Chapter 8: Traitor

Part 2 of 2: Vengeful Desires from Unhealable Wounds

Navigating around Camelot was a difficult task for almost everybody, yet that didn't mean Rachel did not feel shameful that it took her so long to get places. While she did manage to memorize the entire layout of the underground facility, it did not provide much help.

Usually, because of this, she always made sure to walk with someone wherever she went. It allowed her not only to have accompaniment, but also gave her someone to interact with. It did not matter who, although there were some people she would have thought to prefer more than others (primarily Dash, who she was quite certain would guide her around aimlessly for possibly hours on end).

On this one particular occasion, she was walking with Tara, and was in deep discussion regarding the wellbeing of Pinky, who they were on their way to see.

"But how would memory transferal pass through the skin?" Rachel pondered. "I mean, does it go through the pores?"

"Probably the nerve receptors," Tara suggested. "I mean, the response is almost instantaneous. It would also explain how it gets to the brain so easily."

"I thought about that," Rachel said. "But how would one's thoughts be translated into a form that can be passed by electric impulses?"

"Man, this is infuriating," Tara mumbled to herself. "We are at the center of a massive scientific change, and we have no idea what the specifics are. You know, I think I might just give in to what Dash is saying."

"Don't encourage her," Rachel scolded, as the two arrived to the sleeping quarters. They opened the door, and were greeted with an almost adorable sight. Pinky was lying face down on her bunk, her arm and leg hanging over the side. She was snoring quietly, and resting atop her head was her black journal; its pages were sprawled open, and it was almost as if she were reading the journal with the back of her skull.

"So…" Tara said. "I guess she's alright."

"I suppose," Rachel said, who had immediately identified the sound of snoring. "Should we wake her up?"

"We should probably just let her sleep," Tara said, walking over to the normally hyperactive girl. She removed the journal from her head, and placed it down beside the bunk, thinking it to be the appropriate thing to do. When she looked back at Rachel, she noticed that the Brit seemed to be acting rather odd. She was shifting around on her feet constantly, and she looked almost embarrassed.

"Hey, Tara," Rachel asked nervously. "You don't think that, maybe, we could take a peek at that journal, would you?"

"You're kidding me," Tara said, shocked. "Now you want to invade Pinky's privacy?"

"Dash had a point," Rachel argued. "I mean, wouldn't you like to know what she thinks of everything?"

"What happened to 'not encouraging Dash'?" Tara said angrily.

"I don't want her stupidity to be encouraged," Rachel spoke back, crossing her arms. "But this is for science."

"How is this for science?"

"This is our opportunity to view into one of the most fascinating psychological complexes in the world," Rachel said. "Who knows what we'll find? Hell, Dash could be right; we could find out how her drug addiction got started."

"Pinky doesn't have a drug addiction," Tara stated very factually. "That's just something Dash came up with as part of her 'new world perspective'."

"I don't know, Tara," Rachel said defensively. "It makes sense to me. I mean, she can't be that hyper because of sugar, can she?"

"I have no idea how she stays like that," Tara said. "But I have a pretty good idea that she doesn't smuggle cocaine. Besides, where would she even get it? And how? It's not like she has any money to buy it."

"Pinky's addicted to cocaine?" spoke a soft voice from the door. The two intelligent girls had been so caught up in their conversation that they failed to notice Fiona standing silently in the doorway, listening to their conversation.

"No, Fiona, Pinky's not addicted to anything," Tara moaned, placing her hand on her forehead.

"Oh, okay," Fiona said. "Rachel, Dash said she wanted to see you."

"Really?" Rachel said in disbelief. "What would Dash need to talk to me about?"

"I'm not really sure," Fiona said. "She just said she wanted to talk to you. I'll walk with you, if you want."

"Thank you," Rachel said happily, before walking to the door. She turned back to Tara. "We'll have to discuss this later."

"Try not to let Dash rot your mind," Tara said as a makeshift farewell. She wasn't sure if she was joking or not, but decided that it wasn't important. The room seemed surprisingly empty once Rachel had left, despite the obvious other presence.

Tara was bored. She really didn't have anything to do for the rest of the day. She supposed she could always see how AJ was doing, but then she would have nothing to talk about with the southern lass. She could possibly try to research on The Unknown, but she knew that in the end, she would find nothing at all. She could try to find Cadence, but her sister-in-law had been inconspicuously absent for the past hour. She briefly considered waking up Pinky, but decided to let her friend get some sleep. However, as she looked at the sleeping girl, her eyes couldn't help but wander to the tiny black journal lying on the ground.

What did she write in there anyway? What could be in there that was so important? Sure, it was probably nothing but ramblings, but then why was it so important to keep to herself?

All of these seemed like valid questions, and it formed an itch in the back of Tara's mind. It was a tantalizing prospect to read through the book before her. Even just one page of information would probably be enough. She knew it was horribly wrong, but it was growing increasingly hard to resist. Perhaps it wouldn't be so bad to take a quick look. After all, was she not a woman of knowledge, and was the journal not containing important knowledge to be had?

Tara sighed to herself, and then, against all of her moral fiber, she took a seat on Pinky's bunk, picked up the book, and opened it to a random page.

I'm a horrible person, Tara thought to herself as she read the surprisingly neat handwriting on the page.

Dear Journal,

The grumpy man has returned. He looked more grumpy than ever. I heard him and Dad shouting agan. They sounded mean this time. Dad told me that the grumpy man was to sereous, and he did'nt have any imagininateon. He told me to think big, and dream forever. That sounded like fun. Then, Dad and I played this fun game. I was a princess and he was a night to res-

All of a sudden, the book was violently ripped from Tara's grasp. Tara barely had time to react, as she was suddenly grabbed by the collar of her shirt, and thrown forcefully to the ground. She tried to sit up, but was immediately pressed down again. Two hands pinned her shoulders to the floor, and in a sense of terror, Tara looked up, and saw something truly unusual: Pinky angry. In fact, Pinky seemed more than angry. Her face wasn't contorted with rage, she wasn't breathing hard, and she wasn't screaming, yet somehow, it was worse. Her face was blank and cold, and she cast a dead glare into Tara's eyes. With an intensity that Tara had never heard before, Pinky said,

"Never. Look. Through my stuff. Again," Pinky said with ice in her voice. In fact, Pinky's voice was almost unrecognizable. Its pitch was noticeably lower, and it carried with it a serious that made it perfectly clear that Pinky was dead serous with every syllable.

"I'm sorry, Pinky," Tara managed to breath out. "I was just-"

"No excuses," Pinky said forcefully, pushing Tara harder against the floor. "Tell everyone that if I see someone even thinking about that book, I will go to the training room, get a shotgun, and blow their goddamn head off. Am I clear?"

"Pinky, I think you need to calm down a little," Tara said, now very uncomfortable. She had never seen Pinky in such a state. Now that she thought about it, she never even knew Pinky could get angry, let alone be so threatening. "No one is going to look through that book ever again. You have my word."

"Good," Pinky said, standing up to let Tara get off of the floor. Tara stood up, albeit rather cautiously, and brushed herself off.

"So, uh…" Tara said, scratching the back of her head. "We wanted to know how you were feeling."

"Oh," Pinky said. In a flash, she snapped back to her normal self, and spoke incredibly fast. "Well, my head feels all better now, that's good, and I don't feel upset, I mean a little upset, but not really, but actually, while we're talking, I wanted to talk to you about-"

At that moment, Fiona came screeching around the corner, and entered the room. She panted heavily, and rested her hands on her knees. Tara knew instantaneously that something was off, as Fiona's cheek was bright red with blood.

"Come quick!" Fiona said, clearly very worried.

"What's wrong?" Tara asked, her concern growing.

"Just come on!" Fiona said. "It's Rachel! Dash came out of nowhere and… oh god…"

"Fiona, calm down," Tara said, placing her hand on her friend's shoulder. "Explain on the way."

The three girls bolted down the corridors, moving as fast as their legs would take them. They passed by several confused workers, before finally arriving in an almost entirely empty hallway. Once they were there, they were shocked to discover that Rachel was lying on the ground, occasionally twitching, and in severe pain. They rushed to her side, and observed the damage. Rachel was bleeding profusely from her nose, and she was clutching her stomach in agony. By her side was her white cane, which was now splattered with blood. Rachel released soft moans, unable to speak.

"Fiona, what happened to her?" Tara asked.

"We were walking to the storage closest where I was reading my animal book," Fiona explained. "Dash said she wanted to meet us there. But then, we saw her walking down the hallway; we didn't know why. When she got close, she just lost it. She shoved me to the ground, grabbed Rachel's cane, and then started beating her with it. She didn't even know what happened. I tried to get Dash to stop, but she moved too fast, and slapped me across the face. I didn't know what else to do."

"Dash did this?" Tara said, completely surprised.

"I don't know what's wrong with her," Fiona said. "I guess she ran off. Maybe the MACER Device did something to her mind."

