The warehouse they were meeting in was one building among many, no different than the rest. A wide, three-story, dark blue metal building used for, like most, storage and moving things. There were no windows or skylights, and only one door on the front. The only other entrances were two large garages-like doors on both sides, made for the forklifts to carry in whatever they needed to. The lights on the outside were turned on, but she couldn’t see or hear anyone. The building was too dense to hear heartbeats, but there were some parked cars outside, and this was definitely the right warehouse, indicated by the giant number fourteen on the front in black letters.

“How much you wanna bet they’ll try to kill you?”

She was now standing on the rooftop of the nearest building, looking down at the warehouse. She could feel the groan coming on as she heard The Whispers standing beside her, but instead of groaning, she turned to him with a confused look on her face.

“Betting? You are a literal apparition of my father with the knowledge of all the leaders of the biggest crime organization in the world, what would you even want?”

He let out a loud, almost childlike groan.

“God, you’re so boring! Why do you have to rationalize everything! It was just a little fun thing I thought we could add to your melodramatic life, but since you have to apply logic to everything, I guess I have to make this a legitimate bet.”

He put his finger on his chin and closed his eyes thoughtfully, leaving Pinkamena slightly baffled. Seconds later, his eyes fluttered open as he pointed into the sky, having a sort of eureka moment.

“Ok, how about this: If they try to kill you, I win, and you have to do something for me. And if they don’t, you win, and I’ll tell you everything you want to know about Rainbow Dash and her family dilemma. Deal?”

He held out his hand in front of her, waiting for her to come to a decision. She looked down at it suspiciously, and then back at him, this felt like making a deal with the devil.

“Well, Applejack is really honest. And a lot of her family are apart of The Apples, and with The Silent Killer around, it would be stupid to make war with us right now. Rationally, she won’t-”

“Oh my god! Why do you have to be so serious when it comes to me, I know you have a sense of humor!”

She looked up at him angrily, he didn’t even flinch.

“Because when I look at you, all I see is my father’s face, and I remember everything he did to me. I’m then filled with burning rage and a strong urge to kill you in various ways, so pardon me if I find it difficult to treat you casually.”

She said as she moved to closer to him, as if she was going to attack him. But he didn’t even move, he only shrugged his shoulders in response.

“Fair enough. So, how about it? My arm is getting tired!”

He held up his arm with his other arm by putting it under his elbow, but again, she didn’t even smirk. She looked back down at his hand, suspicion still evident on her face.

“Why do I feel like this is more than just a friendly bet?”

He didn’t respond, he only waited with his hand outstretched. She looked up at him, then back at his hand, and sighed. Hesitantly, she shook it, and he smiled.

___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

The inside of the warehouse was almost exactly what she imagined it would be, despite never really being in one. It was very dark in there, but she could make out the outlines if the massive ailes of boxes, crates, and numerous other things. Reaching from the floor to the ceiling, dozens of them from what she could see. There was some space in front of them for people and forklifts to move around in, but she couldn’t see anywhere else, the entire warehouse was dark, except for one aile. The aile directly in front of her wasn’t as dark as the others, it seemed to be the only one with lights in it on, revealing even more ailes. If she had to guess, AJ left this one on as a way to guide her, which made some sense. Pinkamena put on Blake’s mask, which she had been keeping in the pocket of her hoodie, and proceeded down the aisle.

“Warehouse you’ve never been to, almost entirely dark, no person to be seen, little suspicious, don’t you think?”

“Shut up.”

She didn’t even need to look, she knew where he was, she could feel him. He was on top of the aile to her left, dangling one of his legs off of it as he looked down at her. As much as she hated to admit it, he was right. She had expected Applejack to be waiting for her inside or something, but she wasn’t. And the fact that she hasn’t seen anyone, and there was barely any light in here, made her cautious. She continued down the aile, realizing the lights weren’t in a straight line. Whenever she got out of one, another random one would be lit up, and she would follow it at a steady pace. Though, after going through three ailes and nearly getting lost, she picked up her pace, more out of frustration than anything.

“I’m just saying! You don’t know if she brought anyone with her or not, you could be being followed right now!”

He appeared behind her, crouched over on his toes like a cartoon character as he followed her, expecting her to turn around after saying that. When she didn’t, he actually looked disappointed.

