Every second Rainbow Dash listened to Brown’s story, she felt herself getting angrier. She almost could not believe what he was telling her, but she trusted him. It seemed impossible that one pony could do that to another, even a pony like Five- -but Rainbow Dash knew that Brown was not lying. What he was saying was true.

They sat on the bed, Brown curled into a shivering ball in her lap. He was crying softly, and had been for several minutes.

“I’m sorry, Rainbow,” he said at last. “I’m so sorry.”

“Sorry?” Rainbow Dash was confused. “Why are you apologizing?”

“Because I betrayed you. With another mare. I was supposed to be yours…you must hate me. I’m sorry. I’m so sorry!”

“Brown,” said Rainbow Dash, turning him toward her. He sniffled slightly, and he could still not look Rainbow Dash in the eye. “Look at me, Brown.”

“I can’t,” he said, on the verge of tears again. “Not after what I did you!”

“Look at me,” said Rainbow Dash, gently. Slowly, Brown turned toward her, his large blue eyes shimmering in the low light. “You shouldn’t be the one apologizing,” she said. “You didn’t do anything wrong. None of this is your fault.”

“But I was disloyal…”

“Stop talking like that!” Rainbow Dash gently removed Brown from her lap and stepped off the bed.

“Where are you going?” he asked.

“To punch Five in her stupid bat face!”

“No! You can’t!”

Rainbow Dash turned around, and saw that Brown was being serious. “Brown, she tried to rape you!”

“But she’s my Commander! She’s like a mother to me. And it was me…me who disobeyed her order…”

“No,” said Rainbow Dash. “I’m not letting this go.” She took a breath. “You’re my special somepony,” she said. “If somepony messes with you, they mess with me.”

“But she was within her rights as my Commander. I should…I should have just given her what she wanted. I’m a bad pony.”

“Stop,” said Rainbow Dash. “Nopony has the right to do that anypony. And anyway, isn’t it my right to give that frigid slut the beating of her life? Because you can’t defend yourself. Not from her. And she knows that.”

“Please don’t hurt her,” said Brown.

“Don’t worry,” said Rainbow Dash, cracking her robotic wrist. “We’re just going to ‘talk’ for a bit.”

She walked quickly to the door, envisioning what she was going to do to Five, feeling her rage and disgust growing.

“Rainbow,” said Brown. “Be careful. She’s far more dangerous than she seems.”

Rainbow Dash nodded. “Thanks,” she said. “Just stay right there. I’ll be back soon.”

She stepped out the door and closed it behind her. Of all ponies, she knew just exactly how dangerous Five was, and what she was truly capable of- -but it did not matter. Five had known what she was doing to Brown, knowing that he would have to obey her and that those orders would tear him apart. Even as he had been slowly explaining what had happened to him, he had framed it in such a way that Five sounded completely innocent and that all the blame fell on him.

Rainbow Dash felt as though her blood was about to boil. She was so focused on finding Five that she ran headlong into Shining Armor.

“Watch it!” she yelled.

“Good evening to you too,” said the necromancer.

“Where is Five?”

“Why?”

“Just tell me where she is!”

Shining Armor seemed vaguely surprised by her tone. “Fine,” he said. His horn glowed, and a bolt of magic arced into a nearby blank wall. The wall itself seemed to expand, widening until it had produced a door that had not previously been there. “She is in there,” he said, brushing past Rainbow Dash. “But if I were you, I would think carefully before you open that particular door.”

Rainbow Dash did not think at all. There was no need to. She tore open the door and stepped into the darkness on the other side.

Immediately she was struck by a strange feeling, as though an incredible sound was resonating inside her body even though the room was absolutely silent. She immediately felt apprehensive, like she was standing over an immensely deep pit that she would not be able to fly out of, and wanted to run back through the door. It was the feeling that the Pocket had used to have before it had been fixed.

“Five!” screamed Rainbow Dash. “Come out here right now!”

“I’m already here,” said Five, who was standing inches away from Rainbow Dash.

Rainbow Dash did not hesitate. She slammed her robotic hoof into Five’s face, immediately dislocating her jaw and sending her sprawling backward.

Five slowly stood up. Rainbow Dash could still smell the scent that Brown had described on her, and it made her even more angry. She watched as Five set her jaw back into place and flexed it for a moment, and then she struck again.

This time, Five was prepared. She ducked easily under Rainbow Dash and poked into her belly with a pair of prongs extended from one of her gauntlets. Rainbow Dash immediately felt her body convulse as burning energy poured through her, and she dropped onto the floor, momentarily unable to stand.

“You know,” said Five, “it is said that one never grows accustomed to pain. And yet I believe I have, it seems.” She looked down at Rainbow Dash, who was now standing shakily. “I suppose my clone told you about his failure.”

“How could you?” spat Rainbow Dash. “How could you do that to him?”

“Do what? I only tried to mate with him. I am sure he would even have enjoyed it.”

