Over the course of the next few days, it was nothing but the rest of the battle. The tournament progressed with the girls take the victory with each turn. Twilight had been doing her best to try and write a song to combat these Siren girls, but nothing seemed to be working no matter how hard she tries. It didn’t help that the constant arguing and pressure from everyone else just constantly made everything worse. Twilight voiced her constant concerns to me every chance she could get.

What really didn’t help that Dash nearly blew it in the semi-finals.

She nearly went and activated the Equestrian magic she harnessed inside of her. I think we were able to stop it just in time, but I’m still not sure. Unfortunately, Sunset diving on stage and ruining the whole thing didn't help whatsoever with the current situation. After it was over, I tried to tell the girls that there wasn't a whole lot we could really do otherwise. Sunset, Spike, and I were on the wrong side on the stage to close the curtains or kill Dash's amp. But the girls exploded anyway when Sunset tried to explain what happened and defend herself. It was a crap shoot and while I wasn't too thrilled that Sunset thought that was a good idea, I still tried to defend her. On top of it all, I was starting to worry more and more, but Twilight insisted that she could do this. We just needed to be weary and put our trust in her.

Ember didn't like that.

But my answer was always the same, trust her.

As the final hour was quickly coming to the light Serenity and I exited Applejack's home and down the steps. "We have to be prepared," I informed Serenity as she followed me from the house. "Tonight, is the night, if all else fails, we have to be prepared to fight!"

"Got it!" Serenity confirmed. "I just hope it-" She abruptly stopped talking and slapped her neck as though she had just been bit by something. I looked back at her in confusion as she rubbed her neck and pulled something off herself. Holding it up, it was a dart. "What the hell?" Two more darts rapidly hit her in the side and caused her to wince, scream, and grab the affected area with one hand.

I spun and ducked as a dart came shooting over my head. Drawing my sword, I turned to face the attacker. "Oh? You're smarter than you look!" the one siren said as she lowered her dart gun. Behind me, Serenity dropped to a knee as whatever was on the end of those darts was getting to her.

The purple skinned siren glowered down at me. "To bad it won't get you too far," she shrugged.

I stood up straight, sword ready in my grasp. "I applaud you for the attack. Only a select few have ever snuck up on me like this." The girl smiled, taking the complement with pride. "But at least tell me how you figured out who we are?"

The girl held up her free hand and examined her fingernails. "Pu-lease, it wasn't hard to figure it out. Sunset Shimmer is the talk of the whole school, and with a little… persuasion, that idiot, oh what was his name?" she asked as she lowered her arm and looked at me for clarification. "Crash Poultry?"

"Flash Sentry?"

"Him," she confirmed with a point of a finger. "He coughed up everything we wanted to know. From there, all we needed to do was ask around. Wasn't hard to find where the princess and her guards were." She shrugged while holding up both arms. "I wish that one girl put up a better fight. Oh well."

I glanced back at Serenity, who was now flat on the ground, her eyelids were heavy, she was barely conscious. "Didn't really have much to fight with after you darted her."

The girl blinked at me, before her confused look turned mischievous. "Not her!"

Ember!

My eyes went wide before my teeth clenched. "You bitch!"

"How rude…" the girl replied before holding up her weapon and taking aim. Firing a dart, the slow-moving projectile was easy to block with my blade with a little tinking noise. I couldn’t let her get anymore off as I shot forward, blade sharp and ready. I chopped the second dart in half midair and blocked the third before arching the blade upwards and slicing the weapon in two out of the girl’s hand. Jumping back, the siren dug her feet in and leapt forward with a surprising amount of speed and power. With her leg extended, she went for an aerial kick, which caught me off guard. Blocking with my sword, I pushed her away, where she landed several feet away with a slide.

Reaching behind her back, she pulled a karambit knife free from its hiding place and twirled it around her finger a few times. She then took a defensive stance and planned her next attack. Spinning my blade in my hand, I took my own defensive stance in preparation for my own attack. She took off like a shot from a gun while I held my ground, changing my plans for a defensive attack. Once she was close enough, metal ground against each other as out blades collided. The girl pushed with all her might with both hands while I held her at bay with one. Pushing herself away, she went for a slice, which glanced off my sword, while I parried her next attack.

