Troubles of Equestria: Book One: The Third Duel

“Unfortunate that we had to meet again so soon.” Trixie spoke. The tips of her fingers still had makeshift and deadly claws on them from her

crimson magical aura.

Twilight said not a word as she watched Trixie carefully. One thought came to her mind though… How was she able to manifest something physical with magic? She looked down at her shirt and bandages, and sure as her sight, they were shredded right off. Yep, definitely physical... Twilight looked back up at Trixie with a glare.

Trixie simply smiled at Twilight in response. “Come now, Sparkle. You won’t even speak to me? But here I was, thinking we were friends!” Trixie spoke, feigning surprise.

“I mean, leaving me to rot away in the streets and all, we had to be great acquaintances.” Trixie spoke, slowly circling Twilight.

“You brought that on yourself, and we both know it. You let your sense of superiority take over.” Twilight said, tracking her movement.

“Tsk tsk tsk. Even so, it’s hard to believe that in such a world of butterflies and happiness that people like myself are left to suffer…” Trixie spoke. Her smile turned bitter.

“But if the few should have to endure the cold harshness of life, so should everyone else. All for one, and one for all, right, Princess?” Trixie said, glancing over at Celestia.

Twilight noticed that Celestia had not responded to Trixie, but rather kept a blank face, as if she were thinking.

“Enough of that though. I suppose you’re wondering why I decided to see you again so soon… After all, it wouldn’t exactly be fair to just kill you so soon while you’re weak and injured.” Trixie spoke. Twilight twitched.

That word… Kill. It worried Twilight how she could say that so casually. “So… To what do I owe this occasion?” Twilight asked curiously, being careful not to let her guard down.

Trixie dug under her cloak and skillfully flipped out a sheathed needle that had a jet-black fluid in it. She flicked the needle and then smiled at Twilight.

“You see, I’m not a liar and bluffer like most other enemies would be.” Trixie started. “You are special, and many but yourselves know this… You host a power that others would actually kill to achieve. I hate to admit it, but you and your pathetic little friends could actually match me, if you weren’t so ignorant.” Trixie spoke, still flinging the needle around on her fingers.

“This is a special serum that will… Bring forth your very dormant inner-Darkness, so to speak.” Trixie stated, starting to walk towards Twilight. “In other words, it will awaken that Demon inside of you.” Trixie continued. Twilight backed away as Trixie advanced.

“And what exactly does this have to do with anything?” Twilight asked, her back now against a wall.

“Evil is inclined to power. It’s what we hunger for.” Trixie began again. She then clutched something under her cloak, and as she pulled it out, the Alicorn Amulet was visible for all eyes in the room to behold.

“This Amulet, a very special amulet, is so very powerful, especially when an Alicorn itself wields it. This may very well be one of the most powerful artifacts discovered. If I were to also harness that power inside of you… I’m sure you see where this is going.” Trixie said.

“What could you possibly want with all this power?” Celestia asked. Trixie turned back and looked at her.

“Telling you that information is useless.” Trixie said.

“It’s not like you would understand anyway…”  Trixie mumbled, with a solemn look.

Twilight and Celestia shared glances.

“This serum isn’t just to make sure I obtain more power, but to make you realize how resorting to an evil power can really throw you off track. If I fall, I’m taking you with me, Sparkle. And since I’ve already fallen…” Trixie said, now turning back to Twilight.

Twilight clicked the puzzle pieces together. “You’re saying that the Darkness will corrupt me then?” she asked. Trixie nodded, a smile on her head. “Finally, you’re understanding. You’ll understand the hate I faced; nobody will help you, and nobody will want anything to do with you.” Trixie said.

“But why exactly do you need to do this? Couldn’t you simply harness the power in some ritual or something?” Twilight asked, curious as to the effort she was putting into this.

“Twilight, there’s a motive to every method. Besides, even evil people need their entertainment too. Maybe mine will be watching you suffer with that Demon until I’m ready to collect.” Trixie stated in a slightly sadistic manner.

“Take a long drink of the bitter brew you conjured, Sparkle. Soon you’ll be gulping down the cup.” Trixie stated, removing her cloak, revealing a variation of her classic wizard’s outfit; it was the same design, and the hat stayed, except this time it was separated into pants and a V-cut shirt that extended into two separate pieces, reaching her calves. She then conjured the hat out of nothingness, then put it on, tipping it over her eyes.

Trixie then started walking slowly towards Twilight, as she unsheathed the needle, and the jet-black fluids swished around. Soon, the walk progressed into a run, and Twilight prepared to defend herself.

“Adagio, you’d better get down here and explain yourself right now!” Applejack yelled up to her furiously, absolutely seething with rage.

Adagio seemed surprised by that statement as she jumped down, Applebloom still slung over her shoulder. “I-I’m so sorry!” Adagio said, seemingly devastated at realizing just what she had done. “I-I hadn’t even noticed… I wasn’t in my right state of mind, please forgive me!” Adagio said, getting on her knees with a pleading tone on her voice.

Applejack stared at her strangely. “I bet that dirty low-down Trixie done gone hypnotized ya or something…” Applejack said sympathetically, walking towards her and starting to kneel.

[Everything goes into slow-motion, and eerie silence flows]

Adagio suddenly grows a sinister smile as she reaches into the inside pocket of her jacket. In one swift movement, she tosses Applebloom’s body back and then unsheathes a needle with jet-black fluid, lunging at Applejack with the needle.

Applejack just skims by the needle, avoiding it, and jumping back from Adagio.

[Everything returns to normal]

“You dirty stinkin’ rotton low-down…!” Applejack yelled.

Adagio shrugged. “Eh, it was worth a try.” She said, standing in front of Applebloom’s body, holding the needle.

Applejack looked at the blazing orchard, back to Mac and Granny Smith, and finally at Applebloom. Veins started to become apparent on her body.

“You come in my home, hurt my folks, and destroy my life’s work?!” Applejack yelled, cracking her knuckles and neck.

“What a mistake.” Applejack mumbled, then dashed at Adagio.

Adagio hadn’t dare moved, and just smirked as she picked up Applebloom. Just before AJ’s fist hit her, she held up Applebloom in defense, her smile wicked.

Applejack stopped immediately, and Adagio kicked her in the chest, pushing her back.

“You disgust me.” Applejack spat, as Adagio ran at her again. Applejack put her fists up to counter, but Adagio held Applebloom up again, and AJ froze in her tracks, as Adagio tossed the unconscious girl in the air and then elbowed AJ further back, making her skid across the ground.

AJ got up, her head injury starting to make her dizzy again. She wiped the corner of her lip and looked up again, seeing multiple figures. “Looks like you’re not quite ready to be fighting yet, huh?” Adagio asked, holding Applebloom by her collar.

Applejack needed to get Applebloom away from that siren… She briefly stumbled from her dizziness. That injury is bad news…

“What makes you say that?” Applejack asked, shaking her head and regaining full control of her senses. “Nothing at all.” Adagio remarked, chucking Applebloom’s still unconscious body at Applejack as she dashed directly behind it.

“Tch!” Applejack hissed, getting ready once again.

“You can’t seriously be this dense.” Aria sighed, removing her palm from her face and staring at Pinkie with a bored expression.

“What do you mean?! The evidence is clear! You obviously partied without me!” Pinkie said, pointing at the mess.

“I feel so sorry for you, kid… You're way too innocent.” Aria mumbled under her breath.

“Huhm?” Pinkie asked.

“Nothing.” Aria retorted. “Say, you wanna have a real party?” she asked, a smile growing on her face.

Pinkie nodded excitedly, jumping up and down and squealing.

Aria slowly pulled out a needle with black fluid in it, flicking the top and smirking back at Pinkie. Pinkie’s excitement immediately drained.

“Whoa-ho-hoooo there, partner! That’s not my kind of party.” She said, shaking her hands and head furiously.

Aria couldn’t help but chuckle at her innocence, but wondered how the innocent creature knew of such things. No matter.

“Isn’t that a shame…” Aria said lowly, creeping up to Pinkie with the needle held out. Pinkie slowly crept back.

In a sudden instant, Aria was in front of Pinkie, lunging at her with the needle. Pinkie, in an even quicker instance, simply grabbed a cake and blocked the needle.

“Hey, calm down! I told you, that’s not how I party!” Pinkie complained, annoyance on her voice as she peeked over the cake.

“Quick, are you?” Aria said, annoyed. She immediately swept with her feet, and Pinkie jumped above them. Aria then quickly jumped up at her in the air, lunging again, but Pinkie flexibly leaned back in mid-air, going into a back-flip and landing down gracefully.

“Seriously, you’re persistent. I told you, I can’t party like that!” Pinkie said, now getting very annoyed. “You’re gonna force me to do things I won’t like if you continue!” Pinkie warned.

“Try me.” Aria yawned. In an instant, she appeared behind Pinkie, and aimed the needle at her neck. “She’s fast!” Pinkie said out-loud in a squeal, immediately ducking and jumping back.

“You brought this on yourself!” Pinkie said, hitting a red button on the wall. In an instant, about 5 pink cannons folded out of the wall, aimed at Aria. Aria looked around at the cannons, her expression unchanged.

“Fire!” Pinkie screamed, as the cannons aimed at Aria.

*Boom!*

The room cleared of the smoke eventually, and Aria was seen, covered in bits of cake and lots of frosting. With a slightly annoyed look on her face, she wiped the matter off of her face.

“I knew you were too much of an imbecile to actually do something.” She said, walking up to Pinkie once more, her clothes messy with the sugary goodness on it.

“Well, you failed to show me anything interesting here today.” Aria began, stretching and yawning casually. “Guess it’s time I actually end this then. Such a shame too, you were actually quite fast. Could’ve made for an interesting battle.” Aria continued, flicking the needle again. “Oh well.” She sighed, as a faint red aura glowed around her.

“I’m afraid this is where I get on with it.” Aria said, as she disappeared from her spot once again. Suddenly, she appeared right in front of Pinkie, and in an incredible display of speed, the needle was already lodged into the side of Pinkie’s neck.

Pinkie herself hadn’t even noticed until Aria violently pushed down on the pump of the needle, forcing the jet-black fluid into her veins. Pinkie squealed, falling onto her knees and holding the spot on her neck as a bit of blood leaked.

Aria patted herself off, still messy with frosting, and started heading back to the counter to pick up the two babies, tossing the needle onto the floor. Suddenly, a powerful aura blasted her back into the wall. Aria got up immediately, shaking her head.

