The first thing that Buck thought was that he was actually dead this time. When you've taken a lot of big hits, you start to recognize what it feels like when your brain braces itself. Buck, in his time, had fallen from a two-story window back at home. He'd taken a crowbar to the side of the head in San Franciscolt. He'd tripped over a street corner and managed to save his teeth in exchange for a concussion that was never diagnosed or treated.

He always managed to get back up, but there was an eternity of darkness in the space between impact and stumbling to his feet. It felt the exact same way when he was stomped in the head at the Battle of the Bands.
In that dreaming space, where all that you know is the sensation of falling, Buck's thoughts were mercifully focused. All things considered, being eaten by a dragon that used to be his friend was an upgrade from those. Hell of a thing to put on a tombstone.

Buck woke up in the sky.

Beside him, Buck saw Garble clutched in a claw that was bigger than his torso, conked out. The one holding Buck was firm but gentle, like a labrador's mouth. He tried to pry at one of the scaly orange digits, but it wouldn't budge even a tiny bit.

The air was rushing through his hair, and his glasses had likely departed this world a few stories down; so everything besides the dazzle of the falling sun was blurry and distant.

A sound like the crackling of an exposed wire shook Buck's eardrums, and everything suddenly sped up.

The sky twisted as Smolder tumbled on new, uncertain wings through the air. The sight of people running for their lives across the fair suddenly give way to Canterlot's skyline in the distance.

Another blast of sound, this time with a cyan flash, sent Buck's world spiraling, and Buck knew then that it must be Starlight Glimmer. He looked behind but could only see a few blurry shapes in the air beyond Smolder's undulating tail. Starlight had taken to the air as she did at the Boardwalk, and Sunburst was probably with her. The fair was just beneath him now, the roofs of cottages charging past his face at shredding speed. Smolder dipped, and Buck saw and felt her raptor feet tear a rumbling path right through the shingles as she tried to remain aloft.

There was a shout, then a blast of magic struck Smolder in the side, but she flipped and banked, and Buck was blinded by a sudden gout of searing flame in the direction of his salvation. And it just kept coming. Through Buck's pained squinting, he could see the figure whizz through the air like a gnat trying to avoid the weaponized backdraft, fleeing away and around.

"Smolder! Smolder, what're you doin'!?" Buck screamed, and the flames lessened. Buck looked up into the swiveling eye of the beast and saw a spark of confusion that got quickly replaced with cold, reptilian malice.

"SMOLDER WANT!" The beast roared. Buck looked around and saw the fair bobbing out in front of him. People were fleeing, but more were standing about. Gawking or recording, he guessed.

"Smolder, this isn't you! Let us go!"

"SMOLDER WAAAANT!" The voice was insistent and almost whining, but it sharpened into a screech in time with a sound like a cannon going off. Buck was jerked in Smolder's grasp, and the cyan shine left spots in his eyes.
The flames returned, fanning as Smolder fell from the sky in a low arc. She flipped and clutched Buck and Garble to her chest, crashing through something that sounded sturdy.

"Garble, wake up!" Buck shouted through the dust. Rubble shifted and crunched all around as Smolder tried to roll onto her stomach. Garble was predictably useless, still zonked after his near-death experience. Buck couldn't blame him, but that didn't make him any less mad. "Garble, wake the fuck up!"

"Get me closer!" Shouted a voice from above. It wasn't Sunbursts' or Starlight's.

"So you can make things worse!?" Starlight shouted.

"Just stay out of my way, you tacky little hobby horse!" That vaguely shakespearean insult could only come from one person, Buck thought. He was answered by a glint of steel in the air that suddenly piked into the wing right next to him. Smolder's pained howl was miles away from Buck as he looked upon Adagio, hunched over in her fair attire, her battle dress fluttering in the breeze. She had impaled Smolder's wing with her rapier, and the sheer satisfaction in her eye was more frightening than Smolder's wrath.

"If thou wilt needs marry, marry a fool; for wise men know well enough what monsters you make of them." Buck muttered, and Adagio suddenly realized he was there.

"...Hamlet?"

"You." Buck spat.

Smolder kicked her back legs and howled, but beams of cyan light kept hitting her from above. Starlight was strafing through the air, trying to keep Smolder occupied.

"Buck, I know you're upset--"

"Oh you fuckin' think? I don't even know where to start! How about the fact that you just stabbed my friend!?"

"Buck, I'm going to save you, but I need a little bit of energy--"

"Are you fuckin' serious!?"

"Just a little bit!"

Buck began to protest, but then his eyes rolled back. A furious red haze streamed out of his mouth and into Adagio's.

Smolder saw Buck shuddering limply. Her heartbeat slowed, her eyes narrowing.

Her muscles contracted, then grew in size. Adagio dove to catch her blade as it was tossed from Smolder's expanding wing, the stab wound healing fast enough to send the blade flying out. She rolled over, having doubled in size, then blasted into the air once more.

"SOMEBODY FUCKING HELP MEEEEE!" Buck shrieked.

Adagio's palm grew sore as she squeezed the handle of her blade, watching helplessly while Smolder flew off to the edge of the fairgrounds.

"That is the second time this month that I've had to watch another woman run off with Buck." She grumbled.

She sneered as Starlight Glimmer flew down on her spear to pick her up. When Smolder had pounced, Starlight had dove one way, animated her spear, and expected Sunburst to ride on the back, like usual. What happened instead is that Sunburst hit the ground, and when Starlight looked back, she had seen Adagio instead. A predictable argument had broken out then and was still in progress.

"Every bit of this is your fault!" Starlight said.

"I am painfully aware of that!" Starlight Glimmer cringed as Adagio's face turned into a fanged monstrosity for the space of her shriek.

"Woah, that's new!" Starlight said, but Adagio simply straddled the floating spear Starlight was riding on.

"I've taken in some of Buck's emotions." Adagio said as they raced after Smolder. "He's terribly upset!" Came another involuntary yell.

"Oh, I wonder why? Is it because you ruin his life every time you step into it!?" Starlight shouted against the wind. Smolder twisted and spun low, just barely passing over people's heads in an attempt to shake her pursuer, but Starlight stayed near her tail until the dragon perched on top of the stone turret overlooking the fairgrounds and opened her jaws.

"Stop talking and blast that bitch out of the sky, you blabbering fustilarian!" Adagio shouted as Starlight rushed away from another gout of flame.

"No, no, keep insulting me, that'll help! I'm out of quartz! Don't you have any evocations!?"

"Evocations are for imperious idiots with tiny imaginations!" Adagio hissed.

"Are you talking about me!?" Starlight balked, dodging Smolder's snapping jaws.

"Yes! You're practically a unicorn, EXCEPT UNICORNS HAVE MAGIC!"

"Oh, you BITCH!" Starlight shouted. In the midst of Starlight's distraction, another blast of incinerating heat came at the odd duo.

"Cover your ears!" Adagio said, but when Starlight complied, the sound was still loud enough to shake her eardrums.

It was the kind of shriek reserved for banshees and the odd thrash metal band, knocking the pair backward. Starlight watched the flame suddenly flicker out under the pressure of the wail, which then blasted the sense out of Smolder.

The dragon shuddered from the force of the blast, but she still held Buck and Garble against her underbelly, hunching over them.

"What? How does that work?"

"Foolish foal! The pressure from the sound waves dispersed the oxygen from the flame, putting it out in an instant! Didn't you take basic alchemy, or second semester air magic!?"

"What are you talking about!?

Smolder recovered and batted the two away with the swipe of a tail. A glimmering shield of cyan light caught the strike, but with nothing to brace it, Adagio and Starlight were spiked away like a volleyball.

Smolder looked around, and in the absence of a rogue witch on a broom or an apache attack chopper, she carefully reached through the top window of the tower and placed Garble, then Buck inside. She then dug her claws into the top of the turret, prepared to lash out at the slightest provocation.

Down at the Proving Grounds, as people stampeded for the exits or alternatively recorded the battle on their phones, Sunburst watched as an arcane bubble containing the love of his life was flung into a building across the grounds with a tremendous crash.

He was on his stomach in the grit after diving away from a swooping Smolder.

"Starlight! Oh, this is bad, this is so incredibly bad! Okay, okay, focus Sunburst, Starlight needs you!" Sunburst stopped his scrambling in place and tried to assess. All around him, people were running.

Smoke.

He saw smoke and followed it down to see that the dragon's flames had caught some buildings. That was going to be a big problem, very soon, but it wasn't as important as...

"Dinky? Dinky Doo? Where's Dinky? Where's my baby!?" Said Ditzy Doo, her golden hair swaying behind her frantically searching eyes.

...as important as keeping Ditzy from panicking about the fact that she had lost her child in the chaos. Where was Scootaloo?

"Where's my baby, Sunburst!? You and Scootaloo were supposed to watch her!" Ditzy said, shaking Sunburst by the shoulders.

"Uh, well, if Scoots has her, they're at least moving fast!" Sunburst tried.

"Where's Buck? Where did Adagio go? What's going on? Is that a dragon!?" Ditzy panicked.

"Okay, okay, Ditzy Doo, I need you to stay with me. In and out...in and out. Breathe..."

"Okay, I'm calm, I'm calm..." Ditzy said, closing her eyes.

"This is like what happened at the Boardwalk, except Smolder has turned into a monster, and I don't know why."

"You were supposed to say something comforting! Ditzy whined.

"I'm sorry, I know. Ditzy? Hey, listen, we're going to get through this, but I need you to stay calm and stick with me."

"I need to find my baby, Sunburst!"

"I know, I know. We're going to find Dinky, okay?"

"Okay...okay...."

"Now, the first thing we need to do is..." Sunburst started walking in the direction of the smoldering buildings, then stopped mid-step as he heard a rolling growl behind him. He turned his head and saw Smolder staring at him and sniffing the air.

"Uh...?" Ditzy said, clutching Marianne in both hands. She happened to be standing between Sunburst and Smolder, who snorted sparks in Ditzy's direction. Blazing malice shone in her eyes as she braced like a cat about to pounce.

"The...first thing we should do is run for our lives!"

"SMOLDER WANT!" The beast roared.

Behind and a little underneath the destroyed bleachers, Scoots held Dinky Doo to her side as people rushed past.

"It's gonna be okay, Dinky...just stick with auntie Scoots and you're gonna be just fine..." Scoots said. Dinky whimpered quietly in response, refusing to look up.

Scoots' eyes were on a different prize. The person in the dark cloak was slowly moving away through the crowd. The fact that they had moved away right before Buck's friend exploded told Scoots that something was suspicious about this whole thing, and she wanted to get to the bottom of it.

