In a small black room, there were two figures. The room was completely black, a thick, almost fog like darkness was in the room, the two figures were in the middle of it. One figure was barely human, it seemed to be constantly changing shapes, not staying the same for longer than a few seconds. But, other than the constant morphing, the figure did not move. It stood still as it looked down at the figure below it, who remained unmoving as they looked at the ground.

This figure was also human, but in the shape of a small girl, her long hair covering her face as she sits in a fetal position in front of the other figure. This figure was also completely black, but wasn’t changing shape like the other. This figure had something, something around her neck. A white necklace was around her neck, ending in a small heart at her chest. This necklace was a stark contrast compared to the darkness of the rest of the room, its brightness practically glowed around the figure it was attached to.

“Do you know why you’re here?”

The figure said to the little girl, but the girl didn’t look up.

“It’s because you’re too weak, you could not defeat your opponent because you were careless. You were blessed with the powers of a beast, and the knowledge of prodigies and geniuses, but you still lost to a mere human. It is clear even given all the advantages you have been, you are still far too pathetic. But, you were chosen, and we will mold you into who you need to be. Will you accept our help? Or stupidly defy us like you have been?”

The figure extended their hand to the girl, which now was no longer changing shape, though the rest of their body was. Though their voice sounded like dozens of people speaking at once as it echoed throughout the room, the little girl did not seem scared. She slowly looked up at the figure, and then at their extended hand. After a few seconds passed, she slowly began to reach her hand forward to touch theirs. But inches before they touched, she suddenly pulled back, shaking her head back and forth as if she was scared.

“I-I can’t, I’m too scared, I’m sorry…”

She said as she began to shake, holding the heart part of the necklace in her hand.

“Aww! That’s too cute!”

The figure said sadistically as it crouched down, moving its hand under her chin. They used one finger to lift her chin up so she was looking at it, she began to shake more when she saw the dark smile on its face.

“You think you actually have a choice.”

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Pinkamena slowly began to wake up, her vision blurry, but otherwise she felt fine. Then she slowly began to recognize where she was, she was in the same room she woke up in the first time. Same white walls and floors, same blue curtains between each bed, same IV in her arm, same cabinet full of medical stuff, maybe even the same bed. She couldn’t tell because they all looked the same. And it seemed, like last time, the room had been cleared out of other people.

As she looked to the right of her, like last time, someone was sitting in a chair beside her. But instead of Blake, it was Discord. He had his arms crossed and a scowl on his face as he looked down at her, he seemed to be quite upset.

“Have you been sitting in that chair with that look on your face while you waited for me to wake up?”

He didn’t say anything for a few seconds, he just continued to stare at her with a scowl on his face.

“Do you have any idea how stupid what you did was?”

“On a scale of one to ten? Six? Seven, maybe.”

Pinkamena said sarcastically, slowly beginning to sit up in her bed. Discord sighed and began to rub the bridge of his nose, closing his eyes as he tried to keep his cool.

“Ok, let me just show you what you did.”

Discord reached into the left pocket of his labcoat, pulling a small clipboard from it. He held it in front of him, looking down at it briefly. He then flipped the paper on it up, pulling out a pencil and beginning to draw something on a piece of paper under it.

“I get that your bloodthirsty and stuff, so asking you to avoid getting into fights is out of the question. So, I’m going to explain to you how badly you fucked up, with pictures!”

He turned the clipboard around and showed it to Pinkamena, revealing a drawing of her. She knew it was her because the person had long pink hair, and fangs where her mouth would be, with claws instead of nails.

“The average human body has about eight pints of blood, and can lose around three while remaining conscious. And even though you are a chimera, you still have some human limits. I don’t know how many times you lost blood or why you kept pushing yourself, but you lost five pints!”

He drew a five beside the drawing, then put a horizontal line under the five and put an eight. He then drew a diagonal line beside the numbers, putting the words ‘Very Bad’ in bold letters.

“Now, normally, your healing factor would replenish this blood pretty quickly after whatever wound caused it was healed. But, it seems you didn’t eat anything.”

He then drew a circle around where her stomach would be, and then drew a line from that circle, and beside that line, he wrote ‘Nothing’.

“To replenish blood, a human would need to eat things rich in iron and vitamin a. But since you’re a chimera, you need to eat nearly twice as much as the average human just to stay healthy. But since you decided to not eat anything all day, and kept getting shot, your body had some problems providing you with the blood you needed since it had little to no nutrition.”

He put the clipboard back in his pocket, deciding that further drawings would be unnecessary.

“So, you got shot seven times! Your arm was broken, twice! You were stabbed at least once, suffered multiple contusions, and sliced by a sword! So yeah, after a point, your body couldn’t push itself anymore. It entered hypovolemic shock and you passed out, if it wasn’t for Juno saving you from The Silent Killer, you would be dead right now!”

He stood up out of his chair, shouting at her angrily. She looked up at him, not really angry or upset, just annoyed.

“I like you better when you’re not treating me like a child.”

“Then stop acting like one!”

Pinkamena turned around, slowly trying to get out of the bed.

“Look, I’m sorry for not eating. I didn’t have the time to, and I didn’t even feel hungry.”

She slowly stood up, not realizing until now that they had changed her clothes. She was now just wearing a white T-shirt with blue jeans, though she was still wearing the same sneakers. She stood in front of Discord, her arms outstretched to her sides.

“Hug it out?”

He looked at her in annoyance, pushing his glasses closer to his eyes. But, a slight smile did come onto his face as he let out a quiet chuckle.

“Well, at least you keep things interesting. But, seriously, you need to eat a lot, every day. When Juno brought you in, even though he seemed somewhat injured himself, he prioritized bringing you in. After we brought you to the medical bay and started putting blood into you, he just disappeared. You should consider yourself lucky, if he hadn’t happened to be there, who knows what would have happened. Here, we made you some food that should help.”

Discord turned around and went to a nearby table, which had a silver tray full of meat, vegetables, and it had a glass of something that looked like milk, but from the smell, it most certainly was not. But instead of focusing on the food, she looked at Discord with a confused look on her face as she sat down on the bed.

“Do you...not know about Juno?”

Now Discord was the one with a confused look on his face, he looked at her questioningly as he brought the food tray to her.

“Of course I do. Juno is one of the best assassin's The Syndicate has, he also excels at being a spy, he’s kind of infamous. But, for whatever reason, he only ever takes missions from The Council, he’s pretty much their pet. He does whatever they say, when they say it. But, in the few instances, he takes a contract, it’s usually a very difficult one with high pay. He always goes alone, and he hasn’t failed yet. I’ve met him once or twice, seems like a decent enough boy. Why?”

He set the tray of food beside her, being careful as to not spill anything.

“Discord, The Council hired Juno to spy on me, and kill me if I step out of line.”

Discord turned to her with disbelief, not believing what she said.

“No, they wouldn’t go behind my back like that. How do you know this?”

“He told me himself, after he tried to kill me, that is. Why don’t you ask him yourself, if you don’t believe me? But, from what I’ve heard about The Council, this doesn’t sound like something unusual for them to do. Besides, this is The Syndicate, who hasn’t stabbed someone in the back before?”

She said as she put the tray on her lap and began digging in, not realizing until now how hungry she really was.

“They said that they’d let me handle it, they wouldn’t go behind my back like that, not without really good reason.”

He said as he turned around and walked a few feet away from the bed, rubbing the bottom of his chin in thought. Meaning Juno had lied, Discord really had no idea.

“Was that before or after I ripped a guys heart out in front of a crowd of people apart of The Syndicate?”

Pinkamena said as with her mouth full, swallowing the food almost as fast as she could get it in her mouth.

