The alarm from the clock next to his bed blared out right next to Jack’s head. The sound made him bolt out of bed as he thought it was the ship’s alarm system.

“VICKY! STATUS!” Jack said, standing on the cold stone floor with his bare feet, completely naked.

After not getting a reply and the alarm fading slightly, Jack regained his situational awareness. That had been a deep sleep too. He hadn’t slept on a mattress like that in, well ever. He turned and fiddled with the alarm clock, finally switching it off and moving to set it back down. Before he did however, he noticed that this clock wasn’t attached to a cord. He began flipping it around and inspecting it, finding a small hatch on the back, which he promptly opened. In the slot, where he expected to find perhaps a battery, he saw a small purple cylindrical crystal. Checking the front as he pulled it out, the numbers flashed off. This crystal was a battery! He put the clock back on the table and spent a few moments staring intently at this crystal as he wandered off to the bathroom.

He then stared at the tub, finding no plumbing going into or out of the wall, just a free standing tub with a faucet, two knobs and a showerhead. Along with a curtain for privacy.

“Curiouser and Curiouser…” he said as he moved to the sink and opened the drawers underneath. There he found a similar thing. There were no pipes leading to the wall. There was a small basin and a few pipes that led up to the taps and from the drain, but nothing leading the water anywhere. It was like this was all just for show.

He stood up and turned the sink on and against all logic or reasoning, water came out of the faucet! He checked underneath again, this had to be some joke. Seeing the same thing he just saw, he stood up again and felt it with his hand. Yep, wet like water. He then looked at the tiny crystal and wondered if the water too could be generated with this crystal. I mean, these ponies could teleport seemingly anywhere they wanted at any time they wanted to, why would they not be able to generate electricity and water “magically”.

As he formed that word in his mind he sneered at himself. Magic. Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic. There was a reason for this, he just didn’t have the understanding to figure it out. Yet. Turning the faucet off and putting the crystal down he walked back out into the room and fiddled with the earpiece on the armor.

“Good Morning --- PUT SOME CLOTHES ON!” Vicky shouted, her voice filling the room.

“Morning to you too Vicky.” Jack said, smirking. “Why don’t you find me something to listen to while I take a shower, I’m in need of a little pick me up.”

“Fine! JUST GO AWAY AND COVER YOURSELF!”

Jack laughed and quickly moved towards the bathroom and shutting the door, not without slapping his bare ass once towards his helmet though.

“UGH!!”

Vicky randomly selected one of Jack’s “pick me up” songs and began to play it through the speakers. She had recent video logs to delete.

(what a feeling by collie buddz Song)

Jack stuck his head out of the door as he heard the song play. “Good choice baby girl.”

“DON’T CALL ME BABY!”

Jack laughed and shut the door quickly, heading to take a shower.

Morning Dew pushed her housecleaning cart down the corridor, incredibly nervous about this new creature she was going to have to clean up after. Hopefully he wouldn’t be there, and hopefully he wouldn’t leave a mess. Her blonde hair and tail were done up in a bun so as not to leave any stray hairs in the room. She had aqua colored fur and emerald green eyes. She was an earth pony, so all the work she had to do was by her own hands. She wore a very conservative maid outfit that went down to her hooves and down to her wrists, along with a blue woman’s tie that gave off a very professional look.

Reaching the designated room, she took a deep breath, trying to calm herself. If she could just clean the room quickly, maybe she wouldn’t have to see him. She let her breath out heavily and then forgot to breath as she heard music coming from the room. Oh no, he was still in there.

She knocked on the door, hoping that he would answer and tell her to go away. Just the sound of music. She knocked again.

“Room cleaning…”

Still no response. Orders were orders and she swallowed thickly, her mouth becoming dry. She opened the door and peeked in.

“Room cleaning. Mr. Jack, are you here?”

Still not getting a response, she stepped in and surveyed the room. Inside it was mostly clean, besides the table in the corner which had pieces of the armor she had seen him in yesterday. The bed was a mess, with covers and pillows all over the place, along with clothes laying on the floor. She spied the alarm clock face down and went to right it, finding that it was off.

She growled as she removed the cover, finding the crystal missing. Great, now she’d have to write a request to get a new one made and come BACK to replace it. She put the cover back on and placed the clock back on the night stand.

She next went to work on the bed, she pulled the pillow cases off and tossed them towards the door, then began to strip the bedsheets and blankets. At least there weren’t any gross stains, for that she was thankful.

