Sunset Shimmer stood in what had once been the cafeteria, the very place where Twilight and her friends had begun their ill-fated struggle against her. The tables had been covered with books and crudely drawn maps, and the walls lined with chalkboards pilfered from the classrooms. The school had enough food to last for a week or so, but Sunset would need to figure out someplace to get supplies. She hadn't planned on staying here this long.

Sunset Shimmer frowned as she examined the chalkboard in front of her, a piece of chalk held in a magical grip. The writing was embarrassingly sloppy as a result of being several years out of practice with telekinesis, but that wasn't the only thing bothering her.

Her invasion of Equestria had depended almost entirely upon surprise. With only one possible entry point, and a very narrow one at that, it had been crucial for her to clear the area and establish a strong hoofhold before the ponies could respond.

Now she knew for a fact that her one way in was watched and guarded. Any chance she might have had of tricking and manipulating her way into a position of power was gone for good too, thrown away in a moment of pride. She'd just had to brag about killing Twilight Sparkle.

Stupid!

Sunset shook her head angrily and brought herself back to the present. No element of surprise, and no chance at trickery, at least not from her. Maybe one of her minions? Sunset jotted down,

Trick ponies into allowing us in. Infiltrator?

Snips / Snails

They were the only ones with free will and intelligence, such as it was. Even so, she disgustedly drew a line through their names almost as soon as she'd written them. The two of them might have some low cunning, at least enough to carry out her orders, but they were totally unsuited to the sort of double-agent work that would be needed here. She needed someone more impressive, more confident, and most of all more intelligent.

Gilda, Sunset wrote, before scratching it out almost as quickly. Gilda was confident, sure, and even fairly smart, but she was also a total bitch. This job needed someone who could play the political game, at least for a little while. Someone better at lying. She needed an actor. She needed... a performer?

Trixie, Sunset added to the board. She'd need to win the obnoxious girl over to her side first, but that would be easy enough. A taste of real magic, and a promise of more to come, would have the wannabe magician tripping over her cloak to do Sunset's bidding. It was an option worth considering.

The other option, of course, was to simply punch through with so much force that the ponies couldn't stop her. That would mean empowering a lot more students the same way she'd done with Snips and Snails, and that meant figuring out who she could trust not to turn on her.

"Um, Sunset Shimmer?"

Snails' unexpected voice grated on her as if he'd dragged his claws down the chalkboard.

"What?!" He should know better than to bother her!

Snails cringed until he was practically bowing down before her. "Uhh, nothing. Never mind!" He scrambled to the far side of the room, leaving Sunset to sigh and shake her head in aggravation. She continued working for several more minutes, until flashing lights in the distance caught her eye. Sunset dropped the chalk from her magical grip and immediately flew to the window for a better look, and what she saw did not improve her mood.

The school, at least as much of it as she could see, was surrounded by police cars. They seemed to be setting up a perimeter. Sunset's hands clenched on the tile lip of the windowsill until it cracked beneath her fingers. She whirled to glare murderously at Snips and Snails.

"Why was I not told about this?!" Sunset demanded, her temper—and hair—flaring violently.

"I tried, but you yelled at me," Snails complained pitifully.

"I... yelled at..." Sunset sputtered. She reached out with her magic and lifted him into the air, applying just enough pressure to make him squirm. "I'm going to do a lot worse than yell the next time you keep something important from me!" With a huff of disgust, she released her magic and let Snails fall heavily to the ground.

Snails groaned and mumbled a vague apology as Sunset turned her attention back to the window.

What do they want?

Sunset's unvoiced question was answered soon enough, as a human with a megaphone stepped forward.

"This is the police," the man announced through his megaphone, the sound carrying easily across the short distance between the road and the school. "We have the building surrounded. Whoever is in there, please come out with your hands up."

Oh, I know this game, Sunset thought, faintly amused. They would threaten her. She, in turn, would threaten her hostages. They would try to negotiate the hostages' release before coming in for her. The neighborhood had been evacuated long ago, but the police still wouldn't dare to use any sort of force because they might hurt the children. She supposed that it had taken them this long to act because they had been planning their strategy.

Perhaps she could turn this to her advantage.

"Snips, Snails." Sunset snapped her fingers, then pointed to two of the mindless students. "Take those two and come with me. We're going to do some negotiating." Sunset reached out and took a third student for herself. She allowed herself a moment of amusement at the fact that it was Flash Sentry in her claws, then followed her underlings out into the hallway.

There was no door anymore—Sunset's first test of her new magic had seen to that—so the three of them stood exposed for the police to see and gawk at. Sunset wondered just how much the humans actually knew about what was happening here. She suspected that it wasn't much.

To his credit, the man with the megaphone recovered fairly quickly from seeing three demons emerge from the building. He evidently picked out Sunset as the leader, for he addressed his next statement to her, and rightfully so.

"Erm... Ma'am?" He seemed unsure whether that was even the correct way to address her. "Please release your prisoners, we're just here to talk."

"Is that right?" Sunset replied sardonically. Her magic easily carried her voice across the distance between them.

Sunset lifted herself up and hovered slightly above the ground, lounging in midair. It was only posturing, but anything that would unsettle the humans would be to her advantage. She held Flash Sentry in one enormous hand, her claw to his temple. "Then tell the others to leave," she ordered. "You don't need an army to talk."