“That was before, I convinced them to let me handle you after you killed Igneous. I suppose they might not have approved how you dealt with that situation as you did, but I don’t think that justifies sending Juno after you! That boy could kill anyone if he really wanted to, I’m just glad he’s on our side. I’ll deal with this. Speaking of the council,”

Discord turned around to face Pinkamena, trying to ignore her eating.

“They want to meet with you, which was kind of inevitable. There are five members of The Council, counting me. I run the science part of things, and help out with the medical part by keeping things organized. There’s Zecora, she’s foreign, though she’ll never tell anyone where she’s from. She's helped out at the medical bay a bit since she’s good with herbs and making potions, but she seems to excel at strategizing. She’s good with people and seems to know exactly what buttons to push, either to piss them off, or calm them down. but she also knows how to organize a mission, which is why she is always the head of any covert operation she’s apart of, she’s never failed one. She’s also very good with guns, I’ve seen her disassemble, clean, and reassemble an AK-47 in less than five minutes. I’m not even going to begin to talk about how good of a marksman she is.

Then there’s Starlight Glimmer, she runs morale, but she also makes sure food and water are clean, does inventory checks, is also a counselor, and kind of just makes sure everyone is at least a little happy and isn’t killing each other.”

“Where was she during the riot?”

Pinkamena asked as she took a drink from the mysterious white liquid, it was warm and had the consistency of water, but it didn’t have a taste, it was kind of weird.

“Well, there’s something you have to understand about The Council. Our job is to help the leader run The Syndicate, no one person can run an organization this big. We make sure the leader doesn’t do anything against The Syndicate, make sure they don’t get power hungry or anything like that. But, when the leader is dead for whatever reason, there are two scenarios. The first is, if there are any offspring of age that have gone through the test, then they are to be notified of what’s happened and made to be the new leader. We keep everything calm and in order while the new leader adjusts, but this time was a first. Never before had the leader been killed while the next leader was going through the test, so we were a bit confused. Then when it was revealed you would be the new leader when you woke up, we did all we could to keep things calm, but that proved quite difficult. With Igneous being murdered, the identity of the murder unknown to most, This whole situation with The Silent Killer, and we were nearly at war with The Apples, it was one of the most chaotic times we’d had in a while.

If you had died, we would have had to force Maud to become the leader, and that might not have gone so well.”

Pinkamena stopped eating for a moment as she contemplated that, how different would things be if she died? If Maud were to become the leader? Luckily, they’d never have to find out.

“And the second scenario?”

Discord sat back down in the chair in front of Pinkamena, realizing this would take a bit to explain.

“All members of The Council are candidates to be the leader, in case they die and don’t have any family. All of us are very capable and meet the requirements, but we would need to go through the test. There is an order of who it would be, the order is dependent on their individual capabilities and how long they’ve been apart of The Council. If they h-”

“Who would’ve been the leader if Maud and I died?”

That was the question he was hoping she wouldn’t ask.

“That...would be Michael. He’s been apart of The Council for fifty years, and yes, he’s old. But that does not mean you should underestimate him, he is very capable. He runs...well, a little bit of everything, really. But, mostly, he’s the security. He makes sure all weapons are working, he trains recruits, he also works as an enforcer when need be. But, he has friends pretty much everywhere, in and outside The Syndicate. Everyone either respects him, hates him, or is terrified of him, sometimes all three.”

“I want to meet him first, it seems like we have a lot to talk about.”

“No, he specifically asked you to meet him last, after you’ve met the others. He’ll be waiting for you in Igneous’ old office, though I suppose it’s your office now. He said if you try to meet him early, he won’t be there.”

“Why does he want me to meet the others first?”

She said as she finished the last of the food, starting the chug whatever was left of the white liquid.

“Not sure, maybe he wants to see what the others think of you after meeting them. But I suggest you do as he says, so far it seems you’ve worried The Council, you really don’t want to piss them off, myself included. Leader or not, accidents can, will, and have happened before.”

Her face darkened as she turned to face Discord, slowly setting the empty glass on the tray.

“Did you just threaten me?”

Discord sat up straight in his seat, his face tensing up but then relaxing as he put his hands in his pockets.

“No, just a warning. Now, there’s one more member of The Council. His name is Fancy Pants, and he’s...actually pretty nice. He’s the diplomat for The Syndicate, and also an advisor to you when it comes to problems with other organizations, adjusting or establishing trade deals, or just general problems if you really want him too. He was also born into a rich family, and with the recent death of his father, he has access to a lot of money if we ever really need it. But, we probably won’t. Now, as for when and where to meet them,”

Discord stood up and grabbed the tray off her lap, and then turned around and started taking the tray back to the table.

“Zecora is probably in the armory cleaning the guns, or in the shooting range practicing, That’s where she usually spends her time if she’s not helping out at the medical bay. Starlight said she’d stay in the meeting hall until you come to her, it’s around three am right now, so there probably aren't a lot of people in there. Fancy Pants likes to go to the vault and check the money, he’s one of the few people who is allowed to go in it, and is allowed to few all transactions. Every day he checks it, and it usually takes him a few hours. Don’t know why he’s doing it now and not earlier, but it’s whatever.”

Discord set the tray on the table, and then turned around to face Pinkamena.

“Now, the order you choose to visit them is up to you, but you do need to talk to them.” He said with a frown as he crossed his arms. “You should know the layout of this place, thanks to the previous leaders. After you're done with that, you need to get some sleep. We had to wake you up so you could eat and meet with The Council, so you barely got a few hours. As for me,” Discord began walking towards the door, opening it, but pausing before walking out. “I’m...going to deal with this Juno situation, I don’t like them going behind my back like that, even if I should have expected it. I’ll be leaving now. Your clothes and stuff are in a backpack under your bed, whenever you want to leave.”

He began to walk through the door, but halfway through, he stopped.

“And Pinkie,” He said hesitantly as he glanced back over at her, not sure how she would react to the old nickname. When she didn’t say anything, he quietly sighed in relief. “Take care of yourself better, I don’t want to see you that beat up because of your carelessness.”

Discord shut the door behind him, leaving Pinkamena alone in the room. Well, for about a minute. Then Pinkamena let out a loud sigh as felt an all too familiar presence behind her.

“So, what are you going to rub in my face first; The fact that you were right about The Apples trying to kill me, or that I got my ass kicked by The Silent Killer because I didn’t eat?”

Pinkamena asked she turned around, not expecting what she saw. Igneous was standing behind her, dressed as a doctor. He was wearing a long, white coat that almost went down to his knees, wearing black pants and shoes with it. He had a red stethoscope around his neck, and a pair of glasses on his eyes. He wasn’t looking at her, but at a clipboard he was holding in his hand. In his other hand was a pen, which was he was currently in his mouth as he was biting on the top of it.

“Rub it in your face?” He asked innocently as he looked up at her, pulling the pen out of his mouth. “Oh no, that wouldn’t be good for your health. No, I’m just here to do a checkup.”

He put the pen in his pocket and walked towards her, pulling a flashlight from the pocket. And, since Pinkamena knew better than to piss off The Whispers, she played along. He turned the flashlight on and shined it in her eyes, her pupils constricting as he did.

“Good, eyes seem to be fine.” He said as he tossed the flashlight behind him, it seemed to just disappear when he did. He then snapped his fingers and a stethoscope appeared, even though there was one still around his neck. He lowered himself down to her as he put the ear tips in his ears, he then put the bell against her chest. She barely flinched against its coldness,

A few seconds passed as Igneous listened to her heart beat, then he suddenly stood straight up and shivered, the stethoscope having disappeared.

“Wow! Your heart is beating fine, but it’s really cold! That can’t be good! Now, let’s take a look in that head of yours.”

He then pulled out an otoscope from his pocket, and then went to the left of her. He bent over and turned the otoscope on, pointing the light into her ear.

