Between Needles and Knives

by Dancewithknives

Crocodile Tears

“Of all creatures that breathe and move upon the earth, nothing is bred that is weaker than man.”
― Homer, The Odyssey

"You’ve finally found me." That is what he said, it clarified all feeling of doubts as Rarity walked hoof-in-hoof with a mare who claimed to know her into the auditorium of the Imperial Theatre of Canterlot. It was shocking when she first heard it, partly because she did not expect to hear it so directly. Instead of just speaking like a normal pony, Rarity's olive green chaperone -wearing some of her custom made attire- instead sat in a way that would mistake them for two lovers. Sitting down and having one hoof wrapped with another’s, leaning their weight against one and other, and touching their horns together, making their minds one, would have made anyone mistake them for romantics.

The other reason why the simple statement chilled her bones was its delivery. Gone was the cold, crisp, and controlled demeanor of the stallion disguised as a mare's speech. While the connection of their horns allowed for them to communicate discretely, the delivery of the sentence was something that felt completely foreign to Rarity. The way he said it was not private, like how Rarity and her sister would speak in whispery magic to one another when they would make the connection. He was inside. The magical connection felt as if he had literally and figuratively opened up her head, entered into her brain, sat down in the command chair of her mind and put his bottom hooves up on the desk.

Rarity wished that she could have the detached monotone voice back.

"... Pardon?" She asked, keeping her eyes on her new 'partner' to see if it would show any sort of reaction.

The body of the green unicorn did not react, it kept leaning and tenderly rubbing her horn alongside Rarity's as she watched the pulled curtains on the stage. "You've been searching for quite some time now, Ms. Belle. Stay still, this will only last a second." Before Rarity could question why she was staying still about, she felt a small pain in her wrist. She looked down, and on the inside of her wrist, right on the vein, she saw a small bubble like container with a needle on one end. She tried to lunge out of her chair, but her entire right side had become numb, and her jaw closed on its own accord.

"Pufferfish venom. I assure you that the dosage will not cause any permanent damage."

Rarity tried to jump out her seat. When it came to decency and her life, Rarity would choose to embarrass herself before the assembly of the richest ponies in the country before she left herself further in jeopardy. Seated in the seats right before her new ones was a mare and a stallion. The female was easily half the age of her date, and their previous activities throughout the night did not take much to imagine based on the lipstick stains that had been partially removed from the stallion’s face. Rarity’s plan was elementary. She would lunge forward, taking extra care to attract their attention and make them turn around. Then after an apology or two and half of the section watching her to see if she was inebriated or not, she would escape from the main seating area and get to the safety of her friends and her rulers.

She lunged… or, at least her mind told the rest of her body to do so. Her brain had told her limbs to move, and she felt her nerves responding to the command, but like the whiplash of an amusement park ride, Rarity’s mind preemptively imagined what it was like to shoot outwards, the subtle preparation to bumping into he chairs before her, but when her body refused to obey her command, she was ripped back into her chair, faced with the reality of paralysis.

She was prey now, caught within the pit viper’s lair.

"Why?"

"The poison only prevents the nervous system from responding to the brain's commands. Your mind, eyes, and vital functions are not clouded by its potency. As for the reason for the precaution, well... We don't need any unnecessary attention now, do we?"

It didn't seem like Rarity's captor, whatever it was, was intent on ending her life, not here at least. Otherwise why else would it go to all the trouble to pacify her? So with the fear that she had been lead immediately to her death nullified, another began to form within her mind. What exactly did it want with her?

"You've become quite infatuated with me. So, here you are. Ask me everything that you've wanted, but choose wisely, for the time is short, and we have much to discuss."

For how introverted and alienated it tried to be on the outside, the open and directness of its personal side was quite foreign to Rarity. It was almost as if it had been anticipating this conversation. But, the most awkward part of the statement was for how true it was, She had not been prepared. Like a novice writer or a misguided carpenter, Rarity had begun her collection and investigation of the customer who went by Esproc without a goal in mind. Her misguided efforts had been so caught in danger and hopelessness of the hunt that she never anticipated the resolution. So that brought the question, what was she interested in?

"Umm..." She thought, asking him a question," who... Who are you?"

Although still somewhat reserved, the annoyance in his tone made the hair on Rarity's neck stand on edge... Or at least, that’s what it felt like.

"I'll answer the real question that's been fueling your recent efforts in finding me; you, your sister, your friends, and your parents are all safe for the time being."

