"Hmm..." Black Cosmos walked through the darkened streets of Canterlot. In his arms were three more infants that he collected with the Staff of Time's power. "Twilight Sparkle begins to complicate manners. She thinks of trying to steal away my staff and restore all of the damage that I brought to her and her former friends...

"But no matter. I am getting closer and closer to having her accept my philosophies..." he gently stroked the hairs of Rarity, Rainbow Dash, and Fluttershy as he walked, hearing them coo in high-pitched voices. "I have eliminated all but one of Twilight's friends in this other world. It is only a matter of time before she willingly chooses to rejoin them. And when she does, it will be my great honour to give the Princess of Friendship to the orphanage, so that she will eventually be adopted by a couple in this world, far away from her friends from Equestria and out of the equation forever...

"Soon, it shall be Sunset Shimmer's turn to accept the truth; the truth that friendships are the most fragile things in all of existence, if they are not renewed with the godsend known as Age Regression," the more he talked about his visions for the future, the more Black began to interact with his three newest babies. "She will know that I mean her and the worlds no harm. And if she refuses, then I shall have to simply take decisive action..."

Once he arrived at the door, he raised one of his feet up like a gymnast and pulled the handle down with it. The door opened up slightly, and he used his other shoe to open the door wider. Once it was wide enough, he stepped into the building and used his back to shut the door again.

"Guiding!" Black began to act when he approached the desk of the building. "I've found three more babies, saved from the edge of eternal heartbreak and abuse..."

"Oh my..." Guiding looked at the Rarity, Rainbow Dash, and Fluttershy once Black was in a clearer light. As she looked into each of the faces of Black's latest victims, her face turned pale with the thought of who she thought could have neglected them. "Who are they, where did you find them, and is there any reason why they were there?"

"From left to right, their names are Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, and Rarity," Black said as he put each of them down on the desk. "I found them over by the commercial district, and their parents were brutally assaulted and robbed whilst they were sleeping. They woke up only minutes later, seeing that their mothers and fathers were gone, possibly murdered by the criminals..."

"That's terrible..." Guiding Light said as she watched the three infants begin to gaze at their fingers. She then looked up at Black and said, "You've done it again. We can't thank you enough for your heroic actions, Mr..."

"Please, Guiding. As always, I wish to remain anonymous..." he said whilst he watched Guiding Light collect a key from the wall behind her. "Now then, where shall we put these little ones for safekeeping?"

"There's an empty room on the eight floor in between Sugar Belle's room and Applejack and Pinkie's room. I figure that that would be a nice place to put them..." Guiding picked up a handheld radio, pushed a button and said, "Attention, loyal workers of the Canterlot Orphanage. Our anonymous donor just rescued three more babies. I need a team preparing room 847 to accommodate them. And please hurry, the poor dears look shattered..."

"We'll be right on it, Guiding." a voice said back through the radio once she had taken her finger off of the button.

"Lead the way," Black said as he picked up Rainbow Dash, leaving Guiding Light to carry Rarity and Fluttershy. "I'll come with you this time, to see the rooms you make for all of these salvaged souls..."

Meanwhile, Twilight was sitting on Sunset's bed, crying over the loss of Rarity, Rainbow Dash, and Fluttershy. As the tears streamed down her face, she could feel Sunset lightly tapping on her back to try and calm her down.

"My friends were counting on us... and we let them down..." Twilight said through her tears. "All of this is on my hands. I was the one who told them about the Staff of Time in the first place... And now they're all gone, lost in a orphanage from which there is no escape without adoption..."

"Twilight, I know you're sad about the loss of the girls, but you have to remember that we can't begin to doubt ourselves for a second," Sunset said as her eyes met with Twilight's. "If we begin to doubt in the Magic of Friendship, then Black could take full advantage of that and shatter our morale like glass..."

"Hasn't he won already?" Twilight's tears still dropped, but they were lessened by a considerable amount. "He's eliminated all of the other element bearers of this world, so why even bother trying to resist anymore? It's better to look for him and accept his philosophies..."

Seeing that Twilight was beginning to lose hope, Sunset slapped her across the face rather violently. "Twilight! Snap out of it! Are you just gonna let him win?!"

"Sunset...?" Twilight's emotions changed as she saw Sunset's morale. It was her aspiration to keep up the fight that made Twilight believe in hope once again. "You're not giving up?"

"Of course not!" Sunset said. "He might have the upper hand now, but there's still time to turn it all around! We just need to take that staff away from him and sentence him to Tartarus once we fix everything..."