“Hmm, it seems you don’t have a brain. Maybe that would explain the lack of intelligence.” He said stood up as he tossed the otoscope behind him, it also seemed to disappear. He then pulled the pen back out of his pocket and wrote something down on the clipboard. After writing it, he nodded and made an approving grunt, satisfied with what was on it.

“Tell me, are you satisfied with these results?” He said as he turned the clipboard around, showing it to Pinkamena. The paper on the clipboard was completely blank, except for the words “Extremely Stupid” in bold letters on the front, which was circled multiple times as if to show it’s importance. Pinkamena looked up at him in frustration, and then tossed the clipboard to the side.

“I get it, okay! I royally fucked up! Won’t do it again. But can you be serious for five minutes? I need your advice, as much as I hate saying that.” She exclaimed as he looked down at her, that same cocky smile on his face.

“Yeah, okay. Should probably stop playing doctor anyway, last time I did it got...sexual.” He said with an awkward look on his face as he snapped his fingers, causing the doctors clothes he was wearing to disappear. Replaced by what Igneous usually wore, his black top hat with a white stripe that covered his spiked up gray hair. A long black suit and jeans with a tie, with black shoes, and a stone cold face. Though, since this wasn’t really Igneous, there was instead a wide smirk on his face. He pulled the chair Discord was sitting on and turned it around, sitting in it with his hands resting on the back of the chair facing Pinkamena. “So, how can daddy help his little princess?”

Pinkamena visibly cringed as he said that, clutching the sheets of the bed in anger. “Don’t...act like him, or try to act like him, ever!” She said through gritted teeth, barely able to hold the anger inside her. He looked at her and sighed, almost disappointed.

“Fine, you’re such a buzzkill.” He said as he rested his head on his hand, watching her with interest. “So, really, what do you want? Must be pretty important if you’re asking me, considering, you know, you kind of have a burning hatred for me.” He said with a chuckle, finding her and her emotion quite amusing.

“More like, if you’re going to be here to annoy me, I might as well put you to use.” She said as she let go of the sheets, leaning forward and looking at Igneous. “You see and hear everything I see and hear, you know the whole situation with The Council. So, I need your advice on them. How to get them on my side, and if any of them are going to pose a threat.”

Igneous looked at her in amusement as she asked, feeling a tinge of satisfaction that she asked him for help. He knew it would happen eventually, but she seemed to be very stubborn about it. “Huh, I guess you’re not as stupid as you act. Alright, I’ll help.” He said as he stood as he crossed his arms, closing his eyes in thought.

“Hmm, Zecora. Yes, the leader before Igneous, your grandpa Gerald, was in charge when she joined. When we discovered a small group of criminals running a sex slave business independently, Gerald himself went to deal with it. Either to integrate them into The Syndicate, or to kill them, whatever he felt like.” Igneouss’ eyes opened, and they seemed to change color. Instead of being an amber yellow, they had turned to an emerald green. His voice seemed to change too, becoming gruffer and hoarse, sounding like it belonged to an old man. Pinkamena’s eyes widened slightly in realization, her grandpa had green eyes, and that was exactly his voice, she recognized it from when he would occasionally come to their house and tell stories.

“When I got there, that girl was barely a woman, she single-handedly killed the armed men there. Then she freed the other slaves and nearly broke my arm! But, I subdued her, and I was genuinely surprised by her skills. So, I took her back to The Syndicate, and took her in as my protege. She adapted quite well, though she was always very elusive about her past. After a few years of proving her worth, I decided to add her to The Council. I’m not sure how much she’s changed over the years, if at all. But when she was younger, she reminded me a lot of you,” Pinkamena was barely able to suppress a gasp when she saw him look at her, his face seemed to age, there were now wrinkles and some freckles, looking much older than before. But there was a kind smile on it, one she had been very familiar with when she was younger, it was the spitting image of her grandfather. “My little candy drop.”

For a moment, Pinkamena felt happiness. Her grandpa was a part of what made her her , before the test, anyway. He was always so nice an brought her candy every day, it was hard to believe he used to be a leader of The Syndicate. Seeing the face of her grandpa filled her with happiness, she nearly jumped forward to hug him.

Until he blinked and his face disappeared, changing back to the face of the father she hated. She slumped in defeat, then her face slowly changed to a snarl as she felt that familiar rage bubbling inside. But as he looked at her, he only smiled.

“What...was that?” She hissed, barely able to hold herself back. If it was anyone else, she would have jumped out of the bed and ripped them apart! But, as much as she wanted to, she literally couldn’t touch him.

He tilted his head to the side innocently, like he was confused at what she was asking. Then his head tilted back to being straight, his eyes widening slightly in realization.

“Oh! That! Well, remember when I said we’re the makeup of all the leaders? When accessing a specific person’s memories, I slowly take on the personality and appearance of that person. But since I don’t have Igneouss’ memories and am just using the memories of people who know what he looks like, I’m in no danger of becoming all edgy and brooding like he was. N-” Before he could continue, Pinkamena leaned forward, hiding her face behind her hair. “Please, don’t do that again. Not my relatives, I...don’t want my memories of them to be tainted.”

Igneous remained silent as he looked at her, no smirk or comment, just stared. Then a smile spread on his face, but not the usual smile, this one was of pride. “You really care for your family, huh? That’s good, it can be motivation.” ‘Or a weakness. “Alright, I’ve got plenty of other memory sources, since you asked so nicely, I’ll oblige. Now, about Zecora.”

He said as got up off the chair, flipping back around to how it was. Then he turned back around to face her, looking down at her with his hands in his pockets. “Zecora is very traditional, but when she realized that the traditions of wherever the fuck she’s from wouldn’t apply here, she adjusted. She stays here and doesn’t leave unless it’s either a mission, or absolutely necessary. She sticks to the rules of The Syndicate, it would have taken quite a dire situation to make her break them. But I’m sure if she was pushed hard enough, she would. If she sees as you as a problem to The Syndicate, you’re an enemy in her eyes. You want her on your side? Make her stop thinking you as a problem, prove you only want what’s best for The Syndicate.”

Igneous disappeared from her sight, making her look to where he went. Then she saw him appear beside the tray that used to have her food, he looked down at it disgustingly. “I get that you’re mostly animal, but that doesn’t mean you have to eat like one, eugh! Anyway, about Starlight.” He said as he turned to her, shrugging his shoulders as he extended his arms, his hands open as he looked at her. “I have no idea who she is. She must have been added to The Council when Igneous was the leader, because I literally have no mention of that name in any of the memories. Though, if Igneous put her in The Council, she must be something special, he doesn’t usually deal with The Council, always hated them.” He said as he snapped his fingers, causing a small brown book to appear, the acronym ‘P.O.I.s’ written in dark black on the back of it. He opened the book and began writing something in it, with a pencil he also snapped his fingers and made appear.

“So, you can’t help me with her at all?” Pinkamena asked as she got off the bed, grabbing the small backpack under her bed. She opened it up and began pulling the stuff out of it, setting everything she pulled out on the bed.

“I didn’t say that, just that I didn’t know this girl.” He looked back up at her as he got done writing, snapping his fingers causing the book and pen to disappear. “It’s a requirement for all members of The Council to always have the best for The Syndicate in mind, how they do that depends on what they’re in charge of. If she’s in charge of morale and happiness, she’ll want what makes everyone happy, including The Council. My advice? Talk to her after you’ve convinced Zecora and Fancy Pants, Discord is already on your side, so it shouldn’t be too hard. And, speaking of Fancy Pants-” Igneous paused, as he noticed Pinkamena had started taking off her hospital gown.

