Mass Core 2: Crimson Horizon

The locking mechanism for the universe airlock clicked, and then whirred as the internal systems retracted. Then, with a slight hiss, it parted and opened. Blossomforth and Wintrygust stood, watching. Wintrygust initially attempted to remain stoic, but as the door pulled away she found she could hardly contain herself. When she finally saw the smiling orange face on the other side, she rushed forward to hug her.

“Scootaloo!” she said. “I didn’t think I would ever see- -” She stopped suddenly when she saw the pony beside Scootaloo. A taller pony dressed in heavy, dense looking armor, but with a nearly identical if somewhat older face. “And…Scootaloo?”

“What the actual buck,” muttered Blossomforth, not knowing exactly how to react.

“It’s a long story,” said the real Scootaloo as her older counterpart’s eyes shifted, looking around the room. “One I’d be very happy to hear.”

“In time,” said the other. “Or not at all. Really, at this point, it hardly matters.” Her gaze fell onto the two white Pegasi in the room. “I don’t know who you are,” she said to Wintrygust. “Which means you must be unique to this plane.” Her violet eyes slowly drifted toward Blossomforth. “But I do recognize you. Hello, Blossomforth.”

Blossomforth’s eyes widened. “How…how does she know my name?”

“Again, I have no idea,” said Scootaloo.

“Because I’ve met you. Although generally you don’t have red eyes.”

“My- -what did you just say?” Blossomforth’s wings shifted. Scootaloo saw that there were weapons mounted beneath.

“Scootaloo,” said Wintrygust, her tone more measured. “Who is this? Why is she here?”

“Her name is…well…Scootaloo.”

“For differentiation, I recommend referring to me by the name ‘Xyuka’. Spelled with an ‘X’.”

“She was…” Scootaloo sighed. “Apparently, she is Sunset Shimmer’s chief general.”

The room fell silent.

“If I may reiterate, then,” said Wintrygust, “And I don’t mean to question your judgement, Scootaloo, but WHY IS SHE HERE?”

“She was injured. I couldn’t just leave her.”

“My forces have been destroyed, and my connection to my master severed,” explained Xyuka.

“So,” said Blossomforth, “what you’re saying is that you’re our prisoner?” She raised one of her wings and pointed a weapon at Xyuka. There was a wide grin on her face. “Well…we do have a lockable vault. I guess that’s going to be your new home.”

“Blossomforth,” said Scootaloo. There was no way that Blossomforth could have known how volatile the situation was, or what Xyuka was capable of.

“No,” said Xyuka. “You have our positions reversed. I am not your prisoner.”

Xyuka’s eyes widened, and Scootaloo winced as a loud buzzing suddenly filled her head. A buzzing that sounded almost like voices. Around her, the world seemed to distort, as though she were viewing it through static or fog. To her side, she saw Wintrygust and Blossomforth’s expressions suddenly vanish, and their eyes seemed to change. To Scootaloo’s horror, she realized that they looked almost identical to the ponies that had fought alongside the sewn creatures on the satellite.

“This is unusual,” commented Xyuka. “The indoctrination field is barely active, and yet you both are already showing signs of effect. For some reason you are unusually subject to suggestion.” She turned her attention to Scootaloo but addressed Wintrygust and Blossomforth. “Now. Strangle your captain. To death.”

Blossomforth and Wintrygust turned toward Scootaloo, and then stepped toward her, unable to resist the orders. Wintrygust was the closest, and she reached out to Scootaloo. Scootaloo, though, held her ground and looked up into the eyes of her friend. Wintrygust continued to reach out, but her hoof started to shake.

“N…no,” she said, lowering it. “I won’t…I can’t hurt Scootaloo…I won’t…” She lowered her hoof and took a step back, shaking her head against the mind control. “Get out- -get out of my head!”

“Interesting,” said Xyuka. “You are stronger than I expected. Your friend, however? Her, not so much.”

Blossomforth continued to march toward Scootaloo.

“Xyuka,” said Scootaloo. “Stop.”

“But I’m having so much fun.”

“STOP.”

“Fine.”

The buzzing ceased as soon as it had started. Blossomforth stopped her advance and blinked, and then looked horrified. Wintrygust did the same.

