THE MAGIX: CHAPTER 10: Secrets and Lies

"You TOLD?"
Amber slammed the door of the dorm she shared with Rain, trapping her roommate inside. "After everything we've been through, you told? I can't believe you!" She collapsed onto her bed, seething.
"Amber, it was just one pony! Don't do this!" Rain protested. She stood defiantly on her side of the room, glaring at the infuriated unicorn on the other side.
"I don't care how many ponies were involved. All that matters is that you told somepony about us, Rain. The entire resistance gave you their trust and you broke it!"
"She would never tell a soul," Rain shot back. "It's what Pinkie lives by. She's been sworn to secrecy. She'd never do that!"
"Are you serious?" Amber retorted, almost laughing at her roommate's argument. "Secrets? Promises? They were invented to be broken! Why don't you just drug us all and hand us over to the Magix? Would make things a heck of alot easier!"
"Our secret is safe, okay? Nothing will go wrong, so just shut up and accept it!"
"What makes you so sure?"
"Just. Shut. UP!"
Both mares fell silent. Rain sank down on the pile of freshly tie-dyed blankets on her bed, gazing blankly across the room. Amber stared back at her. Neither of them spoke.
Finally, Amber broke the silence.
"How could you do this to us, Rain?"
The pegasus shifted her gaze from the wall to the pained face of the unicorn in front of her. "I didn't betray anyone. I swear I never meant to put anypony in danger." She bit back the urge to scream and forced her voice to stay quiet. "Pinkie is my best friend. I trust her more than anypony. She wants to join us. She had to know the truth, so just leave it, okay?"
"Join us?" Amber scoffed. "How were you going to accomplish that? There's no other way. To transfer somepony out of the Magix, the assistance of an entire crew is needed. You'd have to tell them anyway, Rain. Letting our existence slip... You can't hide that forever."
"And I wasn't going to," Rain protested. "Why are you being so-"
"Because I care, Rain!" Amber snapped. "I chose to be here. I needed this. I hated my life. I had no friends, my parents were afraid of me, and everypony thought I was a freak. I didn't decide to leave in just three days. I belong here!"
"And I don't?" Rain cried, once again on the verge of screaming. "Amber, my life in the Magix sucked just about as much as yours did. The difference is that I didn't run from my problems. You left when you were 14! I stayed and lived my stupid, pointless life. And guess what? I never had to leave! I could just suck it up and deal with it!"
Amber gasped and jumped back, stung by Rain's cutting remark. She couldn't respond, only making little gasping noises in a sad, desperate effort to speak. Her eyes glossed over and she shuddered. It was true. They had both had dark pasts, but Rain hadn't left in the middle of her story. But Amber knew this was where she belonged and wouldn't return to the Magix for the world. And Rain...
Rain was new. She was older than any newborn that she'd ever known. She could have become too attached to the world she knew so well. With every mistake she made, Amber had forgiven her. Ash, Misty, everything. But this...
Suddenly Amber was laughing. Rain could do nothing but stare bewilderedly at her friend, who seemed to have completely lost it.
"Amber!" she hissed. "What the hay is so funny?"
Amber didn't respond. She just kept laughing, gripping the edge of her bed to keep from falling to the floor. It went on and on until she could scarcely breathe and there were tears welling in her eyes. The unstable unicorn wheezed a few breaths and finally stopped laughing.
"You regret it," she said.
"Regret what?" Rain asked, dreading the answer.
"Everything. You regret being here. You wish you'd never left your happy little world. There was nothing there you'd really wanted to leave behind. Everything was just fine before you left the Magix. You wish you'd never even thought about leaving!"
"No, I don't, Amber!" Rain shot back, her voice rising. "I wanted freedom. I wanted to know the truth. My old life had nothing to do with it!"
"Like hay it didn't! You don't really want to be here. You just want to go back to that normal, boring life of yours where nothing is wrong, you're never in danger, and that perfect illusion of a world is what you call reality! You shouldn't even be here! And you know what? Everything was your fault. Ever since we started tracking you, things have been going to hell. The agents are after this crew more than ever. Ash and Misty are dead because of you! All you do is screw things up! And for all we know, all this could be for nothing! Maybe you aren't the One! Maybe we shouldn't have freed you at all!"
"NO!" Rain screamed. "You don't understand Amber! You aren't supposed to be some superhero mare who's supposed to save the world! You aren't being driven towards some huge destiny you have no control over! I had to leave! I would have been killed if I'd stayed any longer!"
"And you think joining us would have changed that?"
Rain was drained. She didn't even have the energy to scream anymore. "You don't understand, Amber," she whispered. "You never will."
With that, Rain left the room and slammed the door behind her, already fighting back the tears that stung at her eyes.

