Scimitar had just finished climbing the mountain until he found a large, blank facility. He turned to see if his party was still together. He was relieved to see that he still had Sunset Shimmer, Kuvira, Bolin, and Discord (who was dressed like a generic safari explorer).
"Is that..." Bolin asked.
"Yep." Scimitar said. "Project: Phoenix Site A."
"I'm curious." Kuvira said. "How did you know it'd be here? And what do you expect to find here?"
"Nothing I want to find." Scimitar said. "Look!"
Circling above the building, there was a purple lizard with legs, but wings that helped it fly. There were also some blue creatures that resembled foxes there.
"Spirits." Kuvira said. "What are they doing here?"
"Tartus must have recruited them." Sunset Shimmer said.
"That can't be right." Bolin said. "Spirits are supposed to remain neutral. They just want to live in their natural homes in peace. Why would they suddenly work for a madman like Tartus?"
"I don't know, but that's not important at the moment." Scimitar said. "But right now, we need to get past them to get in. How do we do that?"
"I was just going to approach them and say 'cupcake gram'!" Discord said. "Everyone loves cupcakes."
"You're an idiot." Kuvira groaned.
"Hmm." Discord scratched his chin. Suddenly, a duplicate of him appeared and whispered in his ear. "Remember that day you had to rescue Fluttershy and the others in the Changeling hive?"
"Eureka!" Discord said making his double vanish. "Be right back." He jumped over the rock and went toward the spirits.
"Discord, wait!" Sunset called out.
Discord didn't listen. He walked over until he was sure that every spirit was gazing to his direction. Seeing the opportunity, the others sneaked behind the rocks and past the spirits. While they were doing that, Discord pulled out a microphone.
"Spirits and gentlemen! It's great to be back in this world! You see, I'm a big fan of the Avatar because any way you look at it... she's Raava to the 'Korra'!"
"What?" a spirit asked.
"Was that supposed to be a joke?"
"Duh."
"You're trespassing!" the purple spirit warned. "Leave now if you know what's good for you."
"I already know what's good for me." Discord said. "8 hours of sleep, vitamins, and an imbalanced breakfast."
"You're trying my patience, chaos-bringer."
"And I don't like it! Wakka-wakka!" The spirits began closing in on Discord, who threw his microphone toward them. "Well, if you think you can do any better, be my guest! BEEP-BEEP!" And with that, there was a zipping sound and a Discord-shaped puff of smoke remaining there. The spirits chased after where the zipping sound went, but as soon as they left, the cloud disappeared and the real Discord remained chuckling silently. "They're so stupid!"
On the other side of the path, the spirits stopped when they encountered Jade. The purple spirit approached her.
"They're in like you asked. Think Tartus is going to be mad we let them in?"
"On the contrary," Jade said, "Tartus would be proud of your performance. Now, both of them are in there."
When the search party went in, they found several rotten walls, broken machines, and dozens of cobwebs.
"Too bad Rarity isn't here to see this." Discord said. "It would have been funny to see her faint on her couch."
"There's no couch around here." Bolin said.
"Trust me, Bolin. Rarity never leaves home without her fainting couch."
"You guys stay here." Scimitar said. "There's an archives room adjacent to this room."
"How do you know that?" Kuvira asked. Scimitar didn't respond.
"I'll go with you." Sunset said.
"No." Scimitar said. "This is something I need to find on my own. If you hear me shouting in anger, then you can come in."
"That... doesn't sound like you're expecting anything good." Bolin said.
"If it's what I think it is," Scimitar said as he opened the door, "It's definitely not good... for everyone involved. But I need to see if it's true." He entered the room and closed the door behind him.
For the next few minutes, the rest of the party searched the rest of the compound. Suddenly, Bolin gathered everyone back and held up a file.
"What's that?" Sunset Shimmer asked.
"I've been looking over it." Bolin said. "Apparently, it's the origin of those four talking birds. According to this, they were abducted from their mother and experimented on. Tartus created some kind of... 'artificial duplicate of his personality', whatever that means."
"Artificial means fake and duplicate means copy." Sunset Shimmer said. "Wait, Tartus copied his personality here?"
"Not here." Bolin said. "This says they were experimented somewhere else. Anyway, it also says he split his personality into four parts and gave one to a different bird; including speed, strength, intelligence, and agility."
"That does explain why they're so different." Kuvira said.
"Does that file say if they taste like chicken?" Discord asked.
"Discord, who knows what they can do?" Bolin asked. "Maybe they can explain my memory problem."
"Memory problem?" Sunset Shimmer asked.
Bolin sighed and explained. "Days after Korra disappeared, I suddenly remembered these birds mentioning Equestrians. I told Mako about it, and he took it pretty bad that I told him so late. He's a little mad at me. I don't even know why I forgot. All I know before remembering, I heard a soft singing."
"Singing?" Sunset asked. "You mean..."
"NOOOOOOO!" Scimitar's voice raged from the inside of the archive room.