“Or, they could be right in front of you!”

Once again, he disappeared and reappeared right in front of her. This time, his eyes were gone, replaced by empty eye sockets that had blood running down them, the color of the blood was a dark black. He held his hands out the sides of his face, almost like someone in a costume trying to scare a child.

“Boo!”

If she flinched, the mask prevented him from seeing it. She stopped for a moment when he appeared, but then she walked right through him, continuing down the ailes. He turned around towards her, his eyes growing back but the blood remaining, having a slightly surprised expression on his face.

“What? Gotten used to me already? I would hope I’m not that predictable, but that’s okay! I’ve got dozens of tricks, and the imagination and creativity to think of more if those-”

“Seriously, shut up!”

She growled, as she came to a sudden stop. He was about to snap his fingers and give her another agonizing headache, until he saw Applejack. The ailes had led to a small clearing, a small wooden table waited here. Applejack was sitting in a chair on the opposite side of it, still wearing her school clothes, looking at Pinkamena patiently. Big Macintosh stood beside her, seeming to work as her bodyguard. He stood there menacingly as he stared Pinkamena down, wearing his normal red and brown jacket with green apples on the collar, his blue jeans stopping only at his red and white shoes. Before she went into her line of sight, she put the hood over her hair again, leaving only her mask visible.

“Well, seems you did decide to bring a bodyguard. I take it he’ll be here overseeing us?”

“Eeyup.”

He responded, crossing his arms and continuing to stare at her. Instead of saying some witty comeback, she pulled the other chair forward and sat in it, looking at Applejack as she did.

For a few seconds, there was a tense silence. Neither saying anything, as if they were afraid to do anything. Then, Applejack sighed as she rubbed the bridge of her nose with her eyes closed.

“So, shall we begin? I’m sure we’d both like to just get this over with, so-”

“Where’s Pinkie?”

Applejack’s tone wasn’t one Pinkamena had heard before, it sounded weary and tired. She didn’t sound angry like she had expected she would, she sounded...dejected. Like she already knew the answer, but she just needed someone else to say it. Pinkamena hesitated in responding, but she knew what to say, there really was only one way to answer that.

“She’s in a coma.”

Applejack let out a loud sigh of relief, seeming to tear up.

“Oh thank god! I was afraid she had gone and got herself killed or somethin’! I know you told me she was alive, but I can’t help but have problems trusting the word of a complete stranger.”

She began to cough, as if just noticing her accent was peeking through.

“Anyway, what happened?”

Pinkamena was ready for this, this was the story she was going to go with, for as long as she had to.

“She was found unconscious in her home three months ago, and after she didn’t wake up for two days, we realized something was terribly wrong. Since she was one of Igneouss’ daughters who had yet to go through the test, she was given the best treatment by The Syndicate. She’s been in a coma for the past three months, but, about a week ago, she woke up. Which was good, until we realized something, she had no idea who she was. She could speak the English language and remember her name, but that was it. This leads us to believe the cause of her coma was some sort of blunt trauma to the head, maybe even causing a form of hemorrhage.

Her memories eventually came back, to an extent. She remembered her life overall, but when someone has amnesia, they become very impressionable. Since there were so many syndicate members around her, and more ‘incidents’ than I’d like to admit, her bubbly personality never returned, and she became what she did.”

Applejack’s eyes seemed to get sadder, but there was still happiness that her friend was alive, even if different.

“That’s...terrible, there’s nothing The Syndicate can do?”

“Everything that can be done has been, at this point, it’s up to her. Now, since you know the fate of your friend, can we get to business?”

Macintosh furrowed his eyebrows at her, not appreciating how direct she was being. But, Applejack was the first one to speak.

“Not yet, I need to ask one more question.”

Applejack looked at her, sitting back in the chair as she crossed her arms.

“Who are you?”

She tensed, that was a question she was expecting, but there were many ways this could go depending on how much Applejack knew about The Syndicate.

“Just a messenger, here solely to help discuss the situation and terms with The Silent Killer and how things will work with the next leader when they’re chosen.”

There was a tense silence in the room, Pinkamena waited to see her response. But when she saw the look of skepticism on her face, she knew this was going to be trouble.