“What? Don’t tell me you have problems with a woman changing in front of you.” Pinkamena said as she looked at the clothes in front of her: A pink bra with matching underwear, a white t-shirt, blue jeans, black sneakers, a leather jacket identical to the one she was wearing before, a dark black hoodie, Blake’s skeleton mask, and finally, her necklace. She’s slightly surprised Discord didn’t ask about the mask, not that she’d care to answer.

“No, it’s more like I’m surprised you’d be okay with it, considering your burning hatred for me and everything, and that I’m kind of taking the appearance of your dad.” He said as he stared at her with slight shock, watching as she put the clasped the bra on.

“Well, you’re always there watching me, since you don’t seem to give a shit about privacy. And I will be changing every now and then, so I figured I might as well get used to it.” She said as she put the t-shirt on, not even turning to look at him as she talked.

“Yeah, fair enough. Anyway, about Fancy Pants. Unlike Filthy Rich,” Igneous said with a frown, Filthy being one of the few people there were only bad memories of. “He’s actually a pretty nice rich guy, one of the nicest, actually. And also unlike most rich guys, he doesn’t take bribes. Honestly, I shouldn’t have to give you any advice for him, other than don’t be an asshole. Just explain your situation, play nice, and he should be on your side. And-why are you wearing a hoodie over a leather jacket?” He asked as he saw her put the hoodie on over the leather jacket, pulling her long hair out from it. She put Blake’s mask in her hoodie pocket, and already had the necklace around her neck.

“After dealing with this whole situation, I have something I wanna check out, then it’ll probably be time for school. And wearing a leather jacket like this would attract more attention than I’d like, so I wear a hoodie over it. I would wait until after I’ve talked to them, but I’d rather wear this and hope no one recognizes me, I have better things to do than deal with assholes trying to prove something.” She said as she walked towards him, opening a drawer and pulling out a small mirror, looking at her reflection.

“Isn’t it hot though? You must get pretty sweaty in that.”

“Not really, guess I must have some kind of heat resistance. So, what about Michael?” She asked she wiped some crumbs off her face, appreciating how well they cleaned her up otherwise.

“No.” Igneous visibly tensed up, turning away from her.

“No?” Pinkamena asked as she turned to him, putting the mirror back in the drawer and shutting it.

“I can’t help you with Michael.”

“Can’t, or won’t?” She asked suspiciously as she stood behind him.

“Does it matter? You’re on your own with him.” He said sternly as he turned to her, his face unusually serious.

“What? Are you scared of him or something?” She asked with a sarcastic smile on her face.

“Something like that.” He practically whispered, turning his face away from her.

Pinkamena had a look of disbelief for a moment, then a smirk of happiness.

“Wait, are you serious? You’re actually afraid of this guy? You? Why? He literally can’t even touch you, how coul-”

Igneous snapped his fingers, causing an immense headache. But somehow, this one felt worse than before, more painful. Pinkamena dropped to her knees clutching her head, silently groaning in pain.

“I believe it’s time we talk about that favor you owe me.” Igneous said with his usual smile, snapping his fingers again, the headache now gone. Pinkamena looked up at him hesitantly, slowly getting back up on her feet. “Okay...sensitive topic....I get it. What do you want?” She asked as she looked at him, that same cocky grin on his face as if nothing had happened.

“Well, It’s not something particularly urgent. Let’s just say there’s someone I need you to check up on, I doubt that they’re going anywhere. After school, I’ll give you the address. I don’t care what you’re doing, you will do this for me, or you’ll learn headaches are child’s play for me.” He said threateningly, his pointer finger and thumb in position to snap. But, instead of being scared, she was shocked.

“That’s it? Don’t want me to kill someone you had a grudge against? Or steal something shiny you liked? Or something more...I don’t know...evil?” She asked as she shrugged, expecting some sarcastic answer.

He slapped his chest as he feigned being hit, looking at Pinkamena with obviously fake innocence. “Pinkamena! I’m hurt! What kind of incorporeal being do you think I am? I would never ask you to do something so horrible!” He said as he slowly began disappearing, turning around and making sobbing noises. “I think I have to go now, I’ll come back when you’re ready to apologize!” He said as he disappeared, leaving Pinkamena alone, facepalming.

“You are...so childish sometimes.”

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The armory was about as big as she would expect for the world’s biggest crime organization, even if she didn’t have a map of the place, thanks to The Whispers, it wouldn’t have been that difficult to find. The Syndicates base had a lot of hallways with various rooms, yes. But it was kind of hard to miss two giant steel doors at the end of one of the hallways, with a large silver plaque above the doors with the words “Armory/Shooting Range” engraved in copper letters.

Walking in, she felt excitement and happiness, must have been one of the leaders who was a gun nut. The room was large and well lit, though due to its size, she was barely able to see the other end. On the walls were gun racks, with hundreds of guns on them. They seemed to start on her right, starting with pistols of varying size and color. The more she looked left, the more the guns seemed to change. After several lines of pistols, it changed into SMGs, then machine guns, shotguns, and it just went on like that. At the end of the rack, which was at the end of the room, there were Gatling guns, LMGs, and other large guns she could barely make out.

Where the gun rack ended, the connecting wall on the far side started, and there seemed to be another rack. This one had melee weapons instead of guns, though it was considerably smaller than the gun rack. From the right, it started with smaller things, like switchblades and small knives. But at the very end of it to the left, it had much larger weapons, like sledgehammers and fire axes. While she had a very strong urge to test out some of those guns, and have some fun with that sledgehammer, she realized she didn’t have time.

On the left side of the room, large, green boxes were lined up against the walls. They had no top, revealing that inside of them were thousands of bullets, inside clips and magazines, filling them up. On the front of the boxes were white numbers, which she guessed was telling the kind of bullets were in the boxes. There weren’t that many people in the room, maybe seven or so. Some were looking at the guns, some were looking at the melee weapons, and the last one had a shotgun in his hand and was getting some bullets from one of the boxes.

As she followed the boxes with her eyes, she saw that it ended to her left, on a steel door similar to the ones that she opened to get into, except it was smaller. Like the steel doors out front, there was a silver plaque above the door, this one had the words “Training For Dummies!” written on it in the same copper letters. And from the amount of shooting she was hearing coming from that room, that was probably the shooting range.

“You going to just stand there and eye the merchandise, or you going to buy something?”

Pinkamena heard a voice to her right, pausing to turn to her right to see the source.

In the right corner of the room was a small booth, similar to one you might see at a fair. It seemed to be made entirely out of wood, painted blue. There was only one window, big enough to see the old man inside. He was sitting in a small, grey, foldable chair. His head propped up on his hand which was sitting on the counter in the booth. The only thing on the counter, other than his elbow, was a small piece of paper with names and numbers beside them, though she wasn’t sure what they were for.

“No, actually, I'm looking for someone. Would you happen to know where Zecora is? I heard she might be in here.” Pinkamena asked as she moved closer to the old man, pulling the hoodie over her face more as to cover it.

“Zecora? Yeah, she’s back there.” He said as he pointed to a door to the left of the booth, unlike the others, it was just a normal wooden door. No windows or even a lock, the only thing it had was a wooden sign on it that said ‘Maintenance.’ “She went back there to fix some guns, said she was in the mood to, or something.”

Pinkamena thanked him and began to walk towards the door, but took another glance at the sheet of paper on the counter, her curiosity got the better of her.

“Hey, mind if I ask what that piece of paper is for?” She asked as she pointed at it.

He looked at her and scoffed. “New to The Syndicate, huh?”

Pinkamena chuckled quietly, though too quiet for him to hear. “Yeah, you could say that. So, what is it?” She asked again, moving back to the front of the booth. He looked up at her and smiled, then looked back down at the paper.

