In the engine room of the Immortal Dream, everyone stared at the spot where Starlight had disappeared. The sword stood, still attached to Jamjars' apparatus, as black and inert as ever.
Shinespark gave Jamjars a stinkeye.
"...I don't think it was supposed to do that," Jamjars said, trying to maintain as much innocence as possible.
"You," Shinespark said, "are going to finish turning this off and then be the one to tell Maple what just happened. And then you're going to write me an essay on why you think it's funny to keep shrinking my crew."
Jamjars gulped.
Suddenly, Glimmer appeared in the doorway. "I heard something large fly overhead," she reported. "Someone who can see really ought to look at this..."
Harshwater immediately darted out the door. "On it!"
Jamjars grinned sheepishly and Shinespark glared until the pegasus returned a few seconds later. "I don't see anyone," she announced, "and our lights are obvious. Just a little." She frowned. "So, who wants to bet we had a fake warning and jumped the gun a little?"
"It doesn't matter," Shinespark growled, pacing out of the room. "If you think there's anything to be done about it either way, then look what just happened here! Fix it in your eyes and stop trying to pretend next time could be different. Hostiles, not hostiles. We're all just leaves in the wind."
Jamjars stuck her tongue out once she was gone, still using irreverence to mask her surprise at Starlight's fate. "You're a bigger quitter than my mother. Mleh." She trotted for the door as well. "Time to go check out the terminal on the bridge!"
Nyala stopped her with a limp hoof. "Don't you have somepony else's mother to explain something to?"
Jamjars winced and folded her ears. "Look, lady, I've gotta work while she's not trying to unplug the power! I'm on a timer, here. I'll do it later. Much later."
She bolted, and Nyala couldn't keep up. Fortunately, Shinespark was standing in the library and hadn't retreated to the bridge, so she had the room all to herself. "Terminal, terminal..."
Glimmer appeared beside her, and Jamjars' act immediately vanished. "Please tell me that was supposed to happen," she said blankly, sitting in the captain's chair.
"I knew that it was likely," Glimmer replied. "Starlight will be fine. Do not let it distract you from your task."
"Right." Jamjars clung to her words like a tree root on a cliff face, solidifying her expression and tapping on the terminal screen. "...Well, it has power. Now how do I find everything?"
Shinespark stood still in the library, not even twitching her ears as Nyala approached.
"Even if it could be called her fault," Nyala said, "that doesn't mean she's a good choice to break the news."
"What are you talking about?" Shinespark dryly replied.
Nyala pointed down the hallway at the open door to the infirmary, Maple's bed positioned just so where her face was visible, watching them with concern. "She's listening."
"What's going on?" Maple asked, raising her voice as much as her damaged chest would comfortably allow.
Shinespark growled and marched in. "Starlight is... elsewhere," she said, too frustrated to stand for any unfinished business. "She got absorbed by obsidian."
Maple blinked.
Shinespark flicked her tail, but could tell Nyala wasn't following her. "You heard what I said."
"...Oh." Maple looked down.
Shinespark stared. "That's it? 'Oh'?"
Maple opened her mouth, but no words came out. Eventually: "How do I even respond to that?"
"How does anyone respond to the loss of a loved one?" Shinespark sat down, facing to the side. "Anger. Sadness. Denial. Bargaining. Tears. Don't tell me it feels like a pointless cycle to you, too."
"What kind of an answer is that!?" Maple indignantly folded her ears. "Are you saying she's dead gone, or stuck gone?"
"What difference does it matter?" Shinespark stared off into the wall.
Maple bit her lip, her eyes starting to well with tears. "You're horrible."
"It's a horrible subject," Shinespark replied, barely bothering with a shrug. "They're one and the same. Nothing escapes from that black prison."
In the doorway, Nyala loudly cleared her throat.
Shinespark pointedly ignored her.
"I am this close to getting out of bed and slapping you, Shinespark," Maple threatened, voice shaky. "I know you're upset about Valey, but that is not how to tell someone their daughter is gone. Now tell me exactly what happened."
Shinespark stared at Maple. "I am off the bridge and doing my part to keep this crew safe. What more can you possibly expect?"
"Starlight isn't dead," Nyala butted in, still in the background. "I've seen batponies get drained before, and I've never seen anything like this. It looked like she tripped and fell inside that sword she always carries around. Whatever happened to her, there's no way to assume anything."
Maple gave her a grateful smile, then returned to staring at Shinespark with a hard look. "I don't know whether you're making me more worried about Starlight or yourself, so I'm going to forget e-everything you said, and let you try again. What's going on out there?"
Shinespark got up and left. The moment she was gone, Maple's tears resumed.
"...Are you alright?" Nyala sighed, stepping weakly closer.
"Yes," Maple whispered. "I have cracked ribs, a punctured hoof, thought I was going to die not three weeks ago, and I'm somehow the most alright pony here."
"Sorry." Nyala sat down heavily, folding her ears. "I sent her over here because I thought she would be the best one who could relate."
Maple shook her head, voice tight. "You're forgiven. But what about Starlight...?"
"I wish there was more I could tell you," Nyala apologized. "Jamjars and Shinespark were fighting, and Harshwater is back and was warning us about something from the other group that I think turned out to be a false alarm, and I was watching the fight, and..."
Maple sighed. "She'll be alright. She has to. She's gotten out of worse situations before..."
Nyala leaned against the side of the bed. "If that's what will help? Then you bet she will. You just watch. Defeating that moon glass and whatever just happened is going to be nothing compared to beating windigoes or beating that Crystal or whatever. And if not, hey. Maybe we could help her?"
"Help her?" Maple looked up. "I'd need to see... What do you mean? If she's stuck in moon glass, getting her out?" She wiped her good hoof across her eyes, sniffing shallowly.
Nyala shrugged. "Well, isn't the whole problem with breaking or destroying moon glass to get the cutie mark out that you don't have a way to re-attach it to the body and it just floats away? Starlight's body is gone too, so maybe she'd just reappear and wouldn't need to be reattached."
Maple's eyes glazed over. "She's disappeared before, though... Maybe she wouldn't just reappear. And we don't have any harmony to break it with anyway."
"Use a hammer?" Nyala suggested. "How did Shinespark break the moon glass that held her cutie mark in the old Braen armor?"
Maple blinked, her tears banished for now by the idea that there was anything she could do. "That's an idea. Where is the sword she disappeared into? I want it nearby."
"Well..." Nyala winced. "It might be stuck in the engine room, and Jamjars and Shinespark were fighting over whether it could be removed..."
"Then I want my bed moved to the engine room," Maple replied, her expression making it clear that this was a condition for her keeping her composure in any sort of state. "Please. I want to see where she is and be near her."
Nyala met her eyes, then saluted with a wing. "I can't move it myself, but I will find someone who will. I promise."
Then she left too, closing the door behind her. Maple was alone, save for Meltdown and Gazelle. It didn't take long for her tears to return.