The moon crawled to its zenith above the graveyard. The cemetery was dead silent save for a muted shuffling. Slowly, slowly, a hand, pale yellow in the moonlight, rose from one of the graves, unseen by two teenage girls entering the graveyard.

“Vinyl, are you sure about this? It's awfully late?” Octavia said, glancing at her watch as she and her girlfriend walked into the graveyard. Glancing fearfully in every direction, she continued, “We really should be home studying for our history exam tomorrow. Or, you know, doing anything besides going to a graveyard in the middle of the night.”

Vinyl didn’t text a reply back. She carried with her a small bouquet of flowers while she made her way down the path towards Sunset's grave, their footfalls the only sounds they could hear. Getting within sight of the grave a few moments later, Vinyl froze and stared in horror. Not noticing her girlfriend had stopped, Octavia bumped into her.

“Hey, what did you stop for?”

Vinyl simply pointed forward. Octavia followed Vinyl's finger, and froze, matching Vinyl's expression. There was a girl standing over the grave, head down as if staring at it. Dirt caked her hair and stained her skin and clothes, giving her a ragged appearance. Although the darkness made it difficult to discern her appearance, the moonlight illuminated her enough to help them identify the yellow skin and the distinctive red and yellow hair. But what truly made it clear in the teens' minds who they were staring at, the lone girl was wearing the very dress and shoes that their close friend was buried in.

Having heard Octavia's voice, Sunset Shimmer slowly turned around. The girls, too scared to move, noticed one last detail as Sunset stared at them: There was something off about her eyes. It was impossible to tell exactly what was wrong with them in the darkness from the distance they were at, but the girlfriends were nonetheless unsettled.

For a few eternal seconds, the two parties just stared at each other. Then, suddenly, Sunset leaned forward, letting out a disturbingly deep, primal roar.

“Vinyl, run!” Octavia screamed, grabbing her girlfriend by the hand as she turned to run. No sooner had she taken her first step when Sunset leapt through the air, landing right in front of her. Sunset backfisted Octiavia in the mouth, sending the cellist into a nearby tree. As she slammed into the tree, Octavia felt a horrendous pain as her bow arm snapped like a twig, and she slumped to the ground, holding her arm and screaming in pain.

Vinyl tried to run to Octavia, but Sunset got in her way, grabbing her by her shirt and picking her up off the ground. Cocking her head slightly to the right, Sunset's upper lip curled slightly upwards as her canines elongated, slightly curving inwards. Pulling Vinyl into her, Sunset opened her mouth, biting into Vinyl's neck. The mute girl’s eyes shrank to pinpricks while Octavia screamed in fear at the sight.

“No!” Standing back up while holding her broken arm, Octavia screamed, “Why are you doing this, Sunset? Let her go!”

Hearing her scream, Sunset snarled, throwing Vinyl to the left. Octavia watched in horror while Vinyl corkscrewed through the air, hitting a bench. Sunset turned her attention back to Ocativa and began to advance.

“Leave her alone, Fourteen!”

Turning around, Sunset saw Summer Sunrise, Gilda, and Sonata standing nearby. Letting out a wordless snarl, Sunset rushed Summer, only to receive a quick, magically-enhanced fist to the face. The blow sent the crazed girl backwards into some nearby bushes. Quickly turning to Sonata, Summer yelled out, “I'll lead her away! You two help those girls!”

“Are you nuts!? Look at her!” Gilda exclaimed, her eyes widening as she saw Sunset getting back up effortlessly. “You can’t take her on by yourself!”

Preparing for another attack, Summer screamed, “I have no choice! Do it!”

Without another word, Summer rushed in, catching Sunset by the throat and slamming her back into the ground. Seeing that Sunset was momentarily dazed by the blow, took the opportunity to punch Sunset a few more times in the face. As the pummeling continued, Sonata grabbed Gilda by the hand, rushing her over to Octavia and Vinyl.

“Gilda, I can't do this alone. I don’t know the first thing about first aid!”

“Well, I know a little bit of it.” Gilda knelt down and examined Vinyl, who was unconscious and hurt but not as badly as Gilda had thought. “We need to move her out of here.”

Just then, Sunset slammed her fist into Summer's, sending the girl off of her. As Summer yelped in pain, the others looked over as Sunset got back up, her skin slowly but surely turning from her normally vibrant yellow to a dark red.

“Hurry, pick her up and let's go!” Octavia yelled. After Gilda lifted Vinyl over her shoulder and Sonata helped Octavia up, Octavia continued, “Come on, I know a quick way out of here.”

The four girl made as hasty a retreat from the graveyard as they could with two hurt girls weighing down the two healthy ones. As they emerged from the graveyard, Gilda stopped when she saw a police car coming down the road. “Oh, shit! We're so screwed.”

“You two go back and help your friend. I’ll get Vinyl to the police officer,” Octavia said. Gilda placed Vinyl on the ground, and Octavia sat down next to her, giving her sore legs a quick break. When Octavia noticed Gilda's concerned look, she said, “Go on. I can tell you really don't want to see the cops, so get out of here. I'll cover for you.”

Nodding her reply, Gilda turned to Sonata, who said, “I’ll stay here and help out. I think I'd just get in the way in there,” punctuating her sentence by pointing to the graveyard.

“Sonata, are you sure about this?” Gilda asked as she turned to begin her run back to Summer.