“What- -what was that?” cried Blossomforth. “I- -I was awake. I could see, but I couldn’t- -” She turned to face Xyuka. “What did you do to me?”

“Telepathy?” asked Wintrygust, rubbing her head.

“Oh no. Nothing so…ephemeral. I gave you orders, and you obeyed them. Because I made you want to.”

“You- -you,” said Blossomforth. She was unable to finish her statement, and Scootaloo saw that she was shaking.

“Xyuka. No. Scootaloo,” said Scootaloo. It felt strange to say her own name, let alone use it to address someone else. “I was trying to be nice to you. But if you EVER do that to my friends again- -”

“You are not in command of this situation, Scootaloo,” said Xyuka. “I am. But, nevertheless, I acquiesce. For now.”

She walked past Scootalo and between Blossomforth and Wintrygust.

“I can’t believe you let her onboard,” hissed Blossomforth.

“I don’t think I could have stopped her,” admitted Scootaloo.

“I’m just glad you’re back.” Wintrygust hugged Scootaloo tightly. “I thought- -I thought I lost you- -”

“Hey, now,” said Scootaloo, running her hoof through the mare’s white mane. “I’m fine. I made some friends, and they helped me, and…Wintry, whose in command right now?”

“Oh. Me,” she said, sounding somewhat ashamed. “You told me that I should take command if anything happened to you, so- -”

“Buck yeah!” said Scootaloo. “Of course I wanted you in charge! You have way more experience than ANYPONY else here. And that uniform…well, it looks great on you.”

Wintrygust blushed. “Thank you,” she said.

“And you actually managed to find me? Celestia, Wintry. They should give you a medal. I wish they would give you a medal.”

“I don’t need it. I’m just so happy you’re safe.”

Wintrygust wiped the tears away from her eyes, and as she did, Scootaloo noticed something. She reached up and held Wintry’s head. “Wintry? Your eye…no, all of you. You’re bruised. Did somepony hit you?”

Wintry looked at Blossomforth, and then back at Scootaloo. “No. During the initial escape, we had to sacrifice power to the inertial dampeners. I was jostled heartily before I managed to get belted in.”

“If you’re hurt- -”

“I’m fine. We’re fine. All of is.”

“Well, not exactly all of you,” said Xyuka, peering out the door into the main ship.

Scootaloo did not know what she meant, but approached the door anyway. Outside, the hallways were dark, lit only be a slight intermittent flickering of a single light.

“Why is it dark?”

“We sustained substantial damage during the rescue mission,” explained Wintrygust. “We’re currently running on reserve power.”

“That’s not entirely true,” said a voice from the shadows. It was muffled and strange, but Scootaloo recognized it as that of Dr. Heart.

“Heart,” she said. “I can’t see you.”

“I can,” said Xyuka. “It is…impressive. But perhaps something you might not want to see.”

“Heart,” said Scootaloo, feeling her tone become more annoyed as she became more nervous. “What’s wrong?”

“Wrong? Oh, Captain, nothing is wrong. Everything is so, so right.”

Something clicked across the floor, and Scootaloo saw a long, scythe-like leg emerge into the flickering light. Before her mind could comprehend what that was doing here, the hallway filled with a sickly lavender glow, and suddenly Scootaloo understood.

What was dominating most of the hallway was not Heart. At least not entirely. It was one of the creatures, like the ones on the satellite or the Crimson Horizon- -but again, not entirely. Parts of its body had been stripped away and replaced with mesh of robotics that formed extraneous grasping limbs and extra legs. There was no head, but the torso had been hollowed out, revealing the machinery within.

As Scootaloo looked closer to that gaping hole, she saw a pair of eyes staring back at her, and the source of the light. Heart’s head had been implanted in the center, connected by metal conduits and tubes leading into the ragged border of her neck. Her mouth was covered with a mask, and it took Scootaloo only a moment to realize that her head had been installed inverted. Standing beside her was a grinning, blood-soaked clingon who could not seem to stop giggling.

“Heart, what did you do?” gasped Scootaloo.

“I succeeded,” hissed Heart, her spiderlike body clicking forward with an insect-like gait and cadence. “I finally SUCCEEDED.”