"But he's expecting us to feel like we've given up hope. How do you think he'll react when we come for him with all of this courage?" Twilight asked.

"He'll probably be mad, but that's tough luck for him. And besides, I have a plan to find him and his staff before he can cause anymore chaos," Sunset said as she jumped off of the bed and walked over to the door. "Twilight, get your coat..."

"Wh-What do you mean?" Twilight followed Sunset, but was still unsure on what she had planned for the both of them.

"Desperate times call for desperate measures," Sunset said. "That fiend Black is capable of anything, but though he's hiding for the moment, I know three girls— no... three Equestrians who might be able to find him..."

Twilight gasped. "You don't mean—"

"Oh, I mean it alright," Sunset walked out of the room and down the stairs. Twilight followed close behind her. "We have to find The Dazzlings..."

Underneath the moonlight, there were three hooded girls walking through the darkness-filled streets. Their faces were cloaked – much like Black had been before he revealed himself – but they seemed like they had nothing to hide or had no sinister motives. However, their cloaks did make them seem like conspicuous characters.

The three hooded girls walked down the streets, the street lamps illuminating them for brief instances with each passing moment. When they saw the entrance to the nearby coffee shop, they walked into the building and sat down at the first table they could find.

"You know, Aria, I get lots of memories here," said the first hooded girl, who pulled back her hood to reveal a girl with large golden hairand a spiked headband holding it all up. She was of course Adagio Dazzle, the leader of The Dazzlings. "To think that such a small coffee shop where we used to have light snacks could be one of the most memorable spots in this world..."

"Listen, Adagio, you might think that this place brings back memories. But to me, this seems like nothing more than a feeding ground for vultures who probably missed out on some bigger meals..." Aria said, revealing her face.

"Adagio, does this seem a little off to you?" the third and final siren removed her hood, revealing her to be Sonata Dusk. She was looking at a newspaper which showed the story of the students disappearing at Black's hands. "Ever since we left CHS, most the students have gone missing... Maybe an epidemic broke out, like the flu or something..."

"Unless some of those students were The Rainbooms, I'm not particularly interested, Sonata..." Aria huffed and drummed her chin with her left hand.

"But, I did see this picture on another article," Sonata pointed towards the picture of Black donating Applejack to the city's orphanage. "Apparently, as the students have gone missing, Canterlot Orphanage has been seeing a massive increase in donated babies recently..."

"And this interests us how?" Adagio asked, reclining against the back of the table's seat.

"Look who exactly got donated in this picture," Sonata showed the picture to Adagio. "If I remember correctly, that's Applejack, The Rainbooms' bassist."

"What?!" Adagio's interest suddenly piqued with the mere mention of The Rainbooms. "Give me that!" she quickly snatched the paper out of Sonata's hands and got a closer look at the picture of the baby Applejack. Eventually, she pulled herself out of the paper and said, "How is that even possible? She should have at least a year left at that school..."

"There's no way. That's gotta be edited to make a cheesy attention story..." Aria took the paper for herself and examined it very thoroughly. However, her jaw dropped when she saw Applejack in the picture for the first time. "What is that?!"

"You've never seen a baby before, Aria?" Adagio said, seeing her acquaintance's reaction to the picture instantly.

"Of course I have. They get in your way and stop you from getting Equestrian Magic to rule the world," Aria said, her emotions starting to disappear once again. "At least, that's what I know them as..."

"Aria... one of these days you have to learn the difference between the insult and the real thing..." Adagio sighed. "This isn't the babies you like to call other people. This is a newborn infant, incapable of mental thought or speech. I believe they were called foals back in Equestria..."

"Oh... those babies. Yeah. I know the difference, Adagio." Aria feigned interest.

"But this does leave us with a mystery on our hands..." Adagio said, getting Aria and Sonata's attention straight away. "The Rainbooms are starting to vanish from Canterlot High, and according to this image, they've all likely been turned into infants. Whoever is causing all of this chaos must be from Equestria, there's no other reason that this sort of thing could happen..."

Suddenly, the door opened with the sound of an overhead bell. The Dazzlings all looked at it and saw Twilight Sparkle and Sunset Shimmer walk inside.

"But wait... if The Rainbooms are all gone, then why are Twilight Sparkle and Sunset Shimmer still normal?" Sonata whispered. "Shouldn't they be with their friends, playing with dolls and blocks?"

"Either they're very lucky, or very unlucky," Aria said, doing her best not to grab the attention of Twilight and Sunset. "Maybe they know something about this..."

"Well, duh. They have to know, since The Rainbooms were all their friends..." Sonata said.