She stared at Pinkie, who was emitting the forceful power. Suddenly, it died down immediately in an unnatural manner. Pinkie still held her neck, her hand shaking. She stared up at Aria with fearful eyes, her pupils shaking in terror, as she felt the essence of the fluid awakening a long suppressed force…

“W-what have you done?!” Pinkie said, the pain on her voice apparent.

“Oh calm down… It’s not that serious.” Aria yawned, dusting off her back from the crash into the wall.

“N-no… You don’t understand! You meanie, you jerk, you imbecile!” Pinkie yelled, holding her neck still.

“You don’t know… You don’t know what you unleashed… H-how could you? I try so hard to keep it under control…” Pinkie said, her voice getting croaky.

Pinkie’s hand shook more, and soon, the wound that the needle made started leaking a jet-black aura, much like the fluid that had gone there. The jet-black aura was let out in a line that slowly and more powerfully filtered out, wrapping itself around Pinkie, slowly making her disappear into the black cloud.

As the aura lessened in intensity, and died down to a faint black aura with just a slight shade of pink in it, the new Pinkie was revealed. Her hair was no longer extravagant and exotic, but was in a straight manner, hanging down to her shoulders. Her face had no smile in yet, it seemed void of any happy emotions. She looked up at Aria with tired and baggy eyes. It seemed that even just her presence and aura put weight in the room, as Aria was sure that her body got heavier.

“And who in the world might you be?” Aria asked, her expression still bored, despite the events that transpired.

“Pinkamena Diane Pie. Aka, your soon-to-be worst nightmare.” Diane spoke, looking up at Aria, still holding no emotion. “Waking me will be your worst and final mistake.” Diane finished, starting to walk up to a rather uninterested Aria.

Rarity and Sonata stared at each other, while Sweetie Belle just kept glancing back between the two, the intensity intriguing her.

Rarity gestured Sweetie over to her, keeping her guard up. As Sweetie was about to walk over, Sonata held her still by the shoulder.

“Tsk tsk tsk, I can’t allow that. Didn’t we just go over this?” Sonata said, chuckling innocently, holding Sweetie close.

Sweetie Belle thought nothing of it, and just figured that she and Sonata were just that good of friends now.

“What exactly are you trying to accomplish here? Sweetie Belle has nothing to do with the likes of you.” Rarity said, inching closer, slowly.

“Sweetie Belle has everything to do with everything, silly!” Sonata said playfully, watching Rarity carefully.

“Aren’t you a bit old to be playing with children anyhow?” Rarity asked curiously.

Sonata simply chuckled and kept innocently smiling at Rarity.

“What do you hope to gain by working for Trixie, hm Sonata?” Rarity asked.

“Well, with all that power, do you know how much free stuff I could get? Like all the ice cream in the world for all my good friends, hehe!

Wouldn’t you like that Sweetie Belle?” Sonata said, smiling down at Sweetie. She nodded, licking her lips at the thought.

“Won’t you be my friend too?” Sonata asked, holding her hand out towards Rarity.

Rarity outstretched her hand, and as Sonata’s hand intertwined with hers, Rarity flung her back and then ran to Sweetie Belle quickly.

She hit Sweetie Belle’s forehead mildly. “Don’t you know better than to talk to strangers? Let alone play with them and let them into your home? Sweetie Belle, I am more than disappointed.” Rarity scolded.

“Ow! But she was so friendly! And how could she be dangerous? I mean, look at her.” Sweetie defended.

“Sweetie, you don’t understand. Where do you think I’ve been the past day or so? That woman is so very dangerous, and you don’t even know it.” Rarity informed.

“Aww, that wasn’t very nice.” Sonata complained, taking some green thread out of her hair and getting up.

“Didn’t I tell you bad things would happen if you didn’t leave things be?” Sonata said, chuckling

“Now I’ve gotta do this the hard way… Tsk tsk tsk.” Sonata said, shaking her finger at Rarity.

“Say, I don’t suppose you’d let me just inject this into you real quick, huh?” Sonata asked with pleading eyes, now holding the needle that the others had.

“Dear, have you lost your marbles? Of course not!” Rarity said, pushing Sweetie Belle back gently and standing in front of her defensively.

“Meh.” Sonata shrugged, holding the needle up.

“I’ll have you know, I’m quite skilled in the martial arts!” Rarity said threateningly, as she stood defensively.

“Oh? I practiced that too!” Sonata said excitedly, as she ran to Rarity.

Rarity breathed in slowly, closing her eyes. She opened them again, and then focused on Sonata.

Sonata threw a quick straight at Rarity’s face, but Rarity tapped Sonata’s fist to the side with the palm of her hand, making Sonata miss her completely. Rarity’s eyes flashed a bright green briefly.

“Strange…” Sonata said to herself, shaking it off. She turned back to Rarity and kicked at her. Rarity blocked it with her wrist, and then quickly used her magic to hurl several items at Sonata, all of which stopped just short of her, floating in orbit around her.

“Did’ya forget that sirens have magic too?” Sonata chuckled, hurling the items back at Rarity even faster, who simply dodged them, breathing a quick sigh of relief.

Sonata quickly glanced down at her watch. “Oh, would you look at the time! Sorry, gotta wrap up this playdate gals!” Sonata said sincerely, dashing at Rarity again.

Rarity put her defense up, but Sonata quickly maneuvered behind her in a graceful twirl. She then used two fingers to jab specific points on the triceps of Rarity’s right arm, making the spots she jabbed bruise slightly, and making Rarity’s right arm go completely limp.

Rarity immediately swung behind her in fear with her good hand, but Sonata quickly ducked under and jabbed her left leg, making Rarity lose feeling in her leg and fall.

“Tsk tsk tsk, for someone skilled in the martial arts, your reaction time is way off!” Sonata teased, flicking the needle and getting it ready.

Rarity tried her best to crawl back, but Sonata sat on top of her, straddling her and stopping her movement.

Rarity blushed slightly, still struggling. “This kind of position is so unladylike! Get off of me this instant!” Rarity yelled, struggling to slip away as Sonata gripped the needle firmly.

Sonata said nothing, as she took both of Rarity’s hands and pinned them down above her head.

Sweetie Belle watched, intrigued at the events. “This looks a lot like those magazines you had Rarity, except without the needle.” She said, chuckling.

“Sweetie Belle, we agreed to not talk about those ever again.” Rarity said very quickly, the blush on her cheeks growing hotter. Sonata simply laughed and brought the needle close to her neck.

“Wait, Sonata! You don’t have to do this.” Rarity said desperately, pulling her head away from the needle.

Sonata ignored her, and Rarity felt the needle touch her soft skin.

“I can’t believe I’m gonna do this, but…!” Rarity said, looking straight into Sonata’s eyes. She brought her head up slowly, and then suddenly…!

*Smack!*

Rarity had bashed her head into Sonata’s, making her fall back off of Rarity. A bruise now lay on both of their foreheads. Rarity tried her best to stand on her weak limbs. They wobbled like jelly as she hobbled over to Sweetie Belle.

Before she could make it to Sweetie, Rarity saw Sonata’s face appear in front of hers upside down. Sonata was using her magic to float in the air upside down.

“Silly marshmallow, that hurt me real bad, see?” Sonata said, her smile gone as she pointed to the bruise on her forehead.

“Silly, silly marshmallow.” She repeated, as she held her fingers up to Rarity’s face. She flicked Rarity’s nose in an amazing display of strength, making Rarity slide back slightly as she held her nose in pain, red fluid leaking from it.

“Now we’re definitely gonna get rough.” Sonata said, her laid-back behavior a thing of the past.

She dashed at Rarity, her expression now serious. She cocked her fist back to punch, but as Rarity brought her hands up in defense, she faked out and swept Rarity off of her feet. While Rarity was falling back in the air, Sonata brought her hand down towards Rarity’s neck, with the needle still in her hand. It seemed that Rarity was done for…

Rainbow-Dash growled at Starlight, who still held Scootaloo over the edge of the cloud that Rainbow’s place of residence resided upon.

“Oh no!” Starlight said in a scared voice, trembling.

“I’d calm down if I were you! I might just get too scared and drop her!” Starlight teased, chuckling right after she finished her sentence. Scootaloo clung to Starlight’s arms, shaking in fear.

“You know what Starlight, I knew that your conversion to good was way too convenient to be true! But of course, Twilight wouldn’t listen! Agh!” Rainbow-Dash complained out loud, thinking of how to retrieve Scootaloo without causing any complications.

Starlight nearly doubled in laughter, finally removing Scootaloo from over the edge. “Did you seriously think I was good? Really, you believed that story?” Starlight laughed some more. “Do you think I’d learn how to manipulate time and be so easily defeated? You bunch are more dense than Queen Chrysalis’ body, my goodness.” Starlight mocked, as she held Scootaloo close to her.

“You know, you’ve got a lot of talk for someone who’s resorting to a hostage threat!” Rainbow snarled, taking a step forward. Suddenly, Starlight held Scootaloo over the edge again, and she screamed.

“Rainbow-Dash!” she yelled, helplessly. Rainbow quickly stepped back again.

“You understand the basis of a hostage situation, no? I have something you want, so you do something that I want, in exchange for having what you want.” Starlight explained calmly.

“What exactly do you want then?” Rainbow questioned, raising a brow. Starlight pulled out the needle and tossed it to Rainbow-Dash, who carefully caught it.

“I’d say what I want here is quite obvious.” Starlight simply said. Rainbow-Dash simply stared at her strangely.

“You know, Pinkie told me about these kinds of things before. You people are sick.” Rainbow said in disgust.

Starlight Glimmer sighed. “No, you imbecile, it’s not that kind of needle.” She said. Unbeknownst to her, Rainbow-Dash was devising a plan.

“I see… So, you just want me to inject this stuff?” Rainbow-Dash asked, swishing the black liquid around. “What’s in it anyway?” she asked curiously.

“That’s none of your business. If you wish to see this runt live, then you’ll do it. Try anything funny, however, and this little girl will see the ground approach swiftly.” Starlight said coldly.

Rainbow-Dash thought for a second. She knew that she would be fast enough to catch Scootaloo if she were to simply dash for it, but what would Starlight do? She needed a way to subdue her so that she wouldn’t impede her process of rescuing Scootaloo.

“Oh forget it, leave strategy to Twilight, just wing it Dashie!” Rainbow thought to herself, rashly.

“Fine then. I guess there’s no other choice…” Rainbow-Dash said, flicking the needle into the air. In an instant, she caught the needle by the tip, and tossed it at Starlight like a throwing knife. As she tossed it, she took off at an incredible speed towards Scootaloo and scooped her up in her arms, now flying high above Starlight.