“Well, this armory is where all weapons are kept, made, bought, or found. We allow any member of The Syndicate to use them, though they have to pay if they want to keep them. There’s a separate list for those, it’s not this one. This,” He said as he put his finger on the paper, seeming to point at it. “Is to help us keep track of who uses what, in case something is stolen. Also, bullets aren’t cheap. So, whenever someone takes a gun for target practice, they come here, write down their name and the kind of gun it is, then go and shoot. They keep track of how many clips or magazines they use, and then they come back and tell me. I tell them how much they have to pay me depending on the guns they used, and then they’re on their way. It’s really quite simple, unless one of these idiots breaks the gun somehow, that’s a whole heap of trouble I hate dealing with.”

He said with a grunt, a scowl on his face as if remembering a particularly bad memory.

“That does seem like a good system, though it has its faults. How do you know the cost for each gun and the ammo it costs? Do you have a list for that too?”

He laughed as she asked that, as if it was a question he hadn’t been asked in a long time. “Well, I do have a laptop back here connected directly to all gun and ammo related websites, even the dark web if necessary. But, I have yet to need it. The reason The Syndicate took interest in me in the first place, is because I’m an expert. I was born and raised in a family of gunsmiths, it’s my profession, I’ve made more guns and bullets than I can count. It’s pretty much instinct for me to look at a gun and determine the cost of it, plus any mods, and the cost of the bullets. And I get paid very well for it, it would be difficult to find anyone like me, though I wouldn’t say I’m one of a kind. Anyone with good enough memory and training in guns would be able to do what I can.”

Pinkamena looked at the man with newfound respect, to have a memory like that would be hard to find. And to use it to memorize the cost of all guns and bullets? That takes dedication, replacing him would be difficult.

“That is very impressive, that would make you quite a find. But, how do you know when they’re lying? It wouldn’t be hard to just say you shot a fewer amount than you did so you’d have to pay less.” Pinkamena said as she read the list, looking for any names she’d recognize, so far she had none.

“That is true, but there are people who collect the shells, and what they can from the targets. We then count them, and cross-references them with this list. Anyone caught lying, will be punished. Besides,” He looked at her with a smirk. “No one’s going to risk starting things when there are already so many problems, especially when things are so tense with the new leader.”

Pinkamena looked up at him in surprise, though he couldn’t see that since she was hiding her face behind her hood.

“What do you mean?”

He also looked back at her with a surprised face, then realization. “You really are new, huh? Well, we recently got a new leader, Pinkamena, or something. After a slight...disturbance, she personally came out, ripped a guys heart out, then declared she was the one who killed the previous leader, and then put a million bounty on herself for some reason. So yeah, things are tense. Mostly though? We’re just waiting to see how things pan out, how she deals with The Apples and The Silent Killer, until then most are reserving judgment and trying to not stir up trouble. Except for the people who were there to see her rip that guys heart out, they are a bit spooked, but they’ll get over it, as long as they avoid her for a bit, anyway.”

Pinkamena listened with interest, not sure whether it was a good thing or not that most of The Syndicate didn’t think much of her. She had figured she left some sort of impression, though this was The Syndicate, most people here have probably seen worse than that, and most likely will continue to.

“Though, Michael seems to be particularly aggressive against her. Not sure why, they haven’t even met yet as far as I know. Maybe he ju-”

“Wait, what was that about Michael?” She asked suddenly, interrupting him.

“Interested in Michael, are you? I would suggest staying away from him today, he seems to be in a bad mood. He walked into Igneouss’ old office an hour or two ago with a scowl on his face, after hearing that Pinkamena got the shit beat out of her and was currently in the medical bay, that’s where he’s stayed. Though that’s not nearly as bad as when he heard what happened to Igneous and who the new leader was, I don’t think I’ve ever seen him that angry. He seems to get angry whenever she’s even mentioned, which is weird because he doesn’t usually get angry. Why the interest in Michael? Most people either fear or respect him, occasionally both.” The old man asked, noticing a strand of pink hair out of the corner of his eye.

“Just heard a lot about him is all, not sure why everyone has so much to say about him, or sometimes so little. Thanks anyway, old man.” Pinkamena said as she waved at him, walking towards the maintenance door. As she opened it and entered, he scoffed, turning back in his chair, facing the way he was before. “Not sure who she thinks she’s fooling, the only person I can think of who had pink hair like that is my cousin's niece, and she doesn’t wear hoodies.”

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Walking into the maintenance room, she noticed how quiet it was compared to most other places in The Syndicate. Smaller too, it was maybe half the size of the room she was just in. This room must’ve been soundproofed, which made sense if this was a maintenance room. The room was well lit, multiple lights on the ceiling and walls. The right side of the room had a silver plaque in the wall the words “Weapon Parts” written on it in black letters. Under that were dozens of wooden crates, like the ammunition boxes, they had signs on them saying what was in them.

To the left of the room had the same kind of boxes, but it had different signs on them. Instead of names for the parts, it just had the names of different kinds of guns, like shotguns or SMGs. A silver plaque on the wall that said “Blueprints” in black letters, this must be for all the people who come in to fix guns. Makes sense, not everyone can be a gun genius like that old man out front.

And, in front of her across the room, was where the guns were fixed. Dozens of small, wooden workbenches were against the wall, in a line with each other as they stretched across the ends of the room. All of them seemed to be empty, except for one in the middle.

A woman, who she was positive was Zecora, was sitting in a dark brown leather stool with wheels. She had light grey skin with dark black stripes all over her body, at least the parts of her skin she could see, reminded her a lot of a zebra. Her hair, like a zebra, was in a mohawk, striped in white and gray. Pinkamena got a little closer, letting her see her face and what she was working on. She had brown lips and beautiful cyan eyes, which had a frustrated look in them as she was adjusting parts in a disassembled AK-47 on the workbench. She had black face paint everywhere on her face, similar to war paint, making it hard to make out any facial features. She was only wearing a sleeveless white t-shirt and black jeans, the only accessory was a brown necklace that seemed to be made out of teeth.

Pinkamena walked up to the workbench, standing beside her. She looked down at her as she was working on the gun, she glanced at her for a few seconds, but said nothing as she resumed her work.

“I take it you’re Zecora?”

She didn’t look up at her, she only nodded as she continued to work on the gun. Pinkamena looked around, spotting another stool at the workbench to her left. She walked towards it and pulled it to the side of the workbench Zecora was at, sitting down at it and pulling her hood back, then resting her arms on her legs.

“We need to talk.”

Zecora glanced at her again, this time lasting a few seconds longer. Then she looked back down at her weapon, but seeming less focused on it as she moved the parts around, reassembling the gun.

“As a leader, you are reckless and wild.
But in the eyes of The Council, you are but a child.
Your actions have caused concern and worry.
If you continue down this path and don’t improve, you will face our fury.”

She warned as she pushed two parts together, making a loud, metallic clicking noise.

“Oh yeah, I forgot to mention. She speaks strictly in rhymes, you’ll get used to it.” Igneous said as he appeared, leaning over Zecora’s shoulder to look at the disassembled weapon before her. “Seems it’s been a while since this guns been cleaned, you can see just how dirty it is, but she’s making fast work of cleaning it.”

Pinkamena glanced at him for a moment, but decided to focus on Zecora, who was quickly cleaning and reassembling the gun.

“Ok, yeah, I get it. Ripping that guy's heart out was probably not one of my best moments. But I had to show that riots would not be tolerated! It was my first real day of being a leader, and I had to sho-”

“That is not what I meant,
That is something The Council understands considering the event.
The actions that we speak of are more concerning,
Though we understand you are just learning.
Putting your life in such danger with a bounty,
Going after a killer who’s stayed hidden from even us profoundly,
And it’s obvious your judgment and reasoning are cloudy.
We have taken many precautions,
But, most of us, want to help you, so there are plenty of options.
Make things right with The Council, and we will help you,
We are on the same side, but we are on the side of The Syndicate too.
If you keep doing things that put us and The Syndicate in danger,
The consequences will be major.”