"Okay," Tara said, thinking of what to do. She did not doubt Fiona's testimony for a second, which unfortunately meant that she had a major problem on her hands. "You two go get Rachel some medical attention. I'll find AJ, and see if we can track down Dash. She has a lot of things to answer for."

Tara took off running towards the training room. She did not want to fight Dash. Over the past few months, a mutual respect had formed between them, and Dash was almost becoming a nice person. However, if Dash really did attack Rachel and Fiona, then Tara would not hesitate for a moment to bring her down. Tara turned the corner, and in her haste, ran into someone walking in the halls. She continued running past them in determination, before she heard the person speak.

"Jesus, Spark, it's like all you can do is fucking run into people."

Tara did not waste a moment. She slammed her feet down solidly on the floor, and using her momentum, made a full 180 degree turn. In one single motion, her eyes and veins glowed, she shot out her arms, and the next thing Dash knew, she was flying straight into a metal wall, which knocked her out instantly upon collision.

__________

Dash awoke with a nasty pain in the head. She had no sense of how much time had passed, and almost no idea where she was. As far as she could tell, she was sitting at a table in a very dark room. The darkness gave no sense of space, so she did not know how big the room was. Dash tried to get up, but found that she had been handcuffed to the table.

"Um… what the fuck?" Dash said aloud. "Who handcuffed me to a fucking table?"

Suddenly, a door opened up across from Dash, illuminating the room. Dash could see that to her right was a large mirror, which she knew full well had people hiding behind it. From the light came the figure of Celestia holding some files, who calmly walked over, and sat opposite to Dash at the table. A dim light turned on, revealing that Celestia was very serious about something.

"Hello, Rebecca," Celestia spoke.

"Did I do something wrong, officer?" Dash asked in mockery.

"Look, Rebecca, things will go over much more smoothly if you are cooperative," Celestia sighed.

"May I ask what is going on?"

"You know full well what's going on."

"No, I don't," Dash groaned. ""Seriously, I was going to get a fucking cupcake from the mess hall, and next thing I know, I'm being held down and interrogated against my will. I think you got a lot of fucking explaining to do."

"Half an hour ago," Celestia explained. "Rachel was assaulted and beaten harshly. According to Fiona, you walked up to her, committed the act, and then twice hit Fiona as well, before running away."

"I did what now?" Dash said, utterly stunned. "Why would I ever do that?"

"I don't know," Celestia said. "You tell me."

"Look," Dash stated. "I don't know what you think I did, but clearly, we have a totally different idea of what happened."

"Are you trying to state that Fiona, one of the most honest people that we know, is lying?" Celestia asked with great doubt.

"If she said that I decided to attack the immigrant, then yes, I think she's blowing shit out of her ass," Dash shrugged.

"Look, Rebecca, you're not the least suspicious person when it comes to these types of incidents of intense violence," Celestia said, opening one of the files up. "In 2005, you took a pair of safety scissors and stabbed a young boy named Billy Hanson in the leg."

"Fucker was stealing my crayons," Dash joked, although Celestia did not seem to take anything lightheartedly.

"In 2007, in the fifth grade, you were mildly insulted by five girls that were one year older than you," Celestia said, turning the page. "Twelve broken bones in all, including one received by slamming a head repeatedly into the pole of a basketball net."

"They were asking for it," Dash said defensively. "Besides, 'dirty whore' is hardly a mild insult."

"And what about this?" Celestia asked. "In 2010, you were cornered by three men in a robbery. According to this… you castrated them. All of them."

"Hey, if someone tried to molest you when you were thirteen and carried around a hunting knife in your backpack, you would have done the same thing," Dash claimed. "But the thing is, those guys were all pricks. I actually like Rachel to some degree. Yeah, she can be a major bitch sometimes, but never enough for me to try to beat her to death."

"Then how do you suppose she got those injuries?" Celestia asked, very much doubting Dash's words (partially because of Fiona's word, but mostly due to the castrating).

"How would I know?" Dash shrugged. "I was just trying to eat something before dinner. Speaking of which, I am going to get dinner, right?"

From the other side of the one-way mirror, Tara sighed. She AJ, Pinky and Cadence were watching intently, desperately wanting to know the explanation for Dash's attacks. However, it seemed like Dash would hold her resolve, and they probably wouldn't get any answers for the night. Fiona had left to go to read, kindly asking to be left alone, as she claimed to be too distraught with the current predicament to stay. Thankfully, Cadence stayed with Tara and gave her some much needed comforting.

"I just can't believe Dash would do something like that," Tara said, shaking her head.

"I'm sure that there is a good reason for her actions," Cadence reasoned.

"I know," Tara said. "It's just… I thought she changed, you know? I thought she was maturing. I never thought she would attack Rachel like that."

"That's why I don't think she did it," AJ spoke up.

"What do you mean?" Cadence asked, a little too quickly. "Of course she did it. Fiona saw the whole thing."

"Well, I don't got a clue what Fiona saw," AJ stated, looking at Dash hard through the one-way mirror. "But there aint a chance in hell that Dash attacked Rachel."

"What makes you say that?" Tara asked.

"Tara, I've seen my fair share of interrogations," AJ said, adjusting her Stetson. "Plus, we've been living with the girl since October. She aint lying."

"But she has to be lying," Cadence said, subtly growing more nervous.

"Well, let's think about this," AJ said. "Why would Dash just decide to attack one of her friends, when she knew that she would most likely be caught? She loves it here, so why would she jeopardize everything in the past few months just to randomly run up and hit a blind girl. Hell, she didn't even try to hide her identity; she just ran up and hit 'em both in the face, and then left, only to walk back towards the crime scene. It doesn't add up to me."

"But if Dash didn't do it, that would mean Fiona lied," Tara said, although her certainty was questionable.

"Yeah, that's the part I don't get either," AJ shrugged.

"Man, this sucks!" Pinky suddenly shouted. "We can't ask Fiona what really happened because she's asleep, and we can't ask Rachel what happened because she's completely blind. And unconscious. If only we could see inside their heads to see what really went down."

Pinky was too busy complaining to notice that she was now receiving stares of wonder by Tara and AJ, and a glare of shock from Cadence.

"Pinky, you are a genius," Tara said.

"What did I do?" Pinky asked, confused.

"Don't you see?" Tara said. "Since Rachel was attacked, her body created a large amount of adrenaline, which means that, at least for a few moments, she could see what was going on around her. If you can translate her memories, then you can find out what actually happened."

"Oh yeah!" Pinky said with enthusiasm. "I can totally do that!"

"But wouldn't you get a severe headache?" Cadence asked. "Maybe that's not the best idea."

"It's all we got to on, though," AJ stated. "C'mon, ladies. Let's solve us a mystery."

"Yeah, Mystery Inc. all the way!" Pinky shouted with intense glee, before dashing out of the room and to the medical facility. The others soon chased after her, finding that it was rather difficult to keep up at all. Pinky sprinted past several confused men in suits, before practically diving her way into the med bay. She walked straight up to Rachel, who was the room's sole occupant.

Rachel was beaten rather badly by normal standards, although compared to what the British girl had been through before, it was hardly a big deal. She was badly bruised all over her midsection, and her abdomen had been wrapped up with bandages, as was her head. She was drugged to bring her to a state of unconsciousness, and an IV dripped steadily into her arm.

Pinky braced herself for the splitting migraine she was about to receive, and then, without any further hesitation, placed her hand upon Rachel's forehead, just as the others entered the room.

The result was mind-numbing. A series of colors flashed through Pinky's mind in an instant, and it became overwhelming, so much so that she fell backwards onto the floor, clutching her head. She saw brief glimpses of what she assumed to be Rachel's childhood, based on seeing many small children. She saw quick flashes of bedrooms, clothing, boys, and other such things. Then, she witnessed what she assumed to be their battle with the Brothers of Chaos in Russia. In truth, all she saw were many different colors that happened to bear a striking resemblance to her and her friends in combat, but Pinky was quick to make the connection.

Then, she saw when Rachel was attacked in the hallway.

Pinky shook her head violently, trying to shake off the shock of the experience (which was actually growing easier to use each time). She tried her best to focus her thoughts.

"What did ya see?" AJ asked hopefully.

"I saw the attack," Pinky announced, still holding her head.

"And?" Tara asked impatiently.

"Well, I think," Pinky started. "Rachel wasn't attacked by Dash. Actually, I think Fiona attacked her."

"What?!" AJ and Tara said in unison, their surprise unmatched.

"Well, it's weird," Pinky stated. "I saw Rachel walking with someone, and then that person ripped the stick out of her hand, and started to hit her with it. But, it didn't look like Fiona."

"What do you mean, 'it didn't look like Fiona'?" Tara asked, not noticing that Cadence was trying to stealthily back her way out of the room.

"I also saw what Fiona looked like from when we were in Russia," Pinky stated. "She looked yellow-y. But this time, she looked black. Not just that, but it looked like she kept morphing about inside of herself, making this creepy monster woman thing."

