Author's Note

Yahallo! Sorry this took so long to publish, college, and my crippling addiction to eggnog, have been kicking my ass a little recently. Tell me if you spot any issues with grammar or story, feel free to put your thoughts in the comments, and thanks for readings!

Chapter Four: Connections.

Maud came back rather quickly with a first aid kit, a piece of cotton pushed against the spot on her neck and wrapped around with gauze. She suggested that they take their discussion to the kitchen, they could sit down at the table there and Maud could check Tempest over. Pinkamena wanted to talk to her, but knew it wasn’t the time or the place.

While a little off balance, Tempest followed them into the kitchen and sat down in a chair on the far end. Pinkamena followed suit and sat at the opposite, Maud grabbed a chair and sat down beside Tempest, setting the kit on the table and pulling out a small flashlight from her pocket. She grabbed Tempest’s chin and turned it towards her, forcing it to stay steady in her grip as she turned on the flashlight and began to shine it in Tempest’s eyes.

Surprisingly, Tempest didn’t flinch or resist it at all, almost like she’d expected it. She kept a composed expression even as Maud pointed the light directly into her pupils. After a few moments of tense silence, Maud turned it off and put it back in her pocket, letting go of Tempest as her eyes rapidly blinked to refocus her vision. Then Maud grabbed Tempest’s right arm, gently pressing her thumbs against where Pinkamena squeezed, Tempest wincing in response.

“You have a minor concussion and a hairline fracture. Don’t sleep for the next twenty four hours, avoiding putting too much strain on your body and any more injuries to your head. If you suddenly get very tired, keep your eyes open no matter what. As for the fracture, keep it elevated and avoid putting pressure whenever possible, or it may make it worse.”

“No problem, doc.”

Maud grunted at that remark, abruptly letting go of Tempest’s arm. She got up and started walking over to the counter to the coffee machine. She began silently making coffee, getting out only two mugs even though there were three of them.

“Alright, you got my attention. Can you give me a little more than information gathers? What exactly do the ‘Shadow Brokers’ do?”

There was something bothering her about that name, it sounded like something she’d heard somewhere or someone mentioned to her. At first she thought it was from The Whispers, but anytime she was getting knowledge or information from them about something, she could tell that’s where it’s coming from. With this, it felt a lot more like it was a reference to something she only vaguely knew about.

“I will tell you what I can, but you must understand that while we have a deal with The Syndicate, that doesn’t mean I can reveal everything. I am just an agent, and while I am very highly ranked, I still have a boss I receive orders from.”

Tempest turned to face Pinkamena, placing her hands flat on the table. “I can not tell you who our boss is, who works for us, and who we have similar deals with. All I can tell you is that instead of having organizations also having to deal with gathering information and managing that, it would be much easier for a third party, who is completely unbiased and not aligned with anyone, to get that information for them. For a price, of course.”

“So, you’re basically spies?”

“Well, less ‘dodging lasers while breaking into places’, and more doing extremely thorough background checks on people, places, things, etc. You have the right idea, though.”

“Hm.”

Pinkamena felt her phone vibrate in her pocket, guessing it was either Sunset or Applejack. She ignored it as Maud sat down a mug of hot coffee in front of her, having her own cup in her other hand. After setting it down she took a few steps away from the table, standing with her back against the wall. Maud nonchalantly took a sip from the steaming cup of coffee, her eyes staring into Pinkamena’s back.

Pinkamena tried to ignore Maud’s hard gaze, finding herself a bit more nervous than before. “I still don’t get why I wasn’t told about you previously, but I’m glad I know about you now. I still don’t get this ‘deal’ you’re talking about. If you’re supposed to remain unbiased and independent, shouldn’t stuff like that not be allowed?”

“You’d think that, yes. Officially, that’s what we tell others, that we have no deal with any other organizations. However,” She tried to bring up her right arm to pin her chin up on, but then winced at both the pain and Maud briefly glaring at her. She lowered it and brought up her left instead. “Let’s just say that...a nameless benefactor is one of the main reasons The Shadow Brokers are where they are today, and in response to their generosity, they are allowed certain privileges. They are a part of The Syndicate and specifically said that they didn’t need it and thought the leader would appreciate it a lot more, something we both agreed on.”

She didn’t have to think very long on who it could have been, there was only really one person she could think of that would do something like that in The Syndicate. “Let me guess: Discord?”

The corners of Tempest lips ever so slightly curved upward into a Mona Lisa like smile. “You catch on quickly.”

“I just kind of assume that if there’s some mysterious unnamed figure behind something, it’s probably Discord.”

“That’s…” Her eyes widened like she'd realized something terrible. “Terrifyingly accurate, you don’t even know the half of it.”

“What are these ‘privileges’ I’m supposed to be getting then?” Pinkamena asked as she took a sip from the coffee, noticing that while she could feel that it was still scorching hot, it barely even burned her tongue at all.

“Well, I say ‘privileges’, but it’s really not anything that extravagant.” She said with a roll of her eyes. “It’s more like special treatment. How it works is, if someone has paid for our services and requested information on either someone in The Syndicate or related to The Syndicate in any way, we tell you so. We can not disclose who it was that paid for it, who or what is being investigated, and we cannot be told or paid off, as it would harm our reputation.