Suddenly, The Dazzlings saw that Twilight and Sunset were walking towards them.

"Dazzlings. We need your help," Sunset said without stalling or having second thoughts. "I know that just the other day we were enemies on the battlefield, but know I believe that we're the only ones who can—"

"You razed us with a massive laser beam of Equestrian Magic, destroyed our pendants, and had your stupid little classmates chase us off of the stage. Go to hell!" Aria raised her voice and crossed her arms.

"Now, now, Aria Blaze. You catch more flies with honey than vinegar," Adagio said, turning Twilight and Sunset's attention to her. "You will have to pardon Aria here, she does tend to get rather huffy with others..."

"Speaking of names, we've never really introduced ourselves," Sonata said, putting her hands on the table and leaning in closer to Twilight and Sunset. "My name's Sonata Dusk, you know Aria Blaze, and this is Adagio Dazzle." she pointed to Aria and Adagio after she introduced herself.

"And before you start, girls, we know all about The Rainbooms," Adagio said as she took the newspaper from Aria and showed the picture of Applejack being donated to the orphanage. "Quite interesting, really. Whoever has the capability to turn people and ponies into newborns must have accomplished a lot of things..."

"Black Cosmos..." Sunset's hand suddenly balled up into a fist and her head lowered. "I will never forgive him for the crimes he has committed on The Rainbooms, and the Magic of Friendship..."

"You know him?" Adagio asked, seeing how hard Sunset had taken it already. "Tell us everything you know, girls..."

"Alright. First of all, the disappearing students at Canterlot High School are all being turned into babies and donated to the orphanage. The culprit is a mysterious man named Black Cosmos. He hails from Equestria and wields a powerful artefact known as the Staff of Time," Twilight explained in detail. "He's turning everyone into babies, saying that he is the one who will bring true and eternal friendship to this world and Equestria."

"Now that Applejack, Pinkie Pie, Rarity, Rainbow Dash, and Fluttershy have been taken by the staff's power, Black is coming after me and Twilight," Sunset took over. "At first, he wanted to share his pain with Twilight by taking all of her friends away from her. And it worked, since she spent thirty whole minutes crying over it," as she spoke, Sunset showed all of the signs that she was telling the truth. "As soon as he uses the Staff of Time to turn the two of us into babies, he will return to Equestria and youthen Celestia and Luna. Once the two rulers of Equestria are helpless foals, he will automatically earn the throne as his prize, and order the development of Age Regression spells and artefacts. In short, he's killing the Magic of Friendship dead with Age Regression, saying that youthening other people is the only way for friendship to remain..."

"How does an artefact known as the Staff of Time have the power to turn people into babies?" Sonata asked.

"From what we've gathered, it puts a certain part of someone's timeline and places it in their present," Twilight said. "It could make you older or younger simply by rearranging where your date of birth would be."

"So, does it have the power to take us back to the time where we still had our pendants?" Aria asked, her interest piqued with what Twilight and Sunset had been talking about.

"Yes. To any part of your timeline," Sunset said. "From when you were babies yourself, to the time you spent growing up with your mothers and fathers, even to a point in time where you still have your pendants..."

"I'm in!" The Dazzlings all said in unison, then looked at each other once they all stood up.

"Well, what can I say, Twilight and Sunset? You've definitely grabbed our attention," Adagio said once she thought of a deal to make with the two girls. "Alright, we have a deal. We'll help you recover the Staff of Time from Black Cosmos, and in exchange, you have to youthen us when you recover the staff..."

"Sounds fair to me," Twilight said as she shook hands with Adagio, seeing Sunset do the same. "You have our word, Dazzlings."

"Cross my heart and hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye." Twilight and Sunset said together, reciting the Pinkie Promise.

"What was that about?" Aria asked.

"It's something that Pinkie Pie used to do before she was turned into a baby," Twilight explained. "It's something that tells you that we're making a promise to you and that we're going to keep it, no matter what."

"So, should we start tomorrow?" Sunset asked as she looked at how high the moon was beginning to ascend into the sky. "It's coming up to midnight, and it's good to get some sleep so that we're ready to find and face him tomorrow..."

"Yeah. We should sleep now, then find and strike him when we wake up," Adagio said as she accepted Sunset's plan. "If we spend all night trying to find him, we could be far too tired to bring him in and reclaim that staff..."

"Don't worry about it, Dazzlings. We'll get the staff together," Twilight then began to stall, thinking about what The Dazzlings would do if they had their powers back. However, she quickly shrugged the thought off and said, "And I promise you, you'll get your powers back after we're done..."