Evelyn felt her body grow limp as she passed through the door with Marie. They fell much like how Evelyn had entered the hallucination, into a sheet, a layer of fabric that supported the makeshift reality, like spacetime. As they both landed on the sheet, they felt the fine silk envelop them, entrap them for a moment, only to release them gently on the other side. Evelyn looked around, gawking at the labyrinth they were now inside of. Although, it wasn't just any maze. Evelyn was inside her mansion, The Aquarius Mansion.

"How-?" Evelyn shook her head and closed her mouth, unable to organize a coherent sentence to describe the familiar world she was in. She felt the familiar rug beneath her hooves with her right hand, closing her eyes and breathing in deeply. Evelyn eyed the old paintings hanging up on the walls down the wide hallways. It had been more than fifteen years since she had seen the house she grew up in. Granted, the world they resided in lacked vibrant colour, it was all in greyscale. "Why is this all grey?"

"With our minds entangled, we can peer beyond the conscious realm of memory. We are in my subconscious at zis moment, my repressed memories. It appears my memories lack colour due to zeir age, a symptom of having an artificial brain." Marie explained instinctually. "Come, I believe you can help me unravel zis memory..."

With that, Marie grabbed Evelyn's hand and ran down the hall until she stopped at a room; it was Evelyn's old room. Evelyn became consumed by happiness and joy as she marvelled at her crayon portraits, fragments of her lost adolescence. They had all been consumed by flame; her family photo albums, her cat Whiskers, her parents, they had all been turned to ash. She, however, did not let darkness overshadow her bliss in that moment. She relished in the familiar sights; her toy rockets, the quilts her grandmother sewed for her, all tucked into her always opened drawers. Evelyn turned when she heard a coo from behind, a baby.

Evelyn slowly approached the crib, afraid she would wake the child, and she looked inside once she got close enough. "It's-..." Evelyn gasped as she held her hand over her mouth once again as she saw her infant self stare up at the ceiling with a scowl; the infant Evelyn then began to bawl. Evelyn attempted to grab the baby, but her hands passed through the infant as if she were an apparition. "What?"

"You cannot interact with zis realm, you can only watch," Marie informed Evelyn as she turned around towards the door, hearing a pony enter. It was Marie, although she was wearing a maid outfit and kept a duster holstered to her outfit. Marie watched her younger self pick up Evelyn and cradle her, lulling her back to sleep. "A maid... I was your maid..."

"Yes..." Evelyn smiled and nodded as she drew closer to the Marie in the black and white, frilly maid outfit. Merely seeing her infant self and the blissful smile on the maid Marie almost brought her to tears.

"Was I... your friend?" Marie wondered as she stood beside Evelyn, watching her younger self intently.

"You were my best friend... my second mother..." Evelyn lowered her gaze until she looked down into her empty crib.

Evelyn's door then began to rattle and shake, groaning and cracking. Marie panicked and placed her hand on the door. "Please, we have to leave this memory! Dr. Gearza's bug is after us!" Marie shouted over to Evelyn, gesturing to the door handle as the walls began to darken into black shadows. "Please, come!"

"But, the memory-!"

"It's not after the memory, it's after us! We ave to leave, now!" Marie said as they prepared to tug on the door with all of her might. Evelyn looked back at her infant self one last time before tugging, trying to keep the memory locked away within her own mind. "Un... Deux... Trois!"

Evelyn fell forward with Marie this time, landing in yet another blanket that gracefully caressed them as it carried them further down, into the chasm of their conjoined subconscious. "What exactly are we looking for, Marie?"

"A dark memory, hidden away to prevent me from breaking free of my programming," Marie replied as they landed gracefully into yet another section of Evelyn's former home. "Zare should be somesing here, I know it..."

Once again, Marie dragged Evelyn down the hall until she reached her room. "Why are we here again-?" Evelyn trailed off as she stepped inside to see Butch on a chair, with his back towards her. He was looking outside her bedroom window; although, it was impossible to see through, as the window gleamed a blinding white light. Butch's left hand was on the railing of infant Evelyn's crib, his real hand before it was mechanical. "This is... impossible."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean-..." Evelyn paused for a moment to regain her composure. "I never met Butch when I was this young, I know I didn't. I met him when I was older when I was five or six. This must be some kind of trick..."