The only exception would be if someone of high priority was being looked into, such as a member of The Council, or the leader. We would tell you that, but still could not say who requested it. The only way to stop it would be to figure out who made the request and make them revoke it themselves, or risk whatever information I promise you don’t want leaked getting out.”

Tempest’s voice was consistently monotone, almost to the point of bland. The expression on her voice betrayed her however, showing an interest in her eye as she watched Pinkamena eagerly, a sly grin on her face. It was almost like she was taunting her, or was just gauging her and wanted to see how she’d react to certain things.

Being watched by two people at the same time for very different reasons was...uncomfortable and nerve racking, but it wasn’t something she couldn’t deal with.

She ignored both of their stares, focusing instead on what Tempest was telling her. While knowing when someone was trying to get information about them was helpful, it was useless without knowing who or what it was against.

There was something she hadn’t mentioned Pinkamena was curious about, she couldn’t shake the feeling that she did that intentionally to see if Pinkamena would figure it out on her own.

“Hypothetically, let’s say I wanted to ask for information about someone in The Syndicate, Discord for example. How would that work?”

Tempest’s grin faltered for a moment, her eyes dropping into a downcast gaze like she realized something, before snapping back up to Pinkamena, her fox-like smirk bouncing back. Her eyes were still half-lidded and her expression made it seem like she was looking down on Pinkamena and felt herself superior, which left a bad taste in her mouth that she was doing her best to ignore.

“Then they would be none the wiser. We only notify you if someone in The Syndicate is being investigated, so if you are the one requesting it, there would be no need. However, in the case of Discord, that can’t be done. He is on our list of people we aren’t allowed to investigate, for reasons that are entirely separate to him being one of our biggest donors.”

“A list? As in, there’s more than one?” Pinkamena asked curiously with a raise of her eyebrows.

“It wouldn’t be a list if there was just one on it. Of course, I can’t tell you who else is on it, nor the conditions that caused them to be put on there. The only exception is if you try to contract us to look into them, I would have to tell you that we are unable to. So, unless you want to sit here and start naming off people until I say stop, I suggest not bothering your pretty little head about it.”

Pinkamena lowered her head and closed her eyes, some part of her expected it wouldn’t be that easy, since when was anything in her life recently that simple? She instead tried to think of someone else to ask about, almost immediately someone came to mind she had been vaguely interested in ever since she met him. Even after she would get him off of her, she was more than likely still going to have to work with him, so learning about him couldn’t hurt.

“What about Juno? Is he on this ‘list’ of yours?”

Tempest head tilted slightly to the left as she raised her right eyebrow. “Interested in him, huh? Can’t blame you, many are. You can say he has a ‘way’ with people, the ones he doesn’t kill, anyway.”

Pinkamena opened her eyes and let out a muffled grunt. “How much do I owe you for it?”

“None, the first one is free. Everything after that is dependent on the individual, the circumstances, and how thorough you want us to be. We’ll discuss that if we get to it, for now, let’s just say Juno will take…” She paused as she glanced to the side. “Give me two days, I should be able to get you everything you’d want to know about him. It helps that you're not the first to contract us against him. All I have to do is make sure the information we currently have is up to date, shouldn’t be too difficult.” Tempest said as she turned back to Pinkamena, talking more to herself than her.

“Someone else looked into Juno?” She asked. “I doubt you can tell me who, but I’m pretty sure it was a member of The Council before they decided to hire him or whatever.”

“I can’t confirm or deny anything. After all, information is how we make a living. If I started giving it out for free, I might as well be burning money.”

“Hm.”

Pinkamena brought the coffee to her lips and took another sip, the liquid helping her feel a bit less sluggish. She glanced over her shoulder at Maud behind her, who had somehow already finished her mug and placed it on the counter, her arms crossed and still watching her with that blank expression on her face.

Seeing the bandage on her neck reminded her of some of things Tempest said then, most of them she was barely paying attention to due to the situation. “Earlier, you mentioned that I would need you as much as you needed me. What,” Pinkamena said as she turned back to face Tempest. “Did you mean by that?”

“Let’s just say…” She made a tsking noise like she was annoyed by something, her face etching into a scowl. “Our sources suggest that in the next month or so, things are going to get not so good around here. Some big players are making some moves, and the end result doesn’t look too good. I…” She suddenly looked up past Pinkamena, a much more serious expression on her face.

Pinkamena quickly followed her gaze, just barely seeing Maud subtly swing her head back and forth. Maud brought her stare back to Pinkamena like nothing had happened. When she turned back to Tempest, she was looking back at her just like she was before.

*Great. Is there anyone in my life that isn’t hiding something from me?*

“That’s all I can say.”

She recalled the conversation she had with Fancy earlier, when he mentioned that he had a feeling that something bad was going to happen soon. Either he was psychic, or his intuition really was as good as he said it was.

“So I’ve heard. There are other big players besides us? I feel like this is something I should be discussing with whoever your superior is, boss to boss.”

