Author's Note

Sorry this chapter took so long, college has had me super busy.
I somewhat enjoyed writing this chapter because it helped portray the moral dillema Pinkamena has to go through, and to show how manipulative The Whispers are, and that they always know how to control a situation.
Thank you for reading, if you spot any grammar mistakes or have any issues, please tell me so I can fix or explain them. Enjoy!

Chapter 8: Lucidity, Part 2.

Pinkamena walked out of one of the entrances to The Syndicate, disguised as an abandoned building. The street she was on wasn’t that far from her house, a thirty minute walk at most. She had still been wearing her hoodie with her hood up covering her face, her stuff and things that members of the Council had given her were still sitting in her pockets. The streets were almost empty with the exception of a couple of homeless people, thought it was hard to tell with how dark it was outside. The phone on her clock said it was four thirty, so the sun should be rising soonish.

Which meant she only had about two hours or so before she had to go to school, she hasn’t even had time to think about what she was going to tell Applejack about what happened. Nor did she know what to say if Sunset decides to confront her about what happened in the woods, it would be really hard to explain what she was without bringing up The Syndicate, especially with Juno still breathing down her neck.

Pinkamena looked back at the abandoned apartment complex behind her, glaring over her shoulder as she examined it. It was several stories high, having held a few dozen people in it before being abandoned. She wasn’t sure why exactly it became abandoned, other than the fact that it had been as far back as she could remember. But since it was owned by The Syndicate, she guessed they bought it anonymously, kicked out all the tenants, and more or less left it to rot.

The majority of abandoned things in Manhattan belonged to The Syndicate. Apartments, houses, hospitals, anything that most people wouldn’t think twice about being abandoned. They all serve one of two purposes; being an entrance to The Syndicate, or a sort of observation point. The Syndicate is located underground, both because it’s well hidden, and that way they could use the subways and trains as easy transportation.

The second reason is how pay attention to everything that goes on in Manhattan, and are typically involved in some way. Each abandoned place owned by The Syndicate have a handful of homeless people in them, though they’re not actually homeless people, they’re agents of The Syndicate. Their jobs are mainly to pay attention to any significant events that happen in their area, listen and report any rumors or people of interest, and pay attention to everyone who enters and leaves.

This building was in the same shape most were. Clearly having been abandoned for a while, the plants that were covering it and the nest of birds and a couple of other animals clear indicators of it. The doors had been long torn off, revealing the inside was pretty dark, with the exception of a barrel inside with a fire in it. A couple of ‘homeless people’ inside watching her intently.

She turned her head forward and briefly closed her eyes, focusing on her hearing as she tried to find Juno’s heartbeat. She hadn’t really expected to hear it, so she wasn’t that surprised when she didn’t, he knew her range.

She let out a sigh as she opened her eyes, until she did all the favors she needed to do for The Council, she was just going to have to deal with it. It isn’t even that she disliked Juno. He was...interesting to her, and she did feel somewhat grateful for him saving her life, though she didn’t enjoy the feeling that she owed him for it. It was more the fact that she didn’t like someone watching her at all times, it was bad enough she had to deal with the constant presence of The Whispers watching her every move, she didn’t like the fact that there was someone else constantly watching her.

Pinkamena suddenly felt something in her hoodie pocket vibrating, which she figured must have been her phone, since it couldn’t have been anything else. She pulled it out, quickly typed her password in, and noticed that she had a text message from Applejack.

*Hey, not sure if this is still your number, or if you’re even alive. But, I thought I should at least try. We need to talk soon. Meet me at the tree you met me at yesterday, I won’t be able to get there until six, which doesn’t really give us a lot of time. If you aren’t there and I don’t see you throughout the day ...I'll assume you’re dead.

I’m not much of an optimist, but I really hope you’re not.*

She quickly read the text message, glad that Applejack still cared about her, even if she now knew the truth. She’d like to believe the rest of her friends would be as accepting as AJ is, but she didn’t really know, a lot of time has passed. Besides, the only reason The Syndicate was ok with AJ knowing is because she was the leader of The Apples. There was no reason for the rest to know.

No matter how much she might have missed them, it was too risky.

Pinkamena was about to put the phone back in her pocket, before it started to ring. She hesitated in answering it, the number wasn’t one she recognized. She had downloaded an app a while ago that prevents her from getting calls from numbers that weren’t in her contacts and didn’t share her number so telemarketers and the like wouldn’t call her a lot, though the unknown numbers will still go through if they share her zip code. The thing is, there’s almost no way she could think of that anyone around here could have gotten her number in the past three months.

So who was calling her?

She slowly brought the phone up to her ear, putting it under her hoodie and hair as she answered the call.

“Hello?”

“Ah! Pinkamena! I wasn’t sure if you’d pick up. I might have fibbed a little bit when I said I didn’t mess with your phone, I got into it enough to where I could get your number so I could call you. You know, for when you’re out and about and not sitting in the medical bay because you did something reckless.”

Of course it was Discord, who else would it be?

