"Twilight!" Spike ran toward her and jumped up, placing his front paws on her leg. "How did you get away?" he asked. He was practically dancing on his hind legs, his whole body trembling in excitement. "What are you doing back here? Why are you dressed like that? ...Uh, Twilight? Something wrong?"

For Twilight had screamed and pressed her back against the building beside her, trying to get away from him.

"Twilight?" Spike asked again. "What's the matter?"

Twilight's eyes were wide and wild. "Spike! You... here... talking!" she stammered. She was starting to hyperventilate and was on the verge of a panic attack.

Spike started to speak again, trying to calm her down, but this just caused her to scream again and press even harder against the wall. Finally, at the end of his considerable patience, Spike growled deep in his throat and burst out, "What is wrong with you?!"

"What's wrong with me?!" Twilight exclaimed, still not quite believing what she was seeing. "What's wrong with you? Why are you here? Why can you speak? What happened to your side?" She had belatedly noticed that Spike was injured, with a gash down one side of his body dripping blood into what little hair was left there. "And why am I talking to a dog?!" she shouted into the air. With that out of her system, she slowly slid down the wall she was leaning on until she was sitting on the ground. She began to focus on her breathing, trying to bring herself back under control.

Spike took a slow step backward and stood there, one paw hanging uncertainly in the air. His ears drooped. "You're..." he choked on a lump in his throat and had to start again. "You're not Twilight, are you?"

"What?" This made as little sense as anything else that was happening. "Yes, I'm Twilight. Twilight Sparkle."

"No," Spike shook his head in a strangely human gesture. "I meant the real Twilight," he said sadly, then corrected himself. "Well, I suppose you're real too, but I meant my Twilight."

"What does that mean?" She was still struggling to get a handle on the situation. "I'm Twilight Sparkle, and you're my pet dog Spike. Aren't you?"

Spike sighed heavily. "Never mind," he mumbled. "I guess I already knew. Twilight is... she's..." he started to pant more and more heavily, until his breath came in heaving gasps, then he threw his head back and let loose a long, mournful howl.

"Spike...?" Twilight hesitantly reached out toward him, only for the dog to turn and bolt the other way, out of the alley and away from the school.

"Wait!" Twilight stood up and ran after him, but by the time she reached the end of the alley he was already turning down another street. She had to know what was going on! A few police officers looked curiously after Spike, but made no move to stop him.

"Catch that dog!" Twilight yelled. When they didn't move, she shouted the first thing that came to mind. "He's mine! He got out!"

The two closest policemen exchanged glances, then one shrugged. "I'll get it," he offered, then walked off in no apparent hurry.

Twilight groaned in frustration. "Go!" she shouted at the other officer. "Catch him!"

The policeman frowned at her. "Thunder Flash will get him. You've got a job to do."

"I..." Twilight sighed. What could she tell him? That her dog, or a dog that looked just like him, had talked to her?

Twilight took off her glasses and pinched the bridge of her nose. She took a deep breath and centered her thoughts. Spike—or whatever that creature was—was too fast for her to catch. The police were after him. Much as it galled her, she'd have to trust the police to do their job and focus on her own. Without another word to the policeman in front of her, Twilight went back to her gear to continue setting up.

Adagio and her sisters watched the three girls work with mild amusement. Every student that they failed to awaken from the spell made them angrier - and more determined. They were driven by the desire to help their classmates and strike back at Sunset Shimmer, a desire that the Sirens' magic had fanned into obsession. They wouldn't stop until they collapsed. Then the sirens turned their attention back to their own task.

"Here's one," Aria announced. The boy's green dreadlocks, silly hat, and "recycle" pin announced him as a total hippie, but he was unusually big and burly for that crowd. More importantly, a tear glimmered in the corner of his eye. Sorrow wasn't as useful as anger, but it could still be leveraged to loosen this clumsy spell. Aria opened her mouth and channeled her power, only for her song to cut off in a strangled gasp as a massive hand closed around her body.

"Gotcha," a deep, feminine voice sneered.

Aria looked up with wide eyes into the face of a demon straight from Tartarus. Red skin, flaming hair, and jet black eyes were topped by an oddly pretty golden tiara. Who is she? Aria thought frantically, running through the female demons that she knew of. Lilitu, maybe? How did she get here?

"What have we here?" the demon mused aloud, bringing Aria up close to her face. "And here I thought I had the only magic in this sad little world."

Aria opened her mouth and screamed, hitting the demon from point-blank with a blast of sonic magic. The impact snapped the demon's head back and sent her tiara clattering to the ground. The thing clutched at its ears, dropping Aria in the process and allowing her to flee back to her sisters.

"What is that thing?" Aria gasped, still winded from her encounter.

"I don't know, but we need to run," Adagio commanded tersely. "Now."

"Where?" Sonata asked. "There's cops everywhere."

Aria looked around frantically. For once the dolt was right. No matter which way they went, they'd be running straight into the police. Getting past them again would drain what little magic they had left, and then they'd be stuck on the wrong side.

The demon had stopped clutching its ears and was now scrabbling frantically for the tiara. The massive creature was having trouble reaching around and through the frozen students all around her. The sirens were apparently forgotten, at least for the moment.

Aria was struck by sudden inspiration.

"Inside the school," she whispered to the other two.

"Are you nuts?" Sonata squeaked.

"No, she's right," Adagio murmured. "The students are all out here. There will be plenty of room for us to hide. Go! Now!"

The three crept around behind the demon's back, blending into the crowd of students. As soon as they were out of sight, they sprinted for what remained of the doors and disappeared into the school's hallways.

