The bed stopped creaking, and Twilight collapsed onto the wet sheets, gasping for breath. The stallion on top of her released her horn from his mouth. He stayed where he was for a moment longer, and then rolled off Twilight’s back. They both stayed where they were for a moment, and then just as Twilight was shifting to embrace him he got out of bed.

“Wait,” said Twilight, sitting up suddenly. “Can’t you stay? Just a little longer?”

Braeburn raised an eyebrow. “For a second round? I think that might be a little too much for you.”

“Well, no, but…can you just stay?” Twilight hesitated. “You can sleep here. You don’t have to do anything else. Just…stay here. With me.”

Braeburn smiled and reached for his vest. “Sorry, Twi. I have other mares scheduled. I can’t leave one hanging, it just ain’t good for business.”

“I can pay you triple,” said Twilight, perhaps too desperately.

Braeburn smiled, but he shook his head. “Twi, you know I can’t do that. You’re a good customer, but I have a reputation to uphold. Punctuality and all that. ‘Sides, this is a new customer. One of them fancy Noncans. A Silver unit.”

“A noncan?” Twilight shot up out of bed angrily. “You wouldn’t! Even you wouldn’t stoop that low!”

Braeburn frowned. “Darlin’, types are changing,” he said, trying to sound as polite as he could. “Those noncans, they just won some kind of big battle or something out in Discordalot. They’re getting all kinds of new ideas.”

“She doesn’t even have genitals! What are you going to do, hump her back?”

“I can do things that you don’t use genitals for. You know that. And for your information, the females DO have some parts down there. Just…different ones.”

He reached for his hat, and Twilight sat down on her bed. “Braeburn,” she said. “I’ve been doing some thinking.”

“That seems to be something you do a lot.”

“You don’t have to leave. I have a lot of funding right now, and I’m on the verge of a breakthrough. It’s going to be enormous for science, and for me. You can stay. I can hire you on retainer.”

Braeburn sighed, and then walked back to Twilight. He leaned down and kissed her. Twilight tried to kiss back passionately, but Braeburn did not let her. He pulled away. “I can’t do that,” he said. “Ah just can’t. You’re a real good customer, Twalight, but what we do, it’s a professional relationship. You’re not the kind of mare who can make me take off the saddle. And honestly, this castle gives me the worst case of the willies. You kind of do, too. ”

“Braeburn- -” Twilight reached out with her ceremonially scarred and branded left hoof, and Braeburn recoiled with visible disgust. To Twilight, that reaction felt as though she had been stabbed in the chest. She was hideous to him.

“Fine,” she said. She levitated a sack of coins and threw it to him. “Here’s your payment.”

“Twi- -”

Twilight raised her normal hoof. “If our relationship is just professional, you don’t have anything else to say to me. You clearly can’t appreciate me. I’ll find a stallion who will, no matter what you say.”

“Twalight,” sighed Braeburn. “I didn’t say that.”

“You didn’t have to.”

He groaned. “Can you just teleport me back to Appleoosa? I have an appointment to keep.”

Twilight glared at him. “Fine,” she said, summoning the spell and removing him from her presence.

With Braeburn gone, Twilight wiped the tears from her eyes and lay back down on the bed. She had already started counting down. She had complied with her part of her agreement. She had payed Braeburn for his services, and teleported him back to Appleoosa- -or, rather, in this case, twenty five thousand feet directly over it. She regretted that decision, but not enough to undo it.

She had lain there for several moments when a knock came at her door. Twilight immediately jumped in surprise, thinking that Braeburn had somehow come back- -a prospect that was as confusing as it was hopeful. Then she remembered that for the first time ever she had extended company, and felt oddly disappointed. Another knock occurred at the door.

“Hold your selves,” she said, getting out of bed and trying to disguise the fact that she was sweaty and slightly disheveled. “I’m coming.”