“No, you’re not. I don’t know how ignorant you think I am, but even I can tell you aren’t a messenger.”

Igneous appeared behind Applejack, standing behind her as he looked at Pinkamena. The good thing about this mask is no one can see her face, so they couldn’t see how pissed she was at Igneous for showing up now! And how tense she was about Applejack, she was being more difficult than she’d like.

“Alright, if you’re so smart, tell me who you think I am.”

Applejack didn’t appreciate her snarkiness anymore than Macintosh did, Igneous watched with curiosity, seeming intent on just watching.

“You know too much to just be a messenger, and they wouldn’t send a messenger to meet with the leader of another crime organization when things are so tense, especially alone. I’ve been asking around, and it seems you lied to me about some things. The important one, is that a new leader was chosen, and that they're the ones who killed Igneous. And I asked myself,’What reason would they have to lie? It doesn’t make any sense.’. Unless…”

Applejack leaned forward, looking directly where the eyes would be on the mask, a confident smile on her face.

“You’re the leader of The Syndicate, and you lied to protect your identity!”

Igneous laughed, no one else being able to hear it but her. Pinkamena, while slightly nervous, sighed out of relief. She was ok Applejack knowing she was the leader, that was going to come out sooner or later. But If she had somehow figured out she was Pinkie, that was a can of worms she’d rather deal with after The Silent Killer.

“Why would I want to protect my-”

“I know who you are.”

Pinkamena’s words caught in her throat, this couldn’t be good.

“Igneous had four children, but only one who passed the test. She refused to be the next leader, why? I have no idea. But with Igneous dead and Inkie and Blinkie being missing, she would have no choice. Isn’t that right,”

Igneous jokingly began biting on his nails, waiting anxiously to see what she would say.

“Maud?”

Igneous began to howl with laughter, clutching the sides of his stomach as he literally rolled on the floor laughing. Pinkamena didn’t say anything, instead, she leaned forward slowly, laying her arms on the table almost threateningly.

“That is...correct. I’m actually impressed.”

Pinkamena said hesitantly, realizing that with the way the mask muffled her voice, she did sound a lot like Maud. Since this is the assumption Applejack has come to, Pinkamena decided to play along. As long as the mask stayed on, she had no issue with it, she was sure Maud didn’t either.

Applejack smiled slightly, but didn’t say anything. Instead, she slumped back in her chair, refusing to take her eyes off of her. Pinkamena didn’t say anything, she wasn’t going to break the silence this time. Applejack and Pinkamena stared at each other, Big Macintosh watched with silence. Igneous began to stand up beside Pinkamena, choosing now to stand behind her and watch. He wiped a fake tear from his eye as his laughter began to die down, when he noticed the tension, a smug smile came to his face.

“What happened to Inkie and Blinkie?”

Pinkamena felt a tinge of pain and anger, of all the questions she had expected her to ask, that wasn’t one of them. Even behind the mask and under the hood, she could tell how tense she was, she looked almost...upset. But, instead of a look of satisfaction like she expected, Applejack’s expression quickly changed to rage. She suddenly jumped up, knocking the chair she was in back.

“Oh no! You do not get to feel guilty! You could have told us something, anything! But no, you sat back and did nothing! I knew Blinkie and Inkie, before I even knew anything about The Syndicate. Weirdness seems to run in your family, but they were good people. I also know their dead, they’ve been gone too long, way longer than Pinkie was. What I want to know is, how did they die? Were they taken as hostages and killed anyway? Died in some terrible ‘accident’? Or did they fail this ‘test’ I’ve heard so much about?!”

Pinkamena was digging her nails into the table, making deep claw marks in them, she hadn’t even noticed when they had extended. She could feel the emotions bubbling inside of her, she felt the rage at Applejack’s words and accusations. But she could also feel the grief, whatever part of her from before everything was still there, and it wouldn’t let her get over the death of her sisters.

“That’s...not...what happened.”

Pinkamena could barely get the words out, having to bite the inside of her cheek to stop her from lashing out.

“Then tell me what happened! What excuse did Igneous use to justify their deaths? Or did he even try? Were you so afraid of what might happen if you speak up, you just let it happen? Just like you did with Pinkie?”

