The cargo bay of Shinespark's airship hadn't been used for quite some time, the group lacking anything large that needed loading or unloading. It presently lay dark and empty, save for a corner where Braen's armor sat strapped, packed and padded, still giving off a dull golden gleam from its lifeless horn effigy.
Shinespark's hooves clanked softly against metal plating as she brightened her horn, then flicked a switch, giving the room full illumination. Valey paused behind her, hesitant, Maple standing further back in the door to the food storeroom and the rest of the party back further yet. The hanging pendant rubbed against her neck, like it knew its journey was finally nearing the start.
"You're sure about this, right?" Shinespark asked, horn untying dozens of knots at once, swirling the ropes away and leaving Braen's armor exposed and disassembled like a child huddled in the corner. "And you don't want to tell us why? I trust you, but you know what Braen is... was to me."
"Valey and I talked about this in Riverfall," Amber replied, consoling, over the sound stone. "And several more times since then. Believe me, she'll tell you when she's ready."
Shinespark lifted Braen's torso and floated it before her, frowning. "Huh. I've always had her animated for maintenance in the past. It might be challenging to put this back together on my own..."
"You could put this in first?" Valey asked, nervously rubbing the pendant with a wingtip. "She'd be able to hear and see, right? Would that make it easier?"
"No, I've got this," Shinespark insisted, and a cloud of pauldrons and gauntlets arranged themselves precisely in her magic, bolts and locks magically being fastened. She touched her horn to a point on Braen's back, and magic seemed to flow from her into the suit, using her own mana output to power the systems used for self-assembly. "Feels wrong controlling her like this. I haven't thought of her as a suit of armor and not a pony in..."
There was another shuffle of hooves, and Valey looked up to see Starlight pushing the rest of the group out, leaving only her, Maple and Shinespark. She swallowed.
"And that's a good thing," Amber forcefully replied. "People aren't just limited to ponies. Griffons, yaks, sphinxes... and robots too, and even stranger things than them. What your body is or how you got it shouldn't matter as long as you have feelings inside."
Valey looked away. Shinespark finally stepped back, giving an approving huff as she studied her work, and Braen remained standing, a few lights glowing feebly.
"So how do we get this in?" Valey asked, concentrating until the stone dropped out of her pendant and into her outstretched wing. "Sparky?"
Shinespark frowned at Braen, taking the precious stone in her aura and hovering it close. She made a few more adjustments with her horn to the armor's back, sending it commands to move and open a panel on the bottom. As she lay on her back with her tongue clenched and her forehooves and horn working as one, Valey straightened and stared, meeting the armor's empty eyes. It was almost a head taller than her, thanks to additional mechanics in the legs down beneath the hooves and all the bulk required to make such a suit both defensive and capable of motion, but the neck seemed to bend down, willfully matching her height. Two complex wing mechanisms sat coiled at her sides, useless for flight but impressive in their own right. Would Nyala's spirit recognize that those were something she was meant to have? What would it even be like to have a golden body that couldn't taste or feel? Or would it all be natural, just like Valey had slipped into existence in another soul's body without any inkling of what she had been before? Maybe she wouldn't even notice at all.
"It's in," Shinespark announced, sliding out with her mane fanning on the ground. "Just need to turn it on! But..." She hesitated, frowning guiltily. "I know Amber said no, but are you really sure we can't know what this is about? This is the first I've heard of you wanting to do anything like this, and it feels... I don't know. Like if this somehow wasn't..."
Valey didn't know how she intended to finish, but she trailed off and even a minute's silence didn't bring the thought back. She swallowed again, glancing around the mostly-empty room... Amber had already been told everything, and it was just Maple and Shinespark. Starlight had thoughtfully closed the door on her way out.
"It's... pretty hard for me to talk about," Valey apologized, hanging her head. "Can I tell you half of it, and you promise you won't press until I'm ready for the rest?"
Maple nodded solemnly. "Anything."
The silence brushed Valey's ears, and she felt them flick. "You know Dorable? The factory chief guy who didn't do much of anything important, but helped you a bunch with this project and other things?"
Shinespark briefly turned her ears backwards. "He was the one who invented the procedure that removed my brand," she said. "We couldn't really have done any of this without him."