She picked up his clothes off of the floor and folded them neatly, placing them next to his armor. She gave a curious glance at it, but left it alone, now entirely sure he was still here. She heard the water running in the back room and set her mind to just making the bed and leaving before he was done with whatever he was doing in the shower. Gathering up the removed linens, she placed them on her cart and pulled out fresh pillow cases, sheets and a new blanket.

While began making the bed up, wondering to herself why she had to draw the short straw. She was too preoccupied to hear the water turn off.

Jack opened the door, walking out into the room while he dried his hair. His head was covered with the towel, determined to taunt Vicky some more. He closed the distance with the bed, his bag sitting right next to the night stand with the alarm clock on it.

“My boo cooler than a cup of ice, sexy momma lookin’ hotter than a Cajun spice…”

Morning dew, hearing a different voice behind her, froze.

“Sweeter than an apple pie, can I have a slice?” Jack said taking another step forward and pressing his hips into something that shouldn’t have been there.

He stopped and pulled the towel off of his head to see a maid earth pony bending over his bed trying to fix the sheets. Her hands gripped the sheets as she turned her head, eyes wide.

Twilight Sparkle walked down the hallway, clipboard in hand and quill along with it. She hadn’t noticed that she had breezed through the morning quickly, excited to get back to learning whatever she could about Jack. Even if he wasn’t going to share all of the information he had about science, she would find some way to get what she wanted to know out of him. Her mind was filled with thoughts, her imagination running wild. What was space like? Where exactly did he come from? Were things similar or different from life in Equestria?

Morning Dew screamed as she ran out into hall “PERVERT! YOU BEAST! GET AWAY FROM ME!”

Twilight blinked at her sudden return to reality.

“PRINCESS TWILIGHT! PLEASE DO SOMETHING ABOUT THIS CRUDE THING!” Dew screamed.

“Please calm down Morning Dew, what happened?” Twilight said, moving in front of the door to find Jack holding a towel in front of his waist with one hand and holding another hand up trying to calm the hysterical mare down.

“Twilight! Thank the stars you’re here! Please explain to this good woman that it’s all an accident!”

Twilight’s brain fizzled as she saw a mostly naked Jack standing there and a hysterical maid behind her. She turned and smiled slightly to Morning Dew. “I will handle this. Thank you Ms. Dew. Your services are no longer required…”

Morning Dew nodded, grabbed her cart and ran down the hall in the opposite direction.

Twilight turned back to Jack. “Get dressed please Mr. Jack. You are expected at breakfast.” With that she shut the door while she was still standing in the hallway.

She kept a small crooked smile as she stomped down the hallway, broken clipboard in one hand, broken quill in the other.

Jack sat uncomfortably quiet next to Twilight. He had gotten dressed in his armor again since his only “clothing” was the inner layer suit that connected his skin to his armor. He would look at her out of the corner of his eye every now and then as they waited for the other two princesses to arrive.

“So… Twilight…”

“Nope.” She said quickly, cutting him off.

“I’m so going to enjoy this.”

After a few more minutes Princess Celestia and Princess Luna entered the dining hall. Celestia looked fresh faced and radiant, a bright smile on her muzzle and a gleam in her eyes, while her sister Luna looked almost completely exhausted. She had a faint smile on her lips as well, but she quickly sat down across from Twilight.

Celestia sat between Jack and Luna at the head of the table and looked over at the duo, her smile fading very slowly.

“Good morning Pri---“

“Be quiet Jack!” Twilight snapped.

Luna perked her ears up and looked at Twilight, Celestia did as well, more concern growing on her face.

“Now, why don’t you explain what happened this morning.” Twilight said, facing Jack with a look that could shatter diamonds.

“T-there was a slight accident this m-morning in my room...?”

“What hap—“ Celestia started

“Oh an ACCIDENT HMM?!” Twilight said. “You sure you weren’t trying to FORCE YOURSELF on Ms. Morning Dew?!”

Luna and Celestia’s jaw dropped.

“No! What had happened was…!”

“Yes Please, do try to explain this!” Twilight snapped, crossing her arms. “Especially after what you said last night to Princess Celestia!”

“I’m trying! What happened was I was taking a shower. Then I came out drying my hair. She was making the bed and I walked into her from behind. That’s it!”

Celestia and Luna closed their mouths, watching this exchange. Twilight was still seething, clearly not buying it.