She almost laughed at the idea of that statement being a pun, which it would have been had the knock come a few minutes earlier. Unfortunately, she was not feeling in the mood for laughter at all. When she opened the door, she saw that the knocker had been Rainbow Dash.

It was quite apparent that Rainbow Dash was feeling far worse than Twilight was. Her eyes were puffy and red, and it was apparent that she had been crying. Twilight took some joy in this, as it indicated which of them was the true sociopath.

“Twilight?” said Rainbow Dash, her voice hoarse. “Can I talk to you?”

Twilight hesitated. “Sure,” she said after several moments. She then stepped back and allowed Rainbow Dash to enter. She was the first mare who had ever come in this room since Twilight had taken control of the castle, although Twilight had considered purchasing a few from time to time.

A chair lit with pink-violet light and slid across the floor. “You can sit there. Or anywhere, I guess.” Twilight then reached into a small cabinet and pulled out a glass. She poured a thin reddish fluid into it.

“What is that?” asked Rainbow Dash.

“Alcholest,” said Twilight. “It’s usually used as an alchemical solvent. It’s very expensive. But I think you need it more than I do at the moment.” She passed the glass to Rainbow Dash, but momentarily paused and looked at the ceiling. “Splat,” she said.

“What?”

“Never mind.”

Rainbow Dash took the glass and downed the contents.

“Careful!” said Twilight. “That stuff can kill you. VERY easily. Especially if you raided the opium supply.”

“I just needed a little,” said Rainbow Dash. She paused. “It didn’t help.”

Twilight sighed. “Yeah. I know what you mean.”

“It’s like…it’s like I keep turning around, and expecting her to be there. Like it was some kind of jokek. Like, she’s just going to laugh in my face and say ‘got you, Dashie. You should have seen the look on your face!’”

“I assure you, she isn’t,” said Twilight. “Her bones are down in my laboratory.” The marrow of a Chaos Priestess was extremely rare and valuable- -they were difficult to kill- -so Twilight had taken great pains to extract as much essence as possible. “She’s not coming back.”

“Do you think I don’t know that!” shouted rainbow Dash, suddenly. She looked up at Twilght and glared, but then her expression softened back to sadness.

“Here,” said Twilight, pouring her more alcohol.

“Thanks,” said Rainbow Dash, drinking the fluid at a much more reasonable pace than before.

“I did what I could,” said Twilight. “Those rooms are designed to seal when they’re activated. She must have seen me use it on Moonancer and copied it. Once they’re closed, they can’t be opened. That feature has saved my life more than once. Even a mage like me can’t deactivate the failsafe layers.”

“I know,” said Rainbow Dash. “I know. That’s not what I came here to talk to you about.”

“Then what?”

Rainbow Dash looked up. “You’re a necromancer, right?”

Twilight looked at Rainbow Dash, and then let out a long and heavy sigh. “I’m technically an alchemist,” she said, “but yes. I am an expert necromancer also. But that’s not going to help you. I know what you’re asking, and I can’t do it.”

“Why not?” Rainbow Dash seemed to be pleading. “Please, Twilight, you have to! You just have to!”

“Rainbow Dash,” said Twilight, putting her left hoof on Rainbow Dash’s shoulder. Interestingly, she did not recoil. She was apparently too stupid to comprehend what the marks actually were, even on an instinctual level. Strangely, Twilight was actually touched by this acceptance. “Listen to me very carefully. Necromancy is not by any means easy. I can do it, but certain parameters have to be met.”

“Name them. I will meet them. I will do anything.”

Twilight shook her head. “Not on your part. On hers. A body can be resurrected, if it’s intact, but it’s not the same pony. Just a shell. A bit like what Starlight is, except…well…dead. But that’s not what you want. You want Pinkamena back.”

“Please Twilight. Please bring her back…”

“I told you. I can’t. For that to work, I need an intact brain. I can graft in an artificial soul, but it has to have a mind. Memories. Those are in the brain. That is one of the basic tenants of necromancy. If the brain is destroyed, so is the pony. Even Celestia herself would die permanently if her brain were ablated.”

