Isolation.

That's what she needed right now, more than anything, she needed to isolate herself. Which is ironic, most people who have gone through isolation don't ever want to experience it again, and that's usually only after a few days. She was isolated in the woods, for a month, left to fend herself. After something like that, assuming she hadn't become some kind of feral monster, you'd assume she wouldn't want to be alone again. But Pinkamena wasn't like most people.

She was barely even a person anymore.

As nice as it would be, and as much as she wanted to, she can't go back into the woods, for a variety of reasons. There was too much to do, too many things to catch up on, plus this whole Silent Killer business is something she was going to have to deal with. And if she were to leave right now with relations the way they are with The Apples, it could mean total war.

But even if she could bring herself to just leave, which wouldn't be too hard since the majority of people think she's dead, there was still one thing that would stop her from staying away.

The Whispers.

She knew what they were, or more precisely, who they were. All the previous leaders of The Syndicate, with the exception of Igneous, an amalgamation of memories inside her head. Each an individual presence, but at the same time, they were one. She wasn't sure how the memories were supposed to work, or if they already had. Maybe they're just adjusting to their new home, and when they settle in, all the memories will come flooding in. Or maybe that's not how it worked, that the memories sort of just soaked in and integrate themselves with her memories, making it seem as if they were hers.

Or maybe they were sadists, waiting for her to be emotionally unstable, and forcing the memories to come crashing down on her in a moment of weakness.

It didn't really matter how it worked, it was almost entirely out of her control, she was better off not caring about it. What she did know, was when she woke up from her comatose nightmare, something changed. Well, something changed before her body collapsed, but this was something else. When she awoke, her fear, her uncertainty, her rage, they weren't the same, barely even there. It was replaced by something, something she hadn't felt before.

Coldness, a deep chill inside her body, almost numb.

At first, she thought her body and brain were in some kind of shock, which made sense considering all the sudden changes it had gone through the past three months. But it was more than that, she could still faintly feel it inside her, like frostbite. But, it wasn't a bad thing.

When she woke up, despite barely feeling any sort of emotion, she could still think, plan, even calculate the best course of action. Everything became clear, her thoughts and judgment no longer clouded by emotions or irrational impulses, she thought of everything rationally. She was almost positive this had something to do with The Whispers, the timing was too perfect and it lined up too well.

But assuming that was them, it made her realize something. She wasn't their puppet, at least not completely. The first thing she did when she woke up, instead of remaining calm and asking Blake about recent events, she pounced on him. She slammed him into a wall, not out of vengeance or bloodlust, not even just to test out her abilities, it's because she wanted something. Something irrational and useless, not something she should prioritize in any situation.

She wanted that necklace.

Even now, she didn't know why she wanted it, it had no significance. The person that necklaced belonged to was dead. At a point in time, she may have cared. But now? It was just a necklace with a picture of two dead girls in it, whose father was dead, mother didn't care, and sister was indifferent.

But, for some reason, her first thought when she came to consciousness was to get that necklace. And from the second she put it on, she didn't want to take it off, the thought hadn't even come to her mind. The necklace was now tucked in her bra, unable to be seen by anyone, except for maybe a part of the chain around her neck, assuming her hood isn't up.

In her train of thought, Pinkamena began to lose focus on where she was going, her body was more or less on autopilot. Instead of driving or walking home like normal people would, she wanted to do something more...exciting. Freerunning wasn't something most people saw in real life, maybe in movies or games, but normal people don't do that. Either because they're too afraid, or because it's deemed weird by most.

She was always curious to try it, it seemed like a lot of fun, but she had decided it was far too risky. But now, both because she had the healing to risk it, and she wanted to see the city after being cooped up for so long, she decided to try it. It was...fun, actually. And fairly easy, so easy, in fact, she could do it while barely concentrating. When she became lost in her thoughts, her body just kept moving, having passed her house several minutes ago. But now that she stopped, she looked at the city before her, her hood covering her face. She had swapped out her leather jacket for a black hood, wearing that jacket felt...wrong, somehow.

The city was almost as active at night as it was in the day, or at least it was tonight. The lights from the buildings filled the night, hundreds of lights could be seen from the rooftop she was on. And the people below her were also a sight to see, there were dozens of them. They were talking cheerfully, smiles on their faces as they conversated with each other, carefree, as they think nothing can go wrong in their life.

She used to be one of them.