“Look hold on.” Jack said hastily, grabbing his helmet. “Vicky please help me for the love of all that his good and just.”

“I’m sorry Jack I delete everything that has you naked in it. I don’t want to see that.”

“No, oh please no! Tell me you’re joking. I swear I’ll do whatever you ask. I won’t call you baby anymore. I won’t torment you, please just help me!”

All three of the mares now looked at this seemingly insane creature pleading with his helmet and growing more and more desperate as he did so.

”Fine, remove the projector and I’ll play back everything I saw. I had an … unfortunate view.. of the events.”

“Oh thank you ba-- Vicky thank you. Sweet sunshine thank you!”

Jack scrambled to his feet and put the helmet on the table. He removed a box from his hip and opened it up to reveal a small multitool. He began tinkering inside of the helmet removing various components.

“What does this have to do with anything?!” Twilight asked.

“Twilight. Let him finish.” Celestia said sternly. She was going to get to the bottom of this, especially after their conversation last night.

The chef pony came out from the back room carrying a tray full of toast, along with a couple glasses of orange juice along with a pitcher so they could refill their own glasses. He placed the tray on the table, casting a curious eye to the man fiddling with the inside of his helmet, wondering what all the fuss was about.

Luna, seeing her opportunity, quickly nabs the plate of toast and begins chomping down on it.

Finally, Jack removed the projector from inside his helmet and looked around for something to cast it onto. He moved all of the glasses and silverware off the tray and stood it up. “Look at this. This is the video that will show you exactly what happened!”

The mares blinked at him and then looked at each other.

“Just come here and watch this.” Jack said, angling the projector at the back of the silver tray.

Luna and Celestia stood up and walked around the table. Luna moved next to him, crunching on a piece of toast as Celestia stood behind him. He felt the weight of her press against the back of his armor and he leaned forward slightly. He also could feel her breath on the right side of his face, in between him and Luna.

“I hope I’m not intruding.” Celestia said quietly.

“N-no. You’re fine. I mean you’re not bothering me… Ok Vicky please play back what happened with me and Ms. Dew the maid.”

The projector lit up and began to draw the scene of exactly what happened in the room on the silver platter. It played forward, showing that Jack had actually walked into her from behind with a towel on his head, then jumped backwards, covering himself and holding a hand up while the maid freaked out. The video continued to play until Twilight showed up and shut the door.

“There see! Just like I said!” Jack said, finally vindicated.

Twilight looked at the platter, a blush spread across her cheeks, and then back at Jack and sighed. “Very well. I’m sorry for blowing up like this. I’ll make sure I talk to Ms. Dew and clear this whole thing up.”

Luna smirked and moved back to the other side of the table, returning to her mostly finished plate of toast.

“I knew I could count on you…” Celesita whispered in his ear before pulling away and returning to the head of the table. Her voice sent chills down his back and he looked over at her.

“You owe me for this.”

Jack leaned over and tried to grab a piece of toast from Luna. She saw his hand however and growled at him, causing him to pull his hand back quickly and wait for the chef pony to bring out more breakfast food.

“So, Jack, other than meeting the staff, what are your plans for today?” Celestia asked, chuckling.

Jack looked up and forced an awkward smile. “Heh… well… I was thinking I could see if I could find some materials in order to keep my armor in working condition… And then after that probably start working on fixing my ship.”

“Can I help with any of that?” Twilight said quickly.

“Uh…. Well… I mean…” Jack looked back at Twilight, who was now leaning close to him, expectantly.

“I mean… You can probably help me find the materials, but as far as doing the work, no I’m afraid not…”

Twilght’s face fell a bit as she sat back in her chair.

“…But you can watch?” Jack said, feeling a tug at his heart.

“I think that’s a grand Idea. You could use somepony to look after you so you don’t have any more ‘accidents’.” Celestia said, while Twilight’s smile grew once again.

Jack nodded to Celestia and then looked back at Twilight. “Looks like you’re stuck with me Princess.”

The chef pony returned with another tray, this time it had four bowls of oats, along with a basket of apples, a large plate of pancakes, and a small plate of sugar coated pastries.

Jack looked at this large tray of food and his stomach gurgled loudly.

“Somepony’s hungry hmm?” Celestia said teasingly.

“Oh yea…” Jack said, rubbing his hands together.

“So, Jack, what exactly do you like to… eat…” Twilight started but faded out as she watched Jack pull the whole plate of pancakes and several apples and the pastries.