Starlight looked back up at Rainbow, fear in her eyes. She slowly felt for the needle that was lodged in her neck, then continued shaking in fear.

“Hah, not so nice on the other end of the stick, is it?!” Rainbow-Dash mocked. Suddenly the fear was replaced with cockiness, and soon, the Starlight started chuckling.

“Oh? Isn’t it now?” she said with a wild smirk, as she poofed into nothingness, the needle dropping in her place. Rainbow-Dash could hear Starlight’s voice. It sounded very close, but she couldn’t make out where it was.

“Did you seriously think I was that easy to defeat?” Starlight chuckled, her voice seemingly floating in the air, next to Rainbow’s ear. “You are a fool, Rainbow-Dash… You only endanger ‘her’ life more.” Starlight Glimmer spoke, referring to Scootaloo.

Rainbow-Dash scouted the area, clutching Scootaloo in her arms tightly. She was surprisingly silent.

“Did you think someone who figured out how to spin the reels of time could be so easily thwarted?” Starlight mocked, laughing more. “Take a closer look, imbecile.” Rainbow-Dash looked around but saw nothing.

Rainbow-Dash looked down at Scootaloo to make sure she was doing okay. Scootaloo looked up at her with a sinister smirk, and soon, Rainbow-Dash felt a whole new aura emanate from her.

“You’re not…!” But before Rainbow-Dash could complete her thought, the little Scootaloo jumped off of her wrists and blasted Rainbow-Dash into the hard-as-concrete clouds below with a destructive blast of magic.

Rainbow-Dash got up, dusting herself off, slightly injured. “How in the…?!” Rainbow questioned at the flying Starlight Glimmer. “But, I thought magical clones couldn’t do physical things!” Rainbow questioned, baffled.

Starlight smugly made an aura of magic envelope her hands. It was rich and thick, and flowed majestically. Rainbow-Dash was no arcane human, but she knew powerful magic when she saw it.

“Physical clones are no struggle when you’re talented, dear.” Starlight spoke calmly, smugly smiling down at her.

“But what about the shape-shifting?! How in the world could you do that?” Rainbow-Dash asked, very confused.

“The changelings were a valuable asset…” she explained, blowing her fingernails.

“I hate to say it dear, but you’re absolutely out-matched here.” Starlight said, holding her palm towards Rainbow-Dash. “And even so… Time dictates that you are too hardheaded, so you’ll have to learn it the hard way. Just sit there and watch.” Starlight said, as Rainbow-Dash was covered in Starlight's turquoise-colored aura.

Rainbow-Dash immediately fell to the floor, feeling as if the world was on top of her. All she could do was lift her head and watch Starlight, as she seemed to be opening something.

“Fooled by a simple cloaking trick, hah! Trivial.” She said, as a piece of the air literally dissipated, and in front of Rainbow’s eyes was Scootaloo, who had her mouth taped. She was fighting wildly, not at all caring that she couldn’t even fly.

Why hadn’t Rainbow noticed earlier?! She felt like an idiot! Of course, Scootaloo was a tough kid, she wouldn’t even be scared by something like this!

Starlight grabbed the floating Scootaloo by the back of her shirt collar. She was still in her fluffy, warm pajamas, flailing about as Starlight held her. “Well, you screwed up, Miss Rowdy.” Starlight said, as she lifted one finger, making Scootaloo slip a little.

“Try and save her if you can…” Starlight said, slowly releasing her grip.

Rainbow-Dash tried her hardest to get up, but with the weight of the aura around her, moving was hard.

“Oh yeah… Moving will be quite hard when there is an atmosphere of nearly 100x gravity around you. You know, I’m actually surprised that none of your bones immediately cracked under the pressure. I actually thought that would paralyze you for good.” Starlight said, as Rainbow-Dash got a chill from her total disregard of her life.

“Huhm. I guess you lucked out then, you are definitely stronger than you seem.” Starlight said. Rainbow-Dash looked up at Starlight Glimmer in a new light. Things started to click in her mind… Principal Luna’s words flooded back to her mind: “Lives will be lost… Those closest to you will be ruthlessly targeted…”

Rainbow-Dash struggled to get up. It was apparent from the veins that were now popping out all over her body. She finally struggled onto one knee.

Starlight let another finger slip. “To think you were so foolish as to believe you could defeat me! What a stupid way to waste one of your closest’s life.” She said, as Scootaloo still fought hopelessly.

“Let me go, you jerk!” she said, flailing about.

“I will soon, if you keep acting that way.” Starlight snarled.

Starlight’s words were getting to Rainbow-Dash. She tried her hardest to get up, now fully standing. Veins were now fully visible all over her.

“You look like a pack-mule!” Starlight laughed, as Rainbow-Dash struggled still.

“Uh-oh!” Starlight faked, letting another finger slip. Now, only two held onto Scootaloo. It was only at that point did it truly register to Scootaloo that she was in danger, as her fighting became more frantic.

Rainbow-Dash took a single step. All that was on her mind was that she somehow had to save Scootaloo. She wouldn’t have any deaths on her hand, not if she could help it!

“You’re a real dirty player, you know that?!” Rainbow yelled, despite being under an extreme struggle to move. She took yet another step. They seemed so far with this weight on her. But she had to do it, Scootaloo was in danger!

Starlight let another finger slip, and the only thing holding Scootaloo up now was her finger under the fabric. Only now did Scootaloo’s eyes fill with fear, and did Rainbow-Dash realize that her efforts would be futile.

Rainbow-Dash’s heart began to fill with fear again. How would she tell the others of her blunder? It was her fault for going in without a strategy, after all. She could’ve simply just injected the little harmless needle! Why did she have to be so hardheaded!?

“Scootaloo, listen to me!” Rainbow-Dash yelled, struggling to even stand, her veins still popping out. “You need to do something important for me, Scootaloo. Can you please do your big sis a favor?!” Rainbow yelled desperately; fear of Scootaloo’s death now truly entered her heart.

Scootaloo looked upon Rainbow-Dash with her big saucer-eyes.

“Fly, Scootaloo! Try your hardest to fly! For me, just try Scootaloo!” Rainbow-Dash cried out.

“I-I’ll try…!” Scootaloo said, looking down and gulping. She could feel Starlight’s finger slowly slipping.

“Starlight, is it too late?! Is it too late to get the needle!?” Rainbow asked, desperately.

Suddenly, Rainbow-Dash saw Scootaloo fall, watching her scream as her wings flapped frantically. She was descending fast, but her flapping slightly delayed the descent.

“Oops!” Starlight said, feigning surprise.

“Scootaloo!” Rainbow-Dash yelled, feeling her muscles near their limit from the stress.

“If you can reach the needle in time and inject the substance, I may just relieve that aura so that you may save her.” Starlight said, now reclining upon a cloud. “I’d hurry though, I’d say she’s about 20% of the way to the ground.” She said, winking at Rainbow-Dash, who despite the burning and tightening of her muscles, now struggled towards the nearby needle.

Principal Luna crossed her arms and raised her brow at Discord. “What exactly are you up to, you troublemaker?” she asked, suspicious.

Fluttershy awkwardly floated around in the chaotic atmosphere, but Luna was used to Discord’s tricks from their last encounters, so she was able to stay in motion.

Discord calmly sipped his tea, then smiled back at Luna. “Oh come on Principal Luna, have I not proved my being reformed? Cut me some slack.” He said, pouring 2 more cups of tea.

“Come, sit down, enjoy some tea.” Discord said, gesturing to the 2 steaming hot cups of tea.

“Discord, n-not to be rude but my friends are in danger, and y-you’re kind of wasting our time!” she yelled as best she could, still trying to maintain her balance through the rotating house.

“Oh calm down girls, just sit down for some tea.” Discord said, snapping his claws, returning the house to normal, as things suddenly fall right back into place.

“I… I guess we could have just one cup…” Fluttershy said, shrugging and taking a seat. Principal Luna sighed heavily, before dragging up a seat.

They all sipped tea calmly. Discord struck up small-talk with Fluttershy, while Luna tried her best to calmly drink her tea.

…

…

…

After about two minutes of calmly sipping tea, Principal Luna slammed her teacup onto the table, and stood up.

“Enough of this! Discord, what is going on? You’re much too calm, and I know that you know for sure something is going on here!” Luna exclaimed, now out of her seat, losing her cool.

“Whatever do you mean?” Discord asked, with a face of innocence.

“Argh! Something told me this would be a waste of time! Come, Element of Kindness, we must go!” Principal Luna said, in a frustrated manner, grabbing Fluttershy’s arm and dragging her to the door.

“O-oh, okay…” she said, not having much of a choice.

Discord snapped his claws and the door that Luna was headed towards disappeared, trapping the trio within the house. Luna turned back to Discord with a growl and glare.

“Leaving so soon, dears?” Discord asked. “Afraid that Trixie and others will hurt your dear friends?” he continued. “Maybe you should be worried about other things.” He said menacingly, holding the cage that Angel was in.

“Discord…?” Fluttershy mumbled, confused at his change in behavior.

“I am a human being, capable of doing terrible things.” Discord recited, standing up, seven feet tall, nearly towering over Luna and Fluttershy. He now looked as menacing as he sounded.

He held Angel in the cage. “Say, if you leave, I can’t guarantee his well-being, you know?” Discord stated, shaking the cage, much to Angel’s dismay.

“Discord, what do you think you’re doing?” Fluttershy scolded, in Angel’s defense. “You put him down!”

Luna put her hand on Fluttershy’s shoulders, signaling for her to back down. “I see… So how did they convince you?” Luna asked. Discord raised a brow at her.

“How did they convince you to join their ranks?” Luna asked, folding her arms.

“Oh, silly Luna.” Discord said, teleporting just in front her, floating upside down in her face. He playfully flicked her nose, then stood upright on the ground again. “I was never actually good. Do you think being imprisoned in stone for 1,000 years could just be forgiven by becoming ‘pals’?” Discord said, chuckling.

“Don’t be ridiculous dear. There’s a time and place for everything, it was simply a while until the opportunity presented itself.” He continued, circling Luna.

Fluttershy watched in disgust and betrayal. They had been toyed with all this time! And Twilight was the only one that was ever actually suspicious of Discord, but nobody ever believed her… Fluttershy started to feel bad.

“I can’t believe you Discord!” Fluttershy said softly.

“To think that I had even developed some feelings for you…” Fluttershy continued a bit softer.