But now, she owned them, and this city. The Syndicate had at least a finger in every major company in the city, smaller ones even easier to control. Not just that, but with the number of police officers they had on their payroll, getting away with killing one or two would be child's play.

She may not have as much influence as she'd like since she just recently became the leader, she was going to have to earn that. But the power she felt, the control she had over these peoples lives, it was exhilarating!

She had never wanted power before, never had a need for it. But now that she had this much power, maybe even more than a president, she would never let it go!

_______________________________________________________________

Something changed, drastically.

She shouldn't be surprised how much can change in such a short amount of time, but she was. When she got home, there were no words or physical interaction between them. Just a shared look of...relief. Some part of her expected Blake to have had Maud killed out of revenge for Igneous, but she wasn't. Pinkamena didn't need to sleep, not after being in a coma as long as she was, but she somehow managed to fall asleep.

The next morning was a mess.

She awoke to the apparition of her dead father, which made her feel a spike of anger that made her violent. But when her fist phased through his face, causing her to almost punch a hole in the wall, she was more confused than angry. Apparently, he was some kind of physical manifestation of the memories, something that would make it easier for her to understand. And apparently, they decided her father, who she murdered, would be who they chose to appear as.

She didn't really understand it that well, her situation was already surreal, this wasn't helping. She was going to have to have a long conversation with he-it next time it shows up, if it shows up. Whatever the memories had done to her, made her more adjustable and open minded. But it was still going to be a process, how long it takes depends on how much weird stuff was going to keep happening.

After several minutes of just doing nothing to comprehend the enigmatic explanation of her not dead father, she decided just to head down to the kitchen and have some coffee. She could feel sleep was going to be a problem in the future, and coffee was going to be her best friend.

And, like she expected, Maud was up before her. She wasn't sure how, but Maud was always awake before she was, always. She had sort of expected this to be an exception for Maud, because of recent events, but Maud didn't seem to make exceptions.

A surprisingly normal conversation happened between her and Maud, the coffee being the icebreaker. But, it was unavoidable really, it got heated. There was a lot of yelling from Pinkamena, and a table was broken, which wasn't really a loss since they had an extra. Maud was, as usual, calm and composed, she probably expected an outburst like that. Pinkamena left the house, saying she was leaving to deal with The Apples, which was true. But with everything that's been happening, avoiding people until she had things sorted and settled would be preferable.

But, she was both surprised and relieved when she got angry. The cold she felt when she first woke up, the same one that had stayed with her till she got home, had disappeared. The anger had replaced it or overshadowed it. It was temporary, of course. Even now, as she walked the streets of the city, she could feel it returning. And as it was, her anger faded, and she was beginning to realize that Maud was right, she usually was.

She needed to focus, preventing a war with The Apples was more important than trying to figure everything out. That was something she could do during free time, which was about to end. Either it was a coincidence or manipulated by some non-existent god, today was the first day back to school. Which worked against her, she was hoping she would have at least a week or so beforehand. She hated it, but she had to go to school. Of course, they had almost every police officer on their payroll, so she could just not go.

But, there were things she needed to watch, people, and things, she needed to watch. Applejack went to school there, it would be a good way to talk to her without any sort of risk, she wouldn't do anything in such a public area. But there were other things she needed to keep eyes on, dangerous things. The Dazzlings, who could try to take revenge at any time. Sunset Shimmer, who was bound to be unstable after thinking that one of her best friends was dead. Twilight, who had just recently gone through a terrible transformation, could easily relapse.

The Syndicate watched everything, which meant even the magical anomalies that happened. They knew of the portal to the other world, and if there were any others, they knew about it. If she had to guess, they probably had people in the other world and have some sort of base in there, it wouldn't be surprising. Of course, they would have intervened when Sunset transformed or The Dazzlings were causing chaos, but it hadn't escalated enough to force them to. At least, that was the only reason she could think of why they wouldn’t.

They had been keeping tabs on events like these, but since more men have been dying than The Syndicate is comfortable with, they decided it would be easier if she just went to school so she could watch the majority of them for a while, at least till school was out for the day. But, luckily for her, she thought of a way to deal with Applejack before school even started.

She spent longer at home than she intended, but she still had time. On the way home, she had stopped by AJ's house, leaving a little note. The note had basically said that someone had information on the disappearance of Pinkie and that this person was willing to trade some information for money. The condition was that she had to come alone, if she brought anyone else, they would leave immediately. Normally, Applejack would assume this was a syndicate assassin, or The Silent Killer themselves.