A great roar tore through the fair, and then the ground shook as something heavy crashed into the ground a ways away.

Unsettled by the shake of the earth, a fleeing fair goer smacked into Scoots' shoulder, nearly knocking her off balance. When Scoots looked again, the cloaked figure moved to the shade of an empty booth on the edge of the proving ground.

"Okay, Dinky...we're going to follow that goon and see what's up. We'll have to be quiet; he looks all kinds of sus." Scoots said. She tried to pat Dinky's head but instead patted her lap because Dinky wasn't clinging to her anymore.

Dinky was scrambling down the way. Ahead of her was the gold foil-wrapped gift she had gotten for Ditzy. Its red ribbon had gotten dirty, and it looked like it had been knocked out of the kid's hands, but as she got closer to it, one of the fleeing pedestrians kicked it further into the stampede, toward the stalls and cottages.

"Oh, no no no!" Scoots said, scrambling after her.

Scoots dove for Dinky and found only air as the young yak cosplayer barely avoided a boot to the face by bending over to get the package, but then a panicked woman knocked the box away again.

"Dinky! Dinky, come on, I'm supposed to be lookin' out for you!" Scoots shouted. For a second, she had Dinky around the waist, but the little gremlin wriggled out of her grasp and started running, only barely saved from being trampled when Scoots pulled her out of the way of a fleeing family.

"I gotta get Mama's present! It's big important! It's my quest!" Dinky said, moving her little legs at a speed that Scoots found shocking. She'd been lapping sprinters for almost four semesters, and somehow the scrambling kid was too quick and unpredictable for her to catch.

Dinky chased after the package as it was smacked around like a hockey puck, and by the time Scoots got her arms around the child, they'd wandered away from the action and the cloaked figure.

"Ughhh...I did not come here prepared to fight a dragon..." Starlight Glimmer groaned. Through the haze of smoke, she could see Smolder diving at the ground over and over. The animated spear was floating dutifully adjacent to where they crashed.

Starlight checked the utility pouch she wore on a belt outside her armor. She was always prepared for a conflict, but a dragon was out of her depth. They had a degree of resistance to most forms of physical harm and even some weaker spells. Starlight had used up all her quartz by firing those arcane bolts before.

Her fingers flipped frantically through the little pockets.

"One piece of obsidian, one bald eagle feather, petrified orb weaver, and..."

She had the components for one more barrier, a levitation spell, and an arcane trap spell. Her only other option was a small jade stone with a hole. A drain magic spell could give her a piece of the dragon's power, but the thought of using it made her feel disgusting.

"SMOLDER WANT!" The roar could be heard across the fair.

Starlight looked over as Adagio picked herself up from the rubble, having suffered no damage besides the dust in her hair but looking absolutely furious. As their eyes met, Adagio seemed to tense up, like the very sight of Starlight Glimmer made her want to crush a skull.

"Stop staring at me like that!" Adagio exploded.

"Like what!?" Starlight spat.

Adagio looked away and started pacing in the rubble. Her fingers rubbed nervously at her clavicle, and she muttered numbers, eyes shut.

"1...2...3...4...I...cannot...think straight like this!" Adagio hissed, and Starlight saw a puff of hazy red smoke escape her eyes. "I may have taken in a bit too much of Buck's anger and frustration...it's like someone is flicking the ear of my soul lightly and repeatedly!" Adagio growled.

"Uhh..."

"SHUT UP! New plan, dear, I need to get to Buck so I can save him. Can you distract the dragon?"

"With what? If it charges me, I've got one barrier, and then that's it, and I doubt that an arcane trap cast by me will be strong enough to hold it for long!"

"SMOLDER WANT!"

"GAHHH! SOMEBODY HELP ME!"

"Sunburst!" Starlight looked up in the air and saw that Smolder had grabbed a flailing orange figure in her claw.

"Look at me! Look at me! Do you want to save him!?" Adagio said, grabbing Starlight's shoulder. In her eyes, anger was fighting tooth and claw against determination.

"Yes!" Starlight said through gritted teeth.

"Then get me close to that tower! One I'm there, you just need to distract the beast while I get Buck!"

"I just told you that-"

"Just do it! There's obviously no time to argue!" Adagio said, gesturing at Smolder, who was now wheeling in the air, carrying Sunburst in the direction of the tower.

"Fine!" Starlight said, getting on the spear.

Adagio stood and balanced right behind her, grabbing her waist. Starlight could hear her breaths slow as they took to the air once more.

"What exactly is your plan!?" Starlight shouted against the wind. Smolder hadn't noticed them.

"I'm going to get Buck to lend me enough magic to tie this up!"

"You really think he would comply with you after you destroyed his date?"

"If he wants to live, then YES! Now stop squawking; I'm about to do you a favor!" Adagio said.

"What in the world would that be?"

"I'm going to show you what it feels like to have true power!"

Adagio hummed a quick tune, which sounded disjointed and even a bit discordant to Starlight. The notes bounced around in her skull like angry bees, and suddenly Starlight felt the muscles of her face tighten. Her jaw clenched, and her heart started to pound. A rush of emotion flooded her mind until everything narrowed into a needle point of intention. She was glad that no one could see her smile.

"Ohhh...this feels good~."

Buck wasn't sure how to feel now. He had been totally furious and terrified, but he wasn't feeling that anymore. Adagio had pulled a lot of anger out of him, it seemed, so what was left was confusion and anxiety. In this circumstance, Buck found that focus came quickly to him despite the storm inside his head. He didn't know if this was a good or bad thing.

"The door. There's gotta be a way out!"

Buck looked around the dim room and saw a host of sealed wooden crates coated in a thin layer of dust.

There was also a door, but when Buck rattled it, he heard the thump of what he assumed was a padlock on the other side.

"Storage room...locked from the outside. Muscle the door? No, looks thick. Rappel down?" Buck looked around and didn't see any notable signs painted on the wooden crates. He tried pulling up the edge of one but only got a splinter for his trouble.

"Prop room? Tools for setting up the fair? Without a crowbar, I ain't gonna know. Can't be just trapped here...gotta be a way out." Buck looked around and saw a tool he didn't need.

Garble was still out cold, though it looked like Smolder had propped him up against a crate so that he was sitting up.

Buck looked out through the small triangular window he'd been deposited in and found that it was definitely large enough to squeeze through, but no amount of sucking in his gut would prevent him from falling through the air on the other side.

Outside, he could see parts of the fair had caught fire, and he could see his best friend cradled in Smolder's claws. Down below, he could make out the shape of Ditzy Doo running to the edge of the fighting ring. Good. Even if everyone died, Buck could never accept Ditzy getting crushed or charred by someone he called a friend.

Smolder was turning in the air, coming back toward the tower when she stopped suddenly and turned and hovered impossibly on her flapping wings.

Something thin and dark had plinked off her scales, and both she and Buck looked down to see Ditzy Doo readying another arrow. Her empty duffle bag was at her feet, her shield and sword laid atop it. In that moment, she looked every bit the valorous knight she dressed as.

"You...! You leave him alone!" Ditzy's said in a cracking voice.

"DITZY GET OUT OF THERE!" Buck screamed, some 20 feet over her head.

Smolder sucked in a lungful of air, her tongue sparking as she prepared to do the unthinkable. Ditzy began to flee, but Buck knew that she'd never get away in time. This was the cost of his magic. If Buck was foolish enough to love someone, they would eventually be killed, and it was all his fault.

But just as Smolder was about to incinerate the love of Buck's life, a red bolt straight out of the blue smashed into the side of Smolder's face, sending the dragon crashing into the ground. Buck squinted through the dust and saw a figure land in front of Ditzy Doo, between the toppled Smolder and the tower. A claw held Sunburst in the air, looking shocked and confused, though not as confused as Smolder herself, who rolled to her feet and held Sunburst to her chest.

Ditzy looked this newcomer up and down, and after a second, she recognized her.

"Starlight? Is that you?" Ditzy said. Her armor glowed like a hot poker, her hair floated above her head like the flame of a candle, and where a spear had been earlier, she was holding a lance of sizzling red energy.

"Go find your daughter, Ditzy. I'll handle this monster." Starlight said. It was a barked command that shuddered Ditzy Doo and brought a sudden, vulnerable blush to her cheeks. She nodded and turned away but stopped short.

"...be careful!" Ditzy said before running in the direction of the crowd.

"You! Let him go!" Starlight said, pointing with authority at Sunburst. Smolder let off a rumbled warning and tensed her bulging muscles. Her wings flexed as if ready to take off.

"Starlight, what are you doing!? My friend is in here!" Sunburst said. "What's happened to you?"

Sunburst saw the blazing red haze in her eyes. He had maybe read an example of this in a spellbook once or twice before.

"Let him go before I rip the heart out of your chest, you monster!" Starlight barked, unimpeded.

Smolder roared a fountain of flame into the air.

"I was hoping you'd say that." Starlight growled and then ripped through the air like a rifle round.

Instead of piercing Smolder's heart, Starlight swung the lance like a baseball bat, smacking the side of Smolder's draconic head. Sunburst's protests were lost in the chaos as Smolder rebounded with a swipe of the tail and then a stream of flame. Starlight leapt through the air and charged back in the second her feet hit the ground.

There was no sign of the careful poise that Starlight seemed to cultivate, nor was there any sign of pain as Smolder swiped and sent Starlight sprawling through the proving ground's fence.

There was only pure fury.

Through the din, sensitive ears could have sworn they heard Starlight laughing as she took Smolder by the tail and somehow hurled her into the base of the tower.

Adagio hovered above the battle, sitting side-saddle on Starlight's forgotten spear, waiting for an opening that just wasn't coming. Every time she approached the tower, that meathead Starlight was smacked into it or slammed the big scaly one into it.

"It's been less than a minute, and she's already losing herself." Adagio tsked. "Of course she's always seething, so it makes sense that she'd be vulnerable to rage magic, but still."

Adagio watched as Smolder scrambled to the top of the tower and flailed at Starlight with her tail before Starlight leaped up and smashed the beasts' back with her lance. A howl of pain echoed across the fairgrounds.

"She could at least try to give me an opening!" Adagio said. Somewhere in the middle of the melee, Adagio could hear Sunburst screaming for the two to stop fighting, and she could also hear Ditzy Doo crying out for her child.

She had a moment to breathe with Buck's fury out of her, leaving her to wonder how exactly she would convince him to give her a type of mana she could handle. Manipulation wouldn't work, nor would force if she had any hope of winning him back. She wasn't sure what she would do once she got into that tower, but she was poised to get in as soon as possible.