Discord walked past the folded-armed Luna and kneeled down to Fluttershy.

“You know, Fluttershy, those feelings don’t have to disappear.” He said soothingly, lifting up her chin with his paw. “If you looked down deep enough, I’m sure you’d like to join me, wouldn’t you agree?” He said. Fluttershy was taken aback by Discord’s sudden movement, but unbeknownst to her, Discord held in his other hand, a needle.

“Kindness, look out!” Luna yelled, dashing in an incredible display of speed to knock it out of Discord’s hand. But as she approached the needle, she was, for some odd reason, overtaken by an intense fear and backed away from it.

Fluttershy hadn’t noticed Luna, stuck in her own world with Discord. Discord brought his lips to Fluttershy’s, and Fluttershy melted into Discord’s sensation. Unnoticed by Fluttershy, Discord had a small smirk, as he injected the needle into Fluttershy’s neck.

Fluttershy pulled back, and she and Discord stared into each other’s eyes. Luna watched with great intrigue. As they stared at each other, Fluttershy’s features became more sinister, and the Vampire Bat dwelling within her made itself more apparent/dominant for the time-being.

“Oh, how I’ve waited to meet the real you, Flutterbat.” Discord spoke affectionately, smiling. “Is that so?” Flutterbat spoke, with a seductive tone. Her movements and tone were much more woman-like and confident than Fluttershy’s own. It was as if this was a whole new person.

Flutterbat took the palm of her hand and caressed Discord’s cheek. She then pulled him in for another kiss. Luna watched, confused at the events. What the heck exactly was in that needle? A love serum, perhaps? No… Something strange happened when she almost made contact with it… That stuff was something special.

After she pulled back, she winked at Discord. “A thank you for completely freeing me. That primitive limitation that was on me when I first formed was certainly not representative of the real me.” Flutterbat said, referring to her first arrival into existence on the orchard.

“However…” she said, raising a finger. “You’re a fool if you thought that I’d ever join you, or the likes of Trixie. You all hold no worth to my endeavors.” She said slowly and elegantly.

“Come Principal, let us dispose of him and move to help the others.” Flutterbat spoke.

“Hmm… Strange, Trixie said this serum would render their state of mind completely different for at least a little while,but this new Fluttershy is something entirely different.” Discord mused.

“Wait, Element of Kindness. I have some questions, first.” Luna said, holding her hand in front of the already advancing Flutterbat.

“Discord, what was that you injected into her?” Luna questioned.

“Didn’t you know, Luna?” Discord asked, a large smile on his face.

“Didn’t you know the Tantabus had such special properties?” Discord grinned.

“The Tantabus?! But, how! I imprisoned it within myself ages ago on the night where it almost escaped!” Luna exclaimed.

“Tsk tsk tsk, Principal,” Discord began, shaking his claw at her. “Nothing is impossible, especially when you’ve had time to plan. It wasn’t that difficult to extract, really. You see, the Tantabus simply needed a catalyst to escape your inner-self.” Discord explained. He held open his palm, and a strange, night-like fire of magical aura burned his hands.

“It would seem that a god of chaos was just the thing to do it.” He said, chuckling. “It’s such a shame that it won’t do me any good though. My darkness never quite left me. Not after those one thousand dreadful years, simply waiting day after night with no movement, nobody to talk to, and being forced to be some attraction for ungrateful students?! Bah, nonsense, all of it!” Discord exclaimed.

“You know why you got that punishment Discord. You deserved nothing better.” Luna said in a scolding manner.

“Believe what you’d like, but it’s all too late. Things are already falling into place nicely, I can just smell all the chaos ensuing.” Discord said, sniffing the air.

“Hmm. So what exactly did the remnants of the Tantabus do to Fluttershy? Why is she like this?” Luna questioned.

“All it does is awaken the Darkness within the host. This form of the Tantabus is more like a virus that awakens it’s little mommy virus, waiting to spring open from the catalyst that’s holding it, nurturing it.” Discord said, mimicking a nursing mother in a comedic manner.

“And that’s exactly what it did to Fluttershy.” Discord said. Flutterbat listened, yawning.

“Wait, you mean… The Tantabus will awaken the Darkness in the other five?” Luna asked.

“If the others succeed, sure.” Discord said.

“That’s very, very bad… None of them are mentally stable, and Diane…” Flutterbat suddenly donned a look of horror. “Princess of the Night, we must leave immediately! Diane, she cannot be left alone!” Flutterbat exclaimed urgently.

“What?” Luna asked, confused.

“There is no time!” Flutterbat exclaimed, smashing a window with a nearby heavy book. “Follow me, quickly!” Flutterbat exclaimed, as Luna glanced between Flutterbat and Discord urgently. Releasing a heavy sigh, Luna went halfway out of the window, then turned back over her shoulder.

“This isn’t over Discord.” Luna said, before taking off after Flutterbat.

Discord pulled on his peculiar beard, chuckling lowly.

“You’re right… This is far from over.” He said to himself, picking up the rattling cage that Angel was bashing against to try to escape. As Discord walked off, thoughts of Flutterbat entered his mind again. She was one enthralling character, even more so than he had first thought. “She would be perfect…” Discord mused, shortly before snapping his claws and disappearing in a cloud of sparkly dust.

“Oh? Is that so?” Aria yawned at the new Pinkie Pie. “Don’t get ahead of yourself, you’re nothing I need to worry myself with.” Aria said, stretching as she patted the rubble off of her, then walked back to pick up the Cake babies.

Suddenly, an invisible force washed over Aria, one that she knew all too well. But this time, it was much stronger than any she had ever encountered… Stronger than that of Trixie’s own… It was the fearful intent of pure evil, but that one was almost an intent of pure, blood-thirsty evil; the one that one commits simply for the heck of it… That was the invisible force she felt, and it was all directed to her, the only other conscious being in the room.

For the first time in a long time, Aria’s face showed emotion; it showed one of worry. Aria stared upon this new Pinkie Pie. She looked sinister, with that sadistic smile, and straight, long hair.

“You know… I can’t allow anyone that hurts family to walk away with all their limbs intact.” Diane spoke in a monotone manner, finally looking up fully, removing the hair that covered her face. Her sinister features were now much clearer: baggy and tired eyes, a mouth twisted into a toothy and sadistic grin, and eyes that were seemingly void of emotion.

Aria watched her, feeling only slightly worried.

“I see you’re taking me a bit more seriously now. Did the feeling of a killer’s intent clue you in, imbecile?” Diane said, chuckling, as she let her limbs hang unnaturally.

Aria shrugged. “Whatever you are, I can guarantee you won’t be enough to beat m-”, Aria was interrupted by Diane slashing at her throat with a sharp knife (which she picked up from behind the counter), to which Aria barely dodged with a sudden flexible lean backwards. The knife just grazed the side of her chin, making it leak a little blood.

In the next instant, Diane had Aria in a half-hug, with her arm intertwined with Aria’s own, pulling her close, which prevented her from moving. Aria felt something soft and wet graze against her fresh cut, making it burn a bit as she hissed from the sensation.

“It’s been so long… Since I’ve tasted blood so good.” Diane whispered into her ear. Aria got chills from the proficiency of Diane's movements.

“Gosh, you simpletons make it so easy.” Diane chuckled, holding Aria close, as she held the knife high in the sky in her other hand.

“What will you do, siren?” Diane questioned, clutching the back of Aria.

“I will lunge briefly… How do you intend to not get impaled by this knife?” Diane questioned again. Aria stayed quiet, and only her fear-induced heartbeat was heard, which excited Diane even more.

Aria felt Diane lunge through muscle movement, and in an instant, pushed Diane back with great force, which brought the knife closer, but left just enough space for Aria to bend to the side, making it so the knife only partly injured her side.

Diane stood at the back of the room, licking the blood off of the sharp edge of the knife, humming in delight.

“The blood of those who fight back is always more delicious… You just work up an appetite earning it, know what I mean?” Diane said, chuckling innocently like Pinkie Pie.

Aria finally lost her boredom, and looked at Diane with focus, as she clutched her side. Tiny drips of blood leaked from between her fingers at the spot she held.

“Aww, are you injured?” Diane said, commenting on the injury she had on her side.

Aria spoke in a more controlled voice than her bored one. “This is nothing. We’ve gone through much worse.” Aria said, denouncing Diane.

“Hehe… Let’s see if you can say the same when we’re done here!” Diane said, dashing once more towards Aria. Aria simply held her side in wait…

It seemed over for Rarity, as Sonata brought the needle down towards Rarity. But in an incredibly quick act of defense, Rarity grabbed a magazine and the needle stabbed into that, just barely missing her neck.

Rarity and Sonata were in a cliché struggle, as Sonata pushed down, and Rarity pushed back. However, Sonata was much stronger, evident from the needle slowly going down towards Rarity’s soft skin.

Sweetie Belle looked around frantically. She couldn’t let her sister get poked by that needle! She read lots about what happens to poor victims of the needle.

“Raaaahhhh!” Sweetie Belle roared in that cute little-kid voice, as she slammed the needle in the magazine away with a rolling pin.

Sonata glared at Sweetie Belle, and upon her really registering that it was Sweetie Belle, made a warming smile. “Sweetie Belle, just let things be, it’ll work out, trust m-” Sonata began, but was interrupted by a kick to the chin, making her fall back, as Rarity got up from the ground.

“Sweetie Belle, cover your ears. Anything this woman has to tell you isn’t good.” Rarity said. Sweetie Belle obeyed and plugged her ears with her fingers. Sonata got up, rubbing her chin.

“Make this easy and simple, won’t you?!” Sonata said, getting frustrated. “I don’t wanna do this the mean and hard way, okay!?” she exclaimed.

“You waltz into my home and demand my family and expect me to not retaliate? Just who do you sirens think you are?” Rarity questioned rhetorically, putting her hands up defensively once again.

Sonata simply got up and picked up the needle out of the magazine. She looked back at Rarity, her smile thinning… “Alright then, marshmallow girl. I tried to make things easy, but I guess everybody likes a challenge then, huh? So we’ll do this the hard way.” Sonata said.

In an instant, Sonata disappeared. Rarity looked around frantically, and soon, she noticed footsteps on the roof above her, but it was too late; as she looked up, she received boot to the face from the descending Sonata, which smashed Rarity into the ground, hard, breaking the floorboards and stunning her.

While Rarity was on the ground, she felt a cold metal inject an oozy liquid into her neck. She hissed, and held the spot on her neck. The dust cleared, and Rarity noticed her vision was blurry.