“Don’t give me that! You knew what you were doing!”

Five smiled. “Indeed, I did.”

“Why? Why would you do that? Was it to get to me?”

“My actions do not necessarily require motivation. He is my property, and I shall do with him as I desire.”

“He’s a pony! And you are his Commander!” Of anypony, Rainbow Dash knew what that word meant. No doubt it meant the same thing to Brown as it did to Pegasi. The thought of Rainbow Dash’s own Commander, Spitfire, doing something so terrible made her want to vomit. “He trusted you!”

“He is a force-grown clone,” said Five, coldly. “I created him. I gave him a home, a purpose. Do you realize what he would be right now if I had not intervened? He would be a two-inch foal, starved to death in a pile of stinking feces. I made him. I OWN HIM.”

“NO YOU DON’T!” Rainbow Dash burst forward again, striking at Five’s head. Five was still more agile, though, and managed to slip behind Rainbow Dash, forcing her head into the ground. Rainbow Dash immediately felt blood flowing into her nose from the impact, and choked slightly.

“Hold still!” she cried. “Fight me like a mare!”

“But that would be a fight that you could not win,” said Five.

“Why?” said Rainbow Dash, standing. “Are you going to get mad and shoot me with Order?” She struck again, and this time Five did not dodge. Rainbow Dash hit her squarely in the face with her organic hoof- -and felt horrible pain radiate up her foreleg.

Rainbow Dash cried out and jumped back, holding her hoof. She almost believed that it was broken, but although it hurt, the bone felt fine. Striking Five had been like hitting concrete.

“My power does not come from anger,” said Five, looking down at Rainbow Dash. Half her face had converted to crystal just before Rainbow Dash had struck it. Five lifted one of her hooves, and it sparked with magical energy. Her flesh immediately hardened, becoming translucent crystal. “That power is not drawn from rage. I can use it whenever I want.”

“Then- -then why don’t you?”

Five looked down at Rainbow Dash, and her flesh snapped back to its normal form. “Because I don’t want to. This is Anhelios’s power, a part of the curse I was born with. It is not mine, nor have I borrowed it from another. I did not ask for this. I don’t want it. My magical capacity is on par with a Choggoth. I am the most powerful Anhelios ever to have lived.” She sighed, and smiled. “And every second I have to know that irony.” She looked down at Rainbow Dash. “Of course, I do control it. Had I wanted to, I could have regrown your legs. But I didn’t. Just as I can stop giving my power to Brown. And I will. When I kill him.”

“What did you just say?”

“I created Brown to serve as my soldier,” said Five. “A creature of absolute obedience. But now, he has proven himself more loyal to you than to me. I cannot tolerate that dissent. I gave him a test, and he failed it. I ordered him to pleasure himself with my body, and he rejected even that simple task. I no longer trust him, so he must die.”

“If you put one hoof on him, I’ll- -”

“You’ll what?” said Five, smiling. “Kill me? Punish me?” Her expression shifted. “You have no idea what I have been through, what I have had to do!”

“Is that supposed to be an excuse?! You tried to take advantage of a pony under your command! My coltfriend!”

Five laughed. It was not a laugh of humor, though, but one of strange sadness. “He even said he loved you. Did you know that? My clone…my soldier, he can do what I never could.”

“Well…I love him to! Yeah, I said it!”

“Rainbow Dash,” said Five, slowly. “Do you know why I can’t eat food?”

“W- -what?” Rainbow Dash had no idea where that non sequitur had come from, but she was beginning to believe that Five was insane.

“It’s simple, really. When a pony dies, they lose the ability to give birth.”

“What does this have to do with anything?”

“I had to eat my way out of my mother’s corpse. Because nopony was there to help me. There was no food. I had to eat the rest of her to survive. It was the only way. Everything I eat, it tastes like her.” Her eyes narrowed. “On that day, the day I was born, I learned that there is no love in this world. Only pain. And I swore that Anhelios must die.”

Rainbow Dash did not know how to feel. That story was horrible, but she had no way to know if it was true. She was also still angry at Five, and at the same time terrified that something might have gone wrong inside Five’s head- -or, worse, the more likely option: that Five had always been like this and hiding it from her.

“I thought you were my friend,” said Rainbow Dash.

“Tell me, Rainbow Dash,” said Five. “Do you know why I paid to have you repaired? It was not out of kindness. It was not because I wanted a friend, or out of admiration. No…” She pressed a button on the side of her gauntlet, and there was clunking sound as the lights in the ceiling illuminated.

Rainbow Dash looked around her. In her haste to attack Five, she had not bothered to consider exactly where she was. Now she saw that they were both in a large, wide room. In the center was a circular mass of machinery and cables leading to six columns. On three of them sat skulls. One was smashed on the side; another ruined by some kind of disease, and the third perfectly white and clean.