"Dinky! Dinky Doo! Are you out there!?" Ditzy yelled through the smoke and the crowd and her own stinging eyes. Ditzy reflected that in normal circumstances, people would be more than happy to bowl her over without a second thought, but there must have been something about how she looked in armor and carrying a furious-looking hammer over her shoulder that made the seas part. She moved at a near jog as she searched for Dinky through the smoke, covering her mouth when she wasn't shouting.

Ditzy startled at the sound of a splintering crack beside her. The cottages were aflame, and for a second Ditzy worried for her stall, but it was eclipsed by the raw fear clutching at her heart. If Starlight was on it, she was sure that Buck would be okay, but her daughter was out here in this mess, and she needed to get her out as quick as possible.

"DINKY! DINKY, WHERE ARE YOU!?" Ditzy's guilt was immeasurable. She hadn't ignored her daughter, but she'd spent so much energy on Buck and Adagio, she hadn't even considered spending time at the fair with her. She had wanted the ren fair to be something that they did together as a family. She wanted Dinky to grow up with it every year, but now she wasn't even sure if she'd make it past the evening. She squeezed Marianne's handle and tried not to weep, no matter how badly her eyes stung. Her daughter was here, somewhere, and she needed her Mama. It was time to be strong.

"Mama!? I'm here, Mama!" She heard at last. Ditzy ran in the direction of that unmistakable voice, her heart returning to life.

"DINKY! MAMA'S COMIN', JUST STAY THERE!" And she ran, and she sang in her heart, and she turned a corner. The stalls all around were filled with oddities and shiny baubles. The smoke here was lighter; this side of the fair avoiding the blaze so far, but it wouldn't last. And there in the center, one hand in Scootaloo's, was Dinky, who on sight dashed to her mother's arms.

"My baby! Oh, Mama was so scared!" Ditzy said, lifting her daughter up in an arm. She wondered how long she'd still be able to do this, but the thought was buried as Dinky threw her arms around her neck.

"I'm okay, Mama! Auntie Scoots was there!" Dinky smiled. Ditzy looked at Scootaloo with a mixture of shock and deep relief. Scootaloo looked almost shyly by and waved.

"Scootaloo, thank you. I know we haven't really talked, but thank you so much for looking out for my daughter. And my Buck." Ditzy said with a smile. Scoots blushed at that and kicked a foot, staring guiltily at the ground.

"...Actually, there's something I need to tell you?"

"What's that? ...Is it about this morning? You can relax; I'm not worried."

"Yeah, Auntie Scoots, relax!" Dinky parroted.

"No, it's about Adagio!" Scoots said. Ditzy clenched her teeth in fury, looking over her shoulder at the madness that the fair had become.

"Oooh, I'm gonna..." She looked at Dinky. "I'm...gonna...have a very....uh, stern conversation with that woman." Ditzy petered off.

"That's just it, Ditzy! This isn't her fault! I think I saw who did it!"

"What? Really?"

"It was someone in a dark cloak. There was this...kinda chime I heard, and that's when Smolder flipped out!"

"Okay, well, we'll have to talk to Starlight about that once we're outta here and everyone is safe!"

"Mama, look! I got you a present! Open!" Dinky said.

"Later, baby. Right now, we need to get you safe at home, okay?"

"...okay mama." Dinky said, in that devastated way that children talk when you tell them to wait for dessert.

"I promise I'll open it later, okay?" Ditzy said, smiling. She could hear the sounds of the dragon roaring and big, heavy blows landing. "Once we're safe!"

"You might be waiting a while. Did you say Starlight was fighting the dragon?" Scoots said, looking past Ditzy.

"Yeah?"

"Then she probably did that. We gotta move!" Scoots shouted, grabbing Ditzy by the arm and pulling her and Dinky off the road. A second later, the trio was rumbled by a world-shaking thud as Smolder landed back first in the center of the road.

"Smolder, please! You don't have to fight!" Sunburst said, but the dragon paid him no mind.

Scoots and the gang ducked their heads behind a stall selling a variety of wood-carved goods which rattled in the wake of Smolder's skid landing. Smolder scrambled to her feet just in time to take a body blow from Starlight, who bashed relentlessly with the side of her mana lance. Smolder brought a claw down to smash the woman, but Starlight's lance disappeared, allowing Starlight to grab the talon with both hands, pushing up against it.
Her body was shaking, but so was the dragon's claw as it was gradually pushed back.

"Starlight! Starlight, listen to me! I know you're angry right now, but you can't hurt Smolder! She's a human being, she's just been enchanted!" Sunburst pleaded.

"Quiet! All you ever do is hover and dote on me! Adagio is a monster, but she was right about one thing!" Starlight shouted. There was a brutal crack as she smashed her mailed fist into Smolder's pinky claw. "I needed this!" Starlight grinned with malice as the beast howled, and suddenly the lance was back in her hands. With a brutal thrust, Starlight impaled Smolder in the side of her underbelly, and the beast's scream sounded mostly human. The claw opened, letting Sunburst hit the ground, but though he ran forward to embrace Starlight, she walked straight past him and pointed her lance at the wounded dragon.

"Starlight...please. Just listen to me. Neither of you are in your right mind; just let me explain! You're not a murderer, and I know you don't want to do this." Sunburst gently held Starlight's wrist, knowing that everything could change with one clean twitch of her arm.

"Why should I listen to you!?"

"Because I love you. And you know that all I want is for you to be safe." Sunburst said. Starlight jerked her wrist out of his grasp, but Sunburst wrapped his arms around her waist. Smolder shuddered and groaned, but her head swiveled away on its serpentine neck and seemed to spot something nearby.

"I know you want to solve this; all you've ever wanted is to fix everything that's wrong around you! But this isn't the way, and this isn't you! Please. Put it down."

Scoots squinted and held a hand to her ear. Across from where Sunburst was embracing Starlight, Smolder's face had disappeared into one of the stalls, from which Scoots could hear a sound like stepping on loose gravel.

Starlight's chest rose and fell with her haggard breaths. Ditzy Doo carefully watched her expression even as she covered Dinky's eyes. Here was everything she knew to fear from magic, but then, so too did she see the answer.

Sunburst held Starlight tenderly, and Ditzy watched the fury fall from her eyes. The lance which would have killed Smolder fizzled out like a doused fire pit, and the hand which held it slid down to touch Sunbursts' at Starlight's waist.

The roiling red energy evaporated off Starlight in waves, but instead of disappearing, Sunburst watched it waft away and curve into a nearby alleyway and under the cloak of a dark silhouette.

"That can't be me...it can't be..." Starlight whispered. Sunburst looked back at her and gently took her hand.

"It's not, Starlight. You are not your anger. It's okay." Sunburst said. He glanced at the alley, and the figure was gone.

"Uh, guys?" Scoots said. Smolder raised her head to reveal that she was crunching a variety of gold and silver jewelry between her teeth. Her reptilian gaze swept past Sunburst and Starlight and instead fell on Dinky Doo, still holding the gift box, wrapped in scuffed gold foil.

"It's not okay, actually. We should very definitely be running right now!" Sunburst said.

"Sunburst, what's going on? You have to have figured it out by now!" Starlight said. Everyone backed up a few places as the dragon glowered.

"Right, right...I've read about this. It's dragon sickness! It's a condition that usually happens when a dragon fixates on something they want, but it causes--"

Smolder growled and hunched over once more, and then her scaly form doubled in size again. The puncture at her side closed instantly as the shiny gold package reflected in her eyes.

"Can you give us the short version!?" Ditzy said. She had Dinky in her arms as she inched behind Starlight and Sunburst.

"She's going to keep growing until she hits her maximum size...and she's going to build a horde of her fixation, and then anything else she thinks is valuable!" Sunburst said, just as Smolder's eyes fell on him again.

"What're we supposed to do about that!?" Ditzy said.

"SMOLDER WAAAANT!"

"RUN!" Sunburst screamed.

In the meantime, Buck had managed to kick the storeroom door a few times, and for his valiant effort, he had gained a sore foot. It sounded like things were only getting worse out there, Garble was still unconscious, and Buck was starting to unravel. It wasn't the bleary-eyed beginning of a depressive tantrum. It was the dull shock he got whenever he had to clean a heinous mess out of the bathroom at work.

"If I don't do something, this is gonna be the rest of my life."

There would never be a day that he would go to the park with Ditzy and Dinky and just wander around without fear of some monster coming to tear them apart. He was a monster now, and no one would ever be safe around him. Buck covered his mouth and tried not to sob, just as he heard the thump of boots hitting the floor behind him.

"Buck? I know you don't want to see me right now, but I need you." Said a familiar voice.

"Why? Why do you keep doing this, Adagio?" Buck shrunk down to the floor, refusing to look back. "You know what I am and you know what's at stake and you still come after me. And now everything's fucked because of me. Why?" Buck whimpered.

Adagio tasted Buck's emotion and found an indescribable coldness. It was so much like the embrace of home; it chilled Adagio to the bone. Buck was retreating from this situation into a numbness that Adagio knew far too well.

"This wasn't your doing. I've seen how your magic works. You would have had to touch her intimately to change her, but that's not what happened. One minute she was human, and the next she was a dragon. Whatever magic caused this, it wasn't yours."

"Then who? Why!? Did you do this?"

"...In a manner of speaking. I was goading that girl. I wasn't trying to, but my proximity to her brother may have had a hand in this situation."

"Why are you even here, Adagio!? Why did you have to come out and screw with my date!? I thought...I thought I could have just one week where nothing goes wrong, where I can enjoy some time with Ditzy and everyone else, and you had to come and piss all over it! Why!? Is this a game to you, Adagio!? Are you having fun!?" Buck rose and turned to Adagio, and she refused to show him fear, even as his eyes glowed, and his despair spilled out and threatened to reduce her to shivers.

"Me being here was a genuine coincidence. I...suppose I was testing the waters and prodding at Ditzy Doo, but there's more to it than that, I swear."

"Why won't you just leave us alone!?"

"I can't do that, Buck."

"WHY THE FUCK NOT!?" Buck bellowed.

"Because you need me. We don't have much time, Buck, but can we please sit down?" Adagio said, taking a seat on a crate, patting the spot next to her.

Buck looked at her incredulously, and after he considered throwing himself out the second-story window, he put his hands on his face and muttered something.

"A man listens before he speaks." Buck groaned as he sat down next to Adagio.

"Buck...sometimes in life, you pass through doors without even knowing it. Something small, even innocuous happens, and you look around and the whole world seems different. Like making a small decision, or meeting someone exceptional." Adagio reached for Buck's hand, but he pulled it away, refusing to look at her. "That is where you are right now. You were always magical, but it didn't manifest until I arrived in your life and shook things up. Am I correct to think that?" Buck nodded.

