When it comes to working in foodservice, there aren't really good days or bad days. There are days you can tolerate and days that make you want to cry in the walk-in refrigerator. The line between those days is a lot thinner than people think.

For Scootaloo, the only thing worse than a bad day was a boring day, and those were starting to really stack up at work. Today was considerably more disgusting than boring. Scootaloo had rubber gloves on and was wielding a mop and bucket against a horrific mess left by someone who stayed in the men's bathroom for too long.

Normally this kind of thing would be shoved off on Buck, but he'd gone home after what Scootaloo assumed was a hard conversation with Mr. Cake.

There's a thing to be said about the plight of busybodies. They are impeccably useful to have on a working team, but when there is nothing to do, they become the opposite. A busy body without something to do and a child without a tree to climb are the exact same thing. In even times, Buck was a consistent busybody; shuffling around his apartment working on manuscripts or outlines or doodles, running the counter at Sugar Cube Corner, or working out. Scootaloo was much the same. She avoided boredom with the skill of someone who had watched the Breakfast Club several times too many. She was always finding things to do because sitting still was boring, and no busybody could handle boring.

This is why it had been such a shock when, in the space between game night and the day at the boardwalk, Scootaloo discovered that Adagio...was kind of lame when she was alone. Adagio's idea of a productive evening was lounging around her ritzy suite in various states of undress, taking occasional sips of wine and making a face caught between deep self-satisfaction and puzzled befuddlement.

"You're staring, Little Birdie." Adagio said. She was holding some sort of magazine before her face with one hand. The other was in a bag of fish-flavored crackers. Scoots said nothing.

"You have permission to speak. Go on."

"Sorry!"

"What is it with you humans and apologizing?" Adagio said, popping a cracker in her mouth.

"I'm just surprised. I thought you'd be, I don't know, doing something evil? You're supposed to be a villain, right?" Scootaloo said. Adagio lowered the magazine and smiled at Scootaloo. Uh oh. Scootaloo was beginning to recognize Adagio's expressions. This was the one she made when she was about to mommy dom all over Buck.

"Would you prefer it if I had a truckload of puppies delivered to my door so I could spend the evening kicking each one?"

"No, well, I mean, I dunno!"

"Tell me something. What do you think 'evil' is, Little Birdie?" Adagio said. She got to her feet in one slow, deliberate movement.

"Uhh...um...I know this one! It's like doing bad things for your own personal gain. Though, I dunno, I think you're more like, uh, Chaotic Neutral than anything else. Maybe just Neutral?" Scootaloo said. Adagio stepped towards her like a prowling beast. Her smile had fled the country.

"That's the sort of refreshingly simple perspective I'd expect from you, Little Birdie. Do you want to know what I think evil is?"

"What?"

"It's whatever the survivor says it is." Adagio said. She smiled and tapped Scootaloo on the nose. "Evil is also very frequently what a person is called when they'll do whatever it takes to fulfil their ambition. Evil is spoken on the breath of victims, and evil is spoken on the lips of dastards looking down on commoners. Evil is a matter of perspective. Evil, for small minds, is often just code for 'different' or 'driven'. If we're simply counting ambition, then I am an evil soul indeed. When you want something worth having, Little Birdie, there will always be detractors prepared to slander your name and challenge you at every turn. Have you ever wanted something so badly that you'd fight for it? Covet it with your whole heart? Defend it with your life?" Adagio said. Her hand stroked Scoootaloo's cheek.

"Uhhh...not really? I'm kinda figuring stuff out." Scootaloo said. She looked away and felt a heat that made her long for a broom closet to hide in or at the very least a mop. "What...what do you want, that bad?"

"I want to be remembered. I want to be adored. I want simply to exist as myself, in all of my glory without needing to hide, nor compromise nor dull my shine. I am a diamond, Little Birdie, but every diamond needs a foil to accentuate it. Do you understand?"

"...no?"

"Well, the point is, when you embrace your ambition, it is with you at all times. Even if it doesn't look like I'm doing anything, I am always pushing on my own ambition. Now, didn't I hear you say that Buck was enamored with those video roleplaying games?" Adagio said. She had returned to the couch when Scootaloo looked again. Scootaloo noticed now that the magazine she was reading had the word 'EDGE' at the top in bold print.

"Uh, yeah. Well he says he likes them, but finds them sorta frustrating, and he's always complaining that he doesn't have time to commit to one." Scootaloo said. Adagio had a hearty, wicked laugh at that. "What's so funny?"

"Oh, it's just that I used to say the same thing about men." Adagio said. "Either way, it's fine to simply work on your hobbies and little goals, even if you don't have a grand plan. What exactly would you say you want, Little Birdie? Right now. What is something that you want badly?" Adagio said, flipping a page. Scootaloo had to think about it for a bit.

"I...you're gonna laugh."

"And...?"

"I think...I just wanna be part of something. I don't really feel like myself unless someone needs me. You know?" Scootaloo said, looking at the ground.

"...I do." Adagio said. "Scootaloo? Come here." Adagio patted the space next to where she was lounging on the couch. Scootaloo sat awkwardly down next to Adagio. Come to think of it, she kinda did everything awkwardly around Adagio. It was hard to not be a spaz around someone like her.

"Do you care about Buck?"

"Well, yeah! He's a pretty cool guy, isn't he?" Scoots said. Adagio giggled.

"Oh, sure. Do you like me?"

"Who told you!?" Scootaloo blurted out. Adagio stifled a laugh.

"Little Birdie, I can see that you're more than a little heated at the moment." Adagio purred.

"Y...yeah?"

"Would you mind laying here and keeping me warm while I nap? Could you care enough to do that?" Adagio said, laying back.

"I can...I can do that!" Scoots stammered. Adagio opened her arms, and let Scootaloo shuffle into place against her chest. It was like laying her face against the cool side of the pillow, but with tiddies, so it was a general upgrade. As she flipped over, she saw that Adagio was reading an article titled "The best western RPGs of all time".

"Mmm...there we are. Nice and cozy... I'll say this, Little Birdie. As long as you care about us, and you stay by our sides, you will always be needed. So keep caring. Can you do that for me?" Adagio said. In truth, Scootaloo would have agreed to just about anything she asked. Somehow, with Adagio, it was very easy to sit still.

"Oookay..." She murmured.

"Apathy is death, after all," Adagio said. She stroked Scootaloo's hair. The magazine was laid down, and it wasn't long after that Adagio's eyes closed. Later on, she would ask what a 'Star Wars' is, and Scootaloo was not really prepared to answer.

That memory managed to get Scootaloo through the rest of her shift. Now, as she was clocking out, Scootaloo couldn't decide if she missed Buck or Adagio more. She didn't want to see Buck so broken up, and she didn't want to be mad at Adagio. She just wanted things to be something like okay.

It hurt to think about; something was fundamentally wrong with Buck and Adagio's relationship, and Scootaloo couldn't do anything about it. She wondered what she would do with herself tonight, now that she wasn't going to loiter around Adagio's suite. Being alone in her dorm sounded like torture.

She couldn't decide which would be less safe; taking the night bus or skateboarding home. It was already dark, and the wet winds howling through the alleys of Canterlot gave her a simple warning.

"Night bus it is." Scoots groaned.

As Scootaloo approached the bus stop, she heard a familiar engine misfire. She hid behind a mailbox almost on instinct as Sunbursts' car slowly came around the corner. Starlight was in there, too. What were they up to, this time of night? Didn't Buck say something about them being monster hunters? Scootaloo hadn't really paid attention after the tentacle fight. She was mostly running on adrenaline at that point.

There was the creak of old brake pads, and the car came to a stop. Scootaloo crept as close as she dared, which was into a set of bushes a few yards from the car. She closed her eyes and tried to focus on her hearing, like back when she used to follow Rainbow Dash around. There was a low rumbling of thunder overhead.

"This is where the trail splits. Are you sure you want to go for the nest?" Starlight said.

"You're the fighter, Starlight. This changeling is obviously after Buck, so you need to get over to his place as fast as possible. If I can find the changeling's lair, I can make sure it has nowhere to run once you beat it down." Sunburst said. His confidence was air-tight and matter of fact. It gave Scootaloo a bit of pause.

"And you're ready to do...whatever it is you'll have to do in there?" Starlight said. There was a pause, which Scootaloo assumed was followed by a nod. "Alright. Remember to call for backup if you need it. Then...stop, stop it! Why are you always like this before a mission?" Starlight giggled, suddenly. There were some kissy noises that made Scootaloo blush.

"I just like to remind you how much I love you before we go waltzing into certain doom." Sunburst laughed. "Can you make sure not to get your head twisted off before I see you again?"

"I'm going to twist your head off if you don't stop giggling and get to work!" Starlight said, chuckling.

"Yes dear." Sunburst said.

Starlight groaned as the door closed, and then Sunburst stepped into the light of a streetlamp, holding a glowing stone in his hand. He pointed it forward and it blinkered, sending out a wobbly green beam that faded out after a couple of feet. The beam bounced along with Sunbursts' shuffling steps.

Scootaloo had a choice to make, then. It really wasn't much of a choice, in retrospect. What else was she going to do on a Saturday night?

Like a good rogue, she kept Sunburst in her sight and as he turned a corner, she followed him into the night.

Whatever happened, she thought, at least it wouldn't be boring.

Scootaloo was so focused on tailing Sunburst, she didn't notice the small, twitching figure that crawled under Sunbursts' car just before Starlight drove it off.

Buck didn't know what the fuck to think. One moment he was stewing in his own misery. The next, Adagio Dazzle, the most gorgeous woman in the world, the woman who had been using him as a magical gas station, the manipulator who had fooled him into thinking he loved her; she had knocked on his door in the middle of the night and now she was squeezing him and wetting his tank top with her tears.

Buck's arms went up almost on reflex to embrace her, but then his bubbly, cross-faded thoughts gave way to a spiteful piece of reality.

"The hell are you doing here?" Buck said, between Adagio's sobs. Her weeping came to a sudden halt, and she looked up, red-faced at Buck, sniffling like a six-year-old that dropped their ice cream cone.

"I...I missed you...!" Adagio sniffled.

"Was the song on the trolley not enough? What, are you still thirsty?" Buck said, arms dropping to his sides.

"No, no, it's not that, I just wanted to see you!"

"Why." Buck said.

The numbness in his brain was giving way to the feelings he'd been trying to avoid all night. Adagio took a step back but kept her hands on Buck's sides. Buck saw an earnest regret in her eyes.

"Buck, I know I deceived you, and there's nothing I can say that will make you forgive me for that...but I couldn't stay away from you. Buck...can I please come inside? I desperately need to talk to you; that's why I'm here."

"What's so important that you can't say it out here in the hall?" Buck said. He took Adagio's wrists and removed her hands from his waist.

In response, she slid her hands back and grasped Buck's with a delicate tenderness that made his heart flutter. What was she playing at now? This was another scheme; it had to be, Buck thought, but he seemed to forget that as Adagio looked away demurely like she did when they sat on the bench at the edge of Center Park. That felt like years ago, now.

"It's...embarrassing, okay? You know I'm not the greatest at emotions." Said a rosy-cheeked Adagio.

Now all Buck could think of was the advice that Mr. Cake had given him. Maybe, under everything else, Adagio hadn't just been manipulating him. Maybe she really was trying to care for him, and things had just gone wrong. Maybe he owed it to her to at least hear her out. Maybe, if they just tried, together they could figure this out. Buck pulled his hands away.

"Fine, Adagio. You can come in. Can you be honest for me? Did you come over here because ya missed me, or because you're thirsty?" Buck said, crossing his arms.

Adagio bit her lip. Buck watched as her eyes searched the floor for an answer.

"I, well...Can't it be both?" Adagio squeaked. Buck pinched the bridge of his nose and tried not to smile.

"Just...just sit down. I'm gonna make some green tea. You want some?" Buck said, standing aside. Adagio looked him up and down for a moment. "I said, do you want some?"

"...yes. That would be nice." Adagio's steps seemed not exactly clumsy, but hesitant. Like she was wandering into an unknown stretch of forest. Buck returned from the kitchen with a handkerchief.

"Here. Don't worry, I got a buncha these, 'cause I'm kind of a disaster in the kitchen."

"Hm?" Adagio looked at the rag like it was a flying saucer.

"For your face. No need for both of us to look like total wrecks." Buck smiled. Adagio took the rag, then sat, looking around slowly.

"I know Naga the Serpent looks like a hentai character, but I promise I wasn't watchin' porn. This time." Buck deadpanned. There was a hollow knocking of mugs. "Do ya want honey and lemon, or no? Adagio?" Buck said. Adagio froze in the middle of staring at his collection of DVDs and Blu-rays. "Are you seriously still goin' through my stuff? You know what I got in there by now, don'tcha?"

"Sorry. Sorry! I guess I'm just a little nervous." Adagio said, sitting back. "Lemon on it's own is fine. Sorry." Buck raised an eyebrow.

"I think that's the most I've heard you apologize since I met you." Buck said. He set the drinks down on the coffee table. "You can relax, Adagio. I didn't let you in here just to yell at'cha."

Buck sat on the opposite end of the couch; about fifty million miles away from Adagio. It seemed like it was a day ago that he was sitting here with her, telling her how he felt, how he wanted to do everything and anything with her. He'd blurted out his insecurities and she'd batted them aside because she earnestly seemed to want him. He couldn't stand the idea that all of that came just from her wanting to drink him. Just the thought of it made him feel like a used condom.

He heard Adagio take a slow sip, then watched as she looked at the tea like it was made of gold, and drank the whole thing down.

"Oh, wow. You must've been dehydrated. Have you been cryin'?" Buck said.

"Maybe...have you been crying over me?"

"Adagio, I haven't stopped thinkin' about you since Saturday. Trust me; I tried not to, but if I'm bein' honest...I missed you." Buck said. "So yeah, I've been cryin'. You already know I'm a crybaby." Buck grumbled.

"Well, I didn't want to assume. You don't cry all the time, Buck. You're made of sterner stuff than that."

"Oh, that's real fuckin' funny. I know it's been a while, and you're thirsty, but you don't gotta get sarcastic at me."

"That's not what I meant!"