“Sweet Celestia,” cried Blossomforth. “I can’t- -I can’t do this- -”

“Does it hurt?” asked Wintrygust.

“Does it hurt- -you can’t tell how wide I’m smiling right now. Or would be, if I hadn’t have needed to sever my lower jaw to fit my head in here. Let alone the nonorthotopic transplant.”

“I helped make the cupcakes,” said the clingon. She licked some of the spattered blood off of her lips and seemed to shiver with pleasure. “MMM! Cherry!”

“Heart, what happened?” demanded Scootaloo. “And how did- -why did- -”

“Why did I take steps to finally leave my accursed yellow-toned body behind? Well, frankly, because I couldn’t use it anymore. I was attacked and badly injured.”

“Attacked?” said Wintrygust. “I was on the bridge. We didn’t have any sign of being boarded.”

“It’s very hard to get boreded around here,” said Pinkie, now licking blood off her smooth, furless body.

“And yet we were,” said Heart, lowering her inverted head close to Wintrygust and causing Blossomforth to cower. “How, I’m not sure. It was a human. No. She was human, but I recognized her. Sunset Shimmer.”

“Sunset Shimmer?” said Scootaloo. “That’s impossible- -”

“No, it isn’t,” said Xyuka, darkly. “She must have deciphered how to use my transwarp projector…” She trailed off, and then returned to the conversation. “But that is highly unlike her. There is no reason for her to attack such an insignificant ship.”

“She took Trixie.”

Everypony went silent.

“She WHAT?” screamed Scootaloo.

“I couldn’t exactly stop her. She very delicately and neatly severed my spine. Of course, not that the loss of any significance. The Core was on the verge of death anyway.”

“She- -what did you do?!”

“Oh Celestia,” whispered Wintrygust.

“That’s right, Wintry. All those maneuvers? Those weapons you were so intent on firing? They had a cost. Directly to the Core. You were killing her.”

“I’m- -I’m sorry. I didn’t- -”

“Know? Yes, you did. But you’ve already proven that you can kill, haven’t you? That’s where I got this incredibly sexy body.”

“I’d do it,” added Pinkie.

Wintrygust looked like she was on the verge of tears, and not the happy ones she had produced just moments before. Scootaloo tried to refocus the conversation on what really mattered. “She took here? Where? WHERE?”

“To the Crimson Horizon, no doubt,” said Xyuka. “My mistress has a fascination with Cores. No doubt your friend is indeed safe. Just as, no doubt, she is trying to replace me.”

“But that means where stranded,” said Blossomforth. “Buck- -without a Core- -we don’t even have enough power left for long-range communication!”

“That’s not entirely true,” said Heart. As soon as she spoke, she ship hummed to life. The decks shook with power and the gravity intensive and clarified. The lights flickered more rapidly and then burned brightly.

“What- -what did you do?”

“You used it as a power source,” said Xyuka.

Heart nodded. “I told you. I succeeded. You didn’t think I just left my body to rot, did you? I performed the surgery on it myself.” She raised her robotic metal hands, the numerous fingers flexing rapidly. “I told you I succeeded. I built a Core- -without a horn. From my own severed body.”

“And I helped,” said Pinkie.

“Unfortunately, she ship is still badly damaged otherwise. It will take time to repair, even with this body.”

“I do not have time,” said Xyuka. “Without me to stop her, she will accelerate the timetable for the attack. I need to get back home, back to the Crimson Horizon.” She paused. “I will perform the necessary repairs.”

The armor on Xyuka’s back shifted, producing a set of small nodes. White light emerged from each node, and several objects began to print at her sides, quickly materializing from apparently nothing. Within seconds, Xyuka had produced several octahedral devices that perfectly resembled tiny models of her ships.

She pointed, and the models streaked off through the halls, with one nearly impaling Blossomforth as it flew off. Xyuka watched them go, and then started walking down the hall herself.

“Where are you going?” demanded Scootaloo.

“Does it matter?” asked Xyuka. “I can’t leave your ship. I’ll remain here if you need me.”

