I awoke as the entire world around me lurched. If I didn't know that we were in the air I would have thought it was an earthquake. The shaking knocked me to the floor from my resting spot on the cot.

"What's going on?" I demanded from Tesla's avatar as I picked myself up to my hooves.

"This ship is under attack," Tesla answered back in the same monotone as ever.

Under attack? That could be really bad for me. If this ship crashed and burned I was almost certain to die. Panic welled up inside me as I considered these might be my final moments alive.

"Are you going to try to escape?" I asked, hoping that fiery death was not something assured.

"Escape is impossible, the ship has been breached and boarded," Tesla answered.

My ears perked up at that news. That meant possible rescue. That seemed the only reason to actually board the ship rather than take it down completely, though I could be wrong.

I started moving towards the exit to the room only to have a massive metal do it come down in closing the entrance. It seemed that Tesla wasn't going to simply let me go to my rescuers. Whoever told him to do things apparently considered the possibility of denying me rescue. It hadn't been a legitimate hope that he would just let me go.

"You will not be allowed to leave this specific location until the boarders are subdued," Tesla said

Boarders plural was an interesting bit of news. I had figured that it might have been one lone Alicorn making an attack on the ship, but it seemed there was a full rescue party. A little bit of dread started again when I realized that Mera would not let herself be left out of such a rescue party and was possibly in danger now. Not that she wasn't already in danger out on the battlefields, but this was going straight into the belly of the beast. She was among the best fighters, but these things had guns, and that was an entirely different type of combat. For all her ability to fight in close quarters she was as helpless as I would be against an opponent that could shoot her at range.

There wasn't much to do but sit and hope that they got to me, and that they were able to get to me without losing any pony. I felt a strange bit of empathy for stories of pony princesses locked in towers waiting for rescuers. I was officially the damsel in distress right now, and being a damsel in distress was both nerve wracking as well as boring all at the same time. As a damsel is distress meant you got to stare at walls, helpless to do anything, while your hero was out there risking life and limb to save you.

So I sat and waited, with Tesla's unmoving golem standing guard over me. Minutes dragged by, and I had no sense of time. It felt like hours as I waited, with each moment causing me to visualize any number of ways Mera could be getting hurt right now trying to save me. I also spent time imagining that door coming down and her rushing in and grabbing me up in her embrace. The images of her getting hurt or killed wafted with the images of her saving me, and after some time with no door getting knocked down I began to get more and more of the images of her getting hurt or killed.

My breath caught as I started to hear gun blasts. My rescue, and hopefully Mera as part of that, was getting close to my room. They hadn't been defeated by all the invaders on the ship, at least not yet.

I stood, staring at the door. All I had to do was wait, and in a few moments they would be breaking down that door and then we would all escape out. We would all go and confront Starlight after that, get my cuttie mark back, and find out why she had done this.

Suddenly a loud clang rang out, as something struck the door. With a few more loud clang the door began to bulge, and Tesla's golem took up a defensive position.

Seeing Tesla take up that position started a new panic for me, as I imaged the golem killing Mera as she came through the door. I decided to take action. I turned and charged the golem, unsure what I could actually do against the thing. I was still hurting, as I was far from actually completely healed, but I had to do something. I raised a hoof and struck the thing as hard as I could, crying out in pain as I impacted it.

My blow didn't do a damned thing to it. It didn't even bother to acknowledge that I had attacked it. I didn't get any time to reflect on my useless attack, as right then the door was knocked into the room. Immediately after a huge concussive blast of magic hit the token and sent it flying against the wall and breaking like a fragile doll.

Sunset walked into the room. She had a violent magical aura, but was actually in her Thestral form. It wasn't disguising anything about her being an Alicorn with her throwing magic about like that, so I had to briefly wonder why she even bothered with it. Perhaps she Just wanted to look fiercer when on the warpath? Her eyes fell on me and widened, before a large smile split her muzzle.

"Pearl, we found you! Hot Sticks, get in here now! Pearl is here and she looks like she has been hurt," Sunset called to first me and then to presumably Hot Sticks.

Hot Sticks started walking into the room, but was promptly knocked to the side as Mera charged past him into the room. She spotted me and let out a happy gasp, before rushing over to me and tacking me with a hug and kiss.

I did my best to muffle a cry of pain as she hugged me too tightly, but was unsuccessful. She jumped off me like I was a snake and looked at me with wide, frightened eyes; terrified that she had accidently hurt me further. He gave drifted to my currently blank flank and now she gave off a frightened gasp.

"Pearl, what happened to your cutie mark?" She exclaimed as she looked at my flank in disbelief.

"My best guess is Starlight took it before giving me over to these things," I said with lowered ears.

