Chapter 8: Traitor

Part 1 of 2: The Rat in the Mouse's Cage

February 19th, 2016

"Hold still, I'm almost done," cried the doctor, who was busy fusing together the last of the wires. Pinky groaned to herself, and flopped back on the bed. Even though she couldn't wait for the procedure all week, it was incredibly boring. Of course, she had Rachel to talk to, but there wasn't much to say, as Rachel had to constantly check to make sure the doctor was performing his tasks correctly.

Camelot had been rather spruced up in the last three months. If anything, it had only improved in quantity, and it was now had many more new features. The stock of weapons had been doubled, the amount of training equipment had tripled, and the new medical features were top of the line (although it was the weapon load-out that had Pinky the most thrilled). Also, the base was more teeming with life than ever before. Ever since the Korbalovs, the security had been drastically improved, and it would be arguable to say that Camelot was now impervious to break into.

But Pinky couldn't focus on any of this now, as she was too busy having leg surgery. Rachel, as Pinky had recently discovered, was actually quite intelligent. Rachel had always been fascinated with the biology of human beings, and when she had been actively studying, her favorite subject was human cybernetics. She couldn't explain why, but thinking about the interface between man and machine simply made her feel giddy. Rachel studied it excessively, and although she didn't have a doctorate, she was, without question, and expert in the field. It was Rachel who put forward a hydraulic system attached to Pinky's bones in order to get the girl some more mobility.

But Pinky didn't know that it would be so boring. She wished they would have knocked her out, but according to Rachel, she needed to be awake for the operation. She didn't mind that her legs had been numbed and then spilt open to the bone, where they now hid behind a curtain. But, she did mind the fact that she had been lying down, eating nothing and not sleeping, for a good five and a half hours. She didn't think the torment would ever end; that she would just lie on the operating table for the rest of her days.

"Okay, the wiring's complete!" the doctor said enthusiastically. Pinky sat up on her elbows to try to look past the curtain, but saw nothing. Still, she was incredibly happy.

"Great," said Rachel, who had been sitting in a chair by Pinky's side. "Three-quarters of the way there!"

Pinky groaned, and rested again. It was another hour before the doctor finished stitching her legs back together, and Pinky could finally sit up on the bed. The curtain was removed, and Pinky could see the long slits were her skin had been split apart.

"Can I eat now?" Pinky asked, hopefully.

"Pinky, no food for the next several hours," Rachel said sternly.

"Man, you were more fun when you didn't know science," Pinky complained. The doctors had left the room, leaving Rachel and Pinky by themselves, so Pinky felt perfectly comfortable in saying whatever she wanted.

"Can I at least put on some actual pants now?' Pinky pleaded.

"If you can manage it," Rachel said. "Although I am wondering: those pink pants of yours were actually short. Where did you find a longer pair?"

'I didn't; I improvised," Pinky said happily, rising to her feet. Over the past few months, Pinky had realized that her outfits seemed slightly one-dimensional. To her, having every single article of clothing be the same shade of pink was getting rather boring. Luckily, she seemed to start an affinity with a new color: black. It had started when she first received her leg braces, and she like the way the black metal stood out against her pink shoes. Some would have said it would be impossible to create an ensemble of clothes that were entirely pink and black, but Pinky managed quite well, trying to maintain a nice balance of color.

Her outfit usually consisted of mixing as much pink and black as possible, and on this day, it was no exception. She wore a black T-shirt, but kept in underneath a partially-zipped pink sweatshirt. She wore pink sneakers, but also had black shorts. However, she soon discovered more clothes were necessary, as any skin-on-skin contact with another person would give her random flashes and a nasty headache. So she kept her hands covered with thick gloves (one pink and one black), and she wore lengthy stockings as well (which happened to be striped, unsurprisingly, pink and black).

Once she had covered her lower half, she tried walking back and forth across the room. She wobbled as she went, but rather quickly, she got the hang of the new cybernetics.

"So how are they?" Rachel asked with a knowing grin.

"These are great!" Pinky said enthusiastically. "I can actually bend my knees now. I take it back; I like 'smart Rachel' much more than 'old Rachel'."

"So do I, Pinky,' Rachel said happily. It was true that Rachel had become much happier over the past few days. Not only could she finally act like herself, but she didn't feel bad about her blindness anymore. In fact, she acted so normally that some people around Camelot never even knew she was blind at all. She even stopped wearing her old, filthy headband, and walked around showing off a set of normally brown glass eyes.

After some short testing, her final conclusion was that her sight was controlled by her adrenaline, and the more intense a situation became, the more she would be able to do. Effectively, now that she could continue to help out P.O.N.Y, she didn't really mind all that much that she needed to walk around with a stick to get to places on a normal basis.

Rachel sat up from her chair, and grabbed onto her white cane, which was resting against the chair leg. Pinky opened the door for her, and the two walked out of the medical bay, and headed towards the training room, where the rest of the girls were. Along the way, they passed by the occasional solider or person in a suit, but it wasn't of anything to note. Twice, Pinky nearly stumbled to the ground, and needed to cling to Rachel for support, which nearly terrified the unsuspecting Brit. Eventually, the two did manage to make it to the training room, and opened up the door.

Immediately, Fiona flew past them, greatly startling the two with a gust of wind.

"Look out!" Fiona shouted, bracing herself. Within a few seconds, her flight had failed her, and she skid across the ground.