Returning to life on the Failure took some getting used to. Everything was essentially the same; after all, Scootaloo had only been gone for a few days. In that short time, though, the entire command structure had been upended. That was not necessarily a bad thing. The crew seemed to show much greater respect toward Wintrygust, especially Blossomforth, who seemed to have at least partially calmed down. The addition of the clingon to the crew was also bizarre, to say the least, but they were already short-staffed enough so Scootaloo accepted Wintrygust’s decision to deputize it. It now tended to spend much of its time with Lemon Heart overseeing the repairs. That only left Sassaflash, who was as narcoleptic as ever.

Scootaloo should have been overjoyed to return. Instead, though, she found herself endlessly thinking about Trixie. She could not help but blame herself. After all, it had been her fault. Trixie was her friend. She could have taken steps to protect her, or even to free her, somehow. Every time she had almost done it, doubt always overtook her: if she tried to help Trixie escape, the Equestrian navy would track her down like they had for Starlight Glimmer. If she replaced Trixie with a stronger Core, then instead of letting Trixie go free, they would euthanize her- -and Scootaloo would be left with the guilt of having what would likely be a child being slowly depleted of magical energy in her engine room.

Worse than the guilt by far, though, was the inability to do anything about the situation. Scootaloo really had no solid plan. The best she could come up with was to offer Xyuka as an exchange for Trixie, but that was tenuous at best. She had no way to know how Sunset Shimmer would respond- -or even how Xyuka would react. For all Scootaloo knew, as soon as they got there, Xyuka could teleport them away and destroy the Failure from a distance.

Even if she had come up with any kind of working plan, though, Scootaloo had no way to implement it. The Failure had been damaged much more badly than Wintrygust’s prosaic report led her to believe. Repairs to communications alone should have taken weeks to months in a dry dock- -let alone in distant galaxy with no source of replacement parts for a ship that was so old they probably did not even exist.

Repairs were actually going smoothly, though, despite what should have been immense logistic constrains. According to Heart, Xyuka was rapidly repairing all damaged systems- -and making improvements. At least, that was what Heart thought. Even with her knowledge of advanced propulsion systems, she could understand Xyuka’s technology in the slightest.

Thoughts about this continued to run through Scootaloo’s mind as she lay awake in bed. It was not quite as comfortable as a pile of cloned Twilight Sparkles, but it was familiar, as was the insomnia. After what felt like several hours, though, she decided that she needed to go for a walk. Wintrygust was sleeping soundly beside her, and Scootaloo gently moved the white pony’s forelegs away from her. Wintrygust stirred, but Scootaloo patted her on the mane and she smiled as she rolled over and went back to sleep.

Outside, the halls were dark. It was partially to save power, but also to simulate night on Equestria. The dim glow of the blueish emergency lights lit the way, though, and Scootaloo found herself hesitating. She did not want to accidentally run into Heart in the low light.

Instead of Heart, though, Sassaflash silently walked past Scootaloo. Scootaloo jumped in surprise. “Sassaflash!” she gasped, trying not to cry out and wake the rest of the ship up. “What- -what are you doing up?”

“What am I doing up?” she said, as if confused by the question. “I’m always up this time of night.”

“What? Why?”

“I have the worst time sleeping. Most nights, I just wander through the ship. Thinking. About stuff.”

“You have trouble sleeping?”

“I always have. No idea why.” She paused. “You can’t sleep either, Captain?”

“No,” admitted Scootaloo.

“Well, walking doesn’t help, but you can do it anyway. I think I’m going to go play some checkers with the clingon, even though she cheats like hay. You’ll have the ship to yourself. But a world of advice: don’t go to deck four.”

“Why not?”

“Because that’s where SHE is.”

“You mean Xyuka.”

Sassa nodded. “Yeah. Her. I don’t like her.”

“Telling.”

“What?”

“Nothing. Go play checkers.”

“Oh. Okay.” Sassaflash stared for a moment, and then slowly walked off toward the stairwell. Scootaloo could not help but wonder if she was actually sleepwalking.

Once she was alone in the creaking, dark ship, though, Scootaloo immediately regretted not having followed Sassaflash. It just felt too lonely. She found herself walking down the stairwell, intending to go watch the checkers game- -assuming it was not in the same room as Heart’s suspended, headless body, which in all likely hood it was- -when she stopped at the door to deck four. The floor where Xyuka was.

