(Prologue) Cataclysm, The Exiled One

The moon shone bright above Lyrica, before black clouds rolled in and cut the light off from the rest of the world. Claps of thunder accompanied the streaks of lightning that poured out of the clouds, as menacing black monsters, both on ground and with wings charged in towards Lyrican ground.

A still image can be seen, showing The Dazzlings with their new crystal wings being knocked back by a menacing winged monster with spikes on its' limbs. As the sound of muted explosions grow louder, the still image moves slightly, as if time was starting up again. The events slowly unfold as the beast finally knocks The Dazzlings back, roaring once it had done so.

Adagio, Aria and Sonata quickly rose to their feet and draw their swords once more, before being surrounded by smaller black monsters, which also posed a rather large threat to them. All of this was happening in the middle of a falling chunk of cliff, blasted so far away from the cliff that it was once on that it could have been confused for a small meteor.

Cataclysm, The Exiled One...

Lyrica's oldest and deadliest foe...

The Dazzlings began to strike back against the small black monsters, reading their movements quite easily, since their arms telegraphed their various attacks on the Lyricans. Dodging a combo of strikes, Adagio, Aria and Sonata began striking back against the grunts.

Throughout Earth, Equestria, and Lyrica, there are three main principles that determine the very fate of everything that inhabits them.

Peace, Anger, and Evil. Obviously, our species needed to follow the roads of peace.

The Dazzlings impaled the beasts once they thought they were done, making them howl in pain and dissipate in black flashes of darkness. Once the beasts were gone, they nimbly avoided the big monster's next attack and slid underneath its' legs to prepare an attack on its' back.

The three rules are simple: Peace leads to prosperity, Anger leads to destruction.

But Evil, mongered in the right hands can be used to destroy anything, from the smallest atom, up to the largest universe...

Once The Dazzlings destroyed the giant beast by means of a greatly telegraphed team attack on all sides, the entire platform was destroyed by a falling piece of metal, quite possibly a Lyrican war machine.

Upon being separated from their platform, The Dazzlings unfurled their crystal wings and grabbed onto three smaller chunks of the destroyed machine. From there, they pulled their red pendants off of the leather collar and put them into the machine. Whilst their things were too small for the machine at first, it quickly shape-shifted to fit the gems and seal them in tightly.

Once they were clamped into the machine pieces tightly, The Dazzlings were quickly surrounded by more Lyrican metal, erupting from the smaller pieces. Within seconds, they were seated on leather seats, piloting flying machines with all kinds of Lyrican weaponry. They pushed their gems like buttons, making them glow as their Hippocampi appeared next to them, acting as wingmen whilst they dealt with more of the black creatures.

Jets from the rears of their new vehicles fired up, and in seconds, they were already zipping across the skies, fending off every black creature in the air that they could find, whilst also providing some ground support for the Lyricans that had been pinned down by large groups of the black creatures.

Evil is created when ponies, humans, or Lyricans do some of the most horrific things imaginable.

On Lyrica, Evil takes a physical form known as Malice, an ethereal power strong enough to enhance one's strength to a phenomenal degree.

The Dazzlings used the joysticks on their machines and treated the whole thing like it was some kind of game, complete with facial targeting visors that were projected from the machine to aim their shots.

The discoverer of Malice, Necro Rhythm, took it to spite King Allure and oppose him for not being both Furen and Blissen.

In doing so, he became a monstrous creature known as Cataclysm, and took his Exiled One status from the fact that Allure had exiled him to the badlands of Lyrica.

The Dazzlings were eventually being tailed by winged beasts that launched black energy shots from their mouths, and used their tails to conduct lightning from the skies and fire it at the three machines.

In the end, the Lyricans and Cataclysm's army of Malefics were locked in a timeless battle. One of the most titanic battles in the history of the trinity.

Bloodshed came to all worlds en masse. But there was one way for Cataclysm to be bested...

Eventually, The Dazzlings' trip across the machines was brought to a halt when they decided to immediately pull their gems out and fly out of the mech. In doing this, they avoided a massive power struggle between Hierarxe and a massive black monster with a humanoid figure poking out of the forehead.

Adagio, Aria and Sonata eventually found their way back to the castle, but once they landed, they were kicked to the ground by a winged demon with spikes coming out of every part of its' body. Getting back onto their feet, they saw their foe was heavily armoured, bore a spiky black crown with blood leaking down from all the spikes, and curled its' hands into fists, ready for a fight with the three of them.

The Dazzlings got up, drew their swords and went for a fight with the winged demon, charging at him as soon as he charged at them. The three of them were then locked in a powerful clash, with the demon's punches and kicks powerful enough to be accompanied by strong gusts of wind, with his breath made of fire so large that the entire room was caught in its' blaze.

Cataclysm did not account for the combined power of every Lyrican on Lyrica, and let his guard down when he taunted the whole species in one setting.

In doing so, King Allure, along with the other Lyricans at the time, combined their energies to create a powerful sealing spell, locking Cataclysm away at the bottom of the Songless Sea.

The Dazzlings fought valiantly against the demonic creature, but every blow that it dealt just knocked more air out of them as they crashed against the walls and were barely given any time to recover from the impact.

When the Lyricans sealed Cataclysm away, King Allure created the Souls of Song, as insurance in case Cataclysm ever broke out of his confinement. His very anger and bliss left his body, and were entrusted to six Lyricans that he deemed to be the chosen few.

With the parting of the Souls of Song, the other worlds gained emotional free will, and would now take their own emotions hand in hand to make the world as they saw fit.

Adagio leapt over one of the demon's claw swipes, then grabbed onto its' back and threw it over her head; straight into one of the nearby walls located inside the castle interior. Once it had been knocked down, Adagio charged forward and quickly slashed at the beast's chest twice, leaving an X marking on its' chest once she had finished.

"You know, for being one of our own kind, you're quite the maverick, Cataclysm. Now I can see why you lost to Allure in the first place..."

Cataclysm slowly rose to his feet and called upon two demonic swords with flesh-like hilts. Upon giving the swords a few practice swings, he charged back at The Dazzlings and caught them off-guard with how suddenly his assault resumed. They were able to block his strike in time, but he was still able to use his sword to sweep them from their feet and smash into the walls once again. He saw that the impact had caused his targets to writhe in pain with how violent it was. Taking the moment for himself, he advanced in on The Dazzlings and began to speak.

"For eons I have waited, to see the day when Allure would fall, and new rulers would take his place..." Cataclysm began speaking, slowly advancing in on The Dazzlings as his words accompanied his footsteps. He finally picked up Adagio by her chin and said, "I would destroy you right here and now, but I believe that you still need time to develop, Queen Unity..."

He slightly tossed Adagio over to Aria and Sonata, before opening a black hole in the floor with an orb of black magic which he conjured. Looking back at The Dazzlings, he said, "We will meet again, Dazzlings. And when we do, I expect the three of you to be in the best shape you could possibly be," as he leapt into the hole, he then followed up his disapperance by having his last words be, "I look forward to a challange..."

The words echoed throughout the castle as the other forces from Cataclysm's army vanished into thin air, leaving most of the Lyrican forces scarred and wounded by war. Many of them groaned in agony, whilst the others groggily tried to get back up on their feet.

Adagio, Aria and Sonata looked at the balcony of the castle, seeing the horrific state Lyrica was in. It wasn't exactly destroyed as it was before they had ascended to royalty, but it was still razed to the point where only minimal amounts of plant-life and structures remained intact. They were horrified by this sight, seeing their Lyricans in shambles after what had just happened.

"Aria, you tend to the wounded Lyrican ground and air forces," Adagio said to Aria, causing her to comply and almost instantly take off for the battlefield. "Sonata, you have to stay here and compose a letter for one of the messengers to send..."

"Uhh, Adagio? We could have possibly lost some Lyricans out there," Sonata looked down at all of the damage that Cataclysm and his army had caused to the Lyricans and their home. "From the looks of things, I can see a couple of fatalities within a couple of days if they don't get some rest and restoration..."

"Exactly, Sonata. Which is why we need the help of some old friends if we're ever going to end Cataclysm's reign of death and destruction," Adagio looked at two distant stars in the now cleared skies. They glistened brighter than the other stars, and she could tell that they would be the last hope of her people. "Prepare a letter for Twilight Sparkle and Sunset Shimmer. We need all the help we can get..."

Ponyville was basked in the radiance of the morning sun on the next day. Ponies in the town were going about their regular business, birds were chirping, and everything seemed like a relatively normal day.

Inside the castle, Twilight Sparkle and Sunset Shimmer were peering down at the map. Sunset Shimmer had only been back in Equestria for a year since the events of The Dazzlings and The Blasters, and yet she was still awestruck with the sight of Twilight's map.

"Wow... So, when did you get this map in the castle, Twilight?" Sunset asked in awe. "It's got every corner of Equestria on here, including some areas that I've yet to see..."

"I received it shortly after the Battle of the Bands. It happened when me and my friends all took our seats," Twilight explained. "The map then alerted us to a certain point in Equestria, one where a pony named Starlight Glimmer was stealing Cutie Marks and replacing them with equal signs..."

"Hmm... I do wonder how The Dazzlings are getting along," Sunset said, thinking back to what The Dazzlings had become after what had happened. After The Dazzlings were defeated, they were freed of their Dark Magic and used a song to turn themselves into infants, from which Sunset raised them upwards. "To think, that all happened over the last eighteeen years..." when Adagio, Aria, and Sonata had grown up, it turned out that The Blasters, their brothers, had been manipulating events. From the Battle of the Bands, to the assault of the Six Euphorian Deities, it had all been the work of The Dazzlings' malefic brothers. "How do you think they're managing the Lyricans?"

"I imagine that they're following a greater path now," Twilight said as the two ponies began a walk towards one of the castle's balconies. "King Allure's role might have been great, but The Blasters tainted it with their selfish desires..." after what had happened with the six deities, The Blasters recreated King Allure by combining their powers into one being. In doing so, they had amassed god-like power, power to the point where they could have eliminated all life on Equestria, Lyrica, and Earth; wiping the slate clean for a new beginning.

Eventually, the two of them made it to one of the most majestic balconies imaginable. There was a glimpse of all of Ponyville from this height, from which the two ponies could overview all of their humble kingdom. Once the two of them walked to the edge, Twilight and Sunset shared glances with one another, smiling as they then turned to the town.

"Nothing's changed, huh?" Sunset said, sighing with content.

"Nope. Nothing will..." Twilight was also in a state of comfort.

As the two of them continued to gaze down at how serene Ponyville was, they failed to notice a certain shadow approaching the castle at high speeds. It was winged, bore a blue pendant around its' neck, and was garbed in regal armour. It shot past Twilight and Sunset with merely a thought and landed behind them with a loud impact.

It was only when the impact occurred when Twilight and Sunset turned around and saw the figure stand up. The two of them were in a state of shock, seeing such a figure that wasn't a pony in their world, even after things had settled down.

"A Lyrican?" Twilight asked, seeing the figure look at them and nod its' head. Lyricans were Sirens, and very powerful ones at that; capable of manipulating the emotions of all life-forms around them to gain enhanced power.

"Hello, Your Highness," the Lyrican said to Twilight, greeting her with the famous Lyrican salute. "I trust that you and Sunset have been quite well?"

"Yes, quite fine, actually." Twilight addressed the Lyrican guest.

"What brings a Lyrican to the kingdom of Ponyville?" Sunset asked.

"Urgent call. From Adagio Dazzle of Her Majesty. She says to come to Lyrica, and bring your friends with you," the Lyrican's expression then turned quite grim. "He has returned..."

Briefing on the Malefics

Each of the Main Six was being walked through The Dazzlings' castle, seeing how well things had come along since The Blasters' defeat. All that was once destroyed back in the past had been fixed, and any remnants of their death and destruction had been restored to their former glory.

However, despite the fact that everything was peaceful, there was still something that shook each and every one of the girls to the core. Something had returned, and that something was hell-bent on causing chaos and pandemonium to the worlds.

"What do you think The Dazzlings mean by saying that he returned?" Sunset asked as they got closer and closer to a large door with a golden frame and Lyrican markings all over it

"If I know these Lyricans like I think I do, The Dazzlings must have had an encounter with one of their oldest enemies..." Twilight said, thinking about the potential threat that she and her friends would now have to face.

"Whatever could wish the destruction of the Lyrican species?" Rarity asked.

"I'm not sure, but whoever's planning this attack could be the greatest threat the worlds have ever faced..." Twilight responded. "If it has the nerve to take on the Lyricans and survive, we could be looking at catastrophe on a colossal magnitude!"

"Uhh, english, Twi?" Rainbow looked puzzled.

Twilight sighed in exasperation. "It could very well be the end of the world if The Dazzlings and their people fall to this villain..."

"We're here, ladies. The Lyrican Map Room," the Lyrican said as soon as it had finished escorting the girls to their destination. "Go on inside. Her Majesty and her three vessels are waiting..."

The doors opened slowly, revealing a rather large room with dozens of astral projections. Each different projection seemed to be part of a massive galactic infrastructure, from which The Dazzlings and the Lyrican Sirens could see every corner of the three worlds. There was a massive table generating the largest projection, one of Equestria, Earth, and Lyrica.

Standing at that table were The Dazzlings. Adagio Dazzle, the leader of the group. Aria Blaze, a pessimist who was very capable of wiping the floor with her enemies. And Sonata Dusk, who, whilst having a bubbly personality, was still one of Lyrica's most powerful Sirens after The Blasters' defeat.

"Your Majesty, Twilight and Sunset have arrived, bringing their friends in tow." the Lyrican ran up to The Dazzlings and saluted.

"Thank you, Quartet," Adagio said, taking a glance at the seven ponies. "You and The Numbers now have a new task: Fortify the bulkheads and get our defences re-synched. We need to be ready in case Cataclysm strikes again..."

Quartet left Adagio's sight and ran past The Rainbooms of Equestria. Once Quartet had left, Adagio, Aria, and Sonata watched as Twilight and her friends stood around the table.

"Welcome back to Lyrica, Rainbooms of Equestria," Adagio began the formalities. "I'm sorry to pull you on such short notice like this, but Lyrica is in a state of crisis..."

"What's going on, Adagio?" Sunset asked.

"As you know from Quartet, he has returned," Aria picked up. "This he that she spoke about was none other than Cataclysm, The Exiled One."

"Cataclysm was once powerful Lyrican who was exiled after a fit of rage and jealousy. You see, he was originally named Necro Rhythm. And at first, he was happy with being a Blissen, but something drove him to try and be both Furen and Blissen at the same time," Adagio explained. "Driven by fury that Allure forbade him his dreams, he challenged the king to a duel and lost poorly. From there, he was kicked out and sent to the badlands of Lyrica, never to return."

"Later on, he returned, but he was the demonic monstrosity we all know and despise to this day..." Adagio said, showing the girls a projection of the winged demon. It bore a striking resemblance to Sunset's dark side, but the skin was black, and black spikes were poking out of its' body. "Cataclysm's choice of weapon are modified versions of his own sword. I say modified versions, because when he was consumed by Dark Magic, it gave him a second sword to work with." whilst Adagio spoke, the projection showed Cataclysm's two swords. They were both colossal, and had demonic flesh for the hilts.

The projection then turned back to the spacial infrastructure, showing all the different corners of the three worlds again.

"Alright, I'll be brief, everyone," Adagio began to give the girls a briefing on their enemy. "After years at the Songless Sea's floor, Cataclysm has finally awakened to continue his war on the Lyrican species."

"He's one of the most ruthless villains possible, even more so than anyone on both Earth and Equestria. His over-exposure to Malice has caused him to enter a state where he can only live on death and destruction," Aria followed up. "And unfortunately for us, he's not alone in this endeavour..."

"That's right," Sonata tossed each of the ponies a black book with a demonic hardback. "Here. You'll need these..."

"What are these?" Sunset asked, examining the books with an inquisitive eye.

"Catalogues on Cataclysm and all of his different Malefics," Sonata explained. "Just like the books of Blissen and Furen tell of each and every Euphorian and Dystopian, these books tell you about the different enemies you'll fight. Who knows? You might just find their weaknesses if you read hard enough..."

"So, what's our plan?" Rainbow Dash asked. "We should just take the fight to the enemy, right? Then we could just rainbow beam him to the ground like we usually do. End of story, bye-bye, we win."

"Have you forgotten how Lyricans work, Rainbow Dash?" Twilight was a bit disgruntled at Rainbow Dash.

"She's right, Rainbow Dash. Cataclysm might be a monster, but he's still a Lyrican deep down," Adagio said. "He's entirely resistant to the Magic of Friendship, and will likely try and consume it for his own malicious purposes," she thought back to what The Blasters had done once she had finished talking. After shuddering, Adagio regained her composure and continued with her briefing. "Anyway, we need your help once more, Rainbooms of Equestria. You've shown the most resolve out of anyone we've ever come across, and it could very well be you who play a pivotal role in the safeguarding of our worlds..."

Suddenly, an alarm went off, causing the entire map room to turn red.

"What's happening?" Fluttershy asked as she ran behind Rainbow Dash and cowered.

"Malefics are attacking!" Adagio walked up to an observational platform at the back of the room. Aria and Sonata followed along with her, and the three of them used their hands to manipulate the projections to see where the attack was striking.

"Where are they hitting first?" Twilight asked.

The projections were altered to show a part of Equestria. It showed a large city, covered with skyscrapers and roads. The image then showed a number of black ships looming over the sky, firing decisive lasers down on the city. "According to this map, Cataclysm's first attack is on the Equestrian city of Manehatten..."

"Manehatten?!" the ponies all said in unison. From there, they were thrown into a state of panic and terror.

"You know about it?" Sonata saw the girls' fear and calmed them down.

"It's only one of the largest cities in all of Equestria!" Twilight said, throwing out her hooves to emphasize her point. "If Cataclysm takes it out, then..."

"He does have a penchant for going after large-scale civilizations. They say that he feasts the most from cities and mega-cities," Adagio explained further. "The chaos he'll create there could sustain him for a week at least. We can't take that chance..."

"Aria, Sonata! Get the Show Stopper and fleets eight to twelve ready!" Adagio dismissed her colleages, who opened portals and leapt through them. "Rainbooms, I know you're not used to fighting, but you'll have to get your hands dirty this time..." she then threw some pendants out of her pocket at the ponies. "Take them and put them around your neck. You'll immediately see a change..."

The girls did as they were told and slipped the pendants around their necks. As soon as they were comfortable with them, they were cocooned in large rainbow balls of energy. The balls persisted for half a minute before exploding, revealing the changes that came from them.

The Rainbooms of Equestria were now humanized, and were wearing Lyrican battle armour. Not only that, but they were also wearing rainbow gems around their necks. Each gem was a spitting image of each of the ponies' Cutie Marks. Admiring their new looks, they then watched as Adagio walked back down to continue her business with them.

"These gems will allow you to temporarily become Lyrican when we go into combat. They change your physiological make-up and enhance your pain threshold," Adagio then looked at the rest of Twilight's friends. "Or, a dumbed-down version for those who aren't as smart as Twilight here; It makes you one of us, and you can take much more attacks before you start bleeding or feeling anything life-threatening."

"Whoa... Check us all out..." Rainbow Dash looked at how sleek her armour was. It was comfortable for her to wear, and had a unique design that matched her personality.

In truth, each of the ponies-turned-human had armour that matched their personalities. Pinkie Pie wore special candy-coloured armour, Fluttershy's was an armour that looked like it had been made of natural materials, Applejack's came with a hat and sheriff badge, Rarity's was an armour that looked like it was handed down from royalty, and Rainbow Dash's had flame decals and lightning bolts as decorations.

As for Twilight and Sunset, their armours were both ethereal-looking, as stars and suns could be seen moving all around. Just from looking down at their new clothes, they were very interested in putting up a fight against the Malefics. They were unsure at first, but they then believed that it was a sign of courage and unity.

Finally, Aria and Sonata returned, regrouping with Adagio.

"If everyone's ready, we should get going..." Adagio opened up a large portal behind her. "Next stop, Manehatten. Just like before, there's no eating, drinking, or smoking during this travel. Oh, and try not to look down at your armour whilst you fly. I've heard that some Lyricans got travel sickness from looking at too many details at once..."

"Not to mention that their armour and the vortex really clashed with their eyes..." Sonata said as they vanished through the portal.

Cataclysm sat on a throne in a black plane of existence, stroking his wings. Taking some breaths, he looked at how the chaos was unfurling in Manehatten and smiled with how erratic his forces were fighting.

"The chaos is good, but I believe that it needs someone on top of it all. Someone to oversee the Malefics in case The Dazzlings and the Lyricans try to repel them..." Cataclysm then heard a shadowy figure appearing from an influx of black energy. He turned his throne around and saw what looked like a human with black markings across its' body. "Pandemonium, tell me... How is our work is coming on Apocalypse, Armageddon, and Carnage?"

"It's taking much more time than expected, Overlord Cataclysm," Pandemonium responded. "The amount of positive and negative energy their Lyrican selves absorbed in their past lives was on god-like levels of power. With that in mind, it's taking longer to reassemble their bodies and alter their biology..."

"Well, I'm a patient Malefic now, and I can appreciate that it's taking effort to get our secret-weapon ready. But I guess that I'm still angry that it's not ready now," Cataclysm said. "After all, Apocalypse, Armageddon, and Carnage could cripple The Dazzlings; both physically, and psychologically..."

"What are your orders, Overlord Cataclysm?" Pandemonium performed a demonic salute by punching the ground and looking up at his master.

"Go to Manehatten and oversee the destruction of the town. I need someone to oversee the Malefics in case they get pushed back by Lyricans," Cataclysm ordered him. "Oh, and if you see The Dazzlings, you know what must be done..."

"Yes, Overlord Cataclysm." Pandemonium then vanished.

Once his subject was gone, Cataclysm returned his gaze to the screen where his Malefics were brutalizing and attacking ponies. "Run, run, run, Dazzlings. Run as fast as you can to your demise..."

Mayhem in Manehatten

In the middle of all of the chaos in Manehatten, a red and blue portal opened up. Once it had done so, The Dazzlings, and the newly transformed Rainbooms of Equestria leapt out of it. They hit the ground knuckles first, then stood up to assess the absolute chaos that was going down in the city.

Skyscrapers were being torn to pieces, Malefic fleets were shooting down helpless Pegasi, and the entire population was in a tizzy. If this chaos wasn't rectified soon, then Cataclysm's fleet would destroy all life in Manehatten, leaving only a husk of what remained of the once flourishing city.

"Just another day in the life, huh?" Aria said in a smug tone of voice.

"You took the words right out of my mouth, Aria," Adagio smiled and readied her team for combat. "Alright, everyone. The fleets will arrive momentarily to repel the aerial forces. In the meantime, our goal is to stop the Malefics on the ground," she began to tell the team their battle plan. "No doubt that Cataclysm's Malefics will try to bring in some Anti-Air forces once the fleets arrive. So, if there are any Anti-Air Malefics around, take care of them too."

"On it!" Rainbow Dash said with a smile.

"As for your choice of weapons, you've been entrusted with Lyrican swords that will instantly be called to your hands at will whenever a Malefic strikes," Sonata explained. "Better get used to them, as Malefics are far more vicious than both the forces of Euphoria and Dystopia combined!"

"Alright, let's move out!" Adagio charged forward into the town with the girls following closely behind them.

For the most part of the ordeal, the ten girls were just dashing through the titanic city, hoping that the Malefics hadn't already exterminated all life. However, they felt some relief when they saw a bunch of ponies about to be taken down by a monstrous creature.

The beast raised a spiky black claw and was going to scratch at the ponies, when all of a sudden, it was struck by a massive blue sword and a equally large red sword. Enraged, it turned away from the ponies and saw the swords return to Adagio's hands.

As the beast got closer to the team, they were able to analyse it much better. It was a quadrupedal monster with a spiky black head and a carapace on its' back and front. As soon as it got up close to the group, it was suddenly joined by four perfect copies of the exact same monster. The five beasts then turned their arms into pure black energy, which they then used to transform their arms into scythes. They swung their weapons around for a while, then roared at the girls viciously.

Malefic Grunt

SLICER

"Ready, everyone?" Adagio asked as she tightly gripped her two blades.

"Ready!" everyone else said as they too drew their blades. Even Fluttershy mustered up some courage to stare the danger right in the face and defend her own kind.

The battle began with the Slicers quickly moving towards the ten girls with their scythe-arms ready to slice them up. However, The Dazzlings and The Rainbooms met their attacks with nimble dodges. Even though The Rainbooms had only been given a couple of minutes to get accustomed to bipedal forms, they were quite quick with their movements.

"According to the book, these are Slicers," Twilight said, opening the book whilst dodging another set of Slicer strikes. "Their arms are sharp enough to cut anything. From the weakest butter, to the strongest diamond. Not only that, but they can manipulate their arms into other weapons at will..." as soon as she said that, she watched as the scythes on her Slicer turned into scimitars.

"How can you be reading at a time like this, Twilight?!" Rainbow Dash dodged another strike and kicked the Slicer in the chest, knocking it backwards. From there, she drove her sword straight into the Slicer's face, erasing it from existence with a quick burst of black vapour. "Boom! One down!"

"Four more to go," Sonata said before vaulting over her Slicer and driving her sword straight into its' back, piercing its' carapace in the process. "Make that three..." she said as her opponent died just like the other one had.

The fight continued, but as it did, the Slicers began to know that they themselves were outnumbered. Even so, they didn't give up, and turned their scythes into massive claws. Once they had, they dragged their claws along the ground, creating cracks before they raised them in an upppercut-style fashion.

Adagio, Aria, and Sonata saw this attack and used their swords to repel the claws. After a long push, they broke through the Slicers' attack and sliced them clean in half, erasing them from the battle and from existence.

"We need to get moving, girls. If you can see any Anti-Air Malefics, destroy them." Adagio said as she once more led the team.

After a long run throughout the town, the girls eventually made it to a large square of Manehatten. The ponies here were all running away from it as fast as possible, as fighting would be a deathwish for them all.

Once the space had been cleared out, a giant black Malefic ship flew over the town and opened up a hatch beneath itself. There was darkness erupting from the other side of the hatch, and a black stream smashed into the square before taking a physical form.

The beast that was emerging from the ship was large, half the size of a skyscraper. Not only that, but its' head had large spikes poking out of the left and right sides, and its' body was heavily armoured. It was a quadruped like the Slicers from earlier, but this time, it had a humanoid upper half, with arms that suddenly transformed into large cannons. It tested out the cannons on some nearby buildings, and blew massive holes in them with colossal blasts of black and grey energy balls.

Malefic Defence

SKYFIRE

"That's a Skyfire, according to the book," Twilight said, opening the book on the page that the Skyfire was described. "Made of the most powerful Malefic Anti-Air power, it has the capability to puncture holes in any ship if it hits its' mark," she then smiled as she read on. "However, it can also only aim skyward, meaning that it's helpless against ground attacks!" she smirked once she read it aloud.

"Which is why the Malefics are always a step ahead of us..." Adagio pointed as some more Malefics appeared from the hatch underneath the open ship. There were twelve individual streams of darkness, and when each one impacted, a new Malefic was created.

The dark streams gave rise to ten more Slicers, and two larger Malefics.

The two larger Malefics were different from the Slicers. They were bipedal, were carrying massive warhammers, had arms made of fire, and legs that seemed to be wrapped up in miniature tornadoes. They looked just as menacing as the Slicers, however, and their heads were the final part of their intimidating physiques. The heads were all shaped like lightning conductors, and they quickly called lightning straight down on top of their heads to electrify them and prove their point.

Malefic Brute

NATURE

The Natures both threw their fists out and arched them. In doing so, they called up a number of volcanoes that were slightly smaller than they were. From there, they punched the sides of each volcano, making each one spew lava and magma balls from the top. The two Natures let out roars of fury, and soon, all twelve Malefics charged after The Dazzlings and The Rainbooms.

The ten sword wielding girls all ran towards the Malefics. And when they were all within striking range, they performed nimble sidestep dodges to avoid the attacks of the Slicers. From there, The Dazzlings slid on their knees, right underneath the legs of the Natures. The tornadoes didn't even faze them as they leapt backwards and drove their swords right into the backs of the large Malefics.

However, the Natures didn't flinch and instead threw The Dazzlings off of their backs and pulled the swords straight out. Once they were carrying the swords, the Natures threw the swords at heads of Adagio, Aria, and Sonata, who swiftly dodged the thrown swords before leaping onto their feet and grabbing the hilts whilst getting up.

Whilst The Dazzlings clashed with the Natures, The Rainbooms began to cross swords with the Slicers. Within seconds, the Slicers went down, allowing each of the ponies-turned-siren to aid The Dazzlings with the Natures.

"Is that all you've got?!" Adagio shouted as she avoided a Nature's kick and landed near one of its' volcanoes. Within the heat of the fight, she had failed to notice that the lava was spreading out of the volcanoes that the Malefics had summoned, and she had just stepped in it. "Alright, I guess I'm mistaken, you've got lots..." Adagio said as she stepped out of the lava and spread her wings.

As The Dazzlings took to the skies, the Natures used their heads to fire streams of lightning at each of them. The shots were fast and precise, but Adagio, Aria, and Sonata were able to raise their swords to deflect the streams. They were about to cut the Natures in half, when they saw swords impale the chests of their targets. Looking past the Natures, they saw that Sunset and Twilight were the culprits behind the stabbing of the Malefics.

"Don't worry, Dazzlings. We've got your backs on this one," Rainbow Dash smiled as the Natures collapsed and vanished with a quick flash of darkness. As the volcanoes vanished as well, the girls all turned their attention to the Skyfire cannon. "Now we can take out the cannon."

"Girls, we have to do this together," Adagio said to each of the girls. "Skyfires are quite resistant, so it's going to take the combined force of all ten of our swords to even puncture this thing..."

"Alright, Adagio. We're at your command," Twilight said as she and the other Rainbooms drew their swords. "Tell us how to strike and we'll do it."

"Just follow me and do what I do." Adagio said as she took her sword and charged for the Skyfire.

As soon as Adagio went after the weapon, the whole group was following her in a single file line. Then, when she jumped up, they jumped after her. Finally, they all performed wide vertical swings that damaged the Skyfire's heavy armour. They followed their combined assault up by charging straight through the cannon with their shoulders first.

After Adagio looked back and saw the other girls appear next to her, she clicked her fingers and saw the Skyfire instantly fall apart. She smiled at the occurrence and sheathed her sword.

"Alright, that's one cannon down," Adagio said. "The fleets should be arriving at any second to take out the ships and clear the skies..."

"Forgive me for asking, Adagio Dazzle, but what do you mean by fleets?" Rarity said as she put one of her hands on Adagio's shoulder.

All of a sudden, a massive explosion came from one of the ships, and it began to tilt and fall out of the skies. A massive laser pierced the ship, and carved up a portion of one of the branching roads as it did so. Another massive explosion came from the Malefic ship, and this one was so big that the ship vanished after the flames had died down.

The skies were now clear, revealing a number of ships with silver and golden hulls and a wide variety of weapons. The ships were large enough to hold thousands, and the artillery was quite intricately designed. There were some rudders that had been opened up to reveal massive cylinders. These cylinders charged up with red and blue energy and began to fire at more Malefic ships. These lasers were accompanied by a number of missiles that leaved behind steams of blue and red energy instead of smoke. All of this was accompanied by fully automatic shots of Lyrican energy from a number of machine guns on each side.

"Rainbooms, say hello to the Lyrican Fleets!" Sonata smiled as she stretched her arm out and revealed the fleets to Twilight and her friends. "Each different ship is loaded to the teeth with the most advanced Lyrican weaponry we can muster. The rudder lasers are known to pierce anything they touch, and the missiles never miss their mark. And the best part? It's all fueled solely by Furen and Blissen energy."

"These fleets will be accompanied by our private flagship, the Show Stopper," Adagio said. "And if you think these ships are impressive, wait until you see ours..."

"Oh! That reminds me!" Twilight said, thinking about the Skyfire she and the others had just destroyed. "We need to take out the other Skyfires so that the fleet don't have any problem with Cataclysm's fleets."

"Then let's get to the next one, girls!" Pinkie Pie began running down one of the open streets. "My Pinkie Sense tells me that something rotten's down this way! Follow me!"

"Are you sure that's the right way, Pinkie?" Sonata called before she was too far away to hear.

"Sonata, it's Pinkie Pie. Try not to question it," Twilight said in a little bit of a smug tone.