Tempest snorted as she rolled her eyes. “Trust me, you don’t want to meet him. He hates doing anything himself. If he allows a meeting with anyone, someone really messed up.” Tempest closed her eyes and lowered her head like she was falling asleep, her head suddenly shooting upward and blinking her eyes.

She sat back in the chair, her jaw clenched. “There are other big players, yeah. The Apples are one, but they rarely do anything nowadays. I can’t tell you who the others are, it’s up to them when they feel like they want to introduce themselves to you. Hopefully, not at all like I did.”

Tempest slowly rose out of the chair, a strained expression on her face as took a deep breath, her hands pressed against the table to keep herself balanced. “Are you done asking questions? Because I’m done giving answers. I need way more coffee and maybe some Adderall if I’m going to stay awake for twenty four hours.”

Without giving Pinkamena a chance to say anything, Tempest walked back into the living room with a confident strut, not even giving a glance to her or Maud.

“Wait,” Pinkamena said as she quickly got out of the chair, chasing into the room after her. “The door is…” As soon as she got into the room, Tempest was nowhere to be seen, the living room empty. “Back here....”

“She does that a lot.”

Pinkamena tensed up and swung around, seeing that Maud, without making a single noise, was now standing directly behind her.

“You’ll get used to it.” She said drearily, turning around and walking back towards the kitchen counter.

“Maud…” Pinkamena said hesitantly. “What did you not want Tempest to tell me?”

“If I told you, that would defeat the purpose, wouldn’t it?”

Pinkamena grated her teeth in frustration. “I don’t get it, why does everyone have to be so secretive!” She shouted as she slammed her fist against the table, holding herself back so she didn’t break that one too. “Discord, Igneous, and now you? I can never figure out what the fuck Discord is thinking most of the time, and I’m convinced Igneous had way more going on than any one knew about. Aren’t you supposed to be my advisor? I was hoping at least you could be honest with me.”

She clenched her first, feeling a mixture of irritation and sadness at Maud’s behavior, her mind drifting back to the last time they talked. “I don’t understand, Maud. I thought...after we talked about what happened with Cloudy, that you opened up to me! You’re all I have left Maud! I…” Her voice cracked slightly as she hung her head. “Need you. Please, don’t shut me out again.”

“I’m not shutting you out!” Maud said in an aggressive tone and loud voice, likely the closest she could get to shouting.

Pinkamena brought her head up to look at her, shocked at the sudden outburst, that was the first time she’d ever heard her genuinely angry.. Maud was facing the kitchen counter with her back towards Pinkamena, her arms pressed against the counter on both sides of her, trembling like she was struggling to hold herself up.

“I...just…” Her voice had a brittle undertone. She drew a sharp breath, her body rising and falling as she tried to relax. The shaking in her arms receding to the point of barely being noticeable. “I love you Pinkamena. I do, really. The talk we had helped me. I’m slowly moving past what happened with Cloudy, and I do feel closer to you, I’m glad I don’t have to hide as much from you anymore. However,”

She hesitantly turned to face Pinkamena, wavering like she was afraid or ashamed to do so. Her usually empty expression was starting to crack: The corners of her lips were twitching and her eyes were more open than usual, revealing a light behind her eyes most didn’t get to see. “Our talk made me realize that it isn’t a matter of whether or not we can be strong, we have to. I’m sorry about the comment I made earlier about your self control, but you need to understand, that can’t happen again. You need to learn self-control, if you don’t…” She glanced away shamefully, breaking eye contact. “You’re going to end up like him. I know you hate being compared to him, but it’s the truth. After a point he...stopped caring and just gave in. Jumping in like that, without any concern for me or yourself? That’s exactly what he would, and has done.”

Maud raised her voice, but it came off more of a warning than aggressive. There was a flash of red hot anger that came with being compared to Igneous, intensified and paired with heavy guilt at the fact that it was her own sister that was doing it. She straightened her back and clenched both her fists, her nails digging into the palms of her hands.

Her face relaxed a bit as she realized something she said. “Wait, Maud...did you have to be an advisor to him? Even after...he killed our sisters?”

Maud tentatively bit the corner of her lip, hanging her head down and hiding most of her face behind her hair, or at least as much as she could with her short bangs. “I did...I’d rather not talk about it. It wasn’t for very long, but the way he talked about some things just...disturbed me in ways no amount of mental training could prepare you for.”

Pinkamena opened her mouth to retort, but closed it just as quickly. The memory of their talk about what happened with Cloudy brought to mind, and how fragile Maud really was on the inside. She might know things about Igneous, but pushing her for it wouldn’t be worth it.

“I’m sorry...I...no, I don’t have an excuse.” Pinkmena said solemnly with a grimace, sitting down in the chair with her hands in her lap, drops of her black blood dripping onto them. “I’m working on it, really, I am! It’s just…” She couldn’t stop herself from closing her eyes, the memories flashing in her mind like pictures. The arena, practically bathing in blood and tearing apart those men with a smile on her face. The feeling of Igneous’ heart in her chest, how close she came to doing the same with Sunset.