Fiona felt embarrassment more than pain. She had finally thought that she was able to control her wings; she was able to summon them and unsummon them, and she could fly about to a certain degree. However, turning still evaded her, and so she lay on the ground, her arms battered and bruised from excessive banging against the floor.

"Ow…" Fiona muttered out.

"Fiona, are you okay?" Tara called out.

"I'm fine," Fiona said with a groan.

Tara and AJ were resting on the side bleachers; AJ was lying on her back and relaxing, while Tara was focused on Dash, who was on the track. Dash, for the past twenty minutes, had been throwing a baseball to the other side of the track lengthwise, catching it in midair, and throwing it back to the other side.

"That's incredible, Dash," Tara commented. "So you must have an incredibly fast reaction time to process everything around you."

"Not to mention," Rachel suddenly joined in, making her way over to the seats. "Her body would have to produce almost no friction. And her organs would also happen to be able to withstand the sudden inertia of stopping still after moving at such a speed."

"What the fuck are you girls talking about?" Dash called out, before once more throwing the ball to herself. However, she was entirely ignored.

"She might be able to convert her whole body into a gaseous state of matter," Tara suggested.

"And her clothes?" Rachel asked, very much doubting Tara's theory. "Besides, she could hardly be able to have enough light reflect off of her eyes to see. I think it's much more likely that- Ow!"

Rachel winced as a baseball collided with her temple.

"Jesus Christ, just cuz your smart doesn't mean you can act like a pretentious bitch!" Dash insulted. "Now, what are you to talking about?"

"We're trying to provide an explanation for how you can move so fast," Tara said, somewhat annoyed. "You're defying a lot of the laws of physics, and we need to know why."

"How many times do I have to tell you?" Dash said, shaking her head. "We've been granted magical powers by an alien-like device. You don't need more explanation than that."

"It's not magic," Rachel said, rubbing her head. "It's science. There is always an explanation for the unknown."

"Really?" Dash said, crossing her arms. "Then how the fuck does Tara move shit with her mind? How does science explain that?"

"I don't move things with my mind," Tara said. "I tested it out. I'm able to manipulate the magnetic field around any object, and use them to direct the object where I want them to go. And, I know this because if I try to lift a cellphone, I destroy its hardware."

"Well, how do you explain Rachel's weird blind, color shit?" Dash challenged.

"The device triggered some bizarre synapse in my brain," Rachel explained. "Since my sight is gone, my body adapted, and the device granted me some kind of echolocation via soudwaves. I'm still trying to figure out where they get released, though."

"Oh yeah, well…" Dash paused for a minute, before smirking. "What's the deal with Fiona?"

"She…" Tara started, but then stopped. "We're still working on that."

"Speaking of my wings," Fiona said, walking over to the others. She retracted the wings, which caused her to nearly lose her footing. "This may sound weird, but no one can see where they go, right? I mean, I've been too nervous to look, but I kind of want to know if they're like…" She gulped. "…moving."

"Um, sure, Fiona," Tara said, beckoning her over. She understood that Fiona was easily terrified, and the entire situation with the wings was completely unnatural. Fiona walked over, blushing somewhat, and held the front of her shirt in place, while Tara lifted up the back. Fiona's wings had given her the unfortunate side effect of not being able to wear any hoodies. She knew that she probably could, but she was still afraid of the wings suddenly rupturing from her back, and either crunching up underneath the hoodie, or tearing right through it. Even though she had plenty of evidence to suggest that the bases of the wings phased right through whatever clothing she wore, she still didn't want to risk anything. Tara took one look at Fiona's back, and became very confused.

"Fiona?" Tara asked nervously. "You wouldn't have tattoos by any chance, would you?"

"Why?"

"I… I have no idea how to tell you this, Fiona, but…" Tara said, uncomfortably. Suddenly, Dash appeared next to her, and saw exactly what Tara saw.

"Holy shit," Dash said with a big smile. She patted Fiona on the back. "Sweet tats, kid."

"What!?" Fiona said, surprised. It was true; a large tattoo of two angel wings took up the entire space of Fiona's back. Barely any of the skin on her back was left untouched, except for a very small sliver along her spine. "But those weren't there when my wings were out."

"So that's where those giant motherfuckers go," Dash said to herself. "Tara, care to explain with 'science'?"

Tara had no explanation, and so she didn't even attempt to say anything.

"Why are ya so focused on this whole Macer thing?" AJ spoke up. "I didn't get anything at all. There aint no need to make a big deal about how they work. We should just be focused on how they can help."

"Well, Celestia's coming back today," Tara mentioned. "We can talk more about this whole mess more when she returns."

BANGBANGBANGBANGBANGBANGBANGBANG

The girls covered their ears, as gunshots unexpectedly rang out in the training room. The girls turned and saw Pinky, who had completely ignored everything they were discussing, testing out one of the new submachine guns that had recently been obtained.

"What?" Pinky said, slightly discouraged.

"Pinky, could you not shoot while we're talking about this?" Tara said.

"Sorry," Pinky said. "I just wanted to-"

"We need to be on our best behavior," Tara reaffirmed. "Las thing we need is for Celestia to say that we're too much of a problem to be put to use."

"Oh, come on, sis," a voice from behind suddenly said. "Let her have some fun."

Without any other warning, Tara was suddenly gripped from behind, and brought into a massive hug. Tara had never even heard Cadence enter or the room, or walk up behind her, but she was extremely happy to finally see her sister-in-law again.

"Cadence, it's great to see you," Tara said, returning the hug. "When did you get back?"