"Even if I stay away from you, there will be other entities that will come to claim you and use your power. Because power attracts power, and you are far more powerful than you know."

"I'm just a man, Adagio. I never asked for any of this. I was supposed to be...I was supposed to tell stories. This thing...its not what I'm supposed to be, and now it's my whole life and nothing will ever be the same." Buck said. Adagio could taste him fighting back tears.

"...you don't always get to choose. Sometimes you get trapped in a situation, and the only thing to do is adapt or die. And if I leave you alone, something will inevitably come for you, and you won't be able to handle it alone."

"I can't handle any of this shit, Adagio."

"But you can. You just don't have the right tools yet." Adagio said. She turned Buck's head to face her, and Buck could finally see the genuine care in her eyes.

"Why are you telling me this?"

"...I'm taking responsibility for what I've done. Your life isn't going to go back to the way it was, but that doesn't have to be a bad thing, Buck. You were miserable, weren't you? But now you have the power to change, and be something greater than you were before. You don't have to be like Ditzy Doo; sitting and waiting for life to happen to you. You're more than that. And I can't stand sitting by and watching you rot and stagnate, especially now that your powers are awakening. I won't stand for it, Buck. I want to help you evolve. Do you understand?"

"So no matter what I do, magic horseshit is going to keep happening to me, and so are you."

"I don't want to happen to you, Buck. I want to help you."

"They why did you fuck with my date, Adagio!? How is that helping anything?"

"IT WAS A MISTAKE!" Adagio screamed. "Even I make them, sometimes...loathe as I am to admit it."

"...you were jealous, weren't you?" Buck said.

"I have no idea what you're talking about, Buck." Adagio said, crossing her arms. She turned toward the window, and in the light of the setting sun, Buck saw the cunning, transactional Adagio melt away into a quiet pout.

"Heh...hahahaHAHAHAH!"

Buck started laughing, then. He wanted to scream, but the twisted absurdity of this situation sank in, and he clutched at his stomach and laughed and laughed and laughed.

Adagio turned and glared at him.

"What are you laughing about, Buck!? Your friends are in danger!"

Down below, everyone that Buck cared about in Canterlot was fleeing for their lives. The gate to exit the fair was crumbling into cinders, and Smolder charged through stall after stall in pursuit of a little gift in the arms of a small child.

"Hahaha! I am so FUCKING mad at you right now! You show up here, fight with my girlfriend, stab my friend, then you come up here and tell me I need you and that I should, once again, give you my magic so you can go stab my friend some more, and you still refuse to even ack-fucking-knowledge that there was ever anything between us! You said you won't stand for me stagnating, but you know what I heard? 'I want you around, but not if you're human.' Because at no point, since the moment you met me, have you ever really treated me like a person; I'm, I'm just a chess piece for you to slide around the board for whatever the fuck purpose, I still don't know what! I am so sick and tired of you treating me like this game you're trying to win, and more than that, I'm sick of you pretending that you care about me!"

"I never said I didn't care!"

"You said it with your actions! All you care about is what I could be, for you! You say you wanna help me evolve? Bullshit. All I am to you is a project! And you know what? I've been someone else's project before, and it MADE ME FUCKING HATE MYSELF! And you're worse than Her, because at least with Her, she didn't come to fuck with my life after I left!" Buck was still smiling, still laughing, but now tears were beginning to leak out of his eyes.

"Buck..."

"Look at me, Adagio. When you look at me, what do you see!?" Buck said. His eyes were glowing again, and Adagio could swear that his teeth were lengthening. Adagio squared her shoulders.

"...I see a man that's been too beaten down to recognize his own potential." She said, and she felt a piece of Buck break as he turned away from her toward the window. His next words came out shaky, empty of all laughter.

"When you look at me, all you see is what you want me to be, and all that really means is that I'll never be enough for you. When Ditzy looks at me, all she sees is Buck. When I'm with Ditzy Doo...for the first time, I feel like just being Buck is enough."

Even through his tears, Buck could see that Starlight, Sunburst, Scoots, Ditzy, and Dinky had made it back to the proving grounds. There was nothing that could be toppled onto them in that space, but there was also nowhere to hide. Much of the fairgoers had fled, but many were trapped in the grounds as the flames spread. Soon there would be no exits left to escape to, and Smolder's rampage would surely take some lives. If that happened, there would be no going back.

"And now she's going to die, because you couldn't leave us alone for a week. I can't believe I ever thought that you would respect my wishes. You don't even respect my humanity."

Starlight was saying something to the group, something about Adagio, but Buck couldn't hear. Smolder was in the air again, and now she was strafing back and forth, trying to grab at the party.

"What are they waiting for? Why don't they run?" Buck whimpered.

"They're waiting for me." Adagio's hand was on Buck's back. "Buck, I can see now that I've wounded you and...I desperately want to talk about this some more, but there's just no time. I'm sorry. I'm sorry for how I've treated you, and I'm sorry for how I've hurt you, and I'm sorry that I can't leave you alone. I don't expect you to forgive me, but please give me the power to fix this."

"You're sorry?"

"I truly am, Buck."

"Will you save them? Even Smolder?"

Buck turned and saw the tears in Adagio's eyes.

"I'll save all of them Buck. I swear it." And then there was nothing but raw determination.

"That's not the kind of thing a monster would say," Buck said. There was a smile on his face and a real one at that. It was small and fragile, and Adagio understood in that moment the sorts of things she would do to keep it unbroken. She drew close to him. From the corner of her eye, she saw Ditzy Doo looking up into the window, staring straight at them in shock.

"Maybe you just bring out the best in me, Buck." Adagio said. Buck chuckled and put his hands on her hips, and as Adagio's arms slipped around his neck, she glared at Ditzy from the corner of her eye, her mouth curling into a devilish grin.

"Do...do you still want me, Buck?" Adagio whispered, her lips nearly brushing Buck's.

Outside, Smolder rose high into the air, erased by the setting sun, then plunged down in a falcon's dive. Starlight held a black quartz crystal in her hand, ready to put up a barrier that she knew wouldn't stand against the dragon.

"...of course I do." Buck sighed. Adagio puckered her lips, but instead of kissing her, Buck squeezed her to his chest. She was instantly flooded with his emotions.

It was the taste of hot soup and a light chill. It was blankets and flame and a thousand sweet embraces. This was Buck's hug, and it tasted like family and warmth and sweet, enduring affection, and it made Adagio ache for a life that she had lost.
Adagio shut her eyes against the tears and let herself sink into the moment. She had found his arms again, and she never wanted to give this feeling up.

"Oh...Buck?"

"Yeah?"

"Do you think you could come to love me? The way you love them?"

"...If you'd let me."

Adagio reluctantly let go of him and leapt from the window. Her fins unfurled, and her equine ears appeared atop her head.

A sound like a geyser exploding shook Smolder out of her dive. She came down, then up in a sweeping arc, turning in the air to see a wall of water bursting out of the ground.

The party watched in awe on the ground as the river that passed through the fairgrounds blasted gallons of water into the air like one colossal fountain.

A drop of cold water fell into Starlight's hair, then rolled down her neck. Another came, and another, each drop that hit the baking summer ground rose up as a mist which immediately grew too thick to see through, blanketing everything in sight. The roaring flames muted to a hiss and then to nothing at all.

Inside of a shining wall of fog, Starlight Glimmer looked around, confused.

"What happened?" Dinky said, still clutching her present while her mother, in turn, held her close.

"...I think Adagio happened." Scoots smiled.

Overhead, the beating of a pair of massive wings could be heard, as well as short, agitated growls.

Starlight suddenly felt a tap at her shoulder. It was her own spear, in Adagio's hand.

"It's only a matter of time before that girl flaps away this fog and comes after you again. Does anyone know what's happening?" Adagio said. Her outfit had morphed into the attire of an alewife. She had a pointed purple hat on her head and a matching Elizabethan corset above a modest yellow dress that brushed the ground. She gave the party a smile that was best described as matronly.

"Did...you and Buck make up?" Scoots said, marveling at Adagio.

"No." Adagio smiled sadly at Ditzy Doo in particular, who was giving her a glare as rough and fragile as slate. "But I swore to him that I would save his family. And Starlight Glimmer." Ditzy's expression shattered into a puzzled look.

"It's dragon sickness, Adagio. Have you heard of it?" Sunburst said.

"...Vaguely. I may have studied it in school. Was my behavior today egregious enough to cause a dragon to emerge?"

"No!" Scoots said.

"No?" Starlight said, incredulously.

"No. Someone else caused this. I heard a weird noise, and this dude in a cloak ran off right before Smolder transformed. Can't be an accident." Scoots continued.

"Do you know where they went?" Adagio said.

"I saw them wander off, but I had to go take care of Dinky instead of chasing." Scoots said.

"I also saw a cloaked figure, near the stalls. I think they sort of took the rage that Starlight had before." Sunburst said.

"Curious. Well, I know the cure for dragon sickness. And that's...satisfaction." Adagio smirked.

"You are not giving Buck to that monster!" Ditzy said, blushing brightly.

"No, that isn't--no. Not that sort of satisfaction. I think?" Adagio said. "No, we need to find the object of her desire and either give it to her or destroy it."

"That's her brother. Your date." Starlight sneered. Adagio's face twisted into a look of disgust.

"Ah, yes. Well...he's unconscious at the top of that tower. Buck is also there, for similar reasons. I'm very certain that they are locked in." Adagio said. The wing beats drew close again, and a rush of air unsettled the group.

"She'll have our scent by now..." Sunburst said. "She's circling closer."

"I know none of you like me." Adagio said.

"I like you!" Scoots said.

"Thank you, little birdie. As I was saying, I know that most of you don't like me, especially after today--" Adagio began, but the wingbeats got even closer.

"That doesn't matter right now! You're speaking as if you have a plan! Do you?" Sunburst said.

"I do. We'll need three teams. Scootaloo, can you pick a lock?"

"...yes." Scoots admitted.

"You go and get the helpless boys, and take the toddler with you. It's safer in there."

"I'm not a baby! I'm a big girl!" Dinky huffed.

"Yes you are, darling. You've been incredibly brave, haven't you?" Adagio cooed. Dinky glowered and stuck out her tongue while her mother hid a smile behind her hand.

"Go on, Dinky. Go with auntie Scoots, okay?" Ditzy said.

"Okay mama..." And the two were off.

"Charming. Sunburst. Sensing stones?" Adagio said.

"Yes." Sunburst said.