Luna and Twilight both looked at Celestia, knowing full well that those pastries are for her and her alone. However, her light smile never faded and she began eating her healthy bowl of oats quietly.

Celestia watched, her eyebrow twitching a bit as Jack started by devouring all of the pastries and downing his glass of orange juice. He refilled his glass quickly and began cutting into the stack of pancakes.

“You know there are three other people here that have to eat as well, right?

Jack had a fork of pancakes in his mouth as Vicky reminded him where he was. Jack paused and looked around at the rest of the mares. He slowly chewed, eyes darting between Luna’s supremely disappointed face, Twilight’s halfway shocked look and Celestia’s slight smile. Celestia however was staring at him with her light purple eyes and he thought he could feel the fires of hell on the back of his neck. He swallowed thickly and slowly pushed the plate of pancakes back to the center of the table.

Jack sat silently and watched as the rest of the princesses at breakfast. The silence in the room grew extremely tense as he sat there, the constant glare from Luna and Celestia keeping him in his chair.

Luna finished her food and stood up, the sound of her chair sliding across the ground breaking the silence. “Well, Until tonight Celestia, Twilight.”

“Good night Luna.” Celestia and Twilight responded, both nodding towards the exiting princess.

Luna pushed her chair up to the table and walked towards the door. Jack followed her with his eyes. She walked much differently from what he had seen from Celestia last night. She walked with determined purpose, almost no sway in her hips. She wasn’t as full figured as her sister, but from what he could see, her body was much more firm. He sipped his orange juice slowly as he wondered what her fur would feel like under his fingers before feeling a nudge from his side. He looked at what it could be to see Twilight slightly scowling at him.

Guy can’t even look at anything. Jack thought to himself, bringing his eyes back to his glass.

Celestia was the next to stand, however a bit more refined in her movements. “Well I suppose it is time to start Day Court. Twilight, please be sure that our visitor does not find himself in anymore… situations.”

Jack noticed the distinct change in her voice. She no longer had that gentleness to her speech. He wondered if it was because of his actions, or if she just dreaded going to this ‘Day Court’. Or perhaps it was a combination.

“Yes Celestia. Have a good day.” Twilight said, standing and bowing her head slightly.

Celestia exited the room, much the same as she did last night, only now she walked as her sister did, more determined and stiff in her movements. She must be upset about something. Maybe tonight Jack would ask her about it over dinner.

“Come on Jack, let’s go get the day started.” Twilight said, pushing her chair in to the table.

Jack finished his glass of orange juice and snatched up an apple from the table, along with his helmet. He pushed his chair in and followed Twilight out of the room, shutting the door behind him. The two of them began walking down the hall in silence.

“So… what do you Princesses do during your… Princess Hours?” Jack asked, genuinely curious.

“Princess Celestia raises and lowers the sun. She also presides over the Day Court, which sees to the affairs of the nation and anything that the ponies petition her for. Luna raises and lowers the Moon and presides over the Night Court. They both share administrative responsibilities that deal directly with ruling Equestria, as well as overseeing meetings of the parliament.”

Jack bit his tongue at the ‘raise and lower the sun and moon’ bits, feeling that it was just some sort of religious or nationalist brainwashing propaganda. Even a brief overview of celestial mechanics stated that the planet revolved around the sun and the moon around the planet. There was no need for manually controlling these cycles, nor would it be feasible to do so EVERY DAY.

“And… what about you Ms. Twilight?” Jack asked, hoping for a better answer.

“I oversee the Magical and Scientific Research institute here in Canterlot.” She said, a bit of pride in her voice.

“…Magical AND Scientific?” Jack said aloud. “Aren’t those…. I don’t know… mutually exclusive ideologies?”

“Yes and no. They are separate wings of investigation, however we use both magic and science in our daily lives. We’re heading there now actually.”

Jack sat in a rather spacious office with his hands in his lap, tapping his fingers impatiently. Well the office would be spacious if it didn’t have too many filing cabinets, shelves full of scrolls and charts, and several writing desks. This was Twilight’s “office” where she kept up to date on each and every report that was generated from both wings of the Canterlot research center, AS WELL AS any research done throughout Equestria. This mare clearly had an insatiable appetite for knowledge, or maybe a dire need of distraction from her own thoughts, as Celestia had mentioned.

“Scan some of these documents for me.” Vicky said through his earpiece.

