Chapter 60

There was a knock at the door.

“Be right there!” Bonbon called out from her downstairs bathroom.

It had been weeks since she had gone out for a night on the town. She wished it could be a Friday night so she could let loose a little more, but Wednesday was going to have to do. Thanksgiving was coming up that weekend and she would be far too busy with her family to be able to have the time to go out with her old friend, Lyra.

Both she and Lyra had gotten married since college, had careers, homes and two children each. Even after so many years since high school, they still did so many things the same as each another, but these days they were admittedly struggling to find time to spend with one another.

Bonbon was wearing a simple black dress with a wide, diagonal white stripe across the midsection and black high heels. Her hair was the same as always, styled in thick-rolled curls on each side of her forehead and down her back, pink on one side and blue on the other. She had minimal make-up on her pale skin, and a conservative set of fake eyelashes to give her blue eyes some extra pop.

She went to the door to open it up, then smiled brightly at the sight of her long-time best friend standing there, smiling back at her. “Hey yoooou!” she greeted excitedly, hugging her friend as she stepped inside the front door of her house.

Lyra was wearing a long, white frilly long-sleeved shirt, with a pair of purple Capri pants and a set of small, brown boots. It seemed to compliment well with her mint-coloured skin and matching hair, which she still kept styled in that same spiky fashion with a few white highlights in it. Her dark orange eyes seemed to stand out more and more as she matured in life, giving her a more striking gaze every time Bonbon saw her.

“You are you ready?” Lyra asked, closing the door behind her.

“Almost,” Bonbon replied. “Is it cold out?”

“Yeah, kind of. I would bring a sweater.” Lyra nodded.

“OK, just a sec.” Bonbon replied as she went to the laundry room to get something to wear over the dress.

Lyra waited patiently by the door, folding her arms while looking around at her friend’s house. It seemed unfamiliar to her, which was a strange feeling compared to when they were in high school and they both knew every inch of each other’s homes since they practically lived together. Being married and having kids and jobs certainly did a number on the amount of time spent together as friends, however their bond was still as strong as ever.

As she thought about this, a shy little three-year-old boy came around the corner, wearing his pajamas and carrying a sippy cup. He had pale skin and half-blue, half-pink hair, just like his mother.

Lyra smiled at him as he stood there timidly, watching her closely as she waited by the door.

Bonbon came back with a small, fuzzy pink sweater over the dress, about ready to say something to Lyra when the sight of her son stopped her in her tracks. “Hey buddy! Whatcha doin?”

“Aw you goin away, mama?” he asked timidly, clutching his cup tightly.

Bonbon squatted down to his level. “No buddy, mama’s just going out with Auntie Lyra for a few hours. K?”

He shifted his eyes onto the mint-coloured woman. “Auntie Wywa?” he repeated, which drew a giggle from Lyra.

“Yeah!” Bonbon continued in a cheerful tone. “And you’re gonna stay here with dada, K?”

The little boy bit his bottom lip, appearing to consider it as though it was a major business deal of some sort.

“Now you go find dada, OK? Mama will be home in a few hours, but you’ll be asleep by then, so I’ll see you in the morning!”

Lyra waved at the little boy when he turned and ran around the corner to find his father, his little feet pitter-pattering on the tile floor as he went.

“He’s soooo adorable…” Lyra cooed, tilting her head as she opened the door to leave.

“Haha, usually, yeah…” Bonbon quipped as they stepped outside.

Once in the car, they started discussing which bar or night club they are going to hit.

Lyra was driving. “So where do you want to go, Bonnie?”

“I don’t know,” Bonbon replied. “Nothing too crazy…it is Wednesday night after all.”

“Karaoke?” Lyra suggested.

Bonbon scrunched her nose then shook her head. “Not tonight…”

“What about the ‘Fiddler on the Hoof’?” Lyra said, perking up slightly.

Bonbon tapped her finger to her chin as she tried to remember the significance of the place, then she drew in quick breath. “Oh! Is that the place we went to during our first year of college when we-“

Lyra joined in and they both finished the rest of the sentence in unison. “-cleared the dance floor by having the DJ put on ‘I was made for Lovin You Baby’ by Kiss and busted a move up there all by ourselves??”