"What the hell does that mean?" AJ asked.

"How am I supposed to know?" Pinky said, shaking her head once more. "Actually, it's kinda strange. That monster thing looked kinda familiar. I think I saw it before."

"Where?" AJ asked.

"Hmm…" Pinky said, scratching her chin. "Where was it? Was it…no…or… wait… wait, I remember! It looked like the same freaky thing that appeared when I touched-"

Pinky froze, realizing that the room had one less occupant.

"Cadence."

Tara and AJ turned around, and noticed Cadence's absence at once. AJ immediately took off after her, while Tara just remained in stunned silence.

"Pinky… you're not saying that Cadence did this, right?" Tara asked for reassurance. However, Pinky remained quiet. "Right? Right?"

Pinky didn't know what to say. Of course, she wasn't entirely sure herself of what was going on herself, but she was positive that the monster that assaulted Rachel was the same one she saw in Cadence's place. But what could she tell Tara? Tara was horribly distraught by the thought that the person she held most dear was responsible for such a terrible act. Pinky supposed that she could tell Tara she was probably incorrect on her facts, but then she would be lying to her friend. Not to mention that Cadence practically sealed her own fate by running off, so Pinky's word seemed relatively meaningless.

At this moment, Cadence was sprinting as fast as she cold down the corridors. Her cover was blown; it wouldn't be long before she was captured, or killed. She probably could have made a dash for the exit, and make an escape. However, this thought never crossed her mind. She refused to leave Camelot without having accomplished her goal. So, her target in mind was the interrogation room. It didn't matter that she could hear the furious footsteps of AJ chasing behind her. It didn't matter that she heard the constant shouting of commands to stop her in her tracks. All of her thoughts fell on one single idea.

She was going to make Celestia bleed.

Her form did not matter anymore. Either way, she would be hunted down, and as she thought about it, she needed to make sure that Celestia knew who ended her. As she ran, a black substance slowly covered Cadence's skin. It absorbed her fully, and soon, she seemed to be nothing more than a living shadow. A few moments later, when she was only ten feet from her destination, she emerged. Her once pink and yellow hair was dark brown, and only extended to the length of her chin. Her youthful complexion was now more matured, her face giving away the sense that, at once, she was gorgeous, but now, age had made her sag. Granted, she was still beautiful by most standards, but not to the one that she herself held. She wore a black blouse and black dress pants, with a red trench coat over it.

Chrysalis only was briefly happy to be back in her true form. However, she had too much bloodlust to be truly pleased. From within one of the pockets of the coat, she drew a pocket knife, which she held tightly in her hand. As she reached the door, she wasted as little momentum as possible. She leapt in the air, and with one forceful kick, broke down the door. The light entered the room, exposing a very confused Dash and Celestia. It took Celestia a quarter of a second to realize who was standing before her, and once she did, she froze, too horrified to move.

Chrysalis ran at her as fast as she could, drawing back the knife.

"DIE, YOU RANCID BITCH!" Chrysalis screamed, as she plunged the knife down. However, the blade never made contact, as AJ suddenly tackled Chrysalis to the ground, knocking the knife out of her hand. Chrysalis struggled to free herself, but AJ had tightly wrapped her in a submission hold, and she was resisting with less and less force. By this point, Tara and Pinky had showed up, and cautiously walked into the room.

"What the fuck did I miss?" Dash muttered to herself, as Tara walked over, and uncuffed her from the table. As Dash rubbed her sore wrists, Tara couldn't help but notice how utterly stunned Celestia was.

"Celestia, are you okay?" Tara asked. No matter how terrible she was feeling at the moment, there was no doubt that Celestia acted like she had seen a ghost.

"I'm fine," Celestia stated, never taking her eye off of Chrysalis.

"You're losing it, Bridgette," Chrysalis sneered. "Stop letting kids do your dirty work. Fight your own battles, bitch."

"Chairwoman Celestia, do you got any idea who this woman is?" AJ asked, as she held Chrysalis down with relative ease. Celestia sighed, and then regained her composure.

"This… unfortunate creature goes by the name of Chrysalis," Celestia said. "She has the ability to contort her physical form at will. Not only that, but she's responsible for the deaths of forty or so civilians, using her form to pull off assassinations."

"Oh, come on, Bridgette," Chrysalis said with a smirk. "Don't lie to them. You already lie so much…"

"Do you two know each other, or something?" Dash asked. Celestia took a deep breath.

"Chrysalis is just a code name," Celestia said with a frown. "Her real name is Abagail Celestia. She's my sister."

__________

The interrogation process was yielding no results; Chrysalis refused to talk. Several people tried to speak with her, yet through all of the questions, she remained silent. The time she spoke was to demand that Celestia be brought into the room, although this request was always denied. The process had taken hours, and nothing had been gained.

Fiona had been discovered lying numb in a supply closet. She was being delivered medication to help with the pain, although the effects of the nerve toxin could not be undone; she would have to wait another full day before she could move again. Until then, she waited in the med bay, with Pinky as company. Tara would have stayed with her, but felt a duty to watch over Chrysalis. So, she, AJ, and Dash looked through the one-way mirror intently, as another failed attempt of questioning was underway.

"This is fucking boring," Dash commented, resting her head on her knuckles. "It's been two hours. Don't people give away their resolve by this point?"

"Everyone's different," AJ sighed. "From what I've see, these may take days. Hell, she might never even speak at all; depends on how strong-willed she is."

"Can't we waterboard her, or something?" Dash asked. "I thought that was how the U.S. did all of its interrogating with terrorists."

"Not everyone is cool with performing intense acts of violence like you are," Tara said sternly. "Like…. castrating people? Really?"

"What?" Dash said in defense. "They had it coming."

Tara paused for a moment. "How did you get into a college as prestigious as Ymerton again?"

Dash simply responded with a shrug.

The door opened up, and Celestia walked into the room. She appeared to be depressed, or at the very least concerned. She walked straight up to the mirror, and stared at Chrysalis. She seemed deep in thought, although this did not stop Dash from trying to talk to her.

"So… you're sis is pretty fucked up, right?" Dash said.

"Shut it, Dash," Tara scolded.

"No, she's right," Celestia said, never taking her eyes off of her sibling. "Abagail is the black sheep of my family. There's a reason why I try to pretend she's not even related to me."

"Is that why ya never mentioned her before?" AJ asked, crossing her arms. Of the thirteen years that she had known Celestia, she never once heard anything about her family life, except for the fact that she apparently had one.

"Abagail's had a rough life," Celestia stated. "More than anything, thought, she's always hated me."

"Why is that?" Tara asked.

"Plenty of reasons," Celestia said. "Ever since we were children, she detested me. I was going along with what my parents wanted for me; top of the line education and an interest in law and politics. Abagail was more interested in theater and the arts. My parents weren't subtle in showing their favoritism; she's been jealous me ever since. Everything that could have gone right for me went wrong for her. It was sad to watch; I got a master's degree in political science, and she flunked out of art school twice. For every long lasting relationship I had, she lost three. Every single one of my achievements was countered with one of her failures. It must have been infuriating for her."

"So she became an assassin because of that," Tara said, filling in the gaps. "I get it."

"No," Celestia sighed. "She became a monster. I was there when the MACER Device hit her. I don't know how she broke into the research facility, but she somehow got into the testing room. All she wanted was to be better than me; she thought being exposed to the device would give her the chance. I tried to stop it from going off, but she had sealed herself into the room. It was horrifying to watch."

"Hold up," Dash said. "When did you ever help work on the MACER Device?"

"I didn't work on it, technically," Celestia claimed. "But we did supply Dr. Murphy the testing facility. I was just supposed to observe. I had no idea what would happen to her…"

"Shape-shifting doesn't sound so terrible to me," Dash muttered to herself. However, Celestia heard her comment.

"She wasn't cursed with just the ability to change form," Celestia sighed. "The process had a drastic effect on her entire body. She had horrible physical mutations, beyond which I have yet to ever see. She experienced brief lapses of insanity, and had surges of uncontrollable bloodlust. The worst though was the hunger. Abagail…" Celestia paused, having to remember the horrible thought. "…started to have cravings for human flesh."

"No way…" Dash said, not being able to hide her smirk. "You're sister's a cannibal."

"She's responsible for the deaths of many," Celestia sighed. "Every single one of them was found carved and devoured; including my parents."

Dash immediately stopped smiling, as a dreadful silence filled the air. No one wanted to say anything; no apology could be good enough, and no words could carry enough meaning. Tara could only think of how horrible that must have been for the chairwoman; to find out that your family was eaten alive. It made her chilled to the bone.

And then, Tara remembered that her own family was missing.

"Celestia," Tara asked, trying to contain her worries. "I've just been wondering… if your sister was the one that you came in contact with in the Middle East, what happened to the real Cadence?"

