Sunset woke from another restless sleep and immediately shut her eyes when her head fog and nausea returned in full force. Once they passed, she rolled onto her side and reached for her phone on the nightstand; a few messages from the Lulamoons, one innocuous picture from Rarity.

Nothing from Twilight.

Pain shot through Sunset’s heart. She dropped her phone and huddled in on herself. Tears streamed down her face as she fought against dissolving into another fit of sobs.

She had spent almost two days in her room, getting up only to use the bathroom, and to tell her surrogate family the briefest version of what happened between her and Twilight. No one disturbed her. They texted her, asking if she needed anything. Selena had left a plate of food on her desk.

Sunset hadn’t responded or eaten.

Even now, two days removed from their spiraling argument, Sunset struggled to believe it had ended the way it did. Her breaking up with Twilight? She always thought if it happened, it would be the other way around. It didn’t feel real.

Sunset tried to tell herself it wasn’t etched in stone. All Twilight had to do was stop working with their enemy. But the fact that Twilight hadn’t immediately quit and sided with Sunset… the fact that Twilight had let Starlight drain the mirror portal… that she was working with the woman who split her soul… that she had gone behind her back to team up with Moondancer…

Sunset squeezed her eyes shut, hot tears streaking down her face. She clutched her heart and let out a miserable whimper. How could Twilight, her first love, her confidant, the person Sunset trusted above all others, hurt her this badly?

Spot, sweet and loyal, hopped up onto the bed and licked away Sunset’s tears. His cold wet nose was a tiny balm to the heated flush emanating off Sunset’s face.

She had broken up with Twilight. No delusion could change that. Sunset hated that she had given Twilight an ultimatum, but the fact that Twilight hadn’t picked her spoke volumes. Sunset couldn’t understand it. How could Twilight pick Starlight and Moondancer over her?

“I’m doing this for you!”

Weaponizing magic. Experimenting with the mirror portal. Working with the people trying to bring Tirek back to life. And then claim she was going to kill him.

Sunset gripped the sides of her head. Something about this didn’t add up. What was Twilight not telling her? Why would she ally herself with people like that and lie about it?

Broken up or not, Twilight was in danger, from herself and those around her. And whatever they were working on was a danger to the world at large.

Sunset balled her fists. She needed to do something. She needed information. And since she wasn’t getting anything from Twilight, she’d have to get it herself.

With a deep breath, she mustered up the strength to sit up. Spot gave a happy bark and wagged his tail at his risen owner. She gave him a loving scritch and promised him a treat for his faithfulness over the past two days, then gathered her strength again to throw the covers off and get out of bed.

Lightheadedness hitting full force, Sunset staggered the four steps between her bed and her desk and collapsed in her chair. The vegetarian lasagna and salad Selena had left for her was stone cold, but Sunset wolfed it down anyway.

When her meal had settled, she grabbed a fresh pair of clothes and headed to the bathroom. Her reflection caught her before she made it into the shower. Her eyes were puffy, and she had a rat’s nest for hair.

The hot water and shampoo at least took the external drudgery away. Being clean and freshly dressed was an incremental mood lifter. She was still tired and her heart still ached. But at least she was doing something other than laying in bed crying. Now, she had a goal to pursue.

She banged on Shimmer’s door. “I need to talk to you.” Her voice was still croaky.

Shimmer opened up and gave her a rare sympathetic expression. “Hey. You doing okay?”

“No. I need your help.”

“Listen, I don’t know how to heal a broken heart. You’re better off asking Selena.”

“Not that,” Sunset snapped. “You’re good with hacking and stuff. I need you to help me hack into Starlight’s servers or something and figure out what they’re doing. Twilight—”

Sunset cringed at the memory of two nights ago. “Twilight refused to tell me what they were working on. But it has something to do with Tirek and my only means to get home. I need to find out what it is.”

Shimmer nodded slowly. “Okay, that’s something I can do. But, hacking isn’t as simple as you think it is. I doubt she’d be storing research on magic and demons and stuff on the cloud. If her server is private, which it probably is, I’m going to need to go to its source, and I have no idea where that is.”

“Equilibrium Labs. It’s on the outskirts of town. We go there, we hack in, we find out what Twilight is hiding.”

Shimmer rubbed her hands together. “I like this plan. Getting back at Glimmer and showing off my professional skills at the same time. When can we get started?”

“Right now,” Sunset said, popping her knuckles.

Shimmer gave her a devious smile. “And I thought today was going to be boring.” She stepped back into her room and gently tugged her laptop free from beneath a sleeping Jörmungandr. The two girls then moved over to Sunset’s room where Shimmer quickly made herself comfy on her bed.

“Alright, first, give me the address of this place your sorta-maybe-still girlfriend keeps going to.”

Sunset ground her teeth and resisted the urge to shove Shimmer off the bed and pile-drive her into the floor. “I don’t know the address; you’re gonna have to find the address yourself. What are you doing?”

Shimmer clicked open a few folders on her computer, one of them labeled ‘Canterlot Municipal Building Archives’. “If I can get the address, and the building isn’t more than fifty years old, I should be able to pull up its layout plans. I’ve got a backdoor into some of the more detailed plans the city doesn’t share with the public.”

Sunset just nodded and looked over Shimmer’s shoulder as she scrolled down a list of digital files. She couldn’t believe she was planning on a break-and-entry scheme with her human counterpart—and into her girlfriend’s workplace, no less. Despite all the strange things she had done, this still took the cake.

