Starlight slowly brought herself to a stop. There was no sensation of inertial changed, and no sound of any engine or air-processing system. The only sound was the almost imperceptible buzz of the tech elements of her projected starship.

With the much greater number of individuals present, Starlight had been forced to expand the size of her construct, including more rooms and larger hallways. This was not much of a problem; theoretically, the maximum size she could produce was much, much larger than her normal design. She had never tested the larger size, though; there simply had been no reason to.

Down in one of the frontal projections, Darien was clinging to the floor, scratching futilely against the biotic energy and tech plating trying to get a grip.

“Hey, hey, hey,” said Zedok, kneeling down and putting her hand on his shoulder. “It’s going to be okay!”

Darien looked up at her, nearly on the verge of tears. “These are the worsest of upsies!”

“I can’t believe this,” said Beri, who was sitting on a nearby chair. “For one, that even an asari would go for that…thing. And that I’m stuck with all of you. I’m a trained professional!”

The tech-based chair beneith her suddenly retracted into the wall, causing Beri to drop to the floor.

“Hey!” she cried.

“Sorry,” said Starlight, her voice transmitted throughout her structure. “Conserving resources.”

Farther up in the ship, Starlight sat suspended from her construct, watching the universe through her sensory array. Usually, she used the various implants in her body and tech constructs to transmit the images and metadata directly into her brain, but this time, she projected high-resolution color images of the system outside into several large screens.

“Is that it?” said Jack, looking at the image of the mass relay that Starlight had currently fallen in orbit around.

“Yes. The only two relays close enough to the edge of the system are the one in the Sol system and this one.”

“And from what I’ve heard,” said Lyra, “we’re not getting anywhere near Sol.”

“Even I am not that crazy,” said Jack. She stepped closer to the image. “You know, I thought it would be bigger.”

“The size of the relay is not technically relevant,” said Armchair, who was crouched next to Starlight, his tiny robotic tail wagging with excitement. “In theory, all distances between any two networked relays are functionally nonexistent- -that is, there is no delay time through the hyperspace channel.” He paused. “The actual problem would be resolution. Which is dependent on the output relay more so than the input.”

“Meaning?”

“At the distance between two galaxies…calculating…calculating…”

“Don’t bother,” said Starlight. “I know what would happen.”

“I don’t,” said Jack.

“We do not think that you would want to. It would be…messy.”

“Star?” Jack suddenly seemed much more concerned.

“It won’t be a problem,” asserted Starlight. She removed the crystal IFF from her pocket. Lyra took a large step back.

“What?” said Starlight.

“Nothing,” said Lyra. “I just recognize Crystal technology when I see it.”

“Well…according to Jade Wing, this should be enough to access their mass relay network. I just need to access it.”

Starlight lifted the crystal in her magic and moved in front of her. The magic shifted, assembling into a complex mechanism of moving parts resembling clockwork that closed around the facets of the crystal. A second set of tech projections appeared, closing in around the crystal in a clasp and connecting to what Starlight assumed was its access ports.

Once it was in place, Starlight fed it a signal- -and immediately cried out.

“Star!”

“No, no,” she said, wincing. “It’s okay…holy BUCK…”

“What is it?” asked Lyra.

“I thought this was some kind of memory chip…it’s not. It’s a whole computer matrix. And not a small one. There are entire space stations with a TENTH the processing power of this thing.” Starlight omitted the fact that accessing it while unprepared for its actual nature had nearly destroyed her brain. Fortunately, her mental reflexes were fast enough to produce a firewall in time, but only barely. It had still hurt like the dickens.

“It’s probably designed to operate an entire fleet,” said Lyra. “Star, you shouldn’t be handling it. This isn’t safe.”

“We can assist,” said Armchair, firmly.

“No,” said Starlight. “I’ve got this.”

She sent a second signal to the crystal, and it turned sharply in her magic. Huge swaths of data flowed into Starlight’s mind. Not a lot of it was useful, mostly control ports for systems that it did not have a link to. Starlight adapted quickly, though, learning the nature of the crystal and its operation. In truth, it was actually very poorly optimized. Even while still devoting most of her mental energy to navigating it, Starlight was already coming up with better ways to use it.

“I have it,” she said at last. “The code parameters.”

“Now hold on,” said Lyra. “I’ve said it before, but you have to understand, Starlight. There’s no way to know what’s on the other side. If we go, there’s a chance we might not come back. And with what I know about them, this is going to end in a mess. There’s still time to turn back now.”

“It’s not like we’re going through the Omega relay,” said Starlight.

“I’ve actually done that,” added Jack. “Yeah, it was pretty hairy.”

“It’s going to be fine,” said Starlight, firmly. “I’m not even Equestrian. If anything, the Crystal Empire and myself are on the same side.”

“So that’s it,” said Lyra.

“Yes,” said Starlight. “And I’m going.”

Her ship tilted and slid forward through space, its trajectory shifting toward the mass relay. Starlight watched it growing closer, its gyroscope spinning perpetually in the emptiness of this nearly abandoned space. Once she was at the proper range, Starlight entered the code from the IFF. She suddenly felt herself being pulled toward the relay.

The ship accelerated, and suddenly it was out of Starlight’s control. The mass relay maneuvered her between its projection rails, and then all at once space seemed to shift. Starlight felt nauseous.