Celestia didn't say a word. She bit her bottom lip, and clicked her tongue against her teeth, thinking of what to say.

"Tara, we certainly came into contact with the group Samuel and Cadence were at," Celestia confirmed. "If they thought they sent the real Cadence over, then that probably means… well… you know…"

Tara's face was blank. She stared at Celestia, waiting for the chairwoman to finish. But the rest of the words never came out. They didn't have to. Somehow, Tara knew exactly what Celestia was going to say. She couldn't get a focus on her mind, her thoughts simply bounced about with no beginning and no end, each thought moving instantly to the next without ever finishing itself. It didn't seem real; it didn't feel real. How was it even possible? They had survived so much, so how could they fail? Why would they fail? Didn't they know that she needed them? That without them in her life, everything became more and more meaningless. For every moment she could spare, she thought of them. For every painful concern, she thought of them. For every time she needed guidance, she thought of them. And now, all she could think of was one single, gut-wrenching, evil, wicked revelation.

Her family was dead.

Tara walked towards the door in a trance. She didn't hear the calls of concern form her friends, or their sudden apologizes. Tara didn't remember being asked to stop by Celestia, and she didn't remember AJ trying to hold her in place. She didn't know how she started to move in a sprint, or how she swiped a knife away from a passing soldier. Tara didn't understand how she managed to slip into the interrogation room when the interrogators were out, and how she slammed the door behind her. She barely registered Chrysalis' huge grin of amusement as she took one of the chairs, and managed to block the door with it, sealing herself in the room.

The next thing Tara realized, she had slammed Chrysalis' head hard into the table, and put a knife to her throat.

"WHERE ARE THEY?!" Tara screamed at her, her voice strained.

"Whoever could you be talking about?" Chrysalis said, her grin unwavering. Her head was slammed into the table again, and she could feel the metal push further into her throat.

"WHERE THE FUCK ARE THEY?!" Tara repeated even louder, causing Chrysalis to chuckle.

"Such passion, such drive," Chrysalis commented. She sighed. "Ah, if only my sister cared as much about me."

Chrysalis head her head forced down onto the table, and then, with no mercy, Tara impaled Chrysalis in the right shoulder with her knife. Chrysalis hissed at the pain, before Tara removed the blade, and stabbed at the other shoulder.

"WHAT DID YOU DO TO THEM?!" Tara yelled. She banged Chrysalis's head on the table again, this time managing to draw blood. A steady stream of a black-green liquid ran down her forehead, and past her lips. Chrysalis smirked as she licked her lips, tasting her own blood.

"Do you really want to know what happened to them?" Chrysalis asked. "It's not pretty."

"What did you do to them?!" Tara shouted, starting to form tears in her eyes.

"When I got told to take down two special ops soldiers, I honestly didn't think I could do it," Chrysalis said with a sigh. "But when they told me that they were lovers… oh, how easy it all became. See, I waited until the dead of night, when everyone else was asleep…"

BANG BANG BANG

"Tara, open the damn door!" AJ shouted, as she tried to get into the room. However, Tara was far too enraged to listen to her friend.

"See, there was this abandoned house near the base camp," Chrysalis explained, licking her lips again. "So, naturally, the two little fuck-bunnies had to sneak there to satisfy themselves. I waited until it was over, and boy, was it over fast. I pounced on the man first. Managed to take him by surprise and break his legs really easily. The girl put up a better fight, but she was too tangled up in her clothes to do much. I snapped her legs, too, just for good measure."

"Tara, let us in!" AJ shouted even louder, but was met with no response.

"You'll never guess what happened next," Chrysalis said, leaning closer to Tara. She wanted to make sure the girl heard every single detail, no matter how painful it would be to listen to. And, from what she could tell, it seemed to be working, as Tara grew more and more furious as she went on. "The boy starts to beg for his life like a little bitch. But's that not all… he told me to take his wife's life, and spare him. She looked so heartbroken. He started to confess all of his secrets to her. He told her that he had cheated on her with one of the women that he met overseas; he told her that he was only using her for her body, and damn, did it show! I've never seen a girl so sad. So you know what I did next?"

Tara was breathing hard. All she wanted to do was slit Chrysalis's throat.

"I walked over to the boy…"

Tara hated her so much. She couldn't describe the rage she was feeling, except that it was overpowering every other emotion in her body.

"Brought my knife to his throat…"

Chrysalis leaned in even closer now, so that her forehead was almost touching Tara's.

"And I slit his fucking jugular open," Chrysalis hissed. Then, she sighed. "By the way, do you know what part of the human body tastes the best? It's the tongue. It melts in the mouth like butter, but has this really nice fat-like quality to it. Especially raw."

Then, painfully slow, she leaned into Tara's ear, and spoke in a hushed voice.

"And for the record, they tasted wonderful."

CHNK

Chrysalis looked down, and much to her surprise, discovered that the blade had been driven straight through the chains on the handcuffs, therefore releasing her from captivity. However, Chrysalis could hardly celebrate for a moment before she was unceremoniously thrown across the room. She slammed into the mirror hard, and cracked the glass from the impact. Chrysalis tried to fight past the pain and move forward, except by this point, Tara had already grabbed ahold of her shoulders, and pinned her against the table.

"You should have been there," Chrysalis said with a huge grin, swiftly weaving her head to the left to avoid a punch. She didn't seem at all worried about Tara killing her, and instead took advantage of every moment that she could use to make Tara as enraged as possible. "

Chrysalis rolled out from underneath Tara, and then pressed herself against the mirrored wall.

"There's a secret to keeping the meat fresh," Chrysalis hissed, ducking out of the way of another punch. Tara swung wildly, her fists connecting with the glass on several occasions. "You need to cut of each limb on its own; keep the blood pumping to most of the body."

Chrysalis rolled away again, noting how Tara was sloppily trying to land a hit. Her rage had completely consumed her; she had never felt anything else like the bloodlust that was controlling her thoughts. Every time Chrysalis spoke, Tara got an unhealthy desire to rip her tongue out, and silence the wretched creature forever. And, if she were honest with herself, as long as she could get the shape shifter in her grasp, she would attempt to do just that.

"No, wait, I change my mind," Chrysalis said with a laugh, clearly enjoying herself. She leaned herself against the table in a casual manner, acting like the current threat was entirely nonexistent. "The best part of all is hearing them squirm about as you bite into the flesh. To be honest, the most fun ones aren't the screamers. It's the ones who whimper… like your sister."

Chrysalis punctuated her sentence by flashing a toothy grin; her razor sharp teeth glowing in the darkness. She ducked and dodged more blows, as the banging on the door increased exponentially.

"She begged me to stop," Chrysalis laughed. "Even after her right arm was gone, she still thought that I could be reasoned with. If the hunger wasn't so intense, I might have kept her alive for a little while longer, if not just for the steady blood drip."

Tara couldn't take it anymore. Her rage had gotten too far, and she refused to let Chrysalis utter another word. Her eyes and veins glowed, and before Chrysalis could continue her merciless taunting, Tara had used her powers to suspend the shape shifter against the wall. Tara drew Chrysalis back, and then, using as much energy as she could muster, threw the woman into the wall several more times, each impact with more force than the last. Tara had lost all sense of reason by this point; all she wanted was to see Chrysalis suffer. However, Chrysalis understood that she was suddenly in a great amount of danger, as she felt her throat being slowly squeezed by the invisible force. Starting to choke, and barely able to supply herself with enough oxygen to speak, Chrysalis quickly tried to save her own life.

"The Unknown sent me!"

Chrysalis was immediately dropped to the floor. Tara froze; her logic and reasoning momentarily taking control. She thought about it; they had been searching for leads on The Unknown for months, and always came up with nothing. Every other time they got close, something happened that made them lose their information. However, Chrysalis was in the base. She could fill in all of the gaps that were missing, and provide the facts that could take four more months to find. Chrysalis knew this too, and perhaps, just perhaps, she would be willing to provide information in exchange for her life. A golden opportunity was right before Tara, and all she had to do to take it was do nothing. She wanted nothing more than Chrysalis to slowly suffocate against the wall, but all of the rational parts of her mind were telling her to walk away.

Unfortunately, Chrysalis had killed her family, so she wasn't listening to any rationality at this moment.

Chrysalis was flung back against the wall, her hopes of survival quickly fading away, as she felt the life being choked out of her. Tara had given up on everything. She didn't care about the mission anymore. She didn't care about the lives that could be lost if The Unknown wasn't found, and she didn't care about the sacrifices that would have to be made. As far as she was concerned, it was all over from this point on.

However, Tara suddenly felt herself being tackled to the ground, as Dash collided with her, and pinned her to the floor. The door had been burst open, and AJ quickly ran into the room, securing the prisoner, who was currently gasping for breath.

"No!" Tara shouted, as she struggled to move. "Get off of me! Let me have this!"