Scootaloo opened the door. She had expected it to lead to something unique, even terrifying, but it was just another dark hallway. For a moment, Scootaloo considered turning around- -but instead walked into the space.

Xyuka was actually in one of the formerly empty cargo bays, all the way at the end. Scootaloo opened the door to it and found that it was only partially lit. Much of it was filled with old equipment in storage, or the few spare parts for the ship that they carried with them- -but at the same time, a great deal of it was overrun with modifications. The walls and floor were made of a completely different material, and the entire bay seemed to have changed in both size and shape. The walls shimmered with geometric patterns of light, and were connected to a number of machines through cables placed at strategic points.

In one corner, Scootalo saw several of the small octahedrons orbiting in the air. Each was projecting a set of rapidly shifting bright-red lasers at an object that was being slowly constructed on the floor. Scootaloo realized that they were building a much larger version of themselves: they were making a small ship.

“Cybran nanomanufacturing,” said Scootaloo’s voice from across the room. “The smaller ones are just digistructed, but I need something more solid for larger works. I intend to use the central processing architecture to augment your ship’s extremely limited computational system.”

Xyuka was standing across the room, staring out a large glass window at the blue-green planet below. Scootaloo realized that she was naked. Her armor had been removed, revealing the orange-coated body underneath. Her skin was dotted with scars- -both from what appeared to be injuries, as well as repeated surgeries- -and numerous implants, including an extensive set along her spine that bypassed her tiny, atrophied wings.

“Did we always have that window?” asked Scootaloo.

“No,” said Xyuka. “I added it. I have enhanced retinas, but my primary sensory array was in the helmet cover that you shot a hole in.”

“Sorry.”

“Don’t apologize, it’s a sign of weakness.” She paused. “I like to look out at space. It so full…and so small.”

“Yeah,” said Scootaloo, walking up beside her. There were even more scars and implants on her front side, including her right front leg which appeared to be entirely artificial.

“You’re wondering what these scars are from,” said Xyuka.

“Did you read my mind to know that?”

Xyuka seemed mildly amused. “What gives you the impression that I can read your mind?”

“The way you were fighting. Back on the satellite. You knew every move I was going to make before I even made it.”

Xyuka smiled weakly. “I’m not a telepath. Not yet. I wasn’t reading your mind.”

“Then how did you know?”

“You have slight arthritis in your left foreleg after damaging the ligaments as a child. You always put your back legs parallel to the direction you want to attack, because you’ve always considered them your strongest feature. And as a filly, Rainbow Dash taught you the ‘old one-two punch’, which is very predictable if you know it’s coming.”

“How- -how do you know all that?”

“How?” Xyuka’s violet eyes looked down at Scootaloo’s . “Because I AM you. I injured my left leg in a scooter accident. Since I couldn’t fly, I had stronger legs than most Pegasi as a child. And Rainbow Dash taught me the same fighting trick.”

“Then what are you, exactly? How can you be me?”

“The answer to that question is the same as to the question you failed to ask first, concerning these scars and implants. I am a traveler. Instead of crossing space, though, I cross reality. Hundreds, thousands, millions of versions of it. And I have been wondering for a long, long time.”

“How long?”

“Time has no meaning out there…but I lost track around seven thousand six hundred.”

“Wh- -but you’re not a unicorn! You can’t possibly be that old!”

“I am much, much older. Immortality is not very hard to construct.”

“That explains the implants, then.”

Xyuka nodded. “Every reality I reach is slightly different. Some are empty, either long dead or yet to give life. Others uninhabitable for very long. Some have life. And technology. I accumulate some wherever I go.” She raised her right hoof, and the coating on it slid away, revealing the narrow, skeletal metal claw and arm beneath. She stared at it, maneuvering the long, pointed fingers with ease. Then she closed it, and returned to her standing position. “A question, though. Does this universe have a Rainbow Dash?”

“Yes,” said Scootaloo. “It does.”

Xyuka’s eyes narrowed. “That tone is not what I would normally expect you to use in reference to your sister.”

“Our relationship is…strained. I don’t want to talk about it.”

“Then you had damn well unstrain it.”