Then, as quickly as it had come, the feeling was gone. Starlight’s sensors flickered and returned new data concerning a new location.

“Well,” she said, smiling. “We didn’t disincorporation!”

Jack turned to Starlight. “That was a possibility?”

“No,” lied Starlight. “Still, my first time taking this construct through a mass relay. I think I did pretty well.”

“Look at that…”

Lyra had barely spoken in a whisper, but Starlight looked to the one remaining screen that was still functioning. While the other two were showing nothing but static at the moment, the third was displaying an external view from the ship. Starlight had already had an abstract idea of what she was surrounded by from her sensors, but seeing it with her real eyes made her breath catch in her throat.

“Holy crap…”

Outside, they were orbiting a new mass relay. Its original shape was clearly visible, down to the dim glow of its rapidly spinning gyroscope- -but unlike the first, this one was encased entirely in crystal. The result was that it was increased nearly ten times its normal size, complete with an extra pair of enormous crystalline rails extending outward toward the blackness of darkspace beyond.

That was hardly the only impressive part, though. Extending beyond the entombed mass relay was a system crystals. They were something like an asteroid field, except that some of them were the size of planets and all of them were arranged with surprising order into long trails that drifted off millions of kilometers to the perimeters of Starlight’s visual sensory field. All of them glittered and shone brightly in the light of a violet star.

“It’s beautiful,” said Starlight.

“Not, it’s not. Look closer.”

Starlight did, enhancing the image. Her eyes widened as she saw what was present amongst the crystals. Floating outside were hundreds of starships or the remains of them. Some were floating, either between the smaller crystals or in orbit around the larger ones. Some, though, were being slowly encased by them and slowly consumed.

“What…what is this?” she asked, even though she already knew.

“The results of over a thousand years of continuous warfare,” she said. “And a warning. Of what happens to invaders.”

“Star,” said Zedok, her voice transmitted through the ship to Starlight. “Are you seeing this?”

“Yeah,” said Starlight, softly. She was actually seeing it far better than any of the others could. They could see the ships- -the massive battleships and supercarriers down to the frigates and even independent fighters- -but Starlight could see at a much higher resolution. She could see the bodies, the mummified corpses of the crews that floated lazily and silently outside their former vessels, preserved perfectly for centuries by the vacuum of space.

“How many Cores do you think are out there?” she asked.

Lyra turned to her. “Every ship has at least one. Larger ones use multicore systems.” She looked back through the screen and pointed to a vessel that was over ten kilometers long. “That’s a hypercruiser. They haven’t made those in close to eight hundred years. It must have taken over fifty Cores to power.”

“It’s not fair.”

“War isn’t fair, Starlight.”

“Isn’t it? All those ponies out there, they knew what they were getting into. They made a choice. Did the Cores, Lyra? Did they get to choose this?”

Lyra did not answer. Starlight directed her vessel toward the system and began to move through the field.

“A thousand years of this,” said Jack, watching as the debris of thousands of Equestrian ships passed by on the screens. “I can’t believe you didn’t just- -” She stopped, and suddenly looked nauseous. She put her hand to her head and recoiled as though she had been struck. “Aw shit! What the hell was that?!”

“I felt it too,” said Starlight, wincing.

“We detect nothing,” said Armchair. “Nothing unusual has been encountered.”

“Yes it has,” said Lyra. “We just passed into the defense field.”

“Defense field?” said Starlight. “What does that mean?”

“It’s the answer to Jack’s question. The field is a projection of the Dark Princess’s magic.”

“You mean Cadence? What would she be doing out here?”

“She isn’t. From what we could tell, she exists close to the center of the galaxy and never leaves. You misunderstand. Her magic covers the WHOLE galaxy.”

Jack and Starlight stared at Lyra. “You mean a biotic field the size of a galaxy? That’s…that’s not possible.”

“She is an alicorn,” said Lyra, simply. “And not a young one like Twilight Sparkle. Equestria has the same type of field. It isn’t very strong. Enough that we can feel it at first, and enough that she knows we’re here. Its purpose, though, is to stop teleportation.”

“Teleportation? Why?”

“Why do you think? How long do you think the war would have lasted if Celestia could teleport the entire Fleet into the core of the Crystal Galaxy, or if Cadence could teleport her crystal horde into orbit around Equestria Prime? Neither side could ever win a decisive victory over the other’s homeworld. We just kept slamming into each other’s galactic borders.”

“For a thousand years?”

“Even longer. There was still fighting before the war.” Lyra pointed at a small ship half embedded in crystal. “Take that, for example. That’s a Questlord battlecruiser. My people have not constructed ships like that in close to two millennia. They must have been one of the first here. And Cadence still slaughtered them.”

“I thought you were Equestrian.”

“Not…exactly.”

Outside, Starlight suddenly became conscious of something moving amongst the crystals. She did not change the view on the screens so as not to alarm the others, even though she was sure that Jack already knew from her how her posture suddenly stiffened.

Starlight turned her sensors toward the anomalies and saw that the it was not simply a matter of something moving near the crystals; rather, several of the larger asteroids seemed to shift, their surfaces condensing into points and then suddenly splaying open into spiky, urchin-like spheroids. Four were produced, and almost as soon as they disconnected from their host crystals Starlight detected the presence of a mass effect field around them. They were charging with magic.

