Chapter 30: The Words of the Paradigm

It had all been a lie. For nearly three hundred years, Starlight had thought that Twilight had been her friend- -but now she knew that there had never been a Twilight. The pony she knew had been a replacement for years, perhaps since the start. She had been built by Cerberus, her purpose unknown, and Starlight had been foolish enough to believe that her affection was sincere.

Starlight was angry at herself for having believed that she had had a friend, and for what she had thrown away for the sake of that illusionary friendship. Her life had passed by, spent dedicated to a mare who was hiding the fact that she was a murderous sociopath who had killed two of her own sisters and maimed one. When she had been a Core, Starlight had only ever wished that she could have an ordinary life- -and yet she had given away that option, her most prized goal, for Twilight’s sake. Everything she could have been had now passed her. The world had moved on. So many of her friends had been lost. If it had not been for Twilight, Starlight reasoned, she might have been there for Jack as she aged and had eventually died. Before she had possessed at least some manner of thread to justify herself, but now that was gone.

There was nothing left. Her life had never been real, and now it stood in stark view for all to see: she had no purpose and no future. She had always known that- -but now she knew that there had never been a time when that was not the case. Slowly, the desperation at this realization began to seep into her mind, quenching her anger with cold despondency.

Her surrounding seemed to mirror her state of mind: dark hallways, all of them empty and that had stood empty, built for a purpose but left abandoned and useless on some distant moon. It felt appropriate, if only in that it made it easy for Starlight to avoid other people. If she saw Zedok or Spaya, she knew that she would burst into tears almost immediately.

She did not come across either of them, though. Instead, she turned a corner to find Jurneu. He was naked except for a wide, satisfied smile. Leaning against him was a seductive-looking white breeder, her red eyes seemingly unable to leave him as her fluffy, soft wings shifted on her back in expectation.

“What the hell?” said Starlight, not at all in the mood for this. “Who the buck are you?”

The Pegasus released Jurneu and smiled seductively at Starlight. “Oh my,” she said the generic female voice that all breeder mares shared. “Master Spectre, you didn’t tell me you already had a mare-friend! And such a beautifully impressive one at that!”

“Cut the shit before I- -”

The mare reared onto her back legs. Green light shifted through her body as her flesh stretched and reconfigured itself, her joints dislocating and reforming in new locations as her bones stretched and her body rebuilt itself. In seconds, a replica of Jack was standing before Starlight, smiling back with the exact same smile as before.

“Sweet Celestia….” Starlight stared at Jurneu. “You didn’t!”

“Did you know she can be a mare AND a stallion? At the same time, if I want it!”

“And he certainly did want it,” said Chrysalis, sounding somewhat disgusted.

“And in that human form- -”

Starlight shuddered and shoved past Jurneu. She wanted to hit him, but she knew that she had nothing on her person that could actually hurt him. Just the thought of him pressing his body against Jack’s form made her skin crawl, though, even in Chrysalis was only stealing it for her own gain.

Chrysalis began to follow her. “If it’s any consolation, there was nothing there.”

“Nothing?” said Jurneu, his pride immediately deflating.

“Procedural excellence. Artificial passion. Pointless. All of it pointless. His lust for me is not one one hundred millionth of the love I feel from you just from setting eyes on this form.”

Starlight looked over her shoulder, and Chrysalis shivered.

“I can barely look at you when you feel that love,” said Chrysalis, turning away. “It almost hurts.” Her expression shifted, and her blue-green eyes sharpened. “But something is wrong.”

Starlight decided there was no point in keeping it a secret. “It’s Twilight,” she said.

“The Princess? What about her?”

“I have reason to believe she’s been dead since the Crimson Horizon incident.”

Jurneu’s ears pricked up, and he approached, joining the conversation. “Dead? What do you mean ‘dead’? Then who is ruling Equestria?”

Starlight could almost not bring herself to admit it. “You saw Quatre.”

“Yes. A truly excellent mare. Oh, how I wish she was strong enough to let me ruffle her wings. Metaphorically, as hers have been violently severed.”

“She has sisters.”

Jurneu seemed pleased by this news. “Sisters? As in there are versions of her with intact wings?”

“And you think one of them replaced the Princess,” said Chrysalis.

Starlight nodded.

“I see. Well, then, that makes this easy, doesn’t it?”

Starlight glared at her. “How the hell does that make this ‘easy’?”

Chrysalis leaned forward. “Because you only need to answer one question. And that is: ‘what does this mean to you?’”

“It means that I lost my best friend.” Starlight paused, and then shook her head. “No. It means I never had her.”

“That is an interesting perspective.”

“And the mission?” said Jurneu.

“The mission? It doesn’t matter anymore.”

“Of course it does. The reasoning behind it has simply changed. If we accept what you are saying, that Twilight is a Cerberus plant- -which I am still not sure if I believe you- -then the question becomes why she had you pursuing Scootaloo in the first place.”

Starlight thought for a moment. “Scootaloo was declared a heretic. She murdered her wife and attempted to assassinate Twilight.”

Jurneu raised a white eyebrow. “You say she attempted to murder the Princess. Slaying an alicorn is not a trivial task.”

