"A warning, to the people, the good and, the evil: this... is..." Tartus sang quietly to himself before Twilight interrupted him.
"Would you stop that?" Twilight was looking over all her books on magic and hypnosis when she had enough.
"Hey, I've got nothing else to do here." Tartus said. "I thought an Equestrian like you would enjoy a good song every now and then. You and your friends sing at least one friendship-themed song basically every week."
"Listen, you one-eyed sociopath," Twilight said, "My friend's life is on the line here because of what you did. Now, tell me how you brainwashed her."
"...Okay." Tartus said much to Twilight's surprise.
"Really?"
"NO!" Tartus responded. "Come on, did you really think it would be that easy? Don't think that just because you have a noble reason for helping your friend, but the answer isn't just going to fall into your lap just for that."
"We'll see about that." Twilight said as she left the hallway.
When Twilight continued down the stairs, the came across the lab attended by Varrick and Zhu Li. The two of them were taking close inspection at Tartus' equipment, including his arms and his eye.
"How's the study going?" Twilight asked.
"Well, he may be evil, but this Tartus guy is certainly an evil genius." Varrick said. "I've been looking at his metal arm for three hours, and I still can't figure out what half of these functions are for."
"Same goes for the eye." Zhu Li said. "I know there's a beam blast here somewhere, but I can't seem to find it."
"Well, isn't there anything here that can tell us how he hypnotized Korra?" Twilight said giving a close look to the fingertips of the metal arm in front of her.
"Sorry, but I can't answer that one." Varrick said. "Oh, I wouldn't try to get close to those fingers. They..."
ZAP! An electric jolt escaped the metal fingers and hit Twilight in the horn.
"OW!" Twilight shouted rubbing her horn.
"Shock." Varrick finished.
"Yeah, the same thing happened to Varrick, twice." Zhu Li said. "Guess Tartus isn't a big believer in rebooting."
Suddenly, Twilight had a thought cross her head. She removed her hoof from her horn and and gasped in excitement. "Reboot! That's it! Thanks guys!" She then zipped out of the room.
"Uh... you're welcome?" Varrick asked.
Twilight returned to her pile of books in front of Tartus' cell and picked one up. She scrolled through the pages until she found what she was looking for. "Yes! Yes! YESSS!" She raised her head to the prisoner. "In your face, shorty!"
"What are you so happy about?" Tartus asked.
"I found a way to help Korra without knowing what you did." Twilight said. "I just found a spell that will remove any changes you made to her brain."
"I don't follow." Tartus said. "You don't even know what those changes are."
"It won't matter." Twilight said. "This spell allows for the entire body to revert back to its state from a certain time. All I have to do is cast it, and any change to Korra from, say a month, shall be erased. Now, look who just became redundant. Turns out you're not as smart as you think, huh?"
"It won't work." Tartus said. "Korra won't agree to it. It's just going to backfire on you."
"You clearly don't know Korra." Twilight said. "And once I'm done saving her, we're gonna finish sending you to the deepest, darkest hole we can find and throw away the key. Then, we dont' have to worry about fighting you or your silly 'Creation War'." That's when she left with the book.
But as soon as Twilight left the room, Tartus smiled and chuckled. "Like putty."
Korra was still strapped to the table until Twilight entered her cell and let her out.
"What's going on?" Korra asked. "Isn't this risky?"
"Don't worry about it." Twilight said. "I think I found a way to save you. And I can't do that with you stuck on the table."
"Really?" Korra asked. "You mean it?"
"That's what friends are for." Twilight said. "And once we're done, we'll send Tartus away for good and then catch up.
"After all this time
We get to work once more
And we'll stick together
Like we did before"
"If I was to do this again" Korra sang,
"I'm glad it's with my friend
It's going to be great
Working together again"
"We haven't seen each other like we should" Twilight sang,
"So let's fix this whole mess"
"And enjoy what we could" Korra sang.
"Oh, yes" both sang.
"Wouldn't you guess" Korra sang,
"If it wasn't for you, I'd be in a tomb"
"'Cause there's no room" both sang.
"For ignoring the adventures we had" Twilight sang,
"Me with my friends and you with yours"
"There's no room" both sang.