The worst part was how much she liked it, she almost instinctively grazed her tongue against her teeth, finding that they were a bit sharper than they should be normally.

“Hard. It isn’t like anything I’ve ever had to control before. I’m trying, believe me I am fucking trying, but I’ll mess up every now and again. That’s why…” She glanced up at Maud, her head was still downcast, but she was intently listening. “I...need you to help me, and be there to catch me when I fall. Because I will, a lot. You and Starlight...you’re all I’ve got, especially since I can’t really talk to any of my old friends about this stuff except AJ. I’ve been trying to do it myself up to this point, but I know that’s stupid. I can’t do this by myself. Please, help me.”

Maud stayed silent for a few tense minutes. Pinkamena’s eyes were just barely open, she was staring at a spot on the table, unable to look at her. She didn’t want to keep her eyes closed either. If she did, she knew more memories would flood in, and she couldn’t deal with that right now.

“Pinkamena, do you know what the message is of someone who keeps falling around the people they care about?”

She asked rhetorically, her voice somewhere between monotone and relaxed. Pinkamena glanced up at her, seeing that she was walking towards the table with that usual blank expression of hers. She pulled one of the chairs towards her and sat down opposite of Pinkamena.

She reached over the table and grabbed one of Pinkamena’s hands, interlocking her fingers with her own. She completely ignored the bits of blood on her hand coming from it, her eyes not even blinking at the small trails of steam coming from her palm as it healed.

“It’s ‘Pick me up’. People who don’t want help will refuse to show weakness around anyone. The fact that you are showing me this side of you to me and anyone else is proof that you can get better, and that’s enough for me.” Maud said in a gentle voice, the corners of her lips curved upward in a reassuring smile.

Something about the mixture of that smile, the words she said and how she said them, and how intimate their hands felt together just melted cold pain and guilt in her heart.She exhaled sharply and let out a shaky breath as her entire body relaxed, it was like the heavy weight of her regret was lifted off of her with just those simple words. Her hand began to tremble and her grip got tighter than she intended, but Maud didn’t seem to notice at all.

“Maud, I…” Pinkamena stuttered, a hot tear rolling down her left eye. “I don’t know what to say.”

“You don’t have to say anything.” Maud said blatantly, slowly letting go of Pinkamena’s hand and laying it face down on the table. “As your sister who dearly loves you, and your advisor who’s been thoroughly trained and am obligated to, I will help you to the best of my abilities. I’ve only met Starlight once or twice myself, so I don’t really know her that well outside of that she’s a part of The Council. However, since you’re speaking so highly of her, I will trust her as you do.”

Pinkamena felt a bit of the relief ebb away as soon as Maud pulled away and her warm smile dropped, but the meaning of the moment and her words were still fresh. She briefly closed her eyes and inhaled through her nose, wiping the tear off with her pointer finger and tried to calm herself.

“Though, mentioning your friends,” Maud’s serious tone quickly returned, prompting Pinkamena to open her eyes and see an expression on her dully colored sister’s face that could only be described as ‘annoyed’. Her eyebrows narrowed so slightly Pinkamena wouldn’t have noticed it if she weren’t so close, her lips were also pursed. “Sunset came by a few hours ago, having done so a handful of times since you came back. I wasn’t going to bring it up since I know you already have a lot on your plate, but she’s getting more persistent each time. I’ve managed to handle her so far, but eventually she’s going to refuse to leave until I give her actual answers.”

The mention of Sunset brought with it a jumble of feelings, the most prominent being guilt, and a shared frustration with her sister. “I’m sorry, I tried to get her to stop. But…” She glanced away from Maud as the image of a terrified Sunset came to mind, pushing it down and trying to prevent it from showing on her face how bothered she was by how close she came to killing one of her ‘friends’. “In retrospect, we should have seen this coming. There’s no way any of them would just give up on me, especially not Sunset. I want to tell them the truth, but...I’m afraid of what might happen if I get them involved in my life like this. And…” Pinkamena shamefully hung her head, her voice becoming a tad more meek. “I don’t want them to see what I’ve become. Applejack already did. She won’t say it, but I can tell she’s terrified of me.”

Maud closed her eyes and leaned back in her chair, her eyes closed thoughtfully. “I see. What do you want to do about them?”

Pinkamena remained silent as she tried to think of what her options were, there were only two that came to mind. Either tell them and hope for the best, or try to convince Sunset and the others to just stop and give up. Neither seemed like they’d end very well. She hadn’t heard anything about any of them other than Sunset, but she had a sneaking suspicion that they weren’t just idly standing by.

“I don’t know. What do you think I should do?”