“I think this is it!” Shimmer clicked a link and a top-down blueprint popped onto the screen. Sunset couldn’t say with confidence if it was or wasn’t the lab; she had only seen it from the outside the one time she had dropped Twilight off. Shimmer, however, seemed confident as she sped read through the accompanying notes.

She tapped a hallway on the left side of the building. “Okay, her office is one of these two rooms over here, just off the entry hall.”

“How do you know?”

Shimmer’s smirk reflected on the laptop’s screen. “I’ve been doing this a long time, kiddo. I know how to read things like this and make basic deductions. Look at the shape. See how these are smaller than the rooms over there? I would guess those are the labs or testing areas. And that one is too small to be an office. It’s probably a supply room.”

Sunset nodded, following Shimmer’s fingertip as she traced it around the blueprint. “Okay. So, what’s the plan?”

“Simple. We drive over, distract the security at the front, you sneak in…” Shimmer pulled a small black USB drive from her pocket and gave it a teasing wave. “And stick this into Starlight’s computer. My little friend here will do the rest.”

“Why don’t we just sneak in a night?”

Shimmer barked out a short laugh. “For something like this? It’d be easier to do it in the daytime and just say you got lost if you get caught. Besides, you’re not ready for a nighttime heist.” She reached out like she was about to pat Sunset’s head, but caught herself and resumed focus on her screen.

Sunset huffed derisively through her nostrils but didn’t argue the point. Shimmer was the expert here. “Okay, so all we need is a guaranteed distraction. And a car.”

*******

Like everything else Pinkie owned, her car was bright pink and covered in stickers, while the seats had colorful covers and smelled like frosting. Sunset had been relegated to the backseat while Shimmer rode shotgun. While initially annoyed, Sunset took continued amusement as she watched Shimmer’s growing disgruntlement over Pinkie’s music choice. She blasted bubblegum pop from the Lulamoon’s house all the way to the lab.

“I can’t believe I get to be part of a top-secret spy mission!” she said, finally turning the music down as they parked at the base of the hill leading to the laboratory. “And I get to be the best part!”

“Yep!” Sunset said encouragingly. “You just gotta distract whoever’s up front. So bring your A game, Pinks.”

“I always bring my A game!” She hopped out the car and began cartwheeling up the hill.

Sunset got out and walked over to the passenger window, unable to wipe the capricious grin off her face. “You ready?”

Shimmer glared at her. “I’m gonna strangle her. Then, I’m gonna strangle you.”

“Yeah. Can’t believe there was a time when I hated her too. But she really grows on you after a while.”

“What, like mold?” Shimmer shook her head in disgust then pulled out the USB device. “Stick this into Starlight’s computer, wait thirty seconds for it to link to my computer and open an access point, then grab it and get out. Don’t be afraid to ditch the pink one if shit goes sideways.”

Sunset took the USB and pocketed it. “I don’t leave friends behind, including you.”

Shimmer opened up her laptop and waved a dismissive hand. “Yeah, yeah, friendship is magic and junk. Just go get the job done so I can have a good time.”

Sunset left Shimmer in her surliness and jogged to catch up to Pinkie. She had downgraded from cartwheeling to simple skipping. At Sunset’s approach, she turned around to converse, now skipping backward up the hill.

“So we just gotta sneak onto this evil Starlight lady’s computer, and then we’ll learn what the bad guys are up to?”

“Yep, that’s the gist of it.” The amount of willpower Sunset had to exert to not break down and spill everything to Pinkie was herculean. She hoped the excitement over their ‘secret spy mission’ would be enough of a distraction to keep Pinkie from empathically honing in on Sunset’s inner turmoil. Not to mention she had no idea how to tell any of her friends what happened between her and Twilight.

Equilibrium Labs came into view, the imposing satellite dish clawing at the sky. Pinkie stopped to ‘oooh’ at it before her eyes fell on the sign posted at the front entrance.

“Huh… ‘Equilibrium Labs.’ Why does that sound familiar?”

Sunset remained silent, struggling to come up with anything that wasn’t a lie.

Pinkie gasped. “Wait! Isn’t this where Twilight works? Has Twilight been kidnapped by the bad guys?”

“No!” Sunset said quickly, putting a hand on Pinkie’s shoulder. “She, uhh… doesn’t know yet what Starlight might be up to. That’s why we’re on this spy mission. We need to make sure Starlight is up to something and find out what it is before we tell Twilight. Just in case we’re wrong.”

Pinkie’s panic evaporated. “Oh, that makes sense!” She slid a hand down over her face, transitioning to a serious expression.

“Let’s do this!” She marched up to the sliding doors, becoming all smiles the second she stepped over the threshold. Sunset followed behind her, glancing about the innocuous lobby. Nothing about the potted plants or sitting table screamed ‘mad scientist’ to her. The electronic bulletin board just showed pictures of machines, presumably projects the lab was working on.

The woman at the front desk looked up from her computer and gave a warm smile as the two girls approached. “Salutations! Welcome to Equilibrium Labs, where our motto is: for the good of humanity! How can I help you today?”

“Hello! My name is Diane, and I’m doing an in-depth blog report on all the science happening around Canterlot!” Pinkie reached into her hair and pulled out a pen and notepad. “I was hoping to ask you some questions.”