"Sure." An uneasy silence fell across the room. Buck sipped his tea, then sat back on the couch to stare at the ceiling. "I tried, Adagio. I really tried, you know? Do you even know why I'm so mad?" Buck said. Adagio was silent.

"You're mad because I used you."

"Naw."

"No?"

"No. Since we started dating, you've been tryin' to convince me that you're a monster."

"I am a monster, Buck."

"And that's a load of bullshit, but not what I'm talkin' about. Once I understood the deal with sirens, I committed to letting you drink me. If I wanted to date you, it meant that you'd tap me for emotional energy. That's just the way ya are. I was fine with that, Adagio. It didn't hurt me. It just meant that we'd be intimate a lot, and I didn't mind that either. I was more'n happy to hug and kiss on ya; it's what I wanted to do in the first place! I figured...I figured, hey, I'm just one man. I won't be able to satisfy her with my magic, but if she wants me to be like, like her emotional canteen, I guess, that's fine. I was happy. It meant that ya needed me, at least a lil' bit. There was something I could offer you, and it was better than nothin'."

"I see."

"Do you remember that night where you slept over? The one where you were watching Enies Lobby, and you were cryin'. Do you remember what you said to me?" Buck looked at Adagio then, and she looked puzzled.

"Um...that was a long time ago, Buck."

"Well, you were also drunk. Guess it makes sense you wouldn't remember." Buck said. He pushed past his disappointment. She's listening to you right now. That's good enough.

"I'm sorry."

"You told me then that you were frustrated for me. Because you saw me holding myself back from you."

"...I wanted to see who you are, Buck. That hasn't changed."

"But who I am...isn't really much of anythin'. I'm not like you, Adagio. I'on't have an illustrious career of being a big bad bitch. I'm not especially talented, and I'm not fuckin' smart. I'on't have any big achievements. I'm almost thirty, and I haven't done a single god damned thing in my life. I'm a nobody."

"Buck..."

"That's why I was so surprised when you came to me. It was impossible. A beautiful, smart, interesting woman saw me at a social event, and she decided that I was the one she wanted to talk to. That has literally never happened to me. I've been approached, sure, but never for that. It's always either been business or bullshit. I never knew what it was like to be..."

"Loved?"

"Wanted. You wanted me. I didn't...I guess I didn't know what to do with that."

"What do you mean?"

"Every time we're together, you look at me like I'm this jewel. Like something to...to hold on to, to hide in your pocket in case someone tries to steal me. When we're alone, you're all over me like you're scared I'll fly away if you let go, and every day I've spent holdin' your hand, I've wondered just what in the hell you could possibly see in a guy like me. There had to be something there, that I just didn't know." Buck said. He looked at his hands. His voice shook. God damn it, don't start now. Just say what you're trying to say.

"Buck, look. I never meant to make you feel so empty."

"Empty? Naw, 'dagio, it's the opposite. Havin' you with me made me feel...significant. Alive, like I was a part of the world. Standing next to you made me feel like, I dunno. Validated, like all the shit I been through was leading up to--"

"Me? You honestly think I'm that special, Buck?" Adagio said, raising an eyebrow.

"'Course I do. You're the most incredible person I've ever met. Whenever I see you, it's like...like the Wizard of Oz."

"What?"

"Like I'm Dorothy, on the old black and white farm. Then I kiss you, and suddenly the world's in technicolor. Suddenly there's endless possibilities. You're an adventure, and I desperately needed an adventure, I guess."

"That's silly, Buck. I'm no more significant than anyone else."

"Well, maybe it is silly, but to me, you're larger than life! Looking at you is like looking at the stars at night! You make me feel small, Adagio." Buck caught his breath. There was a clinking of glass as Adagio shifted her feet.

"Have you been drinking?"

"Yeah, Adagio. I've been fuckin' drinkin'." Buck said, running a hand down his face.

"You shouldn't drink when you're this upset, Buck."

"Oh, look who's talkin'. If I'd known you were comin' over, I'd've asked you to bring some of the bajillion bottles of wine you got in your kitchen." Buck snarked.

"You're being facetious."

"And you're not listenin' to me." Buck said, shaking his head.

"Well, you're not making sense. You tell me that you're angry at me, and then you compliment me? What exactly are you getting at?" Adagio huffed. Buck didn't like the sneer he saw on her face.

"None of this made sense! That's my point! You made my whole world light up, Adagio! With you, I could be somebody! I could help you and keep you fed! I could contribute to somethin' bigger than myself! Yes, I'm mad at you! On Saturday, I thought I understood you! I thought that things were finally startin' to make sense, like sure, I'on't have much to contribute, but at least I could listen to you! I could empathize with you; I could give you a safe place to be yourself, just like you were trying to give to me. I wanted to be that space, Adagio! I wanted to be there for you!" Buck's tirade thinned into a whimper.

"I wanted to love you." His hand went to his forehead to cover his eyes. Adagio's hand lightly touched his knee. He pushed it away. Glared at her, making her shudder and shrink back.

"And what do I find out!? Turns out I am special, in the worst fuckin' way! Turns out I'm magic; not just a lil' bit either, I'm a fuckin' livin' generator for spooky magic pony bullshit! I just didn't know! And all of a sudden, everythin' made sense! It wasn't me you wanted, it was my magic! All I was--all I ever fuckin' was was an outlet for you to plug into and top off! It was never about me, was it!? Am I a big fuckin' joke to you, 'dagio? Has this whole thing been one big game!? When were you going to tell me!?" There were tears in his eyes.

"Stop yelling at me!" Adagio shouted back. "You're being hysterical, Buck!" Buck took a shaky breath and shook his head. He put his fists up to his eyes and tried to contain himself. Adagio reached for him again, and again, he swatted her hand away.

"Don't touch me, Adagio."

"Buck, I wasn't trying to deceive you."

"What the fuck were you 'trying' to do then, Adagio?" Buck spat.

He was trying so hard to keep steady, in case she accidentally touched him and a fucking fireball went off in his living room. He still had no idea how the magic worked, but if he didn't calm down and she touched him again, there would be trouble. He didn't want her to go. He wanted her to stay so badly that it made him tear up all over again. Adagio seemed at a loss for words, and that only hurt him even more.

"I didn't tell you, because I thought if you didn't know, you wouldn't think I was using you. As long as you were a normal human, at least in your mind, what we had could be just as normal. I never wanted this to happen."

"Adagio, I'm not mad that you used me! I'm mad that you lied! You knew what I was all along, and at any point, you could'a told me. We could'a worked it out together, but you just pretended not to notice! You let me think that you saw worth in me, but it was a lie! All you ever wanted was my magic, and you...never even bothered to tell me that I had a lot to give." Buck blinked the tears away.

"What do you want from me, Buck? An apology? Is that it?"

"I want you to be honest!"

Suddenly, there was a knock at the door.

About two bus stops north of the edge of Center Park and around a few turns from Sugar Cube Corner lay the part of Canterlot most commonly referred to as the 'Corpo District.' It was where the big movers and shakers and pompous asses of Canterlot congregated in high-rise suites and in the backs of otherwise reputable establishments. Shaded by the dim edge of an open-air parking lot, Sunburst was having a hell of a time searching along the sickly green trail of mana illustrated by his sensing stone.

At night, it was rare to see a whole lot of activity. Sunburst chalked this up to most corporate types being morning people, and since morning people regrettably ran this city, it was common for the night crowd in this district to be more on the subdued side. They were usually quiet about their pedigree because no one cares where you come from when you're stumbling through complaints about the missus or the game in a shady bar with needlessly expensive drinks.

Sunburst was very glad that no one cared about his pedigree right about now. If word got out about what he was up to over here, his mother would have a lot to say about it, and to his deep regret, he knew that he would have to listen.

"Are you lost?" The voice came out of nowhere, and in an instant, Sunbursts' steady confidence evaporated into a girlish scream. He had been wandering around, following a spotty and seemingly random trail of mana via a tiny pebble of turquoise. He was just about to wonder if someone would try to mug him at this time of night, and the answer had come in the form of a tap on the shoulder.

"Sunburst." He was gasping for air. "Sunburst! It's me!" The familiar voice backpedaled into a streetlight to reveal Scootaloo with one hand up in defense. The other was holding a longboard. Sunbursts' panicked screaming pinched off into a whispered shout.

"Scoots!? What in the name of Starswirl's grey beard are you doing out here!??"

"Who? Uh, I was gonna ask the same question."

"You were?"

"Well, uh, no, not really? I was gonna say that I know you're about to do some illegal stuff, and I want in!"

"Shhhh! Keep your voice down! I don't anyone to get suspicious!" Sunburst said, looking around.

"Sunburst, you already look sus. We're in Canterlot; everyone is sus!" Scoots said, following a half step behind Sunburst as he followed the stone.

"Well, I don't want to draw any unnecessary attention." Sunburst whispered.

"HEY THIS GUY IS GONNA DO SOMETHING SUPER ILLEGAL!" Scoots shouted.

Across the street, some guards in front of a hotel sneered. A few businessmen knocking off for the night looked over from down the block.

"Yeah, fuck it up!" Slurred Berry Punch, who was hanging off the arm of one of those businessmen.

A light mist was beginning to fall over Canterlot.

"See what I mean? Nobody cares, Sunburst!" Scoots said. Once Sunbursts' eyes finished swiveling all over the streets looking for hidden assassins or paparazzi, he went straight back to his mission. "Where're you going?"

"I'm going to find the changeling nest, even if it takes me all night!"

"All night? It sounded like you were in a hurry before."

"Oh, we're definitely in a hurry. The changeling is after Buck, and we're pretty sure it's already got Adagio." Sunburst said. He waved the stone in the air and it seemed to indicate that he ought to climb up to a nearby roof.

"What!? How do you know?"

"Context clues, mostly. This is sort of a double rescue mission."

"All night to save Adagio?"

"All night--if necessary--to find the changeling's nest, which probably has Adagio in it, and however many other people that its captured. Adagio was the biggest threat to it, most likely, and it hasn't come after Starlight and I, so it has to be after Buck."

"So you're trying to find Adagio, right now?"

"Yes, I think so." Sunburst said. Scoots grabbed Sunburst by the collar and saved him the cost of a medical bill as a truck came roaring through the intersection he was about to blindly wander into.

"Diiiid you check her place?"

"Yeah."

"Well, why don't you try checking out Adagio's office? You know, where she works? There might be a clue there, right? It's better than walking in circles all night!" Scoots said. Sunburst stopped short of tripping over a curve and looked up. Then he slapped his forehead.

"Why didn't we think of that!?" Sunburst said. Scoots shrugged.

"Come on, smart guy."

It took Scoots no time at all to loop around to the Barnyard Bargains Super Tower. A splash of far-off lightning blinkered its windows as Scoots and Sunburst approached.

"Alright, but I don't actually know how to break into a giant office building."

"Can't you fly like Starlight can?" Scoots said, opening some kind of canned drink. To Sunbursts' amusement, the drink had Rainbow Dash on the side. Old habits die hard, he supposed.

"Well, I mean, not as well, certainly, and not on command."

"Are you seriously telling me you didn't come prepared to break into a place? What kind of criminal are you?"

"I'm not a criminal! This is my job!"

"I thought your job was, like tutoring and, I dunno, real estate? How'd you get paid to hunt monsters?" Scoots said, sipping her drink.

"Forget you heard that."

"Nope!" Scoots said, smiling. "Anyways, if we're not going in through a window, we'll have to do this the Scoots Way.'"

"What's the 'Scoots Way'?

"Watch and learn, Sunburst, watch and learn." Scoots said, cracking her knuckles. Sunburst swallowed a lump in his throat as he saw a look of devious mischief in Scoot's eyes; one not too different from Adagio's default expression.

Buck wiped his eyes and scratched his head. He looked back at Adagio, and from the look on her face, they were both wondering who the hell else was about to turn up at his door. There was a creak, and then Buck's curiosity curdled into dismay.

"No."

"Buck, listen, I know you don't want to hear from me--" Starlight Glimmer shoved her foot in the frame before Buck could shut it. He saw her eyes zip around, and he moved to block her sight.

"You're damn right."

"But you're in danger, Buck. Is she here?" Starlight said.

"That ain't none o'your business, Starlight." Buck said.

Starlight managed to peak past him and saw the vicious smirk on 'Adagio's' face. Her pupils slit and her eyes flashed green, but then Buck looked back, following Starlight's gaze and Adagio's expression shifted instantly to a pouty remorse.

"You...! Buck? Listen to me."

"No, Starlight. Whatever the fuck you're about to say, you can take it and throw it in a lake. I'm obviously tryin' to handle it myself, and I don't need you kickin' my door in and makin' shit worse. Leave us alone." Buck kicked at Starlight's foot, but she wouldn't budge. Behind him, the impostor mouthed out the words 'Starlight Glimmer' with a look of shock, which then narrowed into the glare of a komodo dragon. A pair of fangs lengthened from beneath her top lip.

"Buck, just hear me out for two seconds! This is all wrong, she's not what you think; she's playing you for a fool! Don't let her!" Buck turned and put a hand out to Adagio, who was now mid-rise, looking furious but normal. He shook his head, and she sat back down. When Buck turned back to Starlight, Adagio's grin extended to an unnatural degree.

"I can leave, and we can try again later, Buck. I didn't come here to fight." Adagio said, patiently. Her expression was like noisy static to Starlight Glimmer.

"No, 'dagio, you stay right there." Buck said, without looking back. "Starlight's just leaving." He sneered.

"Buck, stop talking, and for once, listen to me. She's a--"

"If you call her a monster one more fuckin' time, I swear I'm gonna slap you in the teeth." Buck growled. For the briefest of moments, his eyes flashed red.

"Okay, Buck, I know we've had our differences, but I'm trying to protect you! That's all I've been doing, Buck! Do you really think Sunburst would stick with me if I was trying to hurt you? Just let me explain, Buck! Let me help you! She's not--"

"Oh, so you were protectin' me when you dropped that bomb on Saturday? It looked really fuckin' difficult for you behind that smile y'had. You think I don't fuckin' see you, Starlight? You just wanted to take Adagio down a peg, and I get it, I really fuckin' do, but leave me out of it, and let me handle this!"

"Buck, she's an impostor! She's trying to drain you, and me and Sunburst have been tracking her for weeks! If you don't believe me, believe him! Just call Sunburst!"