"What do you mean, 'for the time being'?"

"I say that because there is no guarantee that you may become a problem. So why should I use absolutes when leaving room for error keeps my statements true?"

'Room for error'. Was the value of her life becoming a statistic? A risk factor of whether her death had less consequences than what may happen in the event that she gossips? Rarity tried to move her neck to glare at the pony beside her, but the strength to move her head was gone. Her only weapon at this point was -quite literally- hot air and nasty thoughts.

"Leave my family out of this!" She mentally shouted. "My parents know nothing and Sweetie Belle..." A parade of memories struck Rarity. Images of the life with her nearest of kin. The good, like sitting next to her while she learned to sew on a practice paper with yarn. The bad, like tripping on her saddlebags. To the mundane, like washing the dishes together, brushing their teeth beside each other, looking over her schoolwork, just normal things that she would do with Sweetie Belle.

A knot formed in Rarity's throat, one that she did not have the strength to swallow.

"You would never harm a little filly like Sweetie Belle, would you?"

"No..." he said. Rarity felt a weight being lifted off of her chest. During the reprieve, she looked around the theatre. The seats had become filled once more. Ushers walked from whatever they had been doing and returned to their positions at the back of the auditorium. The large red curtains were beginning to fold back into the corners of the stage.

"Younger," he finished.

With the fury that could only be matched by a mother Grizzly Bear, Rarity thought-Shouted, "YOU PSYCHOPATHIC, HOMICIDAL, BLOOD THIRSTY, PERVERSE-"

"Isn't it beautiful?"

"Don't you dare change the subject on me when I'm-"

Mid rant, Rarity's snout was gripped in magic and yanked away from the stage and aimed upwards, towards the viewing booths.

"Look at it," he said. His voice had changed from the tone that was once full of malice and evil to one that was almost sounding humble, like he was stuck in awe over something.
Whatever it was, Rarity could not find it. She had been placed in a direction to see the booth that she had been previously sitting, in the VIP suite with both princesses and her five friends. "The lady of light... She's so refined, so withheld, so careful. Its all so... Absolutely terrifying."

Rarity was at a loss for words, "I don't believe I understand."

"It is a shame that you cannot see the majesty of this power. To understand the terror that she causes without being anywhere near a battlefield. You cannot feel the fear that she inflicts upon stallions, the same fear that could cause somepony to take newborn winged unicorns out of the hooves of their mothers to see if it would be the one in one trillion. And, of course, if they can't have an alicorn naturally, why not make their own? So what if the foal dies before it can understand why it is being filled with needles? After all, there is no greater honor than giving one's life to better the state! So go ahead, stick that syringe into its eye, the study results showed that -for the rats that didn't go blind- the substance will make its depth perception better! So what if the dosage made the subject never see again? Use a smaller one on the next pony! You're afraid that 250 Ml of Solvent 3-50 will cause them all to become antisocial psychopaths like with the adult volunteers? Well don't fret, these are just children after all, and look on the bright side, Solvent 3-50 also decreased morality by 8% while increasing bone density by 12%! So go on Doctor, cover them in injection ports and give them permanent needle scars, there's a war to be won!
And, in the event that we can't make an alicorn that wears our flag upon its back, then we can find a use for the leftover vermin. Even though a true patriot would rather die than fail its country. We can find a way to recycle these pathetic failures and their unsatisfactory genetics. They've failed us once, so its actually a mercy thay we find a use for them. They never would have deserved to live as failures, so there's no wrong to be blamed by breaking them down and further, ruining the slight chance to live the privileged life of normalcy, If they didn't want this to happen, then they should have been what we wanted! Take away their toys and give them knives. Train them to fight and to kill for no better reason than for the fact that we told them to. They were born as blank slates, they failed as blank slates, and if they die, they will do so as a blank slate, devoid of any life or reason for existence than to serve the country that they were indebted to since birth."

Rarity, even though it should not have been possible, felt her jaw drop. "What are you...?"

"That's a question I reflect on much too often. But that’s enough about me, your time is running short."

Rarity's head was a storm of questions. Even though the theatre was filled with the musical harmony of the band on the stage, her mind was a convoluted mess of half thought up ideas, and fragments of everything that she had to ask. Her customer had pulled aside the curtain, broke down the facade, had become too fed up with her spying eyes and opened up to his true self to finally set the record straight.