Pinkamena had to clench her fists now, her nails digging deeply into her hands, blood was dripping onto the table. She could feel her teeth extending, barely able to suppress a growl. She was shaking with anger, barely able to hold herself back. She could feel Igneous intently watching her, but there was no smug look on his face this time. Instead, his face was stone cold.

“Keep calm, you need to learn restraint. You’re not getting any help this time, if you don’t learn how to control yourself, you have no future as a leader.”

Big Macintosh was also watching her, but more out of concern. But Applejack didn’t, and if she did, she didn’t care.

“Do you even know? Or do you even care what happened to them, to Pinkie? You could have helped them! You could have saved them! You could have done something, the fact that you didn’t makes me sick! You might as well have killed them yourself!”

That was it, the final straw. The pain and grief she felt were quickly overshadowed by seething rage, as were Igneouss’ attempts to calm her down. She jumped forward, going over the table towards Applejack. But Macintosh expected this, she suddenly rammed into her shoulder first, his brute strength knocking her off the table. She quickly got up, he was faster than she was expecting for someone so big. Before she could get on her feet, he put his foot on the edge of the table and pushed it forward, hitting her directly in the chest. He put a lot of force behind that kick, because the table cracked a few ribs, and pushed her against a wall.

“You fuckin-”

Before Pinkamena could push the table off, there was a loud gunshot that came from Applejack, the same gun she had pulled on her back at the tree. Applejack shot her in the left shoulder, standing where the table was. Pinkamena felt the immense burning pain, but refused to cry out, Blake had taught her better than that. Before she saw the wound start healing, she covered it with her right hand, also trying to stop the blood flow, which had already seeped through her clothes and dripped down on the table.

“Don’t move, I don’t care what consequences it will have, I will kill you.”

Applejack said coldly, as she walked forward and put her boot on the edge of the table and shoved it deeper into her chest, the sound of Pinkamena’s ribs cracking was almost audible, but she didn’t so much as grunt, she knew how to take pain. Applejack put the gun directly in her face, pointing it between the eyes of her mask. She looked down the barrel of her gun, her eyes unforgiving and angry, a look that made Pinkamena almost afraid. She wasn’t sure how good her healing factor was, but she didn’t want to test getting shot in the head.

“You know what? I take it back, I don’t think you’re the leader. The leader of the biggest crime organization wouldn’t be stupid enough to come here alone, and they especially wouldn’t be stupid enough to try to kill the leader of another because they were provoked! I hated Igneous, but at least he wasn’t stupid.”

“Eeyup.”

Igneous too seemed to agree, as he was looking at Pinkamena with an immensely disappointed and ashamed look. The hole in Pinkamena’s shoulder was quickly closing, but the bullet was still lodged in, she was using her fingers to dig it out, but she couldn’t help wincing when she did. Luckily, the burning pain seemed to calm her down. Either that, or The Whispers decided to help her. But she doubted that since she didn’t feel that numbing cold she was becoming so familiar with, somehow focusing on the pain made her rage simmer down.

“You know what else? I’m beginning to doubt you’re Maud too. When Pinkie disappeared, I personally confronted her, there was no way The Syndicate wasn’t involved, and Igneous would piss himself in front of the entire city before he told me anything he didn’t have to. And, despite how aggressive I was, that girl never budged. And believe me, there were no boundaries, I got as personal as I could, but she didn’t so much as flinch! I swear, there’s something wrong with that girl if she can keep that same blank expression and tone like that all the time, I’d almost say she didn’t feel emotions at all. So, the fact that you lost your composure like that, means either you’ve changed a lot, or you’re not Maud.”

Pinkamena could feel the bullet coming out, but she needed to take it out slowly, or she risked hitting an artery. She just needed a few more moments, she realized now that her outburst was stupid and that killing Applejack and her brother would cause dozens of problems, not even mentioning the crushing guilt.

“Take off the mask.”

That is not a line she needed to hear right now.

“Why?”

“That’s Blake’s mask, he used to wear it when we had sex because he liked it. He had some strange obsession with it, but I can’t really judge him since I feel similar about my lasso. The fact that you’re wearing it means he’s more than likely dead, or gave it to you as some sort of joke. So, I wan-

“Wait! You had a relationship with Blake?”