Scootaloo looked up, shocked by Xyuka’s sudden change in tone. “What would you know?” she asked. “You may look like me, but you haven’t lived my life. You haven’t seen what she’s done.”

“I don’t have to. She’s your sister.”

“Oh yeah? Then where is your Rainbow Dash?”

Xyuka fell silent, and in that silence Scootaloo found her answer and immediately regretted the tone of anger in her comment.

“She’s dead,” said Xyuka. “My native universe no longer has a Rainbow Dash.”

“I’m sorry. I didn’t know.”

Xyuka just sighed and looked out at the placid atmosphere of the planet below. “My world was not like yours. Our technology was initially simple. When I was your age, we were undergoing a technological revolution. Rainbow Dash was testing an experimental flight augmentation system- -and something went wrong. I watched her die. All of Ponyville did. There was not even a body left to bury.”

“That- -” Scootaloo suddenly felt sick. Rainbow Dash was not a nice pony, and she had essentially scapegoated Scootaloo for the debaucle with the aliens in the Serpent Nebula, but Scootaloo was suddenly realizing that despite that, she still cared deeply for Rainbow Dash, even if the feeling was only a shadow of the infatuation she had felt in her younger years. The thought of watching her die was horrifying.

“Is terrible? It was psychologically traumatic. I was crushed. I considered joining her. You would see the signs of that if my arm were still attached.”

“But you got better.”

“No.” Xyuka shook her head. “I became obsessed with finding a way to bring her back. The same technological revolution that killed her allowed me to become an expert in interdimensional travel. I was considered brilliant in my home reality. I should have just accepted that. I should have stayed.”

“But if it would save Rainbow Dash- -”

“But it didn’t. I never found a way to get her back. And eventually…I started to branch out from the local accessible realities. The free energy differences became greater and then…insurmountable. Coordinates were lost and causality pathways increased at an exponential rate.”

“You got lost.”

Xyuka nodded. “Now I can never return home. My friends, my loved ones. I will never see them again.”

“But if there are other Scootaloos, there must be other Rainbow Dashs. Couldn’t you- -”

“Take one of those? Settle in one of those universes? Perhaps one without a native Scootaloo? I’ve tried. But you know why I can’t. You can feel it. When you look at me? It’s like I’m wrong. Like I don’t belong here.”

Scootaloo looked up at her, and concentrated. It was weak, but it was there. A strange unnerving sensation that passed beyond the fact that she was looking at a copy of herself. “Yeah. I can feel it.”

“Imagine that a hundred thousand times worse, every second. Every Rainbow Dash…so, so close, but not MY Rainbow Dash. I can hardly look at them, even though I want to so, so badly. It’s so…maddening.”

Scootaloo did not know how to respond, and they both went silent. The silence lasted for what felt like several minutes, but it did not feel awkward. Scootaloo supposed that it stemmed from being alone with herself.

“I wish I could help,” she said.

“You can. Get me back to Sunset Shimmer.”

Scootaloo grimaced. “I don’t know how I feel about that.”

“You don’t need to feel anything about it. Just bring me back.”

“So you can do what, exactly?

Xyuka frowned. “Listen to me very carefully, Scootaloo,” she said, slowly. “I do not have a problem answering that question. It has no effect on me. But it will on you. You will not like the answer. Are you sure you want to ask that question?”

“Yes,” said Scootaloo. “Do you think I would have asked it if I didn’t want to know the answer?”

“Then you are either naïve or a masochist. Fine. Sunset Shimmer’s ultimate goal is the wholesale destruction of all ‘impure’ ponies, which in her parlance means non-Cores.”

Scootaloo’s eyes widened. “W- -WHAT?”

“I told you that you would dislike my response.”

“But- -how can you say that? Without even a hint of concern? That- -that’s not even possible!”

“I assure you, it is. The technology that makes up her body- -the Crimson Horizon- -is quite extensive. Even I was only acting as support. Her capacity is far beyond me, but I know her well. Trust me, Scootaloo. She is more than capable of such a feat.”

“And you’re just okay with this? Scootaloo- -”

“Xyuka.”