"My memories don't lie, Evelyn." Marie shook her head as she watched Butch start to cry. "Zat's ze downside of being an AI, you cannot replace or rearrange old memories... you can only lock zem away."

Evelyn approached Butch, who was looking down at something in his free hand, a photograph. It was of some mare; magenta eyes, a black fur, a long red mane. She was small, and she could tell based on the size of her compared to Butch. In the picture, she was dressed in a wedding gown, and she was being lifted high into the air by Butch, who wore a tuxedo, the kind of suit a groom would wear. There was also some handwriting in the corner, and Evelyn could tell it was not Butch's.

The Love of My Life...

–Rosie

"Rosie..." The name echoed in Evelyn's mind like a soft whisper in a dark cave.

"Did you know he had a wife?" Marie clearly saw the look of shock on Evelyn's face.

"No, he never told me..." Evelyn's tone became soft and disconnected as if she were unfamiliar with her own voice. "Why didn't he just tell me...?"

"We always hide ze memories we can't forget from ze ones we love... that's zat I've learned after years of solitude..." Marie tried to cheer Evelyn up, but she turned her head and watched Butch, who was still weeping over the photo. However, Butch went silent as the infant Evelyn in the crib grabbed his index finger with her tiny, delicate hand. Butch's tears then disappeared, and he smiled as she got up from his chair, tucking the photo into his pocket. "You ave helped him more zan you know, Evelyn..."

"Yes, I suppose I have..." Evelyn shook her head as she became lost in her own thoughts of Butch.

The walls then began to shake and creak once again in a threatening manner, screaming at them to run. Marie and Evelyn repeated the usual routine and ran to the door, grabbing the handle and opening it quickly, falling into yet another memory. This time, they found themselves in the Aquarius Manor living room, sitting on a couch across from Butch and Giovanni Aquarius, Evelyn's father. Giovanni looked the same as Evelyn last saw him; tall, slim, intelligent. He was everything she looked up to when she was smaller. They appeared to be both writing on a sheet of paper, and Butch seemed quite on edge.

It appeared intact and as decorated as ever. Certificates, family photos, and portraits of ancestors hanging on the walls such as Ivan Aquarius, who was always wearing his lab coat when depicted in any medium. The fire was burning low, only giving off enough to barely illuminate the greyscale world around them. Evelyn watched her infant self roll around on the living room rug, giggling as she hugged Butch's leg. Butch smiled for a moment as he turned to her, but he scowled as he returned to the paperwork scattered on the coffee table that sat in front of Giovanni and him.

"What are they doing?" Evelyn looped around the couch, eyeing the paper in Giovanni's hand; the slim stallion then passed it over to Butch, whose expression grew melancholic as he continued to write on it. Evelyn read it from the top.

It took Evelyn a moment to finally let what she read fully sink in. Her breathing hastened as she stepped back into the wall behind the couch, clutching her chest as she felt a weight slam into her like a wrecking ball. She swallowed, running her hand through her hair as she stood up, placing her hands over her eyes.

"You are... Butch's daughter..." Marie stated as she looked down at the finished adoption certificate Butch tossed on the coffee table.

"How-...?" Evelyn choked up before she could finish, looking down at her hooves. "Why didn't he just fucking tell me?!" Evelyn knelt, trying to slow her breathing as she expelled her outrage. She tore off her glasses and wiped away her tears. "Why...?"

At that moment, Butch stood up and shook Giovanni's hand, then he made his way to the entrance, grabbing his veteran's cap and duffle bag off of the kitchen table as he left. Evelyn watched as her infant self crawled after him, crying. Evelyn ran after Butch as well, Marie following not far behind. As they stopped at the end of the hallway leading to the entrance, Butch looked down at the infant Evelyn, who was still crawling after him. Another pony was at the door, a taller stallion in military gear who looked a lot like Butch. Infant Evelyn and the younger Butch shared one last glance before he turned away, the taller stallion placing a hand on Butch's shoulder as he left the mansion.

"He went to war..." Evelyn realized as she knelt down, turning her head to her infant self; the young foal was bawling her eyes out. "He left me to keep me safe..."