The lady, whose nameplate read ‘Amber’ nodded politely, seemingly unphased by Pinkie’s hammerspace. “Well, Diane, I’d be more than happy to call up one of our scientists to answer some of your questions.”

“Actually, I wanna ask you! My blog has a unique angle! ‘Science from a non-science perspective’! I wanna ask the ordinary people what they think about all the cool science stuff happening!” Pinkie said without missing a beat.

“I see. Well, I promise to answer to the best of my ability.”

“Yaay! First question: I ate a magnet one time when I was seven, but not really seven, but kinda actually seven because I was born on Leap Day, so my birthday only happens once every four years, but my parents are nice enough to throw me a party anyway, but their version of a party is different from my version of a party because they’re kinda really old school and traditional and minimalist, not that that’s a bad thing—I still have a lot of fun because we still have cake and games and my mom will tell us a story from when I was really, really little, even if I already know the stories because I can remember most of my childhood, even the really early stuff; like the time we went to the desert for vacation and a condor tried to carry me off, I think because I got too close to its nest, but then my sister—my big sister because I have one big sister and two little ones—she threw a rock at and hit it in the beak and then caught me as I was falling, which was really cool because I was like three and she was only six! Isn’t that cool?”

Amber gently cocked her head to the side, still smiling politely. “It is. But, what was the question exactly?”

“Oh right, the magnet! So anyways…”

Sunset watched and listened as Pinkie launched into another meandering story. She slowly edged herself closer to the left hallway, but Amber’s eyes flickered in her direction every few seconds.

Pinkie, in her savviness, caught on as well. “Okay, next question!” She set down her notebook and reached into her hair again, this time producing a bottle of cola and a bag of salt.

“So, you know that one fun thing where people drop mint candy in soda and it explodes?”

“Yes?” Amber said hesitantly...

Pinkie unscrewed the top of the soda bottle and unzipped the bag of salt. “Well, apparently, it also works with just sand or salt! How big do you think the explosion would be, and what are the scientific benefits?”

“I don’t think—”

Before she could finish her sentence, Pinkie dumped the salt into the bottle and watched with maniacal glee as it immediately fizzed up and erupted a geyser of drink and foam that ricocheted off the ceiling and rained down on everyone.

“Oops, I guess that was too much!” Pinkie shouted over the hissing bottle, still spewing soda. “And you’re all wet! Here, I can fix that!” Pinkie pulled a paper towel from her hair and attacked Amber’s glasses.

“I’ll go get more!” Sunset said as the fizz finally died down. She gave Pinkie a thumbs up and tiptoed down the hallway. She wiped off as much soda as she could from her vest, impressed and annoyed by Pinkie’s ingenuity as the stickiness set in.

Sunset came to the two doors Shimmer had marked as possibly being Starlight’s office. Neither door was labeled, and Pinkie could only keep the secretary distracted for so long, so she went for the door with the shuttered window next to it.

Closing it as softly as she could, Sunset looked about the unassuming room. Much like the lobby, nothing here struck her as belonging to an evil scientist dedicated to taking over the world. There was a bookshelf, a small couch, and a desk off to her right with a little houseplant sitting next to—

“The computer!” Sunset said in an excited whisper. The laptop was open to the lock screen, a picture of a woman Sunset assumed was Starlight Glimmer laughing and hugging a scruffy-haired young man with a wispy orange goatee and round glasses.

Sunset looked to the side and found the USB port. She pulled the drive from her pocket and plugged it in, watching as a loading bar popped onto the screen.

‘Establishing connection’, it read.

“One, two, three…” Sunset counted out loud, tapping her finger on the desk with each count. A knot formed in her stomach, and with each second, it got a little tighter. The sounds of Pinkie messily cleaning up the front desk flittered on the edge of her hearing peripheral. Hopefully, no one else would come running up to see what had happened.

“Thirteen, fourteen, fifteen…” Sunset whispered. She stopped tapping. Did she hear a third voice? She strained her ears but it was hard to discern. Her heart picked up speed. Why was she nervous? She could fight her way out if she had to. But she was still breaking and entering. Publicly, she was in the wrong, and if anyone reported her to the police…

“Twenty-four, twenty-five…” Someone was coming! She could hear heels clicking against the linoleum. Sunset looked at the loading bar, almost entirely green. “Twenty-eight, twenty-nine…”

A shadow passed across the window blinds. Someone was right outside.

Thirty! Just as she finished counting, the loading message was replaced with ‘connection established.’ Sunset yanked the drive out and dropped down underneath the desk just as the doorknob turned and clicked open.

The footsteps continued inside. Sunset slowly pressed a hand over her nose and mouth to mask her breathing. From the gap between the desk and the floor, a pair of closed-toed heels appeared. They moved to the side of the desk. Any more, and the owner would no doubt be able to see Sunset.

They stayed in place for a moment before turning and leaving. The door clicked shut a second later. Sunset kept a hand over her mouth and slowly exhaled. She waited another thirty seconds before shoving the USB into her boot and climbing out from under the desk.

“Gotcha.”

Sunset stumbled, nearly crashing into the bookshelf. Heart racing, she spun around and found Starlight Glimmer next to the door. She eyed Sunset like a cat about to play with its food.

“Now, why on earth would you be in my office?” she asked, smugness dripping into her voice.