Maud opened her eyes, her gaze transfixed on a spot on the table, an absent look in her eyes as she was contemplating something. “I don’t know you’re friends all that well. Besides Sunset, and Applejack every now and again on business related things, I only ever met them once during that whole thing with the Dazzlings. However, considering at least two of them turned into megalomaniac demon’s corrupted by otherworldly magic, I don’t think they’d judge you as harshly as you are afraid they will. Even so…”

Maud’s eyes raised to meet Pinkamena’s, glancing upward at her hair for a brief moment as if intrigued by it. “This might be the worst possible time to do so. When the first member of The Syndicate got killed by The Silent Killer, I was inclined to believe it was a mere coincidence. Now they seem to be targeting members of The Syndicate exclusively, and since you are the only person other than Juno who’s fought them and survived, it wouldn’t be a stretch to say they might be targeting you or anyone they think you’re close with. Juno isn’t in any danger, he knows how to stay hidden better than anyone I’ve ever known. I haven’t left the house, so I should be fine. But if y-”

Maud was interrupted by the sound of Pinkamena’s phone ringing, a song she made with her friends titled ‘The Smile Song’ playing in her voice was still the ringtone. She had turned on the silence phone calls, but had forgotten there was a setting that made it to where that only applied to unknown numbers.

She quickly pulled it out and checked who was calling her, not overly surprised that it was Applejack. She hung up and turned off her phone, sticking it back in her hoodie pocket.

“Sorry about that, that was Applejack.” Pinkamena mumbled.

“You said you were meeting her later today, right?”

She nodded, recalling that she had mentioned so earlier to Tempest. “I sort of...didn’t go to school today. I passed out last night and slept well over twelve hours, I worried her and promised I’d fill her in later. That was...quite a bit ago, she’s probably just more worried now.”

“You better be meeting her soon then, my internal body clock is telling me it’s going to get dark very quickly today. I assume you want to try to track down TSK and handle them as soon as possible, you don’t want to let it get too late.”

Just like how Pinkamena had her Pinkie sense, which had been silent ever since she had become a chimera, Maud had her Maud Sense. Her predictions about the day were uncanny, including weather. When it came to stuff like how soon it would get dark, whether it was cloudy or not, or even the exact degrees and how it would change throughout the day, she was always accurate. She used to ask Maud if it was going to snow to see if there would be school tomorrow, and she had always been right about it.

“You’re probably right, I should be leaving soon. I’m also guessing that since TSK has only been active during the night, they spend their daytime sleeping, or cleaning their gun. Whatever they do in their free time.” Pinkamena stood up, pushing the chair under the table and reaching for her coffee mug that had been left on it. She gulped down the rest of it in a moment, the feeling of hot liquid going down her throat and into her stomach was refreshing in a weird way. “I’d like to finish talking about this first. What do I do about them, Maud? If we don’t do something soon, they might actually learn something. I wouldn’t be surprised if they had been trying to get something out of Applejack too.”

“Hm...I think,” Maud also stood up from the table, taking the now empty coffee mug and walking over to the sink and started to wash it. “No decision should be made until after TSK is taken care of, I can handle Sunset until then. I know you can take them, but until things calm down, you should avoid their involvement as much as possible. I recommend when you talk to Applejack, you bring this up with her. I guarantee you she thought about telling you guys a couple of times before, the only things stopping her was the fact that you weren’t allowed to know about The Syndicate yet, and she was afraid of how you would view her afterwards.”

Maud swifty finished washing the mug, a slight ding coming from her pocket. She dried her hand and turned around, pulling her phone out and texting someone a lot faster than she thought Maud was capable of.

Pinkamena was taken aback by this. She loved her sister to death, but she had always thought of Maud as a social recluse, and now she knew that was because she was so involved with The Syndicate. She genuinely hadn’t expected her to actually have a social life at all, or be as adept at texting as she was.

Pinkamena opened her mouth to ask who she was texting, but she closed it and decided not to, she didn’t want to invade Maud’s private life.

“You should get going.” Maud suddenly said, turning off her phone and slipping it back in the pockets of her pajamas. “Applejack gets impatient very quickly. I...also have stuff I need to get done today.” Maud said in a voice lower than usual.

Pinkamena didn’t want to leave her sister so soon, but she also knew that catching TSK took priority. She walked towards the door, opening it and hearing Maud begin to walk out of the room also. Before she left, something she asked The Whispers came to mind. Something they refused to answer and got noticeably irritated when she asked about it, which just made her more curious about it.

“Maud...do you know what happened to Rainbow’s parents?”

She was watching her over her shoulder, and could see her freeze up as soon as she asked the question. She focused on her heart beat, discerning that her heart skipped a beat and had now picked up its pace, faster than she’d ever heard Maud’s heart beat before. Maud’s back was facing her, the room was suddenly filled with thick tension.

She saw Maud’s left hand clench up for just a brief moment, she couldn’t even tell if she was breathing or not. Like someone had pressed the slow button on a video, Maud turned to face her. She had that unreadable expression on her face like normal, but this time it seemed more forced somehow.

“No, of course not.”

She was lying.

**********************************************************************************************

“So, lemme get this straight.”

Pinkamena and Applejack were on both sides of the tree they had me at before, she had spent the last fifteen minutes or so telling her everything that had happened, with the exception of anything to do with The Whispers and that Maud lied to her.

Pinkamena was laying on the ground laying against the trunk of the tree, a cigarette sticking out of the corner of her mouth that she was smoking. She had picked it up on the way there, the way Maud had lied straight to her face about something that important really made her want to escape from self-awareness for a while.

