While the club proceeded with their usual activities, Twilight, along with her deeply intoxicated victim, ventured deep into the farthest corners of the carnal edifice. Together, they encountered a few of the club's patrons performing foreplays in the very halls that lead to the storage room, which Twilight barely paid any attention to. While it caught her off guard at first, it did provide the illusion that lightened up the tense urgency compelling her to be alert at all times.

Soon after, Twilight reached her destination, coming across a metal door with the words 'storage room' embedded on its surface. She took a moment to wait for Sunset. There was still no response, not even a sign of her presence in the halls. Twilight wasn't one to waste her time on waiting, and if The Court prohibited her from making her way into the storage room without Sunset's assistance, there surely was no objection from them. Yet.

Upon entering the storage room, Twilight was greeted by stacks upon stacks of boxes that turned into a series of maze. It took a few turns around corners before she finally saw the vault at the very end of the room; a thick, bulky metal door equipped with a biometric scanner just as Vanta told them. By that time, Azure was completely out cold and could barely stand on her own. Twilight heaved the younger girl up and placed her hand on the scanner, hoping all that trouble with the dancing and chatting was worth it.

The scanner ran through Azure's hand over five times, and anticipating the door's grant to passage only alleviated the pressure so much that it made Twilight hop on her heels, and mumble to herself repeatedly. But Sombra conditioned her to thrive in the pressure, and so she did. And when the door beeped into life, Twilight sighed in relief, letting a wave of it touch her mind so carelessly that she almost dropped Azure to the ground.

Twilight took a step back when the door slid open, revealing a staircase that led to an underground passage. Gently, she put Azure down and let her doze off on the ground.

"I finally got it. Where are you?"

"Might wanna go ahead. I got myself into a situation here."

"You what?"

Hatred and vengeance. Such recognizable emotions were no stranger to Sunset. And coming from a girl in Olivia's position did not do well to shock her either, nor was she even that surprised in the slightest degree. But all it did was raise the stakes, knowing that once her presence was known throughout Club Andromeda, old enemies would be hunting her. Only this time, she was not about to enjoy the thrills of getting slashed into pieces again and again and would remain standing by the end of it, no. She was fine with the painful torture and violence, if only she was not inevitably tied to someone who she knew was not entirely capable of surviving through all that.

"You…" Olivia growled through her gnashed teeth, her voice trembled as well as the gun pointed straight between Sunset's eyes. "You killed him…"

"Vanta…" Sunset choked out, eyes carefully fixed towards the girl before her. "Should I engage?"

"Apprehend her immediately."

"Gladly."

Sunset swiftly locked her arms around Olivia, and wrestled for possession over the gun. The mad girl unleashed all the pent up hell inside her as she struggled to scratch, kick and bite her way out of the hold, while Sunset fought ferociously to block Olivia's index finger from pulling the trigger. Olivia forcefully jerked her body to the right, causing both of them trapped by each other's hold to meet the ground in a precarious thud.

As the music swelled, a loud gunshot shook the air like an uninvited guest, startling all of the club's patrons to holler about like rats in the darkness. A loud and vicious ringing pounded into Sunset's head, and the sounds of the world was silenced. She snatched the gun from Olivia's hand and immediately removed the magazine clip, which then she threw away where the deepest of shadows resided and no hand could ever reach.

Sunset stood, the chaotic scenery before her growing ever silent. Still lightheaded, every sense in her body had been switched into overdrive, for the imminent danger was bound to strike.

She ran with all the strength she could gather, allowing the stored images in her head to guide her into the narrow halls. As she went deeper, the sound of everything was beginning to concentrate, allowing her to finally hear her uneven footsteps and heavy breathing. She reached for her earpiece, but was only met with utter disappointment when she found only blood and the fleshy remnants of her left ear. It was then the pain came next.

"Shit!"