“We can’t just take whatever research these ponies have been working on without asking, it’s wildly hypocritical.” Jack said, crossing his arms. “Besides I already know what I’m going to ask for…”

Twilight opened the door and walked in, carrying a new stack of papers in her hands and a cookie in her mouth. She rounded the desk, shutting the door with her magic and plopped herself into her seat, dropping her papers at the same time.

“You didn’t bring me one?” Jack asked slyly.

Twilight’s eyes opened a bit wider, apparently having completely forgot about Jack in the time it took her to make her rounds.

“Erm Serrie” She said through a mouthful of cookie. She blushed and then pulled the cookie out of her mouth with her magic. “I’m sorry I mean.”

“Well you can make it up to me by telling me about this…” Jack held up the cylindrical crystal he pulled out of the alarm clock that morning.

“Where did you get that?” Twilight asked, getting up and moving over to him.

“I took it out of the alarm clock that woke me up this morning. It peaked my curiosity since I didn’t think you guys had electricity.”

“You need to make sure you put that back when we return to the palace. Those things are hard to make.” Twilight said, putting her hands on her hips.

“Ok I will, but what is it? I take it that it’s some kind of battery.”

“It’s a crystal that holds a small lightning spell enchantment. It uses the enchantment to power the clock.”

“So it’s effectively an electric battery…” Jack said, putting it away and rubbing his chin. “How big and powerful can you make them?”

Twilight blinked. “Well… about… this big.” She motioned with her hands to about the size of a tennis ball container. “But they are extremely difficult to make and even more difficult to fully enchant.”

“I suppose it’s out of the question to ask for an electrical rating. Can I get four?”

“FOUR?!” Twilight shouted.

“And something that can link them together that effectively makes them one big crystal.”

Twilight put a hand to her face, her mouth open in disbelief. What could he possibly do with that much lightning energy? It couldn’t be safe. “I’d… have to clear it with the Princess…”

“Well I guess I’m in luck since you are the Princess of Science and Magical Research. So how bout it Sparky?”

Twilight took a step back, stumbling a bit. Jack immediately jumped up and grabbed a hold of her sides, stabilizing her. She looked up at him as he picked her up and gently set her rear down on the desk so that she wouldn’t fall.

“Don’t go falling out on me now Princess.” Jack said.

“I don’t think you grasp how much power you’re asking for…” Twilight said softly.

“I don’t think you know how much power I need. And if my very rough guess is correct, that will be just enough for me to get things started.”

Twilight shook her head in disbelief, her eyes moving down to his chest as she tried to fathom just what he was talking about.

“Don’t worry, once I’m done you’ll get your crystals back. Then you can do whatever experiments you want with them.”

Jack took a step back and removed his hands from her side. Twilight was rather light in his grasp. Then again the added strength from his suit was probably the cause of that. She smelled rather nice though, he had to admit.

Twilight stood up after a moment and with a distressed look on her face, walked out of the door, leaving Jack in the office again.

Jack returned to his seat and once again, drummed his fingers on his lap, waiting for Twilight’s return. A few minutes went by and she returned, worried look still drawn on her face.

“It will take a few days for your first request for materials to arrive, and another three weeks before the crystals are ready.” Twilight said, looking only at her desk, wondering silently that he wasn’t planning on blowing something up.

“Thanks Princess. Can we go to the ship now? I have some things I need to pick up.”

She put a hand to her face and rubbed her cheek gently, then nodded. At least now she would be able to find something out about this mysterious fallen star, or ship as he called it.

“Let’s go to the loading dock and see if we can get some ponies to take us over there.”

Jack sat in the wagon looking across at Twilight, who now had a large purple satchel filled with parchments and quills, along with a few vials of ink. He almost didn’t have the heart to tell her she wouldn’t be coming inside with him. Almost.

The wagon landed in the forest once again with a thud and a creak. Twilight stood up and quickly disembarked, rounding to the front of the wagon to thank the pegasi ponies for taking them down.

Jack looked over and spied that it was a male and female pair. He remembered that Vicky needed more scans so he jumped over the side and approached them along with Twilight.

“Excuse me, sir and ma’am.” Jack said after Twilight had finished talking. “I was wondering if you could help me with something.”

The pair looked at each other and then the female spoke. “I suppose… what do you need?”

Jack held his hand up and showed the small camera like device under his forearm. “This is a scanner. Don’t worry it doesn’t hurt. It basically takes your picture and gives me information about you.”