“Why am I not surprised? Alright, what did you want to call me for?” Pinkamena said as she turned to the left, beginning to walk down the sidewalk.

“Well, I’ve got a handful of things to tell you. First off, you should probably know that I didn’t actually post that bounty of you. Nor do I intend too, I-”

“You what?!” Pinkamena said angrily, a little bit louder than she intended to. “How are they supposed to trust me now? I ne-”

“Nobody in The Syndicate knows about this, they all still think the bounty for you will be up. And if you keep getting beat up like this, that wouldn’t be too hard to believe. I told Blake and and had him pulled back before he caused any issues, for now I'm just having him gather as much info on The Silent Killer so I can relay it to you, since you don't want to deal with him for a bit. You and everyone in The Council are the only ones that know of this. Whether it stays that way is up to you. But I’m not changing my mind. There’s no need to put your life in any more danger than you already put it in yourself, this is getting all the benefits with minimal risk. If you have a problem with that, deal with it.”

She couldn’t argue against his logic, he was right. But it still pissed her off. There weren’t a lot of things Pinkamena could give other people that had actual value, but her word was one of them. When she said she was going to do something, she was going to do it. She always kept her promises, or at least tried her best too. Even if the reason for giving it was stupid or risky, she still made it, so she was obligated to keep it.

But this time it didn’t seem like she had any other choice.

“It's ...fine,” She said with contempt. “Anyway, what else did you want to tell me?”

“Well, for one, for the next month or so, I’m going to be absurdly busy. I don’t mean the kind of busy where there’s a lot of tasks that need to get done but I could actually get the majority of them done quickly and with ease, I mean things that will actually take time and effort to do. And at the rate you seem to be getting yourself into life threatening situations, I’m not going to be able to juggle helping you not die, making sure The Syndicate doesn’t collapse in on itself, and doing what it is I need to get done.

So, I more or less gave Melvin the rundown on how to treat you in pretty much every realistic scenario that could happen to you in the next couple of weeks. And, knowing you, I taught him what to do in the case of a couple of unrealistic scenarios. He even has my emergency number, though if he ends up actually having to call that number I’d be rather surprised.”

Discord said impatiently as the sound of a car door could be heard opening and closing in the background, indicating he was getting into a car and was about to drive somewhere.

“What, is there some kind of manual on Chimeras?” Pinkamena asked jokingly as she turned the corner, the convenience store she had been walking to coming into sight.

“No, well, sort of. I have every detail about Chimeras:how to treat them, how to deal with them, and stuff like that written down. The problem is that it’s all written down in my personal research journal, so I would need to pull all of that out and put it into a separate book, though I suppose that could have its uses. Anyway, what I’m trying to say is:” The sound of his car being revved up could be heard in the background, though it didn’t sound like the car was in very good condition. “I’m going to be really busy for a while, and I’m not going to be able to help you or treat you for that time. I might be in my lab occasionally, but I’m likely only there to either pick something up or make something. If I happen to be there when you need me for something, than I may be able to help. So, I only have one question left; Do you think you can handle this?”

Discord asked seriously, the usual joking tone in his voice gone.

Pinkamena stood outside of the convenience stores, wondering if the man who was usually at the register would even recognise her.

“Assuming I still have the other members of The Council for help, yeah, I think I’ll be okay.” She said as she walked into the store, the doors automatically opening and closing as she did.

“Well, Michael is going to be a bit busy learning how to walk again after you messed up pretty much his entire quadriceps femoris group, but the rest should be more than willing to help and keep The Syndicate more or less stable if you’re busy or can’t. I’ll tell you when I’m free, and I’ll text you my emergency contact number in case you’ll need it, but hopefully you won’t. And Pinkamena?”

“Yeah?” She responded, noticing the sudden worried tone in his voice.

“Please don’t die.” Discord said as he hung up, a slight bit of concern in his voice as he did.

Pinkamena appreciated Discord’s concern for her, but he should know better than anyone how hard it would be for someone to actually kill her. Pinkamena put her phone in her pocket, looking at the convenience store before her as she did.

She almost immediately noticed all the things she was used to about convenience stores like this. The somewhat clean smell as a place like this gets cleaned regularly, the cold air from the air conditioning, the faint sound of music from a radio by the register, the rows of snacks and candy on shelves in the place, the freezers in the back full of various drinks, and the near emptiness of the place that made you wonder how it even stayed in business.

She felt a wave of nostalgia come over her, not realizing how long it’d been since she’d been in this convenience store.

When she was younger, in about fifth grade, her and Rainbow Dash would race to the nearest convenience stores, the winner had to buy the loser candy. That was back when Pinkamena was still really competitive, but still somewhat too shy to make any real friends. That was how she met Rainbow Dash, and more or less how they became friends. They started talking and she eventually introduced her to Fluttershy who she had been long time friends with, and everything else just kind of fell into place from there.