Sunset ran faster until she reached the storage room where she knew the vault was located. She then found Azure lying unconsciously at its step. Sunset did not care and proceeded to enter the passage that led underground, later finding herself within the concrete tunnels, illuminated only by green lights.

"Twilight!" Sunset called. "Twilight, can you hear me? Where are you?"

No answer. Sunset moved deeper into the tunnels, throwing curses into the winds.

"Shit! Twilight. Where the hell…?" Sunset stopped when she spotted a familiar figure, who quickly swivelled to her direction upon hearing her name.

"What took you so long?! What the hell happened up there?" Twilight yelled furiously, before taking notice of Sunset's missing ear.

"Well, I guess now I know why you couldn't respond to me." Twilight said. "Also, the tunnel's structure is interfering with the signal. I can no longer connect to them."

"Neither can I, so we better get to what we came here for."

"Right. There should be a chamber just beyond this path." Twilight beckoned before the two of them sprinted off the tunnels.

While they moved deeper into the structure, Sunset could not help but feel a heavy sense of unnaturalness. And the stench was awful. Twilight had not sensed it yet, but there was something cruel waiting for them at the end of the tunnels.

"This place… it smells like death. Like they just dug an entire graveyard and moved it here." Sunset hissed, putting a hand on her nose.

Twilight looked at the redhead with a new breed of concern, especially with the alarming dread written across her intense cyan eyes. It was a sign that Twilight obliged to trust, like a master trusting the intuitive perking of a dog's ears.

The two entered the opening of a chamber. It was huge, coated by the concentrated and malicious green haze that shone through every chrome and silver machinery tucked at the sides of the room, their protruding bulbs flickering an alarming bright yellow. Thick and long tubes were bundled together and formed wavy patterns across the floor like a group of black and chunky snakes, relaxed but lethal all the same.

At the center of the chamber were numerous cells, possibly more than four dozens or more, lined up in rows. All of the cells were framed in metal and thick glass, each housing a singular body. It was then that a wave of realization came, as the stench violently bombarded the girls' senses.

"You were right," Twilight muffled against her sleeve as she covered her face. "This place does smell like death. They've been keeping dead bodies down here and turning them into monsters."

The chamber was indeed the subject of curiosity, and Sunset's first reaction was to investigate, walking closer to one of the cells. Twilight followed, and the two shared looks of befuddlement, disgust and a sickly sense of amazement upon eyeing the corpse in one of the cells, curled up like a fetus in an artificial womb. It was one that had not yet decayed severely, but it did not take more than common sense for a person to know that it was dead.

"I see. They're coming up with a solution for them to have complete autonomy on the human body, possibly omitting every complication they encountered from their previous experiment: you." Twilight said, turning to Sunset.

"And they said I was a mistake." Sunset commented with a bitter scowl.

"We have to find some samples." Twilight directed.

"As far as I can see, there is not a single vial of any chemical compound in here." Sunset said, gesturing to their surroundings.

Twilight looked around, and she agreed with the redhead, which made her swell with frustration. "I need something that I can take back to the lab. Otherwise we've both come here for nothing."

Sunset scanned the chamber once more, and to her right she saw a computer that stood by the nearest wall.

Twilight followed Sunset's direction and didn't say a word as she sprinted straight towards the machine.

"Stay in guard." Twilight ordered without sharing a look.

With the rest of the chamber for her to inspect, Sunset left Twilight to tamper with the computer alone. One by one, she took long and careful examinations at the corpses, unintentionally hoping that she might recognize one of them. The longer she observed, the more she noticed some similarities between them. They all had scars of stitching on their heads, and tubes plugged into their napes. The more she looked, the more she wondered about their possible origins, which was something that she certainly wasn't interested in. For a long time, she had nearly perfected the art of apathy. But then, feelings of vulnerability came, tricking her into thinking she should give a damn. But no. These people, these corpses, had nothing to do with her.