“Yeah! That’s it!” Lyra said with an excited laugh…then the girls quickly quieted down as they both wondered why they should be proud of such a thing. Apparently what they thought was cool in college didn’t quite have the same appeal now in their current stage of maturity.

Bonbon cleared her throat. “I’m not sure about that one, actually…”

“Yeah…same here.” Lyra agreed as she made a right turn.

“How about we just go to our usual place?” Bonbon finally suggested.

Lyra nodded. “Sounds good to me.”

They drove the rest of the way to their usual bar and got out of the car to head inside. It was located in the heart of Canterlot, so the bar itself was on the ground floor of a fifteen story building, which had equally tall buildings on either side of it. There was a small alley on either side of the bar, created by the spaces between the adjacent buildings.

Once inside, they got their drinks at the bar and went to sit at table to catch up a bit with each other and what was going on with their lives. There were quite a few people in there for a Wednesday night, although it was a fairly popular spot in that part of town, so it was to be somewhat expected that the place would be packed almost every night of the week.

They were giggling back and forth over the loud music, talking about their families and about some of their past adventures as friends, and eventually they started talking about some of the other friends they had in high school, wondering where some of them had ended up, and where their lives had taken them. Bonbon decided to have a peek around the bar to see if anyone that they might have known happened to be there.

She stood up to look around the place, scanning for a familiar face or two.

To her surprise, she did in fact lock onto a familiar-looking head of hair. It had been several years since high school, so it was getting hard to put a name to a face after all this time, but she knew she definitely recognised this person. Bonbon squinted at the girl, trying to remember exactly who she was…it wasn’t someone who spent very much time at CHS, but there was something very familiar about those two purple pony tails with the bright green stripes running along the length of each one…

She was wearing a green vest over a white shirt, with tight purple pants and purple boots, as well as a black belt with a white star on the buckle. Bonbon could see the lavender coloured face and dark eye shadow when the girl turned to lock eyes with her, holding a cold stare for a moment, which gave Bonbon a chill when she started remembering that there was something off about this girl.

The purple-haired girl suddenly turned to the woman at the bar next to her, tapping her on the shoulder, which prompted her to turn her massive head of curly orange locks to see what she wanted. Bonbon watched as the purple girl said something to the orange-haired girl, then pointed her finger directly at Bonbon, followed by the mound of orange hair turning around to face her.

Bonbon’s heart skipped a beat as soon as she saw the face of the curly-haired girl, recognising her immediately as Adagio Dazzle. She quickly turned and ducked down into her seat again…luckily there was a large group of men standing behind her and Lyra’s table, so they would be hidden for the time being.

“O…M…Goodness…” Bonbon said slowly with her eyes wide as she looked at Lyra, who was contently sipping her drink.

“What?” Lyra asked, frowning at her friend in confusion.

Bonbon looked around for the nearest exit. “We should get out of here…”

Lyra recoiled a bit. “Huh? Why?”

“The Dazzlings are here…they saw me!” Bonbon explained, starting to panic a bit. “They looked right at me!”

“The who?” Lyra asked, her memory a few seconds behind Bonbon’s, who already had time to figure out who they were sharing the bar with.

Bonbon shook her hands at Lyra frantically. “Remember? Those three girls who came to our high school and took everyone over with their singing??”

Lyra had to think for a moment, then her eyes suddenly widened when she herself finally remembered the evil girls who invaded their school. “Oh shit! From the Battle of the Bands? They’re here??” she asked in a panic, ducking her head down as she started looking around. “I thought they were…you know…gone?”

Bonbon shook her head. “I don’t know, but they saw me, and I think they recognised me. We gotta go.”

“Where are they?”Lyra asked.

“At the bar,” Bonbon replied. “Well, two of them were, anyway. I didn’t see the third one…”

“Let’s just go out the front doors.” Lyra said, getting up from her seat and scurrying away, keeping herself slightly hunched over while Bonbon followed close behind. They headed for the same front door that they came in through, turning the corner around a row of booths and were stopped in their tracks by the third girl, Sonata, who was standing at the front doors, blocking their escape.

She stood before them, looking down at her cell phone, her light blue face lit up by the screen as she slowly raised her eyes to stare blankly at the two girls. She still looked the same as well, other than the fact that she appeared to have aged a few years, which Bonbon was able to see more clearly since they were so much closer to her than the other two. Her light blue bangs and ponytail with the two dark blue stripes down the middle were kept in the same way, and she was still wearing the maroon jacket with three blue ties down the front with a short pink skirt underneath.