"Let's just say that Pinkie Pie's... a special case." Sunset said to The Dazzlings. "But if she says that way, she means that way..."

Interesting... So Pinkie Pie has the ability to predict certain things with greater accuracy than the average pony? Adagio thought to herself as the whole group began to follow Pinkie down one of the roads. I shall have to study her once this charade is all over...

Just as the group walked ran down one of the roads, they suddenly saw a quick flash of dark purple energy strike a skyscraper. The impact was so powerful that it blew a large portion of the structure into the air. As soon as it was high enough, a mysterious figure kicked the statue at The Dazzlings and The Rainbooms.

Whilst Twilight, Sunset, and their friends were shocked to see such an event, The Dazzlings rushed forward, leapt up at the building, and began rapidly slicing through every floor of the skyscraper that was sent their way. It didn't take long before Adagio, Aria, and Sonata eliminated the building and prevented any harm from befalling their friends.

"Move on!" Adagio shouted encouragingly. "We need to stop the Malefics from taking out our guys in the sky!"

The group did as ordered and ran down a path. However, unbeknownst to them, the figure that had kicked the building was now standing on one of the girders of the destroyed structure. As it watched the ten of them run past, it held out its' hand and readied a Dark Magic attack. "Pitiful Dazzlings, thinking that they can rely on the help of others to win this war? Such pathetic toddlers..."

Suddenly, he watched as the group ran down another street and faced off against a number of Malefic forces. The figure stood by as Adagio, Aria, and Sonata started to sweat with how intense the fighting had become. "Then again, I love to see prey like that run around. I shall wait until they take out the other Skyfire, then I shall move in for the kill..." and with those words, the figure leapt from building to building, pursuing the ten girls without being noticed.

Meanwhile, The Dazzlings and The Rainbooms were moving in on the second Skyfire, seeing that it was already firing shots at the Lyrican fleets. As the group were about to take down the Skyfire, a large group of Slicers arrived with three more Natures. However, that wasn't all that arrived at the site of the second anti-air weapon.

A new Malefic descended from the sky. It was a bipedal life-form with buzzsaws for feet and chainsaws for arms and legs. Its' chest was one massive trash grinding machine, but its' head was the only thing that wasn't to do with cutting things into thousands of tiny pieces. The head of the new Malefic was quite sinister, with a couple of black orbs looking down on the ten girls with fury in both of them. The new Malefic swung its' arms and roared to the sky.

Malefic Heavy

SHREDDER

The Shredder charged in on the girls with its' arms ready to cut them in half and spill their blood and guts. However, just before it performed a sweeping slash, it was kicked in the face by The Dazzlings and thrown onto its' back. It quickly got up, but once it did, it had its' legs cut in half by Rainbow Dash and Sunset.

As the balance of the Shredder was skewered, the Slicers and Natures moved in to avenge its' loss. However, The Dazzlings and The Rainbooms had analyzed the monsters' attacks inside and out, and were able to dodge and counter-attack accordingly. With that, they began to grow cocky, and failed to notice that the Shredder finally got its' balance back and prepared to strike back at them.

The beast charged forward, using its' buzzsaw feet at rollerskate wheels. With the advanced mobility that it had, it quickly flanked around the group and swept them off of their feet with one of its' chainsaw arms. Once the girls were airborne, it shot its' chest out of its' body and tried to grind the girls into paste.

As Adagio, Aria, and Sonata saw the grinder chest shoot out of the creature's body and snare them all, they raised their swords and began to cut through the chest like it was butter. Though it was easy to destroy the body, the grinders were still going, determined to cut them up into thousands of pieces. After narrowly dodging being sliced to death, The Dazzlings flew out and saved The Rainbooms by charging back into the body and breaking it up with the sheer force of their impacts alone.

Once everyone was back on their feet, they moved in to take on the Shredder. Even without its' chest, it was still quite powerful, and no doubt one of the toughest Malefics they had fought yet. The chainsaw arms and legs were quite ferocious, and the revving noises that they all made were deafeningly loud.

Adagio, Aria, and Sonata joined with Twilight and Sunset to perform a devastating combo of sword strikes on the giant Malefic. Each of the five girls performed a diagonal slice, making a star out of their combined attack. Adagio went down and left, prompting Twilight to go up and right. When she arrived at Aria, she performed a straight horizontal strike. Her actions touched Sunset, who performed a downward left diagonal strike. Finally, Sonata slashed upwards and to the right, reaching the point that Adagio had been in before.

"Dimquel Endrayu!" Adagio, Aria, and Sonata said, using their wings and red pendants to summon another beast to aid them.

The new beast was one from Dystopia, as it turned the sky red as blood. As the streams combined together to take a physical form, a bipedal monster with massive claws for hands appeared behind the Shredder. As it roared, it watched the Malefic try to run away in fear, but the beast impaled it by the dome of its' head and began to brutally rip it apart.

Once the Shredder was split in half, both halves were thrown at the second Skyfire. The second before it was about to crash into it, the beast from Dystopia performed a cross slash with both of its' arms, cutting both the Shredder and the Skyfire into dozens of pieces. Those pieces all collapsed and exploded in a burst of darkness, prompting the Dystopian to vanish.

"Good work, Disposal," Adagio said to her pendant when the beast returned. "You truly were a cut above the rest..." she then chuckled to herself, prompting the other girls to share in her amusement.

"Very funny, Adagio Dazzle," the figure said from the rooftop above where the Skyfire had been firing. "But you should know that you're just asking for trouble, standing up to the Malefics like that..." he then jumped off of the building and punched the ground when he landed.

"Who are you?" Adagio said to the figure that had watched her defeating the Malefics. "I demand you reveal your name and intention!"

"I am merely one of Overlord Cataclysm's commanders," the human figure said when he suddenly materialized two black wings onto his back. The wings were very demonic, and had black flames where the wings ended. "To the world, I am nothing more than a bringer of death and destruction. But to you ladies and innocents dragged into battle, you may call me Pandemonium, Overlord Cataclysm's Seventh in the Malefic Hierarchy..."

Pandemonium and The Dazzlings

"Pandemonium? I don't think I've heard that name before..." Sonata put her hand to her chin and stroked it. "But from the looks of things, you've gotta be one of the weakest Malefics I've ever seen..."

"Fool!" he roared. "I am part of a new division of Malefics. We are known as the Six Signs of the End," Pandemonium said as black tendrils suddenly appeared out of his arms and back. "We are the most mighty of all of the Malefics. Challenging us is our way of writing your own death sentence."

First Sign of the End

PANDEMONIUM

"New make, huh? Let's hope those bodies of yours can put up a fight..." Aria raised her swords and pointed the tips towards Pandemonium's neck. "I don't think you've heard about us, but we're the new queen of Lyrica. And let me tell you, we had to go through a lot of shit to earn that title..."

"We had to grow up from infancy again, then regain our powers as we started to mature," Adagio said, being reminded of each one of the trials and tribulations that she and her friends had faced during their fight against The Blasters. "In the end, we had to kill our own brothers to earn these wings, and our spot on the throne..."

"Spare me your petty fairytales, Dazzlings. My master gave me strict orders to find you," Pandemonium's hands were suddenly gripping onto black cylinders of energy. The cylinders then swirled around his arms and took the form of cannon-like gauntlents. "These new weapons are what I like to call Endgame Cannons. But they're only the start of my power..."

"Bring it..." Twilight's grip on her swords tightened as she stared down Pandemonium.

All of a sudden, Pandemonium was consumed by black energy, grinning as he was finally erased from the sight of the girls. The energy transformed into a massive cocoon, which grew to colossal sizes in two seconds flat, and erupted rather viciously.

When the cocoon had vanished, a titanic beast with black skin appeared in its' place. The feet of the beast were big enough to flatten five skyscrapers with one stomp, and the legs were now heavily armoured. The chest of the new titan was the size of the city, and the arms that stretched out were wearing Pandemonium's cannons. As for the head, it was shaped like that of a dragon, but Pandemonium's human form was sticking out of it. As Pandemonium threw his arms to the side, so did the massive beast. It was as if he had fused with the titan, becoming one with all of its' destructive power, and ready to mercilessly destroy The Rainbooms and The Dazzlings with extreme prejudice. As Pandemonium roared, so did his new body.

First Titan of the End

Pandemonium (Malefic Form)

"You've gotta be shitting me..." Aria said as she looked at the colossal beast that stood in Pandemonium's place. "That's Pandemonium?!"

"Yes. And now that you fools have seen my true self I suppose there's no chance in trying to escape now, is there?" Pandemonium's voice came out of both the dragon's head and his own. However, the dragon's head said it in a more demonic and deeper tone than he had said it. "Tremble in fear at the sight of my true form: Pandemonium! Prepare yourselves for the first of six destructive battles, ultimately preparing you for the final battle with our overlord!"

"Th-that thing's the size of a mountain!" Rainbow Dash began to shake and shudder with the sheer magnitude of her opponent. "How do you think we can possibly win?!"

"Don't panic, Rainbow Dash!" Adagio told her. "Everything has a weak spot, even Malefics. And you know what they say. The bigger they are, the harder they fall!"

The girls then spread their wings and flew upwards to face Pandemonium's human half. The flight was long and daunting, and the size of his beast half made them feel like miniscule atoms. But eventually, they made it to their opponent.

"Listen, Pandemonium, I appreciate that you show loyalty to Pandemonium, but you and your kind are still causing mayhem and destruction," Adagio tried to convince him to stop merely by talking to him. "So if you could just scoot on back home to wherever it is you Malefics come from and maybe we can talk things over with Cataclysm himself someday..."

"Are you serious?" Pandemonium said in a deadpan tone.

"Well I had to try it once, right?" Adagio responded.

"And I can't blame you for it," Pandemonium said. "But even so, words won't get you anywhere when dealing with us. You may have been able to barter with the forces of Euphoria and Dystopia, but they're old news now. Now you answer to me!" he roared, causing his beast half to roar once again.

"Then let's just cut the crap and do this..." Aria raised her swords, prompting the rest of the girls to do the same with theirs.

"Tell me, Adagio. Have you ever danced with the devil in the pale moonlight?" Pandemonium taunted as his beast began to move.

"Yes. We were still discovering ourselves, and he would not shut up about exterminating human and ponykind..." Adagio responded.

The battle began with Pandemonium roaring so loud that the girls were forced back by the deafening volume. When he had finished, he watched as the girls shook it off and began to fly towards him.

From the girls' perspectives, it was as if they were charging in on a moving mountain that had rooted itself in Manehatten's center. But in truth, they were moving in to get back to Pandemonium to try and deal him damage.

Only seconds after the girls had started to move in towards Pandemonium, they were suddenly met with a variety of fireballs from the Malefic's beast half. Every blast came from the mouth, and they were accompanied with large slashes from the monster's claws.

The girls were quite nimble with their wings, despite The Rainbooms only being in this form for just under an hour. They performed a number of nimble barrel rolls and dives around the attacks. However, just as they thought they were out of the way of the attacks, more and more came towards them.

The fight was chaotic, but The Dazzlings and The Rainbooms eventually made it back to Pandemonium.

Even with his targets at close range, Pandemonium wasn't intimidated. He picked up one of the skyscrapers at his feet, held it up like a javelin, then threw it at the ten winged girls as if it was as light as a feather.

Seeing the incoming structure, Adagio, Aria, and Sonata performed a flying kick which allowed them to smash the first floor of the building into pieces. But even then, they didn't stop there as they followed up their attacks with a series of additional kicks. With one final kick, The Dazzlings pushed back the final part of the building into Pandemonium's dragon head, causing the beast to become disoriented.

"He's stunned! Now's our chance, girls!" Aria said as she moved in towards the head of the giant beast.

When everyone had arrived, they unleashed a lethal flurry of sword combination attacks. Every cut was small, but it was leaving a lasting impression on the colossal titan. They almost didn't notice that the dragon's head was finally reorienting itself and was readying to breathe fire on them.

Only seconds after the dragon's head moved did the fire arrive. The ten winged sirens quickly evaded the attack by an inch, then began to focus on another part of Pandemonium's body.

This time, they focused on the back, which had a number of archaic markings with spiked designs. The mark on the beast's back was also deadly, as it was shooting black tendrils, purple orbs that followed the group's movements, and even conjured a number of black arms that had Pandemonium's Endgame Cannons wrapped tightly around their wrists.

The shots that came from the cannons were massive, as if they were actual cannonballs being fired from an actual ship. They were dark grey and pulsating with Malefic energy. When they hit a building, they caused it to expand and explode.

The beast roared once more and stomped down on the city, causing everything to fly upwards to his height. Ponies, structures, monuments, nothing remained on the ground after Pandemonium's violent stomp. But even that wasn't enough for him, as he launched a massive stream of flame into the air. The fire vanished, then rained down on everything around him like an incendiary monsoon.

Everything around Pandemonium was instantly lit on fire. Ponies screamed in agony, buildings began to melt, and complete mayhem was befalling Manehatten. But even then, the madness didn't stop. From there, the sky turned fire red and rained colossal meteors. Though most of them hit the water, they were still large enough to create tidal waves and completely drown the rest of the city.

"Wait a sec... How come we're not hurt?" Pinkie asked as she just bore witness to the absolute chaos going on around her.

"I told you that Lyricans have a higher pain threshold than the average pony or human," Adagio explained as she began to slice arms off of Pandemonium's back. "What would cause a life-threatening injury to your kinds would only cause us a mild burn, bruise, or cut."

Eventually, all of the arms came off and The Dazzlings impaled the back of the beast. Hearing it howl in pain, they smiled and flew back over to Pandemonium's front side. Seeing The Rainbooms catch up, they landed on the dragon's forehead and jabbed their swords into it. The hole they made wasn't huge in comparison to the beast, but it was large enough for the group to infiltrate Pandemonium's innards.

The girls didn't expect to see the inside of the dragon's head. It was made entirely out of spiky black veins, including the projection that allowed Pandemonium to see just what his beast side was destroying. They all originated from one source, the back of the very Malefic that was controlling it.

"Oh no. It seems I've been overrun with viruses," Pandemonium said as if he had expected them to arrive. "It's a good thing that I'm my own antibody!" he leapt up from the vein throne he was sitting on and prepared his weapons to fight.

"If we can just cut off those weird tendrils coming out of his back, we can sever his connection to the beast..." Adagio said, examining her opponent as she leapt over the blasts from Pandemonium's Endgame Cannons.

"By all means, try..." Pandemonium said as he allowed her a shot at his back. Smiling as she tried to attack, the veins grew enormous spikes which knocked Adagio into the walls of the inside of the dragon's head. "Did I forget to mention? My veins, as well as the veins of the other Signs of the End, have the power to repel attackers from all corners. In a way, I'm impenetrable from all sides!"

"No, you're not," Aria said as she moved in and tried to attack him from his front. After landing a successful kick, she said "If you're impenetrable, why are you letting yourself get kicked back by a Lyrican?"

Pandemonium merely fired another Endgame Cannon shot at Aria, watching it expand and explode in her face. He smiled as Aria smashed right into Adagio, causing the two of them to groan in pain.

"I grow tired of this little fight, ladies," Pandemonium said as he sat back down on his throne and allowed the veins to consume him. Once they had done, even more grew from the already large throne and tried to wrap themselves around the necks of the ten girls. "Let's see how well you pathetic sirens work under pressure..."

The veins began to choke each and every one of the girls. The more they tried to struggle to breathe, the tighter and tighter the choke-holds got.

It all ended with Adagio using her swords as scissors to cut the veins off of her, following up with the destruction of the veins that were strangling Aria, Sonata, and The Rainbooms. She was about to move into attack Pandemonium, when all of a sudden, the beast began to fly into the air at a hasty speed.

"Wait, we're flying now?!" Twilight said as she desperately tried to hold onto her balance as the whole area around her began to shake.

"This is the final fail-safe for if a Sign of the End is compromised in battle," Pandemonium's voice spoke to them, but it was demonic and echoed off of all of the walls. "When I reach the highest altitude, I will dive down onto Manehatten and impact it with enough force to match that of a Human World nuclear warhead!"

Adagio used her pendant to contact the Lyricans piloting the fleets. "All squads, focus fire on the giant Malefic flying into the sky!"

"Can't do that, Adagio. We've got Malefics swarming us!" a Lyrican said as it desperately tried to fend off a Nature and a few other winged Malefics. "At this rate, the whole fleet will be shot down before we even lay one round on this thing..."

As the projection vanished with the Lyrican being tackled to the ground, Adagio stomped the ground and said, "Dammit!"

"What now, Adagio?!" Sunset said as she finally used her inherited wings to keep herself from being shaken up.

"I guess we've got no other choice but to take this thing down ourselves..." she said as she looked at the massive coccon where Pandemonium was sitting. "If we can cut his connection to the beast, we can focus on taking down Pandemonium. His death should logically cause his beast to fall at the same time. In more understandable terms, cut off the head and the body will die."

"Good idea," Twilight said as she got the attention of the rest of The Rainbooms. "Follow The Dazzlings and strike that cocoon, quickly!"

The ten girls uttered a battle cry as they charged towards the cocoon of veins.

Each and every one of the girls tried their hardest to hack and slash the cocoon into pieces, but most of their attacks were either caught or deflected with ease. It seemed like the cocoon was completely indestructible from the outside.

Adagio, Aria, and Sonata charged forward and drove their swords into the heart of the cocoon, just before the veins could touch it. The strikes they landed caused the forest of black vines to shudder as the cocoon began to open up. Seeing that Pandemonium was emerging, they grabbed him and threw him onto the floor.

"I hope you're well aware on what today is, right, Pandemonium?" Adagio taunted as she kicked him towards one of the walls, watching the tendrils he was hooked up to begin to fly out of his body. "It's garbage day!"

As The Dazzlings cut the tendrils off, Sonata said, "Strange, I thought it was Taco Tuesday..."

"It's a figure of speech, Sonata," Aria said as the veins retracted and died in three seconds.

"My veins! How dare you physically assault a Sign of the End and cut off the source of their power!" Pandemonium spoke with venom in his loud voice. "Now I shall be glad to send you to—" before he could finish, gravity seemed to be removed from the inside of the giant beast.

From the outside, the giant monster that Pandemonium once controlled clutched it's temples suddenly. Feeling the internal pain, it howled in agony and fell towards Manehatten. It's fall was accompanied with a veil of flame as it was approaching the clouds.

"Ahh... this should be high enough!" Pandemonium smiled as he saw the beast falling towards the city. "And for my final trick, I shall make Manehatten, The Rainbooms, and The Dazzlings disappear!"

"Don't count on it yet, Pandemonium!" Adagio said as she raised her swords and tried to slash at the Sign of the End. Her slash was avoided when Pandemonium sidestepped and quickly punched her into the ground.

"If I'm going to die, I'm taking the ten of you down with me!" Pandemonium's Endgame Cannons fired at the girls. He scored ten perfect shots, knocking his targets to the ground and making them groan. "Long live Emperor Cataclysm!"

As The Dazzlings and The Rainbooms watched the city begin to grow in size, they got back up to their feet and go another round with the Sign of the End. They let out one last cry and tried using their swords against him, but it seemed like all of their slashes were kicked and punched away, or grabbed and thrown out of their hands.

"I didn't come all of this way just to lose in the first fight!" Adagio said as she drove her hands into Pandemonium's neck and smashed him against the ground. From there, she kicked the back of his head multiple times, causing it to bleed and expose the black mass that was his brain. "DIE!"

With one final kick to the back, Pandemonium's weapons vanished. He was allowed to stand up, but he could barely see his opponents, partially due to the fact that a direct path to his brain had been exposed.

"Lickranel Semgrek, Pirenzrakor!" The Dazzlings said as a combination of both red and blue energy shot out of the opening which they had created.

From the outside, the blue and red streams took differentiating paths, and the sky turned both red and blue at the same time. The blue stream created a portal to Euphoria, whereas the red stream transformed into three Dystopian monsters.

A massive Euphorian Deity descended from the portal, and three colossal demonic knights from the red streams. The Euphorian was Courageour, and the three demonic knights, draped in red armour and bearing massive shields with swords attached to the bottoms.

The three demons used their shields to bash the falling titan into the sky, where Courageour was waiting for it. He ignited his sword and began to erratically cut the massive demon up whilst his Hippocampi scarf sank their teeth into certain parts of his back.

Meanwhile, Adagio, Aria, and Sonata kicked Pandemonium into the air and cut off both of his arms and legs. They watched his limbless body flop around helplessly until they completely destroyed his skull with one final heel kick.

Back outside, the beast had made a final charge straight through the titan, causing it to break up into one-hundred and twenty-eight different pieces. Half of these pieces were devoured by the Hippocampi scarf, whilst the other half was pulled into Dystopia by a red seal. The only thing that remained was the falling head, which was now directly above the sea.

Adagio, Aria, and Sonata flew out of the head first, with The Rainbooms closely behind them. They watched as the head died in a black explosion just before it hit the water.

"Talk about losing your head..." Rainbow Dash said once everything had calmed down.

"And that was only one of the Six Signs of the End as well..." Rarity added. "I can imagine just how nightmarish the other five will be..."

Suddenly, The Dazzlings' wings vibrated, causing their pendants to light up. They framed their pendants with their fingers, showing a projection of another Lyrican.

"Good work out there, Dazzlings. Thanks to your bravery, the Malefic forces have entirely abandoned Manehatten," Symphonia said as he congratulated the ground. Symphonia was a powerful Lyrican warrior who had bestowed The Dazzlings their new pendants when they were trying to find a way to defeat The Blasters, but now he was their second-in-command. "Every one of them made a strategic retreat back to whatever hole they crawled out of. I can only assume they went back to be ordered around by Cataclysm for a change..."

"Symphonia, about that guy we just faced—" Adagio tried to speak, but she was stopped with a quick wave of the Lyrican's hand.

"We'll talk about that later. Right now you girls must all be famished, parched, and exhausted from that battle alone," Symphonia said. "Come back to Lyrica for some rest and relaxation, then we can discuss more on the Malefics," he then turned to face The Rainbooms, "I'm especially certain that your friends from Equestria will have many stories to tell of the enemies they faced..."

"Well, I guess I can't argue with that," Adagio said as the projection vanished. From there, she and the rest of The Dazzlings held out their hands. "Girls, grab on. We're heading back to Lyrica," as she spoke, Twilight, Sunset, and the rest of the group followed her words and made a circle with their hand-holding. "Manehatten's been liberated for now. The fleets will return home with us, but they'll take a separate route."

A massive orb of red and blue energy consumed the ten girls and made them disappear from Equestria in a big flash. They were teleporting back to Lyrica for their well-earned rewards.

Author's Notes:

OMG, I'm so sorry for not updating this. You see, things have been rather hectic for me, and I've recently started work on this new fic called A Threat As Old As Time. Despite the low atttention it's received (Despite all of my attempts to promote it), I seem to be working the most on it. I won't spoil anything about it, but I will say it's recommended for heavy usage of time travel, time manipulation, and alteration of a person's timeline.

I'd speak more, but it looks like Hades is about to defeat Celestia and Luna...

Celestia: Cutie Marks are NOT EVIL!

KI Hades: Then why do you blindly follow them, instead of pursuing your own destinies?! I've seen slaves in my time, but seeing ponies as slaves is by far the worst thing imaginable... That's almost like if Pitty Pat was a slave to pretty Palutena...

Peanut: Do you tink Mama's gonna win?

Me: Not wikewy... From da wooks of tings, she's getting huwt pwetty bad...

Luna: This is quite the formidable foe we're facing... (dodges a face gun attack)

KI Hades: Trust me, I know formidable foes, and even I know I'm nothing compared to what Shadowmane has created over the years. Why, even that new villain of his, Black Cosmos, has really done a number on Twily's Human World friends...

Me: Spoiwews, Hades!

KI Hades: Please, it's not like your fanfic is going to get any more attention then it already has...

Me: Dat's it! (opens up a portal) Pit! Get in hewe! Hades is on da woose again!

Pit: Just a sec, I gotta do something important... (gets the Smash Ball and hits the B Button.) Oh yeah! Take that, Robin!

Peanut: Otay, now dat dat's done, wiww yoo get youw angewic hide in hewe?!

Pit: Okay, okay. I beat a god once, and I can do it again! (flies in through the portal and attaches the Great Sacred Treasure to himself) Let's go, Hades!

Tactical Revision

When The Dazzlings and The Rainbooms returned to Lyrica, it seemed like they had lost some of their morale. The fight with Pandemonium had damaged them by a significant amount, and the same thought ran through their minds once the fleets arrived with them.

"Girls, follow me." Adagio said, taking charge of the group as quickly as she could.

"Where are we going, out of curiosity?" Twilight asked as soon as everyone began walking.

"The Lyrican War Room," Adagio explained. "After that chaotic battle with Pandemonium, we need to assess the destructive capabilities of these new Signs of the End that Cataclysm put out on the front lines..." she then put a hand to her chin. That was no ordinary Malefic... it's something much stronger than anything we've ever thought before. And if there are five more of them protecting him, then who knows how much stronger he's become?

"There's too much to lose here, girls," Aria told The Rainbooms as she stayed close to Adagio. "Cataclysm is a brutal warmonger who won't stop until he reaches his goal. He will continuously send out his Malefics to kill and destroy everything in their path. The only way to end this madness is if we find Cataclysm and kill him."

"Can't we just capture him and try to expel the darkness from his heart?" Twilight asked. "Most of the villains we've had to fight were tainted by their own selfish desires, not to mention when The Blasters corrupted you..."

"Yes, but Cataclysm has stooped himself so deep in darkness that it has completely destroyed his true self," Adagio said as she hung her head. "The Lyrican underneath Cataclysm is dead, and all that remains is a monstrous demon who only cares about destruction, murder, and the extinction of all of our species..."

"He was so determined to become both Furen and Blissen at the same time, that darkness wormed it's way into his heart," Sonata explained. "He shouldn't have been such a jerk about it, though... I mean, fighting the king, demanding both Furen and Blissen roles? He was asking for it if you ask me..."

As The Dazzlings and The Rainbooms arrived at the War Room, they saw that two armoured Lyricans were standing in front of the doors. They were dressed in armour, and seemed determined to do their duty and prevent anyone from entering. However, Adagio, Aria, and Sonata walked up to attempt to reason with them.

"Stand aside, soldiers," Adagio addressed the guards. "Her Majesty's vessels require entrance to the War Room."

"Very well, Dazzlings. However, your friends will have to wait outside," one of the guards told her back. "Symphonia wants to speak with you three in private. The Rainbooms will be unable to grasp this matter, due to the fact that they are only temporary Lyricans."

"Don't worry, Adagio. We'll wait," Sunset said as she and her friends walked away from The Dazzlings. "You can tell us better when you get out."

Adagio, Aria, and Sonata nodded, and watched the guards move aside. Once they were away from the doors, the three of them walked inside.

Inside the War Room, Lyricans were keeping close eyes on Equestria, Lyrica, and Earth to detect another Malefic assault. Meanwhile, Cataclysm stood atop the viewing platform, looking solely at The Dazzlings as they approached him.

"Ahh, Adagio Dazzle, Aria Blaze, and Sonata Dusk," he said as he jumped off of the platform and landed in front of them. "I trust that you've had time to reacquaint yourself with Lyrica after that fight?"

"Yes, Symphonia," Adagio spoke. "It has come to my attention that there is a new division of Malefics known as the Signs of the End," she explained. "Pandemonium was only the first of them, as it seems that he mentioned that there were six of them."

"We're not entirely sure what purpose they serve other than becoming colossal titans who plan on wiping whole countries off of the maps, but we can ascertain that Cataclysm's commanding them, sir." Aria stated.

"Hmm, from the combat analysis we managed to perceive, Pandemonium's life force was unlike that of any other Malefic..." Symphonia created a holographic screen with a simple wave of his hand. The images showed Pandemonium, along with a series of other projections revealing his life readings. "He seemed to be the least enveloped by the darkness, but could still order Malefics around perfectly. What's more is that he was once a human who went by the name of Sure Shot."

"What?!" The Dazzlings were taken aback with the information.

"It seemed that he was a 100% perfect shot with every weapon he was given," Symphonia explained as the images changed to format the story. "He was an expert at soccer, but enlisted for the army when he grew into a young man. From there, he boasted tirelessly about the victories his platoon had, and that it was all thanks to his work..."

"Strange. With that sort of attitude, he should have been found and consumed by Hierarxe; not transformed into a Malefic super-weapon..." Adagio put her finger to her chin and analysed Sure Shot.

"It seems that during his last excursion, he was captured and brainwashed by a terrorist organization known as the C.F.H. AKA, Changelings For Hire," Symphonia continued. "They subjected him to every propaganda imaginable, and had to have a surgeon operate on his brain to have him obey commands," the projection frame then turned pitch-black as the story progressed. "From there, he was a C.F.H. agent; a merciless killer, who only knew how to hunt and destroy."

"No..." Sonata looked at what Sure Shot had become. She looked at his evil smile and turned her head in shame.

"His evil intentions grew until his squadron blew up a hospital. They did it to prove that there was no-one to help the injured," Symphonia's voice now turned mournful. "And the second he hit that button, the darkness in his heart consumed him..." the projection showed Sure Shot hitting the button, and then being consumed by a black bio-mass that sprung out from the floor around him. "When he came to, he was part of Cataclysm's new armada. Seeing as he was still brainwashed, he only knew that he was to take orders from evil forces. And with that in mind, he became our enemy's new soldier..."

"So the Signs of the End were once humans?" Aria's pupils widened as she looked at Sure Shot's new form.

"Correct, and I assume that there are five other souls who were tainted by their evil..." Symphonia began to speak again. "If Pandemonium said that there were six Signs of the End, then that must mean that Cataclysm is going to release each one one at a time in an attempt to cripple our worlds and pave the way for a full-scale invasion..."

"Those poor souls..." Sonata shed a tear when the projections returned to the map of the trinity.

"Symphonia... we were almost killed trying to defeat Pandemonium," Adagio said as calm as she could. "Given the situation, I recommend approving the use of Spiritual Transfusion."

Those words were enough to throw Symphonia off-guard. "Adagio, I know these are dire times, but Spiritual Transfusion is not for the faint hearted. Overuse of such a power can cause significant damage to you three, and extending your reach to too many ponies and humans can ultimately lead to the possible chance where they could never regain their true selves..."

"Listen, Symphonia. There are five other Titans of the End out there, and each one of them looks to be the absolute end of us all," Adagio pleaded. "If you do not enable us to utilize Spiritual Transfusion, then we might as well just surrender to Cataclysm right here and now..."

"It's a grave risk, Dazzlings," Symphonia warned them. "Would you be willing to push yourselves so far that you might not be able to withstand such an almighty power?"

"If it means saving the world from Cataclysm's horrific army, then yes." Adagio firmly said.

"Hmm... you have courage," Symphonia said as he walked Adagio and The Dazzlings over to the door. "Right now, we need courage to stand up to these Malefics..."

"What kind of courage?" Sonata asked as she raised an eyebrow.

"Well, the forces in both Euphoria and Dystopia are too frightened to preserve the Balance of Lyrica right now," Symphonia generated more projections, but they came solely from his power and showed the realms of Euphoria and Dystopia. The denizens were all cowering behind structures and other parts of the landscape, including the once-violent Dystopian forces. "They are mighty beings, but even they are beginning to fear what the Malefics are capable of. The only ones who are still roaming free without fear are the Six Euphorian Deities."

"So, why exactly are these Malefics so big, bad, and frightening anyways?" Sonata asked as she watched the projections vanish with another swift wave of Symphonia's hand. "Malefics are unlike other beings. They are born entirely of evil intent, and flourish around areas that are held in the tight grip of an Equestrian or Earth warlord and their forces. But just the slightest evil in a part of the trinity will send them running to spread death and destruction."

"Then as long as evil exists, so do the Malefics..." Adagio processed it all in her mind. "That means that they're never going to stop attacking unless evil is completely non-existant and Cataclysm is dead and buried..."

"And knowing these Malefics, they'll only get stronger and stronger the longer we leave them to rest..." Aria began to think. "Hmm, for once, I might actually get a challenge..."

"How do we break this to The Rainbooms?" Sonata asked Symphonia as they all walked back towards the doors.

"Simple, we tell them the utmost truth," Adagio said as she put her hands on the door. "This is a war that'll be tempered because of the evil intent of humans and ponies..."