Everyone slammed the door open and saw him kneeling over a pile of papers from the shelves on the walls. In front of him stood a mahogany desk with a single desk lamp.
"Scimitar?" Kuvira asked.
"He got me!" Scimitar growled. "That heartless monster! I knew he was playing me, but I didn't care! I knew he was a snake, but I let him bite me!"
"Scimitar, calm down." Sunset said. "What's this about?"
"Project: Phoenix. All of it! I realized what it was for now! Not only that, I learned I wasn't the only one!" He breathed heavily before getting up. "Sorry. I did warn you." He went behind the desk, sat down, and covered his face with his hand. "I should have known."
"Uh, to those who aren't scientists, what are you talking about?" Bolin asked. "What is Project: Phoenix?"
"It's me." Scimitar explained. "Or rather, it created me. Project: Phoenix is the genetics experiment in which I was bred."
"Say whaaaaaaaaat?" Discord asked. "You were born here?"
"No." Scimitar said. "Remember what Tartus said? I came from a place called Site B, which makes this Site A. This is the original. The site that created me is in another world. And it was here where I discovered why I was really born."
"Why?" Kuvira asked.
"For Tartus' own gain." Scimitar said. "What I found out is that a while ago, Tartus used a magic spell to rid him of all emotion, and he had a theory. He thought that if he had nothing but focus, he could dominate the mind of any body he's in, no matter how powerful. As far as I can tell, his research is pretty solid. That's why he built Project: Phoenix. He was trying to build a more suitable body for him to implant his mind into."
"Why does he need a new body?" Bolin asked. Everyone turned their faces toward him until he had an awkward look on his face. "Oh, right. The short thing. That's a pretty good reason."
"That's why I don't look anything like my father even though I'm a clone. I'm not meant to. He wanted a body better than his own. And back at Site B, there were at least a dozen failures before I came to be."
"If you succeeded, then why isn't Tartus in your head?" Sunset Shimmer asked.
"Because I didn't meet all of his requirements. You see, in order for his mind to be compatible with my body, I need the same mental awareness as his own. I have his intelligence and his creativity, but there was one thing I lacked that he needed: his ambition. I didn't want to conquer and rule like he does, so my mind wasn't compatible. Tartus then thought that if I wasn't born with it, then I could at least be taught to it."
"Hence him raising you." Sunset said.
"Father of the year, ladies and gentlemen." Discord said.
"Did you know?" Sunset asked. "Did you know about what you were made for?"
"I never had a clue." Scimitar said. "If I hadn't met you, Sunset, he might have succeeded too. Thank you."
"But you said you had suspicions before we got here." Kuvira said. "If you didn't know why you were born, then what were you expecting?"
"The other thing I found." Scimitar said. "Something that gives me another reason to punch out his fanged teeth. Think about it. This place is Site A. I was made in Site B. After I was completed, Tartus abandoned the place, much like this one. What does that tell you about what happened here?"
"Uh... he lost his time share?" Bolin asked.
"No." Sunset said. "It means... there's another clone. One that was made here, right?"
"Right." Scimitar said. "I had no idea until Tartus said Site B. Technically, I'm the little brother."
"Wait, there were two of you in that litter?" Discord asked with a chuckle in his voice.
"This is not the appropriate time or place to tease me, you dunce."
"Well, I can tease you outside." Discord said.
"Scimitar, if this clone was a success like you, then why didn't Tartus take his body?" Bolin asked.
"Because, much like me, that clone wasn't perfect. That clone had the same conquering intention as Tartus and willingness to take as much power as possible, but for the first time, the body wasn't compatible. But instead of terminating this clone, Tartus found another use. One that involves this world."
"So... this other clone is alive and here?" Kuvira asked. "Aren't we going after him?"
"No. Before we came here, I had my suspicions where the clone is. But after looking after all of Tartus' notes, now, I know for sure."
"But where?" Kuvira asked. "Shouldn't we be there instead of here?"
"Kuvira, listen to me. Tartus was smart. He was able to place the infant clone in the care of someone in a position of power so that their ambition would grow. It's why he set up this lab near Zaofu, the place where you grew up."
"Huh?" Discord asked.
"What does that mean?" Bolin asked.
"Scimitar, you're not making any sense." Sunset said.
"What are you saying?" Kuvira asked.
"I'm saying, I know what you are, Kuvira, even if you don't." Scimitar explained. "It's why you grew up without knowing who your real parents are, and why you were raised by the leader of the Metal Clan. It's why you didn't hesitate to take charge of the Earth Kingdom after the Earth Queen died. Why you refused to step down for Prince Wu to ascend to the throne. Why you turned peace projects into weapons of war. Why you continued to press your conquest over Zaofu and Republic City. Why you were willing to sacrifice anything to keep your power."
"What?" Kuvira asked with fear shaking her eyes.
"Kuvira, I don't have an older brother. I have an older sister. There's a female clone. And it's you. You're another clone. You... are the daughter of Tartus."