Bonbon and Lyra’s hearts were both stuck in their throats as they stood there, frozen in place, their eyes locked with the third siren, wondering what they should do next.

Sonata let a dark half-grin drag up one side of her mouth. “Leaving so soon?”

Lyra started pushing Bonbon by the arm to the right, prompting her to head over to the other front exit. They quickly walked away from the blue-haired Dazzle, heading around the cluster of booths that lined the front wall of the bar in between the two sets of front doors.

The girls were stopped again before they even got past the booths, however, their paths being blocked by the purple-haired Aria who stepped out in front of them, folding her arms with a nasty scowl on her face.

The two friends gulped as they stared at the siren who was standing in their path for a short moment, then they turned around and headed deeper into the bar again. They made their way towards the back, figuring none of them were left at the bar, where maybe they could ask the bartender for help, or to call the police...or a bouncer at the very least.

They were only ten feet from the bar when a giant poof of orange hair emerged on their left, appearing from behind a dividing wall with a row of booths running along it. Both girls screeched to a halt, their eyes wide as they came face-to-face with the sly sneer of Adagio, who lowered her brow as she stared them down.

After snapping out of her surprise, Lyra pushed Bonbon again to the right. “Go!”

They headed to the right of the bar, wondering how they were going to escape, knowing the exits were blocked now as their panic started to set in.

Then Bonbon saw it. Relief washed over her as she pointed to the small side exit, signalling to Lyra that this was going to be their only escape. They practically ran to the door, flung it open and stepped outside into the alley on the right side of the building.

Their high-heels clopped on the pavement as they turned to the right and ran towards the street, but were soon brought to a halt again by the blue-haired Sonata, who was now standing in the middle of the ten-foot gap between the buildings. They were so close to escaping, they could feel the outdoor breeze on their faces, cooling the sweat that they had worked up while trying to escape bar, feeling the freedom that just a second ago was so tantalizingly close…and now they were trapped again. How did she get out here? She must have gone out the front doors and came around outside to block the alley…

The two friends quickly turned around to try going back inside, but froze again when they saw the door open to let Aria and Adagio step outside after them. They backed away from the sirens, slowly making their way across the alley until eventually they were stopped against the wall of the building that stood next to the bar, which made up the opposite wall of the alley.

The three intruders closed in on them, cornering them in the alley, which had a brick wall across the back that connected the two buildings. Both Lyra and Bonbon’s hearts were thumping in their chests as they pressed their backs against the wall, nervously wondering what these three evil witches were going to do to them. They knew they were now at the mercy of the three women, and no one was around to help them.

It was then that they realized their mistake, and how they’d been skillfully lured here by the 1000 year old sirens. Living a life that long had given them the experience and tactical knowledge to lead the young women into a false sense of security, allowing them to think they were going to make their escape, letting them have that fleeting moment of relief…when in reality, they’d been funneled into a trap, exactly where the sirens wanted them…cornered in an alley with no one else around to witness what was about to happen.

The two friends grasped each other’s hands and held on tightly as the Dazzlings slowly closed in.

“Well well…” Adagio finally said in her sly voice. “Looks like we’ve found ourselves a couple of worthless Wondercolts…I told you coming back to this shithole of a town would be worth it.” she grinned, turning to the other two sirens.

Lyra and Bonbon remained silent as the aggressors continued to stalk them.

Adagio stuck her bottom lip out as she shook her head a bit. “Oh no! Don’t you remember us?” she asked coyly, putting her hands on her hips. “How could you forget about the Dazzlings?”

Lyra started to laugh nervously. “Oh…heh heh…uh, yeah…you guys…”

“Shut up!” Adagio ordered, to which Lyra complied immediately. “Every time I’m reminded of that school, I think of how those seven bitches killed us…”

The two friends were stunned by the statement. “What do you mean, killed? You’re standing right here…holding us hostage…” Bonbon said timidly, hoping the sirens might show mercy if she worded her feelings to them just right.

“When they destroyed our pendants, they took away our powers and our eternal life…” Adagio explained in an aggressive tone. “And now we’re aging, just like you pathetic humans…which means we’re going to die of old age someday instead of living on forever…” She clenched her jaw, glaring at the two friends. “So you see, they’ve already delivered the killing stroke, we just haven’t succumbed to it yet.”