The door was opened, and The Dazzlings walked through with Symphonia behind them. The first thing they saw were The Rainbooms, who were awaiting the results of what Adagio, Aria, and Sonata had been told.

"Girls, this just became much more serious," Adagio struggled to solidify her sentence. "The Signs of the End... were once..." she turned her head and said, "Human."

"What?" Twilight walked forward. Her face looked like it had been drained of all colour. "Are you sure about that?"

"Yes. Pandemonium was once a human, much like you and Sunset were on Earth," Adagio began to recap the whole story. "He had 100% accuracy with every weapon he was given, but he was captured and brainwashed into working for a terrorist organization. He blew up a hospital, and was consumed by his own evil. When he came to, he was a part of Cataclysm's new troops..."

"The Signs of the End..." Sunset's heart sank.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa... You mean to tell me that that thug was a human?!" Rainbow Dash was unable to fathom her emotions.

"Unfortunately, yes. His evil intent was what caused Cataclysm to recreate him and have him serve under his reign," Aria returned the focus to the story at hand. "If there are five other Signs of the End, then that means that there are five other humans, ponies, or a mixture of the two species who met their untimely ends when evil consumed them..."

"Where are they now?" Rarity asked.

"Away, probably at Cataclysm's stronghold, preparing another assault plan," Sonata told her. She was unaware on where Cataclysm was hiding, but she believed that he was heavily fortified. "For a group of terrorist monsters, they really have to plan things out, don't you agree?"

"But that's exactly the point, Sonata. Something's not right..." Adagio turned her head skyward. "Malefics usually attack as frequently as they can. If that's the case, then why hasn't another attack been staged yet?"

"The Dazzlings believe that by defeating one of the Signs of the End, they have found a way to cripple my forces," Cataclysm spoke as he examined three black cocoons. The cocoons pulsated slowly, sending repeated purple streams across the patterns. "What they do not know is that Apocalypse, Armageddon, and Carnage are wholly and fully complete. All that remains is to awaken them and have them aid the second Sign of the End."

Cataclysm spawned black tendrils from his back and rooted himself into the three cocoons. As soon as he did so, he spread his wings and flexed his muscles, sending dark pulses of energy through the lines and into his creations. Each one glowed violently after all of the dark pulses of energy had been absorbed into them, and three figures were visible in the bright dark purple light.

"At long last, the time has come to awaken a new type of Malefic," Cataclysm smiled as the cocoons began to earn massive cracks, allowing the darkness to stream out of them. The figures inside opened their eyes, revealing soulless purple orbs. "While the Signs of the End are indeed powerful, I now have a new force that will be able to finish what Pandemonium could not!" he smiled. "Awaken! Apocalypse, Armageddon, and Carnage!"

The cocoons shone so bright that they exploded with terratons of force. The remnants splattered all over the walls, and slowly fell to the floor. What had hatched from each of the cocoons was a black figure with two swords. There were three cocoons, meaning three new warriors under Cataclysm's command.

"My new warriors. Long have I waited to create you," Cataclysm spoke as he retracted his tendrils and flew up. "I have created evil out of the hearts of ponies, humans, and now my former kind. You three were once Lyricans, but they betrayed you, deceived you, tricked you into believing that you were a warrior of peace," his words made the three humanoid Malefics comply. "After all that transpired in the three worlds I now know what you were truly meant to be; harbingers of death and destruction, who care only about the end of the Lyrican species, and the worlds they inhabit and leech off of.

"Listen to me now, and heed my words," Cataclysm watched his soldiers perform a Malefic salute. The Second Sign of the End is preparing to strike an Earth city known as Yemane. You will aid their attempts to reduce it to rubble, whilst also going for a fight with The Dazzlings first-hand," his words made the warriors he had created nod slowly. "Oh, and if you see The Rainbooms, you have my permission to kill them. At least one will suffice, but more would make me happier. Now go!"

"As you wish, Overlord Cataclysm..." the figures all said in unison as the purple orbs flashed in their pupils. The only visible features now were their hairs; spiky black for one, crimson and magenta mohican for another, and a swirl of silver and aquamarine for the third.

Author's Notes:

Yay, Cliffhangers!

But anyways, I'm so sorry that I've been failing to update my stories recently. But you see there was this whole Arkham Knight with a thuggish Militia, there were epic battles with the Batmobile, and one thing just lead to another...

Oh, and also, I've now got myself a Patreon account. So if you feel like donating to me to help support me, you can do so here. Or you could leave me some comments down below telling me what you think of the story.

Hades: Yes, it seems our little writer here feeds off of comments these days.

Pit: Well, comments are a great way to hear other people's opinions without having to go up and talk to them.

Hades: Yes, but there's also delivery services, E-Mail, and two massive gaming communities known as Playstation Network and Xbox Live...

Me: E-Maiw's kinda fwustwating, I usuawwy wive in Engwand, and I weawwy onwy use da Pwaystation dese days...

Palutena: Well, different strokes for different folks, right?

Viridi: Some like chocolate, some like vanilla...

Spiritual Transfusion

"Adagio, I think we need a whole new plan," Rainbow Dash said as the ten girls walked down a corridor. The gilded walls passed by them as they spoke to each other. "This Pandemonium freak almost killed the ten of us, and put you three on the ropes for once..."

"You're correct in some sense, Rainbow Dash. But there's one thing you're mistaking," Adagio responded. "We don't need a new plan to fight the Malefics, we just need a new power to defeat them instead..."

"But what kind of power could even match that of the Signs of the End?" Twilight questioned as she thought about the destructive battle with Pandemonium. "If Pandemonium was only the First Sign, then who knows just how powerful the others are?"

"You're right, Twilight," Sunset agreed with her. "What kind of power do you Lyricans have that can defeat an army of this magnitude?"

"There's a hidden power that every Lyrican holds," Aria began to explain as thoroughly as she could. "Whenever a Lyrican's power is truly unleashed, it allows them to extend their power – their DNA – to other humans and ponies. Linking together other species to make an army, such a power is known as Spiritual Transfusion..."

"Spiritual Transfusion?" The Rainbooms all said in perfect unison as they raised their eyebrows.

"By combining their own DNA with that of the other species in the trinity, Lyricans are capable of using these new recruits as conduits to increase their power by a staggering amount," Adagio spoke prophetically. "And in a way, this also empowers the people that are united by the Lyricans who use this power. In short, by combining our powers to make an entire army of warriors, we will reach new levels of power never touched by any other being."

"That seems too good to be true..." Fluttershy said as she raised a finger. "Surely, there must be a catch..."

"Actually, Fluttershy... I was about to explain the downsides of using this power..." Adagio responded to Fluttershy's finger with an informative one of her own. "Overuse of Spiritual Transfusion can cause severe damage to Lyricans. And severe overuse can even cause the destruction of a Lyrican pendant and possibly cause instantaneous heart failure, strokes, and complete incineration of all of your internal organs and bone structure."

"The ultimate super-weapon is the ultimate double-edged sword." Sonata said wittily.

"There was a time where we thought that Spiritual Transfusion was a blasphemous thing of nature and that all fights could be won with our swords and singing alone," Adagio reflected on her past. "But after that fight with Pandemonium, it's a sure-fire way of knowing that this time, the Malefics are playing to win..."

"So, with this Spiritual Transfusion, we'll be able to thin the hoard and stand up to these new Malefics?" Sunset wanted confirmation.

"It's been long since we've even heard of it, but recent studies have shown that the power will be enough to bring the Malefics down," Adagio said. "But we might have to hurry, because I just felt a chill running down my back..."

"What she means to say is that she thinks that the Malefics are devising something to raze this castle to the ground, but it needs more time to be created, " Sonata told the group. "But judging from how calm Dagi looks, I'd say we've still got time before the Malefics are done with it."

Suddenly, an alarm siren rang out throughout the castle. The noise it created was loud, shrill, and could only mean one thing.

"Malefics! It never ends!" Adagio said as she bent her legs and threw out her arms. "Everyone! To the War Room!" Adagio started running. Aria, Sonata, and The Rainbooms followed closely behind her.

As the ten girls ran down the Lyrican hallways – passing by other sirens who were scrambling for battle themselves – their hairs extended and were accompanied with their wings. As soon as they saw their extra features, they left the ground and flew.

When they arrived at the War Room, Adagio, Aria, and Sonata immediately saw that the projections were glowing red. They flew up to the control balcony and used their hands to attempt to find out where the attack was coming from. With a few graceful flicks, the three Lyricans quickly found the attack.

"Team, we've just got word that a Second Sign of the End was located within the town of Yemane," Adagio began to explain as she brought up a picture of Yemane. It looked like a desert area with an entirely Arabic language. "After he was discovered by the town's guards, he unleashed a small fraction of his powers and called in an army. And now the city is up in flames, the people screaming in anguish, and the Malefics feeding off of all of the evil, death, and destruction they can make..."

"Well why don't we just send in some big payload or something and smoke the whole city?" Rainbow Dash thought of a way to finish off the Malefic assault with little effort. "I'm not one for science, but I know that Malefics, plus a big explosion means instant death. Boom!" she finger-banged for emphasis."

"I don't think that I need to remind you that Lyricans don't go so far as to destroy whole places with a simple weapon. We are far more reserved than that." Aria responded.

"Any leads on who this Sign of the End is, or what it used to be?" Applejack posed the question.

"No clue, but we can piece together the being's name," Adagio said as she showed a picture of the Second Sign of the End. It was a slender male with blue cropped hair and silver skin. "The Second Sign of the End is known as Chaos."

"Sounds like someone we know, eh, Sunset?" Twilight joked.

"Not that kind of Chaos, Twilight and Sunset. We mean the bad kind of chaos," Sonata told them. "You know, the one where fire rains from the sky, buildings go up in flames, and the general lifestyle of everyone involved in it is changed forever?"

"But anyways, this is a good time for us to test out Spiritual Transfusion against the Malefics," Adagio pointed out. "Our mission is to push through the Malefic hoard and find Chaos. Oh, and if you see any civilians who are still wrapped up in the death and destruction, then we'll use Spiritual Transfusion to make them our own warriors."

"Now listen, girls. We're unsure as to how many new recruits we can take in with Spiritual Transfusion, and so I have some exclusive orders that only you can follow," Adagio handed Twilight a golden device with a red button. "This is the fail-safe that we have planned. If at any time you see me, Aria, or Sonata in pain from overuse of Spiritual Transfusion, I want you to hit the button immediately. In doing so, that will cause a temporal abnormality that should cast the Malefics to another world and call us back to Lyrica so that we can be looked at."

"So basically, this is your little escape hole for if we're backed into a corner?" Rarity asked as she looked at the device.

"Exactly," Sonata responded as she used her hands to show the health readings of The Dazzlings. "These are our such things like our heartbeats and internal temperature," she then created a red line at a certain point in the gauge and a small number next to their beats per minute. "If the temperature gauge goes over this line, or if our hearts beat too fast, it means we're suffering from the backlash of Spiritual Transfusion."

"Alright, but before we move to Yemane, I need to ask you something, Adagio," Twilight spoke up as she put the device in her pocket. "What exactly are the Malefics?"

"Malefics are born from the evil intent and destructive natures of both human and ponykind," Adagio Dazzle began to explain as best as she could what a Malefic was. "Cataclysm was the source of all evil in Lyrica, and once we'd discovered Earth and Equestria, he spread his essence there and placed it in the hearts of many different ponies and humans throughout the course of history.

"Because of this, Malefics can come from just about anybody – or anypony in your case," she continued. "No matter whether or not they do small evil things, or world threatening things, Malefics will always find a way to take advantage of someone's dark nature and create a horrific monster out of their darkness. Cataclysm will have no doubt made a monster out of Sunset Shimmer's evil side, or even the evil within Twilight and her friends..."

"But wait a sec..." Sunset thought about it. "Twilight and her friends haven't done anything evil. I can tell by just looking at them..."

"Everyone has evil in their hearts, Sunset Shimmer," Aria Blaze spoke up. "All it takes is someone – or something – to spark the evil inside of them and do some atrocious things," what Aria had said had immediately caused Sunset to hang her head as she was reminded of the Fall Formal. "Even we have evil in our hearts. You witnessed that first-hand at the Battle of the Bands, didn't you?"

"It might not be visible for most of us, but deep down, we know it's there inside of us," Adagio picked up where Aria left off. "We all have darker sides. Even the Spirits of Harmony have darker halves. And Cataclysm thrives off of that stuff..." she then put a hand to her chin and monologued, "Much like we had to spread anger to balance out CHS, Cataclysm needs to vent out evil to maintain his certain balance. It's something you don't really want to live with, but we have to nonetheless. It's a way of life, one that can't be tampered with..."

"Then what are we gonna do?!" Pinkie shook Adagio like a ragdoll. "We can't just sit back and let these meanies destroy everything and everyone we hold dear!"

"It's one that can't be tampered with..." Adagio repeated herself. "But it can be stalled by our valiant efforts..."

"Come on, we're taking the fleets to Yemane," Sonata said to give the group morale. "With air support taking on the flying Malefics, that just leaves the ones on the ground, and the Second Sign of the End to find. Piece of cake, right?"

"There's cake?" Pinkie perked up and drew her swords. "Let's do this!"

"Now that's what I like to hear," Adagio opened up a portal and stepped back. "On my mark... CHARGE!"

The ten girls cheered and ran through the vortex, leaping forward into the light with little time to think.

Meanwhile, Cataclysm watched as the portal which The Dazzlings had entered vanished, leaving behind no traces that it even existed. He grunted lightly and turned around to face Apocalypse, Armageddon, and Carnage.

Cataclysm created a black projection with some lightning fired from his fingertips. Once it had taken shape, it showed The Rainbooms and The Dazzlings with their weapons drawn.

"There. Those are the ones, are they not?" Cataclysm addressed the three Malefics.

"Yes, I will never forget that face..." Apocalypse said with venom in his voice as he glared at Adagio with black fire in his eyes. "I will take great pride in slitting her throat and watching as the blood drains out. And when she is on her knees, choking in agony, I will shatter her skull like a walnut and eat the remains. Only then will I be satisfied..."

"Those three demons ruined our lives, and so we shall ruin theirs," Carnage said, feeling a little more like he was ready to fight than the other two Malefics. "What are your commands, Overlord Cataclysm?"

"Simple. Go to Yemane and oversee the destruction of the town," Cataclysm spoke his orders. "It is a whole country in the Human World, so you and Chaos can have your fun in tearing down cities and feasting off of the darkness in the hearts of others.

"Oh, and I presume you have had time to prepare your new power as well?" Cataclysm asked the three warriors.

"We have, Overlord Cataclysm," Armageddon saluted. "Our power has reached staggering levels of destructibility and death. We can turn an entire volcano into dust with a simple heel kick. With such power, we would like to request volunteering in Chaos's place so that he may focus his efforts on another part of the Human World..."

"While it is true that you are powerful, you must remember that The Dazzlings are now Lyrican Royalty," the demon raised his finger and pointed towards The Dazzlings' crystalline wings. "Their power has far surpassed that of their old selves, and they can unite to become the new queen of Lyrica. Because of this, they will overpower the assault in mere seconds," Cataclysm explained. "So, we shall send you with Chaos to demolish Yemane. If any of the four of you find The Dazzlings, you have permission to engage and destroy them with brute force."

"Yes, Overlord Cataclysm..." Apocalypse, Armageddon, and Carnage all saluted before they vanished in a black flash of energy.

"Such feeble humans, dancing to the content of their own evil," Cataclysm said as he viewed Yemane. When the picture changed to one of the towns, the Malefics began to descend and make the humans scream and run. "And yet, they know not of what true evil can unleash...

"Their own rage and dark desires fuel their hatred," Cataclysm watched as a terrorist force defeated a counter-terrorism unit, which immediately caused Malefics to spring from their bodies and murder the humans they came from. "If tamed, it can become their ultimate weapon. But if it overgrows... then they will become lost to the darkness of their own hearts forever.

"Even The Rainbooms and The Dazzlings are capable of extraordinary things when their evil is unleashed," Cataclysm saw the ten girls arrive on Yemane sand, ready for a fight with his army. "Their hearts may be pure now, but their evil will eventually burst out of them like water in a balloon.

"Their darkness shall take on a physical form, bodiless and free, until it weaves together to make the ten most powerful Malefics beneath myself," Cataclysm smiled as he was shown a scenario where the darkness in the hearts of the ten girls consumed their bodies and turned them into winged demons with black tendrils coming out of their bodies. "And when their evil is freed, I can truly, finally achieve my ultimate goal..."

Suddenly, a black figure appeared from a black hole behind Cataclysm. The new figure had blue cropped hair, silver skin, and was carrying a powerful war hammer for the battle ahead of him.

"Sorry to intrude, Overlord Cataclysm, but I just want to let you know that my Titan of the End is fully synchronized to my darkness," Chaos spoke as he grasped the war hammer tightly and performed a few practice swings. "If those meddlesome fools get in my way, I will flatten them like the cockroaches they are!"

"Chaos, it's always a pleasure to see you around," Cataclysm sighed in content as he walked over to the Second Sign of the End. "You have your orders. Travel to Yemane and cause as much death and destruction as you and the Malefics can cause. Then The Dazzlings will come running, and when they do..."

"They'll want to wish they were dead!" Chaos smiled and vanished with another black flash of energy. Before he vanished, he let out an evil laugh with echoed across the walls of Cataclysm's throne room.

"Adagio Dazzle, Aria Blaze, and Sonata Dusk are unaware of the true power we can call up..." he paced. "That will ultimately lead them to their complete and utter destruction. Soon, everything in existence will crumble and die, and I shall take great pleasure in wiping the slate clean and starting anew!" He stomped his foot violently.

Yemane

The towns of Yemane were under attack from all kinds of Malefic forces. The buildings were quickly turned to dust, with the monsters slaughtering anyone who tried to escape. Winged Malefics were flying overhead, slicing any jets and helicopters they could find clean in half.

All while the chaos continued, loud screams emanated from all of the humans that were being attacked. Each one tried to run for their lives, but their roads were either blocked off by flames, or destroyed entirely by all the damage the Malefics were causing.

A kid was running through the chaos, panting heavily as it leapt over the destroyed fruit stands and underneath the damaged arches. She looked back, seeing that a Slicer was on her tail and gaining on her with every second. She was about to make another turn when she failed to notice how close she was to the wall, and ended up crashing into it and falling onto her back.

She was about to cry, but her tears quickly became screams when the Slicer looked down on her and raised one of it's sword arms to cut her into pieces. She shut her eyes, preparing for the inevitable, when all of a sudden, the Malefic vanished.

When the girl got up, she saw that The Dazzlings and The Rainbooms were standing in front of her with their swords drawn. They had most likely cut up the Slicer whilst she wasn't looking.

"Get out of here and find somewhere safe, little one." Adagio spoke to the girl who immediately ran off when she had finished talking.

The Rainbooms and The Dazzlings stood up to assess the chaos that was unfurling all around them. Malefics were destroying everything in sight, leaving no building untouched and no human spared. The fires that rose up from the destruction only prompted the ten girls to leap upwards and land on the rooftops.

"Alright, we'll get a better vantage point up here," Adagio began to address the team. "Our primary objective is to locate Chaos and stop him before he becomes his Titan of the End form. At the same time, we have to save as many civilians as we can, as they can help us due to Spiritual Transfusion."

"He might try to escape, but we can't take that chance," Aria spoke after Adagio. "That twerp is gonna pay for aiding and abetting a warlord of utter death and destruction."

"As much as I am all for this wonderful idea of yours, Dazzlings, I wonder if you've taken a look at the skies recently..." Rarity pointed upwards, seeing that a large number of titanic Malefic ships were appearing in the skies above them. The ships were all black, had spikes with weaponry poking out of the side, and each one was dropping in smaller dropships.

"Falling Skies..." Adagio examined each of the massive ships as they released the smaller ones. "And the ones coming out of it are Missiles. Not the attacking type, mind you, they're just a codename for the smaller dropships..."

"We've gotta find some way to destroy these ships," Sunset said as she looked at each Falling Sky as closely as she could. "There's no way to leave Yemane without letting these humans die, and there's no weapon on Earthy that could puncture that thing, let alone damage it."

"Ah don't think even nukes would be able ta tame this monstrosity of a ship..." Applejack said in response. "This thing's almost the size of the country..."

"As daunting as Falling Skies are, they don't really do much except for dropping off Malefic forces," Adagio explained. "They only really fight when they take excessive damage," suddenly, The Dazzlings' Show Stopper ship arrived with a number of other Lyrican ships. "And speaking of excessive damage...

"Alright! Let's move!" Adagio shouted as she and the girls began to run across the roofs of Yemane, or whatever was left of them. Every time they came to a gap in the buildings, they leapt over it without even trying.

Eventually, the ten girls came to a large rooftop with enough space to fight on, and that was when a black fence with archaic markings surrounded the building, preventing any chance of escape. After that, Malefics descended from the missile. There were five Slicers, one Nature, and a brand new Malefic.

The new Malefic was heavily armoured out of carapaces and steel plating. It's weapon of choice was a massive pair of sharp claws which had curly tips. The new monster was not the size of the Nature or the Slicers, but it was still imposing in the eyes of The Dazzlings and The Rainbooms. It howled, clawed at the ground, and then used the carapaces and steel plates to create an unbreakable cocoon.

Malefic Defence

FORTIFICATION

"Girls! That Fortification likes to hide behind other Malefics!" Adagio commanded them as they began to drive their swords into the Slicers. "Until we take out the Slicers and that Nature, it'll be impossible to even touch the Fortification!"

"On it!" Rainbow Dash said as she slid underneath a Slicer and impaled it with her sword. She then got up and threw the Slicer into two others, causing the three to collapse into a heap on the ground. "Yeah! Take that, Malefics!"

Adagio, Aria, and Sonata saw the collapsed Slicers, leapt into the air, somersaulted four times, then drove their swords through all three of the felled monsters. They heard the Malefics scream as they faded away in a second, prompting The Dazzlings to pick up their swords and continue with the other two Slicers and the large Nature.

The Nature fell quickly, as did the two remaining Slicers. But still, the Fortification didn't give up. It burst from it's cocoon, held out it's arms in attack formations, glared at The Rainbooms and The Dazzlings, and charged forwards with it's claws dragging across the rooftop.

The Fortification was fast for it's size, and it nimbly evaded most of The Rainbooms' attacks. After it had evaded a combination assault from the seven ponies-turned-siren, it slashed it's claws in an 'X' shape which knocked the seven of them back.

After it had attacked, the Fortification was violently thrown skywards by The Dazzlings, kicked in the stomach, and stomped all over as The Dazzlings attempted to kill it. It could only grunt in pain with each attack, with a final cry of anguish rising up as The Dazzlings smashed it's skull into pieces.

After the Fortification vanished, the black gate that surrounded the rooftops had each post self-destruct. After all of the posts had exploded, the black walls disappeared, enabling the ten girls to progress forward.

"Alright, that's one down. Now let's move up!" Adagio rallied the team as best as she could as they resumed their run across the rooftops of Yemane.

"We should head towards the source of all of the death and destruction, that way we can—" Adagio then noticed that a group of humans were trying to fight back against the Malefics on the ground, but were about to be defeated "—Hold, girls. I think we've got some fighters down there..."

"Yeah. If it weren't for the Malefics, they would make great additions to the—" Aria then saw a Malefic smash three of the humans against the wall, making them faint "—Oh well..."

"Never say never, Aria Blaze!" Adagio jumped down into the streets and stopped the Malefics from harming the humans further. A quick swish of her blades combined with a few twirls, and Adagio dashed straight through the enemies and cut them into thousands of pieces with one quick slash.

"Get up!" Adagio held her hand out to the humans who had been fighting back against the Malefics. She watched the civilians grab on to her hand, which caused blue and red veins to travel from Adagio's hand and into the hands of the humans.

Bright flashes of blue and red came from the humans, and in seconds, they were wearing Lyrican armour and pendants, carrying swords, and had wings ready for the fight ahead of them. They performed a salute, then leapt up onto the rooftops to join forces with The Dazzlings and The Rainbooms.

"Whoa... that's incredible..." Sunset examined what were once humans in peril, but were now The Dazzlings' newest recruits.

"Rainbooms, this is Spiritual Transfusion," Adagio announced as she introduced her new recruits. "Our power enables us to infuse Lyrican DNA and weave it around the DNA of a human or pony, enabling them to become temporary Lyricans for great battles. Together, we are all one big conduit of positive and negative energy, the very essence of Furen and Blissen surges through all of us, enabling us to do extraordinary feats that no one Lyrican can do alone."

"Our strength flows through these humans, as it is still doing for you," Aria continued. "When Spiritual Transfusion is used enough times, it can turn even the weakest and most feeble of humans and ponies into the ultimate warriors. The teamwork that this embodies enables us to reach new levels of power, far greater than what you witnessed in the past."

"But with such power comes great limits," Sonata spoke for the last part. "Overuse of Spiritual Transfusion can cause considerable damage to Lyrican warriors, and too great an army can cause a Lyrican's pendant to self-destruct, causing every internal organ within us to liquefy and explode, causing excruciating pain, and instantaneous death."

"The ultimate weapon, is the ultimate double-edged sword!" The Dazzlings all cheered in unison as they posed triumphantly.

"Save the victory poses for later!" Twilight brought them back to reality. "We've got to find Chaos and stop him from becoming his Titan of the End form!"

"You're right," Adagio said as she composed herself. "We need to keep on moving. Use the rooftops to survey for more civilians, and save as many as you can."

The team then rushed through the streets of Yemane, looking for any casualties. As the sweat fell from their head with how important the task was, they all pushed onwards through the hot temperature and shifting sands.

Meanwhile, Apocalypse, Armageddon, and Carnage watched as The Rainbooms and The Dazzlings carved through Malefics to try and find injured humans. The three of them breathed shallowly and watched their every move.

"You have ruined my life, Adagio Dazzle," Apocalypse said as he stepped forward and watched the girls run off into the distance. "So I think it's only fair that I defeat you and take the life I was supposed to lead..."

"Apocalypse, do not rush to conclusions just yet," Armageddon put a hand on his shoulder. "The Dazzlings are unaware on what we are. So I think it's only fair that we wear our guises for now..." Black lines of energy spawned up around Armageddon's neck and head, eventually transforming into a helmet to mask his face.

"How much longer must we mask ourselves, Armageddon?" Apocalypse asked as he eventually conjured up his helmet as well. "I want to look The Dazzlings straight in the eye and tell them how much I want to murder them first hand."

"Think about this for a sec, Apocalypse," Carnage spoke up. "The reason we mask ourselves is to build up tension. Our Overlord says that the best way to cause heartbreak and demoralize someone is to be someone who they once used to adore, and then deal them as much physical and psychological pain as possible."

"When The Dazzlings realize what we are, they will become frightened little infants," Apocalypse was about to finish. "And when they cower and quiver with the discovery, they will run away and abandon Lyrica. And then, we strike down the world we once called home..."

"Fine," Apocalypse sighed as he drew black spiky swords. "But let's at least give them something to look forward to first..." Three black custom Malefic ships appeared behind the three warriors. Each one was the same size as a Malefic Missile, but instead of dropping Malefics off, this one had an arena deck for if the three needed to fight some foes off of them.

The Dazzlings made it to a large square with a number of stalls that had been destroyed beyond repair. The fruits had been spilled and were rolling and bouncing away from the destruction, Malefics were unleashing their attacks on the buildings on the buildings around the square.

Whilst The Rainbooms did their best to repel the onslaught, The Dazzlings were going around to give the civilians in the area a Spiritual Transfusion. Bright flashes enveloped each and every person they could find, and they became Lyricans when the light had died down.

"Alright, we've rounded up twenty new warriors..." Adagio counted them off, then raised her swords. "Now then, let's just see how powerful we are..."

Adagio leaped forward and stomped down on the ground. When she did so, red and blue streaks of lightning ran across it. When the energy reached the Malefics, massive pillars of crystals rose up from the ground, impaling each of them violently.

Adagio could barely contain herself. "Oh, I think I'm gonna like this new power..."

But almost immediately after she watched the Malefics vanish, she saw a new one arrive. This one had cannons for arms and shotguns for feet. The body was made entirely out of lead, and the head was heavily armoured and masked. The beast was tall, taller than the Natures from before. It test fired both of its shotgun feet and both of the cannon arms. After a successful testing, the beast glared at the team of Lyricans and took up a battle stance.

Malefic Brute

GUNFIRE

"Let's do this..." Adagio smirked as her swords were swung in time with that of the rest of her small army. "Team, let's do this!"

The thirty Lyricans all charged at the Gunfire, narrowly escaping shots from the shotgun feet, but being scraped by the shots from the cannon arms. With The Dazzlings leading the charge, they found that it was easy to knock the beast over with a few well-timed sword swings and powerful kicks.

Even though the Gunfire was on it's back, it didn't give up. Instead, it put the cannon barrels at the ground and fired. In doing so, it launched itself upwards and prepared to smash into the ground. When it hit the ground, it fired a shot in sync with the attack, causing a powerful shockwave to knock down all of the Lyricans and make them yelp in surprise.

Rainbow Dash and Aria Blaze stood up, then nodding at each other, they ran towards the Gunfire. After avoiding many cannon shots and a few shotgun shells, they leapt up on both sides of the Malefic and swung their swords in wide diagonal directions, leaving a massive 'X' mark on the beast when they landed.

They walked away smirking, listening to the Malefic falling to pieces and dying with a scream. After a black explosion, they rejoined the team and fist-bumped.

However, after the smoke had cleared from the explosion, three custom-made ships appeared. Despite their size, the three ships had a vast array of weaponry. Homing missile hatches opened up at each side, a massive drum-like mechanism with a circle of holes appeared from underneath the ships, and massive lasers were charging up as the rudders of each ship opened up wide.

From the three ships, three humanoid figures with helmets and black armour were looking down on The Dazzlings and The Rainbooms. They balled their hands into fists and welded themselves into a special slot which opened up at the ship's back. After they were coiled up in the metal and tightly secured, they held their hands out towards the Lyricans and yelled, "FIRE!

Massive beams of pitch-black energy were shot at the ground, and were travelling towards the Lyricans at breakneck speeds. The team evaded the attack, but a large portion of Yemane was razed out of existence with how violent the attack was.

The Dazzlings weren't given a chance to stop and catch their breath as the drum mechanisms began to spin up, firing black bolts of energy at the rooftops. Seeing how heavy the assault was, Adagio said, "Team, retreat!"

Following their leader's words, everyone began to run across the rooftops. The three ships were still hot on their tail, and they fired black homing orbs at the roofs ahead of them to try and stop them in their tracks.

After the attacks hit, The Dazzlings stumbled and fell towards the ground below, landing violently and grunting in pain as they rolled across the sandy floor and smashed into a ruined building. When they got up, their pupils shrank as they saw the ships getting closer and closer to them with the drums firing more and more shots. Given no time, they leapt up and spread their wings, flying over the three charging ships in the nick of time.

When The Dazzlings tried flying away from the three ships, their team followed suit and tried to regroup with them. However, the ships launched more homing orbs to try and shoot them down. Seeing that it was impossible to avoid the shots, the Lyricans drew their swords and batted them towards Missiles, winged Malefics, and even at the Falling Skies and the three ships.

As the explosions happened all around the three humans, their rudder lasers charged up and carved through the sky as if it were butter. They were trying to vaporize the team completely, but their targets were small enough to avoid the attack.

"Stalinpza!" The Dazzlings said as they and their team fired deluges of red and blue energy at the three ships. When they hit the ships, a number of Euphorian and Dystopian forces were attacking the ships, disabling the weapons systems and enabling the team to land.

But then, all of a sudden, the three ships turned into a pure black energy, one which merged the three already huge ships into one larger, more destructive, and more dangerous one. The new ship was outfitted with a number of black streams of energy, all of which pulsated out of the cockpit and gave it new life. The arena deck was colossal, capable of fitting large numbers of troops for any battle.

Apocalyptica

The massive ship fired a black net which quickly ensnared the thirty Lyricans all at once. Then, without warning, the net was violently magnetized to the ship, causing each of the sirens to smash into it and groan with pain. After they had calmed down, the net vanished, but not before it surrounded the ship, preventing any chance of escape.

LYRICAN FORCES CAPTURED. AUTO-PILOT INITIATED. Apocalyptica spoke in a mechanical voice as the cockpit opened up. APOCALYPSE, ARMAGEDDON, AND CARNAGE, YOU ARE AUTHORIZED TO ASSAULT THE ENEMY.