“We have company,” she said.

The crystal vessels moved quickly, skirting around the edges of Starlight’s bow. Two took positions in the front, darting suddenly and precisely in ways that no occupied vessel could. The other two stayed behind her, keeping their distance but making the fact that they were blocking the exit corridor clearly visible.

“Pony,” called Beri. “We’re surrounded. Does this thing have guns? Because we’re about to get into one hell of a fight.”

“Shut it, turian,” said Starlight, silencing her audio. “I’m trying to work.”

Almost as soon as she said it, the crystal computer that she was holding suddenly activated. Its internal optics changed, and it projected several images from its facets. From what Starlight could tell, they were text.

“What is that?” said Jack.

“I don’t know,” said Starlight. Some of the letters and pictograms looked familiar, but most were incomprehensible. “Equestria ripped out most of my spine and put me in a tube when I was three. I didn’t exactly get much of chance to learn how to read their language.”

“We can perform a processing algorithm,” suggested Armchair. “It will only take seventeen hours to begin the process- -”

“Don’t bother,” said Lyra, leaning against Starlight’s shoulder to get a good look at the text. “Despite the sexy metal body, I am still a pony.”

“You can read it?”

“It’s Crystal-dialect Old Equestrian,” said Lyra. “And I used to be a Questlord. Of course I can read it.”

Lyra’s working eye scanned across the text. “Okay,” she said. “The fact that they haven’t blown us into fragments is a good sign. This says they want to escort us. I’m thinking they’re detecting this thing.” Lyra tapped on the crystal, producing an odd sensation inside Starlight’s skull. “For all I know, they might think that we’re one of them. But it’s doubtful.”

“I don’t like this, Star,” said Jack.

“We can’t turn back now,” said Starlight. “Literally. How do I acknowledge the message?”

“Backward three, horsehead pictogram, squiggly Arabic-looking thing- -NO! Not that one!”

Starlight frowned and composed the message and quickly sent it. The crystal starships did not initially respond, but then the two in front fell into formation with the two in the rear and turned to the side, leading Starlight toward a second mass relay.

Once again, Starlight entered the alien device and felt space shift around her. Once again, she felt sick, and once again it passed. Then she found herself in a different system.

The scenery had changed drastically. In the first, the crystals floating around the edge of the galaxy had resembled an asteroid belt. Now, though, they resembled no astrological phenomenon that she was familiar with.

They were massive. The vast magjority of them were far larger than most planets, and Starlight could feel the combination of gravity and magic resonating from within their slowly revolving bodies. These, in turn, were connected to an incomprehensibly large megastructure. Starlight, being a Core, was capable of perceiving tens of millions of kilometers at once, and even that sheer volume of crystal machinery made her dizzy.

The crystals vessels led them deeper into the structure, and Starlight began to comprehend the rough shape of what was surrounding her. It appeared, superficially, to be hollow, something like a symmetrical cathedral almost the size of a star system. Even stranger, the inner surface showed signs of habitation, with spots that resembled cities and greenery.

“Sweet Celestia,” whispered Lyra, gripping Starlight’s shoulder tightly.

“What is it?”

Lyra pointed, her robotic hand shaking. Starlight looked, and saw a single massive crystal floating between two pylons. It was almost certainly inhabited, its planet-sized facets covered in what was obviously dwellings. Occasionally, it would spark with energy that rapidly darted above its surface and to the spines that protruded above and below it.

“That’s the Imperium,” said Lyra. “The Luna-damned Imperium.”

“Are we supposed to know what that is?” said Jack, annoyed- -but, as Starlight could easily tell, also unnerved by Lyra’s sudden agitation.

“It’s the nexus of the Crystal Galaxy,” said Lyra, watching the approaching crystal without blinking, her orange-irised eye getting wider with every kilometer. “The seat of power of the Dark Princess…this is…this is what I was fighting for. For all those years. All that time. We were trying to take this.”

“Clearly, you never succeeded,” noted Armchair.

“Of course not. Nopony did. Countless millions died in that war, but not a soul ever managed to get this far. Nopony has ever seen it…and come back.”

“Great,” said Starlight. “That’s just great.”

From one of the openings to the rest of the ship, Zedok poked her head into the engine room. “Hey, Star, where the HELL are we? Darien’s freaking out downstairs. Berry put him in a headlock, but neither of them are happy right now…”

“Welcome to the Crystal Empire,” said Lyra, pointing to the screen.

Zedok looked, and her eyes widened. “Whoa.”

“Whoa indeed,” said Armchair.

“It’s kind of pretty. In a freaky, alien sort of way.” She looked to Jack. “Do you feel it? Like…like it’s watching?”

“Yeah,” said Jack. “I think we all do.”

Below, Starlight watched as the Imperium passed. Below, Starlight could see endless crystalline cities on a scale far beyond what she was accustomed to on most planets. At her present speed, detail was difficult to glean, but she saw trees, buildings, and ponies- -thousands and thousands of ponies, almost all of whom were made of crystal.

Eventually the quartet of crystal fighters slowed, and then finally hovered. Starlight slowed herself and allowed herself to be led into a fissure in the crystal below. She kept herself even with the ships as she descended through the crystal, seeing that the upper kilometer of it at least was actually permeated by massive cylindrical caverns, many of which had come to be populated.