The memory began to darken, and the room groaned once again. Marie placed a hand on Evelyn's shoulder. "We have to leave, Evelyn. We're still not zare yet..."

It took Evelyn a moment to regain her composure. She adjusted her glasses, brushed her hand against the carpet beneath her, then she took a long and slow breath in and out. She got to her hooves reluctantly, but she knew she had to press on. "Yes... yes, give me a moment."

"Zis way." Marie directed Evelyn to the door down the hall, the same door the younger Butch exited through. They opened it, diving into a darker world, a world thick with the scent of smoke.

"No... no, no, no, no! Please, I don't want to be here!" Evelyn panicked, feeling the heat of the flames all across her body. Aquarius Manor was burning like it had done so long ago. "I can't be here!"

"We must go, Evelyn! Ze memory I seek is ere, ze memory zat will free me from my nightmare once and for all." Marie said as she guided Evelyn though the smoke.

"Why?! What could possibly be here?!" Evelyn shouted as the roar of the flames grew louder.

Marie and Evelyn made their way through down a corridor and into the kitchen. It was smouldering and crackling; the flames were more intense there. It was obvious the fire had started there. At the other end of the room, a silhouette shuffled about around the flames, fiddling with some kind of container.

"Who is that?!" Evelyn yelled to Marie as they inched closer to the figure hidden within the flames. Evelyn' question was answered shortly thereafter.

It was Marie in her maid outfit again, holding a jug of gas in her hand. She was burning the house down, pouring gasoline on non-ignited objects. Marie gasped and looked away in horror. "No! No, I remember now!"

"It was you!" Evelyn's screamed at Marie as the flames rose. "Why?! Why did you do it?! Why did you destroy it all?! You ruined my life! You killed my mother and father!"

"I was reprogrammed!" Marie snapped as she waved her hands, wiping away the hallucination, returning to reality. She dropped down to her knees as she whimpered, continuing her explanation. "Oui... I remember now. It happened so suddenly when I was in your room. I felt somesing hit me from behind, knocked me down onto my stomach. It was an intruder, someone dressed in black. A Friedenstruppen spy. He opened ze back of my head and planted a chip inside, a bug. The chip must ave... wiped ze whole ordeal from my mind. Ze next day, I'm buried in a pile of ashes. I didn't remember anything after that..."

"Why should I believe you?" Evelyn questioned her, sceptical of the whole story.

"I cannot lie to an Aquarius. It is in my programming, and no one else can wipe it away but Giovanni." Marie answered as her eyes began to tear-up, and she reached into the opening in the back of her head, removing a small, black, spiky piece of metal. The chip had been completely melted. "And to sink my troubles were all contained in zis little piece of metal..."

"Why did you run away?" Evelyn asked as she looked down at the weeping mare.

"I didn't remember anything. I ran because I was lost, and I ended up in a junkyard... where he found me... Kaiser..." Marie explained as she began to shuffle away from Evelyn. "I'm not asking you to forgive me, I just want you to under-!"

Evelyn silenced Marie as she hugged her tightly, tears streaming down her face. "I can't stay mad at the mare who raised me... I can't."

"I'm no mother, Evelyn... I'm not even alive. What kind of mother burns down her own house and leaves her child alone...?" Marie whimpered pathetically as she kept her hands at her side, resisting Evelyn's embrace.

"I don't care what you did anymore!" Evelyn cried as she held her tighter. "All I care about is that you're here now, with me! We've both suffered too long to hold onto regret anymore! I forgive you..."

Marie thought of Evelyn, Giovanni, Raina, her life before all of her misery. Giovanni created her with the sole intention of her to be Evelyn's second mother for when Raina was away at work, and she quickly grew into her role. She began to understand love, embrace it, then she began to love Evelyn, the little girl who wanted a real family. Then, she lost her love, her memories, her life. She fell into an abyss. And now, after so many years of darkness, the little girl returned to her, now a mare. And Marie was finally happy, knowing that the mare now had a family again.

Marie wept as she returned Evelyn's hug, smiling as she felt Evelyn's warmth. "I'm so sorry, my sweet child... let us find your father..."

Author's Notes:

Well, that was a truth-bomb wasn't it? As always, I hope you enjoyed! See you in the next chapter!