Adagio looked around at the mass of wailing flesh. She had seen such scenes countless times in her long life (even been the cause of a lot of them); but now she saw it all with fresh eyes, heard with fresh ears. This was the crying off deep, inconsolable pain. All but two of the girls had lost someone they cared about - friend, lover, and in Apple Jacks' case, family. As for the two that didn't, Sparkle and Shimmer, they just watched six people ( technically five people and a pony princess) get murdered. This was soul crushing, devastating; the thing that drove many to madness.

She understood now. Understood what she never did before; what she never could before. Laid low, stripped of her powers, at the mercy of those around her; suffering and being uplifted by those various hands, she new what it was now like to feel, to be connected. What would she have done had it been Sunset on that video or even Sonata? The weight of all her past deeds suddenly came down upon her. Faces of the all those she had wronged, caused pain, drove to suicide and even murder; all of those came rushing back. Names of ghost long forgotten now clamored and screamed for her attention. It was the serenade of the damned; and the call of the accusers.

She tried to hold it back at first, to block it, to exorcise the ghosts before they could lay claim to her. Then she decided to embrace it. She would allow the names to be said, she would look the faces in the eyes and beg not for mercy or forgiveness; but only that they would know her remorse was real. And if any asked for an excuse, she would only saw that she had power and those who have power have no need to care about those that don't.

And that's when it hit her.

"She's afraid," she said in a hushed tone, full of awe at her own discovery.

"What Dagi?" Sonata asked perplexed.

Adagio turned to Sonata, who along with Pinkie, where the only ones standing besides her. "She's afraid," she said more forcefully, with a growing sense of euphoria. "Don't you see? All that, that whole display, that was to stop us from facing her. That's what she's afraid of. A truly powerful person doesn't threaten or put on vulgar displays of power. There's no need to. A truly powerful person simply waits for their enemies to act and then wipe them out when they do so. It's villainy one oh one. How many times did we use the exact same strategy? You put on a show of force and hope your enemies go away so you don't have to face them. And given how extreme that display was, I'm guessing she must be darn well terrified!"

"You're right," Shimmer said as she was slowly coming out of a daze. She was sitting next to Sparkle on the couch. Both girls had been shocked into a near catatonic state by the brutality of what they saw. Yet some of Adagios' words got through and both were slowly coming around.

Adagio smiled at Shimmer and then turned to the rest of the group. "Now is not the time to give up. We have to fight."

"WHAT!" screamed Rarity. "Did you see what she did, what she was capable of? Do you know the amount of planning that had to go into something like that? We can't fight that!"

"We will," Rainbow said, wiping her nose and cheeks with the back of her hands as she slowly stood up. "I don't care what it takes or what I have to do, but they're mine. I'm killing all of them. I'm done. Adagio, if you're the one leading the charge now, fine, I don't care; I just want `em all dead."

"It's not my charge to lead," Adagio said almost apologetically. "It has to be Sunset and Twilight. They're the ones she fears the most."

"No," Twilight said as she slowly got up herself, "it has to be all of us. We've been drawn together for a reason. Across the different worlds, the different dimensions, we have been called. We stand together or fall a part." She then looked at Sparkle and Shimmer. "and that means you two as well."

The two looked at each other; terrified at first, then sympathetically, then, finally, with resolve. It was as if the two had the most in-depth conversation in the span of seconds. They turned back in unison and both nodded yes.

"That's four," Adagio started to say but was cut off by Twilight.

"Five. You may not have a title but you are still part of the group."

Adagio smiled a little and teared up a bit. "Five then. Who else?"

"Well, duh, us of course silly," Pinkie said, holding Sonatas' hand who nodded in agreement.

"Seven, and it disturbs me that you're not more impacted by what you saw," Adagio said.

Pinkie shrugged. "We already knew she at people so it's kinda expected."

"Eight," Fluttershy said softly, still kneeling on the floor.

"Fluttershy?" Rarity said in shock.

Fluttershy looked up at Rarity. "He's dead. They're all dead. Nothing will change that. Not retreating. The only thing retreating will do is guarantee they died in vain. I can't allow that."

Rarity looked blankly at Fluttershy for a bit then smiled. "Nine," she said.

All that was left were Apple Jack and Sunset and neither looked good. Sunset was on all fours, her head hung low, not moving. Apple was curled up in the fetal position, also not moving. Both looked to have been destroyed psychologically. At this point it was impossible to tell if either was still sane, let alone ready to fight.

Adagio and Twilight went over to Sunset to see if they could get a response out of her. Each quietly said her name and gently nudged her, but no response. Twilight whispered the word Sister in her ear but got nothing. She looked nervously at Adagio.

Adagio then bent down as close as she could to Sunset's right ear and whispered, "I'm sorry. I know it should have been me."

Sunsets' head whipped violently around to face Adagio, her face a distortion of shock, confusion, anger, and sorrow. "No," she said, shaking her head slightly. "It shouldn't've been anyone. No one deserved that fate. No one." Sunset spoke as someone who didn't even comprehend her own words. Then she slowly straightened up so she was just on her knees. She then got on one knee and eventually stood up.

"No," She said more forcefully. "No one deserved that. And no one will have to go through that again. Ever. No. I won't, I can't allow it."

Adagio smiled. "We got ten then."

All eyes turned to Apple then. Out of all of them she had suffered the most. Only about a week ago she had lost her grandmother and little sister. Now she had watched her boyfriend, her friends, even her vice principle get murdered. It was beyond understandable if it had all been too much for her.

"Apple Jack?" Rarity asked softly.

Apple raised her head, looked around without seeming to comprehend what she was looking at, lowered it back down again, and then stood up. She closed her eyes, bowed her head, touched her stomach, said something that looked like a prayer, opened her eyes and looked at all the group. "Eleven," she simply said.

Author's Notes:

I was going to include the full back story of The Black Gods of Death, Morgarith, and the entire back story but after coming off one really long chapter to end the last book, I didn't want to begin this book with another really long chapter. I'm also a firm beliver in letting each part breathe. Trying to cram too much in one chapter can dilute everything. With this chapter, I thought ending with literally everyone getting off of the floor (well, except for Fluttershy and I guess Sparkle and Shimmer who were on the couch but you get my point), was a good way to end.