Spinning the weapon in her grasp, she went for a series of feint attacks that had kept me on my toes. I leaned and ducked as I was forced to avoid the fake strikes while also trying to parry or block her actual attacks. As she went for a real jab, I caught her wrist in my free hand. Rolling her hand, she wrapped the blade around my wrist and pulled.

“Ah!” I yelped as I felt the knife slice my wrist open. Releasing her from my grasp, but before she could recover, I wrapped her arm in an arm lock to keep her from attacking me further. Pulling my right arm back, I cracked her in the face with the pommel of my Skana. I continued my assault with a knee to the stomach, knocking the wind from her lungs before I kicked her in the chest, which sent her flying off her feet. I sucked in a sharp breath and held up my bleeding arm to examine the cut. It wasn't too deep, but it was still long and bleeding. That was going to be a bad scar. Taking a knee, the siren glared at me before reaching up and holding a thumb to her bleeding nose.

“You’ll pay for that!” she threatened.

I didn’t answer and held up my bleeding left hand and waved her forward. By now, anyone could tell she was getting angry, whereas I could play that in my favor. She growled and charged at me with a series of slashes and punches that I dodged and slapped away with my sword. Her technique was getting sloppy with each attack which allowed me to wear her down little by little. As she went for a stab, I leaned to the side and her arm went right past me. Dropping my blade, I grabbed her wrist with my right hand and elbow with the left. Pushing down with my right and up with my left, her arm cracked loudly, and she hissed in pain. She would have dropped the knife had the finger loop not kept it in place on her finger. Letting her go, I leaned back and kicked her across the chest, which sent her flying backwards several feet. She landed in the dirt with a painful grunt. Sitting up, she propped herself on her elbows as I picked up my sword and stood there.

We stared each other down before she looked to the side and smiled. “What?” I question with a raised brow.

She looked back at me with this cocky, lopsided smirk. “Why am I even bothering?” she asked, more towards herself. “All I have to do is wait until you bleed enough.” She adjusted herself and stood back up. Holding out a hand towards my bleeding wrist, she continued. “Just need to keep you from stemming the bleeding.”

Raising an eyebrow, I glanced down at my injured arm. My hand was soaked and covered in blood as crimson drops pooled on the ground at my side, drying in the dirt and midday heat. Lifting my sword over my head, I threw it point first into the ground and let it sit there before reaching into my pocket, I pulled out a health restore. The girl watched in confusion as I opened the canister and shoved the needle in my arm with a hiss. As the medication did its job, I tossed the canister to the side and held up my hand. Wiping away the blood, the wound was already scabbing over. Holding out my once injured hand, I showed her the rapidly healing wound with a winning smirk. Her eyes went wide before she growled angrily.

Reaching down, I pulled my sword free and prepared for another attack. The girl came at me again with another series of rapid slashes and punches. This time, however, she also gave me the pleasure of adding a series of kicks to her attacks. Ducking under a kick aimed for my face, I blocked the second kick with my forearm and retaliated with a punch to the kneecap, which came loose with a crack against my knuckles.

"Ah!" she winced and stumbled away. The siren did her best to stay on her feet, but her collapsed kneecap kept her from keeping her balance. She stumbled away and fell on her ass with her bad leg in front of her. Grabbing her kneecap with both hands, she reset the dislocation with a painful and disgusting crack.

"Your tougher than you look," I said as I watched her stumble slightly as she stood up. "Even kept me on my toes at one point."

"I won't let some pathetic pony guard beat me!" she growled angrily as her knees started to buckle.

I shrugged. "Sure, let's go with that." Twirling the weapon in my hand, I waved her forward a second time. She ran towards me, limp all too clear, as she went for another series of slices. I slapped her free hand away and blocked her knife with my blade. "You seem resolute in the slim fact that you might actually win this."

As she went for another stab, I stepped back and kicked her in the chest. The girl grunted and flailed her limbs wildly as she went sailing backwards for the third or fourth time.

"Aria you had one job!"

My eyes went wide before I spun on my heels.

CRACK!

I coughed as my whole body went stiff, as a horrible, agonizing pain shot up my spine and buried itself in my skull. It was so horrible that it made my knees buckle. The wind was knocked from my lungs as I fell forward onto my knees, using my sword as a crutch to keep myself up. "Oh fuck!" I panted under my breath as I sucked in a sharp breath. Just in front of me, stood a pair of dark purple high heels and light purple stockings. Following the slender legs up, the owner, an orange skinned teen with poofy hair glared down at me with her arms crossed and a sour expression.