"Twenty minutes ago," Cadence said. "The chairwoman's on an important phone call. She wants to see you guys in ten minutes."

"Well, that went a lot faster than I expected," AJ muttered to herself under her breath.

"How is she reacting to it all?" Tara asked.

"She's mostly fine," Cadence said, earning sighs of relief from the others. "I think she just wants to make sure that you can all still function as a team." Cadence lowered her voice. "Tara, are you okay? You're not in pain, or anything?"

"I'm fine, Cadence," Tara said honestly. "I think we all are generally okay."

"Actually, I'm not," Pinky suddenly bounded over. "Seriously, someone touch me. That'll be some real pain."

"Pinky, we're not going to start poking you," Tara said, annoyed that Pinky was missing the point of a private conversation.

"Come on," Pinky insisted. "You can't just lie about everything, Tara. Does Cadence even know what we can do?"

"You know, I've read the files," Cadence stated, crossing her arms. "I know what's going on. I just wanted to make sure you were feeling well, sis."

"Is no one going to touch me?!" Pinky yelled, suddenly frustrated.

Pinky's behavior was starting to have a very negative effect on Tara's nerves. While Pinky could certainly help out in a fight, and could always lighten the atmosphere of a room, there was no doubt that her naivety and child-like way of handling things had become rather grating over the months. Pinky was still Tara's friend; there was no doubt about that. But sometimes, Pinky's ignorance became quite bothersome, her constant interference troubling, and her little care for serious matters a hassle to deal with.

"Pinky, you feel pain when people touch you," Tara reminded her friend.

"I know, that's the point!" Pinky exclaimed. "You said that we were all okay, but I'm not! How am I supposed to prove that to anyone without proof!?"

"You know what?" Cadence groaned, equally annoyed by Pinky's prattling on about things that didn't matter. "Screw it. Pinky, here you go…"

In an instant, Cadence extended one finger, and lightly pushed it against Pinky's forehead, in a manner that probably was slightly more harsh than was meant.

"Please God! Just leave us alone! We'll do whatever you want!"

Suddenly, Pinky let out a loud gasp, and stumbled backwards, falling several feet to the floor as if she was shot point blank in the chest. She saw a rapid series of images flash through her mind, each filled with something horrible. She saw two very young girls smiling together, although their faces seemed to be carved away. She saw a room that was littered with various body parts. She saw images of people lying dead on the floor, and images of broken mirrors, each holding a distorted face. But through all of this, she heard nothing but the cries of people screaming and begging for their lives; everything else was simply white noise. Pinky was stunned; she was unable to do anything except watch countless flashes of violence and destruction run rampant through her mind. Quickly, the others noticed Pinky's horrified expression and heavy breathing, and ran over to help her. Pinky saw three figures hovering over her, most of them blurry. She thought she could make out AJ and Tara, but the third person's face not only was unrecognizable, but was absolutely terrifying.

It was a woman who was hovering over her, although this she could barely tell. The woman had short white hair, which came to rest just below the ear. Her skin was pure black, and it looked as if the color had carved its way into the skin. Her teeth were all sharp and pointed, giving her more of a resemblance to an animal rather than a woman. Her eyes, worst of all, were a haunting shade of red, with no pupils visible.

Pinky blinked a few times, and then, the flashes suddenly stopped. She could hear clearly again, and where the horrific woman once stood, a worried Cadence was now present.

"Are you alright, honey?" AJ asked, helping Pinky off the ground. Pinky clutched her head, and stumbled about on her feet.

"Uh, yeah," Pinky lied. "I… I think I just need to lie down for a minute."

"I told you not to touch anyone," Tara scolded. "Go to the beds. We'll let you know how the meeting with Celestia goes."

Pinky nodded, and then slowly walked past the confused gazes of Fiona and Dash. She opened the door, but briefly looked back at Cadence, who was giving a slightly annoyed glare. Nothing seemed particularly out of the ordinary with her, but Pinky simply got an awful sensation whenever she looked at the special op's agent. Pinky left the room with a nasty headache, and an even worse sensation of dread, as she made her way to the sleeping quarters.

__________

"So they simply called off the hit?" Celestia reconfirmed, leaning against a desk in the Briefing Room. The girls stood around, discussing the events of late, while Cadence quietly waited in the corner. Two guards were standing against the back wall with fully loaded machine guns, and thick armor. Despite this increase in security, Celestia seemed to be a lot less formal when talking with the girls than Wilson, going as far as to ensure that the girls never referred to her as "chairwoman".

"They didn't have anything to gain by it," Tara said.

"Well, that's at least one problem we shouldn't have to deal with," Celestia explained. "The Korbalovs, if anything, take their business very serious. If they say they won't kill you, then they probably won't. Hell, you could probably hire them now, if you really wanted to. And also, thank you for retrieving the MACER Device from their base; it was quite helpful. But now, the important matters…"

"We're not shutting down P.O.N.Y, are we?" Tara asked, concerned. Celestia shook her head.

"It took some persuading," Celestia said. "But no, we should be fine. Under a few conditions, of course. First of all, none of you are to ever display use of your powers in public. We've spent nearly twenty years trying to keep Macers a secret, and we would like to keep it that way."

"Question," Dash said, raising her hand. "If we are surrounded by bad guys, can we use our powers then?"

"If you kill them afterwards," Celestia informed. "Second, we need to procure a list of all of the modifications made to your DNA. It's for the best if we keep everything noted."