"Means of capture?"

"I brought a lasso spell, just in case."

"Find the cloaked figure and get them. If you can't, try to get a clue about them."

"Understood. Starlight? Can I borrow your eagle feather?"

"Sure." Starlight said, and in a flash of bright yellow aura, Sunburst wobbled up and away. "What about us? Are you going to curse me again?"

"No. I don't think I can very much trust you with power, Starlight Glimmer, and I know I can't trust you to handle a dragon." Adagio said frankly.

"What!?"

"But I will trust you to assist. Can I assume that you have one of those cheap trap spells ready?"

"...yes. I can lock her down." Starlight frowned.

"Excellent. Our task is to keep the beast here and distracted until her brother is present. By now her greed will have reached a fever pitch; if she gets distracted and flies for the city, she'll become a disaster. Ditzy Doo?" Adagio said, turning to her rival.

"I don't trust you, or your magic." Ditzy growled.

"This is Buck's magic; born of his feelings for you. Do you trust him?" Adagio said, holding out a hand. Ditzy glared at her, saw Adagio's lips tighten into a pressed line at the admission.

"Yes." Ditzy said.

"I'm going to give you the strength to protect him. It may tingle a bit, and there's no guessing what this magic will manifest as, but I'd like you to be our insurance. If Smolder gets loose, you need to hit her hard enough that she'll focus on you instead of running off." Adagio said.

"If its to protect Buck and my daughter, I'll do anything." Ditzy said.

"And what exactly is stopping you from running off? Do you even have a reason to help us, or is this another one of your games?" Starlight said.

"I made a promise, and now I'm following through. Following through is important to me, Starlight Glimmer. Important enough that I'm willing to put my personality aside and work with you two. Are you ready?" Adagio said. Ditzy nodded, and Starlight did as well. Neither seemed especially happy about it.

Ditzy Doo took Adagio's hand.

Every speck of dust and soot that had fallen onto Ditzy was suddenly banished. A ribbon of golden force surrounded her body, then burst to reveal a silvery chest plate that was rounded like a ball. A pair of pauldrons appeared, taking the same shape. Her greaves were polished to a mirror shine, and in place of her leather gloves was a pair of gauntlets that formed a mitten shape over her digits. A short tabard came from beneath the armored plate, bright yellow in color and stopping at the knees. Lastly, a pair of cute equine ears poked out of her head, and two feathery wings appeared at her back.

"I...who, what? New armor? New armor!? It's...warm. Like a hug!" Ditzy said, looking down at her new gear.

From the opening at the tower's base, Dinky Doo gasped in amazement before quickly hiding again.

Starlight's jaw had dropped, but Adagio took Ditzy in and frowned.

"What?" Ditzy said.

"Oh, nothing. It's just; I was expecting a maid uniform." Adagio's sweet smile was opposed by a sour look on Ditzy's face.

A hole opened in the mist above their heads. Smolder hovered just past it, now truly dwarfing the unlikely trio in size.

"Follow my lead." Adagio said, rolling her neck. She pulled her rapier half out of its sheath, then slid it right back in. She wouldn't need it.

Sunburst flew through the mist at the speed of a very determined bicycle. In a way, this was very exciting; what becomes of magic when it is passed between multiple people? Would the potency be diminished or increased? Is that how the Power of Friendship worked? There were so many questions and so few answers and even less time, but now as Sunburst followed a twisting trail through the charred cottages and kiosks, he watched the flickering red path solidify. There would be time for research later. He needed to remember his priorities. Now that he had a clear trail, he hovered behind a building and pulled out his phone.

"Sweetie Drops, it's me. I'm at the ren fair, and things are getting bad. You what? Before I even arrived? Excellent, excellent. Okay. Well, I'm in pursuit of a suspect. No, the dragon is our friend. No, she's definitely a threat. How long? Great." Sunburst clicked off his phone.

He was close. If someone was stealing magic out of the air, it could only be a changeling or something unthinkable. He had read about this. A figure in a dark cloak, ambling through the back streets of Equestria, gathering power. But then why trigger a draconian transformation? If they were after power, why not target Buck?

Sunburst came around to a building that had only been lightly touched by flame. In the shadow of that structure, gazing through the mist as if it weren't there, was the cloaked figure. They looked human, but that didn't mean much since every monster looked human in this world, at first.

"...wait. Don't act before you observe. What are they after?" Sunburst whispered.

Scoots dashed up the stairs, around and around until she hit a thick wooden door with an old school padlock on it. At first, she raised a foot to kick at it then decided to knock instead.

"...who is it?" Buck said from the other side.

"It's Scootaloo, ya big doof! I'm bustin' you guys outta here!"

"Is there a plan? I kind of sent Adagio out without a plan, and I'm startin' to worry! I feel kind of out of the loop!" Buck said. Scoots felt a deep relief come out with her sigh. She pulled a survival knife from her pocket and started fiddling around with the keyhole.

"We need Garble to go down there and talk to his sister! He's the key to this!"

"For real? Well, good luck with that, since the dude's asleep-HEY!" Buck turned his head and saw Garble, now very awake, trying to climb out the tower window. Buck ran over and grabbed him about the waist.

"Let go of me, you fucking dweeb!"

"We're twenty feet off the ground! You'll break your neck if you go through there!"

"I'm dead either way if my sis catches me!" Garble said, clinging desperately to the stone frame of the window. "She's gone crazy!"

Buck heard something scratch at the door and then Scoots swearing.

"She's turned into a fucking dragon! And she ain't crazy, she's pissed, prolly because she has to deal with you doin' shit like this!" Buck planted his feet and threw Garble to the storeroom floor. "You need to talk with her, and set whatever the fuck all this is right, or we're all dead!"

"But she'll burn me alive!" Garble said, sitting up.

"No she won't! There're three girls down there who're way tougher than me that'll stop that from happening!"

"Then you go do it!"

"I'm not the one that went and pissed her off!"

"Well, if you care so much, I figure you can handle it!"

"Why're you so scared to talk to your sister!?"

"She's a dragon!"

"Holy shit, we're goin' in circles right now. What the fuck is the beef, here?"

"My sis is real overbearing, and she treats me like a kid whenever she comes over."

"Makes sense. You seem like the kinda guy that needs a babysitter."

"Fuck you, man!"

"No, fuck you! But go on. I'm listening." Buck sat down across from Garble, leaning against a crate.

"I was supposed to go do all this nerd shit today, but instead I hung out with a hottie all day, and I guess she's pissed about that."

"You blew off your cool little sister to follow Adagio around all day?"

"Yeah, so what!?"

"That's a dick move, man. I seem to recall you being an expert at those back in high school."

"Yeah, your girlfriend sure thinks so!"

"I don't think she does, dude."

"I was talkin' about the blonde one."

"I don't think she does, dude." Buck repeated.

"Look, Smolder...she just doesn't get me, man! She wants me to be a crazy over achiever like her, but I'm not like that! I don't fuckin' do school, man! She thinks that nagging at me is gonna make me wanna be more like her, but she just doesn't get it. I'm doin' alright, I don't need my little sister tellin' me what to do, that's a feminine trait!"

"That's...that's a lot to fuckin' unpack, there, but what it sounds like, based on how much I know about you, that your sister is sick of seein' you do nothin'. Or maybe she's pissed that you're older than her, and you're still a high school dick head. Point is, she's tryin' to help, even if its Smolder, and her version of everything is loud and kinda over the top. But I know Smolder, and I know that if you talk it through with her, and actually explain how you're feelin' instead of pretending like you don't care, she'll listen. If you want her to give you a chance, you gotta give her that same chance, man."

"Man...I'm sorry about your bitch."

"I cannot stress enough how much I don't care who Adagio sleeps with. That's her own damn business."

"No, I'm sorry for her. We didn't even bang. She's crazy about you, man."

"She just wants me for my magic."

"You're a nerd and a dumb idiot. She never said anything about magic when I was there. She said that she was away from you, and then she showed me her tits, and then I forget."

"What?"

"Yeah, I dunno. I woke up feeling pretty out of it."

"She drank your emotions. No wonder she's been kind of erratic today; you must've infected her with dumbass."

"I'm not the dumbass, here! She was cryin' for you, man! Last night, I was at her place, out on the couch, and I heard cryin', thinkin' oh shit, did I nut in another girl when I was passed out, but no, she was sleepin' in there. But she was cryin'. She called your name."

"Really?"

"And some music junk, I think. Sonata. Daria. Whatever. I think she mumbled something about pirates and dildos."

"...How's it goin' on the door, Scoots!?" Buck shouted. No answer.

Scootaloo had been fiddling with the lock for a good few seconds when she realized that Dinky Doo was not, in fact, standing behind her. If she lost this kid again, she'd never forgive herself, and neither would Ditzy, so she jogged back down the stairs to see the pale purple kid poking her head around the tower's threshold to watch the action. Her fingers were drumming along the little golden gift.

"Worried about your mama, huh?"

"No! Yaks don't get worried about stuff! Yaks smash!" Dinky puffed out her cheeks, but she didn't look away from the thick mist. Scoots couldn't see anything in there, but she could hear the sounds of three brave women who were facing down a monster. Scoots was at a loss and working hard to not panic. What would Sunburst say at a time like this?

"How do you feel, Dinky?"

"I wanna give Mama her present! I wish I could fight, but I'm too little..."

"You wanna fight!?"

"Yaks are supposed to smash stuff! Even dragons!"

"Right, that's a thing, but even little yaks are scared of dragons!"

"Nuh-uh! Yaks don't get scared!"

"Okay, well I'm scared."

"Bat ponies can be scared! Bat ponies fly away from stuff and scream a bunch!"

"How do you know this stuff, Dinky?"

"Buck helps me read stuff from his shelf sometimes!" Dinky said, smiling. Now we're getting somewhere, Scoots thought. She took Dinky's hand and led her a bit away from the door.

"What kinda monsters do you like, Dinky? Not dragons, right?"

"I like skeletons! They do silly dances and sing songs!" Dinky explained. Buck must've been showing her old cartoons again, Scoots thought.

"That's neat, Dinky! Hey, do you wanna do another quest?" Scoots asked. Dinky nodded vigorously, happy to be included. Scoots suddenly found the little tyke extremely relatable.

"I'm really scared right now...but everybody needs me to be brave. I gotta go upstairs where its dark and dusty. Can you stay by my side, so I don't get scared?" Scoots said.

"Okay, Auntie Scoots!" Dinky chirped. The two headed up the tower's interior, together this time.