“Starlight might disagree with you on that,” said Chrysalis.

“I mean a healthy alicorn. Not a defective clone. I’ve read Scootaloo’s dossier. She’s a disabled naval captain with mild dwarfism. They Royal Naval Academy of the time did teach battlefield tactics, but she’s meant to fly ships. How could she possibly fight a Cerberus agent?”

“She had a weapon,” said Starlight. “A relic from the Chaos wizards.”

“Chaos?” said Chrysalis. “She used Chaos magic to kill a pony?”

“Her name was Trixie. It was…” Starlight shivered. “Sometimes I still see it. When I close my eyes. Even after all this time. All that was left…just the bones…and her implants…and the blood…”

“Of course,” said Chrysalis, nonchalantly. “That is what Chaos does to a pony if used improperly. But I can’t help but wonder why this Scootaloo would waste something so precious on an ordinary pony.”

“She was NOT ordinary,” snapped Starlight.

“I mean in an objective sense. A Chaos weapon would have been able to kill any alicorn bound in a physical body. But instead of killing Twilight, she killed this Trixie instead. Why?”

Starlight realized what she was saying. “If…if killing Trixie had not been intentional…”

“You never considered that fact?” said Jurneu.

“No. One of my best friends had just been killed. A fellow Core. I wanted revenge.” Starlight paused in shame. “I…I didn’t care why Scootaloo did what she did. I never asked the motive. I just wanted her dead.”

“But if Trixie had been an incidental target…”

“Then Twilight must have been the real one.” Starlight now knew that she had been a fool. “Because she KNEW.”

“That could be the case.”

“But that doesn’t make sense! If she suspected anything, she could have told me! Or one of the others! She never did! She never even tried to justify herself, she…”

A beeping sound came from Jurneu, and he lifted his left hoof. His omnitool appeared around it.

“What is it?”

“The quant,” he said. “It’s done cooking.”

Starlight and Jurneu entered what had once been Beri’s room. Chrysalis stayed back, and in a few moments had vanished. It was not hard for Starlight to understand why. With the way the room was lit with the strange violet light of the quant, she herself was hesitant to enter.

The light itself was coming both from the crystal and from the hologram it had produced. It was violet, roughly in the form of a pony, but the physical representation was incomplete. Starlight doubted that it was due to corruption of the crystal; rather, she suspected that the model had simply been reduced to something of an abstraction either by the preference of its creator or, more likely, to save on rendering power.

Even with its partial representation, though, it immediately turned its partially constructed eyes toward the entering ponies. Its surface shifted slightly, and Jurneu’s omnitool blinked to life.

“She’s trying to hack the ship’s systems,” he said,

“She can’t,” said Starlight. “It’s an Alliance-built ship. It was meant to be piloted by synths. It has no computers.”

The quant seemed to realize this. It directed its attention toward Starlight and seemed to completely ignore Jurneu’s presence. “Cross referencing,” it said. “Pony identified as: Starlight Glimmer. Status unclear. My current processing power is not adequate to draw a conclusion from the Paradigm.”

“Paradigm?” asked Jurneu. The quant did not respond. It just kept staring at Starlight with its artificial, unblinking eyes.

“You know my name,” said Starlight, slowly.

“Yes.”

“How?”

“Because you are mentioned in the Paradigm. It references you as a friend. However, based on my own observations of your behavior, you appear to be our enemy. As such, I cannot interpret your status.”

“Who are you?” asked Jurneu. The quant did not respond.

“Who are you?” repeated Starlight.

“I am no one,” said the quant, apparently only willing to respond to Starlight’s requests. “I am a quant.”

“That’s not what I meant.”

“If you mean created me, the answer is Thebe.”

“Thebe?”

“That’s the organization responsible for the attack on Agrostation Six,” said Jurneu.

“And the organization protecting Scootaloo.”

“Scootaloo must survive.”

The harshness in the quant’s voice was somewhat startling. It normally spoke in a clear monotone, and its assertiveness when referring to Scootaloo was unusual.

“Why?” asked Starlight.

The quant processed for a moment. “Because the Paradigm indexes Scootaloo as a friend.”

“But you said I was your friend. Why are you helping her but trying to kill me?”

“You are not my friend. I am a quant. I cannot have friends. Scootaloo is of greater priority than you, though. Your status remains uncertain. Hers is defined.”

“Defined as what?”

The quant paused, as if not sure if she should respond. Eventually, she did. “Scootaloo is the only extant Priestess of Harmony.”

Starlight was confused by this assertion. “No,” she said. “That isn’t correct. There are hundreds of us. There have been thousands.”

“Incorrect. There is only one extant Priestess of Harmony. That title was only ever given to one pony.”

“But then what am I?”

The quant paused again, considering. “You are ambiguous. I am not sure if you are our ally, or if you are our foe.”

“It’s being evasive,” said Jurneu, surprised by its behavior. “I’ve very seldom dealt with them, but I know that is more than unusual.”

“It is.” Starlight paused, trying to think of a solution. One occurred to her, and she realized she had nothing left to lose. “Identify recourse,” she ordered.