"What about me?" AJ asked, crossing her arms. "Nothing happened to me. People keep telling me that I should feel different, but I feel exactly the same as I always have."

"The MACER Device has never failed," Celestia stated. "We'll take a DNA test; find out what the extent of the modification is. In fact, we should probably take blood tests on all of you anyway, just to be sure. Also, a last bit of news…"

Celestia walked over to another desk, and pulled out a small box.

"Considering how much you girls have been through," Celestia said. "I've decided to give you all a little something. Being the chairwoman does have some perks."

The girls looked through the box, and to their surprise, they found that the box contained their old possessions, which were confiscated after they had joined P.O.N.Y.

"Tara, here is one copy of The Complexity of Wormholes, signed by Neil Degrasse Tyson," Celestia said, handing Tara a thick novel, which the science-loving girl accepted happily. Celestia continued onwards pulling out more gifts and giving them to the girls. "The Complete Guide of the Wonderful Animal Kingdom, completely cleaned of blood, goes to Fiona. For Rachel, a home-made pink and blue sweater. And…"

Celestia paused, as she pulled out a plushy, anthropomorphic turtle. She carefully looked at the stitching in the side, and made a face that was halfway between surprise and amusement.

"One 'Tank the Turtle' stuffed animal for Rebecca," Celestia said, tossing the fluffy turtle to a shocked Dash. Dash received a series of confused and smug glares, as she examined the animal.

"Um…" Dash said, unsure of what to say to relieve the sense of embarrassment. "I think you got one of my roommate's belongings."

"It has your name on it," Tara said, suddenly suffering a case of the giggles. Dash groaned.

"Look, I got a soft spot for fucking turtles," Dash said, waving her arms wildly about, which in turn caused the turtle to flop its limbs about. "Don't make a fucking deal about. Hey, what's this?"

Dash reached into the box, and suddenly pulled out the last item. It was a small black book, with only one hundred or so pages, and a leather casing.

"That," Celestia explained. "Was all we could find from Pinky's belongings. Nothing else she owned seemed to have relevant importance."

Without hesitation, Dash started to flip through the pages of the book, not caring at all for the massive invasion of privacy.

"Holy shit," Dash exclaimed. "I think this is Pinky's journal. Man, we gotta read this."

"No, we don't," Tara said, snatching the book from Dash before the rebellious girl could make out any words on the current page. "I don't think Pinky would appreciate us reading through her personal thoughts."

"Spark, don't tell me you're not at all curious?" Dash said, crossing her arms. "I mean, don't you want to get a peak in Pinky's drugged-up head? Get a peek into the madness? Hell, maybe she wrote down the guy who sells her coke."

"Dash, don't be a bitch about this," Rachel commented. "Pinky's journal is of no importance to us. In fact, we should probably give this back to her right now."

"I'll do it," Cadence spoke up. "You can go on with your meeting that way."

"Thank you, Cadence," Celestia said, as Cadence rose to her feet. She accepted the book, although when she made contact with Celestia's hand, she couldn't help but grimace, if only for half of a moment. Cadence walked out of the room, as Celestia resumed discussing the important matters of continuing the search for The Unknown.

Cadence walked down the hallway at a leisurely pace. She really didn't care about delivering Pinky her book; she simply could not stand being in the presence of Celestia for any longer without having the sudden urge to drive an ice pick into her neck. Everything about Celestia made the air heavy, and an escape was necessary. Besides, she didn't mind getting used to the facilities. After all, she had no idea how long it would take for the job to be done. Unfortunately for her, everything seemed rather similar, and it was hard to get her bearings in what seemed like endless gray corridors. It eventually became boring, and in order to make her life interesting, she opened Pinky's journal to a random page, and started to read it as she walked.

Dear Journal,

Today something wierd happened, or at lest, I thnk it was weird. I was playing in the mud, and this huge guy showed up at our front door. He loooked super grumpy, like a realy big cat. He wanted to see Dad, which was stragne, because he was still super grumpy, but Dad is'nt grumpy at all. They talked and talked and talked and talked, and then the grumpy guy left. They must have been having a party, since they were shouting a hole lot. I think the grumpy guy was a pirate or somthing. Pirates are grumpy. Or maybe a grumpy astronot, or a grumpy supermodel. Dad also told me something important today. He told me to never grow up, and never be like one of those grumpy people. Dad is super cool, so I neeed to make sure to rememember that.

-Patty, Age 7

Cadence quickly closed the book after just one page. To be honest, she didn't know too much about any of the P.O.N.Y's to care. In fact, she didn't even know what Pinky's actual name was; it just simply never occurred to her. Regardless, she found that it was no longer necessary to read, as she believed to have found her way to the sleeping quarters. Cadence took a deep breath, then instantly removed her face of annoyance, opening the door. Pinky was lying face down on the bottom left bunk, her hands wrapped tightly around her pillow.

"Hey," Cadence greeted. "Got this for you."

Pinky looked up from the bed, a pained expression on her face. She rubbed her head woozily, and allowed her eyes to refocus themselves. However, once they did focus, they suddenly became wide.

"Where did you get that?" Pinky asked, nervously.

"Gift from Celestia," Cadence explained. Without any warning, Pinky quickly sprang up from her bed, and snatched the journal forcefully from Cadence's grasp.

"You didn't read through this, did you?" Pinky asked, quite scared.

"No," Cadence lied. "By the way, sorry for giving you a headache."

However, Pinky seemed unfazed by the apology, instead focusing on the little black book in her possession.