But, Applejack was desperate for answers. Not just that, but the location almost guaranteed safety. It was maybe two blocks away from the school, a park that usually had a good amount of people. But the time was arranged for six thirty, which is when there would be people around since school would be starting soon. Sure, whoever it was could still kill them. But in a place that open, with a person that important, and no vantage points to snipe from? That was almost assured capture, The Syndicate nor The Silent Killer were that stupid.

Now, at six in the morning, Pinkamena waited behind a tree. There was something else, she needed to make sure that the school was the first time any of them saw her again. So, while she was leaving the base, she took something from Blake's room; his mask. The old skull mask he wore when he first tortured her, was now on her face, and it felt...strange. She had her hood over the mask, covering her signature, now straight, pink hair.

No one should be able to see the mask from a distance, only Applejack. She'll know it belongs to a syndicate member, Pinkamena will make sure of it. She shouldn't be able to link the mask back to Blake, and even if she did, oh well.

This, obviously, wasn't how she would settle things with The Apples. She was going to use this opportunity to set up a real meeting, one that would take time and probably a lot of conditions.

Pinkamena stayed behind the tree, her mind wandering as she waited. Her thoughts were about anything from what she planned to do, to Maud. A realization struck her, more of a question, really, where was Cloudy? She hadn't left or anything, all her stuff, including all her clothes, were still there. She wasn't in her room sleeping, and she hadn't gone out, she never did. So where was she? Maud would have told her if something happened to her, right?

Unless, Maud had k-

"Hello? Are you here? I have the money!"

A voice came from the other side of the tree, but, for a moment, Pinkamena didn't recognize it. It was Applejacks. Her accent wasn't there, had she lost it in the three months she was gone? Or was her accent some sort of front, and she lost it when she was serious? That would make some sense, a lot of people in this city aren't fans of country accents. So when it comes to business, she couldn't risk someone she was dealing with being one of those people. So, learning to speak normally when it comes to serious matters, was so she didn't risk pissing off business partners. At the same time, an accent can cause miscommunication problems for people who don't hear them often.

"Yes, I'm here."

Pinkamena said as she came out from behind a tree, laying eyes on Applejack for the first time in a long time. The mask made it harder to hear her, but at this range, she knew she could. But, it would be hard to tell if it was masculine or feminine, which helped a lot.

Pinkamena almost chuckled at seeing Applejack, she looked almost the exact same. She was wearing her school outfit, which made sense since it was almost time for school to start. Her hair was in pigtails, she was even wearing her signature hat. But her eyes, they had dark bags under them. Her face was pale, her eyes had a lack of light in them, it was obvious she's had many sleepless nights. And the stress of one of her best friend's being missing, losing family members, and this new threat of an uncatchable killer, it couldn't be good for her health.

"Who are you?"

That would be the first question she asks.

"I'm not answering any questions until I see the money."

Applejack reached into her pocket, pulling out a wad of cash tied together with a band. It was about one hundred dollars, she didn't want or need the money, it was just an excuse.

"Give it to me, and I'll tell you where she is."

Hesitantly, she stepped forward, her entire body tense. She was obviously paranoid, her desperation for answers probably the only reason she even showed up. She had every right to be.

The second her arm was close enough, Pinkamena grabbed her by her forearm, quickly turning around and slamming her against the tree, the bundle of cash landing somewhere in the grass. Pinkamena's left hand was pinning AJ's right arm against the tree. While Pinkamena's right hand was clenched around her throat. But she didn't seem to be surprised, in fact, she seemed to be expecting it. From somewhere hidden on her body, Applejack pulled out a gun. Pinkamena looked down at the silver revolver pointed against her stomach, not afraid, just amused.

"Huh. The Rhino Revolver, made by The Chiappa company. Highly similar to The Mateba in design, the barrel, unlike most guns, is under the cylinder. This allows the holder to shoot from the 6:00 position instead of the 12:00, this also allows the shooter to fire faster and with more accuracy. Interesting taste."

Pinkamena stated, causing Applejack to be stunned at this person's detailed knowledge of guns, something that could be an advantage in a gunfight.

"How...could ya'll?"

Her accent was returning, because she was afraid. That made sense, hard to concentrate when someone's hand is around your throat.

"Just one of my memories belonged to a leader who was a gun freak."

That was true, she had all the knowledge they did. Which was how to lead, but also their hobbies and things that they took interest in. But she didn't have their actual memories, at least, not yet.