The disbelief, surprise, and anger in her voice were obvious, even muffled by the mask. For a few seconds she stopped pulling the bullet out, there were just so many things wrong with that. Macintosh gave a disapproving glare at his sister, but said nothing, it was clear he didn’t approve of Blake any more than she did. But instead of answering her question, she felt the blunt end of the pistol as Applejack pistol-whipped her.

“Do not try to change the subject. Take off your mask, now!”

Pinkamena was finding it very difficult to restrain herself, but getting hit caused her to jerk her hand forward reflexively, causing her to force the bullet out. She was extremely lucky she wasn’t shot somewhere important, but that might have been intentional, she didn’t know how good of a shot Applejack was.

“Yeah...no.”

Whether it was because they weren’t expecting her to recuperate so quickly, or they didn’t think she’d be strong enough to flip a table. Either way, the shock on their faces was evident when she did just that, with one hand, the one connected to the shoulder she’d just been shot in. Even she was slightly impressed by her own strength, she really needed to ask Discord about just what she was capable of as a chimera. She flipped it faster than Applejack could react, the table knocking her back and the gun out of her hands. She was now laying on the ground in front of her, the gun sliding a few inches away from her hand. The table landed a few feet away, farther than she anticipated it would. Before Macintosh could react, Pinkamena pounced forward, slamming her foot on Applejack’s forearm when she started reaching for the gun, which Pinkamena used her other foot to kick away. She wrapped her left hand around AJ’s neck, barely letting her breath.

“You take one more step, and I will snap her neck.”

She warned him, stopping him from trying anything. His fists were clenched in anger as he could do nothing, unable to help his sister. But then they released when an expression of surprise came onto his face, then a smug smile that reminded her too much of Igneous.

“Why are-”

She didn’t feel the pain, not at first. She heard the cutting of fabric and flesh, she felt something foreign enter her body and then leave in a split second, then she felt the blood rushing down her back. She let go of Applejack and stood straight up, feeling slightly woozy from the blood loss. She turned her head as far back as she could, which wasn’t as far as she’d like. Then, when she saw the deep gash in her back stretching from her right shoulder to her left hip, cutting through her clothes and almost into her spine, she felt the pain.

The first thing she could compare it to is when Blake was cutting her with a needle when her nervous system was sensitive, except all the little cuts were turned into one big and deep slash. She cried out in pain for a few seconds, but stopped herself by biting her tongue. Compared to some of the things she went through, this was tolerable. Thanks to the healing, the pain was quickly subsiding as the wound healed, though it was a lot slower than most because of its size.

Then she saw the perpetrator, not exactly what she was expecting. At first, she thought it was Juno, but quickly realized that wasn’t the case. This person was noticeably smaller than him, maybe coming up to her chest. They were dressed completely in black, not kevlar like Juno’s, more like a full body suit with holes cut out for the eyes, which she couldn’t make out. The thing she was attacked with looked like something out of a medieval movie, a claymore sword was wielded in their hands, blood dripping from it. The wielder didn’t seem to have any problem wielding it, despite the sword being almost as big as them.

“Oh, I’m going to kick your ass for that!”

Pinkamena leaped towards the figure, who seemed to flinch, not expecting her to move so quickly after being cut like that. But, they still jumped back, just barely avoiding Pinkamena. They swiftly raised the sword over her head, bringing it down just as fast towards Pinkamena’s arm. But Pinkamena was faster than them, she dodged the sword with ease, moving quickly to the left of them. She punched them in the face while grabbing the sword, ignoring the pain as it cut into her hand. She pulled the sword out of their hands, their grip was strong, but hers was stronger. She tossed the sword to the side, and then grabbed them by the neck. Lifting them into the air and slamming them into the ground, getting a sense of satisfaction when she heard them yelp in pain.

She raised her hand, feeling them turn into claws almost eagerly. She was about to end this person’s life, when Applejack stopped her, grabbing her hand with hers. She turned to Applejack, angry that she was stopped. But then she saw the look in her eyes, not anger, but fear.

“Please...she’s my sister.”

Pinkamena’s heart stopped, for just a moment, her bloodlust seeming to disappear. She looked down at the figure below her, hesitantly leaning down and looking into their eyes. They were a beautiful shade of gamboge, though that was harder to tell from how constricted they were out of fear, their erratic breathing was further proof of this. There was only one person she knew with eyes like that, Apple Bloom. Pinkamena retracted her claws, stepping back from both of them. Applejack silently thanked her, and proceeded to help Applebloom up.