Aria cut in. “But make no mistake…before we’re gone, we're SO gonna get even with them…”

“Who’s them?” Bonbon asked. “Are you talking about the Rainbooms?”

Lyra quickly elbowed her friend in the side, wishing she hadn’t spoken of the siren’s tormentors.

“Ow! What?” Bonbon asked, scowling at her friend as she rubbed her side.

Adagio pointed her finger at Bonbon. “DON’T say that name around me…EVER!” she growled. “Just hearing that name makes my blood boil…”

Sonata suddenly looked very confused. “Wait…” she said, rubbing her temple. “I thought these two were in the Rainbooms??”

Adagio slapped her hand over her forehead in frustration. “No, Sonata!” she growled, before gesturing to the two friends. “These two are the ones who did that douchey piano duet…”

“Hey! It wasn’t douchey…” Lyra scowled.

Adagio turned back to the mint-coloured girl. “Shut up!” she ordered.

Lyra flinched when Adagio yelled at her, ducking her head nervously after having the gall to talk back to the lead siren.

Sonata had her index finger pressed to her bottom lip, her eyes looking upwards as she thought for a moment, then she gasped with a smile. “Oh yeah! I thought that duet was really good…”

Adagio groaned, pinching the bridge of her nose while shaking her head as Aria looked over at Sonata.

“Sonata, will you shut the fuck up??” Aria growled through gritted teeth.

Sonata grinned, clueless of the fact that she was, yet again, frustrating her sister sirens to no end.

Adagio took a deep breath, choosing to ignore the blue-haired siren as she turned back to Bonbon and Lyra. “You may not be the Rainbooms, but anyone from that stupid high school is the next best thing…and I have no problem making an example of you two to send a message to them…”

“W-what do you mean by that?” Bonbon asked, shrinking into herself.

Adagio turned to Aria and nodded, prompting the purple siren to pull a long, black object out of her pocket, which she then held up so they could see it. She pressed a little release on the side, followed by the sharp snap of a shiny blade flicking out from the end of the handle.

Both of the friends gasped at the sight of it, feeling their stomachs wrench in horror as Aria took a step towards them with a menacing grin on her face.

Bonbon looked back at Adagio with terror in her eyes. “No!” she cried. “We don’t even know the Rainbooms anymore! We haven’t seen them for years…hurting us won’t help you get to them!”

Lyra continued for her. “Yeah! The last I heard, one of them was involved in that thing at the school a few weeks ago…but that’s all we’ve seen of them for years!”

“You think I give a shit?” Adagio hissed. “As far as I’m concerned, anyone from that fucking school is fair game.”

Aria took another step towards them, stalking them like a wild predator about to pounce.

The two friends huddled closer together. “You can’t do this!” Lyra pleaded. “We have families! Kids! we can’t-”

Adagio cut her off. “I don’t ca-“ then she stopped herself. “Wait a second, what?” she said in confusion. “I thought you two were…you know…a thing?”

Bonbon and Lyra both glanced at each other with sour looks on their faces.

“Ugh!” Lyra groaned, rolling her eyes. “Why does everybody think we’re gay??”

Bonbon cringed as she looked back at her friend. “I don’t know…” she said with a shake of her head.

“Alright, shut up!” Adagio bellowed, turning to Aria, pointing her finger at the purple girl, then swinging it towards the two friends. “Cut these bitches!”

As Aria took another step towards her prey, they pressed their backs against the brick wall behind them, whimpering softly as their eyes stayed locked on the knife blade.

Lyra watched as the siren closed in on her and her friend. As this was happening, a sudden wave of bravery swept over the mint-coloured girl. She didn’t know where it came from...maybe from the simple fact that the three witches were going to inflict pain on them, regardless of whether or not they’d done anything to deserve it.

Lyra clenched her jaw as Aria stepped closer still. “Man, fuck you cunts!” she suddenly shouted.

All four of the other girls froze in shock.

Lyra held a scowl on her face as she glared at Adagio. “We had nothing to do with what happened to you!” she continued. “If you have a problem with the Rainbooms, then quit being a bunch of cowards and take it up with them!”

Adagio lowered her brow towards the mint-coloured girl with a look of intense anger spreading across her face.