That just seemed to make her more confused.

"Your...what?"

Pinkamena sighed, she didn't mean to say that out loud.

"Nothing, nevermind. Just put down the gun, I don't want to hurt you, you won't shoot me. I'm here representing The Syndicate, I just want to talk to you."

Applejack seemed to calm down at that, but her gun was still against Pinkamena's stomach.

"How do ah know I can trust ya?"

Her accent was still there, it was affecting her dialect, but it wasn't as strong.

"You can't, but do you really want to risk a war over your paranoia?"

Applejack considered that, and hesitated. Then, she sighed and she slowly pulled the gun away.

"I'll put it back in my holster when you put me down."

It seemed she wasn't afraid anymore, or she at least was able to compose herself, her accent was almost entirely gone. Honestly, it was almost impressive how she could switch like that, it must have taken a lot of practice to learn how to do it like that. That could be a useful skill, maybe something she should consider doing.

"Fine."

Pinkamena dropped her, backing away to give her personal space. Applejack did what she said, and put the revolver back in a holster hidden in her boot, no wonder she hadn't seen it. But Applejack was now very cautious, understandably so. Pinkamena only pushed her against the tree like that to see if she really was alone, luckily, she was.

"I'm going to make this very simple and short, neither of us have a lot of time. The Syndicate isn't behind the killings, though I can understand why you'd think that, our behavior the last three months has been suspicious. The Silent Killer doesn't seem to be aligned with anyone, they are, in every sense, a vigilante."

Applejack was listening patiently, it was obvious she hadn't actually suspected The Syndicate, but there wasn't anything to target, and she needed a target, a scapegoat.

"I know, I know. But, there was no other choice. If I didn't point them towards something, with so many of us dying, I don't know what would happen, but it wouldn't be good. The problem is, unless you can catch this vigilante, a war is inevitable."

Pinkamena picked up the money off the ground, tossing it towards Applejack.

"Yeah, I figured that was the case. Would it be impossible to ask for more time?"

Applejack caught the money and put it in her pocket, crossing her arms after doing so.

"If you mean convincing everyone to hold off, no, just very difficult. And what makes you think I would? With someone like Igneous as your leader, I can't really-

"Igneous is dead."

Pinkamena's voice held no emotion, she couldn't afford to.

"Did...The Silent Killer?"

Applejack asked hesitantly, she hadn't liked Igneous at all, but she was Pinkie's father, she didn't want him dead!

"No, it was an internal thing."

She left it at that, she hadn't come up with something to tell other organizations yet.

"Who's the new leader?"

Pinkamena wanted to tell her 'me! I'm the one who killed Igneous!' as if to brag. But, that would've been idiotic. Eventually, she would learn who she was, but not yet.

"Since this is something that hasn't happened in a long time, no one right now, it's currently being decided. Currently, we have a small council of people running things until one is decided."

That was technically true, except that there was a leader, standing right here.

"What about-

Before Applejack could ask another question, the school bell rang in the distance, it seemed they would both be late.

"No more questions, you don't have time. Listen, we need to have a long talk later, there's much to discuss. Do you have a place in mind?"

Pinkamena asked quickly, she didn't mind being late, but Applejack probably did, and she couldn't afford to annoy her right now.

"Yeah, Warehouse number fourteen at The New York Harbor, we own it and can have it cleared if needed. Will that do?"

"Yes, I'll meet you there around ten tonight, if that time works for you?"

Applejack hesitated, Pinkamena didn't like that.

"Do you want me to come alone? Or do you mind a bodyguard?"

Pinkamena smirked.

"Surprise me."

Pinkamena began to walk away, she needed to change her clothes before going to school, at least a little bit.

"Wait!"

Applejack shouted at her, Pinkamena stopped.

"Do you...actually know anything about Pinkie?"

Pinkamena considered not answering her and keep walking, but something kept her put.

"Yes."

Applejack's face lit up, a mixture of relief and happiness coming over her. She obviously had dozens of questions she wanted to ask, but she both didn't have the time, and had no reason to believe they'd be answered. So, she decided only to ask one.

"How is she?"

Of all the questions she could've asked, she chose that one. Pinkamena was conflicted, there were so many different ways to answer this, so many different risks, but not answering was riskier.

"Alive."

________________________________________________________________

Pinkamena needed a smoke.