“W-what did you do to me?” Rarity questioned, trying to stand. She found her vision blacking in and out, however.

“Sorry, I have to go now…” she heard a drowning voice speak. Rarity was stumbling all over the place, the serum taking its effect on her harshly, as her body heavily disagreed with it.

“Rarity…!!!” she heard Sweetie Belle yell, just barely making out a taller figure carrying a smaller one over their shoulder. The smaller one was reaching out towards her.

“Rarity, no! I don’t wanna leave! I’m sorry, come save me!” Sweetie Belle screamed, pounding on the back of the bigger figure.

Rarity tried to pursue the two, but her head throbbed, and vision swayed this way and that. As she tried to exit the door to chase after them, she lost balance, hit her head on the doorframe, and lost consciousness in the messy house.

“Sweetie… Belle…” were the last words to exit Rarity’s mouth as she fully slipped into the realm of unconsciousness.

Applejack stood there clutching her arm, injured and pretty tired due to the dirty tricks Adagio was using to beat on her.

“You’re not much for strategy, are you? What a shame.” Adagio mocked.

“You’re one scummy little pest, y’know that?” Applejack said angrily, as she prepared to defend again, tightening her dusty and ragged hat.

“Hah, get used to it, bub. Life ain’t fair.” Adagio spoke, with a hint of bitterness.

Applejack growled at her in response.

“You know…” Adagio began, holding Applebloom’s still unconscious body by its clothing. “It’s about time somebody show you lot that you won’t always be top-dog.” She finished with a smug attitude.

Applejack noticed that the ground beneath was now dry and cracked, being sucked of its prosperity from the blazing orchard. It was brittle and cracked now. That’s when an idea hit Applejack.

“Don’t be so cocky.” Applejack stated looked at her smirking. “We’ve only just begun!” she said, balling her fist. Adagio eyed her, preparing herself.

Using as much strength as she could muster, Applejack cocked her arm high, then smashed the ground with her fist!

*Crack!*

The pieces of the separate earth around Applejack and Adagio all leveled out of position, making Adagio lose balance, and drop Applebloom. In one fell swoop, Applejack dashed and grabbed Applebloom before she could hit the ground, then jumped off of the levelled ground at the area.

She laid Applebloom down next to Big Mac and Granny Smith. She then looked at her now bruised and scratched fist, which had bits of red on it. She nodded approvingly, telling herself it was more than worth it.

“Well done. The ‘ol primitive farm girl actually came up with a good strategy. I commend you.” Adagio said, clapping behind her.

Applejack rubbed her nose in confidence of the compliment. “I wouldn’t be so cocky if I were you. Now I can actually fight.” Applejack said, holding both fists up. “There’s nothing but us, and the barren field that you created. Let’s see how you fare then.” Applejack said, dashing at Adagio.

“Your mistake here is believing that I rely on such tricks to win a battle.” Adagio said, ducking beneath Applejack’s punch and connecting her arms around Applejack’s waist from behind.

“But that’s so very untrue.” Adagio finished, lifting Applejack up over her head, then smashing her back down into the ground behind her, headfirst.

Applejack stood up, more dizzy than ever, since her previous head-injury was still affecting her.

“Rule number one; don’t head into a battle with an injury such as yours. That is elementary.” Adagio said, dashing at Applejack. She then elbowed at Applejack’s head, but AJ caught it in the palm of her fist, now holding on to Adagio’s arm.

“You expect me to not come and save my family from the danger they are certainly facing?” Applejack said, now starting to spin Adagio around in many circles in an amazing display of strength, gaining momentum.

“You’ve got a thing or two to learn about how this world works, missy!” Applejack yelled, now jumping into the air, both of them spinning at great speeds in vertical manner, in a mix of Applejack’s yellow-ish hair, and Adagio’s orange-ish hair. In in an instant, Adagio was seen, flying out of the mix of color, and smashing into the ground, with Applejack in the air, her hands extended, and her face scrunched in a frown.

Applejack landed, and then walked to Adagio with an unforgiving look on her face. “You know, you have some nerve; coming into my home, destroying it, using such dirty tricks to fight, and then spouting all this damn cocky nonsense. The likes of you tick me right off, y’know.” Applejack spat, standing over the hole that Adagio lay in.

In an instant, Applejack saw a blur headed towards her, and held her palm out in defense, catching Adagio’s fist, creating a small gust of forceful wind. Adagio then cocked her other fist back, and shot it forward, but AJ caught that one too, creating another forceful gust of wind. As if on second-nature, both pulled their heads-back, hands locked, and then bashed each other’s foreheads against one another. They both pushed against each other in a struggle.

“You shut your mouth! We do what we have to to survive in a world where we’ve been exiled and thrown from society, so you have no right to judge our actions, living it good up here!” Adagio said, growling, and pulling her head back and bashing into AJ’s again.

“You think by destroying someone’s life work, that you can what? Redeem yourself?! What kind of sick beings are you lot!?” Applejack yelled, pulling her own head back, and bashing into Adagio’s.

The two struggled more, and the force of it all started to raise little pebbles and debris around them. Applebloom and the others started to come to with all of the racket.

“Sis…?” Applebloom muttered, rubbing her eyes. She then doubled over in pain, as she felt the bruises and scorches over her body remind her that she was injured in painful throbs.

“You’re entitled! A mindless little servant, in service to something you couldn’t even comprehend! You’ll all learn soon, it’ll all change for the better!” Adagio yelled, bashing her head into AJ’s again.

“Entitled? Are you joking? You lot sicken me to the core! This is our life’s work, and I’m entitled by protecting it?!" AJ yelled furiously, bashing her head into Adagio’s harder than ever. Adagio, however, did not flinch, and this time, grew very angry.

“Who’s to say YOU didn’t destroy OUR life’s work, huh?! Do you know how LONG we were seeking a way back to our homeworld!? Does your THICK-HEADED lot of friends even know WHY we were banished?! We were meant to reform! We spent hundreds of years here doing that, and what were we granted with? Abandonment and lack of acknowledgement! How are we treated for defending our life’s work?! With banishment and absolute disregard from any that recognized us!” Adagio said, now pushing Applejack back but slowly.

“Do you know how long our sisters and I wanted to go back home?! DO YOU IDIOTS KNOW ANYTHING?!” Adagio yelled, furious, pushing AJ back further and further.

“You all come and ruin our effort to get back home, destroy our only means of obtaining the power to do so, and then call yourselves heroes for destroying hundreds of years of work, so you should be lucky I don’t do the same, and EXPEL YOUR ENTIRE PATHETIC LINEAGE FROM THE FACE OF EXISTENCE!!!” Adagio yelled, absolutely furious. She pulled her head back, and then in a powerful movement, pulled AJ’s arms towards her, while bringing her head forward, smashing their heads so hard that hers immediately bruised and leaked a bit of blood. Applejack took it worse however, and flew back far, skidding across the ground. She stood up, stumbling, then fell back over again, her head injury affecting her.

Adagio drew in a long and calming breath. She then walked up to the toppled AJ. “You all think life is so perfect, huh? You wonder why people are evil. You think villains are born, hm?” Adagio asked, now picking Applejack up by her hair and stomping on her hat.

“Villains aren’t born, they are formed by the evils of the world. And somehow, you lot contribute to lots of that. You’re not all as good as you think.” Adagio spat, flicking out a needle.

Applejack watched hopelessly, drained of strength.

“AJ!” Big-Mac yelled, trying to get up and run to AJ, but falling over again, too injured to move properly.

“Big sis!” Applebloom yelled, running towards her as fast as her little feet could take her, despite her bruises and various first-degree burns.

Adagio then stabbed the needle violently into AJ’s neck, squeezing the substance into her veins. She then tossed Applejack back, not even bothering to take the needle out.

“Even with all that hardship… You can’t possibly expect anything good out of this, you old troublemaker! For goodness sakes, you hurt an innocent child!” Granny Smith yelled, shaking her cane.

Adagio glared at her. “This doesn’t concern you.” Adagio simply said. She gestured towards the still-blazing orchard that now filled the sky with smoke. “I believe you have matters to attend to anyhow.” She said.

Applebloom shook Applejack, hoping for her to return to consciousness. “Wake up; you’ve gotta wake up sis!” Applebloom said hysterically, frantic at the events.

Unbeknownst to Applebloom, Adagio walked up behind her.

*Thonk!*

Applebloom fell unconscious once again as Adagio’s knuckle came into contact with the back of her skull, and Adagio slung the little girl over her shoulder, and began to walk away. Big Mac silently overcame his injuries, and started to run at Adagio.

Adagio smiled and breathed a sigh of pity, as she silently laughed to herself. “Simpleton.” Is all she muttered to herself.

As soon as Big Mac was as close as she would allow, she shot her elbow back into his stomach, making him double over, gasping for breaths. He looked up at Adagio, who had one hand on her hip, and one hand securing Applebloom.

“Leave this message for Applejack: If you wish to see Applebloom ever again, I’d suggest getting to Twilight’s mansion in about the next 15 minutes.” Adagio recited.

“I’d say it’s about 20 minutes before I make it there, so I’d wake her up fast, if I were you.” Adagio said to the groveling Big Mac, who could only look upon her hopelessly. Adagio walked off, leaving behind her a destroyed home that took generations to build. The blaze of the orchard once again set an eerie and sinister glow on her frowning face, and defined the features of those behind her.

Rainbow-Dash struggled, and just as her muscles reached the maximum, she fell next to the needle. In one last display of strength, she grabbed the needle and stabbed it into her neck, squeezing the liquid into her body.

“Now release the aura! Aren’t you a lady of your word?!” Rainbow-Dash yelled, tears protruding from her eyes. Part of it was fear of losing Scootaloo, and part of it was the painful struggle she just endured.

Starlight smiled and released the aura. “Good luck… She’s already done for.” Starlight laughed manically. “She’s about to go ker-splat!” Starlight continued laughing.

Rainbow-Dash took off so incredibly fast that a Rainboom occurred right from the instance where she flew from. “I am NOT losing her!” Rainbow-Dash thought, blazing down towards the earth after the screaming Scootaloo.

Rainbow-Dash saw the approaching ground, and a terrible realization kicked in; she knew that she couldn’t save her. She could catch her, but she wouldn’t be able to divert in time. Tears welled in her eyes thickly as she tried to go faster.

She saw the only clear solution… Scootaloo would live, but she’d have to pay for her rash acting earlier, even if it meant she wouldn’t live to protect Scootaloo.