Speaking of which, how did he know the she was after him? Two seats, a proper disguise, staying in character when she confronted him, was he... waiting for her?

"How did you know I would... That I was... Checking into you?" She asked. If not for the fact that she was completely numb, she would have tried to retreat her bottom to the other side of her seat.

His brain made a mental chuckle. "I've been watching your back for much longer than you can know. But I must say, having a fan is, as your friend would say,"

Esproc broke the mental connection when he moved his head aside and angled his snout into Rarity's exposed ear. A faint green ripple of magic passed over his throat, and in a stressed, screechy, hyper, and eerily familiar voice, whispered, "So awesome!"

Rarity's nerves, even though they'd been frayed and shocked into submission already, jolted again, almost causing her to jump out of her seat.

He was in her house and she didn't know it.

He was in the same room with her and she didn't know it.

He was in her face, mimicking one of her closest friends so well that she didn't even notice it...

She now knew what fear felt like.

"I've been tasked to protect you before, because in the grand scheme of things, even though you know that Rarity Jolie Belle is a humble tailor in Ponyville, Pinkameena Dianne Pie is a baker, Jacqueline La Pomme Apple is a simple farmer, Fluttershy Tender Heart is a veterinarian, Twilight Amethyst Sparkle is a Librarian and Rainbow Rosanne Dash is the Weather coordinator, they don't know that. Like the ones who made me, they look at you and see a weapon, one that scares them so much that they would try to find a permanent solution to the threat."

"You've... killed before?"

"Only when told to. Only. If I was still in the old country, I would have been tasked to pacify you, and I would have done it."

Rarity didn’t want to understand what he had just said, but she did. “Nothing personal, just strictly business? That’s all this is to you?”

“Somewhat.”

“Well then, how do you sleep with yourself? Hmm! How can you trade a pony’s life for a few pieces of gold coins? How can you go on with your life when you hurt ponies like the way you do and know that you are going to do it all over and over until you finally get what’s coming to you? How!?”

Rarity, even though her lips were numb, felt a bit of a smile stretch across mug as she waited for the response from her partner. She felt that she had made a point. She was not a shrink, but from what she had been studying from cases involving antisocial behavior, her criticisms may -since they did have a long standing professional relationship- hopefully could make sense to her captor.

But, as always, he did respond. “I don’t work for money.”

The numb feeling of the smile that Rarity thought she was working on disappeared. “But… How… who would you work for that you could do these…terrible things for free?”

His answer was colder than ice, swifter than the wind, and simpler than anything that she could have possibly imagined. “God.”

Now it was Rarity’s turn to be silent. Her eyes, watching the pony beside her who she was questioning, were so big that they could have popped out of her head.

There was no use trying to find reason with this pony. For all the time that she contemplated why her client did the questionable things she convinced herself that he did, she had imagined that it as something more sophisticated, something that was understandable, like to fund the medicine for an ailing child, to support a wife and family, or to satisfy some sort of sick and sexual Freudian need to kill. But it was none of that.

He was a zealot, a religious fanatic who could rationalize absolutely any action with the reasoning that it was of holy importance. But, unlike the ponies who would leave paperback book in hotels and visit her shop for donations, he felt that, by acting against the law of society, he was affirming his faith and obedience. He had the divine right of murder, the ability to commit atrocious actions without the need to question the motive.

But, that was enough time to contemplate the hopelessness of her plight, for he had spoke once more.

“Rarity, our time is up.”

“What do you mean? ‘Up’?”

“As you have already assumed, I am here for a reason tonight, and I believe that the Lady of Light has done the same for you. I know how you think of me as some sort of sadistic arbitrator of death, so instead, I will allow you to make the decision. Tonight, Rarity, in the fitting grandeur of this stage before us, our little drama must come to its end.”

Rarity gulped, “What do you mean, ‘end’?”

“By the end of the performance, you will be the one who makes the decision, will have his fate decided, or will dozens more meet their end?”

Once again forgetting that she could not move, Rarity tried to jump again, but was reminded of her temporarily paralysis. “What? Heavens no! I will not play your sick game!”

“Really?”

“No! Never. I cannot be some sort of sick sorter of life and death.”

“Well then, let’s just wait until the bloody symphony and the final encore for your favorite musician. She’ll get quite the standing ovation.”

Tunnel vision, both the physical phenomena and the mental one, both occurred when one focused on one detail too closely, it often blinded them from the grander scheme of things, and at that moment, Rarity realized that she was still at the concert. She had forgotten that while focused on her customer.