Looking towards the police officer as he started pulling his car up alongside the curb, Sonata said, “Yeah. Now hurry before he sees you.”

Gilda nodded quickly, taking off back the way she came. Getting back to where Summer battled Sunset, Gilda quickly looked around. Not seeing either one, she quickly headed for the other entrance of the graveyard. Getting there a few moments later, Gilda found the two girls still fighting.

“Snap out of it, Fourteen!” Summer screamed, landing a punch to Sunset's face. “I came here to get your help, and I can't very well get that if you’re acting like a wild animal.”

Sunset didn't let up, cranking her fist back for another punch, which Summer countered with a punch to the sternum. Sunset released another roar and locked eyes with Gilda. Gilda stood like a deer in headlights as she stared helplessly into Sunset's eyes, unsettled further as she noticed that Sunset's sclerae were completely black, clashing with the cyan of her irises.

“Summer, do something!” Gilda screamed in fear, realizing that Sunset was targeting her now.

“Oh, no, you don’t! I won't let you hurt her.” Summer jumped in front of Sunset, blocking her path to Gilda. “If you want her, you’ll have to go through me!”

Just as Sunset lunged in again, a police car pulled up, screeching to a halt. Getting out of the car, Brushed Jade yelled out to both girls, “Freeze, both of you!”

Jade's confidence left her when she got a good look at what she was about to face. Gulping, she quickly drew her gun, screaming out just as Sunset let out another loud roar, “Get on the ground now!”

Before she do anything more, she suddenly found herself suspended in the air with a tight hand wrapped around her throat. A very angry Sunset stared up at her as Summer shouted, “Put her down, Fourteen! It's me you want!”

Summer rushed in, only to be caught off-guard as Sunset threw Officer Jade accross the street at her, causing both of them to hit the ground with a loud thud. As Summer got back up, Gilda raced to the officer's side, getting a confused look from Jade. “Gilda? I've been looking everywhere for you. Do you know how much trouble you're in?”

“Yeah, yeah, you can arrest me later. Let's just concentrate on getting out of here, alright?”

Not getting any argument from the officer, Gilda placed Jade's arm over her right shoulder, hefted her up, and helped her down the street. As they quickly stumbled away, Jade asked, “What is that thing?”

“I have no idea. All I know is that Summer's the only who can stop her.” Gilda couldn't shake the doubts from her mind. "I hope."

Summer, meanwhile, continued to battle Sunset. After a few minutes, though, Summer's energy began to flag, and Sunset, with her seemingly endless energy, began to get the upper hand. As Sunset started pummeling Summer, who was too tired to strike back, both combatants heard a melodic, entrancing voice off in the distance. As the song continued, Sunset slowed down her assault. Confused, Summer glanced over her shoulder to see Sonata coming out of the graveyard.

Still singing, Sonata pointed to Sunset, and Summer took the hint. Mustering her strength, she punched Sunset in the head, knocking her to ground. Sunset tried to get up, only for Summer to kick her in the side of the head. Sunset stopped moving, but Summer kicked her a few more times to make sure. Finished, she watched to see if Sunset would get back up, only daring to look away when she was sure that Sunset was truly out cold.

Breathing deeply, Summer said to Sonata, who had stopped singing, “Thanks. But I thought sirens could only sow discord with their songs.”

“Nope. While we can use our voices to feed our selves and plant suggestions within our victims minds, each siren has another ability with their song. Mine's hypnotic.”

“Well, I'm glad it worked.” Looking around, Summer continued, “Where are those girls you helped?”

“Oh, I placed the officer in that car under my control. I ordered him to take the two to a hospital and made sure he and Octavia would forget everything they saw here. However I am not sure it worked on the other girl though.”

Nodding and looking down to Sunset, Summer said, “I hope when Fourteen wakes up, she’ll be in a better mood.” Looking back at Sonata, Summer continued, “Why didn’t you tell us before that you can wipe minds with your power?”

“No one asked. And it takes a lot of concentration to do alone, so I usually can't unless I'm with my sisters.” Sonata's mood suddenly saddened, and she said quietly, “I miss them. I feel so alone without them. Twilight gave me a chance to go home, and I turned her down. What was I thinking?”

Laying a hand on her shoulder, Summer said, “Hey, you did what you felt was right. For what it's worth, I wouldn’t go so far as to trust anyone trained by Princess Celestia. Now help me with Fourteen, will you?”

Not replying, Sonata picked up Sunset and carried her over to Officer Jade's squad car. Placing her into the back seat, she got behind the wheel, saying, “You coming or what?”

“You can drive?”

“Hey, I may not be the sharpest tool in the shed, but I'm not that bad. My sisters and I have been around the block more than once. So either get in and stop yapping or start walking.”

“Fine, but you better know what you're doing. And you better be right about erasing memories.”

“It's fine, alright? I can make the cop Gilda's with forget up to the last two hours or so. But that's it. Any longer than that, and I might hurt her. I don’t want that on my conscience.”

Sonata started up the car, turned it around, and headed down the road, soon finding Gilda and Officer Brushed Jade five blocks away. Getting out, Sonata quickly sang her siren song, freezing the officer in her tracks. With Summer's lead, Gilda headed over to the car and got Sunset out.

Sonata gave Jade her instructions, and Jade drove away. The remaining girls walked in the opposite direction, wondering what they would do with Sunset when she woke up.

Next Chapter: Trial (Edited by Icecreammac) Estimated time remaining: 9 Hours, 56 Minutes