Now Scoots had to really focus. It was a big angry padlock, sure, but she'd gotten through things like this before! But then why was it so hard? Scoots fiddled and turned the knife, trying to get the tumblers to tumble out of her way, but it just didn't feel like she was getting anywhere.

"Come on, you stupid lock...! What am I doing wrong?" Scoots felt a bead of sweat roll down her face. She couldn't fail here. Not in front of Dinky and everybody else. Scoots put her forehead to the door and fought back her trembling fear. She had to be brave. She had to be awesome. But it wasn't working, and she could hear everybody else fighting, and here she was being useless as always, and--"

"Auntie Scoots? Are you okay?" Dinky said, tugging on her sleeve.

Meanwhile, inside the rolling mist, Smolder blinked in befuddlement. She saw not three horrible women trying to take her treasure but three large piles of gold and glittering gems sitting in the dusty arena. She looked left and right and up and down and saw no sign of her treasures escaping, nor her foes. Nothing but a hoard of beautiful, dazzling gold coins, waiting for someone responsible and decisive to scoop them up. Her draconic eyes filled with the golden glow, she carefully lowered herself into the thick bank of fog. The loot clinked and tinkled, coins and gems alike suddenly rolling from one pile to another until one massive pile nearly reached Smolder's eye level.

A very soft song was coming from nowhere, but Smolder didn't notice at all. All she saw was the beginning of her own horde. All she had to do was scoop it up and put it in her new tower...

"Now!" Adagio barked.

There was a spark of cyan twinkles, then a series of sticky strings shot all over Smolder and restrained her to the ground. Smolder thrashed but only managed to get more tangled in the magical web. Smolder began to breathe fire again, but Starlight Glimmer closed her fist, and the threads clamped her jaws shut. Adagio strode through the mist behind where Smolder was tied down, clearly staying out of the dragon's line of sight. She waved a hand, and the fog blew away. Ditzy stepped up to Smolder with an outstretched hand, standing resolute even as the beast gave off a muffled snarl.

"Hey...Smolder, right? It's Ditzy Doo. Remember me? The girlfriend?" Ditzy said gently. Smoke puffed out of Smolder's nostrils with each angry breath. "I know you're angry right now, and you wanna protect the boys, but we need you to calm down, so we can talk this out, okay? Your brother wants to talk to you!"

"Gar Gar...?" The beast mumbled.

"That's right! Don't you want to go see him?"

"Gar Gar." Smolder repeated. She blinked, and for just a moment, her eyes were human again.

Sunburst tailed the cloaked figure as they crept toward the proving grounds. Their stride was odd and a bit jerky, like they weren't strictly used to walking.

"Speculate later. Just watch..." Sunburst was floating above and behind the figure, observing as they stalked around the periphery of the conflict. It looked like the girls had the situation contained for the moment, but the moment wouldn't last.
Sunburst barely saw it. There was the slightest disturbance in the cloak and then a tiny chime, but the results were instantaneous.

"We're going to get Gar Gar for you, so you can talk this through, okay?" Ditzy said in her practiced, matronly tone. In a lot of ways, she thought, this was all just a tantrum, and she knew how to handle tantrums. "All you have to do is calm down, Smolder. Just relax. No one here is mad at you."

Smolder's eyes went wide for a moment, and her head quirked to the side as if straining to hear. Suddenly, the traces of humanity behind Smolder's reptilian visage disappeared, leaving nothing but a pair of glowing red orbs focused entirely on Ditzy Doo. Her muscles ballooned in size again, snapping several of the strings. Adagio waved a hand, and several of the puddles left from the sudden downpour narrowed into threads and threw themselves over the beast, restraining it further.

"Oh little birdie? How's the progress on that lock!?" Adagio said, wincing with the effort.

"I'm working on it!" Scoots' voice echoed from the tower. Smolder peaked past Ditzy and seemed to realize all at once what was going on. The roar of the beast forced Ditzy to put her hands up at her ears, and then it was all she could do to raise Marianne as Smolder brought her claw down in a murderous swipe. Her heels dug little pits into the ground as she absorbed the blow. Adagio was restraining Smolder's back end, but that didn't do anything for Ditzy, who was facing the front.

"Okay, okay, plan B then, fighting a dragon!" Ditzy said. Smolder tore free of her bindings and bore down on Ditzy with gnashing teeth and mighty claws, but Ditzy skipped out of reach into the dark of the turret's foyer. Another claw swipe came for her, and she brought Marianne around, slamming the hammer into Smolder's palm with enough force to shake the dragon's arm. Smolder screeched and tried to bite down on Ditzy, but she dodged to the side, and with a spinning swing, she smashed Marianne up into Smolder's jaw. For one moment, both of them were shocked.

"Got you!" Sunburst shouted. In one hand, he held a bit of golden thread. From the pointer and index finger on his opposite hand, a beam of pale yellow energy snaked toward the cloaked figure and wrapped around their waist. Sunburst waved to Starlight and Adagio and beamed but was immediately yanked downward. The interloper had pulled on the rope just once, and Sunburst had crashed to the ground. Sunburst's glasses were tossed away as he frantically clawed at the ground, but the strength of the cloaked figure didn't waver at all, dragging Sunburst closer.
Starlight took one look at Adagio that spoke volumes, then she ran over to Sunburst as quickly as she could.

"They just had to be across the field...couldn't be any closer, could they!?" Starlight grumbled. She winced against the pressure on her leg. She had done reasonably well in the spar with Ditzy, but now the familiar ache was settling back in, slowing her down. "Sunburst, fly up!" She shouted.

Sunburst took the air once more, but his aura was flickering. Starlight had to make this count, whatever she was going to do. The cloaked figures' feet left the ground briefly, but then it yanked on the arcane tether again, nearly dragging Sunburst back down.

"They're doing something to Smolder...I don't know what, but we can't let them get away with this!" Sunburst grunted.
Starlight only had one spell left, and a barrier wouldn't do her much good. On the other hand, she had a spear.

Ditzy was surprised to still be alive, but there was no way she could keep this up. Smolder's swipes were getting more frantic and desperate. While Ditzy had managed to dodge around most of them, her breathing got heavier, and her arms were starting to go numb. Another blow from Smolder came down, knocking Marianne out of her hands. Ditzy looked over her shoulder. She couldn't see Dinky. Good. She shouldn't have to see this.

Smolder reared back and took a breath. A ball of flame formed in her scaly jaws. Ditzy saw in an instant every one of her regrets. Fillydelphia. Dinky's father. Not seeing Dinky grow into a brilliant and wonderful woman. Buck. The jet of fire came to end Ditzy's life, but suddenly the slideshow of her failures came to a halt.

"Cover your ears!" Adagio shouted. Ditzy crouched and clapped her hands onto either side of her head.

An operatic shriek blasted the flame into nothing, shaking the tower and stunning the marauding dragon. Ditzy opened her eyes, and for the first time, she took a good long look, not at a monster trying to steal her man but a brave woman determined to follow through on her promise. Adagio turned to Ditzy and offered a hand.

"Get up, and get your hammer. She's hardly a pushover, so perhaps we should push together." Adagio smirked.

"...right." Ditzy blushed. Adagio's assured grin broke for just a moment. She had tasted something surprising in Ditzy, but she wouldn't have any time to process it. Smolder roared and got ready to unleash her fire breath once more.

"What's the plan?" Ditzy said, quickly grabbing Marianne.

"Swing for the head! You hit her high and I'll hit her low!"

"What? How am I supposed to do that!?"

"You have wings, you silly girl!" Adagio said. Ditzy looked over her shoulders, and her wings gave an experimental flutter.

"...oh."

"This isn't my fault! I was just minding my own business yesterday, and that crazy bitch scooped me up!" Garble said.

"You wanna stop callin' her that? Lemmie answer that for ya; yes your fuckin' do."

"Yeah? What're you gonna do about it, nerd?" Garble said, getting to his feet. He had a sudden, sadistic smile on his face. For Buck, it was almost nostalgic.

"I'm gonna ask ya very nicely to cut that shit out."

"Pfft!" Garble started to laugh, but Buck had closed the distance, grabbing the man's collar with barely restrained glee.

"And if you don't, I'm gonna knock your silly ass out for the second time today and just fuckin' throw you at Smolder!"

"Alright, alright, chill out, it was just a joke!"

"Yeah, its always a joke once there's consequences." Buck said, letting go.

"We're...we're gonna die if I don't talk to Smolder, huh?"

"Seems that way."

"I guess I don't have much choice."

"Sometimes you don't, man."

"Are you guys seriously chatting in there!?" Scoots said from the other side of the door.

"Well, what else are we supposed to do while you pick the lock? Also, why do you know how to do that!?" Buck said.

"I...I had a bad girl phase, okay!?" Scoots said. The tower was shaking from the battle downstairs. Scoots' hands were shaking just as much as she tried to jimmy the lock with her knife.

"Come on, Auntie Scoots! You can do it! Bat ponies are good at this stuff!"

"Bat ponies don't even have fingers!" Scoots said.

"Scoots, hey, listen to me. You can do this. I believe in you, and I know this is rich coming from me, but you gotta believe in yourself. Scoots?"

"Everybody just stop talking! You say I can do it, but what if I just can't!? I can't just suddenly get good at something just because you tell me too! That's not how-"

*CLICK*

The padlock finally opened. Scoots took it off the door and flipped it over in her hands, her face a pure expression of incredulity.

"Huh."

"You did it, Auntie Scoots!" Dinky said, clapping.

The door swung inward, revealing a surprised Buck. Behind him, Garble seemed to be contemplating the window again.

"Uh. Tag? You guys hang out in here where its safe! I'm gonna get this knuckle head down there so we can put an end to this!" Buck said, grabbing Garble by the poofy sleeve before he could run.

"Yeah, sure, whatever..." Scoots said. Dinky Doo pulled her into the room as Scoots stared at her hands in disbelief.

Garble heard the ground-shaking roar of his sister and immediately lost his nerve.

"Nope, nope, nope, never mind, I'm not doin' it, you can't make me!" He whined, but Buck wouldn't let him go.

"The hell I can't! Come on, Gar Gar! A man stands his ground!" Buck said, halfway dragging the man down the spiral staircase just in time to see Ditzy soar into the air and land a mighty blow on Smolder's face. The dragon's head rebounded off the wall and clattered to the ground. Adagio then unleashed an operatic shriek that blasted Smolder straight out of the tower threshold.

Ditzy hovered into the air for a second, then her flight pattern spazzed out. She bonked her head on the tower wall before returning to the ground.

"I have never been more scared or more turned on in my entire life." Buck said, eyes wide.

Adagio's costume change flickered as she caught her breath.