“But all that was left was ash.”

Twilight nodded. “I know.”

She stood up and returned to her bed, sitting on the edge. Rainbow Dash took another large gulp of drink, and it was apparent that she was crying. Then, without warning, she let out a horrible scream of rage and threw the glass down, shattering it.

“BUCK-DAMN IT!” she wailed. “Why, Twilight, WHY? Why did she have to do it?!”

“It’s not a question I can answer,” said Twilight. She picked up the pieces of broken glass in her magic and pulled them together, using a spell to repair it. “Only she could. And she is dead. But I can guess that it was the pain.”

“Pain? Bucking pain- -no! It was because she couldn’t deal with it! Pinkamena had the SAME pain, but she just pushed through it! And Pinkie didn’t even have the balls to take the fire herself. She made Pinkamena do it. Right there. Right in front of me. Like it was a JOKE to her. That bitch…that bucking bitch…”

Rainbow Dash roared again and stood up. “I’m so angry! But…not at anypony. I hate this! I hate it so much! I want to hurt somepony, to make them pay, but…I can’t!”

“You can’t blame anypony for it. Anypony except her.”

Rainbow Dash nodded “If Pinkamena had been murdered, I would be able to get revenge. The things I would do…things I’ve only ever thought about doing to another pony. ME.” She tried to contain a sob. “But I can’t! I can’t find anypony to hurt, I can’t DO anything! I’m useless! I was useless there, and I’m useless now! All the ponies I’ve killed, all the stuff I’ve done- -and I’m USELESS!”

“No,” said Twilight. “I would disagree. At least you were there. At least you tried.”

“And did trying get her out? ‘Trying’ doesn’t matter, Twilight. Only winning. And I lost.”

“Yes. You did. But look at it this way. Do you see me, here and now?”

Rainbow Dash looked at Twilight. She was confused. “Yeah?”

“You’ve seen how I live. And you can guess how I’m going to die. Alone. Cold, and alone.”

“Twilight…”

“Let me finish. I’m going to die alone. No pony loves me, and none ever will. I’ll be an old mare and collapse in my library. No pony will ever find me, and if they do, there will be nothing but rotted bones. I’m terrified of that, Rainbow Dash. You don’t know what it feels like to know that you’re going to die alone and unloved, how horrible that fate is.” Twilight stood up and looked Rainbow Dash in the eyes. “I do. And I know that Pinkamena did not have to suffer that fate.”

Rainbowd Dash looked at her, and suddenly burst into tears. Before Twilight even knew what had happened, Rainbow Dash was hugging her.

“This- -is so- -STUPID!” wept Rainbow Dash. “I’m crying like- -a colt- -you must think- -”

Twilight hugged her back. “I don’t think any less of you,” she said. Rainbow Dash obviously did not understand the true meaning of that statement, because she squeezed even tighter. She was surprisingly strong.

This continued for several minutes, and eventually Rainbow Dash disengaged. “You smell nice,” was all she could say. “Like apples.”

“I know,” said Twilight. She looked up at Rainbow Dash. “I can’t bring her back,” she said, “but there might be something I can do.”

Rainbow Dash sniffled. “What?”

“Pinkie was only able to do what she did because Discord has been killed. We’re no longer Watchers, Dash. We’re just ponies now. But I’m going to keep fighting.”

“You mean the alicorns?”

Twilight shook her head. “They’re just pawns. Sunset and I, we talked about it. We want to go after the one who’s pulling the strings. The one who’s really responsible for Discord’s death. And by extension Pinkamena’s.”

“Who?”

“Xyuka.”

Rainbow Dash’s eyes narrowed. “You think this is her fault?”

“I know it is. I wouldn’t lie to you, Dash.”

“Then tell me what I need to do to make sure she pays.”