“Wh-What are you going to do?”

“Ah!” He corrected her, “It’s what you are going to do. You’ve become too persistent and your meddling must cease tonight. So I will let you interfere, for all of the terrible things you think I do, I will allow you to take control of the situation. If you want insert your morals into my mission, then all you have to do is tell me to desist, I walk away, and the world faces the consequences. ”

“What is going to happen to Sapphire Shores? Who are you going to hurt?”

“I am not going to do anything to Sapphire Shores, but someone else is going use her demise as a distraction in order to cover his true intent. I intend to stop him, but now it’s all up to you.”

“I…I don’t comprehend what you mean!”

“That is understandable, so allow me to explain my endeavors. Look at the stage, second row in the stringed section, Double Bassist: third one to the right.”

Rarity followed his orders. Tracing up on the row of the stage, looking up through the stadium seating of the orchestra. Eventually, she did find the pony who she had been told to. She was an earth pony, other than her matching uniform like the other instrumentalists, she was grey. From Rarity’s point of view, she looked relatively normal.

“That young lady is Octavia Soprano. She is quite a smart, lovely little filly…” Rarity’s eye darted at the pony beside her, and he returned the glance, “Her mother is just like me.”

Rarity began to sweat, how many more of these nutjobs were running around Equestria?

“You see, without her, we probably would not be here today. Earlier on in the tour, the band was in the StagLands. While there, one of the members of the wind instruments sought to spend the night with the comfort of a pony she had just met. That night, while they were sharing the night, it had just so happened that they witnessed something that they should not have. Out a window, they witnessed the execution of a pimp by a well-known associate of some very important individuals.”

“How does this relate to Sapphire?”

“We will get there eventually. On her first instinct, the lady of the night grabbed a nearby camera and took incriminating photos of the event. But, what they didn’t know is that the flash was seen by the opposing party. Both of the two ponies tried to run away.”

“What happened to the stallion?”

“Well, the one who executed the pimp has very powerful friends, and since these friends didn’t want their lucrative sex trafficking business threatened, they sent a hitman out to silence the two.”

Rarity gasped. “You!?”

The initial response was a chuckle. “No, not quite. The pony the sent after them is named Bullseye. I found this information after having a conversation with a stag that he hired in preparation to dispose of the bodies. Melody Stanza did not survive, but the filly did. By either luck or a good judge of character, she went to Octavia to get some of the evidence to the right ponies, and now she promises to testify in world court with the rest of the film for her safety.”

Rarity recapped on what he had just said, and thought that it was a bit overdramatic, “Why would somepony, a bad one at that, go to such a length to cover a crime like this?”

“Rarity, Rarity, Rarity. The one who is orchestrating this entire ordeal is not a simple character. He is one of the Diarchy’s of Japone’.”

“A….A ruler is… what?”

“He was elected to the highest office with his partner because they could buy their way there. Now, standing at the precipice of power, they can run their rackets unhindered.”

The mental connection was broken, and the pony sitting next to Rarity turned her head and stuck her snout into the tailor’s ear, rubbing her cheek on the side of her head. He whispered, “Just imagine little fillies as young as your sister or as old as you are, wanting to escape from home to find a job, so you trust some dashing and official looking stallion with a uniform who promise that he can get you a job across the border in a butcher shop, as a maid, or a nanny. But when you go with him, his friends attack you and get you addicted to Pixie Stix. From then on the only thing you are is somepony’s whore for eight bits an hour.”

The thoughts were so disgusting that, even though her body was paralyzed, her entire spine shook. The magical connection through their horns was established once more.

“How do you know all of this?”

“I once had the sour occurrence of doing a job for these ponies once. But that was like another life to me.”

“How do you know this pony hired the Bullseye pony?”

“Well, while skipping the small details, we could say I broke into the personal memoirs of the Diarchs, stole the memoir of the transfer, and then burned all of the blackmail that he could use as protection to save his hide.” There was another chuckle, “They say that the best place to hide a leaf is within a forest, but that often doesn’t work when the forest burns to the ground. ”

Rarity stopped and thought, something that he had just said struck a memory in her… something about burning. Then she remembered the newspaper, “You were the one who burned down that Archives building, weren’t you!”

“Yes.”

“But it said that nopony was fatally wounded at the Archives!”