“And you three wouldn’t be here right now without your powers if you hadn’t been going around acting like assholes to everyone…” Lyra continued angrily.

“Uh, Ly…you should probably stop…” Bonbon warned quietly out the corner of her mouth.

“THAT’S why the Rainbooms beat you down…” Lyra continued. “Cuz you guys were being cunts and trying to control everyone…maybe if you had the common sense to fuck off and mind your own business, you’d be better off!”

“SHUT UP!” Adagio screamed suddenly. “The Rainbooms didn’t beat us down…it took seven of them to beat the three of us…and now there are only two if you against the three of US, so you’d better watch your fuckin mouth!”

“They already beat you once…” Lyra shot back. “And now you don’t even have your powers…what chance do you think you have against them now?? You’d think you’d have learned your lesson after the last time…”

Adagio stepped closer to Lyra with a dark scowl on her face. “The only thing the Rainbooms taught us is that when we have our revenge, it's going to be extra sweet…” she growled as a dark grin spread across her face.

Out of nowhere, a new female voice joined the conversation.

“Then perhaps the Rainbooms should have taught you a little harder.”

It came from above, a fair distance away from the group. All five women craned their necks to look up, trying to locate the source of the new voice.

They all saw it at the same time. On the building adjacent to the bar, there was a set of fire escapes that went up the side of the building near the front of the alley, directly above the sidewalk. About ten stories up, there was a female figure dressed in a shiny, form-fitting, black outfit. She was leaned against the railing with her hands, looking down at the group of girls in the alley, casually watching as they stared up at her with their mouths hanging open, wondering who she was…and where she had come from.

Suddenly, the black figure leapt over the railing and dropped all the way to the ground with her arms outstretched and one knee slightly raised as she hurdled down towards the sidewalk. She landed with a thunderous impact, dropping to one knee as she hit the sidewalk, splitting the concrete under her feet, cracking the entire slab in half as a thin cloud of dust floated up around her from the impact of the landing.

“Whoa…” Sonata mumbled in awe of what they just witnessed.

The group of women watched with their eyes wide as saucers as the dark figure stood up slowly while the thin could of dust began floating away from her in the breeze.

Her outfit was mostly black, and very tight. It was all one piece, starting from the ground with a tall pair of black boots with thick high heels, followed by tights that hugged her body firmly…from her thighs, all the way up past her hips and waist, continuing up the rest of the way to her shoulders and arms. The top consisted of a deep V-neck, showing her chest and collar bones, with plentiful cleavage at the bottom of the V, accentuated by the tightness of the outfit squeezing her breasts upward. At the sides of the neck opening were wide, pointed collars that aimed outwards towards her shoulders, and there were thin white stripes starting on top of the shoulders from under the collar, running down the outsides of her arms, stopping at the tips of her baby fingers.

The most striking feature of the suit were the symbols on the outer sides of both of her thighs, just below the hips…a grouping of three blue diamonds that contrasted brightly against the black material covering her body. The only parts of her snowy-white skin that were actually showing was her chest, cleavage, neck and the lower half of her face. She was wearing a black mask across her eyes, similar to a raccoon mask, only wider. The top of the mask met her hairline above the eyes, but dipped down in the middle, letting a small triangle of white skin show in the center of her forehead. The bottom of the mask only covered the bridge of her nose between her eyes, then it dipped down over her cheekbones below each eye, stopping about level with the bottom of her nose.

Her hair was dark purple, pulled back tightly into a bun on the back of her head, held in place by a thick band of shiny, black ribbon-like material.

Glaring at the group of women through the mask was a pair of sparkling sapphire eyes, which shone brightly in the dark as she started walking towards them with a quick, dainty stride…her hips swinging side-to-side with each step.

“Well well,” the dark mistress said as she approached, throwing Adagio’s own words from earlier back in her face. “Looks like I’ve found myself a trio of washed-up, helpless old Dazzlings.”

Adagio gritted her teeth. “What the fuck are you supposed to be?”

“Well, I’ll tell you what I’m not…” the masked girl replied.

The orange-haired siren rolled her eyes. “And what is that?”

“I am not a group of three spineless hags, outnumbering and cornering two unarmed young ladies…” the girl in black quipped.

