after fumbling for a few moments, managed to put it onto Sjdath’s face. Sjdath did not react at first, but then gasped heavily and started to convulse. After a few panicked seconds, she pushed Starlight away and tried to sit up.

“You’re sticking your neck out awfully far for her, Jaqueline,” said Aria, crossing her arms. “You know the law here.”

“Yes. It is you.”

“Exactly.” Aria looked down at Sjdath. “See? You should really listen to your employees.”

“Buck you,” growled Starlight.

The krogan soldiers- -many of whom were staring to manage to stand up- -seemed to take grave offense to that statement, and started to turn their weapons at her.

“No, no,” said Aria. “I like to see a girl with some tenacity. Don’t kill her. I will break her legs later. Assuming, of course, that Jaqueline can give me one good reason why I should put up with the migraine that you are all giving me.”

“I can’t speak for the pony,” said Jack, “and Sjdath is some fugly scum, but come on, Aria. If you kill her, I don’t get paid, and neither do you.”

“She spent two million credits. My credits. I’m out of patience, Jaqueline.”

“How long do vorcha live, Aria? Seventeen, eighteen years? Twenty at most?”

“So?”

“So? You’re, what, six hundred something?”

“Three hundred and eighty seven,” said Aria, darkly.

“Yeah right. You’re almost to Matriarch, then. Congratulations. I hear you get a special pin.”

“Jack!” hissed Sjdath, still catching her breath. “You are making it WORSE!”

“You really do have a death wish, don’t you?”

“I’ve had a death wish since I could walk. It’s why I’m here. Not the point. What I’m saying is, ten more years is a blink for you.”

“So, what? You expect me to grant her mercy? Come on, Jaqueline. You know me better than that.”

“No. You just need to give her a chance to repay.”

“Repay me? Two million credits? Off SCRAP?”

Jack pointed at Starlight. “Do you know what this is?”

“A small, talking unicorn.” Aria looked up at Jack. “I’m not going to buy the unicorn. It’s cute, but not worth two million.”

“It came with a ship.”

That seemed to get Aria’s attention. “A ship? What kind?”

“Alien,” said Jack. “Technology unlike anything we’ve ever seen.”

“You have it?”

“We have most of it.”

Aria paused for a moment. “I suppose that’s a start. Fine. You can sell that to my dealer.”

“No.”

“No?”

“NO?” shouted Sjdath.

“Come on, Aria,” said Jack. “Do I look like an idiot?”

“No, you look like a tattooed hag.”

“And I still get more than you.”

“Not exactly something to brag about, Jaqueline. And no, you don’t.”

“I figured you actually wanted to make money on this stuff. That volus ballock you’ve got upstairs won’t even know what to do with this stuff.”

“Then what?”

“It has to be sold in Council space. This is some real science stuff. Researchers, collectors, they’ll pay big for what we’ve got.”

Aria’s brow furrowed, and she paced for a moment- -a very long moment.

“Crap,” she finally said. “You know, Jacqueline, you were much more fun when you didn’t take time to think things out. I was really looking forward to watching that thing suffocate, but you’re right. As much as I hate to admit it. Killing her gets me nothing. Well, not nothing, but no money.”

“So you’ll consider it?”

“Counter offer. You come work with me. I think you could do some real good for me here.”

Jack shook her head. “I’m not ready to settle down yet, Aria. Besides, you’re not my type.”

“I know your type. Frankly, that’s one thing I can’t argue with you on.” She sighed. “Fine. Fine! But if she ever- -EVER comes back here, I will personally gut her and force-feed her the entrails. And if I don’t get paid, ALL of you are…well…I’ll let that be a surprise. Except for the pony. I think I’d keep her.” She turned around and waved her hand. “And Jaqueline, PLEASE put a shirt on. You’re, what, pushing forty? You’re starting to sag.”

“As you wish, Matriarch,” said Jack, bowing hyperbolically.

Aria went back to her couch, and the krogan stepped far back from her. “Just so you know, though, I am PISSED right now. Mostly at you. Get your supplies and get out. Don’t come back until you have my money.” She spread her arms over the edges of the couch. “And when you do come back, the drinks are on you. Maybe this time you’ll get drunk enough to have a few of my babies.”

“I don’t think there’s enough ryncol in the galaxy for that.”

“OUT,” said Aria, pointing. “First payment is one hundred K. You have one month.”

“One month!” cried Sjdath, standing suddenly. She coughed hard. “I…ohhhh…I should have just died…”

“It’s still an option,” said Aria.

“Thanks, Aria,” said Jack, grabbing Sjdath by spines on the back of her head and turning her around to the gauntlet of extremely perturbed looking krogan that had formerly been trapped under her biotic field.

“Pony,” called Aria. Starlight looked back at her. “A word of advice: when you get the chance, run. You’re not doing yourself any favors being around her.”

“With all due respect: it’s my life. Butt out.”

“Fine,” said Aria. “But if you want a home here, I’ll have a saddle and crop waiting for you.”