“Dammit…!” she said, seconds from Scootaloo reaching the ground. “I’ll have to take the impact then… And save her. Is this the sacrifice Luna meant?” Rainbow-Dash mused, seeing the quickly approaching ground beyond Scootaloo. She was ready to pay for her mistake…

Suddenly, a yellow and midnight blue blur zoomed by and rescued Scootaloo just in time. Rainbow-Dash slowed down and landed on the ground in a smash, not being able to stop the speed she was moving at.

Shaking her head, she wondered what happened, as she looked around frantically for the young girl that grew to her like a sister, despite her new injuries.

“Scootaloo?!” Rainbow-Dash yelled out. Starlight had descended from the clouds herself, laughing. “My goodness, did she vaporize upon contact with the ground? Haha, how pathetic of you, Rainbow-Dash! Couldn’t even save your little girl!” Starlight mocked.

“You may have failed, but we haven’t.” a familiar voice spoke, above Rainbow-Dash and Starlight. Both looked up to see a flying ‘Fluttershy’ and Principal Luna. ‘Fluttershy’ was holding Scootaloo, who clung to her chest in fear, having experienced near-death.

“It is not yet your time, Element of Loyalty.” Luna said, almost as if reading the thoughts of the terrified Human Pegasus.

Rainbow-Dash looked up at Luna and Fluttershy as tears welled in the corners of her eyes. She wiped them away quickly. “Y-you guys…” she breathed in relief, calming down her heartrate.

“She’s okay…” Rainbow-Dash thought, kneeling due to losing feeling in her legs from the nervousness of the situation. It seemed she truly wasn’t ready to die.

“You! Why is it that the bad never truly convert to good?!” Luna groaned, gesturing to Starlight. “We will have to just dispose of you ourselves then!” Luna said, beginning to fly down to Starlight. ‘Fluttershy’ grabbed her arm though, and shook her head.

“We have bigger matters to attend to, trust me, Principal.” ‘Fluttershy’ said urgently. Rainbow-Dash and Starlight glanced at each other, both confused.

“Dashie, will it be satisfying to leave Scootaloo here?” ‘Fluttershy’ asked, in a surprisingly loud voice, prying her off and placing her down on the ground, not far behind Rainbow-Dash.

She nodded. “Good. Principal Luna and I shall be off.” ‘Fluttershy’ said. She then eyed Starlight.

“Be careful with that one, rainbow-girl. She’s more powerful than she looks.” ‘Fluttershy’ warned, taking off with Principal Luna at a speed that Rainbow-Dash was almost sure Fluttershy was even too scared to accomplish.

Nevertheless, she turned to Starlight and sent a death-glare.

“Seems you struck luck.” Starlight said, lowering herself down in front of Rainbow-Dash.

Rainbow felt a new power surging through her… A dark one, but she couldn’t help it. She would embrace it. She would make Starlight feel fear, just as she made Scootaloo feel fear.

Rainbow-Dash’s skin started to don a light-pink glow. “You’re going to pay for that, you damn jerk!” Rainbow-Dash growled, kneeling as the power surged through her. Her skin started to steam, and streaks of a light-ish red were seen over her body and face.

“Oh, am I now?” Starlight asked. Rainbow-Dash looked up at her with a smirk.

In an almost unconceivable display of speed, Rainbow-Dash was seen in front of Starlight, hovering in the air with her fist cocked back. Starlight had no time to react, as all that was seen in her chest was the indent of a fist, as she flew far back, sliding over the concrete and smashing into the wall of a building.

Starlight got up, injured and confused. She was sure she hadn’t seen the girl move, so what in the world could that have been?

Rainbow-Dash hovered there, her glowing skin releasing lines of steam. It seemed that she now had the personality of a whole different person in her.

She held up 3 fingers to the confused Starlight. “Three minutes. Survive that long, and you’ll win.” Rainbow-Dash spoke, confusing even herself, though she didn’t show it. How did she know that?

“Oh? You must be quite confident you can end this quickly then.” Starlight chuckled, her confidence still bright.

In an instant, Rainbow-Dash was gone from her spot, moving at a speed that Starlight’s eyes literally couldn’t track, rendering RD ‘invisible’.

Suddenly, she appeared in front of Starlight, slightly above the ground, with her fist cocked back again. Starlight quickly pulled up a defensive shield, which was cracked immediately, the indent of a fist in it as well.

The shield dissipated, and Rainbow-Dash landed onto the ground. “Oh, I get it now…” Starlight said, her eyes flashing a turquoise color, similar to that of her magical aura.

“You’re simply forcing your blood to move 2.5x as fast, resulting in a better reaction-time and muscle activity,” Starlight began, seeming to come into a sort of trance of childlike curiosity, as she held her hand out towards Rainbow-Dash. “The light-pink glow is and steaming skin is a result of how hard your body is working, and the red streaks are evidence of your early corruption.” Starlight continued in her trance-like state. Rainbow-Dash raised her brow at that part. “It seems as if you don’t actually punch, simply because you move so fast. The force of your punch is enough to cause devastation, rendering you lethal at hand-to-hand combat, even from a slight range.” Starlight finished analyzing Rainbow-Dash.

She then stumbled, and nearly fell over. She quickly regained her balance however, holding her head in both hands, falling out of her trance.

“So you figured out the basics of what I can do. How will that help you?” Rainbow-Dash asked, disappearing again. Starlight smirked.

Rainbow-Dash appeared behind Starlight, a leg quickly approaching her head. Although it didn’t soften the impact, Starlight caught the leg and growled in pain as Rainbow’s shin connected with her cheek.

“That wasn’t a simple analyzation, you fool.” Starlight said, struggling against Rainbow’s foot. She clutched her leg harder, as small streams of turquoise flowed from off of Rainbow-Dash and onto Starlight.

Starlight grinned widely at Rainbow-Dash. “That was my one-way ticket to borrowing the power I now understand!” Starlight laughed, as her body now too, started to glow a light-pink, and steam started to emanate from it. She, however, did not have the red streaks.

Starlight gained the strength to lift Rainbow-Dash, and tossed her into the nearest wall, cracking it. Rainbow-Dash fell out of the wall, kneeling and panting.

“Hah, looks like you’ll need more than three minutes. And by the looks of it, it would seem your body can’t handle such pressure for long.” Starlight said, dropping into a physical fighting stance.

Diane slashed at Aria wildly, while Aria dodged all the slashes, just barely missing each strike. In a sudden moment, Aria caught Diane’s wrist. “Sheesh, talk about a close shave.” Aria said, her boredom completely gone at this point.

“Any idea where I can get my nails sharpened too?” Aria said, digging her rather sharp fingernails into Diane’s wrist, drawing blood.

Diange giggled at the gesture.

“Masochistic, I see. Shame, you’ll learn to hate pain soon.” Aria said, hauling Diane through the air and into a nearby display set, making her smash into the glass. The long knife lay on the ground. Aria quickly ran to pick it up.

As she focused her attention back onto Diane, she already had another knife in her hand, and was running back towards Aria, her grin wild.

Both clashed the knives. “You know, this is very dangerous. One wrong move, and either of us could be dead.” Aria said surprisingly calmly. Diane licked her lips in an almost seductive manner in response.

“Just the way I like my battles.” Diane said, her eyes growing a blood-thirsty look.

Diane pulled back, then lunged at Aria’s throat. Aria simply dodged, and then slashed back at Diane’s chest. Diane barely attempted to dodge it, only pulling back slightly as the knife grazed her chest. Nothing but bloodlust was on her mind now.

Catching Aria off-guard with the lack of attempt to dodge, Diane was able to attack at Aria ruthlessly. Aria could only dodge and defend against her onslaught, as all that was heard were a slew of swipes, flapping clothes, and metal clashing metal.

Aria tripped up and lost her balance slightly, resulting in her missing a defend against one of Diane’s lunges.

*Schling!*

…

…

…

“You’re good.” Diane chuckled. Aria was unable to block the lunge, so instead of letting the knife hit her neck, she used her forearm to slow the knife, and then completely stop it by quickly pulling her own knife into the ridges of Diane’s.

Blood dripped onto the wooden floorboards, drop by drop.

“This is fun and all, but I’m afraid you’ve messed up for good now.” Diane stated, to the surprise of Aria. Diane’s leg was in between Aria’s own two legs, and in one instant, Diane dragged her foot back, making Aria fall down on her back. Diane then mercilessly began to bring down the knife to the Aria who could only bring her hands up in defense.

*swoosh!*

Before Diane could do any real damage, however, she noticed her hand being stopped by a powerful, midnight blue magical aura.

Diane smiled hopelessly, not even having to look to realize who was impeding her endeavors here.

“Here to lock me away within a nightmare again, Princess of the Night?” Diane asked, getting up off of Aria, who was breathing heavily. Aria got up and dusted herself off, wrapping the wound on her side and forearm with white bandage that she pulled from her pockets.

Principal Luna and Flutterbat materialized within in the room suddenly.

“Not at all, Pinkamena. I no longer have the ability to do so, unfortunately.” Luna spoke. “It was stolen from me.” She informed.

“Oh? Is that why the Tantabus woke me from the dreams with a new host? I see.” Diane mused.

“That siren is lucky you saved her when she did. I was about to carve her apologies into her arm for hurting my dear little friends.” Diane said, glancing over Aria, who was tending her wounds.

Flutterbat walked up to Diane and frowned, folding her arms and raising a brow. “Are you gonna give us any trouble, ‘ol Miss Crazy?” she asked.

Unexpectedly, Diane flung her hands around Flutterbat and nuzzled her neck. “Of course not, hun!” Diane said, arousing the attention of Luna, who raised her brow at the event.

“Good girl.” Flutterbat said soothingly, kissing her on the cheek. Diane purred into her neck affectionately.

“So I guess even the darkest of beings are capable of such emotions, huh?” Luna mumbled lowly to herself.

Diane yawned, then looked sadly at Flutterbat. “I’m getting tired… That means I’ll be going soon…” she said sadly. Flutterbat patted her head comfortingly.

“We’ll see each other soon, don’t worry.” Flutterbat said, yawning.

“Pinkie Promise?” Diane asked, holding out her pinkie.

“Pinkie Promise.” Flutterbat said, locking their pinkies, as both toppled over one another.

Luna stood there, feeling confused; she had so many questions. How was it that those two knew each other? Why was Flutterbat capable of calming such a bloodthirsty beast? And just what the heck was going on with the rest of her friends?

Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie came to, shaking their heads.

“Ugh… Why does my mouth taste like metal?” Pinkie questioned, tasting her mouth.