The quant, which had formerly been standing almost perfectly still, suddenly cocked its head.

“You can do that, can’t you?”

“No,” it said, sounding disappointed. “Without more processing power, I cannot interpret the will of the Paradigm. At present, the recourse is unknown.”

“Then find someone who can identify it.”

“Starlight!” gasped Jurneu. “You can’t be serious! That would mean- -”

“Contacting Thebe? I know.”

“Processing,” said the quant. “Contact established. Forming quantum link…”

The quant vanished, and a new one was assembled in its place. Instead of looking abstract, this one took the form of a translucent pony. She was gray with a look of abject disinterest on her face. When she materialized, she looked from Jurneu to Starlight.

She then spoke in a voice that was so monotone that it made the previous quant’s tone seem poetic by comparison. “I don’t know who either of you are. Why am I here?”

“Maud, what are you doing?” said a different voice. A second image appeared, this one representing a pink pony. As she emerged into view, though, Starlight realized that she was not a pony at all: she was a clingon. And her hair was perfectly straight.

“YOU!” cried Starlight and Pinkamena at the same time, both pointing at each other.

“Oh. You’ve met,” said Maud. “Yay.”

“Why are you contacting us?” said Pinkamena. “First Eloth, now you…how did you even get our communications signature?”

“It was given to me by a Thebe quant.”

Pinkamena’s expression did not change. She seemed to have a perpetual frown. Starlight shivered. Clingons were unpleasant, and even more so for a pony who knew what they were and what they were capable of.

“Is this true?” she asked Maud.

“It is. The signal matches.”

“Then we’re not interested. Cut the line.”

“Sure. I can do that.”

“Wait!” cried Jurneu, stepping forward.

“Oh my,” said Maud. “Would you look at him? That is a beautiful stallion.” Her dull gray eyes shifted toward his horn. “And his appendage seems…rock hard.” Pinkamena groaned.

“I assure you it is,” said Jurneu, trying to be as seductive as possible as though he did not realize that he was interacting with a machine. “And might I add that your representative model is stunning. So stoic.”

“Oh my.”

He turned his attention toward Pinkamena. “And you are a rather unique specimen, aren’t you? I’ve never seen a clingon so…alluring.”

Starlight shoved him. “Hell no!” she said. “I’m NOT going to let you flirt with a clingon!”

“I agree,” said Pinkamena. “A much as I would like to lay eggs in your body cavities, flirting with me is pretty disgusting.”

Jurneu shrugged. “The heart wants what the heart wants.”

“I don’t think it’s your heart doing the wanting,” said Maud.

“Perhaps. But we really need your help on this.”

“And I could use your help calibrating my forward battery.”

Jurneu giggled. Starlight felt sick.

“What do you know about Thebe?” asked Starlight.

“Nothing,” said Pinkamena. “Nothing at all. We are Cerberus. We have nothing to do with them.”

“Cerberus?” said Jurneu, suddenly becoming much more serious. “But Cerberus is dead. The organization- -”

“Still has several living members. And last time I checked, neither of you are.”

“I don’t mind checking again,” said Mod. “Could you turn around? For the inspection?”

“Just answer the question,” said Starlight. “Thebe? The Paradigm?”

Pinkamena’s expression suddenly hardened. “How do you know about that?”

“I just do. And I know what it is. A disease.” Her mind was working quickly. “Pink has it, doesn’t he?” Pinkamena glared at Starlight, and Starlight knew that she was right. “He’s becoming one of them.”

“No,” said Pinkamena, angrily. “His mind is superior to any other organic. He can resist.”

“You mean he’s insane and it can’t take his mind completely.”

“Is there a difference?”

“Yes,” said Jurneu.

“It doesn’t matter,” said Starlight, taking a large step toward Pinkamena’s hologram as Maud’s eyes followed her. “I need to know why Thebe is helping Scootaloo. I need to know what they want with her, and where she is.”

“So you can kill her?” said Maud.

“No. I need to speak with her. Please, Pinkamena. It’s urgent.”

Pinkamena stared at Starlight for a moment. “No.”

The transmission flickered and vanished.

“FUCK!” cried Starlight.

“Please don’t swear,” said Jurneu. “There’s no reason to get angry.”

“No reason?! That was our only lead!”

“Exactly.” The original quant reappeared, flooding the room with violet light. Jurneu gestured toward her. “Ask her if she traced the signal.”
Starlight stared at him for a moment, and then smiled. She turned to the quant. “Did you?”
“Yes,” she said. “I am currently locked onto their coordinates.”

“Ha!” Starlight punched Jurneu in the shoulder. “You actually ARE useful!”

“I am one of the most highly trained special agents in the galaxy. You can give me some credit.”

“I will. Eventually. First, though, you need to find the others. Get them to the ship.”

Jurneu’s eyes lit up. “I can do that. I’ll go acquire Quatre first.”

“I’ll get Quatre,” said Starlight. “She’ll take time to move, and you need to prep to fly the ship.”

“We’re actually doing this, aren’t we?”

“Yes,” said Starlight, “yes we are.”