"This is interesting." Twilight said out loud with her nose on the keyboard. "They developed another version of the drug, the same one that they gave you." She continued with a much lower voice. "Enhances strength, senses, endurance – It's exactly the same. Only—"

"Upgraded." Sunset finished, solemnly running her fingers across the glass. "The corpses get better treatment than I do." She muttered under her breath.

"Yes and what's more interesting here is that all of their cerebral properties are intact. Cognitive functioning, memories and awareness, all of it."

"The hell does that mean?" Sunset asked as she withdrew her hand.

"Hold on." Twilight furiously scrolled through the immense number of datas on the screen. "The pathogen acts accordingly. Like some sort of switch." She paused for a moment. "Their brains are still active and relatively normal. But once the pathogen is activated by a specific trigger, it almost like it 'masks' them completely."

"So while they're being controlled, they can still feel and think like their normal selves on the inside. Like they're trapped in their own bodies or something." Sunset suggested.

"Theoretically speaking, yes. And I believe that's what makes them more dangerous than you."

"Think you can fix that?"

"I'm not sure. But one thing I am sure of is that these lunatics definitely found the solution to their problems."

Silence followed and it stretched longer for about a minute. Twilight anticipated a response from Sunset, but nothing but the faint ambience of the chamber echoed back to her. She later dismissed it as she plugged the flash drive into the computer.

Downloading files. Five percent.

Twilight stared at the screen for a brief moment before facing the chamber again. She started looking for Sunset through the rows of cells, and by the third row she saw her standing with her eyes fixed at a particular cell before her.

"What are you doing?" Twilight asked as she approached the girl.

Something about Sunset's ill, wide eyed expression kept Twilight on her toes. And as she walked closer to her, her eyes too widened in shock and disbelief.

"That's Thunder Bass."

Twilight kept her fortitude as she laid eyes on Thunder's abnormally thin body, curled up in the cell with tubes protruding from his nape like the others. She never thought of him as a close acquaintance, and it wasn't the reason why she was mildly disturbed. It was the fact that he was a familiar face bound by the memories of the past, now perverted and twisted into something of a nightmare.

The same nightmare that made Sunset.

"He's not alone." Sunset walked over towards the third cell to Thunder's right.

"... Brawly Beats..." Twilight gasped. Brawly looked far more severe than Thunder. His wavy minty green hair was all gone, and his face and entire body was filled with jagged scars and stitches.

"Well, if these two are here… then maybe..." Sunset hummed.

There was a faint sound of something banging against the glass.

"What was that?" Twilight whispered.

Sunset's answer evaporated from her lips when a sound of someone's muffled moaning interrupted them again. It was subtle, but enough to steal away the reigning silence. She walked around the rows of cells, gun in hand and carefully locating the source of the mysterious sound. Twilight followed behind with her senses on full alert. They searched and searched until they came upon another ghastly yet familiar face.

"What the hell?" Twilight gasped with a look of horror etched across her face.

Unlike the rest of the corpses that were each subjected to different stages of decay, he was the only one who was physically intact and even fully dressed in black clothing. Numerous tubes dug deep into his scalp of unevenly cut blue hair, leading to a nasty scar that lined his forehead like a thorny crown. He seemed to be nearly paralyzed, with his head spared of the condition, banging into the glass in hopes such endeavor could free him from his confinement. Then, there were his eyes, wide and screaming with past tortures. The lower half of his face was covered in a tight mask that muffled his pleading. When he briefly locked eyes with Sunset, a burst of conflict, confusion, anguish and scorn were all felt in between.

"Flash…" Sunset said as she lowered her gun, sharing Twilight's definite disbelief. "I… I thought they killed him."

Twilight turned away, repulsed by the grotesque appearance of her former friend. "Clearly, they didn't. And now he's turned into one of them."

"This is… this is fucking ironic." Sunset chuckled weakly. "Great. We're either trapped or chained by something that turns us all against each other."

"Hopefully not all of us." Twilight whispered to herself.

"They're gonna use him, them, against us sooner or later. We have to at least do something to stop that."