“Actually… It tastes like that time I licked my cut…” Pinkie thought suspiciously. Suddenly Pinkie’s eyes grew wide, and then she shook her head, shaking it off.

“Fluttershy? What are you doing here?” Pinkie questioned, helping her up.

“Did we party super hard or something, cause this place looks like it just had an aaawesome party!” Pinkie said excitedly.

Fluttershy stood, only the lips of Discord being on her mind, as for her, it felt like it happened merely seconds ago. A blush grew red-hot on her cheeks.

Luna then remembered that they were also confronting a siren here. She quickly scouted the area, and saw a figure hopping out of the window with a baby-basket in her hand. She gasped.

“Elements of Laughter and Kindness, listen and listen close! I have no time to explain, but we must pursue that woman that is escaping outside, this very instant!” Luna said.

“Oh, I’m sorry Miss Nightmare Mare, I can’t move or fly very fast.” Fluttershy said softly.

Pinkie Pie seemed to hyperactive to grasp the severity of the situation, and Fluttershy was of no help.

“Argh, if you want things done…” Luna grumbled, picking the two up in her magical aura, and swooping off a great speed through the sky in pursue of the Aria Blaze, the siren.

Applejack awoke, the smell of smoke getting to her. As she got up, a wet rag slid off of her forehead. She saw Big Mac hard at work with several emergency service authorities, clearing out the fires of the orchard, and she couldn’t help but clutch her fists hard as images of Adagio flooded back into her head.

She felt a stinging throb in her neck, and touched the spot, reminded of the needle she was injected with.

Applejack turned and noticed Granny Smith to her far-side, overseeing the process.

“G’Smith!” Applejack exclaimed, running up to her and hugging her. “You’re alright!” she said in relief.

“Oh, I’m glad you’re okay too, AJ. But Applebloom…” Granny Smith said. Applejack had noticed her disappearance.

“Say no more Granny Smith. Where’d she take her?” AJ questioned urgently. “She said she was off to Twilight’s mansion.” Granny Smith said. “A-Applejack… You’ll be careful, won’t’cha?” Granny Smith asked, worried for her well-being.

“I know you’re heroes and all that, but I’ve never seen such a fearsome foe…” Granny Smith said, her old body shivering for the first time in a while. “It gave me chills.” Granny Smith honestly stated.

Applejack patted Granny Smith’s shoulder, tilting her hat over her eyes with a reassuring smile.

“If there’s anybody that’s up to this, it’s my friends and I, Granny Smith. Don’t worry about us.” Applejack said, getting ready to turn and head off. As she walked, she took one glance back at the efforts to quell the fire that plagued the orchard.

She wished she could help, but her sister’s life was much more important. Her eyes met with Big-Mac’s, and both nodded at each other, a look of determination on their faces.

“Right. You take care of the fire, I’ll get our sister back!” Applejack thought out-loud, running off towards Twilight’s mansion.

Rainbow ran at Starlight in incredible bursts of speed, throwing slews of punches and kicks that Starlight did her best to dodge.

“Get ‘im Rainbow-Dash!” Scootaloo cheered in excitement, the events pumping her up.

Starlight caught Rainbow-Dash in a counter, sweeping her punch to the sky and then sending a punch to RD’s gut. Rainbow-Dash flinched, but that didn’t stop her from upper-cutting Starlight, to which Starlight responded by kicking Rainbow-Dash in the chest.

Rainbow-Dash slid back slightly, then dashed at her again. The exchange of blows went on for about another minute, until both stared at each other, Rainbow-Dash panting, the steam on her body beginning to dissipate.

“Seems you are out of time.” Starlight chuckled, as Rainbow-Dash kneeled, panting heavily, and coughing. She was sweating heavily. Forcing her body to such limits affected her negatively in the end, as she found that her body now felt heavy, and her muscles ached like nothing else.

Starlight dispelled her own power, the steam and glow of her body dissipating. As she did, she too, began to feel the effects of using the power. She was not as physically built as Rainbow-Dash, so it affected her worse. She coughed, and felt blood leak down from her mouth. She wiped it off and stood tall.

“Looks like I’m not the only one it negatively affected, hehe.” Rainbow-Dash said, between pants and gasps for air.

“Yes, but I am not as weak as you. I can endure much more, despite what it seems.” Starlight said.

“Well, you’re done for. If you wish to see this runt again, I’d suggest crawling over to Twilight’s mansion soon.” Starlight said, walking over to Scootaloo, who backed away from her. However, she was held still by Starlight’s magic, which was too strong for Scootaloo to overcome.

“I-I’m not done yet!” Rainbow-Dash said. But truth be told, whatever that power did to her body, it sure did stress it, and as Rainbow-Dash stood, she stumbled over and fell again.

“As I thought.” Starlight said, dragging Scootaloo through the air alongside her.

“Let me go! Rainbow-Dash will beat you, just you wait and see!” Scootaloo yelled.

Starlight snapped her fingers, and Scootaloo’s lips attracted to each other like magnets. “You’re much too loud.” Starlight simply said continuing to walk.

Despite her weakness and pain from the battle, Rainbow-Dash got up and flew towards Starlight, her fist cocked back. However, she was much too slow and pained from the battle to be quick enough.

Starlight turned and side-stepped out of the way from Rainbow-Dash, holding a powerful blast to her chest as she was passing by; the magical destructive blast exploded into Dash’s chest, and she flew back into a wall, colliding with it, and falling unconscious.

“Great, now I’m stuck with two bodies, and this one’s slightly heavy.” Starlight grumbled, as a magical aura enveloped Rainbow-Dash and her body was carelessly dragged across the ground behind Starlight.

As Starlight made her way to the mansion, slightly injured, passerby on the street looked on with fear, avoiding her entirely. Starlight couldn’t help but chuckle at the things she heard as she passed.

“Isn’t she like, good now?” one man asked.

“I thought she and Alicorn Twilight made up!” a mail-pegasus gasped.

“Someone call Celestia and Luna!” a woman gasped, grabbing her phone out of her waist-pocket.

Starlight walked on, head held high. “Fools. You’ll all know soon.” She mused, continuing on to Twilight’s.

Rarity came to, rubbing her head. She looked upon the ruin of her home and the state of disarray it lay in. Fixing the house would have to wait though, for Sweetie Belle was in trouble. The fight flooded back into her mind, as she felt a stinging throb in her neck.

She rubbed her neck, then got up. “Where did they go?” Rarity thought out-loud, rubbing her head more. She walked out and closed up her home/shop.

“Twilight will know what to do.” She said, making her way towards Twilight’s.

Trixie ran at Twilight, lunging at her with the needle. Twilight ducked underneath it, then used her magic to hurl several heavy items at Trixie at high speed.

Trixie turned and slashed clean through the books and wooden planks with her makeshift claw, made from her magical aura.

Twilight got a shiver. “Do not get hit by that claw.” Twilight thought, making a mental note.

“Twilight, why do you struggle? As you saw last time, you are horribly outmatched.” Trixie asked, running at her again. Twilight jumped over Trixie with extra height, with the help of her wings, and then shot a destructive beam of magic at Trixie, which Trixie simply deflected using a magical shield.

Twilight hovered above Trixie, flapping her wings. “Why?” Twilight asked. “I struggle because somebody needs to struggle for the better.” Twilight said.

“How cute!” Trixie said, balling up a small red blast of destructive magic. She shot the ball at Twilight, who dodged it. Upon dodging it, Trixie had disappeared. Twilight searched all over the ground.

“Sparkle, behind you!” Celestia yelled.

Twilight turned just in time to defend against Trixie’s vertical kick with her forearm. The impact, however, still blasted Twilight down into the ground, slightly injuring her.

“Forgot I was an Alicorn too, Sparkle?” Trixie questioned, flying down towards her, the hand with her claw cocked back.

Twilight, having only just recovered, barely dodged, the claw grazing her arm. In a creative and swift display of strategy, Twilight shot at Trixie while dodging, but Trixie simply fell backwards, losing all footing with the ground. It seemed that she left herself defenseless, as she was just falling backwards towards the ground.

Twilight took this chance and brought her fist down towards Trixie. However, in an even more impressive display of strategy (and combat prowess), Trixie took one of her hands and slammed it on the ground, giving her body some ground and leverage, and then swung her feet into powerfully into Twilight’s face, sending her flying back.

Twilight gasped in pain as she hit the wall, her injuries from the last encounter, making themselves apparent. She stood again swiftly, despite the throbbing pain.

Trixie still stood on her one arm, using her other to keep her star-based wizards’ hat on. She smirked upside-down at Twilight. “Two encounters, and still, none have laid not even so much as a finger upon me.” Trixie spoke, now flipping on to her feet agilely and gracefully.

“How fitting.” She said with a grin.

Principal Celestia was about to step in, determining that she couldn’t let Twilight fight with those injuries. However, as she was making her way over, a force-field stopped her, and she heard a “tsk tsk tsk” from the thin of the air.

“Now, now, Principal; isn’t it rude to intrude on such one-on-one encounters?” an all-too-familiar voice said.

“Discord, show yourself! This is not the time!” she said angrily.

“If you wish, my dear.” He said, materializing in front of Celestia.

“What in the blazes of the sun do you think you’re doing?! Drop that barrier this instant!” Celestia ordered.

Trixie chuckled, not taking her eyes off of Twilight.

“Finally decided to show, Discord?” Trixie said, a smile on her face growing.

“But of course my dear.” Discord replied.

“Are the others on their way?” Trixie asked.

“It would seem so… I can just smell the delectable chaos headed this way!” Discord said in a delighted manner.

Twilight and Celestia eyed each other, realizing what was going on.

“Wait, Discord, you don’t mean…?” Twilight said, pointing between him and Trixie.

“Oh yes, he certainly does mean.” Trixie said, chuckling.

“But I thought-!” Twilight started, but was interrupted by Discord.

“Ah-ah-ahhh! You thought wrong, Sparkle. Trixie, get on with it, the others will arrive soon.” Discord said, shaking his paw at her.

“I’m the one in charge here Discord, let’s remember. Nonetheless, your time is up Twilight.” Trixie spoke.

“If you were finding me a challenge earlier, then you’re in for some trouble, because I was just toying with you.” Trixie stated, running at Twilight, who prepared herself.

Trixie was far from Twilight, but as she ran, she held her hands out behind her.

“Force!” she said, and the runes on her hands activated, pushing her with great velocity into Twilight. Trixie collided with Twilight, knee-to-chest, badly hurting Twilight when she collided with the wall. Twilight’s injuries were bad enough, and she found herself unable to move after such a powerful impact.

