When you get torn in half, then rip out your own heart to end a fight.

Then one hand seized me, five points piercing around my torso. Another held the platform steady. The Eater lifted me up before its nucleus, the ripples forming a gibbeous face that leered at me. I TOLD YOU, MY LITTLE PONY. FUTILE.

Then its remaining hand grabbed my shoulders, and like a hellhound plucking the wings off a bloatsprite, the Eater of Souls tore me in two.

A numbness spread through me as I fell from his talons back onto the platform. Only my augmentation kept me from passing out immediately from blood loss as I lay there, seeing my entrails and synthetic sinews and wires dangling down beneath me. NOW! BEAR WITNESS TO MY GLORY! he bellowed as it moved down beneath the sole remaining field, using pony technology to keep it safe as I lay there.

---

You have a heart of moonstone. That was what Glory had said. I stared a second longer, and then I lifted my sword in my other hand. Carefully, I cut the end off the drum.

There, nestled in a bed of gemstones, was a hunk of moonstone. I’d been told she’d been lucky to find an ‘appropriate gem’ to power my body, and as I stared at it, I realized that I’d seen it before: in Horizon Labs and the disassembled silver bullet. It was larger than the slivers in the slugs I’d used before. It hadn’t been corrupted yet.

I wasn’t beaten yet...

I yanked the stone free, and instantly my vision filled with “CRITICAL ERROR” in bright red letters and “SWITCHING TO RESERVE POWER” with a percentage that was ticking down. Rapidly. I stretched myself out along the frame, feeling my life ebb away with each exertion. Then I took the stone and pressed it against the casing. The metal began to glow brighter and brighter, and then exploded with a detonation that blew my hand apart but left a hole in the metal. I fumbled with the stone, barely able to catch it with my other hand, holding it as if my soul depended on it. I raised the sword with my magic.

NO! the Eater screamed, grabbing me again and pulling me away from the platform. The moonstone did nothing against the fleshy meat protecting his starmetal skeleton. NO MORE INTERFERENCE. YOU ARE DONE!

Almost...

But I wasn’t quite done.

I slipped into S.A.T.S.

Three magic bullets to the F.A.D.E. diamond inside the case.

Execute.

The magic bolts streaked out, hitting the insides of the box and ripping out the connections between the diamond and the power supply. The gemstone went dark, but the field was already active. The Eater froze, and then its aura flared wildly as it emitted a hysterical laugh of triumph. FOOLS! FOOLS! FALSE FOOLS AND FOLLY! SURRENDER TO DESPAIR!

No. I refused. Every second of life I had left would be opposing this thing. For my friends who had fallen, and for those who still survived. For Glory. For P-21. For my Sister. I stared at the stone and then closed my eyes. I might be broken. I might be dying. I might be in agony. I was used to it. And while I couldn’t raise or lower the whole moon...

I could raise a small piece of it.

My horn flared as I pushed Tom up the shaft. Just a bit. Just enough for the wedge of magic to lose power, flicker, and disappear. With a relieved smile, I cut the magic.

Tom fell.