They didn’t always go to this convenience store, this was just the most common one because it was closest to where Pinkamena lived. She was never really sure where Rainbow Dash lived until her sophomore year where she told her she had been living in an apartment by herself, she never asked where her parents were because it was obvious that was a sensitive subject. Before that she used to just randomly find her around, usually pretty dirty and wearing clothes that made her look more like a boy than a girl.

When Sunset came and tore them apart, they had stopped talking for a bit, and didn’t run to the convenience store together again until Princess Twilight had brought them together. And even then it was obvious who would win since Rainbow Dash had been a lot more athletically active than Pinkamena had been. But it was still really fun, and it reminded her of how much she enjoyed spending time with her.

She felt herself smirk as she looked back on some of the things they did; Making excuses for why they lost, making fun of strangers that walked by, daring each other to do stupid things and just talking about their lives. It was actually an enjoyable experience and she felt she made a real friends besides her sisters, it helped her become more social and open. At the end of school everyday she looked forward to whatever she’d be doing with Rainbow Dash that day, it usually made her very happy and forget some of her problems.

Then she felt herself frown as she felt a sudden sinking feeling in her stomach, realizing she would never see Rainbow Dash again. She was likely dead somewhere and her body would never be found.

Just like her sisters…

“Hey kid, are you going to buy something? Or are you just going to stand there staring at the ground?” A man said from behind the counter, a thick city accent evident in the way he talked.

Pinkamena looked to her right, recognizing him almost instantly. It was the same guy who’d always been here, though he looked somewhat older. He was almost entirely bald except for negligible amounts of hair on the sides of his head, having no facial hair. Like before, he always wore a bright colored T-shirt with ripped and dirty jeans, wearing an old watch that looked like it was too small to ever come off, and having surprisingly hairy arms despite the lack of hair on the rest of his body. His face was covered in wrinkles and his brown eyes always seemed to be bulging from his head when he looked at anyone.

She was glad he hadn’t changed, too many things have.

“Yeah, I just wanted a pack of Morley cigarettes.” Pinkamena replied as she pulled her black wallet from her jeans, pulling out the money she’d need for it.

“Sure, you look old enough. Hey, your pink hair looks really familiar. You wouldn’t happen to have a sister with the same hair as you, would you?” He asked as he turned around and grabbed a white and red pack of cigarettes from a rack of them behind him, passing them over the counter to Pinkamena.

“I have three-” Pinkamena bit her lip as she stopped herself, her hand suddenly clenching around the money in her hand. “I have one sister, but her hair is a completely different color than mine. Why?” She asked as she pushed the money over to him, taking a pack of cigarettes from him and putting them in her hoodie pocket.

“There used to be this kid who came to this convenience store with her friend to buy candy, did it damn near everyday. She was annoying as hell, but she was also a very nice girl, if a little naive. She always seemed so happy, her hair was always in a mess but it just seemed natural for her. I asked because you have almost the exact same color hair as her, though it’s in a different style. Because her eyes always had this sort of...light to it, they seemed so bright and full of life. But yours….”

He seemed to frown a bit as he looked into her eyes, a look of almost pity in them.

“Your eyes just look so...empty, like there’s nothing behind them. I just don’t believe that same kid from before could have the same look in their eyes like that. That’s all it was. Is that all you wanted?” He asked as he quickly regained composure, the pitiful look on his face quickly disappearing.

Pinkamena put her hands in her hoodie pockets, her hands slightly shaking as they did. She turned away from him as she began to walk out, her hair covering a bit of her face as she did.

“Yeah, that’s all.” She said quickly as she speed walked out of the convenience store, the doors quickly opening and closing.

“Well, okay then. Have a good night.” He said as the door closed behind her, thinking her behavior was a little weird.

He sat in silence for a few moments, his face changing to one of perplexity.

“Hmmm, maybe the next time that rainbow haired chick comes in I can ask her the pink haired girls name or where she’s been. She was always with her anyways, she’d probably know.”

He said with a shrug, waiting patiently for his shift to be over.

___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Pinkamena sat on the edge of a rooftop, her feet dangling over the edge as she slouched. A cigarette dangling out of her mouth and the pack sitting open beside her, smoke coming out of the tip of it. Her head was faced downward into the alleyway below, her hood still up and most of her hair dangling down and covering her face. Though her eyes were open, she wasn’t really focusing or looking at anything. Her eyelids were half open and she had an almost distant look in her eyes, more lost in her thoughts than anything else.

Right now, she was focused on what the convenience store clerk said to her about her eyes. Were they really empty? No one had told her that before, nor had anyone told her that her eyes were bright and filled with life. What changed? That was a stupid question, she changed. But when? When did the light leave her eyes? When did the life in her leave?

It was hard to tell, but some part of her felt like she should know.

“You really shouldn’t be thinking about your eyes that much, you really don’t have the time to idly think about things people say about you.”

Igneous’ voice came from behind her, his condescending tone as evident as always. Pinkamena slightly turned her head to the left, seeing Igneous standing right behind her. He was looking down at her in almost disappointment, she wasn’t really sure why.