"Calm it, Spark," Dash commanded, hoisting Tara off of the ground. Dash stood from behind, keeping Tara in a tight grip, so that her arms would be held up against her sides. Tara strained her muscles, but nothing seemed to be working. She kicked and screamed, cried in anguish, but Dash held her tightly, and would not budge. AJ worked on placing another set of handcuffs on Chrysalis, who was currently snickering like mad, occasionally flashing her pointed teeth.

"You can't let her live!" Tara cried out, absolutely hysterical. Hot tears streamed down her cheeks, and as she was carried out of the room, her anger washed away, and was replaced by sobs. "It's not f-fair! Kill h-her (sob), please! She…(sob) she… she k-killed… she (sob) killed…"

Tara's strength faded away into nothingness. Her rage was no longer present. Instead, it was replaced with a most terrible sorrow, the likes of which burned the soul and stung the heart.

"She killed… she (sob) killed th-… killed (sob) them…" Tara said, her voice hoarse. She spoke softer and softer, until her words barely reached above a whisper. "Oh m-m-my god… oh (sob) my (sob) god… she ki- (sob)… killed them b-b-b-oth. She… she…"

Tara could no longer formulate sentences; everything simply hurt too much. It was an altogether different pain than what she had felt just a few minutes ago. Before, she felt outrage, disbelief, confusion; all trying to tell her that if she could take another human life, then somehow, the problem would resolve itself. But now, she felt despair, loneliness, desolation; agony of the spirit, which forced her back into reality, away from her delusions and distortions of truth.

Her brother was dead. He was never going to come back. She would never again see his pleasant smile, of feel his warm embrace, or hear his throaty laugh. She would never feel the comfort of her sister's presence, or hear her encouraging words, or see her enchanting beauty as long as she lived. They were gone.

They were gone.

Tara had completely broken down in Dash's arms. She constantly mumbled out incoherent thoughts mixed with salty tears and heartbroken sobs. Her breaths were shaky, and Dash was actually finding it more difficult to secure her now than before. Dash didn't know if she should try to comfort her friend. Worse, even if she was supposed to comfort her, she had absolutely no idea how. If there was one thing Dash failed at, it was sentimentality, and that was the one thing she truly needed at this time. With no knowledge of how to help, Dash started to drag Tara's sobbing form towards the medical wing to the rest of her friends. Even if Fiona and Rachel couldn't speak, the rainbow-haired youth hoped that their presence would be enough to lighten Tara's somber mood, if even just a tiny bit.

Pinky was surprised when Dash carried a hysterical Tara into the med bay, and laid her down on one of the beds. She received no context from Dash, who insisted that it was nest not to talk about what the main issue was. Instead, Dash told Pinky to just "be comforting", and sat down on one of the beds opposite to Tara. Rachel was still relatively unconscious, and Fiona' although she could plainly see that Tara was upset, had no means to move at all. In fact, it was almost torturous for her; she was unable to help the person she cared for most in their time of need, when that same person had done so much to support her. Pinky, on the other and, had plenty of ways to cheer Tara up, but doubted that her friend was in the mood to hear them.

AJ entered the med bay, and instantly noticed Tara's sobbing form.

"Aint any of you gonna say nothing?" AJ asked, disapprovingly. She walked over to Tara's bed, and wrapped her arm around the crying girl's shoulder. "She just lost two of her family members. Show some damn sympathy."

"Sympathy's not my thing, AJ," Dash said, lying down on a bed of her own. "I aint a crier."

"Fuck you, Rebecca," AJ scolded, before bringing Tara into a deep hug, and letting her sob into her shoulder. She quietly spoke into Tara's ear. "It's okay, Tara. It's all okay."

"W-w-why?" Tara bawled. "Why (sob) w-would s-s-s-she (sob) d-do th-th-that(sob) t-to me? (sob) W-why d-did th-they have (sob) to d-d-d-d-die?"

Pinky, surprisingly, came over the fastest, and joined in on the group hug.

"It-It's n-n-not (sob) fair," Tara cried. She knew deep down that she sounded like a five-year old, but no matter how hard she tried, she could only sink deeper into her pain and misery. "I w-want them (sob) back. (sob) I n-n-n-need t-them. (sob)"

"It's alright, Tara," AJ whispered. "It'll get better, eventually. I know it's hard to deal with, but it does get easier."

"We just need to take your mind off of it," Pinky suggested. "Ooh, like we can do plenty of fun things tomorrow. It'll get some happy thoughts in your head. Like we can bake, and share stories, and-"

"Pinky, shut up!" Dash yelled. "Jesus, of all the times you can act like a fucking moron, now's the worst possible time."

"Hey, don't insult me!" Pinky said, quite hurt by the insult. "I'm just trying to help! You're just sitting there!"

"Pinky, since you've clearly never experienced hardship, allow me to inform you that you're acting kinda bitchy," Dash said with a sneer.

"Will ya both stop yer bickerin' and focus on what's important here?!" AJ snapped. Pinky and Dash stopped their arguing, and remained in an annoyed silence, listening to Tara's pained sobs fill the room. AJ kept Tara in a tight hug, allowing her friend to let out her cries into her shoulder. As far as AJ knew, she had the most experience with the type of pain Tara was dealing with. She supposed that Tara had it worse though; Tara had always relied on her siblings for guidance during a long and happy eighteen years, while AJ herself could barely remember her parents' faces. Still, AJ remembered that the healing process was long and difficult, and it was best for Tara to go through the stage of acceptance as soon as possible, so that she could move on.

Eventually though, after an hour of tears, Tara built up enough strength to ask is she could be left alone. While Tara was hardly in a stable condition (she stuttered through her words, and stopped twice mid-sentence to let out more sobs), AJ eventually agreed to guide her back to her bed. She had to hold Tara up the entire time, as Tara was shaking horribly in the knees, and seemed to wobble about as she walked.

"Th-thank y-you, AJ (sob)," Tara said in wheeze as she finally entered the sleeping quarters.

"It's no big deal," AJ said, putting on a smile. She carefully helped Tara onto the bed, and then walked back towards the door. "Are you sure you don't want me to stay with you?"

"I j-j-just r-really (sob) w-want to (sob) be left alone," Tara said, holding herself close. AJ sighed, defeated, and started to close the door.

"Okay," AJ said, the door nearly shut. "Just let me know if you need anything. I'll be right here if ya need me."

The door was shut, and Tara was left alone with her own thoughts. She didn't know how long she had spent crying on her bunk. Even though she had so desperately wanted to be alone, she wished that she still had the comfort of her friends around her. Or did she? Tara wasn't entirely sure what she wanted; her mind had become so tangled that any basic sense of understanding became lost in a whirlwind of suffering, never to return. Tara mostly thought of her brother. Many memories passed by, each of them lingering on just long enough to become painful, before being replaced with another reminder of the past.

Tara was full of hate. But who did she hate? The question boggled her thoughts. The obvious thought was to hate Chrysalis. After all, she was the one who had robbed Tara of her family; why should she not be hated? Yet despite this, she couldn't help but feel that her feelings were misdirected. But then, who was to blame? Tara, in her damaged state, could not pinpoint the reason why, but she felt her feelings of anger being focused on her brother. How could she hate him, though? He was her brother. But now, as she thought about it, that was why she hated him. Samuel, despite his promises of always looking after her, abandoned her when she needed him. She was dealing with so many things: the pressure of being leader, the threats that she was constantly put up against, the vast confusion of becoming a Macer. She needed an anchor, something to keep her attached to reality when all else had failed. And yet, her support had left her alone to deal with the constant stress, throwing her life out of balance once again. She knew that, deep down, it wasn't at all fair to blame Samuel for everything. But her emotional balance was in turmoil, and she nothing was certain in her mind.

But no, that wasn't right either. When it all came down to it, she painfully realized that the person she hated more than anyone else was herself. She had failed. She was told from the start that if she joined P.O.N.Y, she would be able to protect her family. She accepted the role of leader to make sure the people she cared about most wouldn't be hurt. But she couldn't save them. No matter how hard she tried, no matter how many times she had gotten close to accomplishing anything, she could never finish the job. Her goal was to prevent The Unknown from hurting people, and that was exactly what he managed to do. He had taken the people she loved away from her. It wasn't right to blame Chrysalis; she was only hired to do a job. She couldn't even hate The Unknown; she could only assume he killed her brother because that would allow Chrysalis to get on the inside.

Really, Tara figured, the only reason the people she cared about lost their lives was because of her.

Knock Knock Knock

"Tara! Are you alright?!" called a surprisingly high-pitched voice. Tara shook herself out of her stupor. She had specifically asked to be alone, and knew that no one would try to visit her. But, out of everyone that could have broken that wish, the last person she expected to do so was Pinky.

"Tara, it's been two hours," Pinky claimed from the other side of the door. Had it really been two hours? It only felt like a few minutes to Tara, but she had been very caught up in her own thoughts. "Look, I know you didn't want anyone to bother you, but I think I can help you."

"Pinky, go away!" Tara yelled, surprised to find that she got the words out much easier than expected.