"You keep...you keep on draggin' my best fucking friend into this, and then you turn around and say that she's the manipulator? Starlight...you know what? You know what, fine. You wanna help me, Starlight?" Buck sighed. He took a step back and opened the door a bit more.

"Yes, Buck! Obviously!"

"A'ight. Here's how you can help me, Starlight. You can stop buttin' in on my relationships, you can stop talkin' down to me, you can stop insultin' me when I disagree with you. And while you're at it, you can fuck off, move to fuckin' Paris, meet a saucy lesbian named Sabine, get engaged, move to a nice lil' cottage in the country and never fuckin' leave it so you can finally get out of my FUCKING FACE AND LEAVE US THE FUCK ALONE!"

Before the door slammed, Starlight saw the impostor stifle a laugh.

Starlight pounded on the door then, but her only response was Buck screaming at her to fuck off.

Defeated, Starlight got back inside Sunbursts' car and slapped the steering wheel. First with her hands, then her forehead.

"Hi there, Scootaloo! You're here pretty late! Come to bring treats to your friend, uh, what's her name?"

Sunburst and Scootaloo had walked around the side of the skyscraper and down into the underground parking lot. Now they were stopped in front of a squat security booth.

Sitting inside was a stiff postured man with pale blue skin, a brush mustache, and a pair of sunshades that he was wearing both indoors and at night.

"Hey Frank! No, I don't have any sweets tonight. Can you buzz us in? We're going up to the office 'cause, uh--" Scoots elbowed Sunburst.

"Because, well, there's been some disappearances around town lately, and Adagio is working late. We wanted to come and get her before she stayed the night here, and make sure she gets home safe." Sunburst said.

"Now Scootaloo, you know I'm not supposed to let just anyone in, even if he's your friend."

"What? Frank, come on, do you seriously want me to be wandering around up there at night? It's better if I have a guy with me, right?"

"Well, I suppose."

"And we're trying to stop our friend from getting kidnapped, or something! Imagine if Mr. Mistoffolees just disappeared one day!" Scoots said.

The man adjusted his tie and looked at a framed picture that was sitting on his console. It showed him cuddling with a small tuxedo cat. The thought of losing it instantly drew a tear from his eye.

"...go ahead, Scootaloo. You two keep your friend safe, you hear?" Frank said, in a trembling voice. He hit a button, and with a buzz, a door across the lot opened up.

"Thanks, Frank! Give the kitty a little kiss on his cute little head for me!"

"Will do! You two stay safe!" The sensitive security guard waved as Sunburst and Scoots wandered through the service entrance, across the sparsely lit lobby, and finally into the elevator.

This was far from the first time that Scootaloo had sort of snuck into Affluent Answers.

After last week's game night and the subsequent threeway, Scoots had committed to doing Adagio's bidding, and that meant being the one to deliver her treats during office hours. In those three days, Adagio had summoned her four times, and in that time, Scoots had gotten used to waving at Frank, avoiding Adagio's boss, and smuggling sweets when no one was looking.

It was amazing how alien a place like this could seem when it was dark and empty. The door to the graveyard of white cubicles wasn't even unlocked. The only sources of light were the dim glow from a few computer screens and the lightning outside the windows. In a way, it reminded Scoots of the aquarium.

"What's your backup plan in case we get caught?" Sunburst whispered as they crept along the periphery of the room.

"Backup plan?"

"Yes. Do you have one?"

"I uh, I mean, uhhhh....well, well, Frank knows we're up here, and it's not like anybody patrols on this floor, so it's fine!" Scootaloo stammered, taking a loud sip from her drink.

"Ah, so if something happens to us up here, no one will know until morning." Sunburst said.

"Yeah! That...doesn't sound so good out loud, does it?"

"No, it doesn't. Do you know where Adagio's cubicle is?" Sunburst said.

"It's the one with the cute fake aquarium night light thing. You can't miss it." Scoots said, taking point.

"What is that stuff you're drinking, anyway?"

"This? It's like, kinda like Bepsi and kinda like green tea and mostly an energy drink. I got a few crates of them a while ago." Scoots placed the empty can on somebody's desk, then pulled another one from her little backpack.

"From Rainbow Dash?"

"...they weren't selling so much, and she wanted to dump them off somewhere." Scoots said. She looked at the can with dull remorse.

"I see...and you were okay with that?"

"I mean, it's free stuff, and it tastes alright. And it's really good at dealing with stains! And roaches, for some reason." Scoots said. "Here it is." True to Scoots' words, a little plastic fish tank was on and scrolling at Adagio's desk.

"She must have left in a hurry."

"She couldn't have been swiped from her cubicle, right? Someone would've seen!"

"Hmm..." Sunburst pulled the sensing stone from his pocket. For a few moments, it flashed green, and the thin trail of energy filled the air a few feet around the two. "Maybe, maybe not. We're close."

"Do...do you hear something, Sunburst?" Scoots said. Her purple eyes drifted to the ceiling, and she held a hand to her ear. Sunburst stopped short and looked around. Silence.

"...No? Do you hear something?"

"Maybe?" Scoots said. She lowered her hand and shrugged. "Well, we're here. What do we do now?"

"I think I've got it from here." Sunburst said. He mumbled some phrase over the piece of turquoise he had in his palm, and its light changed from green to a shimmering orange. It was faint and wavering, but it seemed to lead in two directions. Sunburst and Scoots shared a look, then followed along the ghostly trail. It went out of the office and into the hallway...and then came right back through the door, slightly brighter.

"She left work...then came back?" Sunburst said.

"There it is again...!" Scoots closed her eyes.

"Is it coming from here?" Sunburst was standing before the door of the women's restroom. In the dim light, he could make out a sign that read: "Closed for Repairs". From beside the door, Scoots could hear it much more clearly. It wasn't like the light rain pattering against the windows of this floor. It was slower and a bit louder.

"Something drippy is going on in there." Scoots said.

"That sounds like a bathroom." Sunburst shrugged. He held the stone up, and the orange trail led straight under the door. "Oh. I don't think I..."

"What's the matter, Sunburst? Never snuck into the girl's bathroom before?" Scoots chuckled.

"No! No, never, of course not!"

"I'm just messin' with you, man!" Scoots said. She pressed on the door, and it didn't budge. Sunburst shook his head, producing a small, sharp object from his pocket.

"Let me." Sunburst closed his eyes and a sparkling yellow aura illuminated his hands. The lock clicked.

"Woah! What's that!?"

"This? Rook's talon. For lockpicking." Sunburst said.

"So you did come ready to do some illegal stuff! You're shadier than I gave you credit for, Sunburst!" Scoots said.

"...Thanks?" Sunburst pushed on the door, and the bathroom lit up instantly. Scoots' beaten-up sneakers squeaked across the floor, then plopped into something she desperately hoped she wouldn't recognize. She looked down and saw a puddle of green slime coming from under a stall. She heard that dripping noise, like a leaky faucet.

"Bleck! What is this stuff!?" Scoots said, scrambling backward. Sunburst bent down and took a sniff.

"Ugh...it fits the description of changeling slime." He said, eyes watering. "It's coming from the ceiling...and so is Adagio's trail."

"Okay...well, I can climb up there, probably, but how're you getting up?" Scoots said. She was using her longboard to push aside the cardboard ceiling tile above her. There was a dark, featureless space above it.

"Scoots, I appreciate you getting me in here, but you should go home. This is probably going to be one of the most dangerous nights of my life."

"Sunburst, that's why I should come with you!"

"There will definitely be changelings in there!"

"So what? I fought changelings in Buck's campaign, I can do it again!"

"That's not what I mean, Scoots!"

"I've got knives!"

"Are you prepared to use them to kill!?" Sunburst said. It wasn't a shout, but it echoed in Scoot's head. The look in his eyes was hollow and tired and all too serious.

"Whaddya mean?"

"This isn't a game, Scootaloo. These are real changelings that really will capture you and drive you insane, or worse! They're clearly malicious, and they were crafty enough to catch Adagio. They're a threat to this whole city, and we don't know how many there are, or if there's a queen, or anything else. If there are eggs in there..."

"Oh." Scoots said. "Could we...maybe talk to them?"

"They're starving, Scoots. They feed on emotions and magic, like Adagio, this world doesn't have much magic to speak of."

"Could we...give them magic?"

"We...well, we thought of that, but we couldn't get permission."

"Permission from who!?"

"Scoots, you should go. I'm serious."

"Oh, so now you're underestimating me too!" Scoots said an edge in her voice.

"I don't want this for you, Scoots!"

"Well, that's too bad! You don't get to make that choice!" Scoots said, fist on her hip.

"Scoots, I'm trying to save you from this!"

"We fought a tentacle monster, Sunburst! Nothing could be grosser than that!"

"Scoots--"

"Nope! No more of that! I'm coming with you, and we're going to save Adagio, alright!? You're not leaving me behind again!"

"What?"

"Now let's get going! What else do you have in your pockets? Well?" Scoots said.

Another one. He'd found another one he just couldn't argue with. Sunburst sighed, produced a piece of chalk, and began drawing a circle, then a series of smaller circles inside it on the part of the floor that wasn't covered in slime. He placed down a shiny brown feather, then a pale blue stone.

"I've got a Levitation spell...a Floating Lanterns spell, one Phasing spell, one Feather Fall and one Barrier spell."

"Don't you have anything that packs a punch?"

"I've got a few firebolt spells, too. And a Shattering spell just in case." Sunburst said, finishing a few runes.

"What's that do?"

"It breaks things." Sunburst frowned.

"Is that it?"

"I tried to go for a teleportation spell, but couldn't get one. We'll have to find some way to get those people out." Sunburst said, grimly.

"Okay. Wow. We're traveling light, huh?"

"These cost around four hundred dollars." Sunburst sighed. "Regardless, we're going to save those people. We have to."

"And Adagio?"

"...yeah. Now, step into the circle with me." Sunburst said, holding out a hand. Scoots took it and stood next to him.

"What're we going to do?"

"A combination of Levitation and Phasing. Some native tribes called it Ghost Walking."

"Does it hurt?"

"...a little bit."

Sunbursts' eyes flashed yellow, then Scoots felt the uniquely unpleasant sensation that her soul had inhaled a bit of smoke. A ragged tingle filled her body, and suddenly she and Sunburst were gently rising to the ceiling, then through it. She couldn't tell if the yellow smoke was carrying them or if they were the yellow smoke. The light of the bathroom disappeared as her head passed through the wall. She heard the dripping fade away, and then there was something else. It sounded like someone was calling out.

"I can't see!" Scoots said. There was only darkness beyond the yellow glow, save for the orange line of Sunbursts' sensing stone. Adagio was up there, somewhere.

"If the slime is dripping down into the bathroom, that means the nest is above us. We're going the right way."

"Wait, Sunburst, if we're going straight up into the nest..." Scoots trailed off. The yellow aura flickered out and Scoots felt her feet settle on solid ground again. "...doesn't that mean we're right in the middle of enemy territory?"

A sickly green light pulsed like a heartbeat through the stygian void. Sunburst had expected a crawl space with some cocoons, maybe a few eggs at worst. Instead, he saw a floor where an office would have been if construction had been finished. There were exposed pipes and studs and wires all around, and a patchy floor beneath their feet. Human shapes shook in hanging cocoons made of slime, the stink of which filled the air and Scoots' nostrils. Lightning flashed outside the windows at the far edge of the room. Everywhere the pair looked on the floor, they could see sagging, putrefying eggs in various states of decay with shuddering figures inside. The stench was undefinable.

"I smell fear..." Hissed a warbling voice from the darkness.

The orange trail led just above Scoots and Sunbursts' heads, where a large cocoon hung low. Scoots could just barely make out a curvaceous form and flowing curls inside. Orange veins of energy trailed from the cocoon, through the slime and down into the eggs on the floor.

"Scoots? Scoots, your job is to get Adagio out of there, and the others. Scoots, do you hear me?" Sunburst said.

"Bravery...caution..." Said another voice.

"Yeah? Yeah. Yeah...I got it."

"Excitement. Arousal?" Said yet another voice.

"I'll hold off the rest. Do you see that, over there?" Sunburst pointed. Scoots, now up against his back, looked over Sunbursts' shoulder. He was pointing at what she guessed was an elevator shaft. The door was only half-built. Actually, she could see bits of abandoned construction equipment all over the place, and lots of building materials; stacks of wooden boards, rolled insulation, paint cans, and loose metal pipes.

"Once everyone is free, that's our ticket out. Okay? And if things get bad..."

"They're already bad, Sunburst...!" Scoots hissed. She could see a pair of compound eyes in the darkness, glowing green. Then another, then another, and another.

"I've got a lifeline. I can call for help."

"Oooh...confidence...the others gave up sooooo quickly...poor mother got so bored...they tasted like despair within an hour...but these humans come, so plump and tasty and filled with feeling...finally, we can feast. We can be whole!"

A small chorus of chittering laughter surrounded the two as spindly limbed, stubby winged abortions came crawling out of the walls. They had warped horns on their tar-colored heads, compound eyes, and sharp teeth, and those were the only solid bits. They wavered like jello molds and left a trail of slime as they stalked forward.

"I'll distract them while you get to work. We're going to get through this, Scoots." Sunburst said. He reached back blindly and patted her shoulder. She could feel his hand shaking.

"Right!" Scoots said, fighting against the quaking of her knees. She lifted her longboard and held it on her shoulder with both hands; ready to swing. She was suddenly very thirsty again.

Scootaloo's ears stung with the ghastly wail of a million cicadas as the changelings lunged.

It wasn't a long ride to Buck's apartment. Misty droplets were sprinkling the parking lot, coursing down in the light of the lamps. Starlight could feel it more than anything; the metal bits in her legs ached in a very specific sort of way when the weather was like this. She used to like the rain.

Starlight Glimmer knew the way, primarily because she'd been here once before and she was good with directions. It had only been once when she followed Buck home. That had to have been months ago, but she remembered that night because Sunburst had been furious with her. It was the first time in ages she had seen him so cross. There was no yelling, but that little vein he got on his forehead looked like it was about to burst.

She'd simply wanted to know if there was anything particularly stand-out about Buck. She hadn't thought to try sensing him for magic; he seemed terribly mundane. That was her mistake, of course.

Another to add to the list.