She turned her head back around, though she was just looking ahead of her and was somewhat more focused on the world around her rather than her thoughts. She brought her right hand up to her mouth and pulled out a cigarette, holding it in front of her as she blew a cloud of smoke in front of her.

“Where have you been? I sort of expected you to show up when Starlight mentioned you, or when Discord and I were, but you were absent. Ever since I met Alice, you were kind of distant. Even the whispering was somewhat quieter.”

As soon as she mentioned Alice, she felt a sudden immense pressure in her mind, though not to the extent of pain. She glanced back at Igneous and saw that his face had quickly morphed into a scowl, an almost loathful look in his eyes.

“You ...met Alice?” He asked through gritted teeth, his hands clenching until fists as he did.

“Yeah, after I was knocked out she showed up. Introduced herself and explained who and what she was, and we started talking about some stuff. That was about it.” Pinkamena responded nonchalantly, she’d rather not have to go into detail about what they’d talked about if she could help it.

“What...what did you talk about?” He asked hesitantly and calmly as he walked towards Pinkamena, though she could feel the frustration he was failing to hide.

She turned her head forward again as she looked into the alley below her, bringing the cigarette to her mouth again as she inhaled. She hadn’t had a lot of time to think about Alice or The Whispers, she had been very busy. The thing that stuck out to Pinkamena the most out of everything that Alice said was that they were both apart of The Whispers, but they were more or less separate. But Alice never really clarified how that worked. Were they two separate minds? When one was around, was the other watching and aware of whatever they talked about and did? Could they both be here at the same time? If not, could the other take over whenever they felt like it?

From the way Igneous was reacting, it seemed he hadn’t even known they had met yet, so much as what they had talked about.

“Oh, you know,” Pinkamena said with a smirk as she pulled the cigarette out of her mouth and exhaled, getting a bit of satisfaction out of the fact that she knew something he didn’t and wanted to know. “Girl stuff.”

She could hear him let out a frustrated grunt as she said that, and if he had a heart beat, it would be very erratic right now.

She could feel him begin to give her a brain aneurysm, the familiar feeling of pressure and pain beginning to build up in the back of her mind. But, it suddenly stopped, as if the frustration from before had just vanished.

“Whatever. We have stuff to talk about.” He said begrudgingly as he walked forward, standing beside her and glaring at the back of her head.

“The person I’m wanting you to check on is a former acquaintance of Gerald, assuming they’re still alive. You going to see them will be a test of sorts, you’ll know that we mean when you get there. Now, about this whole ‘Silent Killer’ situation.”

Pinkamena’s slowly shifted to the empty streets to the right of her, though she was still listening to what he was saying. She knew there were a lot of things she needed to figure out how to deal with, but right now there was just so much to do and that was expected of her that just wanted to relax, even if for just a little bit.

But it seemed the only times she got to relax was when she was unconscious, and even then The Whispers didn’t let that last very long.

“Whoever they are, they pose no actual threat to The Syndicate as a whole. An annoyance at most. But if they continue to do what they’re doing, it's going to cause some...unrest. The situation with The Apples, for example. There are smaller organizations that may band together in an attempt to take down The Silent Killer, which would cause chaos an-”

“Why didn’t you tell me that The Whispers were in Igneous?”

He suddenly stopped talking as he scowled at her, his left hand slowly clenched into a fist.

“Didn’t I warn you not to interrupt-”

“The Whispers have access to all of his memories, right? That’s why you didn’t want me to know.”

She had expected him to snap his fingers and cause a brain aneurysm for interrupting him, but instead he just seemed to glare at her as he listened to what she said.

“What are you getting at?” He asked suspiciously, his right hand still clenched into a fist.

“Well, I know any time Igneous didn’t spend making me into his little pet project, he was trying to figure out how to deal with The Silent Killer. One of the first steps anyone would take to handle a problem like that would be to figure out their identity. So, what I’m getting at….” She suddenly stopped as she put the rest of the cigarette out by rubbing it against the ledge she was sitting on, before flinging it with her fingers into the alleyway below. She then pulled another cigarette from the pack beside her and put it in her mouth, pulling a red lighter from her hoodie pocket and then lighting the cigarette, before quickly putting the lighter back in her hoodie pocket.

“I think that Igneous figured out who The Silent Killer was, and had intended to deal with them accordingly after he was done with me.” Pinkamena said as she pulled the cigarette out of her mouth, smoke leaving her mouth as her eyes slowly shifted to him. “I’m sure it is at least part of why The Whispers have been so hesitant to give me access to all of their memories. What I’m thinking, is if it’s just some random person, there wouldn’t be an issue with telling me who it is. But you haven’t. So, you either want me to figure it out myself. Or The Silent Killer is someone I know, and knowing who they are might prevent me from killing them.”

There was silence for a few moments as Pinkamena and The Whispers stared at each other, she was waiting for his response, expecting he’d be upset or outraged.

Somehow, it made her more uncomfortable when he smiled.

“You....are something special, Pinkamena. The previous host were not as clever as you are, nor did they think the way you do. You’re a lot smarter than I initially thought, shame you’re intent on being a disobedient brat.” He said as he turned away from her, now looking down at the alleyway below like Pinkamena was earlier.