"Well, well, well," Carnage taunted as the three warriors stepped out of the cockpit. "Look what the sirens dragged in..." his voice was robotically synthesized behind his helmet, masking his true identity. "Did you miss us, Dazzlings?"

"Identify yourselves!" Adagio shouted at the three humanoid warriors.

"We are nothing more than ghosts now; warriors to the new bringer of peace, Cataclysm..." Apocalypse spoke with a robotically synthesized voice as well. "We are Staleki, Mizrenza, and Likponra. However, since you Lyrican fiends are unable to grasp the beauty of the Malefic nature, you may call us Apocalypse, Armageddon, and Carnage."

Mysterious Malefics

Apocalypse, Armageddon, and Carnage

Apocalypse, Armageddon, and Carnage

"What's going on here?" Twilight tried asking the three attacking Malefics. "What gives you the right to declare war on the worlds?"

"There is no right required, Twilight Sparkle of Equestria..." Apocalypse's voice was concealed by his armour. "When the blood of one is spilled in front of the rest of the species, one does not need rights to brutally murder the culprit. It has been this way for many years; and even now, here we are again..."

"The species; so fickle in every one of their ways..." Armageddon chimed in with his philosophies. "The humans of Earth; hiding behind machinery and high-caliber firearms to defend themselves. The ponies of Equestria; gifted with magic, but afraid to utilize it to fight back. And even now; the Lyrican Sirens..."

"Geez... these guys like to run their mouths..." Sonata put a hand to her chin and listened to Apocalyse and Armageddon talk. "Friend of yours, Twilight?"

"Pay attention!" Apocalypse stomped his foot, sending powerful black shockwaves along Apocalyptica. When the shockwaves hit The Dazzlings and their friends, they were all electrocuted with powerful electric currents that would have proved fatal to anything else. "Ingrates! All of you! Too afraid and ashamed to unleash your full potential! Even when your lives are at risk, you wish to laugh and belittle us?!"

"That's enough, Apocalypse!" Carnage held him back my outstretching his arm. Just like the others, his voice was masked by synthesizers. "Remember the master's orders. We're supposed to eliminate The Dazzlings only when our powers have been maximised. Challenging them now is to be used to assess their fighting styles and find weaknesses in them."

"You're right, Carnage," Apocalypse withdrew his attack, watching the Dazzlings and their allies fall to their stomachs. "Forgive my hostility towards you all, but this is a matter that could very well be the harbinger between the protection of your worlds, or their complete destruction."

"Unlike most other Malefics, we are not here to brutally beat the paste out of you within an inch of your life," Armageddon resumed speaking. "Overlord Cataclysm gave us orders to test your fighting styles; so that we may learn exactly how you fight and so that we can find a weakness in your tactics."

"Sure, you can try and test us," Rainbow Dash spun her sword, then pointed it directly at the three Malefics. "But who's to say you'll even make it back to Cataclysm with that data?"

"This is your first and only warning, you three. Surrender your arms and retreat from Yemane, or we'll have to use force." Adagio stood firmly as she addressed her opponents.

"Surrender our arms? I'm afraid our arms are staying on our bodies, thank you very much," Carnage joked. "If you want us to surrender our arms, you will have to viciously cut them off. But let's see if you Spazzlings are good enough to even land a single strike..."

"To arms, Adagio Dazzle!" Apocalypse charged forward and clashed with Adagio. His sword met hers, and the sparks flew as they were trying to push the other away.

"Rainbooms, reserve forces, diplomacy has failed," Adagio rallied them for battle. "The only way these punks will listen is if we pound their sorry butts all the way back to their base. Get your swords ready!"

Everyone raised their swords ready for a battle; but just as they did, Apocalypse, Armageddon, and Carnage created two black gemstones that each hung around their armoured collars. They had a similar design to the crystals worn by Lyrican Sirens, but they were pitch-black and were pulsating with Malefic energy. Once they had materialized, the three Malefics glowed black and raised their swords.

"Good. Let's see how tough you all are..." Apocalypse smirked and charged in with his companions.

As soon as the fight began, Apocalyptica began leisurely careening across the skies. But even though it was in autopilot, it was still firing the occasional cannon shot down on Yemane. Every shot was the same. A small black orb was launched; and when it hit its mark, a colossal portion of Yemane was blown to pieces.

On the top of the ship, Adagio was violently meeting Apocalypse's assault with her own. Every one of her blows was blocked by Apocalypse, just as he prevented all of her strikes. She tried some nimble maneuvers, but Apocalypse read her like a book and rolled away from a diving slash, following it up with a lethal combo of twelve sword strikes before finishing it up by kicking Adagio into the air and then bringing his heel down on her back, causing her to crash into Apocalyptica like a meteor.

"You can't win, Adagio Dazzle," Apocalypse walked towards the groaning Lyrican leader. "Holding back won't win you anything."

"Apocalypse speaks the truth," Armageddon said as he charged straight through The Rainbooms, knocking them all against the wall. "In conquest, you have to become violent to defeat your opponent!"

"If you toddlers believe in namby-pamby nonsense like the Magic of Friendship, you'll never be able to defeat the Malefics!" Carnage rammed against Twilight and Sunset, then kicked them airborne and smashed them together, causing them to both fall to their knees and groan in pain. "Friendship also conceals darkness, and it is that darkness that will be your undoing!"

Adagio, The Dazzlings, and The Rainbooms got back up and continued their assault on the three mysterious Malefics. But despite their skills, they were still heavily outmatched by the force of Apocalypse, Armageddon, and Carnage; despite it being three against a small army.

"You really are a bore, defenders of the worlds..." Apocalypse said as he clashed with Twilight, Adagio, and Sunset all at once. "Thinking that such weak and childish forces such as yourselves can save your worlds?!"

"Violence is never the answer, Apocalypse!" Twilight shouted out as she pushed him back by a tiny amount. "You Malefics think that terrorizing and harming innocents; not to mention destroying their worlds, will buy you any kind of peace of mind?!"

"Friendship earns you nothing either, Twilight Sparkle!" Apocalypse kicked Twilight in the chest, causing her to stumble backwards and weaken Adagio and Sunset's fight against Apocalypse. "Friendship is nothing more than a weaponized form of energy; known for eliminating creatures such as draconequuses, centaurs, even The Dazzlings who stand before you!"

"Such dangerous power cannot belong in the hands of anything other than the Malefics, Twilight Sparkle," Armageddon held her by her neck so that she couldn't help Adagio and Sunset again. "You and your friends are to be condemned to the darkness, and your powers stripped; taken from you by worthy warriors who know how to use it to achieve their goals!"

Ignoring Armageddon's words, Twilight swung her sword across his chest, causing him to stumble and release his hold on Twilight. As she got to her feet, Twilight watched as Armageddon bled black blood. But her pupils shrunk when she saw the blood fly back inside Armageddon, then sealed the wound with a black glow as if it had never happened.

"Striking someone when you're about to die? Impressive, Twilight Sparkle..." Armageddon crossed his arms, then kicked Twilight against the wall of the ship again. "But it still won't help you defeat us..."

"Will these guys ever shut up?!" Aria violently rammed into Carnage, then dealt a dozen slashes against him. She finished up her assault by knocking the Malefic onto his back, then dealing a bone-breaking heel drive into his chest. "Seriously. Are we fighting Malefics, or history teachers?"

"Joke all you want, Aria Blaze; but you too will surrender your darkness to us..." Carnage stood back up and dusted himself off as if he had received no pain whatsoever. "The Overlord's orders are absolute, and he will conquer your miserable little dirt balls you call homes..."

"You will not live to see the light of day again, mongrels!" Apocalypse stood in the centre of the arena and held out his arms. "Armageddon, Carnage, to me!

"I will admit that you are all powerful warriors, defenders of Earth, Equestria, and Lyrica," Apocalypse began as his allies regrouped at his position. "But there is still one thing that you severely lack; aggression..."

"Without a motive to fight and unleash your pent up rage, you stand no chance against our limitless forces," Armageddon turned away from his opponents. "It is because Cataclysm is waging war with the Lyricans that we are winning against you. His vendetta, tied in with his anger, is spawning countless Malefic warriors as we speak. Even now, he must already be furiously creating another batch..."

"You too were berserkers, Dazzlings. Always letting your rage do the talking during a battle. Be it with music or with swords..." Carnage turned away himself. "But now you ally yourselves with babies. How pitiful of you..."

"We have spent some time duelling you, Dazzlings. And from what we've gathered, you're just beginners in comparison to our level of skill," Apocalypse gave his judgement. "You are weak, sloppy, and you always rely on your friends to get you out of tough situations. You are nothing like the Lyricans you were before; or could have been if you were never poisoned with Dark Magic..."

"That's a straight up lie, Apocalypse," Adagio stood firmly. "We've had a troubled past, so there was no way of knowing that we could have been so much more," pointing a finger, she was ready for another round of battle. "And who are you to say, anyway?"

Apocalypse sighed, then turned back to Adagio. "You don't know it, Adagio Dazzle; but you're already dead as a doornail..."

Suddenly, the helmets on the three Malefics turned blacker than ever. All of a sudden, Cataclysm was projected in front of everyone and was primarily looking at Apocalypse, Armageddon, and Carnage.

"You have done well in securing the data, Apocalypse, Armageddon, and Carnage," Cataclysm spoke loudly. "We are already assessing how they fight, and have prepared a training regimen that will completely shatter their defences. Even though I am aware that they know we have assimilated their techniques, the Lyrican scum will not have enough time to adapt to a new strategy with our attack plans set in motion..."

"I understand, Overlord Cataclysm..." Apocalypse saluted; as did his comrades. "What are your orders now?"

"Return to me, and let The Dazzlings and The Rainbooms frolic and play in the soon-to-be apocalypse ground known as Yemane," Cataclysm instructed as he crossed his arms. "Their time is running out, and our time is fast approaching. It won't be long before they crumble underneath our feet..."

"Very well, Overlord Cataclysm..." Apocalypse said as the projection finished. He put the palm of his hand onto Apocalyptica, causing it to transform back to normal. "Consider yourselves lucky, children. The Overlord's letting you off the hook for now. But when next we meet, I will be happy to drive my sword into all of your hearts!"

"PLOTTING COURSE FOR DESTINATION." Apocalyptica announced as its engines fired up. It pointed itself towards the skies, as if it was about to take off like a rocket ship. "EJECTING LYRICAN FORCES."

"And with that, we must bid you all adieu," Armageddon said as The Rainbooms, The Dazzlings, and the reserve Lyricans were being blasted away by black winds. He watched as everyone flew off, with The Dazzlings being the last ones holding on. "Next time, we're going to destroy everything you ladies hold dear..." Armageddon grabbed The Dazzlings' arms, then threw them off of the ship and into the shifting sands of a Yemane desert.

Once the Lyricans were all off of the ship, black jets fired up from the exhaust ports. Within the timespan of two seconds, Apocalpytica had already left the atmosphere and vanished, leaving behind a black twinkle in the skies as it did so.

Chaos and The Dazzlings

Everyone crashed into the sandy deserts of Yemane, coughing up sand and groaning in pain. The Dazzlings were the last ones to fall, landing on Twilight, Pinkie Pie, and Rarity in the process.

"Who the heck were those guys?!" Rainbow Dash broke the silence and threw her arms.

"I'm not sure, but I could feel a massive surge of Dark Magic emanating from them as we dueled," Adagio was the next to speak. "It was as if they could only focus on obeying Cataclysm and fighting. Despite sparing the time for some prophetic words, they don't seem like your average Malefics..."

"I shudder to think that they might even be able to overcome the Spiritual Transfusion we've been using..." Sunset had had some time to assess Apocalypse, Armageddon, and Carnage. "Such ferocity; given a body of evil and made to attack justice... This Cataclysm seems like he could actually bring forth the end of all the worlds if he has that much power..."

"But how much power?" Twilight shrugged.

"Let me put into terms that you'll understand, Twilight," Aria approached Twilight. "This war is even harder than anything you've ever fought back in Equestria. You might just end up dying before we finish it..."

"Out of morbid curiosity, what was the toughest thing you fought, Twilight?" Sunset asked. She had been living on Earth for most of her life, and had almost forgotten that Equestria was filled with danger.

"The hardest thing I've had to fight was a centaur named Lord Tirek," Twilight explained. "He was a brutish thug of a villain who gained power by stealing the energy and life force from the other ponies in Equestria. It eventually came down to the strength of all of Equestria's alicorn magic V.S all of Equestria's life force; and in the end, it still came down to a stalemate..."

"Twilight..." Adagio sighed and put a hand on the lavender siren's shoulder. "I'm going to be level with you here. Fighting Cataclysm? That's going to be like fighting ten Lord Tireks combined into one almighty being of darkness..."

Twilight grimaced at that remark. "Oh no... He was already tough enough for my power to handle. And you say that Cataclysm is even stronger than that?"

"Darkness is born from the negativity in people's hearts," Adagio explained, "That darkness becomes a physical energy called Malice. And that Malice is what makes Malefics. It's what they feed on, in a way," she pointed at Twilight's heart, then the hearts of her friends. "Even you have darkness hidden deep down inside of you. Despite what you may say and claim, the Malefics will hunt down that darkness, and turn it against you. For anyone who has experienced darkness overwhelming them, the Malefics will recreate the evil form you became to monger the darkness..." Adagio looked primarily at Sunset Shimmer.

"Oh, what cruel irony; don't you think?" a mocking voice came from behind The Dazzlings. It belonged to a humanoid being with black wings, and a sword with two edges. The black armour, as well as the dark magic he was holding in his free hand were an undeniable sign that he was a Malefic. "Even the most well-behaved of goody two-shoes have evil forms inside of them," he sniggered, "Ooh... I'm gonna love ripping you open and seeing what darkness you girls all have inside of you!"

Adagio jumped, and turned around with her swords drawn. "Identify yourself, Malefic!"

"My name is Chaos. The Second of Cataclysm's Signs of the End," he made a humble bow, despite the evil grin on his face. "I assume you heard about us from my colleague, Pandemonium?"

Second Sign of the End
CHAOS

"What I do know is that you're after something," Adagio stated, "You Malefics have always been attacking random places at will, but I've never seen such force behind you this time..."

"That's because Cataclysm now knows how you Lyrican scum think, Miss Dazzle," Chaos said, "He knows that you always win with massive armies and summons from Euphoria and Dystopia. So, he came to a decision that the only way to beat you Lyricans, is to overwhelm you entirely. Why worry about you summoning Hippocampuses, Dragons, and other such creations, when we can render them completely useless to you with the six of us?"

"But why go through all of this just because your master didn't get what he wanted?" Twilight asked from the group, "Surely, if Cataclysm had simply gotten his wish, then all of this could have been avoided..."

"He no longer has his eyes primed on getting a pendant from each Lyrican Art, Twilight Sparkle of Equestria," Chaos's gaze was heavily fixated on Twilight. "In fact. We're really after you..."

"Us?" The Rainbooms all asked in unison.

"Yes. You see, we've been curious on your Magic of Friendship for some time now," Chaos paced back and forth, "And it's becoming apparent that you can somehow give The Dazzlings the power they need to defeat us every time. But it's not just your light we've been studying on. In fact, your darkness is far more appealing..." he made an evil laugh and put his free hand to his head. "Just imagine it; The Rainbooms, the saviours of Equestria and Earth, revealed to have dark alter egos who care about nothing but destruction and death. When we unleash your inner evil, you'll be begging us for mercy..."

"This is your first and only warning, Chaos," Adagio decreed, "Surrender yourselves to the Lyrican forces, or we'll have to use force."

"It was funny when you said it to those three, but it won't be funny this time, Adagio Dazzle..." Chaos took in a lot of dark magic. "In fact, if force is what you plan on using, then that's totally fine by me!"

Chaos rapidly grew into a colossal beast with clawed feet and hands, a demonic dog's head, and black spiky wings. The right hand carried a massive sword with two ends, as if it were to be used as a buzz saw. In the free hand, a black orb with cosmic energy was being tightly clutched. Chaos flew upwards, spread his wings, and roared, causing a massive sand hurricane to ensnare The Dazzlings, The Rainbooms, and their support inside his makeshift natural disaster.

Second Titan of the End
Chaos (Titan Form)

"TREMBLE BEFORE THE ALMIGHTY CHAOS! SECOND OF THE SIX SIGNS OF THE END!" his voice boomed across the sandstorm, silencing the roaring winds. "PREPARE FOR YOUR COMPLETE AND TOTAL DESTRUCTION! AND IF THAT DOESN'T WORK, SUFFER AT THE HANDS OF ANNIHILATION!"

"Lyricans, diplomacy has failed," Adagio contacted the Show Stopper's command bridge. "If you see a massive sandstorm, that's us fighting the Second Sign of the End. Concentrate all troops on that area. We take down Chaos, we push back the Malefic fleets in this location!"

"We'll be there momentarily, Your Majesty," Symphonia responded, "Just hold on until we arrive!"

"Rainbooms? Shall we show this monster who's boss around here?" Adagio asked the rest of her small army.

"You can count us in, Adagio!" Rainbow Dash raised her sword in conjunction with all of her friends.

"Team! To battle!" Adagio cried out.

"ON IT!" the army all said in response.

Due to the intense nature of the sandstorm, it was hard for Adagio, Aria, and Sonata to find Chaos. They had to create red and blue visors for them and their friends, to prevent their eyes from taking excessive damage. And even with the visors on, it seemed like Chaos had already vanished completely.

Then, all of a sudden, a black fist thrust out from the ground, knocking the Lyricans airborne. It was a short flight, as they landed on a large chunk of stone that was being lifted in the winds. Using it as a platform, The Dazzlings quickly reoriented themselves for the fight.

There was much less sand being blown around, which enabled the group to see Chaos once more. But seconds after he had been exposed, he was creating black balls of energy with his free hand. Each ball created tendrils of black energy that careened down towards the Lyricans at breakneck speed, as if to impale them. The shots were about to strike, when the entire group leapt forward in unison and landed on Chaos' sword.

After they had stuck the landing, The Dazzlings led the charge by running on sword towards Chaos himself. Balancing themselves and avoiding Chaos' attempts to swat them down before they arrived, they soon made it to his face and delivered long combos of kicks and sword slashes.

"What are you waiting for?!" Aria called back to the group, who had just arrived as she dodged a bite from the giant. "Get in on this as well!"

In response to Aria's motivation, The Rainbooms charged in with the reserve Lyricans right behind them. Together, they managed to deal Chaos a great deal of damage, but he was still ready for a fight.

Letting out a deafening roar, Chaos blew all of The Dazzlings, The Rainbooms, and the reserve forces into the winds with minimal effort. He laughed lightly as the group were all swept away into the whirling storm of sand. Smirking, Chaos fired another deluge of dark tendrils into the winds, so as to try and strike down his opponents as they were thrown around like ragdolls.

Adagio, Aria, and Sonata tried their best to try and fly back towards Chaos, but due to the powerful winds, their wings only threw them about even more. Chaos was once again becoming obscured from their vision as the black tendrils approached them rapidly.

"NOW DO YOU SEE THE POWER OF THE MALEFIC FORCES?!" Chaos demanded as the black tendrils struck their marks flawlessly, causing The Dazzlings, The Rainbooms, and the reserve Lyricans to plummet towards Chaos' feet. "THE BERSERK POWER THAT WE WIELD IS POWERFUL ENOUGH TO TOPPLE YOU PATHETIC DOGS!" Chaos raised his left foot for the killing blow. "NOW I SHALL STAMP YOU ALL OUT OF EXISTENCE FOREV—"

Out of nowhere, Chaos was struck with a deluge of Lyrica weaponry. Grunting and groaning with each massive shot, he eventually fell onto his back violently. As his sandstorm died down, he glared at what had attacked him.

The Show Stopper had arrived just in the nick of time, and was accompanied by a group of other Lyrican ships. Each one had the guns aimed at the giant Malefic, and were just about to unleash another payload of Furen and Blissen Energy when winged Malefics were already advancing in on the fleet.

"Your Majesty! Are you all right?" a Lyrican soldier picked Adagio up, whilst his comrades helped the rest of the group to their knees. "For a second there, I thought you had met your match..."

"We're perfectly fine," Adagio Dazzle shook off the pain of the duel she and her friends had been enduring. "But if you don't mind, I think we could use some help in bringing this Malefic down for the count..."

"No problem. We're here to end this battle by any means necessary." the Lyrican said as it and its troops held out their hands and shook with the team.

"Team! Focus on Chaos and strike him down!" Adagio gave the orders as everyone spread their wings and flew into the clear skies of Yemane.

"ON IT!" everyone responded once again.

Chaos was already ahead of the Lyricans. He flapped his wings and absorbed a tremendous amount of Malefic forces in the area. After consuming the entire ground assault, he threw out his hands and legs with another roar, and cloned himself four times. "YOU CAN'T HIT WHAT IS NOT THE TRUE CHAOS, CORRECT?!"

The Lyricans didn't respond to that remark, and instead unleashed all of the firepower they had at Chaos and the clones. Every shot was precise, launched at the speed of light, and dealt great amount of damage to the Malefic. Each clone that had taken enough firepower had been erased from existence with a burst of black energy.

"Move forward, everyone!" Twilight shouted as she pointed her sword towards the giant Malefic. Everyone who was behind her all cheered and let out battle cries as they spread their wings and moved in for a final assault.

"NO YOU DON'T!" Chaos screamed as he flew skyward and created a massive gust of wind by beating his wings repeatedly. The windstorm was powerful enough to send an entire city into the air with minimal effort, and would have proved decisive if it hit the fleet.

"Head's up, girls. We might be facing severe winds ahead..." Sonata said as she and the rest of the team dashed forward with otherworldly velocity through the winds. As they cleared the storm, they watched as Chaos created a second sandstorm by spinning himself around. "Scratch that. Really painful winds ahead..."

"Don't worry about the storm, Dazzlings," Rainbow Dash smirked confidently. "We just get under Chaos' skin, slay the guy beneath it, and this'll all blow over in a snap..."

"Charge!" Sunset shouted as everyone closed in on the storm ahead of them.

Each and every one of the warriors braced themselves for the impact that was about to occur. Bringing their swords about their heads and somersaulting across the sky with no end, The Dazzlings, Rainbooms, and Lyrican reserves all turned themselves into life-size disks of sharp steel.

They eventually clashed with Chaos' sword, causing tons of sparks to fly as the metaks grated and whined against each other. In the end, though, Chaos' sword broke, causing the heroes to smash through it and slit his throat.

Screaming in agony, Chaos stopped the hurricane he had created and knelt down. He almost didn't notice The Dazzlings and their allies fly through the gash in his neck, past the torrent of black blood that was spilling out, and straight up to where Chaos' body was waiting.

As The Dazzlings and the Rainbooms arrived in the central nervous system of the giant Malefic, they could see that it was no different from the place where Pandemonium was controlling his Titan of the End. However, Chaos was sitting down in place of Pandemonium, with a rather ferocious look on his face.

"That's it!" he screamed, throwing himself off of the throne. "I'm through letting you mongrels mess around with me and my playtime!"

"Playtime?! You call killing millions of innocents and nearly beating us half to death playtime?!" Sunset chided.

"Whatever you wish to call it, it won't matter now..." Chaos said as the whole giant began to rumble and shake. "My Titan is entering the final fail-safe procedure. Now it will burrow down towards the Centre of the Earth, ripping the core of the planet into billions of tiny little pieces!" he smiled, "Sure, there'll be a possible supernova from the death of Earth, but I'll already be back at home with Overlord Cataclysm before that; free to watch the fireworks with him and the rest of the Malefics..."

"Fat chance we're gonna let you do that, Chaos!" Pinkie Pie shouted out from the group with her weapons ready.

"True that, Pinkie Pie," said Adagio, "Team! Attack!"

"ON IT!" they all said a third time.

Just like before, Chaos had a vein shield to protect him from all sides. It was also used to viciously attack The Dazzlings, The Rainbooms, and the reserve Lyrican forces. His attack style was different, however; ranging from multiple teleportations to attack the group from their backs, leaping up and swatting them across the room with his veins, and even lowering his guard, only for himself to vanish and deal powerful dive-kicks to the unsuspecting heroines.

The battle was long and arduous, but in the end, The Dazzlings were able to utilize Spiritual Transfusion with their additional numbers. With it, they were now able to cut the vines up and weaken Chaos' defence. With his guard down, Adagio, Aria, and Sonata clashed with Chaos's singular sword. But unlike his Titan, the actual Malefic's sword was proven to be unbreakable.

What Chaos hadn't noticed was that The Rainbooms and the extra forces had snuck behind Chaos as he was preoccupied with The Dazzlings. When Chaos was about to deal a fatal strike, the others all impaled Chaos in unison and in different areas.

The Malefic screamed in agony and fell to his stomach, so as to try and push the swords back. When it didn't work, he felt everyone using their swords to cut him into pieces.

"Why?!" Chaos cried in pain.

"Why not?" Adagio smiled, "If it weren't for the fact that you hail from the darkest force in your species, we could have been friends, Chaos..."

"But alas, this is how it must be," Sunset said, looking into Chaos' eyes. "Evil never wins in the end. That is why you fell..."

"You will not win this war, Adagio Dazzle, Aria Blaze, Sonata Dusk, and allies..." Chaos coughed and spluttered, vomiting up black entrails as he did so. "You still have to content with Annihilation, Obliteration, Disaster, and Doomsday before you reach Overlord Cataclysm..." he listed off the other Signs of the End. "And they will ensure your final defeat..."

"Really?" Adagio said, mockingly, "Well, tell your friends this..."

"Maralez Inlazen! Scrinplerza!" The Dazzlings all said, creating massive concentrations of Furen and Blissen Energy that flew out of the Titan and back into reality.

From the outside, Chaos' Titan was quickly digging down towards the core of Earth, when all of a sudden, a powerful hurricane picked it up and threw it violently into the sky.

From there, the red streams created a giant black demon with two swords and three snake-like heads; whilst the blue streams conjured Silenzel, the Euphorian Deity of Silence.

The snake demon bit into the giant four times, whilst Silenzel's hurricane kept it airborne. The Dystopian monster flew downwards in a spiral-style, ripping and biting into the Titan of the end without qualm or hesitation. As it was about to fall into the hole, the snake heads fired red liquids that left fatal burn marks on the beast whilst the sirens all flew out of it. Finally, the four snake heads combined energies with Silenzel to create a massive pillar of red and blue, which vaporized the titan entirely.

Adagio, Aria, and Sonata surveyed the crater after Silenzel and the Dystopian vanished back to their worlds. "Well, it looks like playtime is over for Chaos..." said Sonata.

"What are you looking so glum about, Twilight?" Sunset was the first to notice that Twilight had a frown on her face after the battle with Chaos.

"Nothing, Sunset," Twilight sighed, "It's just that... do we really have darkness in our hearts?"

"I'm afraid so, girls," Symphonia said, appearing from the bridge of the Show Stopper. "Everyone has darkness inside their hearts to begin with..."

"Lord Symphonia..." The Dazzlings all welcomed him.

"But that darkness is chained up at first," Symphonia started a lengthy speech. "It depends on what we do that determines how long that darkness remains at bay. There are some who try everything in their power to prevent the darkness from escaping, and there are those who are reckless enough that they believe that darkness is the only way to win," he sighed, "There will always be ponies and humans across Earth and Equestria who plan on unleashing the darkness inside of their hearts to crush the opposition...

"You have done a great deal at keeping the darkness in your hearts from erupting and causing widespread chaos to you and your allies, Rainbooms of Equestria," Symphonia looked at Twilight Sparkle and the rest of her friends. "But with the Malefics, it is only a matter of time before they say something that will cause your inner evil to escape from the confines of your prison and cause death and destruction..."

"So you're saying that there's nothing we can do to stop it?" Fluttershy asked with a raised finger.

"Even if your darkness escapes you via Malefic interference, I am trusting you all to find it, defeat it, and capture it once again..." Symphonia explained further. "Now come on. We need to return to Lyrica. It's been a chaotic battle, and you all probably want some time to yourselves..."

Light and Darkness

Twilight Sparkle and Sunset Shimmer stood on the balcony of The Dazzlings' castle. They had a perfect view of one half of the kingdom of Lyrican Sirens, whilst the other half was obscured by the towering structure behind them.

The streets below were filled with simple Lyricans who had not yet been called in to wield pendants, fight with swords, or channel powers from Euphoria or Dystopia. They were simple people; civillians, the most harmless and docile people of the species. The streets below were crowded with Lyricans; family, friends, and warriors alike. Most of the townsfolk were going about their lives and gathering food for their children, whilst the armoured ones were doing their best work to preserve order.

Looking down on the city, Twilight sighed with its majesty. "It's still hard to believe that an entire kingdom of Sirens exists..." she said, "I thought that it was just The Dazzlings at first; but after all that's transpired, I can see that there's much more to their kind than meets the eye..."

However, Twilight had then noticed that Sunset wasn't responding, and was instead staring off into the skies. "Uhh, hello? Lyrica to Sunset? You in there?" she waved a hand in front of her friend's face.

"The darkness..." Sunset said lightly. "I thought that it had been vanquished..." she hung her head. "But is darkness really just something that can be destroyed?"

"What do you mean, Sunset?" Twilight tilted her head.

"I'm saying that what if my inner evil was never destroyed in the first place? If what Symphonia and Adagio said are true, then it's only a matter of time before a raging she-demon breaks loose and tries to harm everything again..."

"I know you're still being eaten up by that, Sunset; but you need to let it go for now," Twilight put a hand on Sunset's shoulder. "And Symphonia tasked us with tracking down and defeating that darkness if it ever escapes again. And given the power that we've been gifted by The Dazzlings, I'd say that that monster has something to be scared of right about now..."

"Which brings me to my next concern, Twilight..." Sunset turned to face her. "What about you and your friends? What of your darkness? Don't you fear what monstrous being lurks deep within you, just waiting for the Malefics to harvest and use against you?"

"True, we all have darkness within us. But as long as we have pure hearts, they'll stay chained up for a really long time..."

"But still; doesn't it just terrify you to know that underneath your friendly and peaceful exterior, there's a horrific monster lurking inside, just waiting for the ticket to get out of its cell?"

"Yes. It does terrify me, Sunset. But we need to focus on the more immediate threat for the time being. And that's the problem of Malefic armies commanded by Cataclysm and his remaining Signs of the End..."

"And what about the rest of the humans and ponies of the other worlds? What about them?"

"As long as Cataclysm pushes out attack after attack after attack, there's no way we can save everyone from his onslaught of death and destruction," Twilight paused and looked up at the sky. "But recently, he's been slowing down and making his invasion at a bizarrely slow pace. If he wanted to crush The Dazzlings and the Lyricans, why hasn't he done it already?"

"Cataclysm must have something big planned if he's not making his move..." Adagio appeared behind Twilight and Sunset. "It's not like him; sitting back and preparing for a breakthrough. Cataclysm usually likes to fight as constantly as possible, not give the opponents a chance to recuperate and rebuild their lives..."

"Adagio? What do you mean like that?" Sunset Shimmer asked, looking back at the ruler of Lyrica.

"I mean that Cataclysm's what we in the art of warfare call a Berserker," Adagio walked over to the railing and leaned against it. "Berserkers are known for constant attacks, coupled with rage and high resistance to pain. They can bring whole blocks of houses down with a single strike if they are strong enough..."

"And your point is?" Twilight tilted her head.

"Some places in existence are closer to Euphoria or Dystopia than others might think," Adagio took a deep breath. "Lyrica is on the doorstep of both, Equestria is close to Euphoria, whilst Earth leans towards Dystopia," then, she herself gazed skyward. "But the Malefics have a certain energy to them. They let out so much rage when they battle, but we're not able to consume it. In fact, this Malefic Furen Energy can corrupt other life-forms if it was released, causing them to instantly turn evil."

"So you're saying that the Malefics have access to an evil version of Lyrican power?" Sunset finally put two and two together.

"Yes. And that shit is what creeps me, Aria, Sonata, and the rest of the Lyricans out the most..." Adagio's brows lowered.

"How do we find this darkness and defeat it?" Sunset asked.

"Well, our darkness can't ever be vanquished," Adagio hung her head. "It's a part of ourselves that will kill us if not contained permanently; sort of like our second half in a way. But we can defeat the Malefics, since they are born of darkness and seem to live without light. They can be destroyed and won't return, but it won't be easy taking down Cataclysm himself..."