That night, Neon was heading back to his dorm. It was almost midnight. He had tried to help out deciphering the piece of the file they had stolen from the database, but he had to face it. He sucked at deciphering scrambled code. As Neon walked, thoughts of Rain returned to him. He was still reeling from the experience three days earlier. The spark had made everything so clear. Whatever was between him and Rain... it was real. Horus's words flooded into his head. The connection? It can't be. We couldn't possibly be... No, there's no way we're connected.
He thought back to a few hours earlier. Rain had seemed upset at dinner, but she had never said why. Amber wasn't talking to her. Maybe they'd had a fight. But over what?
I may never know, Neon thought.
He passed the doorway to the common room and saw that the lights were on. He heard somepony moving around inside. He poked his dark head in to check it out. It was Rain.
She was setting up a blanket and pillow on one of the couches as a sort of makeshift bed. Thankfully, she'd been able to stop herself from crying after her fight with Amber. She felt she'd been doing enough of that already.
Rain heard hoofsteps and turned around. The velvet black shape of Neon materialized out of the darkened corridor, standing in the doorway to the common room.
"Hey," he said.
"Hi," Rain deadpanned back.
"Everything okay?" he asked.
"No." Rain threw the blanket down on the cushions. "Amber kicked me out."
"Why would she do that?"
"I- it's- look, I- I just don't want to talk about it, okay?" There was that weird flutter again. Rain only hoped the spark wouldn't show up again. It scared the hell out of her the first time it had happened, and she didn't want to go through that again.
"Rain..."
"It's okay, Neon." Rain spoke softly now. "I'm not mad at you. It's just... a lot's been happening lately, and I've been kind of torn over it. It's nothing you can help. It was nice of you to stop by, though."
Neon dared to come a little closer. "Rain, since you're here... could I talk to you?"
Rain gave in to just a hint of a smile. "You already are."
"About that... thing... a few nights ago..."
"That spark?"
"Yeah, the spark. Look, I just wanted you to know that..."
"That what? Come on, tell me."
"Never mind. It's... not important."
Rain finished making her couch-bed and settled herself into the messy pile of blankets and sheets. Neon came over to sit next to her. It took all the self-control Rain had not to lean against him, burst into tears, and simply tell him everything. Didn't the spark come from when they touched? She was afraid to let it happen again. But being with Neon made her feel... safe.
"Rain?"
She looked up into his indecipherable green eyes. "Yeah, Neon?"
"I wanted to ask you a question."
"Yeah?"
"Have you ever had- you know- have you ever had a coltfriend?"
"A coltfriend?"
"You know, a stallion- who's your friend."
"Yeah. I had lots of stallions who were my friends back in the Magix."
"Well, that's not exactly what I mean. I mean sort of- more than a friend."
"What? Well, no, not really. I'd never really liked anypony when I was in the Magix. I'd never wanted to get into all that. I mean, for a while some ponies even thought that I was, you know-" Rain laughed. "On that side of the fence. But I'd just never felt that way about anypony. Mare or stallion."
Neon couldn't help but laugh. "Seriously?"
"Yeah." Rain shrugged. "Why did you want to know?"
"Me? Um, no reason, nothing, really," he murmured, looking away. "Look, just-" The dark pegasus sighed and looked back towards the mare beside him. "If there's anything you need, if you need help with anything, or even... even if you just want to talk, um... I'm here. Okay?"
"Thanks." Rain had to lean away from the dark pegasus next to her to keep from resting her head on his shoulder. "You're a great friend."
Neon stood up. Rain stretched herself out on the couch and switched off the light. Neon floated back into the dimly lit corridor. For just a second, he looked over his shoulder at the sleepless form of Rain. "Sweet dreams," he whispered to her.