Adagio was stunned by the insult for a moment, then she took a deep breath as she scowled intensely at the stranger. “Why don’t you get lost before I drop you?”

Sonata interrupted. “Uh, Dagie? Didn’t you see her jump-“

“Shut up!” Adago shouted, waving her hand behind her to dismiss the blue-haired siren.

“Tisk tisk…” the dark mistress interjected. “That’s not a very pleasant way to talk to your subordinates…”

“Pfft!” the lead siren spat. “Like I’m gonna take life lessons from some slut in a Halloween costume…”

“Well, what are you going to do then?” the masked girl inquired. “What’s the big plan that you have for me, oh wicked one?”

Adagio turned to Aria, who was still armed with the knife, to give her a little nod. Both of the sirens proceeded to approach the woman in black, surrounding her on both sides while Sonata and the two friends hung back and watched.

The masked woman calmly looked to her left at Adagio, then to her right at Aria, who suddenly lunged at her to swipe the knife at her throat.

The dark mistress swung her hand up, slapping the knife out of Aria’s hand, sending it flying towards Sonata, who quickly ducked to her left to avoid being struck by the weapon. Before Aria realized what had happened, the girl in black put her hand on the side of the purple siren’s head and forcefully shoved her away, sending her staggering and eventually stopping herself against the opposite wall of the alley.

While this was happening, Adagio had stepped forward to swing her fist at the dark stranger, who ducked under the attack and threw a jab at the lead siren’s midsection. Adagio jumped to the side, avoiding the hit while swinging her other fist at the dark woman’s face, catching her hard across the jaw with her knuckles. The siren quickly followed up with a sharp kick to the woman’s stomach, then she turned to step away, confident that her attack was plenty effective…after all, Adagio was a dangerous combatant who had roughed up countless people during her centuries in this world.

“I warned you, didn’t I?” the lead siren said arrogantly as she turned back to the woman. “We’ve been around the block a few-“ the smug grin soon disappeared from her face when she realized the dark mistress was completely unfazed by the attack, and was now glaring at her with those sapphire eyes blazing through that black mask.

“Cunning...but pointless.” the woman said flatly.

Adagio growled in frustration, gritting her teeth as she balled her fists up and swung another right hook at the dark mistress, who swiftly reached up with her left hand to catch the siren by the wrist and twisted her arm around so her palm and elbow were facing upward. The siren grunted under the pain, squeezing her eyes shut as the dark mistress suddenly hammered her forearm down onto Adagio’s elbow, forcing it towards a hyper-extension.

The orange-haired siren yelped as she quickly dropped to her knees, trying to get away from the pressure being applied to her elbow, not realizing that this put her face exactly where the masked girl wanted it. Before Adagio knew it, there was a shiny black knee colliding with her nose, knocking her head backwards from the impact as a loud crunch rang through her head. The siren squeezed her eyes shut as they filled with moisture, leaving her helpless and unable to see the woman in black raising her balled-up fist above her head to drop it down upon Adagio’s brow like a hammer, knocking her unconscious as she fell flat on her back.

By this time, Aria was back on the charge, swinging a fist of her own, which was quickly slapped downwards by the dark mistress, who then drove the back of her fist into the purple siren’s mouth, causing her to stagger backwards, stunned by the swift counter attack.

“My my,” the mysterious woman said. “This is quite disappointing, I must say. I would have thought at your age, you three would have at least given me somewhat of a challenge…” she teased. “Perhaps you should have spent a bit less time singing and more time learning to use your fists…?”

Aria took a quick moment to gently touch her lips with her fingers, looking at the little bit of blood on them after having her mouth split open. She looked back at the masked girl with her teeth gritted, then swung her right foot up to try kicking her in the chest, yet another attack that quickly ended up being nothing more than a futile gesture. The girl in black caught Aria’s foot and lifted it up high above their heads as she turned around, placing the back of the siren’s knee on her shoulder. She then leaned forward and pulled hard, hurling Aria clear over top of her.

As Aria was helplessly thrown leg-first over the masked girl and flipped forward, she could see the ground rushing up at her, but before her face collided with the asphalt, the dark mistress swung her right foot upwards to the left, kicking Aria in the head as she came down. The purple siren was sent into a mid-air cartwheel, spinning twice before she landed hard on the pavement and remained motionless from then on.