"However, Cataclysm's location is unknown, and we are still having difficulty trying to locate him..." Symphonia appeared as well, but in a burst of blue and red light. "If we could just pinpoint the darkness in which that fiend resides, I would gladly lead the charge and impale that insipid heart of his..."

"Symphonia? I need to ask you something..." Twilight spoke softly.

"What is it, Twilight?"

"It's about the darkness inside of us... Why do we have it?"

"It is not a hard thing to accept, Twilight Sparkle of Equestria. Every being has darkness within their heart, much like there is also a faint glimmer of light within every heart of darkness," Symphonia explained. "Much like how you can't have night without day, you cannot have light without darkness. It is one of the very principles of life, and trying to fight against this system will lead to your own self-destruction...

"But it does not stop there..." Symphonia touched both Sunset and Twilight's hearts with a finger from both hands, then used his wings to generate a screen showing their bodies radiating a powerful light. "You two have done a number of heroic world-saving feats, including the defeat of The Blasters a year ago. Those actions have increased your light to a phenomenal level.

"But this also comes with a heavy burden to bear..." Symphonia waved his hands, showing a powerful black ball of energy growing from Twilight and Sunset's hearts. The darkness became two silhouettes, but they were chained up and furiously trying to break free. "As it stands, Twilight Sparkle and Sunset Shimmer have also conjured up a powerful darkness from their enhanced light. This is not rare among heroes, as the closer you pit yourself towards the light, the bigger and more powerful your shadow becomes..."

"It's just like before," Adagio stood next to Symphonia, "Fortissimo, Allegro, and Orchestral were devoted to safeguarding Lyrica before the war, and then their tremendous darkness overwhelmed them after the dust had settled..."

"But even now, they can't threaten us anymore," Twilight's smile finally returned. "The Blasters got what they deserved, and ultimately ended up paying the price for straying from the path of good and becoming evil."

"But darkness and light, when destroyed, is recycled, renewed, and reborn..." Symphonia looked down on the kingdom of Lyricans. "Every time someone falls, either in battle or by old age, they return to the world they came from and relinquish their life force. And whether or not they embraced the light or darkness, it still leaves their body; ready to be used by another being..."

"So you're just saying that The Blasters could possibly return, but with all of their power inherited by someone else?!" Sunset threw out her arms, then withdrew herself and cursed. "Great... that's just fan-tucking-fastic..."

"That reminds me, Adagio," Twilight raised a finger. "When we battled Chaos, he mentioned something about our darkness and what monsters we would create when he tried to kill us. Does that ring any bells?"

"I'm not really sure abo—"

"The Malefics have a long history of stealing a person's darkness and using it against them," Symphonia threw out one of his arms, silencing Adagio instantly. "When assaulting Earth or Equestria, they usually drain the darkness from civillians, and then kill them for fun. It's sick, I know; and that's why we cannot let them steal your darkness, or the darkness of your friends," he hung his head. "Who knows what despicable things the Malefics could try and create if they got their hands on you and the rest of The Rainbooms?"

"I can imagine..." Sunset agreed with the Lyrican.

"By the way, Symphonia; what's with Cataclysm holding back his armies?" Twilight asked.

"It's a theory that Cataclysm is working on a new unit of Malefics; ones that act in secrecy, and then eliminate the enemy when they get what they have," Symphonia thought, stroking his chin. "But how secret they act is quite alien to their nature, seeing as Malefics usually go all-out when taking an objective for themselves. Something's not right..."

"They could be snatching darkness from under our noses... bringing it back to Cataclysm so he can create an even bigger army to..."

"Ensure the destruction of Earth, Equestria, and Lyrica!" Twilight, Adagio, and Sunset spoke together with a gasp at the end.

"Your Majesty. The orders are all yours," Symphonia kneeled down towards Adagio. "Tell us what you want to do..."

"Have Intimo and his group oversee the improvements to the Show Stopper and the rest of the Lyrican Fleets. Then, get The Seasons to manage upgrades to Lyrica's defences. Finally, alert The Rainbooms, Aria, and Sonata on the problem at hand!" Adagio gave her commands to Symphonia, who saluted and disappeared just as quickly as he had arrived. "Twilight? Sunset? You're with me. We need to enhance the effects of the Darkhouse to try and find these covert-ops Malefics!"

In a dark plane of existence, Apocalypse, Armageddon, and Carnage looked out into the farthest reaches of space; namely, from a spiked balcony in Cataclysm's fortress. Their helmets were removed, so their voices were distinguishable now.

"Tell me, Apocalypse," Carnage spoke, in a laid-back voice. "Why is it that these Lyricans always seem to get in the way of our hunts?"

"It is simple, Carnage," Apocalypse's voice was very commanding, but he still knew his place in the hierarchy. "These maggots stand for everything we revile. Because of this, The Dazzlings, The Rainbooms, and those other insipid scum will continue to defend their worlds with vim and vigour..."

"It's not fair, if you ask me..." Carnage crossed his arms.

"Either way, the Overlord's word is law," Armageddon also had a serious voice, but his was different from Apocalypse's. "Cataclysm has a plan going this time. And he has seen the destruction of the Lyricans in his future."

"But if this goes exactly the same as before, won't he just end up back in that Songless Sea again?" Carnage was questioning Armageddon. "If every Lyrican faces him at once, then we could be in serious trouble..."

"Which is exactly why he will remain in the Evil Cosmos for the time being," Apocalypse cut in, "As long as the Overlord remains alive, then we all remain alive; possibly even immortal, but I can't be sure..."

"Either way, I detected this strange anomaly coming from Earth a while back, you two..." Armageddon conjured up black energy with his hands, which he then used to create a screen showing Canterlot High School. "It seems that there is an enemy to CHS aside from us. Derived solely on conquering their foes by any means necessary, there exists a place of darkness right on the doorstep of this radiant palace of friendship. They are known as... The Shadowbolts of Crystal Prep."

"Sounds like some kind of lame social group, Armageddon," Carnage scoffed, "What good would it be to bring in a whole other school to combat forces that are way beyond their comprehension?"

"Not the whole school, you fool!" Armageddon lashed out at Carnage, then calmed himself down hastily. "There are a certain group of students there who exhibit a darker aura than the rest; ones that the Overlord could use to create some very powerful Malefics out of..." he changed the screen to show six students in particular. "These six have the strongest darkness emanating from them for the time being. Sugarcoat, Sunny Flare, Lemon Zest, Indigo Zap, Sour Sweet, and Twilight Sparkle of Earth..."

"Hold on, Armageddon. Slow down there for a second..." Carnage was dumbfounded, "You're telling me that there's a Twilight Sparkle who emanates darkness, instead of the Magic of Friendship?!"

"I'm with Carnage on this matter, Armageddon. Why didn't you tell us this before?" Apocalypse agreed. "There is a Twilight Sparkle, letting off a powerful dark aura, capable of making either an army of Malefics, or enabling her to become a decisive counterpart to defeat The Rainbooms of Equestria? This could cripple The Dazzlings..." Apocalypse grinned evilly. "We need to go see Overlord Cataclysm about this..."

Author's Notes:

Given that Friendship Games comes out tomorrow, I'm just going on the assumption that The Shadowbolts won't change their ways after the games are over.

Also, I just want to state that for the record, this whole series, as well as the Siren Song Trilogy before it, does not count Friendship Games as canon. If it did, then it would be too much for Sunset Shimmer to bear.

Looming Darkness

"What do you want, Apocalypse?" Cataclysm asked, standing up from his throne. "I'm in the middle of enhancing the other Signs of the End for our next assault on the worlds..."

"Forgive our intrusion, oh glorious creator, overlord, and soon to be destroyer of the Lyrican Sirens," Apocalypse saluted with his two comrades following suit. "But we all have something interesting to show you..."

And with that, the three Malefics put their hands together, flew upwards, and projected a screen with their targets clearly visible. Within seconds, images of Indigo Zap, Sunny Flare, Sour Sweet, Sugar Coat, Lemon Zest, and Tiwlight Sparkle. This was soon followed up with big black auras emanating off of them.

"Something we found a while back whilst checking the history of Earth, Overlord Cataclysm," Armageddon was the next to speak, "Whilst there is a place that utilizes the Magic of Friendship, we have also discovered a dark power that is just as strong as the magic prior. It turns out that The Rainbooms have dark counterparts in this world, and that their Malefics would greatly serve our cause..."

This perked Cataclysm's ears. "Interesting... And how exactly do you wish to take this darkness?"

"First, we shall try negotiations with these humans. See if we can't butter them up with talk of how they can unleash their full potential, serve a much higher purpose, and be eternally rewarded for eliminating the Lyricans," Carnage talked next. "If they refuse, then we'll just have to do it the old-fashioned way..."

"Hold on, you three," Cataclysm stopped the three Malefics from talking. Once silence had fallen, he looked closely at the picture. "There is a second Twilight Sparkle?"

"Yes. It turns out that she, much like the Lyricans, has the power to absorb energy and use it against others," Apocalypse explained. "When it was too much for her to bear, the power that she had stored became enfused with dark desires. In a powerful transformation, she became a powerful Malefic capable of breaking down the fabric of reality," then, he grinned. "But despite this, she was only using a fraction of her true power. If she were in our hands, I get the feeling that our army would be nigh unstoppable!"

"However, given what else we've uprooted, this other Twilight now attends the grounds where The Dazzlings fell again; Canterlot High School," Armageddon leaned back against the wall. "She will most likely say no, but I'm sure that you are aware that we have ways of making her talk..."

My lord Cataclysm, you know we are your three aces.
Of that title, we are just as pleased.
My lord Cataclysm, you realise what we're planning for.
And that success could rid us of this disease...

Apocalypse began to sing, making the images of the six girls move around freely. However, their darkness was growing by the second with each lyric he uttered.

But tell me, creator; why I see them on that world.
Why their growing evil intrigues me...
Believe it, and see it, the chaos in their fiendish eyes.
Is what we could use to let our kind free...

The more he sung, the more the six uniformed students transformed into possible Malefics for Cataclysm to use in the war. Such features like wings, black tentacles, magical sceptres, and more were being created with the song's progression.

The darkness, they harness.
This evil in their skin.
If we can unleash it.
Then this war we could win...

At the end of that verse, Malefic warriors appeared all around Apocalypse, Armageddon, Carnage, and Cataclysm.

The Shadowbolts, freed from their chains.
It is the evil that we need to feed our flames.
Their locked up strength, will soon be out.
And with it, Lyricans will make their dying shouts...

Apocalypse was backed up with a choir from the other Malefics.

We beseech you, our creator; give us permission to engage.
Let us go and recruit these champions.
When we take the dark ones, The Rainbooms and The Dazzlings.
Will see their worlds burn like a thousand suns...

"Interesting analysis, you three," Cataclysm furrowed his wings, sat back down on the throne, and saw visions of the new Malefics killing innocents, destroying cities, and laughing maliciously all the while. "If you can bring these six to me, I will see what place they will serve in our cause..."

"Thank you, Overlord Cataclysm," Apocalypse smiled, then turned away with Armageddon and Carnage. "You shall have them within the hour. Fifteen minutes maximum..."

Dark fires, desires; now Rainbooms, it's your turn.
Surrender your power, and hide, or you will burn!

Apocalypse sat down on the control seat of Apocalyptica, with Armageddon and Carnage strapping themselves in to fly as well.

You were given salvation.
You spat in the face of our dreams.
But now we will win and be free from SIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIINNN!

Apocalyptica fired up its' engines, opened up a black portal, and charged through it as Apocalypse held the last note before he and the others put their helmets back on. They shot through the portal and vanished in the blink of an eye.

"Rainbooms, I'm sure that you are all aware of the calamity at hand?" Adagio asked The Rainbooms. Along with Aria, Sonata, and Symphonia, everyone was in the Lyrican War Room.

"Yes. We've all been tasked with keeping our inner evil under lock and key to prevent the Malefics from getting the upper hand in the war," Twilight recapped, "But I still don't see how it's possible for Malefics to steal evil." she tipped her hand. "I mean, so far, we've only seen them kill and destroy; not steal the negative life force from people..."

"Malefics are a tricksy bunch, and will often play dirty to defeat their opponents," Sonata chimed in. "Either with larger numbers, using outside powers to eliminate Lyricans, and even baiting them into unbreakable traps," she crossed her arms. "What a bunch of cheaters..."

"But one thing is for certain: They are a disruption to the balance of good and evil," Aria used her pendants and crystal wings to generate a projection. It was similar to the Balance of Lyrica, but it had light and dark energy on the scales. "Much like our balance, life is governed by both heroism and evil."

"For as long as time has stood, the scales have been perfectly balanced," Adagio pointed out, "Evil and Good weight each other out perfectly, and because of this, our worlds are spared from atrocities beyond comprehension," the projection then showed the Malefics, and how the scales favoured the dark energy over the light. "But now with the Malefics on the prowl, the balance is slowly but surely veering off towards a negative side. If they win the war, the balance will be broken, and chaos will break loose.

"Similar to when the Balance of Lyrica was unbalanced with the death of hundreds of Blissen Sirens, if evil wins over light, the darkness will corrupt every living being across the trinity," Adagio showed a vision of everyone on Equestria, Earth, and Lyrica with purple eyes and evil smiles. "It will make everyone evil no matter what. Even if they're pure of heart, the darkness will plague them all and turn them into living envoys of darkness to serve Cataclysm and his kind!"

"Ok, that sounds really, really bad..." Rainbow Dash's pupils dilated down to little pinpricks.

"Your Majesty?" a Lyrican grabbed The Dazzlings' attention, "Not to interrupt, but I've found something going down on Earth that I think you should look at..."

"Full display, Forte. Let's see what's happening..." Adagio commanded him.

The map of the trinity quickly vanished and was replaced with a massive screen that showed a park on Earth. There were six girls there who were casually strewn about, with their hands on their cheeks as if they were waiting for something.

Then, all of a sudden, Apocalyptica was visible, and Apocalypse, Armageddon, and Carnage landed in front of the group of females fist-first. They dusted off the dirt from their armour and removed their helmets.

"Is that—" Twilight looked at the unmasked Malefics. She knew them all too well.

"Oh no..." Fluttershy quivered behind Sunset's back.

"It can't be—" the rest of The Rainbooms said in unison.

"The Blasters..." Adagio gritted her teeth as she looked at the true identities of Apocalypse, Armageddon, and Carnage. Apocalypse was revealed to be Fortissimo Blast, whilst Armageddon was Allegro Maelstrom, leaving Carnage as Orchestral Chill.

"This is the darkness you led us to, Apocalypse?" Orchestral seemed apprehensive of the six girls. "I don't know about you, but I'm not really seeing any potential in these girls now that I've got a closer look at them..."

"Hush, Carnage," Fortissimo said calmly, "These Shadowbolts are special. They exhibit darkness that is on a similar level to that of The Rainbooms' Magic of Friendship, yet they have managed to keep it in chains for the time being..."

"Remember, you two. We offer them a better life first, then take them by force if it doesn't work." Allegro reminded them.

"Sweet mother of..." Indigo was the first to notice The Blasters and their ship. She slowly took a few steps forward towards the three Malefics, then stopped when she believed she was close enough.

"Greetings, beings of Earth," Fortissimo said in a welcomed tone. "My name is Apocalypse, and these are my associates, Armageddon and Carnage," he smiled, "I trust that we have a lot to talk about..."

"First of all, what's with the get-up?" Sugarcoat was quick to the punch. "The renaissance was centuries ago. And there's not another cosume contest for months..."

"These are not costumes, little ones," Allegro crossed his arms. "These are the suit of armour that Overlord Cataclysm gave to us for our war against the Lyricans..."

"Believe it or not, girls, your world stands on the doorstep of two other hunting targets we Malefics are after," Orchestral smirked and created a black orb of energy with his left hand. "I trust you've heard of The Dazzlings? You know? The Sirens who invaded Canterlot High eighteen years ago?"

"You have probably been blinded by talk of victory via any means necessary; feeding the fuels of your dark fire in preparation for something, correct?" Fortissimo asked, "And if that is the case then..." he then noticed that Lemon Zest was violently shaking her head. Seeing that she was wearing headphones, Fortissimo balled one of his hands into a fist. It conjured a sword which he threw at and impaled the device, smashing it against the wall where it broke into a million pieces.

"Hey! Not cool!" Lemon snapped back.

"I AM TALKING!" Fortissimo's voice boomed across the park, making trees shake and throw off many of the leaves that were growing. He furiously looked into the eyes of the CPA student, causing her to slowly back away in fright. "Honestly, it's like I'm speaking with babies here..."

"Sorry about that, sir. Lemon Zest is a little coo-coo if you know what I mean," Sour Sweet spoke next, "She's nuts!" she gritterd her teeth.

"Oh? It seems we have a case of Split Personality Syndrome here, don't we?" Allegro approached the girl with a vicious grin on his face. "Tied in with oblivious joy, sharp honesty, and the desire to win by any means necessary, I think we've found the perfect group of warriors that will bring those wretched sirens to their knees..."

"What are you implying?" Sunny Flare spoke up.

"I'm implying that we are offering you the chance to put you on the highest pedestal we can offer; a stage that towers above all of the rest," Fortissimo began circling the Shadowbolts, with Allegro and Orchestral following him. "You see, you have such potential hidden deep inside of you, yet you are too afraid to let it out, lest you fear the consequences of what your newfound power might bring."

"I know it might seem unorthodox, but you must understand that this is something that benefits all of us," Allegro added in. "A new community, with new friends. No more humanity, no more ponies, just being a Malefic and pledging your undying loyalty to us and our overlord, creator, and soon to be destroyer of the trinity, Overlord Cataclysm..."

"The life of a Malefic is truly the life you girls were meant to live," Orchestral's grin grew wider and wider. "With us, there is nothing you won't be able to claim for your own. Nothing is wrong, and everything is permitted. You simply need to throw away your human shells, and embrace the darkness that you managed to lock up inside of you..."

"What are you talking about?" the Twilight of the other world asked.

"You squandered your talents by shackling yourself in that educational system. But with the three of us, we can ensure that you can become the best that there ever was," Fortissimo answered. "And all we ask is that you either embrace the darkness within you, or let it become your own self-destruction.

"The choice is yours, ladies," Fortissimo, Allegro, and Orchestral regrouped and stood in front of the group of girls once again. "Join the Malefics, and truly become the Shadowbolts we envision. Unless of course, you wish to remain at the bottom of the food chain and prove to be nothing more than weak outsiders whom no-one will ever remember..."

The group were watching everything that had happened. However, when the six girls were given a chance to think about it, the projection became littered with black cracks and shattered entirely, cutting off the feed to Earth.

"Dammit! Signal dropped..." Adagio said, banging her fist against the wall.

"The Blasters are back?" Princess Twilight grimaced at what she had just witnessed. "But that's impossible! We vaporized them last year! They should have remained dead and buried!"

"We may still have time to intercept them before they do anything rash," Aria opened up a portal and prepared to leap through it. "Come on, girls. We're goi—"

Out of nowhere, alarms rang all throughout the kingdom, and the War Room lit up red again. The Malefics were making another attack.

"Fuck my life..." Aria pouted and sealed the portal to Earth.

"I know you want to save those girls, Aria; but the Malefics are attacking again," Adagio put a hand around the pigtailed siren's shoulders. "We can't just stand by and let those ruffians, thugs, and brutes just rip people to shreds..."

"Where are we heading, Dazzlings?" Twilight asked with her weapon already drawn.

The lights converged once again, creating the map of Earth, Equestria, and Lyrica. The flashing came from Equestria, namely, the entire area of both Ponyville and Canterlot.

"Not our home! This is bad..." Applejack lurched backwards.

"The Malefics are coating the area with Maelstroms; airships that turn the sky into a lethal monsoon," Adagio took charge and showed them off. Each one had black energy coming from the engines, and had pylons poking out them that generated the storm clouds. "Due to how intense the rain and lightning will be, the fleets are out of action for the time being..."

"So we go in with our wings, fly up to those ships, break in, and take down the Maelstroms. Right?" Rainbow Dash smiled cockily.

"The Malefics thought ahead of you there, Rainbow Dash," Sonata pointed out. "The clouds are so thick and visibility impairing that assaulting them is out of the question."

"Then how in the name of Tartarus are we gonna defeat the Malefics?!"

"Do you have a better plan, Rainbow Dash?" Aria asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Nah, I'm good..." she shrugged.

"We'll have to go this one alone, team," Adagio flexed her fingers, motioning The Rainbooms to climb up and prepare to leave with her. "But we take down whatever Sign of the End that's attacking, and we can all return for a nice shower and some refreshments..."

With a bright flash of light, The Rainbooms and The Dazzlings vanished in the blink of an eye, leaving nothing but a spark of magic in their wake.

Darkness Unleashed

The Dazzlings and The Rainbooms arrived in Equestria with a powerful burst of light. But that light was instantly extinguished with the tremendous downpour of rain, and the flashes of thunder that coloured the sky. When they had been given time to assess the situation, they drew their swords and tried searching for Malefics.

However, to their surprise, there were no Malefics in sight. The town was completely unharmed, and there were no ponies screaming and running in panic. All that was happening was a team of pegasi trying to clear the storm, and having no luck in doing it.

"What?" Adagio was the first to break the silence after she had surveyed the area. "But there are Maelstroms in the sky... Why haven't the Malefics tried attacking the ponies of these towns?"

"Something doesn't seem right..." Sunset said, tightening her grip on her swords. "Stay on your guard, everyone..." she advised, seeing everyone nod in compliance.

Everyone looked around, trying to see if there were any Malefics who were late to the attack and were about to fulfil their duties to Cataclysm. They searched up in the storm clouds, and down below in the kingdom; there was still nothing; not even a single Slicer.

Suddenly, a black cube was thrown out of nowhere behind The Dazzlings and The Rainbooms. The noise of the weather masked the sound that it made, making it a silent projectile. As soon as it touched the ground and hit the feet of Twilight Sparkle and Sunset Shimmer, it opened up immediately and was conducting dark energy between the open cracks.

Before anyone could do anything else, the cube ensnared The Rainbooms and The Dazzlings in a black cage of lightning. It scooped them into the sky and chained them up only after a few feet of elevation. The more that the captive girls tried to struggle and fight the trap, it only increased its hold on them. And when they tried to call out summons from Euphoria and Dystopia, the lightning delivered powerful surges to their bodies, making them scream and mess up their speech entirely.

"Well, well, well..." Fortissimo's voice appeared from behind the cage. He was joined by Allegro and Orchestral, with the six Shadowbolts sitting on chairs that were positioned on a black platform. "Here we are again, little sister..."

"Fortissimo..." Adagio gritted her teeth as she locked gazes with her genocidal brother. It had been a year since his death, and she was still peeved that he had returned for revenge.

"What's going on here?" Sunset kept a cool head as she addressed The Blasters. "And why in the world are those girls with you?"

"Why?" Allegro smiled and flew around the cage. "It's because they are here to discover the benefits of darkness, and how much power and adoration it can bring them..."

"You sought out the exact same thing back at the Battle of the Bands, Dazzlings," Fortissimo joined in with Allegro. "However, you were unable to bring out your Malefics, due to the fact that you have some incredibly powerful chains that even we cannot break..."

"However, that will soon change with what Cataclysm has authorized," Orchestral looked back at the group of six girls. "Now, ladies. I want you to look closely at what we are about to do to the saviours of this miserable trinity. Afterwards, you may decide on whether or not you join us, or we do the exact same thing to you..."

"Wait, your name's Fortissimo now?" Sugarcoat raised an eyebrow.

"It was, until these heathens left me, Allegro and Orchestral for dead!" Fortissimo's eyes seethed with hatred as he looked back at his captives.

"Oh dear! What happened to you?" Sour Sweet asked, her kind side showing.

"I'd be happy to tell you the whole story and why we are at war with The Dazzlings later, girls," Fortissimo humbly bowed and created black energy spikes from dimensional rifts with a dark green outline. The spikes penetrated the cage and pierced the chests of all of the imprisoned heroines, making them cry and clench their hands in agony. "But now, I advise you all to watch and learn..."

"What are these things?" Fluttershy asked once the pain had mildly settled, but was still inflicting her.

"Oh, just simple darkness extractors that the Overlord created for just such an occasion," Carnage smiled as he tenderly rubbed each of the spikes. "They'll simply pick the darkness out of your body and turn it into physical beings under our command," he explained the properties. "Don't worry. It won't hurt a bit..." he smirked, "For us, at least..."

"But I imagine for you, it'll be very, very painful..." Fortissimo growled as he conjured up Malefic Energy.

When Fortissimo had enough power, he launched the darkness at the ends of the spikes. It wrapped around each and every one of them, and travelled straight down to the chests of the victims. The devices all rotated mechanically and radiated more and more Dark Magic the faster they turned.

"What's happening?" the Twilight outside of the cage asked with her pupils beginning to shrink.

"A miracle for the Malefics, that's what..." Fortissimo smiled, then with the help of Allegro and Orchestral, he pushed all of the spikes even deeper into the chests of the captured girls. He heard them all screaming in agony as powerful torrents of darkness were violently ripped out of the bodies and up through the dark constructs into the world outside. It created a second storm that made everyone except for The Blasters terrified. "Here we go, everybody!"

"What... are you... doing to us?!" Twilight said through her torment as the machine-like spike bore deeper into her heart.

"Ending your reign as undefeatable friends..." Fortissimo smiled as ten silhouettes descended from the storm.

"Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, Shadowbolts and Lyricans of all ages," Orchestral announced with a smile as the figures became slightly more visible. "Give a big round of applause for the new heroes of evil, and the end of the trinity..."

"Starting the line up off, from the darkness of Pinkie Pie, we have..." Allegro unveiled a monstrous creature with overgrown pink fur and razor-sharp claws. "A monster born from the thrill of the kill, a demon who thrives off of feeding off of the corpses of their opponents," he grinned. "Behold! Party Animal!"

"Our second entrant is from Rarity's darkness..." Fortissimo took over. "I see a winged succubus with a long tail and a demonic tongue for wooing their opponents into defeat. Say hello to Temptress!"

"Next on the docket is the darkness of Rainbow Dash!" Orchestral announced as a dragon-like monster with rainbow hair roared and flew down at blinding speeds. "Fast as a lightning bolt and ten times as destructive, I give you Blink! Try not to do so, as she might rip you to pieces in a flash..."

"Fourth is Applejack's darkness!" Fortissimo resumed his announcements as a scarred monster with wings, spiky whips, multiple revolvers, and a sheriff's hat appeared from the darkness. "I give you the Corrupt Sheriff! She fights for injustice, and makes up fake laws whenever she pleases!"

"Our first line-up is almost complete before we get into the good stuff, people!" Allegro watched as a monster with vampire features, slender legs, and long fangs appeared from the storm. "Fifth is Fluttershy's darkness. The fiend of frights, the queen who relishes in tears of fear; Maniac!"

"And that's just their friends..." Orchestral leaned close to the faces of Sugarcoat and Indigo Zap and put his hand by one side of his mouth to make it seem like he was acting incognito. "Just wait until you see what we rip from The Dazzlings, Sunset Shimmer, and Twilight Sparkle!"

"Speaking of which..." Fortissimo leaned in close to the faces of the purple and red-haired prisoners as the darkness continued to make them scream. "You've fought these dark beings before, so I'll make this next introduction short and sweet."

The next two monsters that flew out of the void were a fiery-red demon with fangs, claws, a monstrous tail, and holes in her wings; and then a similar, yet more presentable purple monster with blue veins pulsating through her wing bones, a sharp horn poking out of her forehead, and a monstrous mask of dark energy.

"Midnight Sparkle and Hellfire Shimmer!" Fortissimo decreed as he named the two monsters. "Need I say more?"

"And last, but certainly not least, we've come to The Dazzlings; the fabled sirens that killed us a year ago..." Allegro moved in closer to see Aria Blaze suffering. "How does it feel, Aria? To know that your worst nightmare is about to come popping out of that hole, and that there is nothing you can do to stop it?!"

"You won't get away with this, brother!" Aria screamed in rage as she locked her gaze on Allegro.

"Oh really? I'd say we already have..." Fortissimo said as three final monsters came appearing out of the hole, which then caused it to vanish entirely, along with the spikes that were harvesting the darkness. The three figures were exactly like The Dazzlings, but they had black scars across their faces, along with singed hair, spiky black wings, and swords that glowed black when they were drawn. "They might look similar to you, sisters, but I think that looks can be deceiving. Our final monsters tonight are The Dazzlings! But since we already have a Lyrican group with the same name, I think we'll call them the Malefic Dazzlings to separate the two..."

"Blasters! You've hurt them enough!" Lemon Zest spoke up, standing from her seat. "Let them go!"

"You're right," Fortissimo deactivated the cage, and watched the ten girls fall lifelessly towards the ground. "Never let it be said that I was never a gentleman...

"Now then; with business out of the way, I think it's finally time you make your decision, Shadowbolts..." he held out two black masks that looked like they had been cut in half and had archaic markings on them. Allegro and Orchestral presented four similar masks with different runes, but completely similar designs. "Either you join with us and let the darkness into your heart, or you just go through hell and back like those fools back there..."

"You're monsters!" the other Twilight cried.

"We're not the monsters here, they are!" Fortissimo pointed towards the plunging heroines who finally crashed into the ground. "You wouldn't have known how long we have waited for this moment to finally defeat our rivals in conflict..."

"I know you want to win this war, but this seems a little excessive, if you know what I mean..." Indigo Zap crossed her arms, prompting the others to do the same.

"Sometimes, you have to play the villain to be the hero," Orchestral leisurely floated in the air with the Malefics that had been created from the darkness of The Rainbooms and The Dazzlings. "I'm sure that they would have known that from the get-go..."

"Now then. Your answer to our offer, Shadowbolts..." Fortissimo waved the masks in front of their faces. "Yes or no?"

"No!" they all said firmly, turning their heads away.

There was a long silence after that. No-one dared to make any sudden moves or try anything otherworldly.

Eventually, Fortissimo, Allegro, and Orchestral broke the silence with fits of laughter, pointing and laughing at the six humans for rejecting their offer.

"What? What's so funny?" Sunny Flare asked.

"You... rejecting our offer?" Fortissimo put a hand to his forehead and chuckled again. "That's just priceless..." he continued to laugh until the joke had worn thin for him. "But seriously. Try saying no again, see what happens..."

"Take two, ladies. Will you join the Malefics or not?" Orchestral posed the question again.

"NO!" The Shadowbolts refused, but with even more sturdiness in their voices. They all stood up with their hands as fists, glaring at the Fortissimo, Allegro, and Orchestral.

"Well, you can't say that we didn't try..." Fortissimo violently lunged at Lemon and Indigo, holding them high above the ground and ready to drop them at a moment's notice. The other Blasters grabbed the remaining girls by the necks and were in similar positions.

"Let me tell you something about interrogation, you six..." Fortissimo said as he heard the choking noises that came from each of the squrming and thrashing girls. "You act namby-pamby, and you get absolutely nothing out of your prisoners. But if you act like the devil himself, then the captives end up screaming for mercy, as they know their lives can be ended in the next second if they refuse!"

The Shadowbolts could do nothing as The Blasters held them up in black auras with their claw-like hands creating the energy. As they floated in the air regaining their breaths, Fortissimo, Allegro, and Orchestral violently smashed the masks into their faces, hearing a sizzling noise as each and every one of the masks quickly welded and fused with the faces of the six humans.

Screams could be heard as the masks began to overwhelm each and every one of the six girls from Earth. Black orbs replaced the screaming group of girls before The Blasters teleported them to the Malefic fortress with a click of their fingers. He then did the same with the ten monsters that were born from the saviours of Earth, Equestria, and Lyrica before contacting Cataclysm.

"Overlord Cataclysm. We've done it," Fortissimo smiled as he had established contact with his leader. "The darkness from each of your enemies is now at your command; free to use as you see fit."

"Well done, you three. Very impressive work," Cataclysm smiled for the first time in eons as he watched the ten new Malefics appear in his throne room. "I will do my best to prepare them for skirmishes with Lyrican forces."

"And, we've got a special surprise for you..." Orchestral said in a sing-song voice as the six orbs appeared by Cataclysm, but were now dissipating to reveal the creations underneath. When the cocoons of energy eventually faded, it revealed The Shadowbolts once more; only this time, the masks had now become a part of their faces, slender wings of Malefic Energy poked out of their backs, and they were now wielding otherworldly weapons. "Have fun with them, Overlord Cataclysm..."