Then, eventually, the crystal spacecraft slowed and finally led Starlight to a landing pad. Starlight looked around and realized that there were no ships around her. At all. Still, this was where they wanted her.

“Are you ready?” she asked.

“Hell yeah,” said Jack, putting on her helmet. She lifted her fists, and both of them glowed with fiery blue light. “For whatever they can throw at us.”

“No,” said Lyra. “No you’re not.”

“I’m disengaging,” said Starlight. She held her body stiff and activated the shutdown protocols for her projected starship. In less than a second, the plates of tech and biotic energy separated and dissipated, leaving Starlight and the others to fall to the crystal pad below. Starlight slowly floated, pulling the crystal computer out of its casing and installing it into the neckplate of her armor like a necklace. Lyra, Jack, and Zedok all landed on their feet. Armchair descended in an almost catlike manner, landing gracefully- -which was the exact opposite of the way Beri and Darien landed. They both slammed into the crystal with great force.

“Oh, thank the Nine,” said Darien, standing up with Beri still attempting to strangle him. He immediately hugged the ground below. “I do not care what planet this even is. Just…just no more bad upsies…”

Before Starlight could point out that he would inevitably need to leave the same way he came- -and, ideally, as quickly as possible- -a group of ponies emerged from an opening near the edge of the landing pad and walked toward the group.

Starlight’s attention was immediately drawn toward the two ponies on the edges. Their bodies were vaguely equine, but much larger and much less descript. They seemed to be made out of shards of crystal, and they had no clear faces or features of any kind. Starlight opened her omnitool and processed the scans she was receiving and quickly realized that although they looked ominous, the crystal that coated them was actually a secondary device. For one of them, it was almost impossible to tell the crystal pony inside apart from the exoskeleton. The other, however, was a Pegasus pony beneath all of it.

Lyra stiffened, and Starlight stepped forward. As she did, her eyes suddenly fell on the third figure standing between the two immense juggernauts. Starlight had spent so much time studying the two largest threats that she had ignored the tiny figure that appeared to be leading them. As soon as Starlight saw her, she stopped, confused.

“Um…”

The third pony looked up at Starlight. She was tiny and obviously a young filly, and her pale wings were almost comically disproportional to her small, white-coated body. She was dressed in what appeared to be some kind of traditional red and golden armor, obviously scaled down for her diminutive stature. Her expression was hard, but Starlight could not help but feel that it only made her more adorable.

Despite these features, though, Starlight did notice the obvious. Beneith the filly’s bicolored cyan and violet hair was a stubby white horn. She was an alicorn.

Starlight turned to Lyra. “Please tell me that this isn’t Cadence,” she said.

“I am Archgeneral Flurry Heart,” squeaked the filly. “And you are now all officially prisoners of my military.”

“I am a prisoner to no one,” said Lrya, her hands igniting with orange light as she stepped forward. Darien noticed this and reached out, pinching one of her shoulders between his fingers to stop her from attacking. “Let me GO!”

“I would advise you not to approach the Archgeneral,” said the crystal-encased Pegasus. “If you value your own safety.”

“We are here on a diplomatic mission,” said Starlight.

The lids of Flurry Heart’s eyes dropped to half, and she sighed. “And how much of an idiot do you take me for? Do you think I don’t already know that?” She gestured toward the crystal suspended around Starlight’s neck. “It was recorded on your computer. Or, more accurately, OUR computer. My computer, even.”

“Um, hello,” said Zedok, raising her hand. “Um…just how old are you?”

Flurry Heart leaned to the side. “I do not need to answer that question, alien.” She directed her attention back toward Starlight, and Starlight felt the filly’s eyes move toward her Core implants. One of the filly’s eyebrows rose. “A Core?”

“Yes,” said Starlight, proudly. “And a pony equal to all the rest.”

“Not equal to me,” said Flurry Heart. “But nevertheless…if you’re walking around, you’re not Equestrian.”

“No. I was sent by Garrus Vakarian of the Council to investigate a disturbance at the request of one Jade Wing.”

“Wing?” Flurry Heart turned to one of her guards. “Make a note to have him executed on his return.”

“Madame Archgeneral, that punishment- -”

“Is necessary for a pony who would disobey the direct will of the military,” snapped Flurry Heart. She sighed and turned back to Starlight. “And now you’re here…”

“I am,” said Starlight. “Unfortunately, I didn’t get much of a chance to investigate. Your ships intercepted me and my friends.”

“I know. I sent them. Mother would like to speak with you. Directly. Now.”

She turned around and started walking. Starlight looked back to the others, and then started to follow.

“Alone,” snapped Flurry Heart when she noticed that the others were following. “Mother has no need for these…aliens. Or the remnants of a unicorn enemy.”

“Like hell,” said Jack, stepping forward and interrupting whatever it was that Lyra was about to say. She pulled of her helmet, and Starlight thought she saw a flash of fear in Flurry Heart’s face at the sight of a silver-eyed human. “I’m not letting Starlight go in there alone. I don’t care what some overconfident fluffball says about it.”

“We watch each other’s backs,” said Starlight. “I’m fine to go alone, but if Jack wants to come, well…you had better not try to stop her.”