Sunburst had made her promise not to tail Buck again unless she thought he was in danger, and she'd kept to it.

Truth be told; she didn't like the man.

By all accounts, he seemed on the simple side, and he had been all too willing to trust a monster and coddle her without a second thought. Sunburst swore up and down that Buck was a deep thinker, but in Starlight's estimation, he walked around like he had a single brain cell that Sunburst held for him most of the time.

He'd be utterly helpless without someone strong at his side, and regrettably, that task fell to Starlight, and now she was sitting in Sunbursts' car, wondering how exactly she could possibly convince Buck to trust her now.

This was all her fault, and he was too stupid and too pissed to let her fix it.

"Buck, it had to be said, now would you please listen to me? For once?" Starlight tried. The image of Buck's face as his heart fell apart was stuck in her head.

"Buck, I know you don't like me, but I've just been trying to protect you, just like I am now." She could predict how it would go.

"Buck. Look, I'm just as sick of this as you are, but you're in danger, and I'm trying to help you." Starlight smacked her fist into her lap. She should have sent Sunburst, she thought. He was better at words, and Buck actually liked him. Starlight rubbed her temples and closed her eyes. She imagined Sunburst's arms around her.

"You can do this. Just be diplomatic, like Sunburst is always saying." She said. She tried to imagine Sunbursts' advice.

"Having trouble?" Sunburst said.

"I'm doing my best. I know he won't listen to me. He probably thinks I'm nothing but trouble; but all I've ever done is for the best. I've been trying to save his life this whole time, and I just get so..."

"Furious?"

"Yes! Furious, that he doesn't see that I'm trying to help! I have spent years keeping this city safe from magical incursions, and do I ever ask for thanks, or recognition? No, of course not!"

"Because it's the right thing to do."

"Yes, but just once, I'd like to be heard. None of this would have happened if he had just listened. They never listen!" Starlight said.

"I'm listening." Said Sunburst. Starlight blinked back to reality. Sunburst was standing next to the car door, out in the rain. His eyes seemed barely focused, and his head was shaking just the slightest bit.
Starlight looked Sunburst up and down, a look of utter incredulity on her face.

"I'm listening. Go on; I'm here for you." Aside from the rain wetting him, there seem to be some heavy drops of sweat rolling down his face. They were vaguely snot-colored.

"...do you really think you're fooling anybody?" Starlight squinted down at her purse and flipped it open. Inside was an old paper crane, a humanoid form made of clay, a shrike's beak, a bit of silken cloth, a few quartz crystals, and a clear prism. She also had a secret weapon; a thumb-sized chunk of amethyst. She was loaded for bear.

"What do you mean?" Said Sunburst, his face frozen in his most jocular smile. Starlight took the clear prism in her hand and felt the aquamarine glow warm her palm.

"I mean, I know you're a changeling, and I know you're here to kill me. You're very bad at this." Starlight said, her hand hovering over the unlock button on the driver's door. She would take it down in one quick motion.

"Oh, I don't need to kill you. I just need to slow you down!" Sunburst said. His jaw dislocated and vomited up a stream of green bile onto the window. Starlight tried to push the door open, then kicked it as the foul slime washed over the car.

Starlight dashed for the opposite door, but the monster was now bathing the front of the car with green ooze like a fire hose of sludge. The door was stuck fast as dribbling green fluid covered the windows. Starlight looked around the interior of the car. What had Sunburst said about changeling slime?

"It's like magic snot. You need to clear it with hot water, or destabilize its chemical composition, or..." The slime was everywhere. It made a sound like thick rubber being pulled when Starlight pushed on the door.

"Or use magic." Starlight sighed. "Sorry about the car, Sunburst!" Starlight retrieved a quartz crystal that was half the length of her forearm from the bag.

Outside the car, which was beginning to look like a mushy soufflé mixed with green food dye, the creature which had failed its audition for the role of Sunburst chattered with satisfaction. By now it had deflated to about half its original size, but it chattered with glee as it limped away from a job well done.

A beam of aquamarine light lanced through the night, the side of the car, and a tree overlooking the edge of the parking lot. It slowly tore upward, making a sound not unlike a can being opened, then moved in a bent arc that forced the changeling to drop to the ground.

The car door and several inches of slime fell to the asphalt, and a decidedly irate Starlight Glimmer stepped out.

Now this, this she was good at. The thing should have run, or buzzed or scurried up a wall like a bug; that's what the research had suggested. Instead, it hissed and crawled along the ground, its bottom legs dragging lamely as it melted into some hideous cross between a black carapaced gnat and a human. Its limbs thinned into the width of twigs, holes opening and puckering like wanting mouths.

The changeling that only looked a little bit like Sunburst now twisted over and before it could utter a plea to extend its short existence, Starlight's boot connected with its face. She expected a hard carapace to stop her foot. Instead, it was like stepping through a rotted pumpkin. The face of her beloved caved in, and the changeling twitched like a stomped roach for a few seconds before dissolving into a puddle of unmentionable black and green material.

"Thank you. I needed that." Starlight said, rolling her neck. "The window. I'll just come in through the window once he gets attacked. Then at least the idiot won't try and stop me from protecting him."

As Starlight Glimmer stood at the edge of the parking lot, a pair of bright headlights caused her to squint as they approached. The lights carried fear, then confusion, and then hope.

Scoots screamed and swung her longboard in a vertical arc, just barely catching the first changeling to lunge at her and smashing its head into the ground. She ducked to avoid the next set of hissing jaws and only got a sharp red graze on her shoulder instead of a broken neck. The one that had pounced turned awkwardly in the air with an asymmetrical pair of wings then bumbled to the ground before leaping again. A ball of flame burst on the side of its face.

Sunburst held a dried salamander in one hand while softball-sized flames came bursting from the fingers of the other. He was shooting them haphazardly into the swarm.

"Go, Scoots! Get Adagio first!" Sunburst shouted. Another changeling was blasted aside as Scoots turned to run. The cocoon looked too high and too slippery to grab. Improvise, Scoots! She heard Rainbow Dash say. She scrambled across the room and ducked behind a stack of materials covered by a tarp. A wide and dusty wooden beam was just underneath her, and the end of a metal pipe was protruding from the stack.

A bit of green slime dribbled between Scoots' feet. The hiss that came right after was the only warning she needed to roll out of the way, grabbing at the metal. As the changeling thumped wetly into the spot she was just in, Scoots brought the pipe around and smashed its face. It bit the edge of the pipe and tried to yank it away as yet another came up behind Scoots.

"OVER HERE!" Shouted Sunburst, and then the changelings scuttled toward several floating yellow lights coming from Sunbursts' direction. The floating lanterns followed Sunbursts' finger, dancing through the air.

Scoots lifted the board and set it on the pile of junk. She circled around, trying to line it up as best as she could with Adagio's cocoon. The changelings seemed caught between wanting to leap at the lights or Sunbursts' throat. Sunburst kept stepping backward, swiveling the lights back and forth, and tossing fireballs whenever a changeling came near.

Scoots set her skateboard down and kicked forward. There wasn't much space in here, but it would have to do. She pulled her knife and flipped it open. The floor was a bit uneven, but Scoots pushed faster despite how the longboard wobbled. She hit her ramp and jumped, knife swinging forward at the cocoon.

There were no dreams this time, only darkness, and the knowledge that Adagio was alone, weak and defeated. Even her tears had dried, by now. Someone shouted far away, and then a rubbery peel shook her from sleep.

Suddenly, there was light. A rift of bright yellow opened in front of Adagio, and her heart soared. It was Buck. He had somehow managed to fight off the changeling queen and now he was here to save her. It was her sisters, and they'd made up because they knew she was in trouble.

The rift pulled apart.

"Adagio! I'm getting you out of here!" Came the high, slightly raspy voice. It was Scootaloo, and she was trying her best to jam the knife into the goop holding Adagio in place. Scoots looked at Adagio's face in the light and went a bit pale. "You look like death."

"Very funny, Little Birdie. Tell me, do you still have a little crush on me...?" Adagio wheezed. Scoots blushed instantly.

"...yeah."

"So sweet...do you still care about Buck?"

"Of course!" Scoots was sawing the blade against Adagio's goopy shackles, to no avail.

"Will you forgive me?"

"Huh?" A stream of purplish energy streamed into Adagio's mouth. Her hair regained its luster, and her skin returned to its pale yellow shine. The cocoon burst like a green balloon, and on the floor just below it stood Adagio, setting Scootaloo back down to her feet. Scoots wobbled unsteadily.

"Just a bit...just enough to get through this." Adagio said. The changelings crept toward Sunburst as his lights began to fade. Adagio lifted a finger, and a glob of slime gathered into a small ball just above it. She hummed low, and the ball squelched into a shape more like an arrow.

"What're you doing?" Scoots said, dreamily.

"The both of you should duck!" Adagio twirled her hand in an arc, and Sunburst dived to the ground. The slimy projectile whizzed through the air and arrowed straight through the heads of a ring of changelings around Sunburst, before flying back at Adagio and spinning wide above her head. The cocoons hit the floor just as the dead changelings did.

"Cut them loose!" Sunburst said. The last of the floating lights faded, leaving only the green glow of the slime. Adagio pierced forward, her slime ball forming something of a thin lance as another half-formed changeling leaped at Sunburst. It screeched, then went still.

Adagio wagged her finger as she strolled up to Sunburst, causing the slime to sway in the air. Pathetic whining filled the room as cocoons melted open and Scoots helped the changeling's victims to their feet. A familiar face was pulled from the slime.

"Oh, thank you, young man! You've done us a great service. I assure you that you'll be handsomely rewarded for this.

"...I will?" Scoots said. She recognized this woman as Adagio's boss. She looked like smiling with relief was a bit laborious.

"With Barnyard Bargains coupons, of course." Harshwhinny said, wiping the slime from her suit. "You can expect a raise, by the way, Miss Adagio Dazzle!"

"I assume you have a plan, Sunburst?" Adagio said, ignoring Harshwhinny.

"That depends." Sunburst said, adjusting his glasses. "Is it a queen?"

"Yes. It's their queen that's after Buck."

"Then we need backup." Sunburst said. Adagio couldn't help but feel the coldness in his voice. She had forgotten for a moment that she was last week's villain.
Sunburst tapped his phone a few times and held it to his ear.

"Is this backup trustworthy?" Adagio tried.

"More than you, almost definitely."

"Oh, get her. When did you get so cold and professional?" Adagio said. Harshwhinny looked up from where she was picking up a somewhat slimy phone. Behind her, a cocoon glowed and chimed. Sunburst and Adagio watched as a young woman got up from the goop. She tried and failed to wipe off her expensive-looking camera, to say nothing of the slime covering her clothes and two-toned hair.

"Bon Bon? What are you doing here, you chattering ninny?" Adagio groaned. Bon Bon silenced her phone.

"I'm his caseworker, actually." Bon Bon pointed at Sunburst, who looked shocked. Bon Bon's voice had lost any hint of the squeaky little bimbo that Adagio knew.

"What's that?" Scoots said. The group of people all tried to hide behind the small woman at once. A number of squelching noises echoed through the room.

The eggs which pockmarked most of the floor shuddered, then their tops split open.

Buck stood at the door and clenched his fists until his breathing somewhat evened out. Thunder rolled outside, and a spray of rain tapped a nonsense rhythm on his window. Buck always loved a good thunderstorm back at home. They made him feel small, and that helped him sleep. Now it seemed like he wouldn't have any peace until this storm passed.

"Do you want a drink?" Buck said. "All I've got left is beer, but I could run out and get something else."

"It's pouring out there."

"I've got an umbrella." Buck shrugged. He imagined himself walking halfway to the corner store, then stopping to scream at the sky. He wondered if anyone would hear him over the rain.

"Do you really think more alcohol is what you want right now? Aren't you poisoned enough?"

"That's a good point. I guess I'm starting to get proper sober and it's sinking in."

"What is?"

"This's all too much for me."

"What is, Buck?"

"Magic. Starlight. The monsters. You. I feel like I'm going crazy. I'm so damn tired, 'dagio. I don't think I can do this." Buck sat, and as his shoulders slumped, his words trailed into a depressive drone.

Adagio rolled her eyes, as Buck's closed.

"You don't have to do anything you don't want to."

"I'm magic, Adagio. Everyone I come into contact with is in danger. There's something fundamentally wrong with me, and now I've gotta do somethin' about it."

"Did you ever think that someone else might want what you have, Buck? There are people in those world that would love to be in your position."

"Yeah, yeah, there's some children starving somewhere, I get it. I'm not saying I've had the worst life in the world; I'm saying that this is too much for me. This's too much pressure and too much chaos, and I feel like my arms and legs are being tied to horses and I'm somehow supposed to avoid bein' torn apart."

"What I'm saying is that you have something that others covet. It doesn't have to be a burden. Buck, you said before that you wouldn't mind it if I drank your emotions, as long as I was honest about it. Did you mean that?"

"...yeah."

"If you let me, I can help you." Adagio scooted closer to Buck on the couch. She'd taken on a small smile that Buck couldn't read.

"How am I supposed to trust you, Adagio?"

"It's in my nature to feed on you, Buck. You're overflowing with emotion and magic...can't you see that we're compatible?" Adagio's hand came to his shoulder this time. A small voice in Buck's heart told him that something was wrong. He ignored it and tried desperately to stay in this moment. "Do you know the difference between exploitation and partnership, Buck?"

Before, Adagio had formed a habit of running her fingers along Buck's biceps. Now, she closed her hand just a bit and rolled the joints of her fingers against his shoulder in a way that subtly soothed him. He'd forgotten how tender she could be.

"It's...respect, and equal involvement."

"Well, sometimes. More than anything, it's the understanding that both parties have something to offer. An equal exchange. You have something to offer me, and I have something to offer you." Adagio's voice dropped in volume and rose to a slight squeak. Buck turned his head and found that Adagio was resting her chin on his shoulder, gazing at him dreamily. He felt his face heat up in an instant. Adagio looked down and shrunk away, her hands lifting up.

"Sorry! I didn't mean to touch, I know you said not to!" Adagio said, suddenly mousey.

"It's alright. Are you asking to be partners? Is that what I'm hearing?"