“NO. Scootaloo. That’s the name your mother gave you. Our mother. You- -no. You know what? You can’t be me. Not if you would seriously consider something like that- -”

“Do not pretend that you understand what I am, Scootaloo,” said Xyuka, harshly. “What I’ve been through. You are a teenager. You’ve barely been alive for two decades.”

“That’s not an excuse! What in Equestria could make you- -make me- -be willing to even THINK about trying to help somepony who is trying to do that?!”

“Because I owe her,” said Xyuka, simply. “Because she is my savior.”

“I don’t care if she licks your- -”

“I was dead,” said Xyuka. “Or as close as I can come to it anymore. I had reached my entropy limit. I was trapped in the void, conscious and immortal. Alone. For all eternity, lost. I had depleted my resources and had no way out. And then she came. When I was in that horrible state, when I was at my worst, the remains of the Crimson Horizon arrived. Even weakened, the found me. She helped me. She was my friend. I owe her this, Scootaloo.”

“You owe her? Pony SHIT! You would be killing Equestria- -Rainbow Dash, Applebloom, Sweetie Belle- -you’d be killing ME!”

“And likely myself, too.” Xyuka sighed. “But I…I don’t know if there’s enough left of me not to do this. Every year I live, every world I visit…you would think it adds something to you, but it doesn’t. Every new experience takes something away. I don’t think I’m even alive anymore.”

“Well then I should just kill you here.”

“You have already more than proven that you are not capable of that. Besides. You need me.”

“Need you? What the hay do I need you for?”

“Because I’ve come to function as Sunset’s conscience. I am just a piece of her war machine, a level slightly above those creatures that she created. I am essentially meaningless to her, and I know that. She would enact her plan with or without me- -but with me, I can minimize the damage.”

“So, what? Turn a genocide into a half-genocide? Scootaloo, why can’t you see this? She has to be stopped!”

“Then I pray you stop her.”

“And how am I supposed to do that? Scootaloo. Please. If I’m going to do this, I need your help.”

Xyuka blinked. “My help? Why mine?”

“Why? Because you have the tactical advantage here. Why did you bother to seek me out in the first place?”

“Because you are Scootaloo. And so am I.”

“Exactly. With both of us, the awesome will have been doubled!”

Xyuka paused to think about that for a moment. “I wish it were that simple.”

“Then make it that simple.”

“I will try,” said Xyuka. She put her hoof on Scootaloo’s head. “For you. The me I wish I had stayed as. But I will not betray my mistress. She’s my friend, I can’t”

“I know. And we’ll find another way.”

Xyuka smiled. “I…I miss my old optimism. I’m glad I didn’t kill you. Of the many Scootaloos I have met, you are one of the best so far.”

“Many? Just how many of us have you seen?”

“Hundreds, maybe? A lot, certainly. Usually we have similar traits. I so far have yet to meet one of us who can fly under her own power.”

“Damn. That sucks.”

“There is multiverse chatter that one of has a son, though.”

“A son? But- -Rainbow Dash isn’t a stallion!”

“I know, right? I thought I was the only straight Scootaloo for the longest time.”

“Wait, how do you know I’m not straight?”

“Because I’ve noticed the way you’ve been staring at my flank. Three times alone since the conversation started. The action you are thinking of is called ‘selfcest’. And it is disgusting. And…fun.”

“Fun? I thought you said you were straight.”

“I did. I did not say that all Scootaloos are female.”

Scootaloo burst out into a giggling fit. It felt wrong after the seriousness of the conversation they had just had, but she just could not help herself. The image of a pony as stiff and awkward as Xyuka in such a bizarre and kinky situation was just too hilarious.

Even Xyuka’s smile slowly became a ragged chuckle, and Scootaloo pulled a stool out of one of the storage boxes.

“What are you doing?” asked Xyuka.

“I can’t sleep. Can you?”

“I don’t sleep.”

“I didn’t think so. And I’ll bet you hate being alone as much as I do.” Scootaloo sat down on the chair. “So I’m just going to sit here, and talk if you want to. Just Scootaloo-on-Scootaloo. And NO, not like that. Nobody ever said you can’t be friends with yourself.”

Xyuka smiled. This time, the grin was real, even if it was soft and hesitant. “I’d like that,” she said. “I’d like that a lot.”