“I won’t confirm or deny anything, there’s no fun in that. I will say that whoever you think it is, you’re wrong. Now, abou-”

Before Igneous could finish, he suddenly disappeared, leaving Pinkamena staring at the spot he was sitting at with slightly raised eyebrows.

Then her confusion left whenever she felt small, childlike arms wrap around her. One dangling over her right shoulder, the other wrapping around her side and resting on her left leg. Her arms felt cold, there was no heat or warmth from them at all, they were like the limbs of a dead person.

She felt Alice rest her chin on her left shoulder, her cold face rubbing against Pinkamena’s neck. Her emerald eyes looked up at her innocently, a sly smile on her face.

“Miss me?” She asked in a childish tone, her eyes piercing into Pinkamena’s soul.

Pinkamena looked down at her, raising her left arm as she put the cigarette in her mouth.

“I take it only one of you can be here at a time? Either that or you want to talk to me about something you don’t want him to hear about. So what, you can just make him disappear anytime you want and then you show up? Can he do the same to you?” Pinkamena asked as she looked at Alice’s face, noticing how dull and empty her eyes looked. Was that what her eyes looked to other people?”

Alice’s smile slowly lowered into a frown as Pinkamena began asking her questions, pulling her arms away as she stood up, her arms going behind her back and her hands interlocking as she let out a disappointed sigh.

“You’re no fun. Yes, only one of us can be around at a time. That’s just because of how we work, and also because it would probably just be super bad for you if we were both here at once, for a copious amount of reasons.” She said with a roll of her eyes, walking to the left of Pinkamena to the edges of the building.

“It isn’t making him “disappear” exactly, he’s not the boogeyman, I can’t make him disappear. The best way for me to explain it, is our control over each other is partly determined by you. If I believe that you are particularly unstable or in need of emotional help, or if I just really want to talk to you, I take over. You can ask for me to come out, of course. But I won’t show up just for any reason or anytime, like you just don’t want to deal with him, for example. If I deem the reason satisfactory, I will.”

Alice began to walk on the edges of the building, her arms extended out to her sides to balance herself as her pink shoes made loud clicking noises with every step.

“Most of the time I won’t show up if there are other people around, but I can make exceptions. Now, despite what this may sound like, we both have equal control over each other. If he feels that you’re stable enough to think coherently, and I happen to be around for whatever reasons, he’ll show up and I’ll go away. Though I’m not really going away, nor is he when I show up, we just...recede back into your mind, so to speak. We aren’t aware of whatever you are talking about with the other, or what you’re thinking or anything like that. It’s just the boundaries we’ve set for each other and agreed upon.”

Pinkamena kept her eyes on Alice, the cigarette dangling out of the corner of her mouth as she skeptically listened to her.

“Will anything change once I’m allowed full access to all the memories?”

“Not really. I actually want to talk to you about that, though there’s still some things that need to happen first. So that is a later conversation. Right now, there’s something I want to talk to you about after your session with Starlight.” Alice said as she reached the end of the building, turning around and walking back towards Pinkamena the same way she had walked away, her eyes looking below her as if she were watching her steps.

“If you had to kill someone, would you hesitate?” She said normally, as if there was no weight behind what she was asking.

Pinkamena’s body went stiff when those words left Alice’s mouth, her eyes widening slightly as her fist clenched. The memory of her ripping out Igneous’ heart briefly flashed in her mind, along with the memory of her murdering all of those men.

“W-why do you ask?”Pinkamena asked, her voice a little more than a whisper as she brought her right hand up to her mouth and pulled the cigarette out, tossing it aside and putting another one in her mouth and lighting it.

Alice watched Pinkamena intently out of the corner of her eyes as she talked, noticing the sudden shift in the tone of her voice as she talked.

“Starlight made you realize that you didn’t need to kill as many of them as you did, I don’t have a problem with that. But she’s planted this idea in your head that their lives had value, and that you should feel guilty about killing them. That is where I have to disagree.” She said as she jumped off the edges of the building, landing back on the roof almost gracefully like a ballerina.

“There is no value to life, not really. There should only be one value you have for people: How they can help you. But, you are in a place where you value people depending on what they mean to you. And that’s ok, you should have some people you care about and value them for that. Like your friends, family, etc. That’s part of what keeps you human. But they should be the exception, not the rule. You can’t hesitate to kill someone, and you can’t treat everyone like they mean something to you. If you feel that guilty every time you kill someone, it’ll destroy you. You can’t handle that, no one can.”

Alice looked at Pinkamena almost sympathetically, like she felt bad for her. Pinkamena kept looking forward, unable to stop her hands from shaking and she didn’t want to look at Alice. She deeply inhaled as she lit a cigarette, the taste of ash and feeling of burning in her throat helping her ignore the sinking feeling in her stomach.