She wasn’t wearing her mask like usual, deciding to just have her hood up and her hair tucked in it instead. Applejack was sitting on the ground on the opposite side of the tree, her hat was off and resting on her lap as she listened to Pinkamena.

“Yuh fought TSK while hopped up on sum super drug, and got yer ass kicked.”

“Yep.”

“Passed out afterwards cuz you hadn’t been sleepin’ properly, and didn’t wake up till noon.”

“If it helps, that was the best sleep I’ve had in months.”

“Yer now responsible fer the life of someone thanks to yer grandpops, which yuh only learned about thanks to gettin’ high with em.”

“It was also the most relaxed I’d been in months.”

“On top of all this, yuh realized yuh may or may not have a crush on yer therapist.”

“That about sums up the last day and a half for me, yeah.”

She heard AJ let out something between a groan and an awkward chuckle. “Geez Pinkamena, yuh got more going on in two days than ah have in the past month. Sure, things got a lil’ hectic fer a while, but now that ah told them yuh risked yer life to save mine, they trust that the Syndicate isn’t behind this. Now all ah gotta deal with is Sunset being as stubborn as a mule, and next week’s math test.”

She heard her reach into her pocket and pull out something, hearing the sound of a flask opening as she took a drink from it. Her sharp sense of smell was telling her it was whisky. She didn’t used to drink often at all, but she had been around it often enough to distinguish between the different kinds from just the smell.

“Didn’t know you drank.”

“Ahm an occasional drinker. This is an occasion.”

Pinkamena snorted in response to that, exhaling as a puff of smoke came out of her mouth. Applejack reached around and offered her the flask, Pinkamena hesitantly grabbed it and took a swig. Coughing a bit as the mixture of the burning warm liquid going down her throat and the burning in her mouth from the cigarette was as unpleasant as she expected it to be.

“Applejack, tell me something.” Pinkamena asked as she handed the flask back, clearing her throat. “Why are you still involved in all this? I get that it’s the family business, but after what happened to your parents, I honestly would’ve thought you’d tell them to fuck off and you, Big Mac, and Applebloom don’t want anything to do with it. I know Granny Smith’s old, but I’m sure she has a few more years in her and can hold out until they can figure out who to put in charge instead.”

Applejack let out a laugh as she took another swig from the flask, this one sounded more empty than the one before. “Believe me, ah’ve thought about it, a lot! Ah do my darndest to keep Applebloom and Mac out of danger the best ah can. But dangit, Applebloom loves doing what she does, and is damn good at it too! She’s as innocent as it gets and her smile lights up the whole room, but she doesn’t hesitate to fight when she needs tuh. As fer Macintosh, he goes where we go. If ah decided to take Applebloom and leave, he’d follow. Not just them either, ah can think of a couple uh people Ah could convince to leave with me if ah tried hard enough.”

“So, why don’t you?”

“Because, it’s…” She paused. Pinkamena held the cigarette in between her fingers, she reached around and offered it to her. She hesitantly took it, briefly smoking it and handing it back. “Not that easy. Fer me, that’s the same as given’ up, and we both know ahm not the type to do that. Even if ah did, ahm not enough of ah coward to be okay with running away from mah problems like that. Mah parents taught me to always face mah problems head on, as long as ahm alive and ah Apple, that’s exactly what ah intend to do. Besides, me leaving would make things so hectic, ahm sure it’d put Granny into an early grave.”

As much as Pinkamena hated to admit it, she sympathized with Applejack. The Whispers, and being something between human and animal, were the main reasons she hadn’t tried to just leave everything and start a new life, but they weren’t the only ones. At first it was Maud, her sister that she loved, and the only member left of her family. Then it was her abnormal relationship with Starlight, her therapist/friend who she was developing romantic feelings for, a situation that she still felt very conflicted on. She was now completely responsible for Zecora’s life, something she was still trying to wrap her head around. Not to mention all the smaller people she was warming up to, like Fancy Pants.

She didn’t have an issue with running from her problems, she never really thought of herself as a brave person. Regardless, she couldn’t leave all of them like that. Some of them she cared about too much, and she also knew that if she left, Maud would be forced to take her place. Everyone in The Council would have to deal with the mess she’d left behind, and probably a dozen other things would go wrong.

Applejack’s response did remind her of something else she had meant to ask her about, however.

“What do you think about....telling Sunset and the others about all this?”

There was a tense silence between the two that lasted so long, Pinkamena had to check to make sure AJ was still there. She suddenly burst out into laughter, the kind that sounded extremely forced and she was just doing to try to fill the awkward silence. It eventually lowered into silence once again when Pinkamena didn’t join in, like Applejack had expected that question to have been a joke.

“Wait, yer serious? Yer really thinking about getting them involved in this?” Applejack asked tremendously, shifted around to look at Pinkamena.