The was one last click as the gun was now fully assembled, leaving an almost brand new looking AK-47 laying on the workbench. Zecora then turned around in the stool, facing Pinkamena. Her face was stern as she looked at her, a frown on her face and her eyebrows furrowed. Igneous looked down at the gun, an impressed grin on his face. Then he faced Pinkamena and Zecora, crossing his arms as he watched.

Pinkamena was actually impressed, she talked normally and rhymed so fluently, it’s like it was so natural and easy for her. She kept it fairly simple too, she was able to understand the gist of what she was saying.

“I understand what you’re saying, setting a bounty like that where I could die and cause another leader to die so soon, would easily put The Syndicate into chaos. And my judgment has been clouded, clouded by my rage for my father, grief for my dead sisters, and trying to understand and adjust to all the new changes in my life. This is something that I am trying to fix, and, sooner than later, it will be solved. But, going after The Silent Killer is something I had to do. Not only have they killed some of the members of The Syndicate, but they’ve killed more than a few of the members of The Apples. If we want any hope of keeping peace with them, then The Silent Killer has to be dealt with. Speaking of them, I..”

Pinkamena paused, glancing away from Zecora for a moment. Then she looked back at her, a look of slight shame in her eyes. “I want to thank you. I know you guys didn’t put Juno on my ass to help me, but you did. I underestimated The Silent Killer, not just that, but I pushed myself too hard when I fought them. They beat me, and if it wasn’t for Juno I would be dead, and I’m thankful for that. But, I don’t like being followed or watched. I won’t be making the mistakes again, I don’t need or want his help. So, I want him off me. And if there’s anything I can do to convince you, or the rest of The Council, I’ll do it.”

Pinkamena looked at her pleadingly, but doing her best to remain respectful. Zecora kept her stare, remaining unmoving and unchanging. Then, for a few moments, closed her eyes, deeply inhaling and then exhaling. Then her eyes opened again, she had the same stern look, but it seemed more relaxed.

“There is one thing I need,
And you will have my vote if you succeed.
But to get the approval of the rest,
You must be put to the test.”

Pinkamena looked past Zecora for a moment, noticing that at some point of their conversation, he had disappeared. But there was no doubt in her mind he was still listening.

“So, I basically have to do favors for each member to get Juno off me?”

Zecora responded with a shrug, she probably wasn’t sure if the other members would agree or not.

“I’ve got way too much stuff to do.” Pinkamena mumbled, giving off a sigh as she did. “Alright, what do you want?”

Zecora reached into her pocket, pulling out a small, folded photograph. She unfolded the picture and set it on the workbench, revealing a figure she was getting all too familiar with. The Silent Killer stood on a rooftop, their back facing the camera, covered in all black. One of the most noticeable things was the sniper rifle across her back, one she’d been shot by multiple times.

“Where did you-nevermind, I don’t care.” Pinkamena said as she pulled the photo off the workbench, holding it in her hands as she looked down at it. The thing she noticed that was different than this one was the sniper rifle, it had a red outline around it, with multiple numbers on the photograph which she wasn’t sure what they were for. “What are these numbers for?” She asked as she turned to photograph around facing Zecora, pointing at the numbers on the photograph.

“Measurements, that gun has caught my interest.
And you encountering them again is something I trust.
This is unlike any kind of gun I’ve seen, and I know many weapons,
If you can acquire this for me, I can forgive past aggressions.”

Zecora turned around, pulling a blueprint that had been laying on the ground to right. She unrolled it and put it on the workbench under the gun, it was barely able to fit. But when it unrolled, it revealed a design of a sniper rifle, the same one that had been against the back of her head. Instead of black, the gun was completely white on the blue background. It was a near-perfect replica of the gun she saw, though it was very dark and the gun was black, so she wasn’t able to see it that well. Multiple black lines came out of it leading to black words, which she guessed were the parts. In the bottom left of the blueprint was a list of bullet types, which meant she either didn’t know what kind of bullets it took, or it took multiple kinds.

“This is...where did you get this?” Pinkamena asked as she leaned over the workbench, looking at all the details of the gun.

“According to the shootings, size. and the range,
This is how the gun would have to be,
Though I could not find the exact gauge,
Much of this is accurate, I guarantee.”

Pinkamena looked at up at Zecora in shock. “You made this from just the vague picture you’ve seen, and by judging the estimated range and impact of the shots?” She asked in disbelief, but Zecora only nodded. “Wow, this place is just full of geniuses.” She said as she leaned back in her chair, looking at Zecora, her face changing from impressed to curiosity.

“So, why do you want it? I get you like guns, but why this gun specifically?”

Zecora turned back to the workbench, turning her head away from Pinkamena.

“That is information I can not reveal,
With your father we came to an agreement, and I don’t like breaking a deal.”

At the mention of Igneous, Pinkamena tensed up, her hands quickly clenching into fists.

“Igneous wanted this gun?” Pinkamena asked angrily, but again, Zecora only nodded. For a few moments, there was a tense silence. Zecora said nothing as she looked down at the blueprint, she then picked up the finished gun and began walking towards the exit.

“Wait,” Pinkamena said, stopping Zecora. Zecora turned her head slightly to the right, looking back at her.

“I’ll get you the gun when I rip their throats out, on one condition.” Pinkamena suddenly stood up, turning towards Zecora. Her hands were still clenched in fists, but instead of anger in her eyes, she held a look of commitment.

“I want you to make a copy of the gun.”

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

The meeting hall was almost exactly how she remembered it, except now, the tables weren’t being used to try to control a riot. All the tables were lined up in the room in their normal positions, but they were all vacant. She got that it was late, but she still expected there to be a good amount of people here, as annoying as that would be. But no, as she stood there in front of the doors of the back exit, she saw that there was almost no one in the room.

Almost.

“Now, boys, I want you to listen to me.” A feminine voice said from the stage, causing Pinkamena to turn her gaze to there. On the edge of the stage, sat a woman. She had light, gray heliotrope skin, her hair was light purple with three streaks of grey aquamarine. She let the bottom part of her hair down, though near the end they seemed to curve, the tips of the hair slightly pointing up, there was one streak of aquamarine on the left and the right. But the top of her hair was similar to Rarity’s, though only near the end. It was similar to a bang to where it went down to her forehead, but it seemed to defy gravity as it then curved upward, barely staying out of her eyesight, this hair had the last aquamarine streak, ending at the tip of the hair where it coiled.

“You really should have told me about that riot, but it’s okay, I forgive you. I know you only had the best for The Syndicate in mind.” She had a sickly soothing voice, crossing her legs as she spoke to three guys standing in front of the stage. They were looking up at her as she talked, seeming to be almost entranced. She was wearing a light blue short sleeved shirt with a black vest, a pair of ripped light gray jeans on her legs, ending in black boots with pinks laces. She let her hands lay on top of each other as they rest on her legs, batting her eyes seductively.

“But please, the next time you have a problem like that, feel free to come and tell me. I don’t want another riot like that, you boys might be hurt!”

Pinkamena walked behind the group of guys, seeming to be unnoticed by them. But the woman did, she glanced at Pinkamena, her wry smile unchanging.

“You idiots scram,” Pinkamena said, causing them to swiftly turn towards her. Their faces of happiness turning quickly into anger.

“Who the fuck are you?” One of them said as he walked towards her, grabbing her by the collar of her hoodie with one arm and pulling her to him. “You must think you’re tough shit to be barking orders like that!” He said angrily, spitting in her face. She slowly raised her hand to wipe it off, not removing her gaze from him. The other two guys walked forward, one to the right of her, and the other to the left. The woman still sat on the stage, watching what was happening, though now with a frown on her face.