“I…” Sunset cleared her throat, buying herself two seconds to get composed. “I was looking for paper towels or anything to help clean up the soda in the lobby.”

Starlight nodded like she understood. “Very considerate of you. But, you know, you spent an awfully long time under my desk.”

“Dropped my contact. And I thought if I popped up then, I would scare you.”

“Again, so considerate. And contacts are simply awful, aren’t they?” Starlight tittered. “Always falling out at the worst moment.”

Sunset chuckled as well, doing her best not to sound nervous.

“Well, I appreciate you trying to clean up the mess. But I think your friend has it all covered. You can run along now.”

“Yeah, no problem.” Sunset stepped around the desk, her heart rate accelerating as she got closer to Starlight.

“Before you go,” Starlight said sweetly, “could you empty your pockets? l know that must sound rude, but, security measures and all.”

Sunset reached into her pockets and pulled out her wallet, keys, chapstick, and phone.

“That’s everything?” Starlight asked innocently, eyeing the contents.

“Yep,” Sunset said. The USB dug into her ankle.

Starlight raised her eyes to give Sunset a calm, calculating look. Her smug smile had dropped to become something unreadable. She clicked her tongue before speaking. “Do you know the two primary forces that have driven humanity to come so far? What has pushed us to so many great heights and allowed us to survive against so many odds?”

“Umm…” Sunset hovered her hand over her phone. “No?”

Starlight’s lips curled into a knowing smile. She gently tilted her head to one side. “Curiosity.” She tipped her head to the other side. “And fear.”

“I see…” It wasn’t often Sunset faced someone so inscrutable. Even Moondancer, enigmatic as she could be, still had cracks in her mask. Sunset’s only read on Starlight was that she knew what she was doing and had complete control of the conversation.

“Curiosity is the progenitor not just of science, but for humanity’s advancement as a whole. The hows and the whys are what led us to discover, to think, to build and build upon. Could we create medicine to stop this disease? If so, how? Could we find a way to transport goods faster? If so, how? Does matter exist on a scale smaller than an atom? Could we weaponize that knowledge?”

Starlight clapped her hands behind her back and leaned forward. “If so… how? And why?”

Sunset kept her face as neutral as she could and hoped Starlight couldn’t hear her thumping heart in the pause between words.

Starlight stepped around Sunset, almost brushing shoulders as she passed. She put a hand on the desk. “Curiosity brought you into my office. Not to look for some paper towels but because you wanted to learn something. Isn’t that right, Sunset Shimmer?”

Sunset kept staring ahead at the opposite wall. “You know who I am.”

“Please, it’s not hard to guess. Whether or not you know it, you have a very remarkable presence. Plus, Twilight speaks so fondly of you.”

Sunset tensed her shoulders.

“Ah, and that brings us to fear,” Starlight said, picking up a pen and twirling it between her fingers. “What drives us to fight so desperately to survive and thrive. Fear of failure. Fear of death. Fear of being forgotten. Fear of looking back and finding our whole lives were wasted or otherwise pointless. Fear of being unable to protect what we love. It has driven people to kill, steal, lie, cheat. To build walls and monuments to gods. And to create weapons that would make others afraid instead. That’s the why. That is why we continue to learn and build. So that our curiosity is sated… and to stop being afraid of the unknown and make others fear us instead.”

Starlight set the pen down and circled Sunset, returning to the door. “I care not for what you think you’ve found, Sunset; it matters little to me in the end. I have what I want, and what has been put in motion cannot be stopped. Go ahead and run back to your friends and tell them whatever you’ve learned.”

Sunset put a little weight on her left foot, leaning toward the door. “Really? I can go just like that?”

“Of course,” Starlight said, twinkling her fingers toward the exit. “I could keep you in here and call Tempest so she can come and take your soul. But I don’t want to. You’re too fascinating, Sunset. I still have so many questions I need answered.”

She stuck her bottom lip out and batted her eyelashes. “And it would just crush Twilight’s productivity if something happened to you. She already seems out of sorts from something you did to her.”

Sunset clenched her jaw.

Starlight smirked and stepped into Sunset’s personal bubble. “However, I should make one thing clear: yes, you and I, at least from your short-sighted perspective, are on opposing sides. No doubt, we shall soon have to stand against each other on some sort of battlefield, each of us fighting for what we believe is right. I do look forward to that moment, Sunset. I would love to see your magic up close.”

Her voice dropped to a whisper, devoid of all warmth and sugar. “But if you get in my way, if you push my research backward, if our paths cross prematurely, and only one of us is allowed to walk away… mark my words… it will be me who does. I may not know magic, but I know you. I’ve seen your soul. And it’s more fragile than you think.”

She stepped back, the warm smile decorating her face again as she gestured toward the door.

Sunset stared into her eyes, still finding nothing concrete to latch onto. Starlight stared back at her like she hadn’t just made a none-too-veiled threat. Sunset shoved her things in her pockets and backed up to the door, her gaze never leaving Starlight’s.

“And there’s the fear,” Starlight said softly as Sunset crossed the threshold. She shut the door, turned on her heel, and power-walked to the lobby.

“Let’s go, Pinkie,” she ushered.

Pinkie, who was hopping on one foot and waving a rubber chicken around, gave a quick bow. “Thank you for answering my questions! I’ll make sure to cite you in my report! Bye!” She hurried after Sunset before Amber, hair mussed, could respond.