As soon as she got up, she hugged Applejack, seeming to be very relieved. She pulled down the face suit a bit around her face, allowing her mouth free.

“Sis! I’m so glad yer-

Applejack silenced her by raising her hand, she seemed to also be relieved, but also really angry.

“Don’t say anything, you are in a lot of trouble! Big Mac will be taking you home, he’s going to tell Granny, and she’ll sort you out.”

Applebloom looked scared, but instead of saying anything, she just dropped her head in shame. She walked up to Macintosh, who seemed to hesitate in leaving her sister with someone who just tried to kill her.

“I’ll be fine, just go. There won’t be any more violence between us, right?”

Applejack asked Pinkamena, who hesitantly nodded. Macintosh put her arm around Applebloom’s shoulder and walked out, keeping his eyes on Pinkamena until he was out of sight. There was an awkward silence, Pinkamena and Applejack were standing beside each other, facing away from each other, but not saying anything. It was Pinkamena who broke the silence.

“So, your sisters an assassin?”

Applejack snorted, shaking her head with an almost proud smile on her face.

“Assassin in training, she started about a week ago. She learned how to use some things and she started learning how to be quiet, but god knows where she got a sword and learned how to use it! I guess when she heard I was meeting with someone from The Syndicate with Macintosh as my only guard, she got worried and came here. I have a first aid kit, if you-”

She turned around and looked at her back, wanting to see just how bad she was injured. Her eyes widened in shock when she saw there wasn’t one. The only indication that it even happened was the diagonal cut across her clothes, and the dried blood around it. But the skin underneath was fine, no scars or anything underneath, it looked perfectly normal. Luckily for Pinkamena, none of her pink hair could be seen. Then a look of comprehension formed on her face, and slight fear.

“You’re one of those chimera things, right?”

Pinkamena turned around, now facing Applejack. She wasn’t really surprised that she knew, more curious.

“How do you know about chimeras?”

Applejack looked away, seeming to recall an unpleasant memory, one that made her afraid.

“We tried to kill Igneous once...once, a really long time ago when my parents were in charge. It seemed like it would be easy, he always came alone. But, to be safe, both my parents met with him, along with several others. They were armed and ready, they chose the best they had. And...he tore them apart!

She visibly shivered as she nearly screamed, tears of grief and anger began running down her face.

“They shot him until his body was riddled with holes, and then he got back up and laughed! He ripped my parents apart like toys! And he did the same thing with everyone else there! He ripped them apart like a wild animal, and the whole time, he had a smile on his face, like it was the funnest thing he’d ever done! And you know what he did after that? He cut off their heads and sent them to us! And guess what else? He set up a camera before we got there and recorded it! Big Macintosh was in the military at the time, and Applebloom had been born just a month ago! So it was up to me, a nine-year-old girl, to learn how to lead a crime organization! Along with school, taking care of my infant sister, and all with that with just losing my parents! So I’m quite familiar with your kind, the kind that murdered my parents!”

Applejack screamed in Pinkamena’s face, unable to hide her rage and grief, or the tears that were falling down her face. Pinkamena could feel her rage for her father flaring up again at this revelation, but there was no point, she had already killed him.

“I’m the one that killed Igneous.”

Applejack reeled back, looking back at Pinkamena in disbelief.

“What did you say?”

“I said,”

Pinkamena slowly raised up her arms, putting her hands in the hood on her head. She put her fingers under the mask, slowly pulling it off. Her straight pink hair stayed in the hood as the mask came off, revealing her face. She let out a sigh of relief, that thing was really hard to breathe in. She looked at Applejack, her face being as emotionless as can be, despite the rage she felt for her father for murdering her friend's parents and putting this kind of responsibility for it. How many lives had he destroyed?

“I’m the one who killed Igneous, I’m the current leader of The Syndicate.”

At first, Applejack looked shocked, then a little bit relieved. But the one look she didn’t want to see, was pity.

“Pinkie...I-”

“No! Do not say you’re sorry! I’ve had enough of that from Sunset, I don’t want your apologies, and I definitely don’t want your pity! So please, can we just not talk about it?”