"Well, if you want to put it that way, yes. If you don't mind being used, I don't mind taking the emotional pressure off your shoulders. Is that not amenable to you?" Adagio said. She ran a hand through her hair nonchalantly, but she looked away as she spoke.

"So it's business, then? Is that what you wanted to talk to me about? You want to make a deal?"

"Don't you?" Adagio said. Buck's eyes once again flew up to the ceiling. He clenched his teeth and could swear there was a brief shimmer in the air. He saw red.

"No, Adagio! I don't want to make a deal, I don't want you to pay me, or anything like that!" Buck couldn't bring himself to scream. Instead, he choked out his words in a sob. When he looked again, Adagio was looked small and fearful. Buck lowered his head.

"I'm sorry for freaking out." Buck said, and then his face was tilted over. Adagio smiled at him.

"You're a sentimental fool, Buck. What am I going to do with you?" She said.

Buck shook his head and laughed. It was slow and rueful, but it seemed to catch Adagio off guard. For a few moments, they just sat there, giggling.

When a baby giggles, it has a way of setting the mind at ease, because no matter how dire a situation may occur elsewhere, in that moment there is nothing but pure joy, or annoyance, depending on your opinion of children.

When a crow caws up in an old tree, it's often taken as a sign of a dark fate, unless of course, you're fond of the clever little death omens.

Adagio was quite fond of crows, coincidentally. They reminded her of her youth as a clever, vicious little thing.

She had never in her lifetime heard a creature make a sound that was at once the gibbering of a toddler and the mocking of a crow until now. The fetal forms that came lurching and laughing from the eggs had maggot-like bodies and stubby little limbs that ended in far too few digits. As the legion of malformed newborns looked around at the world, their cherubic features shifted to a loose approximation of whatever human face they happened to spot, mimicking their horrified expressions near flawlessly.

For a moment, no one moved, but then a paint can clattered over. Sunburst had taken a step back, and now all the infant faces resembled his.

"We need to get these people out of here." The woman that Adagio knew as Bon Bon said. "I can handle the grubs once everyone is clear." The unfinished faces changed to match her sneer.

"I'll distract them. They were born of my magic, so they're my responsibility." Adagio said. The faces swapped to hers, and Adagio recalled a moment from a recent nightmare. "Once I have them, I need you guide the humans to the elevator, Little Birdie." Adagio said. She took a few slow steps to the side, and all the little Adagio faces followed with their eyes. Several of them were yawning like pythons, showing their rows of needle teeth.

There was a shuffling of many feet with Scoots in the lead. The crowd of infants looked toward the source of the noise and hissed.

"No, no, no! Look over here, Darlings, look at mommy!" Adagio said. The grubs turned back to Adagio, their faces shifting to mirror hers. "There we are...see? Can you all give me a big smile? Like this?" Adagio gave a toothy grin, and the twitching heads all around her widened to accommodate a mimicry of it. She stepped slowly and carefully away, and the horde followed.

Across the room, Sunburst watched in bleak fascination as Adagio entertained the hatched changelings. He noticed Bon Bon snap a picture with her camera as Scoots escorted the crowd of traumatized people to the elevator. There was a sound of shifting metal and a slight ding.

"What are you going to do with those people?"

"Nothing, Sunburst. We'll contain this as best we can, but we won't tamper with anyone here." Bon Bon said.

"That's a relief." Sunburst sighed.

"You guys need to go down and tell Frank in security that you're the missing persons. I think he can handle it from there." Scootaloo said. She reached over and pressed the button marked B1. The doors shut.

"What about the..." Sunburst gestured broadly at the hatchlings.

"Adagio, can you get us out of here!?" Bon Bon shouted.

"I'll need some help!" She said. "No, no, look here, look here!" Adagio said, making placating motions. The swarm of infant death focused back on her. "There we are...follow me." Adagio hummed a gentle tune, almost like a lullaby,

"Come little children

I'll take thee away

Into a land of enchantment

Come little children

the dark's come to play

here in my garden of shadows..."

As Adagio sang to the scattered reflections of her own face, she got the distinct impression that she was committing a deep and heinous blasphemy.

The elevator dropped away. The wretched humans were safe.

Bon Bon reached into the pocket in her skirt and produced a small teardrop-shaped object. It glowed with a reddish light as soon as it hit air. The hatchlings turned like a swarm of hounds smelling a raw steak. They charged all at once, then several were snatched from the air by tendrils of slime. Adagio held her hand out, holding the hatchlings in place, but several more buzzed clumsily through the air on half-formed wings, their fangs flashing.

"Move!" Bon Bon tossed the object away and took off running. Sunburst grabbed Scootaloo's hand and followed. He noticed that the hatchlings dived for the object and began fighting over it like a favorite toy. While most of the swarm came after the glowing object, many more still came charging after the motion.

"What is that thing!?" Sunburst shouted.

"Red dragon scale!" Bon Bon said.

"WHAT!?"

"Is that bad!?" Scootaloo said.

"We need to leave, right now!" Sunburst said. "Come on, Adagio!" Sunburst pulled an iron spike from his pocket, which was pockmarked with runes written in rust. Adagio let go of her spell and exhaled, then began to jog along with the group.

"What did you do, Bon Bon!?" Adagio said.

"No time!" Sunburst shouted. He jabbed a fist out, and the windows he pointed at all shattered outward at the same time. The objects around the room were blown around by the sudden burst of storm winds. It was raining hard outside.

The dragon scale's glow grew brighter and brighter. The hatchlings were trying to teethe on it, but none of them had it for long as it was snatched and tossed back and forth. Even the ones that had been chasing the group turned to go after the shimmering prize.

"Adagio, what're we doing, what're we doing!?" Scoots said. She had her board over one arm. Adagio grabbed her free hand, then did the same with Sunburst.

"You're going to have to trust me! You care for one another, don't you?"

"Yeah!" Scoots said.

"You care for Buck?"

"Absolutely!" Sunburst said.

The room was starting to get warm. The scale shook.

"Stay in that feeling! Focus on it! You want to escape this with your lives, and you want to save Buck, don't you? Don't you!?" Adagio said. Her hair was whipping all around in the gale.

"Guys, we're running out of floor!" Bon Bon said.

"Yes!" Sunburst said. "We're going to save him!" Bon Bon looked at the three with incredulity as she ran behind them.

Adagio felt disgusted with herself. She felt the energy flowing through her, and it was all too familiar. This was a fraction of the power that had defeated her and her sisters. She shoved the feeling away. She needed to focus.

There was a crack like a pickaxe striking stone. Adagio felt a sweltering heat at her back. She heard the hatchlings giggle with glee. They were of her world, and they had just been born.

This night was a tragedy, she decided.

"JUMP!"

An enormous explosion rocked the Barnyard Bargains Super Tower. It was so bright, that for a moment, people on the ground could just barely make out four figures standing next to the tower, seemingly suspended in the air.

"Can we please try this conversation again?" Buck said. His hands overlapped Adagio's at his cheeks. He felt terribly calm as he looked into her eyes. He was so tired of being angry.

"Of course, Buck."

"Can you please be honest with me, Adagio? Do you want me, or do you want my magic?"

"Both. That's the truth. But if I had to choose..."

"If you had to choose?" Buck said. Adagio's lips touched his and he suddenly felt his anxiety pulled away. It was slow, Adagio's lips pressing up against his while her index finger stroked his cheek.

"Does that answer your question?" Adagio sighed. Her breath tasted just a bit like licorice. A tear rolled down the back of her hand.

"I missed you so much, 'dagio." Buck whispered.

"I know."

"I've been so broken without you...I made a mistake, and I'm sorry that I stormed off and I'm sorry that I left you alone on the trolley and I'm sorry I didn't come to you, I was just so scared, scared that you wouldn't let me love you. But I understand, Adagio. I understand." Buck sobbed.

"You do?"

"I know you're afraid of caring for a human like me, and I know my magic is a big perk, but that's not the whole reason you stayed with me, is it? If you could...if we could just..."

"I'm listening, Buck." Adagio said. Her fingers were stroking the back of his head.

"You're right; we are compatible, but it's not just the magic."

"Hm?"

"There's more between us than that. I know it. I can see it when you look at me, Adagio. Could we try again? Can I please just hold you and adore you like you ought to be adored? Can you just...just treat me like a person, and stay with me? If, if we try, Adagio, if we really try, I know that we can find the love that we both obviously need, so please. Can we start over?" Buck's voice came out strained and near breathless as he poured his heart out.

"Kiss me, Buck." He didn't need to be told twice. Finally, the world was starting to make sense again.

Buck fell into a space between excitement and relief; the rush of knowing he was with someone who demanded that he not hold back. Adagio's hands roamed over his chest, then onto the couch back behind him as she slid into his lap. She was giving him every treat that he thought he'd given up; the squish of her thick thighs on his lap, the sweet sighs as she licked and nibbled on his lips, but it wasn't the burning intensity he felt before. It was the cool waters of an oasis. He'd been dying of thirst. Adagio finally pulled away, her arms around Buck's neck. Her breath was short, and her eyes were smoldering.

"Do you want to fuck me, Buck~?" She purred. Buck shook his head and slid his arms around her back. Her cheek was touching his as he whispered in her ear.

"I wanna love you, Adagio." He said. Adagio squeezed Buck tightly and giggled.

"Buck..."

"Yeah, babe?"

"You're just too sincere to be my lover, but you'll make an excellent father."

Buck heard a sound like a sink clogging up, and a cold, grimy slime ran down his shoulder. He pushed Adagio away and tried to rise, but found that he was stuck against the couch. The green slime pasting him in place smelled foul, but all Buck could do was thrash against it in a panic. His arm hurt. The slime slapped over his mouth, muffling his protests and the screams to come.

Adagio had fallen to the floor, but now she straightened up with a sound like cracking knuckles. Her hands seemed to stay on the ground as she rose to full height, her arms extending. A bit of her skin flaked off like yellowed plaster as she rushed forward.

"Look at me...LOOK AT ME YOU DISGUSTING, WRETCHED HUMAN!" Adagio squealed. Buck was looking for a way out, but Adagio snatched him by the chin and forced him to look. Cracks were opening along the lines of her face and a bright celadon light was peaking through. Her head twitched, and a bit of her cheek cracked off, revealing a shiny black surface underneath.

"You think that a beautiful and powerful entity from a brighter world would fall for you? Did you really think a pathetic little scab like you could ever be anything more than a meal!?" She slammed her fist down next to his head and left a dent. Her hand split and peeled away, and underneath was a horrific black talon filled with puckering holes.

Buck shuddered as she stroked his cheek. He could see now that she towered over him, having to squat just to get this close.

"The hubris of you humans is impossible...but no matter. I'm here now, my darling, and I will teach you your place! Don't you dare close your eyes! LOOK AT ME!" Adagio's spine contorted backward, and her hair fell away in large clumps. The cracks in Adagio's body split open in a burst of green light. Her skin tore apart like a cocoon, and emerging from it was something that looked like a skeletal caricature of a supermodel. Her skin was pure onyx in color, and a twisted horn rose from her forehead, a crown of antennae protruding just behind it. Her eyes were catlike and slitted, and a serpentine tongue lashed around as she laughed at Buck's rising terror. A pair of perforated, glistening insect wings sprouted from her back. Her midsection was covered in green chitinous plates, save for a massively engorged belly hanging down. It was horribly transparent, showing several round shapes the size of a human head, giving off green pulses.

"I am Queen Chrysalis! Destroyer of Harmony! Your new ruler! Now, give me your fear, Buck! Give it all to me!" Chrysalis howled in Buck's face, and suddenly blast of pink and black energy rocketed out of his chest and into the changeling queen's open mouth. Buck's eyes rolled back as the haze took him, while Chrysalis' belly began to pulse faster and brighter. The holes in her limbs began to close, as did the ones in her wings. Buck's thrashing came to a slow stop. The eggs stirred. The door unlocked.

Hasty steps.

The baseball bat that Buck kept next to the door was lifted and then swung.

There was a sickening crack as Chrysalis' head rolled backward on her broken neck. Her eyes filled with hatred as she beheld a shockingly busty human woman brandishing a wooden club. Her hair was blonde, and her eye was off-center, but she stood with a practiced stance.

"Get away from my Buck!" Ditzy screamed.

Scootaloo opened her eyes. She was drenched and cold, and to her profound shock, she was alive. Beneath her was some sort of floating puddle. She pressed down, and her hands squished into it as if it were a water bed. Raindrops were falling into it. She looked around and saw her friends Sunburst and Adagio getting to their feet and the lady that had been talking to Sunburst taking pictures of the blaze behind them with a fancy camera. Adagio was casually posing to let the rain wash the slime off her business attire.

"How did, what is, I've never seen a spell like this!" Sunburst said. He was smiling wide at Adagio, who shrugged and crossed her arms.

"Oh, it's a combination of basic spells. Water walking, levitation, a bit of transmutation to maintain tension in the water, it's all very basic, but also exhausting. No, no, Little Birdie, don't jump on it! Now, Sunburst, do you know the way to Buck's apartment from here?" Adagio said.

Sunburst squinted out across the skyline through the pouring rain. Around the west side of Center Park, he managed to spot a squat apartment complex ringed by beaten old houses and backed by a bit of barely controlled forest.

"There." Sunburst pointed. With a soft hum, Adagio turned the blasphemous energy of "Friendship" to the task of another spell. The platform of raindrops extended into a serpentine slide of water with curved walls. It stretched off in the direction of Buck's home.

"Let's hurry, now. We don't have much time!" Adagio said. Scoots immediately jumped onto the slide, whooping and hollering as she was carried off into the night. Sunburst stared at Adagio for a moment. Adagio gave him a smile that was just a bit rueful.

"I know, but let's focus on the task at hand. You can hate me later." Adagio said. Sunburst smiled and shook his head, then screamed as the water took him. "You have some explaining to do, Miss Bon Bon."

"I'm not the one on trial here." Bon Bon said with a frankness that gave Adagio pause. "Don't drop me." Adagio rolled her eyes and looked over her shoulder at the devastation in her wake. There was no sound of chittering or giggling, just the rain covering the roar of flames and sirens far below.

Adagio Dazzle had just taken part in the slaughter of helpless children; ones that came from her world, born at least in part of her own magic. As she stepped daintily into the magical chute, she was glad for the rain.

No one could tell she was weeping.