“I was ordered to not to end the lives of any of the employees, soldiers or officers stationed at the National Offices of Archives and Securities, so I didn’t. So you can see how genuine my story is.”

Rarity scoffed at the statement, “Well, don’t think I believe you yet you…you… Murderer!”

But, for as scathing as the insult was, it must have rolled off of the pony it was said to, for it continued by saying, “In a way, I have marveled at Bullseye’s talents for disguises. For an earth pony, he does manage to get around. But, his fatal flaw is overcompensation, it seems that he enjoys going a tad bit overboard in the spectacle of his endeavors.”

“Oh, and you aren’t?”

“No, look up.” With the assistance of magic, Rarity’s chin was angled up above the stage. “Do you see that chandelier?”

Rarity acknowledged his question. She indeed did notice a quite handsome crystal chandelier hanging by a single fiber optic wire support at the very top. A spotlight, placed in the back of the auditorium, shined a light at the hanging and reflected light around the theatre based on how much the technical crew shown into it.

“Now, I’m going to show you a camera pony.” Rarity’s head was likewise directed again and placed in a way that she was looking upwards into a dark abyss of catwalks and wires. With her head wrenched up like this, she could somewhat see an earth pony with a camera on his shoulder, filming the show.

“Here we have Bullseye, entering stage right, aiming up on his floating dagger above the stage.”

“Wait, what are you saying?”

“Bullseye’s target is the informant, but he intends to cover up her death with the tragic accident that claimed the life of Sapphire Shores.”

Rarity’s mind went almost blank, “Wait! What do you mean accident!?”

“I promised Octavia’s mother that she would be safe, so I took the precaution to move the Double Bassists away from the area. But at the end of the encore, when all of the audience is focused on the stage, he will fire an arrow-bolt which will cut the chandelier’s cable. The chandelier will crush Sapphire shores immediately, and all of the orchestra around her will also be killed, including the informant.”

Rarity felt the popcorn and snacks she had eaten from throughout the show come up to say hello, “He can’t get away with that! he’ll-”

“He has been spending the last few months making a fake identity. After the deed is complete, he will slip out of the theatre. His coat will turn from blue to red, and when the authorities find his camera, they’ll trace it to his hotel. There, they will find that ‘Establishment Shot’ was obsessed with Sapphire Shores. The news headlines will focus on how an obsessed fan had taken the life of a pop culture icon, and the witness who will had promised to testify against one of the largest sex trafficking rings will fade into the emptiness of nothing.”

Rarity was preparing to say something, but then her ears heard something, a familiar teasing of the ears that she was much too fond of. She looked on the stage, and had to remind herself that she was at a musical performance. The stage was dark, a spotlight was shining down on a lone stallion standing in the band stand and gently plucking the strings of a large golden harp. Another spotlight lit up a lone microphone stand in the half circle of instrument. Slowly entering into the light, Sapphire Shores broke through the precipice of darkness and caressed the metal pole in her hooves while she sang sweet hymns into the microphone.

This wasn’t a song to Rarity; it was her inspiration, her favorite thing to ever grace vinyl format. It was an old Gospel, performed in a tongue that was not coherent to Rarity, but its beauty was multilingual.

“Ahhh, perfect timing.” Esproc said. “Now Rarity, your time has come. By the end of the song, a decision must be made.”

“No! I won’t play your game, you can’t make me.” She said, defiant to the assassin’s demands. But, for as much as she wanted to stand to her statement against his violent lifestyle, she could not help but feel pressured in the moment. The song was like a timer, she knew every pitch, all of the plucks, every note, all of it by heart. So as she objected to the monster’s offers, she could not help but feel that the clock was tick-tick-ticking away.

“Oh, but you don’t understand, Rarity. By doing nothing, you are acting. So riddle me this, the fate of your idol, a good Samaritan, and innocent bystanders all depend on you saying yes or no. The lives of many will be rescued by your decision while countless little fillies will be safe all because of you deciding the fate of one crooked individual. Or, you can stick to your values, believe in the inherent good locked within even the worst of ponies. But, by granting mercy to one evil individual, you allow many innocent to perish in his wake.”