“We wouldn’t have to get them involved, per se. Just tell them what’s going on and what we’ve been hiding from them so they stop trying to figure it out themselves. I’m sure you don’t like lying to them anymore than I do, so why do-”

“Con sarnit Pinkamena! Yuh know just as well as ah do that telling them is the same thing as getting them involved!” Applejack exclaimed, a stern and disapproving undertone in her voice. “Assuming that they even believe us, and that we’re involved in the criminal underworld, what makes you think they’ll just be okay with us handling it all on our own without trying to help us? Especially now, when there’s sum gunned maniac killing people involved with us? That’s just plain stupid.”

She couldn’t ignore what Applejack was saying, or that her accent had briefly disappeared showing how series she’d gottne, especially not since they were some of the same points that Maud brought up. She knew that if they decided to come out to them, other than the distinct possibility that they would be terrified of the truth, they would try to help them in any way they could. Pinkamena would prefer to keep them as uninvolved as possible, telling them would make that impossible.

*All of that is true, but I’m starting to think there isn’t much of a choice.*

“That’s why we wait until after everything with TSK is settled, which I might be able to handle tonight. We might as well, despite your and Maud’s best efforts, Sunset is still just as persistent about it. Honestly, she’s in as much danger now if she knew. I don’t know what the others have been doing, but I doubt they’ve just been standing by. We should wait until things calm down, and tell them what we can. After that...we handle things from there.”

Applejack remained silent, contemplating how to respond. “So...what? Applejack mumbled. “We just...get’em tagether, sit’em down, and tell them that mah entire family commits crimes on the side? That yuh were turned into some bloodthristy monster tha-”

She suddenly stopped talking like someone put their hand over her mouth and forcefully closed it. As soon as the words ‘monster’ left the southerners mouth, Pinkamena’s heart sank that she was being called that by someone she considered her friend. She tried to ignore the shame and hurt rising up in her by pressing the cigarette against the center of the top part of her hand, the burning sensation helped distract her from her emotions. The burn wound was healing almost as fast as it was being made, the smoke and steam swirling together as bits of ash sprinkled on her hands.

“Ah Pinkamena, I’m sorry. Ah didn’t me-”

“It’s fine, really.” Pinkamena stated in response, more gruff than she intended it to be. “We can’t dance around the topic and pretend it isn’t there. I’m not entirely human anymore, that’s just how it is and it isn’t reversible, it’s just something I have to live with. If we decide to tell them, I’d...prefer to leave that part out if we can. If not…” She pulled the cigarette off her hand and stuck the end back in her mouth, the familiar smell of burning flesh flickering into her nostrils. “I’ll deal with it. I...really want this Applejack, I miss them a lot. They don’t need to help us or anything, I’d actually prefer if they didn’t. Just being able to confide in them and be friends with them again...that’d be enough.”

“Yer really serious about this?” Applejack asked tentatively.

Pinkamena closed her eyes, bringing forth all the best memories she could of her times as before. The parties, the sleepovers, even all the times they fought over something arbitrary or had to fight some Equestrian threat, it was worth it in the end. Even if Starlight was right, and her personality was just superficial and born from her need to make others happy, her bonds with them were genuine. The warm feeling that started in her chest and spread throughout her body was more than enough proof of that. The corners of her lips curved upward into a slight smirk as she opened her eyes, putting the cigarette out on one of the exposed tree trunks and bringing her free hand to her chest and grasping her pendant through her clothes.

“Yeah, I really am. At least think about it until everything calms down, that’s all I ask. I talked to Maud about it, and she made all the same points I did, and said that it’s up to us. I know that this is a big decision and what might come of it. Regardless, if they’re going to be in danger anyway just for being connected to us, shouldn’t they at least be aware of it?”

Pinkamena slowly began to stand up, hearing AJ do the same thing. Pinkamena listened closely to her heartbeat, discerning that it was just a tad faster than normal, something she’d learn was usually a telltale sign of nervousness or anxiety.

“How long do yuh think it’ll take ya to handle everything?”

“If everything goes well? Tonight. I got their scent down, I had intended to go find them after we were done here. After that, everything should calm down and go back to the way they were before, more or less.” Pinkamena offered, glancing off to the side with a gloomy undertone in her voice.

“Hm.” Applejack responded, which was followed by a brief pause and then an almost exasperated sigh. “Ah’ll admit it; things ain’t been so good with us ever since yuh left. Ah hated having to lie and not be able to tell’em the truth about everything. Mor’en anything ah wanted to, but ah couldn’t. Being able to talk about stuff like this with them...would make everything’ a lot easier.”

Applejack walked around the tree to Pinkamena, slipping her signature cowboy hat back on her head. “Ah’ll deal with Sunset until then, and ah’ll talk to Granny and the others about this, that’s all ah can promise. Until this crazy sniper maniac is taken care of, ah’ll be keeping this in mind.”

“That’s more than enough for me. Now…” Pinkamena turned to her, her eyebrows furrowed into a more grim expression. “I hate asking you to do anything else, but I can’t in good conscience just leave her alone to die.”

Applejack’s eyebrows raised in concern and interest at ‘her’. “Ah’m listening.”

Pinkamena took a deep breath, she didn’t exactly feel right about telling someone about someone else’s living conditions, but she would have felt worse if she did nothing about it.