“Hey!” said Beri, pushing past the others. “What the hell? I’m the only one here that actually has ANY Council authority! I’m a goddamn Spectre! You’re not leaving me behind!”

“Do you think I actually care?” said Flurry Heart. She shrugged. “I’m in charge of the military, not the funeral arrangements. I’ll allow your two pets to follow, but be aware that Mother might ruin them.” She looked up to the pair of guards. “Flash, Selenite. Guard the remainder. Don’t let them out of your sight. Especially the unicorn. But ensure that they are well accommodated. Those are Mother’s order.”

“Yes, Archgeneral,” they both said in unison.

Starlight addressed her own comrades as well. “You all. Don’t do anything stupid.” She pointed to Zedok. “And you don’t let Lyra kill anybody.”

“I can’t promise that,” said Zedok. “I would keep her on the ship but…well…”

“Lyra?”

Lyra glared at Starlight, and then at Flurry Heart. “Fine.” She took a deep breath. “The war is over…but if either of you deformed mutants even put ONE HOOF on me, I swear to Anstruther I will start it again! I don’t even care!”

“At least it would give me something to do,” said Flurry Heart. She had already started walking back toward where she had arrived, and her wings were trailing behind her and nearly dragging on the ground. “Now, I really do recommend that you follow me, Core. My Mother does not like to be kept waiting. It’s an ironic trait that we immortals have.”

Starlight looked up at Jack, and Jack nodded. “Follow the arrogant little bitc- -”

“Do you really think it would be wise to insult the ruler’s daughter?” hissed Beri.

“I’m going to have to go with Berry on this one,” said Starlight. “When it comes to diplomacy, I’ve seen krogan rumps that are more sensitive than you are.”

Jack shrugged as she fell into step with Starlight. “Words don’t really mean much. Trust me, Star, it always ends up with someone shooting at someone else. You know that.”

“I do,” said Starlight, darkly.

They were led into the crystalline tunnels of the complex, and Starlight immediately found herself surrounded by blue-white light. There were not any dedicated light fixtures, nor was there anything that even approximated a natural source of light. Instead, the crystals seemed to glow from within. It was breathtaking- -but the unnaturalness of that strange, harsh glow made the glasslike walls seem ominous and threatening.

What was even stranger was how empty the facility seemed to be, and how silent it was. The only sound was that of her and Flurry Heart’s hoofsteps, and the clicking of Jack and Beri’s boots.

Unable to take the silence, Starlight approached Flurry Heart.

“So,” she said. “You are an immortal alicorn. Am I to take it that that is the reason you look so young?”

“No,” said Flurry Heart, her voice taking the most condescending tone possible as though she were talking to an idiot who would not notice. “I look young because I am young. I’m eight.”

“Eight…years?”

“Eight years…no, eight days. Of COURSE I’m eight years old. Of course, as an alicorn, I mature much faster than tiny-winged mortals.”

“Clearly,” said Starlight, her sarcasm lost on the younger pony.

“So I take it your military role is ceremonial?” asked Beri.

Flurry Heart stopped and looked over her shoulder. Her harsh gaze moved up Beri’s body, and then down it. “I’m going to let that one go. Largely because I don’t think I could make a comfortable coat out of you. But if you insult me like that again, I will paint these walls with whatever color your blood is. With your blood.”

“Alright,” said Jack. “Someone has to say it. I just can’t take her seriously. She’s just so friggin adorable.”

“I am adorable,” said Flurry Heart. “I also have enough magical energy to vaporize you without even noticing.

“Do you want to try?” said Jack, charging one of her hands. Flurry Heart instinctively took a step back, her eyes widening. Starlight did not think she had realized that Jack was a biotic.

“Jack,” said Starlight. “Please don’t threaten the military commander.”

Flurry Heart looked up at Starlight and smiled. “See! The Core understands!” They started walking again. “My role is not at all ceremonial. I really am the commander of the Crystal Army. Mostly.”

“Mostly?”

“Mostly. I’ll admit that I can’t…that I accept help from advisors, from time to time. But every single soldier will follow my orders to the letter. All two hundred and six of them.”

“Two hundred and six?” said Beri. “You mean battalions?”

“I mean ponies. That’s how many we have. And I command them all.”

“So you fought a war…with two hundred ponies?” asked Starlight, not understanding.

“Two hundred and six,” corrected Flurry Heart. “And no, of course not. We disbanded the standing army once the war ended. There used to be millions of shock troops…but that was before I was born. Eleven months before I was born, in fact. When the armistice was signed.”

“And the remaining number?”

“Pilots. Like me. Well, pilots and the support staff.”

“I thought Crystal vessels were automated.”

“Not automated. Traditionally, they all follow the will of Mother and draw from her power. That gives them slow reaction time, though, and limited range. Auxiliary commanders overcome those deficiencies.”

Starlight looked to her side at an intersection. The amount of noise had been increasing as they moved deeper into the crystal structure, and she heard a number of hoofsteps approaching from her left. As she watched, as small formation of crystal-encased ponies trotted by in lockstep. Unlike the guards, their armor was smaller and more streamlined with symmetrical arrays of crystals protruding from their backs.