She rolled her eyes and stepped past me and towards the teen behind me. "You had one job Aria!" the teen spat at her companion. "I told to deal with them and you got your ass kicked!" I watched the pair over my shoulder, secretly hoping my glare would be enough to kill them.

Reaching down, the orange skinned woman bent over and offered a hand, which this Aria slapped away. "Fuck off, Adagio!" Aria spat, slapping the offered hand away as she stood up. Adagio in turn, crossed her arms and glared at her companion. "I had the situation under control!"

"Bullshit Aria. And you know it!"

Aria pressed her nose against Adagio's in a threatening manner. "I had him where I wanted him! If you had just stayed away like you were-"

"We don't have time!" Adagio shouted back, cutting Aria off. Then, the teen pressed her finger against Aria's chest to further accentuate her point. "The concert is tonight, and we can't let that princess and her guards stop us now!"

They know…

But do they know where the portal is?

The two continued to bicker as I struggled to push myself to my feet. My body screamed out for me to stay down, but I wasn't having any of it. I needed to fight back. I stumbled slightly when I finally stood up fully, but I was standing. Both girls took notice and immediately ended their argument and turned their attention fully to me. It appeared that me still willing and able to fight back was enough for them to unite together and forget their previous aggression.

Adagio glared at Aria as if silently saying 'this is your fault.'

"Stay out of this!" Adagio hissed through her teeth. Reaching back, the girl pulled out a tanto style dagger, much too old to be new. The girl approached me with an air of determination as she rolled the weapon in her hand. Once she was close enough, she went for a stab…

Which she fainted…

And I fell for it…

The girl stepped towards my swipe, her blade colliding with my own and over her head. I had no control as she manipulated my sword with her dagger. Metal ground loudly against metal as she ducked underneath both weapons. As my sword came free, the girl turned away from me and elbowed me in the stomach, knocking the wind from my lungs as I stumbled back a few steps. Turning around, she slashed at my leg, making it buckle and me to fall embarrassingly to a knee. I needed to get away. I tried to stand up, but I froze, staring at the tip of the dagger pointed at my nose.

I moved my gaze upwards and glared at the girl. "At least grant me the wish of telling me who trained you?" I requested.

She raised an eyebrow, but answered nonetheless. "Her name was Orochi," the girl answered. "One of the most influential Samurai of the ancient world." As she spoke, I subtlety adjusted my grip on my Skana. "I know this may sound crazy, but I've been here a while."

"I can tell. But coming from Equestria, anything is possible," I lied. "Been a long time since someone could keep me guessing."

"I thought ponies were pussies?" Aria said as she limped forward, looking towards Adagio.

"We haven't been to Equestria in a thousand years," Adagio clarified as she looked towards her friend. "I bet a lot has changed."

"You have no idea!" I added before I slapped her dagger away and lifted my sword over my head. Both were caught horribly off guard as Adagio screamed as I buried my sword in her boot. Forcing myself to my feet, I pulled my Skana free and body checked the girl with my shoulder. Still caught off guard by the surprise attack, Aria's eyes went wide as I came after her. I punched her in the jaw with my free hand, causing her head to snap to the side. But she used the momentum from the strike to push forward. She ran straight into me, wrapping both arms around my waist and pushing me several feet.

I immediately recovered and pommeled the girl in the back, making her wince from the strike. Flipping the sword in my grasp, I held it reverse style and went for a stab. Aria countered and caught my arm at the wrist, blocking the attack and forcing me to miss her head by inches. Leaning down slightly to the right, I built up some momentum and threw my sword between us. With a half spin, I caught the weapon reverse style with my left hand and painfully pommeled Aria in the jaw. Her head reeled from the strike as I continued my attack by impaling her in the left foot, followed by a slash across the gut. I was about to finish her off when a boot connected with the underside of my chin.

My teeth clacked loudly as I was sent into the air, my blade from my grasp. My back cracked loudly in several places as my body folded in half. My legs pulled the rest of my body over my head as I finally landed flat against the ground. Not too far away, my Skana landed point first in the dirt. With stars clouding my vision and black on the edges, my limbs were struggling to keep pace.

And yet… I can't believe I got my ass kicked by a teenager.