"Just hold him there, Sunburst; I'm coming!" Starlight shouted. The cloaked figure pulled on the arcane lasso once more, pulling Sunburst close enough to grab his throat. Sunburst gagged and tried to pry the hand off his neck, but it was cold, hard, and immovable. The other hand rose, and a pale grey aura surrounded it. Sunbursts' yellow energy came pouring out of his mouth and into that hand. It was barely a mote of power. Sunburst went pale.

"NO!" Starlight screamed, her steel flashing.

There was a sickening thud. The figure looked down to see the spear thrust straight through its back and out its chest. There was no blood. Beneath the cloak, Sunburst saw a belt with a few small mason jars hanging from it, one of which was filled with the roiling red haze of Buck's anger. The other two were empty. The cloaked figure dropped Sunburst to the ground.

"Starlight...what have you done?" Sunburst wheezed.

"I...I didn't mean to..." Sunburst said, horror welling up in her eyes.

Suddenly, the cloaked figure grabbed the spear protruding from its chest, face still obscured by the low hood.
Its head spun around 180 degrees to stare at Starlight with glowing green eyes. Starlight tried to yank the spear free, but the grip of the interloper was too strong. The bandaged hand rose, and it attempted to drain Starlight's aura.

There was a moment of silent befuddlement as no aura came flying out of Starlight. Sunburst took advantage of this moment, reaching up and tapping the bottom of the cloak with a small object. The figure tilted its head in confusion, then with the hand containing Sunburst's aura, it hit Starlight with a palm strike that sent her skidding across the ground.

It stepped casually away from the defenders of Canterlot, not bothering to pull the spear from its torso, then began to run to the edge of the proving ground. Sunburst ran to Starlight, who was struggling to catch her breath.

"Are you okay?"

"What're you doing, Sunburst!? Go get him!" Starlight said.

"I don't have any magic!"

"You can RUN!" Starlight said. Sunburst didn't need any more prompting than that. He took off in pursuit of the cloaked figure, around a few corners until they came to a mostly destroyed cottage. He could see a glowing spell circle drawn in chalk through the soot.

Sunburst dove for the cloaked figure, but it was too late. The spell circle erupted into a column of light, and when it went out, the cloaked figure was gone.

Smolder lay face down in the dirt, struggling to rise after the beating. She was scuffed and bruised and wet, and her wounds were not knitting back together. Her breath wheezed out, twisting the air in front of her face. Adagio and Ditzy stood just inside the threshold of her new tower, standing at the ready. Smolder's wings flexed and beat once, lifting her to her feet.

"You have a shockingly strong arm, Miss Ditzy Doo. I'm beginning to understand why Buck is so enamored with you." Adagio said, giving a quick jerk-off motion.

"Ugh. Don't you ever stop?" Ditzy said. Adagio noticed that she blushed even as she rolled her eyes.

"Hey girls, we're here!" Buck shouted. Adagio and Ditzy turned to see Buck and a shaking Garble coming down the stairs. Smolder saw them too. Her treasures, about to run away from her, all over again. And these two thieves were to blame. Smolder's eyes went red. If she couldn't keep her treasure, then no one would have it.

"We need to get upstairs!" Ditzy shouted, but it was too late. A monstrous blast of flame bore down on Adagio and Ditzy. Garble ran for the storeroom while Buck ran forward, hoping against all hope that he could get in front of the girls before they were burned alive, but he was too far away.

Starlight rose across the field, a chunk of obsidian in her hand.

"Please let this work..." She muttered. The crystal flashed, and the threshold of the tower was filled with a cyan glow. It was her trusty shield spell, which had saved her life more times than she could count.

The flames barreled into the shield, making it bow inward and then shatter completely.

Ditzy had begun to fly up and away, but Adagio grabbed her wrist and pulled her back down. Ditzy thought for a moment she was going to be thrown into the blaze, a last act of cruelty by the woman determined to ruin her life, but she saw an unmistakable softness in Adagio's eyes.

Adagio pushed Ditzy down and laid atop her in an instant, their faces separated by less than an inch. The puddles around Smolder rushed forward to form a bubble around the two. The embrace was tender, intimate, and even a bit sensual; Adagio and Ditzy locking eyes as the flames blasted the barrier, reducing it to steam. Adagio grimaced but refused to cry out despite the tear that fell from her eye. The tiny space between them smelled like sizzling meat.

The the blaze ceased, Adagio fell to the side, leaving Ditzy to stare at her in shock.

"ADAGIO!" Buck ran to the two women. He paused briefly to look over Ditzy, who nodded, then he looked over Adagio. The back of her outfit had been destroyed, as had her hair. All Buck could see was a bloody blistered mess across Adagio's back, as if she'd been thrown in a furnace. "Adagio, babe...it's gonna be okay. Hey, Adagio?" Buck whimpered, the heartbreak wetting his eyes.

Smolder roared in triumph, then coughed. She struggled to catch her breath after the monstrous exhale.

"Garble!? You better get down here!" Ditzy called.

"Are you c-c-crazy!?" Garble said from halfway up the stairs.

"GET DOWN HERE NOW!" Ditzy screamed with a mother's fury.

Adagio's eyes fluttered open then, and her voice rasped out of her parched lips. She looked to have aged a decade in just one moment, wrinkles settling onto her face as she smiled up at Buck.

"I promised you, didn't I, Buck? I kept them alive. Even her."

"Adagio, we're gonna get you outta here, okay? You've been burned, and--"

"Shhh...you're very pretty when you're sad, Buck, but my magic is low. Healing has always been Sonata's game, but I can try. Could you give momma a little sugar?" Buck's eyes darted around until they fell on Ditzy.

"...go on! She's hurt, Buck!" Ditzy said frantically. Buck nodded and took Adagio's hand as if she were a slumbering princess.

"I never meant to make so much trouble. I truly am sorry, Buck." Adagio rasped. Buck smiled and shook his head.

"Princess, you're all trouble." He kissed the back of her hand, then, with all the tenderness he could muster, he kissed her forehead. Adagio sighed and closed her eyes as a soft bluish light emanated from where Buck's lips touched her. That same blue light started to come from her charred back.

Neither saw Ditzy turn away, her hand tightening around Marianne's handle, quiet despair settling over her as she realized that Buck and Adagio's attraction was far from simply physical.

Smolder inhaled, prepared to end this battle once and for all, but then a red form moved in front of her, arms spread out. Buck noted that Garble was actually quite tall when he stood up straight, but the trembling of his knees prevented him from seeming in any way imposing.

"Sis! Stop! Leave them alone! I need to talk to you!" Garble shouted, voice cracking.

"G...Gar Gar?" The beast growled.

"Sis, I know you're pissed, 'cause I'm the one you're really pissed at! You don't need to do this!"

"Gar...Gar..." Smolder lowered her crocodilian head to be at eye level with her brother, scooping him up in her hands like a fragile porcelain figure.

"I'm sorry, alright!? I blew you off today and it wasn't the first time! I'm just sick and tired of feeling like an embarrassment when I'm next to you! You went out the west coast and you grew up, and I just hung around here being the piece of shit I've always been! And I get that you just want me to be better but you're not gonna do it by smothering me. You can't just hold someone hostage and expect them to change so they can suit you! That's not how people work! Please, Sis. Calm down so we can talk about this. Will you do it for...would you do it for Gar Gar?"

The dragon's eyes widened as she listened to Garble's honest appeal, then looked around. She saw charred buildings and Adagio lying on her side, cradled by Buck. She saw Ditzy Doo, her armor scuffed and dented, ready to defend the couple on the ground even though it was her man holding another woman. She looked at Garble, holding his arms out to her with an earnest expression of consternation.

Smolder's eyes watered, and her draconian form burst like a soap bubble, showering the proving grounds with illusory embers. In the place of the rampaging beast was the petite orange-skinned woman in a tattered princess gown, weeping as she squeezed her older brother.

"I'm sorry! I'm so, so sorry this happened! I don't even know how this happened!" Smolder sobbed.

"Aw, aw, come on, sis! You're getting snot and stuff on my shitty outfit!" Garble whined. "You don't have to cry that much, don't be such a baby!"

Smolder stopped, looked at her brother, then punched him hard in the arm.

"Oww! What the fuck was that for!?"

"You're a selfish, immature dumbass, and you need a counselor!" Smolder said, crossing her arms. "But that's not me. I'm gonna get off your ass, Gar Gar, but you need to get your shit together!" Smolder said, raising a fist to strike again.

"Alright, alright, I'll do it! I'll look into therapy, don't hit!" Garble said, holding his hands up. He looked down and saw Smolder hugging him again.

"Okay. I love you, Gar Gar. I really mean it."

"I know you do, sis."

"Hey, if you're looking for therapy, I might know a girl for that!" Buck said, looking up.

"No kiddin'?" Garble said.

"Buck always knows a girl." Smolder said. She smiled and rolled her eyes.

"You okay, Adagio?" Buck said, carefully helping the siren to her feet. She touched her back and shuddered.

"I forsee a lot of ointment and milk baths in my immediate future." Adagio hissed. Her back now looked like a severe sunburn, but her trailing orange mane was charred to less than half its length.

"Oh fuck, your hair!" Buck said.

"That will be a bit trickier to restore. But it won't take all that long if you'd volunteer a bit more magic, Buck~" Adagio said. She had begun to stroke his chin, but then her wrist was yanked away by a gauntleted hand. Ditzy Doo glared at Adagio just as her magical armor blinkered out of existence.

"Aww, man!" Buck said.

"What's wrong, Buck?" Ditzy said.

"That was a good look for you." Buck smiled, taking her hand. "Platemail just...really works on you, Muffin. Have I mentioned that you look hot in armor?"

"Only every hour today, Buck." Ditzy Doo giggled as Adagio rolled her eyes.

"Mama!" Dinky Doo squealed into her mother's arms. "Mama! That was amazing, Mama! You fought a dragon!"

"Oh! Uhm...I guess I did, didn't I?" Ditzy said. "Are you okay, Dinky?"

"I'm okay, I'm okay!"

"I can't believe we made it through that." Starlight said, walking up. She did not look okay. In fact, she seemed positively shell-shocked.

"Yes, you're very welcome. Ah, Sunburst is here! Sunburst, would you be a dear and explain how this wasn't my fault?" Adagio said, stepping around Starlight.

"I couldn't get a good look at their face, but someone came here and manufactured this situation. They used some sort of enchantment to exacerbate Smolder's feelings; one powerful enough to make her transform fully into a dragon. They also drained some of Buck's magic from Starlight during the fight."

"What was my magic doing in Starlight?" Buck said.