"For forgetting who helped me make peace" Twilight sang,
"And secure everyone's futures"
"Who knew our worlds were different" both sang,
"But can be the same
There's no room
For placing each other with the blame"
"So ready to fix all this?" Twilight asked.
"You bet!" Korra agreed. What do you need to do?"
"I've got a spell to revert your body and mind to how it was to a certain time. If I set it back to a month ago, then everything that happened to you since then will disappear."
Korra's smile faded into disbelief. She rubbed the back of her head and voiced sounds of nervousness.
"Is... that right?" Korra asked.
"Yes." Twilight answered. "Ready?"
"Um..." Korra said. "Twilight, I don't think I'm ready yet."
Twilight paused in surprise. "Why?"
"On the same day I was taken, I made the first link to my past lives in years." Korra said. "And they say Avatar Stelle has a message for me. I can't do anything yet until I find out what she wants to tell me. If I let you take that change away, I might never find out."
Twilight couldn't believe her ears. "What? But Korra..."
"I'm sorry to say no" Korra sang,
"I can't do this yet"
"What? But it's to prove your innocence" Twilight sang,
"And I know you didn't forget"
"I know what it means" Korra sang,
"But I still have many questions"
"What kind of excuse is that" Twilight sang,
"That's hardly an intention"
"I'm sure everyone can afford to wait" Korra sang,
"I just have some records I need to set straight
Don't hate
But I can't afford to go back to this confusing gloom
'Cause there's no room"
That's when Twilight had her patience tested long enough.
"Knock it off! Listen to yourself" Twilight sang angrily,
"You're again being ludicrous
You're risking your innocence
Just because you're curious
I'm trying to do the right thing
But you're making this difficult
Perhaps everyone is right
Saying it's all you're fault"
Korra got upset too.
"Just because you're a princess" Korra sang angrily,
"You can't change what's mine
You can shove your opinions up your..."
"HEY! That's crossing the line" Twilight sang.
"WELL, FINE" both sang,
"I guess I was wrong to just assuuuuuuuuuuume
There's no room"
"For a brain to fit in your head" Twilight sang,
"'Cause your fantasies have left it clouded"
"There's no room" Korra sang,
"To even listen to you
Two worlds is definately too crowdeeeeeeed"
"I CANNOT BELIEVE" both sang,
"WHAT YOU'RE TRYING TO SAAAAAAAAAAAY
HAVE IT YOUR WAAAAAAAAAAAAY
THERE'S NO ROOM
TO PUT UP WITH THIS MUCH STRIFE
THERE'S NO ROOM
TO EVEN HAVE YOU IN MY LIFE
THEEEEEEEERE'S NOOOOOOO ROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM"
In utter frustration, Twilight slammed the cage door and left the room. She stomped her way back to Tartus' cell.
"Told you so." Tartus said.
"What is with her?!" Twilight asked angrily. "Doesn't she realize I'm trying to help her?!"
"By tampering with her spirit." Tartus said. "Who's to say you won't change her character?"
"That's not why she said no." Twilight said. "She said it was because she wanted to talk to previous Avatars."
"Okay, I agree. That is pretty ludicrous. Then again, can you blame her? She's got her first contact in over four years and you want to take that away."
"Why are you doing this to us?"
"I'm just taking back what you all took from me."
"What does that even mean? We never met you before. How could we steal anything?"
"I never said you stole. I said you took away. Use your head. Why do you think I came to this specific world?"
Twilight thought for a moment, but her mind still came to a blank. "Enough with the riddles!"
"Unbelievable!" Tartus said pinching in between his eye and his eyepatch. "All these clues, and you couldn't figure it out. I even gave you a hint earlier about how to save Korra."
"What?" Twilight asked. "When did you..."
Suddenly, the door opened suddenly. The team of Dawna and the others walked right in.
"Hope you have some good news, because I..." Twilight began to say. She was interrupted when she noticed Dawna didn't stop walking.
"Uh, Dawna..." Shadow Blot said.
Dawna stopped her feet in front of Tartus' cage. She then gripped the handle of her new sword and raised its red blade in the air above Tartus, who didn't seem fazed. The others gasped in shock and tried to protest, but Dawna wouldn't listen. All she felt were the tears running down from her eyes. With one swift wave of her arms, Dawna struck the blade down until it made contact with Tartus' head.