“Morales are a luxury you can’t afford to have, it’ll get you and everyone you care about killed. If you refuse to kill someone, even if they try to kill you, there are a lot of things that can go wrong from that. They kill the people you care about, they dedicate their lives to killing you, etc. You have to think of them like enemies, not humans, not someone’s child or parent, as enemies. Do you understand?” Alice asked as she walked up to Pinkamena, standing behind her and glaring down at Pinkamena’s head.

“I…” Pinkamena thought about what she should say, she could feel Alice’s gaze on her back. “I...won’t kill someone if I absolutely don’t have to.” She said as she shakily pulled the cigarette out of her mouth, exhaling a puff of smoke from her mouth.

Alice’s usual smile slowly lowered into a frown as her face took on an almost deadpan look, her lips pressing together as she looked in Pinkamena in disappointment and slight curiosity.

“Hmmm, is that so? Then, does that apply to, say…” Alice whispered as she leaned down, her mouth right beside Pinkamena’s right ear. “Someone like Blake?”

Pinkamena’s right hand tightly clenched when she asked that, the cigarette in between her fingers being pushed into her palm, the tip of it burning into her flesh.

“Oh? Did I touch a nerve? I’m sorry, but it still proves my point. Can you really tell me with one hundred percent honesty, that if Blake was in front of you right now beaten and vulnerable, you wouldn’t kill him? To get back at him for everything he’s done to you? Everything he’s done to anyone else? To prevent him from doing what he did to you to anyone else?” Alice whispered into Pinkamena’s ear, her eyes intently watching her face.

Pinkamena did not respond, she didn’t want to. She could feel the cigarette burning into the center of her hand, smell her flesh burning, but the pain didn’t bother her. She could feel Alice watching her, waiting for Pinkamena to confirm what she already knew.

But Pinkamena had no intention of answering, she wasn’t going to give Alice that satisfaction.

“Whether you’d like to admit it or not, you would. Or you’d at least want to. That rule about only treating people differently if you care about them? That also applies to hatred, blood lust, whatever you’re feeling that makes you want to kill that person. If you killed Blake, you wouldn’t feel guilty. But what about the people you need to kill? Like The Silent Killer, you need to kill them. If you don’t, there could very possibly be a war between The Syndicate and The Apples, more people will get killed. You need to take that life to save many others, some of them are lives that you care about. You have to be able to differentiate and distance yourself emotionally, except for when you need your emotions. Got it?” Alice asked cheerfully, though the meaning behind her words suggested a different tone.

Pinkamena stayed silent for a few seconds, her eyes looking at her right hand as smoke and steam came from between her fingers.

“I do...but, I do think you’re partly wrong.” Pinkamena said hesitantly, pulling a cigarette from the palm of her hand and putting in back in her mouth, the burn mark on her hand quickly healing. “I want to believe there’s always another way, and I should at least give them a chance. We didn’t kill Sunset Shimmer, we defeated her and then helped her become a better person. We thought that she could be a good person, so we gave her a chance.. Sure, there are people I would be glad to kill and wouldn’t feel bad about killing. But I can’t kill someone just because they’re in my way, I should give them a chance first. Starlight made me realize that everyone means something to somebody, some humans are shit, but I can’t treat everyone like their Blake.”

Alice listened to what she said, through her eyes slowly drifted away from Pinkamena, her gaze focusing on something in the streets to the right of them.

“Not everyone is worth helping Pinkamena, you can’t risk your life for every human you meet, you have to care about yourself too.” She said as she walked forward, jumping on the edge of the building and looking down into the alleyway, smiling smugly as she notices something. “Alright, what about killing someone for the sake of someone else?” She asked as she looked back to the right of them, her eyes following a person that was walking down the sidewalk.

“What do you mean?” Pinkamena asked as she looked at Alice, noticing that she was looking at something in the alleyway. She followed her gaze to see a woman walking on the sidewalk. It was hard to tell any features she had, other than she had hazel hair tied up in a bun, she was wearing a large, red overcoat with jeans and sneakers, and she seemed to be going somewhere in a hurry. She was likely either just leaving her job, or going to it. She was walking towards the building they were on, the alleyway in front of them.

Pinkamena didn’t see the significance of this woman, nor why Alice seemed so interested in this woman. Then she noticed Alice’s eyes shift to below them, locking on to something in the alleyway. Someone was in the alleyway, it was impossible to see anything other than a dark figure, it seemed they were wearing dark clothing in an attempt to hide their identity. They were standing against the wall of the building, looking out into the street to his left as if he were waiting for something.

Pinkamena watched these two individuals, not seeing the connection between the two or why Alice was paying attention to them. A minute or two passed by with nothing happening, no one else seemed to be around except for these two people.

When the woman got to the alleyway, the person in it grabbed her by her shoulder and pulled her in, shoving her against the wall and putting a knife against her throat.

“Give me all your fucking money, and maybe I won’t slit your throat!” The man screamed loudly into the woman's face, the knife digging a little deeper into her throat.

The woman was too scared to respond, unable to resist or move out of fear the knife would dig deeper in her throat. She frantically reached into her pocket, pulling out her wallet and slowly giving it to him.