“I… don’t know. That’s kind of personal don’t you think?” The female said.

“Well what I meant is that it gives me information about you as a pony, not your life. Like your bone density, blood pressure, and so on. Think of it like a physical only less intrusive. Also it’s for science.”

The pair looked at Twilight, who was looking at Jack. “Princess Twilight?” The male asked.

“I… don’t think it’s unsafe. He’s already… scanned a pony already and she’s fine. But I leave the decision up to you.” Twilight answered them, still unsure of just what exactly Jack had done last time.

“Well.. if you’re sure that it’s safe” the male said. “You can go ahead and scan me Mr. Jack. What do I need to do?”

Jack smiled and approached him, holding his hand up. “Nothing, this will only take a second. Just stand still please. And close your eyes.”

The male Pegasus nodded, closing his eyes while Jack’s scanner hummed to life. Several blue streams of light covered the male’s face and scanned him from head to toe. Jack moved quickly up and down his body as he could see the obvious discomfort from the opening and closing hands.

“Alright all done.” Jack said as the blue lights cut off and a chime sounded in his ear. “Would I be able to scan you next?” He asked to the female who was watching.

She said nothing but nodded her head and closed her eyes. Jack repeated the process just as swiftly as with the male, another chime sounding in his ear.

“Alright thank you both very much. If you could just wait here with Ms. Twilight, I’ll be back in a little bit.” Jack said, putting his helmet on.

“Wait what?!” Twilight said, half shouting. “You’re taking me with you right!?”

“Afraid not Princess. Prime Directive and all that.”

“You know that’s not real right?" Vicky said in his ear.

Jack walked over to the edge of the cliff, once again looking down at the broken remains of his ship. He frowned to himself and positioned himself to slide down the cliff wall safely.

“Oh no you don’t I’m coming too!” Twilight said, walking over to him.

Jack looked back just at the right moment to slip and tumble down the cliff face instead of sliding down it safely. A series of clanks and crashes was heard until a loud thud reverberated through the clearing as his back connected with a piece of the roof still in tact. The force of the impact knocked the wind out of him as he laid looking up at the sky.

“Smooth Jack, real smooth”

Twilight landed next to him on her hooves, her wings unfurled in the light. She quickly knelt down next to him. “Oh my, Jack are you alright?”

Taking a deep breath in, fighting through the pain in his chest he nodded lightly. There was nothing broken besides his pride and he turned his head towards her. The first thing he noticed unfortunately was that the way she was kneeling he had a clear view of a pair of lacy white panties on under her black skirt, then the fact that her skirt and slid up her thigh a bit more than it should have.

He moved his head back to the front to face the sky after a moment and began to sit up slowly.

“Easy now, are you ok?” Twilight asked again, placing a hand on his back.

“Yeah, just wounded my pride is all.” Jack said, standing and brushing the dirt off of himself.

Twilight looked around and stood up as well, tapping her foot on the metal of the ship.

“Careful, you’ll scratch her.” Jack said with all seriousness.

Twilight stared at the back of his head in disbelief. He was worried about a small scratch when there was clearly more damage to be concerned with. She watched as he walked to the broken entrance of the ship and hopped down off of the side with another thud. She flapped her wings down and flew up once again, then over to him and landed lightly next to him in between the two halves of the ship.

“Look Sparky. I know you’re curious. But please st—“

“I’m going with you regardless of what you say. You don’t have to tell me how anything works, but if you want those supplies, you have to let me come in with you.” Twilight said firmly, crossing her arms in front of her chest.

”She’s got you there Jack.”

Jack chewed on the inside of his cheek. “Alright fine! Just do me a favor and Don’t. Touch. Anything!”

Twilight clapped her hands happily as Jack turned to the closed door in the front of his ship. He approached it and forced it open with a bit of a grunt, revealing to Twilight the dark corridor with a small glimmer of light at the end of the hallway. She watched as he entered and followed slowly, her eyes wide with wonder.

Jack walked down the familiar hallway and held his left hand out, brushing his fingers against the black bulkhead until he got to his room. This door was unlocked so he slid it open by hand and stepped in.

”Make sure you clear the lines before you remove the rack.” Vicky reminded him. Safe as ever. Even if she wouldn’t admit it, she still cared for his safety when it counted.

“Yes ma’am.” Jack said approaching a small panel on the wall.