“Move. Now,” ordered Jack.

When they were out of sight of Aria and her soldiers, Starlight finally breathed a sigh of relief. Her reprieve was short lived, however, because almost as soon as she was starting to calm down she felt Jack reach down and grab her horn sharply.

“OW! Jack, stop!” she cried, trying to pull away but finding herself unable to. “That- -that hurts!”

“What do you think you were doing back there, Starlight?” hissed Jack, pulling Starlight’s head back. Starlight cried out in discomfort; her horn was far more sensitive than she had ever realized, and having it jarred so sharply was painful.

“I- -I don’t understand!”

“You’re a biotic, aren’t you? And you were just going to sit there and watch her die?”

“There- -my horn, Jack!”

“ANSWER. ME.”

“I- -I couldn’t do anything! They had guns, and- -”

“So what? I don’t care if there was an entire turian contingent behind them! Do you have any idea what they will do to you if you don’t fight back? You don’t just SIT there. Not when your friend is dying in front of you.”

“Friend?” said Starlight, confused.

Jack threw Starlight’s head to the side and released her. Starlight shook her head, trying to get the uncomfortable tingling out of her mind.

“Don’t you ever touch me there again,” she said, rubbing her horn.

“Next time, try and stop me.”

“It isn’t her job to protect me,” said Sjdath, angrily, pushing Jack’s shoulder.

“Did you just touch me?” asked Jack.

“What, you’re going to blow me apart? Tear off my limbs? Do it now- -because you know there’s no way I can pay that money back.”

“We have the scrap we just got.”

“Which is completely useless!” whispered Sjdath. “There’s no technology in it! The metal is at most twenty, thirty K, and you know it!”

“I just saved your life.”

“Da, and now you’re yelling at the pony for not doing YOUR OWN JOB.” Sjdath stepped back, putting her claw on her head and swearing in a combination of languages. “This is your fault, you know that, right?”

“My fault?”

“You made me come to this place with that- -that blue psychopath!”

“Me? You’re the one who didn’t fill up the fuel. But, hey. If you want, I can go right back to Aria and take her offer.”

Sjdath growled and moaned. She sulked for a moment, and then turned to Jack. “You also called me fugly.”

“You kind of are.”

“Well, I don’t like you pointing it out.”

“It was pretty mean,” added Starlight. “It doesn’t matter if it’s true, you still shouldn’t have said it.”

“Yes- -hey!”

“That reminds me,” said Jack. She reached into her pocket and pulled out a small box. She threw it to Starlight, who awkwardly caught it in her hooves.

“What is this?” she asked.

“Omnitool. It’s sized for a volus, but I’m pretty sure it will fit you.”

“For- -for me?”

“Is something wrong with that?”

“Nopony- -I mean, nobody’s ever given me anything.”

“Well, I figured you might need it to,” she turned to Sjdath. “CALL FOR HELP.”

“Shut it. I was suffocating. And, just so you are aware, I AM still drowning in my own fluids. I need to get back to Fenok. Now.”

“Fine. Starlight can buy the fuel.”

“Do NOT let the horse buy the fuel!”

“Not a horse!” cried Starlight, perhaps too loudly as Sjdath shambled off into the facility.

“We should probably follow her…wait a second.” Jack stretched out her left hand, and it flashed orange instead of its normal blue, forming the body of her own omnitool. “Zedok,” she said. “What is it?”

“We have a problem,” whispered Zedok, her voice transmitted by the device.

“We have lots of problems at this point,” said Jack. “So what else is new?”

“I just ran into a pair of ponies.”

Jack fell silent, and Starlight’s eyes widened. The two looked at each other for a moment.

“You still there, Jack?”

“Yeah,” said Jack. “Where are they now?”

“Gozu sector,” said Zedok. “I’m tailing them. I think they’re trying to find Aria. They’re dressed up all official. One of them said that they were from the navy, whatever that means. One of them’s a biotic, too.”

“You talked to them?”

“Yeah, and they’re not happy about us taking stuff out of that ship. I think they’re looking to get it back. Do you want me to take them out?”

“No,” said Jack. “Keep following them, but keep back. And I mean WAY back.”

“Right. But if they try anything, I’m offing them.”

“We’re already in a mess, Zed. Don’t make this worse.”

With that, Jack clicked off her omintool and looked down at Starlight.

“Ponies,” said Starlight. “They’ve come looking for me.”

“Probably,” said Jack, walking forward quickly. Starlight trotted behind her. “But Omega is a big place. If Zed can keep following them, we can just make sure we’re in a different place until the ship is refueled.”

“But they’re my people!” said Starlight. “What if…what if they can help me? I’ve never met another pony before. What if they’re just trying to rescue me?”

“Starlight,” said Jack, calmly. “Think about it. Who do you think wired you into that ship?”

Images flashed through Starlight’s mind, and she froze. “They…they did. The others.” She looked up at Jack. “They’re…they’re coming to take me back, aren’t they?”

“I don’t know.”