"Uh…" Cadence was unsure what to say. From her perspective, Pinky was acting like a rabid animal, and she wished to gain as much distance as possible. "You're welcome, I guess."

With that, Cadence left the room with a groan, and started to take a long walk back to the Briefing Room.

Bzzzt Bzzzt Bzzzt

Cadence pulled out her cell phone, and answered with disinterest.

"Hello?" Cadence said.

"You sure do sound different, baby," growled the unmistakably deep, cocky, arrogant voice of Sombra.

"It's the voice of one Cadence Sullivan," Cadence said, lowering her voice.

"Well, it sounds youthful," Sombra commented. "I guess it's needed to infiltrate the base."

"You do know that they can trace all calls emitting from here, right?" Cadence said, rather annoyed.

"Relax, won't you?" Sombra said, unworried. "I'm already managing the system."

"Why did you even bother calling?" Cadence asked. "Every second I waste speaking to you is another chance they could discover who I am."

"Look, the boss is out checking over the work," Sombra explained. "I simply called to make sure you were doing alright."

"Aw, how lovely of you to care," Cadence said sarcastically.

"Believe it or not, I do like you the most," Sombra stated. "For what it's worth."

"I love you, too," Cadence spoke with a sneer.

"But on more important matters, how is the operation going?" Sombra asked.

"Perfect," Cadence said. "They don't have the slightest idea who I really am."

"Are they dead?" Sombra asked, very interested.

"Who?"

"The six girls who have had the audacity to try to stop our goals."

"What are you talking about?"

"Wait, what do you mean, 'what are you talking about'?" Sombra said, very confused. "Don't tell me you have no idea who they are?"

"Of course I know who they are," Cadence said stubbornly. "I've been going over their cases for months."

"Then what are you confused about?" Sombra asked, growing rather annoyed.

"Why did you ask me if the girls were dead?" Cadence responded. "I'm not supposed to kill them."

Sombra was quiet for a moment, as he tried to rack his head around every bit of nonsense that his associate was spewing.

"You aren't supposed to kill them!?" Sombra shouted in anger. "But why not!? Isn't that the entire fucking point of you being there!?"

"No," Cadence stated. She began to explain things to the berate King. "Look, my original goal was to infiltrate and disrupt this operation. Ever since the beginning, the boss told me to keep the teenagers alive. He said it was crucial. I'm just doing a bit of sabotage. But once I found out that Bridgette was leading the operation, I had to convince the boss to let me take her out. So, now I have two goals, neither of which needs to involve the death of those kids."

"Wait a second," Sombra said. "You didn't know Bridgette Celestia was leading this operation?"

"Not until I actually got here, and saw the smug look on that bitch's face," Cadence said with hatred in her voice."

"But, that doesn't make sense," Sombra muttered. "I thought Celestia was the whole reason why you came here in the first place?"

"No," Cadence said. "I came here because I liked the ideas The Unknown had, and I wanted to help."

"But then how… what…" Sombra muttered something under his breath, and then spoke more seriously. "Look, Chrysalis, do you think the boss is a little… bizarre?"

"Not at all," Cadence answered. "Do you?"

"I just mean," Sombra explained. "That man has some weird shit about him. Why do you just blindly follow his orders around, without any questions at all?"

"I don't blindly follow him," Cadence explained. "I have faith in his choices. He knows exactly what he is doing."

"Really?" Sombra said in question. "Keeping our main threat alive while you slowly skulk about the base doing nothing is a good decision?"

"Look, Sombra, you need to understand a few things," Cadence said. "I'm not the best fighter. Goons are fine to deal with; I have no problem taking down idiots. But the guards here know what the fuck they are doing. I can't just try to run around and kill everyone in sight. I'd get slaughtered. Besides, I may not be allowed to kill them, but…" she grinned. "That doesn't mean I can't tear them apart."

Sombra groaned.

"Look, all I'm trying to say is," Sombra said. "Just try to stay alive. As the most sane person in our little group, I'd prefer to have someone else intelligent around as well."

"Thanks, Sombra," Cadence said half-heartedly. "That almost put me to tears."

With that, Sombra hung up the phone, leaving Cadence by herself in an empty corridor.

__________

"Okay, Dash, get ready," AJ said, looking at the timer on her phone. Dash was pressed against the wall in the training room, waiting for AJ's command a determined look on her face. Tara watched intently, while Rachel sat calmly beside her. "Go!"

In a blur, Dash ran across the room, eventually slapping the opposite wall hard with her hand.

"How fast was that?" Dash called out.

"Nearly three seconds!" AJ responded happily.

"Yep, it's official!" Dash cheered. "I am the fastest woman alive! Suck it, Usian Bolt!"

"Dash, you might want to take a break from that," Tara stated. "You look kind of worn out."

Dash didn't have her usual perseverance. She appeared to be breathing heavily, and she holding her side in a pained manner. In fact, Tara was almost quite positive that she could see Dash sweating, something which was so rare, that it actually worried her quite a bit.

"I'm fine, Spark," Dash said, although it came out as more of a wheeze. In another blur, Dash appeared by Tara's side, now looking even more exhausted.

"I don't think prolonged movement at such a speed is good for you," Tara said.

"No way!" Dash protested. "I've never felt better. (pant) In fact, (pant) I think I should take another few laps around the (pant) track."

"Dash, take a rest," Rachel suggested. "Get some water, too. You're probably pretty dehydrated."