I blinked once, I was being dragged away as Aria was attempting to pull my Skana from the dirt. Wonder how she healed so fast? Heh… good luck, Skana Prime doesn't like it when people try to mistreat her. She is very picky as to who can pick her up.

I blinked again. I was sitting up, but I couldn't move very well. "You're… dead…" I muttered as I closed my eyes again.

When I opened them again, I groaned. My jaw hurt, and I couldn't move. As I blinked the blurriness from my gaze, I found that I had been tied to a chair in some obscure corner in Applejack's barn. Looking down, I had been tied to a chair. I wasn't even going to attempt to struggle, I needed to find-

"You awake?" Serenity questioned.

"Serenity?" I asked, looking around.

"Behind you."

Glancing over my shoulder, I could see the woman staring back at me. We needed you get out of here before Twilight and the girls got hurt any further. "We have to get out of here and to Twilight before the-" I froze when I saw a corner of one of the windows. No, that wasn't right, it was bright out not ten minutes ago!

"Before what?" Serenity questioned. "Excalibur the event started not too long ago!"

"I was out for ten minutes!" I countered/denied.

"We've been here for hours!" Serenity shouted. I didn't want to believe her claim, but the lack of sunlight made it all to clear. "It's dark! It was about three when we were leaving!"

Fuck!

"We have to get out!" I ordered as I panicked slightly. We were tied to chairs, but thankfully, not together. The sirens also made the mistake of only tying my torso to the chair and not my legs. Pushing myself back slightly, I used the momentum to push myself forward and onto my feet. I stood awkwardly, -ever stood while strapped to a chair? Shit doesn't feel right- Once I was set, I bent my knees and jumped backwards.

I hit the floor hard, shattering the chair under my own body weight. I groaned as a sharp pain covered my back as I felt parts of broken wood poking me in places, but nothing that created serious injury. Fighting through the pain, I stood up and pulled the rope over my head.

"Would have been better to kill us," I stated as I rushed around to the front of my teammate. Holding out my hand, I felt my Skana's aura connect with my own. Calling her towards me, she shook from her position in the dirt outside of the barn and tore free. Like a shot, my Skana sailed through the front door of the barn and into my hand.

"I didn't know you could use Void Energy to levitate objects," Serenity observed as I cut her free. Freeing herself, she stood up and reached into her pocket.

"I can only do it with blades. Knives, swords, and the like," I admitted as I too, reached into my pocket and pulled my storage device out and slapped it to my chest. In a flash, I was armored and ready. "It's kinda my thing."

As we exited the barn, I called in my archwing. Once it was attached, I flooded the engines with as much power as I could, taking to the skies, heading for the concert venue.

The air roared past us as water pelted our forms. The weather had taken a turn for the strange, the once, clear and beautiful night sky had clouded over. The wind was roaring, and the rain was coming down in buckets. Lightning cracked loudly and flashed brightly across the sky. In the distance, the air swirled in mass just above the venue. It was very similar to when Sunset took the crown. I pushed the engines to near breaking point.

As I watched on, a terrible, blinding light flooded my sensors. I screamed in agony as I was blinded, forcing the engines to a halt as I glued my eyes as tight as I could, using both arms to cover my face. I came to a hover and opened my arms ever so slightly to try and see. I still needed to get to the girls!

My eyes went wide as I felt a chill run up my back.

"Holy… shit…"

"That's a big alicorn!" I finished Serenity's statement as I watched in awe as the behemoth of an entity broke free from the clouds. The sparkling blue, ethereal beast flared its gigantic angelic wings as it reared back, kicking its front legs in preparation for war. As it landed, its hooves set off an explosive thunderous crack when it landed, before it fired a rainbow-like beam from its horn. My sensors were on overload as the magical radiation set everything off. But I had to ignore it, there was still a fight to win!

Reaching back, I pulled my archgun free and raced towards the light.

It was overwhelming, and I could feel my eyes giving way as the light burned at my retinas. Just as it was about to become overwhelming, it was gone. I could see again, barely, but I could see enough to fight. A sonic explosion followed as I landed with enough force to fracture the wooden boards on the stage. I didn't hesitate, taking aim, I pointed the heavy chain gun at Adagio and locked missiles onto the other two.

All three of them stared up in horror from their pathetic positions at my feet on the stage. Behind me, everyone in the crowd gasped loudly. Lastly, Serenity landed just as hard, pointing her heavy weapon at the Sirens. I glared at the lead teen as she watched me in horror.