Trixie walked over to Twilight, who was leaned back against the wall, and injected the serum into her neck, like what was done to the others. Twilight seemed unaffected.

“Twilight, are you okay?!” Celestia called, banging on the forcefield. Discord dropped the barrier, and Celestia rushed over to Twilight, shaking her.

Twilight looked up at Celestia, her face scrunched in pain, and her face dirtied from debris from the hole that was now in the wall.

“I’m… I’m fine.” Twilight coughed softly. Truly, she wasn’t fine. Twilight didn’t usually fundament herself upon pride, but how was it that both times she was so helpless against Trixie? She couldn’t stand to think of what would happen if she didn’t get stronger… All her friends, everyone she knew…

“Well, well, well. What do we have here?” Adagio said, walking into the huge room that they lay in. She had the bruised and scorched Applebloom slung over her shoulder.

“I did it just as you requested.” Adagio said, mercilessly tossing Applebloom's body under the hanging Spike and standing with Trixie and Discord at the far-end of the room.

“Excellent.” Trixie commended.

“Though, I see you had some resistance.” Trixie said, commenting on the bruise upon her forehead.

“Simply some points I wanted to get across, is all.” Adagio said, mimicking Trixie.

“Wait, the Sirens?!” Twilight gasped.

Adagio smirked over towards Twilight. “Didn’t think we’d be back after you screwed up our plans a while back, huh? Guess who thought wrong?” Adagio said triumphantly.

“But… How…?” Twilight questioned. She was ignored, however, as three entered the room in an excited burst.

“Woohoo!” Pinkie Pie yelled, sliding across the floor.  Fluttershy calmly flew in and tended to Twilight with Celestia as Luna walked in, panting, tired from escorting the two at such high speeds.

“Where is she?! I’m sure I saw her come here!” Luna said frantically, eyes locking upon Trixie, Discord and Adagio.

“You…” Luna said with a tone of despise. Her glare harshened when she noticed the hanghing Spike and the injured and unconscious Applebloom.

Luna walked over, but Trixie gestured for Luna to stop. “Don’t confront us here if you wish for the well-being of the younger ones.” Trixie said calmly, sitting down upon a desktop, folding her legs.

Luna hadn’t exactly seen them be threatened, but seeing as Trixie had already done so much… She backed down.

Aria Blaze soon came walking in with an annoyed look on her face and a small basket of two crying babies. “For the love of Tartarus, Trixie, you know I hate babies!” she said dropping the basket near Applebloom and plugging in some headphones to her ear.

Trixie giggled shortly. “Seems like you had some complications too.” She said, commenting on her wrapped side and forearm.

“Nothing major. Wasn’t a complication that I couldn’t handle.” She said, eyeing Pinkie Pie, who was too busy conversing with the others to notice.

…

After a few minutes, Applejack walked in, and her eyes met with Adagio. The room was met with an eerie silence as Applejack balled her fists. Luna grabbed AJ’s wrist however, and calmly explained the situation, telling her to sit down with them. Applejack, much to her own dismay, had no choice but to follow her instruction.

Adagio and Applejack locked gazes in intense glares as Applejack sat.

“Is there some sort of history between you and her, AJ?” Twilight asked.

Applejack scrunched her fingers into her palm harder, her fist shaking. “She burned my orchard.” Applejack simply said.

Twilight and Fluttershy gasped, while Pinkie Pie seemed to not notice, in her own little world.

“Oh? Seems like the party started. They do always say to be fashionably late.” Starlight said, walking in. She used her magic to mercilessly toss Rainbow-Dash across the ground, making her skid over to Applejack’s feet.

Applejack had to be held back by Twilight and Fluttershy, as she was more than ready to fight again at this point.

“Applejack, don’t! Think of Applebloom!” Twilight said, through her struggle to hold AJ back.

Applejack eventually calmed down, helping to tend to Rainbow-Dash, as Scootaloo was placed next to Applebloom and the twins, trapped under Starlight’s aura.

Rainbow-Dash came to, and then frantically got up, looking around. She hissed as she felt the scorch marks on her chest, where the magical blast hit her.

“Scootaloo!” Rainbow-Dash said.

Starlight snapped her fingers and allowed Scootaloo the courtesy to speak.

“Rainbow-Dash!” she replied, trying to break free of Starlight’s magic.

“Scootaloo, I’m sorry I couldn’t save you! But I will, soon! Just sit tight for your sis, okay?” Rainbow-Dash said. Scootaloo nodded. “I knew you had a plan, Rainbow! Knock ‘em dead!” she said, not at all feeling any worry. However, Rainbow-Dash now felt the worry of living up to Scootaloo’s expectations.

Sonata now skipped in, a crying Sweetie Belle above her, held in place by magic.

“Sweetie Belle?! What’ve you done with Rarity!?” Rainbow-Dash asked, rolling her sleeves.

“Oh, the silly little marshmallow?” Sonata chuckled in a childlike innocence. “She’s just taking a teeny weeny little nap, see? She’ll be here.” Sonata said, walking the frantic Sweetie-Belle over to the rest of the villains and children in the far-end of the room.

“Scootaloo?” Sweetie-Belle asked, sniffing. “They came for you too?” she asked, wiping her eyes.

“Yeah, but don’t cry Sweetie-Belle! They’ll save us.” Scootaloo comforted, more than sure that their friends were worthy.

Rarity soon after walked in, her right arm and left leg still weak from her encounter with Sonata. “You best believe we will!” Rarity said, immediately charging after Sonata.

“Wait, Rarity, no!” Twilight yelled, remembering the threats Trixie made. But as she ran, she smacked into an invisible magical barrier, just before she reached Sonata.

“Lucky enough for you, I decide to take counter-measures.” Trixie said, now beginning to stand, unfolding her legs. Discord stood with her, snapping his fingers as Angel and the cage he was in materialized into his palm.

“So… We’re all here.” Trixie said, as she cut down Spike from the ceiling, and held the terrified boy/dragon hybrid in her arms.

Adagio Dazzle, Discord, Sonata Dusk, Starlight Glimmer, and Aria Blaze stood beside Trixie, lined up in front of the magical barrier, all with sinister features, smirks, grins, and for Aria, simply the intent of evil leaked off of her.

"So you want your friends and family back, I’d assume." Trixie said, patting Spike's head with an uncomforting grin.

Rainbow-Dash punched at the barrier, making it ripple and crack only slightly.

“What do you think?!” Applejack said hitting the barrier with her fists, then leaning on it. Twilight, Rarity, Pinkie Pie, and Fluttershy stood next to Rainbow-Dash and Applejack, each in front of their respective captor.

“You’re not going to get away with this, I’d like you to know that Trixie.” Twilight stated angrily, as she stared upon the terrified Spike, slapping her palm hopelessly against the barrier.

“Well, I’d take that as a yes then. If you wish to see these pathetic little things ever again…” Trixie began, ripping the seal that she had over Spike’s mouth. He screamed for Twilight, trying to escape Trixie’s arms, but she held him firm.

“Then you’ll do your best to follow the set of instructions that I’m going to give.” Trixie stated, as all listened intently.

“Find us in these next 5 days. When you do, bring with you the means to fight. If you fail to show up, or fail to show any worthiness in combat, your own life, as well as the child’s will be forfeit.” Trixie stated coldly.

Her glance switched specifically from Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy, and Rarity.

“This will root out the warriors, from the weaklings who have no right to see what I bare for the future.” Trixie said.

“If there are any change in instructions, you will be notified. Oh, and do keep in mind that we are human-beings as well. Do enjoy Hearth’s Warming as a day off from the 5 days you’ll have. Use it well.” Trixie said.

“That will be all. This was a swell get-together, wouldn’t you agree?” Trixie asked, holding her palm out into the air, as the red aura enveloped it.

“But it’s time that we depart.” Trixie said, bringing her hand down to the ground.

“Twilight, no!” Spike yelled, hands outstretched.

“Rarity!” Sweetie Belle cried.

Scootaloo sat with her arms folded and a sure grin on her face. “See ya in six days, sis.” She said.

The cake babies cried, as Angel rattled his cage in frustration.

Applebloom came to seconds before the departure, and weakly muttered, “A…J…?”

As Trixie’s hand hit the ground, a poof of smoke filled the room, and as it cleared, they were gone.

…

…

…

“So what now?” Rainbow-Dash said, sitting on the ground.

“I don’t know…” Rarity sighed, sitting down as well.

“Well, we’d better find them soon then. I don’t wanna spend Hearth’s Warming without my ‘lil sis.” AJ stated, sitting down as well.

Pinkie Pie excitedly sat on her knees. “Oh, em, gee! I totes forgot Hearth’s Warming is 2 days!” Pinkie exclaimed.

Fluttershy quietly sat down with them.

Twilight dropped to her knees though, head hung low. “Principal Celestia… Do you remember when you asked if I was okay?” Twilight said, her voice low. Celestia kneeled next to her.

“Yes, is something hurting?” Celestia asked soothingly, over the chatter of the others, who devised plans and the likes.

“Yes…” Twilight said. She never really made pride one of her fundaments, but this was different. Twice in a row, she had been flawlessly beaten by Trixie. Twice in a row, she had watched as those who needed her get injured, while she was powerless to stop it. That wasn’t supposed to happen; a leader wasn’t supposed to be so helpless.

She clutched Celestia’s forearm. “Teach me to get stronger Celestia…!” Twilight started, sniffing as she felt the inevitable tears roll down her cheek.

“Teach me to combat her, Celestia…!” she sniffed again, the tears coming heavier.

“But most of all… Teach me to protect my friends and family, so that they cannot be stolen from me!” Twilight said even louder, reaching the point of silent sobs.

“Spike was the only one that spent Hearth’s Warming nights with me… The only who made me feel at home in place of my parents’ absence… I want to be able to protect all that I love, and more! For the love of the Sun, Celestia; a leader shouldn’t be this weak. Please, teach me to be strong like you!” Twilight cried out, holding her face in her palms.

Celestia wrapped Twilight in her wings and arms.

“Fear not, my pupil. I will try my best to help mold you into the person you desire.” She said hugging Twilight close, comfortingly. Twilight’s sniffs slowed down, and so did her silent sobbing and the heaving of her chest.

“I will do everything in my power to make sure you become the leader that Equestria has never had; the leader that Equestria deserves…” Celestia mumbled lowly, hugging Twilight tighter…

[The scene outlined here, detailing Celestia hugging the crying Twilight with her arms and wings...]