“What- -what is this?” she demanded, but she already knew. On the sides of the mechanical stands that held each skull, a mark had been inscribed: a trio of balloons, a trio of apples, and a trio of gems under the skulls; three pink butterflies, a star, and, most terrifying of all, a cloud with a lightning bolt under the stands whose clasps were open, prepared to accept new skulls.

“I told you,” said Five. “I am seeking out the Elements of Harmony. Of course, I don’t have the capacity to make new ones. So I have been forced to collect the ones that already exist.”

“You- -you’ve been using my friends to make this.” Rainbow Dash stepped back in horror at the realization. This system had clearly taken years, perhaps decades to build- -and Five had been constructing it the whole time, waiting.

“Yes,” said Five. “Right now, they are just dead, lying in the ground being useless. Or were. Except for Pinkie Pie. Her family was using hers as part of a hat rack.”

Rainbow Dash could not stop staring at the post with the cloud and lightning bolt. “My friends,” she said. “What…what have you done?”

“Nothing, yet. Be proud, Rainbow Dash. You are going to be part of a glorious new weapon! All I need now is the Element of Kindness. The skull of Fluttershy, and I will finally be complete…”

“Not gonna happen,” said Rainbow Dash, spreading her wings and preparing to attack. “Not if I take you down first!”

Five’s expression fell neutral, and Rainbow Dash watched as her multiple small horns sparked with Order. “Not lik- -HNK!”

Her body suddenly fell, bisected at the waist by a hard-light blade. Rainbow Dash saw Five’s front half fall forward, spilling intestines as her rear half fell to the side. She immediately threw up, but even then she could not look away. Her eyes were drawn to the intestines and the broken spine- -and then to the most horrible of all: a tiny pink pony fetus still linked to Five’s body, spilled when she had been cut in half. Five had been pregnant.

Five’s body immediately started sparking with magic, her organs condensing around the fetus and slowly starting to link her backside to her front.

Five screamed and tried to stand on her front legs, dragging her torso toward Rainbow Dash. She looked behind herself. “Proctor, why?”

Proctor, now standing in the doorway, looked down at her. “Nobody hurts my friends,” said Twilight_Proctor. “Nobody!” He looked up at Rainbow Dash. “Come on!” he called, waving her toward the door. “We need to get out of here, before she pulls herself together!”

“Right,” said Rainbow Dash, flying past the now mostly-repaired Five and out the door.

Rainbow Dash moved quickly through the hallways of the Pocket, led by Proctor. Brown ran beside her. He had been initially hesitant to leave, but he had eventually realized that they had to. Perhaps he had known even better than Rainbow Dash.

“Right here,” said Proctor_Dash, rounding a corner- -and immediately being caught in a web of pink-violet magical energy.

“Ahh! Sticky!” cried Proctor_Shy, struggling against the magic.

From around the corner, Shining Armor emerged, blocking their way to the door.

“Move, Shining,” said Rainbow Dash, stepping forward.

“You are trying to leave,” he said.

“Not trying. We are going to leave.” She paused. “Come with us,” she said. “Five is insane. She’s using my friends to- -”

“I know,” said Shining Armor. For a moment, he seemed so old, despite his perpetually youthful visage. “I’ve always known.”

“But- -why? Why didn’t you tell us?”

“Because I need that weapon,” said Shining Armor. “I can’t…I can’t save them. They’re already dead…but if I could stop Thebe, maybe…”

“General Shining Armor,” said Brown, stepping past Rainbow Dash. “Your path is yours to choose. But please. Let us pass.”

“I never intended to stop you,” said Shining Armor. His magic faded and Proctor slammed into the tile below, and he stepped aside. “I only came to ask you to reconsider. Please. The device, you don’t have to be dead for it to operate. Five is broken, badly, but she would never hurt you. Please, Rainbow Dash. Help me defeat Thebe.”

“I can’t,” said Rainbow Dash. She pushed open the door and felt cold air flood into the Pocket. “You know I can’t. Those were my friends, Shining Armor. There’s a spot for Twilight in there.”

“Which will be my spot,” he said. He pushed the door open the rest of the way. “At least consider it.”

“We shall,” said Brown. He saluted Shining Armor with what Rainbow Dash could only guess was an Exmoori gesture. “Thank you, General.”

Shining Armor nodded, and watched as the three of them escaped into the eternal darkness outside. He waited for a moment, waiting as Five walked slowly down the same path they had just flown down.

“Proctor has surprisingly good aim,” she said, looking out the open door. It was snowing outside, and some was blowing in. “I think he may have added another two months to my life.”

“Are you sure we should let her leave?” said Shining Armor. “We need her to fire the weapon.”

“Perhaps. Perhaps not. Do not worry, Shining Armor. My life’s work will indeed be completed.”

“For Equestria’s sake,” said Shining Armor, staring into the inside of the damaged church outside the Pocket, “I hope that you are right.”