Twilight's expression suddenly turned acrid, as if it was the most offensive thing she had ever heard. "That's not the objective here. Our mission is to report and submit the evidence to Sombra. That's it. And mind you, we are emissaries and we are not above The Court's orders."

"I was hoping for a compromise, not a lecture but alright. Have it your way." Sunset plopped her shoulders in resignation.

Twilight dismissed herself from the conversation to return to the computer, while Sunset was left to stay in her spot. Even though her eyes were pinned towards the floor, she could feel the resentment coming from Flash's eyes, boring into her entire being. Something was keeping her from squaring up to them and that made it all the more bitter.

Now, her abandonment had led him to a fate worse than death. There were so many words demanding to be said, but her pride dictated their fates to not meet. And if she had any clear conscience or honesty left within her, she would have admitted to herself that seeing her best friend, the one person who defended her for years despite her misdeeds and being put in such inhumane position as his reward, truly felt like utter shit.

"The files are secured." Twilight announced as she came back with the drive in hand. "Let's go."

"What are we gonna do about him?" Sunset asked quietly.

"Anything that involves him is not our decision to make. We let The Court decide his fate and we will hear of it once we get back." Twilight firmly said, but it was no accident that Sunset found a trace of dismay in her tone. Shortly after, Twilight's eyes hardened and she scoffed, "And why the hell do you care anyway?"

Sunset was yet again brought to another moment of being trapped in a corner. She wasn't given the chance to reason or argue with her logic when Twilight unceremoniously walked out of the chamber.

"Indeed." Sunset whispered before following the other girl, now carrying the unpleasant storm building up inside her, waiting for an avenue of release.

Once she joined Twilight in the corridors, her hairs began standing up on end again, worsened by the flurry of unease piling up after every bothersome concern that was screaming in her mind. Both of them were still terribly shaken by their discovery, and neither of them had the desire to discuss it. They established an understanding that it was not the time for them to keep their guards down over personal matters.

Sunset looked up and saw the little demon hovering above them. He didn't say anything, nor showed any gesture or warning that Sunset should take note of. But perhaps it was obvious enough that the indication of his mere presence meant something terrible was about to happen.

Quietly, Sunset took her gun from the holster beneath her coat and handed it to Twilight. Twilight merely frowned at her, both unsure and puzzled by the unnecessary offering.

"I already have a gun."

"You may need more bullets."

Twilight didn't refuse after that. If there was one thing that she trusted about Sunset, it was her intuition.

"They probably have the entire cavalry expecting us at the top. But relax. All guns'll be pointed at me. Nothing I can't take." Sunset said, trying to sound excited. "Try not to get caught between the crossfire."

"I'm only here to ensure that there won't be any."

After an interval, and the two emerged from the confines of the storage room, an eerie silence greeting them, signaling the absence of the usual loud activities of the club. Azure was also nowhere to be found. It was then that Twilight caught herself tightening her grip around the gun. Instinctively, Sunset began walking ahead of her, sheilding her from any danger that might welcome them by the time they reached the end of the narrow corridors. And when they had, their preparedness spared them the shock when they discovered the dance floor completely void of any wild human presence, save for a group of men armed with rifles standing in the pink haze.

At the middle of them all was Rave Shackles himself, clad in his gold and purple suit. The two girls halted and saved a few feet between them and the group of men that scattered throughout the club, with a few looming down from the balconies.

"I have to be honest, I was expecting a much more aggressive and loud visit." Rave said with an upbeat tone. "But I suppose, I shouldn't be surprised by the secrecy, considering that what I have tonight aren't just ordinary guests."

"I admire your definitive observations, Rave. Now, how 'bout you just spare us all the formality and get on with this shit already, huh?" Sunset said sharply as she bared her teeth towards him, while making sure her entire frame was enough to shield Twilight behind her.

"Ah, Sunset Shimmer. I truly wish it was under better circumstances." Rave raised his gun and shot Sunset straight to the chest.