“Did you get it?” Pinkie asked as the doors slid closed.

“Yep.” Sunset kept walking as fast as she could, letting gravity pull her faster down the hill.

“Sunny, are you okay?”

“Nope.” They reached Pinkie’s car. Before Shimmer could give a snarky comment, Sunset tugged the USB out of her boot and tossed it through the window. She yanked the door open and sat down. “Pinkie, start the car. Drive.”

Pinkie, in a rare act of apprehension, did as she was told without a word. She gave the car some gas as she pulled a U-turn and headed back down the road.

“What happened in there?” Shimmer asked, twisting in her seat.

It wasn’t until Sunset fumbled putting her seatbelt on that she realized her hands were shaking. “I met Starlight.”

Both Shimmer and Pinkie sucked in a sharp breath.

“She just let me go,” Sunset said in a daze. “She said it doesn’t matter what we find out. Something’s already happening and can’t be stopped.”

“And what, you just believed her?” Shimmer asked, looking incredulously disgusted.

Sunset shuddered. “I don’t know. Something about her… just made me freeze. She’s not like Adagio or Moondancer—she’s smart… calculating.”

Shimmer snorted. “She’s not smart, she’s crazy.”

Sunset turned to face the window as Pinkie pulled onto the main road and headed through the city. If Starlight was crazy, she hid it very well. Sunset saw only competence. A methodical charisma that had caught her completely off-guard. No, Starlight wasn’t crazy, but she was dangerous.

“How long will it take you to get into her files?” Sunset asked.

“Depends on how tight her encryptions are,” Shimmer said, fingers dancing on the keyboard. “My decryption program will do most of the work and once it breaks through, I just gotta sort through her files. Am I looking for anything in particular?”

“Anything on Tirek.” Sunset’s clenched her jaw, snapshots of her argument with Twilight flashing through her mind. “Or portals.”

Sunset’s whole body snapped forward, restrained by the seatbelt pressing into her abdomen before slinging her back into her seat. Outside in front of Pinkie, tires screeched and horns blared as they too came to sudden stops.

“What hap—” Sunset got her answer before she finished the question. In the reflection of the glass office building ahead of them, a large orange tail slipped around a corner. Even amongst the cacophonic traffic, she could hear a hauntingly familiar song.

“Please tell me that’s not Adagio,” Sunset said with preemptive exhaustion.

“Okay,” Pinkie said with a nervous higher pitch, “it wasn’t Adagio.”

“Celestia dammit!” Sunset unbuckled herself and threw open the car door. She got out and ran over to the passenger window. “Take the wheel, get home, and finish getting the data. Pinkie, come on!”

Pinkie scrambled out of the car while Shimmer jumped into the driver’s seat. Traffic had come to a crawl, but that didn’t stop cars from honking at Sunset and Pinkie as they marched down the road. They reached the sidewalk and turned a corner, just as the orange tail rounded another building.

An ear-splitting caterwaul blasted down the street and struck Pinkie and Sunset, bringing both girls to their knees. Windows around them cracked and car alarms blared.

Clutching her skull, Sunset struggled to her feet. People were screaming and running now, abandoning cars and shops. Sunset shouldered past oncoming civilians and continued after the mirage of Adagio.

Please don’t be what I think I saw! Please don’t be what I think I saw!

“Hello, Canterlot!” a sickeningly familiar voice boomed through the streets. “Adagio Dazzle here with a surprise performance for all of you!”

Sunset rounded the corner and ground to a halt. Floating above the street was Adagio, dressed in her outfit from the Battle of the Bands. Her hair was longer, her eyes were bathed in red light, and purple wings kept her aloft. And hovering higher in the air was the incorporeal visage of her true form, the massive yellow hippocampus with its teeth bared.

“How?” Sunset shouted.

Pinkie ran up beside her. “Look on the bright side,” she said, trying to smile, “at least it’s only Adagio.”

Adagio raised her hand and fired a blast of magic at an office building, shattering the glass walls and raining shards onto the civilians below.

“Yeah, too bad she’s the strongest and still has half of our powers!”

Pinkie shrugged haplessly.

Another screech from Adagio’s siren avatar brought Sunset and Pinkie to the ground again. Sunset clenched her teeth and pressed her hands over her ears, but the wail drilled through and left her disoriented. It had been horrible before. Now, it threatened to leave her deaf.

When Adagio finally took a pause, Sunset pulled out her phone and opened up the group text chat. She typed out a quick emergency message, then swapped her phone for her mask.

“Come on, Pinkie,” she said, fitting her mask over her eyes and jumping into phoenix mode. “We’re crashing Adagio’s concert.”

“Oooh, good superhero line!” Pinkie pulled her mask out of her hair and jumped to her feet. “Following your lead, Phoenix!”

Sunset leaped into the air, forming a fireball in both hands as she closed in on Adagio. She threw her hands together, combining them into a larger conflagration, and fired it at Adagio.

Adagio, who had her back turned, spun around, threw up a red diamond shield, and dispersed the fire. “There you are! Just the nuisances I was hoping to draw out!”

“Wish granted.” Sunset snapped another fireball into existence. “Before we kick your butt, how the heck did you get your powers back?”

Adagio sneered, showing off her violently sharp teeth. “A very friendly witch decided to give me enough power to almost be myself again! In exchange, all I had to do was fight you miserable girls. I was all too happy to oblige!”

