"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.