“What...do you know about where Scootaloo lives?”

The confusion on her face became more evident for a moment, then shifting to surprise and realization as her eyes widened. “Ah...don’t, actually. Ah never bothered to ask or even think about it. Why?”

“She’s not doing well at all. She’s living in a rundown apartment right now, but pretty soon she’ll be kicked out and forced to live on the streets. I came across her while I wa-” Her words caught in her throat as she stopped herself, realizing saying what she was doing would lead to a conversation she wasn’t ready to have. “Was looking into something.” She said as she broke eye contact, unable to look her in the eyes as she blatantly avoided the truth.

Applejack noticed this and slightly grimaced, but decided not to push it and crossed her arms. Her suspicion being shrouded by apprehension as her expression dropped into a grave one.

“That’s...terrible, she’s the same age as Applebloom! Ah can’t even imagine her having to fend fer herself on the streets!” She exclaimed.

“I know, it is. I was just as surprised as you were. I was thinking..I know your farm is big, and you’ve probably got space. If you don’t mind, do you th-”

Applejack extended her hand in front of her, stopping Pinkamena. “Partner, yuh don’t have to say another word. Ah’d love to take Scootaloo in, at least until she gets old enough to move out on her own. There’s plenty of room in the house and Bloom would love the company! Just...give me a day or two to talk to the others.”

Hearing that someone was going to be taking care of Scootaloo was a huge relief, but it did nothing to alleviate the guilt. If Rainbow Dash hadn’t died trying to save her, then Scootaloo would at least be able to live in that dingy apartment instead of being forced onto the streets to fend for herself. She couldn’t take her in herself and raise her like Starlight suggested, she already knew she’d somehow be a worse parent than her own, but she could at least insure that someone else could give her a home.

“That’s...more than enough, really, I appreciate it. I-” Pinkamena peered past Applejack at the sun, noticing how low it had gotten. Judging from the brightness, she guessed it was about half an hour or so until twilight. Maud was right, it was going to get dark soon. “Really have to go now. I don’t know how much time I have, but if I want any chance at catching them, I need to start soon.”

Pinkamena turned around and lighty sniffed the air, her eyes closing as she tried to focus on recalling the smell of blood from her last encounter with TSK. Her sense of smell and hearing were what was enhanced the most, but even then it wasn’t much better than a humans. She could just barely tell a direction, and very vaguely where in the city they were.

As soon as she locked on to it, she opened her eyes and reached into her hood pocket, pulling out Blake’s plastic skeleton mask and slipping it on. She saw Applejack flinch out of the corner of her eyes, her face shifting into a disapproving scowl, but she didn’t say anything about it.

“Ah...Ah’ll try to keep Sunset distracted until yuh handle things. But if yuh keep not showing up to school, she’s just gonna get more suspicious. Be careful, ya’hear?”

With little more than a nod, Pinkamena went off on her hunt, ignorant of just what would come of it.

*************************************************************************************************

It had taken her roughly an hour to get where the source was. Strangely enough, it stayed in one place, almost like it was waiting for her. It was about on the other side of the city from where she was with Applejack, so it took her roughly an hour of free running to get there. She kept the mask on and her hood up to conceal herself the entire way.

She ended up at the construction site, a very large and tall one that was likely for some hotel or company building. It didn’t look like it had been in construction for very long, the framework of it it just recently gotten completed. There were various materials spread about, such as wood, metal beams and rods, etc. There was no one around, luckily. However, instead of that being reassuring, it actually just made her more paranoid. It seemed too...perfect.

An abandoned location, without anyone around for at least a block or away in the dead of night? And they haven’t moved an inch? This was obviously a trap of some sort. She sniffed the air, detecting the distinct scent of petrichor, it was going to rain soon. She heard of people who could smell the rain before it came, but she wasn’t one of them.

She didn’t used to be, anyway. She may have hated a lot of things about being a Chimera, but she couldn’t ignore the benefits either, though she’d never admit it out loud.

Pinkamena decided she did not have the patience to climb it like a normal person, plus she was fairly sure that’s what TSK was expecting. Instead, she jumped up onto the scaffolding, her legs able to jump from one to the other more or less silently.

Within a minute or so she made it to the top, which was mostly barren with the exception of a couple of various construction materials. As soon as tried to focus her eyes to see better, she heard the loud sound of a large switch being flipped and the construction site spotlights being turned on. She reflexively brought her hand in front of her face, glad she decided to put on the mask beforehand.

Pinkamena rapidly blinked her eyes as her vision quickly adjusted, directing her eyes at a black figure standing in front of the spotlight. She recognized them as TSK almost immediately, but something about them seemed...different, she couldn’t quite pin it.

They walked forward, stopping a dozen or so feet in front of her. Pinkamena looked for their signature gun, but it wasn’t there. She thought that maybe they had disassembled it or it was on their back, but she didn’t see anything that suggested that. She also realized that if they did have their gun, they could have just shot her while she was temporarily blinded, so why didn’t they?

“Hello there, Night. I’m going to kill you here.”