The next thing they saw was Twilight exposed in her spot as the redhead collapsed to her floor.

"Right, then. Now we got that settled with, let's take care of you." Rave said, aiming the gun at Twilight.

"You're a smart man, Rave Shackles," Twilight began with her dangerously calm facade. "That said, I'm sure you recognize an authority of high order when you see one and that you should at least reconsider your actions before you spark something unecessary."

"And who are you?"

"My name is Twilight Sparkle, and I am the emmissary of The Court. To make it simpler for those who do not understand the significance of this visit, every information that I have gathered here tonight has been directed straight towards the most powerful and influencial people on the planet, and they are all watching you at this very moment." Twilight stepped over Sunset's unconscious and facing down body, and pracariously closing the few feet between her and Rave. "If you even dare put a bullet in me, you're not only staining your hands with my blood, but also the blood of every man standing here in this room, along with their wives, and the next generation of their family."

The air of control shifted in the room.

"A smart man like you, Rave Shackles, would consider relieving these men right now."

There was a glow of begrudging defeat in Rave's eyes, but he never took away his smile. He waved his hand and all of his men exited the club, leaving only the three of them alone on that pink lit dance floor.

"An emissary of The Court in my house," Rave repeated. "What an honor."

"Spare me the annotations. What have you done to her?" Twilight demanded.

"I only did what I should have done a long time ago."

"Which is?"

Rave paused as Twilight drew closer to him and she saw his confidence and boyish swagger struggling to keep him in his ground, but it was his smile that served as the ultimate saving grace. "I truly liked her. A long time ago. Back when I was young and foolish, I turned her into something I shouldn't have. Not because it was wrong for me to do so, no. I truly believe we all have the right to exercise the mind. It was me failing to recognize the errors of my ways, and that I chose to ignore it. Ignored her. I let her get back out there with her growing unstable mind which eventually led to this.."

"Did you kill her?"

"No." Rave said. "I know she doesn't deserve it, but as the one partially responsible for her unfortunate becoming, I gave her something that I hope will undo that I've done."

"Undo?"

Twilight quickly turned around to see Sunset struggling to get to her feet. And by struggling, literally trying to get her unstable limbs to support her weight. Her joints wobbled uncontrollably, and blood began trickling from her nose, staining her gnashed teeth with shining crimson.

"What...?" Twilight was visibly startled and confused.

"You sneaky little bastard." Sunset grunted, the blood now running down her chin. As she tried steadying herself on her feet, she held out a large tranquilizer dart that previously punctured itself deep into her heart. "See… see this? He fucking poisoned me!"

"That's not true. It's not poiso–" Twilight punched Rave in the mouth with the grip of the gun that she secretly fished out a few moments back. Blood oozed from his injured gums, but his smile did not leave his lips, and by then Twilight was most definitely tempted to shoot him right there.

"Rave Shackles, member of the White crime syndicate, and the organizer of the illicit and unapproved drug experiments, how do you plead?"

Rave took out a tiny circular remote with a singular button. and held it up in front of his face. "I wish to make amends." He said before pressing his thumb against the button.

"What did you do?" Twilight demanded, but Rave merely walked backwards from her with that satisfied look on his face.

"Twilight…" Sunset called out to her in a shaky whisper. What followed was more pretentious than any loud warning. "He's coming…"

For a moment, Twilight's motor functions demobilized at the dreadful yet all too vague warning. And she regretted it, when Flash came out from the corridors and charged like a mad bull towards her direction.

"Twilight, look out!"

Twilight found herself tumbling across the floor. She immediately sat up and saw Sunset wrestling with Flash. Compelled by strong and unseen forces which had turned him into a blind, mad dog, Flash fought with absolutely no hesitation, no mercy, and worst of all, no trace of humanity within his cold glowing blue eyes. The violence quickly escalated and Twilight had to crawl away from the scene, but she could not take her eyes off of the two former best friends clawing at each other's faces like animals.