"Tara, you need a pick-me-up," Pinky said, sounding rather merry.

"Can you please just leave me alone?!" Tara shouted at her, growing frustrated.

"Being alone is only going to make things worse," Pinky said. "Just open the door."

Tara groaned, and then did her best to wipe the remaining tears from her eyes. She hadn't been feeling better at all, and she really did not want human contact at such a fragile time. Tara yanked open the door, and was instantly greeted with a tray of cupcakes being thrust in front of her nose. Pinky smiled quite cheerily, as she explained her actions.

"See, whenever I feel grumpy," Pinky said, waving around the cupcakes as she spoke. "I always try to eat as much sweets as I can. Then, I can stop thinking of the bad things, and think of happy things, like gooey frosting, and yummy sprinkles, and all sorts of neat things!"

Tara didn't know what she was supposed to say. The pain had zapped away all of her appetite, and she wasn't in the mood to try to eat away her worries. She knew the appropriate thing to do was to accept the sugary snacks, and then discard them later. However, she also knew that it was outrageous to think that sugar could possibly make the situation better, and for all of Pinky's shortcomings, this one was rather noticeable.

In fact, Tara felt herself getting mad at the hyper blonde. How dare she even think that Tara could get past her pain in such a ludicrous manner? It was insulting to every memory of family that Tara possessed. Did Pinky really think that the passing of someone so close could be resolved in one short meal? Could she really not comprehend the amount of agony she was in? This had always been a problem with Pinky; she was too childish, too naïve to the problems of the world, and her carefree attitude had worn thin very quickly.

Perhaps it was a cause of the rest of her pent-up rage, but Tara's fury came back in full force, and she couldn't take Pinky's incompetence any longer. With one quick movement of her hand, Tara smacked the tray to the ground, splattering fresh cupcakes along the ground. Pinky seemed shocked, and opened her mouth to say something, before Tara leaned in close and started to scream.

"What the hell is wrong with you?!" Tara screamed, resulting in Pinky suddenly backing away from her. "Are you really so mind-numbingly stupid that you think fucking cupcakes will make me feel better?! What the hell do you think will happen?! Oh no, wait, you don't think, do you?! You just do whatever the hell fucking pleases you to do, because you're such an idiot that you can't do anything else! You have no idea what I'm going through, and you never will! My brother and sister are dead, you fucking moron!"

As Tara screamed, her eyes started to well with tears, as the painful feelings of regret and loneliness came back full force.

"I don't know what you think the world is like," Tara snapped. "But it can't all be fixed by whatever dumb shit you constantly imagine! And you know what; everyone is sick of it! I can't take it anymore; you just never stop talking about the most useless shit in the world! Just do everyone a favor, and grow the fuck up already! Get a goddamn grip on reality, you motherfucking idiot, and until you do, shut the hell up! Because I, and every other person on Earth, are tired of hearing your bullshit!"

Tara effectively punctuated her screams by slamming the door in Pinky's face, and then walking back to her bunk. She stared up at the ceiling of her bunk, and calmly waited to hear Pinky's footsteps walk away (and, secretly, she hopefully heard she heard some sobs as well). However, those footsteps never came. Instead, she heard a deep sigh into the door.

"I… I know what it's like to lose someone you care about," Pinky said softly, clearly hurt by Tara's cruel words. "I just tried… I'm sorry. I'll go now."

Tara heard the fading footsteps echoing down the hallway. She continued to stare at the ceiling for a few minutes, trying to force the pathetic images of Pinky crying out of her head. To her, Pinky crying resembled kicking a stranded puppy, and it made her feel terribly bad about her words. In a brief note to self, Tara made sure to try harder on not screaming extremely hurtful words at her friends every time they did something that angered her. If she ended up going crazy on another one of her best friends, she was sure that she would be considered one of the worst people to be associated with. That being said, Tara was quite certain that her words of maturing were accurate in their own right, and it was something Pinky needed to work on.

However, in her mind, perhaps blaming Pinky for such a minor problem wasn't the best thing to do. After all, Pinky was trying to comfort her, in her own special way. Despite the act itself being hurtful, it was somewhat touching to think that Pinky had gone out of her way to make her food, especially since Pinky rarely had the chance to cook anything (although when she did, according to people on the Ymerton campus, it was supposed to be legendary). With a reluctant sigh, Tara sat up on her bed, and tried to find the strength to leave the sleeping quarters.

However, Tara quickly caught sight of something lying on the ground by the doorway: Pinky's journal. It seemed that Pinky had slipped the book underneath the door right before she left. Tara, very confused, walked over to the book, and picked it up off of the ground, examining it thoroughly. Sure enough, it was the same book which Pinky had been so determined to make sure no one ever read.

Except now, Pinky wanted Tara to read it.

With a bizarre sense of wonder and curiosity, Tara sat back down on her bunk, and opened the journal to the first page.

Celestia stared hard at the glass, completely alone. Her sister, who at one point in her life had been cherished dearly, was sitting quietly in the chair; her hands cuffed firmly do the desk. How had it all come to this? What could have happened to make her the monster she was today? Celestia knew of a memory, one that she held close to her heart, and always appreciated.

It was a memory of a much simpler time in her life. She had only been alive for less than a decade, and Abagail was just two years younger than her. She recalled an incident where she and Abagail were tossing a big, squishy ball back and forth; it was purple, if she remembered correctly. It was a sunny day, and she remembered being surrounded by plenty of grass and exactly five trees. Her play session with her sister was going wonderfully, until, quite by accident, she had thrown the ball far too hard, and it struck Abagail square on the nose, making the younger sibling burst into tears. It wasn't the pain that was so pleasant, however; it was how she managed to make her sister feel better. She had cleverly come up with a short tune that was all about butterflies, and she taught it to her sobbing sister within a matter of moments. The song only lasted twenty seconds, but after repeating it twice, Abagail started laughing greatly, and tackled her sister to the ground in a playful manner. The rest of the day was spent rolling in the grass and singing the song about butterflies.

Where had all that childlike wonder gone? All that was left in its place was disgust and hatred. The tune of the butterfly song remained somewhere in Celestia's subconscious, but the words had been forever lost. It wasn't as if Celestia did not desire change; if given the chance, she would reconcile with Abagail in a moment's notice. But it seemed like Abagail wasn't around anymore; Chrysalis was all that remained. It was a sad thought indeed; the person who she greatly cared for was permanently replaced with the vile creature who murdered her parents.

However, these thoughts were quickly brushed aside when Celestia heard quick footsteps moving behind her.

"What do you think you're doing, Rebecca?" Celestia said without turning away from her sibling. She heard an obscenity get muttered, and then she heard Dash fumble about her words.

"You know," Dash said, casually entering the room. "I was just… gonna go get some dinner."

"It's almost midnight," Celestia stated. "You still have to wake up at five o'clock, don't you? Or did Tara extend the sleeping hours again?"

"No, she still makes us wake up early… ma'am," Dash said, annoyed. "But you're right; I should probably get back to bed. Sleep well."

"Hold it," Celestia ordered, noticing that Dash was trying to sneak her way out of the room as fast as possible. Dash groaned, and stopped in her tracks. "Rebecca, are you sure that you were just going to get food?"

"Yeah…" Dash said, albeit somewhat nervously. "Why you ask?"

"I spent two years studying human psychology, Rebecca," Celestia said, still facing towards the one-way mirror. "Don't lie to me. I'll know."

Dash let out a nervous laugh.

"What? Who's lying?" Dash said. "I'm not lying. That would be ridiculous. Why would I lie about what I'm doing?"

"You know, I might be judging you wrong here," Celestia stated. "But I just have this sneaking suspicion that you're trying to break into the interrogation room."

Dash gulped.

"Bullshit," Dash stated. "There's no reason to do that…"

"Well, I was just assuming that you were trying to make Tara feel better," Celestia stated. "But since you're not good with handling things on an emotional level, you'd revert to extreme acts of violence, which you're actually good at. Then, you would be able to tell Tara that you made my sister suffer as punishment for the damaged that she caused, and then Tara might cheer up. Am I right?"

"Fuck no!" Dash shouted, a little too quickly. "That's way too much time to put into making that bitch happy. I wouldn't waste my time making Spark feel better! Besides, that sounds kinda gay."

Celestia sighed.

"You're a good friend, Rebecca," Celestia said, smirking to herself. Dash scoffed.

"Yeah, whatever, you fucking looney-bin. No offense," she said, trying to leave the room. "I gotta go now. Lots of shit to do tomorrow."

Celestia heard Dash's footsteps fade away. She turned back towards the door, checking to make sure the rainbow-haired girl had left earshot. Of the many unexpected things Dash had done over the past several months, Celestia was pleased that, at least for once, she was surprised by something rather good. Celestia smirked again, as she turned back towards the one-way mirror.

And was immediately greeted with the sight of a fist flying towards the glass.