“I said,” Pinkamena grabbed the guys hand, squeezing it. He began to pull on his hand, trying to get it out of her grip. When he looked back at her, he saw that her previously blues now had a glint of crimson, a very familiar crimson. Fear began to fill him as he slowly realized who this was, trying even harder to pull his hand out. Pinkamena used her other hand to pull her hood back, revealing her silky straight hair, and the look of annoyance on her face. “Leave, now.” She let go of his hand, causing him to fall back on the ground.

Without saying anything, he slowly got up, and began to walk towards one of the exits. The other two, hesitantly, followed. After a few moments, they were out of the room, leaving just Pinkamena and the woman in the room.

“Well, you certainly know how to make an entrance.” She said as she jumped off the stage, landing on her feet. She began to walk toward Pinkamena, stretching her hand out as a smile came back onto her face. “My names Starlight Glimmer, it’s nice to finally meet you!”

Pinkamena looked down at her hand, and, hesitantly, shook her hand. She was slowly letting herself calm down, her eyes turning back to their normal baby blue. Though she was still very tense, there was just something about this woman that rubbed her the wrong way.

“Come on, let’s sit down. I find it easier to relax and talk when I’m not standing.” Starlight said as she let go of Pinkamena’s hand, sitting down in one of the seats. She looked up at Pinkamena, smiling as she patted the seat beside her. Pinkamena hesitantly sat in the seat, turning only her head to face Starlight.

“So, about Ju-”

“How did you feel after killing your father?” Starlight asked, propping her head on her hand as she faced Pinkamena, her smile being replaced with a frown as she looked at her in concern.

“What?” Pinkamena asked, both confused and shocked as she looked at Starlight.

“I asked how you felt after you killed Igneous. I know after killing him, you entered a coma. And then as soon as you woke up, you were forced to be the leader, leaving you no time to grieve.” Starlight put hands on top of Pinkamena’s, wrapping it gently in with hers as she looked at Pinkamena in concern. “I know what it feels like to lose someone important to you, especially family, it’s something you can’t just keep in, you need to work through it.”

Pinkamena looked at Starlight for a moment, narrowing her eyes at her as she contemplated her answer. “I don’t need to grieve for that piece of shit, he killed my sisters, abandoned me in the woods for a month, then had me tortured and raped. The only thing I felt after I ripped his heart out of his chest, was satisfaction.” Pinkamena said angrily as she pulled her hand out from Starlight’s, holding it closer to her chest now. “Why do you care anyway?”

Starlight looked at her with pursed lips, disappointment obvious in her eyes. She set her hands on her legs, not taking her gaze off Pinkamena. “My job is to make sure everyone in The Syndicate is happy and healthy, to the best of my abilities. To keep them, at the very least, stable, physically, mentally, and psychologically. I can be a friend, I can be an advisor, and I can be a therapist. I was even Igneous’ therapist when he was alive. So I-”

“Wait, you were his shrink?” Pinkamena asked as she fully turned towards Starlight, the surprise evident in her voice and face as her eyes widened and mouth slightly agape.

“I really hate that term.” Starlight mumbled as she bit the corner of her lip, glancing away from Pinkamena for a second. “Every leader is required to take a psych evaluation test at least once a month, but I wasn’t satisfied with that. I was a lot younger then, and a lot less experienced. But, I asked him if he could agree to me being his private therapist, and he agreed. We started off with one day a week, and, after we agreed upon it, it became three days a week. I visited him in his office for around thirty minutes, and I honestly believe we made a lot of progress, despite how amateurish I was back then. But, that’s enough about your father, let’s talk about-”

“Tell me,” Pinkamena said, her nails digging into the table as she turned her head away from Starlight, looking down at the scratches she was making.

“Tell you what?” Starlight asked as she glanced down at Pinkamena’s hands, noticing that she seemed to be slightly shaking.

“Tell me what you two talked about, I want, no, I need to know.”

Sunset looked at her sadly, the desperation in her voice wasn’t something she had expected.

“I can’t tell you that, patient confidentiality, I’m sorry.”

Pinkamena stopped scratching the table, turning her head away from Starlight, looking at the indentions she made in it. She could feel the coldness inside her building up, swallowing up her emotions, seems The Whispers decided that now would be when they did something. Pinkamena exhaled loudly, allowing the tension and emotions in her body to leave her.

“Ok, thank you. Now, let’s start talking about what I came here for.” Pinkamena said as she turned back to Starlight, once again, her eyes turning back to their normal blue. Her face completely blank, no emotions to be seen at all. “Juno. I want him off of me.”

“Juno? That sweet boy? Why would you want that?” Starlight asked in feigned surprised, her mouth slightly agape with her hand on her chest. “He’s just your bodyguard, we put him on you to protect you. If he hadn’t been there, The Silent Killer surely would have killed you!”

Pinkamena only scoffed in response. “And watching my every move, even kill me if I do something you don’t approve of. I don’t like being watched, and I don’t like the fact that I can be killed on the whim of others.”

Starlight looked back at her with a disapproving frown. “I don’t know why you think of us like that, we’re not like that! We always have the best interest of The Syndicate in mind. And yes, the option of having Juno kill you was a factor. But unless you do something against The Syndicate, we won’t even consider it! Especially not when you’ve just started to grow as a leader. My job is to see to the needs of everyone, death is the last option on my mind.”

“Even if that means having sex with them?”

Starlight looked back at her in confusion, then realization and disgust. “No! I am not like that! Yes, I use some rather lewd and seductive methods at times. But I would not have sex with just anyone to make them happy, I am better than it. But, in very specific and dire circumstances, and I think it’s either the only way to make them happy, or prevent the death of themselves or someone else, I reluctantly would. Though there has yet to be a situation where it had, and I hope there never is.”

She said as she crossed her arms, huffing defiantly. Pinkamena looked at her, the same blank face as before. But then, slowly, a seductive smile stretched on her face. But this one wasn’t like her usual smile, it wasn’t sadistic or bloodthirsty, it was erotic.

“Could these circumstances apply to the leader?”

Starlight looked at her for a moment, her anger and disgust from before seeming to wash away. That same cheesy smile came back, her eyes seeming to light up as she looked at Pinkamena.

“Especially the leader! They’re under more stress than probably anyone in The Syndicate. Though I don’t know why they would want sex from me specifically. Assuming they don’t have a significant other, there’s no lack of people that would love to have sex with them, on the chance that they or the leader, depending on gender, would get pregnant and their child becomes the next leader, or at least be a candidate. I don’t have a boyfriend or anything like that, but I do have a semi-active sexual life, and I’ve taken many precautions to make sure I don’t get pregnant. But, that’s enough about that. About Juno,” Starlight’s face suddenly turned serious, her smile gone as she glared at Pinkamena. “If Juno watching you like this really upsets you this much, then I can agree to try to talk to the others about getting him off of you, though I highly suggest you deal with The Silent Killer first. I will do this on one condition,”

Pinkamena groaned to herself, her smile disappearing as she did, more out of annoyance than anything. “You guys really like making deals, ok, what do you want?”

Starlight raised an eyebrow as she heard that, but decided not to pursue it. “Well, the men in this place aren’t really that open about their emotions, Igneous being an exception. And I feel like I can really help you grow, which would be a great opportunity for me! So, I want the same thing I had with Igneous. I visit you once a week in what is now your office, and If I deem it necessary, two, then three. And I won’t speak to another soul about anything we do or talk about in there, which is whatever I need to to help you.”