"Flash! You fucki–!" Sunset choked in both pain and annoyance when Flash snatched her by the throat, his uncut nails digging deep into her skin.

Sunset took out the blade from her coat and sliced through his wrist, but it only tightened his grip around her neck. Becoming more annoyed and driven by the desperation to fill her lungs with precious oxygen, she plunged the blade into his elbow and forcefully slid it down until it reached his palm.

Flash dropped her, and she started gasping for air. She then shot Twilight an urgent look and yelled in a hoarse voice, "Shut this bastard off! Argh!" Flash, unbothered by his bleeding arm, picked up Sunset over his head and tossed her across the dance floor with ease, causing her to crash into the red tables.

Twilight quickly got back up to her feet and searched the room for the silver haired man. It was not long until she saw him heading straight for the exit. Twilight raised her gun and shot the door before he could reach it.

"You're not going anywhere." Twilight said, but the man continued to flee for the second floor. Twilight had no choice other than to chase him upstairs, much to her great frustration.

Meanwhile, Sunset already found herself in a much difficult position. She could feel blood flooding her lungs, and she coughed them out as soon as they reached her throat. When she tried rolling over to her back, a broken rib poked its way out of her skin. A colorful set of words escaped her lips. Just before she could sit up and punch the bone back inside where it belonged, Flash picked her up again by the neck and thrashed her around like a ragdoll into every piece of furniture in his reach until he finally slammed her hard against the floor.

The chemical was growing stronger and it burned her more than every broken bone and torn flesh combined. She thought she was about to die again, when Flamepuff appeared before her eyes, baring that cheeky grin with the sole purpose of taunting her in her misery.

"Shame to see you being bested by a former spineless prick." Flamepuff tutted mockingly. "I'll tell you what. Stop being a wimp and take this fight like the coldblooded killer you are. To spare you Master Vanta's disappointment and yours when it's Twilight's turn to being, I don't know, smashed to death?"

"No. No. No. No!" Sunset heaved herself up with the remaining might in her battered body and squared up to Flash once again, who was looking down at her with absent eyes. "I don't care what you're thinking right now, Flash. But I just have to let you know that I let you beat me the first time. Now, it's my turn."

Sunset threw a hand grenade towards Flash's feet, before tumbling to the side as fast as she could to escape the explosion. As the grenade went off, yellow flames burst violently, obliterating both of Flash's legs. For a while, Sunset felt a sense of consolation as she let herself lay on the floor and heal in peace.

"Man, I've never felt this severely fucked since I fell off that goddamn cliff." Sunset whispered, eyes pinned towards the ceiling while putting a shaky hand on her exposed rib bone.

"That juice is nasty." Flamepuff said, ogling at her wounded body. "Something is terribly wrong with you. I can smell it."

"And you think I can't?" Sunset growled between struggling breaths.

"But hey! You're still breathing!"

"Get the fuck outta here. I'm done with you." Sunset snarled and spat out the blood oozing from her mouth.

"I'm not."

Sunset hardly cared at that point. She tenderly put a thumb against her rib, took a few preparatory breaths, and pressed it back inside as hard as she could. A loud grunt came out of her throat when the bones sliced through her flesh, which proved truly more agonizing than ever, even after the many times of experiencing such pain.

It was not long before her moment of peace was destroyed when she turned to face Flash again, and realized that his legs were regenerating at an alarming rate. She figured it was only a matter of minutes before he could finally walk again and finish her off for good.

"See you soon, bacon strip! Ha! Ha!" Flamepuff cackled just before he vanished into the pink haze.

Flash started crawling after her, his empty eyes firmly fixed towards her like a mindless drone. It was something that she never thought would bring her so much dread. The kind that she might never win against.

"Shit. Shit. Shit. Flash! Snap out of it! I said fucking snap out of it!"