CRASH

Chrysalis's arm punched straight through the mirror, and grabbed on to the collar of Celestia's shirt, taking her by surprise. With a powerful tug, Celestia was yanked through the hole in the wall, which was covered with broken glass, and was slammed into the desk.

"Got you now!" Chrysalis screamed, as she attempted to bring her hand down upon Celestia's head. The normal flesh was gone, and in its place was a black, scaly claw, with long fingers and sharp nails. Celestia managed to roll out of the way just in time, as the sharp claws slashed against the table. Celestia rolled to the corner of the room, and stayed on her knees, trying desperately to catch her breath. Chrysalis, with a laugh, took the chair from the table, and used it to wedge the door shut, locking herself and Celestia in the room.

"I think you need to check the cuffs around here, sis," Chrysalis said with a smirk. "Mine were a little busted."

"What do you plan to do?" Celestia challenged. "Bring down this whole operation? Take out the girls?"

"You know, I really don't care anymore," Chrysalis said. "Fuck The Unknown and his plans. I don't care about them. Nothing but your imminent death is going to satisfy me."

"You'll never make it out of here alive," Celestia said, slowly rising to her feet.

"So what if I don't?" Chrysalis said. "That's a secondary concern. As long as I see you bleed, it'll be good enough for my life. No wait, I take it back; I want your flesh, too."

"Abagail, you don't have to do this!" Celestia tried to reason with her sibling. However, the cocky smile that Chrysalis wore instantly vanished, and was replaced with a sinister scowl.

"Yes, I do!" Chrysalis said. Suddenly, a black substance started to form over Chrysalis's body, running up from the soles of her shoes, and making its way towards her head. "It not fair! It was never fair! You were always better than me at everything! 'Isn't Bridgette so wonderful? Why can't you be more like your sister?' My sister is a cruel, heartless bitch who cares for no one other than herself! No more!"

The black substance completely covered Chrysalis's body by this point, cocooning her in a thick, gooey web.

"Abagail, you can change!" Celestia begged. "We can change; make things like they used to be!"

Suddenly, the cocoon burst open, and dissipated into a black fog. The creature standing before Celestia was almost too horrible for her to look at. The being resembled a human woman, yet it was completely naked, except for a thick covering of dark black scales, which covered its entire body. It had long claws in place of its hands, and arched feet; both of which had long, sharp nails at the end. Black dorsal fins stuck several inches out of its elbows and the back of its calves, and they were highly sharpened. The creatures face bore a remarkable similarity to Abagail's, but it was hardly human. It had short, white hair, which extended just past the chin. Its eyes were two glowing red spheres, and in its twisted lips was a pair of lengthened sharpened teeth.

"Abagail is dead!" Chrysalis shouted, her voice snake-like in her true form. She bent back on her animal like legs, and lunged at Celestia, forcing her to roll towards the other end of the room.

"IT'S CHRYSALIS!"

Chrysalis swiped her claws at Celestia several times, each time nearly landing a fatal blow. Celestia found herself very fortunate that her parents had made her take self-defense as a child, for it was the only thing keeping her alive. Chrysalis attacked with bloodlust; her rage had consumed her, and she kept letting off horrible screeching noises, which sounded more animal than woman. Celestia, however, could not keep up her fortune for long, as she was being forcibly backed up into the wall. Chrysalis swept low with her claws, forcing Celestia to jump backwards into the wall itself, trapping her. With no other option, Celestia reluctantly ducked Chrysalis's next swipe, and punched her sister in the face. The last thing she wanted was to fight, but she didn't have any other choice. She knew full well that she stood no match for her sister, and she would barely be able to survive for another minute.

Chrysalis was knocked to the ground from the blow, but was it only intensified her rage. With a growl, she grabbed onto Celestia's shirt again, and threw her back onto the table. Chrysalis leapt into the air, and tried to deliver a devastating punch to Celestia's midsection. However, the elder sister rolled away again, resulting n Chrysalis's fist penetrating right through the wooden table. Her arm became lodged, and in a panic, Chrysalis attempted to free herself. However, Celestia took advantage of this handicap, and went on the offensive. She delivered her fair share of punches, all of which Chrysalis was barely able to block with one arm. Celestia was able to land three different punches to the head, and an extra one to her sister's stomach. However, the scales which fully covered her body were not just hard to the touch, but resilient to pain as well, leading Celestia to do much more damage to her own hands than to Chrysalis herself.

After a painful stinging in the knuckles, Celestia backed away from her sister, and backed away towards the wall opposite to the broken mirror. However, Chrysalis saw her chance to finish her fight, and wasted no time in taking the opportunity by storm. Chrysalis, in a feat of athleticism, took her right foot, and rested it atop the table. Then, using the extra leverage, she yanked her arm free, and then, in the same instant, used her leg to launch herself backwards towards Celestia. With a quick slash of her right arm, the dorsal fin slid across Celestia's shoulder, cutting deep and drawing blood.

And then, without wasting a moment, Chrysalis lunged forward, and dug her claws deep into Celestia's stomach.

Celestia screamed in agony as she felt the claws dig deep into her midsection. The force of the impact drove her back against the wall, and she started to slide down it, feeling her energy draining away. Chrysalis was extremely pleased; she was knuckle-deep inside of her sister's abdomen, and she could feel the warm blood dripping down her hand. It was such a satisfying experience, and Chrysalis wanted to make sure that it lasted. She flexed her digits inside of Celestia, forcing the chairwoman to cry out in more pain. Chrysalis leaned close into Celestia's ear, and started to laugh.

"Isn't this beautiful?" Chrysalis hissed. "It just feels so natural; you're 'perfect' blood running out of your body, and it's all because of me. This is for everything you've done to me. All of the lies, the bragging, the putdowns, the wasted opportunities; this is getting even for all of it."

Chrysalis licked her lips, and then, very slowly, licked the exposed base of Celestia's neck.

"Now… I wonder if you'll taste as good as mom did?"

SHLK

The breath was knocked right out of Chrysalis's chest, as a katana blade was thrust through her back, and penetrated through her lung. Tara recoiled in disgust as a dark green fluid began pouring from Chrysalis's wound. She was quite careful in the process, trying her best to make sure that Celestia wasn't further injured by accident. However, as a result, Chrysalis still found enough energy to turn around, and attempted to slash at Tara's throat.

The plan, however, didn't come to life. Tara, her eyes glowing, waved her arm, and sent Chrysalis flying to the other side of the room. Chrysalis flew off of the sword, but found no relief, as she immediately landed in the remains of the broken mirror, and was impaled by five separate pieces of broken glass. She gurgled on her own blood, feeling her life draining away. Suddenly, survival became her primary goal; she knew Celestia would bleed out soon, and, despite saying so herself, she had no intention of dying yet. As such, using the rest of her energy, Chrysalis peeled herself off of the broken glass which had impaled deep into her midsection, dove through the open space in the wall, and ran off down one of the corridors.

Tara desperately wanted to chase after her, but focused on her priorities. She quickly knelt by Celestia, who was holding onto her stomach; her shirt had been stained with her own blood.

"Celestia, I heard the screams. Are you okay?!" Tara said, extremely panicked.

"What are you doing?" Celestia said angrily. "Go after her!"

"We need to get you help!" Tara said, examining the blood. She tried to lift Celestia's shirt to look at the wound, but Celestia suddenly grabbed onto her arm, and stared into her eyes.

"GO!" Celestia commanded. Tara, still panicked over Celestia's health, took a reluctant sigh, and sprinted off after Chrysalis. Once Celestia was sure that Tara had gone away, she leaned her head back against the wall, and took a deep breath. She winced in pain, and then, very slowly, lifted up her shirt to examine the wound.

However, the wound was no longer there; it had completely healed, and if someone didn't know she had been injured, they never would have been able to tell any difference whatsoever.

Meanwhile, Tara was cautiously following Chrysalis's tracks. It wasn't particularly difficult; a smear of dark green blood covered the walls and the floor. Still, Tara kept her sword at the ready, on the chance that Chrysalis could have been setting a trap. However, Tara never encountered any sort of surprise as she walked down the halls of Camelot. Instead, she encountered no one at all. It happened to be rather unfortunate that, as far as she knew, none of the other girls were going to come to her rescue, as she was the only one who was actually close by to hear the screams.

Finally, after sixty tense seconds of tracking, Tara reached the end of the bloody trail. A bloody handprint was smeared onto the door of the training room, and moving very slowly, Tara entered the area. The training room itself was like it always was; nothing gave the indication of another presence. Worse than that, it was quiet; far too quiet. Tara cautiously walked along the wall, searching for any sign of life. She walked past the seats and the guns, but found nothing. She walked through the shooting range, and past the cardboard cutouts used for targets; still, everything remained silent.