"I'm not tired (pant)," Dash tried to say again, but found that it was getting harder to remain standing. She sat down on the floor, and ran a hand through her short, multi-colored hair. "Shit… does anyone else (pant) see spots?"

"I'll get you some water," Tara said, rising to her feet.

"Right behind ya," AJ said, following her friend. The two left the room, leaving Rachel and Dash to themselves.

"So, the great Rebecca Dawson has finally worn herself out," Rachel commented, earning a deadly glare from Dash.

"Fuck you, sightless," Dash sneered, although she could hardly keep her harsh composure when she suddenly started to aggressively cough.

"Dash, as someone who has spent time studying the repertory system," Rachel claimed. "I wouldn't recommend talking too much with a cough like that."

"I'm going to be fine," Dash said, her voice somewhat hoarse. "Besides, you would hate it if I stopped talking; you wouldn't know where anything is."

"I still find that offensive, you know," Rachel said in warning.

"I know," Dash said. "By the way, I'm rolling my eyes in a sarcastic manner. Just thought you should know that, too."

As Rachel tried her best not to lunge at Dash, and Dash tried her best not to have a heart attack, AJ and Tara walked calmly into the mess hall. The mess hall was a room largely unused in 2015, but since more people came to the base in the new year, it was often filled with at least five people. In truth, it was little more than a water cooler, several tables, and an air conditioning unit in a white room, but it had a homey quality to it, and it was a good place to relax in. Tara walked over to the water cooler, and started to fill up several plastic cups.

"So, how are your powers coming along?" AJ asked to fill up the time.

"Pretty good," Tara said, filling up a third cup, which she carefully balanced between the other two. "I mean, I can somewhat control it, although I still can't pick up anything heavier than a chair."

"Ya picked up a door in Russia," AJ said, confused. "And ya also threw the Korbalovs out of their own house."

"I wish I knew how," Tara said, now trying to carry four small cups of water in her arms. Sensing an inevitable collapse, AJ took two of the cups away, and the two girls walked back to the training room.

"I just wish I knew what the hell the machine did to me," AJ said honestly.

"I'm not really bothered by it," AJ said, although she looked as if she was certainly caught in the act. "Ya can't blame a girl for being curious, though. Last thing I need is for a flesh-eating bacteria getting into my bloodstream."

"I severely doubt that you got flesh-eating bacteria," Tara said. Suddenly, she heard a noise, and stopped in her tracks. Unless she was mistaken, it sounded like Cadence was swearing to herself inside of the Briefing Room. She didn't know why Cadence would be in the Briefing Room, as usually, the only people in that room were Celestia, but she didn't entirely care at the moment. It sounded like Cadence was rather bothered by something, and as her sister-in-law, Tara could not resist to help.

Tara quickly turned and opened the door with her shoulder, allowing light to enter the dark room. The room was completely devoid of human life except for the one special forces agent, who was huddled over one of the computers with an extremely paranoid expression.

"Cadence, what's going on in here?" Tara asked with no hint of awareness. Cadence froze in panic for a brief moment, acting akin to a deer in headlights. She quickly regained her composure before Tara could understand what was going on, and put on a smile.

"Oh, nothing," Cadence said, quickly typing away on the keyboard.

"Are you sure?" Tara asked. "You sounded kind of upset."

"No problems at all," Cadence said. Tara readjusted her grip on the cups of water, which meant that she didn't notice when Cadence pressed the "ENTER" key twice in rapid succession. "Actually, you're just who I've been meaning to talk to. Can we, you know, talk?"

"Oh, sure," Tara said. She turned to AJ, who understood at once, and took the cups from her friend's possession. AJ left the two alone, and Tara shut the door behind her as she stepped into the Briefing Room. "So, what's up?"

"You know, Tara, I've been thinking," Cadence said. "I mean, I haven't been around here a lot. I've just been so busy lately. Honestly, I kinda feel left out."

"Left out?" Tara wondered.

"Well," Cadence explained. "We used to have a lot of good times together. But lately, I feel like we haven't been connecting like we used to be. I think it might be your friends."

"Why?" Tara said, almost offended. "Do you not like them? I know Dash can be a bit much, but—"

"Oh no, it's not that," Cadence quickly said. "It's just that I don't know them that well. I don't think I've ever really held a conversation with any of them. Well… okay, I had one conversation over the phone, but that was it."

"Okay," Tara said, nodding her head.

"Look, this may sound weird," Cadence said. "But can you tell me more about them? If they are your friends, then I want to be on good terms on them, and at the very least, I want to know what they're like."

Tara considered this for a moment, and then smiled.

"Okay, I'll try," Tara said. "Okay, well, let's go one at a time. Dash is pushy, and arrogant, and narcissistic, and kind of mean, and can be really insulting, so you probably shouldn't talk to her often. I mean, she cares and all, but she's a hassle to deal with."

"Is she the one who said all of those things about me and your brother?" Cadence said.

"Yeah…" Tara said, blushing at the memory.

"Okay, I was already avoiding her," Cadence said. "Who can I actually talk to?"

"AJ's cool," Tara said. "I mean, she's occasionally brutally honest, and gets overly determined to rush into things, but she's nice enough. Pinky's a bit much to deal with too. She mostly just spouts nonsense most of the time, but she tries her best to be helpful. I'm still trying to figure out Rachel; I mean, before I would have described her as self-centered and fashion-oriented, but now she's actually really smart, probably even smarter than me. If you do talk to her, try to avoid talking about her sight. I think she's still a little sensitive about that. Fiona's also a little weird to talk to. I mean, she's really sweet and all, but she doesn't talk a lot. Plus…" Tara paused for a moment. "This might sound wired, but she may act strange around you, maybe, possibly… because she's sexually attracted to you."