"I will. You've done a great job in giving me these mighty warriors," Cataclysm commended The Blasters, "But now we must get back to work. I have already sent Annihilation to your co-ordinates. When he arrives, you may begin the army's assault on Ponyville and Canterlot..."

"Very well..." Fortissimo said as the connection was severed, returning his gaze to the storm-ridden kingdoms. "After all these years, I finally get to see what happens when the Magic of Friendship falls..."

Author's Notes:

I decided for The Shadowbolts to become Malefics due to the fact that the movie hyped up their appearance as an Anti-Main Six, but turned out that they were just competitors only. This way, I've spiced them up, and you can actually get to see what would happen if they too had otherworldly power on their side. After all, why can't they have power like Twilight or Sunset?

Pushing Back

Adagio Dazzle was the first to wake up and witness the absolute chaos that was happening all around her. Houses were being demolished, Malefics were being airdropped into the kingdom, and the lightning from the Maelstroms was blasting powerful chunks of the ground out of existence. The army was invading at last.

Everyone tried to stand up, but they felt sharp pains as they were halfway and fell straight back down onto their backs. It was as if something was missing from within them, and that lost piece was now heavily affecting them on the outside. However, that didn't stop them from getting back on their feet again; albeit it was a little longer than usual.

"Wh-what the..." Sunset could finally see the Malefic horde begin the attack, causing ponies to finally run and flee in panic. This gave her the burst of energy she needed to shake off the pain she was feeling and rally the others for battle. "When did they get here?!"

"This was a set-up from the beginning..." Adagio growled with her brows lowered and her teeth gritted. "The Blasters knew we were spying on their conversation, so they took it upon themselves to plant the Maelstroms as bait so that they could capture us, drain our power, and leave us for dead so we wouldn't be able to stop their attacks..."

"But what happened to that darkness? And what of those girls?" Twilight asked, surveying the skies to try and find The Blasters, The Shadowbolts, and the ten Malefics from before they fell unconscious. "Shouldn't they be trying to press the attack and raze our home with Cataclysm's army?"

"If it were that simple, it would be," Adagio calmly addressed Twilight. "But as Sonata said, Malefics are an unpredictable bunch. No-one knows when they attack, what dirty methods they use against their opponents, and whether or not they can be made invincible or not..."

"But this is a serious matter, Adagio!" Sunset expressed the severity of the situation by throwing her arms out to the side. "They're just human girls who just got caught in the crossfire! We can't take civilians into account during this time of warfare!"

"If The Blasters stole them and took them to wherever those Malefic fuck-heads usually hole up in, then there's a high chance that they're probably with Cataclysm right now..." Aria's voice was even more gruff than usual. "And if that's the case, there's two different outcomes: They're either dead, or they're being converted into Malefics, and then about to be killed..."

"Either way, we need to focus on the problem at hand; the Malefics attacking Equestria," Adagio took control of the group and drew her sword for the battle ahead.

"Is that all you have to focus on now, Adagio?!" Sunset seemed apprehensive at the idea.

"There's a little thing you need to understand, Sunset Shimmer. The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few." Adagio spoke back sternly.

"Or in easy-talk, The Shadowbolts aren't important right now," Sonata chimed in. "What is important that we pound these Malefics straight back to Cataclysm, probably with them crying and screaming for mercy, but who knows?"

Sunset wanted to retort, but deep down, she knew that The Dazzlings were speaking the truth. If they didn't save Ponyville and Canterlot from the Malefics, then there would be even more lives to take into account. "I guess you're right. But still, we can't just stand by and let them mess with our acquaintances; especially considering that there's another Twilight with which they could create another Midnight to bolster their army's strength..."

"Then we'd better finish this quickly before they get that chance," Twilight smiled and looked Sunset in the eyes, giving her the motivation she needed to get back into the fray. "Now come on, girls! Let's save our home!"

Everyone cheered, running into the storm-ridden kingdom with their swords by their sides. They were determined to drive the attackers out and save as many ponies as possible from the army.

Meanwhile, on board the Maelstrom fleet, a Malefic with a black robe was walking towards the bridge. He was armed with a pair of warhammers, had black lightning being conducted between the spikes on his back, and was being followed by The Blasters. Doors opened automatically when the four approached them, then closed the second they were through.

The bridge on the Maelstrom the four Malefics were on had a number of black consoles with other Malefics working away to keep the ship fully functional. The troops worked tirelessly to press certain buttons and symbols as part of their loyalty to Cataclysm. As the monsters proceeded diligently, The Blasters and their acquaintance all smiled.

"Out of morbid curiosity, what did you do with The Shadowbolts?" the Malefic spoke back to Fortissimo.

"You've seen how The Dazzlings use Spiritual Transfusion to recruit new warriors for their cause?" Fortissimo asked. "It got us thinking; they've used it, maybe even abused it, so why can't we do the same?"

"Stealing tactics from the enemy. I like it..." the Malefic responded as he sat down on a black throne at the top of the bridge. It was garnished with horns, dark green tendrils, and had wires that linked up to the rest of the consoles. "But you should know that those maggots are crafty themselves. Not even we know what they're up to..."

"But then again, aren't all conflicts impossible to track?" Allegro spoke calmly as he looked down at all of the death and destruction that was occurring. "It really makes war so enticing, when you think about it. The very prospect that the art of conflict could either backfire or succeed is really up to fate, when you think about it," he sighed, "The winner is never clear, despite how uneven the odds may seem. But what is clear that we must all strive to try and make it so that we come out as the winners of this conflict..."

"So, Annihilation, what's your plan for finishing this scum?" Orchestral asked the other Malefic.

"I simply sit back and watch the chaos for the time being, strike with some heavy Malefics, and if the Maelstroms become compromised, I leap in and deal the finishing blow to The Dazzlings," Annihilation explained. "Whether or not Cataclysm brings in those six earthlings with the enhanced Malefic powers does not change my plan in the slightest..."

"And if they do come?" Fortissimo asked with a tip of his hand.

"Simple; let The Shadowbolts have their fun," Annihilation's brows lowered. "Either way, they will prove to be quite useful to our cause..."

As The Dazzlings and The Rainbooms defeated another horde of Malefics, another squad of new ones just replaced the fallen ones. It seemed like there was going to be no end to their relentless assault.

Joining four Natures and eight Slicers was a new Malefic; one who wore a black cloak. It threw it to the side, firing black orbs that homed in on and blasted multiple pegasi out of the air before disappearing and reappearing erratically. Eventually, it revealed its dark purple eyes and threw its arms to the side with a roar, ready to fight the team of ten girls.

Malefic Assassin

APPARITION

"Be careful, girls. This one can teleport..." Adagio warned the others. "If it disappears, stay vigilant so that it doesn't get the drop on you..."

The battle began with Adagio trying to deal a lunging blow against the Apparition, but it simply teleported when she was an inch away from connecting. It appeared behind her, threw its cloak outwards and fired a black salvo at Adagio, knocking her into a Nature.

The Nature was about to electrocute Adagio, when Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie knocked it skyward and smashed it into three of the other Malefics. They high-fived and dove down onto a Slicer who was terrorizing ponies. After the beast dissipated and vanished, Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie took the hooves of the ponies and used Spiritual Transfusion to make them into reserve Lyricans.

Whilst Rainbow Dash and Pinkie were busy with gathering more followers, Twilight, Sunset, Rarity, Applejack, and The Dazzlings were busy with the other Slicers, Natures, and the Apparition.

It was a long and ferocious fight, but eventually, The Dazzlings were able to strike the Apparition, smash it against the other Malefics and pierce each of their targets with a single diving thrust jump that impaled the areas on the chests where their hearts would be. The beasts died just as fast as the rest; in puffs of black smoke.

With the Malefics defeated, a brand new one descended from the skies. However, this one was carrying a long chain with a sword on the end of it. It was garbed in steel armour with chainmail underneath it, had a dark purple helmet with horns, and a pair of armoured wings that flapped every now and again.

Malefic Heavy

BLOODLUST

The Bloodlust swung the chain around over its head, making it seem like he was being protected by a cone of steel that would cut anything to ribbons if it got near it. It then flapped its wings, flew upwards, and whipped the chain down towards the ground, creating a wide fissure that grew wider by the second.

The Dazzlings and Rainbooms took to the sky as well, ready to face the Bloodlust and slay it before it could do anymore harm. However, just as they were about to charge in, the Malefic swung the chain around like a helicopter blade in front of his enemies, as if to signify that he now had a shield and a sword in one combination.

Adagio, however, was not fazed by the Malefic's combination of both attack and defence, and simply charged in the second the Bloodlust shot the sword towards her. She nimbly dodged the strike, yanked the chain tightly, kicked the Malefic in the face, and then cut open its arms. She saw the blood spill and then fly back into the monster before ordering Aria and Sonata to deal their respective assaults on the giant.

With the combined efforts of The three Lyricans, the Bloodlust was knocked backwards through the air by a considerable margin. As it flew, The Dazzlings got behind it, kicked it straight back towards The Rainbooms, who were all ready – except for Fluttershy – with their swords drawn to deal the final blow. They all performed vertical strikes just as the beast approached them, causing the giant beast to be cut into eight separate strips before it too vanished along with the other Malefics.

"Whoa..." Rainbow Dash brushed some sweat off of her forehead. "Those guys are relentless..."

"Well, the Malefics do want our species dead by any means necessary..." Adagio reminded her.

"Because they fear our power, they're driven to kill us and supposedly end the nightmare that plagues them," Sonata saw more Malefics appear around the group, as if to try and surround them. "They won't ever rest. They'll just keep attacking and killing over and over again until we finally give in and fall dead..."

"Um... Sonata?" Fluttershy quietly raised a finger and pointed towards the skies, where winged Malefics were cutting off the group's only means of escape. "We're trapped!"

Adagio scowled. "There's gonna be no end to this..." she said as her back was against the backs of The Rainbooms and the rest of her allies. Eventually, she sighed and hung her head. "Guess this is the end, huh?"

"You're seriously throwing in the towel now?" Twilight retorted, "After all they've done, don't you want to at least go out with a bang instead of—"

"BEGONE, VILE CURS!" a voice boomed from the clouds as beams of gold, black, and blue rained down upon the Malefics, erasing them from existence. Shortly after it had been done, three winged ponies with horns descended upon the group of fighting Lyricans. They were the three other princesses; Celestia, Luna, and Cadence.

"Looks like we made it just in time..." Celestia said as she helped the girls to their feet.

"Princess Celestia?" Twilight was stricken with awe as she gazed upon the ruler of the sun and all of Equestria. "What are you, Luna, and Cadence doing here?"

"These heathens have upset the balance by terrorizing the ponies of this world," Luna said. "We simply could not shy away from inflicting swift justice upon them..."

"You looked like you were taking an awful lot of damage there, girls..." Cadence spoke kindly as she helped to boost the team's morale.

"What are you even doing here in the first place?" Celestia asked, "Aside from being beaten within inches of your lives?"

"We're trying to destroy the Maelstrom fleet that's creating this monsoon," Adagio explained as she pointed towards the sky, where lightning was still streaking across it. "At the epicentre of this storm, there are giant ships that are causing this destruction. But if we destroy them, that'll be the end of this dreadful weather, and the beginning of our army pushing the Malefics back..."

"Should we use Spiritual Transfusion on the princesses, or should we keep them as ponies?" Aria asked, not sparing any time to mull over details.

"I don't really know about that, Aria..." Adagio put a hand to her chin as she eyed up the three alicorn princesses. "It all comes down their own decisions, really," she said, "Though, I doubt that they'd want to spend time adjusting to humanoid bodies during the time with which they could be battling Malefics with their own forms..."

"Either way, we cannot waste any time out here," Luna scanned the skies and saw that there was another group of Malefics with wings approaching them. "They know where we are, and will hunt us down unless we end this..."

"Then we have no time to waste!" Rainbow Dash flapped her wings and went skyward, with The Dazzlings, and the rest of the team close by her. "Just break through the storm, infiltrate the fleet, take out the Sign of the End, and that's all for now!" she announced as the group all burst through the first layer of the weather.

As the group all raced through the lightning and heavy rain, they could eventually see a number of ships with pylons that were creating and weaponizing the clouds. Each one was unique, except for one which had a massive tower in the centre, and was opening hatches to let smaller carriers fly out and drop more Malefics onto the battlefield.

"That one there!" Adagio marked the biggest ship. "That one's the key to killing the weather! We just bust in and shut it down!" she held hands with Aria and Sonata. "Alright, girls. Just as we practiced..."

"Kelik Grinyana!" The Dazzlings spoke, launching another deluge of blue and red energy from their wings.

From the energies, a giant red dragon with long, bloodstained horns appeared alongside a blue giant with six arms. Both let out roars before grabbing onto the giant ship and violently smashing against the weather generators until they loosened up. Once they were, the summons ripped the massive conductors out of the big ship and began to viciously assault it with them.

Inside the big ship, The Blasters and Annihilation were grabbing onto the railings to avoid being thrown around like peas in a frying pan. They looked at the screens to see what was happening, and saw The Dazzlings destroying the pieces that were creating the storm.

"Dammit!" Fortissimo roared as the pylons were eventually used to destroy the smaller ships, clearing up the weather to reveal a sunny, cloudless day. "Those bitches cut off our storm generators!"

"Well, I guess that's that..." Orchestral sighed as the ships entered a stasis mode in which the systems all shut down, yet the engines were still functioning. "The fleet's been wiped out, Annihilation. It's time to put your foot straight up Adagio's ass..."

Annihilation grunted, but nodded in compliance afterwards. "Fine then..." he said, creating a hole in the roof of the bridge, leading to the world outside. "I was hoping that it wouldn't have to come to this..."

He flew out quickly, leaving the three ex-Lyricans to themselves.

"We might lose this area, you know..." Orchestral said to Fortissimo and Allegro. "We might want to prepare the back-up plan."

This time, it was Allegro's turn to grunt but sigh in acceptance.

"You're right, Orchestral," Fortissimo said, remaining calm after all that had happened to their ships. "We've given them their power, and I can already sense that one of them is preparing a doomsday weapon to fire upon this miserable little mudball..." he smiled. "We'd better get to Sour Sweet. Tell her that the target's ready, and that Ponyville's the bullseye..."

Annihilation and The Dazzlings

"Ahh... much better!" Adagio smiled as she looked at the ruined ships and how quickly the storm had cleared up. "I was never a fan of rain, to be perfectly honest..."

"Yeah," said Sonata, "It's good on occasion, but definitely not here..."

"Now that the clouds are clear, the Lyrican Fleets should be moving in any second now..." Sunset said with confidence as her wings flapped slowly.

"I guess we win again." Twilight said, sheathing her blade.

Everyone murmured and spoke to each other now that the chaos had died down in the skies. Patting each other and talking of strategies to deal with the rest of the Malefics in the area, they failed to notice Annihilation fly out of the top of the ship.

"So... You're the women of the trinity who sent these worlds on a roller-coaster ride of fate?" he said, his voice loud enough to reach their ears.

"Who's there?!" Adagio drew her sword and took up a battle stance. "Show yourself!"

In answer to Adagio's demand, Annihilation descended from the sky and put himself in front of the destroyed flagship. Wielding his two warhammers with a glimmer of rage in his eyes, he was ready for a battle to the death.

"A hand-picked group of childish ladies, dreaming about the worlds accepting the Magic of Friendship, want to topple the combined weight of the entire Malefic species?!" he said jokingly, "Haha! What a riot," he swung his hammers, generating a powerful static link between the two. "Your death awaits at the hands of the almighty Annihilation; Third of the Six Signs of the End!"

Third Sign of the End

ANNIHILATION

"You ladies have gotten yourself into quite a bit of trouble with your oppression of our kind," Annihilation continued, "Because of your constant attempts to repulse our species, you are tipping the balance closer and closer towards the wrong side," he smirked, "But then again, considering the atrocities The Dazzlings committed, I'd say that comes as no surprise..."

Rainbow Dash huffed, tightening her grip on her weapon before being silenced by Adagio's arm.

"Don't try to provoke him, Rainbow Dash," Adagio warned her, "You don't know what this one is capable of..."

"What are you planning on doing with The Shadowbolts?!" Twilight demanded, her fists tightening up the more she thought about it.

"The Shadowbolts? You mean those maggots from Earth?" Annihilation laughed mockingly, then calmed down after a while. "It's interesting how evolution works, girls. In time, even the smallest speck can become a powerful tool of destruction in the right hands..."

"Enough, Annihilation!" Aria shouted, "You lay so much as a finger on them and so help me—"

"You'll rip me limb from limb and then feed me the pieces one by one?" Annihilation said, predicting Aria's insult and causing her to hold her tongue. "I think not..."

"I'm sure that we don't need to remind you that we have to issue you warnings," Sunset Shimmer flew forward and looked Annihilation in the eyes. "Under the bi-laws of Lyrican and Equestrian law, we demand that you cease and desist your actions against Equestria; otherwise, we'll have to use force."

"Ha! You don't even know the meaning of the word!" Annihilation retorted, "But why just taunt you, when I can SHOW YOU?"

"Bring it..." Adagio was ready for combat.

Annihilation spun his hammers around faster and faster, creating a stronger current of electricity between them. The more charge he built up, the bigger his grin became as he saw The Rainbooms and The Dazzlings ready to counter whatever attack he would make.

Suddenly, Annihilation fired his blast at the remains of the Maelstrom fleet, creating a massive web of lightning that linked the ships together before they all deconstructed into massive slabs of ruined metal and machinery. Looking back at his opponents, he gripped the handles normally and held them in a stationary position.

"Uh, why did you just destroy your own fleet?" Applejack tilted her head to Annihilation's actions. "Ain't that a key part in trying to take over Equestria?"

"Yes. Yes it is, Applejack," Annihilation responded, but didn't have any emotion in his voice at all. "Unfortunately, it served me no purpose as a ship graveyard," he then took in a massive torrent of Malefic Energy, ready to create his Titan of the End. "But... I think it'll truly help me as armour!"

"What's happening?" Cadence asked.

"Brace yourselves, princesses..." Adagio's brows lowered as she watched the transformation begin. "He's becoming a Titan of the End!"

In a powerful burst of darkness, Annihilation absorbed the wrecks of the ships that he had destroyed. The new beast that emerged from the blast was revealed to be a bipedal monster with a deformed face and colossal black spiky wings. The ships had turned into armour pieces for each limb of the beast, as well as a powerful chest plate, back plate, helmet, and wing pieces, fully protecting it from major damage. The generators that were creating the storm were now poking out of the titan's back, generating an even stronger storm than the one before it. Finally, the massive ship that Annihilation had once been commandeering was now two colossal warhammers that acted precisely like the ones he was using before. With a thunderous roar, Annihilation's transformation was now complete.

Third Titan of the End

ANNIHILATION (Titan Form)

"THIS IS WHERE THE DAZZLINGS DIE, AND THE MALEFICS RESTORE ORDER TO THESE FRACTURED WORLDS!" Annihilation's titan shouted at the top of its lungs, blowing the entire group into the storm and throwing them around like ragdolls in a washing machine. Seeing his prey helpless, the colossal Malefic slammed the hammer against their backs as they were spun, knocking them back into the centre of the storm. "WHERE THE OTHERS FAIL, ANNIHILATION, THE STORM BRINGER, SUCCEEDS!"

Adagio saw that he was preparing for an overhead strike, and acted by spreading her wings and teleporting the group in response. She and her allies all reappeared behind Annihilation and readied themselves for a decisive battle that would either drive the Malefics out of Ponyville and Canterlot, or be the death of the protectors of the trinity.

"Team, this Malefic isn't listening to reason, just like all the rest..." Adagio rallied The Rainbooms, the princesses, and the reserves for combat. "You know what must be done..."

"On it," Twilight fist-pumped. "We slay it into the ground!"

"Now, Celestia, Luna, Cadence, I understand that killing isn't your thing, "Adagio her attention towards the three alicorns. "But with the Malefics, there is no reformation; there is no locking them up; and there is absolutely no mercy with these unholy spawns of the darkness!"

"What Adagio is trying to say is that these monsters are evil for the sake of evil," Sonata explained the general gist of the situation. "Malefics are created from the darkness within the hearts of every life-form, and can vary depending on how much evil has built up within the victims they assault. Because of this, they feel no sorrow, remorse, or fear of murdering humans, ponies, and Lyricans..."

"It seems unorthodox to use our powers to destroy these creatures..." Luna examined the giant that was ready to fight. "But if what you say is true, Dazzlings, then what must be done will be done..."

"Alright then," Adagio returned her gaze to Annihilation. "Team! Take him down!"

"ON IT!" everyone shouted in response with their weapons of choice at the ready.

Annihilation begun the fight by swinging his hammer around casually, creating little balls of lightning that homed in on and rushed towards the females at fast speeds. He simply watched as The Dazzlings knocked the orbs away, causing them to explode a short while afterwards. Most of the blasts were far away from him, and the ones that did collide were merely absorbed by the massive armour that he was wearing.

Adagio charged in and tried to puncture his armour to strike a weak point, but every blow she made merely bounced off of the armour and made herself vulnerable to a counter-attack.

Taking Adagio's inability to shatter the armour he was wearing, Annihilation threw out his arms and created a powerful electrical pulse that shocked her with a powerful surge that would have incapacitated a regular human or pony. He merely watched the Lyrican leader shake violently as the electricity coursed through her body and came out of her arms and legs. Eventually, he smashed her away with his left hammer, then teleported to strike her with the other one as she careened towards his new position. This went on and on for five strikes, before he prepared for the fatal blow.

Twilight, seeing that Adagio was going to die if not aided quickly, took it upon herself to strike back against the Malefic. She waited until Annihilation brought down his hammers from the sky, then fired a powerful concentration of magic at the titan's face to blind it. This in turn, caused it to just barely miss Adagio by the hairs on her head.

Annihilation recovered from Twilight's spell, but did not see Rainbow Dash kick him in the eye. The sudden attack he took caused him to stumble back and leave himself open for The Dazzlings to turn the tables.

Aria and Sonata helped Adagio recover from the lightning that had struck her, and saw that Twilight and her friends were all attacking Annihilation together. Striking mainly at his face, they were all giving him no time to recover. The Dazzlings all nodded, flew towards the chaos, and readied another summon to defeat the Titan of the End.

"Linzrekai Dingralyranko!" The Dazzlings combined red streams to forge a beast from Dystopia.

The monster that was created from the Furen Energy was a bipedal warrior with squid-like appendages growing out of it. Heavily armed with eyes that had the colours of The Dazzlings, and with more red energy being charged up, it was ready to face down Annihilation and make the fight even.

"Alright, Cthulhu! Dinner's served!" Sonata shouted as the beast from Dystopia moved in.

Twilight and The Rainbooms saw Cthulhu approach, and pulled back so that they weren't in the way of its' attack. They watched and cheered as the tentacles all struck against the Malefic's armour, knocking it back away.

Cthulhu and the giant armoured beast exchanged blows with each other for a long time before Adagio, Sunset, Twilight, and the princesses all contributed their power to defeating the Malefic. It soon turned into a laser light show within a fist fight as Annihilation's armoured eventually begin to show small dents and cracks.

"THAT'S ENOUGH!" Annihilation spun its hammers around, making circles. Then, all of a sudden, it vanished into the stratosphere, away from the sight of the heroines. A few seconds later, a blue twinkle appeared in the sky, which quickly turned into the titan speeding down towards Cthulhu like a meteor. "DIE, MAGGOTS!" the hammers came down, creating a cataclysmic explosion of black lightning that vaporized the Dystopian entirely.

As Adagio struggled against the powerful aftershocks from the explosion, she saw that the attack had exhausted Annihilation, and left a lot of cracks in the titan's back plate. There was a gap big enough for the whole group to fly in so that they could deal with the Malefic inside.

Leading the way, The Dazzlings took everyone inside the exhausted titan, through lots of internal organs and dark energy to eventually reach the core and find the real Annihilation.

Finally, they arrived, but saw an entirely different core from the ones that Pandemonium and Chaos had resided in. This one seemed more like a hall with banners draped down from the walls; each one bearing the Malefic insignia of a pair of claws and talons bursting from a black mass with gleaming red eyes. There were also other weapons located in the room, but they were all hung up on racks. Finally, there was a throne with Annihilation wired into it via black veins. He slowly stood up and faced down Adagio Dazzle head on.

"You know, Adagio, I admire your steeled resolve in facing down our entire species like that," he said, spinning his hammers around as he stepped down from his throne. "But you should know that darkness cannot be stopped. It will merely be slowed, but never entirely vanquished. Not by you, not by your friends, not even by every pure of heart life form in each of the worlds in the trinity..."

"I'm fully aware of that," Adagio responded. "But I also know that your way of enforcing the balance of light and darkness is simply barbaric, and must be stopped at all costs."

"You are a fool, preventing the darkness from spreading, Adagio Dazzle. And you too, Rainbooms of Equestria," Annihilation went on. "The Blasters did a good deed by stripping you of the darkness," he smirked, "Without it, you will simply slip deeper and deeper into the light, until it becomes your own self-destruction..."

"What are you talking about?" Twilight tipped her hand and raised a brow, unaware on what Annihilation was trying to explain.

"The longer you go without your darknesses, the stronger and stronger your light becomes," Annihilation continued, "And the more light you embrace, the bigger your shadows get," he was right next to Twilight by this point. "If you cannot return Midnight to your chains, you will simply become the light itself, nullifying the barrier that keeps the darkness from consuming you entirely," he looked at the rest of the group. "Same goes for your little friends here. If they can't take down the Malefics The Blasters stole from their bodies, it won't be long before our kind bulldoze you all with ease..."

"That's enough!" Twilight slit Annihilation's throat, causing him to stumble backwards and leak black act as if he were dying. She shot a quick grin, but lost it when the liquid simply flowed back into his neck and sealed the wound afterwards.

"Fight it all you want, but it will be true, soon enough..." Annihilation charged in and struck Twilight on the head with his hammers, then turned towards Adagio Dazzle. He lunged forward and had his weapon collide with her swords. "You wish to let greed destroy you?" he said as he tried pushing her back. "So be it..."

The whole room rumbled as the Titan of the End finally got back up, held out its hammers to the side, and created a powerful column of lightning at his position in the sky; creating a web that linked the two kingdoms together and simply increased in voltage.

"Try fighting back all you want, Dazzlings..." Annihilation leaped back and fought against the whole group as best as he could, but found himself severely outmatched. Despite his odds, he simply smiled, as if he was accepting defeat. "But eventually, your beliefs will destroy you; one way or another..." with one last struggle, he repeatedly banged his hammers against the ground, creating bolts of lightning that struck every one of his opponents over and over again.

The girls all took the damage before Celestia, Luna, and Cadence unleashed the full force of their powers against Annihilation. Rays of gold, dark blue, and cerulean smashed against the humanoid, knocking him against the throne and welding him to it so that The Dazzlings could finish it off.

"Thanks for the heads up, princesses!" Sunset shot them a smile before she, The Rainbooms, and The Dazzlings dealt a long combo that slashed off Annihilation's arms and legs before decapitating his head.

"Derlramrakan, Kinglospringreks!" The Dazzlings said, cutting the head of the Malefic in half before the energy shot out of the body.

On the outside, a massive winged serpent with sharp fangs was created from the red energy, whilst Obedium, the Euphorian Deity of Obedience, was created from the blue. Obedium's many tentacles restrained the Titan of the End and caused it to let go of the weapons it was carrying.

The serpent saw the Euphorian Deity prevent its meal from escaping. Nodding, it charged in and viciously bit off the arms before ripping the body to pieces. It allowed The Dazzlings, Rainbooms, reserves and princesses to escape from the head before it was swallowed whole. It then let out a roar, stopping the storm entirely.

When the wind died down to a gentle breeze, Adagio watched as the hammers faded away into nothingness with the death of the Third Sign of the End.

"Now that's one way of getting hammered..." Pinkie Pie joked as the Malefics all fled from the area in panic. "Well, I guess we've earned ourselves some more R&R. Right, Dagi?"

"Wait a second..." Adagio felt something in the air; something she had never felt before. "I can still feel the presence of darkness within the area..."

"Where, exactly?" Sunset asked, "Are there more Malefics who want to continue the fight, even without a leader?"

"No..." Aria could feel it as well. She put a hand on her chin and stroked it. "I can feel a sort of displacement in the sky. As if a hole in the fabric of reality just got ripped open..."

It took a while for Adagio to figure out the cause of the strange sensation in the air, until she finally looked up and saw a black star growing in mass, heading directly for the kingdoms. She gasped loudly as the star broke the atmosphere; it was ready to destroy everything in its' path.

"What's wrong?" Twilight asked, seeing the star for herself.

"FULL RETREAT!" Adagio screamed, getting everyone to dash away from the star.

It was only there for a split second, but Adagio Dazzle, Aria Blaze, and Sonata Dusk could all see that the star was actually a giant arrow made of Malefic Energy. It had a sharp tip and spikes poking out of the back of it.

All of a sudden, the arrow collided with Equestria, creating a devastating explosion that only grew in size by the second. It quickly engulfed both Ponyville and Canterlot, leaving absolutely no trace of life behind as the winds through the heroines into the distance faster than they could fly away from it.

Twilight, Sunset, and Celestia let out screams as they were helplessly launched away from the disaster that had befallen their kingdoms. It wasn't long before their friends added their cries of terror. They barely had any time to find out who had launched the arrow; let alone where it had come from in the first place.

Author's Notes:

Prepare yourselves in the next chapter, because things are about to get real...

Sour Sweet: The Malefic Archer

When the explosion died down, everyone's mouths were agape after witnessing the total annihilation that had just happened around them. Both Ponyville and Canterlot had been wiped off the map, and now a massive crater of Malefic Energy stood in its' place. There were no signs of life in the air, on the ground, or nearby the blast.

"No..." Twilight shed a single tear.

"Two whole kingdoms wiped off the map by a single arrow?" Adagio surveyed the damage that had occurred. Aside from the completely erased kingdom of both Celestia and Twilight, there was a massive hole in the mountains close by, and a pol that seemed to serve as the gateway to another world. "What kind of monster could have done such a horrific thing?"

All of a sudden, laughter of malice echoed across the skies, getting everyone's attention. "A perfect shot if I do say so myself..." a projection suddenly formed from the crater. It was revealed to be Sour Sweet of the Crystal Prep Shadowbolts, only now, she was wearing a black mask with glowing runes that covered up the left side of her face. Her weapon was a black arrow with purple energy that served as both the string and arrows, and had two daggers at the sides for if she had to deal with close-quarters combat. "Good riddance, Equestrian meat! THE BALANCE OF LIGHT AND DARKNESS DOESN'T NEED YOU!" she shouted before vanishing just as quickly as she had arrived.

"That was one of the Shadowbolts; Sour Sweet," Sunset Shimmer explained as she quickly got the whole group back together from their emotional states. "We'd better check out the destruction..."

"You're right," Adagio said as the group got flying again. "No use crying over spilled milk when Malefic forces are still in the area..."

"But... Equestria..." Twilight was still shaken from the aftermath of Sour Sweet's assault.

"There'll be time for it later, Twilight," Adagio reassured her. "Right now, we need to see that surge of darkness in the crater and give the Malefics the old-fashioned bum's rush, since they still continue to fight without Annihilation backing them up..."

"Alright..." Twilight swallowed her pity, wiped the tears away from her face, and drew her swords for battle again. "Let's do this..."

"Why would this Sour Sweet say that the balance of light and darkness doesn't need us?" Celestia asked as they started fighting back against winged Malefics.

"The Malefics believe that light and darkness must be balanced to live life in harmony," Adagio explained after cutting another one in half. "They go out and kill the forces of light so that the darkness can forever be just as powerful as light. They won't stop until we all fall, and their balance is made equal."

"It's just like the Balance of Lyrica, but on a much bigger scale..." Sonata made it short and sweet.

"So basically, they're like evil Lyricans?" Rainbow Dash asked.

"That's not exactly the right term to use, Rainbow Dash," Aria said gruffly.

"But I'm in the ballpark, aren't I?"

"As you know, Malefics feed off of the evil and malicious intent of humans, ponies, and Lyricans," Adagio began as they approached the crater. "But this power is not for increasing their own strength; rather, to create more soldiers for their ever-expanding army of monsters and humanoid doombringers..."

Eventually, as they made it to the black mass of energy, they saw another world on the other side. It showed a forest spliced with a gun-firing range, an ocean, and a variety of other environments for hunters to abound.