Sunset snatched the spare gun from her holster and began shooting, while she struggled to scoot away from Flash's reach using her broken elbow. The sounds of the gunshots below married with the ones emanating from the balconies. Twilight repeatedly cursed to herself everytime Rave refused to surrender with every warning.

"Rave! I will not ask you again!" Twilight barked, pointing a gun against the pillar, knowing Rave was hiding just around the corner.

"I'm sorry but Sunset Shimmer has to die."

"Sunset Shimmer is under the custody of The Court. Her fate is not yours to decide!"

"She may be serving you now, but it was I who made her this way. I'm responsible for her just as I am responsible for the deaths of hundreds of people, all civilians and criminals alike. I, of all people, have the right to destroy what I once created."

As much as Twilight deeply agreed with most of Rave's statement, it was also something she could never acknowledge. Their game of cat and mouse was becoming more of a vexatious chore that she absolutely had no plans of extending.

"No one has the right to make these decisions unless The Court deems it so. Surrender the remote, Rave Shackles. And I might just consider requesting your punishment to be far less severe than initially determined."

"And what difference will that make?"

"It will make you less of a coward."

Sunset's screams shook the entire club, urging Twilight to take a peek at the dance floor down below. The two were still fighting, and even from a distance, one could easily determine who was winning.

With every brutal blow Sunset took, it became harder for her to stay on her feet. Given the poison spreading inside her, she was inferior compared to Flash's combined speed and strength. She later recieved a brutal kick to the head, causing her to fall completely flat on her face. She laid there, hardly clinging to whatever she had left.

Turning her attention away from the scene, Twilight rushed towards the corner of the pillar and sent Rave staggering back against the railings in surprise. When he looked back, a gun was now pointed straight to his face. He slowly raised his hands and eyed the girl before him.

"You're really willing to save her despite everything she's done." He said, rather beguiled. "Oh, well. It doesn't matter if she survives tonight. She'll be no use to you from now on. You will dispose of her completely." He revealed the remote in his hand then pressed his thumb against the button, releasing Flash from his control. Flash's entire mind and body were drained to complete exhaustion. And so he fell back and drifted into unconsciousness.

Twilight, despite recognizing Rave's little act of redemption, couldn't help but bash his nose inwards with her bare fist, knocking him to the ground. His defeat brought a sense of triumph in her, as she sneered at his body one last time before abandoning him in the balconies.

"I'll see you in court, Rave Shackles."

When Twilight returned to the dance floor, she immediately rushed to Sunset. All Twilight could hear was her occasional wheezing and moaning. Twilight couldn't resist feeling deeply disappointed and uneased upon witnessing such a miserable state.

Reluctantly, Twilight knelt down to the redhead's level and snapped her fingers in front of her face in hopes to retrieve her focus. Sunset looked up, weakly, pathetically, with her bleeding crimson eye.

Twilight clenched her jaw as she thought of a proper thing to say. She looked around, briefly distracted when her eyes unintentionally fell upon Flash's unconscious body. It was all a bizarre experience to see everything unfold in front of her like that. Only worsened when she spotted her earpiece in fragments a few feet away. She must've dropped it when Sunset pushed her out of the way.

Defeated and aggravated all at once, Twilight huffed as she took out a syringe from her jacket. Sunset looked up at the object with curiosity, and was suddenly intimidated by the sheer size of its needle, bringing her into full consciousness. Twilight jammed the needle into Sunset's neck and pressed the substance into her veins.

"Get up." Twilight ordered as she pulled out the needle and got back to her feet.

"Wha… what was that?" Sunset moaned, scratching the punctured area of her neck.

"Concentrated endorphine. The one I brought for myself. Now get up."

Twilight carefully analyzed everything Rave had told her earlier. After looking him in the eye, she knew he was no liar. A conniving, clever young man. Maybe a sickly mirror image of herself. But not a liar. She felt the urge to make an investigation of her own without The Court's supervision. She had to unveil the cloud that was beginning to cover her mind.

Author's Notes:

Hope you all are safe and sound in this crazy world.