Only one of them was not a crystal pony. He was apparently a unicorn and marched behind the others. Also unlike them, instead of wearing crystal he was dressed in a midnight-blue armored flightsuit that obscured his entire body. As the group passed, he seemed to spy Starlight and stopped, turning his masked face toward her. Starlight stopped as well, staring at him for a long moment.

“Come on, Star,” said Jack.

“Yeah…right.” Starlight turned away, surprised by how difficult it was. She rejoined the others, finding herself much less able to focus on the continuing conversation.

Flurry Heart continued to lead Starlight deeper and deeper into the Imperium. For a time, Starlight was not sure exactly how deep she would have to go- -or just how deep the crystal structure even went. Flurry Heart, however, walked through this alien and bizarre landscape as though it were commonplace for her- -which, Starlight supposed, it was.

Just when Starlight was wondering if they were even going to the right place and not into a trap, the hallway suddenly widened and became both much straighter and much darker.

“This way,” said Flurry Heart.

Starlight followed, with Jack and Berri behind her watching their surroundings carefully. For a substantial distance down the hallway, though, there was nothing to see. Then, from the dimly lit shadows, two figures emerged.

Starlight expected to see another pair of crystal guards, but as she drew closer, she saw that they were something far less pleasant. Like the normal guards, they were pony shaped- -but almost twice the size, or four to five times larger than a normal pony. Their bodies were pure white, but not covered in hair or even crystal. Rather, they seemed to be made out of interlocking plates of some kind of chitinous material, like enormous insects. Fitting with the insect theme, each of them had translucent wings pinned against their backs.

The creatures looked down at Starlight, and she up at them. They did not really have faces; there were no apparent mouths or nose openings, despite their shape. They did have horns, though, but they were multicurvate and strange instead of being neat spirals of bone. The worst feature, though, was their eyes: wide, green, foggy orbs that stared blankly from their sunken sockets like the eyes of some long-forgotten cave creature.

A low, long growl escaped one of the creatures as it stepped forward, its horn charging with green energy. The other followed its twin’s example.

For a moment, Starlight thought that Jack really had been right- -and earlier than expected. As she charged her own horn, though, and as Beri reached for one of her guns, Flurry Heart stepped forward without any hesitation.

“It’s okay, big brother,” she said. “Cadence wants to see them. You can let them through.”

The creatures lowered their heads, and then their growls increased to a high and rapid warbling. It was almost musical, but with its echoes off the crystal walls it sounded grating and grotesque.

“They say we are approved to pass,” said Flurry Heart. “More of a formality than anything. Come.”

Starlight stepped past the creatures. When she was out of earshot- -or might have been; the creatures did not have ears- -she leaned toward Flurry Heart. “Big brothers?”

“My father was a bit of a whore,” admitted Flurry Heart. “Half-brothers, really, but Mother loves them as though they were her own. And their loyalty to her is unparalleled.”

“I think you got shortchanged on the size genes,” muttered Jack, looking back at the insect-ponies.

Flurry Heart either did not hear what Jack said or ignored Jack completely. In fact, from what Starlight had observed, Jack was able to get away with a lot more than Beri. Flurry Heart just did not seem able to meet Jack’s reflective stare.

The hallway eventually led to a sudden, arching hole that opened into an enormous crystal-walled room. The light became even dimmer; whereas in the hallway it was lit by luminescent points at long intervals within the walls, here it seemed to come slowly from everywhere. It shimmered and shifted, casting a pleasant glow that was similar to the way light looked when it passed through water.

Flurry Heart turned to her right and walked to the edge of the opening, where she stopped and stood at attention. “Step forward,” she said to Starlight, “and greet the Eternal Princess of Divine Love.”

Starlight could not help but hesitate, in part because she could not see the contents of the cathedral-like room well and in part because she could feel the energetic hum of an exorbitant amount of biotic power. It felt as though she were standing next to the reactor on a mass relay, except far less clinical and mechanical. This energy was alive.

Not wanting to show any fear, though, Starlight did step forward. Jack did as well, and Beri trailed behind, her hand discretely placed in a position where she could very easily grab her zetan pistol.

As Starlight approached the center of the room and her eyes adjusted, she was able to see the structure that occupied it. A kind of pyramid had been assembled, and at the top was a throne- -and the source of the potent biotic buzz that was filling the air like a swarm of bees.

The Princess, however, was not really what Starlight had been expected. In her mind, she had pictured something grand, powerful, but strange and incomprehensible. Perhaps something large, even.

Instead, Cadence did not appear that much different from a normal pony. She was roughly the same size, although somewhat taller, and her limbs were noticeably much more narrow. Her horn was much longer than that of a normal unicorn, but, strangely, her bicolor wings were quite normal in proportion to her body, much unlike her daughter’s.

Clothing wise, she wore what appeared to be a set of articulated, mechanical-looking armored boots that rose to her mid-thighs. In addition to those, she wore a matching necklace and crown, the latter of which was adorned with a large and strangely asymmetrical blue crystal.

The Princess sat with her hood resting on one hoof. She seemed, more than anything, immensely bored and mildly disgusted by the approaching mortals below her. Despite this, her blood-red irises never once wavered from Starlight.

Two figures stood at the base of the Princess’s throne. One, and the first one that Starlight’s eyes were drawn to, was a tall male unicorn. He was dressed in elaborate robes and narrow golden chains, several of which were linked to a ring set around his long white horn. Starlight had met very few male ponies in her life, but instinctively, she immediately understood that this one was immensely attractive.