The woman in black quickly turned to face Sonata, the only one of the three left standing. She was greeted by the sight of the blue-haired siren holding the knife, looking very unsure of what she should do.

“Don’t try it…” the masked woman said, shaking her head as she turned to face Sonata head on.

Sonata hesitated for a moment, looking down at her sisters as they laid motionless on the floor of the alley. This seemed to give her motivation, and she steeled herself, ready to avenge the other two sirens.

Sonata charged suddenly. Her long, blue pony tail trailed behind her as she ran towards the dark stranger, winding up her arm to swing the small blade at her opponent’s throat. The dark mistress stood motionless until Sonata was only a step away, then she suddenly stepped to the side and the alley was briefly flooded by a flash of light.

Lyra and Bonbon watched in awe as a sword appeared in the woman’s hand next to her hip, which she quickly swung upwards after she dodged Sonata’s attack. The blade passed behind the blue-haired siren’s head, missing her by mere inches as she charged past the mysterious girl.

Sonata skidded to a halt and quickly turned to face the woman, caught off guard that her attack had missed its mark…but then she noticed something didn’t feel right. Something was missing. Usually when she turned quickly like that, her pony tail would swing around and bat her on the arms, but this time it didn’t happen. She reached up with her hand to feel her hair, her eyes opening wide when she couldn’t feel her long pony tail, but instead only short strands on the back of her head.

Sonata’s eyes dropped to the ground, followed by her letting out a gasp when she saw the blue pony tail laying on the asphalt like a dead animal. She brought her gaze back to the dark mistress to see her holding a translucent, sparking blue sword…which she suddenly raised and pointed at the siren, placing the tip just barely half a foot from her throat.

Sonata dropped the knife quickly, letting out a little ‘eep!’ sound as she put her hands up in surrender, realizing she was now out-gunned.

“D’you yield?” the woman asked sternly. “Or shall I remove something that won’t grow back?”

Sonata shook her head frantically, keeping her hands in the air as the mysterious woman turned to face Lyra and Bonbon, who were still huddled against the wall in fear.

“Go.” she ordered.

They both nodded quickly and started nervously shuffling past the dark mistress to leave the alley, but were stopped in their tracks when she pointed her gloved finger at them.

“Tell no one of what you saw here tonight. Understand?” the woman ordered.

The two friends nodded. “O-OK…” they muttered nervously in unison, then continued to make their way out of the alley. After about ten more steps, Bonbon stopped once more to turn around and look at the mysterious stranger.

“Thank-you…” she said quietly, with a look of gratitude on her face.

The dark mistress gave her a little smile in return before turning back to look down the blade of her sword at Sonata. After glaring at the siren for a minute, she spoke.

“Would you be so kind as to deliver a message to your comrades when they regain consciousness?” she asked.

Sonata nodded, letting out a shaky breath as she kept her eyes on the tip of the blade pointed at her throat.

“Get out. Leave Canterlot at once.” the woman commanded. “And if I catch you three in this town again, it will be your burial ground. Do I make myself clear?”

Sonata nodded again. “Y-yes…”

The woman lowered the sword and took a couple steps back. She stood for a moment, letting the tip of the blade point at the ground in front of her as she gazed thoughtfully at the blue-haired girl.

“Why do you remain with those two?” she finally asked.

Sonata, who was caught off-guard by the question, and could only shrug and shake her head in response.

“There is sweetness in you…” the dark stranger continued. “but it has been soured by the influence of those nasty companions of yours.”

Sonata responded quietly. “I…they’re like sisters to me…” she said in a voice barely above a whisper. “I’ve been with them for so long…I can’t turn my back on them now, not in our last years together…”

The masked woman glared at her for a moment before replying. “Suit yourself.” she said with a scowl.

She suddenly raised the sword above her head and flung it at Sonata, who’s heart seized up in panic as she ducked her head, putting her arms up in front of her face in defence.

The siren could see a bright flash through her closed eyelids, rendering the light a reddish hue as she braced for the weapon to strike her…but it never happened. She opened her eyes slowly to see what had happened, and to her surprise, all she saw was an empty alley. The sword was gone, and so was the dark mistress.

Sonata let out a sigh of relief as her eyes rolled back in their sockets. “I gotta lay off the weed tacos…” she muttered to herself, looking down at her fallen sisters as she stepped towards them to see if they were OK.