A witch?

A blast of magic from Adagio sent Sunset diving toward the street to avoid it. She could ponder later. She hurled her fireball up at Adagio who weaved out of the way and shot back with a firework. Sunset rolled out of its path and watched it collide with an empty car, shattering its windows and denting the metal.

Pinkie vaulted onto the car’s roof and shot her own fireworks at Adagio. The Siren threw her shield up, but the force of Pinkie’s explosions was enough to at least drive her back. She retreated higher into the air, then raised her arms and became completely still.

The translucent monster siren, which had been unmoving up until that point, unleashed a roar that grew in pitch until it was wailing again. Sunset struggled to keep herself in the air. Though her magic dampened the pain the noise induced, her eardrums still throbbed violently.

Pinkie raised her hands, the tips of each of her fingers alight. With a yell Sunset could barely hear, Pinkie fired a rapid volley of light into siren-Adagio’s chest. The wailing broke into a roar of pain, and the beast retreated down the street.

“Good job, Pollyanna,” Sunset said, rubbing her ears.

“Thanks!” Pinkie blew a wisp of smoke off her index finger. “I call that one Sassaflash!”

Siren-Adagio flew back toward them, a sphere of yellow energy in her mouth. She spewed it forth, and Sunset and Pinkie simultaneously fired their magic at it. The two powers collided and detonated on impact, the shockwave knocking all three players backward.

Sunset heard screams and emergency sirens as she skidded across the pavement and into a lamppost. She pushed herself up and looked about the street. Shopfronts were damaged, glass and debris littered the street, and a car was on fire. People were running away as fast as they could, some snapping pictures on their phones even as they fled.

I can’t believe Adagio is attacking the city in broad daylight! We can’t fight here!

As if to further her point, Adagio’s human form broke out of whatever trance she was in and fired a blast of magic at an apartment over one of the shops. There was a scream as the wall broke away and a young man fell out.

Sunset jumped into the air, knowing full well she wouldn’t make it in time. Before she could move, a pink blur flew down the street, caught the young man, and dropped him off at the end of the block before zipping back to Sunset’s side.

Rainbow, in her disguise, gave a look of disgust up at Adagio. “You’re sick, you know that?”

Adagio responded by raising her shard-embedded glove and ensnaring a car in her red glow. It rose into the air and flung itself at the two girls.

Rainbow grabbed Sunset by the wrist and pulled her out of the way, zipping down to the far end of the block. Sunset blinked rapidly to reorient herself. She clenched her fists and burned her flames hotter.

“Help as many people get out of here,” she told Rainbow. “Pinkie and I will keep her distracted.”

Rainbow saluted and sped off, grabbing someone out of the path of another flying car. Sunset launched herself into the air again, hands aflame. Adagio had her back turned, and Sunset reached out to grab her wrists. The Siren spun around and bobbed left, dodging Sunset’s hands. Sunset struck again, reaching for the red pendant this time. Adagio ducked, but Sunset managed to run her fingers through the tip of her massive hair.

Adagio screamed and high-kicked Sunset in the jaw. Her teeth violently clacked together, and she flew back while Adagio shook the fire out.

“You miserable urchin!” Adagio created a large cut of diamond and sliced at Sunset with it. Sunset flew to the right, but the shard cut through her wing. Sunset cried in pain as her wing flickered out and she spiraled to the ground. She skidded onto the asphalt and landed on her hands and knees, still feeling a phantom pain in her reignited wing.

She heard a rush of wind and threw herself forward as Adagio came down and plunged the diamond shard into the ground. She thrusted her palm forward and blasted Sunset with a burst of energy, knocking her into the side of a car.

Bruised and aching, Sunset got to her feet and raised her fists in front of her face. Adagio sucked in a deep breath, then was launched into the air by a bright pink explosion.

“You big bully!” Pinkie yelled, throwing firework after firework at Adagio and sending her higher into the sky. She was only freed from the assault when she gained too much altitude and Pinkie missed.

At level with one of the taller buildings, Adagio raised her arms again, and her hippocampus sprung back to life with a roar.

They can’t attack at the same time! That thing is just an extension of Adagio!

Siren-Adagio opened its maw and fired a ray of energy that shaved off the roof of the car Sunset was resting against as it rushed toward Pinkie. She blasted a firework at her feet and propelled herself high into the air, then shot another at the siren’s open mouth.

It twisted away, taking the blast on the cheek instead. While it recovered and as Pinkie was falling back to the ground, she threw another blast at Adagio herself. It struck the Siren in the gut and sent her into the side of a glass building.

Pinkie leaned back in her fall and hit the ground hair first, the fluffy mass acting as a cushion and bouncing her back onto her feet. She took a moment to spin in place and pose with two fingers next to her eye.

A new wail drew Sunset’s attention down the block behind them, where a squadron of police cars had parked, getting as close as they could with the build-up of abandoned cars blocking their path.

Harshwhinny got out and raised a bullhorn to her mouth. “All of, lay down… whatever you’re using as weapons and put your hands in the air! You’re all under arrest!”

“What? But we’re the good guys!” Pinkie shouted back.

Sunset looked at the row of police officers behind Harshwhinny dressed in riot gear and armed with lethal weapons. “I don’t think they’re in a mood to differentiate.”