Ditzy had hoped with all her heart that she'd never need to be here again. Facing down a horrible monster born of magic in a place that was meant to be safe and cozy. At least she was prepared this time; prepared to do whatever it took to defend Buck. The thing looked at her with incredulity, then a shaking rage. Its head crackled back into place, its twisted horn scraping the ceiling. Ditzy had seen that look before. It was the face of a bully that wasn't used to getting hit back.

"Your...Buck? Did you say, 'Your Buck'?" Said the creature. Its voice had an odd reverb that was bizarrely irritating to Ditzy's ears.

Ditzy tried to remember what she'd been taught. She's much taller than you, and this space is small.

The changeling queen swiped at Ditzy, but only caught couch as she ducked underneath. Ditzy's breasts swung low and nearly caused her to pitch over, but she miraculously stayed on her feet.

"My Buck! My best neighbor! The man I love!" Ditzy swung low and nearly caught the queen's bulbous stomach. She spared a glance at Buck and saw that his eyes were closed. He was out. That was a relief.

"Oh, one little human all by itself. How will I ever prevent this daring rescue?" The queen snarked, stepping around the couch. She feinted with her claw, then spat a glob of slime at Ditzy's feet, just barely missing. A clumsy step took Ditzy too close for the queen to strike, then she snapped the bat up into her jaw. Ditzy winced as the queen stumbled back into Buck's desk. Ditzy came again and felt a white-hot crack against her head. The queen's claw had drawn blood. She just barely kept her footing as the queen hissed at her.

"She's not alone." Ditzy heard the sound of crinkling paper, and suddenly the monster was menaced by a flock of tiny origami birds, flying off Buck's desk and inflicting a score of paper cuts. The screen door slid open, revealing Starlight Glimmer, holding a small crane made of yellowed paper.

A green flash lit the room, and where the towering beast had stood was now a gnarled and ugly bat with a wingspan like Ditzy's arm. It dove and bit at Ditzy's shoulder, screeching as it tried to go for her eyes.

"Oh no you don't!" Starlight pointed at the queen, and the animated origami followed after, slashing at the wings of the bat and forming a defensive line around Ditzy. The queen flew for the door, but it glowed with pale blue light and instantly shut.

"You pathetic fools! You think your parlor tricks can defeat me now!?" The queen's monstrous true form re-emerged. Her horn pulsed with an emerald glow.

"Ditzy, get down!" Starlight hit the floor just as a blast of acrid green energy burst forth; shattering the glass and mesh separating Buck's apartment from the patio.

Ditzy hadn't dived. She dashed under the beam and swung the bat with all the force she could muster into the bulbous egg sac hanging from the queen's stomach. The was a squelching thud, then another and another as Ditzy screamed and flailed the bat into the monster's guts.

"NOOO NO, MY CHILDREN!" The queen wailed and a ripple of green energy knocked Ditzy off her feet. The buzzing of wings like a helicopter's rotors shook the apartment as the queen fled over Starlight's head and out into the rainy night.
Ditzy dropped the slime-coated bat and winced as she touched the side of her head.

Starlight marveled at just how quickly the apartment had gotten trashed. There was slime on the floor, as well as broken beer bottles. The paper birds unfolded and floated around in the whipping winds now coming through the destroyed screen door. Starlight looked to Buck, then to Ditzy, then to the rain outside.

"Go." Ditzy said, picking herself up. She was breathing heavily, scratched all over, and a bruise was sure to form on her shoulder. Starlight blinked. "Go and get that...that thing! I'll stay with Buck." Ditzy said. Buck was mercifully unconscious, but that wouldn't last. Ditzy stroked his forehead with a great deal of tenderness. Starlight didn't want to be what he woke up to.

"The uh...you can melt the slime off with hot water. Or soda, if you've got it." Starlight said, awkwardly.

"Okay." Ditzy stepped over to the kitchen and turned the tap.

"The...the man you love, huh? You and Buck? Really?" Starlight said. She saw Ditzy turn to face her like she was caught in a spotlight. Her face went red in an instant.

"It's complicated..."

"I'll bet." Starlight said.

"Go! We can catch up later!" Ditzy said.

"Right." Starlight got a running start, then jumped off the balcony. A human effigy made of clay and a shrike's beak crumbled in her fist, then a piece of blacktop tore from the ground and caught her in mid-air. Ditzy's jaw dropped at the display. The chunk of parking lot morphed into a two-pointed spear beneath Starlight's feet.

"Keep him safe!" Starlight said, before flying off.

"Why do you keep staring at me like that?" Starlight said. The changeling queen was buzzing in mid-air before her.

"You are Starlight Glimmer, are you not?" Demanded the queen. Her eyes blazed with fury.

"I am." Starlight flew up and out of the way of a blast of green energy.

"YOU RUINED EVERYTHING!" The queen dashed after Starlight, her horn glowing. Starlight spun and dipped to avoid a searing hot beam of energy that barely missed her face.

"I literally just met you!" Starlight shouted. She shivered as the rain-drenched her. Taking a prism in hand, she fired off a few bolts of magic, which the queen easily dodged. Starlight just barely held on to her improvised bident as she flipped to avoid another blast. Her fingers were freezing in the rain, shaking and slipping. The queen loomed above her, looking like a mad pixie as her hair whipped around in the wind.

"I AM QUEEN CHRYSALIS OF THE CHANGELING HORDE, AND YOU WILL NOT FOIL ME AGAIN!" Starlight shut her eyes as the green light barreled down towards her. She had been overconfident. That thing was supercharged by Buck's energy, and Starlight couldn't have possibly matched its power. She hoped it would be quick.

Her body lurched downwards into the ground, and to her genuine surprise, Starlight found that she was not dead. Instead, an orb of yellow energy surrounded her. All around it, the green blast was boring a crater into the parking lot.

"Who dares interfere with my revenge!?" Snarled the queen. The blast dissipated, as did the shield.

On the outer edge of the parking lot stood Sunburst, Scootaloo, Adagio, and Bon Bon behind them, recording everything with her phone.

Starlight saw Sunburst exhale, then give her an exhausted smile.

"It's over, 'your majesty'. Your nest is destroyed, and so is your army!" Sunburst said.

"MY CHILDREN! YOU MURDERED THEM! YOU'LL ALL SUFFER FOR THIS!" Chrysalis shrieked. Another green flash and her chitinous shell was replaced with the stony plates of a huge crocodilian beast. It dropped out of the air and snatched Starlight in its jaws before she could run. The stony bident bent and crumbled under the massive pressure. A bloody crunch followed, and then Starlight's body was tossed aside.

"Starlight! NO!" Sunburst wailed. Adagio caught him by the shoulder before he could rush in.

"Sunburst. Sunburst, look at me! Sunburst, do you care about that horrible woman?" Adagio said.

"Yes!" Sunburst said, eyes filled with tears. The cragadile's jaws opened slowly as it lurched toward the group.

"Let's hope that's enough." Adagio said. A stream of pink coursed between them. The cragadile charged but was immediately sent sprawling by a thunderous note which shook the parking lot.

Chrysalis shifted back and stood. Across the lot from her, the falling rain slipped around in mid-air to avoid falling in one spot. Adagio stood, all the color returned to her form. Her business attire had shifted into a sparkling purple pair of pants with red suspenders over her white top. The typical purple spikes in her scrunchie had extended behind a pair of short equine ears. Her gossamer fins unfurled like a butterfly's wings and her pumps became sparkling dark purple boots that extended halfway up her calves.

"Oh, Sunburst...you should have told me you were having relationship problems. I'd have been happy to give you some advice."

"What is this!? What have you done!?"

"This? Oh, well, your majesty, this is far from the heights of magical power I've wielded. But it will be more than enough to tear you apart." Adagio raised a hand to the sky, floating about a foot off the ground. Thunder pealed through the storm, and suddenly Chrysalis screamed as she was bombarded by a thousand sharpened hailstones. She flipped and dipped, but couldn't seem to get away. Hailstones struck her about the face, causing her head to spin around.

"I have to hand it to you. You caught me during an especially challenging week. You even managed to get the drop on me, and had you schemed a bit better, you would have won! Unfortunately, there's one tiny element in play that you forgot." Adagio said. Scootaloo puffed out her chest and Bon Bon smiled behind her camera phone.

"If you're about to spout some dribble about the 'Magic of Friendship' I'm going to vomit all over your disgustingly poofy hair!" Chrysalis' form scattered into a swarm of parasprites to escape, but Adagio twirled a finger and the hail redirected itself to follow.

"You forgot that THIS WORLD IS MINE! It's simply not big enough for one Almighty Empress of Evil and the irritating little fly buzzing around her head!" Adagio laughed.

Scoots deflated, and Sunburst cringed with a worried glass at Bon Bon, who didn't say a word.

The swarm of parasprites that was Chrysalis screeched with hatred.

"You may want to get clear." Adagio said over her shoulder. Sunburst, Scoots, and Bon Bon dived out of the way just as the swarm charged forward. Adagio caught Chrysalis as she emerged from the swarm, then she smiled and punched upward into the changeling queen's chest. A powerful jet of water blasted Chrysalis away right after.

"You fool! You think a little fish like you can stand against the scourge of Equestria!?" Chrysalis lifted into the air, sending a blast of energy down at Adagio, who slid along a puddle on the ground and right out of the way. More holes opened up in Chrysalis' limbs and wings.

"You!? Oh please, I know of your exploits, Chrysalis! I was the terror of all the eastern seas! You were nothing but a paltry little sapper, buzzing along the borders of the Holy Pony Empire! A sacked town here, an assault on a city there, but you never did manage to gain any ground, did you!? You were too WEAK!"

Chrysalis charged again, lowering her horn, but Adagio sent a spear of ice on a collision course, and then another. Chrysalis fired beams to and fro, blasting the spears as they formed from the freezing rain and came falling out of the air.

"You do have a plan to shut her down, don't you, Sunburst!?" Adagio stage whispered. She jerked her head in Starlight's direction. Sunburst nodded at her, then ran for his fallen girlfriend, with Scoots hot on his heels and Bon Bon following a bit slower, still recording the battle.

Chrysalis dove for the ground, and shifted once more. Five snarling heads extended from a reptilian body. They each had a gnarled horn, a neck that was pockmarked with widening holes and far too many teeth than necessary.

"ENOUGH! I have battled alicorn princesses and armies of ponies!" The hydra roared, its heads swinging down to snap up Adagio. Adagio smirked and crossed her arms. She truly despised this creature for reminding her so much of herself.

"I've battled gods, you shriveled up dung beetle." The puddle beneath her feet widened just before five lashing tendrils of water erupted from it. They morphed into their own serpentine heads before tangling into the hydra. Green blood was tossed across the lot as chrysalis fought tooth and claw against the watery beast.

As Adagio directed the serpents, her magical aura began to flicker, as did her ears, wings, and costume change. She grimaced.

"Well, at least Adagio is having fun." Scoots said. Sunburst cradled Starlight in his shaking arms. There were fang wounds across her torso. A puddle of blood was spreading beneath her.

"Hey! I know you carry healing charms! I need one right now!" Sunburst said. Bon Bon didn't seem to notice. She seemed completely focused on recording the battle before her. "Sweetie Drops, I need it NOW!" Sunburst shouted.

Bon Bon looked over her shoulder, then back at the fight, then she pulled out a marble of red jasper and tossed it at Sunburst.

"It's going to be alright, Starlight. Hey...hey, you're alright, aren't you?" Sunburst murmured. The gem glowed yellow for a moment, then crumbled.

"Since when are you so nervous around me?" Starlight coughed. She patted Sunburst's cheek as her wounds closed.

"This city has too much excitement. We should move to the country." Sunburst smiled.

"Oh, hah hah. Is she seriously recording all of this?"

"She is; so we'd better have a plan. Do we have a plan, Starlight?"

"We do." Starlight said, pulling a chunk of amethyst from her purse. Sunburst pulled Starlight's arm around his shoulders and helped her up.

"You're the weak one, Adagio Dazzle! You've done nothing but idle in this hollow realm while I've waged wars and ravaged the lands of Equestria!" The hydra howled as it struggled against the watery serpents.

"All you've done is gotten older, you mummified parasite. And uglier." Adagio said. She waved a hand, and the water surged around Chrysalis, constricting the hydra's body.

Another flash of green, and Chrysalis closed the distance in a burst of flight. She clawed at Adagio, who dodged and took a scratch to the thigh. Adagio dipped and ducked around the flurry of blows, humming a jaunty tune and pointing a finger to the sky.

"Older!? You are no better than I; nothing but a lamprey, reducing yourself to grovel for the affection of a wretched human! A horrid little LEECH!" Chrysalis tried to a few more strikes, then zapped Adagio back. A tendril of water emerged from a puddle where Adagio had been and whipped Chrysalis' legs out from under her.

"No dear, I'm just like you!" In the air above the two, about a hundred gallons of water took the shape of a murderous orca. "But better."

The killer whale of water dropped and flipped and brought its back fin down on Chrysalis' stomach like a hammer. Chrysalis choked out a strangled cry, then a large, dark shape came up her throat and bounced onto the asphalt.

"Do it now!" Adagio shouted, floating sharply backward. Chrysalis struggled, but could not escape the pressing weight of the water whale.

Across the lot; Sunburst and Starlight held the amethyst crystal in tandem, muttering a few words in unison. A blue and yellow aura swirled around them. To Chrysalis, the spell seemed somewhat familiar.

"No, NOOO NOT AGAIN!" She shrieked, reaching desperately for any means of escape. A beam of purple energy erupted from the two mages' fingertips. When the light faded, Chrysalis was trapped inside of a prison of amethyst crystal.

"Sounds like a fight in a Star Wars movie out there..." Ditzy Doo had always feared that one day, despite every attempt to avoid any more magic in her life, it would find her again. She just wasn't prepared for it to be Buck. He was always eccentric, certainly, and a bit camp, but she would have never guessed he was secretly some sort of monster.

Ditzy Doo placed a pot of steaming water onto Buck's coffee table.

Buck was out cold. His cheeks were sunken in, but his chest was gently rising and falling.

"Honestly, Buck. Every time I turn around, you're in some sorta trouble." Ditzy smiled. She was still shaky from the fight, but she carefully soaked a rag and started wiping at the slime as if it were caked-on makeup.