Valey let another second pass by. "He was from Yakyakistan. I got him that job. Was just a paperwork bungle, like a whole bunch of other stuff I did in Ironridge. I specifically got it for him when I very first got there, and requested he do research stuff to make me a body. An artificial one, that I could put this cutie mark... soul... whatever in and have it be alive again. I didn't see him much over the years, and I don't think he ever liked me. You could say I blackmailed him into it, though I did save his life. So I dunno if he did it for me, but that armor... technically, I asked for it first."
Shinespark watched, slack-jawed. "We never knew much about Dorable's background aside from his loyalty to the cause. He did anything we asked to prove it again and again..."
"Maybe he really was on your side and I was just an afterthought. I dunno. Ask him." Valey shrugged. "Hey Amber, you in Ironridge right now?"
"I am, actually. I went over today after our conversation this morning. I thought you might want someone here on the line."
"Sparky might, eventually. Thanks." Grateful, Valey looked up from the sound stone, expression sliding back to somber. "So, that stone there is what I wanted it for. I dunno if you knew this about moon glass or anyone told you or what, but empty pieces... aren't inert. To you guys, they might be, but if a batpony touches one that doesn't already have something in it..." She gritted her teeth. "Gone. Then they're in it. We just leave behind a filled piece and a shell of a body that's really not as cute and cuddly as I look right now. Get where I'm going with this?"
Maple held her breath, a look of horror crossing her face. Shinespark nodded solemnly. "So whatever's in there isn't something that fell from space, but someone you knew."
"...Yeah. My sister." Valey hung her head and closed her eyes. "I know there's a way to reverse the process and transfer something from moon glass back to an empty batpony body, but I don't know what it is or how it's done, and I don't really have her original body any more, either. So... yeah. That's what I want this for. Is that enough?"
"I think that's enough," Shinespark consoled. "I can see why it would be difficult to discuss something like that, especially with how things are in Ironridge. Mind if I ask what her name was?"
"Nyala," Valey replied. "And yeah... the hard part's not what you think it is, so I can say a little more if it becomes important. But..." Her eyes narrowed. "Hey Ironflanks, are you alright?"
Maple shivered, staring hollowly into space. "What did you say happens... to batponies who touch empty moon glass?"
"Uhh..." Valey frowned, then rubbed her neck, trying not to be cross. "Not the pleasantest memory, Ironflanks... They lose their cutie marks. Turn into hideous feral monsters. Happens pretty quickly; less than a minute. Not fun to watch. First the glass sticks to them, then their eyes turn gray, and of course I can't touch it either to..." She frowned harder. "What?"
"I might need to talk with you about something later," Maple whispered, looking disturbed. "Just so you know, though, we have an empty piece of moon glass. I got it as a keepsake to remember White Chocolate by, though I'm not entirely sure where in the ship I put it. If it's that dangerous to you, just know that it's there."
"Noted. But tell other batponies, not me." Valey turned back to the armor. "That stuff shows up loud and clear as danger danger danger. I'm probably the only one who's not in danger of accidentally stepping on it when not looking."
Shinespark nodded. "Ready to turn her on, then?"
Valey nodded back. "Ready."
With a pulse of magic, Shinespark's horn touched the armor's elevated back one more time. "Not Braen anymore," she murmured, sending in a carefully-regulated flicker. "Nyala."
For a second, there was silence. Then...
"Something feels so weird," the golden armor said, not moving. "Where am I?"
Valey's heart froze. She had heard Braen speak time after time in Ironridge, and knew her voice by heart. It was Shinespark's, but with a filter applied to make it sound magically enhanced and unrecognizable. This voice, though, wasn't that one: it was tone for tone the same determined, innocent mare she had lost forever six years ago, only heard since in her memories and thoughts during the rare occasions when she opened the pendant's connection between Nyala and her body. All it had taken was the courage to ask and five minutes of work, and her sister was back.
"Hello?" Nyala asked, disoriented yet perfectly clear. "I think something's wrong... I can't move or feel myself! Am I hurt? I don't remember what I was doing, or... anything, really."
"Nah. Nothing's wrong," Valey assured, feeling her eyes already start to water. "Bananas, though, sure feels like I'm about to wuss out and start bawling. As for where you are, you're safe, with friends, and a whole lot more alive than I'm pretty sure you've been for way too long."