"W-Wait-" she pleaded.

"Shut the fuck up!" I shouted furiously, silencing her pathetic pleas for life. "How about I mag-dump you instead before I blow your pathetic corpse into a thousand pieces!?" Stepping forward, I shoved the heavy barrel of the gun under her chin and forced the orange haired teen to her feet. "Or maybe I should see how many bullets it takes to cut you in half?"

She started to shake violently as tears welled up in the corners of her eyes. Pushing her forward, I heard a crunch under my boot. Glancing down, I noticed that I was standing on the shards of her necklace. The red shards glistened in the light of the stage lights.

Well, seems like their power has come to an end.

Lifting my boot, I smashed the remnants of the shards with my boot. Adagio winced and immediately closed her eyes at the sound of me grinding the shards into further dust under my boot. No... no... they deserved something else. They deserved to suffer for their transactions. They attacked me, this was now under my jurisdiction. Closing the weapon, I holstered it back on the right wing before I stepped forward and grabbed the girl by her throat. She gagged and choked as I lifted her into the air.

"As much as killing you would be so easy…" I glanced back down at the shards. "I think spending the rest of your life powerless will teach you a lesson!" I accentuated my point by squeezing her throat tighter, making her gag and pull on my wrist tighter. "Enjoy mortality!" Reaching around her side and towards her lower back, I pulled her dagger free and held it up to her face. "I'll be taking this!"

As a trophy.

Releasing her, Adagio gasped for air as she slumped weakly against the floor, holding a hand to her aching throat. Serenity did the same to Aria, pulling her karambit free.

No, she needed more punishment than this.

Adagio screamed as I grabbed her by a fist full of her orange hair and dragged her to the back of the stage. She didn't deserve to try and do such a thing ever again. As I stepped past a sound board, I turned the thing on high and turning on a random song. Glancing back at Serenity, I gestured for her to follow just as Twilight, Ember, and the girls were approaching. Serenity holstered her weapon and grabbed both girls by the hair, dragging them towards the back of the stage. Music blasted, distracting the crowd from what would happen as we entered the back of the stage, hidden by the curtain.

Throwing the Siren to the floor, she landed painfully on her front. Adagio tried to crawl away as I stepped over the girl. Pulling the knife from its sheath I knelt, pinning her to the floor with my knee, keeping her from trying to run any further. The girl pleaded and begged for mercy as I grabbed a fistful of hair, forcefully pulling her head back until it couldn't go any further.

Then I continued to pull.

Resting my closed fist with the knife in it against her forehead, I held it in place as I used my free hand to grab her by the mouth. She mumbled and gagged around my fingers as I shoved them knuckle deep into her open maw before I grabbed her tongue and pulled it out of her mouth. She shook her head and tried to break free, it only made it worse.

Good luck using their magic to heal from this...

Placing the sharp edge of the blade to the tender flesh…

I started cutting...

"Where have you been!?" Twilight shouted as I stepped out from behind the curtains. All of them glared at me as I disconnected my archwing. I had a gut feeling that Twilight would have let them go, so I did. Not without my form of punishment though. I wouldn't tell her about my form of justice though.

My response was a groan as everything came to the light... it was mostly pain. A lot of pain. Stepping past her, I hunched over and placed my hands against a speaker as I took a rest. "In my defense…" I moaned in agony again, holding a hand to my crotch. "I did get kicked in the nuts… with a steel toed boot…"

Among other places...

My suit can do a lot, numbing the pain from that strike though? That was barely manageable. Thankfully, there was nothing serious as far as damage goes, but taking a hit to my unarmored nuts…

Not an enjoyable experience…

As Twilight stepped up, she placed her hand on my back and leaned forward with a concerned expression. I glanced at her out of the corner of my eye before resting my head on my arm. Reaching up, I gently gripped her collar in my grasp and pulled her towards me. "Twilight…" I whispered, lifting my head and speaking into her ear. "Were not having sex tonight…" I moaned again when I felt a sharp pain in my groin. "Or for a while…"

Ow…

Author's Notes:

How I truly envisioned the sword/tranq. dart fight.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H-ZwhuKMfOk

I went with music chapter names because I am uncreative and because this was Rainbow Rocks, it kinda makes sense. I know they don't really mix, but oh well. It's what I get for being lazy.