She's never done drugs before, neither has she had alcohol. But, almost all of the previous leaders did something of that variety, most suffered because of it. The reasons were usually the same, they could have done it because of stress, being the leader of arguably the biggest organization in the world had a lot of responsibilities and actions with numerous consequences. But most of the time, it was an escape. A way for them to forget about the reality they live in, if only for just a moment.

And right now, she really needed an escape.

Pinkamena figured she could skip first period, it's not like people are actually expecting her to show up anyway. After getting some free cigarettes and a lighter, because no sane person would make the leader of The Syndicate pay for something, Pinkamena walked out of the gas station, ignoring the people around her.

She was still wearing the same clothes as before, she hadn't changed just yet. The mask was in her hood pocket, but she didn't intend to put it on again until the meeting, or if something else happened. Pinkamena looked up at the sky, pulling back her hood as she did. Her silky straight hair came out, as her pale blue eyes looked up. For the first month, she had gotten plenty of the sky, more than she'd like. But for the two months after that, she was locked in a building neglected of sunlight, so seeing it like this after so long was...refreshing.

She almost wanted to just bask in it, screw everyone and everything else and just take a day off. But, she couldn't, The Whispers wouldn't let her. As she looked up at the sky, she saw something else, something out of the corner of her eye she could just barely make out. Across the street in an alleyway, stood Igneous. Pinkamena was only able to look at him for a few seconds, before he retreated deeper into the alleyway, where she couldn't see him.

"Of fucking course!"

Pinkamena muttered under her breath quiet enough to where only she could hear, a scowl coming over her face. It was The Whispers, ruining her moment of peace. After sighing to herself, Pinkamena walked across the street into the alleyway, she did have time and some questions.

Propped against the wall, Igneous stared at her, that cocky smile on his face. Pinkamena would have punched him, but there wouldn't have been a point, he wasn't really there. She had killed him, ripped his beating heart out of his body, which raised her first question.

"Why?"

Pinkamena almost whispered, barely able to hide the rage in her voice. But he just tilted his head, almost like he was confused.

"Why what? You're going to have to be specific with your questions if you want answers."

It even had his snarky personality.

"You have dozens of options to choose from, people I have never met, or maybe even people I have! So, why out of everyone's memories you have, did you choose my fucking father as the person you want to appear as!?"

Pinkamena yelled, not really caring if anyone passing by heard her, it's not like they could do anything. He only snickered in response.

"Because, it immensely pisses you off. And that anger? That rage you feel for your father? It makes you predictable, easier to manage."

His voice was so matter of fact, that alone was enough to piss her off. She turned around, refusing to look at him.

"Then I'll just ignore you."

Again, it snickered.

"Well, then maybe you'll prefer this?"

Before Pinkamena could say anything, he appeared in front of her. She was slightly surprised, he appeared in front of her in an instant. But, she immediately noticed the difference. This wasn't just her father, this was her father the last time she saw him. There was a huge hole in his chest, his ribcage had been ripped open, his heart missing. Blood began to puddle at his feet, reaching to hers. But instead of backing away, she just chuckled, look at him in the eyes, and smiled.

"You're going to have to try harder than that."

It's smiled widened, almost like it enjoyed the challenge.

"Very well."

Again, in an instant, he was gone. Before Pinkamena could look to see where he went, a hand touched her shoulder from behind. Quickly, she turned around, prepared to slit the throat of whoever it was. But she stopped, a look of horror on her face. It was Blinkie! Worms were coming out of holes from her decaying face, her eyes were completely gone, leaving only empty sockets that seemed endless. Her mouth was wide open, revealing her decaying tongue and insides. Her entire torso ripped open, rats and organs falling out.

"Why didn't you save us, Pinkie?

The voice sounded wrong and distorted, resembling a ghoul or a zombie. Pinkamena tried backing away from the ghoul creature in front of her, but she bumped into something. Slowly, she looked behind her.

"No..."

Inkie stood behind her, just like her sister. Her flesh peeling off as her body decomposed, worms and maggots coming out of almost every orifice, almost. Unlike Blinkie, her eyes weren't entirely gone. Her eyes hanging out of the sockets, just barely hanging on by the optical nerve. But, somehow, they still moved, seeming to look straight at her.

"Did you even care? Did you ever even try to look for us? Or did we not matter to you at all!"

The voices seemed to screamed, their unnaturalness booming in her ears.

"I...I..."

Pinkamena couldn't say anything, there was nothing she could say. She had abandoned them, her own sisters. They had been kidnapped, left to die in the woods by themselves, and she hadn't once tried looking for them. They were dying, and she had let them, she might as well have killed them herself.