Suddenly, Chrysalis lashed out from behind one of the cutouts, and tackled Tara to the ground. The katana flew out of Tara's grip, and skid across the floor. Chrysalis straddled Tara's waste, and tried to bite down on Tara's throat. Tara could see that Chrysalis had many stab wounds across her entire midsection, and she was bleeding heavily. Yet, despite having her strength drained out of her, the shape shifter nearly got a hold of her prey. Tara tried to keep Chrysalis away by pushing at her collarbone, but the woman remained just two inches above her face.

However, Tara, in desperation, managed to find her much needed energy, and managed to shove Chrysalis off of her. Tara quickly got to her feet, and made a mad dash towards her weapon. But Chrysalis recovered fast, and soon managed to wrap her arms around Tara's head, keeping her in a choke hold. Tara furiously tried to shove Chrysalis off, but she couldn't angle her arms around the back of her head correctly, and her attempts were futile. Chrysalis took advantage of Tara's inability to act, and when Tara attempted to struggled again, she leant her head forward, and bit into Tara's left arm. Tara screamed in pain, as the sudden flow of blood gave her enough of a rush to effectively flip the horrific woman over her head, and send her to the floor.

Tara wasted no time. She rolled directly onto her sword, and in one fluid motion, landed on her feet with the blade at the ready. Chrysalis was panting hard on the floor. She knew she didn't have much time left to survive. The only chance she had now was to feed on someone, and then hopefully escape from the base. However, Tara would not let her defenses down, and even with her left arm being coated in a sheet of red, the youth had plenty of fight left in her.

But then, Chrysalis got a fantastic idea.

She sprang to her feet, and made one final charge towards the teenager. Tara thrust her sword towards the charging woman, but she was able to duck the blade, and wrap around Tara's back. Tara, refusing to be bitten again, used Chrysalis's momentum to her advantage, and in a complex series of turns, managed to throw Chrysalis off of her back. The elder woman went flying directly into the cardboard cutout, and crashed through it, falling to the floor out of Tara's view. Tara sprinted over to the cutout as fast as possible, and drew back her sword for one final finishing blow.

"WAIT!" Chrysalis shouted, suddenly holding out one hand in defense. However, it wasn't Chrysalis anymore; it was Cadence. Tara froze in place, her mouth agape.

"Please, Tara, it's me," Cadence begged. Tara could see that she was clearly in pain from multiple stab wounds across her body. In fact, Cadence seemed to be on the verge of tears, as she begged for her life. "You wouldn't hurt your sister, now, would you?"

It's not her! Tara's mind screamed at her. Cadence is gone! Kill her!

"Please, Tara," Cadence begged, with water in her eyes. "I don't want to die…"

Tara didn't know what to do. This wasn't Cadence. She knew this wasn't Cadence. She knew that she was standing before a monster; a being so foul and vile that it shook her to her very core. But she couldn't kill her. No matter how many times she told herself that what she was seeing was a lie, she couldn't push forward. How could she possibly be expected to kill her sister? A person that she loved throughout her entire life? It was an impossible task to ask of her, and it didn't matter what happened before; she refused to let Cadence die.

However, from the opposite perspective, there was absolutely no remorse. With a quick flash of her sharp teeth, Chrysalis sprang forth from the ground, and launched her claws towards Tara's throat.

BANG

A bullet suddenly whizzed through the air, and instantly struck Chrysalis in the throat, sending her flying back into the wall. Chrysalis gurgled and choked as she slid down the wall with her hands on her throat, desperately trying to stop the bleeding. But it was no use; her act was drawing to a close, and the final curtain was closing on her life. Her form diverted back to its true state; her young complexion replaced with the face of a monster, her pink and yellow hair turning short and white, her hazel eyes morphing into red orbs. Tara stood frozen as she watched Chrysalis painfully struggle for her life, unable to look away.

Chrysalis tried to say something, but was unable; her throat was clogged with her own blood, which was pouring out of her lips in a steady, dark green stream. With one final choking gasp, Chrysalis stopped moving, and her body became limp; her life had come to a close.

From across the room, all Pinky could do was stare as well, the gun still extended towards the target. After a few seconds, she noticed that Tara remained completely still. Dropping her gun to the floor, Pinky ran over to her friend, and placed her hand on her shoulder.

"Tara, are you okay?" Pinky asked concerned. Tara gave a slight nod of the head. Her face was calm, emotionless, collected; however, her eyes told a different story. She had tears welling up in them, and they gave an unmistakable look of pain and sadness.

Pinky opened her mouth to say something else, but was cut off instantly when Tara pulled her into a tight hug, and started to cry into her shoulder. She didn't know how long she stood there with her friend, but it didn't matter. Her friend was in shock, and she was there to help.

And so, they stood there together in a kind embrace, in front of the remains of a being who could never understand kindness to begin with.

__________

February 20th, 2016

Celestia had been treated for wounds. Apparently, she had been to the med bay late at night when the others were asleep, and was provided with the proper care and medical attention. As for the others, their wounds were healing. Rachel was awake and talking, and was said to be able to move again within another day. Fiona herself was up and about, reading her book once more (although in a much more public setting than before). As for Tara's wounds, she didn't seem to mind too much, although she was so antisocial that barely any of the other girls had time to talk about it.

That being said, Pinky was rather confident that Tara was feeling well; that would, of course, be the happier thing to think. And so, that was what she wrote down in her journal. It was the first time she had written in her journal in many years, and considering how her final entry was so bleak, she figured that she might as well start everything off nice and fresh. However, it required a great deal of concentration to do so, and so she had asked to be isolated in the lonely closest at the end of the base. However, it did not seem lonely; in fact, it had a rather homey quality to it. All in all, it was a nice place to be.

Knock Knock

However, that did not prevent someone from interrupting her. With a groan of annoyance, Pinky sat up from the floor, put the book down on the shelf, and opened the door. Immediately, she was met with a chocolate cupcake being thrust in front of her face by a heavily bandaged arm.

"Hey, Pinky," Tara said, slightly embarrassed. "I, uh, know you wanted to be alone, but, well, I felt like this need to be done."

"You… you baked me a cupcake?" Pinky said, very flattered.

"Yeah, I looked up a recipe online, and-" Tara started to say, before Pinky ripped the cupcake from her grasp, and took a large bite into the vanilla frosting.

"Pretty good!" Pinky said happily through a mouthful of cupcake.

"Yeah, well, that's kinda a 'thank you' cupcake," Tara admitted. "Since you saved my life and all. And, well, I guess it's also an 'apology' cupcake, too, for all of the nasty things I said yesterday."

"It's cool," Pinky said, taking another bite of her sugary sweet. Tara, for a first-time cupcake maker, had done a fairly swell job, as far as Pinky was concerned. However, in her opinion, the frosting to cupcake ratio was completely off, with far too much cupcake to frosting.

"I'm sorry about your dad," Tara suddenly said, making Pinky nearly choke on her food. She quickly swallowed the rest of her food, and dropped her smile.

"Uh, yeah," Pinky said, somberly. She wasn't exactly sure what to say about this; no one had ever even known anything about it before. "Thanks. It, uh, means a lot. So… how are you holding up?"

"Better," Tara said, softly. "It'll take time, but I think I'll be okay. It's just another thing I have to overcome, I guess."

"Well, if you ever need to talk to someone," Pinky said. "I'll be right here."

"Thanks," Tara said with a smile. "I'm gonna go now; hope you enjoy the cupcake."

"I will," Pinky said happily, closing the door. "Bye, Tara."

"Bye," came the response, as the door was shut. Pinky took a seat on the ground, and took another bite into her cupcake. However not ten seconds later, the door was pushed open, and Tara poked her head through.

"Uh, this may sound weird," Tara said uncomfortably. "But… uh… just to clarify things… you're not, by any chance, a cocaine addict, right?"

"What's cocaine?"

"I thought so," Tara said with a smirk, closing the door again.

Briefly confused by the interruption, Pinky shrugged it off, and continued eating her cupcake. She took another bite, and enjoyed the time she had sitting in the closet. After all, compared to her life years ago, and all of the struggles she had to deal with, life now was practically a piece of cake.

__________

To my journal,

This is it. I can't write anymore in this thing. Every time I look at it, I see how naïve I was, and how completely stupid I was to think everything was okay. How did I not see it coming? How was I so full of shit that I didn't see it coming? It's just not fair anymore. He's gone. He's gone and I hate it. They took him from me, and I hate it. I'm feeling more alone than I've ever felt before in my life, and I fucking hate it. I don't want to get up out of bed, I just want to cry. I just him back, but I can't have it. And that's really stupid, and not fair in any way. But you know what? I'm gonna make the best of this. Dad told me never to stop laughing, or give up happiness in the worst of times. So I won't. I'll smile, and laugh, and do all of the things young girls are supposed to do. It might kill me on the inside, and I know it will, but I won't break apart Dad's dreams. I refuse to. So this is it. No more writing. No more dark temptations. This is the end of my old life, and the start of my new one. It's time to bury the hatchet. Good bye.

-Patricia Patrikson, for the final time

End of Chapter 8