"Starlight?! Did you actually see her do this? She has been out on the front lines fighting constantly. I don't know when she would have gotten an opportunity, and she is frightening to the point of exhaustion," Sunset said with concern and a hint of disbelief.

"Who else could have done it? Only Starlight and the Crusaders know how to remove a cutie mark. We have the epidemic start again here, and then I get captured and my cutie mark removed. All with Starlight close by. She has always been more involved with my life than makes sense as well. It has to be her," I said accusingly.

"I can follow your logic, but the fact remains she has had no opportunity to do any such thing. As I said, she hasn't left the battlefield," Sunset said.

"Well, she could have taught some other pony how to do it," I suggested, not willing to concede the point. It just made too much sense that it was Starlight.

"That is a possibility," Sunset conceded unhappily. "There is still the possibility of the Crusaders as well, though I don't see where that makes much sense either. Another possibility is that it is none of them and instead something unknown to us. These humans might have learned how to do it on their own."

"Humans? Is that what you call these things?" I ask, never having heard the term before.

"After looking at what they are under the armor they seem to be humans, or something closely related anyway. I am very familiar with humans, as I lived among them in another world for decades in my youth. We have no idea how they got here. They were more technologically advanced than us six thousand years ago, I can only imagine that at this point what they are capable of with their technology," Sunset said with lowered ears.

"But they are ponies," I protested. "I have seen it here. They are what come out of those cocoons. I think they still have their pony minds too, before they put them in that armor. That armor controls them somehow, like puppets. Tesla is the one controlling all of them."

"You have seen this yourself?" Sunset asked with concern. I miss back to her and she sighs. "Well, that clears up the mystery of the cocoons at least. It also ties them back to humans again, as Tesla is a name tied back to humans as well."

"It also means we have been innocent ponies that are helpless victims every time we kill one of these humans," Hot Sticks observed grimly. Sunset and Mera lower their ears and heads in response to hearing that observation.

All of this is cut off though as more gun blasts come through the door, causing us all to scramble for a little bit of cover. All of us except Sunset who throws up a magical shield over the entrance.

"Looks like our reprieve was short lived. I am surprised we had this much time without them firing on us," Sunset said with a grunt.

"They have cocoons on the ship that they are hatching from and armoring up right away," I shout to her over the sounds of the gun blasts.

"If those are mind controlled victims we can't keep killing them," Hot Sticks said loudly to Sunset.

"Knowing that they are mind controlled definitely makes me want to change tactics with them. Sadly, I don't know enough about how their armor works yet to properly disable the mind control. Once we escape I will bring it to the attention of the other Alicorns and we will try to find a way to disable the mind control, but that can't be accomplished yet. I am sorry, but for now I can only keep doing what I was doing before," Sunset said with a look of resolve as she looked towards the entrance.

The remaining three of us looked at each other with sad expressions. Sunset didn't delay any further though, and began sending magical blasts back down the hall through her shield. Within seconds the gunfire came to an end.

"Are you okay to walk, Pearl?" Mera said with concern as she looked at me.

"I can walk, just can't really run. Definitely can't fly," I answered. "Sunset, can you teleport us out?"

"No," Sunset said with a shake of her head. "This place has one of the stringest teleport blocks I have ever seen around it. It is as strong as the ones Twilight has on the Tree, and it blocks both teleporting in and out. Once we exit the ship itself the teleport block ends, it ends mere ponylengths outside the hull. We must get back to where we boarded and jump for it. Once we clear the block I can teleport us all to safety."

"You want me to jump from high in the sky without me being able to fly?" I said shakingly, my fear of extreme heights suddenly coming back in force. Hot Sticks looked more than a bit frightened of the prospect himself.

"I will teleport you once we clear this teleport block, you will only be falling for a second or two. You will be safe," Sunset assured me.

"And if they somehow change that block so you can't? Or they do something to you in the meantime? There has to be a safer way to get Pearl out of here," Mera said with worry as she looked over my wounds, tears forming in her eyes.

"It is the only way. You can trust me, I won't let anything happen to her," Sunset assured my wife.

"If it comes down to protecting any of us protect her first. I mean it, I won't ever forgive you if something happens to her," Mera said as she continued to tear up.

"Understood. I would have done that anyway, too much depends on her once we get her cutie mark back," Sunset said. Mera nodded back and then gave me a gentle hug, seemingly afraid that she might hurt me further.

Sunset began walking out the door with her magic shield held before her. The rest of us fell in line behind her.