It was a long time before the files were cracked. Horus, Spiro, and Saph had been poring over the green and black streams for hours. Saph had fallen asleep in one of the control panel's swivel chairs. The two stallions were struggling to stay awake themselves. Finally, the puzzle was completed. And the picture it made was unbelievable.
Spiro stared at the screen in disbelief. "That's strange..." he mumbled.
Horus studied the image over and over again. "This doesn't make sense."
Spiro opened the ship's internet browser and looked up what the file appeared to contain. Sure enough, it was a perfect match.
"It's programming software," he said. "Like what somepony would use to program an AI."
"What do the agents want with programming software? They're AIs themselves. It just doesn't add up."
Spiro though for a second. "Is there maybe a new program in the Magix we don't know about?"
"Possibly. But then these signals would be coming from the Magix itself, not the agent database."
"Then why would they..." Spiro's voice cut off, then his face took on a horror struck expression.
Horus took in his expression. "You're thinking exactly what I am, aren't you."
The operator nodded. "Is it possible to use this to reprogram a naturally intelligent mind?"
"Yes," his captain answered. "With a powerful enough memory wipe, then if there was a direct download to the brain, it's very possible. Then maybe..."
"This software isn't meant for an AI?"
"Then if it's not meant for a program, that would leave... Oh, Luna. I definitely hope we're wrong."
Horus thought for a moment. "It's possible that this software would be used to reprogram the minds of ponies. But what I don't understand is why."
"We'll need the other 48% of the file to find out."
"That means we have to go through yesterday's train wreck all over again." He opened a blank document on the monitor. "We need a new strategy. Any ideas?"
Spiro gave a slight smile. "Well, there is one that I came up with a while ago..." he began, but then his enthusiasm dropped. "But it was a long time ago. It sounded like a stupid idea to begin with, and I didn't even think it would work back then-"
"It doesn't matter how stupid it seems, Spiro," Horus said. "Sometimes the things you think will never work end out symphonically. Now tell me, what is this completely insane concept of a fight plan you've devised?"
Spiro gave horus a small, wry smile. He dug up a file that had been buried under years of work to find the One. He opened it. "I call it "Project Apocalypse."
The file filled the screen. Spiro went on to explain everything in vivid, gory detail. With each aspect, Horus's interest grew. Finally it was over.
The captain's eyes were wide. "That might be just crazy enough to work," he said. He turned to the quiet blue bundle of scales that was Saph fast asleep on her swivel chair. He gave her a quick nudge. "Saph, wake up. You're going to want to hear this."

Amber was running. She didn't know where she was or how she'd gotten there. All she knew was she had to run. She was in danger. The plan had failed.
Hoofbeats sounded all around her. She lifted her blurry gaze from the ground. The crew was racing along beside her. Horus ran with her while Neon and Rain flew close to the ground, speeding along beside the two grounded crew members. Everypony was in a state of panic, desperately trying to escape the unseen danger. Amber smelled smoke and explosives on her coat. She had no idea why.
A labyrinth of deserted streets stretched out before them. Another sound joined the crew's frantic hoofbeats. Gunshots.
Amber glanced over her shoulder. There were agents behind them, swarming in on the crew. A few stopped for a second to stand on two legs and fire a few shots at the escaping rebels. They went in waves, some running, others stopping a few seconds to shoot, moving at carefully timed intervals. They were quickly gaining on the crew. Amber couldn't stop. She could scarcely breathe and her heart was pounding. Her legs felt like they would shatter under her. But she couldn't stop.
Suddenly a pained cry sounded from behind her. She heard the soft thud of something hitting the pavement. Amber whirled around.
Horus was on the ground, splayed out on his side, chest heaving. A splatter of blood trailed behind him on the asphalt. A dark red stain blossomed on his trench coat where his right leg would be. He gritted his teeth in pain. He'd been hit.
"Horus!" Amber screamed. She was caught, torn between the instinct to run and the desperate need to go back for her captain.
"Go!" he shouted back to her. Then the agents closed in on him and it was over.

Amber woke up in a cold sweat, gasping for air. She lay still for a minute. Everything came into focus. It had all been a dream.
Amber sat up and looked at the clock on her night table. It was 2:17 am.
Amber flopped back down on her back. What the heck was that about?
The dream... It was so real. She felt everything. It all felt so... possible.
Amber looked coldly across the room at Rain's empty bed. Right then, she hated her more than ever.
Why did she just have to tell an outsider? She deserved more than just spending the night kicked out of her room. It was way more serious than that. Rain couldn't be trusted.
She should be removed from the crew, Amber thought. That might solve the problem. Might.
She thought back to her dream. It had everything that a real-life event would. It was so much clearer than any regular dream would be. And after everything that had happened... and it had been so real...
It was a vision.
Amber's breath caught in her throat. She stared blankly at the foot of her bed in disbelief and let the painful truth sink in. She slowly lowered her head back to her pillow and tried to stop her racing heart. It couldn't be true. It just couldn't.
"Oh, Celestia, please let this just be a dream!"