"Looks like we can head in," Adagio said, performing a loop and diving headlong towards the portal. "Come on, girls!"

"This seems like a pretty messed up place..." Rainbow Dash said bluntly as she looked at the Malefics assaulting prey that popped up in each of the four corners of the new world.

"Welcome to my hunting grounds, Rainbooms and Dazzlings!" Sour Sweet appeared in front of the girls as another projection; one that tracked them as they flew through the air. "This is the place where I have my fun, and where you meet your demise!"

"Why would you dare assault Equestria?!" Twilight snorted as she slashed another winged Malefic in half.

"Your ponies prance about in the light, preventing the darkness from flourishing," Sour Sweet explained. "You sickos are preventing the balance of light and darkness from being equal, causing massive disruptions in the flow of true harmony!"

"But the harmony is already being broken down with your army's continued attacks," Adagio said firmly, "The balance must be made same with beings from the respective worlds. You have no right."

"NO RIGHT?! You monsters are quashing the rights of keeping these worlds safe!" Sour Sweet yelled back. "Should I just sit back and watch whilst you Lyrican dogs continue to rip the world asunder?!" then she calmed down and put a confident smile on her face. "No. I simply have to kill you all before it's too late!"

"She's stubborn for a human corrupted by Malefic forces..." Applejack said as they flew over the ocean area.

"I have to agree that she has a valid point," Sunset said calmly. "But committing genocide is never the right answer."

"I agree completely," Adagio Dazzle smiled back at Sunset, then looked Sour Sweet directly in the eyes. "You've given us no choice but to oppose you, Sour Sweet." She declared.

"Well, that's brave of you. But thanks to The Blasters, we're not the Shadowbolts of Crystal Prep that you remember..." Sour said before her projection vanished.

When it did, the girls all arrived in the jungle area of the new world. They were all attacked by Malefics who were shooting arrows from the treetops, as well as ones who were armed with cannons shooting black fireballs. They managed to dodge and repel most of the attacks, but they soon found themselves outmatched.

"Fly up! It's too hot down here!" Adagio commanded the team as she sharply turned upwards.

The girls all followed Adagio's orders and shot upwards, with the three alicorn princesses creating a magical shield behind them so that the Malefics didn't shoot them down as they escaped. The shield lasted until the enemies stopped firing at them, and once it did, Celestia, Luna, and Cadence regrouped with The Dazzlings and The Rainbooms.

"Well now, you're pretty impressive for a bunch of horses and sirens..." Sour Sweet returned only to taunt.

"We'll just take that as a compliment." Rainbow Dash said.

"But you should know that I've got power that you dweebs would never be able to compare," she then leaned close to Sunset Shimmer and said, "No surprises on guessing what it is...

"Tonight's forecast: An Arrow Storm!" Sour Sweet brought up her bow and drew an arrow, causing thousands and thousands more arrows made of energy to appear in front of the heroines, blocking off their escape. She released the arrow she was holding, flying past Adagio, but causing the others to launch towards the group and prevent any chance of them avoiding them. "Hope you brought your umbrellas!" she joked, laughing as the group tried evading the falling arrows.

They dodged most of them, but eventually, the arrows pierced the wings of everyone from Equestria. They fell towards the ground, screaming as they spiralled out of control with their hurt wings spread out to the sides.

"GIRLS!" Adagio raced after them when the arrows had stopped, desperate to tend to their wounds and prevent them from taking any further damage.

"This Sour Sweet is an impressive new addition to our line-up..." Cataclysm watched as The Rainbooms and the three princesses careened towards the ground at breakneck speeds. "And you say you were interested in her because of a simple high-school rivalry?"

"Not just her; but the rest of the Shadowbolts we have now," Fortissimo explained, "As it stands, the Magic of Friendship is called forth by Honesty, Kindness, Loyalty, Laughter, Generosity, and Magic. That is the power that emanates from The Rainbooms of both Earth and Equestria," he said, showing a projection of the Main Six with their power. Then, he created another one involving the six Shadowbolts. "However, these six girls emanate the same kind of auras as these six ponies. They too have the principles of using the Magic of Friendship, but with darker, more cruel effects..."

"Yes. Lemon Zest is one who uses laughter, but is more zoned out and is a free-thinking entity," Allegro pointed towards Lemon Zest, causing a pink aura to appear, and then turn black. He then proceeded to point towards the other Shadowbolts, giving them coloured auras before they too turned black as night. "Sugarcoat can use honesty, but is very brutal with it. Indigo Zap is a loyal one, yes; but her loyalty can be used in the exact same way as Rainbow Dash's. Next up is Sunny Flare's generosity; she's fine with giving her opponents some help, but is a powerful force with or without giving the advantage to her foes. Sour Sweet right now is a special case; able to use kindness, then follow it up with a sting of cruelty to throw her opponents off-guard. And finally, we have Twilight Sparkle, whom you know full well..."

"Yes... The Princess of Friendship and a powerful user of magic..." Cataclysm said, "If only we could grasp her power and make it our own... Then the Malefic Army would be nigh unstoppable!"

"We have her darkness, that much is true," Orchestral added in. "But now that we have the Twilight from the other world, we're close to reaching that power," she showed off both Twilight with the half-mask on, as well as Midnight Sparkle next to her. "If there was a way we could somehow infuse Midnight's essence with that of the Twilight of this other world, we could make a human with the pony's level of power, therefore acting as if it is our own Princess Twilight!"

"But as it stands, it is impossible for us to make infusions with the power we have, even if it is almighty," Cataclysm silenced the former Lyrican with a wave of his hand. "We can only steal, manipulate others with, and feed off of darkness. Bleeding the life-force out of a magical entity and enhancing a human with it is something that not even I can do..."

"But until we're given the chance, we still have both a Malefic Twilight and the darkness of the alicorn princess," Fortissimo reminded his overlord. "Our deck is still stacked against these maggots, and it's only a matter of time before we draw our trump cards..."

The females from Equestria all landed on the firing range earth violently. They groaned as the arrows vanished from their wings, letting the blood trickle out of the holes that were left behind. Even so, this didn't stop them from getting back up on their feet.

"Are you OK, everyone?" Sonata asked as she and The Dazzlings began tending to wounds. "That was such an unexpected ambush..."

"We'll be fine, Sonata," Applejack said, wincing as Aria tried to stop the bleeding by applying pressure to the holes. "Ya'll said it yourselves; Lyricans are tougher than the average human or pony..."

"Yes, but those attacks were nothing like Malefic attacks..." Adagio had been thinking about the power that Sour Sweet had during her ambush. "In fact, they seemed to be more powerful, as if they were powered by an otherworldly force..."

"What do you think it is?" Fluttershy raised a finger as Sonata filled the holes with Blissen Energy.

"I'm not sure..." said Adagio, "But I think it was on a level of power similar to that of the Magic of Friendship..."

Sour Sweet then appeared, but as yet another hologram. "Now, Adagio. You are the new ruler of The Dazzlings, and part of the supposed queen of Lyrica, yes?" she asked, seeing a nod afterwards. "I look forward to seeing how you fare against my Hunter Malefics..."

"Why are you siding with these ruffians, Sour Sweet?" Rarity asked as her wings were finally healed. "Don't you have friends and family over on Earth?"

"When you ally yourself with the Malefics, there are no friends or families anymore," Sour said, her bow still drawn, as if she was waiting for something to happen. "All that there is is devotion to Overlord Cataclysm, or death..." she then smiled. "But on the bright side, he did give me and the other Shadowbolts power that you couldn't comprehend," she bragged, "Oh, and Twilight? About you and your friends? You are gonna want to plug your ears when you meet the new-and-improved Sugarcoat..." she laughed maniacally and then vanished once more.

Adagio, Aria, and Sonata shrugged Sour Sweet's words off and stood up. As they did, they felt the ground fly up and break away from the world. This happened with other sections of the Malefic's world, ultimately culminating in creating a makeshift path for the girls to all walk along.

"What's the plan of action, Adagio Dazzle?" Princess Luna asked when they had been given time to identify the path in front of them, made out of different sections of a gun-firing range, a forest, the ocean, and the desert.

"I... guess we move forward from here," Adagio was unable to process what exactly to do, so decided to follow the path that was set out. "But be sure to keep your guard up, everyone..."

"Also, I don't advise flying for a while now," Sonata added in, "Your wings must still be aching and bleeding internally from those arrows that Sour fired at you..."

"Whoever this Sour Sweet is, it's safe to say that we've lost her to the Malefics..." Princess Celestia hung her head, but still followed along with the rest of the group.

"I don't think it's entirely like that..." Sunset said, thinking about Sour Sweet and the rest of the Shadowbolts before The Blasters began their ritual to extract the darkness of herself and her friends. "They seemed like ordinary everyday humans from Earth before The Blasters drained us dry and knocked us out..."

"Yes, and that mask she wore looked awfully suspicious..." Rarity added in as they strolled down the path. "Almost as if it had a hold on what she was saying and doing..."

"So you think that that mask might be what's causing her to be this way?" Twilight asked.

"Not precisely, but it does seem to be generating a massive amount of Malefic Energy," Adagio had taken notice. "It might not be removable, but if we can break it, then we should be able to either weaken her, or cut off the Malefics control over her," she then hung her head. "But still, it's up for debate, and the outcome is still unclear, even for me..."

"But that's not what matters now," Aria motivated the group. "What does matter now is finding a way out of this godforsaken place, cleaning up after what Sour Sweet did, and returning to our war with the Malefics," she too lowered her neck. "Even if it means sacrificing six humans to win it..."

The Hunting Grounds

As The Rainbooms, Dazzlings, and alicorn princesses walked through the hunting grounds, they could see that the path only got bigger and bigger, until it eventually split into four different roads altogether.

"Great. There's a fork in the road..." Rainbow Dash facepalmed.

"Where do we go from here?" Twilight asked, looking down each separate trail carefully. Each one of them ended in a glowing portal that she presumed would take them to another area of Sour Sweet's hunting grounds.

"Well, since flying's out of the question, I guess we'll just have to take the paths as they come..." Sonata said nonchalantly as she headed towards the far left portal. "And if Malefics come out of it, then we'll just them into quarters."

"Are you sure about that?" Twilight tilted her head.

"If Sour Sweet created four separate roads to travel down, then it's pretty obvious that she wants to test our endurance before she challenges us for real," Adagio stood tall as she looked skyward for a brief moment. "Think, girls. Who leaves four separate paths, expecting the victims to travel down just one?"

"Obviously you've never heard of the spirit of adventure before..." Sour Sweet's voice echoed across the realm.

"Anyway, we'd better get going," Adagio walked the group towards the first portal on the left. "And don't let Sour Sweet get in your head. Just focus on fighting the Malefics."

As the group approached the portal, Adagio, Aria, and Sonata threw themselves into it, whilst The Rainbooms cautiously stepped through it one after another. As each one of them went through the portals, they were sent hurtling through a corridor of black energy with a purple light at the end of it.

As each of the girls made contact with the purple light, they came out of another portal that vanished once everyone had landed. And when they finally got up to their feet, they saw that the converging realms had been replaced with a single area.

The girls were all standing in the middle of a desert with winds blowing the sand beneath their feet. There were walls with target pictures filled with bullet holes behind them, and a number of booths with sandbags serving as the walls. There were twelve of these, and eleven more structures in different parts of the vicinity. Most of the other ranges were either mostly destroyed, or had walls as if to serve as cover for if soldiers were doing firing exercise where they had to move up after each wave of enemies was killed.

"Where are we?" Fluttershy asked as her heart rate increased.

"We seem to be in some kind of firing range..." Adagio observed each different part of the area as best as she could. "No doubt that Sour Sweet intends to take us through every different part of her world before she challenges us head-on..."

"Wow, you're really one to ruin the surprise, aren't you, Adagio?" Sour's voice returned as the winds blew more sand. "But yes, I do wish to bring you through every area of my humble abode before you all perish at my hands..." she let out another laugh before saying, "Malefics? Give these Lyricans a twenty-one gun salute, will you?"

As Sour Sweet finished, large Malefics appeared from the ground, leaving massive holes in their wake. There were Assaults from before, but they were also joined by a large heavily armoured Malefic carrying a minigun. The Assaults formed a defensive posture, whilst the big one with the minigun put itself at the front of the group and spun up the weapon to prepare for a fight. It let out a roar and held the gun up high before bringing it down and pulling the handle to fire.

Malefic Heavy
OPEN FIRE

The Open Fire began volleying round after round of bullets, one after the other in lightning-fast succession. However, the shakiness of the gun meant that it didn't fire perfectly, giving The Dazzlings, The Rainbooms, and the princesses small windows to dodge the bullets and take cover.

"Okay, that one is gonna keep firing to prevent us getting close to the others," Adagio looked up from her cover when the gun had stopped momentarily. "We need to split up if we're going to stand a chance of hitting that thing, as it can and will take us all out at once if we attack it as a joint unit..."

Everyone nodded, then spread out across the range as best as they could. Pinkie Pie and Twilight covered the Grenade Range, Applejack, Rarity, and Rainbow Dash went to the CQC Range, the princesses ducking underneath the booths, The Dazzlings and Sunset stayed where they were, and Fluttershy was left on the Sniper Range, hiding behind one of the covers as best as she could.

"Now's not a good time to play Hide-and-seek, ladies!" Sour Sweet's voice returned once more. "Go find and kill them, my soldiers!"

As the Malefics began patrolling the different areas, The Rainbooms and The Dazzlings were hiding and waiting to strike.

The first was Rainbow Dash, Rarity, and Applejack, who used the different rooms to their advantage. Every time an Assault came close to the rooms, the girls leapt from their spots, slashed at the Malefic's limbs, and eventually gouged out the eyes of their targets before they exploded into nothingness.

The death of one Malefic had attracted the attention of the other four Assaults and the one Open Fire. They ran towards the CQC Range, but by the time they got there, The Dazzlings, and the others were already making their move.

"Mellimgri Drinwra..." The Dazzlings whispered as they put their hands on the ground and summoned creatures that would ambush the Malefics.

As for The Rainbooms, they all went for all out attacks on the Assaults, narrowly dodging all kinds of firearm ammunition as they struck the massive beasts with their swords. Together, they finally knocked the beasts together, and performed a diving slash through all four of them at once, causing their other targets to die like the others.

After the Assaults fell, the Open Fire roared and spun up its gun once again. Pulling the handle, it fired a continuous stream of bullets at the seven girls that would have proved fatal if they came into contact with it.

"Listen, girls, these things are tougher than your average Malefic," Adagio informed the girls as they leapt over and under the gunfire. "The only weak spot on these Open Fires is the head. That's where you've gotta focus your attacks."

"What are you, a strategy guide?!" Sour Sweet sounded peeved as the Open Fire knocked Fluttershy away with the barrel of the weapon. "And besides, this is just a warm-up compared to what I've got planned for you..."

The Dazzlings were eventually faced with the Open Fire's endless stream of ammunition. However, they spun their swords to deflect the bullets away or cut them in half. They did this for a while until they saw the monster get knocked off of its feet and into the air by Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, Twilight, and Sunset all at once.

As it was thrown into the air, Adagio, Aria, and Sonata chased after it. Once they were next to the giant Malefic, they went over it and thrust their heels into the beast's face, sending it towards the ground just as quickly as it had been launched up.

All of a sudden, a massive red worm with an entire ring of teeth inside of its gaping maw erupted from the ground and caught the Open Fire in its mouth. Using the teeth, it gnashed and gnawed at the giant Malefic's armour, whilst The Dazzlings kicked the face of the monster in repeatedly to prevent its escape. Finally, the three Lyricans impaled the face of the Open Fire as the armour shattered into pieces.

As the Malefic screamed in agony, the four-pronged tongue of the massive worm pierced the chest and cut the monster into four pieces. All of which were caught, then swallowed whole.

As The Dazzlings landed, the worm let out a deafening roar before disappearing back to Dystopia. After it left, the entire group were consumed in a bright light, then arrived back at the crossroads.

"Beginner's luck is all," Sour Sweet flicked some of her hair away as her projection returned. As it did, one of the portals disappeared, along with the path it had. "You've still got three more roads to walk before you can face me. And if you're really that tough, then I guess I'll just need to amp up the difficulty..." she vanished once again.

"Well, if there's three more roads, we should finish this as quickly as possible," Twilight Sparkle ran towards another of the roads with the others in tow. "Come on, everyone!"

Without another word, everyone charged through the portal on the far right side, with the princesses and Dazzlings being the last through the gateway to another section of the realm. As before, they went through black corridors with a single purple light at the end of it. The journey was short, but their destination was entirely different from before.

After landing, everyone saw an overgrown forest which blotted out the sun, and any other sources of light in the sky. All that could be seen were the trees themselves, the vines that curled around them, and the roots that spread across the ground to make it uneven. There were other paths inside the forest, but they were so dark that it was impossible to see where they lead. The only reason the area was even lit at all was due to the lanterns that hung from the branches, and the torches that were spread out across the ground.

"Okay..." Sonata looked around. "I guess were deep in a forest now..."

"It's quite dark in here, don't you think?" Celestia used her horn to brighten the area a little, but she was quickly shot by an arrow, cutting off the spell as she winced in pain.

"Celestia!" Twilight ran over to the wounded princess, pulled the arrow out quickly, then applied pressure to the hole to stop the bleeding.

"And that's why you're going to fail at being a hunter, Princess Celestia," Sour Sweet spoke once more. "Eventually, the hunters become the hunted!"

"I'm okay, Twilight," Celestia groaned as the wound eventually stopped bleeding and was wrapped up with a bandage. Then, the alicorn noticed red eyes and a drawn back bow loaded with a barbed arrow. "Look out!"

Twilight noticed the arrow, and quickly drew her sword just at the last second. Her quick reaction cut the arrow in half, causing the two pieces to fly off in different directions, hitting the ground around her. "That was a close one..." she said as the arrows faded away entirely.

Keep watching the eyes, everyone..." Adagio looked closely at the trees, seeing more of the red eyes appearing as well. As the glares all surrounded the group, the sounds of at least thirty more bows being drawn could be heard. "We could be in for a ride here..."

The eyes shifted from treetop to treetop, still focused on The Rainbooms, the princesses, and The Dazzlings with their weapons ready to fire.

"Wait for it..." Adagio's swords followed the movements of the shifting eyes.

Suddenly, the eyes launched their arrows, and Adagio made her move. She nimbly batted each of the projectiles away from her, then watched as the eyes jumped from tree to tree in an attempt to throw her off-guard.

However, Adagio merely smirked and held her sword at her hips; as if she was ready to draw it and perform a powerful slash like a samurai would. She tightened her grip, took some deep breaths, then right as she heard all of the eyes land on the next trees, she opened her eyes wide, leaped upwards, and performed a wide side slash that cut all of the trees around her down in one swing.

As the trees all fell around the group, the eyes noticed this and fell to the ground helplessly. Only now that the light poured in from the felled trees, they were revealed to be slender Malefics with sharp claws and bows with little daggers attached. They had scars across their faces in the shape of wolf scratches, bore the Malefic insignia on their backs, and were dressed in leopard pelts had body paint that was the same colour as the forest. They all recuperated from their fall and picked their weapons back up for a fight with The Dazzlings, The Rainbooms, and the alicorn princesses.

Sour Sweet Malefics
HUNTERS

"Like them, girls?" Sour Sweet gloated as the Hunters leapt up and began repeatedly rapidly loading, shooting, and getting more arrows from their quivers in that order. "I made them myself with the new power Cataclysm's boys bestowed upon me."

"Decent, being able to hide in the shadows like that," Aria complimented before somersaulting through the air and slashing one in half. "But they're still pretty flimsy, if you ask me..."

"I know. I know," Sour Sweet agreed, "I asked for some armour upgrades, but Cataclysm just couldn't make it that way..."

"Aww, that's a real shame..." Aria cut another Hunter in half before aiding Luna and Twilight with another one. "I would have liked a challenge from a Malefic Shadowbolt's reinforcements..."

"If you want a challenge, just wait until you see Indigo's Malefics..." Sour Sweet smirked before vanishing for another time.

"Less talking, more fighting!" Sunset said as she dodged another rain of arrows before flying up and impaling one of the Hunters. "You can do all of the talking to her when we finally get to her!"

"You're right, Sunset," Adagio kicked another Hunter away, then charged through the Malefic, disappeared, and reappeared behind it. After standing back up, the Hunter fell to pieces and vanished in a black flash. "And besides, we'll be done before long..."

As the fight resumed, the Hunters were hopelessly outmatched by the Malefics, and could only watch as Adagio, Aria, Sonata, and The Rainbooms allowed Celestia, Luna, and Cadence to deal the finishing blow.

The three princesses flew up into the air and fired beams of gold, dark blue, and light blue beams down upon the last Malefics, causing them to inflate, then pop like balloons.

"You know, I've allowed you to hunt my Malefics for too long now," Sour Sweet said as the group were all teleported back to the crossroads once again. "These last two portals lead to places where terrestrial creatures roam. And there'll be a few more Malefics that blend in there just as well." she smiled, "So let's see how you handle something you can't survive..." Sour Sweet laughed before the second road and portal vanished, leaving the two middle ones.

"Can you at least tell us what we're getting into this time?!" Rainbow Dash's face flared as the vilified girl vanished once again. "Seriously! It feels like we're just taking random stabs in the dark..."

"Spoilers, Rainbow Dash," Sour Sweet spoke up once again. "If I told you, it would ruin the surprise now, wouldn't it?"

"Just ignore her, Rainbow Dash," Adagio said as she already got moving towards the path on the right. "The sooner we finish this, the quicker we can fix the damage and prepare for the next Malefic assault."

"Here we go again..." Celestia sighed as everyone followed Adagio's lead into the next portal.

Author's Notes:

By the way, I may not have said it before, so I'll say it anyways. In this short arc in this other world, I characterized Sour Sweet after Viridi, the Goddess of Nature in Kid Icarus Uprising. So if people are worried that she's OOC, I will let you know now that she is under the influence of the mask she wears, and that some shreds of her personality remain, but is overshadowed by the Malefic personality she inherited.

Anyways, I hope you all enjoyed this chapter and... I think we just found Nighty...

Pit: What is it, little guy?

Me: I got a signaw on Nighty!

Peanut: Weawwy? Wat is it?

Me: Hewe! At da Cowtic (Coltic) Sea!

Luna: Well what are we waiting for?! *Spreads wings* Let's get my little foal back!

Prey

When The Rainbooms, princesses, and Dazzlings arrived at their next destination, the next thing they noticed was that they were placed at the bottom of the ocean. Adagio, Aria, and Sonata watched as the others flailed and gasped for breath for a few seconds before they used their Lyrican powers to create oxygenated layers around them all to protect them from drowning; the exact same way they had done when they fought Cthulhu in the Divide.

"Okay..." Twilight looked around at the endless ocean around her. She felt the sand on the floor shifting as she brushed it, then knocked her knuckles against the rock to see if it was authentic. "I guess we're in the bottom of the ocean now..."

"But why the ocean?" Celestia tilted her head and raised a brow. "Doesn't it seem weird that Sour Sweet wants to drown us?"

"I wasn't drowning you all, per-se," Sour Sweet's voice returned, echoing on the water as schools of fishes swam past the group. "I would have given you all air either way."

"It's quite unusual for Malefics to show any kind of mercy..." Aria crossed her arms.

"Believe me, I'm anything but merciful now," Sour retorted. "In fact, given air or not, I would still have left you all to die at what awaits you at the bottom of the sea..."

"Oh! I get it now!" Sunset exclaimed as she raised her sword for combat. "Sour Sweet wants to pit us up against the monsters that reside in the ocean; she wants us to fight sharks, barracudas, whales, anything that could pose harm to us down here..."

"Well, five points for Sunbutt the Second," Sour Sweet smiled. "It's true. Anything can be a hunting ground; even the seafloor," she appeared through a sudden stream of uplifted bubbles. "You know, I took up the role of being a hunter due to my love of finding and killing stuff," she said, with the mask glowing as she did so. "Ever since my perfect archery record at CPA, I decided that it was time to move on from humanity and side with those who appreciate my talent for murder."

"What a load of bullsh—" Aria was cut of by Sour Sweet's hand.

"Save your rage, Aria Blaze," Adagio Dazzle calmed her sister down. "Proceed, Sour."

"When those three found me and the others at that park, they cozied up to us pretty easily," Sour Sweet continued with her story, "At first, we were all apprehensive, but eventually, we found that it was just better to be friends with them rather than to make enemies with them," she smiled as if it was a blessing that she had gone through. "They gave each of us these half-masks that gave us incredible motivation, made us look cooler, and even allowed us to use magical powers. After all, you Rainbooms have been using that magic for so long, that I think it's time you watched in horror as someone else took the reins for once."

"What you're doing will lead you on a path of self-destruction; for you and the rest of the Shadowbolts..." Adagio tried to break through to Sour Sweet before she left. "That mask is clearly corrupting you; clouding your vision and preventing you from seeing who the real monsters are..."

"It's exactly like the Alicorn Amulet back on Equestria," Twilight tried adding her words to Adagio's. "If you keep flaunting that power, you'll become completely evil; a brute who cares about nothing more than themselves..."

"Isn't that what everyone is these days?" Sour let out a slight chuckle. "But who am I to judge? After all, it's really Sugarcoat and her extremely sharp tongue that you've gotta watch out for in the future," she leaned in close to the whole group. "Word of warning if you survive this; beware the Malefic Truthsayer..." Then she finally vanished with her laughter rippling across the seas.

"Wait!" Twilight reached out to try and get Sour Sweet to stay, but she had already left them to the wrath of what awaited them in the water.

"Calm down, Twilight," Celestia quelled her almost immediately with her tone of voice. "We shall simply exercise caution for when we encounter these monsters, that's all."

"Uhh... girls?" Fluttershy raised her finger and got the attention of the whole group. "I don't think that that was here before..." she pointed towards a cliff that had sentences carved into it.

"Let's see what this says..." Adagio swam up and backwards so that she had enough peripheral vision to see the whole message without misreading it or thinking that some of it was cut off. "Here you lay at the briny deep, where creatures await to make you weep. Fight off the beasts and continue your attack; but be careful, and always watch your back..."

All of a sudden, Adagio was attacked from behind by a shark that had black spikes poking into it. The beast was in a fit of rage and was trying to crush the siren's legs with its teeth. It thrashed and shook violently as Adagio tried her best to avoid being eaten alive.

"Adagio!" the others cried out before being attacked by other sharks. They were all different breeds, but they were all ferociously trying to rip into the flesh of the group. The worst of all were the great white sharks; who were going for Twilight, Sunset, Celestia, Luna, and Cadence.

"It's a fish eat fish world out there, ladies," Sour Sweet's voice returned. "You either take, or you get taken!"

As Adagio Dazzle eventually drew her sword, the shark's teeth were diving down on her legs. With a rapid strike, she slashed the top teeth to pieces, giving her holes just small enough for her legs to slip through as the jaws eventually met each other. With another strike, she got rid of the other set of teeth and freed herself from the toothless predator. When she escaped the maw, she watched as the beast got electrocuted by green energy from the spikes before it flipped over dead.

"Girls!" Adagio swam over and freed Aria and Sonata first with a few quick sword slashes. She cut the sharks in half with vertical strikes and helped her sisters get their swords back before freeing their comrades.

"You're done here, Dazzlings," Sour Sweet smiled as The Dazzlings glowed black and disappeared right before they could even touch the sharks attacking the Rainbooms and princesses. "You've got a date with another predator that you just can't be late for..."

"Dazzlings!" Sunset exclaimed as she tried to open the jaws of her shark and escape being eaten.

"Forget it, Sunset!" Twilight said, using her sword to poke the shark in the eye to give herself time to escape. She watched as the shark vanished after she had escaped, then tried to help Sunset out of her predicament. "We've just gotta work toge—" then, she vanished in a black flash as well.

"You're not getting any help from your friends this time, girls!" Sour Sweet said as Rainbow Dash and Applejack disappeared after they killed their opponents too. "You either kill these monsters or you die! Simple as that, really..."

The princesses were the next to free themselves and vanish, closely followed by Rarity and Pinkie Pie. Finally, the sharks were about to eat Fluttershy, but she used her Stare – which had been amplified by the Lyrican energy she possessed – to break through to the predator and stop if from attacking; she still warped away from the beast afterwards

"So you live," Sour Sweet said as Fluttershy reappeared with the others in a darker area of the ocean. "But you should know that much like the world above, the seas can be dark and cruel as well..." she smirked as a network of lights all turned on to illuminate the area ahead. "Use the lights to proceed, but beware of what awaits you in this dark and cruel place..."

"Fluttershy, do you know what's waiting for us down here?" Sunset turned towards the butter yellow girl.

"Well, the seas are home to a lot of mean creatures aside from the peaceful and loving fish and dolphins," Fluttershy explained, "This dark area is known as an abyss, and can be home to beasts like anglerfish and jellyfish."

"So, we just follow this path and get to Sour Sweet. Simple..." Rainbow Dash was already approaching one of the lights and raised her hand to try and touch it. "You know, why is it that she would leave these lights anyway? It's kind of odd for a villain to just give you the path to free—" the second she approached it, a pair of jaws with elongated teeth lashed out at her, causing her to jerk back as the light twitched "—dom..."

"It's not the darkness that you should be fearing, ladies," Sour Sweet's voice returned once again. "It's what's inside it that you should be afraid of..." she chuckled.

"We've got no time for this!" Adagio swam through the trail of lights as quickly as she could. "If we dawdle around here, those fiends are just going to launch another attack without us knowing. And by the time we do know, the Malefics will have already laid waste to it!"

Everyone else tried their best to keep up with Adagio, but the many encounters with the anglerfish caused them to slow down and cause the golden-haired girl to eventually double back and help them through it.

"It's funny really," Sour said, "Such a simple thing as a fish can be made into a lethal killer when the time calls for it," she watched as Rainbow Dash ran into another anglerfish and narrowly avoiding its bite. "Why, even the plantlife, animals, and other organic beings of the three worlds can also be turned on you in a snap..."

"We're almost there..." Adagio saw the trail of lights end with a brighter part of the ocean ahead. "Three. Two. One. We're through!" she perfectly timed the group leaving the maze.

"Good work, girls. Very nicely done..." Sour Sweet clapped slowly, feigning interest and praise. Then, a ring of giant teeth emerged from the ground, and a massive beast poked its head out of the sand with another set of teeth ready to swallow the group whole. "But you're only out of the frying pan and into the fire!"

"Get out of there!" Twilight shouted as she quickly evaded the snapping jaws of the colossal predator. Her friends followed closely behind her, with The Dazzlings and the princesses being the last to escape.

"And what good is a hunt without a little variety?" Sour Sweet said as a long slender barracuda fish lunged at the girls from the darkness. "Just get through this, and I promise that there'll only be one more environment to fight..."

The barracuda bit at Adagio's right arm, causing her to cry in agony as she tried her best to rip it off of her and throw it away. She eventually slapped the fish repeatedly until she drove her sword into its' mouth, then threw it at the massive fish with the large teeth, watching as it was swallowed whole.

"Is that seriously it?" Rainbow Dash asked before they were suddenly engulfed in light again and returned to the crossroads. "Oh. I guess it was..."

"I'll let you off of the hook for now, Rainbooms and Dazzlings," Sour Sweet spoke yet again as the other road collapsed, leaving a single path to tread down. "But don't expect me to hold back during our little skirmish..."

As everyone took their first steps towards the final road, the landmass behind them all began to crumble at the seems.

"Everyone? Can you use your wings now?" Adagio asked rapidly as the destruction neared them all.

Rainbow Dash winced as she tried to use her wings and felt the pain once more. "Nope. Guess we're still grounded for now..."

"Fine. Let's just keep moving then!" Aria charged towards the final portal.

"Fluttershy, come on!" Applejack held the butter yellow girl's hand as she frantically looked at the portal, and the collapsing area behind her. "It's either this way, or that way!"

Fluttershy panicked, but ran towards the portal screaming at the top of her lungs. After she vanished through it, the rest of the group followed suit.

"How much longer must this go on, Dazzlings?!" Celestia asked as they all hurtled through the black corridor for the fourth time.

"This was the last portal, and the crossroads have just about had it," Adagio explained. "The next time we return to that realm, we'll most likely end up at Sour Sweet's domain; where she'll most likely be hungry for a fight to break in her new Malefic powers..."