"You better pay me back for this later, mister!" Ditzy giggled. She'd come into Buck's apartment several times in the morning before he woke up. Sometimes she would peek into his bedroom and get a laugh at his awkward sleeping poses. This wasn't the same. Ditzy was laughing, but it was shallow and shaky. If Buck was magic, and Ditzy wanted him, this scenario could very well be the rest of her life. She wasn't ready to confront that. At the end of the day, he was just a really good neighbor, wasn't he? Things didn't have to go further than that, she thought.

But then she cleaned the scum off his face and looked at how helpless he was. She remembered how much she loved hearing him laugh at one of his stupid jokes, and how badly she wanted him to invite her to his room. Her smile dropped and she felt a tear come to her eye.

"You and me are going to have a serious talk about this, Purple Prose." She murmured.

"Ditzy?" Buck's eyes fluttered open and immediately filled with panic as he saw Ditzy looming over him. His feet stomped the floor and he struggled against his stuck wrists.

"No, no, it's okay, Buck! It's me, it's Ditzy Doo!" Ditzy said. She scooched away and showed Buck her hands.

"What...what...what did I get Dinky for her birthday last year!?" Buck said. He was shaking in terror.

"What?"

"Prove you're real! What did I get her!?" Buck shouted. Ditzy huffed and crossed her arms.

"You got her a T-shirt with Skeletor on it, which, for the record, I don't like at all, but she wears it to bed every night." Ditzy smiled. Buck smiled back, but then his tears started to flow.

"Ditzy...! Ditzy, everything's wrong! Everything is wrong!" Buck sobbed.

"It's gonna be okay, Buck...I'm gonna get you loose, and it's gonna be okay."

As the magic glow faded, Sunburst was just barely saved from hitting the ground by Scootaloo. She struggled to drag him under the shade and out of the rain.

"He's out cold!" Scootaloo said. Adagio rolled her neck and strode toward the group. She winked at Bon Bon's camera phone just as her transformation flickered out. Starlight sneered, then got to her feet.

Chrysalis' eyes swiveled erratically as Adagio and Starlight walked in lockstep toward her.

"Are you as tired of this idiotic mosquito as I am?" Adagio purred.

"Idiotic is right. Who fights Aquaman in the rain?" Starlight said. Behind them, Scootaloo snuck around behind Bon Bon. Something had caught her eye.

"Finally, we agree on something. If you tell me what you're going to do to her, I'll let you go first." Adagio said.

Chrysalis' prison of crystal shook with terror as Adagio's red leer looked it over.

"I'm going to drain all of her magic so that she can't hurt a fly."

"Oh, how delightful. I'm going to see how many times I can twist her head around before it pops off."

"What the heck is this? Feels like a boiled egg..." Down the lot, Scoots lifted something. It was a pale green, oval-shaped object covered in jagged pink runes.

The amethyst shook and cracked. Chrysalis' eyes glowed with menace. Starlight and Adagio began to run; Starlight extending a hand and beginning to chant while Adagio conjured another spear of ice.

"DON'T YOU DARE LAY A FINGER ON MY CHILD!" Chrysalis shrieked. A blast of green energy exploded the amethyst outward, knocking Adagio back. Scootaloo slammed into the side of a dumpster a ways away, then lay still.

A creature with the top half of a bull and the bottom half of a snake stood where Scoots had been, cradling the egg in its hooves. Starlight charged as a blank white aura enveloped her hand. A bit of pink and blackish energy flew from the monster's body to Starlight, but the tail came around and crushed her in its coils.

Adagio's vision blurred as she struggled to remain conscious. She was so thirsty, now. She just barely managed to pick herself up and start running toward the beast, but then she fell to her knees once more.

"I will slaughter anycreature who threatens my empire!" Chrysalis sneered. Starlight struggled in the grip of the snake to zero effect.

Adagio smacked her fist into the ground. She needed more magic. Buck! Buck was right upstairs, probably bound. He wouldn't like it, but all Adagio needed was a little taste. Just a little tipper while everyone was preoccupied, and she could win this battle. She gave a low whistle, and the water beneath her rose in a slow and controlled geyser, floating her upward toward Buck's patio.

Bon Bon had stopped recording. Instead, she stared at Starlight Glimmer as she struggled, backing up and dialing a number on her phone.

A jagged arrow of pinkish blackish force smacked against the side of Chrysalis' horned head. She turned to Starlight Glimmer and hissed in her face.

"I'll kill you last, Starlight Glimmer! I will pay you back for all that you've done!"

"I have no idea what you're talking about." Starlight wheezed. "But you should stop turning your back on your enemies."

"What?"

"SNEAK ATTACK!" Scootaloo screamed. She buried a knife in the beasts' back, then hung onto its horn as Chrysalis writhed in pain. Chrysalis shifted back to her true form and tried to shake Scoots from where she was hanging behind her head, but Scootaloo twisted and wrapped her legs around the changeling queen's neck.

"Get off me you human scum!" Chrysalis' head spun all the way around to scream at Scootaloo, who pulled a can from the side pouch of your backpack.

"Go back to Ponyville, ya big ugly roach!" Scootaloo shook the can and popped it open. A fizzy stream of taurine, caffeine and likely traces of illegal pesticides squirted Chrysalis in the face. There was a bubbling hiss and Chrysalis squealed, grabbing Scootaloo by the scruff of the collar and slamming her into the pavement. As Chrysalis frantically wiped the stinging, burning liquid from her face, she was hit in the back by another couple of bolts of pink and black energy. She turned, prepared to charge, only for more of the power she had stolen to be pulled from her body. Her green aura flickered. Starlight Glimmer took a step toward her, hand glowing with mana.

"If you try to fight me any more, I will kill you! Surrender now...and you'll only be a prisoner." Starlight said. The smirk on her face begged for Chrysalis to try and fight back. The egg that Chrysalis held to her chest shook for just a second, and pulsed with pinkish energy.

"I am NO ONE'S PRISONER!" Chrysalis squealed. Before Starlight could react, a glob of green goo pasted her feet to the ground, causing her to fall forward. Her spell misfired, blasting a bolt of magic way off course.

Chrysalis buzzed into the air and charged off toward the horizon.

"She's getting away! Aren't you going to go after her!?" Starlight said, blasting the goo at her feet away. She opened her purse, hoping that she had more sensing stones, and came up with a piece of wavy, silken cloth.

"She's headed for the Everfree Mountain Range. We're not going to find her again tonight." Bon Bon squinted off into the distance, then shrugged and helped Starlight to her feet.

"Well...this whole night blew up, didn't it? You're not about to lay us off, are you?"

"Of course not! You all did extremely well, considering the ridiculous circumstances."

By now people were beginning to come out of their apartments to gawk at a parking lot that now looked like a warzone.

"Are you guys going to contain this, then?"

"Yeah, yeah, standard procedure. I'm just glad there weren't any civilians involved."

"Oooohh...." Starlight said.

"What?" Before Starlight could answer, there was the bark of a police siren, and then flashing lights filled the parking lot. Starlight waved the piece of silk and suddenly vanished with a little twinkle noise.

"You are under arrest! Put your hands up!" Said Officer Lightning Dust. She looked around and saw the damage, saw the two people on the ground, and drew her pistol.

"Oh, brilliant." Bon Bon rolled her eyes and raised her hands. Thunder shook the world once again, but the rain was coming down lighter.

And here we are again, Ditzy Doo thought. She had gotten one of Buck's arms free, and now it was around her waist, holding her tight while Buck shook like a leaf. Ditzy tried not to go back to that place in her head. For her, it was the shock that took the longest to get through, and then the guilt.

"Buck...I want you to know, I've been here before, and you need to know this isn't your fault, Buck! None of this is your fault."

"I'm a monster, Ditzy. I'm a monster just like the rest of 'em. I'm so sorry Ditzy..."

"Shhh...I've got you, Buck. Just breathe..." Ditzy finally pulled out of Buck's grasp and soaked the rag once more. She turned to wipe at the goo and stopped short. Her gentle expression broke into a scowl as she looked across the room.

"Buck...? Are you okay, Buck?" Adagio wheezed. She stepped over the broken remains of the screen door and glared at Ditzy before turning softer eyes on Buck. The moment Buck locked eyes with Adagio, he started to tear up all over again.

"LEAVE ME ALONE!" Buck screamed, and the whole apartment shook. Ditzy covered her ears and scurried away.

"Buck, I know you're angry, but I just fought to save you!" Adagio said.

"Everything in my life has gone to shit since you showed up! I don't want to live in a world where I'm just...just a fucking SNACK for bloodsuckers like You!" Buck's arm tore free of the goo. The air in the room grew warm, and began to shimmer with mirages.

"Buck, you need to calm down. I just need a little bit of affection, that's all." Adagio said.

Buck grabbed at his hair and doubled over as if in pain. His breathing was erratic as he tried desperately to contain himself. Something squirmed beneath the back of his tank top.

"Ditzy Doo, you should leave." Adagio said, with a grave look.

"GO AWAY ADAGIO! STAY AWAY FROM ME!" Buck's hair lengthened, and his teeth sharpened.

"Buck, I can help you! Let me take some of the pressure off you." Adagio soothed. Buck's eyes flashed with recognition. Chrysalis had said the same thing.

"GO AWAAAY!" Adagio felt that bonfire heat rolling off Buck, but it wasn't his lust or his barely restrained love. He tasted like a fresh wound being cauterized. He was indignant and ashamed and furious and terrified in equal measure. Adagio turned and ran.

Buck looked at his hands and saw his nails extending. His face felt hot and itchy, and when he scratched at his chin, a curly tuft of hair came away in his claw. His forearm muscles contracted and tightened and then his arm hair began to lengthen as well. Sharpened teeth bit at the inside of his mouth and all the while it felt like something was trying to tear his back open from the inside.

Buck turned to Ditzy, who was already cowering in the corner. He wanted to run from her and he wanted to hold her at the same time.

"Ditzy, run! Get away from me!" He was so scared and so angry, and Ditzy was the only thing in the world that set him at ease, now. Buck felt his brain going a mile a minute and a burning ache in the front of his face. He clutched his head and doubled over, teeth gritted.

There was a sudden crack of pain at the back of his head, and then the world went black.

A huge crash of thunder woke Sunburst. He squinted at a bright light just above him. He looked around and saw various sorts of electronic equipment, bandages, and sutures in clear containers. He was mostly dry, and there was a towel around his shoulders.

"Whuh happen?" Sunburst said.

"You fainted, sir." Said a white-skinned, pink-haired nurse. "You were very lucky. Your little friend there had a concussion, but she should be fine as long as she rests and stays off that skateboard, Scootaloo!"

"You're not my Mom, Redheart, geez." Scootaloo crossed her arms, then gave a thumbs up to Sunburst. She had a black eye and bruises on her arms, but she seemed otherwise fine. Sunburst sat up from the gurney he was on and found that he was inside of an ambulance. They hadn't left the parking lot.

"Did we win?" Sunburst said.

"Dunno. But check out Officer Dick over there! Looks like she's about to bust a gasket!" Scootaloo said.

"Yes sir, I know that this is out of my--no sir, I am not denying an order, the parking lot looks like a battlefield, am I just supposed to--what do you mean you'll take it out of my retirement!? Sir, these freaks did something here, and they need to be--no. Yes. Yes sir. Yes, sir. Yes." Lightning Dust threw her radio down at the floor of her car. Bon Bon gave a shit-eating grin as the Officer got back out of her car.

"Well?" Bon Bon said.

"You're gettin' off with a warning." Lightning Dust said.

"Is that right? Who could imagine?"

"But if I see any of you getting up to any funny business like this again--"

"You'll detain us? That's a bad idea. You know that's a bad idea, right?"

"What?"

"This is above your pay grade. Now, if there isn't anything else, you're making a scene, and I'm sure these people would appreciate it if you turned your lights down. It's late."

"Yeah, fuck the pigs!" Shouted someone from a nearby balcony.

"I heard that, Garble! You think I can't see you up there!?" Shouted Lightning Dust. The rubberneckers of Buck's apartment complex grumbled some slurs at Lightning Dust, but nobody made a move. Lightning Dust stared at the balconies, then at Bon Bon, and snarled. Bon Bon smiled and waved dismissively.

The spinning lights came to a stop, and people clapped and hooted as the cop car pulled away, then went back to their business.

"Where's Starlight?" Sunburst said, looking around.

"I dunno, probably wherever Adagio is?" Scoots said, shrugging. She bit off the top of a stick of jerky. Sunburst reached into the front of his soaked shirt and pulled out a sensing stone on a chain. It had Starlight's name carved into the front. Sunburst touched it, and a beam of light pointed up to an apartment on the far end of the lot.

"Oh no." Sunburst said, rising.

"Oh yeah?" Scoots said.

"Scoots, Starlight is in Buck's apartment. Buck is in there.

"Uh huh. So what?"

"So, who do you think got attacked first tonight!?" Sunburst ran for the stairs, nearly tripping over a puddle.

"Ah ah ah! You two need to sit here and rest for a little bit! I don't know what you've been up to and I frankly don't get paid enough to care, but if you try to run off and get even more beat up, I will dope you both, you hear me?" Barked Nurse Redheart. Scoots and Sunburst looked at each other, then pouted in unison.

"They're going to want a report, Sunburst. I've got the video, but I think you should tell them what happened tonight." Bon Bon said, stepping over.

"What am I supposed to tell them, Sweetie Drops? Everything went to hell."

"From a certain point of view, sure. But, if you look at it another way, you might say that you tracked down the home base of a deadly villain from Equestria, saved all the captives, knocked it out, then went toe to toe with said queen bitch, managed to beat her back with your team, and no one even got hurt! I'd call that an overall win." Sweetie Drops smiled.

"But she got away! And what about Adagio?" Sunburst said. Sweetie Drops' smile dropped.

"That's the tricky part. I have no idea how to call this. You said she had the beginnings of redemption in your previous report, but did she look in any way reformed to you?"

"...no. She was protecting her interests, pure and simple."

"Do you really think that?" Scoots said, looking almost offended.

"Sunburst, Adagio Dazzle harnessed the power of friendship, tonight. She fought a villain. She was winning! If she's only doing this to get to, what's his name?"

"Buck."