"I'm so sorry, I-I wanted to help, but I couldn't-I didn't know...please, I'm sorry."

Pinkamena's voice was barely a whisper, as she muttered to her zombie sisters. But they didn't seem to listen, or they didn't care. They pushed her against the wall, their blood and worms dripping onto her. They kept asking her why she didn't save them, if she even cared. Their disembodied voices overlapped each other, as she felt the worms and maggots crawling all over her, attempting to enter her body through any orifice they can find. Their blood began to make a pool under them, as their blood dropped on her face and body, landing on the dirty floor of the alleyway.

She had been pushed against the brick wall of a building, horrified at what was before her. She tried to push them away, but their skin seemed to fall off wherever she touched. She eventually gave in and went into the fetal position, her head facing towards the ground as she used her arms to cover her head. She didn't look up, she couldn't see their faces anymore. She couldn't even hear their voices, not really. They were just ambient noises, she wasn't sure if it was The Whispers taking pity on her, or is she just couldn't hear what they were saying anymore. All she could do was whisper 'I'm sorry' to over again, more to herself than them.

She wasn't sure when, or how long it took, but they eventually just disappeared. The worms and maggots stopped crawling, the pool of blood disappeared, their skin was no longer under her nails. Five minutes after their voices stopped, fearfully, she looked up. Igneous stood before her, his hands in his pockets, he looked down at her, satisfaction and sadism in his eyes as a smile stretched across his face.

"You didn't seem to ignore that so easily, huh?"

He asked her sarcastically, but she didn't respond.

"You may have noticed that was different than before, well, let me explain."

He crouched down, bringing his eyes down to her.

"We can do more than just make you see things, we have access to your entire brain. We can recreate feelings, any you, or us, have experienced. Which includes touching decomposing bodies, being isolated, and..."

He brought up his hand and snapped his fingers, his smile growing a little wider. Suddenly, the alleyway began to fill with Pinkamena's screams. Her entire body brimmed with pain, her brain felt like it was exploding! Her insides felt like there was shrapnel embedded in her organs, he bones felt like they were breaking, her muscles felt like they were tearing! But her body wasn't healing, because the injuries weren't actually there. She now lay on her side, clutching her head as she tried to hold back her cries of pain, Igneous looking down at her curiously.

"Pain, the torture you've been through has given you an impressive pain tolerance. But we have been through countless agonizing experiences, including death. No amount of pain tolerance could prepare you for that, we could keep you in permanent pain if we felt like it, or when you need to be punished."

Once again, he snapped his fingers, and the pain was gone. She opened her eyes, not sure when she had closed them. She began to sit up, questioning whether that just happened, her body felt fine, like it wasn't just in agonizing pain.

"Now, listen closely, cause this is the only warning you get. You will listen to us, everything we tell you to do, you do. There's always a reason behind it, and that reason is always in the best interest of The Syndicate, they take top priority. Now, if you somehow manage to ignore the pain, which you wouldn't be the first, there's still something we could do."

He put his hands on the side of her face, caressing her cheek, she was too in shock to move away.

"Did you know your brain isn't capable of making new faces, but can combine parts from ones you do know to make one? With all our memories, we could create an entirely new person, at least to you. There would be no warning, and since we can recreate feelings, you will have no way of knowing if that person is real or not. Imagine that, not knowing if someones really there, if they really exist. So, we could make you love someone, more than you've ever loved anyone. And we could make them die, and you'd never know they weren't real. Makes it hard to trust reality when everything you know can be fake."

He rose up, looking down at her as she looked up at him, unable to respond in any way.

"Consider that your warning. Oh! One more thing, that chill you've been feeling? That's a privilege. That's us suppressing your emotions, at least for a bit. In our experiences, we've realized emotions are a weakness. That cold allows you to think, prevents your judgment from being clouded, it is you at your best. But, when it comes to the more powerful emotions like anger, we let you feel it. Not because we can't suppress it, but because if you didn't feel anything, the results would be...unpleasant.

We don't have to do that, it just makes it easier for you to do your job. So if you resist or ignore us, you will regret it. Now, get out of this alleyway, and fix this."

And just like that, he disappeared, like he was never there in the first place. Pinkamena lay there, trying to process everything that just happened. Eventually, that same cold returned, and the fear and anger she had felt before was gone. She got up, walked out the alleyway, and towards the school.

Now she really needed a smoke.