"So…" Cadence said slowly. "She's a dyke."

"Yeah," Tara said, her face flushed. "I kinda found that out the hard way."

"You slept with a girl?" Cadence said, astonished.

"What? No!" Tara couldn't deny the accusation fast enough. "She came on to me once, but that was it. By the way, don't ever tell the others about that, or she will probably rip me apart. Okay, she'll probably burst into tears, but still, don't tell anyone that. Promise?"

"Sure, promise," Cadence said with a smirk. However, she couldn't help but mutter under her breath, "Man, there is so much potential here."

"Anything else you want to know?" Tara asked. "I mean, those are the basics, sure, but I know more, like their eating habits, workout routines, favorite extracurricular active-"

"I think that's fine, sis," Cadence said, starting to leave the room.

"Are you sure?" Tara asked, wishing to prolong the time spent with her sister-in-law. "There's so much more you need to know. What if you try to give Rachel strawberries? She'd go into anaphylactic shock! Or what if you accidentally damage Pinky's sensitive legs, or you anger Dash, or-"

"Tara, I think I know all I need to know," Cadence said, walking out of the room. "Although, thanks for helping. I think I might finally be able to get some friends around here."

"No problem," Tara said. Despite Cadence obviously being very pleased, there was no doubt that Tara wished their time together was longer, or at the very least, more personal. Tara still had so many things she wanted to hear about. She wanted to hear how her brother was doing, she wanted to hear about the war, she wanted to hear about her family, and most importantly, she wanted to hear more about Cadence. Cadence seemed ever more distant with each passing day, and Tara knew that her stay would probably be a short one.

Yet despite the ever decreasing time-limit on the time they spent together, Tara didn't bother chasing after Cadence once she left. She of all people understood that when important things needed to be done, it was best not to interfere. So she allowed Cadence to walk away in silence, positive that her friend had very important matters to attend to.

__________

The grey-headed lovebird is a variety of parrot native to Madagascar. As the name would imply, lovebirds spend a majority of their fifteen-year lifespan with one single mate, and they often spend a long period of time simply sitting down next to that single mate. Like most birds, they mostly eat seeds, although lovebirds have been known to feast on the occasional fig.

Fiona turned the page, and tried her best to remember the differences between a grey-headed lovebird and a black-cheeked lovebird. She quickly made a short mantra, and repeated it in her mind.

Black cheek, white ring, black cheek, white ring, Fiona said over and over in her mind. Once she was certain she knew the basic difference, she continued reading on with great enthusiasm.

As she had discovered, at the edge of Camelot was a storage closet, which was only about ten feet in diameter. It was mostly used to hold supplies, but had a comfy feel to it, making it the perfect place for Fiona to read. Plus, it was rarely, if ever, visited by other people, so Fiona could spend hours by herself reading her animal book. She didn't think of it as being anti-social, or at least, she hoped it didn't come off as anti-social. Now that Fiona thought about it, it did seem like she was trying to separate herself from the group (although, technically, that was her goal). The last thing she wanted was to make the others think she didn't care about them. In fact, this was starting to worry her. What if they thought she didn't like them anymore? What if they thought she was acting selfishly? That would be truly terrible.

But then she shook the ridiculous thoughts out of her mind. She told herself to stop worrying about trivial things that most-likely did not exist, and enjoy reading her book. Fiona sighed, and leaned her head back against the wall she was sitting next to. Despite the lighting in the room being dim from the room's old nature, she could perfectly make out the words on the page. She now started to read about the next variant of lovebird, the black-collared lovebird.

Knock Knock Knock

"Fiona, are you in there?" Tara called out. Without hesitation, Fiona rose to her feet, and opened the door, revealing a very nervous Tara.

"Is something going on?" Fiona asked, starting to get nervous herself.

"I was just wondering," Tara said, shifting around on her feet. "No one else is around here, are they?"

"No," Fiona said, slightly confused.

"And almost no one can hear anything coming from here, right?" Tara said, slowly shifting her face into a sly grin.

"I don't think so," Fiona said.

"Perfect," Tara said, walking into the room.

"So what's goin-"

Fiona couldn't finish her words, as without any warning, Tara sprang forward, and crashed her lips into Fiona's. Using her foot, Tara slammed the door shut, leaving her alone with the absolutely confused (and furiously blushing) Fiona. After twenty seconds, Tara separated, allowing her to fully take in Fiona's wide eyes and wide-open jaw. From Fiona's perspective, all she could make out was a bizarre fuzzy feeling, her heart pounding in her ears, and a very sultry look on her friend's face.

"I can't take it anymore," Tara panted out, her eyes akin to a wild animal. Tara wrapped her arms around Fiona's neck, and tightly pressed herself up against her friend, making Fiona gulp. "I can't stand being around you like this and not having you. These past few months have been driving me nuts. All I do every single night is crave you."

"Tara," Fiona said, looking away from her friend. "You… you don't sound like yourself."

"But I've never been feeling more right," Tara said, drawing Fiona closer in. "Don't tell me you don't want this."

"I…" Fiona could barely speak. She didn't understand her own emotions. This was everything that she wanted, but then why did it feel so wrong? Suddenly, Tara's seductive glare faded away, and she looked almost heartbroken.