"I'm afraid I can't do that, Ma'am," the man said in a soothing tone. "My name is Sun Warden, I'm with the Canterlot Police Department. May I ask your name?"

Sunset grudgingly admitted that this guy was pretty good. If he was rattled by her casual displays of magic, he didn't show it.

"Sunset Shimmer," she answered with pride.

"What is it that you want, Ms. Shimmer?" Sun Warden asked respectfully. "I'm sure we all want this to end peacefully."

"I want weapons," Sunset replied. She probed out with her magic as she spoke, looking for weak minds that she could capture as she'd captured the students of Canterlot High. Unfortunately, professionally trained adults were tougher to crack than high school students. She met with little success.

"I want weapons, supplies, and equipment," Sunset continued as if nothing had happened. "Enough for an invading force."

"Ms. Shimmer, you must realize that we can't do that," Sun Warden replied.

"Oh really?" Sunset dug her claw into Flash's head, just enough to draw a thin trickle of blood. "I think my hand might be slipping here."

"Ma'am, please don't hurt the boy," Sun Warden begged her. "We won't arm you just so that you can attack us, but I'm sure we can find some common ground."

Sunset scoffed. "Please. You think I'm interested in this sad little world?" she sneered. "It's not you that I'm going to attack."

For the first time, the policeman showed a bit of confusion. "Then what exactly are you after, Ms. Shimmer?" he asked.

"That's for me to know, and you to keep your nose out of," Sunset retorted. "All that you humans need to know is this: I have no interest in you or in this wretched place. I'm trapped here for thirty moons. If you leave me alone during that time, you'll have nothing to fear from me."

That wasn't exactly true. Sunset did have some plans for the human world, but it wasn't anything the police needed to know about.

"Is there some way the police can help you?" It seemed that Sun Warden hadn't given up. "We'd be willing to give what aid we can in exchange for the students' safety."

"Not unless one of you happens to be an expert in interdimensional magic," Sunset replied scathingly. "Find me one of those, and we can talk."

"I'm sorry Ma'am," Sun Warden answered, "I don't know what that is."

"Of course you don't!" Sunset shouted, her voice and magic flaring into something akin to the Royal Canterlot Voice. Her patience had run out. "Because this little chunk of Tartarus that you call a world doesn't have magic!" In her frustration, she dug her claw so hard into Flash Sentry's head that he winced in pain, in spite of her mind control.

"You humans can offer me nothing, absolutely nothing that I want," Sunset concluded. "This talk is over."

"Ms. Shimmer, please—" Sun Warden cut off whatever he was about to say as Sunset, Snips, and Snails retreated back into the school.

"Interesting..." Adagio murmured. The three sirens had snuck onto a nearby roof, and were observing the action around the school. Adagio hadn't been sure what to think after that impossible surge of magic, but whatever she'd expected, this wasn't it. Human police negotiating with creatures that looked like they were straight out of Tartarus? "We need to figure out what's going on down there."

"Does it matter?" Aria replied, glaring down at the school. "Those things are way too strong to put under our spell."

"Of course it matters!" Adagio snapped back at her sister. "There's magic down there. Real magic. One way or another, we're going to take it."

Adagio returned her attention to the building. Infiltrating a big public building like this normally took preparation. The three of them had to get fake identities, enchant the right people so they wouldn't ask questions, and figure out the current trends so that they could fit in. It could take months. Adagio had started making such plans, but now she threw them all away. This situation was much different.

"Look!" Sonata suddenly exclaimed, pointing downward.

Adagio blinked and her mind snapped back to the present. There were dozens—no, hundreds—of people pouring out of the ruined front of the building. As she watched, they lined up between the school and the police, forming a human barricade around the building.

"Are those the students?" Adagio questioned.

"Obviously," Aria snarked in reply. They were all young, pre-teens or teenagers, and some of them were wearing school sweaters or jackets.

"So they work for those demon-things?" Sonata asked.

"I doubt it," Adagio answered. "When's the last time you saw that many teenagers working together that well?" She gestured to the students' clean, organized battle lines. Now that they had taken their positions, they stood like statues. Not one of the children was moving a muscle.

"Uhh..." Sonata, literal as ever, tilted her head and held a finger to her lower lip as she tried to think of the answer.

"You haven't," Aria filled in for her.

"Oh."

The purple-haired siren then turned her attention to their leader. "So, what? Mind control?"

"Probably," Adagio replied. Her eyes lidded and a small smile spread across her face. "Hmm."

"We use our magic to break the spell and take the kids for ourselves?" Aria guessed what the other siren was thinking.

"Exactly," Adagio purred. "They'll be weak from trying to fight the magic, and they all hate those demon-things, even if they don't know it. Even as weak as we are now, turning them all against each other will be a cinch. All we need to do is get past the police."

"So we're just going to do what we always do?" Aria drawled. "Stir up some trouble and feed off the negative energy? Some plan, Adagio."

"It won't be the same as the times before!" Adagio argued. "There is Equestrian magic here. Their negative energy will give us the power we need to get this entire world to do our bidding." She exhaled in irritation. "Just follow my lead."

"Or my lead," Aria murmured with a smirk.

Adagio jabbed a finger into Aria's breastbone. "My. Lead."

The three turned their backs on the school and made for the stairs back down. All three moved with purpose. There was a war coming, and they were going to win it.

Author's Notes:

Sorry about the long wait on this one.

My laptop died last Friday, but I'm back in business.