Twilight stepped into the room behind him, her eyes having trouble focusing in the dark. She lit up her horn and cast a very basic illumination spell, filling the room with light.

Jack turned at the sudden bright light from behind him, hoping that something hadn’t shorted out that could hurt Twilight. Seeing that it was just a large glowing light coming from the tip of her horn he turned back around and opened the panel. He then turned back around quickly realizing what he had just seen.

Twilight looked back at him. “What?”

“Nothing… I just saw the light.” Jack said uneasily returning to his task. He pulled the fuses just in case there was still energy in the system, even though there was no connection to the generator. He made his way over to the far corner on the opposite side of the room and opened another panel in the floor.
Twilight watched curiously, her attention turning to the open fuse box, then walking up behind him and peering over his shoulder.

Actually thankful for the light, Jack quickly found the power supply line for the armor rack and ensured that it was grounded properly. He then replaced the panel and pulled a drawer out next to the rack.

Twilight scribbled notes quickly behind him as she watched him pull out a box from the drawer and move over in front of the armor rack.

“So Jack, why don’t you tell me about what life was like back where you came from?” Twilight asked, standing close behind him.

Jack sighed and set his tool box down, fishing for some tools. “Alright. Well up until recently, My life was mostly spent in here, this ship, with just Vicky and the stars for company.”

“That… must have been lonely. At least you had Vicky…” Twilight said quietly.

“Yea it was, and I did. She’s very special to me. I wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for her, and she wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for me. We’re kind of like brother and sister I guess.”

“Oh…?”

Jack sat down facing the empty armor rack and began working at it, trying to free it from the wall.

“Yeah. See I grew up an orphan on a space station controlled by one of the major factions that basically rule the human race now. Unlike you ponies, humans have several ‘rulers’. It just depends on basically what city you live in.”

“You don’t have a consolidated government?” Twilight asked.

“No, it’s more each ‘government’ is a corporation that owns basically every aspect of the life that people lead while they live on their property. The only true commonality is the monetary system that these corporations use to buy and sell with each other.”

“That sounds… terrible.” Twilight said. Jack could hear the scratching of her note taking, smiling softly to himself.

“Yea It’s pretty bad on some stations, on others it’s not so bad. It’s more like you just get used to it because that’s just the way it is for so many people.”

“Anyway, I grew up an orphan on a station controlled by the ‘Brotherhood of Knowledge’.” Jack said. He could feel Twilight swell with excitement as he said the name. Jack however chewed the side of his tongue, trying to find something positive to say about them.

“Brotherhood of Knowledge? So you were a scribe? Or a scientist?” Twilight asked, moving over and sitting down close to him.

“Me? No such luck. If you weren’t born into a specific set of families, you didn’t get to be a scientist or scribe. I was an orphan, so I got to be a delivery boy. I ran packages from one side of the station to the other for almost no pay and definitely no thanks.”

Twilight’s heart sank.

“That is of course until I met Dr. E.” Jack said, looking out of the corner of his eye at her shifting emotions.

“Dr. E. was an engineer that moved to the station when I was a teenager. I didn’t know him too well at first, but he was the first and only person that ever thanked me and told me I was doing a good job. So naturally, I started to like Dr. E. He was a good man and he taught me a thing or two about science and engineering.”

“Wow, he sounds like a great pony!” Twilight said, inching closer to him. “Tell me about him!”

“Well, He’s Vicky’s father for one thing. And I guess at some point he became a father to me, although not in name. He’s how I met Vicky in the first place.”

Twilight flipped a page and kept writing, listening intently. “Dr. E was Vicky’s father?”

“Well… in a way.” Jack paused as he freed one of the boot slots from the wall. “I was about sixteen at the time when Dr. E. had put his ‘finishing touches’ on his latest project. He never told me what it was until the day I showed up in the lab after work.”

“He told me, ‘Jack my boy, I have someone special I want you to meet.’ I was so excited, it was usually just us two in the lab and I never talked to any other scientists. It was then he introduced me to Vicky. At first I thought it was just a ‘computer program’.”

Twilight looked down at her notes, flipping to a new page and continued writing.

“It was a very intriguing program, and I’m not sure she’s forgiven me for how I acted in the beginning. See at that time, I only thought of Vicky as a thing. A tool that could be used. Dr. E was very upset with me and scolded me for my lack of understanding. I couldn’t understand why he was so defensive at first, but then I learned exactly what she was.”