Pinkamena’s keen hearing allowed her to hear what he said, which was how she was able to tell what was happening. She put cigarettes and lighter back in her hoodie pocket, her attention now fully on what was happening below her.

“Looks like a typical robbery, right? Whoever that man is, he isn’t apart of The Syndicate or The Apples, they have too much dignity to ever resort to petty crimes like this. He’s either apart of some piece of trash gang, or a criminal junkie trying to get money for his next fix. He likely won’t kill that woman if that were the case, but…”

Pinkamena watched as the man took the wallet, briefly looking through it and putting the wallet in a pocket behind him. She felt slightly relieved when she saw him pull the knife away from her throat, the woman too giving a quiet sigh of relief.

Then the man turned the woman around and shoved her against the wall, putting the hand with the knife in it around her left shoulder and shoving the knife against her throat. He shoved the other hand under her overcoat and grabbed her breast, pushing his crotch against her back as he licked her neck.

“Now comes the fun part!” He said lustfully, licking her neck as if enjoying the taste of her.

Pinkamena tensed up when she saw this, the familiar feeling of rage and disgust building up inside of her. She lay her hands on the edges of the building, feeling her hands clench and her nails slowly extending into claws.

“Yeah, that’s what I figured, he’s a rapist. Usually someone so lonely and desperate for affection that they’d take it from someone, or just someone with next to no self control. Doesn’t seem like this is his first time doing it either. If I had to guess, he intends to kill her when he’s done and dispose of the body somehow, the best way to avoid being caught. I could be wrong, maybe he’ll just rape her and leave her, traumatized in an alleyway wondering what she did to deserve something like that.” Alice said coldly, her face showing no sign of empathy as she watched what was happening below her.

The rapist began to take her clothes off, the woman trying desperately to resist, but every time she did just caused him to push the knife deeper against her throat, blood dripping from her neck.

“Someone he-” She tried to scream, before he lifted the knife up and put it against her mouth.

“Shut the fuck up and stop squirming! If you try to call for help again or you keep moving around like you are, I will kill you! And don’t think that’ll stop me from fucking you, because it won’t!” He said angrily as he began to unbutton his pants, the woman's eyes going wide and tears running down her face as she heard it.

Pinkamena’s jaw clenched as she watched, her eyes slowly fading into a dark crimson.

“Why are you holding yourself back like that?” Alice said as she turned her gaze to Pinkamena, leaning down to where her face was right beside Pinkamena’s. “Are you afraid you won’t be able to control yourself? That you wouldn’t be able to stop yourself from killing that man?”

Pinkamena clenched her jaw tighter, not wanting to admit that Alice was right.

“M-maybe someone el-”

“Someone else might help? Not likely, people are going to start coming out and going to work or school, sure. But do you think that’ll be soon enough. Any second now he’s going to start, and when he’s satisfied he’ll likely kill her. This doesn’t seem like his first time doing this. And if he hasn’t gotten arrested for doing it before, he must be doing something right. By the time anyone even comes by, it’s likely he’ll have already killed her.

Right now, you’re the only person that can save her. And if you don’t, worst case scenario, she’ll be traumatized for the rest of her life, or dead. Whichever you think is worse."

Pinkamena was shaking at this point, barely able to hold herself back as she was fighting a war in her head. She knew this woman deserved to be helped, and that she shouldn’t even hesitate when it comes to killing a piece of trash like this. But something inside her was holding her back.

“And what if I end up killing him? What if he means something to somebody? What if-”

“What’s more important, your morales, the life of some stranger rapist, or this innocent woman who’s being taken advantage of?”

Pinkamena thought on her words for a few seconds, before coming to a decision. Without hesitating, she pushed herself off the edge of the building to the alleyway below, Alice standing up and watching her.

“It’s been weeks since I’ve gotten any pussy, th-” He suddenly stopped as he heard a loud thumping noise, seeing something move out of the corner of his eye.

He saw a hooded figure a few feet in front of him, it was too dark to tell what they looked like. They seemed to be facing the building across from them, facing sideways from his perspective. It was hard to tell, but it seemed like this person was glaring at him.

“Who’s there? You better fuck off, I’m apart of The Syndicate. If you do anything to me, you’re fucked!” He yelled as he turned his attention to this person, his knife held against her throat like she was a hostage.

“Are you now? Then,” The figure turned towards him, pulling their hood back as they walked out of the dark in his direction. “Do you recognize who I am?” Pinkamena asked maliciously, her eyes having completely changed to red at this point.

The man was very taken aback, his eyes widening in fear and shock as he pulled his knife away from the woman, though only slightly for a few seconds.

“What the fu-”

Those few seconds were all she needed.

Before he even got the chance to get the words out of his mouth, she leaped forward and was in front of him in an instant. She grabbed the hand that was holding the knife by the wrist, using her left leg to kick him in the back of the shin so he’d quickly lose his grip.

The second both of his hands were off the women, she wrapped her other had around his neck, choke slamming him against the ground as he let out a loud grunt.