Siren-Adagio let out a roar that turned into another charge of energy. It took aim at the gathered officers and fired.

“Run!” Sunset screamed.

A few turned or tried to duck, but none of them had time to move out of the way. The condensed ball of magic flew at them, only to collide with a wall of interlocked diamonds.

Rarity and Applejack, both in their disguises, floated over the stunned police force on shimmering blue platforms. Harshwhinny in particular looked dumbstruck, staring with her mouth agape.

The Siren roared again in fury and fired another pulsing laser directly at Rarity. She encased herself in a crystalline dome, while Applejack hopped off her support platform, grabbed the nearest empty car by the front fender, and hurled it at the beast. To everyone’s surprise and dismay, the car sailed right through the projection and crashed at the other end of the street. Siren-Adagio grinned hungrily at them.

Rarity flicked her wrists forward, and the wall of diamonds broke apart and rushed forth, slicing and stabbing into the siren. Though there were no residual marks, the beast roared in clear pain. The second Rarity ran out of diamond shards, Pinkie hit the siren with a high-powered firework and sent it careening back into the glass building, shattering the windows.

Sunset scanned the other buildings for Adagio herself but didn’t see anyone in the immediate vicinity. She tensed as she heard the sound of fluttering wings, and prepared a fireball. But, turning around, she was delighted to see Fluttershy descending toward her.

Fluttershy put a hand on Sunset’s shoulder, and a pink aura washed over her, healing all of the wounds.

“Thanks.”

“Of course,” Fluttershy said before jumping over to check on Pinkie.

Sunset turned back toward the police force and shouted, “See? We’re on your side!”

Harshwhinny raised the bullhorn. “You’re vigilantes and causing just as much damage as that monster is! If you’re on our side then stand down!”

Applejack and Rarity took their place next to Sunset. Applejack jabbed a thumb in Harshwhinny’s direction. “Somethin’ tells me they ain’t gonna take ‘no’ for an answer.”

“They’re gonna have to,” Sunset said defiantly. “Just because they’ve got guns doesn’t mean they’re a match for Adagio. And we promised Sonata and Aria we wouldn’t kill her, just lock her away.”

“Speaking of…” Rarity pointed. The siren beast was shaking itself out of a daze and climbing out of the building.

“What’s the plan, Phoenix?” Applejack asked.

Sunset traded her phoenix powers for her base pony form and placed a hand on Applejack’s shoulder. Sunset felt some of her magic leave, and Applejack’s aura blazed brighter.

“Keep this area clear of any stragglers and keep an eye on Adagio. If you think you can hit her with something, hit her,” Sunset said, jumping back to phoenix form. “The rest of us will keep the monster off balance and hopefully take her down.”

Applejack tipped her in acknowledgment. “On it!”

“Halt!” Harshwhinny yelled as Applejack turned and ran off. She cursed and turned her attention to the remaining three. “You’re all officially under arrest!”

“Hold that thought!” Sunset shouted back as siren-Adagio rose into the air and snorted in fury. It inhaled and unleashed another earsplitting soundwave. Sunset could see the ripples in the air. Rarity threw a shield in front of them, but while it blocked the force, it couldn’t block out the sound.

The rest of the police force fell to their knees. With a single beat of her wings, Sunset rocketed herself up above the siren and rained fireballs down on it. A red shield quickly encased it, vanishing when Sunset took a pause. The Siren charged forward and rammed its head into Sunset, sending her careening back onto a fire escape.

Pinkie took over, bombarding siren-Adagio with another Sassaflash attack. Forcing itself through the barrage, the Siren swung its tail and slapped Pinkie away. Rarity blocked the sweep and retaliated by slashing a diamond down the behemoth’s side.

While it reared back in pain, Sunset leaned over the fire escape and unleashed a jet of fire at its chest. Instead of a roar, Sunset heard a distant scream swirling with rage and pain. The siren retreated down the street while Adagio broke through a skyscraper window, eyes an even deeper red than before.

A broken pick-up truck flew up at her. Without looking at it, Adagio caught it in her magical grasp and hurled it back at Applejack on the ground.

Applejack leaped out of the way, avoiding the cacophony of crunching steel. She jumped again when the sidewalk beneath her ripped itself free of the earth and floated up next to Adagio. Several more chunks followed, and she hurled them at each of the girls in sight.

Sunset vaulted over the railing and dropped to the sidewalk before she could get crushed, raising her wings to block the falling debris. Applejack merely punched her projectile into hundreds of pieces. Pinkie dove into a slide, narrowly avoiding hers, while Rarity raised a shield, defending her and the police cowering behind her.

Adagio didn’t relent. With a snap of her fingers, a red doppelganger of Harbinger appeared and rushed after Rarity. She then pointed at a fire hydrant which promptly exploded, unleashing a geyser of water. With a single point, the geyser curved toward Sunset.

“Crap—” was all she got out before being punched with gallons of water and slammed into a wall. The pressure was too great. She couldn’t move, and she couldn’t gasp for air without water flooding in. Her fire tried to burn hotter, but not even magic flame could stand up to the amount of water dousing her.

Just as quickly as it started, it stopped. Sunset fell to the ground, coughing and spluttering. Looking up, Sunset saw Applejack holding the wolf back from biting into Rarity, who had encased the water spout in a crystal dome, already completely flooded. Adagio fended off Pinkie while firing back with fireworks of her own. She noticed Sunset was no longer drowning and switched targets, launching a crimson blast at her.