The last they saw of the demon, it had settled its tiara back on its head and started looking frantically for them. The last thing they heard was a monstrous roar of, "Where is she?!" and a thunderous crack as she smacked aside one of the very students she'd been so careful not to hurt while searching for her crown.

"Where is she?!" Sunset roared, her hair and tail flaming up around her. Her crown was safely back on her head, but the girl who'd blasted her was gone.

Sunset's mind-controlled servants did not answer, for she had not given them a command. With another cry of frustration, she delivered a crushing backhand blow to the nearest student. Sandalwood, some small part of her remembered. "Find her!"

Now that they had an order, her army sprang into action. Their careful lines scattered all over the school grounds as they searched for the strange girl who had blasted Sunset with... what, exactly? It wasn't any type of magic she'd ever seen—or rather, heard.

Sunset sank to the ground and cradled her head. She'd been nursing a headache all day, and that blast of piercing sound certainly hadn't done it any favors. She barely had the presence of mind to alter her orders slightly, adding a requirement that the students not let themselves be captured by the police while they searched. Once she was confident that her army would return to her, she closed her eyes to rest and think. She had only a short minute of peace.

"Freeze!" a loud male voice barked. "We have you surrounded!"

Hardly believing what she heard, Sunset slowly opened her eyes and found herself flanked by no less than five police officers with their guns drawn. She groaned. Of course, with the students out of formation the cops thought they had an opening.

"Look," Sunset said, "I'm really not in the mood for this."

"Get on your knees, hands on your head!" the man shouted at her.

She wondered briefly if it was even worth the effort to obliterate these insects. On the other hand, she mused, a show of force would help them know exactly where they stand. Plus, they'd dared to threaten her, and the one even had the nerve to bark orders at her.

Without moving from her spot, she raised a finger and shot a bolt of sickly green and black magic through the noisy policeman. He gave one wet gurgle, then slumped over dead.

The others took a moment to comprehend what had just happened, in which time Sunset raised a shield around herself. When the other cops finally started firing, their bullets fizzled harmlessly against her magic. When every gun gave the clicks of empty chambers, the officers all lowered their weapons and stared in shock.

"Got it?" Sunset sneered. "Good." She reached out and grabbed one policeman in each hand. A burst of magic from her palms snuffed them out in an instant. Forgoing magic entirely, she dispatched another with a brutal swipe of her claws. The last, who was fumbling for a new magazine for his pistol, she caught in a telekinetic field and raised to her face.

She hadn't even stood up.

The policeman raised his gun in trembling hands and aimed at Sunset's face. Before he could fire, she destroyed the weapon with a beam of magic from her eyes. The policeman dropped the suddenly burning-hot scrap metal and stared with wide eyes, waiting to die.

"You pathetic, magicless creatures can't defeat me," Sunset hissed. "Give this message to your superiors: Leave me alone and you have nothing to fear. Cross me, and you'll learn the meaning of power." She released her magic.

The cop fell the short distance to the ground. He seemed to briefly consider picking up what remained of his gun, but under Sunset's baleful stare he decided—wisely—to just slowly back away. Once he had some distance, he turned and sprinted for the police barricades and their relative safety.

Sunset groaned and massaged her aching head. Today was definitely not going as planned.

"Just great," Aria complained. "I have less magic now than when we got here."

The three had taken shelter in the girls' locker room inside Canterlot High. It was hardly glamorous, but the doors locked from the inside and that was good enough for now. Aria sat slumped against a wall, exhausted from her unexpected use of magic. Sonata uneasily stood nearby. Adagio sat on one of the several benches in the room, her natural grace and poise making it look like a throne.

"What was that thing?" Sonata asked.

"A demon," Aria answered her.

"I'm not so sure," Adagio chimed in. "We came here following Equestrian magic. If she's the source of it, then she's not from Tartarus."

"I could see coming to this world to escape from Tartarus, although it's really not much better," Aria said, "but why leave Equestria to come here?"

"Maybe she got banished like we did," Sonata suggested.

"That doesn't matter," Adagio said. "I'm more interested in how she kept her power in this world."

"It's not like she'd tell us if we asked nicely," Aria grumbled. "The real question is, what are we going to do about it?"

"Take it for ourselves, of course," Adagio answered. "With magic like that, we can restore our true power and bring this whole pathetic world to heel."

"That demon lady was awfully angry," Sonata said. "You think we can feed off of her?"

"She's way stronger than we are," Aria added. "If she catches us, we're done. We'll have to be careful."

"We'll have to be smart," Adagio replied.

"Uh-oh," Aria muttered, shooting a sly glance at Sonata.

"We've got a few people on our side now, and I don't think that creature knows it yet," Adagio continued as if she hadn't heard. "We need to get them here and find out what they know. Then we'll know how to get inside Sunset's head and take her magic for ourselves."

Aria stood and dusted off her pants. "Great," she drawled. "Except that I'm sure she has her little army searching all over for us by now."

"Leave that to me." Adagio stood and swaggered to the door that led back out into the hall. She peered through the crack and stayed there for quite some time, waiting for something.

At last, she got what she wanted: a crowd of students passed by, searching for them. One tried the door and, finding it locked, moved on. The others followed. As the last of the students passed by Adagio quickly unlocked the door, opened it, snatched the last straggler and dragged him into the locker room, then locked the door again. The boy immediately tried to call for the others, but Adagio muffled his cries with her hand. She dragged him bodily into the locker room and dumped him in front of the others.

"Eek!" Sonata shrieked. "There's a boy in here!"

"Oh, shut up," Adagio answered. "This boy is our get out of jail free card. Help me break the spell on him."