“Get out of here, now!” Pinkamena yelled at the woman as she turned towards her, the woman seeming extremely shaken up.

Pinkamena felt a sharp pain in her right arm, looking down and seeing that he had taken advantage of her looking away by stabbing her in her right arm. The second she turned her head to look down at him he headbutted her, causing her to loosen her grip. He kneed her in the stomach and got out of her grip, pulling the knife out from her and rolling out from under her.

He quickly got to his feet, his breathing had become erratic, but it was hard to tell why.

“I don’t know who or what the fuck you are, but I will kill you for cock blocking me!” He said as he ran towards her with his knife out.

Pinkamena quickly reacted, grabbing the knife with her bare hand and putting her other hand against his chest and pushed him to the side. His back smashed against the wall of the building as she forced the knife out of his hand, the claws on her hand digging into his chest, causing him to yell out in pain.

Pinkamena looked to the left of her, seeing that the woman was still there, standing there in shock and just staring at her, almost like she was unable to move.

“Why are you still here? Go!”

The woman flinched when she was yelled at, turning around and running out of the alleyway.

“I will kill you, you bitch!” He shouted as he spat in her face, causing her to growl as she struggled to hold herself back.

“I will hunt that bitch down, I always finish what I start. But you? Well, only one of us is leaving this alleyway alive!”

She could feel the anger building the more he spoke, becoming more accepting of the idea of killing him as she struggled to stop herself. Her claws dug deeper into his chest as she listened fo-

Her face suddenly dropped from anger to confusion as her ears twitched, her eyes lowering from his face to his chest. She seemed to just be staring at his chest for a few seconds, as if she were looking for something.

“What the fuck are you looking at?” The man yelled, but Pinkamena didn’t seem to flinch. She just stared at his chest for a few more seconds, like she was focused on something.

Then her eyes widened as if she realized something, and just as quickly, they closed and her lips pressed together, almost like she was disappointed by something.

“You’re not real.” She mumbled as she suddenly pulled her claws out of his chest, standing away from him with her arms at her side as her claws slowly retracted.

He fell to the floor with a thud, blood gushing from the claw marks on his chest. He put his left hand over it to try to stop the bleeding, looking up at Pinkamena in confusion.

“What the fuck do you mean ‘I’m not real’? I’m sitting right here, aren’t I?” He yelled at her.

Pinkamena turned around, looking away from the man behind her, almost like she didn’t want to look at him.

“The woman too, I just thought she wasn’t talking because she was afraid. But it's probably because it's hard to control two hallucinations like that. You’re The Whispers, and this was something just to see if I could be pushed to kill someone. I’m pissed and disappointed at myself for even falling for it.” Pinkamena said as she clenched her right hand, her nails digging into her skin and drawing blood.

The man looked up at Pinkamena’s back for a few more seconds, before his head lowered, the hood covering most of his face, except for his mouth.

His lips slowly curved into a borderline sadistic smile, but it also seemed to be a proud one, like a mother would give to their child after acing a test.

“What gave it away?” Alice’s voice came from the mans mouth, sending shivers down Pinkamena’s spine.

The man slowly began to shrink, the hoodie he was wearing slowly disappearing along with the majority of the rest of him. Soon the man was gone, and Alice was in his place.

“He didn’t have a heartbeat, and he clearly wasn’t dead. If I had tried to listen to that womans, I’m sure I wouldn’t have heard one either. If I had ripped him open, would there even be a heart inside?” Pinkamena asked, though she still hadn’t turned around.

Alice stood up, wiping off her knees as she did. She was wearing the same thing she was on the rooftop, the injury in her chest seeming to have disappeared.

“You would, it just wouldn’t be beating. I’m actually a little impressed, I hadn’t expected to notice something like that. Perhaps you’re more perceptive than I anticipated.”

Before Alice could say anything else, Pinkamena suddenly dropped to her knees, her hand clenched to her chest as she began to breathe erratically.

“I-i almost...If that had been a real person, I would have killed him! I was so close, I could barely hold myself back. Just a few more seconds, and I would ha-”

Pinkamena struggle to speak, the pain in her chest seeming to get tighter and more intense. Alice walked up to her, resting her right hand on Pinkamena’s left shoulder, trying to comfort her.

“I know, just let it all out, it's ok.” She said soothingly, that coy look still on her face.

“I..I wanted to rip his throat out! To taste his blood and fear, to make him regret being born! I wanted him to be terrified of me! To make him suffer in ways he didn’t think possible, I wanted so badly to just give in and end him!” Pinkamena shouted angrily, slamming her other hand on the ground in frustration.

A few seconds passed in near silence, except for the heavy breathing coming for Pinkamena, before she decided to speak again.

“Does that make me a monster?” Pinkamena said sorrowfully.

“No Pinkamena, it doesn’t.” Alice whispered.

“Then...what does it make me?” Pinkamena asked as she looked at a puddle in front of her, her reflection staring back at her.

Alice’s smile widened a little more, her eyelids closing almost thoughtfully.

“Human.”