“And… that is? Dr. E’s filly?”

“…Daughter, yes. What? Filly?” Jack said, looking over at Twilight.

“Oh.. that’s what we call children. Fillies are female children and Colts are male children.”

“Ah.. I see. Well. Yes Vicky was his daughter. Only the current computer program wasn’t Dr. E’s actual daughter. His wife and daughter died about ten years before.”

“Oh no…” Twilight said, her writing coming to a stop.

“Dr. E was a weapons developer for the Dominion. Well he was an armor developer for them. The Dominion of Man is a mostly militaristic corporation that provides security forces for banking and other minor corporations. One day, there was a riot on the dominion station that Dr. E worked at.”

Jack swallowed as he recalled the face of Dr. E, tears welling up behind his glasses as he told Jack the story.

“There was a fire, and his wife and daughter were among the casualties. Dr. E soon left the Dominion and fled to seek asylum with the Brotherhood in exchange, he would work for them.”

Twilight placed a hand on his shoulder as he continued to work, he could hear slight sniffles coming from her.

“So, during that time he worked on Victoria, an Artificial Intelligence modeled after his daughter. Grief makes people do strange things, and his only wish was that his daughter could be there with him. He told me that had his daughter been alive, we’d be the same age.”

Jack pulled the second boot socket free and got up on a knee, beginning to work on the legplate socket.

“Well, like I said, when I first met Vicky, I thought she was just a computer program. Dr. E spent a large amount of time and care teaching her and explaining things, basically raising his daughter all over again. This time he had a daughter and a son, and it seemed he couldn’t be happier.”

Twilight smiled and continued writing.

“Vicky and I quickly became friends, possibly because I was the only other one besides Dr. E that knew about her. I never had any family, but now I finally felt like I belonged somewhere. Those were the happiest years of my life to this point.”

Jack pulled the legplate socket down and set it next to the boots, moving to the glove sockets.

“Then, just as things seemed to be too good to be true, they were. Six years ago the Dominion found out what happened to Dr. E and they attacked the station.”

Twilight once again stopped writing, listening intently.

“The dominion are a formidable military force. They had better be, they had over two hundred years of experience. The body count was relatively low considering, only all of the scientists on the floor that Dr. E was on died. About forty in total.”

Twilight could hear the change of tone in Jack’s voice. He was trying to keep his cool while he worked.

“Dr. E had just finished working on Vicky’s emotional matrix a few days prior and she was learning how to deal with human like emotions. What a way to break the poor girl in…” Jack said quietly.

“The plan was… To escape with Dr. E and Vicky on the Head Archivist’s ship. This ship.”

Timidly, and perhaps regretfully, Twilight asked. “What happened to the Doctor?”

“We were in the last corridor before we got to the ship. Dr E... He… he told us that he would catch up. I knew he wasn’t … but he made me promise…” Jack’s voice broke as he pulled the glove sockets out and sat down, placing them on the ground. He sucked in a sharp breath of air as he stood up and continued to work.

“He made me promise to take care of my sister… And to protect her and let her grow into the woman she was supposed to be. He wanted her to be able to make her own decisions and live her life in whatever way she saw fit. And then he … He went to go distract the Dominion troops.”

"Jack..."

He could still hear Vicky’s cries for her father as he closed the airlock and made his way to the cockpit. She screamed for hours as they went through warp, leaving the station and everything they ever knew behind. She didn’t speak to him for weeks.

Twilight sat silently, tears rolling down her cheeks while Jack worked, freeing the rest of the metal from the wall.

“H-h-How do you do it…?” She asked, her voice breaking as she looked up at him.

Jack looked down at her, seeing tears roll down her cheeks just like Celestia had the night before.

“How do you… keep going? Knowing… knowing…”

“Knowing he’s never coming back?” Jack asked, stopping work and kneeling down in front of her.

She inhaled sharply as he said that so flippantly. She then nodded.

Jack sighed and removed his helmet, showing his face to her, tears in his eyes as well. “I don’t know… but I do know what Dr. E told me. He said… ‘The one’s we love are never truly gone. Yes, they may no longer be beside us, but as long as we remember them, they’re always with us.’”

Jack put his arms around her gently, Twilight quickly returned the hug, burying her face into his neck. He felt her tears roll down his neck and he rubbed her back gently.

Author's Note

Song name "What a feeling" by Collie Buddz. https://youtu.be/22TkBlNUlUg