Sunset tried to fly out of the way, but in her drenched state, her wings struggled to reignite. A suit of crystal surrounded her upper torso just as the firework hit, and while she was still knocked backward, most of the pain had been mitigated.

The armor flew off of Sunset, morphed into a disk, and rushed at Adagio. She blocked it with a shield of her own, but the second she dropped it, a well-timed blast from Pinkie threw her back into another building.

Applejack, who had the wolf in a chokehold, slammed it into the ground, full force. It whined and evaporated into glimmering dust.

The astral siren took over again, running a hoof through the air like it was about to charge. Rarity took the dome full of water and closed the bottom, creating a crystal container, and hurled it at the siren. It smashed into the beast’s chest and dropped a deluge of water onto the street.

With a scream of increasing fury, the siren flew into the air, briefly lost in the sun just overhead. Taking a deep breath, Sunset willed her fire to reignite. Curls of smoke rolled off her clothes at first before her wings and tail burst back to life. With a few test flaps, Sunset leaped into the air and hurled a fireball at the siren.

Adagio’s projection saw the blast coming near and spiraled out of its path. It made a lap in the air, then divebombed the girls, emitting its loudest screeching shockwave yet as it descended.

Sunset covered her ears, creating the minimalist barrier. Below her, her friends cringed and recoiled in pain, their mouths open in drowned-out agony. Pinkie fired a burst of light at the siren, but it deftly dodged and continued to wail. The noise reverberated in Sunset’s skull and rattled her teeth.

The wail suddenly dropped to a muffled yell. A hexagonal sphere entombed the siren and its shriek. Noticing its prison, it began to thrash about, the shield flashing with each hit.

Sunset shook her head to clear some of the ringing in her ears, and her eyes caught something. Atop a smaller office building partly shaded by the taller towers around it, Sunset spotted not Adagio, but a figure in a dark robe. They would have blended into the shadows if not for their silvery hair drifting in the wind. Sunset narrowed her eyes. Something about that figure was familiar.

“Aaah aaah ah. Aaah ack—!”

Adagio flew back out of the building she had been hiding in, followed by a blue and pink blur that kicked her straight down into the middle of the street.

Sunset circled down and landed, keeping a good distance from the real Siren. Her friends gathered around her, including Fluttershy, having emerged from her hiding place to give quick healing touches to her friends.

Rainbow hovered over them, a victorious smirk on her face. “Just give up already. It’s six against one—you can’t win!”

Adagio pounded a fist against the concrete and pushed herself onto her hands and knees. “I will not lose to the likes of you! I refuse to be continuously beaten like this!”

“Ugh!” Rainbow rolled her eyes. “Really wish we could use the Rainbow of Light right now and like, banish her or something. You wanna find that key anytime soon?”

“We don’t know if I’m the key bearer.”

“I don’t care who it is right now, I just want to get rid of Adagio.”

“Why you!” Adagio got to her feet, but before she could do anything else, Rarity encased her in another shield.

“Let’s decide on something soon,” she said, wincing as siren-Adagio continued to thrash. “I can’t keep them both contained forever.”

Sunset pulled her phone out. “I can call Artemis. He can probably find a place to lock them up.”

“Ahem.”

The girls looked over their shoulders. Ms. Harshwhinny had her bullhorn out again.

“We… thank you girls for your services, despite your vigilante nature and wonton destruction. We will apprehend this criminal from here. This is your one and only chance to leave before I change my mind and arrest all of you.”

As if to emphasize her point, from down the other end of the block came an armored police truck flanked by several more squad cars.

“We should take their offer,” Fluttershy suggested.

“Agreed,” Sunset said. “Let’s strip Adagio of her stuff then get out of here.”

There was a dark flash, the sound of shattering glass, and a clap of thunder, all within the span of two seconds. Rarity swooned and fell to one knee, holding her head in her hand.

Applejack rushed to her side. “What happened?”

“I… I’m not sure. Something really strong hit my forcefield.”

“Adagio’s free!” Pinkie cried, pointing up to the siren in the sky. It was already forming a sphere of energy.

Sunset put her hands together, creating a fireball to counter it. Rainbow tensed her muscles to charge Adagio still on the ground.

Before anyone could make a move, both Adagio and her avatar disappeared, leaving behind wisps of black smoke.

Sunset twisted her head about. “Where’d she go?”

A wall of black flames rose and cut off both the approaching police car and the unit behind them. The police startled back, and when one tried to force his way through, he shot backward and landed on the ground, twitching.

Curls of smoke circled before the wall of flames at the other end of the street. A plume of fire rose and the cloaked figure Sunset had seen on the rooftop appeared from it. Looking at her straight on, Sunset fully recognized her.

“Apalla?” Sunset’s fireball went out. Apalla’s soul was supposed to be in the Soul Lock. And her body was supposed to be buried.

Apalla’s lips curled up in a cold smile. “Not quite,” she said, devoid of the lively, if slightly manic voice Sunset remembered.

Sunset reignited her fire. “Who are you?”

“In body, I unfortunately inhabit the descendant of my mortal enemies. In spirit, however,” Apalla’s smile widened. “I am Lord Tirek.”

Author's Note

Alternate Chapter Title: Street Fighter