Applejack seemed offended, she wasn’t the type to just let things go like that.

“Not talk about it? Oh no! You need to start giving me answers missy! I don’t care if you are the leader of The Syndicate now, you are my friend first! So start talking!”

Applejack demanded, her stubbornness one of the few things that remained true to her character. This only further frustrated Pinkamena.

“I really don-”

“If you don’t tell me everything that happened since you disappeared, I can promise you, there is no chance of any kind of deal between us!”

Pinkamena almost scoffed, but when she saw how serious Applejack was, she decided against it. She glanced to the right of Applejack, seeing Igneous propping himself against a nearby crate with his arms crossed.

“Oh no, I’m not helping you here! This is your problem, you decide what you want to do.”

Igneous declared, and then proceeded to fade out of existence, seemed he’s had enough for today.

“You’re really persistent about this, huh?”

Applejack’s only response was to cross her arms and stare at Pinkamena, waiting for her answer. Pinkamena sighed again, this time out of annoyance, this was going to take a while.

“Okay, but it’s a long story. I’ll start when Igneous came to my house after my birthday party…”

Despite the trouble this was going to cause, somehow, Pinkamena felt like she wasn’t going to regret this.

______________________________________________________________________________________________________________

“Ok, so you had sex with Blake because you liked his accent?”

It took somewhere around thirty minutes, but Pinkamena told Applejack everything. From the woods, to Blake, to Discord, and finally when she killed Igneous. Ok, almost everything. She may have left out the fact that Blake turned her into a bloodthirsty sadomasochist who enjoys taking human lives, that isn’t a necessary detail. Neither was the one million bounty she set on herself. She tried to tell her about The Whispers, but it seemed they really didn't want that. Anytime she tried to form the words, she got a massive headache, and it got worse the more she tried.

When she finished saying all she could, Applejack hugged her. It was almost strange to feel such nice physical contact after how the last three months had treated her, the warmth and kindness she felt were almost suffocating. But, afterward, they managed to make peace between The Apples and The Syndicate. This time, hopefully, a permanent one.

“I didn’t know I was attracted to accents until I met him! There was just something so sexy about it! He always came with Igneous whenever I met with him, one day he came up to me and we started talking, then things escalated. At the time, I thought he was just a bodyguard. So, we had sex fairly often, but it was never romantic. And when I found out who he really was from Big Mac, I stopped it immediately. Now, knowing what he did to you, I feel disgusted with myself!”

They were now standing outside of the warehouse, Pinkamena had put the mask back on. They were standing beside the remaining car, Macintosh had used the other to take Apple Bloom home. While sex wasn’t something they usually talked about before, telling Applejack everything and being part of The Syndicate changed things between them, though they were still friends. Applejack spit on the ground in disgust, a shameful look on her face.

“It’s not your fault, he’s very charismatic and dangerously good with people. He could probably talk a nun into doing anal.”

The joke made Applejack smile, but she still had a guilty look on her face.

“I still feel bad for it, makes me feel...dirty.”

She mumbled, it was clear what Pinkamena told her made her feel more upset about Blake.

“Listen, I shouldn’t have to say this, but I just want to be sure. Please don’t tell any-”

In the distance Pinkamena heard a gunshot, she could hear the bullet coming their way. But it was extremely muffled, it probably had a suppressor on it, her increaed hearing was the only reason she heard it. Pinkamena tackled Applejack to the ground, landing behind the car. The bullet scraped her hand, and from the feel of it, it belonged to a sniper.

“What in tar-”

Pinkamena put a finger to her lips, telling Applejack to be quiet. Slowly, she leaned around the corner, looking for the source of the shooter. She could smell the gunpowder, this helped Pinkamena locate the shooter. They didn’t seem to be that far, assuming she was correct. They were shooting them from the rooftop across the warehouse, the one she had been on before coming. She turned the corner, thanks to improved eyesight that bordered on night vision, she was able to see them.

When she was talking to Discord about The Silent Killer, he showed her pictures one of their agents were able to get. Someone dressed in all black, carrying a large sniper rifle on their back. The same figure was now on the rooftop across the warehouse, the same sniper rifle pointed at them as they lay down, prepared to shoot them again.

And this time, they didn’t intend on missing.