We had to go slowly due to me, and because Sunset was being cautious. Sunset would make sure each room we passed by was clear of possible attackers before passing by them. She would find more of the humans on and off and mercilessly annihilate them when she did. The rest of us would pause while she did so, as we were all completely useless for this kind of combat. When we did Hot Sticks would take a quick opportunity to look over my wounds and would apply some poulices and additional bandages during this time. Mera just kept looking on at me with worry, and would glare at the fallen bodies of the humans like she wanted to kill them over again herself.

Eventually we came upon the room that housed all the cocoons. Sunset quickly slew the two armored humans in attendance of the room and stopped to look at the rest of the contents of the room. After looking at it all for a long moment she floated one of the empty sets of armor out of the room, and drapped it over her back. She then turned her attention back to the room and let out a series of quick blasts, destroying all the other empty sets of armor, but leaving the cocoons untouched.

"I am not sure if I am giving them any real chance by doing this, but these ones won't be forced into that armor as soon as they emerge with some luck. If we successfully clear this ship of all the actively mind controlled troops maybe they can escape and try to make some sort of lives for themselves. I am not sure if that is possible, but at least I can give what little chance I can to them," Sunset explained, before turning back down the hall and continuing her slow advance down it.

I glanced into the room at the hundreds of cocoons within. I remembered the panic of the one who emerged when I watched before and wondered if any real favor was being done for them.

We continued our progress through the ship for a long time. Often we came across the remains of the armored humans that had fallen when my rescuers had first come through. Sunset had apparently been much more brutal the first time through. Most of them were lottery ripped to shreds. Learning that they were mind controlled victims had made Sunset take a less brutal approach.

Finally we entered an area with a large part of the hull blown out. A magical shield that matched the color of Sunset's magic was over it, giving it an impromptu patch. Dozens of the human's bodies were scattered about the room, marking her initial assault on the ship.

Sunset flared her horn and another shield appeared on the opposite end of the hallway. She continued channeling magic and after a few seconds that shield solidified into a crystal barrier over that end of the hallway. She then quickly gestured for all of us to go over to the shielded gaping hole in the hull.

"Mera you will go out first as you can fly on your own. I will follow immediately after you. Once I am sure of the exact distance the teleport block covers I will turn and face this hole. Pearl and Hot Sticks, as soon as you see me get my bearings and facing this hole I want you two to jump out," Sunset instructed.

I gulped and nodded as I looked at the hole in the hull. Trying not to think of how high up we were. Hot Sticks did the same gesture beside me. Mera looked out the hole judging her flight path, and then gave me another worried glance.

"Go!" Sunset ordered.

Mera jumped out the hole with no resistance from the magic shield, and quickly spread her wings. With a few quick flaps she brought herself out of the fall and brought herself into a hover some distance from the hull. Sunset followed right after and after she started flying started moving agily through the air back and forth around the hull of the ship, slowly moving further and further out. This continued for a few moments till she brought herself to a stationary hover a short distance from Mera. She turned to me and Hit Sticks and nodded that she was ready.

I crept closer to the edge unable to contain my terror. I knew in my head that Sunset would catch me with her teleport, but the idea of jumping from such a high place and not even having use of my wings was almost more than I could take.

Hot Sticks had much less hesitation and jumped out ahead of me, leaving me still standing there frozen with fear.

"Pearl! What are you waiting for?! Jump!" Sunset bellowed with eyes wide. She looked at Hot Sticks plummeting form and lit up her horn, and almost immediately Hot Sticks vanished in a flash.

"Pearl, please jump!" I heard Mera call out from a distance, the sound of her voice muffled by the distance.

I gulped again, closed my eyes, and took a deep breath. Without opening my eyes I jumped forward, putting my trust in my friend. I fell for a few seconds before I heard a terrified shout from Sunset that I couldn't make out.

I opened my eyes, afraid to see what the problem was, and terrified that I was now plummeting to my death. As I opened them I saw a pink magical barrier between me and the others, with Sunset and Mera looking on in horror. A few seconds later my entire vision was bathed in pink light, before all went black again as I lost consiousness.

I awoke suddenly, unsure how long I had been out. I was shocked to find myself still alive. As I looked at my immediate surroundings my hopes plummeted again though. I was again in a cell, this time a proper one with bars, and it looked like just like the ship I had just left aside from that.

I gasped with shock as I noticed I was not alone. Sitting outside the cell was a Pegasus stallion with my exact fur and mane coloring, and on his flank sat a cutie mark of a smiling stage mask. Around his neck was a collar with a silver bell hanging from it. He smiled sadly at me when I looked at him.

"I am sorry to spoil your escape plans daughter, but Mera needs to think you dead, and Grogar wants me to deliver you to him," he said in a sad voice.

Next Chapter: Chapter 40: Not All Family Relations are Great Estimated time remaining: 1 Hour, 8 Minutes