Rarity thought on it, he did have a good argument. She didn’t want to condemn somepony, no sane individual would. But, at the same time, she had responsibilities to uphold. As an Element of Harmony, shouldn’t she do everything in her power to protect the peace and prosperity for all? If a school was on fire, wouldn’t it be her duty as an adult to try to save the children? Nopony deserves death, she was raised knowing that, so as much as she didn’t want tell him to take out this “Bullseye” character, what made Sapphire Shores or the band any less worthy? And those poor children-

Mid contemplation over her upcoming decision, the interloper in Rarity’s life interrupted her once more. “But, maybe I am just that mentally insane psychopath that you’ve always thought I was. Maybe I made up my entire story just now to try to see how far you’d believe my mad ramblings? While I can promise that if you say to rid this world of Bullseye I would, but what if there never was a danger? What if that when Sapphire Shores hits the final note, nothing happens?”

Her brain stopped, was any of this true? While she had been glued to her seat and scared for her life during the concert of a lifetime, she began to question it all. Was all of it, from the story of being a test soldier, the rationalization of religion, and the convoluted plot of prostitution, assassinations, herrings, little fillies, and Saphire Shores being the bait, was any of it true? If it were a normal conversation with a normal pony, the act of pointing out the ridiculous scale of this tale would be humble, a way to laugh and joke about the circumstances that she had heard. But that begged the question, was he normal? He could have been an extraordinary individual with an enormous situation that she had jumped into. Or, as he had just said, he could be completely insane, a deranged sociopath who happened to have an obsession with one particular tailor. What to do, what to do!

“Are you willing to live your life with the uncertainty that you killed an innocent stallion? Or, could you live with the grief that you had the option to prevent the deaths of dozens of innocents, but did not have the confidence to act? Tick tick tick, Rarity, time is running out.”

For as impossibly hard the decision was beforehand, the monkey wrench that was thrown into Rarity’s brain had shut down the entire decision making process and rewrote the rules. The values of right and wrong became weightless. The known and unknown consequences of her actions were distorted to the point where nothing was comprehendible. She had walked into the theatre with a simple knowledge of a bipolar world, of how each decision was ultimately white or black, a right and a wrong. But, here, there was no white, and there was no black. She had been placed into a position where each choice she had was grey. And at that, even if this Bullseye pony and the individual who had him in his employ… even if they had harmed others in the past, she would still hesitate in deciding the courses of their lives.

A simple 50/50 chance was ripped apart by some many added variables and uncertainty that there was no sane decision to go with…well, there was one absolute…
Rarity mustered all of her strength together and put forth all of the effort left in her body to swallow. She was not proud of having to do what she had to, but it needed to be done.

“Yes.”

There was an evil chuckle, like the incarnation of sin itself was inside Rarity’s head and ready to collect its newest trophy. “Be more specific, my dear.”

“I…I… I want you to do it… based on what you said, the only common outcome you presented to me is that this individual will have to meet his fate. I can only assume by the assets you have shown in our interactions that you are not deluded, but that conclusion does not comfort me, for it shows that for a hero to exist in this world, monsters need to as well. Take the hitstallion out.”
Like the times before, horn to horn magical connection was broken when the assassin moved its head. The disguised individual pointed its mouth into Rarity’s ear and whispered, “Good choice.” Before kissing her on the cheek.

Rarity blinked, for she felt a sharp prick on the side of her face, but before long, her cheek began to have feeling return to it.
The green unicorn touched its horn with Rarity once more, but spat out another tiny needle. “What you fail to see, Rarity, is that there are no heroes in this world, only individuals who do what they must and hope that it is the right decision. The ultimate reward to one of these so called ‘heroes’ is that they die before they are faced with the true consequences of their actions.” The green horn began to glow once more, causing a necklace with a vial of sunflower seeds to levitate out from the inside of the three piece suit. “If you still want closure, use this.” He placed the necklace around Rarity’s neck. “We both know how this story ends.”

The mare in the suit stood up and began to walk out of the aisle.

With enough strength to turn her head, -but still a bad case of numb tongue- Rarity whispered out, “Waithphhh…I don’ evenphen know whooth you are.”

Luckily, her client was not too far away, so it turned around, angling her head and showing off the left side of her neck. “Where I came from, they didn’t give us name, only numbers and letters to record where we originally came from. Mine was Project=34: Category=3.”
It must have been using magic to emphasize it, for at that moment the symbol “P34C3” began to glow underneath the mare’s fur in the area where the jaw met the neck, like it had been tattooed there.

P34C3 left the auditorium and exited via the lobby of the theatre. Rarity, still regaining the control over her own body, was forced to watch the rest of the show and wait.

And wait

And wait

And wait

Until the performance ended, and one life did as well.

And then the crowd went wild.