"I just hope you're right..." Sunset said as they all approached the purple exit to the vortex once again.

When everyone landed in the fourth and final environment, their eyes were subject to a viciously heavy sandstorm. The intense weather made it impossible to check out any land around them, but they were standing on unstable sand that was constantly shifting. Because of this, everyone had trouble standing on two feet, and occasionally fell into the sand face-first before pulling themselves out again.

The Dazzlings sang their chorus, lighting up their wings. From there, visors were projected out of thin air that suddenly attached themselves to the faces of the entire group. This new protective eyewear allowed the group to see clearly, as if the sandstorm had been replaced by a simple sunny day.

"A sandstorm? Cheeky..." Adagio smirked as she brushed some of the sand off of her mouth and helped the others stand up on the shifting sands. "For being a human possessed by Malefics, you're quite the tactician, aren't you, Sour Sweet?"

"Well, thank you..." Sour responded, "But the best is yet to come, Adagio. I do hope you've prepared yourself..."

"Well, considering we killed the Six Euphorian Deities, and The Blasters who had become the ultimate harbinger of death and destruction with their godlike powers, I'm sure that whatever you throw at us will be easy pickings..." Sonata casually twirled her swords.

There was a brief silence from everyone after that.

"My, my. You and Sugarcoat would have shared a lot in common if we weren't on opposing sides..." Sour Sweet spoke to Sonata. "I almost feel sorry for what's about to attack you," she vanished. "Almost..."

All of a sudden, the sand beneath the group suddenly sank rapidly, sweeping them all off of their feet once again. A giant plume of sand erupted from the middle, and a massive scorpion with black skin, seething red eyes, and more of the spikes from earlier piercing its body. It tested both of the pincers, and stung the ground with its long, curled stinger a few times before letting out a screech and readying itself for battle.

Malefic Animal
STING

The Sting watched as the girls just struggled to stay up above the rushing sands, then readied the stinger on its back for a long-distance attack.

Adagio eventually rode the sands like a slide, drew her blades alongside Aria and Sonata, and prepared to face off against the giant scorpion. As she tried to slide closer, she narrowly avoided the massive pointy stinger a couple of times before being knocked back by a well-timed claw swipe. She grunted as she was shot back up, then simply sighed and slid towards the beast once again.

"A scorpion..." Sunset watched in awe as Adagio eventually made it back to the monster and leapt up onto one of the claws. "Sour's really not holding anything back now..."

"Well, stop admiring it and start fighting it!" Rainbow Dash eventually got the idea to slide along the sands as well. "We've gotta defeat Sour Sweet before she and the Malefics wreak even more havoc!"

As Adagio, Aria, and Sonata were about to get attacked by the stinger once more, Celestia recovered from the sands and fired a bolt of gold energy at the stinger to knock it back. This in turn, caused The Dazzlings to focus their efforts on the massive appendage first. They carefully got their balance on the rigid beast's back, made it over to the stinger, took a deep breath and held their swords in their samurai poses.

"Your Highnesses, Rainbooms, give us some cover while we take out the stinger!" Aria ordered as they charged up more energy.

The scorpion opened its mouth wide and fired blasts of black energy at the group who were still in the sands. When they missed, it drove both of the claws into the ground, then made them resurface right next to the team from Equestria and attack ferociously. The claws lunged, pinched, and knocked the group around easily. It was about to raise the stinger for an attack when it felt a massive surge of pain from the base of its tail.

The Dazzlings had struck. They cut the tail off with a single slash and watched as it spewed out blood and caused the creature to stumble backwards. They then leapt off of it and landed back into the whirlpool of sands.

"We're running out of time, girls!" Twilight called out as she got slapped away by the claws once more. "This thing needs to die now!"

"You're right..." Adagio, Aria, and Sonata slid down to the beast once more, then impaled both of the eyes at once before kicking themselves off and away from the beast and preparing for another attack. "Manareliz Grinfroi!"

The red streams that emanated from The Dazzlings eventually combined into a massive dog-like beast with a pendulum axe and red jewelery draped around the collar around its neck. The dog howled before it swung the axe over its head, brought it down onto the tough carapace of the scorpion, then repeated the process until the shell eventually broke into pieces. The next strike impaled the scorpion and pulled it out of the sands, causing the whirlpool and sandstorm to die down instantly.

As the beast was pulled into the air, The Dazzlings flew up and slashed the unshelled beast some more times until it eventually collapsed into sixty four different pieces before it all splattered around the sands below and vanished into thin air.

The dog-warrior vanished, The Dazzlings landed, and without a second, the entire group was teleported back to Sour Sweet's realm. As they accepted the way back, they knew that they were going to have a long fight on their hands.

The Hunter

Sour Sweet sat in a forest covered with vines growing all around her. The light dripped down from the way back to Equestria; its sun shimmering down on the mind-controlled human. She carefully adjusted the mask on her face, opened up a black book with the Malefic insignia on the cover, and looked over what appeared to be a hunting guide.

"There are many ways in which prey can be brought down," she said to herself as she flipped to the page that showed The Dazzlings, Rainbooms, and alicorn princesses being materialized in sketch form; along with the best ways of how they could have been defeated. She looked at many different drawings; ranging from her opponents being impaled by hundreds of arrows, having their throats slit from figure in in the shadows, and even them having their limbs restrained as a colossal tree was falling on top of them. "But sometimes, we have to do things the old-fashioned way.

"Those Rainbooms, Dazzlings, and Equestrian maggots have plagued the Malefics for long enough," she said as she saw another humongous tree sprouting from the ground nearby. She climbed on and stuck a customized bow with swords on the side into the growing tree; using it as something to hold on to that elevated her towards higher ground. "When I'm through with them, I'll personally be barbecuing them and feeding them to the Malefics. The other Shadowbolts'll get first pick of the meat..."

All of a sudden, the group of females reappeared where they would have been before. However, due to the crossroads' destruction, they were now high above the ground with no land to stand on, and their wings still inactive. As the injured females from Equestria tumbled towards the ground with screams, The Dazzlings flew down and landed gracefully. They then looked up to see Celestia, Luna, and Cadence using their horns to levitate them towards the ground, so as not to hurt themselves any further.

"We're out of roads..." Applejack looked up to see where they had once been standing. She then looked around the forest to try and find the possessed girl. "Now, where the hay is Sour Sweet?"

"What follows blindly stumbling into a trap is nothing more than misery, regret, and pain for the victim..." Sour's voice echoed throughout the leaves. "A trap, once sprung, cannot be reversed, turned against the planter, or stopped..." the sound of a bow being drawn was heard again as the branches shook with a silhouette dashing across them. "Logically, there is only one road the ensnared victim must take...

"The pathway to death..." the arrow was shot from one of the trees. It hit the ground and exploded, sending the heroines all careening into the air. "Bullseye..." more arrows were shot, all of them striking each one of the girls and causing them to clench their teeth as the pain rushed into their bodies.

As Adagio crashed into the ground, she growled and looked into the trees above. Focusing her vision, she saw Sour Sweet dashing through them, ready for another attack. She slowly stood back up, drew her swords, then ran towards one of the trees. As she extended her wings, she ran up the giant trunk and waited for her target to attack.

Sour Sweet was about to line up another shot, but before she could make it, she was tackled by Adagio and thrown towards the ground. She let out noises of pain as she smashed into the ground, then quickly threw herself back onto her feet and grasped onto the front of her bow, turning into two swords.

"No more nonsense, Sour Sweet!" Aria drew her swords and circled the Shadowbolt. "What the fuck did you do to Equestria?!"

"I merely saved it from itself, that's all," she said nonchalantly as she leapt up, brought her swords down onto the ground, and created a number of bear traps out of thin air around the feet of the team of heroines. "Now, if I were you, I'd think carefully about where you step next, Aria Blaze and friends..."

"Don't let yourself sink too far, Sour Sweet!" Sunset pleaded as she carefully avoided the bear traps to get closer to her opponent. "You're putting yourself at the beck and call of the Malefics; surrendering your free will so that you can serve the forces of evil and destruction!"

"When it comes to Lyrican scourges like yourselves, who really is the true demon?" Sour Sweet asked as her swords turned back into her bow. "Why do you hate the darkness? And if so, why do you wish to keep it from spreading; letting the world become corrupted with too much light?"

"That's enough!" Adagio spread her wings, drew her swords, and set off multiple bear traps; narrowly avoiding their crushing mechanisms as her swords poked the release switches, then quickly retracted. "I will not stand for the treacherous desires of a mature woman, corrupted, manipulated, and tainted by Malefic energy!"

"Then if you must..." Sour Sweet suddenly levitated up, grew pony ears, extended hair, a horn, and black wings from the mask's pulsating energy. "You are the hunt I'm after. And what good is a hunted animal if it doesn't fight back?" she then raised her bow and prepared for a fight.

MALEFIC SOUR SWEET

The Hunter

The battle began with Sour Sweet firing a bunch of arrows into the air. As she did, her opponents scattered as the arrows suddenly dipped and fell towards the ground with black glows around them. As they approached the girls, the arrows all controlled themselves and tracked their targets aggressively; chasing after Adagio, Aria, Sonata, Twilight, and Sunset primarily.

Eventually, the arrows all struck their marks once more, causing the girls to tumble to a heap as the pain messed up their sprints. They all groaned as they all got back up slowly, just as Sour Sweet was about to unleash another volley of arrows.

"Wh-What are these things..." Twilight asked as one of the arrows vanished from her side. They came out of nowhere, were supposedly infinite with Sour Sweet's new powers, and now they were able to follow them all around and strike them flawlessly; no matter how they ran.

"Whatever The Blasters did to these girls, they definitely spared no expense in giving them power..." Sonata said as she cut an arrow in half, seeing as she couldn't dodge it or run from it. "I mean, no archer in the history of forever has managed to pull this off..."

Sour Sweet then retreated back behind some of the trees and moved even faster as she leapt from tree to tree. When she made it behind The Dazzlings, she drew back her bow one more time and released it just as quickly. The arrow sailed through the air, making a whistling noise until it slammed into the ground, causing it to explode.

Adagio saw the arrow straight away and jumped back in surprise with Aria and Sonata. She furiously looked around to see Sour Sweet leap to another tree, then another, and another, and another. She gritted her teeth and pursued the masked Shadowbolt.

But this time, as Adagio approached, Sour Sweet leapt back a tree and dealt a powerful kick to Adagio's face, knocking her to the ground before she drew another arrow right over the golden girl's head.

Twilight caught wind of Sour Sweet's approaching execution attack and threw her sword at the girl's heart. The weapon impaled the hunter and caused her to stumble backwards off of Adagio's head and curl her body downwards.

Sour pulled the sword out of her chest, then threw it back at Twilight before seeing the wound completely recover and vanish within mere seconds. "This fast-healing stuff is really gonna come in handy..."

"That's physically impossible..." Aria's pupils dilated as she watched Sour Sweet shrug off her recent agony as if it was nothing. "There's no way that a human, even one infused with Malefic energy would be able to survive an attack like that..."

"We're a special case, miss Blaze..." Sour Sweet teleported behind Aria and delivered a powerful kick to her back, followed by another sword slash to her back. "And I am only one of the six Shadowbolts of the Malefics..."

"Well, then we'd better defeat you, have you cough up the other Shadowbolts, and find ways to defeat them ourselves!" Adagio said as she and Sour Sweet traded kicks and slashes with each other.

"You know, for Lyricans, you're all pretty talkative, aren't you?" Sour Sweet said coyly as she leapt up and flapped her black wings rapidly. "Luckily for me, I've got something that'll shut your traps and open mine up!"

With one massive wingbeat, Sour Sweet sent a windstorm of bolas, nets, and spears at the group. Each of the weapons was coated in a black aura, just like the arrows from earlier; and just like before, they relentlessly pursued The Dazzlings, The Rainbooms, and the princesses with extreme prejudice.

As Adagio knocked the weapons away, she saw Celestia, Luna, Cadence, Twilight, and Sunset use their powers to defend themselves and their friends as well. The Lyrican leader was happy to see her group standing up for themselves, but grimaced as the shields began to crack under all of the attacks coming from Sour Sweet.

"Tell me, girls," Sour Sweet spoke as if she had won. "What's better than a trap?"

"Ooh! A trap covered with ice cream, drizzled with strawberry sauce with a cherry on top?" Pinkie asked.

"Nope! It's the post-trap-trap!" Sour Sweet pulled out a detonator and pushed the red button, causing a ring of explosions to occur around the trees, creating a massive sinkhole where everyone was standing. As she watched the equestrians fall down the hole, she gloated, "Happy landings!"

"Shit!" Adagio spread her wings and shot herself down the hole, with Aria and Sonata closely behind her. "I'm not about to lose the only friends we have from Equestria!"

"For fuck's sake! That's overdoing it!" Aria said as she watched the group fall down an endless chasm with a blue pool of unknown liquid at the bottom. From the liquid, a massive Malefic rose with a mouth so wide that it covered up the water entirely.

"We Shadowbolts are not one to fall in second place or any rank below it," Sour Sweet explained as Adagio, Aria, and Sonata fought off more Malefics to catch up to their plummeting allies. "You either make yourself the best, or you suffer like the rest. That was the way before the Malefics for us, and it is the way for us once again!"

Adagio growled as she retracted her wings to increase her velocity. "Murzak Grabdri!" she shouted, creating some winged humanoid demons to follow her descent. With her new squadron of winged Dystopians, they all made a wing formation and increased their speed once again.

As Sunset and Twilight fell, they noticed Adagio was finally catching up to them with the demons closely behind her. However, they then saw that Sour Sweet was now carrying a sniper rifle, and was loading a magazine into the feeder before pointing it directly at the golden Lyrican. They tried to warn her, but Aria and Sonata noticed the little twinkle radiate from the sun, onto the barrel, and into their eyes.

"A sniper rifle?!" Aria turned her neck and flew back up to confront the Shadowbolt. "Oh no, you don't!" she gritted her teeth and kicked Sour Sweet away just as she pulled the trigger, causing her shot to arc upwards and shoot up into the skies, barely missing Equestria's sun.

"I wished it didn't have to come to this, Sour Sweet," Sonata said as she and Aria created more and more Dystopian allies to fight for them. "We could have been friends, but you just had to be a bipolar Malefic..."

Meanwhile, Adagio and her team finally managed to catch up with the falling group and keep them from landing in the mouth of the giant Malefic down below. Now that she and her demons were alone, she sang her chorus alone and caressed the wings of each of the winged girls, restoring them to full health.

"You're no longer grounded," Adagio said as the demons vanished and everyone used their wings to fly. "Now let's go and have some fun with our little playmate..." she looked back up to the top of the pit.

"No need to waste your energy, Adagio," Celestia said as she lit up her horn alongside Cadence and Luna. "We'll take care of it now..." and in a bright multi-coloured flash, the whole group vanished from the sinkhole and made it back to the surface.

When they were back on the ground, they saw Aria and Sonata violently clashing with Sour Sweet once more. Since the two Lyricans were getting up close and personal, the Shadowbolt was restricted to just being able to use her swords. But even with the two blades, Sour Sweet stood her ground and fought against Aria and Sonata very well.

When Sour Sweet finally did her finishing move to knock Aria and Sonata away, that was when she let her guard down, and Adagio charged right past the hurtling bodies of her sisters to get up to the Malefic's face.

When Adagio finally arrived, she kicked the two swords out of Sour Sweet's hands, knocked her to the ground, and drove her two swords into the wings of the girl, causing her to lose them, along with her pony ears and tail. To add insult to injury, Adagio stomped on the back of the floored girl before picking her up and grabbing her by the neck.

"Talk! What are you planning?!" Adagio demanded with fire in her voice.

"You put on quite a show there, ladies..." Sour Sweet escaped Adagio's grip with a kick, then teleported away before the golden Lyrican could lay another finger on her. She then returned as a projection as her swords vanished. "But just like the Six Signs of the End, I'm merely a pawn for Overlord Cataclysm's master plan...

"But since you seem to be hankering for a fight, I will leave some names for you..." Sour Sweet smiled, "Now I want you to pay attention to these names, because you're only going to see and hear them once from me," six words, all paired with "The" appeared out of thin air. "The Hunter, The Truthsayer, The Freedom, The Hurricane, The Tactician, and The Prophet. Hmm... Now which of these is gonna strike next? And if so, then where?" she asked with a chuckle before fading away once again.

"No, wait!" Twilight reached out before Sour vanished.

"Forget it, Twilight," Adagio said to calm her down. Then, the realm around the girls became shrouded in twinkling lights before it began to crumble around them. "She's long gone, and we need to get out of here..."

"First The Blasters, now the Shadowbolts? We need to think of a plan..." Sunset said as the whole group exited the ruined realm via a portal back to Lyrican with the princesses close behind them.

The Shadowbolts

"What's the damage?" Adagio asked as she and a group of Lyricans assessed the damage caused by Sour Sweet's arrow that destroyed Ponyville and Canterlot. All that was left was a massive crater, with both of the castles in ruins after the void to the hunting grounds had vanished.

"It's not good, Adagio," one of the Lyricans told her, "Whatever those Malefics gave to Sour Sweet and her friends, they've made them far stronger than any human, pony, or even Malefic that we've ever seen before..."

"From that one arrow alone, not much remains of the two kingdoms," another Malefic added their voice. "All of the inhabitants of both Ponyville and Canterlot were erased entirely from that thunderous blast, and the buildings with it. This was all done to destroy everything that Twilight and the princesses held dear to them."

"Chance of restoration?" Aria asked.

"The probability that Ponyville and Canterlot will be restored during this war is approximately 0.000000001 percent," a third Lyrican said before walking over to the inhabitants from Equestria. "I'm so sorry for your losses, Equestrians. But we all promise you that once Cataclysm's head is on a platter, we will personally aid in repairing your destroyed kingdoms..."

"We're all sorry that this had to happen, everyone..." Adagio walked over and put her hands on Twilight and Sunset's shoulders. "We didn't think that the Malefics would have made them that strong..."

"Out of curiosity, Adagio," the first Lyrican raised a finger. "Who did this?"

"The Shadowbolts of Crystal Prep..." Sunset whispered before craning her head upwards. "Damn! I should have seen it from the get-go!"

"Care to explain for us, Sunset Shimmer?" Princess Celestia raised an eyebrow.

"When I was in the other world, when The Dazzlings were still growing up, I was still struggling to balance raising them, and focusing my time at CHS to the best of my abilities," Sunset explained, "During that time, me and my friends took part in a series of events known as the Friendship Games. It was there that we first encountered Sour Sweet and the other Shadowbolts that The Blasters spirited away to the darkness..."

"The Shadowbolts?" Luna's interest was now piqued. "Wasn't that what I tried to fool Rainbow Dash with during the time I spent as Nightmare Moon?"

"These are different Shadowbolts, Luna," Sunset continued, "They primed themselves on being the best at everything. No matter what sport, no matter was educational subject, no matter what, they always scored at the top and always won. And because of this, CHS racked up a losing streak pretty fast..."

"Show-offs..." Aria Blaze crossed her arms.

"Exactly," Sunset went on, "But it wasn't until the Friendship Games we were in that we saw just how seriously they took winning," she said, "There was a second Twilight there, and she had been put into negative territory in CPA; even blackmailed into unleashing the energy that she had stolen from us all. And the worst part of it is that she eventually ended up like me; a raging she-demon who wanted to conquer another world with their advanced power..."

"And how does this tie-in with Sour Sweet and the others?" Twilight asked.

"It doesn't..." Sunset gave her the answer, "Which is confusing, considering that The Blasters went after all six of them and not just the other Twilight..." she put a finger to her chin and scratched it. "Something's clearly wrong here..."

"Yes," Adagio showed off a picture of Sour Sweet with wings, a unicorn horn, pony ears, and an tail. "Correct me if I'm wrong, but I think that those pony ears, horn, tail hair, and wings are exclusive to only you and your friends..."

It was then that Sunset gasped and recoiled with her pupils dilating. "She... She can Pony Up?!"

"Only those with the Magic of Friendship can Pony Up..." Adagio started putting the pieces together. "Because you girls were able to utilize that power to defeat it, it's no surprise that you can do it. But it is a shock that Sour Sweet can do it as well. There's no other logical explanation as to why this could happen unless..."

"Unless what, Dagi?" Sonata chirped.

This time, Adagio let out a gasp as she finally put the only plausible explanation out. "You've gotta be fucking kidding me..."

"What? What is it?!" Rainbow Dash asked frantically.

"Either I've gone completely insane, or those Shadowbolts are capable of using the Magic of Friendship as well..." Adagio said calmly as she could, "Twilight? What are the elements that can call the Magic of Friendship?"

"Honesty, Kindness, Laughter, Loyalty, Generosity, and Magic. But I don't see why—" Twilight let out a gasp as well.

"The Truthsayer, the Hunter, the Freedom, the Tactician, The Hurricane, and the Prophet..." Adagio reminded herself as she brought up the six names on a projection created from the crystal column in the centre of the room. "Kindness, Loyalty, Honesty, Laughter, Generosity, and Magic..." she threw those names up as well. "They're connected in a way..."

"Sunset? Do you know the names of the Shadowbolts that The Blasters stole away?" Aria asked as Adagio began to shuffle the codenames and elements around on the screen.

"Sour Sweet, Indigo Zap, Sunny Flare, Lemon Zest, Sugarcoat, and Twilight Sparkle," Sunset quickly recited. "But they're just names, aren't they?"

"If they're using the Magic of Friendship, then they could very well be something made to counteract Princess Twilight and the Spirits of Harmony..." Adagio said as she once again fiddled with the words after seeing some incorrect matches. "Insurance for Cataclysm in case we pulled you all into this war..."

"But we only know of Sour Sweet and her power at the moment," Applejack said, flicking the edge of her hat up. "Who knows how powerful them there other Shadowbolts really are?"

"I'm not entirely sure, but we need to prepare for another onslaught..." Adagio said as she closed the screen by clapping her hands together. "Stardusts, we need to increase the sensitivity of the Darkhouse," she gave the orders to the three Lyricans. "We need to adjust it so that it can pick up any activity from the Shadowbolts or the other Signs of the End, so that we can track them and intercept their attacks better..."

"On it!" the three Lyricans ran off out of the war room.

"Darkhouse?" Cadence tilted her head.

"Most life-forms have lighthouses to sense ships at night, we have a Darkhouse that can sense Malefics, or any other threats to the worlds around us..." Adagio explained.

"But explanations aside, we need to prepare for another attack," Aria Blaze said as she led the girls out of the war room. "And we need to train you to become better fighters if you're going to stand a chance against Sour Sweet and the other Malefic Shadowbolts..."

"Train us how?" Fluttershy asked.

"We have to see The Laments down in the Barracks..." Adagio led the way. "Follow us, ladies..."

As Adagio walked off, Twilight, Sunset, The Rainbooms, and the three alicorn princesses followed closely behind. All of them had multiple thoughts running through their heads. All of them focused on what the Shadowbolts were planning, what their power could have been, and who would strike next and where.

The group eventually went down the gold-lined stairs to a secret basement with a massive door with sapphire and ruby knockers. Adagio and Aria used both of them to open the door wide for the group to walk through. Light poured through the open crack, revealing a sight that made Twilight, Sunset, and the princesses drop their jaws.

The room inside was a titanic training hall split into four corners. One one corner, Furens were learning how to maximise their swordplay against a multitude of different targets; ones that fought back, and ones that kept moving. Parallel to that corner, was a corner where Blissens were doing the same thing. On the other two corners, Furens and Blissens were using their power of song to do all kinds of things. There was also another door that led into another room, but The Laments stood in the way of that door.

"Your Highness!" Requiem knelt down alongside Andante and Bellicoso as Adagio, Aria, and Sonata entered the barracks.

"No need for that, Requiem," Adagio said, allowing the three of them to stand. "You are allowed to refer to us as Adagio, Aria, and Sonata if you so wish..."

"What brings you here to the Barracks?" Andante asked as he stood up straight.

"We need to train The Rainbooms and the alicorn princesses for the fights ahead..." Adagio Dazzle explained as she stepped aside to let Twilight and her friends step forward. "After the incident with Sour Sweet, it stands to reason that our friends will become liabilities unless they step up their game and embrace the art of Lyrican warfare..."

"But to teach these girls Lyrican arts will take arduous training, countless hours of perfection, and many, many sleepless nights to truly toughen them up and increase their ability to wield a sword and use Lyrican power..." Bellicoso explained to Adagio. "Are you really sure that they are all up for the challenge?"

"Well... I don't really know about that..." Fluttershy began to take a few steps backwards.

"Fluttershy, darling," Rarity put a hand on the girl's shoulder. "If we can't toughen up and fight the Malefics, they'll just keep destroying our worlds..."

"There'll be no more Equestria, no more friendships..." Rainbow Dash explained the severity of the situation. "No more animal critters..."

"No... more... animal... critters?" Fluttershy' eyes twitched as she picked up a sword. All of a sudden, a fire sparked within her and she stepped forward with a serious look on her face. "When do we start training, Laments?"

"If you want, we can begin now," Requiem offered. "But I must warn you, that with power comes—"

"Responsibility..." everyone deadpanned, silencing Andante.

"Fluttershy, since you are fired up the most, you will start us off with swordplay training," Andante led her towards the Blissen swordsmanship corner and handed her a plain sword. "Simply cut down everything that stands in your way, no matter where and when it stands."

"And if you feel like you cannot do it, we will be projecting images of your opponents brutalizing animals to help you get the feel for combat..." Bellicoso's Furen crystal shone brighter as it came towards a little hole in the wall behind Fluttershy. He put it in and said, "Begin..."

As light enveloped Fluttershy from the ground, she shielded her eyes as she could see the world around her change. She no longer stood in the Barracks, but now stood in a field of flowers with no trees, clouds, mountains, or any sign of civilization anywhere to be seen.

"One of the most important aspects of being a Lyrican Siren is to understand how your enemies work, and what is the best way to defeat them," Requiem's voice echoed across the skies. "In five seconds, you will see a Malefic attacking a group of badgers. Get ready to fight it for your animal friends..."

After five seconds passed, a Slicer began clawing and barely missing multiple badgers who were trying to run away from it. It roared with each swing, and made sure that there was no distance between itself and the prey it was chasing.

Fluttershy, seeing that one of the badgers had some of its fur get clipped off after one attack, charged in and impaled the Slicer before pulling the blade out and readying a combo. "You. Do. Not. Hurt. The. Critters!" she screamed as she cut the Slicer into fourteen pieces before kicking it all away into the wind.

After the Malefic had died, Fluttershy petted the badgers she had rescued. "There we go, little guys... I'm not going to let these meanies hurt you..."

"Not bad, but there are more Malefics coming," Requiem's voice returned as the badgers suddenly disappeared. "We'll be raising the difficulty and intensity as you go along, until you eventually return to one of the battlegrounds you and your team were previously at. Only this time, every animal will be attacked by all of the Malefics you have encountered..." the sound of whirring could be heard as the field eventually turned into a forest clearing with birds, deer, and bears running from Natures. "Take down those Natures before they hurt your critter friends..."

Nodding, Fluttershy allowed the critters to run past her before standing in the way of one of the angry Natures. She locked gazes with the Malefic and leapt over the lava it was spawning from its arms before stabbing in both eyes before pushing it over with a mighty shove. Before it could get up, she snapped the neck of the Malefic before cutting the head clean off with one strike.

"Sweet mother of me..." Celestia watched from the Barracks as Fluttershy attacked the Nature. "Does she always fight that way when animals are caught in the crossfire?"

"Well, not exactly fight, but she does get quite peeved when her furry friends are treated like dirt," Rarity explained. "To put it short, Fluttershy is a wolf in sheep's clothing; a wolf that only comes out when truly provoked by the enemy..."

"If she can take that fury out onto the battlefield, then she should stand a fair chance of fighting back against Sour Sweet and the others..." Adagio watched as Fluttershy broke the conductors on the head and charged up an electrical burst that stunned the Nature. The Lyrican then watched as Fluttershy yelled and kicked the second Nature over before she stomped on the chest of it and cut a massive hole in it. When Fluttershy pulled that piece of the Nature out and saw it die in agony, Adagio then said, "Just keep reminding her that animals are on the line when we get back into real combat..."

"You're doing good, Fluttershy," Requiem told her. "But now you're going to have to deal with Malefics that can fly..." the forest clearing suddenly turned into open skies where Fluttershy had to use her wings to stay aloft. "Seven Harpies are coming up next, and they all want to disrupt the migrations of butterflies, birds, and Breezies. You've just got to stop the Harpies, and then we can move on with a higher difficulty level..."

Fluttershy tightened the grip on her sword as winged Malefics with talon-like claws flew towards the animals in the distance. The feathers were pure black with knives attached to each of them, the bodies of the Harpies were lightly armoured and covered with war paint, and their teeth were elongated.

Malefic Air

HARPIES

"You hurt my friends, you meet your ends!" Fluttershy screamed as she shot through the air like a bullet towards the Harpies.

Meanwhile, in the Malefic World, The Blasters and Cataclysm were watching just how much destruction Sour Sweet's arrow had done to Equestria. Cataclysm smiled as he brushed his wings, while The Blasters had smug grins on their faces as they crossed their arms.

"Impressive..." Cataclysm cut off the projection and stood up to address Sour Sweet and the other masked Shadowbolts. "And just one giant archery arrow caused all of this destruction?"

"Yes," Sour Sweet nodded. "The Arrows of Doomsday always make their mark, and always score perfect hits," she smirked herself as she looked at the damage that had come from her shot. "What you have witnessed is the first step to the defeat of The Dazzlings' allies; The Rainbooms of Equestria."

"It would appear that Apocalypse, Armageddon, and Carnage have done well in choosing you six..." Cataclysm spoke peacefully as he walked down from his throne and put a hand on Sour Sweet's shoulder. "I am very proud of you for striking those fiends at the heart, Hunter..."

"Thank you, Overlord Cataclysm." Sour Sweet humbly accepted Cataclysm's praise.

"But the time for rest is not nigh, Shadowbolts," he said, showing a picture of an angry Adagio, Aria, and Sonata. "No doubt those Lyrican scumbags will retaliate from this assault on Equestria," he turned his head to one of the other Shadowbolts, whose face couldn't be distinguished in the shadows. "Tactician? Is the Solar Cannon ready yet?"

"Almost. We just need a few more days, then we can detain the beast that haunts us, and strike another powerful blow to those fiends..." the Tactician said as she stood up.

"And you are sure that they will not intervene with your round of death and destruction?" Cataclysm raised one of his brows.

"That is why I was dubbed the Tactician," she said, "I have already planned for every possible outcome on the assault of the Solar Cannon. I give them all these entry points, but each one of them will be their demise..."

"So either way, they're doomed no matter what path they take?" another Shadowbolt with a cocky voice asked from the shadows.

"That is correct, Hurricane," the Tactician said as she stood up. "For now, we need to buy some time," she then pointed to another Shadowbolt. "And that is why I nominate the Truthsayer to be the next Shadowbolt to cripple The Dazzlings and The Rainbooms..."

"The Truthsayer?" Cataclysm's brows both raised.

"Unlike Applejack, the Truthsayer isn't one to sugarcoat, or beat around the bush," Fortissimo explained. "So, we decided to capitalize on that and give her power unique to that talent."

"To me, the ultimate weapon is not the sword, nor the mind," the Truthsayer stepped closer to Cataclysm, revealing her face. With three silver ponytails and a blue face, it was revealed to be Sugarcoat. "For in truth, the deadliest weapon, is the persuasive tongue..."

Author's Notes:

Remember that if you liked this chapter, just leave me a comment and—

Luna: Little one? We've got Nighty...

Me: Whewe is he? *runs over to her*

Luna: Nightmare Moon is soaring over the Golden Ocean off of the coast of Japony. We can intercept her, and save your little brother...

Celestia: Then let's go get him, shall we?

Lauren: Yes. There's not a moment to waste...

Been a while since I've done one of these foal moments in my Author's Notes, hasn't it? Well, if you must know, me and Night--Mist are part of this foal-a-verse known as My Little Foals, Friendship is Padded. Alongside other characters who suffered Age-Regression, he also made me, himself, and five other people on FIMFiction his foals as well. All of which, I share good history with. But Night--Mist himself had to leave with the navy seven months ago, and has been absent for a long time since. But he promised that he would return before christmas, and that hopefully, he would be home to stay (Until called by the navy again...).

So here's to you, Nighty...