"Call it a loan, Buck. I regret to inform you that part of you has been inside Starlight Glimmer." Adagio frowned. Both Starlight and Buck gagged at the same time.

"Listen! They got away through a teleportation circle! Whoever we're dealing with is armed with some potent magic, and they were strong enough to throw me around! They had Buck's anger in a jar at their waist. I can only imagine what they're going to use it for!" Sunburst said gravely. Starlight put a finger to her chin with a quizzical expression.

"Storing magic in jars? That's a new one to me...Could it be a changeling?"

"Disguised in a cloak and manipulating magic at a high level instead of eating it? Is your brain as worthless as your barriers?" Adagio snarked.

"I've heard just about enough--" Starlight started, stomping toward Adagio.

"So have I." Said a familiar voice. The gang looked over and saw a poised cream-colored woman in a black lady suit. She had a single hand in her pocket, which Sunburst and Starlight knew by now contained a replica memory stone. "I'm expecting a full report about today's incident from you, Starlight Glimmer. As for our guest..."

"Who're you?" Smolder said, moving to stand in front of her brother.

"A friend." Bon Bon said. "I understand you've been through a lot today, but I'd like to talk to you about what happened. These incidents are rarely ever isolated, so if you want to avoid turning into a monster in the future, I suggest you hear me out as well."

"Oh hey, Bon Bon! Been a while! How's Lyra doin' these days?" Buck said.

"She has nothing to do with this." Bon Bon said quickly.

"What about all the people that ran from the faire?" Sunburst said.

"Taken care of. There are only two roads out of here, after all.

"Lady, did I hear you right? Am I gonna turn into a dragon again?" Smolder said.

"Yes, it's possible, and I'd like to help you prevent it from happening. If you'd follow me?" Smolder looked to Sunburst, who nodded. She ran over and squeezed him into a hug, then did the same to Buck.

"You gonna come visit us before you head back west?" Buck said, patting Smolder's head. She nodded.

"I'll come by so you two dummies can catch me up! You've got a lot of explaining to do, big bro."

"What, about my choice in women?"

"Nah, that was always sus."

"Hah! I missed you, too. Now go on, I hear that Bon Bon is the one that's got the real answers." Smolder smirked and turned around, then came back and hugged Buck again before grabbing Garble by the arm and going over to sit with Bon Bon on a non-wrecked portion of the bleachers.

Buck then turned to Sunburst and Starlight.

"Thanks again for coming in clutch, you guys. I know neither of you planned on fighting today."

"Well, that's not entirely true." Sunburst said, giving Starlight a flat look.

"Right. I wanna thank you especially, Starlight. I saw you bustin' your ass out there, even though you were outgunned." Buck said. He smiled and offered a hand to Starlight, who shook her head.

"Don't patronize me, Buck. We wouldn't have had to fight if your crazy ex didn't come along to bother you." Starlight said with a sneer.

"I thought we established that this wasn't my fault?" Adagio said.

"You know full well that you played a part in this whole disaster." Starlight said.

"Yes, and I was instrumental in solving it. How did your capture of that cloaked creep go?" Adagio said. Starlight's only response was a frigid glare."A crying shame. Regardless, I think I've done enough for today. I'll be taking my leave now." Adagio said.

"You mean that?" Buck said.

"Did I not say that I'm a woman of my word? I'm going to give you and Miss Ditzy Doo some well-deserved space. Whatever your troubles are, they won't be coming from me."

"I appreciate that, Adagio. That's real big of you." Buck smiled, but Adagio shook her head.

"Don't thank me just yet. You and I both know this isn't over." Adagio said, perhaps to Buck or Ditzy Doo, or both. "When you need me again, and I know you will, all you need to do is come for me, or simply call." Adagio said. She smiled her most tender smile at Buck and happily drank in the twin glares she was getting from both Ditzy Doo and Starlight Glimmer.

"You really mean it, 'dagio?"

"Anything for you, Puppycakes," Adagio said, touching his cheek. "Anything at all." She turned on her heels, winked at Ditzy, and made for the parking lot. Buck wiped the sweat from his brow, then looked at the rest of his group.

"Alright, is anyone else totally exhausted? We're allowed to go home now, right?"

"Wait! I still gotta give Mama her gift!" Dinky said. She ran up and then down the stairs at the speed of a child on a playground, holding her present out to Ditzy Doo, who kneeled down, beaming. Scoots came down, trailing behind at a much more casual pace.

"Okay, Dinky! What'd you get for Mama?" Ditzy said.

"Open, open, open!" Dinky practically shook the present, which by now was slightly trampled and very well scuffed. Still, Ditzy took it and smiled as if she planned to pin it on a refrigerator. After she opened it, the look on her face was very nearly a grimace, but she caught herself and smiled wide.

"It's beautiful, Dinky!" Ditzy said. Dinky giggled and ran over to hide behind Sunburst, almost as if she had pulled a prank. "Buck? Could you help me put this on?"

"Sure thing, Ditzy! Uh, what is it?" Ditzy rose and handed the box to Buck. Inside, shockingly undamaged, was a light blue hair bow with a little golden skull ornament sitting right in the middle of it. To Buck's immense relief, it had a hair clip attached to the back of it.

"Don't you dare laugh, Purple Prose..." Ditzy whispered.

"Wouldn't dream of it." Buck smiled.

As Buck fumbled and fiddled to get the bow in Ditzy's hair, Sunburst scooped the young girl up into his arms.

"Why did you pick that gift, Dinky?" Sunburst said. Starlight seemed at a loss for words, looking from Ditzy's smiling face to the pride on Dinky's.

"Mama is in love with Buck, but she's too a-scared to tell him. The bow is pretty and Buck likes pretty stuff, so maybe he'll fall in love with Mama, too!" Dinky whispered conspiratorially.

Sunburst looked over to see Buck and Ditzy laughing together as Buck finally clipped the bow right at the part on the side of Ditzy's head. Ditzy clasped her hands in front of her lap, looking nervously at Buck.

"How's it look?" She said, swaying a bit like a schoolgirl.

"Would you be offended if I said it suits you?" Buck chuckled. "It looks good, seriously. It's beautiful." Buck went in to kiss Ditzy, but then he looked over at Dinky and stopped.

"It's like a nice little bookend for today, don't you think? A happy ending." Ditzy said.

"Listen, Ditzy, I'm real sorry about today, I never thought--" Buck started, but Ditzy stopped him with a finger to his lips.

"Not your fault. It was nice while it lasted." Ditzy smiled. "I mean, I got to fight a dragon! And that's somethin'! Right?"

"Sure...well, uh, you wanna go home and hang out? Watch some TV, or whatever?"

"I think we should order a pizza. Mama's not cookin' after fighting a dragon."

"Fair. Uh...how's your tomorrow lookin'? I doubt you'll be spendin' it at the fair."

"Oooh...that's true."

"You maybe wanna go out again and do it for real this time?"

"But what about Dinky?"

"Hey, Sunburst! Would you be a bro and babysit Dinky tomorrow?"

"I'll help! I'm not doing anything after practice tomorrow!" Scoots volunteered.

"What do you think, Dinky? I've got a lot of books with cool monster drawings in them." Sunburst offered.

"YESSS I WANNA LOOK AT SKELETONS!" Dinky cheered, almost falling out of Sunburst's arms.

"I think that's a yes, Buck!" Sunburst said.

"What!?" Starlight said. She suddenly had a look of sheer panic on her face, like she was under a spotlight but had no idea what her line was.

"Ditzy?" Buck said, smiling. "You wanna have a night to ourselves?" He had meant to make it suave, but it came out careful and nervous.

"I want to go dancing with you, Buck," Ditzy said, throwing her arms boldly around his neck.

"Oh..."

"...And then I wanna have a night to ourselves." Ditzy said. That fire from before had come back to her eyes. It brought an instant blush to Buck's cheeks. Ditzy puckered her lips and got a bit closer.

"Muffin, Dinky is lookin'." Buck whispered.

"Let her look." Ditzy said, and then she kissed him, long and deep and honest. Sunburst smiled as Dinky did a little fist pump.

Scoots looked around the wrecked fair.

"Man...I hope this place has good insurance."

The renaissance fair lay in ruins; the medieval turret was the only building that managed to come away mostly unscathed. Despite the fire and the stampede of escaping fairgoers, there were only minor injuries and zero deaths.

Cars streamed away from the calamity, down the two-lane path that would bring them to the interstate and then Canterlot.

No one seemed to notice the spell circle drawn in the center of that path, which both erased knowledge of everything besides a freak fire and shorted out minor electronic devices. So the reports of the event would end up being little more than scrambled footage and fuzzy memories.

None had escaped the fairgrounds without losing their experience of the events save for the defenders of Canterlot and one other person.

In a secluded cottage somewhere in the thickly forested Everfree Mountain Range, a cloaked figure emerged from a beam of light. They dusted themselves off and stepped into an adjoining room. The room had all the trappings of a winter lodge, with polished wooden furniture, taxidermy ornaments on the walls, and an unlit fireplace, around which several other figures wearing identical cloaks were in various states of uncomfortable lounging. Their postures were stiff and awkward, and none of them were conversing. They all turned their heads as one to regard their fellow.

"My mission did not go as planned, but it was far from a failure. I did not acquire the dragon's obsession, but I found a potent rage that will serve us well." The cloaked figure produced the jar containing the flare of Buck's anger and placed it on a wooden table.

The cloaked figures populating the room gave a clumsy round of applause that lacked any trace of enthusiasm.

"That, and another rare discovery. I have found an empty vessel. We must monitor this 'Starlight' very carefully, for she may be the key to our master's great triumph."

Author's Note

Woof, this was one of the rougher drafts I've done. Action scenes are difficult to write for a number of reasons; most obvious of which is factoring in the amount of characters, what they bring to the table, keeping consistent characterization and each of their points of view, but there's also the pacing, the micro and macro management of dialogue and keeping it all on theme to boot. And it's gotta be nice and snappy!
Action scenes are a challenge, in other words. Practically the opposite challenge of writing sex scenes, but I really relish getting to practice them here.
With all that said, I'm gonna take the next week off for the holidays. I'll see y'all in the new year for an especially steamy chapter.

Song Review: With Or Without You is about being trapped in a relationship that won't work but won't end, either. At least, on the surface. Bono himself has described it as being about his work/life balance. It's a song about being in the band, and how he can't separate himself from the role of rock star. To me, this song plays from Adagio's perspective. The prominent line "And you give yourself away" really speaks to her conundrum. How can she reconcile her villainous persona with what she wants? How can she give Buck what he needs without giving herself away?