Pinkamena turned away from Starlight, staring at a spot on the table. “You know, I went to a therapist once, when I was ten or twelve. My mother thought I had ADHD since I had a problem with paying attention in school, the truth was a lot of subjects just didn’t interest me. When I got there, they diagnosed me with a bunch of bullshit disorders, and started giving me medicine that didn’t do anything other than make me feel like shit, and making me come in for checkups from some old guy who obviously couldn’t give less of a shit about me. A few months later, our insurance ran out and I was magically cured. The only benefit that came out of that was I did start paying attention in school, just so I wouldn’t have to go back.” Pinkamena turned back at to Starlight, who had been listening with a sad frown on her face. “I really hope you’re a better experience than that.”

___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

“Wow, breaking into this would be difficult.”

Pinkamena said as she looked at the sight before her breathtakingly, impressed by the security and defense. Like the name suggests, it was a vault holding all the money of The Syndicate. The room had gray steel walls, the only entrance was two steel doors behind her. This room had walls and a roof entirely made out of steel, the floor was the only thing that was made out of brown hardwood. The room was actually mostly empty, which made sense considering how much smaller it was than an actual bank.

This room was nearly half the size of the meeting hall, but it had twice the defense. There were dozens of cameras in the room, each watching over every inch of the room. There was a high tech atm on each side of the vault, which was open. There were numerous guards in the vault, all of them wearing body armor and holding military grade rifles in their arms. They only looked at her when she walked in, but they seem to be completely ignoring her other than that. To the right of the vault was a green terminal, the words “Unlocked” flashing on it in black letters.

She walked into the vault, noticing that it was a lot larger than it seemed. Inside the vault, she was amazed when she saw the hundreds, no thousands of lockers in the room. Each one numbered, and they were organized in columns of five, stretching farther than she could see. Who knows how far it went? It made sense there were so many of them, this belonged to The Syndicate, hundreds of thousands of people probably used this.

“Ah! Pinkamena, I’ve been expecting you!”

A voice said to her right, caused her to tear her shift her gaze away from the lockers to the source. Next to her was a small, oakwood desk, a large, gray computer sat on the desk. In front of the desk was a black desk chair, sitting in it was the source of the voice. In the chair sat a six-foot tall man, the back of his head nearly reaching the top of the chair. Though Pinkamena was somewhere around five-ten, so he wasn’t that much taller than her. He wore a dark black tuxedo with a purple bow tie, wearing black pants and black shoes to match it. He didn’t look at her as he was looking at the computer, scrolling down as he looked at a list of transactions. But she could see he had light azure eyes, the right one having a monocle on it. His hair and mustache were the same color, his hair being combed back, and his small mustache being shaved in the middle.

He pressed a button on the keyboard and turned to her, a content smile on his face. “How are you doing? I heard you got quite the thrashing! I hope you didn’t get beat up too badly.” He asked with genuine concern.

She looked back at him with slight surprise, he was the first one today that actually asked her if she was okay. “I’m fine, more or less. But I’m not concerned about my well being right now, I’d actually like to talk about a problem I need your help with.” Pinkamena walked closer to him, though he didn’t get out of the chair, he looked up at her with the same kind smile. “I’d like to get Juno off of my back, I need your approval to do it.”

“Ok.” He responded bluntly.

“Ok?” Pinkamena looked at him confusedly. “Just like that?”

“Just like that. What else were you expecting?” He asked with a raise of his eyebrow.

“I don’t know,” Pinkamena shrugged. “ Some sort of favor? An agreement or deal, kill someone maybe?”

Fancy Pants looked back at her in surprise, his mouth slightly agape. “Oh heavens no! Despite the crowd I’ve found myself in, I don’t indulge in such vile things.” He said with a wave of his hand, as if dismissing the accusation. “Besides, I was against the idea of putting Juno on you in the first place. He’s a good boy, but he can take his job too seriously sometimes. I have no quarrel with agreeing to take Juno off of you, though there is one thing I’d like you to look into.” He said as he turned back to the computer, beginning to type on it. “This doesn’t affect my vote for getting Juno off of you, you’re getting that either way. This is just something I’d appreciate if you could look into, though considering how busy you are, I can understand if you don’t have the time.”

Pinkamena walked behind the chair, looking over it down at the computer.

“Done.” He said as he pulled up a page of transactions, the name “Igneous” at the top, catching her interest. “This is a list of every known transaction Igneous had made in his time at The Syndicate, either with The Syndicate’s money, or his own. All of these have been approved and accounted for, except for this one.” He said as pointed on the screen, pointing at one hundred thousand dollars in red with a negative sign in front of it.

“So he took a hundred thousand dollars of The Syndicate’s money? Is that something that he would have to ask about?” Pinkamena asked as she looked at the list of transactions, slightly curious at what Igneous used all of this money on.

“Technically, no. The leader doesn’t have to notify anyone when he takes money out, either his or The Syndicates, since whoever looks over the transactions would know anyway. This would have caused some problems, but the very next day, he pulled two hundred thousand out of his own account and put it in The Syndicates, so it was all resolved in the end.”

“Ok, so what’s the problem?”

“There isn’t a problem, per se, it’s just…” Fancy Pants leaned back in the chair, interlocking his fingers and resting his hands on his lap. “This happened before my time, when my father was in charge of things like this. In Igneouss' entire time as a leader, he never did anything like this. So when I stumbled upon this while looking over transactions, I found it bizarre. Now I’m just curious what it was.”

Pinkamena nodded as she listened, understanding his curiosity. But she knows better than anybody, curiosity can be dangerous. “Did you try asking him yourself?”

Fancy Pants scoffed at that. “I don’t know what was with him, but he was extremely stubborn with some things. I tried asking him once, he seemed really intent on not giving it up. And, well, I don’t think it would be possible to ask him again.”

“Why not hire someone to look into it? Like a P.I. or something?”

“I don’t think my curiosity is worth that. Besides, hiring a P.I. would call far more attention to this than I’m comfortable with.”

Fancy Pants spun the chair around, facing Pinkamena with a hopeful smile.

“So, will you do it?”

Pinkamena looked back at him, contemplating her decision. But, she already had enough things to do, what’s one more?

“Sure, but before I leave, I’d like you to teach me how to withdraw money. There are a few things I’d like to buy.”

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Pinkamena walked into Igneouss’ old office, slowly shutting the door behind her. The room was almost completely dark, not a single light in the room was on. But thanks to her improved eyesight, she was able to make things out. The left of the room had a big shelf with smaller rectangular objects in it, probably a bookshelf. The right had three rows of televisions, all of which were off. Then there was a desk in the middle of the room, she couldn’t see what was on it, but she could see what was behind it.

There was a chair behind the desk, a large, black lump was in it, somewhat larger than the chair. No matter how much she tried, she couldn’t make out what it was, then it spoke.

“You fucked everything up.” A deep voice came from the lump, as it stood up from the chair. Pinkamena’s eyes constricted when she realized this was an person! They had to be at least seven feet tall! And they were big too! Could’ve been anywhere from two hundred and fifty to three hundred pounds! It was too dark to tell whether it was muscle or fat, or even what they were wearing.

“I was supposed to be the one to kill him.”

They said again, moving around the desk to where they were now standing in front of it.

“Wh-” Before Pinkamena could finish, the person jumped forward, a lot faster than someone that big she’d expect. A huge hand wrapped itself around her face, only not covering one eye. She was quickly slammed against the wall beside the door, causing immense pain in her spine. The hand gripped tighter around her face, lifting her up off the ground. Pinkamena wrapped her hands around this hand, using her claws to dig into it as much as she could. But this just seemed to make his grip tighter. She looked up at his face with one crimson eye, seeing a pair of green, dilated eyes filled with rage looking down at her.

“I was the one who was supposed to kill Igneous!”