"Am I not good enough for you?" Tara asked, starting to sniffle. "Is this not what you want?"

"No, it's not that," Fiona said, immediately trying to cheer up her friend.

"I thought you cared about me," Tara said, tears welling in her eyes.

"I do," Fiona said. She felt as if she was messing everything up, and she barely even knew what was going on in the first place. The last thing she remembered, Tara was beyond straight, and she needed to keep herself restrained. Now everything was turned around, and she was struggling to hold herself back. Why was it so hard for her to give into her emotions?

"If you do care about me," Tara said, once more pressing her lips to Fiona's. Three seconds later, they separated, and Tara stared deep into Fiona's eyes. "Then prove it."

There were no more restraints. Any boundaries that were in the way were instantly pushed aside by passion and lust, which blindly drove the two girls forward. Fiona could hardly control her actions; she was driven purely by her primal instincts, and, as far as she could tell, so was Tara; both of them had closed eyes, using each other's bodies to guide them. Somewhat roughly, Tara pushed Fiona up against the back wall, and held her in place as she assaulted her lips. Time became lost. Fiona felt as if she were melting, and all her body could recognize were flashes of the gentle touches of skin, lips, and tongues. She would say it was one of the greatest moments of her life, but everything still felt wrong to her. She couldn't remove the pang of guilt deep in her chest. The situation was undoubtedly arousing, but she didn't feel aroused. In fact, she felt almost as if were tensing up, freezing in place more as each second passed. She felt a strange tingling in her lips that was most certainly different from Tara's warm, soft kisses.

In fact, now that she paid attention to it, she thought the tingling was actually starting to hurt. She felt her lips slowly grow ragged and dry, and the pain was slowly spreading up through the rest of her body. Her body grew ever more tense, and in a few moments, Fiona suddenly lost all ability to move. It was as if she was pinned to a specific part of space, unable to unfreeze herself. As her body became ever more rigid, Fiona's eyes shot open, to see Tara was smiling brightly into her kiss.

"You know," Tara said with a sultry tone. "It took me an hour to mix that nerve toxin into my lipstick."

Tara leaned away from a very stunned and rather horrified Fiona, and flashed a big, toothy grin. With great shock, Fiona saw that each of Tara's teeth were long and sharp, which instantly turned all of her passion into horror.

"I've never actually kissed a girl before," Tara said. "I mean, obviously I've tasted the flesh, but I never specifically got a taste of the lips before. And, may I say, you certainly seem to be rather appetizing."

Tara's eyes shot open, revealing not the two light brown wonders that Fiona was used to seeing, but two bright red, glowing orbs. Fiona tried to yell out for help, but her mouth refused to form into words.

"The nerve toxin in your system should wear off in about twenty-four hours," Tara stated. "But by then, everything should be taken care of. See, I have nothing against you personally. Hell, you were a far better kisser than my ex was. Unfortunately, he wasn't very tasty at all."

Tara thought back to a happier time in her life just after her boyfriend had dumped her, specifically to the dinner that she had that night.

"Now, if you excuse me for a brief moment," Tara said, bringing one sharp fingernail to Fiona's shoulder. In one swift motion, Tara cut a lengthy slit into Fiona's shoulder, and fresh blood started to seep from the wound. Fiona wanted to hiss in pain, but found that she was still completely numb. As such, she was forced to watch helplessly as "Tara" scooped up some blood on her finger, stuck out her tongue (which Fiona was horribly embarrassed to think was in her mouth a mere sixty seconds ago), and licked her finger. If it wasn't for the incredibly disturbing nature of the whole event, Fiona would dare say that it was almost erotic.

"Mmm," Tara moaned, licking up the blood once more. "For the record, I didn't really need to taste your blood right there; the samples that bitch Celestia took provided plenty. But, I did always think you tasted the best. You were the sweetest."

Before Fiona's very eyes, Tara went through a metamorphosis. A black substance quickly ran up her skin and her clothes, wrapping her up in a cocoon of shadows. In silhouette, Fiona could make out the basics of the transformation. She could see Tara change side, becoming slightly taller and slimmer, her jaw line change, her arms change length, and so on. Tara was becoming a different person right before her eyes, and Fiona was too scared to see what she would become, yet her body refused to look away. Fiona mentally brace herself, and then, five seconds later, the darkness vanished, leaving Fiona to stare in shock at an exact duplicate of herself.

Everything was there; her long pink hair, the faint scar on the bridge of her nose, her flexed back shoulders, her clothing, and every little detail of her physique was matched perfectly, except for her eyes, which were still two red orbs. However, the other Fiona closed her eyes for a few seconds, and when she opened them, they were the luscious green that Fiona normally had. The other Fiona leaned in close, and wore a terribly wicked smirk on her face.

"Don't look so sad, Fiona," the other woman said, brushing her hand through Fiona's hair. The other woman now spoke in Fiona's voice, which multiplied how disturbed Fiona was greatly. "Once I kill Celestia, I'll be sure to drag the mutilated corpse of your little wannabe lover right here, so you can spend your last few moments covered in her own blood as I slowly tear her throat out. Now doesn't that sound nice?"

The other Fiona rose to her feet, and walked towards the door, snickering to herself. She opened the door, but at the last minute, she turned around, and blew an insulting kiss to the numb girl.

"Stay fresh, baby," the other woman said with a laugh, and then slammed the door hard. The resulting shaking caused the light to flicker out, leaving Fiona all by herself in the darkness, silent, numb, and terribly afraid.

To Be Continued...