"If she's just doing all of this to get back to Buck's magic, she can probably be negotiated with. Would you say that Adagio Dazzle is reasonable when fed?" Sunburst said 'Yes', while Scoots smirked and said 'No'. Sunburst glared at Scoots.

"I mean, yeah?" Bon Bon turned to Scoots.

"Who are you exactly?"

"You first, lady!"

"Fair enough. Sunburst, how we move forward from here on is going to be critical. We need to keep Adagio Dazzle on our side. However you do it, fix whatever the drama is, and figure it out. I'll support you as best I can, but you know how the top brass can be."

"I do, I do. Thanks, Sweetie Drops, for everything."

"Don't mention it." The cream-colored woman said.

"What about Buck?"

"Buck? Right, he's the other half of this...uh, don't talk about him so much in the report. People know he's got juice, but no one is really chasing that up right now. So, I guess, just keep him calm." She shrugged as she walked out of the lot and into the storm. After a few seconds, the sound of her yelling for a taxi echoed through the night, and then she was gone.

"Did you have to hit him with the bat? Don't you have like a sleep spell or somethin'?" Ditzy said. She had laid Buck across the couch with his head comfortably in her lap after she bandaged it.

"Sleep spells are elusive. Kind of the deal with components for illusion magic in general. Expensive." Starlight shrugged. She was standing awkwardly against the wall. "So yeah, I had to bean him over the head."

"You were smiling."

"I was glad that I got here in time." Starlight said. Ditzy Doo sat awkwardly for a bit before she found something else to say.

"So, did you know I was here?"

"I honestly didn't. This is all a coincidence; I promise."

"Would you have visited if you knew?"

"...I wouldn't want to remind you of Fillydelphia."

"Well...how've you been, Starlight?"

"Honestly? Really well. I'm dating a great guy, and when I'm not being thrown around by monsters, things mostly make sense. How about you?"

"Things've been up and down, but mostly normal. I guess nothing lasts forever, huh?" Quiet sat like a lump in the throat between the two women. "Starlight...what was that? What was happening to Buck?"

"You already know, Ditzy." Starlight frowned.

"There has to be a name for it." Ditzy said. Starlight sighed.

"...when a creature is directly exposed to a whole lot of magical energy while in a heightened emotional state, it can change them. They start to resemble a more powerful 'truer' form of themselves. In the case of humans, they often take on features from their equestrian counterparts. When this happens and the creature maintains their mental faculties and self control, it's called 'Ascension'."

"And what happens when they don't?" Ditzy said, looking down at Buck's sleeping face.

"That's called 'Demonification'. It traps a person in a state of mania related to whatever their strongest emotion is. Usually these forms are extremely temporary, but if the creature stays in that emotional state for too long, they can get stuck like that. Without intervention, the change can become permanent. This is what happened with--"

"With Sunset Shimmer and Twilight Sparkle and Gloriosa Daisy." Ditzy cut in.

"...right. Buck naturally generates a whole lot of magic when he gets emotional."

"And he's an emotional man already." Ditzy said. She stroked Buck's cheek and smiled down at him.

"Ditzy, I know you've been through a lot tonight already, and we have a lot of catching up to do, but I want you to know that if you need to get away from here, Sunburst and I can help you, whenever you need. You don't have to look after him like this. I know if it was me, I wouldn't want to, especially considering...you know, what happened. It's a lot of responsibility." Starlight said.

"Is that your roundabout way of asking me to take care of him?" Ditzy Doo smiled. "You haven't changed at all, Starlight."

"You don't have to do anything you don't want to. But I will admit...I'd rather it be you then that freaky fish woman." Starlight said.

"She came to check on him."

"She came because she was thirsty."

"Starlight, I looked in her eyes. She was terrified for him."

"She doesn't care about him, Ditzy, she just wants his magic. Look, we need to focus. Buck is...after what he went through tonight and this week and...well, every day since he met Adagio, he's not going to be the same. Buck was having a total mental breakdown, and if we had let it go on, who knows what he would have turned into!"

"He got weirdly fuzzy." Ditzy said. Her fingers were running along Buck's forehead, then his lips.

"He needs my help."

"He needs therapy, Starlight. We all do."

"You know he can't afford that."

"Yeah..."

"But there is another way. I work for a nonprofit that deals with this sort of thing. Not everything can be directly covered up, but there are sometimes witnesses to things that are better left forgotten, so they use these." Starlight said. She pulled a small oval stone from her purse. It had a runic eye carved into the side of it.

"What is it?"

"It's a replica memory stone; a sort of artifact. I can use this to make Buck forget some things about tonight, but we'll have to fill in the blanks; whisper in his ear before he wakes up. The effect may be unstable, but we can get Buck back to normal and skip the years of therapy.

"You want to mess with Buck's head!?"

"Only a little! Just enough to help him through this!"

"Is it going to hurt him?"

"No, I don't think so."

"But it still feels wrong."

"But if we don't, Buck might wake up and start turning into that thing again. And I need your help. Buck doesn't trust me, so he'll probably reject what I say, even subconsciously. He trusts you."

"You want me to lie him."

"I want you to help him, Ditzy. I know it's been a long time, but...you've got to trust me. Someone has to."

"Starlight, it's okay. I know you wouldn't be asking if it wasn't important. I trust you, I'm just worried about him. Are you sure this is the right choice?"

"Well, no. But it's the best choice that we've got." Starlight sighed and held the stone over Buck's head. The runes on its surface began to glow with a bluish light. Starlight closed her eyes and chanted a few words.

"Are you going to erase my memory, too?"

"What? No, of course not!"

"But you'll do it to Buck."

"..."

"Hey, once this is all cleaned up, do you want to meet Dinky?" Ditzy said.

"Who's Dinky?"

"She's my daughter, Starlight."

"...oh."

The light flashed, filling the room, and the night's events passed from Buck's memory like a distant dream.

Sunday came as Sundays do, with Ditzy getting up early. Dinky was still conked out, but she was big enough to get herself out of bed when she was ready. She'd had a rough week too.

Ditzy decided it was a plaid shirt and shorts sort of morning. Day. That's right, the Cake's had given her a bit of time off.

Buck wasn't in his bed, and this was surprising until Ditzy remembered that it was Sunday, and so Buck would be jogging.

What was much more shocking was the fact that Buck's living room was no longer even a little bit destroyed. For just a moment, Ditzy wondered if this had been some sort of super elaborate prank, but Starlight had been there and she knew better than to doubt Starlight Glimmer.

Ditzy looked down and realized that she'd started making an omelet without thinking about it. Buck and Dinky both liked a little extra pepper on it. Buck would be back soon, and the fact that he wasn't expecting breakfast was the whole reason Ditzy kept cooking it. Buck would never let Ditzy make him breakfast every morning, so Ditzy had to sneak it to him. It was a little game they played.

Ditzy Doo set the plate down, settled on Buck's couch, tried to think about what came next. Buck had wanted her to run when he changed. This wasn't the same as before. He was scared.

"He must be tired of being scared. I sure am." Ditzy said. She could always take Dinky and run if things got bad.

The door clicked. Ditzy Doo held her breath.

"So that nasty-ass energy drink was like, like poison to her?"

"Yeah man, but that's not the crazy part! She was turning into all sorts of stuff!" Buck and Scootaloo walked into the apartment. Buck was drenched with sweat.

"Does that mean that bug spray works on changelings?"

"I mean, they're sorta bugs right?"

"I guess. So all of you fought her, then?"

"Yeah! You should've seen Adagio out there! She was super anime!"

"Huh. Oh, hey Ditzy!" Buck's face lit up, and Ditzy immediately started blushing.

"Scoots, I'll catch you later. Me and Ditzy need to talk, okay?" Scoots looked from Buck to Ditzy, then smiled and nodded in Ditzy's direction. It was almost sad, that smile.

"Alright, bro. You're sure you're okay?"

"Not really? But it's alright. I'll see you at work."

"'Kay. See you guys later!" Scootaloo said.

Buck waited a few seconds, before opening the door to check for eavesdropping. Then he stepped into his bedroom and came out, wiping his face with a towel. He sat down silently next to Ditzy and stared straight ahead.

"So...I heard you saved my life last night." Buck said.

"Mhm." Ditzy said.

"And now you're here again, servin' me breakfast."

"Mhm."

"And even if I argue, and tell you that you don't gotta do that, you're gonna come in here and do it anyway." Buck said, leaning back. Ditzy saw the corner of his mouth raise.

"You're the one that gave me a spare key, Buck." Ditzy giggled.

"Ditzy...can we talk about it? How you kissed me?"

"...you kissed me back, Buck."

"I sure did, didn't I? Do you regret it?"

"No."

"Would you do it again?" Buck said. His cheeks flushed.

"Are you asking me?"

"No, no!"

"Oh."

"But, just, hypothetically, if I asked you to, would--Mmph!" Ditzy grabbed Buck by the collar and pulled his lips to hers. She was glad his breath tasted like toothpaste and not like beer.

"I. Am so tired. Of you! Acting like! A gentleman around me!" Ditzy punctuated her words with quick kisses. Then her face went red, and she let go of Buck's collar and sheepishly patted his chest. Buck's big warm hand took Ditzy's before she could shrink away.

"Well, Miss Doo, where do we go from here?"

"Do you...do you love her, Buck? I'm serious. Do you love her?" Ditzy said. She didn't look away this time. Both eyes trained on Bucks for a moment.

"It don't matter. She only wants me for my magic." Buck said. Ditzy frowned and grappled with herself for a moment. He likes it when girls are aggressive. Be aggressive!

"Do you think you could love me, Buck?"

"What?"

"Do you think...you could love me?"

"...I don't think I understand the question?" Buck said. He looked genuinely befuddled.

"Don't make me say it again, Purple Prose..."

"Well, of course I love you, Ditzy! Are you kidding me?" Buck said it like he was saying the sky was blue.

Ditzy squeaked in surprise as he scooted closer. She thought maybe her head would explode. That was not the response she had expected.

"Did you not...? Okay, Ditzy listen to me. I love you." Buck's golden gaze stared straight on into Ditzy. He squeezed her hand. "I love you...in the way you love someone that you just can't do without. You are beautiful and brilliant and creative and a wonderful mother and an incredible neighbor and I adore you, Ditzy Doo! There is so much to love about you, and I find something new every time you come over! I can't imagine a life without you or Dinky, because you two are the best thing that's ever happened to me. I love you, Ditzy Doo, and if you don't think I do, I'll say it every day from now on. I'll say it a million times; I love you. You get me? I love you, Ditzy Doo!" By now, Buck had a hand on Ditzy's blazing cheek, watching the astonishment settle into an endorphin-fueled haze.

Ditzy sucked in her lips and started breathing heavily and staring at her lap.

"Do you really mean that, Buck?" Ditzy squeaked. She pinched her arm and found that she wasn't dreaming.

"Every day I spend with you is better, because you're a part of it. If that ain't love, I don't know what is. Hey...hey, look at me. I love you, Ditzy Doo." Buck said. Ditzy rubbed her thighs together nervously and nodded.

"Okay." She whispered.

"But...that ain't what you wanted to hear, is it?" Buck said, sitting up straight. "You wanna know if I'm 'in love' with you, and that's not the same thing."

"...well?" Ditzy looked away.

"Well, I don't know, Ditzy."

"Oh..." Ditzy felt her world start to topple over. Buck's hand landed firmly on her shoulder.

"But...I wanna find out. If you'll have me, we could, uh...we could try, you know? Do you...wanna go out sometime?" Buck said. Now he was the one blushing like a school kid.

"I'd love to, Buck." Ditzy leaned in slowly and planted a kiss on Buck's cheek. The door opened, and the two of them separated and blushed scandalously.

"Good mornin', Mama! Good mornin' Buck!" Said Dinky Doo. Buck imagined an audience applauding as the little blonde wonder walked confidently into the room.

"Heya, Dink! You ready to work out this morning?" Buck said.

"No!"

"Feeling tired today?"

"Just no!" Dinky said, smiling. She sat down between Buck and Ditzy do and kicked her feet.

"'Atta girl." Buck said, tousling her hair.

"What do you wanna do this morning, Dinky?" Ditzy Doo said.

"I wanna watch cartoons with Buck!" Dinky cheered. She hugged Ditzy Doo around the waist by way of greeting, then simply chose not to let go.

"Oh, is that so?" Ditzy said. "Can mama watch with you?"

"I dunno! Is that okay, Buck?" Dinky said with absolute seriousness.

"Why, it'd be my pleasure." Buck said, nodding graciously with a hand over his heart as if he'd just been asked for a dance at the cotillion. He smiled as Ditzy giggled through her blush. "What're we watchin', Dink?"

"I wanna watch Courage!" Dinky said. Buck looked at her, then at Ditzy Doo, who was getting up from the couch. Courage the Cowardly Dog was a sort of mixed media horror cartoon from when they were kids. Ditzy Doo had a grave look on her face which communicated to Buck that she would not tolerate the nightmares that Dinky would surely have.

"That...might be a little too scary for me, Dink. Can you pick something else?"

"Um...I wanna watch Craig!" Ditzy said, tapping her chin. Craig of the Creek was a wonderful show about kids exploring the woods behind their neighborhood. Ditzy nodded.

"That sounds great, Dinky!"

"How do you want your eggs, Dinky?" Ditzy said from the kitchen.

"S...Scarmbled! I want...I want pepper, like Buck!" Dinky said.

"Buck?" Ditzy called. Buck looked over his shoulder, catching Ditzy just as she pulled her hair into a ponytail. Her arms were up, and her chest was pushed out, and Buck remembered suddenly that there was a child next to him, so he crossed his legs.

"Your breakfast is getting cold. Don't you think you should dig in?" Ditzy smiled angelically at Buck, then the egg she was holding slipped out of her hand and hit the floor.

Everything had changed, and yet, somehow, things were exactly the same.

That was how Buck's Summer started.

Author's Note

End of Act 2.
Song Review: Krystalline, for an Alkaline Trio song sounds pretty upbeat, but the core message of it is a toxic feeling. People from a failed relationship coming together, ignoring all their problems, and fucking away the strife. Desire overrides common sense, and a mistake is made over and over again. For Buck, this is a nightmare he's experienced again and again. When he wakes up from it, it's Ditzy's face he sees.