Starlight was so fixated with this handsome stallion that she hardly noticed the other figure step forward toward them. As soon as the second being entered her peripheral vision, though, Starlight’s eyes shifted instantly to him, even though after several moments of staring she was not sure how what she was looking at was possible.

Standing before them was a human male. He was tall, and Starlight imagined that in a human sense he was as attractive as the unicorn stallion was to her. His clothing consisted of a vaguely Alliance uniform: black, with red highlights and the designation “N7” emblazoned on one corner of his torso.

While Starlight was trying to figure out what a human was doing in the Crystal Empire, Jack suddenly took a step back.

“N- -no,” she said, her voice wavering. “It- -it can’t be you…”

“Jack?” said Starlight. She had never heard Jack sound like that, and the uncertainty and fear in her voice was terrifying.

“It is me,” said the human, smiling. He reached out his hand, and Jack moved backward again as though he had attempted to strike her. “I’m here. And I’ve missed you….so much…”

Jack reached for her head. Her eyes flitted around the room, looking at everything at once in a panic. “No- -no- -NO! It can’t be you! You’re dead, Shepard, you’re DEAD!”

“But I’m right here.” His expression fell. “I don’t…I don’t understand. Don’t you still love me?”

“IT’S NOT YOU!” screamed Jack. She erupted with an uncontrollable surge of biotic energy. Beri was barely able to jump back, and Starlight encased herself in a shield. The unicorn stallion stepped forward defensively, charging his horn with purple energy.

“Why- -why are you doing this?” said the human, looking as though he was about to cry.

“Because I was on Earth! I was THERE! And you- -you LEFT ME! You went and DIED and left me ALONE!” she lifted her hands, and they dripped with biotic rage. “You can’t- -you can’t be- -you can’t be- -”

“Viceroy,” said Cadence, looking down at the human. “Enough.”

The human looked up at Cadence. “Of course, my Queen.”

His body shifted. There was a surge of green light as his flesh stripped apart, separating from his body and pulling itself back, reconfiguring into something different. In less than a second, a human woman was standing before them, a sinister smile across her face. After several seconds of staring, Starlight suddenly realized that the woman was Jack. Granted, she was at least three decades younger, and had her long, silky hair tied back into a neat ponytail. That, and she was wearing a dress and makeup style that Jack herself would have never even considered.

“What…what are you?” demanded Jack.

“Viceroy Chrysalis is a changeling,” said Cadence, not sounding nearly as bored as she looked. “Her kind are capable of assuming forms at will. Sometimes those drawn from the depths of the mind itself.”

“Your reaction was quite unusual, however,” said Chrysalis, her voice sounding identical to Jack’s. Despite her smile- -which revealed a surprising number of long fangs- -she looked confused, even afraid. “I do not know who that man was, but by all accounts you should have loved him.”

“I did,” said Jack. “And if you ever do that to me again, I will kill you. Hard.”

“I’m not a fan of the new form at all,” said Beri.

Chrysalis looked toward her, and her image shifted again. This time she became a turian, an older male. His skin was almost completely silvered by age, and his expression profoundly stern. One of his arms had been replaced with an geth prosthesis that connected to the armor in his chest with a number of cables.

“Chrysalis,” said Cadence, her voice growing sharper.

Chrysalis converted back into her replica of Jack. “My apologies, my Queen.”

“Who the hell was that?” asked Jack. Beri did not answer, but just stared wide eyed at the Viceroy. Starlight realized that she was shaking.

“Now,” said Cadence, finally taking her head off her hoof and leaning forward. “Let us take this slowly. Do you know who I am?”

“You are Princess Cadence,” said Starlight, remaining as firm and calm as she possibly could.

“That is correct,” said Cadence. “I am the Living Incarnation of the Undying One, King Sombra.”

“You certainly have a lot of titles.”

Cadence smiled. “Indeed I do. Most of them are…droll. Pointless. They change every few centuries, after all. I simply am what I am. Nothing more, and nothing less.” She leaned back into her throne, setting her gold-clad hooves on the armrests. “That said, I really would like to know what exactly you are doing in my territory.”

“We were sent on a mission by Garrus Vakarian of the Galactic Council,” said Beri, stepping forward. Cadence’s eyes shifted toward her and narrowed.

“I did not address you, little one.” Her horn glowed with a pinprick of intense blue light, and Beri was pushed back by a surge of biotic energy. “I addressed Starlight Glimmer.”

“You know my name?” said Starlight.

Cadence nodded. “I know a great many things. More importantly, I know how to find out about new things. A result of millennia of experience. I also know that you were intended as a component of a secretly constructed stealth starship meant to betray my armistice.”

“I assure you, it was not voluntary,” said Starlight, darkly.

“I see,” said Cadence. She smiled. “And I take it that you are no friend of Equestria either.”

“Do you use Cores, Princess?”

The unicorn bristled. “You will address her by her proper- -”

“Shining, my beloved, please,” said Cadence, silencing him with a glance. “The mares are talking.” She redirected her attention at Starlight. “The answer is no. At least not in the sense you are aware of. I do not require such primitive technology to power my fleet.”

Starlight smiled. “Then we are on the same side. That said, the turian is right. I was chosen to deliver a message to you.”

“Whoever sent you has at least a modicum of wisdom. Had they sent one of these aliens alone, I would likely have vaporized them at my borders. What is it you wish to relay, child?”

“One of your pilots crashed into our Citadel. He claimed that an unidentified but immensely powerful object appeared in our galaxy but is rapidly approaching yours. He seemed to believe that it was dangerous. I was asked to investigate.”

Cadence paused. “I see,” she said. She looked down at her consort. “Shining Armor?”

“I did not send him,” he said. “Although I admit that I did contact my sister concerning our deep-space readings.”

“Oh, Shining,” said Cadence, smiling. She turned to Starlight. “You see, this is why he is so dear to me. He grew up knowing that I was his enemy, and yet he cares so deeply for the ponies of my Empire. And for me, and for our daughter. Yes, Starlight Glimmer. We detected this object. We know it is coming.”

“We have determined that it is not a probably threat,” said Chrysalis. “If it is hostile, our defenses are more than adequate to stop a single ship.”

“But we still need to be careful,” said Shining Armor. “Since the long-range sensors lost contact, we have no idea what it actually is or what it could do.”

“It is not a threat,” said Cadence. She stood up, and slowly descended the staircase that led to her throne. Once again, her unblinking eyes did not leave Starlight. `

“Great,” said Beri. “That means our mission is over. I can go back home.”

“It means that our trip was wasted,” said Starlight. Cadence was now level with her on the floor, and she had an overwhelming desire to run. Instead, though, she held her ground.

“I would hardly say that,” said Cadence. “In fact…”

Her horn ignited with blinding blue light. Starlight barely managed to react in time, projecting a shield around herself. Even then, she was thrown backward, her protective biotic bubble tearing a path through the floor.

“Star!” cried Jack, stepping forward- -only to find herself trapped in a sphere of pink-violet energy projected by Shining Armor. Chrysalis, likewise, snapped her fingers, and with a burst of green energy Beri was lifted into the air with a biotic charge.

“This isn’t your fight,” said Shining Armor.

Starlight felt her shield begin to implode around her under the force of Cadence’s magic. As it did, the implants in her brain compensated, and time seemed to slow down as she prepared numerous solutions to every iteration of the problem. As she prepared her omnitools, she had a moment to consider just how strange Cadence’s magic felt. Although few were actually perceptive of the fact, all magic felt slightly different. With Jack, it was unbridled rage; with Zedok, confidence. Starlight had even faced an alicorn before, but Cadence’s biotic energy felt vastly different from that of Twilight Sparkle’s. Twilights was cold, clinical, and precise, purified by the vast array of machinery that the younger alicorn was permanently linked to. Cadence’s magic, however, felt like unrestrained passion. Its flavor and magnitude were both unlike anything Starlight had ever felt.

The shield held long enough for Starlight to absorb Cadence’s blast, but as it fell, she saw that Cadence had already crossed the room. The alicorn’s smiling face was inches away from Starlight’s, and for the first time Starlight could see the sickly green of her sclera and the bluish clouds of biotic energy that seemed to drift from her eyes.

“That would have vaporized most unicorns,” she mused, seeming on the verge of laughter.

“I am not a unicorn,” said Starlight. “I am a Core.”

Without warning, Cadence leaned forward and kissed Starlight on the lips. Starlight felt her eyes widen, but she was so confused that she did not recoil. Cadence tasted strange, like something horribly old.

Then Cadence stepped back. “Ponies like you are always welcome in my Empire. So I’ll make you an offer- -but only one. Stay here. With me, and my people. I would like you to be a pilot in my military. With your potential, you could even surpass the High Exemplar. But of course, you would be free to choose your path. You could live a simple, ordinary life if you prefer. You would be free. What Equestria did to you, it does not matter here.”

“That is not what I want.”

“Do not make your decision too quickly, Starlight Glimmer.” She smiled. “Please, stay. For only a short time. To make your decision. See what the Crystal Empire has to offer, what your life here would be like. Your friends are welcome here as well. As my guests. Even the Questlord.”

Behind Cadence, Jack suddenly extended her arms. The surge of blue light shattered Shining Armor’s bubble, and the feedback caused him to collapse to his knees.

“Shining Armor!” cried Chrysalis, dropping Beri. She rushed to his side.

“Chrysalis,” said Cadence, looking over her shoulder. Chrysalis stopped just feet from Shining Armor, recoiling at the Princess’s gaze.

“I’m- -I’m sorry, my Queen, I didn’t mean to- -”

“You will accompany them. Be their aid as you are mine.”

“My Queen?”

“Do I need to repeat myself?”

“No. Of course not.” Chrysalis quickly regained her composure and smiled. She had not forgone Jack’s appearance, but her teeth now looked mostly normal. She approached Jack and Beri. “Sorry about that. If you two would come with me, I can- -”

“Like hell!” said Jack. “I should punch so hard- -”

“Jack,” said Starlight. “We’re not doing anything anyway. I already know that I’m not going to take her offer, but we can at least stay a few days. Get some food, see if they have parts.”

“That’s the spirit,” said Cadence, helping her consort up and then climbing back up to her throne. When she reached the top, she sat back down. “I’ll be awaiting your decision.”